Chicago Blues Festival—Days 2 and 3 by Peter Furlong

Day 2. There are five stages in Grant Park for this Fest celebrating the unique American art  form, Blues music.  Being that the theme for the Fest this year is “Rollin’ Up the River” and there are far more legendary Blues musicians from the State of Mississippi than any other state, I am choosing to position myself in front of the Mississippi Juke Joint stage more than any other.  Each day a one-hour panel discussion occurs at 11:30 AM on this stage.  Today, Saturday and day 2 of the Festival, the topic is Pinetop Perkins.

Panel Discussion commemorating Pinetop Perkins 100^th B-day.   Panelists include Pat Morgan, a long-time business manager of Pinetop, Barrelhouse Chuck, and Kenny “Beedyeyes” Smith.  Pinetop died in 2011 at the age of 97.  He won three Grammies including the 2011 release “Joined at the Hip” that included the work of Perkins, panel member and drummer Smith, and the father of Smith, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith.  Pinetop was born in Belzoni, Mississippi in 1913 and played, recorded, and toured throughout Northwest Mississippi and Arkansas regions before beginning a long stint as the piano player in the Muddy Waters band and later forming his own bands.  Regarded as maybe the top boogie woogie piano player in his day, he only took up the instrument in his 30’s after an injury ended his guitar-playing days.  Panelist Morgan cleared the air by saying that Pinetop was wrongly cut by a woman who had been locked in a bathroom by a man who Pinetop was later mistaken for; Perkins incurred the wrath of the woman seeking revenge on her perpetrator.

I was a bit late for the panel presentation, but was there for this tale of how Pinetop was to begin a 60-year career at the piano.  And, I was not so late that I missed out on a piece of Pinetop’s 100^th birthday cake.  He would have been a centenarian on July 7, 2013.  Thirty minutes following the discussion, the live music began.

The Peterson Brothers.  This is a good-time band from Bastrop, Texas that likes to play around; stands to reason since they’re only teenagers.  The leader of this 3-piece band is guitarist and primary vocalist Glenn, Jr., age 16.  His younger brother, bass man Alex, is only 14; but, in size, the larger brother.  They play blues classics, but are also working on a family songbook, including this composition “Tell Me Everything.”

Tell me everything,

Don’t tell me what I want to hear.

I want to know everything.

Then they went into a 10-minute version of Albert King’s “Don’t Lie to Me”:

Don’t you lie to me,

Don’t you lie to me;

Cause it makes me mad,

I get evil as a man can be.

Another classic:

Shes gone, I don’t worry,

Cuz I’m sittin’ on top of the world.”

 And a tune from a great Chicago blues guitarist and songwriter, Albert Collins:

If you love me like you say,

Why you treat me this-a-way;

Well, I’m no fool;

I’m cool, I know the rules.

 The brothers like to have fun. Leader Glenn tried to stare me down on my perch in row three, while playing something slow and funky.  I only stared back and he moved on, finding a less serious audience participant.  That may have been one of his musician parents in the crowd.  The older also played at cueing his younger brother how to position himself and where to stand; actually we observed two brothers having a good time on stage, and no doubt the younger doesn’t need to be shown how to play the bass.  Both the intense blues play and cuttin’ up antics worked well on an appreciative audience.

I gotta go; I gotta go; I gotta go baby;

You just don’t treat me the same.

The brothers finished with a Muddy Waters’ number:

Got my mojo working,

But it sure don’t work on you.

Eddie Taylor, Jr.  Eddie, Jr. plays Chicago blues music of the 1950s popularized by his father and others.  Today at this large festival he opened with familiar numbers, Albert King’s “Crosscut Saw”, “Sweet Home Chicago”, and Slim Harpo’s “I’m a King Bee.”  And, these lyrics to another song:

You went away baby,

Came back a little too late.

Eddie vocalizes and plays electric guitar; he sits to the side on a high stool and shares the front line with fellow blues guitarist Lurrie Bell and his harmonica player.  Both of these sidemen soloed often and took full lead and vocal responsibilities for one tune each.  The Lurrie Bell lead number includes the following lyric from the Albert King tune:

There are two kinds of people I can’t stand,

That’s a lying woman, and a cheatin’ man;

Don’t you lie to me.

Taylor ended his one-hour set with: “Wish you the best in wealth and health.”

The last performance of day 2 at the Mississippi Juke Joint stage was a tribute to Howlin’ Wolf, another Chicago-area Blues vocalist and guitarist with roots in Mississippi (b. 1910 in White Station, MS).  Wolf performed the songs of Willie Dixon for Chess Records in the early 1960’s: “The Red Rooster,” “Shake for Me,” “Wang Dang Doodle,” and “Spoonful” to name just a few.  His own compositions from the 1960’s include “Killing Floor.”  Eddie Shaw hosted this Festival tribute that consisted of a number of musicians, including saxophonist Shaw, stepping to the fore to play numbers associated with Wolf.  Playing the music is the means to keep the memories alive.

Day 3. Sunday at the Mississippi Juke Joint stage began with a panel discussion commemorating the 60^th anniversary of Chicago’s Delmark Records.  The chief presenter was 80-year-old Bob Koestler, the founder of this independent record label.  The musicians who recorded blues music with Delmark include Junior Wells, Big Joe Williams, and Magic Sam; jazz artists with Delmark credits include AACM, Donald Byrd, Ira Sullivan, and Sun Ra; and more recently, Fred Anderson, and Ken Vandermar.  There and many, many, more jazz and blues musician recordings not mentioned here.  Maybe the best place to shop for their music is at Delmark’s legendary shop, the Jazz Record Mart, on Grand near State Street.

Lurrie Bell’s Chicago Blues Band.  After the Delmark recollections, I drifted away from the Mississippi Juke Joint stage to hear Lurrie Bell’s band.  This necessitated a walk around the longest line of porta-potties at the Fest and a pleasant stroll through rows of pine trees into a grassy clearing dotted with picnic tables.  Thanks to the Chicago Park District grounds crew for creating this pastoral effect despite the presence of Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive and potties on the perimeter.  The stage we faced is aptly named the Front Porch (corporate sponsor name excluded).

Bell had four successive and successful recordings for Delmark Records; that was followed by a recording with his father for Alligator Records and a recent CD on his own label Aria BG.  His latest is entitled “Blues In My Soul.”  Writings about Bell vaguely speak of difficult personal times he has faced.  The following song lyrics voiced today that appear on his latest CD may reflect difficult times overcome:

I like what I’m doin’ today,

I feel the blues all the way down in my soul.

I guess I’ll always feel this way,

about my journey through life and times.

You know, the way I feel right now,

I guess everything will be alright.

Bell seems to enjoy mixing classics with his own compositions.  His band performed a stirring rendition of “Hoochie Coochie Man” (Willie Dixon), a song popularized by Muddy Waters.  He then performed his own composition, “Let’s Talk About Love”:

I wanna talk about love,

I feel so good when I talk about love.

The band closed with “Got My Mojo Working’” and the Junior Wells tune, “Messin’ With the Kid.”  Bell was joined today by Matthew Skoller on harmonica, a major player on the Chicago blues scene since 1987 and producer of the Lurrie Bell CD, “Let’s Talk About Love.”

I witnessed so many great musicians and sets played these past three days I could name an all-star team without even considering the headline nighttime acts.  That is what keeps me coming back—the great music played in the daytime by experienced and passionate blues musicians.  Thanks to them, the City of Chicago, and the audience of knowledgeable and dedicated Blues followers I met at the Chicago Blues Festival 2013.

Reporting from the Chicago Blues Festival by Peter Furlong

Thursday, June 6.  This year the Blues Fest aims to pay homage to the roots of a distinctly American phenomenon—the Blues music of the South.  We will begin the weekend’s festivities by attending to the music at the Mississippi Juke Joint stage and the panel discussions that will take place there.  On Friday the panel discussion is about the Mississippi Blues Trail.  The panelists at that time will be Alex Thomas, Jim O’ Neal, and Scott Baretta.

The State of Mississippi has given us more Blues musicians of note than all of the other Southern states combined–so it is claimed.  In recognition, the Mississippi Blues Commission has established markers at over 100 sites commemorating the birthplace and haunts of the musicians, supporting roadhouses, record stations, recording companies, and the rivers and highways that mark their road-trip routes.  See the complete list and the marker locations here: 
http://www.msbluestrail.org/blues_marker_list

Denver has its own markers, actually plaques, on buildings of historic note in the neighborhood known as Five Points.  These building plaques tell the story of the history of jazz in Denver.

Chicago Blues Festival 2013—Day 1 by Peter Furlong

Terry “Harmonica” Bean

The headliners of this huge free festival come out at night.  By then, I need a respite from seven hours of mostly standing and listening to the daytime blues performers; and, I want to be fresh tomorrow for more of the same.  In Chicago the nights have been cool and still cooler at the Fest with the off-the-lake effect created by breezy conditions.  Today, the day hours were beautiful and sunny; the breeze was welcomed by the daytime festival-goers.  Starting at 11AM, I got in seven hours of live music and conversation­­–a solid day’s work.  The day began with the Mississippi Blues Trail panel at a table on the Mississippi Juke Joint stage—one of five stages at the Festival.

A Panel Presentation  Jim, Allison, and Scott made up the panel—a researcher/author, tourism and development manager, and educator/author, respectively.  Both Jim and Scott have made significant contributions to Living Blues magazine; Allison has radio experience.  Scott served as leader.  Grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and others have made funds relatively easy to acquire in order to commence the Trail marker project and keep it going.  Starting out with 3 markers in 2005/2006 and quickly expanding to 10, the number of historical markers is now over 200 per one estimate.  The first three were in the towns of Holly Ridge, Greenville, and Greenwood, MS.  There are approximately 50 in the Delta region in northwest Mississippi and 9 in Clarksdale, MS, the birthplace and home to many blues musicians.  Markers have expanded beyond the Delta to Arkansas, Chicago, Florida, Maine, and Norway to commemorate some relevant historical Blues aspect.

Allison cited three “standpoints” to explain the Blues Trail success: an economic perspective has been advanced given the embracing of tourism by the State in the 1990s; secondly, the Blues defines the cultural heritage of the State; and third, there has been increased interest in preserving the Blues culture for future generations.

After one hour of presentation, discussion, and audience questioning, this panel was applauded for their work and the musicians took over the Mississippi Juke Joint stage.  Here are reviews of a few acts:

Terry “Harmonica” Bean.  A solo performer from Pontotoc, Mississippi, excelling with electric guitar and harmonica playing.  He has “no blues band” and began his set with a version of “I’m a Man”, a song that has had parts credited to Bo Diddley, Willie Dixon, and Muddy Waters.  Next was “Sweet Home Chicago”, a tune played by at least one other performer today.  Harmonica enjoyed talking to his audience.

“Everyone havin’ a good time?  I’m Harmonica Bean, ladies and gentlemen.”

“You all doing alright?”

Some of his song lyrics you may have heard:

I don’t want you to be true,

I just want to make love to you, love to you.

And, from a John Lee Hooker song,
I’m in the mood; I’m in the mood for love.

One of his songs speaks of a snake in the lake and a frog on a log having a dialog.  Folk music.   A nice size crowd was listening, but he reminded us of why we were here when he uttered this remark:

“Everyone seems to be home with their wives today. I got me one too, but she’s on to someone else, but I’m going to get her back.”  A tribute to the blues; and, these song lyrics followed:

Baby, what you want the man to do.  You got me where you want me.

In concluding his set, Harmonica expressed what he is all about:

“Playing the blues by myself…harmonica…on the back porch.”

Lightnin’ Malcolm   A second rather solitary blues musician from Mississippi hill country; sometimes he has a trio, but today it is only Lightnin’ and a drummer.  Lightnin’ acknowledged his drummer often—I believe has name is Marvin; just the two of them really working hard and getting a great response. His fingers were just flying over both the bass and lead high registers.  Lightnin’ could work solo in a joint and get everyone dancing; he is a very skilled and experienced musician, having begun touring in his teens.

At one point he spoke of the t-shirt he was wearing— blue with a white image of Willie Dixon displayed; a gift from the widow of Dixon.  It appeared to be topped by a gold necklace medallion in the shape of an “M”; a proud statement of State loyalty one would think.  He said he had to be in Gulfport, MS, Saturday night, but he played a full set plus extra time today.

John Primer and the Real Deal Blues Band.  John Primer is a Muddy Waters protégé who played extensively throughout the South Side of Chicago in places like Theresa’s Lounge and the Checkerboard Lounge.  Late in Waters’ career Primer served as the band leader.  One would expect a healthy serving of Waters’ tunes and he served them up to a very receptive crowd in the late afternoon sun.  Today he was accompanied by three musicians—a soloing and accompanying harmonica player, bass player, and drummer.  Primer plays lead guitar and slide guitar.

Other musicians to perform on the daytime bill of the Mississippi Juke Joint stage included Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry and the Kenny “Beedyeyes” Smith blues jam.  The headliners of the Festival on the big Petrillo Stage this Friday night included Ernest “Guitar” Roy, Irma Thomas, and Bobby Rush and his Blues Band.

Jazz at the Denver Public Library Used Book Sale by Peter Furlong

The annual Denver Public Library (DPL) Used Book Sale is held under multiple tents on the grounds of DPL Central Library at the corner of 14^th Avenue and Broadway.  The dates are June 6-9, 2013, and browsing and buying begins daily at 10am. In addition to books on all subjects, you can find audio books, DVDs, compact discs (CDs) and even some sheet music.  Bring a bag to carry your treasures home; you are sure to find something of interest in this huge sale of used books and music.

All used materials for sale are placed in categories for easier shopping.  The biographies of music personalities should be found in the “Biography” category—all genres of biography are here.  To find “How to Play Jazz Piano” or other books for students of music, look in the “Art” category.  Written music in sheet or book form is  also found in “Art.”  Music guides and music history works are in the “Art” category.  The fun of book shopping is to find the unexpected prize—sounds of Aha! may be heard in the background.

For the best selection of jazz and classical CDs, look in the “Better Books” section. To find pop and world music and lesser quality jazz and blues discs, you will have to explore the general media CD category. Whenever buying a used CD, open the case and make sure there is a CD inside and it matches the title on the case.  Many of the available CDs have come from the DPL circulating collection; although the cases are worn and include replacement cases, the library staff does a good job of maintaining the actual discs and my experience has been very good with playing their discs.  Note that there is some donated music here in excellent condition—maybe played once.  Also, The Denver Post has recently donated to DPL a large amount of CDs they received as review copies; these will be in “like new” condition.  Find these gems at the sale. CDs will be priced for about a dollar during the sale; CDs found in Better Books will be sold at a slight premium.

The price you will pay for books in the general sale section will be two to three dollars for a hardback book.  Trade paperbacks are a lower price and mass market paperbacks are even less.  All books classified as “Better Books” will be priced at a premium—average price $5.  Good deals abound.  You may wonder how these books have arrived at this place and time.  DPL catalogued books are removed from the library shelves due to inactivity, or there are excess copies of that item.  Room must be made on the shelf for new book arrivals.  The branch libraries, upon determination that a book is no longer needed, will ship it to the Central Library where volunteer book sorters will prepare the item for the next sale.  When shopping at the sale, let staff know of any suggestions you may have to improve your book-buying experience.

Recently, there have been a lot of autobiographies written by aging rockers.  The Library has been purchasing these new titles in large volume, distributing them to all the branches around the metro area, and designating some of them as “featured titles.”  When the public’s need to read the new releases wears off and the “hold” list for these books dwindles to zero, these excess books will find their way to the used book sale.  Look for hardback titles in the “Biography” section written by Keith Richards, Neil Young, Carole King, Patti Smith, and Pete Townsend priced at $3 each at the June sale.

Here is a sampling of used materials I have acquired over the years from DPL and a brief description of each.  The featured musical artist here is Ben Webster (1909-1973).

Music Guide.  Music Hound Jazz: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. Detroit, MI. 1998.

From the profile on Ben Webster: “One of the ‘Big Three’ tenor saxophone players of the ‘30s and ‘40s, along with Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young, Ben Webster carved a unique niche for himself.”  However, Webster was initially told he needed to quit attempts to emulate Hawkins.  He shed this mantle and built his reputation working with several different big bands in the ‘30s—Fletcher Henderson, Benny Carter, Cab Calloway, etc.  Following his three years of work with Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra, he played with smaller ensembles on New York’s 52^nd Street and on the West Coast, where he was associated with Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Oscar Peterson, and Billie Holiday.  He was then off to Europe in 1965 where he continued to record and add to his global fandom.

I like to have one or more jazz and blues guides within arm’s length as I listen to KUVO Jazz radio.  The on-air hosts are great in providing their historical perspective, but this only whets my appetite for more information.  An objective of KUVO is to educate as well as entertain our listeners.

Used Book. Ben Webster: His Life and Music. Jeroen de Valk. Berkeley Hills Books. Berkeley, CA. 2001.

Webster became an expatriate in 1964.  He played a four-week gig in London at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club and then he went to Scandinavia.  He soon settled in Copenhagen.  For the next nine years he played and lived there and in Amsterdam.  He never returned to the United States and rarely went into the studio to record.  Often when he left town for a club engagement, he played with local musicians.  The author writes, “…he had to play with mediocre, downright pitiful musicians.  In these years (1964 to 1974), American musicians used the expression ‘a European rhythm section’ for an accompanying group that let the tempo slow down or hurried it on, and made it impossible to swing.” (p. 137) However, in Copenhagen, Webster had a regular rhythm section consisting of pianist Kenny Drew, 18-year old bass player Niels-Henning Orsted-Pedersen, and 24-year old drummer Alex Riel.  Amsterdam hosted a trio of pianist Cees Slinger, bass player Jacques Schols and drummer John Engels.  “Unfortunately, these musicians were not always available, so on tour Webster often had to make do with local talent.”  (p. 138) There is an extended discussion by the author of this music accompaniment problem.

When things were going badly on stage and he was lonely, Webster battled an alcohol problem.  He seemed to be surrounded with people and admirers, but never had a close friend.  There were cultural differences.  The drinking and scandals that arose spoiled many of his club tours.  However, the people in Copenhagen and Amsterdam loved the American jazz musicians and acknowledged the artfulness of their music.  When not playing his horn, Webster shot outstanding pool and, throughout his life, entertained his friends with his piano playing.

CD reissue.  Cotton Tail.  Ben Webster.  Various recording locations and dates. RCA Victor.

From the CD notes written by Loren Schoenberg: “This collection traces Webster’s ascent to the pantheon of jazz: from his brusque beginnings in the Kansas City band of Bennie Moten, through the journeyman years of the ‘30s, … (follows his) sterling four-year stint as one of the most elegant voices in the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and finally touches on his status as an icon on New York’s fabled 52^nd Street.”

Joining the Ellington group in 1940 along with Webster were pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn and bassist Jimmy Blanton, marking the beginning of major changes to the band’s writing and sound.  Fourteen of the twenty-two selections are from the Ellington recordings; each of the numbers has been chosen for including a solo contribution by Webster’s tenor saxophone.  Included in this collection of Ellington tunes are “Cotton Tail”, “Just A-Sittin’ and A-Rockin’”, and  ”Chelsea Bridge”.   Included among other tunes on the CD is a rousing rendition of “Cadillac Slim” from Benny Carter and his Chocolate Dandies.

More on the Sale: This year there will be an estimated 80,000 used books for you to choose from.  You should find that the quality of the selections has improved.  I can  cite two reasons for this: first, approximately 75% of the titles have been donated by individuals and businesses and only 25% are former library holdings; and second, during the sort process, books have been subject to a higher standard of condition test for inclusion.  Books with some damage or in excessive supply are more readily subject to recycling.  The result is an improved book-buying experience.

Hush Point – Album Review

Hush Point

Hush Point’s debut self-titled album, released in May 21, 2013, is a breath of fresh air in today’s jazz scene. Hush Point is a group – consisting of alto saxophonist Jeremy Udden, trumpeter John McNeil, bassist Aryeh Kobrinsky, and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza – that really functions as a band, not just a collection of individual musicians brought together for a recording date. The album not only features tunes by Udden, McNeil, and Kobrinsky, but also has extensive collective improvisation. The effortlessly blending of their individual voices during collective improvisation illustrates how in tune with each other thought processes this group is. The band’s near-telepathic communicative ability is especially evident on the album’s opening tune, a rendition of Jimmy Guiffre’s “Iranic.” Hush Point plays this song as a piece about dialogue, alternating moment of call-and-response with counterpoint playing. By placing this song as the album’s first track, Hush Point is showing the listener how important playing and improvising as a group is for this band. The album’s second piece, a bouncy playful McNeil number called “Peachful,” highlights the group dynamic again with a contrapuntal section by McNeil and Udden, filled with fluttering improvised lines from both. McNeil and Udden’s comfort playing together also comes through very clearly on McNeil’s “Finely Done,” in which both horn players echo and complete each other’s melodic ideas like a married couple finishing each other’s sentences.

Recorded earlier this year in Brooklyn, NY, Hush Point is an album of unique material with an obvious knowledge of the jazz tradition. It seems to occupy the space between Gerry Mulligan’s pianoless quartet and Ornette Coleman’s. This is particularly apparent on “Get Out,” a piece by McNeil in which I can’t tell if his playing reminds me more of Chet Baker or Don Cherry. This album elegantly straddles the line between cool and free jazz and ultimately teaches a very important lesson about what it means to make free jazz: namely, free jazz can be beautiful. Too often any jazz described as free is assumed to be loud and atonal. By incorporating cool[1] harmonic influences in a malleable way, Hush Point create music with the emotional expressiveness of free jazz that won’t scare off lovers of more traditional styles. The best example of this is Udden’s “Fathers and Sons,” which features plenty of color from Sperrazza during extended rhythmically free sections that eventually dissolve into short unaccompanied solos by first Udden and then McNeil.

Sperrazza’s drumming throughout the album deserves a little more attention. His low-key brushwork is easy to overlook, but his crisp cymbals and amazing dynamic range provide extraordinary color on each song. Listening to the album, this fact becomes apparent on the seventh track, “New Bolero,” which is the only to feature Sperazza using sticks instead of brushes. He also spends most of the song on the drums as opposed to the cymbals. These two minor differences change the song’s mood dramatically, adding a darker feeling than anywhere else on the album.

One standout track is “Bar Talk,” in which Udden all but abandons harmony to craft a piece based exclusively on short melodic fragments (obviously inspired by Béla Bartók, as the title implies) that features intricate backgrounds, seamlessly weaving his own and McNeil’s improvisation with the composed sections. Another highlight is McNeil’s arrangement of the second Jimmy Guiffre piece on the album, “The Train and the River.” Most great songs about trains – from Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the A Train” to Johnny Cash’s “Folsam Prison Blues” – capture the feeling of sitting still and moving at the same time, i.e. relaxing in a comfortable seat while rolling across the country at 90mph. Normally this is done with the rhythm section pushing forward while the melody seems to sit right just the beat, but Hush Point sort of reverse this cliché. Here McNeil, Udden, and Sperrazza all push the rhythm forward together, while Kobrinsky lays right into the beats, seemingly stretching them with heavy quarter notes on beats three and four of many bars, as well as the frequent use of peddle tones.

The album’s final track, “Cat Magnet,” composed by Kobrinsky, is the album’s biggest curveball. It has the album’s most straightforward harmonic progression and lyrical melody, which is played by McNeil with support from Udden. The improvisations that follow the head stay true to the expressive melodic content. This exemplifies perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of Hush Point: in a jazz culture often focused on flashy playing, Hush Point is a band with chops that instead focuses on the feeling of the music above all else.

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[1] (that’s cool as in 1950s West Coast/cool jazz)

 

The Chicago Blues Festival on a Budget By Peter Furlong

You want grit and bravado as your background for blues music, so check out the Chicago Blues Festival, an annual free 3-day music presentation in downtown’s Grant Park held the first full weekend of June. This is a great site for visitors: you’ve got the lakefront to the East, the Loop to the immediate West, and the beautiful city skyline to the North. And to the immediate South, the museums and the end or beginning of the Illinois Central, the rail line that brought the emigrating blues man from the rural States of the South to the industrial North for increased opportunity, equality, and freedom. This is the center of contemporary Blues music.

Event.   All the music on five stages is free and begins daily at 11 AM. Dates are June 6-9, 2013. The first festival day, Thursday, consists of a performance in the evening in Millenium Park. Please note that Millenium Park is a recently-built, beautiful outdoor auditorium within Grant Park. The subsequent Friday through Sunday headline acts will be in Grant Park and occur at the Petrillo Music Shell; the lineup includes Irma Thomas, Bobby Rush, Otis Clay, Eddie Floyd, James Cotton and many others.

For me, afternoon performances are best in that the crowds are reduced but enthusiastic, and you can get close to the musicians. Performances are continuous throughout the day; you can catch lots of great music if you happen to be on that day with your comfortable shoes and attire and the weather permits. There will be lots of Soul food, too. A future blog entry will include a review of this event. Visit the City of Chicago web site for more event information. http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_blues_festival.html

Flight.   To get there, my choice is Denver’s own Frontier Airlines. The cost of my tickets, purchased two months in advance, is $227. You could choose Southwest Airlines (Dallas) or United Airlines (Chicago); but Frontier, although no longer owned locally, employs the most Coloradoans relative to the total employ of any of these competing airlines. Purchase early for best price and flight departure time—you don’t want to be rising at 4 AM to get to DIA 1.5 hours in advance if it is not necessary. Arriving at DIA, the RTD AF route drops me off in front of the Frontier desk where I use a kiosk to print my boarding pass and walk the indoor pedestrian bridge to Terminal A. As always, give yourself ample time to proceed through security.

When you arrive at Chicago Midway, a walk through the airport will take you to the origin of the Orange Line, the train that will take you to the Loop in a 30 minute ride through the South side of the city. Your destination is the HI-Chicago Hostel at 24 E. Congress Expressway, a short walk from the train stop.

Lodging.   The Hostel atmosphere is bluesy. You will be roughin’ it a bit here, but the location is an easy walk across Michigan Avenue to and from the music stages. At $34 a night and ample continental breakfast included, the price is terrific; get an annual membership online and your second night is free. Attend to details—reserve a bed in a dorm room that has bath and shower rooms within your suite, and bring a lock to secure your things in the lockers provided in the dorm room and lobby areas. You do not want to go down the hall to use the toilet or shower if it is not necessary.

The hostel concept is to provide inexpensive housing to those travelling alone or with a youth group that does not want to break their budget on motel/hotel prices. Enjoy meeting other hostellers from all over the world to share travel tips. My chief complaint of hostels throughout the world is that the bed mattress is not firm, but always saggy; apparently, young people are forgiving of this condition.

Common-use areas include a computer lab, travel book library, and WIFI accessibility. The one large screen TV is unobtrusive and avoidable. A great cost-saving tip is to use the spacious kitchen for meal preparation; the dining area is very community-oriented where you can meet and dine with other travelers. Cafes are plentiful in the neighborhood.

In Chicago, the Hostel is open 24 hours; respect your sleeping dorm mates when entering late by minimizing light and noise. You will probably agree that the European-style of lodging is not the first choice of a travelling American, but Blues and Jazz fans are a special breed of cat. Opt for practicality. Visit the web site of Hostelling International Chicago for more information. http://www.hichicago.org

Amina Figarova Mount Vernon Country Club, Golden, CO March 6, 2013 by Geoff Anderson

 What do “jazz” and “Azerbaijan” have in common? Both have a “z” in their names. And jazz pianist  is from Azerbaijan.  That’s probably about it. Azerbaijan produces about as many international jazz stars as Cuba produces downhill ski champions. But there are exceptions to every rule. Figarova brought her international sextet to the Mount Vernon Country Club Wednesday night and proved that top drawer jazz can come from unlikely places.

             The sextet, which has been together for a few years now, hails predominately from Europe including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Figarova explained that her home country is at the crossroads of Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East which accounts for her wide ranging influences. The band had been based in Holland for several years, but moved to New York City in 2010. They are currently on a cross country tour learning, no doubt, just how big the United States is. The night before playing in the Denver area, they had played in St. Louis and driven from there the morning after their show. The day after the Colorado show, they were scheduled to play in Kansas City; driving back across the plains. (Who set up that schedule?)

            The longevity of the band and the European background informed their playing. Figarova’s classical training was evident in both her playing and her compositions which comprised the entire program. Figarova’s husband, Bart Platteau played flute. He was joined in the front line by Ernie Hammes on trumpet and flugelhorn and Marc Mommaas on tenor sax. Their extensive time together paid off not only in tight ensemble playing, starting and stopping and turning on a dime, but also in sweet, intricate harmonies that were a hallmark of the evening. Each played a number of state of the art solos emphasizing touching melodic lines for the most part and only occasionally laying down a blizzard of notes. Bassist Jerden Vierdag always seemed to be busy providing a low-end lyrical counterpoint to the proceedings up above. Drummer Chris “Buckshot” Strik constantly came up with a different way to play. He regularly switched from mallets to brushes to standard drums sticks. During his solo toward the end of the evening, he started out playing his trap set with his hands, sometimes pushing on a drum head with one hand to vary the pitch and hitting it with his other hand. He didn’t limit himself to hitting the drumheads and cymbals, but also used the edges, stands and sides of the drums to create an infinite variety of sounds.

            As the leader, Figarova played a number of solos, not only with the band, but some entirely by herself. Here, again, the pyrotechnics were employed only sparingly. Her focus, too, stayed on the lyrical, graceful and poignant and sometimes ethereal and atmospheric. Her compositions are quite impressionistic for the most part. She explained that “NYCST” stood for New York City Subway Tango and the frenetic tune musically described the kind of scenes one might encounter on the subway around three in the morning. The band played a suite of three songs about the ocean; “Another Side of the Ocean,” “Sneaky Seagulls” and “Shut Eyes, Sea Waves.” Another tune described a favorite time of the week, “Morning Pace,” about a Sunday morning with nothing planned.

            Almost all the songs for the evening were from the band’s latest album Twelve (In and Out Records, 2012). It is Figarova’s twelfth album, so the name seemed obvious. The release date was 2012, it has 12 songs and the title song is in 12/8 time complete the symmetry.

http://www.myspace.com/video/stephen-trohoske-bassist/amina-figarova-septet-live-in-the-netherlands/36857803