“Con Alma de Blues Magazine” English Edition N°6

Bruce ewan Eddie Cotton Jr

Carl Weathersby

Edition: 6 / Version English March 2017/ ARG CADB Producciones

Interview

Interview

JOEL POLUCK

Interview

Interview

Interview

VINCE AGWADA Interview

magazine

up as a prac“CADB Magazine was set for the millions tical and integral service connected in of blues hearts which are ith a same soul spite of distances joined w feeling called… Blues”

Director General Graphics & Design

Contributor

Richie Ferrao Frank Roszak Betsie Brown

Gustavo A .Zungri

Assistant principal

&Translation

Edition N°6 English Version March 2017

Mabel Sosa

Contacto radioconalmadeblues.com.ar conalmadeblues.com.ar polloking2.blogspot.com cadbproducciones@outlook.com facebook.com/ConAlmaDeBlues facebook.com/ConAlmadeBluesProducciones

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Interviews Eddie Cotton Charlie baty Sari schoor vince agwada mississippi heat Carl Weathersby Joel poluck robert mugge bruce ewan Skyla Burrell jack mack band

pag :37 3 9 17 23 29 37 43 51 63 71 77

Mississippi Heat Pag : 29

Carl

Weathersby

Skyla Burrell

pag :71

Charlie baty Pag: 9

INTERVIEW

Contemporary Mississippi blues musician Eddie Cotton’s energy, style and passion on stage reflect his understanding of what the blues is all about.

The great Bluesman

By Gustavo Pollo Zungri Editor & Director CADB Magazine

Translation: Mabel Sosa

“ Blues is more than playing a scale to three chords the blues is the feeling that the scales and chords” Eddie Cotton, Jr. Mississippi’s Eddie Cotton (aka Eddie Cotton, Jr.) is a soulful guitarist and singer with a bent toward mixing earthy, electric and acoustic blues and contemporary R&B. Born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1970, Cotton grew up in nearby Clinton, the son of a minister, and first became interested in music while performing gospel music in church.

International Blues Challenge 2015 Winner Eddie Cotton, Jr. is one of America's top blues artists, delivering riveting lyrics and extraordinary vocals and guitar work. He performs authentic Delta/Chicago Blues with deep passion and feeling. See you for this memorable Mississippi Juke Joint Experience!

The great Bluesman

w

e are very pleased to have this interview with you Eddie. It’s a great opportunity for our readers to know more about you and your music.

GZ: When did you start writing about music and what or who were your early passions and influences?

I wrote my 1st song in the 3rd grade and growing up in the C.O.G.I.C church I was around a lot of music and I saw a lot of guitar playing preachers and fell in love with the guitar and I saw our national minister of music which was Dr. Mattie Moss Clark at the time and I saw it done right.

GZ:If you could travel to any moment in time, when and where would you go and who would you have liked to meet?

I would want to meet the bushmen of the Kalahari to learn some of those super survival methods GZ: Do you remember to have lived any hard situation that had left one more blues mark on your soul?

Yes the greatest mistake that I have ever made was to think that the people in the business world wanted the best and learned different and I have paid the price for that and I have suffered for it but it made me learn and I am so thankful!

GZ: At this point in your life what are the things that thrill you and which ones grieve you with regard to life or music in particular?

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

I am thrilled that my music has proven certain things to me but I also understand that there are certain doors that will never open unless you are invited.

GZ: How do you overview the Blues in your country among the young people and what is it necessary to do?

Anybody would love the blues if it is played right and presented right but the blues needs main stream marketing just like pop and rock. the young people do not know about it, they do not understand the different styles and how important it is to the foundation of whatever style or genre you play because it’s not important to the powers that control so much.

GZ: What’s your opinion of the social networks as a way of spreading music? Facebook groups for instance where people share and publish videos of their favorite artists‌

The great Bluesman

Any kind of marketing that you can get that's positive and its even better if its effective and free. If there is any profit made by these people they need to pay the artist GZ: Which was your best recording session or the most enjoyable one? Do you have any favorite blues song?

Extra was the best and quickest session that we had. I have so many blues songs that I love I can't say which one that I love the best GZ: Tell us about your last disc "One at a Time"

One @ a Time is my second project on Dechamp and we are trying to be creative without losing the feel of the blues and we understand that we have to compete so we have to come up with songs that can compete with main stream music and stay true to the blues and that is nothing close to easy GZ: What’s your opinion of the actual Blues? Is it faithful to the roots? Or do you think it’s changing and it’s ok?

The blues is more than playing a scale to three chords the blues is the feeling that the scales and chords are played with I do not care what you are playing or singing its the feeling that makes me stamp it as the blues and the live show is what's going to make the difference when you perform to real crowds, now you all figure that one out LOL.

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

GZ: What are your dreams?

And looking ahead, what are you musical plans?

To go into other business ventures that in which the bottom line is the blues GZ: Thanks a lot for your kindness. To end the interview do you have any advice to those who are making the first steps in music?

Stay away from people who do not understand what you will be up against and you BETTER make sure that music is what you want to do and you BETTER understand how GOOD you are at it!!!!!!!

Eddie Cotton Jr.

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Con Alma de Blues Magazine

Little Charlie & The Nightcats

Guitarist and bandleader Charles Baty of Little Charlie & the Nightcats is one of most inspirational figures in West Coast. Last years Baty created his own combo ‘Little Charlie And Organ Grinder Swing’. This project has been a dream of Charlie Baty for quite a while now and it’s finally here with their debut album ‘Skronky Tonk’ (2016). Almost hidden in the semi-anonymous confines of a touring blues band, Baty -was born in Alabama in 1953- is a masterful player whose talents easily reach beyond a traditional low-key, 12-bar existence.

We talked exclusively with him for CADB magazine

By Gustavo Pollo Zungri Editor & Director CADB Magazine

Translation: Mabel Sosa

Little Charlie & The Nightcats

C

harlie, first of all congratulations for your new álbum “ Shronky Tonk” . Here in Argentina, blues lovers were pleasantly surprised by it. We want people to have the opportunity to know you better. Tell us how this blues story started.

GZ: When did you start writing about music— and what or who were your early passions and influences?

My earliest influence was Little Walter. I wanted to learn how to play harmónica and my mother gave me a harmónica, a book on how to play the harmónica by Tony Glover, and the Best of Little Walter vinyl LP for Christmas in 1965. I listened first to Little Walter, then Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy, and eventually became interested in swing guitarists such as Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and Oscar Aleman.

GZ: Which was the most interesting period in your life? Which was the best and worst moment of your career?

I think that the music scene in the 1990’s was thriving and I found that period very interesting.

I started touring in 1987 and so I was beginning to meet lots of famous musicians, travel around the world, learn new things about music and play for large crowds. It was a wonderful time.

The best moment in my career was during a gig with Sugar Ray Norcia in New Hampshire. He was playing the Little Walter song called Rocker and he played it so fiercely and perfectly and the band

sounded right there with him – I felt that I had been part of a perfectly played song. My worst moment was finding out that my wife had gone into the hospital while I was touring in Europe.

GZ: Do you remember to have lived any hard situation that had left one more blues mark on your soul?

I grew up very poor, had very few things, and was often hungry. I always had a roof over my head, but I know what it feels like to be poor and without hope.

GZ: What do you learn about yourself from the blues and what does the blues mean to you?

Blues is in my playing no matter what kind of music I play, but I don’t think of myself as a blues player. I am simply a musician. I believe that music in general has taught me that I can express myself honestly and sincerely with my instrument and I believe that it is imperative to play spontaneously and not play the same exact parts every night. That way, the music reflects ones moods and thoughts. You also learn how to play without a net – that is, to be fearless - and to go for any ideas that may be in your head, even on important concerts, TV shows or recording dates.

GZ: How do you overview the Blues in your country among the young people and what is it necessary to do?

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

Little Charlie Baty is an incredibly talented guitarist, best known for his band Little Charlie And The Nightcats (which, after his departure, is known as Rick Estrin And The Nightcats). Now a couple of musicians from that band have joined him for his new jazz trio CD, Skronky Tonk, under the name Little Charlie And Organ Grinder Swing.

Lorenzo Farrell is on organ (and also bass), and J. Hansen is on drums and percussion. (The three musicians are credited with producing the CD as well.) This is a cool album, mixing jazz swing and blues elements, and it features some original material by Charlie Baty in addition to well-known songs such as “How High The Moon” and “Misty.” The CD includes liner notes written by Charlie Baty.

Little Charlie & The Nightcats One of the hardest-working barroom blues bands on the West Coast, Little Charlie & the Nightcats started out in the mid-’70s, began recording around a decade later, and just kept on going strong. The two constants over the Nightcats’ long history were co-founders Little Charlie Baty (guitar) and Rick Estrin (harmonica, lead vocals).

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

I realize that few Young people seem to know about blues and even fewer want to learn how to play it. I think that more awareness in the schools might help, more parents taking their children to blues concerts or playing blues at home would help, and it would definitely help if there were more Young blues bands to attract people from their own generation. I am afraid that blues appears to be an older music to Young people – even though it isn’t. The people who played the great blues in the 30s, 40s, and 50s were all Young when they were recording that music. People like Robert Johnson, Little Walter, B. B. King were in their 20s or 30s.

GZ: What are the lines that connect the legacy of Blues with Jazz and continue to Jump and Swing music?

I think that the more sophisticated players in the late 1940s could play jump blues with T-bone Walker and then play jazz and swing with Count Basie or Tab Smith or other orchestras. You will play differently if you can play both blues and jazz standards, if you’re comfortable playing in different time signatures, if you know hundreds of melodies and if you hear different ideas in your head. If you approach the guitar with the same sophistication as a schooled pianist or horn player, it is possible to bridge the gaps between blues and jazz. However, this only Works if the entire band can play in this same manner (in order for the voicings of the chords to not clash). I think that there is room for both – simple country blues and sophisticated,

big city blues. I do feel that swing is slowly slipping away from the blues scene and the rock beat is beginning to take over like a virus. Thank God there are talented players like Gonzalo Bergara who can play gypsy jazz, blues, and jazz and never stop swinging!

GZ: Charlie, Are there any memories from Little Charlie & The Nightcats which you’d like to share with us?

I have plenty of great memories from my time in Little Charlie and the Nightcats. A lot of great memories happened in Chicago, at Buddy Guy’s club Legends. One night Buddy Guy sang a tune with us and I did my best to play like Buddy and he smiled a lot. Other nights people like Junior Wells, Dave Myers, Jody Williams, Barrelhouse Chuck, and Nick Moss sat in with us. It meant a lot to be in the capital of the blues world and have celebrities coming down to hear us and willing to play with us One night in the sugar cane fields in Australia, we were playing a concert inside a large building with a bonfire going on and a giant fight erupted.

We kept on playing and Rick Estrin did not even look perturbed. Later that night we found out how dangerous the insects, the snakes and frogs were around there. We wondered why we had to travel half of the way around the world to make music, but we actually were really enjoying ourselves.

GZ: The Golden State/Lone Star Revue is a fantastic selection of blues musicians. We’d like to know more about them

Little Charlie & The Nightcats

Golden State Lone Star Blues Revue is a blues ensemble founded by harmonica player and singer Mark Hummel, featuring guitarists Anson Funderburgh, and Little Charlie Baty.

All respected instrumentalists in their own right, this collaboration is a premium showcase of West Coast Blues.

They are anchored on this session by R.W. Grisby on bass, and drummer Wes Starr, two seasoned road veterans who go back to high school playing together.

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

Charles Baty & Anson Funderburgh at Bradenton Blues Festival.

Anson Funderburgh is a great guitarist, a wonderful friend, and a whole lot of fun to be around.

He can talk about golf, Cuban cigars and Rolex watches for hours on end.

Anson and I have a great chemistry on stage and our two styles of playing are starkly different, and yet we can find a way to meld them into one sound. Wes Starr is an amazing drummer and a Deep human being.

His very essence is rhythm. R. W. Grigsby and Mark Hummel are guys whose lives are both dedicated to playing blues and they have honed their craft over years of work.

I recently left the band in order to pursue more work with Organ Grinder Swing and to pursue different kinds of music.

The repertoire of Golden State/Lone Star Revue was more traditional and I felt that I needed a broader range of tunes and styles as vehicles for my musical expression.

GZ: What are your dreams? And looking ahead, what are you musical plans?

I just want to play what is in my head. I hear a lot of jazz, jazzy blues, choro music, gypsy jazz, and some country blues.

I would like to keep playing concerts and making recordings, but no matter what I will continue playing guitar.

Playing music is like peeling away an onion –

layer after layer unfurls and under each layer is another truth and another direction of ideas.

I will never learn everything there is to know about music, but I want to learn as much as I can.

GZ: Thanks a lot for your kindness. To end the interview do you have any advice to those who are making the first steps in music?

My advice is to practice a lot, but not just practice scales. Learn songs and play the songs with others. I think that it is important to learn group time and to learn to listen to others.

For myself, music is done best in a group but even solo players can benefit from learning group time.

Also, listen to as much music as you can.

There is always something new you can learn from somebody.

Take a song like Sweet Georgia Brown – you can listen to it played as a straight ahead jazz tune, a country swing song, a gypsy jazz tune, or a traditional New Orleans song – every solo approach will be different, but they all work.

That is the beauty and the breadth of music.

Charlie Baty

m o o R e n i g & The En

Interview & translation MABEL SOSA Co-Director CADB Magazine

In January 2015 legendary producer Mike Vernon (Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall, Blue Horizon) was invited to receive a ‘Keeping The Blues Alive’ award at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis TN. This award, was not the only highlight of the weekend for Mike; the second was witnessing the performance of one of the most amazing female blues singers Mike had seen in years SARI SCHORR.

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

S

ari, we are pleased to have this interview with you for our magazine “Con Alma de Blues”. We’d love to introduce you to our blues community!

MS: How were those first steps into the music world and particularly into the Blues? Who were your early influences?

It’s a funny thing to hear people talk about my overnight success. The truth is, I’ve been working at this for over 20 years. I started singing professionally when I just 16 years old. I had to lie about my age. I wore flash eyelashes and red lipstick to look older. I sang for many years in the small grungy bars of New York City.

I was influenced by the great classic female blues singers like Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith. But Martha Velez was my biggest influence. I can’t believe that I finally got to meet her. We were playing a festival in Florida last week, and she came to see me. Martha is an inspiration to me not only as an artist, but she shows me the kind of woman I want to be.

MS: What are your songs about? How do you get inspired to write songs?

My songs are about the human experience. I write about true events that I’ve experienced. I also write about those things that define who we are, for better or worse.

I’m interested in taking on the challenge to write about difficult subjects that I believe are worth a discussion. I always try to approach these issues with compassion and without judgment.

I find my inspiration in the world around me. I love people, and that creates an awareness that becomes a

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

Sari and Poppa Chubby

resource for my writing. I am deeply inspired by the people I meet through the humanitarian work I’ve done in places like India and Haiti.

MS: Tell us about your debut album “A Force of Nature” A Force of Nature is my life’s work. The album was produced by legendary blues producer Mike Vernon whose credits include Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall & the Blues Breakers, David Bowie, Savoy Brown, Chicken Shack, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Christine McVie and Ten Years After. I’m so proud of this album and grateful to all the talented musicians who gave so generously of their time and talents. It was a real honor to have Walter Trout, Innes Sibun, Oli Brown and John Baggott featured on the record.

I never imagined A Force of Nature would hit #1 in the UK! I also never thought I’d be on magazine covers.

What a lovely reward for all the hard work and long years that I’ve dedicated to the Blues.

“Sari Schorr is a passionate blues singer who has been inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame. After hearing jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Holiday as a young girl, Sari decided to start singing.”

MS: What did Mike Vernon mean in your career?

Everything! I met Mike Vernon in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge and he believed in me enough to come out of retirement to produce my debut album. It was amazing that he would risk his stellar reputation on an unknown artist. This album would never have happened without Mike, and I would still be singing in small blues clubs.

MS: You have been worldwide known touring along with icons like Poppa Chubby and Joe Louis Walker.

How was that experience?

I loved being in the support role. It made me feel that I was a part of something bigger than myself.

I also preferred not being in the spotlight. Poppa was always encouraging me to step out on my own. I had to learn how to get comfortable with that when I became a solo artist.

MS: Which are your feelings when you are on stage?

I think of myself as a storyteller. I try to lose myself in the lyric and become a vehicle for the song, driving the emotional content of the song directly to the audience.

MS: Tell us about “The Engine Room” The Engine Room is the greatest band I’ve ever worked with. When Mike Vernon asked me which guitarist I wanted to feature on the album, I told him how much I loved Innes Sibun. I knew Mike and Innes had done a few albums together. So, Mike sent Innes the demos. Innes responded quickly, saying he’d love to do the sessions. But, then we had a problem. Innes did such a great job

on the record, Mike and I didn’t know how we’d be able to recreate the sound of the recordings live.

Then, on the last day of recording, Innes said he’d love to be in the live band. We were thrilled! The rest of the band fell into place. Kevin Jefferies came in on bass, Anders Olinder on keyboards and Kevin O’Rourke on drums. I gave the band the name “The Engine Room” because I wanted audiences to recognize the extraordinary talents of these musicians.

MS: You’ve been called the next blues diva, your vocals have been compared to Janis Joplin and Tina Turner’s... what’s your personal feeling?

It’s always a tremendous compliment to be compared to great singers, who I admire. When my manager called to tell me several critics were saying that I was the “next great blues diva,” I was in a Brooklyn laundromat. He jokingly asked if I felt different yet. I looked around the laundromat and just laughed.

I consider myself very lucky to finally be able to do what I love on a level that allows me to feel like I can contribute something of value.

MS: Have you ever imagined in those years growing in New York, to be on stage in front of an audience doing what you love?

I always dreamt of becoming a singer. I put on my first concert when I was 8 years old in my parent’s small apartment in Queens, NY. The real surprise was when I was asked to sing at Carnegie Hall on the Lead Belly Fest with Buddy Guy, Eric Burdon, Walter Trout and so many other iconic artists. I never imagined, as a Blues singer, that I’d have the honor of performing in the most prestigious concert hall in the world.

MS: What are your future plans and dreams?

The band and I are heading to Spain in January to start writing material for the second album with Mike Vernon. I hope that we can continue to share the music we love with new friends around the world. It’s the greatest privilege I know.

Thank you very much Sari!!!

Thank you so much for your support! And thank you for the wonderful questions. It has been a real pleasure to answer them for you.

Warmest regards,

Sari

interview Chicago-based guitarist/singer/ composer/producer Vince Agwada has toured the United States, Canada and Europe with many of Chicago’s premiere acts including Bernie Mac, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Zora Young, Jimmy Johnson, Son Seals, Junior Wells, Valerie Wellington, The Dells, Sugar Blue, Larry McCray, and Magic Slim as well as his own outfits, One Eyed Jax, and the Vince Agwada Band.

In 1996 he was voted one of the top 40 Blues artists under 40 in the country by Living Blues Magazine .

We talked exclusively with him for CADB magazine.

BY Gustavo A Zungri Director & Editor CADB Magazine

Translation: Mabel Sosa

A soul clinging on

Vince

n the blues...

Agwada

Vince Agwada A soul clinging on the blues...

V

ince. First of all congratulations for your music. Here in Argentina, blues lovers were pleasantly surprised by it. We want people to have the opportunity to know you better. Tell us how did this blues story start GZ: When did you start writing about music and what or who were your early passions and influences?

I first started writing music as a teenager. From a very Young age I heard a lot of Pop, Jazz, Soul and from my father, Classical and traditional African music. Around the time I picked up the guitar I was listening to a lot of Psychedelic Soul then eventually got introduced to Rock. Somewhere along the line I became obsessed with Blues music. At first it was the earlier stuff like Lonnie Johnson, Bessie Smith and Leadbelly. I later, found out about Chicago Blues and then set out to find some of the greats who were still alive in Chicago. I found my way down to Theresa’s and thus the journey began…

GZ: If you could travel to any moment in time, when and where would you go and who would you have liked to meet?

I have, for a very long time, been very curious about the origins of the Blues with regard to West African music. I would love to experience what the first Africans that were brought over came up with…

GZ: Do you remember to have lived any hard situation that had left one more blues mark on your soul?

I haven’t had a particularly hard life but I have experienced loss, heartbreak, abandonment, joy, pain, disappointment, you name it. Pretty much every emotion of the spectrum has been visited upon me at one time or another. Over the years I have learned to tap into these experiences and channel them through my art.

GZ:At this point in your life what are the things that thrill you and which ones grieve you with regard to life or music in particular?

The greatest thrill in my life right now is fatherhood. Watching my son as he grows into a man has taught me so much about life in general. Children are truly a blessing! I do worry for his future given the current political climate in America and across the globe but we work hard so that we can provide him with the necessary tools to flourish…

What thrills me most about music is that within the 12 tones of Western music lies an unending fountain of knowledge. Add in all the tones that lie between them and it becomes a lifelong journey. I learn something new about music every day!

GZ: How do you overview the Blues in your country among the young people and what is it necessary to do?

I used to worry but as of late I’m seeing more young people embrace the music. Moving forward we must all make it a priority for young people to be exposed to and to know the rich artistic heritage and contributions of we displaced Africans in this part of the world…

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d

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GZ:What’s your opinion of the social networks as a way of spreading music? Facebook groups for instance where people share and publish videos of their favorite artists…

I love Social Media for several reasons: as an artist it’s a powerful platform for cultivating relationships with, exposing my art to, and interacting with thousands of people across the globe. To survive in today’s music industry, one has to embrace if not master these tools…

On the other hand, Social Media has put me back in touch with many people that I had lost contact with over the years. In the past few days I have spoken with friends from my childhood that I’d been out of touch with for decades!

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Con Alma de Blues Magazine

Vince Agwada A soul clinging on the blues...

GZ: Which was your best recording session or the most enjoyable one? Do you have any favorite blues song?

That’s a hard question, I’ve been recording a long time and they’re all fun in one way or another. I, of course, will always remember my first session.

The guy I did it for actually got a record deal based on those tracks and we all thought we were on our way but it never took off.

The sessions for the last album, “Basic Blue”, were quite enjoyable as I didn’t over-rehearse and went for more of a live feel. I think we pulled it off fairly well. Most of my solos on that record are first takes from the studio sessions… It was really nice having a lot of old friends around me.

During the recording of the first album, “Eyes of the City”, I had an all day session in my home studio with Sugar Blue and my good friend Ron Prince. It was a great day. Lot’s of friends stopped by that day and ideas were flying back and forth like crazy. I still have a bunch of tracks from Sugar Blue that didn’t make the record. Perhaps someday I’ll release some of that stuff…

I don’t really have a single favorite Blues song but I am particularly moved Muddy Waters’ stuff from the era of “Walking Blues”, “Louisiana Blues”, “Iodine in my Coffee”, that kind of raw stuff really touches my soul.

GZ:Tell us about your last disc “Basic Blue” Perhaps it’s not for me to say but I like to think that “Basic Blue” documents my evolution as a songwriter, musician and producer in comparison to my first record.

We rehearsed for three months straight for the first record. For “Basic Blue” we had three rehearsals and went in and got it done. I was no less a

perfectionist but far less of a micro-manager that time around!

The record also showcases some of the finest talent that Chicago has to offer. Often outside of their comfort zones which is always a nice place for creativity to flourish…

GZ: What’s your opinion of the actual Blues? Is it faithful to the roots? Or do you think it’s changing and it’s ok?

Blues is a living art form and anything that is living will, naturally, grow and evolve. You have to understand that each successive generation brings something new to the music and contributes to its growth and evolution.

My generation, for instance, in addition to the masters (Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, etc.) were also heavily influenced directly by the generation that followed them, Buddy Guy, Little Milton, etc. We actually played and toured with a lot of those cats! At the same time, we were also heavily influenced by Hendrix, Santana, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page as well as Parliament, Funkadelic, Miles Davis, James Brown, Prince. All of that seeped into the music.

Some Blues purist types seem to think that only a specific era in Blues evolution is valid and anything outside of that gets labeled as something other than Blues.

I would argue that, as an artist, it’s your duty to push the envelope. The only stipulation being that you first thoroughly learn the rules before you start breaking them…

GZ:What are your dreams? And looking ahead, what are you musical plans?

As an artist I dream of and hope for continued inspiration and to reach a wider audience. With my

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

John Marcus, Vince Agwada, Sugar Blue, Kanika Kress, Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy y James Cotton en Rosa's Lounge.

art at some point, I would like to start producing other artists on my fledgling label.

As for my musical plans, I’m wrapping up a new record, which should hit the streets later this year. It’s by far my biggest production to date by far and the manifestation of a career-long dream of mine to work with a string section, which I have on about four songs.

GZ: Thanks a lot for your kindness. To end the interview do you have any advice to those who are making the first steps in music?

Practice, practice, practice and follow your heart!

VINCE AGWADA

Mississippi Heat ... That Eternal Fire

Cab Driving Man is the twelfth album by Mississippi Heat, a standard in ensemble blues since 1991. The band was founded by harp player Pierre Lacocque, and since its humble beginnings, a number of blues stalwarts have been members at one point or another. Alumni include bassist Bob Stroger, guitarists Billy Flynn, Carl Weatherby, Lurrie Bell, John Primer, pianist Barrelhouse Chuck, drummer Allen Kirk and vocalists Mary Lane and Deitra Farr.

By Gustavo Pollo Zungri Editor & Director CADB Magazine

Translation : Mabel Sosa

Their sixth album for Delmark Records, Cab Dr Pierre Lacocque – harmonica, Inetta Visor – vo and vocals, Dave Specter – guitar, Brian Quin and Kenny Smith on drums. Chris “Hambone’ Ca Gordon plays tenor and baritone sax, a

riving Man features a winning lineup of players: ocals, Michael Dotson and Giles Corey – guitars nn and Ricky Nelson – bass, Terrence Williams ameron and Sumito Ariyo tickle the ivories, Sax and Ruben Alvarez handles percussion.

Interview

Mississippi Heat ... That Eternal Fire

P

ierre -- first of all, congratulations on

your CD, "Cab Driving Man.” Here in Argentina, blues lovers were pleasantly surprised by it.

Your last album, “Warning Shot,” was amazing. The new album, “Cab Driving Man,” is even better. We were completely blown away!

Thank you Gustavo, coming from you it means a lot to me.

GZ:How has the blues music and culture influenced your view of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

It has normalized a lot of feelings that I have inside of me, feelings that I didn’t know other people had too. It’s given me a language in which I can express what’s in my soul. It continues to confirm that I have chosen the right musical and artistic paths to grow into.

From a lyrical point of view, blues reflects about life’s challenges and meaning. It can at times be irreverent and less appealing to me, but blues music touches the core of our being.

From a non-verbal point of view, the pre-war and post-war blues tradition has used certain musical notes as part of its vocabulary. And those notes, called “blue notes”, express a human depth that otherwise couldn’t be expressed as specifically.

In terms of my journey as a musician, I continue to marvel at how much can still be created within blues music. I never cease to be amazed that there are melodies and sounds that the harmonica can produce that are fresh and unique. I Photo Daniel Brunner

Interview

cannot understate how much I appreciate blues culture and its history. Its influence on my inspiration is limitless. I am excited because playing and composing songs is a journey that will never have an end.

GZ: Your brother Michel thinks the new record is the most successful one yet from the band.

That’s quite a compliment because he has very much been a part of all 12 Mississippi Heat recordings. Do you think this is the most successful performance as well?

Yes, I think it is. That doesn’t take away from my satisfaction and happiness with previous CDs like “Warning Shot”, “Let’s Live It Up” or “Footprints On the Ceiling.” But this one turned out to be quite an inspiring project for me and for the band. We worked long and hard and rehearsed often. I always asked my band for feedback on my songs. So the band had input which I think made it exciting for everybody.

From the very beginning, Delmark Records felt there was something special about this recording. They gave me the time and resources I needed to make this record as successful as it is.

GZ: How would you describe your music to the people who have never seen you before?

There’s a definite traditional and ensemble feel to the band. We are immersed in the pre-war and post-war blues culture. Our sound mirrors that. At the same time, our material is original and fresh.

There’s passion in what we do. As a bandleader I

would not tolerate musicians going through the motions for a paycheck. I know musicians who have told me, “Pierre, if I don’t get paid much I won’t do my best. I just go through the concert with the least efforts possible.” Believe it or not but quite a few professional musicians have told me that.

Personally, I cannot imagine not playing from my heart, no matter who is in the audience and how much money we are being paid. I always play as if it’s my last gig, as if I may not have this opportunity (and privilege) to do this again. Who knows, something may happen to my health or to my life. So I push my band to play with urgency.

Our music is uplifting, even joyous at times. I am blessed that God has given me a desire to learn and grow with an instrument that is so tiny and looks like a toy. I never get tired of it.

Mississippi Heat ... That Eternal Fire GZ:What's your opinion about the fact that some people think that the blues exclusively belongs to Afro-American musicians? Does the blues have a unique owner or is it universal?

This fundamental question can be asked in other fields as well, like within the Biblical circles and classical music, for example.

Do you have to be a Jewish scholar to best contribute to Old Testament studies? Does the Bible solely belong to Israel, or is it also universal? Or are Christians the only legitimate theologians out there to add worthy scholarly contributions to the New Testament studies?

Within the classical music world, are Austrian or German musicians the only musicians deserving to be heard and appreciated? What about Chinese-American cellist virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma, for instance?

It’s not for me to judge whether blues belongs exclusively to Afro-Americans or not. All I know is that there are extremes among blues critics.

Some are ultra-conservative. Other critics will say that this opinion reflects too narrow a perspective, and miss the universality of that music’s message, regardless of whether the musician one is born black, red, green or white.

At first, Blues was not born to be shared as a universal music. It became that way. It came from the slavery context, the up-rootedness, the suffering, and the humiliation that Afro-Americans experienced. It is not by chance that many blues musicians are Jewish, for instance. They too experienced these things times and times over and over the centuries! As for me, I have found a musical family where I am understood and welcomed.

All I can say is that I play with gratitude and utmost respect for the Afro-American heritage with my heart and with every fiber of my being.

GZ:How did you decide to become a professional musician?

Interview

It evolved without any planning. Music for me is a necessity, not a luxury. The more I played, the more I felt this was the path for me.

Now, did I think I could make a living as a musician or that I would become a bandleader and travel worldwide? No. All I know is that I play because my soul needs it. I need music for my emotional equilibrium. Things evolved around that fact. Family support, my wife, people who knew me and saw me perform continued to tell me “continue… you look so happy on stage.”

I am an introvert by nature. With age and experience I have been able to overcome some of that. But a lot of that introversion remains. I have emotions, feelings from childhood, from my past, that the music helps me work out. Out of nothing I create a melody, and writing lyrics helps put into words certain emotions that I wouldn’t know how to live with otherwise.

GZ: How do you describe the “Cab Driving Man” sound and songbook? What touched you emotionally from the studio sessions?

I am proud of the band. I spent a lot of time on the ensemble’s contribution to the songs. It wasn’t just me asking the band to back me up.

Indeed, a conversation took place between us.

It’s not necessarily a new thing for a Mississippi Heat recording project, but in this case it went particularly well.

What excites me about this band’s lineup for the past 5 years is that we can play any type of songs within the blues genre. Not only the rich Chicago blues which I adore but also Cab Ca-

lloway-type swings, funk or reggaes. They know my musical inclinations and I know theirs. So even before we start a recording I know what songs would be natural for the band to play, and who would do the main contribution on them and do the soloing.

GZ:What do you miss most nowadays about the blues from the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of the blues?

Mississippi Heat ... That Eternal Fire The golden era in Chicago is the 1950s post-war blues. That’s my love. I doubt that it can ever be reproduced. It was magical. Many people came from the South to live in Chicago, whether it was from Mississippi, Arkansas or Louisiana (as in Little Walter’s case). They got together in Chicago and created their own brand of contemporary blues music. Chicago blues developed into different styles from Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Elmore James, Jimmy Rogers, to Bo Diddley. Everybody influenced everybody. Little Walter even did a Bo Diddley song though he never leaned towards that style (“Make It Alright”, c. January 1967). I miss that era. These musicians created variety within blues music, which is what Mississippi Heat is interested in. It’s not just Muddy Waters or Jimmy Rogers that inspire my songs; there are also Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed and Otis Rush, among others.

I wish that was still going on now in Chicago. The Windy City scene has changed even though you still have traditional players and singers like John Primer, Deitra Farr and Lurrie Bell. Nowadays the trend here seems to be more toward R&B than post-war Chicago blues.

Traditional blues is too strong to ever disappear.

I’m not worried about blues music ever dying.

What I am worried about is that some musicians

bypass studying the music and think that a couple of blues chords here and there will get you pure, unadulterated blues. I always say that the blues has a specific “alphabet”, not only musically but more importantly, emotionally. It has notes, phrasings, and expressiveness that are part of its soulful message. Yes, a Rock ‘n Roll guitar player can try to play blues without studying the masters but he or she isn’t going to sound traditional.

Blues is too authentic and universal for it to die.

You can try to run away from it but it will eventually come running back to you.

GZ: Thank you very much Pierre. Hopefully one day we will be lucky enough to have you in Argentina.

Thank for everything you do for us Gustavo. We’d love to come play in Argentina and finally meet you in person!

Thanks !!

Frank Roszak

Coco Montoya announces “Hard Truth” Legendary blues-rock guitarist and vocalist Coco Montoya has announced a major North American Tour in support of his new album, Hard Truth, which is set for a March 24 release. The tour will take the guitar master from Denver to Chicago, from Memphis to New York, from Canada to Florida, with multiple stops along the way, with many more dates to be announced.

Taught by the “Master of the Telecaster,” Albert Collins, and schooled

by John Mayall, Montoya — who cut three successful CDs for Alligator between 2000 and 2007 — has a hard-edged sound and style all his own, mixing his forceful, melodic guitar playing and passionate vocals with memorable songs, delivering the blues’ hardest truths.

On Hard Truth, Montoya unleashes one career-topping performance after another, the music immediately ranking among the best he’s ever recorded. Produced by Tony Braunagel (Eric Burdon, Curtis Salgado, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt), the album features eleven songs, each delivering a hard truth of its own. From the radio-friendly, gospel-inspired celebration of love, I Want To Shout About It, to the haunting Devil Don’t Sleep to the icy-hot cover of Albert Collins’ The Moon Is Full, Hard Truth covers substantial emotional ground. Montoya’s unpredictable guitar playing and smoking soul vocals blend effortlessly with a backing band featuring renowned musicians bassist Bob Glaub (Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Jerry Lee Lewis), keyboardist Mike Finnigan (Jimi Hendrix, Etta James, Taj Mahal), guitarists Billy Watts (Eric Burdon) and Johnny Lee Schell (Bonnie Raitt), and Braunagel on drums. Slide guitar master Lee Roy Parnell guests on Lost In The Bottle.

Montoya earned his status as a master guitarist and soul-powered vocalist through years of paying his dues as a sideman with Albert Collins (first as a drummer) and then as a featured guitarist with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, before launching his solo career in 1993. Five years of constant touring with Collins and ten years with Mayall turned him into a monster player and dynamic performer.

Montoya has released eight previous solo albums to great critical and popular acclaim, and has played at clubs, concert halls and major festivals all over the world. Guitar Player says Montoya plays “stunning, powerhouse blues with a searing tone, emotional soloing, and energetic, unforced vocals.”

Carl Weathersby was born in 1953, in Jackson, Mississippi and moved to East Chicago, Indiana with his family when he was eight. A friend of his father, Albert King, offered some welcome encouragement to Carl and took a liking to the young lad.

Interview

By Richie Ferrao from Uruguay / CADB Magazine Staff The history of the blues is one of a music passed down from one musician to another over successive generations. The core of the music remains the same, but each new generation brings a unique voice. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1953, Weathersby made his way north in the early 1960s with his family to settle in East Chicago, Indiana. After picking up the guitar in his teens, he had an encounter that made an indelible impression and launched him down the well-traveled blues road.

Translation : Mabel Sosa

Interview

T

hank you very much for this interview for Con Alma de Blues community You are very welcome, its my pleasure RF: How was your connection with music in your childhood? Was the guitar your first instrument?

Well let me tell you a lil story‌..I was born in 1953, in Jackson, Mississippi and moved to East Chicago, Indiana with my family when I was eight. I started playing guitar as a teenager. My father always had musician friends stopping by the house. One that used to come by often was this big guy that I only knew as Albert, the mechanic. Albert happened to be watching me practicing some Albert King songs on guitar one day. Carl said he had been practicing this one song called 'Cross Cut Saw,' playing it over and over until he said, 'I think I got it. So I started playing it and this guy said, 'man, that ain't the way that song goes, that ain't the way I played it’. It turned out to be Albert King who proceeded to show this amazed teenager just how it was supposed to be played. King offered some welcome encouragement to me and took a liking to me.

RF: You had a very hard working life and also in the US Army, did these circumstances influence on your music?

Those experiences are what grow the blues in you. I just worked to feed my family, nothing special.

RF: What can you tell us about your experience alongside Albert King? Is there any anecdote of those years?

Those years were my growing years. Remember this was a man that I had come to know and admire as a teenager

RF: Which are or were your musical influences?

The guys that influenced me were the guys that took an early interest in me: Tyrone Davis, Little Milton, Buster Benton and of course Albert King.

RF: How was your entrance into de Sons of Blues group with Billy Branch, and your stay there for more than ten years?

Those years were fun and also the start of some life long friends and associates. A lot of travel. We went all over the world and we were young…lol RF: How does it feel to be a very much requested musician? You’ve taken part in many artists’ albums: Mississippi Heat, Buster Benton, Carey Bell, Nora Jean Bruso, Little Milton, etc.

It feels great to be appreciated by one’s peers.

Truly a blessing to be able to work with the fine musicians that you named.

RF: Would you have liked to play with anyone and it wasn’t possible?

No, I can’t say that there is.

RF: Do you remember how you feel when your disc “Don’t Lay your Blues on Me” was nominated in 1996 for the W.C. Handy Blues Awards?

Interview It was a fantastic feeling. As I said before, its always great when your peers recognize your work.

RF: How do you feel more comfortable, in a recording studio or playing live?

Which one would you choose to recommend us?

The tune that I would recommend is “Leap of Faith”

RF: Do you see that the Blues in USA is evolPlaying live! You get the interaction with the au- ving? Do you believe that the social network dience, which makes you play harder and work and the internet help in the diffusion of the harder. I work hard wherever I play, but that Blues? live audience of appreciative fans I see the rockers trying to make what they play is a feeling like no other the Blues. The Blues is a genre of music, creafeeling ted, written and performed in the language RF: You’ve released a lot of and dialect of the grandchildren of American good records, “Restless Slaves. There is no variation of that. Sure other Feeling”, “Come to music can be influenced by it, BUT it aint the papa”, “I’m Still Blues. Sounds good some of it, but it aint the Standing Blues. And of course social media and the Here” internet help to spread this etc. misconception.

RF: After your car accident in 2010, how could you place again your music into the Blues scene?

God saw me through that and allowed me to resume my career and I am thankful everyday RF: Thank you very much for your time and I’d like to ask you a last reflection about the Blues in this actual globalized world.

My last reflection is that I am so grateful for the Blues lovers in Latin America, who refuse to be confused about the authentic blues. I love you and we are gonna make sure that the Blues is Alright!!!! Thank you so much for having me

Carl Weathersby

nd a B e e L d Floy

K C U L O P JOEL INTERVIEW The Floyd Lee Band formed in 2001 when Mississippi bluesman Floyd Lee (guitar/vocals) teamed up with Canadian guitar player, song writer and producer Joel Poluck while playing in the streets and train stations of New York City. They quickly forged their own sound and style, bringing old and new ideas together. After recording their first album later that same year (Mean Blues), it was released to high acclaim.

Eventually evolving into the classic lineup with veteran bass player Brad Vickers (Pinetop Perkins/Jimmy Rogers/Chuck Berry) and legendary Mississippi drummer Sam Carr (Sonny Boy Williamson/Frank Frost/ Buddy Guy/Eric Clapton) the band went on to record three more albums on the Amogla Records over their 12 year career (Ain't Doin' Nothin' Wrong/Full Moon Lightnin'/Doctors, Devils and Drugs).

Interview & translation MABEL SOSA Co-Director CADB Magazine

The Floyd Lee Band was subject to the feature length documentary “ Full Moon Lightnin'� which went on to be voted the 2009 People's Choice Award for Best Blues DVD of the Year in Living Blues Magazine and garnered top honours in film festivals around the world. Canadian bluesman Joel Poluck talks about Bo Diddley, Robert Lockwood Jr., Floyd Lee, Sam Carr and his blues paths from Clarksdale to NYC and beyond .

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

K C U L O P L E JO Floyd Lee Band

W

hat can you tell us about your first steps into music and especially with the blues? Which was your first instrument and who or what were you influenced by?

Thank you for showing interest in my music and the Floyd Lee Band.

My parents had a ukulele sitting on top of their piano from before I was born. My mom played the piano but nobody ever played the ukulele.

As a kid I thought I could make anything sound good come out of it that it would be a great accomplishment. My grandparents had the 45 of Elvis Presley’s King Creole and I would try and imitate the opening riff. Scotty Moore was just as cool to me as Elvis was. They played Elvis movies on tv all the time. This was when I was around 5 and 6 years old.

Joel Poluck, Floyd Lee and Brad Vickers in New York City

I didn’t understand blues as a kid and even starting to play guitar at 16 and 17 years old it was difficult to grasp. It was this mysterious music I noodled around with while learning the hits of the day. I’d see BB King on tv growing up so I was at least aware of the blues. Not until I moved to California at the age of 23 did I dedicate myself to mostly playing blues. I was always attracted to stringed instruments… guitars, pedal steel, cello.

Traditional music really stood out to me and the production of those early recordings of the 1950’s… western swing, early rock and blues.

MS: Let’s speak about the Floyd Lee Band. How did you meet? How were those first times as a band?

I met Floyd in a train station in New York City. I was on my way to audition for a band and I ran

into Floyd playing at the 34th street station. My girlfriend Nella had first met him on a train on the way to Grand Central station. He told her he was the last of the real Mississippi bluesmen.

I just listened to him play and took his card. I didn’t have the nerve to talk to him then. Later on I called him on the phone to ask where he was playing next. Time’s Square station. I went down and stood in the crowd then Floyd walked up and handed his guitar to me. How he knew it was me that called and that I played guitar I don’t know. He said he picked up a vibe. We played a few Jimmy Reed songs and Little Walter’s “Last Night” before a line of New York City cops walked up and shut us down. This was February of 2001… Black history month.

Floyd asked me how a young white guy could play like a black man. I understood Floyd’s style and worked my guitar playing in with his which gave the whole thing a stronger feel without messing things up. Over the next six months we formed a band around us and wrote and recorded our first cd, “Mean Blues” which included our songs, “Down In Lamar”(about Floyd’s birthplace in Mississippi), Devil at Your Doorstep (the first song I wrote), and “How Low Can You Go?”. I wro-

te mostly about our own experiences. Floyd and I had many discussions covering many topics so we had a lot to write about. We felt invisible in NYC and wanted to express our thoughts and feelings in our songs. The music gave people a glimpse into the past and the lyrics let people know how we felt in the present. Floyd was the messenger, strong and full of emotion. You felt and believed everything he sang.

MS: Tell us about your work. What is Full Moon Lightnin’ about?

We recorded our next cd, “Ain’t Doin’ Nothin’ Wrong in 2002 while still playing in the train stations and street festivals around New York City.

The band was becoming more finely tuned and bass player Brad Vickers was staying on board for whatever was ahead. Brad had played with Chuck Berry, Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers previously so we were glad to have him. His style fit perfectly with ours and we all got along like brothers.

I was contacted by a photographer named E.J. Schlup who was an ex-biker who had injured his back. He was driving down to Clarksdale Missis-

K C U L O P L E JO Floyd Lee Band sippi and wanted to see if Floyd and I wanted to come for the ride and go splits on gas. He also mentioned he knew a drummer down there that we should meet. Floyd was born in 1933 in Lamar Mississippi. He spent the winter months living in Memphis (just off Beale Street) going to school and chopped cotton in Mississippi in the summer with his adopted mother. When picking cotton, Floyd made a game out of it with the other children who could fill up their bag the fastest. He was sent to Chicago on a train at the age of ten with a sign around his neck to live with relatives. Traveling back down south gave us the opportunity to see if we could track down any of his family that was left. He hadn’t been back in sixty years and had lost touch with everybody.

Just Floyd, Sam and myself.

When Floyd and I returned to New York City I played the song for a filmmaker we had just met named John Gardiner. After hearing it he wanted to travel back down South and film a documentary with us about where the blues comes from.

Three months later we headed back to Mississippi with Brad along this time and a full film crew. Over the next 4 or 5 years they followed us around to music festivals, recording studios, the streets of NYC and juke joints throughout the South which all turned into the documentary “Full Moon Lightnin’.” During the filming we were still looking for Floyd’s lost family and it was during that same time I lost my girlfriend to ovarian cancer.

Although not widely distributed it was shown in many film festivals around the US and Canada, winning a few best in fest awards and named When we got there, Sam Carr (the drummer E.J. 2009 Blues DVD of the Year in Living Blues knew) drove into town to hang out with us. We magazine (reader’s choice). It’s yet to be seen all got along great and Floyd and I asked him anywhere else. That whole time period took to join our band. Sam said Floyd reminded him its toll on us as well as the filmmaker. It’s of Sonny Boy Williamson so he was excited to been ten years now since filming ended play. The next day we went into a little recording and it’s still a bit too much emotionally for studio in the back of a music shop and recorded us to watch or promote. a few tunes, including the song Full Moon Lightnin’ which I had just written on the way down.

MS: What do you think is more important… to lay correctly, to leave a message, to repeat those old songs or to create new styles?

To play correctly to me would be like playing in a cover band. That would get boring very fast. I don’t feel we necessarily had a message but we definitely wanted to write songs about our own feelings and what

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

INTERVIEW

was happening in our lives at the time. I would be very self-conscious about that before releasing every cd and always waited a month or so before letting anyone hear what we recorded. Writing personal lyrics and releasing them to the public is a very unnatural thing to do.

Playing a Jimmy Reed tune here and there gave Floyd great joy though since it would bring back good memories of sitting in with him in the late 1950’s and early 60’s. We both had our heroes but we could never sound quite like them.

Floyd and I had a way of playing together that never sounded quite right but it felt right. I always said, “If it sounds right we’re doing it all wrong.”

MS: What are your best memories of being on tour and who has the band shared the stage with?

The thing that sticks with me about when we went on tour was how well we got along with each other. We always had a good time together and always a lot of action and excitement wherever we went. We all looked out for each other. The time when it was Floyd, Brad, Sam and myself were the best of times. We’d sit in Sam’s living room listening to old Robert Nighthawk recordings in the evening in Dundee Mississippi.

We were all on the same page. I wish it had lasted longer. We would be playing in Penn Station in New York city one night then performing in a castle in Switzerland the next.

We shared the stage with a lot of great musicians like Willie Smith and Bob Stroger, Hubert Sumlin, Cary Bell, Anson Funderburgh and Sam Myers, Nick Curran. We’d play the juke joints in Mississippi with T-Model Ford, Big Jack Johnson, Cedel Davis, and Robert Belfour. In the NYC train stations, it was Carolina Slim, Lester Shultz and Alice Ridley. Alice had a powerful voice and didn’t need a microphone when she sat in with us.

K C U L O P L E JO Floyd Lee Band MS: What do you think of the actual blues? Is it faithful to the roots or is it changing and it’s okay?

If the blues stayed the same eventually everyone would get very bored. It’s okay to get nostalgic and have your heroes but you need to put your own spin on things. Maybe no one will like your spin but you must take that risk. Blues is never going to be as it was. Times have changed and people have changed. You can learn from the past but you aren’t coming from the same place or have had the same experiences. You can try and fool the tourists but a cartoon version of the past is just that.

MS: Let’s have a dream, if you could choose a musician to have a chat with, who would it be? What would you ask him/her?

I’ve had dreams where Jimi Hendrix would give me advice and show me a few things on the guitar. It would have been great to have a real conversation with him. He had a deeper way of looking at the world than most and was way beyond his years in his thinking.

I always liked talking to older musicians and listening to what they would say about the past and eras long gone. Sam Carr would tell me about his father, Robert Nighthawk and Sonny Boy Williamson and what it was like living in the segregated South. Producer Bobby Robinson would tell me stories about Elmore James, recording The Sky Is Crying with him and running his record labels. Floyd would tell me about his childhood in Mississippi in the 1930’s, moving to Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit in the early 1940’s, opening for Little Stevie Wonder and the Supremes playing guitar with Jimmy Reed…

being in reform school with boxing promoter Don King. Bob Stroger would tell me about Muddy Waters and the club scene in Chicago in the 1950’s. Robert Lockwood would refer to Sam as Robert’s boy and tell stories of Little Walter and boxer Sugar Ray Robinson. I would have liked to talk to Robert Johnson or Son House.

Some things are best left a mystery. A few people I have met, like Scotty Moore and Les Paul, I didn’t ask them anything. It was a thrill just to meet them since I knew so much about them anyways.

MS: What are your projects Joel?

With things ending with Floyd due to his memory loss it’s been tough to move forward. I was fully committed to the Floyd Lee Band for over twelve years. I felt for a long time to do anything else would be disloyal. I’ve written a lot of material in the past few years and will soon have to do something with it. Instrumentals? Music for movies? Something. I would like to document everything we did over those twelve years at some point to try and make sense of it all.

MS: Any advice for the young blues musicians?

I’m sure the young blues players could give me advice. Get out there and do your thing. Do what feels right to you and keep learning. Be inspired and don’t be intimidated by all the great players out there. Go meet people and travel. You’re not going to learn everything just on your computer Joel Poluck

Robert Cray recording at Royal Studios with Hi Rhythm Robert Cray Teams with Hi Rhythm and Steve Jordan for Memphis Soul Album Out April 28 on Jay-Vee Records

Steve Jordan is proud to announce the signing of Robert Cray to Jay-Vee Records, the label he and Meegan Voss founded in 2010. Produced by Jordan, Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm will be released in Spring, 2017.

“The signing of Robert Cray to Jay-Vee Records is a milestone for Meegan and me,” says Jordan, who first worked with Cray in 1996 on the Grammy winning album, Take Your Shoes Off. “Robert is one of the greatest artists of this generation. To have an opportunity to work with him again, and to have him on our label, is a dream come true.”

Recorded at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studios in Memphis, the album features a backing band of Jordan and the legendary Hi Rhythm: Charles Hodges (organ, piano), Leroy Hodges (bass) and Archie “Hubby” Turner (keyboards).

“Playing with Charles, Leroy and Hubby – the same cats who played on all the Al Green, Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright and Syl Johnson albums on Hi Records – was a thrill beyond. Robert and I were grinning from ear to ear.”

EW I V ER

T

IN

By Gustavo Pollo Zungri Editor & Director CADB Magazine Translation:

Mabel Sosa

The Guardian of the History Robert Mugge is, doubtless, one of the most important and prolific filmakers and documentalists of the history of music. He is the author of many documentaries about the Mississippi Delta Blues such as Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads. Robert Mugge has recorded his documentaries at the barrelhouses and juke joints, where bluesmen used to exhibit their music at the end of the Civil War. On the stages of those places the blues found a very important space to develop.

W

e’ve learnt a lot through your films and documentaries so it’s surely an enriching interview for Latin America, and we thank you in advance from “Con Alma de Blues Magazine”

relevant was the fact that, perhaps sixty feet away, police were arresting another black man and placing him in the back of a paddy wagon. So, we filmed both events simultaneously, as if one were providing musical accompaniment for the other.

It’s my pleasure, Gustavo.

My next film, SUN RA: A JOYFUL NOISE, took nearly two years to produce. I shot most GZ:Your filming passion didn’t start with of it in 1978, essentially without funding, then music but in 1976 there was a change through spent another year and a half trying to find various musical documentaries, and a deep money to complete it. For some reason, no idyll with the blues started from that moment. one wanted to back a portrait of a visionary How did this love to this beautiful genre start? jazz musician who claimed to be from Saturn. But in the spring of 1980, I finally secuYes, in 1976, I produced GEORGE red enough money to finish it. And that film’s CRUMB: VOICE OF THE WHALE, a portrait eventual success is what let to my having a of avant-garde composer George Crumb. Not career as a so-called “music filmmaker.” only was it my first “music film,” but also the For the rest of the 1980s, I made films concerfirst film I made after leaving grad school. I ning one musical genre after another: BLACK then spent all of 1977 creating AMATEUR WAX with Gil Scott-Heron in 1982; COOL NIGHT AT CITY HALL, a RUNNINGS: THE REGGAE MOVIE (shot portrait of Philadelphia’s law-and-order mayor at Sunsplash in Jamaica) in 1983; GOSPEL Frank L. Rizzo, releasing it in early 1978. BeACCORDING TO AL GREEN in 1984; THE lieve it or not, although the film’s subject was RETURN OF RUBÉN BLADES in 1985; SApolitical, it included the first blues perforXOPHONE COLOSSUS with Sonny Rollins in mance I ever filmed. The way that happened 1986; HAWAIIAN RAINBOW (about Hawaiis as followed: One day, my crew and I were ian music) in 1987; ENTERTAINING THE walking through Center City Philadelphia and TROOPS (about performers who entertained stumbled upon black singer and harp player Allied troops in World War II) in 1988; and Charlie Sayles playing on the street for spare KUMU HULA: KEEPERS OF A CULTURE change. The song he was singing, “The Man,” (about Hawaiian dance) in 1989. Along the addressed police brutality against African way, I often considered making a film about Americans, which perfectly fit the themes of Mississippi blues, but I wasn’t sure how to go my film. And making the situation even more about it. Then, in 1990, I was hired to direct

Filmed from 1978 to 1980, Robert Mugge’s Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise serves not only as a performance film, but as a record of the famous composer-keyboardist-bandleader’s truly and purposefully odd personal and professional life.

Robert Mugge in 1978.

All photos are courtesy of Robert Mugge.

what became DEEP BLUES, and doing so changed my life forever.

As you imply, since making my first blues film, I have returned to that subject again and again. On the one hand, I have made lots of additional blues films, from PRIDE AND JOY: THE STORY OF ALLIGATOR RECORDS in 1992, to HELLHOUNDS ON MY TRAIL: THE AFTERLIFE OF ROBERT JOHNSON in 1999, to LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES in 2003, to DEEP SEA BLUES in 2007, to BIG SHOES: WALKING AND TALKING THE BLUES in 2010, to ALL JAMS ON DECK and ELVIN BISHOP’S RAISIN’ HELL REVIEW in 2011. On the other hand, I have made

many other films that either incorporate blues performances or else focus on genres related to the blues, among them THE KINGDOM OF ZYDECO, GATHER AT THE RIVER: A BLUEGRASS CELEBRATION, and TRUE BELIEVERS: THE MUSICAL FAMILY OF ROUNDER RECORDS, all released in 1994; IGUANAS IN THE HOUSE in 1996; RHYTHM ‘N’ BAYOUS: A ROAD MAP TO LOUISIANA MUSIC in 2000; NEW ORLEANS MUSIC IN EXILE in 2006; GIVING UP THE GHOSTS: CLOSING TIME AT DOC’S MUSIC HALL in 2014; and ZYDECO CROSSROADS: A TALE OF TWO CITIES and ROSIE’S IN THE HOUSE TONIGHT in 2015.

As everyone knows, blues helped to lay the foundation for all forms of traditional music which took root in North America. So, it seems logical that, increasingly, I would find myself interested not only in the many roots and branches of the blues itself, but also in other forms of music that have been influenced by the blues. The evidence of that interest can be found in the films themselves.

GZ:You’ve worked as an independent producer-director-writer-editor for more than four decades. How did you manage to get funding for your TV and film projects?

Early on, starting when I was still in school, I managed to secure a couple of filmmaking grants from the U.S. government. But I quickly saw that, to survive as an independent filmmaker, I would have to find many different sources of funding, and that they likely would change from project to project. Since those earliest years, I have been funded by American and foreign television channels, home video companies, record companies, theatrical distributors, investors, private foundations, state governments, and more. My first steady funder was Britain’s Channel Four Television which gave me full funding for BLACK WAX, GOSPEL ACCORDING TO AL GREEN, and THE RETURN OF RUBEN BLADES, and partial funding for SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS with Sonny Rollins and DEEP BLUES. A few years later, BMG Video (now defunct) gave me the primary funding needed for PRIDE AND JOY: THE STORY OF ALLIGATOR RECORDS, GATHER AT THE RIVER: A BLUEGRASS CELEBRATION, THE KINGDOM OF ZYDECO, and TRUE BELIEVERS: THE MUSICAL FAMILY OF ROUNDER RECORDS. Then, several years after that, STARZ ENTERTAINMENT GROUP provided full

funding for LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES and NEW ORLEANS MUSIC IN EXILE, while also acquiring BLUES DIVAS in between. In short, I’ve been happy to work with any company or organization that has shared my interests and permitted me to retain ownership of, or at least primary control over, my own work.

GZ: DEEP BLUES is a 91 minutes length exploration on the Mississippi Blues made with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Channel 4 from Great Britain funds with the collaboration of music writer Robert Palmer. How was that experience? Do you have any anecdote or extra remark with any other musician from the documentary?

In early 1990, Eileen Gregory, a close associate of Dave Stewart of the British rock group Eurythmics, approached me about directing a film on Mississippi blues. She told me that, growing up in the North of England, Dave had, through a cousin in Memphis, been very influenced by the music of Memphis and Mississippi, and now he wanted to “give something back.” He had approached music writer Robert “Bob” Palmer, the author of the seminal book Deep Blues, and asked him to collaborate on a film that would document assorted blues of that region. Bob told Dave and Eileen that, if they could get me to direct it, he would

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

work with us. So, I was fortunate to be hired for what turned out to be an extremely demanding, yet also quite rewarding, project.

In the early fall of that year, Eileen, Bob, Bob’s girlfriend, and I made a weeklong trip through Memphis and Mississippi, scouting locations, meeting with artists, and making arrangements for the weeks of shooting then being planned. We returned roughly a month later with camera, lighting, audio, and music recording people in what became a caravan of vehicles moving from Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Arkansas to the Hill Country of North Mississippi, and then to various parts of the Mississippi Delta. As you know, the artists we filmed (Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Big Jack Johnson, Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes, Jack Owens and Bud Spires, and others) were then virtually unknown outside of that region. But thanks to our film, our soundtrack album, and subsequent releases by the new record label Fat Possum (some of those first releases produced by Bob Palmer himself), many of them got to be extremely well-known for the rest of their lives.

ConRobert Boozoo Chavis en The Kingdom of Zydeco Mugge and Boozoo Chavis

Robert withdurante Jack Owens during thedefilming Deep Con JackMugge Owens la filmación DeepofBlues.

Al Green and Robert Mugge at the October 25, 1985 American theatrical premiere of GOSPEL ACCORDING TO AL GREEN at the Coolidge Corner in Brookline, MA. Photo by Justin Freed.

Me with singer Irma Thomas and actor Morgan Freeman (at Madidi, Morgan Freeman’s and Bill Luckett’s former French restaurant) in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 2004 while we were shooting the interviews for BLUES DIVAS (photographer: Dick Waterman).

Perhaps the most memorable part of the project was traveling to Bentonia, Mississippi to film the so-called “devil blues,” first performed by the legendary Skip James, Henry Stuckey, and others, and currently being covered by guitarist Jack Owens with harp player Bud Spires. When we filmed Jack and Bud in the fall of 1990, it was a beautiful sunny day, Jack was in good voice, and everything went beautifully. Or so we thought. After we returned home from the shoot, my film lab phoned to report something had gone terribly wrong with footage from one of the scenes. As I soon learned, everything shot in Bentonia was overlaid with a bright orange light, as if the scenes were immersed in hell fire. Now, this is similar to what happens when film is inadvertently exposed to light prior to the footage being processed, but my camera assistants swore that nothing like that had happened. At any rate, those scenes, and those scenes alone, were ruined, almost as if they had been purposely set aflame.

Fortunately, Eileen had purchased what is called “negative insurance,” and that gave us the money we needed to return to Bentonia for a reshoot in early 1991. This time, though, the weather was awful, and Jack’s voice was raspy due to a cold. In addition, my sound man’s recorder was at the shop being repaired. So, we had to use a recorder from a rental house, which can sometimes be risky.

The reshoot itself went reasonably well, with Jack and Bud giving a decent performance, though not as amazing as the one they’d given before. In addition, when we got this new batch of footage back, we found that one of the two stereo heads on the audio recorder had been bad, causing Jack’s already raspy voice to distort on occasion. Cutting around the worst of the audio, I did edit together an effective, two-song sequence for the film. In addition, for the soundtrack CD, we used the earlier, superior take of Jack’s song “The Devil.” But if there’s one thing we learned during these repeated trips to Bentonia: one should never underestimate the power of the Devil in rural Mississippi.

Morgan Freeman delivering his introduction for the film version of BLUES DIVAS in front of Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi in early 2005 (photographer: Robert Mugge).

For the record, Dave Stewart paid for the making of DEEP BLUES out of his own pocket because, as he said, he wanted to “give something back” to the artists who had influenced him while growing up. Ultimately, Britain’s Channel Four Television did agree to provide about a fifth of our budget in return for British TV rights. But Dave picked up the rest of the costs himself, for which my crew and I will be eternally grateful.

I should also mention that none of us ever intended to make a film version of Bob Palmer’s book. The film ended up with the same name only because, early on, Eileen proposed a title for the film which I didn’t like; and since I rejected her title, she would never approve any of my own suggestions. As a result, as my editing was nearing completion, I went to Bob and asked if he’d mind our borrowing the title of his book, because I assumed it was the only one on which we all could agree. Bob said yes, and that’s how the film got its title.

GZ: We’ll publish on this issue the numberless quantity of the titles you’ve filmed.

Which one is your most special work and why?

I really can’t pick a favorite of my own films. With each one, I’ve sought to accomplish different things, and I’ve always been pleased with the results. However, if one film of mine perfectly represents what I try to do with my work, that film would be GOSPEL ACCORDING TO AL GREEN. To my mind, it does three key things: it captures a great artist at the peak of his powers; it explores important themes (in this case, the connections between soul music and gospel); and it tells a dramatic story. [As it happens, I’ve just finished remastering that film, and MVD Visual will rerelease it worldwide on Blu-ray and DVD this coming spring.

GZ: Who is your musical hero, speaking about can you tell us about this programme? art and as life example?

From July of 2003 through August of 2005, I worked as a Filmmaker in Residence, first I have so many musical heroes, I feel silly men- for Mississippi Public Broadcasting, and then tioning any at all. They range from jazz greats for its Foundation. While there, I generated Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie several blues-related projects. The first involHoliday; to composers George Gershwin, ved my shooting a major concert at legendary Cole Porter, and Stephen Sondheim; to sinClub Ebony in Indianola, Mississippi, out of ger-songwriters Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and which I produced two films: A NIGHT AT Leonard Cohen; to blues legends Muddy WaCLUB EBONY and THE ROAD HOME: B.B. ters, Howlin’ Wolf, and B.B. King. But I’m also KING IN INDIANOLA. The second project incredibly grateful to have been able to work involved my creating thirteen 60-second films with the likes of Sonny Rollins and Sun Ra, Gil about Mississippi blues culture which I titled Scott-Heron and Rubén Blades, Al Green and BLUES BREAKS. But my third effort - really Otis Clay, Odetta and Koko Taylor, Dr. John two projects shot simultaneously - was the and Doc Watson, Beau Jocque and Boozoo most ambitious of the bunch.

Chavis, and so many more. In fact, I’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of brilliant Just before coming to MPB, I had worked artists, some of them well-known and others with actor Morgan Freeman and attorney Bill barely known at all. But all have given me joy, Luckett - the owners of Ground Zero Blues and I hope I’ve given them valuable exposure Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi - for my film in return. In addition, some of the artists with LAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI JUKES. In fact, whom I’ve worked most often - New Orleans their club (along with Jimmy King’s Subway soul queen Irma Thomas, the late singer-sonLounge in Jackson, Mississippi) was a central gwriter Bill Morrissey, and Mississippi bluesfocus of the film. But now, I proposed worman Vasti Jackson - have become close friends king with Bill and Morgan on an even bigger of mine as well.. project - one that would involve staging concerts at Ground Zero Blues Club featuring GZ:Thanks to the internet we could enjoy the eight major female blues artists, and having television series “Blues Divas”. How was it Morgan conduct interviews with each of them to work with Morgan Freeman and leading at Madidi, Bill and Morgan’s nearby French figures as Odetta, Irma Thomas, etc? What restaurant. I would then edit the resulting foo-

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

tage into a two-hour film, an eight-hour public television series, and eight long form portraits intended for home video release. The artists selected were Odetta, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, Bettye LaVette, Ann Peebles, Denise LaSalle, Deborah Coleman, and Renée Austin, all of them brought to Clarksdale from around the country.

Knowing we would film those eight concerts and interviews on a particular Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Clarksdale, Mississippi, I also proposed that, on the preceding Thursday, we film the annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards celebration (now called simply the Blues Awards) in nearby Memphis, Tennessee. This would mean our using the same crew to shoot an additional two-hour film as well - one titled MEMPHIS BLUES AGAIN: THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY W.C. HANDY BLUES AWARDS - which, like the various versions of BLUES DIVAS, could be distributed worldwide.

Happily, the shooting and editing of both productions came off without a hitch, and Morgan, Bill, and the assorted divas were all delightful collaborators. In fact, Morgan proved to be a superb interviewer and he loved inter-

In 1991, Robert Mugge made the documentary Deep Blues, with the help of journalist Robert Palmer, who wrote the book of the same name, and David Stewart of the Eurythmics.

viewing these talented female singers and musicians, almost as much as they loved simply being in his presence.

Shortly after I finished the two-hour film version of BLUES DIVAS, my friends at Starz purchased U.S. television rights. Next, Mississippi Public Broadcasting aired the eight-hour series version and distributed it to other public TV stations around the U.S. Unfortunately, rights issues prevented the wide release of most of the other aforementioned films I made for MPB and its Foundation. However, two years ago, I made a deal with an American home video company called MVD Entertainment Group to release or rerelease as many of my films as possible around the world and, together, we have so far released twenty of them, with two more (GOSPEL ACCORDING TO AL GREEN and SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS) scheduled to come out this spring. In addition, we are now negotiating with Mississippi Public Broadcasting to be able to release all versions of BLUES DIVAS worldwide, and once those negotiations are completed, we hope to arrange the release of the other films I made for MPB as well.

GZ: Do you feel that you’ve had a very important contribution to the American musical culture, are you satisfied? Or do you think that there is still a lot to do?

What I have, or have not, accomplished with

my films is for others to decide. All I can say is that, from the beginning, I have considered it a personal mission to promote the work of musical artists who are ignored by the corporate entertainment industry, and to preserve such work for the future. Naturally, I have neither the time nor the resources to document everything and everyone of interest, but I do what I can. I also do my best to spotlight all the different groups which support traditional forms of music, be it clubs and jukes, music festivals, music cruises, independent record labels, public radio stations, or assorted others. Beyond that, I try to tell interesting stories and to explore pertinent themes, because I want my films to provide the richest possible experiences for viewers. Finally, more

than perhaps any other filmmaker, I present complete songs in my films, not only out or respect for the artists, but also because each and every song tells a story of its own, and I see it as my obligation to tell such stories fully and accurately.

GZ: Do you know that you have greatly blessed us in Argentina and South American countries with your work? On behalf of the many blues fans we want to cheer you and thank you endlessly!

I’m very pleased if my films have reached music fans in Argentina and elsewhere in Central and South America, because I’ve tried to make their appeal as universal as possible. I also appreciate your excellent magazine allowing me to speak directly to its readers. Should some of them wish to seek out the films I’ve just mentioned, here is one place they can do so: https://www.amazon.com.mx I also hope your readers feel free to explore my website, where they can view excerpts from nearly every film I’ve made (http://www.robertmugge.com/index.html) or my Facebook page where I regularly post clips, news about screenings, and a lot more (https://www.facebook. com/robert.mugge.3).

Finally, Gustavo, I want to thank you for honoring me with this interview. As I said before, it has been my pleasure.

Robert Mugge

Thanks Robert!

BRUCE EWAN INTERVIEW

Harmonica player Bruce Ewan is respected as a blues musician in his native town of Washington, DC, where he has been active musically for more than 25 years and has been called “a harmonica wizard” by the Washington Post.

Since 1995, Mr. Ewan has been part of the international blues scene as well, touring Europe and Latin America to great acclaim. In 2003, he and his brother, guitarist Bobby Radcliff, played the Granada Jazz Festival, accompanied by The Blues Blasters, widely regarded as Spain’s top blues band. In the United States, Mr. Ewan has shared the stage with artists like John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, and Carey Bell; recorded with Big Joe & the Dynaflows, and performed in venues from New York to Florida. He has also made joint appearances with his older brother, blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff.

Mr. Ewan’s virtuosity on the harmonica stands out among his peers and competitors. He plays complex solos that combine flurries of notes, changes of tonality, and a keen sense of timing. Thoroughly schooled in the history and traditions of the blues in general and the blues harp in particular, he is a master of both diatonic and chromatic harmonica. His vocals, too, are faithful to the subtleties and nuances of authentic-sounding blues.

Mr. Ewan’s repertoire is not limited to a rotation of the most common or clichéd blues. Instead, he reaches deep into the blues heritage for an intriguing blend of obscure as well as familiar blues tunes originated by great blues harmonica players. He especially prides himself on his work on the chromatic harmonica, augmenting the “Chicago style” of Little Walter and George “Harmonica” Smith with jazzy inflections.

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

Interview & Translation

MABEL SOSA Co-Directora CADB Magazine

BRUCE EWAN H

ow are you Bruce!, We are very pleased to have this interview for our Magazine “Con Alma de Blues” MS: We’d like to know about your earliest contact with music. Was the Blues your first choice?

My father was a jazz pianist in the “Ley Seca” (prohibition era) in the EEUU and my older brother is blues guitarist Bobby Radcliff, so I had contact with both jazz music and blues/rock n’ roll when I was very young!

MS: Was the harmonica your first instrument?

Why did you choose it?

Yes, harmonica was my first and only instrument! I began to play when I was 14 years old.

It is my favorite instrument because the sound is so close to you and it is so personal. You have to create and shape the sound and it comes from the heart. I feel that this is how I express myself and my feelings in a non-verbal way. I am still learning new things and creating new expressions of myself after playing for 45 years!

MS: How were those times living in Washington and trying to start a musical career?

My city was a very very good scene for blues music in the 1970’s. Many Chicago bluesmen and Delta blues artists came to play and live in Washington: Mississippi John Hurt, John Jackson, Arthur “Big Boy” Cruddup, J.B. Hutto and Bobby Parker. The Smithsonian had a big Folklife Festival every summer where the blues artists would play every day for a week, and play in the local nightclubs every night. It was free and from

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

the age of 14 I saw some masters up close and personal. This was a gigantic influence and I was very lucky. Artists like Big Walter Horton, Johnny Shines, Hound Dog Taylor, Jimmy Dawkins, Harmonica Frank Floyd, Sunnyland Slim, Big Mojo Elam, SP Leary, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Carey Bell, Houston Stackhouse, Sam Lay and many many others.

Also, the clubs in Washington had many blues artists coming to perform very frequently from Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Mighty Joe Young, Muddy Waters, BB King, Albert King, Freddy King and I saw all of them before I was 18 years old! I used to sneak into nightclubs with a false identification because I was too young!

MS: Your brother, Bobby Radcliff is a well known blues guitarist. How is your relationship as brothers and musical partners in some occasions?

We are very close and he gave me my first professional opportunity when I was 18 playing clubs in Washington. He has been living in New York since 1977. We have played together in many situations – New York (live recording at the famous Blue Note) blues festivals in Washington, the Kennedy Center, and we were the top artists for the Aguasblues Festival in Mexico and the Granada Jazz & Blues Festival in Almunecar, Spain.

MS: For us the Blues is a deep soul feeling, do you agree? What’s your favorite Blues style and why?

BRUCE EWAN

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

I agree. If you don’t have deep soul feeling then you can’t play the blues!! I like many styles of “blues”. It’s a very diverse genre of music. My first love is Chicago blues because that was my first exposure to blues. But, I love Chicago blues, Delta blues, “Swamp Blues (Excello records)”, Jump & Swing Blues (like Count Basie, Roy Brown, Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris and others) and I have been heavily influenced by jazz artists who played blues in their repertoire such as Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Coleman Hawkins and Thelonious Monk to name just a few!

MS: Who were those who inspired you to play blues? Surely you’ve got great memories with any of them; which one would you like to share with us?

The first blues artist I saw live was BB King when I was 14! He was and will always be “The King of the Blues!” I saw him countless times over the next 40 years and he was always fantastic. I think my memories of seeing Big Walter Horton when I was 18 was unforgettable. I saw him play at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival during the day and at night followed him to a nightclub. He was the best! Nobody could get his sound! I also saw James Cotton in his best years! He was an unbelievable showman and would play “The Creeper Creeps Again” out in the audience with a 500 foot cable for a half hour! Carey Bell was another great harp player that I saw many times. His guitarist for many years is in my band now – Steve “Baby Jake” Jacobs. Finally, one of my favorite memories is hearing Muddy Waters and The Fabulous Thunderbirds in Austin, Texas in 1978.

They played together and brought up Lou Ann Barton, Angela Strehli and Marcia Ball. The

Washington, DC band The Nighthawks were a big influence on me and the harp player Mark Wenner was my mentor. They played with all the major blues artists and even brought many of them to Washington.

MS: What’s your opinion of the actual Blues music: is it true to the roots of the genre or it’s changing?

It is and always has been changing. I believe that it’s like any music form, some musicians calling themselves “blues artists” are true to the core values and feeling and there are many from all over the world who are really fantastic. However, there are many who are just rock musicians masquerading or claiming to be blues musicians. It’s always been that way! I think the blues has to evolve or it will become a dinosaur – a lot like what happened to New Orleans Jazz and what became “Dixieland.”

I mean, we have to put some new ideas – within the boundaries. For example, I have recorded a project mixing Latin, Afro-Cuban, Tango and Brazilian music into blues. It’s called “Bluesero” and I hope to put this out really soon.

MS: Your disc “Mississippi Saxophone” is a recorded experience with Brazilian musician André Christovam and his trio. Tell us about that moment in your life.

This was a life-changing moment for me. You must understand that in the US, no record company would sign or record me. Then, I made contact with André Christovam and he got me a record deal with Movie Play do Brasil, which is a pretty large company. I think that André and his band were fantastic to play with and they are top musicians. I am very proud of this effort to this day! I went to play all over Brazil many times and because of this recording, it got good reviews and I was on national Brazilian television, radio and the

BRUCE EWAN largest newspapers. It sold many copies all over the world: people in Europe, Mexico and South African bought this cd It is still selling online!!!

MS: In 2002 you took part with Miguel Vilanova and his band in a tour in Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe. How was that experience and how did you feel with the argentine audience? By the way the cd of the show recorded in Rio Cuarto is great!

Miguel is one of my favorite blues guitarists! You have to remember, my older brother is one of the best and I believe Miguel is too. He has amazing feeling and tone and he knows a lot about the history of the blues and he can play great electric or acoustic. He has his own sound. The CD Live in Rio IV was not actually intended to be released, but after we heard the tape from the sound board, Miguel and I both agreed that it was what we call a “keeper!” so we put it out. Great band with Juan Rodriquez on drums and Sergio Arias on bass (he is an excellent guitarist, too!)

MS: What’s your opinion about the blues in Argentina and of our local musicians?

First of all, Argentina is the first country that I ever played outside the US in 1995. It is STILL MY FAVORITE COUNTRY TO PLAY THE BLUES – OK?!! The audiences from B.A., Cordoba, Santa

Fe, Mendoza, Rio IV, Ushuaia, Rosario, Villa Maria, Neuquén and Rio Grande are the best! They made me feel something special and I was not accustomed to getting this kind of respect from my own country. Argentina is the home to some of the best blues musicians such as Miguel “Don Villanova”, Daniel Raffo, Blind Willy Iglesias, Adrian Jimenez, Sandra Vazquez, Black and Blues (great female blues vocalists) and one of the greatest – Pappo!! I played with Pappo in both Argentina and with my band in Washington. There will never be anyone like him. He had an amazing presence and deep sound. He could play anything. The audience in Washington was astounded when he

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

more/Richmond area. The summer is when we play lots of festivals and conciertos al aire libre in the parks.

MS: What are your upcoming projects?

played with my band! Unforgettable experience!

I hope he’s playing to the angels up in heaven! A true “personaje!”

MS: Tell us about the musicians who had taken part in your band, who are actually with you and where do you use to play?

I have a wonderful band here in Washington.

Since 2009 on guitar Steve “Baby Jake” Jacobs has been with me and he’s one of the best! My bassist is Steve Shaw who has been playing with me since the 1970’s and who is an excellent jazz trombonist and he played in my brother’s band in the 1970’s too. On drums we have the great Bob Berberich who is a legend in Washington. He played with some top blues and rock bands since the 1960’s and he is the “shuffle beat king!” They are total professionals and I love them! We play a lot of local clubs in and around the Washington/Balti-

My focus right now is to release my “Bluesero” cd.

It has 11 songs and about half are originals. You must know that two songs were written by Miguel “Don Vilanova” Botafogo: Gringo Tango and The Ewan Shuffle! Steve recorded four songs for this project including a song I wrote about Pappo called “Pappo’s leavin’ Town. I played this song in Argentina in 2005 when I toured with Miguel Don Vilanova, Zachia Hooker and the granddaughter of Oscar Aleman, Jorgelina Aleman.

I will be playing some concerts in Guadalajara, Mexico in November 2016 with Mexican blues guitarist Werther Ellerbrock. I met him when I played at Aguasblues festival with my brother in 2008 and Werther is excellent. He lived in Boston EEUU for a long time.

MS: What’s your favorite pastime?

I am an archaeology fanatic and I frequently travel to Mexico and Central America to see Mayan, Aztec, Olmec archaeological sites. I also love to visit the ancient rock art and petroglyphs in Baja Mexico.

MS: Thanks for your time Bruce!

Thanks for your contact and my regards to you in Argentina. Great!!!

Interview

Living On The High

By Richie Ferrao from Uruguay Staff CADB Magazine Translation: Mabel Sosa

The Skyla Burrell Blues Band is a hard working full time traveling blu band playing local, regional, national and international venues. The band averages 200+ shows a year. With co-founder Mark Tomlinso on lead guitar and Skyla Burrell on vocals and lead guitar, the band live show consists of all original high energy electric blues.

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

hway

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Originally from California, Skyla Burrell now calls Pennsylvania home though she must spend little time there as she and her band tour a lot.

The hard working band is Skyla on guitar and vocals, Mark Tomlinson on guitar, Michelle Lucas on bass and Ezell Jones Jr. on drums.

W

e thank you very much for this interview for our “Con Alma de Blues” bluesy community.

Thank you very much for including us in Con Alma Blues!

RF: To get to know more things about you and your band, we’d like to know how were those first times with music?

I started playing music very early in life. My Grandmother gave me a guitar when I was just a little girl. She also taught me how to play the piano. I joined my first band when I was in 8th grade

RF: Do you feel influenced or is there anyone whom you admire in the musical scene?

I’m influenced by so many great artists, from BB King to Gary Clark Jr. to Luther Allison.

There a long list of blues artists I admire and love!

RF: How was your experience recording “Working Girl Blues” in 2004 and how was it received?

We recorded that CD in York, Pennsylvania it was our first and we received a lot of airplay from blues stations and lots of positive feedback. It was our first CD, so there was a lot of room to get better!

RF: When composing songs, do you work in group or who does it?

Interview Mark Tomlinson and I write all the material, mostly we both write on our own and co-write just a few together.

RF: How would you define the band’s musical style?

We are more on the hard driving end of the blues, a lot of passion, lots of arrangements, and a little outside the box, but not too much. We love playing the blues and we keep it within the jenre.

RF: How do feel when you have to enter into studio to record a disc after spending a long time touring?

It’s fun to be home and working in the studio. Touring is its own animal and requires total focus, recording does also but in a more relaxed mode.

RF: The band has opened shows for musicians such as Lil’ Ed & The blues Imperials,Tab Benoit, etc. Would you like to share with us any memory from those times?

When we opened for Lil’ Ed he asked me to sit in and I was so intimidated I passed, I really regret that and hope to fix that!

RF: How did the audiences receive you during your gigs in Europe?

The European audiences showed the band a lot of support and love. We can’t wait to travel again overseas

RF: How did you feel when you released “Real Love” in 2011, with long tours and the blues industry recognition through the Blues Hall of Fame induction representing Pennsylvania?

The Hall of Fame was a surprise, I am honored but there are way more deserving artists, so I feel a little awkward about the award. Real Love was a fun CD to record and helped us increase our touring and fan base a lot.

Interview RF: Do you know anything about the blues from South America?

I am aware there is a vibrant blues scene, I’d love to see it for myself and experience the music being played there

RF: Was the band influenced in anyway when changing to Vizz Tone Records?

Signing with Vizztone gave us such great exposure and helped us secure a new agent. It’s truly a blessing to work with such wonderful people that care about the music.

RF: What would you tell us about your last disc “Blues Scars” from 2014?

There was a lot of personal life struggles that went into the writing for Blues Scars. It’s the record I’m most proud of, and the most cohesive yet for the band.

RF: As we know, la band is always touring. Wouldn’t it be in your plans to visit Argentina and South America anytime?

We would love to perform in South America! Our agent is in partnership with other international agents and I’m hoping we can try for 2017.

RF: We are grateful for your kindness to have this interview.

Would you like to give us a reflection about the future plans of the band?

We are in the last stages of writing for the new VizzTone release expected for release late winter, early spring. We also have a live CD we are toying with releasing, but we have not decided yet.

And of course lots of gigs and touring. We thank you so very much for taking the time to talk with us, and for even knowing about out band. Much love to you and your readers.

Con Alma de Blues Magazine

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By Richie Ferrao from Uruguay Staff CADB Magazine

Con Alma de Blues Magazine Blues, R&B and Soul from all the greatest traditions blend for an album that will prove a pure delight for fans of the classic soul sounds, regardless of whether we are speaking of Motown, Stax,Volt, Muscle Shoals, Philadelphia, New Orleans or wherever. Add just a touch of down-home blues and you have a recipe for not only success, but a real good time. Mark Campbell - voc, Tony Braunagel, Les Falconer - drums, Andrew Kastner - gtr, Ed Berghoff - acoustic gtr, Carlos Murguia, Mike Finnigan - kbds, Les Lovitt - trumpet, Bill Bergman saxes, Les Thornburg - trumpet, trombone, Bill Bergman - tambourine, plus Niki J. Crawford, Kathy Merrick, Melanie Taylor, Mike Finnigian, Carlos Murguia, Bruce Atkinson, Les Faconer and Mark Campbell for background vocals

Three members of Jack Mack participated in this interview. Andrew Kastner - guitarist and founding member, Bill Bergman Sax player, founding member and Mark Campbell - lead vocalist and member since 1985. All three co-wrote 9 out of the 10 songs on the new album and Andrew and Bill co-produced it.

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hank you very much for this interview for our blues community “Con Alma de Blues”.

Andrew: We feel so blessed that people all over the world are listening to our music. It starts as a random inspirational idea that one of us wakes up in the morning with or when we are driving down PCH on a sunny day in southern California and the next thing you know, it is a full blown produced record and people in other countries as far away as Argentina are enjoying it. That is a special feeling.

Mark: Thank you for taking the time and interest to find out about “Jack Mack and the Heart

Attack Horns”! I’m very excited to hear and learn more about Con Alma de Blues. I’m sure our worlds can’t be too far apart simply because of our love for the blues--and all roots music! ... I look forward to learning more about your country.

Bill: We’re excited to be able to connect with the music fans in Argentina and have our music exposed to a whole new audience.

RF: What can you tell us about the beginnings of the band and its long track record for more than 30 years?

Andrew: We started in 1980. The band was made up of musicians from all over the USA who gravitated to LA to become studio players or side-men. All these cats were working for famous artists such as Barry White, Natalie Cole, Rod Stewart, Glenn Frey, and many others. We all had a mutual love for soul music and that is the thing that brought us together.

Because we didn’t put the band together for money or fame, we decided to get 5 horns and two drummers. The size of the band didn’t matter. The plan was we would rehearse for a month or two and play the old records exactly as they were recorded. We kept the original keys, tempos and feel and chose mostly obscure covers like “Open The Door To Your Heart” by Darrell Banks. We started playing on Monday nights every week in Hollywood at a small club called the Central, which is now called The Viper Room. When the lines started forming around the block and people couldn’t get in we decided to move down the street to a bigger club called The Club Lingerie.

We were having so much fun playing our brand of Stax/Volt meets Muscle Shoals meets James Brown meets Wayne Cochran that people just showed up in droves. We were packing the club with 900 people every Thursday night and the place only legally held 300.

Every famous, musician, actor, TV and film producer would come down. This was from 198182. It was quite a scene. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=HfvfeQNj--s Check out our

Live at Club Lingerie CD which was recorded the last night we played there. It was the same night the fire marshals closed us down. It was there that Glenn Frey from The Eagles discovered us and ended up producing our first album, Cardiac Party. Many of the TV and film producers who were coming down to see us started putting us in their films or TV shows or had us record songs for their projects such as Police Academy, Beverly Hills Cop, Laverne and Shirley, The Late Show, Tuff Turf and others. Our horn section, The Heart Attack Horns, started playing on everyone’s records, from No Doubt to Glenn Frey to Stevie Wonder and many others. Eventually we started touring and became the house band for The Late Show on Fox TV and here we are 36 years later and still doing it. Kind of amazing, right?

Mark: I was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and I moved to Los Angeles in 1981. I met the guys in the band right away and worked with a few of them on sessions in the Los Angeles área”.

Around 1983, John Berry, then trumpet for JM told me that Max (the lead singer) was going out on his own. John asked if I would want to “audition” for the band and I jumped at the chance.

You see, blue eyed soul, rhythm & blues and funk was right up my alley and I was a fan of what the guys were doing. I always said that had I not joined Jack Mack, I would have put together a band LIKE Jack Mack!

Since then we have been writing, recording and performing our brand of soul and blues all over the world.

Bill: Like so many bands have done, we literally started in a garage in 1980.

From there we played small clubs around Los Angeles and Hollywood. It wasn’t long before we developed quite a following. Our horn section was asked to record with Glenn Frey and after the sessions Glenn asked about how we saw the future of the band’s direction. He quickly got us a record deal on Full Moon/Warner Bros. and in the fall of 1982 our first album, “Cardiac Party” was released. Throughout the 80’s we traveled the world and had the good fortune of recording songs for many, many movies. Myself and The Heart Attack Horns also recorded over 300 records during that time and even today we are in demand for recording projects.

RF: How would you define the band’s sound and style?

Andrew: I would say our style comes from the Stax Volt, Muscle Shoals sound with a bit of James Brown, Motown, Philly and New Orleans thrown in. On our new record our Blues influences became part of our sound as well. All the Chicago Blues cats as well as BB and Albert King were huge influences on me as a guitarist as well as Steve Cropper, Peter Greene and others.

I would say we have always had more of a southern soul thing then say, Tower of Power or Average White Band who have a more urban, funk sound. Even though we are noted for being a horn band we are nothing like famous horn bands like Blood Sweat and Tears or Chicago who are more on the pop side of horn bands.

I would say we are pretty unique because we

draw mostly from southern roots. Our lead singer Mark is from New Orleans so there’s all that influence too. As far as our songwriting, we try to write our songs with lyrics that are from the heart and true to our own lives. We learned something from our mentor Glenn Frey from the Eagles, he said “always try to make the main character in your story the good guy”. I think that is something that has always stuck with me.

Mark: I would say our style of music is, High energy. ... In your face... deep in the pocket… groove music BILL: Rooted in Soul, Blues and R and B. Real drums, real keys, real horns real singing and a driving, authentic groove in the tradition of all the greats.

RF: Which were your influences?

Andrew: Having been born in the 50’s I was first influenced by a wide variety of bands and artists that I would see every week on TV. I was blown away at a very early age by, The Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Cream, Hendrix, Peter Green, Eric Clapton, jeff Beck, BB King, Albert King, Freddy King, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert Collins, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and so many others.

Mark: Growing up in New Orleans, and the South in general, I was a child of

Stax/Volt, Muscle Shoals, Sea-Saint Music (Allen Toussaint), and of course Mo-Town. I was crazy about Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and of course James Brown… they were being played on the popular stations in the South. But I also had my ear on a different thing... like Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland, Johnny and Edgar Winter. ... The Nevilles were my neighbors so I had the privilege of hearing those beautiful voices all the time! ... New Orleans is a very big influence on me... musically and just the overall vibe of it all. ...The Big Easy... yeah... I’ll take that.

Bill: Being from Kansas City, my roots are in the great Musicians from KC: Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Stanley Turrentine, Of course I’ve always had a soft spot for R & B and killer funky horn bands.

RF: How was the recording and the release of your first disc Cardiac Party in 1982? And What did it mean to have worked with Glenn Frey (EAGLES)?

Andrew: Cardiac Party was our first release.

We recorded it over a period of 6 weeks and it came out on Full Moon/Warner Bros Records in 1982. “Glenn Frey, who discovered us, got us a record deal and produced our first album Cardiac Party. Glenn was from Detroit and was a huge lover of soul music. Glenn took us into Wilder Brothers studios in LA before we even signed a contract. He paid for it out of his pocket. He kept the refrigerator stocked with food and beverages and he paid for it. He even

bought us each an instrument which I still have to this day. A1959 Fender Stratocaster. Glenn had a very specific way of recording. Everything was a first take. After each take we would go out behind the studio and play basketball. Then we would come back and do another first take.

He would not allow us to put reverb or delay on anything while we were recording. If you listen to that album you will see how dry it is. We learned a lot from Glenn. He was like a basketball coach, a mentor. Hey, he was the leader of the Eagles, he was bringing all that to our experience”. We continued to work with him on different projects. Our horns played on his records and he produced our lead singer Max Gronenthal’s album. Bill Bergman our Sax player played the infamous sax part on Glenn’s hit song, “You Belong To The City”. We were so shocked and saddened to hear of his passing.

When Cardiac Party came out there were no horn bands being played on radio. We came out the same time as Duran Duran and Flock of Seagulls. English Synth pop was the rage. We performed in MTV’s 2nd new Years Eve concert with those two bands. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=FvisMiGYSZw We were told by our label Warner Bros. that the record didn’t too to well but somehow we had

fans all over the world. Do you think maybe they weren’t telling us the truth. In those days record companies would often cook the books and if you didn’t pay for a very expensive audit you would never know really how your record did. I guess none of this stopped us because we are still here, playing and making records.

Mark: Again, my relationship with Glenn was different. ... I got to know Glenn in 85-86... when we toured with him and opened up for him on his solo tour. Glenn was a friend to me. The real deal. He was a pro and at the same time… a buddy. We all miss him…

Bill: Glenn was probably my biggest launching pad to becoming a world renowned musician.

Having been featured on hits like “You Belong to the City” put me in rarefied air as a sax player and gave me exposure to be able to have a successful session and artist career.

RF: Along the passing years the band became more popular and took part in the soundtracks of various films: Police Academy, Back to the Future, Wishman, The experts, etc.

The question is: how did you feel and how was the experience?

Andrew: “It’s always an amazing honor to be asked to play or write for a movie. We are in the movie Tuff Turf which I believe came out in 1985.

It was one of the first film appearances for two

really famous actors, James Spader and Robert Downey Jr. We were asked to do an episode of Laverne and Shirley which was a very big TV sitcom here. Our episode is on youtube at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W72xUDekaJY It’s called The Rock and Roll show. It is so funny to watch now. I remember when we did it they kept changing our lines during rehearsals so they told us not to memorize anything. I was so nervous thinking I would forget them so when the lines were finalized I cut them out of the script and pasted them on the back of my guitar. You can see them when Laverne takes my guitar away from me and tries to play it with her teeth. They dressed us as nerds and when we all saw each other in costume for the first time back stage we went into an hysterical laughing fit.

They were taping the show and we were on the other side of the curtain so it was all we could do to contain ourselves. It is great that you can see all this on YouTube. There are many videos there of our past film and TV performances.

Mark: “Doing the movies and the soundtracks were a blast! ... The music of the 80’s and 90’s was begging for a “Tear the roof of the place” party band... and we dove right in! ... I remember a producer in Hollywood calling me and saying...”Steven Spielberg is looking for a voice that will be lip-synced by Michael J. Fox about a time traveling high school rocker... want to try it?”...

The next day Bones Howe called and asked me to get over to Group lV studios to meet Robert

Zemeckis... and that summer (1985)... Back To The Future came out and broke the box-office records at that time. I am deeply grateful that I am associated with all those films and those folks! ... A highlight to my career for sure”.

Bill: I’m blessed to be able to say that with Jack Mack and also with The Heart Attack Horns I have appeared on over 300 movie soundtracks over the past 36 years. To be able to make a living doing your passion is a beautiful thing.

RF: What do you actually most miss about the past times soul and blues?

Andrew: Mostly I miss going out to see my favorite singers perform. I also miss backing them up or performing with them on the same show. We were so lucky to have played with our heros, like Bobby Womack, James Brown, Sam Moore, Ben E King, Mavis Staples, Natalie Cole and dozens more. When you perform or backup someone who is the REAL DEAL it brings everything to a much higher level. It’s all about authenticity.

Mark: “We have so many memories that span the last 30 plus years. ... I personally feel it’s not about missing anything... it’s recalling those times with fondness and then looking ahead and being excited about what the future has in store. ... We have a lot to say, and if people want to hear us... we’ll be there”.

Bill: My mother was an incredible singer and actress who exposed me to so many wonderful artists and musicians while I was growing up.

The talent, pain and craft of the great Singers/ Players of genres from Jazz to Pop and Soul are to be remembered with high esteem. It is always up to the next generation to grab the baton and pass it along. From what I can tell, there are still incredibly talented people all over the world performing every moment of every day.

RF: What’s the impact of the music and the soul and blues culture on the racial, politics and social cultural context?

Andrew: We wrote a song on this album entitled, “Somethin’ In The Water” it is a saying we have in this country that means, There is something going on that they are not telling you about. I don’t believe much of what I see on the news these days. Hopefully we can open up some eyes and bring some attention to things that need to be talked about with this kind of song. Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield were two of the best at saying something political, raising awareness and doing it in the context of a funky groove with an amazing soulful melody. Although, that being said, some will say that music is much about forgetting your troubles and having a good time so I don’t think we want to get way too heavy and bring people down. People come to see us to escape and enjoy themselves. I think there is a fine line between giving people an

escape and saying something important.

Mark: “You Know, we have always been a party band. ... We wrote about dancing and loving and burning it up! ... But as we get older, we are very much aware of the social scene and the part we play in our world... you can’t have been alive these last two decades and not been affected by the politics, the suffering and the cruelty that the whole world is experiencing. I believe music will reflect every social change from here on. ...

After all... Sam Cooke did say “A Change Gonna Come”... right”?

Bill: “Soul and Blues have always been the voice of their time. Lyrically songs like Marvin Gaye’s, “What’s Goin’ On?” and so many others have described feelings and conditions affecting the populations they reach and give meaning to the zeitgeist”.

RF: What kind of audiences follow the band?

Andrew: People of all ages dig our music. I think that’s because it is based on a classic sound that never seem to get tired of. I mean I can put on a Marvin Gaye or Temptations song anytime and I think they even sound better to me today. We’ve been around so long that sometimes someone comes up to me and says, My mom and dad met at one of your gigs and got married. That’s cool.

Mark: “I LOVE the Fans of this band! ... Now we’re

in to all ages and I love that ... so cool ... so loyal ... fun people!!.

Bill: “We have played for people of all ages and backgrounds. People always seem to enjoy the music if it’s good and if it’s authentic” RF: How does a band manage to last for more than 30 years?

Andrew: “That’s a really good question. It is either becasue we are totally commited to what we do or we are insane and should be commited” LOL. Actually, I think it’s because we do it so well. There’s nothing like playing in a big horn soul band that is super tight and playing with amazing feel. Also it is an incredible feeling to come up with an idea for a song. Jot down some lyrics and then with in a matter of months it is a finished, produeced and sounds amazing. The icing on the cake is when people start hearing it and telling you how much they love it. You gotta love that”!

Mark: “I guess it’s going to always be compared to a family... even a marriage... ups and downs... commitments… ins and outs. ... It’s all about the music. We are very serious about what we say and how we say it. It must be felt... natural and organic... we have never tried to slide anything past the listener... we want them to choose to join in! ... It’s party time!’’

Bill: “It’s not easy. Members have come and gone, and some of our brothers have passed on but we still have our core together. We are really like a family”.

RF: What’s your opinion of this globalized world where groups on the social networks upload, share and spread videos of their favorite bands?

Andrew: In the old days it was so hard to get a record deal. And getting a record deal was the only way to get your music heard. So it was super selective and you had to be great and have an amazing business sense to even be able to survive. Now everything is different. Anyone can make a record in their bedroom. Anyone can have it on a million websites to be heard from anyone around the globe. Anyone can make a video. That part is great. The trick is getting people to hear your music because now there is so much out there to choose from. I think if I had a choice between the old paradigm and the new one, I would take the new one. It means you can maintain some control. Look-any artists of today only need 10,000 hardcore fans. If you had 10,000 fans buying one of your singles every month for a dollar each you would be making a pretty good living. In the old days you had to sell millions before you would see a dime.

Mark: At the risk of offending anybody…. It Sucks! ... I’ll leave it at that... when we meet in person... I’ll give you my rant! ... LOL!!!

Bill: It’s both a blessing and a curse. So many more people can be exposed to your music.

However, when music is free, it does make it very difficult to make enough money to sustain your endeavors.

RF: Do you know anything about the music from Argentina and South America?

Andrew: Argentinian music has not been something I have listened to much but I can’t help but think it has somehow influenced us through other artists. New Orleans music has Latin American influences in it so I think it has seeped into our music in some way.

Mark: I’m ashamed to say not enough. ... But I like what I’ve heard, and I’m always excited to learn music from cultures that I’m not familiar with. ..

Bill: Not enough!!

RF: The band released its last disc in which Duck Carlise and Grammy winner Howard Benson did the mixes. What was it like to work with them?

Andrew: I think we were one of the first bands Howard ever produced. We feel very blessed that he wanted to mix one of our tracks from our new record. We should be releasing it very soon.

It is the song, “Never Too Late”. He is one of the world’s top producers so for him to take time out

of his busy schedule for us was an honor. Ducky is one of our favorite mixers of all time. We love the sound he gets. It’s like magic what he does to a mix”. The sound he got on my guitar in the song, Somethin’ In The Water was amazing. You know, I am always trying to get the best guitar sound I can. I use all vintage gear mostly from the 50’s. When I heard how he made my guitar sound on that track I had the biggest smile.

That’s saying something because we are usually our own biggest critics”.

Mark: “We’ve known Howard going back to the Glenn Frey days. ... I mean his record (no pun) speaks for itself. ... Ducky came on board with us like 3 CD’s ago. ... Man, I love this guy! ... That natural sound I was talking about? ... He gets it!!... real players playing real music!!... I’m so glad we all hooked up!!

Bill: Howard is an old friend and always great.

Ducky is one of our favorite mixers and we love the sound he gets.

RF: What will people find in this disc?

Andrew: “Back To The Shack is made up of really great songs that we spent a lot of time writing plus great playing from our band and some of our really good friends like Mike Finnigan on B3, Tony Braunagel and Les Falconer on drums, Bruce Atkinson on Bass, Melanie Taylor and Niki

J. Crawford on backing vocals, Ed Berghoff on acoustic guitar and Lee Thornberg on Trombone and the amazing horn arrangement on the only cover tune on the CD, Ain’t No Way. This album was made from spontaneous combustion that can only be created when a band gets together in a studio and plays live. We didn’t make song demos of the songs, which is usually what we had done in the past. We wrote the songs on guitar and made little guitar/vocal recordings.

We took those into the studio and let the musicians put their feel and ideas into it.

Mark: “A little of everything. ... Truth... Hope...

Fun... Familiarity... Pain.... Forgiveness... with a little Silliness thrown in just for the hell of it!!!

Bill: We wanted there to be a lot of room for spontaneous creativity. It is real music played by some amazing people who are very experienced and really good at their craft. Consumate professionals.

RF: It would be great to have a reflection for all the people who is meeting the band for the first time Andrew: “We have been at this a long time. We have played thousand of shows as a band and for others. We have written and produced songs for many projects some for very well known artists such as Aaron Neville, Chaka Kahn, Nico-

lette Larson, Barry White and as well for hundred of TV shows and films. I guess we bring all that experience and craftsmanship to the table. If authentic Soul and Blues is your thing, you will love Jack Mack and the Heart Attack Horns.

Mark: “My dear friends of Soul and Blues... for many years my band mates and I have traveled the world telling our story... a story that so many identify with. Whether it’s love gone wrong... or how blatantly the world is keeping us from the truth... or just an ... “excuse me...would you like to dance”? Song… we would love to share our music with you. To South America and especially Argentina and Brazil, we say...HOLA!!! and OLA!!! ... We hope to see you soon. ...To sing, dance and party!! ...

Bill: “We have been at this for 36 years and hope we can make new friends and fans everyday”.

RF: Thanks in advance for your kindness on this interview for Con Alma de Blues magazine.

Andrew: Thank you so much for taking the time to find out more about us. I look forward to be playing in your country soon.

Mark: Thank you Con Alma de Blues for our 1st introduction!! Via Con Dios!!

Bill: Thanks so much for giving us this opportunity to tell our story. We hope you are able to give a look and a listen and join us on this journey.....

Translation: MABEL SOSA

CON

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