Jon Geiger Major congratulations on your amazing new album which just premiered worldwide, Jon Geiger: Live At Harvelle’s! What inspired you to tackle a live album at this point in your career? Thank you so much! My heroes were always the men and women who played live, and poured their hearts out and could do it live every night and never mailed it in and reached for that standard of lifting people up through their voice and their instruments and their passion… So I feel like Live is a perfect way to put across what I do… I’m also very much ready to be expanding the areas that I come to play live in, so I’m looking forward to finding the right booking representative and/or management to play broader itineraries both here and overseas and I am very much ready to do that. So that was a factor as well, because I felt that a live album would show any potential people in those positions what they can count on from me every night if they took me on to put me out there that way . How did you specifically land on the decision to use the far-famed Blues club Harvelle’s in Santa Monica, California to record Live At Harvelle’s? Were there ever any other venues in contention for the live record, or was Harvelle’s always your bird? I love the history of Harvelles and its’ place as a Launchpad and a Home for the greatest blues players in Southern California, they’ve all come through there, and the people who run that place worked so hard to keep it going through the pandemic and to stay committed to live music rather than simply changing their operating to a simpler dj type system… They were committed to live music and at a certain standardand in this genre, and the best way I can say thank you and to support the community that supports me out there, is to do my best to tear it up in a three set performance under their roof and have the energy that comes from that history be a part of whatever came across in the live performance… It’s a thank you to Harvelles, and it’s also an act of pride… I’m proud that I have an association with a place of that standard and I’m honored… There’s a definition of success that I always loved which is to have the respect of those whom you respect… I appreciate that they have let me know that they value me and what I’m putting out there, or that I try to put out there every time… And I’m grateful. We’re excited to be speaking today with acclaimed Blues guitarist and vocalist Jon Geiger; greetings and salutations, Jon! Before we meander down the Q&A musical pathway, how has the freshly-minted autumn of 2023 been treating you? It’s an exciting year, I have some great musicians I’m so thankful to have playing with me and I’m very happy about how the music’s been sounding and going over!
What makes a successful live album in your opinion? The absence of vanity, and an emphasis on cutting a vein and pouring out every thing that one can in order to be a live wire for the audience… Mistakes and all … if it is in the pursuit of passion played and given… When one is more focused on being in the moment and trying to lift people up… then it’s not about the licks that you can play, or how fast you can go or how
