Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival 1999
Hometown bluesman opens festival Mark Sterling is a young Edmonton guitarist that has proved the acoustic blues can be electrifying. He has released two critically acclaimed and successful cd's that feature his original style and compositions in a unique format. His quartet, consisting ace guitarist Gordie Mathews, percussionist Mike Snaidenchuk and master bassist Mike Lent have been winning new fans and followers from coast to coast in Canada and are now attracting much attention south of the border. Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival was proud and honored to present Mark Sterling as our opening act on Friday August 20. We feel this booking showed our commitment to both local talent, and presenting a balanced slate of acoustic and electric blues, along with many blues and roots styles.
Jerry Wexler, co-founder of Atlantic records has called E.C. Scott "One Honest-to-God soul singer." He should know, as the man who produced recordings by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett. Blues and R&B diva E.C. Scott possesses a warm and inviting voice that can be smooth and sultry one minute and sassy and sexy the next. As audiences who caught her S.R.O. two night stand at the Blues On Whyte earlier this year will attest, she can mesmerize a crowd down to a whisper or rock them into a loud frenzy. She hails from the Oakland area where her background as a singer stems primarily from the St. John Missionary Baptist Church. There she witnessed performances by gospel singers Shirley Caesar and Inez Andrews amongst others, and became a noted singer herself as well. Miss Scott will take audiences on a soul and blues journey that will leave them howling for more. As Living Blues Magazine said recently "E.C. Scott must be ranked among the best of the promising young blues-based female singers of recent years." She has the power of a young Koko Taylor and the playfulness of Katie Webster, definitely a performer not to miss. E.C. Scott has two albums out on Blind Pig Records.
Slick, hip and sly quartet delivers It's been over eleven years since California's Little Charlie and the Nightcats released All The Way Crazy, their debut album on Alligator Records. And it's been nearly 25 years since world-class guitarist Little Charlie Baty and harmonicist/vocalist/songwriter Rick Estrin first teamed up and took jump and swing jazz and mixed it with hard Chicago blues, rockabilly, bebop and Estrin's sharply original songs. Make no mistake, Little Charlie and the Nightcats are not new to the scene, nor are they a modern day revivalist band. Their utter mastery of American roots music, from Chicago blues to Texas swing to proto-rock'n'roll to jumping jive and bebop is fueled by Baty's jaw-dropping guitar acrobatics and driven by Estrin's winning original songs, wiseguy vocals and deep harmonica playing. In 1986 the band sent an unsolicited tape to Alligator Records. Alligator president Bruce Iglauer was blown away. He flew to Sacramento to see the band perform and was sold. Their debut album, ALL THE WAY CRAZY, was released in 1987 to overwhelming success. "Little Charlie and the Nightcats have done it by refusing to sound like anyone else," shouted BAM. Almost immediately they went from playing small Sacramento blues clubs to performing concerts and festivals around America and the world. "If these guys were any hotter," raved The Seattle Rocket, "they'd burn everything to a nuclear crisp." "Estrin and Baty share a terse eloquence that sets them well apart from the run of house-rockin' post-boogie blues bands," said The Village Voice.
Calgary based R&B group set to groove you George Taylor and the House of Payne are a dynamic, Calgary based band featuring a horn section and two of the best players on the Alberta blues scene today. George Taylor has been playing guitar for over 25 years and in that time has opened for, or backed, Albert Collins, Millie Jackson, Earth, Wind and Fire, and Robert Lockwood Jr. In 1989 he became band leader with bluesman Lucky Peterson and toured throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia in that capacity. He contributed 3 tracks to the most recent Lucky Peterson recording. George now makes his home in Calgary. Jimmy Payne has also been playing for over 25 years. The drummer began his career playing in a steel band in Barbados. After moving to Canada, he was discovered by none other than King Curtis, who hired him to work in the King Curtis Band based in New York City. Since coming to Calgary, Jimmy has played with such artists as Robert Lockwood Jr., Otis Rush, John Hammond, Pinetop Perkins and a host of others. Generally considered to be the best blues drummer in Alberta, he also won the "Real Blues" magazine award in 1997 as the "Best drummer in Canada." George Taylor and the House of Payne to kicked off the Saturday program at Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival with energy, soul, sophistication and a steady groove.
Ottawa’s New Orleans connection What party would be complete without the Second Line sounds of New Orleans? Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo brings that sound and much more to the Saturday line up at Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival. This four piece group consists of veteran musicians who have been on the scene since the early seventies, and got together in 1991. Based in Ottawa, they have two cd's to their credit, are favorites as headliners at major clubs and festivals in Eastern Canada, and have worked as the back up for major Canadian tours by Dutch Mason and Drew Nelson. They have also performed at one time or another with Dr. John, Bo Diddley and Kenny Neal. They wrap all that experience into a package that demands people get out of their seats and dance, party, and by all means have fun! "Cajun inflected psycho blues to make the dead get up and dance".
The blues world is keeping a close eye on this "new kid on the block!" The fact that Deborah Coleman is an African American female blues guitar slinger makes her a very unique artist and puts her in a musical category all by herself. Her powerful vocals and searing guitar licks also place her in a pretty elite category. Deborah's explosive guitar work (she cites Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy as influences) dazzles her audience and makes other guitarists, both male and female, stand back and take note. Deborah's second effort for Blind Pig, "Where Blue Begins" is already creating a buzz in the blues world. Last year's, "I Can't Lose", received rave reviews from blues rags and music critics worldwide. Deborah was featured in Living Blues Magazine's "25th Anniversary Issue" as one of the top young guitarists under the age of 40. Musician Magazine also recognized Deborah as a rising star in their special issue, "Blues in the 90s". We expect big things from Deborah in the upcoming year, after already headlining such prestigious festivals as The St Louis Blues Fest, The Chicago Blues Fest, The Bull Durham Blues Festival, to name a few. With her hot release soaring up the blues radio charts, and growing popularity with festival promoters Deborah has truly become one of the bright young stars on the music scene today! Check her out, she is "The Real Deal" as well as the future of the blues! Deborah Coleman brought her fiery show to western Canada for the first time - Saturday night at Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival 1999.
"Il sont parti" with zydeco pioneer Savvy fans of the accordion-powered Creole dance music known as zydeco would expect its primary ambassador, Buckwheat Zydeco, to lead zydeco into the 21st century. Now, as the band celebrates its’ 20th Anniversary, Buckwheat Zydeco becomes the first zydeco band to form its own record label - Tomorrow Recordings. This is only appropriate for the first zydeco band to land a major record label deal, the first to perform on a national television show, the first to have its music featured in major motion pictures, TV shows and national TV commercials, the first to record with top rock musicians and the first to introduce zydeco to the music mainstream. They have made fans worldwide through constant touring. Leader, Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. was born in 1947 in Lafayette, Louisiana, a close-knit community where many black people express their Creole heritage by speaking French, and by playing and dancing to zydeco. This hybrid genre blends Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and blues, with soul, rock, country and the French-rooted Cajun music of the Creole's' white neighbors. As the son of a zydeco accordionist, Buckwheat grew up steeped in this culture, and also absorbed Lafayette's ample outpouring of blues and Gulf Coast "swamp pop." He began his professional career as an R&B sideman, playing keyboards for the likes of Joe Tex, Barbara Lynn and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. Recording prolifically for various independent labels, Dural attracted the attention of music journalist Ted Fox, who became his manager and co-producer. In 1987, Fox arranged Buckwheat's signing with Island Records, and he became the first zydeco artist to appear on a major label. This resulted in the band's fourth Grammy nomination. During the decade of critical acclaim that has ensued, Buckwheat Zydeco have toured constantly, headlining at major venues as well as sharing stages with the likes of U2 and Eric Clapton. Clapton also recorded as a special guest with Buckwheat Zydeco - as did Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Dwight Yoakam and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos - on some of his numerous projects that followed. The New York Times called Buckwheat Zydeco "one of the greatest party bands in America." Buckwheat Zydeco's powerful live shows are legendary for the fun and abandon they inspire. Buckwheat Zydeco has a large and loyal fan base in Edmonton who filled the dance floor Saturday evening.
Guitarist/Vocalist/Songwriter Elvin Bishop has been singing and recording his rollicking brand of electrified down-home blues for over 30 years. Bishop's history-making tenure as a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the 1960s, his chart-topping hits in the 1970s, and his return to his blues roots with Alligator Records in the late 1980s and into the 1990s place him at the forefront of electric blues guitarists. Elvin's music is a mix of his blues roots with contemporary funk and rock flavors spiced with a touch of country and the laid-back feel of his Northern California home. Rolling Stone referred to Bishop's music as "a good-time romp…raucous blues with high energy soloing, mixtures of careening slide and razor-edged bursts, all delivered with unflagging enthusiasm and wit." In a recent feature article, Vintage Guitar called Elvin, "One of the most instrumental instrumentalists in the spread of electric blues… One of the best blues guitarists alive." "A sly blues party…thick leads match his laid-back vocals and humorous stories. Bishop mixes slide with jump blues, honky-tonk rock, and blues." -guitar for the practicing musician It has been over a year and a half since Elvin Bishop has played Edmonton and we very much enjoyed his show!
Featuring - Kenny Wayne, Andreas Schuld, Hans Stamer,Chris Nordquist, Brian Newcombe Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne has been setting audiences on fire since his debut album "Alive and Loose" was released in 1996. It quickly called attention to this new, West Coast piano sensation. The disc was nominated for a Best Blues Juno in 1997 and won many other blues awards across Canada. His second album, "Blues Boss Boogie", on Real Blues Records, also garnered a Juno nomination in 1999. His brilliant piano work has been praised in the international blues scene, resulting in performances at festivals across North America and Europe. Kenny also guests on Joe Louis Walkers' latest release. Hans Stamer has to be ranked as one of the greatest blues and R&B vocalists anywhere. He was the frontman for the legendary R&B Allstars for over 15 years, and has performed with James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, and many others. His new album with co-hort Andreas Schuld, "You Got The Bread...We Got The Jam !" also features Long John Baldry and Chris Nordquist. Andreas Schuld's award winning guitar stylings and production skills have been heard on many recent Juno Nominated recordings, among them "No Special Rider" with duo partner Hans Stamer and guest Bill Bourne, as well as "Alive and Loose" by Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne. He has played the blues with George"Harmonica" Smith, Mighty Joe Young, Eddie Shaw, Robben Ford, Phillip Walker, Willie Dixon and a host of others. Affectionately nicknamed "The Wrist" Chris Nordquist is considered by many of his peers to be one of the greatest drummers ever in the genre. Brian Newcombe has long been one of Vancouver's top session bassists.
Although the kinship between blues and country music has long been recognized, relatively few singers have gained substantial acceptance in both genres. Tracy Nelson - - now in the fourth decade of her professional career - - ranks prominently on this short list. (For example, "After the Fire is Gone," Tracy's country duet with Willie Nelson from 1974, earned a Grammy nomination; 20 years later, she was among the finalists at the W.C. Handy blues awards in Memphis.) Nelson's stature in country and blues circles is all the more remarkable considering that her reputation as one of America's premier vocalists rests largely on her potent rock and rhythm-and-blues work. In an era when fashion statements are commonly accepted as a substitute for artistry, she stands as a resolute champion of American roots music. Tracy Nelson's 1971 recording of a stirring original composition, "Soul of Sadness", was included in Universal Picture's 1994 feature film The War, directed by Jon Avnet and starring Kevin Costner and Elijah Wood. "Down So Low," another Nelson original, was featured on Maria Muldaur's Black Top release, Meet Me at Midnight, with Nelson and Ann Peebles singing back up on the cut. Nelson's first album for Rounder was 1993's In the Here and Now , Nelson's tribute to some of the musicians that inspired her. She performed songs by Elmore James, Slim Harpo, B.B. King and recorded a knockout duet with Irma Thomas of Percy Mayfield's "Please Send Me Someone to Love." It's successor came two years later with I feel So Good , which found Nelson alternately dueling full-tilt with the Memphis Horns or subtly wringing the emotion out of one of her finely crafted ballads. The album featured such musical luminaries as guitarist Mike Henderson, vocalist Delbert McClinton and Maura O'Connell, pianist Al Kooper and many others. Tracy Nelson has never performed in Edmonton and we were honored to have her debut at Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival.
Studebaker John Grimaldi was born in Chicago in 1952 and heard the blues firsthand from Big Walter Horton, One-Armed John Wrencher, Johnny Littlejohn and other regulars on Maxwell Street. John began playing harmonica at age seven, when he picked up a harp belonging to his father and began "experimenting" with it. In his early years, he played drums and harmonica in rock and R&B bands. By the time he was sixteen, having been entranced by the vibrant blues scene on the streets and airwaves of Chicago, he decided to devote his talents exclusively to the blues harmonica. It was also around this time that he acquired his stage name - his first car was a Studebaker Lark, although nowadays he drives a primo 63 Studebaker Silver Hawk. A few years later, John was inspired to play slide guitar after seeing Hound Dog Taylor, whose playing knocked him out on first hearing. Soon John was featuring his own slide work along with his harmonica playing. While John rarely plays any covers, he will almost always do a tribute to Hound Dog. After sitting in at Theresa's and the Checkerboard Lounge (with Buddy Guy) and working at "wild as hell" West Side haunts, John started his own band, the Hawks, in 1971 to work the evolving North Side clubs like Kingston Mines. King Biscuit Times said he has "A personal no-holds-barred style that cooks with contagiously seasoned energy and absolute taste" John last appeared in Edmonton at the Sidetrack Café in 1998 to rave reviews. His appearance at our festival was highly anticipated and we were not disappointed. Studebaker John Grimaldi has four releases with Blind Pig Records.
After an eight-year tenure beginning in 1979 with Roomful of Blues, Ronnie Earl formed his own band "The Broadcasters' and began touring; all the while recording on small labels and developing a strong and faithful following in Europe and throughout the U.S. His unique sound has been a hit with audiences and critics. To quote the Boston Phoenix: "There hasn't been a blues artist able to make the worlds of jazz and blues meet as gracefully as Earl since swing king T-Bone Walker." In 1994, Earl began recording for the Bullseye Blues label. His first recording was a collaboration with blues master Jimmy Rogers, followed by the highly acclaimed all-instrumental, "Language of the Soul" and, in 1995, "Blues Guitar Virtuoso Live in Europe". In 1996, "Grateful Heart: Blues & Ballads", an album featuring tenor sax great David "Fathead" Newman, was voted in Downbeat's Critics Poll 'Best Blues Album of the Year' as well as the band earning 'Talent Deserving Wider Recognition' in the Best Blues Group category. In 1997 Earl signed with Verve Records and debuted with a stellar release The Colour of Love, an amalgam of blues, rock R&B, soul and jazz. Ronnie Earl went on to win the 1997 and 1999 W.C. Handy Award for Best Blues Guitarist which put him in the company of previous winners B.B. King, Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker. The year continued with worldwide touring as opening act for the Allman Brothers Band U.S. Tour and performing at all the major European festivals in the company of Ray Charles, B.B. King, and Steve Winwood among others. The Broadcasters include three of the hottest bluesmen on the scene: "Little" Anthony Geraci (piano and keyboard); Mark Greenberg (drums); and Michael "Mudcat" Ward (bass). Ronnie Earl is another artist who had never performed in Edmonton. Edmonton's Labatt Blues Festival welcomed the opportunity to bring this incredible talent to Edmonton audiences. [Contact Us] [Blues Links] [Past Festivals] [Sponsors] [Home]
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