| I'm sure everyone has heard by now of the untimely passing of legendary Bluesman James Harman. Dude kept it going for 60+ years after suffering all kinds of setbacks including the theft of all his memorabilia and equipment. We were negotiating for a Blues Blast show when he took sick. Cancer is the scourge of the earth. Too many gone. R.I.P. Our buddy Bob Corritore's latest disc has been charting in all kinds of Blues lists including No. 11 on this weeks Billboard chart. I have a review I want to include but I can't seem to finish it. Not because of the musicf, but because of life getting in the way. I'll have it next week fo" sho... Nice of variety of shows going on around town this weekk/end. Get out and getcha some. Tripld digits are upon us. NAZBA threw a helluva party in Prescott Valley Saturday. It was their first-ever festival and they did a very nice job presenting us with a whole slew of quality acts. Lots of hearty souls braved chilly temps and gusty winds to show their support. I'll go back, no doubt. It felt pretty good to not be required to wear a mask. That doesn't mean we're completely out of the woods but we;re getting there. Continue to use precautions, and stay safe for a great week! Sincerely, Jim Crawford - PBS |
|
Out & About
Waiting out the virus: Cold Shott & The Hurricane Horns www.coldshott.com The Sugar Thieves www.sugarthieves.com Gary Zak & The Outbacks www.outbackbluesband.com Hans Olson www.hansolson.net Rocket 88s www.rocket88s.net JC& The Rockers www.thejukerockers.com Carvin Jones www.carvinjones.com Hoodoo Casters www.hoodoocasters.com Rhythm Room www.rhythmroom.com Nina Curri www.ninacurri.com Paris James www.parisjames.com Mother Road Trio www.motherroadtrio.com Blues Review Band Reverbnationbluesmanmike Mike Eldred www.mikeeldredtrio.com Big Daddy D & The Dynamites Facebook www.bigdaddyd.com Cadillac Assembly Line Facebook Innocent Joe and the Hostile Witnesses Facebook Chuck Hall Facebook Pop Top Facebook Tommy Grills Band Facebook Sweet Baby Ray SweetBabyRaysBlues.com
Acme Blues Band Facebook
Thermal Blues Express thermalbluesexpress.com\
hermal Blues Express.com Tuesday, May 25 Big Daddy D & The Dynamites, 6:30 p.m., Fuego Bistro, Phoeni Carvin Jones, 6 p.m., The Living Room. Scottsdale Wednesday, May 26 Carvin Jones, 7 p.m., Perch Brewery, Chandler Thursday, May 27 Blues Review Band, 6:30 p.m., Westside Blues & Jazz, Glendale Mike Eldred Trio, 8 p.m., Kazimierz, Scottsdale Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Canceled this week, Handlebar, Apache Junction Friday, May 28 Big Daddy D & The Dynamites w/Betty Jo, 7 p.m., TC’s Pub, Queen Creek Carvin Jones, 7 p.m., Charley’s, Glendale Saturday, May 29 Big Daddy D & The Dynamites, 6 p.m., Local Jonny’s, Cave Creek Cadillac Assembly Line, 7 p.m., Westgate @ Fountain Park, Glendale Innocent Joe & The Hostile Witnesses, 7 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction
Hoodoo Casters, 6 p.m., American Legion Post 58, Fountain Hills Tommy Grills Band, 8 p.m., West Alley BBQ, Chandler Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., Rack Scottsdale, Scottsdale Blues Review Band, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy’s, Tempe Leon J, 12:30 p.m., Javalena Leap Winery, Cornville Sunday, May 30 Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., Beaver Bar, Phoenix Monday, May 31 Monday Night Blues Jam (w/Big Daddy D & The Dynamites), 7 p.m., Bourbon Jacks, Chandler |
| R.I.P.
By Terry Mullins
You can call it an epiphany, a moment of clarity or even an instant of divine enlightenment. Whatever you call it, the end result was the same. It was a life-changing moment for young James Harman. Though he was way too young to be in a segregated night club in Panama City, Florida, a teen-aged Harman nevertheless donned a fake mustache and proceeded to sneak into the black nightclub to witness first-hand the magic of the one-and-only Little Junior Parker. And by the end of that fateful evening, Harman had plotted out his future vocation – singing the blues. So what was it about Parker’s performance that night that struck such a raw nerve with the young man from Anniston, Alabama? “Mostly how cool it all seemed to me … as well as seeing all those women in the front row throwing panties and hotel keys up to him … I said, this is for me!” The very next week, Harman had a similar experience at a Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland show and as they say, the die was surely cast. “I walked out of the church choir at age 16 and started singing about women for money and that’s the only job I’ve ever had,” Harman recently said. Harman has been singing the blues, blowing harp, leading bands, burning up the road and penning thought-provoking songs ever since, and some five-plus decades after being turned on by what can happen when Little Junior Parker or Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland takes the bandstand, he is rightfully recognized as one of the Godfathers of the southern California scene. His latest album – Bonetime (his first for the Electro-Fi label) – came out in the spring of 2015 and immediately found a loving home with those craving a hearty dose of the real-deal blues. Bonetime ended up garnering a whopping five Blues Music Awards (BMA) nominations this past spring and that might have caught Harman – who is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and who has also seen his name listed on the roll-call of Grammy Award nominees – a bit off guard. “It’s great to feel that you are being recognized by your peers and the entire record buying world, but I personally don’t ever think of music as sports, or competitive. But those folks who organize and promote those award shows sure are invested in it, so what the hell? I certainly didn’t see five BMA nominations coming, but it was nice,” he said. “I had 20 Handy nominations (the pre-cursor to today’s BMAs) during the ’80s and ’90s and even up to 2003 when I released Lonesome Moon Trance and the digital remaster release of my Strictly Live in ’85… Plus album. Those were my last new albums before Bonetime. None of this awards business is as exciting as mixing up a new batch of my songs to release. It’s still all about songs. I make songs, not albums.” Although it was not intentional, Harman sure did make his fans sweat it out, waiting 12 years between Bonetime and the release of his previous album. “I just stayed so busy, touring 29 countries, that I didn’t really have time to address a new release. Also, I had gotten a ‘bad taste in my mouth’ from my last label experiences in the ’90s, being sued and lied to, etc.,” he said. “I needed a break from the making-records side of the business.” Bonetime features a wide array of Harman’s friends helping out, associates such as Junior Watson, Kid Ramos, the late, great Candye Kane, Kirk Fletcher, Gene Taylor, Nathan James and Jeff Turmes. Bonetime very much has the sound and texture of a continuous, well-thought-out body of work. It’s a bit of a surprise then, to learn that some of the material has been hanging out inside Harman’s vault for some time, just waiting to have the clear-coat slapped on them. “I never ‘finish’ songs; I record the tracks and do the important overdubs then leave them to finish when needed. That way I approach the chosen dozen songs with a fresh mind, as I get them ready to mix and master,” he said. “This method gives me a nice ‘of the same cloth’ feel when I assemble them into a release. As I said, I make songs, not albums.” The songs that ultimately end up on one of his albums are Harman’s own original compositions. Doing cover songs is really not in his repertoire and it’s a sure bet that is not bound to change anytime soon, either. “I don’t really do covers. Why would I do covers? As a teenager learning my craft, I did covers to have material back in the 1960s, but that ran its course many decades ago. Recording covers is work for those who cannot write their own material. I write every day, and record a few songs at a time, using the players I choose for each song. When I have a pile of freshly-recorded songs, I put them into the ‘holding can’ until I decide I want to create a new release,” he said. “I have been doing this game a long time and will never rush an album with a label watching over my shoulder pointing at the clock. I produce my records and then make deals with labels to release and promote them. My job is writing songs, and producing recordings … promotion is the work of labels and promotion people. I would never start a business of reproducing other artist’s work; I paint my own pictures and sell them, retaining the rights to them.” Harpist Mark Hummel – a good friend of Harman’s – has referred to his old pal as a ‘comic genius.’ Hummel’s assessment is spot-on, as evidenced by some of the material that Harman pens. One listen to “(I Am) The World’s Badluckest Man” or “Bad Feets/Bad Hair” from Bonetime confirms as much. Even though it might seem like he’s singing about himself, Harman says that’s not always the case with his tunes. “As I said, I write every day. I consider myself a short story writer; they are just really short stories so they fit into music. They are rarely stories about me; they are mostly stories about the human condition, as I see it. Blues should not always be autobiographic; a good story is a good story,” he said. “I have lived a wild and crazy life, and I have been on the road literally all my life. I am 70 years old, from the rural south, but have lived in all the major urban centers and toured in 29 countries, so you know I’ve seen some absolutely insane things go down. I take a little about me, add a little I saw in somebody else … I’m making up characters as I look around every place I go.” His music is filled with plenty of blues from the Delta, some pre-war swing and a nice shot of R&B. But there are other dynamics at play in Harman’s songs, as well. There’s an almost international flair going on inside his tunes, bolstered by swirling Latin, African and Cuban-inspired rhythms. Put it this way – boring and predictable are two words you won’t ever find associated with a James Harman tune. “My life has been a carnival of swirling colors and shapes, so I grab them all to paint my pictures. Yeah, I’m from rural Alabama, and I use that a lot, but I’ve also lived in Chicago, New York City, Miami, New Orleans and Panama City. Don’t forget that I have also worked, as I said before, in 29 other countries… and brother, I always had my eyes open the whole time. If where you are doesn’t rub off on you… then I would suppose you’re not rubbing up against each place enough to be using the colors in your work,” he said. “In the late ’60s, I had a band with two whites – me and Larry Williams, my guitar player – and two blacks and two Cubans. We were the first mixed-race (not black) outfit to ever play in Miami’s famous Jet-Away Lounge. I was the only white singer ever there! Upstairs was an all-black, 16-piece jazz band, and we were down in the lounge doing Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf…. it was wild. Elderly black gents in tuxedos would tell me I had ‘the wrong paint-job,’ but they wanted to book me in their gambling casino in the Bahamas… what a scene! What I really do is cook and I approach that the same way as painting or song-writing. I create new dishes by using ingredients, herbs and spices from one place in the cuisine of another place… I enjoy most of my concoctions.” While ‘deep southern soul’ and west coast cool’ may seem at opposite ends of the spectrum – especially musically-speaking – Harman has always managed to blend both together into something that is uniquely his own. That helps to explain the manner in which his music flows out of him, whether on the bandstand or in a recording booth. |
|
| Moved? Changed email addresses? Please let us know of any changes in your address, email, or phone number so we can keep you informed about the Blues community in Arizona. Email us at: [email protected] or write to: Phoenix Blues Society P.O. Box 36874 Phoenix, Arizona 85067 |
| | YGOT BLUES? If you are a Blues musician, a group, or a club that features Blues music, and would like to be listed, please send your info to [email protected] and we'll be happy to list your event in our weekly Out & About section of the newsletter |
|
|
|
|
|
|
