Dear John, Well, I made it back from Tejas in one piece. My bud's doing as well as can be expected. He's optimistic he's gonna be all right so I came home.
Got Blues to cover.
Son Seals birthday was yesterday. He passed in 2004 at 62. I became a fan when I discovered the Alligator Records label back in the early '80s. Bruce Iglauer and Alligator have changed the fortunes of many a good player.
As you can see, we've got a huge lineup for out LAbor Day Fundraiser. Many thanks to all of you guys who are pitching in. Thanks also to the Dennis Herrera Blues Band who are coming over from SoCal to play for us. Those California players are awesome to share their time with us. Arizona Blues Showodown is coming up in about a month. I've had some inquiries but not enough. Come on guys, gimme a break and get in on it. The world don't end if you don't win. Ask Smokestack. They came back 'til they did win. You can too!
Youngster (anybody under 50 is a youngster to me) Anthony Gomes is at the RR tomorrow night. You should check him out. He's an up-and-comer who is making quite a name for himself.
And, as per usual, there is lots going on in your 'hood. Get out and about.
Have a week!!
Sincerely,
Jim Crawford, PBS
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Son
from jrank.org website
An icon of the Chicago blues, Son Seals was known for his intense and innovative guitar playing and his grainy singing. Seals brought the musical traditions of Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Howlin' Wolf to a new generation of blues guitarists and fans, at a time when the music seemed to be dying out. An energetic performer, Seals took his hard electric blues on the road, revitalizing traditional Delta blues and introducing rock-influenced blues to a broad new audience. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Seals wrote most of his own material. Between 1973 and 1996 he recorded eight albums for Chicago's Alligator Records. Born on August 14, 1942, in Osceola, Arkansas, the youngest of 13 children, Frank Seals was raised with the blues. His mother played the piano and sang. His father, Jim Seals, was a blues musician who had played piano, guitar, trombone, and drums with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, a vaudeville and tent-show band in which both Ma Rainey and her protégé Bessie Smith had begun their careers. Frank Seals was nicknamed "Little Son" after his father, who then became "Ol' Man Son." Son Seals was quoted on the Alligator Records Web site: "My father taught me everything from the start. Tuning the guitar, fingering. Where I wanted to be riffing around all up and down the neck right away, he'd keep me on one chord for hours, until I could feel it in my sleep. I'd get up the next morning, grab the guitar, and I'd be right on that chord." The Seals family lived behind Jim Seals's famous nightclub, the Dipsy Doodle, which featured blues up front and dice in the back room. There, in the sleepy town of Osceola, blues legends such as Sonny Boy Williamson and Albert King hung out and performed. King, a native of Osceola, became Son Seals's mentor. By the age of 13, Seals was playing drums with Williamson, Robert Nighthawk, and Earl Hooker. In addition to the blues, Seals loved the big band music of Count Basie and the swing bands out of Memphis, Tennessee. In an October 2001 interview with Charles Chapman, published on the Guild Guitars Web site, Seals recalled: "In all the movies back then there were always big bands in them and I just loved it. The arrangements of the horns really stood out to me and I especially liked Basie's sound. Many people do not realize that blues music has always consisted of horns." In later years Seals included prominent horn sections on his recordings. Seals formed his first band, Son Seals and the Upsetters, in 1959, playing throughout Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi. By 1960 Son Seals was playing guitar with his band four nights a week at the Chez Paris in Little Rock, Arkansas, while spending his weekends playing drums behind blues masters at the Dipsy Doodle. In 1963, while visiting his sister in Chicago, Seals joined Earl Hooker's Roadmasters on guitar. After six months on the road, he returned to Little Rock and rebuilt his band. In 1966 Seals went on the road again as Albert King's drummer and appeared on King's Live Wire/Blues Power, recorded at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. When his father became ill, Seals returned to Osceola, playing in local clubs until his father's death in 1971. That year Seals moved to Chicago's South Side to be near his sister. His career took off. He jammed with Hound Dog Taylor and Howling Wolf Jr. at the Psychedelic Shack. He played with blues greats Buddy Guy, James Cotton, and Junior Wells, and led his own band on guitar. Bruce Iglauer, who had founded Alligator Records to produce Hound Dog Taylor, first heard Seals at the Flamingo Club. When Taylor's first album became a hit and he went on the road, Seals sat in for him at the South Side's Expressway Lounge. He became the third artist to sign with Alligator and Iglauer became his manager. Seals's first album, The Son Seals Blues Band, was released in 1973 and he began a life of touring clubs, colleges, and festivals. For the next 30 years, Seals drove his beat-up van around the country, playing about a hundred one-night stands a year. His second album, Midnight Son, was a critical success and came to be regarded as a classic blues recording. Seals began making regular European tours and appeared in a national beer commercial. In 1981 he received a Grammy Award nomination as one of the performers on Blues Deluxe, recorded live at Chicagofest '80. Seals appeared in the documentary film Big City Blues and performed at the White House for President Bill Clinton. While continuing to tour and play the Chicago clubs, Seals produced his albums with Iglauer. His nickname, "Bad Axe," became the title of his 1984 album on Alligator. However, following a dispute with Iglauer, Seals stopped recording for six years. By that time Seals was incorporating more rock and jazz influences into his music. He appeared on stage with B.B. King and Johnny Winter, as well as the popular rock group Phish. In January of 1997 Seals's ex-wife shot him in the jaw with a handgun. Months of reconstructive surgeries followed and his voice was never the same. Seals was hospitalized numerous times for complications of diabetes and in 1999 he lost part of his left leg, forcing him to perform from a seated position. His prized custom guitar was stolen and fire destroyed his motor home following a concert in Miami, Florida. Despite these hardships, Seals's music reached a much larger audience beginning in 2000, when he recorded Lettin' Go with studio rock legend Al Kooper and Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio. That year Seals told Rusty Russell of Guitar Player, "In the past, I wasn't able to do all the things I wanted, but this time I was completely free. There wasn't anyone looking over my shoulder telling me what I should or shouldn't record. There's all kinds of music buried in me-rock, big band, and even country and western. You don't necessarily have to play those styles, but it's good to let different pieces of them slip in when it sounds right. After all, blues is the mother of all that music." Seals's last performance was in California in October of 2004. He died in Chicago, where he lived with his son Rodney, on December 20, 2004, of complications from diabetes. He was 62. In his obituary in Sing Out!, Iglauer wrote: "Son was a bluesman through and through. He never tried to smooth the rough edges off his guitar sound, nor the grit from his voice. His music was all about healing."
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| Out & About Tuesday, August 14 Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., Yucca Tap Room, Tempe
Wednesday, August 15Anthony Gomes, 8 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Bad News Blues Band, Every Wed., 9:30 p.m., Chicago Bar, Tucson Thursday, August 16Mother Road Trio, 6 p.m., Museum of Northern AZ, Flagstaff Eric Ramsey Hosts OPEN MIC, 6 p.m., Fatso's Pizza, Phoenix Hans Olson (EVERY THURSDAY), 6 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction Arizona Blues Project, 8 p.m., Harold's, Cave Creek Friday, August 17Tail Dragger & Friends, 9 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Hans Olson, 6 p.m., Gallagher's, Phoenix Rockett 88s, 7 p.m., American Italian Club, Phoenix Sugar Thieves Trio, 8 p.m., Culinary Dropout, Tempe Carvin Jones, 9 p.m., Gabby's, Mesa Paris James, 6:30 p.m., D'Vine Wine, Mesa Saturday, August 18Soul Power Band, 9 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix JC & The Juke Rockers, 6 p.m., Mountain View Pub, Cave Creek Hoodoo Casters, 7 p.m., The Speakeasy, Sun City Sugar Thieves, 7 p.m., Opa Life Café, Tempe Leon J, 7 p.m., Sound bites, Sedona Blues Review Band, 8 p.m., Culinary Dropout, Scottsdale Carvin Jones, 8 p.m., Bar Vinedo, Queen Creek Outback Blues Band, 4 p.m., Bailey's Pub, Phoenix Paris James, 6:30 p.m., D'Vine Wine, Chandler Front Page Blues Band, 7 p.m., Eagles Nest, Prescott
Sunday, August 19Big Daddy D & The Dynamites, 4 p.m., The Lounge, Phoenix Eric Ramsey, 2 p.m., Mother Road Brewing Co., Flagstaff Carvin Jones, 5 p.m., Lucky Strikes, Apache Junction Rocket 88s JAM, 4 p.m., Chopper John's, Phoenix True Flavor Blues, NOON , Copper Star, Phoenix Monday, August 20 |
Weekly Jams
Sunday
Bourbon Jack's JAM w/Kody Herring, 6 p.m., Chandler
Sir Harrison, every other Sunday, The Windsock, Prescott
MONDAY
Bam Bam & Badness Open JAM, 9 p.m., Char's, Phoenix
Weatherford Hotel JAM, 6:30 p.m., Flagstaff
TUESDAY JAM Sir Harrison, 9 p.m., Char's, Phoenix
Rocket 88s, 6 p.m., The Last Stop (Old Hideaway West), Phoenix
Gypsy's Bluesday Night JAM, 7 p.m. Pho Cao, Tempe
Tailgaters JAM, 7 p.m., Glendale
WEDNESDAY Tool Shed JAM Party, 7 p.m., Draw 10, Phoenix
THURSDAY Tool Shed JAM Party, 7 p.m., Steel Horse Saloon, Phoenix Jolie's Place JAM w/Adrenaline, 9 p.m., Chandler
Friday
Saturday Bumpin' Bud's JAM 2nd & 4th Saturdays JAM, 6 p.m., Marc's Sports Grill |
| 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: info@phoenixblues.org or write to: Phoenix Blues Society P.O. Box 36874 Phoenix, Arizona 85067 |
| GOT 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 info@phoenixblues.org and we'll be happy to list your event in our weekly Out & About section of the newsletter |
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