This Wednesday night jam at the House of Blues, Robin Henkel (winner of this year’s San Diego Music Awards for best blues in San Diego) came to the jam with Mama Tokus (visiting San Diego once again from southwest England).
They have been performing together all around town during her visit, and here is a delightful song called Too Much Butt by Saffire, the Uppity Blues Women. On stage with them is drummer Ric Lee.
We also heard Jacinto Casteneda singing that great cover song Got My Mojo Working and playing guitars along with a newcomer to town Jo Hell. They were joined by Harmonica John Frazer, Reggie Ford on drums and Sam on bass.
It’s another good line up of blues bands and jams around town this week, and a full day of blues on Saturday.
The International Blues Competition is in full swing, and the 2nd round of competing duos will perform at Tio Leo’s this Saturday from 1-5pm. Check out my last post to see Missy & Heine Andersen competing this last weekend.
It appears Hennessey’s Tavern will now be hosting the Youth Blues Jam (sponsored by BLUSD – our local blues society) and hosted by Leilani Kilgore (an incredibly talented young woman) twice a month, where kids under 21 will blow you away with what they can do. It is a reflection of the success of the BLUSD’s Blues in the Schools program. If you have kids who can play, or know of kids who can, invite them to join in. It’s free and it’s fun.
I’ve been hearing about the Little Kings, but hadn’t heard them until this week. They were the featured band of the month (last Wednesdays of the month) at JammingOut at HOB. And they were great! They play again tonight downtown at the SpeakEasy.
Here are some videos of them: The first one is a Magic Sam cover song, You Belong to Me, sung by David Mosby with his band.
This second video is also of a Magic Sam cover tune, Look What You’ve Done to Me.
And third is an Ike Turner cover called Rocket 88.
The night wasn’t complete without jammers, and here we have Nicolas Butterfield performing a Bill Withers cover Use Me Up, which he does so well. On stage with Nick was guitarist Dave Keefer, Justin Fools on harmonica, Samuel on bass and Reggie Ford on drums.
JammingOut at HOB had a full house and one good set after another Wednesday night. It was a great night.
Returning for a third time to the jam was Willie Simmons, who got up to perform a song I’ll call Good Woman (not sure what the song is really called), and rocked the house. He was on stage with Jacinto Castaneda and Rich Giglio on guitars, Matt Casey on drums, Earl Pratt on bass and two sax players I don’t know.
In the next set, Kammie Thomas sang BB King’s cover song Thrill is Gone, with Jacinto Casteneda and Fuzzy Rankins on guitars, Kevin Cooper on bass, Reggie Ford on drums.
The night ended with Fuzzy Rankins and Lafayette Falkquay singing and playing guitars together, along with Kevin Cooper on bass, Timothy on drums, and the two sax players whose names I didn’t catch
Every jam has its own familiar faces and this week we had a good mix of regular JammingOut musicians who were back to jam together and have a good time. As one of the JammingOut hosts, Rosa Lea Schiavone, recently said, “everyone leaves their ego at the door” and its so true. It’s a great group of people and a lot of fun, and the jam runs from 7-11pm every Wednesday night.
In this video another one of our hosts and a guitar player, Doyle Thomas, got on stage and sang the cover song One Way Out. Playing with him are David Damaso and Mike (standing in back and not sure of his last name) on guitars, David Lewis on harmonica, Matt Casey on drums, Dino on trumpet and I didn’t catch who was playing the bass.
At the end of the night and last song, we were entertained by Kevin Cooper on bass, singing Mustang Sally – who was joined by Tony Peterson who amped it up even more, along with Lafayette and Mike on guitars, Dino on trumpet, and I can’t remember who the drummer is. Lots of fun for everyone!
As readers of this blog know by now, I’m a regular at the JammingOut at HOB (House of Blues Voodoo Stage in the Gaslamp) on Wednesday nights.
Last night Carrie Shannon, who I’ve never heard before, got up and sang a sassy ZZ Top cover song, Tush. On stage with her was Nicholas Butterfield and Junya Isogawa on guitars, Kevin Cooper on bass, David Lewis on harmonica and Edward Cleveland on drums.
Later Will Lovalot performed that great Freddie King song Big Legged Woman, along with David Damaso (and then Lafayette Falkquay) on guitars, Harmonica John (Frazer), Dino on trumpet, Kevin Cooper on bass and Michael Minor on drums.
Many of the regular musicians were at the JammingOut at HOB last night, including Nick Butterfield and Rich Giglio – on guitars together (once again) and performing “English Invasion” songs. As Rich explained to me, from British bands in the 60s and 70s who brought their blues rock to America, which they both enjoy.
Here they are playing a Cream cover song Crossroads, with Nick singing. The vocal mic didn’t pick up as well as it usually does – not sure why. They are on stage with David Falkquay on bass, Duke Ventra on drums and Dave Lewis on harmonica.
If you have been following this blog for a while, you know I often go to the JammingOut at HOB. I can’t always get to the other jams around town, so I try to make it to this one as often as I can. It’s always good and often there are newcomers to the jam who rock the night. There were quite a few musicians there who I hadn’t seen before.
One of them was Maria Woodard, a jazz and Latin singer in San Diego, who got up and did a number of tunes. Here she is singing the Fats Domino song Kansas City. With her on stage was Rich Giglio and Doyle Thomas on guitars, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Dale Davis on bass and Steve Douglas on drums.
Nick Butterfield was back again, and he gave us an awesome performance of that great Creedence Clearwater Revival cover tune Born on the Bayou. He’s joined by Rich on guitar, Dale on bass, Dave Good on saxophone, Richie Strell playing the accordion, Reggie Ford on drums, and I’m not sure who was playing the harmonica. Enjoy!
Later, Harmonica John Frazer played and sang Steve Miller band cover song Your Cash Ain’t Nothing But Trash with Will Lovalot on guitar, Steve Welles on bass, and I believe it was Max on drums.
I got to the blues jam late, but I still caught a few sets with musicians who have become regulars at the jam.
Here is Rich Giglio performing cover song Jump Jive An’ Wail, supported by Junya Isogawa on guitar, Victor Franklin on bass, David Lewis on harmonica and local newcomer to the jam, Jonathon Bachelor on drums, who says he’ll be back!
Next up on stage was Nicholas Butterfield playing guitar and singing cover song Fire, with Judd Austin on guitar, Lisa Viegas on drums, Kevin Cooper on bass.
Every Wednesday night, “JammingOut at HOB” hosts a blues jam that has developed a wonderful following in its first year, and this past Wednesday they celebrated their 1st anniversary downstairs at the House of Blues. It was a fun evening, and here are some videos I got – the lighting wasn’t great so its a bit dark and grainy, but most of it is good.
Here is Dona Aguinaldo, one of a number of wonderful female vocalists that night, who got up to sing Etta James’ cover At Last. Wow! I just wish the lighting had been better… On stage with her (and doing their own jamming solos) is Bob Sortillon (standing next to her) and Rich Giglio on guitars, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Dave Lindgren on bass, and Steve Douglas on drums. Bob, Rick and Dave also each sang some great songs, but the videos didn’t turn out.
Then Christine Gilardi performed Bonnie Rait’s cover song Love Me Like a Man. She rocks it with Somerset Barnard on guitar, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Yasha Susoeff on sax, Victor Franklin on bass and Michael Minor on drums.
Afterwards Victoria Wasserman got up with them and nailed it with that so familiar BB King (amongst others) cover song Stormy Monday.
Somerset Barnard, visiting from Brisbane Australia for a few weeks, got us up and dancing to another favorite, Got My Mojo Working.
And to end the evening we had Len Rainey, a favorite local bluesman, take the stage and sing, as only Len can do it, the cover song Kiddio. He’s joined by Doyle Thomas on guitar, Kevin Cooper on keyboards, Michael Minor on drums, David Lewis on harps – as well as Steve Lang. Again the video is a bit dark, even after lightening it up as much as I could.
The final song brought Lafayette Falkquay on the stage to join Len on bass, and they had a fun exchange as they performed Slow Down Baby together.
I only captured a bit of the evening. We also had a number of brass players (more sax, trumpet and trombone), and other performers who made it a special anniversary evening.
Next week the jam is back upstairs, but it starts 2 hours later at 9pm (for just this week).
San Diego Blues
