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!
It was a slow (always that way after a holiday weekend) but good jam night at Patrick’s Pub. Here is a clip of newcomer to the jam, Fred Lawson, on bass and singing You Better Pray. Great song and some great solos from Johnny Vernazza on guitar, Chuck Arcilla on sax, and Walter Gentry on sax – our beloved jam host, along with Matthew Burgher on drums.
Note: Video is a bit grainy and a few times out of focus, which happens when the lighting isn’t that good where the sax players stand. But still very worth watching.
Walter Gentry’s Tuesday night jam was another packed evening on and off the stage. Who ever said blues is boring hasn’t been to a San Diego jam!
Here we have Ray Zvetini playing guitar and singing an Albert King (and later Eric Clapton) cover song Crosscut Saw. With him on stage are Doyle Thomas on guitar, Seth Webster on bass, Lisa Viegas on drums, Tim Sutherland on keyboard, Ray Brown on trumpet and John Brooks on sax.
Some of the musicians switched out and Ray Brown took over the vocals and belted out that great Commodore’s cover song Brick House. Justin Fools joined in on harmonica, Fuzzy Rankins played the keyboard, Matt Taylor was back on drums, and I’m not sure who was playing the other guitar. Seth was still on bass, John was on sax, and I didn’t catch who joined them on trumpet. The sound got a bit loud, so it didn’t pick up too well on my mic.
Earlier that night, Somerset Barnard, visiting from Australia, was performing one of his own tunes Nobody’s Fault. He was joined by Seth Webster on bass guitar, Johnny Vernazza on guitar, Matt Taylor on drums, Ray Brown on trumpet and John Brooks on sax.
Last night brought in a great crowd and another awesome mix of musicians at the JammingOut at HOB. We just kept the video going as the night got better and better, and we only caught the last 2 hours of the 4 hour jam! Most of these musicians have never played together, and often they don’t even know each other before going up on stage, so it isn’t always clean and smooth. But everyone has a good time!
Local bass player, Shaaron Schuemaker, was singing Sam Cooke’s cover song Bring It On Home to Me in this clip. She was joined by Jaz Jaszewski and Judd Austin on guitars, Steve Douglas on drums and Tom Safreed on harmonica, who was the recent winner of the BLUSD Spring Harpfest two weeks ago. Congrats to Tom!
A member of the audience, Greg Loving from Indianapolis, then got up to join the folks on stage to sing cover song Falsom Prison Blues, to the delight of his other colleagues from out of town and the rest of us. He was great!
New to the jam was Terry Padgett, who came in and sang cover songs Wish I Had a Nickle and Turn On Your Love Light, while playing guitar. He was joined by Shaaron on bass, Nicholas Butterfield on guitar, Dennis Bucko on harmonica, and Bert Hammer (visiting from Canada) on drums.
Then Nicholas took over and sang Bill Wither’s cover song Use Me.
This was followed by Doyle Thomas playing guitar and singing his favorite Stevie Ray Vaughn cover song Pride and Joy. He was joined by Junya Isogawa and Jacinto Castaneda on guitars, Fuzzy Rankins on bass (which is rare to see), and Jay Morris on drums.
And the night ended with Silky Sol (aka: Red Afro Queen) coming to the stage, along with Kevin Cooper on bass, Fuzzy Rankins and Mark Augustin (host of the 88.3 Jazz/blues jam now at Proud Mary’s earlier in the evening) on guitars, and Michael Minor on drums. They performed Jimmy Reed’s cover song Big Boss Man and then Aretha Franklin’s cover song Rock Steady. Unfortunately both videos got cut off at the end, particularly the last video – ran out of memory taking so many videos 😉
It looks like a fairly light week of blues around downtown. Patrick’s Pub is now starting to host more rock bands, and Kona Kai is going to be closed for renovations for a while.
The blues jams are all still happening on Monday (Speakeasy), Tuesday (Patrick’s), Wednesday (House of Blues) and Thursday (Spaghetteria).
Each week a new mix of musicians shows up at the JammingOut & BLUSD jam (at House of Blues Voodoo Stage) and gets randomly assigned to get up on stage together. Last night Bobby Hayse, from Indiana, came in and sang cover song Mustang Sally, along with Brandon Cerquedo on guitar (who did the solo in this clip), Doyle Thomas on guitar, Jim Holtz on bass and Tony Garrick on drums.
Another good week of blues jams and bands around town. Blues every night in the Gaslamp – at Patrick’s (and every night but Sunday) at the SpeakEasy.
There is also the Youth Blues jam on Saturday afternoon that is always incredibly good, and some of the kids that come in are as young as 9 years old. This is an open jam for any young person who wants to come play some blues.
This may be Kona Kai’s last week of music out on Shelter Island before they shut down temporarily for renovations.
If you love blues, the Wednesday night jam at HOB downtown, hosted by JammingOut.net, the local blues society (BLUSD) and House of Blues, is one of the great jams around town.
Here we have Justin Fools on harmonica and singing cover song No Particular Place to Go, supported by Dave Keefer and Judd Austin on guitar, Dale Davis on bass and Lisa Viegas.
The evening ended with a little fun on stage as Lafayette Falkquay sings cover song Mustang Sally, along with Junya Isogawa and Rich Giglio on guitar, Kevin Cooper on bass and Billy Wear on drums.
There is a lot of blues happening in the greater downtown area this week, and there is a bit more than usual out on Shelter Island (Kona Kai and Humphrey’s Backstage) and at Tio Leo’s off of Morena Blvd.
Morry Sochat & the Special 20s is a Chicago blues & swing band out on tour, and they are coming to San Diego on Friday to play at the Gaslamp SpeakEasy. They should be a lot of fun, especially if you are a swing dancer. Unfortunately I’ll miss them.
I head out of town Friday for 10 days, but I hope to catch many of these bands and get up some more video before I go. If you get any good video of these bands in the next couple weeks, please email me with the YouTube link and I’ll get it up on the site.
Trey Tosh won’t be playing at Patrick’s this weekend, as scheduled. Instead tonight the R&B band, Mystique Element of Soul, will be on stage, and tomorrow (Sunday) night the Bill Magee Blues Band will be there 9-midnight.
