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.
Here’s a clip from Walter’s weekly Chicken Wings Jam at Patrick’s Pub. I’m afraid it’s a bit grainy and dark, but it captures Shaaron Schuemaker on bass and singing that great cover song You Got Me Hummin, along with “Harmonica John” Frazer on harp, Johnny Vernazza on guitar (not sure who other guitarist was), Matt Taylor on drums, Tim Sutherland on keyboard, Chuck Arcilla on the sax, and Phil Lozano on trombone.
Every Tuesday night Lafayette Falkquay and his blues band plays at the Gaslamp SpeakEasy. On drums is Billy Wear and on bass is Ronnie Baumslater. This Tuesday he was also joined by harmonica player, Doug Camphuis (who played with Lafayette a number of years ago), doing one of Lafayette’s signature cover songs… Black Cat Bone.
A former drummer also stopped in to play with the band, Frank Alverez, and here he is playing with other friends who came in that night: Fuzzy Rankins on guitar and Ms Silky Sol (Red Afro Queen) as they perform cover song Rock Me Baby.
And later on Ronnie took over the mike to sing Skin Tight. Not exactly blues, but rounded out the evening perfectly.
Summertime jazz is happening again at the Westgate Hotel up on the pool deck, and while this isn’t blues (as a rule), Whitney Shay will be singing there on Friday night before her quartet plays next door later on at the US Grant.
For those of you who love to swing dance to blues… this week we have lots of swinging blues around the downtown. Tuesday night at Humphrey’s and at Henry’s Pub, and Wednesday night at Tio Leo’s.
The JammingOut blues jam at HOB on Wednesday nights (7-11p) now features a local band about once a month, and last night it was the Charles Burton Blues Band. This is a fun band with a loyal following of local swing dancers (next Tuesday night he’ll be playing at Henry’s Pub which has Swing Tuesdays, and he’s often at Tio Leo’s on Thursday nights).
I’m pleased to finally have video of Charles and some of his band members. Last night they performed a number of songs, including this cover song Stranger Blues, which is on one of Charles’ many CDs.
And here is Charles singing his rendition of Sweet Potato Pie, which is also the name of his latest CD. You can hear more sample tunes on the CD by going to TUNES on this site.
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.
