East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival (BluesFest) 2015

Friday 3/4/2015

19:20 JAMBALAYA Ruthie Foster Ruthie Foster – BluesFest 2011's feature artist, she was very warmly welcomed again by her very enthusiastic supporters. Grown up in gospel singer's family, trained pianist, self-taught guitar and banjo player (add to the mix farm girl, US Navy service woman, mum), she blends together several styles – gospel, blues and folk. Her extraordinary voice, good lyrics and her captivating stage-image (simple and warm-hearted) make for a welcoming, enjoyable show.

22:30 JUKE JOINT. Music Makers Relief Foundation Music Makers Relief Foundation – if the MMRF is new to you, you've got to read the inspiring interview with its founders, Tim and Denise Duffy, in the April issue of Rhythms magazine. This year's performance was opened by Cool John Ferguson and Vasti Jackson. Left handed Cool John delivered guitar wizardry of a kind that I have not seen for years (if at all)! Cool John, in addition to performing own very interesting compositions, did not shy away from playing SRV's “Pride and Joy” and Hendrix's

"Hey Joe". A very strong tough voice coupled with off-the-chart strings – what more could you want?! As to Vasti Jackson, there's no need for me to say anything; get online and enjoy one of his old numbers (thanks to youtube).

Saturday 4/4/2015

15:30 CROSSROADS Nikki Hill Nikki Hill – my last year review of Nikki's BluesFest gigs finished with words 'this is the beginning of a new star. Watch her rising.' And she is rising indeed. This year, she had gigs on all three major stages, with heaps of professional photos taken, and multi-camera TV crews recording all her concerts…and her music keeps getting even better! While every saxophonist will tell you how hard it is to produce a proper growling sound, Nikki's voice does it with ease – lots of energy and dynamics.

And, not to miss, her very powerful, no-frills, straight to the point band.

19:10 DELTA Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin and The Guilty Ones Phil and Dave Alvin – two brothers who formed their first band, The Blasters, back in 1979. In 1986 David left the band and started a very successful solo career as a musician, poet, producer and movie actor. In 2000 his CD “Public Domain - Songs Form The Wild Land” won a Grammy award. Phil continued to be a front-man for The Blasters and released several solo albums as a singer and guitar and harmonica player (he also managed to get a Masters degree

in Mathematics on the side). Since deciding to reunite in 2012 (after Phil's near death medical accident in Italy), they recorded the CD 'Common Ground' (Grammy nomination) – a selection of Big Bill Broonzy covers. The BluesFest crowd really got it, especially the old ballad 'Key to the Highway'.

22:30 JAMBALAYA “Playing For Change” Playing For Change – this gig was, as usual for PFC, very colourful both visually and musically. Nice to see Grand Pa Elliot again still shaking the tent's pillars with his low voice. PFC brings together music and musicians from different continents playing together for the great cause of changing world to the better. For me, the best part was the impromptu rendition of Honky-Tonk Blues played with only one acoustic guitar, two harps, two PFC singers and the great Keb' Mo'.

No preparation, no music scores, just a raw blues created on the spot by great masters. Beautiful!

Sunday 5/4/2015

14:30 DELTA Phil Wiggings and Don Turner Phil Wiggings and Don Turner – definitely the best gig. A “must see” of this year's BluesFest (forget all the megastars and TripleJ favourites). Real roots. A purely acoustic act with Australian Don Turner on resonator guitar and Washingtonian Phil Wiggings on Piedmont harmonica. They beautifully wove a deep, ethnographic and historical expedition into a colourful, virtuoso musical tapestry. Phil went about telling the long story of how, over the years, his African American family moved up from Alabama to Washington,

singing and playing the songs of the times and the places they moved through. Very kind-hearted and charismatic, lots of jokes and amazing musical mastery. They started the gig with less than a hundred viewers (what would expect at 14:30?), but magnetically attracted a huge crowd after their first few songs!

16:00 MOJO Beth Hart Beth Hart – much rocky than bluesy this year. Included a very noticeable new ballad called “Tell her you belong to me” (here - make it loud!) from her last album “Better Than Home”. During the gig's closing song, Zeppelin's cult hit “Whole lotta love”, something very strange happened: all the baby-boomers in the crowd (including myself) seemed to get a bit teary. Maybe we'd just gotten something in our eye. Or maybe it had something to do with Beth's "Lo-oo-o-ove" scream and the echoing, note-for-note, Page's explosive,

generation-defining, guitar solo!

18:30 CROSSROADS Angelique Kidjo Angélique Kidjo – if the number of people recording performance on their mobiles is a measure of an artist's success and popularity, then this gig was the most popular one at this year's BluesFest. Very colourful outfits, lighting, African traditional movements, songs in different languages, beats – you felt as if you were at a festival somewhere in the middle of Africa, at a place where everyone knows each other and is glad to be sharing their good mood and vibes. The majority of the songs presented this time were from the latest album, Eve, named after Angelique's mother as well as after the mythical “mother of all living”.

19:45 CROSSROADS Melbourne SKA Orchestra Melbourne SKA orchestra – very-very entertaining, highest quality orchestral music and, again, total mayhem on the stage (at some point musicians where playing laying on the floor or jumping between the rows of chairs). The crowd was in a state of complete ecstasy. Euphoria! In one gig, band leader Nicki Bomba sent plastic collection containers out through the crowd to collect small change donations towards anti-malaria mosquito nets in Africa. It took just a few minutes for the crowd to return these containers,

filled with several thousand dollars, back to the stage. For Sydney-siders, visit here. I can't imagine how on earth it will be possible for them play in Opera House (the Opera House might well decide to go for a dip in the harbour during the gig). I'm definitely gonna go.

Monday 6/4/2015

14:40 MOJO Watussi Watussi – here is how the group describes itself: “lead by charismatic Columbian ex-pat, Oscar Jimenez, Watussi are a well-traveled troupe of Latino-tinged roots rockers”. A Sydney band, this year they added two amazing dancers: Sandra Lucas and Claudia Vidal. Hard to describe their style, movements and costumes. The Ancient American Indian (Peruvian?) mythology probably comes to mind….It was a real treat for all senses – very fluid, original

twists and turns of the human body against a backdrop of pulsing Latino music.

BUSKING STAGE
I cannot say much about the Busking Competition this year. For some reason, the Busking Stage was shut on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, the weather did not help either as the busking tent did not have cover for its listening crowd (this is definitely something that the organisers should look into). And another thing – it would be nice to have a list of competitors and a schedule published, both, on the BluesFest website and on little leaflets. Otherwise it is hard to know who’s performing at any given time and to plan how to spend your precious listening minutes. I didn’t have a chance to see all the buskers, but the most noticeable for me were:

Matt Stillert Blues Stomp Holding Corp (local band),

A few other general observations:

Some more names and photos – these artist definitely deserve your attention:
Marlon Williams and The Yarra Benders - "the impossible love child of Elvis, Roy Orbison and Townes Van Zandt".
Pokey LaFarge Band - "artfully dodgy ambassadors for old-time music, presenting and representing the glories of hot swing, early jazz and ragtime blues".
Keziah Jones – very(!) funky BluFunk (blues + Funk) from Lagos Nigeria.
The Rumjacks - Sydneysiders - "the five who have nothing to hide, who have no limit and there’s nothing to it but to make this music and make it loud, make it proud, add the extra energy and to hell with the consequences"
The Beautiful Girls - boys only band from Sydney.