October 2014 www.torontobluessociety.com Published by the TORONTO BLUES SOCIETY since 1985 [email protected] Vol 30, No 10 Shakura S'Aida is a featured vocalist at the Women's Blues Revue at Massey Hall November 22 CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #40011871 Voxxy Lady Event Listings John’s Blues Picks and More Loose Blues News Rachelle Van Zanten will be a featured vocalist at the Women's Blues Revue November 30 at Massey Hall Season Sponsor SEPTEMBER 25 » OCTOBER 19, 2014 Immerse yourself in the world of The Blues with this innovative concert/theatre hybrid. Written and conceived by Raoul Bhaneja Directed by Eda Holmes A THEATRE PASSE MURAILLE PRODUCTION Starring Raoul Bhaneja, Divine Brown & band members | Style Michael Cooper Partner: by and Chris Banks Bhaneja, Divine Brown Cabaret Raoul Bona, Vintage & MoSheTa Chisholm, Tom Jake of Photo In association with HOPE AND HELL THEATRE CO. Jake Chisholm, Tom Bona and Chris Banks. Each night will feature a different performance interview and jam session with a living Blues legend! *subject to change Oct. 1 – PAUL JAMES Oct. 9 – GARY KENDALL OCT. 16 – PAUL REDDICK Oct. 2 – TERRY WILKINS Oct. 10 – RITA CHIARELLI OCT. 17 – SUZIE VINNICK Oct. 3 – JAY DOUGLAS OCT. 11 – DOCTOR NICK (2PM) & OCT. 18 – CAROLYN FE (2PM) & Oct. 4 – CARLOS DEL JUNCO JOHNNY MAX (7:30PM) PAT CAREY (7:30PM) Oct. 5 – GUY DAVIS OCT. 12 – DANNY MARKS OCT. 19 – BOB MARGOLIN Oct. 8 – CHUCK JACKSON OCT. 15 – BRIAN BLAIN This Fall, experience The Blues in Theatre Passe Muraille’s stunning historic Mainspace & bar. Go to passemuraille.ca for the full Blues legend schedule and book your tickets today to secure your spot. National Tour Media Sponsor Sponsor 416.504.7529 | PASSEMURAILLE.CA | 16 RYERSON AVE. TORONTO 2 MapleBlues October 2014 www.torontobluessociety.com MARK YOUR CALENDAR October 16-19,Westin Bristol Place Hotel, 950 Dixon Road at 427, Toronto Folk Music Ontario Conference. TBS will be producing a blues showcase Oct 17, noon-2pm (with the Oh Chays, the Mackenzie Blues Band and Suzie Vinnick.) and another session, Idle No More, will discuss issues in the first nations community. www.folkmusicontario.ca The Music Managers Forum will host a "managers huddle" event (details at http:// musicmanagersforum.ca/events/managers- huddle-series). These events are open to FMO Conference registrants November 22, 2014, Massey Hall Women’s Blues Revue The Women’s Blues Revue returns to the historic site of Massey Hall for the 28th Annual event with an exciting lineup of featured vocalists including Shakura S’Aida, Diana Braithwaite, Divine Brown and Andria Simone (more Kid Cajun is Toronto's newest Cajun/Creole/Zydeco music project. Kid Cajun's repertoire expands to the farthest to be announced later). Mariel Borelli will reaches of the Cajun tradition. Father and daughter duo Ron and Alice Sellwood join with Casey van Gorkom be back to emcee Charter Members can and Ted Hawkins to play their Toronto debut on October 19 at 402 queen east / gallery 402. contact the office for member discounts January, 16-19, 2015, Eaton Chelsea Hotel Toronto, 33 Gerrard St W Blues Summit 7 The Toronto Blues Society The Blues Summit, presented by The Toronto Blues Society, is Canada’s biennial is a Registered Charity! blues conference. to page 17 for more information on registration and discount hotel rates. Make a donation beyond membership and merchandise, and get your charitable January, 19, 2015, Koerner Hall, 273 tax receipt in time for this year! (Charitable # 87487 7509 RR0001). You will be helping Bloor St W to support events like the annual Women's Blues Revue at Massey Hall, The Blues 18th Annual Maple Blues Awards (All Blues in the Schools program, The monthly Gladstone Blues Series, numerous workshops Summit delegates can take advantage and carreer development activities for the musician community as well as the Maple of the special Delegate Discount which Blues Awards and the Blues Summit conference, the most important blues industry includes best available tickets for $28! To gathering in Canada that occurs every other year. Networking events within this take advantage of this offer, please contact conference allow for industry discussion alongside artist discovery through the the TBS Office at 416-538-3885 or info@ showcase program. torontobluessociety.com to retrieve the special discount code. This discount is available to all TBS Charter Members, as well as all Blues Summit Delegates.) January 20-24, 2015 Orpheum Theatre and various venues in Memphis International Blues Challenge. The TBS will be sending representatives in all three categories: Conor Gains (group), The Oh Chays (solo/duo) and Angelique Francis "Like" us on Facebook! Follow us on Twitter (youth). Jerome Godboo's CD, Sanctuary www.facebook.com/ @tobluessociety City is the TBS entry for the Best Self- TorontoBluesSociety Produced CD www.torontobluessociety.com MapleBlues October 2014 3 TORONTO BLUES SOCIETY 910 Queen St. W. Ste. B04 Toronto, Canada M6J 1G6 Tel. (416) 538-3885 Toll-free 1-866-871-9457 Email: [email protected] Website: www.torontobluessociety.com MapleBlues is published monthly by the Toronto Blues Society ISSN 0827-0597 2014 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Derek Andrews (President), Jon Arnold (Executive), Gord Brown, Lucie Dufault (Secretary), Sharon Evans, Sarah French, Michael Malone (Treasurer), Jamie MacDonald, Ed Parsons (Executive), Norman Robinson, Paul Sanderson, Mike Smith (Executive), John Valenteyn (Executive) Musicians Advisory Council: Chris Antonik, Brian Blain, Gary Kendall, Lily Sazz, Mark Stafford, Suzie Vinnick Membership Committee: Michael Malone, Lucie Dufault, Gord Brown, Sarah French, Mike Smith, Debbie Brown, Ed Parsons, Norm Robinson, Nick Lanaro Volunteer Committee: Ed Parsons, Sharon Evans, Lucie Dufault Office Manager: Alice Sellwood [email protected] Office Assistant: Ivy Mairi Event Coordinator: Jordan Safer [email protected] Sponsorship Coordinator: Dougal Bichan [email protected] Webmistress: Janine Stoll Grants Officer: Barbara Isherwood Publisher/Editor-in-Chief: Derek Andrews Managing Editor: Brian Blain [email protected] Contributing Editor: John Valenteyn Listings Coordinator: Razani Fulwell Mailing and Distribution: Ed Parsons Advertising & Sponsorship: Dougal & Co. For rates & specs call 416-645-0295 Email: [email protected] or visit www.torontobluesociety.com/newsletters/ rate-card Charitable # 87487 7509 RR0001 The Toronto Blues Society is a member of The Toronto Blues Society acknowledges the annual support of the following agencies: an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Project support is provided by: The Toronto Blues Society is committed to the principles of the Personal Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in safeguarding the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information. CANADIAN PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #40011871 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Toronto Blues Society, 910 Queen St. W. Ste. B04, Toronto, Canada M6J 1G6 Email: [email protected] 4 MapleBlues October 2014 www.torontobluessociety.com Voxxy Lady When my brother, guitarist Mark Ghent, and I were kids, we turned the basement of our Chicago home into a variety show venue. We went around the neighbourhood and drummed up audience members and charged them 5 cents to see the show: a combination of music, dance, circus routines, and novelty acts. Today, I’m still staging home concerts at my summer venue “Rita’s Parlour”, in my Picton, Ontario home. One of my recent guest artists was Illinois-born, Toronto-based Bill Westcott. Dubbed the “Barrel House Commander”, Bill is a living direct link to piano music born in the South and made famous in one of The Great Migration’s destinations: Chicago. To hear Bill play is to hear early blues come alive with an authenticity that is rarely heard today. One of his Little Brother Montgomery (circa 1927) specialties is the music of Little Westcott: Oh yeah...I had lessons from a woman in town named Ruth Brother Montgomery, with whom Cassing, who was a very, uh, interesting woman...There were two piano he studied. teachers in that town. One of them was the wife of the Superintendent Bill Westcott of Schools, and the other one was Ruth Cassing, who was known for getting kicked out of church jobs for showing up drunk on Sunday. Little Brother was born Eurreal Wilford Montgomery on April [audience laughter] And then she’d get another church job, and she’d 18, 1906 in the sawmill town of Kentwood Louisiana. He started be good for, I don’t know, a year, or two years. And then she’d fall off playing professionally in African American lumber and turpentine the wagon, show up drunk, and rag the hymns. And...then they’d fire camps in Louisiana and Mississippi. As a 22-year-old, Little Brother her...But she was a much more interesting teacher. She taught me relocated to Chicago. It was here that he started to record. He has classical, of course, and a lot of it. But she also realized that I was kind several surviving recordings, mainly on the Folkways label. He also of visually impaired. She’d give me a piece to learn and I’d learn it, recorded for Bluesville, Delmark, and Genes. In 2013, Montgomery and then I’d come away filling out chords that weren’t there. You know, was posthumously inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame. and just making more of it than it was. And she realized I was an ear The following is a transcript of my brief interview with Bill before player. And ah, so she taught me old turn-of-the-century songs like a live audience at “Rita’s Parlour” in July 2014. Transcription was “After the Ball”, and stuff like that. With simple chords, right?...[she] provided by Emma Cava. would give me a new song every other week or so, and I’d learn how to play it.