“A Blast From The Past” Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, December 2003 — Image by kenne
Sadly, several of those playing in this Ken & Mary’s Blues Project house concert are no longer with us — those were the days with some of the best blues ever coming out of east Texas.
kenne
Street Music In The French Quarter — Computer Art by kenne
— kenne
Houston Legend, Earl Gilliam and Jonn Richardson at the Big East, (February 15, 2009) — Image by kenne
Lately I have been listening to an Otis Taylor CD. Coincidentally, my friend Jonn Del Toro Richardson posts on Facebook a Otis Taylor, Gary Moore & Jonn Richardson video from 2006 — karma!
I’ve followed the musical career of Jonn over the last decade. The Blues world has a lot of great Bluesmen, but few as good, yet not recognized as Jonn. Yes, among Blues musicians Jonn is admired for his talent, but for many Blues fans he is under the radar. For years Jonn has toured with better known musicians, and collaborated on releasing CDs, but no solo CD — it’s time for his own CD!
Now there’s an opportunity to help Jonn reach his funding goal to produce his first solo album. Click here for more information.
Here are three of videos of Jonn I have done — yes, he is the “REAL DEAL!”
IBC Blues Jam, 2010
The Real Deal with Rich DelGrosso at Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, 2011
Diunna Greenleaf & Blue Mercy @ Rhythm & Roots Concert Series In Tucson, 2012 — Jonn and Diunna bring it on home in this video!
“Desert Coltrane” — Image by Joy
Some years ago on one of our trips to New Orleans, Joy and I were walking in the French Quarter and decided to go in a resale store. That’s when I saw the John Coltrane t-shirt I’m wearing in above photo by Joy. The t-shirt has faded over the years, but I still wear it often to live music events, also just when I feel like it. Okay, so I set it up for this posting, which I had planned on in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Coltrane’s, “A Love Supreme.”
In my teen years and early twenties I often would go to sleep listening to jazz on late-night Chicago radio. I still listen to a lot of radio, especially NPR where you can still find good jazz music. About ten days ago, I listened to and NPR story, 50 Years Of John Coltrane’s ‘A Love Supreme’. (A Love Supreme was recorded December 9, 1964.)
“I call it a sacred day for music fans, not just jazz fans. For people across musical boundaries and cultures — for Carlos Santana, Bono, Joni Mitchell, Steve Reich, Bootsy Collins, Gil Scott-Heron — hearing A Love Supreme was a revelation.” — Arun Rath
Many generations have and will continue to be influenced by the music of John Coltrane. If you let your soul listen you can hear his bluesy sound in the words and music of poets, singer-song writers and musicians:
Flirt with me don’t keep hurtin’ me
Don’t cause me pain
Be my lover don’t play no game
Just play me John Coltrane
— from Righteously by Lucinda Williams
#####
So, catch the blues train,
ride the drum beat’s edge,
see tomorrow’s vision,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
Locomotion,
a blues riff ,
Coltrane changes,
somewhere,
somewhere around the bend.
— from somewhere around the bend by kenne
“People had channeled emotions into music before. But no one had ever played the blues like this.
It’s the same message we get from the blues: Even in struggle and suffering, we sing, because life is a blessing. As much as Coltrane made his saxophone cry — for his suffering, and the world’s — in A Love Supreme he’s telling us that the most important voice to raise is one of gratitude to the creator for the gift of life.” — Arun Rath
Mik Garrison at La Cocina Cantina, October 11, 2014 — Images and video by kenne
After spending some time checking out the scene at the “Tucson Meet Yourself” event October 11, 2014, we walked over to one of a favorite cantinas in the historic Presidio district. On this Saturday afternoon the music was by Mik and the Funky Brunch. As described on the La Cocina website, Mik Garrison is a beat-box looping, bassist, singer and saxman. Mik is a funk/afro-pop/jazz groove original song-writer that will free-style and make you shake yo rump.
Mik’s music is a fusion of different genres making use of synthetic and traditional musical instruments. At times I could close my eyes, picturing a young Tom Waits singing a funky, ” Bad As Me.”
They were cheap but they were real,
the old bistros. You could have a meal,
drink the devil’s own red wine, and contemplate
the sawdust on the floor, or fate,
as the full-fed beast kicked the empty pail.
— from “Poem in the Modernist Manner” by David Lehman
kenne
Desert Spiny Lizard — Image by kenne
— kenne’s version of the Blues song “Drowning On Dry Land,” by Al Jackson, Jr.
B.B. King and His Band (August 8, 2010) — Image by kenne
You’ve heard of B.B. King,
You may have heard of Albert King
You may not have heard of Freddie King,
All blues musicians of renowned.
But there is only one
king of The Blues —
Tell me now,
How long has
The thrill been gone?
Forty-five years?
Never for Blues fans!
May the thrill never be gone.
— kenne
East Texas Blues (Ken & Mary’s Blues Project, August 20, 2005) — Image by kenne
— from “Lone Star Blues” lyrics by Delbert McClinton
Ruthie Foster and Diunna Greenleaf, Heritage Place, Conroe, Texas (June 2, 2005) — Image by kenne
“Shadows at the Backdoor” (09/13/03) — Image by kenne
Blues Legend, Jimmy “T99” Nelson is shadowed by James “Blues Hound” Nagel and Smokin’ Joe Montes
off-stage at the back entrance of the old Washington Street Rhythm Room.
Jimmy “T99” Nelson (10/01/01) — Image by kenne
Mean Gene Kelton at The Rhythm Room On Washington in Houston, June 14, 2003 — Image by kenne
gone
— kenne
Double Bayou Dance Hall (October 19, 2002) — Image by kenne
DOUBLE BAYOU, THAT IS
— kenne
Phenomenal Woman
BY MAYA ANGELOU
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them,
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing,
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need for my care.
’Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Pete Mayes, Grady Gaines, Calvin Owens and Joe ‘Guitar’ Hughes at Billy Blues, June, 2000 — Image by kenne
For years, Sunday morning has been about the Blues, listening to Mr. & Mrs. V on KPFT, Houston. Thanks to Internet streaming, the Sunday morning tradition continues.
While listening to this morning, I was going through some of my digital image files when I ran across these old black & white images I had scanned in 2010, which led me to start flipping through one of the best references on Houston blues, “Down in Houston – Bayou City Blues by Roger Wood. Of the four blues musicians in these images, Grady Gaines is the only one still with us. However, thanks to technology and radio personalities like Mr. & Mrs. V in Houston and Marty Kool (KXCI) in Tucson, their music is still with us — some of the best blues anywhere! Take the time to enjoy and share so this great music genre will always be alive and in the hearts of music lovers everywhere.
— kenne
We all need the blues
To better understand life
All its ups and downs.
— kenne
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