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April 16, 2007
Livin' on blues power
Caught the second of two shows by The Muddy Waters Band at the Fairfield Theatre Company Saturday night and I have to admit I was more than pleasantly surprised.
I knew "Steady Rollin'" Bob Margolin would be good, having seen him twice in New Haven - at Cafe Nine recently and at the Blues Cafe a few years back.
But to see drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith do his thing gave me chills. There is nothing fancy to his playing, but you don't need to show off to be great. He even sang a few old Chicago blues numbers and I now regret I didn't buy one of his albums at the show.
Mark Naftalin, who lives in the Southport section of Fairfield, sat in for the first half of the show on piano, a position he held for many years with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If you didn't know better, you could have sworn he was a visiting college professor, with his light tan suit and sweater vest, but the man can still tear it up.
Naftalin was soon replaced by the third guest of honor, blues piano giant Pinetop Perkins. The mere fact that he's still out on the road at the age of 93 deserves respect, but he can still play and sing.
I remember seeing Perkins at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1997 or '98 when the festival's main concert was dedicated to piano masters. There was Perkins, followed by Charles Brown (who didn't perform because of an illness) and then Ray Charles. People told me then I was lucky to see Perkins because, at 83, he might not be around too much longer.
It's kind of funny that he's still doing it and Brother Ray is no longer with us.
The opening act was West Haven's Rocky Lawrence and Steve McLean, doing their acoustic blues thing. Their set was very well-received and if you get a chance to see the duo, take it. And do it soon as Lawrence informed me that McLean is moving back to California in the fall.
Posted by Sean on 5:21 PM | Comments (0)
