LONG BEACH BLUES FESTIVAL
1999

Day Three: Monday, Sept. 6

HARPMASTERS JAM
This was a set that featured harp greats Snooky Pryor, Carey Bell, Billy Boy Arnold, and Sugar Blue. It started with a sharp blow of harp coming out of a speaker all of a sudden. It was Sugar Blue playing the instrument in the crowd and walking towards the stage. The song was "Miss You", the famous Rolling Stones song that he was on. The band backing him up included James Wheeler on guitar, and Jim Tillman, a veteran who used to play for the late Willie Dixon's band. This band backed up all four harpmasters in this set.

Though this jam featured some of the best harp players living today with veterans supporting them, I have to say that it was rather a boring performance. Obviously, the players didn't seem like they had much practicing (if any at all) prior to taking the stage, and the emsemble was horrible. The show itself was like a practice session. Before Billy Boy did "Fine Young Girl", he was teaching the other players the key lick by singing it to the members.

Carey sounded much better than the others as the guitarist from his band joined the session band and he leaded the band during Carey's performance. I think Snooky's performance which came last was the best in this set. He did a song solo with just a harp and his vocals for a starter, and that was really nice. He also did an acoustic session with Doug MacLeod and Michael James backing him up instead of the session band. The rest was his usual. Nice rolling boogie.

The session closed with everybody playing together. Even Billy Branch and Charlie Musselwhite who were scheduled to appear later in the day were called in to jam with these harpmasters. It was a quite a sight to see, but as everyone was playing at the same time, I couldn't tell much who was playing what.

Not everything was bad, but for a set that lasted 2 and 1/2 hours, they should have spent more time in preparation, I think.

JOE LOUIS WALKER
with Billy Branch and Jimmy Thackery
What's happening to JLW recently? Last time he appeared here, he had Ike Turner as a guest, and this time, Billy and Jimmy? And his recent albums feature so many guests that it's hard to tell who is the main artist. For a talented guy like JLW, it's hard to understand why he doesn't take the whole stage/album to himself.

Oh yeah, the set was good alright. But I felt that it was Billy Branch who was in the center of spotlight, not JLW. Billy's harp had the straightforward impact. He isn't who you call a great singer, but nevertheless he still could show that he could sing with an equal power he put into his harp playing.

I had never seen Jimmy Thackery before, and when he came on stage around the middle the set, I thought he looked very different from how he looked on his album covers. No offence, but photos on his albums look much better, and younger, too. His playing wasn't bad, but I thought the guitar had too much delay effect on it. I also thought it was odd to see Floyd Rose unit built into such a nice looking vintage strat. And he didn't sing at all, not even back up vocals. Why? He sure sings on his albums.

RUTH BROWN
Being a big fan of Ruth, this one was one I couldn't miss. She had gone through a colon cancer operation in May, so I was anxious to see how much she had recovered since. Ruth's band is named The Friends of Ruth Brown, and they played without her to start the show. This was the first time I saw Ruth's show in some years, and it seemed that every member except for Bobby Forrester on keyboards had changed. Forrester had a shorter hair, so looked different than before.

Then came a guest singer by the name of Ron David Jackson. The emcee mentioned that he appeared in a movie, but I forgot the title of it. He sang one song before handing the stage over to Ruth.

Ruth looked good, maybe slightly more slim, but no signs of illness that I noticed. And she gave a great performance, probably better than she was before. I was very pleasantly surprised and relieve to see her in that condition. There was a stool for her to sit, but she never used it. She started with the Los Lobos song "That Train Don't Stop Here Anymore", and did some songs from the latest album as well as the crowd pleasing hilarious song "If I Can't Sell It, I'll Keep Sitting On It". She closed the set with the "Mama, She Treats Your Daughter Mean", a classic on Atlantic label in the 50's. Her performance was relatively short, but very satisfying. One thing I noticed was she was reading the lyric sheets most of the time when she did the new numbers. I guess she didn't have much time in preparation for the tour due to the hospitalization. It's okay. It was great to see her back and well!

After her stage, we went to the booth next to to stage where she was giving autographs. The line was very long by the time we got there, but the staff came to tell the folks in line that Ruth said she would not leave until everybody in line got their stuff signed. Sounds like Ruth! We were in line almost throughout Charlie Musselwhite's set, and finally it was our turn. We also had the chance to talk to Ruth and had pictures taken with her. She said that she was feeling much better. This was the first time we talked to her, and we thought she was a very nice person. (I had been hearing that she was.)

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE
I listened to Charlie from the side of the stage lining up for Ruth's autograph. It was the second time for me to see him, and I was really looking forward to this, as he's been one of my favorite harmonica players. With a backup by a simple band (I think it was three-piece), he played a good set with his brand of cool blues. He was blending in some Latin flavors here and there, and that seemed like a new thing for him. He did a song titled "Blues for Brazil" a melancholic tune with a Latin beat, and that was good. Of course, he played a fare share of starightforward blues, both fast and slow, and the set was pretty satisfying.

JOHN LEE HOOKER
It's very good to see John Lee, at the age of 82, still playing and kicking. He appeared here two years ago in '97 and he looked fine then, but I think he looked even better this time! Basically what he did this day was his usual stuff, and not much was new, but nevertheless it was good. One surprise of the show was Jimmie Vaughan's unannounced appearance as a guest. He and John Lee did "Boom Boom" together like they had done on John Lee's Pointblank CD of the same name. What a treat!

I think as John Lee got older, his performances had been getting shorter and shorter. In '97 show, John Lee was on stage only for about 30 minutes in the one hour set, I think. The band and the guest singer filled up the rest. But this year, he was on stage longer, and actually played longer, though at the end he was there only to conduct the band and the musicians and let those folks know who should be taking the next solo. The jam at the end featured Charlie Musselwhite, Sugar Blue, and Jimmie Vaughan on stage at the same time. When Jimmie and Charlie was jamming with John Lee, I could see Sugar Blue anxiously waiting for his turn to be called with his harmonica case in his hand.

John Lee played and sang a fair amount of booogie as well as slow and deep number's like "It Serves Me Right To Suffer." I was really glad to see him once again. He is the kind of guy that you want to go see over and over even the shows are basically the same. He's got that groove that makes you get into it.

So there it is! The three days of Long Beach Blues Fest. Thanks everybody who said hello during the Festival including Blues-L member Chris Whitby and Rockin' Ralph from San Luis Obispo, and all the locals that I see every year. It was very nice to see you all.