Drink Small, 1:30 p.m.
Drink
Small is a master of Delta, slide, ragtime, and Piedmont styles of
blues guitar. However, as great as his blues guitar playing is, it is
Drink Small's deep, rich, gospel-influenced bass voice that shows
listeners what the real blues is! Maybe that's why he's known as
the "Blues Doctor."
Drink Small (his real name) was born on January 28, 1933, in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a family of singers and musicians. While growing up, Small began developing his blues musical styles by singing and performing on guitar (and sometimes piano) at house parties and church, all of which were influenced by his listening to the Grand Ole Opry, gospel, blues, folk, and big-band swing.
After high school, Small began touring and recording as the lead guitar player for the gospel group the Spiritualaires, who were voted the number-two gospel group in the country in 1957, and Small the number-one gospel guitarist. Not long after, Small left gospel to concentrate on the blues.
Drink Small was inducted into the South Carolina Music & Entertainment Hall of Fame in 1999, sharing honors with James Brown and Dizzy Gillespie, among others. He was also recently inducted into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame. Drink Small played the 1990 Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, and we're glad he's back again.
- Jimmie Jones
For more information, visit (http://www.drinksmallblues.com).
Dave MacKenzie, 3:30 p.m.
Perhaps
the best summary of Dave MacKenzie's talents can be found in the
liner notes of his 1999 release Old,
New, Borrowed, & Blue,
in a quote by Sjef Hermans of Holland's Block
Magazine: "Both as a blues guitarist and singer Dave MacKenzie's
skills are beyond dispute. He knows and masters the styles and songs
of his models: the great bluesmen of the first half of this [the
20th] century. But he is also a sharp observer of modern everyday
life, and his own songwriting showcases his biting sense of humor and
uncompromising self-mockery."
Playing primarily his own compositions, along with songs from some seminal blues masters such as Robert Johnson, Skip James, Sleepy John Estes, and Muddy Waters, MacKenzie is an accomplished songwriter and clever and humorous lyricist. His guitar playing is reminiscent of those who influenced him at an early age - Lightnin' Hopkins and Robert Johnson. Add in that his voice is a natural for singing the blues, and Dave MacKenzie is the complete package for a blues singer-songwriter.
The MVBS had hoped to have MacKenzie play here sooner. He was booked for last year's Fest but had to cancel because he had a rare form of lung cancer that affected a nerve bundle that enables him to control his left hand. While his ability to play the guitar again was seriously in question, survival was obviously his primary concern. As MacKenzie put it, "Everything after alive is bonus points." In a truly inspiring story, after treatments and surgery, MacKenzie is cancer-free and back playing the guitar. We are happy to welcome him to this year's IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival.
Dave MacKenzie will also present a workshop at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday.
- Glenn Cotabish
For more information, visit (http://www.heybabymusic.com/dave/index.html).
The Bruce Katz Band, 5:30 p.m.
If
you're yearning for the kind of keyboard playing that's so
energetic you can hardly sit still and so soulful that you won't
want to miss a note, the Bruce Katz Band is the blues/jazz/soul band
you've been waiting for.
Bruce got much of his practical blues experience by playing with Ronnie Earl, Duke Robillard, Jerry Portnoy, Little Milton, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Mama Thornton, and many others. His knowledge of music theory got him a gig teaching piano, Hammond organ, and theory at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he also teaches blues history.
If you haven't heard any of the four fine Bruce Katz CDs, you've missed some good music, but you still might have heard him on recordings by Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl, Debbie Davies, Barrence Whitfield, Mighty Sam McClain, Pinetop Perkins, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Tab Benoit, and Kenny Neal.
The Toledo City Paper gave an idea of the eclectic nature of Katz's music when they wrote, "His sound resembles what would have happened had a jam session broken out between Jimi Hendrix, Professor Longhair, and Frank Zappa."
Bruce Katz will also present a workshop at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.
- Stan Furlong
For more information, visit (http://www.brucekatzband.com).
Henry Gray & the Cats, 8:30 p.m.
In
2006, the National Endowment for the Arts gave Henry Gray the
nation's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. As the NEA
Web site points out, "If you've listened to blues music in the
last half-century, you've heard pianist Henry Gray. He recorded and
played for everybody ... [and] helped create the blueprint for
Chicago blues piano and all that it would be."
Along with Pinetop Perkins, Henry Gray is one of the two classic Chicago blues pianists still alive. Arriving in the Windy City in 1946, he would become part of some of blues music's greatest moments.
Born January 19, 1925, in Louisiana, Henry got his first paying gig at 16. After a World War II army hitch, Henry headed to Chicago, where he was mentored by the legendary Big Maceo Merriwether, considered one of the best blues and barrel-house piano players in history.
Gray's big break came when Howlin' Wolf asked him to join his band in 1956, where he stayed until 1968. In addition to all the sides he cut with Wolf, Henry Gray played numerous sessions for other Chess artists including Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, and Jimmy Rogers.
Over the course of his subsequent career, Henry Gray has also performed or recorded with a who's-who of blues legends: Robert Lockwood, Billy Boy Arnold, Johnny Shines, Hubert Sumlin, Lazy Lester, Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), Homesick James, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, Snooky Pryor, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Little Milton, James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Raful Neal, Kenny Neal, Taj Mahal, and B.B. King.
In 1998, Henry was part of an all-star blues band that performed at Mick Jagger's 55th birthday party in Paris. In 1999, he was nominated for a Grammy for work on the Tribute to Howlin' Wolf CD. And in 2000 the MVBS gave Henry Gray our RiverRoad Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Karen McFarland
For more information, visit (http://www.henrygray.com).
