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Legendary In The Media
Postcard from the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise "I like this band meeting," laughed Mitch Woods, boogie-woogie piano monster. At the start of the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise, promoter Roger Naber called a meeting of the musicians to brief them about the next few days. Roger was a few minutes late and while we waited in the ship's piano bar, Mitch entertained us with a couple of hot instrumentals. His peers appreciated and applauded him and followed his example. Kelley Hunt, Ed Volker from The Radiators, and then Taj Mahal offered a song or two each. These are great players, playing for each other, probably showing off a little in the pro company. Before the ship had even left port, I'd already enjoyed a very special musical experience. Full disclosure: I was invited on The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise as a musical guest. I was not paid, but a nice cabin was provided for me and my lady. I was asked to do a workshop on the subject of "finding the Hoochie Coochie Man, Muddy Waters"and expected to sit in with the other musicians though nothing specific was arranged. Roger also invited me so I would write this column on the cruise, from the musician's point of view, in contrast to the more blues fan-oriented article that Bob Sekinger and Cathy Minke wrote last year about the 2002 cruise. Apparently, The cruise draws many of its patrons from you Blues Revue readers, and he wanted to publicize the cruise again in these pages beyond his advertisement. I would not have agreed to go on the cruise without being paid to play if this wasn't otherwise a situation where everyone wins: I got to take my lady on a cruise to exotic places and I enjoyed my musical contributions, jamming with great blues players, and hearing their shows. Also, Blues Revue and I thought you readers would find the musician's perspective interesting, especially because there is much more opportunity for the audience and the musicians to hang out together than any ordinary performance situation. I'm happy to report on a truly special, unique event in our little Blues World. But Roger knows that if there were problems or down-sides to my cruise experience, I would report on those too. I take my responsibility to you and Blues Revue seriously. I would not hype the cruise just because I was comped to it – as a matter of fact, I gave up a week's work and spent more than $500 in air transportation. I know Roger Naber from his Grand Emporium in Kansas City, a spectacular blues club. It was intriguing to me that he believes that his cruise is literally the greatest blues music experience ever, but I'm sure he's been told that by many of his cruisers. I looked forward to judging for myself. Roger's seen and promoted some great blues, but I've been around some too. So, is this cruise really special and ultimate, as Roger and hundreds of enthusiastic serial-cruisers claim? I wouldn't presume to say what's "best" for everyone, but yeah, I found it's pretty great. There are more simultaneous opportunities to hear good blues music than one person can attend, but that only means that the cruisers have choice and variety. There are festival-like open-air concerts all afternoon and night. There is a blues nightclub below where players perform and jam, and a piano bar that attracts some of our greatest blues piano players. Nobody plays "Feelings." Pinetop Perkins was also a musical guest and the opportunity to hear him just walk in, sit down, and play and sing his deep blues and hot boogie for fun is extraordinary. One of the nicest things about being a musician on the cruise is getting to hang out with other players and with blues fans much more than we usually do. At clubs, concerts, and festivals, we're more "drive by." On the ship, hanging with the cruisers and jamming are encouraged. For me, I had made friends with New Orleans' Radiators in the Œ80s and actually hadn't been in the same place at the same time as them since. They invited me up at the end of one of their sets, and we celebrated the reunion by jamming. What a fine band and kind, friendly people! I met and got to know a lot of blues fans whose faces were familiar from shows. My workshop turned out better than I'd hoped for, and I think the reason was because it took place on the cruise. I had a large turnout even though it started at 11 a.m. because all folks had to do was crawl from their cabins to the club on the ship. I spoke about Muddy, then played some of his music live with Pinetop or Kelley Hunt on piano, Rod Piazza's rhythm section of Paul Fasulo on drums and Bill Stuve on bass. Curtis Salgado blew harp and Rod's exciting new guitar player Henry Carvajal sat in too. Then I took questions, as the audience got deeper into the spirit of Muddy Waters, still so powerful 20 years after his death. When there were no more questions, I played some recordings which reveal Muddy the musician and the man more than any I've heard – I'd been producing them for the new Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live Legacy Edition for Sony/Legacy. The audience listened closely and stared at the empty stage as though Muddy was right in front of them. Maybe he was. Then, with Pinetop in the audience, I explained that he and I had just recorded together and that I was surprised to hear him play Gospel music for the first time. I sent the audience back to their cruise with a new but then-unreleased recording of Pinetop playing "Just A Closer Walk." For the rest of the cruise, nice cruisers let me know that they were moved by the workshop. I was moved to share it with them. Unfortunately, the cruise came at an inconvenient time for me personally. I had been on the road intensely before the cruise, I was producing two albums at once and they were both in critical near-complete stages. I'd gotten very run-down and sick and during the holiday season, about a month before. I was boarding pressed and stressed but aware of my musical obligation to play and social obligation to be nice and give of myself to blues fans, who are (as I've written in these pages often) particularly good folks. I wasn't there to rest and recharge; that got put off until I got home. Yet there were elements of vacation too – we were at sea in beautiful weather, and on our 4-day excursion, we visited Freeport in the Bahamas and Key West. The right thing for me to do was to fulfill and enjoy this special opportunity and most of the time, I did. But one evening, while the other musicians sat for a long line of cruisers, greeting them, posing for photos, and signing autographs, I retreated to my comfortable cabin and didn't answer the phone. I sincerely apologize, but I just needed to be away from everyone for a little while and it had to be right then. I had blues, the feeling, and I was not fit for social company. But blues music is a cure for that and the same night, I was healed dramatically. I went over to the blues club to see Kelley Hunt. She and her fine band played a set of original material that was so powerful that it was surprising -- only because she's not more famous yet and appropriately worshipped. As her set built, she sang an inspirational story. Then the band broke it down and she walked out into the audience to sing her blues right to us. Though I'm a professional musician who's seen the "walk through the crowd" move countless times and always hate it, this time I was genuinely saved by Kelley's uplifting musical consolation. Then, bless her, she called me up to sit in with her band, and I sure enough had the spirit! Again, this probably couldn't have happened without the special circumstances of this cruise. And if you're not familiar with Kelley Hunt, you can't imagine what a great artist and entertainer she is. I'll write more about her in the next Blues Revue. I'm sure there's an ad in this magazine for next year's Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, so I've taken my space here to tell you what it was for me as a musical guest and to recommend the cruise to both musicians and blues fans. When the players have such a good time together, and with you, it's a more personal experience for everyone than most festivals, concerts and clubs can provide. Because you stay on the ship for a few days -- you don't go back to your real world right away -- the experience keeps building. If you can afford to take your vacation on the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise, you may get something that money can't buy.
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