Getting those blues clues

The Chicago Blues Reunion Band headlines the 8th annual Rhythm & Blues Mele, which continues its tour of the Islands today at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park on O'ahu and at the Kona Brewing Company's Brewhouse Oasis Saturday on the Big Island. Band members share a passion for the blues which has been with them for decades.

By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer

blues. n, 1. the blues; depressed spirits; melancholy. 2. a genre of jazz and popular music comprised of songs of woe and yearning.

But how do blues musicians define their craft? In separate telephone conversations last week, we asked a couple of members of the Chicago Blues Reunion Band, now in the midst of a statewide swing, how they see blues, how it's factored into their lives.

"Blues is freedom," said Nick Gravenites, a veteran vocalist-guitarist-composer who lives in Northern California. "Blues is the freedom to express, because it's a simple kind of music performed by a lot of greats, some of whom played one or two chords, but laid 'em out there, with natural expression."

"Blues is a feeling," said R. Zach Wagner, a fortysomething guitarist based in West Hollywood. "It's not always a sad feeling; more blues are written about having sex than actually having the blues. It all goes back to sex, though; good blues means good sex."

"I couldn't begin to define the blues," said Tracy Nelson, 59, a vocalist from Nashville who does periodic gigs with the Chicago band. "I am kind of a snob about this; to me, blues is B.B. King, Robert Johnson, people like that. The pioneers."

Add mele, the Hawaiian word for song, into the equation, and you have the 8th Annual Hawaiian Island Rhythm & Blues Mele, launched earlier this week on Kaua'i and Maui and heading for Honolulu tonight and Kona tomorrow.

Besides Gravenites, Wagner and Nelson, the group includes Harvey Mandel, Corky Siegel and Rick Reed. Drummer Don Heffington is not joining the act.

From left: vocalist Tracy Nelson; slide guitarist Eric Sardinas; Harvey "The Snake" Mandel; and Nick Gravenites are all part of the blues concerts that began Wednesday on Kaua'i and last night on Maui. The veteran musician Gravenites, 65, says of his long career: "it's a difficult job — and you do it for love. I've survived."

Here's what the blues crews had to say:

Nick Gravenites

"Blues is a business," said Gravenites, speaking from Occidental, Calif. "And when you're talking blues, you're talking about what and who used to be — Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Lightning Hopkins. All dead."

He wrote "Born in Chicago," a classic for Paul Butterfield, and was a founding member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and also a member of the Electric Flag group.

At 65, he's happily collecting Social Security, but still plugged into music. "I beat the odds," he chuckled. "Actuaries say you don't live that long in a biz that's not all peaches and cream. It's a difficult job — and you do it for love. I've survived."

Gravenites started his musical career at age 18. "I'm in the old beatnik school — played the coffeehouses," he said.

"I'm not conversant in the subtleties of blues," he said. "Essentially, it's a feeling what you're playing. It has a lot to do with style. And the blues style relates to culture; I pay respect to that tradition."

While living in Chicago, he was hooked on a blues show on the radio that mined live sessions from local clubs. "The guy that got to my gut was Otis Rush," said Gravenites. "The intensity of what he was doing got to me; I needed a method of expression, which was not a subtle method, but one that was direct and obvious. I was drawn to the fact that he used voices — high falsettos, low falsettos — with strange affectations."

Gravenites is the composer of "Buried Alive in the Blues" and is respected as a vital link between the folkie scene of the 1950s and the early blues of the Chicago of the '60s and the ensuing imprint of psychedelic music on the West Coast blues scene of the '60s.

He has had associations with some of the true icons of the genre, including Mike Bloomfield and Janis Joplin.

R. Zach Wagner

Guitarists R. Zach Wagner, above, an antiques dealer and session musician from Los Angeles, and Sonny Landreth, below, of Louisiana, are part of the blues crew in Kaka'ako tonight.

"I've been involved in the blues since I was a kid," said Wagner. Thus, when Barry Goldberg, a Chicago luminary of the blues, stopped by his shop to check out the guitars, Wagner was in nirvana, acting more like a fan than a colleague.

"Barry looked at me, and said, 'I got a blues band. You ever heard of Mike Bloomfield?' " said Wagner, who didn't need the name-dropping to know his idol. "He used to be in the band with him; I say, 'Hey, we got a blues band. Wanna play with us?' "

Goldberg did a gig. "Barry knows Nick and Harvey (Mandel, a member of the Chicago Blues Reunion Band); it was a magnificent time, with people coming out in droves, in line around the block for hours," said Wagner.

Wagner has had a lingering friendship with Joel Selvin, veteran music scene critic and a respected journalist with the San Francisco Chronicle, who has championed area bands in his articles in national and international publications. " 'What the hell do we call our band?' I asked Selvin. We ended up with Chicago Blues Reunion Band."

Last year, the group headlined the San Francisco Blues Festival's 30th anniversary show, which attracted a throng of 25,000.

Wagner said the Chicago Blues group "plays some traditional blues, but with the super talents in the band, we have some special things. Harvey Mandel can play backwards guitar; it's like making a tape go backward — he's a pioneer."

Tracy Nelson

"When I sing a blues song, I think of Etta James, B.B. King, that kind of a singer," said Tracy Nelson, who is loosely associated with the Chicago band. "If they can't find a singer, they call me; I sort of came in as a sub, but I love working with the guys."

But she admits she's somewhat of a snob when defining the blues.

"I'm a white Norwegian, from Madison, Wis., and the first time I heard the blues, it took over my life," she said. "There was a radio station, WLAC, out of Nashville; two jocks there hosted a blues show at night, with a lot of blues and gospel after hours. The jocks were white, but nobody knew — because the station had a split personality, being a CBS affiliate during the day."

But the blues format embraced such artists as King, James, Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf. "I thought I was hearing music from Mars," said Nelson.

Her family had musical ties, so it wasn't a surprise that she would wind up in music. "I always did a little of everything, since 15," said Nelson, who delves into country and rhythm 'n' blues as genres of choice.

"But the blues always will be a part of what I do," she said. "Generally, I think it's sad music. It's what writers do; it's what attracts you to a song, the sadness thing. I think there are very few happy blues songs. The one I think of is 'I Feel So Good.' Usually it's about heartbreak and misery. When I write, I don't usually do unhappy songs; about all I can do is to suck off someone else's misery."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com, 525-8067 or fax 525-8055.