John Steele
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 4 Jul 2009 12:30 pm |
|
The Ottawa Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is considered one of the premier music festivals in the world. On Sunday July 19 the Hard Rock Cafe Stage will be featuring a day of steel guitar-oriented music, The Steel Summit, featuring David Lindley, Jeff Lang, Freddie Roulette, Bob Taillefer with Magneto, Al Bragg with the Steel Breakers, and more. Here's how the day is shaping up so far: (info from website)
2:30 p.m. The Steel Breakers
The Steel Breakers are Ottawa's own Anders Drerup (lead singer): A rising star on the Ottawa music scene, Anders Drerup is another versatile performer, crossing boundaries into rock, ska, bluegrass, blues and country. He has been a singer/front man for the Elmer Ferrer Band from Havana, and toured North America, Cuba and Australia with the group. Anders just completed his first solo CD of his own songs, available through the Bluesfest Collective label.
John Steele (piano, pedal steel and more): John Steele is a musician’s musician—at home in any musical idiom from blues to bluegrass to jazz to country. John keeps himself busy around Ottawa, doing session work and performing live as a sideman/utility player on upright bass, banjo, pedal steel and piano (not simultaneously). He recently produced Anders Drerup’s solo recording.
Chris "Jarhead" Breitner (bass): Another mainstay of the Ottawa music scene, Chris is a multi-talented player, much in demand on upright and electric bass, harmony singing and guitar. Chris has played with The JiveWires, MoucheTaBouche, Kellylee, Evans, Jupiter Ray Project and the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra.
Tom “In the Pocket” Martel (drums): A longtime resident of the thriving artistic community of Wilno, ON, Tom was born and raised in a suburb of Detroit aka Windsor.
His musical influences include Ringo Starr, The Funk Bros., and legendary radio station CKLW. He has played drums with Peter Brown, Barry Buse and Jack DeKeyzer.
Michael Bate (pedal steel, Dobro): After seeing Gram Parsons’ last live performance in Boston in 1973, Bate returned to Ottawa, quit his day job and took up pedal steel fulltime. Bate has played steel for Ian Tamblyn, Colleen Peterson, Peter Fredette and Kinky Friedman (as a member of his Texas Jew boys).
The Steel Breakers will be performing some Gram Parson material as well as featuring the great Ottawa steel player, Al Bragg.
.....................
3:45 p.m Jeff Lang, Magneto
Jeff hails from Australia, and is appreciated worldwide for his innovative slide guitar chops.
Montreal group Magneto will have steeler and forumite Bob Taillefer performing with them.
..............
6:30 p.m. Freddie Roulette with backing band The Steel Breakers
In addition to recording as a soloist, Roulette has collaborated with bluesmen Earl Hooker and Charlie Musselwhite and guitar wizards Henry Kaiser and Steve Kimock. His 1978 debut solo album, Sweet Funky Steel, was produced by former Canned Heat guitarist, Harvey Mandel.
8 p.m. David Lindley
The guitar maestro who has appeared on scores of recordings by the likes of Jackson Brown, Ry Cooder, Rod Stewart, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris and many more, headlines this year's line-up.
....................
9:30 The Steel Summit Jam
At this time this event is not tightly scheduled, but hopefully it might include David Lindley pairing up with one of his mentors, Freddie Roulette for some free form exploration and reacquaintance, as well as the other performers taking part in the Steel Summit. |
|
John Steele
From:
Renfrew, Ontario, Canada
|
Posted 20 Jul 2009 10:28 pm
|
|
Well, that was really quite something.
To summarize: This stage had a compelling positive vibe to it all day. The Steel Breakers (with Al Bragg on steel) and Magneto (with Rick Hayworth and Bob Taillefer) both put out great sets. Jeff Lange laid out some very cool tones on his Weissenborn, as did David Lindley. Freddie Roulette was a treat, both as a performer and as a person.
The day culminated in a jam with the house band lead by the amazing Anders Drerup (who sang and played his tail off). Bob, Rick, Freddie and Jeff all sat in for the jam, which featured alot of jam-friendly tunes all pushed along by consummate house drummer Tom Martel and bassist Chris "Jarhead" Breitner. There was also a complete unexpected treat;
At a nearby stage we noticed Cindy Cashdollar playing, so the show manager dropped an invitation on her. We were all so happy to see her show up at the jam to play with us. I always knew she was a great musician, but she completely charmed everyone there. It was obvious that she was diggin' Freddie Roulette as much as the rest of us were too.
So, in conclusion, if you weren't there, man, you really blew it. 
- John |
|
