A review that appeared Sat June 11th in the Chicago Sun-Times


-U.K. PIONEER MAYALL PAYS BACK BLUES DEBT-

BY JEFF JOHNSON Staff Reporter

British blues-rockers who rose to stardom in the 1960s owe a tremendous debt to the African-American originators of the music. And although many devotees of blues in its purest form are reluctant to acknowledge it, Blues Debt Street runs two ways.

Take John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Thursday's opening-night headline attraction at the 22nd annual Chicago Blues Festival. Mayall grabbed the ball from Alexis Korner and the other true fathers of British blues, ran with it ever so much better than the earliest pioneers across the pond, and mentored several guitar gods and other superstars who brought the music back to wider acclaim on U.S. shores.

Among those was Mick Taylor, the late '60s Bluesbreaker and Brian Jones' eventual replacement in the Rolling Stones, who reunited with his old boss in a fiery reunion set that saw him trading riffs with the band's current hot-shot guitarist, Texan Buddy Whittington. For a while, it was as if each axman was trying to cut the other's head off as they dazzled with their solos for Mayall's "Somebody's Acting Like a Child" and Willie Dixon's "You Shook Me." But by the time they got to Albert King's "Oh Pretty Woman" and Otis Rush's "All Your Love," two Bluesbreakers '60s FM hits, the guitarists were making beautiful music with little apparent desire to outdo each other.

Mayall also debuted several cuts from "Road Dogs," his Eagle Records CD due out Tuesday. The best was the title track, the most assertive statement of purpose by any rock band since Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing."

Another '60s Brit blues-rock group, Savoy Brown, made its initial blues festival appearance as well as part of the British tribute night. The Kim Simmonds-led version of the band that soldiers on in the twilight bears little resemblance to the Savoy Brown that recorded "Raw Sienna," "Blue Matter" and other late '60s LPs that did quite a bit themselves to introduce white Americans to the great blues of the Delta.

Guitarist Simmonds showed a penchant for wankery as he led his current foursome, plus guest keyboardist Bob Hall, through a set that drew equally from 2003's "Strange Dreams" and Savoy Brown classics such as "Train to Nowhere" and "Street Corner Talking." A highlight came when Simmonds' amp buzzed out and Hall filled in with Pinetop Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie."

The feel-good set at Petrillo was a 90th birthday appearance by David "Honeyboy" Edwards, a master of time and key changes. Not even Edwards could throw off rock-solid rhythm kings Aron Burton on bass and Sam Lay on drums.

Among the afternoon acts, Chicago traditionalist Nick Moss & the Flip Tops paid tribute to the bandleader's baby daughter with songs from "Sadie Mae," his upcoming CD. The guitarist with longshoreman's arms and tattoos knows how to write songs that recapture that classic '50s blues band sound, but he still hasn't quite figured out where to go from there. And his Front Porch set started so late that his potential audience dwindled by the time he went on.

If Moss represents the next generation of Chicago blues, perhaps one of Fernando Jones' public school Blues Kids will follow. The multitalented Jones kicked off his Juke Joint set with some four dozen youngsters onstage singing "Last Two Dollars," on a stage that comfortably holds ... one.

makes me wish i was there.

john scialfa