Gig: "The Traveling Blues"

"The Traveling Blues" (feat. Harry Manx/Kevin Breit, Alpha Yaya Diallo Quartet, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Tri-Continental, Fiona Boyes, Mamadou Diabaté, Taj Mahal Trio)

Luminato Festival. Metro Square. Saturday, June 6, 2009.

So — the blues. Most venerated of genres yet also source of lots of dull, derivative crap. It was with less that 100% confidence that I decided to head down to Metro Square¹ to check out this Luminato freebie show. Some of my apprehension also came from the fact that the two artists I wanted to see the most were scheduled for four o'clock and nine o'clock, leaving a bit of gap in between.

The square was busy but not too filled when I arrived, a small crowd on chairs in front of the stage, and people scattered around on the grass, casually taking things in. The event was impressively set up, showing how how big bucks can dwarf the usual logistical problems. The west side of the square was filled with a large double stage, so the one act could be set up and ready to go as the other finished. So it was pretty much non-stop music all day. I found a spot on the grass and settled in for the end of Harry Manx and Kevin Breit's set, catching a couple songs that seemed pleasant, including a nice take on "Summertime".

But it was the next up act that I came for. Canadian-Guinean Alpha Yaya Diallo gained some renown for his participation in African Guitar Summit project, but is talented enough to seek out in his own right. Diallo, a deft, lyrical guitar player, was backed by bass, drums and balafon. Diallo's songs tend to be in a simmering mid-tempo, leaving plenty of room for rhythmic interplay between guit and balafon and time for the hypnotic grooves to unfold themselves. The band played a half-dozen songs in his forty-five minute set — excellent stuff. The least formally "blues" thing I saw all day. Also the best. Lots of local world-music gentry out for this one — I saw John Leeson up front, no doubt getting some photos that will turn out much better than mine.²

Listen to a track from this set here.

Shuffled over to the other stage for a short solo set from Alvin Youngblood Hart, a W.C. Handy Award winner and generally well-regarded within the blues fraternity. Playing on an electric with a slightly distorted tone, his sound had a greasy, back-country feeling that brought to mind some of the Fat Possum artists. Pretty enjoyable stuff.

And then back to the other side. What I had seen originally billed as a set by Madagascar Slim — another African Guitar Summit veteran — turned out to be a three-headed collaboration known as Tri-Continental, teaming Slim up with Bill Bourne and Lester Quitzau. Neither of the last two were known to me, but they quickly demonstrated they were both excellent musicians. Looking over their c.v.'s now, it seems especially strange that Bourne's name had never crossed my path. Gifted with sonorous voice and steely eyes, he had the look of a mythic prairie hero.

The three musicians took turns on vocals and backed each other's songs, complementing each other's approaches. It had a very relaxed and loose feel as the songs stretched out and allowed the interplay of different styles to come to the fore. Most of the music was at a relaxed pace, the guitars trickling over each other like a quietly determined brook. Very nice stuff in a genteel way, and even better when it picked up — the highlight coming with Bourne's "Dance and Celebrate", with an old-timey Cajun dance feel.

Listen to a track from this set here.

The next act up was Alvin Youngblood Hart, back with his band. He launched into a high energy set of what sounded like very-well executed blues-rock. I decided it was time to go for a walk. Stretched my legs out for a spell, and came back to the square as the set was finishing off. Found a nice patch of grass to settle on and flip through my newspaper while Australian Fiona Boyes played a solo acoustic set. She was a very accomplished fingerpicker, but a less distinguished songwriter, and I didn't feel the need to stand up and move closer during her set. It was followed by a short set from kora master Mamadou Diabaté. I had actually seen Diabaté perform at Harbourfront a couple summers ago, so instead of getting in for a look, I craftily swooped in and got a sweet spot near the front of the other stage to be ready for the headliner, twisting the ends of my moustache and cackling to myself.³

Once the rest of the crowd did move over, I was curious to see how things would work themselves out between the (mostly older) crowd sitting down right up front and the (mostly younger) crowd pressing up to get close. In the end, even when the woo-yelling drunks showed up, things were mostly fine — the seated middle stayed seated, with people standing to the sides and in front. And a pretty decent crowd on hand by the time Taj Mahal took the stage. Long an advocate for "world music" even before that was a marketing niche, he started off with a "teachable moment", bringing Mamadou Diabaté over to sit in on the opening selection "Queen Bee". And after that, it was The Blues. Playing on an acoustic throughout, Taj was backed just by bass and drums, but it was a full-on, rockin' set. The 67-year-old was every inch the entertainer, full of praise for Toronto and Canada, recalling, in the late '60's, telling Canadians to cheer at his shows like their hockey team had just scored a goal. He was in good voice, switching from his gruff baritone to respond to himself in his lower, froggy register.

It was all very good fun, and worthy to see a master in action. At that, though, I found that the ninety minutes plus started to feel like a bit too much of a good thing by the end — after a baker's dozen of 12-bars, they start to blur together: the second time Taj sang about how the sun was gonna shine in his back door some day,⁴ I was thinking to myself, "haven't we been here already?" Still, there were no shortage of highlights, including "Fishing Blues" and "Corrina" back-to-back plus "Take a Giant Step". Taj even busted out the banjo in the tailfeather-shakin' encore, sending me from the Square feeling pretty good.

---

¹ Motto: "Downtown's least-loved civic square." Which isn't to say that it's that lousy a space, but it just seems to be cloaked from our consciousness, generally. All things considered, it's rather nicer than, say, the ad bath of Yonge Dundas Square.

² If you don't subscribe to Mr. Leeson's very useful e-mail list, focusing on local world music events, you should go to his site and sign yourself up.

³ Ed.'s Note: You should save this image for some occasion when you do something that's actually devious.

⁴ Neither of which were "Trouble in Mind" — I leave it to the blues scholars among you to work out what some of the other possibilities are.