Janiva rocks Seattle again

Janiva Magness must love Seattle. Magness played a smokin' show at Jazz Alley in February, and came back to town last Saturday night for a show at Highway 99 Blues Club to celebrate the April 13 release of her new CD, The Devil is an Angel Too on Alligator Records. A packed house enjoyed the hell out of two high-octane sets.

The opening set was devoted to the new record, and there's some marvelous stuff on there. True to the album title there is some naughty stuff on it and some nice tunes, too. Weisenheimer particularly likes Janiva's version of George Jackson's "Slipped, Tripped, and Fell in Love," the Earl Randle song "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down," the Nick Lowe tune "Homewrecker," a rocking version of Delbert McClinton's "Your Love Made a U-Turn," "Turn Your Heart in My Direction" written by her hubby, Jeff Turmes, and the title track by Julie Miller.

So, I've just called out fully half of the disc. Well, it's a darn fine one, and the record-buying public agrees! The Devil is an Angel Too debuted at #3 on the Billboard Blues chart, #1 on iTunes blues albums, #2 on the Blues & Roots chart, and is presently #16 on Amazon. This was a release PARTY in every sense of the word!

The second set was great, too, with favorites like "Fool Me Again," "You Were Never Mine," and the Koko Taylor tribute "Wang Dang Doodle."

L-R Janiva Magness, my Sweetie, the official scorer, and
Weisenheimer after Janiva's show at Highway 99 April 17.

Magness is touring with a kick-ass band: Zach Zunis on guitar, Gary Davenport on bass, Jim Alfredson on keyboards, and Matt Tecu on drums. The Highway 99 date kicked off their tour. They play in Gulfport, Mississippi tomorrow, and will spend the rest of April and the first half of May in the South. Magness next hits the Northwest in July. She'll play the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland on July 4, and the Mt. Baker Blues Festival in Bellingham on July 31.

Magness is a three-time winner of the Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year Award from the Blues Foundation, an honor she's up for again this year, and is the 2009 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year. Go see her if you can. Follow Janiva on Facebook and track the tour on her website, which my Sweetie and her team put together!

Janiva Magness. WOW!

As a general rule Weisenheimer buys into the notion that live music beats the recorded variety. In the case of Janiva Magness, the CDs are marvelous, and we own several of them, but we learned this week that her live show is mind-bogglingly fantastic.

Magness played at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley Tuesday and Wednesday, turning the place into Smokin' Hot Blues Alley for a couple of nights. And damn, Magness is an incredible talent. A three-time winner of the Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year award from the Blues Foundation, she's up for the award again at the 31st annual Blues Music Awards coming up in Memphis in May. It's easy to see why. Magness has incredible pipes, passion, and range in her singing, and a great stage presence to boot.

I wasn't keeping notes, but a couple of moments stood out. First was the moving ballad "You Were Never Mine" from her 2006 album Do I Move You? Second was a great story she told about Taj Mahal and his opinion about the muscle tone of her arms. Third was the finale of her set, an incredible story about and tribute to Koko Taylor during a rollicking rendition of the classic "Wang Dang Doodle." The tune highlighted Magness' ability to tell a great story, and put on a theatrically great performance, with the band gradually picking up in volume as Janiva described Taylor climbing to the stage for one of her final performances. Taylor, Queen of the Blues, passed away last June. It was an amazing piece and wrapped up one of the most entertaining live music shows Weisenheimer has ever attended. I certainly pitched a wang dang doodle all night long!

Don't despair for missing these shows. Magness will be back in Seattle for a show at Highway 99 Blues Club April 17. Her new album, The Devil is an Angel Too, will be released April 13 on Alligator Records.

Robin Moxey rocks Highway 99

I'm more worried about the Alaskan Way viaduct than are most engineers. If Robin Moxey plays many more gigs at the Highway 99 Blues Club, which sits right under the city's favorite roadway, the whole thing is going to come tumbling down sooner than anyone thinks. The dude rocks and he rocks hard!

Moxey delighted with his hard-driving blues rock show Jan. 2 at Highway 99. He opened the first of three sets with Weisenheimer's favorite tune on the Moxey playlist, a lengthy, driving cover of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone." The first set also included a couple of tracks from Moxey's album One Big Song: "Everything Changes" and "Keep on Moving." It closed out with the Allen Toussaint classic "Sneaking Sally Through the Alley."

Set two featured a new twist, as Moxey and band were joined by a woman lead singer, "Lady A" of Lady A and the Baby Blues Funk Band, for a couple of numbers: "Go Home to Your Wife" and George Jackson's "Down Home Blues." The new sound was a treat, but the vocals always seem secondary to the Moxey Band. The words are just bookends to their lengthy, electric, rocking jams. Moxey has a great band, with keyboardist Eric Robert and Montana's Bendickson brothers, Aaron, Jason, and Sean. Robert is particularly in demand; he played with Lee Oskar at Highway 99 on Halloween. Set two also featured a rendition of Big Joe Williams's "Big Legged Women, Keep Your Dressess Down," the Meters's "People Say," and Dylan's "She Belongs to Me."

The third and final set on the night started with the Taj Mahal tune "Take a Giant Step," into which Moxey always manages to work the chorus of Marshall Tucker's "Can't You See." Then there was another Moxey original, "How Long?" They closed out with another Meters classic, "I Just Kissed My Baby," and the Eugene McDaniels tune, "Real, Compared to What?" They finished the evening with an encore, the Hendrix hit "Voodoo Child."

Weisenheimer and Sweetie the Scorer discovered Moxey by accident. We'd been taking a blues dancing class and wanted to get out and practice. There he was. We've heard him play several times since. He always entertains with a screaming, rocking, high-octane show. Check him out if you get a chance. He's not on the club's calendar for the rest of January, but you can keep an eye on him, watch some videos, and download some tracks, on the Moxey MySpace page.

Blue Sweetie

My Sweetie, the scorer, and I have been spending quite a bit of time at the Highway 99 Blues Club lately. These days we seem to be listening to more blues than anything else, and we took a blues dancing class through the Northwest Dance Network in the spring. We wound up down at Highway 99 on Halloween night and heard a couple of sets by Lee Oskar.

Weisenheimer has a couple of WAR albums on vinyl (kids, we used to get all of our music that way, and we LIKED it) but never really connected that band with Oskar, who plays regularly at Highway 99, until I Googled him after the show. I suppose I should go back and read all of my 70s albums' liner notes more carefully. Oskar has a kick-ass band and we had a great time.

This portrait of my Sweetie, the scorer, was made with a cell-phone camera during Oskar's set on Halloween. My Sweetie didn't have the blues, but she sure looked blue.