Big Woody Blues Review
El Dormido
I caught up with Woody Davis and Frank Ace after their Monday afternoon visit with Shirley Mae Owen on KKFI, in an effort to refocus my acquaintance with the Big Woody Blues Review/Band/All Star Orchestra since an infamous night at the former Sue's Cantina. Especially after they stomped through the Blues Society contest to make a major league impression on just about everyone who heard them. Its one thing to see them standing at floor level in a café setting, with the pinballs and the pool tables going on. It's entirely another thing to see them kick into gear behind Big Woody's stomping beat and Frank Ace's flashy jackets!
The thing is, they are hosting the August Blues Society Jam as part of the membership meeting, so you all get a chance to get your Woody Aug. 13, red letter day, put on the BVDs with the hearts! Be there!
One of the things Frank and Woody were visiting with Shirley about was Frank's long-ago CD release out of Phoenix, and she was playing all sorts of cuts of the "Sensu-Ace" Frank Ace. Frank's been around putting it down for a long time, and this particular phase was his attempt to interpret the lush, loving Barry White vocal style through his guitar! Living Blues magazine, in its July 1994 issue, gave it a positive mention, a fact of which Frank only recently became aware. The current state of things about that is that Frank could use a lawyer to get back his masters so that he can at least clean up the mix on the drum machine!
But the Big Woody is more than just Frank out front and Woody kicking it from behind. Since I saw them mellow at the former Sue's, they've grown into an assertive aggregation displaying magnificent talent at all the positions, growing into a band reaching for national stature. Like Frank says, he doesn't have the time to fool around right now, he needs to get on with it, and that is as a band as a whole, not just the parts.
They've added Ray Hopper out of Denver on keyboards to complement the boogie-woogie piano stylings of Brent "Boogie B." Where Brent goes head on with the piano, Ray Ray is cranking out all sorts of effects, orchestrations, even accordion, on his keyboards. (I thought Woody was bringing in a ringer for the blues contest, but Ray Ray Hopper is full-time with the band.) Now the band has a broader spectrum of blues colorations, rooted in Mr. "B's" rootsy boogie up to Ray Ray's enchanted augmentations.
Mr. Boogie B is actually the musical analyst of the group, charting out the changes, the measures, the musical structure, and bringing it to the group. Then they play and talk and work it out. Still and all, it's when they get on stage that the blues and the abstract truth come together in this band.
Frank shares vocal duties with Boogie B, serves as musical director on stage and brings his "Sensu-Ace" guitar love stylings to the fore. But a major force in the band's musical presentation is Pete Doakly on sax and harmonica. This is the guy who when he starts playing, elbows go into other people's sides calling them to take notice of what's going on. He dances in the upper register, impassioned and compelling. At a recent gospel convention he brought the house to a stand still playing "Amazing Grace." He is a man worth listening too. He's also a rambler. I personally counted at least two forays into the audience at the Blues Contest finals, and I was getting concerned about his knees the way he was leaping down from the stage. And he's liable to meet Frank coming around the other side.
With all that, I gotta say that Rodney "The Man" Cunningham is a favorite of mine. He is that archtypal bass player, stoic and solid, holding down the bottom with presence of mind and grace. He and Woody just nail down the foundation like a California earthquake wouldn't shake. He is not intrusive, but he is definitely there.
So how does a band of veteran musicians host a jam? Woody runs the band, he runs the jam. The band plays its set, and then they get out of the way. The guests come up first come, first served. Stay two tunes, then rotate. Don't need to play with the same combinations, just whoever the draw gives it. And carry on.
When a bass player is needed, the band members step in. Otherwise, its all up to the guests to present the music. Hear that, folks? So bring the axe early, get on the list and get ready to do it for two!
Webmaster: Gil T. Wilson
Last Modified 5 August '98