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WA Blues Society Features James Howard in British Blues Review Post author
WA Blues Society Features James Howard in British Blues Review
james Howard Band in Memphis Tennessee at the 2016 International Blues Competition
Facebook Update #1- We arrived safely in Memphis after leaving Seattle at 5:45am and a 2 hour layover in Houston. We are enroute to our hotel on Beale St and our adventure in the city that calls itself “The Home of the Blues and the Birthplace of Rock ‘N’ Roll”.
Facebook Update #2- After getting up at 3AM to catch a 4:15 Uber to the airport, we were pretty wiped out when we finally settled into our hotel room in Memphis over 12 hours later. After a refreshing 2 hour nap, Kat and I went out for a meal at Alfred’s where we had the treat of seeing an awesome blues band from France called “The Bad News.” It was international night tonight where all the bands from overseas had an opportunity to show their stuff for 1 hour sets in 10 different venues on Beale St. Now for a good night’s rest so that the band will be ready for our 20 minute set tomorrow morning at 11:30AM as part of the Pacific Northwest Showcase. Later in the day the official competition starts. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support.
Facebook Update #3- after 4 times of competing in the local Seattle international Blues Challenge events, every other year for 8 years, the James Howard Band won for the 2016 Washington Blues Society IBC finals.
The WBS(WA Blues Society) paid for travel, hotel and per diem for the 4 piece JHB(James Howard Band) to travel to Memphis representing the WBS. In Memphis, the JHB performed 3 times, a Pacific Northwest Showcase and 2 times in the quarter finals.
Although the band did rise to the occasion and nailed an especially stellar performance on our 2nd round of quarter finals, we were not selected by the judges as one of the bands to go on to the semi-finals.
Thank you to the JHB members bassist Farko Dosumov, drummer John Stout and keyboardistFrank S. Holman for putting their heart and soul into their art and craft and giving their all.
For me, I feel no disappointment and only gratitude and awe for having the opportunity to come to Memphis and partake in this amazing adventure. I have met so many wonderful people and have seen incredible band after incredible band here in Memphis. The amount of talented musicians and bands gathered in one place is mind boggling, over 200 acts.
Sharing the journey with Kat Kim has made it even more meaningful. We will be here for the duration of the semi-finals and the finals at the Orpheum Theater on Saturday cheering our favorite bands on and soaking up more of an already rich experience. After our 5 day memorable whirlwind trip to Memphis Tennessee, we will be flying home back to Seattle on Sunday.
Thank you to the WA Blues Society and to all our friends for your support, prayers, and well wishes. It’s all about community and sharing the journey together.
Update #4- Wrap Up for The 2016 International Blues Challenge in Memphis
The results are in and the two big winners at the 2016 IBC are “The Delgado Brothers” in the band category and “Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons” in the solo/duo category.
Now that I have had a few days to sit with it, it dawned on me that these two artists represented two extremes: “The Delgado Bros.” were a trio of Latino brothers from East LA and their 4th member friend/keyboardist. The youngest brother was the band’s drummer and lead singer, with a pleasing tenor tone. The band sounded like they had been playing together their whole lives. They were not traditional blues-there were no 12-bar blues in their set. They were more of a rootsy groove oriented band with refreshingly original material, tight arrangements and great vocals. They just sounded so good and presented themselves as national act level professionals. No one in my milieu was surprised that they won in the band category.
Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons were original in a totally different kind of way. Ben is a musical historian/teacher who has mined the old blues recordings and found some of the most haunting, enigmatic compositions, and these two guys make a beautiful sound. Between them they play guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin whilst harmonizing like the Everly Brothers. No one was surprised that they won. I love, love, love the music that emanates from these two guys, truly remarkable.
For me, I feel buoyed by these two winning- In the Delgado Brothers, I feel emboldened to continue to explore what is unique and original in my music- AND in Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons, I am reminded of just how rich and vast this tradition called “the blues” is. Ben and Joe inspire me to go back and explore the old recordings, to take a deeper listen to the early pioneers of a style of music that has the power to attract 823 musicians and thousands of music lovers, to descend upon two blocks of real estate in Memphis Tennessee- to celebrate “the blues”.
What a great journey this Memphis trip has been. Thank you to the Washington Blues Society for sending my band to Memphis. Thank you to my band members Frank S. Holman, John Stout, and Farko Dosumov for being the nicest guys with great attitudes. Thank you Kat Kim for being a supportive, loving and adventurous travel companion. And thank you to the people of Memphis for their sing-songy accent and gracious hospitality.
James and Kat having the time of their lives in Memphis!
Photos by Paul Brown
James Howard at the “Best of the Blues” Awards show at the Kirkland Performance Arts Center April 3, 2016
The WA Blues Society Best of the Blues Event held at the Kirkland Performance Arts Center on April 3, 2016 was topped off by a British Blues Tribute music directed by James Howard and featuring a 9 piece band. The theme was British Blues artists who helped to ignite a resurgence in blues music interest in the 1960’s by featuring songs written or originated by American blues artists. The Blues songs selected were Goin’ Down, made popular by Freddie King and recorded and performed by The Jeff Beck Group, “You Shook Me”, written by Muddy Waters, a strong cut on Led Zeppelin’s first album and “Crossroads”, the Robert Johnson tune redone as a blues-rock jam by Eric Clapton and Cream.
Rick Bowen, from the WA Blues Society put together the lineup, James Howard, Dave Miller and Rafael Tranqualino on guitars, Leah Tussing, James, Rafael, and Richard Sabol on vocals, Farko Dosumov on bass, Dave McCabe and Richard Sabol traded off and on the drums, Mike Manring on sax, Frank Holman on Hammod B3 Organ, Angelo Ortiz on percussion.
The British Blues Tribute most definitely was a blast for the musicians and by all accounts it was a smash hit for the audience as well. Thank you to everyone at the Washington Blues Society for all you do to keep Blues Music alive!
Announcing CD release: Devachaun- Live in Seattle Vol II
Hello everyone, I have a new GoFundMe campaign update for you. As previously reported, you paid for 1,000 new “Celebrate Life” CD’s to be printed up. That has been accomplished and we have been giving away these CD’s at the gigs. Thank you for that!
The second part of the campaign was to raise money to release a new CD of guitar instrumentals recorded live at the Center For Spiritual Living Seattle. When I started the campaign I wanted to release a two CD set, however the 2nd CD is just not ready yet. Since we raised enough money to release the one CD, we are going to do just that. We will be having a CD release party at the Highway 99 Blues Club, September 18, 8-11pm, to celebrate the release of Devachaun: Live in Seattle Vol II, an 18 song collection of unique instrumental songs with full band.
This collection of songs come from the part of the CSL Seattle church service where the basket is passed around for collection. I program a piece of music during that part of the service and these instrumentals were selected from the period between 2013-2015. They are improvised guitar solos played over the chord changes of one of the sing-a-longs, one of the guest soloist songs, or a song that I brought in especially for this function. In listening to the service CD’s I recognized that some of these performances really stood out as exceptional, and I began collecting the gems. This is how Devachaun was born. The word “Devachaun” was coined by writer Rudolf Steiner, his name for the spiritual dimension where music comes from, a place that humans access in dreamless sleep.
Before I play these offertories, I always pray for healing and inspiration for the congregation so the music is infused with Love.
As far as the fundraising campaign goes, we raised enough money to pay for the mastering and a short run of 100 CD’s to give away at the CD release party. The keyboard player from my band, Frank Holman, volunteered his time and skills to make a cover for the CD.
We still have $1400 to raise to print up 1,000 CD’s of Devachaun: Live in Seattle Vol II. After that we will close down this particular GoFundMe campaign.
Thank you everyone for your generous contributions. Please click on the link below to donate and please share this campaign with family and friends to help us raise the $1400 needed to print 1,000 Devachaun:Live in Seattle Vol II CD’s.
http://www.gofundme.com/jameshowardmusic
The Hot Blues Saturdays series!
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James Howard Shows: James Howard
Date: 02/14/14
Time: 7:00pm
Venue: Madison Pub
City: Everett
Address: 905 Madison St.
Venue phone: 425-348-7402
Country: United States
Admission: no cover
Age restrictions: No Minors
Notes: The Hot Blues Saturdays series! Mixed Bag of Blues featuring James Howard, Annette Taborn & Mahiko Fujita (a duo) and Roger Enders. Three artists do one 45-minute set each and then we get up and jam together for one last set with Paul Quilty and Dave McCabe playing bass and drums for each artist. Technically this is not the James Howard Band but James will be there nonetheless.
James Howard Band in Seattle on 08/31/13 Post author
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James Howard Shows: James Howard Band
Date: 08/31/13
Venue: High Dive
City: Seattle
Address: 513 N 36th St
Venue phone: (206) 632-0212
Country: United States
Notes: Three bands in one night: Devlan James Band, James Howard Band
James Howard Band in Issaquah, WA on 08/02/13
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James Howard Shows: James Howard Band
Date: 08/02/13
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Vino Bella
City: Issaquah , WA
Address: 99 Front St N
Venue phone: (425) 391-1424
Country: United States
Notes: A wonderful intimate setting in quaint Issaquah. Looking forward to seeing our Eastside friends.
