Johnny Beaudine and Deep Blue - House of Jazz - Big Mama Tribute

This was the first outing of the full band. With Jeff Simon's on drums and Sylvia Harris
taking her place as featured vocalist, the band took rock solid form.

The House of Jazz was full on Friday and we took the stage after Taurey's group finished. The show was initially assembled by Doudou Boicel as a tribute to Big Mama Thorton, so we did quite a few tunes recorded by Big Mama. The band did "Watermelon Man" a Herbie Handcock tune that was also, strangely enough, recorded by Big Mama.

Jeff Simons did a great job on drums and took the band to a new level. Jeff fit in as though he'd been in the band since the start. Peter Mika was on fire on piano and Gary and Jeff were rock solid. Every time Sylvia sings with us her performance gets better and better.

A television producer from Ireland was in the house and filmed part of the show. He edited the video and we've got a great video of "Work Song" that we'll be posting soon.

The trio played Monday, May 5. We had a great crowd and it was fun night. We played some new material too. We'll be back on Monday May 12 with some surprises. Quite a few people in the audience have expressed how much they enjoy the way we blend blues and jazz. This combination was something I saw back in Chicago and was sure Montreal audiences would
respond to.