BIG CITY BLUES Jan –Feb 2010 Issue Ace's Alley By Johnny Ace Hello everyone out there in Big City Blues Land and a very Happy 2010 to all of you! I’ve been away for the past 2 or so issues, and it’s good to be back. I recently attended a 40 year reunion from my Brooklyn/Queens days—it wasn’t a high School reunion, just a meeting of old friends. So many have gone over to the other side or disappeared. The good thing is that an old pal, actually my first manager, gave me an 8x10 photo of me with members of the first band I was ever in. MERCY! That was worth the whole trip back to a New York that I now hardly know. Thank the heavens that the pizza is still great! MERCY and NO RIDE! It’s a very dark drizzly day here in San Francisco. As I just woke up and started to write this I can hear a tenor sax player on the street playing the great Thelonious Monk’s “Off Minor.” What a fine way to start the day! Yes, music is the healing force and a great tranquilizer for the planet. I’m now in a mellow and fine mood. If you haven’t had the pleasure of listening to Monk because you only listen to blues, you should still buy one of Monk’s solo CD's (or records) on Riverside. It’s very deep stuff to say the least. It’ll make your soul a bit richer. The old year went out with our annual San Francisco Xmas show at The Saloon with Tommy Castro and all our friends wailing away until closing time. You had to be there! I also played the marathon New Years gig from 1:00pm to 8:00pm with FREE food and many surprise guests. My old pal, “The Chicago Collector,” AKA Ron Butkovich from the band Chicago Blues Power rang in 2010 with first rate New Year’s pimp-age. His usual shtick of wild guitar playing while walking the bar along with his leap into a screaming throng of Saloonatics was hilarious. On that day Blues Power’s singer Apple Jack along with blues belter Lisa Kindred really blew everyone away. We’re still waiting on Blues Power’s long awaited CD “Rats Love Us.” MERCY! Well enough on the happenings here, I also want to add a little more to BCB’s bass playing questions/answers. I now realize that I left out a few very important things. As far as playing an instrument goes, you have to learn the basics. You do that through many, many hours, days, weeks, and finally years of practicing and learning from your heroes. After a certain amount of time, you start to invent your own voice so to speak. This is the key to becoming a real artist. You want your own individual style. You want to be you, not someone else. Now for some FREE valuable information: you must concentrate and listen to all the instruments playing in a song—especially the singer. It’s NOT just about YOU! Guitarists and harp players, heed these words. You MUST listen to the singer's words because that’s the story. Again, it’s not just about you! And sometimes, actually MOST times, LESS IS MORE! Remember: it’s about CONCENTRATION! And respect the other musicians on stage. Can you dig it? I hope you can. Now on the subject of blues drummers—well in the past, for me in blues, I’d say the best I ever played with would be S.P Leary because he could relax that beat like no one else. And he WAS the blues! I love Francis Clay, but I’d say Freddy Below wrote the book on blues drumming. Just get a hold of all those old records he’s on with Little Walter and Muddy. Damn! He’s on most of the old Chuck Berry hits too! I also love B.B. King’s old drummer, Sonny Freemen--what a shuffle! And Sam Lay I‘d say is the king of the double shuffle. For soul and funk any of James Brown’s drummers are unbeatable. They are all pioneers and too many to list. For pure power house, locomotion, train RIDING, mutha fu…ing power house braking –shakin’ the walls down rock ‘n roll drumming, I’d have to go with Johnny B from The Detroit Wheel’s. MERCY 'n RIDE! I hear he can still cook like anything! For rock ‘n roll show drumming I’d go with Dino Dinellie from The Young Rascals. Those are the tops in the idiom that come to mind. I’m sure I left many out. Plus I should mention my friend the late Candy McDonald who played with Paul Oscher, David Maxwell and me in the 70’s. He was tops! In the 50’s he worked with T Bone Walker and Big Maybell, plus he once saved my life. Now, I won’t go on and on about my favorite club in San Francisco—since I’m always writing about it anyway in this publication—it’s The Saloon. What I will say is that since 1864, The Saloon’s old wooden doors have never closed. And if they ever did, Cathy and me would probably leave San Francisco. For where? We don’t know! Perish the thought! There’s some pretty heavy magic in those old, old walls. Not a lot of $$$$, but magic! Ha HA! If there were more clubs like The Saloon, the world would be a better place! Amen! Now as far as favorite music festivals go, the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival at Otis Spann Field comes to mind. I’m still hoping that some day all the technical, legal stuff gets worked out so the public can finally get to see in ONE documentary all the great acts: Ray Charles, Count Basie, Freddy King, Charles Mingus, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Victoria Spivey, The Johnny Otis Show … the list goes on. It was 3 days and nights of great music! Maybe someday they will release the footage! Another favorite is the now defunked San Francisco Blues Festival. Just yesterday I spoke with its promoter and originator Tom Mazzolini, and he won’t give up until a new blues festival sees the light of day again. There’s plenty of talent available, he just needs a new location and good sponsors. I know it will happen. One thing everyone could do to help get this festival back up and running is to put pressure on the City of San Francisco itself—hell, email the SF City Supervisors—we have 12 of them! Go to http://www.sfbos.org/ and tell each and every one of them what it would mean for you personally to see the SF Blues Festival back up and running. I’m gonna go now. In departing, I again want to wish you all the best for this New Year and new decade. And a very Happy Valentines Day to all of you. Yes, love is the answer! Everyday be GOOD to each other, and get out there and support live blues music and all the arts . Ace can be reached at aceonbass@earthlink.com or http://lemonace.com; he is still wailin' away with his partner Cathy Lemons and their band out in San Francisco. Their new CD “Lemonace” is about to be released so be on the look out for it. NOTE: Photograph attached is titled “Concentration”: Johnny Ace and John Lee Hooker at the 1973 Ann Arbor Jazz and Blues Festival—photo credit: John Rockwood