Out and About - Jerry Douglas at Hugh’s July 2019

Jerry Douglas said at one point that he doesn't often play small clubs - but added that he was having a lot of fun with this gig.  It was a rare treat to hear him sing a couple of tunes (he plays a Mississippi John Hurt tune at the start of the video clip) and for myself, it was quite a surprise to see him using a looper (sparingly!).  If those hard core traditionalists see Jerry Douglas using a looper maybe that will encourage them to join the rest of us in the 21st century (though it's always nice to play a guitar that's nearly a hundred years old). The list of people he's played with is a virtual who's who but one he mentioned was Allison Krauss - who he has worked with a lot.  The peppy song-before-last on the video is one he wrote "...to encourage Allison to play more fiddle".  That sounds like a good idea because when I saw Allison at the Jazz Festival, she didn't play very much fiddle...or bluegrass, for that matter.  I'm not complaining, it was a beautiful show.  So glad I got to see Jerry in a solo, intimate setting like this.  He is the slidemeister.

Out and About - Colin Linden at Hugh’s July 2019

Colin Linden was back in town as part of "Guitar Week" at Hugh's Room Live.  He wrapped up his nearly sold-out show with a heartfelt tribute to Mose Scarlett, singing a song that Mose taught him when he was just a kid (it's the last one in the clip)

Out and About - getting some reggae, mon

This week was a big hit of reggae.  I thought it was unfortunate that there were two "official" reggae stars playing on the same night.  Terry Gillespie brought one his regular collaborators when he's in Negril, Crystal Axe, whose family is considered a bit of reggae royalty - specifically "mento" music which is a pre-curser of reggae and ska.  She even did a little "dancehall" reggae at the Dakota Sports Bar in the west end (not to be confused with the Dakota on Ossington). The same night, there was a some great reggae down the street from me as part of the month-long Beaches Jazz. It was a tribute to "Studio One"with reggae legend Otis Gayle. As I found out, Crystal, Otis and Terry were doing some other Ontario dates together.  Otis kicks off the video clip, then the very tight Reggadiction follow by a bit of "dancehall" from Crystal and Terry and finally a little clip of Virgil, who was playing a home-made "hammered" guitar in the subway station