The best blues harmonica show of the year at the Rockfish and two shows featuring widely known indie bands at Department of Safety will make it a week to remember in Anacortes’ music scene.
Harmonica hero Mark Hummel blows back into town with his outstanding touring show, Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowout, at 8 p.m. Thursday. Cover is $20.
This time Hummel is with Magic Dick, formerly of J. Geils Band, and Rick Estrin of Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Special guests are Rusty Zinn and the Blues Survivors. The very best of these shows are captured on his new, live two-CD set.
Since 1991, Oakland-based harp ace Hummel has produced and performed his annual blowouts backed up by blues harmonica giants such as such Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, Huey Lewis, Lee Oskar and Jerry Portnoy. He has long been a major force in shaping and defining West Coast Blues, which draws inspiration from the Chicago school, with elements of jump blues and rock ‘n’ roll. His trademark harmonica offers a subtle tone, phrasing and attack, with a strong sense of swing.
Blues Revue has called him a harmonica god.
“Mark Hummel is simply one of the best harmonica players working today,” said Huey Lewis.
He has performed at major festivals including the San Francisco Blues Festival, Chicago Blues Festival and Monterey Jazz Festival, and performed and judged at the Hohner Harmonica World Championship in Germany.
Magic Dick met J. Geils and Danny Klein at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts and became a founding member of the J. Geils Blues Band in 1968. The band recorded nine albums for Atlantic Records and toured incessantly, jamming with blues greats including Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells and James Cotton.
The band’s recordings showcase Magic Dick’s innovative harmonica, which served as one of the band’s distinguishing sounds. Chart-toppers like “FreezeFrame,” “Centerfold,” “Give It To Me” and Magic Dick’s own “Wammer Jammer” kept the band in the top ten off and on for 20 years and made them one of the few top bands that prominently featured a front-line harmonica. After J. Geils Band, Magic Dick was a guest soloist for Patty Smyth, Debbi Harri, Full Circle, the Del Fuegos and Ryuici Sakamota.
At age 20, Rick Estrin played harmonica with Muddy Waters and his band at the Sutherland Hotel in Chicago’s South Side. Muddy shook his finger in his face and shouted, “You outta sight boy!”
Today Estrin ranks among the best blues harp players in the world. His work is deep in the tradition of harmonica masters Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs, while at the same time pushing the music forward. Associated Press called his playing “endlessly impressive.”
Estrin fronted the jumping, swinging Little Charlie & The Nightcats, featuring guitarist Little Charlie Baty, for 30 years. His effortless command of harmonica is matched only by soulful vocals and remarkable original songs. His quick wit, perfectly coifed hair, thin mustache and sharp attire call to mind the showmanship of Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Willie Dixon and Elvis Presley.
“I was schooled in this business to be a showman, and that’s what you get when you come to see me perform,” he promises.
Pit Er Pat, Lucky Dragons and Hecuba on Thursday and Rosebuds, No Kids and Trampoline Team on Friday bring modern, performance-art flair to all-ages shows at the Department of Safety. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and admission is $7. Friday’s show starts at 8 p.m. and admission is $6.
Pit Er Pat is Fay Davis-Jeffers on vocals, piano, guitar and kalimba; Rob Doran on bass, vocals, guitar and electronics; and Butchy Fuego on drums, vocals, percussion and electronics. The style is not easily definable and represents the evolution of modern musicians with an affinity for pop and melody and a desire for a singular voice. Nodding to yet outside various genres, the band stays grounded in rhythm, while incorporating a strong sense of melody and harmony in its own distinctive style.
The prolific Los Angeles-based Lucky Dragons offer a communal music experiment linking electronic sound, video, dance and interactive technology, the band pursues togetherness through “humble and ecstatic, drippy and explosive, smoldering and upset music for our experience in America right now,” according to a press release.
On Friday, the Rosebuds, No Kids and Trampoline Team perform at 8 p.m., also at DoS. Admission is $6. The Rosebuds hail from Chapel Hill, N.C., and have released their fourth album on legendary Merge Records.
No Kids of Vancouver, British Columbia, released its widely acclaimed first album “Come Into My House” earlier this year. The band has been touring the U.S. and Europe with Dirty Projectors, Mount Eerie and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. Trampoline Team is the project of Anacortes High School senior Bri Hobbs.
Also this week:
• Watertown Pub, 314 Commercial Ave., offers live music most weekends: Salsa night, Nov. 21. Saturday is ladies night with top 40 DJ Ben Brown; Wednesday is karaoke night with DJ Steve, 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Call 293-3587.
• Star Bar, 416-1/2 Commercial, presents La Rosa Trio, Nov. 21; Jerry Jones Quartet, Nov. 22. Call 293-6747.
• Rockfish Grill, 320 Commercial Ave., presents Jacob Navarro and William Cook, Nov. 19; Little Bill and the Bluenotes, Nov. 22; Fidalgo Swing, Nov. 26. Call 588-1720.
• Brown Lantern Ale House, 412 Commercial Ave., presents live music most weekends, about 9 to midnight, $3 at the door. Open Jam Thursdays with Mike Rothmeyer are 9 p.m. to midnight. No cover. Call 293-2544.
• Swinomish Northern Lights Casino presents Jazz Lunches 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays. Call 293-2691.
• Anacortes Eagles have live music 7:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Ray Peake plays 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays. Members and guests only. Call 293-3012.
• Adrift Restaurant, 510 Commercial Ave., presents Howlin’ Lane & the Angels Of Sin at 6 p.m. third Tuesdays. All ages.
