Dave Glannon blows a strong steady set of notes through his harmonica and it’s on. There is a new Sunday Night Jam at Johnny Bad’s and it is hosted by Downtown Dave and the Deep Pockets. Glannon, aside from his harp work, can sing in a mellow, gravelly voice, which he did with classy grooving’ style from the start. He leads his Deep Pockets band and he also manages this new blues jam.Soon after opening with his Deep Pockets house band, Glannon was accompanied by a young guitarist named Jesse Twarjan, a player whose vintage blues picking style added another dimension of authentic down home blues. “Gonna Feel All Right” received a bopping beat from adept drummer Lee Sevigny while Jesse Twarjan brought in a mellow octave phase. Next, Twarjan took to the microphone to show what he can do with his easy going vocal and with his whipped topping of groove-oriented guitar picking. It helped that bass player Joe Zangry laid down a steady groove that compelled listener’s attention with his rolling low end notes.
Guitarist Steve Grill pressed some breezy, mellow leads while Robert Duvall look-alike Paul Rogers handled rhythm guitar while singing an in depth rendition of Bob Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower,” landing in a zone somewhere in between Dylan’s gentle original and Jimi Hendrix’s freewheeling electric guitar work out.
A patron who saw I was taking notes and guessed I was a reviewer made a suggestion. He said I should mention how the Sunday Night Blues Jam at Johnny Bad’s is one of the music scene’s best kept secret, pointing out the enormous talent gathered and how the general public is still unaware of the jam’s existence. Maybe folks don’t know of it yet because it is new.
LauraJean Graham took to the stage with her bass guitar to do some low end work. Graham laid down a steady, persistent throb, her accents, as always, on just the right side of the beat. Singer/harpist Matt Walker came on to sing “Caress Me Baby” in his smooth, seasoned voice, and, the easy going pace allowed everyone to hear the beauty in his every single harp note.
A line-up of guitarist Chris Noyes, bassist Joe Zangry, and drummer Lee Sevigny created an interesting vibe. Noyes played it so easy as to open space for “Slutty” Pete Zona’s harmonica line. Zona came gliding in like an unseen but surely felt presence with his forlorn, melancholy melody line. Saxophonist Howie Fohlin, equally sublime, came in with his restrained sax melody. Noyes, meanwhile, took his sweet time paying out a soulful expression on John Mayer’s “Gravity.”
Chris Noyes sang one of his personal favorites, a sarcastic ode to politicians, belting out an aggressive vocal phrase over the funkiest groove of the evening, made available Sevigny and Zangry. Saxophonist Joe Cunningham got in on the action and had himself some fun, and the crowd had some fun watching the young sax man playing his full, vibrant melodies.
“Slutty” Pete Zona stepped up to the microphone once again and he rocked the room with his sizable personality. The way Zona belted out each third verse resonated in the intimate space, and he blew a meaner harp phrase here than on his previous number. Dave Glannon sang “Train Kept A Rollin’” with dual sax accompaniment from Howie Fohlin and Jerry Paige. It seemed like the double horn shots and dual phrases made the temperature in the room go up, and it was zero degrees outside. Chris Noyes put his guitar support into the mix, turning the whole “Train” number into a whirling dervish of melodies and grooves.
Jesse Twarjan on guitar touched things up lightly on some bayou swamp blues with a light guitar picking style. Drummer Rick King had taken over the drum set by this point and he was laying down a serious beat. When Fohlin and Page traded horn lines you started to believe you’re really in the land of gumbo as all those melodies seemed to blow freely, loosely in the breeze and becoming one with the delicious, tempting scent of all that Creole cooking wafting in from every which way the wind is blowing.
The Sunday Night Jam at Johnny Bad’s as hosted by Downtown Dave And The Deep Pockets has certainly found the right vibe in this Elm Street music club. Hot, funky horns, snappy guitar playing, grooving rhythm sections, and freewheeling harmonica could actually make those in attendance forget that the outside temperature landed in zero degrees.
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