Johnny Blue Horn & The Caretakers hit Smoken’ Joe’s BBQ & Blues in Brighton last night, and they provided their fans with plenty of smooth takes on blues and R&B classics.
As you know, Blue Horn is trumpet player and lead vocalist John Moriconi. Moriconi and his Caretakers opened with Albert King’s “I’ll Play The Blues For You.” A mellow trumpet line carried into a lead guitar’s sweet melodic territory, with the six string’s careful phrasing taking it to heavenly places. Moriconi sings with an easeful flow, his timbre just glided through the groove on this opener and throughout the evening.
Curtis Haynes brewed up some movement with his sterling organ chords before Moriconi brought it back to the trumpet, the familiar blue horn, tinted to his favorite color, an instrument, in Moriconi’s hands, that plays like a clarion call to the soul.
Segued into a Z.Z. Hill tune “Hang Up, Baby” and the rhythm section played it with a chunky thick groove wrapped around the mellifluous vocal work. Soulful organ chops and blaring horn blasts expressed the anxious feeling of this tune. Moriconi gave a spoken introduction to Lou Rawls’ “Natural Man” by discussing his own struggle to support his music habit with odd jobs until he finally got laid off from his last and found the opening to become a full time musician. The bopping beat and bluesy piano chords played right into that semi-depression of enjoying only one of your jobs.
Van Morrison’s “Caravan” gave Moriconi a golden opportunity to show what he can do with his pipes. He gently caressed this beauty with a slight tweak of his vocal timbre. Guitarist Kevin Belz unfurled a beauteous phrase, slightly edgy, but purely soulful, emoting something personal and touching. Each song offered plenty of musical nuggets to please the ear. Moriconi’s belted coo at the end of Bill Withers’ “Give Me The Beat Boys” was another instance of Mr. Blue Horn creating something beautiful with a stretch of his pipes.
Wynona Harris’s “Destination Love” let Moriconi and his boys show off a bit of their ragtime influence as the players jauntily bopped along a merry trail. Then, they went into another Z.Z. Hill song. This time, it was “Home Just Isn’t Home At Suppertime,” a lovely, down tempo groove, with drummer Chris Ravalli drumming it steady and fulsome and bass player Russell Keyes keeping it in a mellow pocket. From that launching pad, Moriconi sang it with a lonesome, forlorn quality. That expressive, rangy guitar chimed in with an easy going phrase that spoke to the brokenhearted in all of us, its soulful, isolated colors making you picture a man walking down the dark sidewalk as he journeys through a period of aloneness. Guest musician Mellow Mel, whom I had the distinct pleasure of being seated next to, blew some wild chromatic notes through a cellophane covered comb. Far out sounds, man.
Moriconi lead his boys into “Time Payments” by his old band Mission Of Blues. It got the Caretakers into a more up tempo vibe, and Mr. Blue Horn showed that there is nothing quite like a blaring horn phrase played at full-throttle. Allen Toussaint’s’ “Brickyard Blues” found Moriconi announcing his joy of this song in every verse and Belz made his guitar cry out in between the swaying trumpet notes.
Mellow Mel kicked off the second set by singing lead vocals on “Stormy Monday.” Mel’s comb notes were unusually cool and monochromatic and, man, did he have a true feeling explosion in his emotive belt. Mel was even stronger in his moments of tasteful self-restraint. Moriconi conjured up the tortured soul expressions in his screaming trumpet notes while the guitar cried out its mortal pain. The brokenhearted moans sounded mournfully beautiful the way these boys played them last night.
Moriconi and his Caretakers went into a lesser known Stevie Wonder song called “Go Little Lady.” It’s subtle, understated build-up allowed Moriconi to glide his voice carefully, majestically upward. The boys also tackled Louis Armstrong’s “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal,” a fresh take on this turn of the century blues number and Moriconi just walked his vintage horn notes around the block. Dave Mason’s “Feelin’ Alright” got by on Keyes’ bass notes, which were tumescent with groove, and “Just My Imagination” found Moriconi finessing things with ultimate charm.
Keyes was also the foundation in Bill Wither’s “Kissing My Love” as everything was bouncing merrily off his chunky exuberance, including Moriconi’s interval of cascading horn notes that spiraled around a palpable groove.
Tower Of Power’s 1973 hit singe “So Very Hard To Go” challenged Moriconi to make his one trumpet compensate for not having a huge horn section on stage with him, but he pulled it off, making his horn loud, swaying, and vibrant. Moriconi closed out the night with Wet Willie’s spunky, stop-start grooving number “Keep On Smiling, with Moriconi showing more of his easy going style at the microphone. 
If you haven’t yet checked out Johnny Blue Horn & The Caretakers, you would be doing yourself a real favor to find their calendar page. Moriconi and his men put out a beauty of a sound.
Bill:
Thanks so much for your kind words; as Wolf Ginandes once told me, “With so many people out there trying to give you a kick in the ass, it’s nice to get a pat on the back one in a while.”
The scene needs more people like you who focus on what’s good and positive. It was my first time playing with these guys; thanks again for helping to make it special. I hope I can meet you in person soon. Be well, brother,
Russell