Alizon Lissance Presents has been a weekly staple at Smoken’ Joe’s BBQ& Blues in Boston for some time now. The Wednesday night feature allows Lissance, keyboardist from The Love Dogs and Berklee College Of Music professor, to present different musicians and singers each week. Joining her last night was Brandon Santini and his band from Memphis.
Lissance began her presentation with a bluesy shuffle, tapping out a breezy, jazzy melodic line, notes joyfully flying off her keys. Santini’s band backed her, with its guitarist Jeff Jensen doing some fancy fretwork inspired by the drawling southern tones of Memphis. Lissance then lead the band into a light, freestyle version of “Tore Down,” with a touch of piano boogie thrown in for good measure. Lissance, as always, made it feel real, earthy, rootsie. Her piano works also sounded real good playing alongside Jensen’s wily guitar leads.
Lissance still belts then out with a sassy attitude and perfect administration of her rangy vocal talents. This made her a perfect match for the bold, fulsome vocal and harmonica styles of Mr. Santini. Santini’s initial harmonica line possessed a low end’s thickness with also a higher melodic line. He drew out the old time blues feeling from the early 20th century before turning things back over to Lissance who proceeded to serve up some barrelhouse.
Santini and his men are touring on his latest album, This Time Another Year, which includes his song “Been So Good.” He kept that one full of bold musical flavors with both voice and harmonica. “Help Me With The Blues” was one of his speedier numbers, and those Memphis boys went to town, up tempo, rumbling bass, racing guitar notes, swift drumming were the sparks that lit up the breakneck pace they played at. Santini was clearly steeped in his genre, his mellow drawl marked this music as much as it marked Memphis.
Lissance went into Tommy Johnson’s old blues number “Big Road Blues,” voice and piano perfect as she re-interpreted this once solo acoustic blues for piano. Lissance left open a wide space for the Memphis boys to strut their stuff. Santini’s harmonica got particularly feisty here, combining the train whistle with pouty shades underneath it.
Santini played his “Down In New Orleans” with a lilting, bulbous melody with a flavorful accompaniment from Lissance’s sleepy accordion waltz. From that platform, Santini needed only to be himself, offering a thoughtful vocal line. He did turn up the heat a bit, blowing into an electric harp microphone for a heavier monochrome sound.
Lissance acknowledged that the greater-Boston blues community is still in mourning over the loss of its storied local blues star Shirley Lewis, and she performed in honor of Lewis’s memory “You’ll Lose A Good Thing.” A tender vocal line told a tale all its own as much as the forlorn piano melody. The power of this song is that it places emphasis on a good thing by indicating the void it would leave by its absence. Beyond words to describe emotions, the song simply had to be heard and be felt to understand how it played a role in what Lissance, and everyone else in the local blues scene, has been missing, not just a person but a personality.
Santini played a bellowing harmonica line to intro the song “Evil Woman.” His kicking electric harp was full of spark, life, and sounded really cool next to Lissance’s swaying, smoky organ chords. Bass(Bill Ruffino) and drum(Theron Peterson) solos were appropriately bouncy and bumpy, full of the special stuff that the best rhythm sections are comprised on in a song. Everyone else in the group glided in with hip rhythmic chords. Santini blew some more manic notes during the break in the song and he created quite the lively party vibe.
Lissance and the Memphis boys began their second set with “Hoodoo Man Blues, “ nailing it with plenty of grit. Santini’s low southern tenor was naturally suited to the vibe of this song. His harmonica lines, sharp as glass, pirouetted around the groove with class. He brought it down low from an extended solo, and he played it sweet and whispery. Lissance continued the pace with a dit-dit-dit series of coos while slapping out more barrelhouse. The ensemble work was especially strong, as Lissance found an easy going chemistry with them from the outset.
I had to leave as the five players dove into an extended jam with multiple flourishes and a thumpy edge that made the blues rock. Apologies to the singers and players that followed, but I had to leave to pick up my partner on State Street and drive her back to the Granite State after she worked a double shift.
Alizon Lissance Presents is a unique by invitation blues jam. Selecting some of the finer singers and players in town, and some from out of town, Lissance insures that each Wednesday night at Smoken’ Joe’s in Boston’s Brighton neighborhood will be unique and fulfilling.
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