It?s difficult to imagine a better showcase for the genre than the PAETEC Blues Festival in Baltimore.
Where else can you hear 50-year-plus music legend BB King belt out classics such as “Lucille,” watch as Al Green pleads “Let?s Stay Together” or groove along as Little Richard wails “Tutti Frutti.”
“You tell the people we got the ministry of love and happiness,” said Al Green, verbally brushing aside praise for his music in favor of his co-headliners. “We?ve got BB King, a hallmark entertainer. That man has been performing since before I was on this earth. And we?ve got my friend Little Richard, who?s a lot of fun and a good entertainer. The praise should go to them.”
Alas, the festival features so many world-class musicians and singers ? also including Earth Wind and Fire, Jonathan Butler, Boney James and many others ? that it will be a jazz lover?s cornucopia of sound.
“We go through a bit of everything,” Kim Wilson, founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, said of the set. “We will be playing blues, rock and all-out, full-gamut Americana.”
Another side of Americana will be Frank Zappa music presented by his son Dweezil in the Zappa Plays Zappa: Tour de Frank stop during the festival. As most Baltimoreans know, the elder Zappa hails from Charm City. Dweezil is playing an array of music to showcase the many musical jewels in the 75-plus albums ofmusic in his father?s discography.
Zappa spent the better part of two years studying the techniques that his father used to make the highly sophisticated blues, pop, rock and soul that became his trademark sounds. One reason, he said, is that those who talk about his father often concentrate on what they find eccentric portions of his personality and work.
“The thing about my father was that he was open to anything that was happening in the moment,” Zappa said. “He would try to improve the elements in concert. He had a great appreciation for the art and craft of music. All of that is overlooked. Now people will have the opportunity to enjoy my dad?s music again.”
