The Wantu Blues Jams, hosted on Thursday nights by Johnny Bad’s on Elm Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, packed the small venue last night. The jam was managed by substitute ring leader, Dave Glannon, as regular host “Slutty” Pete Zona vacations in Jamaica.
Gannon and his house band opened with “Broke And Hungry.” The fierce might of drummer Rick King, guitarist Bob Pratte, and bass player Dave Guilmette got fiery and funky coming out of the gate, especially Pratte. His guitar must have been on fire because he was playing some really hot phrases. Pratte had power burning his fluid rush of notes. King is an aggressive drummer and he made each smack count with quick, sharp movements. Guilmette, with the greatest of ease, kept pealing off those smooth flowing but palpable low end notes.
It was in a small, intimate room in which you can see the band up close. The patrons and the staff are almost never out of site in this place. The owner of Johnny Bad’s was in the room all night and he requested a special song to close out the night. More on that later. An exceptionally fine looking woman named Michelle worked the bar serving up that fine New Hampshire state liquor product.
Guilmette, in a down and dirty, guttural voice, sang a song called “Fat Ed” that had a bass intro interval of notes that became the song’s middle and end. It helped that Pratte spiced it up with some crunchy chords played with swift variations.
Glannon’s vocal approach sounds quasi-southern because he has a drawl that can come from working outside all day in the hot Georgia sun. On the old Elvis Presley favorite, “Merry Christmas, Baby,” Glannon made it his own with this voice and a large personality. Pratte, too, made an impact, with his greasy, southern fried lead.
These jammers got a solid groove going on, especially for a group of folks who were just playing together informally. They delivered it different tempos and blues stylings. Eventually, some more musicians got up to play. Guitarist Steve Grill played an exciting lead phrase and sang a steady vocal on Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights Big City.” Grill also delivered the goods on Howlin’ Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” and there was magic in the air when Grill and Pratte were playing together, a chemistry that may or may not happen more than one time.
Harpist Nick Lovette sang in a smooth vocal to help close out the first set. The next line up featured bass player Jim “Jimbo” Kokolas of the band Head Shop and guitarist Jessie Twarjan. These guys got themselves a freight train tempo going with a lot of sparks in the guitars. The band could’ve gotten a speeding ticket for driving it so fast.
By 11:00 p.m. Johnny Bad’s was packed and the music took a turn toward something different. A folk-pop trio called So It Goes came up to play with acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, and banjo. This trio served up clever arrangements of Katy Perry’s “Hot And Cold” and Cheap Trick’s “I Want You To Want Me.” The three actually played quite well and they could have a future opening for full bands in and around Manchester. An original called “Don’t Look At Me” went over well with a following they had brought with them.
The fourth set featured LauraJean Graham on bass. When she got into a groove with drummer Lee Sevigny and Kokolas on rhythm guitar, the three brought forward the heaviest blues sound of the night. Whenever Graham and Sevigny lock into a groove together it’s like “wonder twin powers activate” because they build a huge, throbbing pulse. Kokolas also went from rhythm to some phrasey stuff, a rhythm within his lead, that perfectly echoed the rhythm section. Kokolas’s raw, earthy voice on gave a lot of authenticity to this blues material. Pratte was still doing his thing at this point, his guitar leads bright and clean, shooting over the steady stump made by the players behind him.
Twarjan closed out the night with the owner’s request “Who Stole The Booty?” Twarjan played some driving psychedelic blues guitar notes that he could bend like nobody’s business, and man did he belt it out. There was such a Canned Heat quality in the room that everybody started dancing to it. Another fine night out for the blues.
