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October 10 2006 Post Article

It hasn't been around for a decade yet, but it's fast becoming a Salisbury fall tradition: packing up the lawn chairs and heading to the parking lot across the street from the library for some great American music.

It's the Blues and Jazz Festival, and it's happening this Saturday, from noon to 11 p.m. Admission is free.

Sponsored by the Rowan Blues and Jazz Society and Team Chevrolet/Cadillac, the eighth annual festival will take place in the parking lot at 200 W. Fisher Street in downtown Salisbury.

Festival-goers are asked to bring their own comfortable chairs and blankets.

Food vendors will be offering Caribbean cuisine, jumbo turkey legs, fried fish, barbecue on a stick, funnel cake, Italian ice and baked goods.

From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., a youth jazz workshop, coordinated by the Catawba Jazz Club, will be held in the Stanback Room at the Salisbury branch of the Rowan Public Library on Bank Street. The goal of the workshop is to educate young musicians on the basics of blues music. Music fans of all ages are welcome to attend.

Following the workshop, the Catawba Jazz Club will take the festival stage at 1 p.m.

Larry Davis will perform at 2 p.m. At 3 p.m. Mack Attack will perform Latin Jazz. The Davis Tucker Blues Band will take the stage at 4 p.m.

Local bluesman Bob Paolino will play and sing at 5 p.m.

The Joe Robinson Jazz Band, featuring Levon Meyers, Reggie Buie and Karen Green, will perform at 6 p.m.

At 8 p.m., it's Mac Arnold and the Plate Full o' Blues Band.

Mac Arnold

Arnold's high school band -- J. Floyd & amp; the Shamrocks --were often joined by musical legend James Brown on piano.

Arnold played with the Charles Miller group until 1965 when he made the move to Chicago to work with recording artist/saxophonist A. C. Reed.

In late 1966, at age 24, he got the chance to join the Muddy Waters Band and help shape the electric blues sound that inspired the rock and roll movement of the late 60s and early 70s. Regular guests of the band included Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop.

The Muddy Waters Band shared the stage with the likes of Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Jimmy Reed, Junior Wells, Big Joe Williams, and Big Mama Thornton ("Hound Dog") just to name a few.

During this time, Arnold played on John Lee Hooker's album, "Live at the Caf & eacute; Au Go-Go," as well as Otis Spann's classic recording "The Blues Is Where It's At."

After more than a year with Muddy Waters, Mac formed The Soul Invaders, which backed up many artists, including The Temptations and B. B. King. In the early '70s, he moved to Los Angeles to work at ABC Television and Laff Records (Red Foxx). This led to working on the set of Soul Train from 1971 to 1975 and then working with Bill Withers ("Lean on Me" ) before he moved back to South Carolina in the 80's.

Arnold now lives in Pelzer, SC, where at age 10 he got his first taste of the blues when he learned to play his brother Leroy's home-made guitar.

Joe Robinson

Joe Robinson loves performing in Salisbury and is the favorite jazzman of the Annual Rowan Blues and Jazz Festival. He also loves to introduce new talent in his band -- this year, it will be Levon Miles.

Robinson began playing the trumpet at the age of thirteen. After hearing Miles Davis and Chet Baker, he was hooked for life.

Early in his career he contributed to the sounds of Gore and The Upsetters, The Eliminators, and The Bill Bright Quintet. He has worked with many jazz greats including Donald Byrd, Danny Richmond, The Betty Carter Group, and Lou Donaldson.

Robinson has worked with Larry Leon Hamlin as musical director of The North Carolina Black Theatre Festival and with Rosa Johnson (niece of Maya Angelou) as director of "Shades of Women's Voices." He's recently appeared at The East Coast Jazz Festival in Rockville, Maryland and The Jazz Extension Concert in Saint Croix.

Karen Green

Saxophonist Karen Green first appeared at the 2001 Festival with the band Higher Ground.

Green has been a professional musician for almost 30 years. Originally from the suburbs of Pittsburgh, she went on the road after graduating from college, performing 48 weeks a year in 26 states. She's performed with jazz artists Eric Marienthal (Chic Corea Electrik Band), Neena Freelon, Melva Houston and Natalie Cole. She has pened for such acts as Santana, Diane Schur, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Herbie Mann, Joe Lovano, the Rippingtons, David Benoit, and even America and Three Dog Night.

Greene now lives in Atlanta but spent much of the 1980s and 1990s in the Triad and Triangle areas of North CVarolina. She performed for almost seven years with group Higher Ground. She was also a member of the Sam Bruton Group, the Latin jazz band Carnivalito and has performed with both the North Carolina Symphony and the Atlanta Pops Orchestras for their special jazz performances.

Although Greene has limited her musical travels since 2001, she continues to perform in the Atlanta area, recently performing in three concerts at the 2006 Atlanta Jazz Festival. In December of last year, Greene performed for Jimmy Carter for the Carter Center's annual Christmas Party.

In addition to being a musician, she is a two-time Grammy award winning audio engineer and the owner of Spin South Productions, Inc, an audio production company located in Peachtree City, Georgia.

Behind the festival

Eleanor Qadirah has been coordinating the festival since its inception.

When she moved back to Salisbury about a decade ago Qadirah started the Blues and Jazz Society because no one else around here focusing on blues and jazz, she says.

She started the festival in 1999 with performances by local musicians.

Since then, the event has grown to feature such nationally recognized acts as Cephas and Wiggins, Big Bill Morganfield (Muddy Waters' son) and Big Jack Johnson, a B. B. King protogee.

This year, Qadirah says, a group of belly dancers will dance to the blues.

Storyteller Mitch Capel -- a.k.a. Granddaddy Junebug" -- a student of Jackie Torrence -- will keep the audience entertained while the bands are setting up.

Qadirah says she would love to find some blues and jazz enthusiasts who want to be involved in planning the annual festival and would be happy to mentor someone who may not have much event-planning experience.

For more information about the festival or the youth music workshops call (704) 636-3277.