24 March 2025

Being the blues

The Canberra Blues Society jam session is a blast from the past in several ways, not least that I return to an e-bass.  Fretted or fretless was the decision this time.  I was conservative and stuck with my fretted JB.  Someone asked why not double, but it's so enjoyable to race over the neat neck with soft strings and it's a more apt sound anyway to my ears.  Maybe Peter Barta was in two minds as his instrument was an Ibanez with a mixed fretted 4-string/fretless 3 string neck (SRAS-7 Ahula).  It's weird, but proof that Ibanez is adventurous.  I got a chance to play with Gary France for a first time, if only for a standard 3-song jam, and our group was all round a great pleasure: John van Beuren, Ross Buchanan, Gary, Steve Hartnett and singers Dan Litts and Lily (not sure of these names).  But of course it's the one group I don't have a photo of.  The host band this month was Blues Accelerators: a guitar blues band with horn section, here baritone and tenor saxes, but normally also with a alto.  They were playing tight and tonal as I arrived and the bari in Midnight hour just confirmed how nice the horns were in a blues context.  There were 4 or 5 other jamming groups and some younger performers and a few dancers.  And it's a relaxed event with excellent sound and tables and chairs and German beers so a nice, dark, sun-free way to spend a Sunday arvo.  I had a great time.  And for those who don't know of it, that's a genuine piece of the Berlin Wall outside club.

The Canberra Blues Society jam session is held monthly at Harmonie German Club.

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