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| I've been a longtime fan of electric/slide guitarist/composer John Stephan, and this exciting musical homecoming, featuring tenor saxman John Firmin (Johnny Nocturne Band) and bassist/ vocalist John Lee (Crossroads Band), garners additional respect for his musicianship. The Johns, based in the Pacific Northwest, are originally from Alaska - Lee and Stephan from Palmer, and Firmin from Anchorage. Both John Stephan and John Firmin have some loose Canadian musical connections, too. The John Stephan Band's original keyboardist was Dan "Pianny" Sturner, from Buffalo, N.Y., who, along with Greg Zark, played with the late Richard Newell (King Biscuit Boy) of Hamilton, Ontario. John Firmin is also a member of the David Bromberg Band, who released an album in the late '90s with multi-instrumentalist Garth Hudson (The Band) on keyboards. The Johns are also joined by veteran players Ron E. Beck (Tower of Power/Chris Cain/Sista Monica) on drums, Henry Salvia (Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Johnny Nocturne Band) on keyboards, and Alex Baum, who engineered this project. While researching the backgrounds of these players, I got "lost" for at least 6 hours in an amazing "Alice's Wonderland" of classic rock and blues music that had me itching to move to the Pacific North West Coast! Alex Baum's background, particularly, led to some interesting news about a second-generation progression of Quicksilver Messenger Service, now called Quicksilver Gold. Recorded in Berkley, CA, in March 2003, The Johns' self-titled CD opens with a delicious rendition of "Don't Lose Your Cool", a swing-style instrumental written by Albert Collins. It's an attention-grabber that serves as a signal for the upcoming John Firmin instrumental rhythm-boosters ("The Driver" and "Muddy Surf" - a magnificent blow-out if I ever heard one!) that give the top-rate rhythm section something particularly solid to work with. John Lee, on roaring lead vocals that are well-matched with the powerful sax work, pays tribute to Chuck Berry, Willie Dixon and R. Penniman (a.k.a. Little Richard). I personally prefer Stephan's vocals, though, whose deep but smooth tone and style always bring Eric Clapton to mind. His voice works best on the slow-blues compositions that really are his specialty, as witnessed here on "Holed-Up" and "A Day @ a Time", the former track, with the smoldering slide guitar, recalling yet another John (Lee Hooker) in its mesmerizing repetitiousness. I must admit, though, that Stephan does a great vocal job on the barrel house blueser, "Love Doctor", co-written with Charlene Grant. Stephan is, however, equally adept at funking up a regular electric guitar on "Kid from Palmer", strongly influenced by Robert Cray and his mentor Albert Collins. On this track, he recounts his numerous early musical idols (including John Firmin and The Prophets and Sam The Sham and the Pharoahs), the non-existence of "live" performances and scarcity of vinyl records while growing up in the "boonies" of Alaska. "A Day @ a Time", a slow-tempo rhythm and blues number demonstrates John Firmin's dynamics on slow, sweet, saxophone. Henry Salvia delivers some wistful piano-noodling here before letting loose on Chuck Berry's "Nadine", giving it a jazzy edge without losing the original rock'n'roll, hoochie-koo feel. Another John is then added to the equation - John Marshall - whose politically "subversive" lyrics on "Imperialism 101" resulted in a confiscation at a recent border inspection. John Lee curiously tones down his lead vocal approach on this track, but using subtlety as a manipulative technique has always worked well for politicians, so perhaps it was a deliberate choice here. Marshall also collaborated with John Stephan on "Mr. Counter-Clockwise", a lively boogie-woogie shuffle that salutes rebelliousness � yeah! John Stephan has a knack for choosing great backing players, and piano wiz Henry Salvia was a perfect replacement keyboardist for the much-sought-after Paul Richardson, who performed on the John Stephan Band's live recording at Experience Music Project earlier this year. Alaska (and company) sure knows how to rock the blues! |
| THREE J's - THREE J's (JOHN STEPHAN, JOHN FIRMIN AND JOHN LEE) (March 2003) |
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