The guitarist and singer Steve Ajao, a Birmingham native, was interviewed by Juanita McGowen for Blues In Britain, to celebrate his debut album Pure Evil. It has been a long time coming, considering his talent and the high regard in which he is held by his peers and his audiences.

We have two e-letters this month. One is from energetic guitar virtuoso Steve Morrison from South London, often to be seen at Brooks Blues Bar. The other is from Stan Cockeram, leader of Riverside Blues Band, who also hosts several blues jam in the Bournemouth area.

Tim Porter, who puts on regular gigs at The Cherington Arms, in Warwickshire, has written a Blues Venue piece. This also includes other events he programmes and promotes, in particular the Banbury Blues and Roots Festival, on Saturday 3rd March.

We also have the usual reviews of live events, plus a preview of the New Orleans JazzFest, which is coming up this month. The Festivals for this year are already making a good showing in Blues News.

The March issue will feature The 50th Anniversary of the British Blues Boom. The site of the Ealing Club will be marked by a commemorative blue plaque on Saturday 17th March, fifty years after Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies started the first club date there.

Fran Leslie

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Alan Glen has played with too many bands to mention and pops up all over the UK blues scene. Alan plays harmonica, guitar and sings on at least fifty separate albums. He was only talking about three of them when he came to Blues In Britain, namely The Barcodes: Be Cool The Very Best of the Barcodes, Little Axe: If You Want Loyalty Buy A Dog and Nine Below Zero: Live In Europe 1992. He is also one of the main players, with John O’Leary, in a series of tribute concerts, which highlight the music of Junior Wells and Cyril Davies.

We have an e-letter from yet another young UK guitarist and singer Nat Martin. His band’s debut album is called Don’t Lose Your Cool and has ten original tracks. Nat lists Albert Collins as a major influence.

We have reports of The King Biscuit Festival, The Torquay Festival and The Carlisle Festival. King Biscuit was probably the last gig Hubert Sumlin played before he died aged eighty.

Coming up in 2012 is the anniversary of the start of the British Blues Boom. If you have any memories or photographs and memorabilia from that time, please let us know. Issue 123, for March 2012, will be celebrating it On 17th March 2012, a plaque will be unveiled on the building, which housed The Ealing Club, in the basement, back in 1962.

Fran Leslie

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London based guitarist, singer and songwriter, Guy Tortora hails from Pasadena CA. He came over to Blues In Britain too, to talk about the making of his new album, Prodigal Songs, with a little help from his friends.

Scott Duncan contributes an article on the fabled band The Producers. Founder members Dave Saunders, the bass player, and Harry Skinner, the guitarist and singer, have decided to revive the group, drafting in Ray Drury on keyboards and Biff Smith on drums. Their album, London Live, has contributions from Andy Fairweather Low, Paul Lamb and Ben Waters.

Keyboard player and singer Dale Storr has sent in an e-letter. After twenty years of playing New Orleans style music, he has gone through a period of transition, from bandleader to soloist and has now emerged in a duo with Kim Mayhew, the saxophonist, to whom he is engaged.

Yet again, most of the festival reviews have been pushed to one side to fit in the major articles. As the live events dwindle in the post Christmas period, we hope to catch up with them then. In the meantime, to all our contributors and supporters, have a happy Christmas and, if there is live blues near you, go and support it.

Fran Leslie

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UK blues veteran, John Mayall now lives in California but he is a regular visitor. On his tour in October and November he has the Oli Brown Band opening the show. John talked about what he is doing and a bit of UK blues history. His one time guitarist, Walter Trout is also touring on a double header tour with Popa Chubby. I called Walter, who also lives in California, to ask what he is up to.

Beth Hart has made an album of soul standards with Joe Bonamassa, Don’t Explain, which may account for why some of her UK gigs have sold out in advance of her tour forthcoming. Another date, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire in February 2012, has been announced. Moray Stuart interviewed her for Blues In Britain, when she was in London recently.

Rising star Marcus Bonfanti will also be touring with his band in November. We met up at my local pub. Marcus told me that he is recording a six-track CDEP, which will only be available at his gigs. A Marcus Bonfanti gig, be he with his own band, Paddy Milner & The Big Sounds, St Jude or P P Arnold, is not to be missed!

Also on the home front, Gary Boner, singer and guitarist from Roadhouse, has sent us an e-letter. The band, which features three girl singers, has a new album out called Dark Angel. The band has been running for twenty-one years now.

We could have run interviews with other artists such as Paul Lamb and Joanne Shaw Taylor, who are also touring, but time and space prevent it. The festival reviews, of which there are many, are also piling up. Thank you everyone who has contributed words and photos! Keep them coming, as we will publish them when space allows.

Fran Leslie

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Paul came in to Blues In Britain to talk about their new record, That’s What We Were Born For, and Blake Powell of Note Records made a short video, which you can see on our site.

When we met at London’s South Bank, jazz and blues guitarist Billy Jenkins told me that he is giving up playing live. Billy’s new album, called Jazz Gives Me The Blues, may or may not be his last and is the result of a project that was put on hold for seven years. If the interview seems a little idiosyncratic, well it was; at times, Billy was interviewing me!

Jay Tamkin is another of the young up and coming blues guitarists, stepping into the role as others are stepping out. He has written an e-letter to tell us about his new album Alibi a follow up to Sorted his first album. This time Jay has had more control of the project.

The festival reviews are taking up much of the space in this issue and there are still more to come at Beer and Swanage in the South West and various places in the North East, in October. The Carlisle Blues Festival is one of the highlights of November. The Gig Guide has flowed over onto an extra page this month.

I was at the Newark Blues Festival for the presentation of the 2011 British Blues Awards, organised by the Nottingham Blues Society. Blues In Britain nominated Paul Jones for a Lifetime Achievement Award, which I presented to him on Sunday 11th September. A new award for song writing, in memory of Kevin Thorpe who died at the festival last year, went to Joanne Shaw Taylor for her song “Same As It Never Was”. A tree has been planted in Newark Castle Park in memory of Kevin and a plaque was unveiled at the start of Sunday’s award s programme. Most of us were moved to tears.

Fran Leslie

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Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges, originally from Louisiana and now a citizen of the blues world has been coming to the UK since he was a member of Big Joe Turner’s Blues Caravan. He has a new album out, called A Rock & A Hard Place, on Armadillo Music. He came into Blues In Britain to talk about it and will be touring to promote it. You can win a copy of the CD in this month’s magazine competition.

There are a lot of brilliant young musicians coming through. In issue 113, we featured Krissy Matthews, now we have interviews with two more young guitarists, Virgil McMahon and Aaron Keylock.

The band Virgil and The Accelerators is now based in the Midlands, so I spoke to Virgil on the phone. The band has a new album out called The Radium on Mystic Records and will be touring to promote it.

Thirteen -year-old Aaron Keylock is based in Oxfordshire but is frequently seen at blues jams in London and South East. He is developing his talent sensibly and has hooked up with other young musicians including Max Maxwell, who plays drums and bass, and occasionally has Krissy Matthews on bass who looks like a senior member in the line-up.

We are inundated with reviews of the many blues festivals, which have been taking place this summer. We will eventually catch up on them. Thanks go to all our contributors sending in live reviews, CD reviews and photographs. I can’t do it by myself!

Fran Leslie

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Paul Jones has been presenting his show An Hour of Rhythm and Blues on BBC Radio 2 for over twenty-five years and next year will be the fiftieth since he started with The Manfreds. He too came in to talk about the show and his reminiscences of things past and present.

Another veteran of British music, Terry Reid, has been doing the same with Trevor Hodgett. His anecdotes include touring with The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner and Cream, and memories of record producers Ahmet Ertegun and Mickey Most. He will be playing several dates at Ronnie Scott’s Club, in London, in August.

Singer and song writer Florence Joelle of Florence Joelle’s Kiss of Fire has sent Blues In Britain an e-letter about the band’s debut album of the same name. In it, she describes how the band was formed and the album was made. Florence was born in France and her influences are quite eclectic.

As ever, the magazine is overflowing with reviews of live events. These include Bob Chaffey’s account of the Boogaloo Weekend at Torquay but the remaining festival reports will have to wait for next month. Thanks go to our many excellent reviewers and photographers and to you, the readers who go out to support the blues.

Fran Leslie

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The musicians in Hokie Joint come from Essex and Suffolk, East of London. Their second album, just out, is called The Music Starts To Play. It reflects their individual, quirky style, which is making them very popular as a live act. They are on the road quite a bit, so I called the harmonica player Giles King, who told me about the new album, how he joined the band and more.

We have two e-letters this month. Andrew Black, the guitarist, singer and songwriter from Atlanta Georgia, came to the UK last year and played some dates with Robin Bibi. This month, he will be touring again, also with Robin. In his e-letter Andrew writes about his twenty years in music.

The second e-letter is by Phil Allen of The Idle Hands Blues Band, which is a British rock-blues band. The guys in this band, like the other musicians in this issue, are all self-taught. Their sixth album is called Ready For Business and will be out shortly.

When people ask me how the blues is doing in the UK, I could point to the fact that every month we have more articles and reviews than we can accommodate. We have had to hold back some major interviews, live reviews and CD reviews. We have several festival reviews this month and lots more festivals coming up.

Thank you to all our contributors and to our readers; without you there would be no magazine!

Fran Leslie

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It was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Robert Johnson in May. Scots blues man Al Hughes, bandleader of Lights Out By Nine, has recorded a compilation of Robert Johnson songs, Feel Like Robert Johnson Volumes 1 & 2, not as Johnson would have played them back in the day. Al plays them in his own way or perhaps how Johnson might have played them had he lived longer. Gordon Baxter interviewed Al for Blues In Britain.

Bandleader, singer, songwriter and guitarist Marcus Malone has sent in an e-letter about his new album, Let The Sunshine In. For this he has reunited with musician friends he knew when he was in a rock band called Marcus and based in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan.

In July, London celebrates its second blues festival of the year, BluesFest London. I went to see the saxophonist Leo Green, who is the man behind this series of events, to report on it for Blues In Britain.

Still on the festival front, we have a review by Sue Hickling and Tony Winfield who went to The Big Wheel Festival on the Isle of Man. Thanks to them and our other tireless contributors we have a magazine every month.

Fran Leslie

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Guitarist, singer and band leader, Krissy Matthews celebrates his nineteenth birthday this month. He got off to a very early start and has perfected his playing skills. His voice has also matured nicely. Krissy told me about his new album, Hit The Rock, life on the road and how he has had to develop management skills to promote his band. Krissy has an exciting tour coming up; you can read about it in the magazine.

There are many US acts touring this Spring. J J Grey & Mofro have five dates in May promoting the band’s album Georgia Warhorse. J J has sent us an e-letter to tell us a bit about himself. You can win a copy of the album in this month’s competition. Lance Lopez has just one UK date, heading the bill at the Hebden Bridge Blues Festival, on Saturday 28th May. It is his first time here. Lance was on the road, so Craig Shaw has written a profile of him so that festival goers know what to expect. Lance also has an album out called Salvation From Sunrise.

We have reviews of the Swanage Blues Festival, one of the biggest free festivals in the UK, from Pete Clinton, and the Boogaloo Festival at Alvaston Hall, thanks to Bob Chaffey. Looking forward, Jim Soars, himself a musician, has sent in a preview of the Bourbon Stage at Glastonbury Festival. Just as we went to press, we heard that B B King is to headline there on the Friday night. The festival was sold long ago but if you have a ticket, make sure you see B and the many blues artists who are on the bill.

Talking of festivals, we have not had a blues festival in London for ages. Then, like buses, two come along almost at once. Shades of Soul are promoting the London Blues Festival, 15th-22nd May. The line-up has many great UK based blues and jazz artists, playing at venues in and around London. Soul singer PP Arnold, Errol Linton Big Joe Louis, Ian Siegal and Marcus Bonfanti are among my favourites. BluesFest London takes place in late June and early July. It features many overseas artists as well as some good home grown talent. Highlights include B B King at the Royal Albert Hall and Dr John at Under The Bridge, a new venue beneath Chelsea football stadium. There are so many gigs and festivals coming up; get out there and enjoy them!

Fran Leslie

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