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July 8th, 2009 was day one of the 16th annual Ottawa Bluesfest. I arrived onsite sweaty and thirsty from the five-kilometre trek cycling from home first along the Rideau Canal and then aside the Ottawa River. Once onsite I bee-lined to the first beer line I could find only to discover that a) I had left my ID at home, and b) being grey and wrinkly well beyond my 40+ years due to high mileage and low maintenance was not enough to convince anyone anywhere to serve me alcohol. Ah well, not spending $25 on festival beer is like making $25 profit, no?
(No.)
I was in a hurry to catch Monkeyjunk on the Hard Rock Café Stage but I became distracted by The Black Keys on my way past the mainstage area. This was still early enough in the bands career that one could’ve cast a glance at the duo’s instrumentation and labeled them a poor-man’s White Stripes, and like the White Stripes what they lacked in personnel they made up for in blatant energy and sheer crunch. I stood and gaped and tried to imagine what a more distorted guitar tone could possibly sound like. I came up empty. The six-string oomph coming through the mains was blatantly over-saturated and it sounded so darn good. I almost couldn’t tear myself away and maybe shouldn’t have, but I really wanted to start the season’s Bluesfest with some good downhome blues. I tore myself away.
I’ve probably told this story before but I like it a lot and it’s worth telling again: When my friend Tony Diteodoro was a kid he wanted a guitar really, really badly and when he finally acquired one (I can’t recall if he saved up for it himself or if his dad bought it for him) he was sitting on his bed monkeying around with it when his father came in the room, pointed to the guitar and said, “With that guitar and a new pair of shoes, you could see the world!”
My gosh, I love that line.
Of course Tony worked his butt off to become Ottawa’s goto blues guy and when he got his first international tour (which I think might have been to his birthplace in Italy) he called his father on the phone and told him, “Hey dad, I got myself that new pair of shoes…” Tony D has since played the world and beyond. He’s a great musician, and he wears nice shoes.
Tony D appearing at Bluesfest was a given every year and back then his band Monkeyjunk was such a new entity that this might have been their first time playing the festival. Even in the early days they were already a great band and how could they not be? Sharing frontman duties with Tony was Ottawa wunderkind Steve Marriner on baritone guitar, B3 organ, harmonica, and super-killer vocals. He was so young back then but it was already clear that he was the real deal. And sitting behind them was one of the city’s most solid drummers Matt Sobb so yeah, great band. They would start winning Juno Awards a few short years later.
The band was kind enough to offer me a few sorely needed beers backstage despite my lack of ID and afterwards we set off to watch Jeff Beck together. Turns out Jeff Beck was Tony D’s personal guitar hero and Tony had never seen him live, so he forsook his slot in the autograph tent in order to ensure he’d be at the mainstage in time for Jeff Beck’s set. I was pleased to discover that my media pass allowed me backstage access too so Tony, Steve, Matt and I clambered up the stairs and found a spot in the wings of the main stage. We stood agape as Jeff Beck walked past us resplendent in a sleeveless, ribbed tuxedo shirt and looking for all the world like Ron Wood. Wow. Soon after the music started the four of us decided that the photo pit would offer a better view so we hustled our slack jaws down there and watched his set in awe from the roomy pre-front row. Though I think Matt and Steve eventually cut out Tony and I stayed drilled to our prime spot for the whole set, a vantage point hampered only by Tony’s mile-wide smile, which just wouldn’t let up.
Jeff Beck (1944-2023) was one of the quintessential guitarists in rock history and even late in his career he could still thrill like nobody else. The guy was one of those rare musician’s musicians who also become a huge commercial success, and the set we experienced proved why: for all his instrumental brilliance Jeff Beck never lost his sense of melody. I mean, the guy is a masterclass guitar technician who would effortlessly execute passages that countless six-string enthusiasts spend a lifetime failing at, and he played with a subtle perfection that was virtually unmatched. But it’s all that combined with his innate melodic sense that made the guitarist a legend. As he led his band through Beck’s Bolero, Lead Boots, Blue Wind and, well, everything else, Jeff Beck showed over and over that guitar wizardry is a means, and that the tune is the important thing.
His band was remarkable, featuring a bass player who would have stolen the show from almost anyone else (Tal Wilkenfeld), a drummer who has played with Frank Zappa and Herbie Hancock and was best man at Joni Mitchell’s second wedding (Vinnie Colaiuta), and a former E Street Band member who finally proved that guitar-based rock keyboardists didn’t have to be cheesy (David Sancious). With a collection of musicians like that, again: how could it not be great? And it was. The show was full of little musical teases, with Low Rider and Purple Haze each being hinted at twice and a sublime cover of A Day In The Life to close the lengthy set. Oh, and the sound was so dialled in that the tiniest vibrato from Beck’s Stratocaster could be heard clear as a bell and with a player like Jeff Beck (like there are players like Jeff Beck…) good sound is key. His true brilliance was in the details so it was important to hear the details well.
Oddly enough when I saw Jeff Beck the first time (at Massey Hall several years earlier) I walked out of the venue rather underwhelmed, but man, he whelmed me at this show, that’s for sure.
It was an excellent kickoff to a fantastic dozen days of sizzling summertime live music.
Todd Man Out 