The Westerly Sun

It’s a musical question often asked, but the answers always vary with the person listening or playing: Why do the blues make you feel so good? Is it the lyrics that tug at your heart in an era when we don’t often look inside ourselves? Is it the rockin’ rhythm that makes us move parts of ourselves we didn’t know could still move in that way? Is it the vocalizations of guitar, harmonica and horns: wailing, sighing, breathing, crying? Or a singing voice that growls and groans, murmurs and moans?

Whatever the reason, the good feeling you get from hearing the blues is definitely pumped up by hearing the music outside, near the ocean, your toes sinking into the sand. Westerly’s seventh annual "Blues on the Beach" returns July 11 to Westerly Town Beach in Misquamicut and continues Wednesdays through Aug. 22 from 6 to 8 p.m., with nationally-recognized blues bands that have a local connection. (The venue moves to the Windjammer in bad weather.)

Here’s the lineup:

JULY 11: DUKE ROBILLARD

Leading off the series is Rhode Island’s own Duke Robillard, recent Grammy nominee and Pell Award winner.

JULY 18: JEFF PITCHELL

Connecticut’s own Jeff Pitchell strolls into the second slot with his band. Pitchell won a 1981 Ovation guitars contest as the "best guitarist in the state" at the age of 15, and he’s seldom slowed down since. He has performed or recorded with blues legends such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Jimmy Vaughan, John Mayall and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Last summer, he joined the ranks of musicians-turned-actors, in a film called "Cathedral Pines." He also sang "God Bless America" at Fenway Park in 2004, in front of the World Champion Red Sox.

His newest album "Heavy Hitter" climbed the charts to #7, and it features Pitchell’s special blend of R&B, boogie, Bo-Diddley riffs, country twangs and raw blues vocals. Pitchell brings a high energy mix of musicians with him to his performances, including sax, percussion, drums, bass, B-3 and often a vocal harmony back-up. Pitchell’s rich, rumblin’ sound is sure to bring listeners to their feet.

JULY 25: AL COPLEY

Pianist Al Copley is an early Roomful alum and co-founder with Duke Robillard of this long lived band, though he himself relocated to Europe in 1984. The list of blues musicians he’s performed with, opened for or recorded with reads like a roster of the biggest blues names in the last three decades: from B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Ruth Brown to Lou Rawls, Jimmie Vaughan and Big Mama Thornton, not to mention The Fabulous Thunderbirds. His humor shines through his swing, his confidence fuels his boogie-woogie.

Critics across the Continent have hailed his technique and his presence. His European venues have included the Bern International Jazz Fest (to which he brought Robillard) and the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, where he opened for Eric Clapton, among other blues luminaries. In June 2002, Copley performed two of his symphonic orchestrations with the Boston Festival Orchestra at Summer Pops.

His 2005 CD "Radio Play" and his 2003 CD "Jump on It" were lauded by old fans and new critics alike for their testimonies to the kick and jive of jump blues and for their laudable interpretations of standards like "Come Fly With Me," "I Get a Kick Out of You," and "Dock of the Bay."

AUG. 1: GREG PICCOLO

Sax player Greg Piccolo, born in Westerly and raised in Stonington, was only 13 when he was the vocalist for a six-piece rock n’ roll cover band called The Rejects. At 15, he joined Duke Robillard’s The Variations, left to form his own band The Group, but by 1970, at the ripe ole age of 19, linked up with Robillard again and his new band Roomful of Blues. Piccolo stayed with Roomful for almost 25 years, taking over as bandleader when Robillard left in 1979. His leadership and musicianship shine in Roomful’s 1984 classic "Dressed Up to Get Messed Up," which featured several of Piccolo’s own R&B compositions.

Piccolo left Roomful in ‘94 and put out two solo albums, the second being chosen by CD Review magazine as one of the top blues recordings of 1995. On 1997’s "Red Lights," seven of the 11 songs are Piccolo originals, but his latest CD, "Homage," from February 2001, pays tribute to many of the sax players who influenced his playing, such as Gene Ammons, Red Prysock, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Ben Webster, Lester Young and Illinois Jacquet.

And though "Homage" is just that – paying homage to many greats from the swing world – Piccolo has never been confined by genres. He always feels free to throw in a jazz riff here or a reggae rhythm there, constantly revitalizing the basic R&B he’s built his career on. He also loves a great lyric and a hip-swaying groove.

AUG. 8: ROOMFUL OF BLUES

Diehard blues fans know that some winged seed blew from the South and the Midwest and sprouted more than 35 years ago right here in Westerly as Roomful of Blues. Sure they’ve been a hometown favorite for years and years and years, but even the late Count Basie called them "the hottest blues band I’ve ever heard." And "Downbeat" put the band "in a class by itself."

When guitarist Duke Robillard and keyboard player Al Copley got together in ‘67 to play Chicago blues and to feel out the jump blues, jazz and R&B of the ‘40s, they had no idea that Roomful would be still kickin’ us into gear 40 years later! Indeed, Roomful’s blend of swing, jump, blues and soul has kept legions of us swingin’, jumpin’, feelin’ bluesy and feelin’ soulful.

The list of Roomful alumni tops at least 50 different players by now, with former band members such as Piccolo, Copley, Robillard and Sugar Ray Norcia forming their own groups. The horn section came into the band in 1970, adding a big band sound that’s never left them. The current eight member line-up features producer/guitarist Chris Vachon, bassist Dima Gorodetsky, drummer Ephraim Lowell, keyboard player Travis Colby, trumpeter Bob Enos, tenor/alto player Rich Lataille (who’s been with the band since the horn section first appeared), baritone/tenor player Mark Earley and vocalist/harmonica player Dave Howard.

AUG. 15: SUGAR RAY NORCIA

Vocalist/harmonica player Sugar Ray Norcia is another hometown boy, born in Westerly and a Stonington High grad. Norcia got into the blues in high school, and he played in blues cover bands in the early ‘70s. He formed the first Sugar Ray and the Bluetones in 1979, with one-time Roomful guitarist Ronnie Earl.

Over the years, they backed big names like Otis Rush, Roosevelt Sykes and Norcia’s biggest inspiration, Big Walter Horton. In 1991, he joined Roomful of Blues and toured with them for seven years. During his time as front man, Roomful was nominated for several awards and turned out four critically acclaimed albums.

In 1999, Norcia was featured on the Grammy nominated "Super Harps" CD that also included James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite and Billy Branch. The disc features three of Norcia’s originals and was nominated in the "best traditional blues album" category. His soulful harmonica-playing has been compared to Little Walter and to Paul Butterfield. His 2005 album, Hands Across the Table, was praised for Norcia’s vocals and for the strong groove of The Bluetones.

AUG. 22: JOHNNY NICHOLAS

Multi-talented musician Johnny Nicholas grew up in Rhode Island, though he has called the Hill Country of Texas home since the early 1980s. Hooked on the blues by his older brother and by seeing Howlin’ Wolf in ‘66, Nicholas formed the Black Cat Blues Band, with Duke Robillard, Fran Christina (another Roomful alum) and Steve Nardella. From Rhode Island, the blues took him to Ann Arbor, San Francisco and Chicago, where he played with Big Walter Horton and Robert Jr. Lockwood.

Nicholas moved back to Providence one more time, to found the Rhythm Rockers, but in 1978, he moved to Austin to join Asleep at the Wheel. Then, in 1981, he decided to take a break from music and the road to raise a family and build up a place he and his wife called the Hill Top Café, now a thriving restaurant, B&B and music venue. In 1991, Nicholas started playing out again, and in ‘94, he put out "Thrill on the Hill." He and his Texas All-Stars perform around the country, about 100 nights a year, doing down-home roots music that is fun to dance to.

Their 2000 album, "Rockin’ My Blues to Sleep," is dedicated to Texas musician Doug Sahm and features guest artists such as Marcia Ball. The title song is a Nicholas original but the others pay tribute to songwriters such as Hank Ballard, Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones, Jimmy Rogers, T-Bone Walker and Fats Domino, among others. Nicholas’s smokin’ guitar playing lights up the album and makes it sure-fire testimony to the staying power of Texas blues.

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