John Mooney's Rochester Homecoming + John Hammond

 Blues fans were treated to some great shows at Rochester's first annual International Jazz Festival. John Hammond rolled into town for an intense solo performance and Rochester's own John Mooney took advantage of his homecoming by playing an outdoor festival gig, a club appearance, an in-store gig and if that wasn't enough he even jammed with Little Feat!

 John Hammond and John Mooney played back to back on a perfect summer night on the fifth day of the Rochester Jazz Festival. Both men share an affinity for tough delta blues and the audience was treated to a night of hard hitting blues. I had never gotten the chance to see Hammond before and everyone told me he puts across a very intense show. That was an understatement- Hammond played like a man possessed, flailing at his guitar and blowing some mean harmonica from his harp rack. I missed the first two songs but "Get Behind the Mule" was the only tune I heard from Wicked Grin, his well received collaboration with Tom Waits. After that Hammond picked up his National steel and ripped into some serious country blues on tunes like "Drop Down Mama", Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen", Skip James' "Hard Times", Blind Willie McTell's "Love Changin' Blues" and a version of "Preachin' The Blues" that had the whole audience hollering along.

 Mooney came on stage with his excellent touring band: Alfred "Uganda" Roberts on congas, Jeff Sarli on bass and Bernard Johnson on drums. As good as Mooney's records are he takes it to another level completely when he plays live and he seems to have gotten better and and better over the years. Unfortunately I missed him sitting in with Little Feat (who knew?) but the buzz was that he tore it up. The same can be said for the outdoor show. Mooney was singing better than ever and was playing some sweet sounding slide. His band simply cooked, especially "Uganda" Roberts who's hands were a blur as he pounded out some great rhythms. Mooney kicked things off with an excellent version of Dave Bartholomew's "Country Boy In New Orleans", ran through a number of fine covers including "Big Road Blues" and several cuts off his excellent new record, All I Want.

 I was lucky enough to catch Mooney and the band the next day at an intimate in-store performance. After the band got their bearings (it was early after all- only 3:00 PM) they tore into a knock out 45 minute set running through mostly material off the new record including "She Ain't No Good", "All I Want" (dedicated to his wife), "Tell Me Who" and a killer finale of Professor Longhair's "Hey Little Girl."

 Mooney's Rochester homecoming was a huge success and this is someone you absolutely need to see live. John Hammond lived up to his reputation as a great live performer as well and both men did their part in making Rochester's first jazz festival a huge success.