Christmas Kindness by Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms

Welcome to

AMERICAN BLUES NEWS!

(Memphis, Tennessee) This week we want to thank some of our friends of the BLUES who are making a real difference in the lives of others.

Steve Bryson, friend and philanthropist

Our friend, Steve Bryson, owner of I55 Productions is not only supporting Memphis BLUES and embarking on about a dozen new BLUES CD releases, but also has provided over 20,000 meals to the homeless and hungry during the holiday season.

Steve Bryson and Darren J. Fallas at the recent
Dennis Brooks Celebration of Life in Memphis

"Bryson, Chief Executive Officer of the Cypress-based Global Electronic Technology, Inc. (GET) and founder of Never Forgotten Foundation (NFF), a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization donated 2,500 pounds of turkey and other meat products, 700 lbs. of ground beef, 1000 lbs. of chicken as well as enough canned and dried food to feed over 10,000 people. Other items consisted of thousands of pounds of canned vegetables, breakfast items, and bags of flour, sugar, pasta, and rice to help make the holiday season brighter to those who frequent the Long Beach Rescue Mission (LBRM) every day.

Bryson's International charity

www.neverforgottenfoundation.com

"I have long held the belief that charity should began at home. When we arrived last year during our initial donation and saw the long lines of people around the building and the dire need for food at the shelter, I wanted to make certain that we would more than double our efforts this year. It is my heartfelt desire to ensure that at least during this holiday season, not a single person in Long Beach would go hungry," states Steven H. Bryson.

These annual donations, solely funded by Bryson, has enabled him to develop key relationships with many local businesses such as Costco in Cypress as well as Smart & Final stores in Cypress and Lakewood to help provide well-balanced and nutritional meals for the homeless. With the collaboration of many who were gracious in their donations or gave discounts on purchased items, Bryson was able to maximize the amount of people fed. He also enlisted the help of his GET employees, who showed up in mass to help unload the massive amount of food from the 27 foot truck that was rented this very purpose.

Steve Bryson, I55 Productions

"The amount of food purchased has never been seen before. We felt fortunate to have been part of such a great deed," said Nick Espinosa, owner of Signal Hill's Casa de Carne, who also donated hundred of pounds of patties, sausage links, and crab cakes.

Last year, Bryson donated what was estimated to be enough food for 8,000 meals. This year Fred Sigrist, Director of Food Service at the LBRM, estimated that Bryson has exceeded the previous donation for an estimated 20,000 meals."

To read more about Steve Bryson's I55 Productions and some of the new music they are about to release, check out this link to an earlier story I wrote on their new label:

http://www.ameriblues.com/2009/12/memphis-i55-productions.html

NEXT: BLUE STAR CONNECTION

spreads the music and the love

my friend John Catt

More great news from our friend, John Catt, who has been a proponent of the BLUES and all things musical for many years at events all across Colorado. John has befriended the Reba Russell Band and turned us on to some splendid gigs in Colorado over the years. I first heard about BLUE STAR CONNECTION a few months ago when I got to visit with John in Colorado. We were in Denver to play the Mile High Blues Festival, an event which was covered by me in an article earlier this year. Here's a link to that story:

http://www.ameriblues.com/2009/12/memphis-cincinnati-to-denver-and-mile.html

Billy Branch and Michaela Rae jam

John Catt, BLUES protagonist and BLUES luminary Michaela Ray

John is a board member of the Grand County Blues Society, serving with President Cassidi Brickner and my friend Art Ferrari who serves as their Treasurer. These folks have a remarkable blues society, they put on some absolutely terrific shows, and they also do good works as well as keep the BLUES alive. Here's a link to their site:

http://www.grandblues.org/

On August 14, 2005, Colorado's awesome Grand County Blues Society pioneered the Blue Star Connection to help kids with cancer and other life threatening diseases.



This from their site:

"What is the Blue Star Connection?

The Blue Star Connection provides kids with cancer and other life threatening illnesses musical instruments and access to live shows with the help of our musician friends.

Most of our Blue Stars receive an electric guitar and amp. We prefer electric guitars because most of the kids don't have the strength in their hands to play an acoustic guitar and they get a real kick out of the power and noise. Keyboards have now gained a lot of popularity. We get almost as many requests for Keyboards now as guitars

Upon request, we have provided children with harps, saxophones and a violin.

To augment the program, we get them tickets to live shows and festivals around the country. A lot of the artists are kind enough to treat them to back stage access."

here's a link to their site:

http://www.grandblues.org/BlueStar/tabid/59/Default.aspx

Here's a link to a great Blue Star Connection TV piece from KCNC in Denver:

http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id=65610@kcnc.dayport.com

"This is Kaite and Ashleigh, Kaite inspired me at the Shining Stars Reunion. She's 10 years old in this picture , one of the toughest kids you will ever meet, beat two rare cancers and now she is just an amazing young lady."

John Catt

If you wish to make a cash donation or donate an instrument to Blue Star Connection please make checks payable to GCBS with Blue Star Connection in the memo. All of BSC donations are only used for Blue Star purchases. You can also have a donation sent in the name of someone and that money will be noted and an instrument will bear that persons name.

You can mail donations to GCBS P.O. Box 1530 Winter Park, CO 80482

Here's how to get in touch if you have an instrument to donate:

http://www.grandblues.org/ContactUs/tabid/60/Default.aspx

Christmas is about LOVE and sharing with these noble charities would be a great way to celebrate this year.

All of us at the AMERICAN BLUES NEWS look forward to supplying you with more news and inside information in 2010 and beyond.

Thank you, dear readers, and from each of us:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

All the news that is BLUES!

AMERICAN BLUES NEWS

Bookmark us at:

http://www.ameriblues.com/

©2009, Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms

MEMPHIS: Review of Level 5 Leslie Amplifier

Today's article is aimed at organ players, an oft-neglected group of musicians.

Leslie Basics:

In 1940, Don Leslie invented the Leslie speaker cabinet which was sold with Hammond organs. The Leslie is a rotating speaker cabinet which contains a horn driver for reproducing tones over 800 MHz and a 15 inch bass speaker mounted downward which blows into a rotating drum. The overall effect is a spectacular room-filling sound that utilizes the Doppler effect to slightly shift the pitch of the tone, just as a siren or horn moving toward you and then away will drop it's pitch naturally.

There are 2 types of Leslie amps primarily in use today, the 122 and the 147. They are identical with one exception. The 147 uses AC switching to change the Leslie's motor speeds and thus change the speed of the rotating components to provide a steady slow spin or a fast tremolo. The 122 is DC switched and uses two 12AU7 tubes rather than the one found in the 147.



The old style Leslies made of all wood components(such as ones made in the 1960's) are generally more prized for their superior sound quality and because their replacement, the 122A features a Styrofoam bass rotor which after time, tends to cause an obstreperous rattle.

Old style, wooden replacement bass rotor(available from BT Productions)

I own 3 Leslie amplifiers and they are all becoming so aged that they have lost headroom, volume and clarity despite regular tube replacement and maintenance. Rather than having them rebuilt by a reputable firm such as Goff Organ, I decided to take another approach at playing my instrument, the Level 5 amplifier.

Leslie with the front panel removed

Level 5: Overview

The Level 5 is a hybrid custom designed amplifier made with the finest electronic components available. It uses a 6SN7 preamplifier tube on it's front end and a solid state 350 watt main amplifier. Unlike the old 122, the new Level 5 features tremendous variability of tone controls, allowing the player to adjust to his style( from squeaky clean to downright dirty tones) and to adjust bass, mid, and treble as well as the horn driver output.

The Level 5 Leslie amplifier


The Level 5 uses a standard quarter inch phono cable(guitar cord) and thus eliminates the costly and hard to find fat Leslie cables that cost about $100 each and are plagued with problems for the traveling road musician. These cables carry many conducting wires and have between 5 and 9 connection pins, and they also carry AC current to the amplifier. The Level 5 uses a standard AC cable as is used on you computer, again easy to replace.

The Level 5 eliminates the crossover network found in the old Leslie arrangement, having it's crossover built into the unit itself. Thus, the amp sends its power directly to the speakers.

The Level 5 has a two-position equalization switch which allows you to go from a higher to a lower voicing for the entire amp output, another nice touch.

The amp can be connected via quarter inch cable to a clone wheel organ such as a Nord Electro or Hammond XK-3c(my favorite!) or it can be connected using old style cables to a B-3 or other Hammond directly from the organ output(this may require special cable ends depending on the organ).


Hammond-Suzuki XK-3c breaks into two portable components and when
assembled(bottom photo) has the same form factor as the venerable B-3

The optional speed control pedal is a solid 5 pound block of billeted aluminum fitted with Switchcraft switches and fitted with a clear Lexan panel on the bottom to allow for easy inspection or troubleshooting. It's cord is connected using fine cable and a compression fitting- it's downright industrial in durability and the workmanship is outstanding.

From the BT Productions site:

Features:

• Passive tone control set (bass, mid-range, treble)
• Active tone control set (boost/cut for separate sub-bass and brilliance)
• Separate Gain and Volume controls
• Horn level control
• Voicing switch to select preamp voice
• 6 pin cable input connector, plus 1/4" line in with level control
• Effects send/return loop with level control
• 1/4" input for speed control footswitch
• Custom wound power transformer
• Ultra warm preamp tone with large scale 6SN7 tube
• Volume to burn with 350 Watt custom power amp
• Made in U.S.A.

Amplifier designer and sole distributor for the Level 5 is Tony LaBrasca from Chicago. Tony does a great job of insuring that the customer is versed on the set-up and operation of the unit and is a very knowledgeable guy, very experienced in working with Hammond organs and musical instruments in general. After he patiently helped me install the amp over the telephone he called me a couple of days later, asking "Are you getting everything out of it that you wanted?" because Tony wants his customers to be satisfied.

The original Leslie amp puts out about 40 watts of power at best. The Level 5 puts out a stunning 350 watts so the old Leslie speaker and horn driver components must be replaced to handle the additional wattage. I replaced my Jensen P15LL with a beautiful 600 watt Gauss speaker which was built for me by my good friend Dave at Glen Camack's Speaker Services in Memphis. I highly recommend Speaker Services to any musician for any speaker needs. They have been in business 25 years and do superb work.

Glen Camack's Speaker Services
549 S Cooper St
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 725-9620

The original Leslie uses a 16 ohm driver and speaker. The Level 5 requires 8 ohm components. I would get the best speaker for this application as it is a bit unusual in that it's down-firing woofer requires a very thick paper gasket to avoid problems with over-excursion. This is important to avoid rubbing a hole around the edge of your speaker.



Gauss with huge Alnico magnet


Review and Conclusions:

I formerly owned a 960 series Leslie which was powered by a solid state amplifier. Although more powerful than some of the tube models, the tone is quite accurate, but much more sterile, lacking in the saturation and overtone harmonics inherent in the 122 and 147 tube amps. Also, when a transistor amp clips, it produces odd numbered harmonics which are repugnant to the listening ear. The tube amps, when saturated to the point of clipping produce a much more pleasing even numbered harmonic distortion that is the hallmark of many a nasty guitar solo.

After my experiences for 35 years with both types of amps I was totally biased toward the tube ones because of their more musical sound. Transistor amps were great for bass and full range piano reproduction, but tubes were always my choice for harmonica, guitar and organ. After playing the Level 5 with the appropriate upgrades in horn driver and speaker, I must admit that this damn thing is the best sound I have ever heard come from a Leslie...period. That includes the time I performed on Booker T. Jones' custom Goff rig when we shared a stage at the Memphis in May Musicfest a few years ago.

Seriously, this thing kicks major butt. I was almost incredulous at the amount of bass coming from the organ and the sheer volume of sound that the Level 5 delivers. Furthermore, the ability to shape the tone between a pure clean jazz sound all the way to the grunge of "Born to be Wild" is available to the player with just a few adjustments. Engineer Robbie Rose at the Rumboogie Club on Beale was equally impressed. The ability to "tune" the output signal to a particular room via the tone controls is extraordinary. The old Leslie tube amps simply have a volume knob.

Level 5 amp: Note the huge transformer, heat sinks, fan and big preamp tube.

The 6SN7 tube which is also used in the preamp of L100 Hammond organs, is a perfect match for the big transistor amp. It will get funky. It will growl, it will grunt and scream like a panther at a high volume and it also maintains a great tone at low volume levels thanks to the drive and level controls and my ability to dial in the tube sound from the console of my XK-3c.

At $1799 (plus $100 for the speed pedal) the amp is not inexpensive but it is made for the long haul and inherently more durable and trouble-free than the old style tube amps that I love. To me it is worth every penny and having Tony LaBrasca available just a phone call away is an added bonus, although I doubt I will ever need to do anything to this unit other than occasionally replace the one preamp tube. I have been replacing costly sets of 6550 power tubes about twice a year and that will be a thing of the past along with Leslie cables and cumbersome combo preamp pedals on the floor.

For professionals and serious enthusiasts of any genre, I heartily recommend the Level 5 Leslie amplifier without reservation, particularly to the road musician who wants the very best tone or the band musician who plays with a loud band and wants to easily cut through the mix.

available exclusively from:

Tony LaBrasca
BT Productions
(630) 205-4807
clavd6@comcast.net

Here's a link to their site:


http://www.btproductions.com/Gear/Level%205/Level%205%20Amp.htm

article by Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms, American Blues Blog

©2009, Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms

Chicago: Robert Nighthawk Tooms Man On The Scene

I received another great email this one is from Robert Nighthawk Tooms Keyboard player. He is the keyboard player with the Reba Russell band. He is on the road quite heavily and I have asked him to contribute to this blog. He may become American Blues Blog man on the scene. I'd also like to add he is an outstanding keyboardist.

Helena/West Helena, Arkansas spawned so many great artists. As you may know, Sunshine Sonny Payne was the original host of KFFA's famous King Biscuit Time radio show and he is still alive and doing well in Helena. The Sterling Billingsly Band and the Reba Russell Blues Band appeared at a fundraiser held in June in West Helena to help fund this year's Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival, formerly known as the King Biscuit. Sadly some shiftless en(trap)raneurs copyrighted and sold the King Biscuit name and will not let these nice folks use it for their wonderful festival. The festival has always been free to the public and this year will be the first year that economic forces have caused them to charge a nominal sum for admission. I think it costs only $10 a day to hear 12 hours of good music at the main stage and a discount ticket is available for a 3-day pass. Live music at the other stages is still absolutely free. There are a great number of music fan who travel from all over the world to this event each year and many folks come to the event and camp out at the local campgrounds. Much fun and frivolity is had by all and it is a genuinely friendly crowd. Some very tasty bar-b-que is to be had from local purveyors and some cool records are always in stock at Bubba Sullivan's store on the corner of Cherry Street across from the main stage. The fans bring lawn chairs or sit on the levee of the Mississippi River to hear the music. Helena is located just south of Memphis, about an hour's drive on the blues highway, Highway 61(as the old Mississippi Fred McDowell blues lyric notes, "longest road I know, goes from Chicago clean down to the Gulf of Mexico").

Here's this year's lineup taken from the Sonny Boy Blues Society's website:

Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival

2009 Lineup

The ABHF lineup has been finalized!!! Listed below are the acts for the Main Stage for this year’s event.

Thursday, 8 October 2009

• 12:00 pm- Emerging Artists
• 1:00 pm- Kings of the Delta- 2008 Emerging Artists Winner
• 2:00 pm- 2009 SBBS Battle of the Bands Winner
• 3:00 pm- Johnny Billington
• 4:00 pm- J.P Soars & The Red Hots- 2009 International Blues Challenge winners
• 5:00 pm- Lucious Spiller
• 6:00 pm- Sterling Billingsley
• 7:15 pm- Lil Dave Thompson
• 8:50 pm- John Primer
• 10:30 pm- The Cate Brothers

Friday, 9 October 2009

• 12:00 pm- Harmonica Shah
• 1:15 pm- Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys
• 2:35 pm- Sam Carr with Dave Riley
• 4:00 pm- Red Holloway
• 5:30 pm- Pinetop Perkins & Bob Margolin
• 7:00 pm- Billy Boy Arnold
• 8:45 pm- Michael Burks
• 10:30 pm- Bobby Rush

Saturday, 10 October 2009

• 12:00 pm- Willie P & The NTO Band
• 1:15 pm- Hamilton Loomis
• 2:35 pm- Reba Russell
• 4:05 pm- John Hammond
• 5:40 pm- Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets
• 7:10 pm- Hubert Sumlin & Willie “Big Eyes” Smith Band
• 8:45 pm- Mitch Kasmar
• 10:30 pm- Jackie Payne & Steve Edmonton

For more information, please contact the festival office at 870.816.1106 or 314.580.3764. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks!!

My dear friend, drummer Doug McMinn, and I will be playing with John Primer on Thursday night on the main stage. The Reba Russell Blues band will appear on Saturday afternoon. I thought we went on at 6pm but the schedule says 2:35 pm. Either way it will be one hell of a great day's entertainment.

Doug McMinn organized another fundraiser for the festival which will be held on Sunday, Sept. 20, at Neil's which is located at Madison and McLean in Memphis, Tennessee. The show will start at 1 pm and feature Papa Don McMinn, Robert Nighthawk Tooms and his Wampus Cats, and the Reba Russell Blues Band. All proceeds go to the festival, every last dime.

Thanks Robert and say hi to everyone.

BLUES ME OR LOSE ME,

Terrance "Gatorman" Lape