The most recent Blue Collar Blues event hosted by Joseph Vincent Riggio’s J v ARCHER ENTERTAINMENT joint in association with the JSJBF, was billed as Latin Generations. It certainly lived up to the name as Joe Taino and his band gave us a musical lesson in the roots of the blues, while SEBA, led by young Argentinian guitar sensation Sebastian Nigro, schooled us in the blues that grew out of the Jimi Hendrix era.
First up was triple Hall of Fame inductee Joe Taino who was accompanied by Fabulous Thunderbirds bassist Steve Kirsty and drummer Nick Fishman. Joe played a Telecaster for the first portion of his set, which included an excellent version of Bill Doggett’s instrumental, “Honky Tonk” and the Lowell Fulson gem, “Reconsider Baby.” He then picked up his Strat, and the band proceeded to deliver a spirited take on the 1960 tune “Chevrolet,” followed by a great rendition of Willy Dixon’s “Spoonful,” a song most of us became aware of in the sixties with the cover by Cream. After the band’s interpretation of “Sugar Coated Love,” a song popularized by Lazy Lester, Joe picked up his 1964 Teisco guitar for some fiery slide on Elmore James “Done Somebody Wrong,” a song most notably done by the Allman Brothers Band. They followed that up with Jimmy Rogers’ “Walking By Myself” and Howlin Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster,” which the crowd showed much appreciation for. The set ended with Taj Mahal’s “She Caught The Katy,” which featured some excellent solos by both Steve and Nick and the Horace Silver jazz standard, “Senor Blues.”
There was a short intermission, during which I presented the winner of the 2023 guitar raffle, drummer Jim Flynn of the member band Kelly, Ellis & Flynn, with the Fender Player Series Stratocaster and hard-shell case. Jim wasn’t able to attend the drawing at our Holiday Party but agreed to meet me at the Chubby Pickle for the presentation.
The second half of this Latin double bill was the band SEBA. Sebastian Nigro, the young phenom on guitar was joined by the rock-solid rhythm section of Rolando Thomas on bass and Vincent Presite on drums. Since the set list and a good portion of the songs were in Spanish I’ll do my best to translate, but I will say that music being the International language, it didn’t affect how the audience felt, which was very enthusiastic. The opening number an original called “Descerebrado,” which literally means brain dead, was an up-tempo blues rocker that showcased some of Sebastian’s excellent fret work. As the player of a lefthanded white Strat, he literally wears his major influence on his sleeve or in this case his left forearm, where a bust of Jimi Hendrix resides. That being said, the second original, “Narcisista,” which is literally the same word in English, had a clean sound more like Carlos Santana, and you could feel the notes were coming straight from the soul. The third original, “Morir siendo un gil,” had the band in a great groove, and you could see on their faces that they were enjoying every minute of it. The song “Cheques” was a tale of a woman who was looking for a sugar daddy with a riff reminiscent of Jimi’s “Crosstown Traffic.” A funky original, “Tiempos que no vuelven mas,“ or times that do not return again, even included a snippet of “Jingle Bells” in the solo! Next up was something the audience knew well, Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Chile,” which segued into “Hey Joe.” Sebastian pulled out all the stops on an extended solo, and the crowd roared their approval. I even think I saw a little smile from the Jimi tattoo. The band was tight and the originals sounded fresh and fit well with the covers. This is a band to watch as they grow. They are highly recommended.