True Blues at Long Beach Fest

Organizers of the 29th annual Long Beach Blues Festival say when booking the musical acts, they tried to balance the desires of blues purists with an interest in appealing to a broad audience.
           
"We consider it a duty," says co-producer Martin Fleischmann. "We're always trying to enlarge the blues spectrum. I'm all for breaking the mold. We can't fall into dogma."

This year's blues festival, which takes place Saturday and Sunday, has relocated from the California State University, Long Beach, Intermural Field to downtown's Rainbow Lagoon, along Shoreline Drive.

The annual two-day event is a major fundraiser for the university radio station, KKJZ (88.1 FM), which sponsors the show.

Saturday's lineup includes headliner Chuck Berry, John Mayall, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Pinetop Perkins, Roy Rogers & the Delta Rhythm Kings, and Roy Young. Sunday's roster has headliner the Taj Mahal Trio, Booker T. Jones, Charlie Musselwhite, Eddie Floyd, Joe Louis Walker and Ana Popovic.

A second stage, being built near the main stage, will showcase eight local blues acts, four scheduled for each day.

The performers, who will play while the main stage is being prepared for the next act, include Johnny Mastro & Mama's Boys, the Andy Walo Trio, Arielle Verinis, the Average Johnsons, Robert Francis, Joey Joel, Lisa Cee and the Dennis Jones Band.

Among the festival highlights are the West Coast debut of Young, a soul singer from Jamaica who migrated to Tel Aviv, Israel. Critics have compared Young's voice to those of classic soul singers of the 1950s and 1960s. Taj Mahal is making a return visit, having performed at the festival in 2007.

"Taj Mahal gave a solid performance last year," Fleischmann says. "He's part of the remaining true blues musicians."

Then there's Ana Popovic. The up-and-coming 32-year-old native of Belgrade, Serbia, who now resides in the Netherlands, received high praise from Jazz News: "Jimi Hendrix is a woman - her name is Ana Popovic."

"I believe she is going to be a name to be reckoned with in the blues world," Fleischmann says. "She's within the genre."

Blues festival producers moved the event to the Rainbow Lagoon, which has a smaller capacity than the athletic field (8,000, compared to 15,000 to 16,000 - though previous CSULB blues festivals averaged 7,500), because the university wanted a stronger downtown presence.

The new site also has 11 p.m. Saturday and 10 p.m. Sunday curfews, as opposed to the 6 p.m. time constraint of the athletic field.

"Starting later in the day and going into the evening made a lot of sense," Fleischmann says. "The blues is nighttime music and we wanted to give some of that ambience to the festival."