Club Helsinki sings award-winning blues
By Seth Rogovoy

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., January 19, 2001) -- Every year the Memphis-based Blues Foundation hosts the W.C. Handy Blues Awards, a ceremony honoring the best blues performances and recordings of the year. Named in honor of W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues,” the awards - think of them as the Grammys of the blues world -- are presented in late May as part of a week-long blues festival on Beale Street in Memphis.

The nominees for this year’s W. C. Handy Blues awards were announced last week, and the list of the nominees included a surprisingly long list of familiar names. No less than nine of the nominees performed at Club Helsinki in Great Barrington this past year. These performers included Eddy Clearwater, James Armstrong, Debbie Davies, Deborah Coleman, Henry Butler, E.C. Scott, Toni Lynn Washington, Carey Bell and Eddie Shaw.

The categories in which they were nominated include Contemporary Blues, Male Artist of the Year (Clearwater, Armstrong); Contemporary Blues, Female Artist of the Year (Davies, Coleman); Soul/Blues, Female Artist of the Year (Scott, Washington); Blues Instrumentalist, Harmonica (Bell); Blues Instrumentalist, Keyboards (Butler); Acoustic Blues Album of the Year (Butler); Contemporary Blues Album of the Year (Clearwater); Soul/Blues Album of the Year (Scott); Blues Album of the Year (Clearwater, Butler); Blues Song of the Year (Clearwater, Armstrong).

Based on this list impressive list alone, Club Helsinki can probably lay claim to being one of the best blues clubs in the nation, bar none. And all this in the club’s very first year. Amazing.

Upcoming blues shows at Helsinki include Big Al and the Heavyweights’s Cajun- and zydeco-spiced blues tomorrow night (Jan. 20), Chicago Rhythm and Blues Kings next Thursday, Albert Cummings on Feb. 16, Ron Levy on Feb. 17, Red Beans on Feb. 23, the Holmes Brothers on March 3, and Chris Smither on June 1.

Tonight (January 19), Helsinki features progressive funk outfit Gruvis Malt. As heard on its albums “Sound Soldiers” and “Backout Smiling,” the Providence-based group plays a jazzy blend of classic soul, hip-hop, samples, jazz, and rock that variously recalls G. Love, Fishbone, De La Soul and Frank Zappa. Keith Carini and the I5K are set to open at 9. For more info, visit www.gruvismalt.com.

CONCERT WATCH

There is plenty of other concert action in the region this weekend. Up-and-coming singer-songwriter Jess Klein is at Mother’s Wine Emporium at RPI in Troy, N.Y., tonight, and sister duo the Nields are at North Adams State College tomorrow night. Ravin Mavens are at the Lion’s Den and Evan Rude and the Motors are at Michael’s, both in Stockbridge tomorrow night. Groove-rocker Keller Williams is at Williams College in Williamstown on Sunday.

Avant-jazz clarinetist Don Byron bookends the region with shows tonight at the Iron Horse Music Hall, Northampton and tomorrow night at the Van Dyck in Schenectady, N.Y. Perennially named “best clarinetist” in jazz magazine Downbeat’s annual readers and critics poll, Byron will be performing his genre-defying “Music for Six Musicians” program, featuring his politically-conscious, original compositions drawing on his Afro-Caribbean heritage. Byron will be accompanied by longtime collaborators Edsel Gomez (piano), James Zollar (trumpet), Leo Traversa (bass), Ben Wittman (drums) and Milton Cardona (congas).

As heard on his 1995 recording, “Music for Six Musicians,” Byron’s influences as a player and composer include Igor Stravinsky, Grandmaster Flash, Machito, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Charles Mingus, Raymond Scott, the Last Poets, Mickey Katz and Dave Tarras. Byron’s song titles on that album, including “Shelby Steele would be mowing your lawn,” “SEX/WORK (Clarence/Anita),” “Crown Heights,” and “The Importance of Being SHARPTON,” give more than a hint of how Byron wraps his political concerns into his music.

Byron’s latest album, “A Fine Line,” subtitled “Arias and Lieder,” includes startlingly innovative renditions of melodies by Stevie Wonder, Puccini, Henry Mancini, Chopin, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Ornette Coleman, Robert Schumann and Roy Orbison.

[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Jan. 19, 2001. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2001. All rights reserved.]