Waterfront Blues Festival 2022 Review
Portland, Oregon’s “Waterfront Blues Festival” celebrated its 35 year anniversary since it began in 1987 on Friday, July 1, 2022 at 12 Noon. There were a total of four different stages that hosted over 100 world class blues, soul, funk, and R&B acts over the course of four days ending with fireworks on the night of July 4th. The event took place at downtown Portland’s picturesque “Tom McCall Waterfront Park” on the banks of the Willamette River. The weather was perfect the entire time with clear skies and temperatures in the mid-’70s. The event has raised over $10 million dollars for local community organizations with a focus on hunger.
There are two main stages on opposite sides of the South end of the park with billboard size video screens also displaying the acts. The Andrew Matthews band from Portland was the first band to play on the “South Stage” for the day. Matthews told the audience that Joe Walsh was his idol as he shredded his guitar “James Gang” and “Eagles” style. On the other side of the bowl, people had their blankets spread out on the “Bottleneck Blues Band” played on the “Blues Stage.” Guitarist and vocalist Noah Bell favored Freddie King and played some flavorful guitar licks on songs like “Same Old Blues.”
The “Front Porch Stage” is located at the farthest point on the opposite end of the park. It has a large wooden checkerboard dance floor in front of the stage for festival attendees to cut a rug on. The stage features “World Beat,” “Zydeco” and upcoming artists. “Loveness Wesa” was originally from Zimbabwe and featured Wesa and another female singer/dancer, a guitarist and a bass player, that lived in Portland, and they performed songs from her albums.
Pat Stilwell’s Blues Alliance was another Portland band that produced some great guitar jams. “Silent Partners” hit the Blues stage at mid-afternoon with original and covers of classic blues followed by Marina Crouse with the Ben Rice Band on the South stage. Both bands were on the “Little Village” record label and like all the artists playing at the festival had their CDs for sale at the Music Millennium booth where they would sign autographs. The Suffers were a 10-piece soul band from Houston Texas that had a Motown sound tinged with gospel fronted by Kam Franklin and a killer horn section.
One of the evening highlights was Robert Randolph and the Family Band which played on the South Stage at 7:00 PM. Randolph plays sacred steel guitar which is a style that he learned in his church. He rocked the house with some phenomenally exuberant playing covering original compositions and covers like Skip James’ “I’m So Glad which was popularized by “Cream” in the 1960s.
“Galactic” followed featuring Anjelika ‘Jelly” Joseph on vocals as they tore up the Blues stage.
The final act of the night was Grace Potter who took the stage at 9:00 PM like a shock wave from a 175mm Howitzer. After she grabbed the microphone stand and sang into it she remarked that the microphone stand needed some Viagra and then expressed concern that she may get in trouble for talking dirty. She squirmed and writhed on the piano bench as she sang “Desire” with a suggestive seductive voice and the band had a female drummer named Jordan West who was solid. She performed “Paris (Ooh La La) and the rest of her set with a seductive gusto that left the audience completely spent by the end of the night.
Day 2 began with singer/songwriter Johnny Wheels and the “Swamp Donkeys” getting everyone’s adrenaline up on the Blues Stage. Local blues band “Sugar Roots” led by multi-instrumentalist Chad Rupp followed on the South Stage. There was Zydeco music and dance lessons back at the Front Porch stage. Local blues Chanteuse Duffy Bishop belted out a set on the Blues stage while John Bunzow and his band played its country blues rock on the South stage. Son Little graced the Blues stage with his mellow roots R&B compositions and former “American Idol” contestant Zach Person rocked the South stage with his screaming guitar.
The closing act on Saturday was the “Wood Brothers” with Chris and Oliver Wood performing selections from their eight studio albums. Chris was part of the legendary jazz group Medeski, Martin, and Wood while Oliver played with Tinsley Ellis as well as fronting his own band “King Johnson.” The trio was completed by multi-instrumentalist Jano Rix who sat on the drum stool as they performed their set of “Grammy” nominated Americana folk and blues rock to close out the day.
Sunday was day 3 and it was another beautiful day as local blues rock guitar hero Ty Curtis took the Blues stage by storm with Hank Shreve on harmonica. Immediately afterward another local Portland band took the South stage when “Hillstomp” comprised of Henry Hill Kammerer on stringed instruments and vocals and drummer John Johnson become a conduit for early Mississippi blues. Next, LaRhonda & the Steel Family Band were on the Blues Stage playing “Wade in the Water.” On the far end of the “Front Porch” stage Louisiana native “Mason Trail & Zydeco Rhythm” performed with a sound similar to “Los Lobos.”
“Oregon Music Hall of Fame” inductee Big Monti Amundson was performing as a power trio and repeatedly reached back in his repertoire to his days in the “Bluebinos” when they played at “Key Largo.” Adia Victoria was from South Carolina and reached back to the legacy of artists like Ma Rainey and Memphis Minnie and others contained in the early recordings of Alan Lomax. The Bobby Torres Ensemble with Claudia Lennear hit the South stage singing the Santana/Rob Thomas hit “Smooth” while Mary Flower played acoustic blues on the “Crossroads” stage.
Ron Artis II & the Truth played an incendiary set of gospel rock with Ardis shredding his guitar sonically along with a muscular rhythm section and a great horn section.
International blues star Curtis Salgado took the South stage with his band and led it through one of the most entertaining sets of the day. Curtis is a showman but that’s why John Belushi borrowed his act to create the “Blues Brothers.” After playing guitar in the Bobby Torres Ensemble, Lloyd Jones fronted his own band on the blues stage featuring his songwriting and amazing guitar work.
“Grammy Award” winning blues legend Taj Mahal and the “Phantom Blues Band” on the South stage was the final act of the night. Taj sat center stage playing and singing with an exuberance that transcended the fact that he’s an octogenarian. From “Hey Gyp,” Donovan’s reworked Memphis Minnie classic to the classic “Diving Duck” version of “Rollin’ and Tumblin” Taj didn’t disappoint.
Monday, July 4 was the final day of the festival as “Jersey Soul” played on the Blues stage followed by the Norman Sylvester Review on the South stage kicked the day off. If you missed the chance to see Curtis Salgado the night before he performed on the South stage with the “Phantom Blues Band.” It’s also worth noting that throughout the festival there have been boat cruises on the Portland Spirit with multiple blues acts playing on them as they traverse the Willamette River for a couple of hours.
Portland artists Lisa Mann, Karen Lovely, Ben Rice, and Dave Melyan kicked out the blues on the Blues stage followed by Femi Kuti & the Positive Force, featuring Made’ Kuti performing award-winning “World Music” that originated in Lagos, Nigeria, on the South stage.
The afternoon also had young guitar slingers Toby Lee and Timothy James passionately attacking their axes on the “Crossroads” stage and afterward the Kevin Selfe Big Band performed on the “Front Porch” stage. Judith Hill hit the blues stage with her funk R&B that reflects a woman’s survivalist view of Hollywood in 2022. Two time inductee to the Oregon music hall of fame, Andy Stokes played on the South stage followed by Cedric Burnside, the grandson of R.L. Burnside on the Blues stage. The final act of the night before fireworks culminated everything was “Lettuce” a jazz funk band that began on the East Coast. At 10:00 PM LaRhonda Steele and Andy Stokes sang the “National Anthem” as Oregon’s largest July 4 fireworks display took place to end the festival.
