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During and after World War II, the factories in the north of America needed labour and many southern blacks, tired of ploughing fields, headed to places like Detroit and Chicago. They took with them their labour power and more importantly, their music.
Theirs was a music steeped in the Delta, of field hollers and chants played mainly on acoustic guitars, harmonicas and fiddle. On the streets and in the clubs of the cities these acoustic instruments weren’t loud enough and had to be amplified and a rhythm section was added, giving birth to urban rhythm and blues.
It wasn’t until the early ‘60s that this prototype rock and roll made its impact on modern rock and roll as we know it. When young, white English musicians started copying these strange sounds they heard on records imported from the US, the rest was history.
The blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll. While the music was created from experiences far removed from her own, it still had a special meaning. It speaks through its moving vocals insistent back beats. It lets you know that no matter how tough life can be there is still great joy to be had. It’s basically the roots of rock and roll.
Muma Jane Chicago Blues Band cover a wide selection of rhythm and blues material from the deep Chicago-Delta sound, to West Coast swing, Boogie, New Orleans gumbo and the Chicago Big Band sounds of the early 70's. Rather than trying to play the music note for note, we prefer to do an interpretation while still relating the essential grooves and feel that makes the music what it is.
Muma Jane Chicago Blues Band find they can cover a lot of ground and pump out a big sound great for dancing too. After all, that’s what the music was designed for, created in the juke joints and road houses and matured in the urban club-land for people to let their hair down after a hard days work.
Muma Jane Chicago Blues Band members are:
(From
left to right)
Vocals ~ Jane Stewart-Kemble
Bass ~ Craig Thomlinson
Lead Guitar & Vocals ~ Stewart Talve
(Front)
Rhythm Guitar ~ Jim Wright
Drums ~ Mick Huxley
Sax ~ Mark Bunyan
Stepping up into the Blues Arena, we recently were invited to play at the Bimbadgen Reds Whites & Blues Festival April 03. We played along side with Tommy Emmanuel, Chain, Bondi Cigars ; Continental Blues Party.
As a blues singer Jane is certainly up there with the best of them as far as reputation is concerned. The reputation of her Chicago Blues Band is strong, evidenced by the bands busy schedule.
But it’s not only an appreciation of the sound of the music that makes Muma Jane stand out, its also the fact that every band member knows the history of the music and why it’s so special.
Band material ranges from the standards of Muddy Waters to the swing tones of the young Jonny Lang. They are regularly working venues in Newcastle, the Central Coast and Hunter Valley areas of NSW.
Muma Jane Chicago Blues Band deliver a unique, uplifting and positive sound and have never failed to get a venue hopping. They are available for conferences, parties, pubs, clubs, Blues and Jazz Festivals and all private functions.
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Updated 10 November 2007