{"id":551,"date":"2018-08-29T11:01:16","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T18:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/?p=999916569"},"modified":"2018-08-29T11:01:16","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T18:01:16","slug":"legendary-bluesman-james-harman-to-return-to-long-beach-new-blues-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/music\/legendary-bluesman-james-harman-to-return-to-long-beach-new-blues-festival","title":{"rendered":"Legendary bluesman James Harman to return to Long Beach New Blues Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Veteran bluesman James Harman. Photo courtesy of the New Blues Festival.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To veteran bluesman James Harman, Long Beach has always been the \u201coriginal scene of the crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1970, a bright-eyed Harman moved to California and naturally found a home in Long Beach, where blues music was scarce but slowly gaining ground. The Alabama-native singer\/harmonica player made his rounds performing in all the local venues, including the legendary Battle of the Blues Harps at Golden Sails and The Nugget at Cal State Long Beach. As word of his musicianship began to spread, he and his band\u2014the Icehouse Blues Band\u2014quickly became established at esteemed venues, such as The Troubadour in West Hollywood and The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach.<\/p>\n

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James Harman’s 2018 album “Fineprint” is available on all music platforms.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It wasn\u2019t before long that the Icehouse Blues Band\u2014which officially changed its name to the James Harman Band in 1978\u2014began touring internationally in some 30 countries around the world. When the Long Beach Blues Festival kicked off in 1980, Harman became a regular fixture on the lineup, performing every three or four years alongside the likes of The Yardbirds, Peter Green and Koko Taylor.<\/p>\n

“I love the Long Beach audience,\u201d says Harman, now 72 and based in Oceanside. \u201cThey\u2019ve always been very supportive and great to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Long Beach Blues Festival, which was held at CSULB\u2019s athletic field, went on to become among the largest blues festivals on the West Coast before it folded due to economic conditions in 2010. Then, in 2014, longtime Long Beach resident William Grisolia pumped life back into the Long Beach blues scene by launching the inaugural New Blues Festival at El Dorado Park.<\/p>\n

Presented in conjunction with the Long Beach Blues Society, the 5th annual New Blues Festival will take place this Labor Day weekend on Sep. 1 and Sep. 2, with headliners including the James Harman Band, The Lowrider Band, Janiva Magness, Dennis Jones, the Deb Taren Band and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis festival has more than one meaning,\u201d says Grisolia, whose own band New Blues Revolution will perform on the main stage Saturday. \u201cIt\u2019s the new one in Long Beach, and it\u2019s also representative of the genre. We preserve the past, but we also try to promote the future. It\u2019s the evolution of the art form.\u201d<\/p>\n

The “new blues” alludes to a contemporary form of the genre stemming from traditional American blues, such as Delta blues, country blues and Chicago blues. Similar to the British blues boom in the 1960s, the new blues pays respect to its roots while reinterpreting the music for today\u2019s era.<\/p>\n

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