In the News

Tony D: driving a powerful rock sensibility

By Tim Slater (Guitarist Magazine)
Published November 1995

Tony He may be a new face on the European blues scene but Canadian guitarist Tony D has already proved himself one of the most exciting and energetic blues acts seen here in ages. Born Tony Diteodoro, the 33-year-old bluesman's parents emigrated from their native Italy to Ottawa when Tony was six years old and it was a few years later that a delve through his older brother's record collection turned him onto the blues. Tony drives a powerful rock sensibility into both his own material and interpretations of standards such as John Lee Hooker's Daddy was a Jockey and is somewhat bemused by occasional jibes aimed at him by so called "purists" who apparently disapprove of his experimental renditions of their favorite songs.

"Yeah, I did find some purists but I suppose that's okay. In England I did run into a few people who seemed to think that things should be exactly as they are on the record, but that happens in the States a lot too. Blues is a genre that is very, very wide and it should be enjoyed. When you think about it, Stevie Ray Vaughan had a real hard time when he first came out, the purists were going No, but of course everybody else was getting into it, but yes in some parts people do tend to have that outlook."

Tony's mention of Stevie Ray leads him to reflect on the inevitable comparisons that have been made between the two guitarists. Both players front trios, use Fender Stratocasters and call upon an encyclopedic knowledge of blues and rock influences as a basis for their sound.

"I think a lot of people are going through that at the moment, where as soon as you get a three piece band -- BOOM -- they're going to do that! But they don't seem to realize that Hound Dog Taylor was a three piece and Jimi Hendrix was a three piece but I think with Stevie Ray Vaughan, he is still very much the in thing and the fashionable thing for people who don't know the blues. That's alright by me because he opened the doors for a lot of people, all of a sudden he made blues popular again, a lot of clubs opened up and he gave people a chance to hear things from a fresh approach. He was a full package deal: he was flamboyant, he had a rock edge but he was very much respecting the tradition at the same time. If you listen to a song like Tin Pan Alley off his second album, it's got Buddy Guy written all over it. Then you hear a slow blues and you can hear Albert King and Hubert Sumlin, the list goes on an on and on, but yes there is going to be a comparison. I think that some of the things that we're doing are very emotional and Stevie Ray was the same kind of thing; but if people are really listening then they'll realize that we're not really doing any kind of a copy.

"I shouldn't say it's completely unfortunate because I think it's alright if somebody has a reference point and they're paying attention to the kind of stuff we're doing. Last December we were opening for Jimmie Vaughan and people were yelling out for Stevie Ray, and we all know that Jimmie doesn't sound anything like Stevie! Jimmie is a very sparse guitar player but people look for a connection because he was Stevie's brother. I talked to some people in the audience and they had no idea about the Thunderbirds or the fact that Jimmie had been around a lot longer. He must wonder sometimes whether they're coming to see him for him."

Seeing as Tony had opened for Stevie Ray in his younger days, did he manage to nab Vaughan Snr for a natter about old times?

Uh, uh! Tony replies by way of a negative response. Not at all. We were asked not to say anything about it by his manager, they said, No Stevie Ray, don't play any of his songs, don't talk to Jimmie about it. They told us firmly but politely."

Another player viewed with great admiration by Tony D is Jeff Healey, who Tony recently supported on a European tour. By all accounts the tour proved to be a hugely enjoyable experience for both guitarists.

"Actually, Jeff heard me throwing in a Freddie King lick one night and when he went on stage he did it too. When I talked to him about it afterwards he said, Yeah. I'd forgotten about that but you reminded me -- thanks! I think it's great, especially when two people have respect for each other and they just learn more from each other. He's very aware of the roots and where it comes from, he knows his music very well but he does choose a rock approach to it because that's what he likes to do. That said, one of his heroes is Louis Armstrong and Jeff can actually play the trumpet very much like that. He had a jazz band called The Hot Five, which is going without him and they did a lot of that New Orleans and Dixie Land Jazz. Jeff's playing has changed, he's a lot roster than I remembered him from when we used to jam together in Toronto and he was even throwing in a little bit of jazz too.

"He was really kind too, because he had me up to jam with his band in front of 20,000 people at the end of the tour..."