In the News
Guitarist Tony D-elighted with new live blues CD
Ottawa musician bringing his fine act to the Sidetrack
By Peter North (Edmonton Journal)
Printed October 7, 1999
Figuring out how to avoid burnout has been a choice topic amongst Canadian blues perfomers lately and Ottawa guitarist and bandleader Tony D is a prime example of an artist who wants to be in this business for the long haul.
A decade ago D, as in Diteodoro, was slipping into our city as least a couple of times a year, usually to play the now-defunct club Andante. He would make the endless drives between Canadian centres in all kinds of weather and conditions, building a reputation as one of this country's finest young blues players. All of a sudden, those regular appearances out West came to a halt as Tony D reevaluated his working situation. The money was not as good as it had been in the late eighties and the treadmill effect was beginning to take over.
Wisely, he began to look at other markets, including Europe, while continuing to stoke the fires in Ontario, Quebec and on the East Coast and today he finds himself with a bona fide career instead of just a string of jobs.
In town to play the Sidetrack Cafe tonight, D is promoting a fine new disc, his first in three years. It's a caught-in-the-act set entitled Live Like Hell that was recorded in February of this year in a Montreal blues club called Cafe Campus.
The album will officially be released across the nation on Oct. 25 by Justin Time Records. "I think it was inevitable we would make a live disc because we're a band that thrives in live settings," D began over coffee by the U of A Wednesday morning just after he had appeared on the A Channel's Big Breakfast show.
"After working on a live recording with a harmonica player from New Orleans named Andy J. Forest, I thought it was time we tried it. My manager suggested we approach Danny Greenspoon as producer. That made sense because he's a great guitar player himself and he had produced numerous live music radio shows for CBC," continued the musician who was born in Italy and came to Canada with his family at the age of six.
"Once the show was set up, it was a one-night-only, one-shot-affair. Despite the fact that just about everyone who set foot on stage that night was going through some serious personal trials, D and his band tore it up, as is documented on the 10-tune release. "I knew right from the first song that we were happening and I was just hoping that they were getting it all and they were," stated the guitarist whose red-hot performance was surrounded by equally impressive musical statements.
Former Bruce Cockburn and k.d. lang drummer Miche Pouliot, organist Cam Scott, bassist Sean Burke and saxman Zeek Gross all shine on Live Like Hell.
The quintet blazed through a selection of orginals and covers from Angela Streheli, Lightnin' Hopkins and Albert Collins. The icing on the cake was that they were joined by D's longtime guitar-slinging pal Sue Foley for three numbers including a passionate reading of Streheli's A Lost Cause that clocks in at just over nine minutes. "We're doing a lot of the material on the tour but this is an organ trio format with myself, Cam and Miche. We also throw in some jazzier Kenny Burrell influenced pieces if the crowd will go that way with us."
D also has the majority of an acoustic blues disc in the can and he plans on doing more acoustic shows in the future. "I ended up being the host of the acoustic blues stage at the Ottawa Blues Festival and had the good fortune to play with John Hammond, Guy Davis and Chris Smither. "I've had a good time putting together acoustic versions of tunes like Freddie King's Hideaway," added D who has now played various festivals and clubs in Europe seven times this decade.
So the audience and the music have been broadened since his last visit here and you can catch Tony D and his band for three sets at The Sidetrack around 9 p.m. for a mere $ 5.