Music

REVIEW/by Daniel Gewertz

Battle of the Blues Bands at Harpers

Ferry, Allston, Thursday.

The Racky Thomas Band easily won the 11th annual Battle of the Blues Bands at Harpers Ferry Thursday night with a jubilant, uptown jump approach that makes it a perfect blues-inspired band for the new lounge era.

   Harpers Ferry has been host to these battle, for more than a decade and the big saloon remains an appropriate home for the genre: funky enough for the blues, but far more comfortable than a dive.

   The genre, though, is changing. Only one band of the five finalists,

   Julie & Absolute Blue, made music that would have pleased a Chicago blues purist. The other band winnowed from an original total of 16, focused on smooth, party-friendly blues offshoots that were inspired more by Louie Jordan and Junior Walker than Muddy Waters and Little Walter.

   There is an up side to this trend: There were no suburban youths badly imitating the suffering of old black blue a common bugaboo of the genre's revival. Yet an absence of classic blues at a showcase like this isn't welcome news, either.

    The night was a 4-1/2 hour marathon of competent musicianship and good vibes.  Holly Harris of WBOS hosted in warm, smart style for the 10th straight year.

   Racky Thomas is, slight of build, fair-haired pony tailed and he often has a wise-acre expression has a wise-acre expression on his youthful face.  Close your eyes though, and you'd think you were listening to an older, larger blues veteran.  His insouciant style doesn't have much depth, but he handles the snappy jump-blues with finesse.

    The band is blessed with a with a bounding boogie-woogie piano, and a slick guitarist, Nick Adams, who sometimes takes things to a deeper emotional level. This band has the verve and juice to join the retro-lounge scene and go national.

At this point, though, it doesn't stack up to The Movers and Evil Gal, two past Battle winners that

went on to cop national awards in Memphis.

   The Paramounts played in a cool,

old-pro loungey style, as if the blues were filtered through the crushed ice of a daiquiri. 

   Sax Attack, fueled by two saxes, was a proficient, party-hearty band, that joined surfer muscle with old r & b.  If he were alive, John Belushi would be comfortable in Sax Attack.

   K.D. Bell sang a snazzy, '60s  r & b showmanship, a fine scream and an instinct for testifying undercut only by slickness .   The night's most promising act was Julie & Absolute Blue, with the fluid guitar of Tomo Fujita.  

 After years of session work, Julie is a powerful, unpretentious singer with a lot of heart, though not yet a comman- ding stage presence.  Yet she has the, pipes and the soul to go far.