Went to a great gig the other night at a super venue in St. Petersburg Florida. The Palladium offers a full range of musical styles and types of acts including blues, jazz, pop and opera. They have full-sized large room called the Hough Concert Hall that seats 850. They also have a smaller venue called The Stavros Great Room (marketed as the Side Door Cabaret) that seats about 150.
On this night the St. Pete Blues Allstars played the Side Door Cabaret to a packed house. I wish I had gotten there earlier but at 30 minutes before show time all the best seats were taken. Still the room is small enough to make it an intimate setting no matter where you sit.
Now the St. Pete Blues Allstars are just that. They are made up of some of the best, long-standing blues players in the area. The group includes…
- Liz Pennock on acoustic piano
- Doctor Blues on guitar
- Jon Puhl on guitar
- Kim Harpo on harp
- Mike Delaney on sax and lap steel guitar
- Don Cox on upright bass
- and Jungle Denny McCarthy on drums (Warren Honeyhead Smith sat in on this night)
These guys all have their own groups or play with other bands, and this combination only plays together a couple of times a year. Too bad… they sound really great together.
Their style is a cross between West Coast Blues and Swing with a touch of Chicago Blues in there too. With that instrumentation there really is quite a bit they can do. Everything from Shake Rattle and Roll in a traditional jump style to Howlin Wolf’s back ally boogies.
But I’ll let you decide for yourself. Here’s some videos from the show.
“Big Long Sliding Thing” sung by Liz Pennock
“Louisiana” sung by Jon Puhl
“Blues in the Dark” sung by Kim Harpo
“St. Pete Boogie” sung by Doctor Blues
“Play With Your Poodle” sung by Mike Delaney
To get in touch with the band you can contact Liz or Doc here.
