Sean Costello (1979-2008)

Several years ago, I spoke by phone with a young blues guitarist who seemed to be as polite as he was talented. We spoke about his starting to perform at an early age and some of his influences, including the late Mike Bloomfield (one of the most well-regarded American guitarists of the '60s) and multi-instrumentalist Shuggie Otis, whose stellar material from three decades ago finally is being recognized.

The guitarist I interviewed, Sean Costello, would have been 29 on Wednesday. But the day before, he was found dead in an Atlanta motel room.

I can say this his album "Moanin' for Molasses" (2001) contains some fantastic playing and singing, and that his other recordings have drawn a good amount of praise in blues circles. As far as I know, they're looking into the circumstances of his death, but to tell the truth, I'd prefer not to know right now. I'd prefer to remember him for the pleasant conversation we had back in 2002.

Here's the story I wrote for the Observer-Reporter back then:

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Guitarist Costello stays true to blues tradition

Rock 'n' roll has always owed a great debt to the blues.

Just ask the big boys.

"I would read about Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, people along those lines, and they always listed blues musicians as their influence," Sean Costello recalled.

His curiosity piqued, the aspiring preteen guitarist found a whole musical world beyond standard FM radio fare, discovering the likes of Buddy Guy, B.B. King and Howlin' Wolf, the legendary bluesman who's featured on the first album Costello ever purchased.

"With Howlin' Wolf, when you're 10 years old, a name like that will catch your attention," he said.

Likewise, the playing of the Wolf's longtime lead guitarist, Hubert Sumlin, caught the attention of Costello and gave him a role model as he started honing his prodigious talents.

Now 22, Costello has nurtured his first musical love to develop a style that has drawn rave reviews from blues-oriented publications for its adherence to tradition. As he tours in support of his third album, "Moanin' for Molasses," Costello continues to dig deep into the historical aspect of the genre.

"I just love the music and always have wanted to know everything about it. That's been my life," he said this week while en route to perform in Louisville, Ky. "It's not just the more popular names. I want to find the guys who speak to me as an individual."

For example, the new album's title track, a swinging instrumental featuring the guitarist's fluent picking, is a composition by another former Howlin' Wolf guitarist, Jody Williams – hardly a household name, even in blues circles, although Williams recently returned to performing after decades of retirement.

The closing track, "Good Advice," is a tune by the late J.B. Lenoir, another artist revered by blues enthusiasts but escaping mainstream attention.

And another song, "You're Killing My Love," was co-written by legendary axman Mike Bloomfield, whose scorching leads for the Butterfield Blues Band in the '60s paved the way for white players to gain respect on the blues circuit.

But Costello is not all about cover versions. "Moanin' for Molasses" also features four Costello originals, each one displaying a strong feel for the roots of his material while showcasing his own songwriting voice.

The album's tight sound is a result of Costello's working with members of his backing band for several years now. Drummer Terrence Prather, for instance, has worked with the guitarist since he was a young teen-age prodigy fresh off winning the Blues Talent Contest sponsored by the Beale Street Blues Society.

"We can really work well together," Costello said about the band "There's a lot of common vocabulary between us now."

The album's sound is very similar to Costello's live performances, as his band is intact with one notable exception: longtime collaborator Paul Linden, whose harp figures prominently on "Moanin' for Molasses," is taking time off to work on his Ph.D.

When the band comes to Pittsburgh, it will mark a return trip for Costello, who's played here both as a solo artist and as guitarist for blues chanteuse Susan Tedeschi. He said he's gotten warm receptions in Western Pennsylvania.

"It seems to be a good area
for the blues, at least in my
experiences."

As he continues to hone his songwriting skills, Costello also keeps on the lookout for recordings by artists who sound "cool" to his ears.

Some of his recent finds include the late Eddie Hinton, a former Muscle Shoals session player who recorded some distinctive and highly acclaimed Southern soul, and Shuggie Otis, whose groundbreaking mid-'70s album "Inspiration Information" is finally getting the attention it deserves today.

"You just stumble across people like that all the time."

Jason Kendall: 'Cooper Doesn't Live Here Anymore'

What a cool title!

I saw that Fayette County musician Jason Kendall named his debut release "Cooper Doesn't Live Here Anymore," which, of course, is reminiscent of Martin Scorsese's film "Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore."

For old-timers like me, the names Alice and Cooper also go quite well together.

It turns out that Jason's title refers to the home of the grandparents of Vincent Furnier, who has been known to generations as Alice Cooper. The old house in Flatwoods, also in Fayette County, now is a tavern, Casa Del Santo.

Now, there's your answer to a trivia question.

The music on Jason's disc, though, bears no resemblance to that of the venerable shock-rocker. Most of it is based on the adept picking of his acoustic guitar, with some complementary instrumentation that he adds himself.

The relatively sparse arrangements are appropriate to the subject matter. "Cooper Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is presented as a tribute to small-town America, the feistiness of the people in Jason’s neck of the woods in the face of superhighways and strip malls. As Jason says in the press release accompanying his CD:

Southwestern Pennsylvania has such a unique history of prosperity and poverty, hard winters and a blue-collar pride. It's an area that, despite its beauty, over the past several years has been limited in opportunities. I do think that a renaissance is on the horizon, one that is based on our collective creative spirit and rooted in the rich aesthetic of industry, perseverance and heart. It is my hope that my songs, in some small way, capture and reflect those fine qualities.

The songs might be thematically linked in the stated manner, but Jason mixes them up stylistically enought to keep everything fresh as the album progresses.

Hear selections from "Cooper Doesn't Live Here Anymore"

The opener, "Pennsylvania Window," features a deceptively easygoing finger-picked riff that takes the listener through a journal entry about a dream: "the ghost of hope, she turned away and flew off from the sill/I woke up petrified." That's certainly an apt description of what Jason's home region has faced, especially when this line in the chorus is considered: "Without an eye toward springtime here, the winters last so long, so long."

Amen, brother.

"Last Dollar Spent" also features a jaunty tune with ominous lyrics: "Where's the next dollar when the last one's gone?/How do you make it right when all your love's gone wrong?" Add references to the Book of John, Charlie Daniels and J.D. Salinger, and you have one cleverly constructed song.

The pace changes for "I Don't Feel Like Singing," which features Jason accompanying himself on piano. The sparse arrangement suits the subject matter; the listener, however, can picture someone Phil Spectorizing this song by adding strings and a chorus. It doesn't need it.

The catchiest and most upbeat track is "Think of You," a love song augmented by handclaps and Jason's multitrack harmonies. He keeps the subject matter grounded, though, with lines like "I drank too much again but me head won't ache/I woke up much too early 'cause I couldn't wait."

Jason sticks mostly to major scales until the album's closer, "Saturday We Lock the Door," another finger-picked gem that presents several brief, well-worded insights to the deep feelings shared between a couple: "Today you laughed at my first graying hair/On the front porch watching spring grow through the rain."

No, Cooper doesn't live here anymore. We love ya, Alice, but Jason Kendall seems to be taking a more meaningful musical direction.

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A release show for "Cooper Doesn't Live Here Anymore" is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 2 at Club Cafe, Pittsburgh's South Side. Accompanying Jason are Jim Graff, guitar; Jon Kavendish, bass; Jim Platania, drums; and Bob Banerjee, fiddle. Opening is London native Joel Lindsey.

A night for Tony

Washington, Pa., musician Tony Janflone Jr. has been playing professionally since he was a teenager, and he's played countless benefit shows over the past three decades.

Last fall, Tony and his wife were involved in an accident, and the medical costs continue to rise as they recover.


Knowing all that Tony has done on behalf of others, fellow musician Curtis Swift, the sax player in Tony's band, organized a benefit to help defray the costs. Signing on were such well-known Pittsburgh-area musicians as Donnie Iris, Billy Price, B.E. Taylor, Robert James of the Clarks and Rick Witkowski, whom you might remember from his work with the '70s band Crack the Sky. And of course, Tony Janflone Sr., the dean of Western Pennsylvania guitarists.

I had the pleasure of filming the proceedings at the Rhythm House in South Fayette Township on Thursday, March 13. Owner Darryl Price and others working at the venue were very friendly and helpful, suggesting that my best vantage point would be from atop a poker machine near the soundboard! I patched one audio channel from the soundboard, used an ambient mike for the other, and came up with a pretty good mix for the parts of the show I've played back so far.

Tony Jr. told me beforehand he wouldn't be playing at the benefit, but the guys called him up to the stage, where he played a smoking "Green Onions."

Since it was Tony's night, I started editing three-plus hours worth of video there. Unfortunately, he was behind a speaker from my vantage point for the first three or so minutes, so I made do with a series of stills until he finally stepped to center stage.

Click here to watch the result.

Putting on a clinic

Serious students of music would've been wise to attend the Washington Jazz Society's Sunday Jazz Buffet a couple of days ago.

I was limited by time constraints to the first couple of sets of performers: Dan Baker (guitar) with Josh Dunlevy (saxophone), followed by Dan playing with fellow guitarist Tony Janflone Sr.


All three are teachers, and they could have put on a clinic with their performances on Sunday. I certainly was enthusiastic about capturing them on video, particularly the guitarists. I want to take a closer look at their finger work for a tip or two to possibly help my own playing ... although I'll never have that kind of agility!

As for the video footage, I'll put in my usual two cents about how it could have been better. The concert was in the ballroom of The George Washington, a grand old hotel in Washington, PA, and a great venue for this type of event. The performers played in front of a large window, and it was sunny that day, meaning a lot of light in the background and the camera often capturing shadows of the musicians. Fortunately, I was stationed on a balcony overlooking the proceedings, and the angle allowed a sufficient amount of light for the recording, particularly during zoomed-in close-ups.

For the audio, I used one microphone on the balcony and the other one down on the floor, figuring that might make for good separation in the recording. It did, but the mikes also picked up all the chatting that was going on during the performances. The resulting product had kind of a "jazz club" vibe to it, but I wish I would have had the microphones closer to the guitar amplifiers. (Josh's horn playing generally came through loud and clear.)

Here are videos of songs performed by Josh and Dan:

"Red's Blues"

"Ornithology"

And here are Tony and Dan performing a couple of Tony's compositions:

"I Heard Wes Do It"

"The Tent"

PSB2

Amwell Township resident Patti Spadaro played her second show with a four-piece band the weekend before last at Scooby's in South Fayette Township. I wanted to come up with some better audio quality than at the Patti Spadaro Band's debut in January, when a patch from the soundboard didn't quite do the trick. So this time, I used a pair of ambient microphones, an approach that I'm finding to work fairly well as I record more musicians.


The audio, indeed, turned out much better. Unfortunately, I did nothing with the camera to compensate for the lack of bright lighting at the Scooby's gig, so I brightened the footage during the editing process. As a result, the finished product is kind of grainy.

Oh, well. You still can see clearly how well Patti plays guitar, and that's what counts.

Here is Patti's original composition "Give a Little Back," the opening track of her CD "Short Stay."

And check out the band on another of her originals, "Let's Roll".

Small world

If you can read this without that horrible Disney song getting stuck in your head: It's a small world, after all.

I'd met a young guitarist named Kyle Ingram a few years ago, when he and a drummer performed a morning set during the Rock Off at Peters Township Community Day. Kyle wowed the crowd that had gathered thus far by ripping up a bunch of "oldies," many of them by way of Led Zeppelin.

Kyle turned out to be the nephew of a friend of a friend, and I met up with him again at a party on a farm in Avella a few months later. And his guitar playing stole the show again.

Then, not so long ago, I ran into Kyle when he was finished with practice at the Guitar Gallery in North Strabane. I told to keep me informed about his band, and he's done so.


Meanwhile, my friend Ray from Chartiers Township was talking about his son, Joe, playing drums in a band that had a couple of really good guitar players. One of them, or course, turned out to be Kyle.

Small world.

The band, Lock N Load, has had just a handful of practices and needs to find a vocalists. But the four musicians have enough talent to perform a series of instrumentals to an enthusiastic audience, as they did last week at Bunnie's in Cecil Township.

Joe Margiotta's drum solo during "Moby Dick" received a particularly warm response, and here's the video.

While we're on Zeppelin covers, here's Kyle's "Heartbreaker" guitar solo.

And here's the whole band doing a couple of Hendrix tunes.

Song for a gray day

Last month, I caught a performance by a guitarist who really caught my attention: Reza "Ron" Ziai, who plays a variety of instruments and gets some interesting sounds out of them.

Today, I received a note that he's posted a new song on his MySpace page, and it really fits the mood of a day when the cloud cover is here to stay and the rain looks to keep on falling.

Visit Ron's page to hear "Become"

First time around

The Patti Spadaro Band made its debut Friday at P.D.'s pub in Squirrel Hill, a pretty good venue with an area off to the side where an audience can gather to enjoy a performance a little bit out of the way of the rest of the patrons.

Patti previously had a band when she was in Los Angeles, simply called Spadaro, which released an album, "Short Stay," featuring her original compositions.

One song that isn't on the album is one I particularly enjoy her play. In fact, we filmed her playing "Tonight" last summer on lower-grade equipment, and I was hoping to capture a better version with her new band.



The debut started with the Grateful Dead's "Franklin's Tower," during which I was trying to get a decent audio feed using one microphone pointed at the stage and a patch from the soundboard. The soundboard connection wasn't working, though, so I had to make some adjustments. By that time, the band was firing up "Tonight."

The raw tape revealed some "clicks" and minor distortion on one of the channels, but I was able to repair that for the most part. For some reason, the tape cut off in the middle of Patti's guitar solo, but the finished product is six-and-a-half minutes of a cooking jam.

Click here to check it out.