Canby Herald Online

Chill out with some hot tunes at the Big Weekend

Blues guitarist Jim Nasi will perform with others Saturday

• By: John Baker  
• Published: 8/28/2009 10:35:58 AM

Submitted photo
Guitarist Jim Mesi, along with Al Zion on saxophone and Steve Bradley also on guitar, will perform Saturday at Canby's Big Weekend.

Entertainment has been a burgeoning part of the Big Weekend festivities, but this year organizers are kicking the amp up to 11.

Renowned guitarist Jim Mesi will be on hand, along with saxophonist Al Zion and fellow guitarist Steve Bradley, to take the Big Weekend entertainment factor higher.

“We’ve had it (entertainment) the last three years, but wanted to get a little more of the hot rod era type music in there,” said Gary Wright, one of the organizers. “To do that right, you’ve got to have a sax player, so it will allow us to do some ‘Eddie and the Cruisers’ kind of music, which we’ve never done before.

“We’re after more of that era, more my generation, which is the hot rod or classic car era. Those people are from their 40s to 70s. We’re excited about it.”
 
If you ask any blues player in Portland or Seattle which guitarist they would most like to have in their band, the name “Jim Mesi” will inevitably appear near the top of the list.

Mesi, a Portland native, got his start in Brown Sugar, one of the two leaders of Portland’s thriving 1970s blues scene (the other was Sleazy Pieces). Brown Sugar was the springboard for the careers of vocalist and blues harp maestro Paul DeLay, guitarist/vocalist Lloyd Jones (the drummer then), and Mesi. When the group broke up in the 1980s, DeLay and Mesi continued as the Paul DeLay Band. Throughout the decade, the band played to audiences of 300 to 500 people virtually every weekend.

A substantial addition to the Mesi reputation came during this period, when the Paul DeLay Band was opening a show for blues guitar legend B.B. King. Toward the end of their set, Mesi looked out at the audience and noticed an especially familiar face up front. It was B.B. King himself, smiling, holding his hands as if praying, and bowing toward Mesi.

Word quickly spread around the Northwest that the DeLay Band had a guitar player personally blessed by the great B.B. King. In 1988, Mesi broke away from the group and started his own project, The Jim Mesi Band.

In 1994, The Mesi Band, featuring singer Lily Wilde and guitarist Steve Bradley, released the live performance CD "Hot Night at the Candlelight" to rave reviews.

In 1996, Mesi named his first solo CD "Blues for Christopher," in honor of his son. The album showcases Mesi's versatility and mastery of the classic styles of American electric music. From a Link Wray reverb twang to spicy pedal-steel guitar and blues solos that roar and wail, Mesi plays with an inventiveness and tone that few in the region can match. Mesi's second CD, "Shut Up and Play," is composed entirely of instrumentals.

In January 2004, Jim Mesi starred in the documentary film "The Losers Club" along with Steve Bradley. Filmed and directed by Pierre Oullette, the movie premiered at the Mission Theatre in Portland to a packed house for both showings. The movie has since been shown several times on PBS and still plays from time to time in other Portland theaters. The movie highlights the careers of both Mesi and Bradley and is a must-see for every musician out there playing night after night in the professional circuit.

The Jim Mesi Band works more than 300 dates a year, playing clubs, concerts and festivals all over the West Coast and beyond, including summer tours of Europe.

Mesi and friends will be playing at the Big Weekend 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

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