Our friend and mentor at the Ontonagon Herald graciously provided us with the following account of Al Jacquez’s recent show at the Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts.\u00a0 Thank you to HSR for his kind words about WOAS being involved in bring musical talent of Al’s caliber to the people (and especially the kids!) in Ontonagon.\u00a0 We are hoping top see Al show up on the bill for next summer’s Porcupine Mountain Music Festival!\u00a0 KER<\/p>\n
Al Jaquez<\/span> Revisits Ontonagon Theater<\/span><\/p>\n Harold S. Riter, Reporting<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>On Friday, August 12, <\/span>our local theater hosted one of the most prolific song-writers in contemporary rock-soul music, Mr. Al Jacquez.\u00a0 <\/span>Al Jacquez is a veteran of rock, blues, and folk music.<\/span> Start<\/span>i<\/span>ng out in the rock<\/span> idiom in the 1960\u2019s with a group called SAVAGE GRACE out<\/span> of Detroit, he has moved around for years <\/span>in various roles ranging from ro<\/span>c<\/span>k<\/span>, to folk, to Gospel.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Much has been covered about his storied career by my<\/span> <\/span>colleague,<\/span> <\/span>K<\/span>en Raisanen, who actually managed to get Al and his gang, performing <\/span>a<\/span>s MEASURED CHAOS on the <\/span>Ontonagon stage some years ago<\/span> and also added a bit of cultural education to the local high school by arranging a live music performance for the entire student body. An additional word should b<\/span>e added about that event: that actually <\/span> present<\/span>ing<\/span> for a live music performance by a name band is something our local school children miss out on and the special 2009 performance of MEASURED CHAOS, a rock group, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of our local kids. Let me say, from personal experience<\/span>,<\/span> that promoting musical performances<\/span>, or for that matter, cultura<\/span>l offerings or any kind in our <\/span> <\/span>local school can be a difficult undertaking, and it took no little arm-twisting to bring it about. As well related in Mr. Raisanen\u2019s column, <\/span>From the Vaults, <\/span>the show was well received, not only by the local school kids, but by the band itself that had little experience<\/span> playing before a <\/span>near-capacity<\/span> school assembly<\/span> audience of young people who drank it all in like sponges. An impromptu question and answer session between the band the kids and the musicians, with Al Jacquez <\/span>handling most of the responses was a highlight of the program.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>We were quite anxious to meet Mr. Jacquez in his new solo role presented as ONE VOICE, ONE GUITAR.<\/span> <\/span> We were especially interested to see how this veteran troubadour of blues-rock would bring off a solo act with<\/span>out<\/span> being backed by a regular band.\u00a0 <\/span>Jacquez more than fills the stage with his presence. He knows his business as an entertainer, <\/span>a<\/span>s a musician, and as an artist. <\/span>He came<\/span> on stage in casual attire and wearing a fedora (which he soon discar<\/span>d<\/span>ed)<\/span>. As the music<\/span> <\/span>& drama critique for the nationally known <\/span>Ontonagon Herald, <\/span>we will attempt<\/span> to keep on course in describing his performance. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Jacquez uses acoustic guitars, not the solid body planks, and for a welcome change, he allowed the sound crew of the <\/span>theater to handle the balance of<\/span> his folk-style guitar and his vo<\/span>ice up to them. The result was <\/span> easy listening. Jacquez remarked that is was something<\/span> of <\/span>a unique <\/span>experience to have an audience that could and did actually listen to his performance.\u00a0 Al is a strummer, rather than a picker, and the real value of his performance lies in his carefully modulated voice. Oh, don\u2019t get the idea that he puts one to sleep\u2026he can raise the volume, and even slides easily into the \u201cfalsetto\u201d range, plus adding a bit of humming as he strums<\/span> through<\/span> <\/span>c<\/span>hordal progressions during interludes. His <\/span>real <\/span>instrument is his voice that<\/span> <\/span>he uses to put forth the lyrics, or message<\/span>s <\/span>of his songs. We also heard the use of scat singing, as in \u201cNight Riding.\u201d<\/span> <\/span>For those not fam<\/span>i<\/span>liar<\/span> with the term, <\/span>s<\/span>cat singing is the<\/span> art of jazz<\/span>\/folk<\/span> improvisation<\/span> where the voice is used as an instrument to create mainly wordless phrases<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/span>The artist\u2019s real style <\/span>is what we would call blues<\/span>y<\/span>\u2026.now blues, in one sense, is a musical style that flattens the 3<\/span>rd<\/span> and sometimes the 5<\/span>th<\/span> of the scale being used. It can also describe a music genre or subject matter. Most of Jacquez\u2019s own song compositions deal with things that he sees or experiences that bring out a narrative of some sort, such as \u201cThe Old House,\u201d a song about an older house that needs a family to come <\/span>a<\/span>live as a home.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\u201cOne Night in America\u201d is a song about the troubled times, past and present, <\/span>in <\/span>our country. <\/span>\u201cGypsy Woman\u201d was quite upbeat, unlike the slower \u201cChurch Bells.\u201d \u201cTrain is Comin\u2019 Closer\u201d is something of a life-lesson\u2026.and \u201cI\u2019m Gonna Roll Up in a Ball and Die\u2026My My! Was a bit fatalistic, but, again, related to life.\u00a0 <\/span>To blues enthusiasts, Jacquez is one of the best in the country performing today. His vocal inflections grab the listener\u2019s soul, deeply. His voice is that of a younger man, but the stories his lyrics relate tell of some very mature experiences and life lessons <\/span>learned over time.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t Pass By the Jerusalem Road\u201d came to him as he was driving by a road sign, and the tune has a surprising meter change in the middle.\u00a0 <\/span>Jacquez, i<\/span>n addition to his own creations, presented \u201cI Touched t<\/span>he Land\u201d by Chris Stapleton, and<\/span> John Fogerty\u2019s \u201cWho Wil<\/span>l<\/span> S<\/span>top<\/span> the Rain?\u201d and a few others. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Having a performer of Al\u2019s caliber on the local stage is a rare treat as well as a privilege. He has been here before, and we fully expect that he will be back again in some role. It is easy to tell when a performer actually<\/span> lik<\/span>es the area I which they<\/span> <\/span>are perform<\/span>i<\/span>ng, an<\/span>d Mr. Jacquez expressed to this <\/span> <\/span>r<\/span>eporter that he had plans to <\/span>enjoy our local area and spend a bit of time here before moving on. Thanks, Al Jacquez, for gracing our stage\u2026don\u2019t be a stranger.<\/span><\/p>\n (Al sent a note after this went to press to clarify that the following songs were not written by him:<\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Al Jacquez in a different role than his recent ONE VOICE, ONE GUITAR performance.\u00a0 Here he is singing MYSTERY TRAIN with the Dick Wagner Band<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our friend and mentor at the Ontonagon Herald graciously provided us with the following account of Al Jacquez’s recent show at the Ontonagon Theater of Performing Arts.\u00a0 Thank you to HSR for his kind words about WOAS being involved in bring musical talent of Al’s caliber to the people (and especially the kids!) in Ontonagon.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,11,8,7,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-local-music-news","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2600"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2630,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2600\/revisions\/2630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}