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October 9 2005 Post Article

Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance

With the stars up above in your eyes

A fantabulous night to make romance

'Neath the cover of October skies

-- Van Morrison

By Jim McNally

Salisbury Post

And, unlike the Lord Salisbury Festival's first two rain-ruining ones, Saturday was indeed a marvelous night.

Plenty of toes were tapping at the Seventh Annual Blues & amp; Jazz Festival.

That was the good news.

But perhaps the better news for event organizers, however, is that those same toes were not splashing into a puddle on the down stroke.

"I'm loving it," said Eleanor Qadirah, the founder and driving force behind the Rowan Blues & amp; Society, the group that organizes the event. "All you have to do is believe, and then sit back and be amazed."

That most of the concert -- which included six local and national acts -- was performed free of rain was indeed something of a miracle. The chance of rain for the area for much of the day, in an area that included almost the entire eastern seaboard, was right at 100 percent. Charlotte, and into Cabarrus County was under a flash flood warning.

But none of that mattered when, at about 5:45 p.m., and with the Joe Robinson Quartet providing just the right kind of light and airy jazz, the sun actually came out.

"I told it come out," said Qadirah in a way that made you believe she meant it. "And it listened."

While the sun was taking orders from Qadirah, a growing Rowan County crowd was taking in some excellent jazz and blues.

Robinson, who plays trumpet for his band, teamed with Winston-Salem -- by way of Canada -- flutist Brenda Morie to create a jazz masterpiece with their rendition of Van Morrison "Moondance."

Morie, blessed with a smokey, melodic voice supplied vocals for several songs. But it was her dreamy and timely -- and, dare one say, sexy -- work with the flute that carried the set.

Between Robinson's group wrapping up at about 8 p.m., and the arrival of the headline act, Big Jack Johnson and the Oilers, the crowed was entertained by Mitch Capel (and his alter ego Gran'daddy Junebug), one of four storytellers who performed between musical sets.

Capel dedicated his performance to the memory of several "black storytellers" but most prominently to the recently deceased former Rowan County resident Jackie Torrence.

"She was bad," said Capel. He compared her to sports great Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong, as one of those who dominated their professions.

"That's what Jackie Torrence was for storytelling," Capel said. "And I'm humbled to be able to stand on her shoulders."

Then it was Big Jack Johnson time.

Johnson, who studied under legend B.B. King, showed the crowd -- which had swelled to more than 1,000 by then --what blues electric guitar what all about.

After an opening number, Johnson broke into something he called the "Salisbury Boogie," whose guitar rifts could be called flat out funky.

"No that's not funky," said Qadirah. "That's blues, baby. That even past blues, that's bluesy blues."

And luckily for Qadirah and the hundreds who came out for the festival, that's what the skies were, too.