init
Michael Becker
RECORD REVIEW

NTERVIEWS WITH leg-

endary musicians can be a

challenge. A coddled ego
is a terrible thing to talk
around.

But after a scant few seconds
on the phone with piano-playing
blues singer Charles Brown at his
home in Berkeley, California, it's
immediately apparent that the
70-year-old is a genuinely good
man with a great story.

_ Bonnie Raitt has called him

. “the greatest living piano player.”
A breeze through his latest

release, Just A Lucky So And So

Serving World Famous Fish & Chips

in HORSESHGE BAY since 1946

* Expires Mar, 31/94
* Mon.-Thurs, only
2 p.m. to closing
® Horseshoe Bay
location only
¢ Eat-in only

Buy the first entree, and receive a second
entree of equal or lesser value, with this ad

5, FREE!

6408 Bay Street
West Vancouver

921-7755

THE PLEASURE Of DINING
IS AWAITING YOU AT

CHARLES BROWN, W.C. Handy award-winner, Rhythm and
Blues Foundation fifetime achievement award recipient and
writer of the 1946 R&B hit Driftin’ Blues, has had his work cov-

on Rounder Records, confirms a
*" warm voice and timeless. grace at
‘the keyboard.

He’s immersed ina deep pool
of jazz-biues talent, much of it
.drawn from the wellspri ing of the

- New Orleans scene — Big Chief
- Bo Dollis and Geechie of the
Wild-Magnolias; Chuck Carbo
“and the band; the New Orleans
Strings.

Brown’s own band, which a
» lucky few will hear in Vancouver
‘at the Vancouver East Cultural
“Centre on March, 20, is a delight
in its own right with Clifford
‘Solomon on tenor sax, Danny
Caron on guitar, Ruth Davies on
bass and Gaylord Birch on
drums,

". Brown’himself has influenced —
the likes of Ray Charles.

Brown initially made it in the
business { in L.A. during the 1940s
with Johnny Moore’s trio, the

~ Three Blazers.

“At their height they were giv-
_ing the Nat King Cole Trio a run
.. for the money on the Hollywood

ered by Elvis Presley, Otis Redding and Bruce Springsteen.

nightclub circuit.

Brown was born in Texas City,
Texas. Ask him what drew him
west to California and the story-
teller’s past unfolds like some
richly detailed rnovie screenplay.

His mother died when he was
six months old. His grandmother,
a choir director at a Texas City
Baptist church, wanted him to be
a school teacher.

“She thought that music
would be good on the side for
me and to play for the church
and the school,” said Brown.

At age 11 he connected with a
classical pianist for lessons.

“Janice Felder, she was play-
ing out in Dickinson, Texas. She
was playing jazz and spirituals
with this Rev. Cole who could
sing those spirituals like the
blues.

“She had the people shouting
in the church and when I went
out there to hear her play in the
church, it just fascinated me. |
just wanted to play.”

She taught “the boy with the
good piano fingers” for $5 a les-
son.

He improved quickly.

“My grandmother loved Fats
Waller, My aunt had a big old
juke box: Girls would come
down and dance on the week-
ends. Fats Waller’s music was
really dominant then. She'd get
sheet music from Galveston, like
Lulu’s Back In Town and Honey
Suckle Rose, things that Fats
Waller was noted for playing and
she'd say, ‘I don’t want the peo-
ple from the church to know that

See Brown page 26

You and your friend
will reccive one
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when a second dinner
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value is purchased.

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Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre 987-5922

Maplewood Berm Tree Planting. Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m.

Bring your work gloves, spade, lunch and lend a hand.

Lynn Canyon Family Trek. Sunday, March 20, 1 p.m.
Join us for a leisurely walk on this first day of spring.

Crafty Creations. Monday, March 21, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Have lots of fun at our craft tables.

Eight Legged Friends. Tuesday, March 22, 1 p.m.
B.C. Parks naturalist Al Grass shares his love of spiders.

Wildlife Story Time. Wednesday, March 23, 1p.m.
Alison Campbell will share some favourite wildlife stories.

The Bug Lady. Thursday, March 24, 1 to3 p.m. |
‘Bug Lady’ Rhonda Johnston displays her insect wares.

Tales From the Talking Tree. Friday, March 25,1 p.m
Puppet show performed by Nonesuch Tales & Puppets.

Reptile Round-Up. Saturday, March 26, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Association of Reptile Keepers show their live reptiles.

The Ecology Centre is operated by North Vancouver District Parks.

$29.95

TO ORDER CALL

Ly 986-3421

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