Review: Blues artists shine on Day 2 of Monterey Jazz Festival

It was a big day for the blues at the Monterey Jazz Festival on Saturday Mr Sipp the Missippi blues belter who won the The B B King Entertainer of the Year trophy at the Blues Muisc Awards opened up the festival s big Jimmy Lyons Stage on Day of the this three-day festival at the Monterey County Fairgrounds and had fans thoroughly grooving along to his guitar-drenched tunes Can we turn this place into a juke joint real quick Sipp solicited the crowd In a juke joint they don t sit down Get up Everybody get on up He didn t have issue that command a third time as people rose to their feet and acted as if they weren t in Monterey but rather at Po Monkey s or particular other cool juke joint in the Mississippi Delta Related Articles Review Monterey Jazz Festival gets off to a fine start on Day Review Classic s band delivers one of the season s best concerts Coachella Fans weigh in on the festival selling out for the first time in years Dandy Warhols Kula Shaker association up for cool show in San Francisco Monterey Jazz Fest shows you should not miss Although Sipp had pushed the bar sky high San Jose s own J C Smith Band managed to clear it with its own rough-and-rowdy hourlong set a bit later in the day on the Tim Jackson Garden Stage Smith who is privileged with a muscular crooning voice and is an absolute beast on the guitar brought a real party atmosphere to the often-quite-sedate Garden Stage area It started with the beach balls something you re presumably more likely to see at a Los Angeles Dodgers match than a jazz festival which were tossed out into the crowd during appropriately enough the Albert King favorite Let s Have a Natural Ball Smith is a charismatic frontman who just eats up the bright lights and big moments Yet he s also a generous one providing plenty of space for his talented bandmembers drummer Tim Richard bassist Stevie Q On Bass saxophonist Noel Catura and pianist Scott Porter to shine Smith closed his winning set with a screaming version of Chuck Berry s Johnny B Goode which brought the guitarist bassist and saxophonist down from the stage and out into the crowd for selected prime boogie-woogie time with the fans I had a great time Smith at the conclusion of the set This is the bulk fun I ve had with my clothes on in years It was another triumph for the San Jose bluesman who has been on quite a roll lately and notably performed on stage with Willie Nelson and Sheryl Crow earlier this month San Jose's J C Smith Band rocks the crowd at Monterey Jazz Festival on Sept Jim Harrington Bay Area News Group Dianne Reeves also delivered the goods on Saturday playing a excellent cover of Fleetwood Mac s Dreams and in general illustrating all the reasons why she s a five-time Grammy winner Like pretty much all the other artists in attendance Reeves sounded thrilled to on the stage at this wonderful music festival When I leave here and I go into the next place it s all going to be good she stated the crowd I feel the healing in this place The festival was expected to continue on Sunday with Rene Marie Christian Sands Pete Escovedo and multiple other artists For more information visit montereyjazz com