Northwest Pianorama
David Vest, DK Stewart, Leon Blue
Waterfront Blues Festival
Portland, OR.
July 3, 2008


Recorded from KBOO FM. An all volunteer radio station in Portland. FM>HD>FLAC>Dime or at times FM>H2 ZOOM>HD>FLAC>Dime. As always there are some bumps in the road, but nothing that would stop me from down loading these shows. I've tried to fix all the drops and pauses in the music. Enjoy the festival, twofthrs

"Three of the hottest Northwest blues and boogie-woogie pianists" - Seattle Times

"Thirty Fingers of Doom" - Weekly Volcano

Harp blowers, guitar players and singers always seem to get the lion's share of attention at modern blues festivals. Fair enough, but David Vest and D. K. Stewart believe the time has come to roll the piano back out in front of the band, where it usually stood during the golden age of the blues. That's the idea behind the Original Northwest Blues Pianorama: get three top barrelhouse blues and boogie woogie piano players together, and line them up across the stage for an all-out assault on the ivories.

This time out, since their usual partner-in-crime Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne couldn't make it, Stewart and Vest have invited Leon Blue to sit between them in the hot seat. The three piano "professors" will be backed by an all-star rhythm section: Carlton Jackson on drums, Don Campbell on bass, and Peter Dammann on guitar.

About the piano players:

DAVID VEST
Deep South native David Vest played his first gig in 1957, performed with Big Joe Turner in the early '60s, and toured with blues legends Floyd Dixon, Lavelle White, and Jimmy T99 Nelson, who said, "I could go all around the world and never find another piano player like David Vest." He shared lead vocals and frontman duties with the Paul deLay Band from 2002-2006 and won the CBA's Muddy Award for Best Keyboard Player in 2003.

LEON BLUE
That's his real name, by the way. Despite his long career as a top sideman with such acts as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, Lowell Fulson, and Albert Collins, and his guest appearances with the Mannish Boys, Leon Blue is still sometimes described as "the finest blues piano man you've never heard of." A native of Wichita Falls, Leon stands proudly in the line of great Texas piano players, like Floyd Dixon, Charles Brown, Lloyd Glenn and the Grey Ghost.

D.K. STEWART
D.K. is a six-time winner of the Muddy Award for Best Keyboard Player and a member of the Muddy Hall of Fame. His New Orleans, boogie-woogie style piano can be heard on recordings by numerous Northwest blues giants, such as Robert Cray, Paul deLay, Curtis Salgado and Lloyd Jones, as well as his own three solo projects. D.K. performs regularly throughout the Northwest with his band, the DK4.

Set List
1. uh oh yea yea
2. cinncinatti ohio
3. sell my monkey
4. rockin' 88
5. watching you the whole time
6. slow blues
7. one more mile
8. little queenie