North Jersey blues players unite to preserve the music

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North Jersey blues players unite to preserve the music
September 18, 2010
BY JIM BECKERMAN
North Jersey.com

To paraphrase Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life": No band is a failure that has friends.

Blues bands in North Jersey have friends. So, it appears, do blues bands everywhere. The United Jersey Blues Network, founded in Clifton 10 years ago, is just one of a consortium of more than 200 blues groups, worldwide, that help route bands to clubs, fans to bands and musicians to sometimes sorely needed aid.

"These blues organizations work very hard to preserve and keep the music alive and bring it to the attention of younger and younger audiences," says Maywood's Nicole Hart, a blues vocalist who is one of more than 50 bands and solo acts affiliated with the UJBN.

That organization is one of at least three blues groups in the metro area. And those organizations, in turn, are just a few of the hundreds, worldwide, that help promote the 12-bar, three-chord music tradition – many affiliated with The Blues Foundation, a Memphis-based umbrella group that has at least 190 member groups.

"We're looking to have the blues not fade away," says Rob Signorile, co-director of the UJBN.

In a home office in Montville adorned with photos and guitars — including one wall-mounted white Stratocaster signed by Shemekia Copeland, Bernard Purdie, Johnny Winter and others — Signorile quietly does his good works: putting together postcards, e-Blasts and posters, arranging some gigs, promoting others. Helping him is his wife, Marie, and – from another home office in Parsippany – his UJBN partner, Paterson-born guitarist Son Lewis.

"We're in the office a few hours every day, dealing with issues of booking, venues, talents," Signorile says.

UJBN is nothing if not resourceful. They've staged gigs in VFW halls, 3,187-seat movie palaces and living rooms. They've featured "pub crawls" – one-price admission to six bands in six venues in one town. They've held fund-raisers for ailing musicians – like Hart's late husband, keyboard player Lance Ong, who died of cancer last year.

"The organization was incredibly helpful, organizing benefits to offset his medical expenses," Hart says.

Groups like UJBN were already in place even before the bad economy, the onslaught of home entertainment options and the graying of the baby boomers, among other factors, conspired to thin the number of blues fans and live music venues.

"We're more organized, because we need it," says UJBN member Rob Paparozzi, the Union County blues harpist known for his work with Blood, Sweat and Tears, the Hudson River Rats and other bands.

Both Hart (Tuesday) and Paparozzi (a Sept. 28 CD release party) will be headliners at Tuesday is Bluesday at Blend, a weekly blues showcase and jam session sponsored by UJBN at the Ridgewood club Blend on Chestnut Street.

"[UJBN] has done wonders for me," Paparozzi says. "Every time I do a gig in the area, they're right there, sending out newsletters, plugging the show for me."

Some 25 bands and 20 solo artists pay the annual fee ($20 for individuals, $50 for bands) to belong to UJBN, geared to the North Jersey market but with members from as far as New York and Pennsylvania. South Jersey blues bands are more likely to join the Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation, based in Red Bank, while people from all over the metro area are liable to join the New York Jazz and Blues Society, based in Manhattan.

UJBN, not a member of The Blues Foundation, plans to join next year so it can send its musicians to compete in the foundation's annual International Blues Challenge — the Super Bowl of blues events.

"These blues societies are priceless, critical," says Jay Sieleman, executive director of The Blues Foundation. "These are in essence blues music lovers who have taken it to the next level."

Signorile, 64, is a classic case. Originally from Essex County, he came from a family of musicians – both his father and brother were country-western performers. But when he was 6, he got a 45 rpm record that changed his life: "Rocket 88" by Ike Turner, not only classic blues, but also arguably the first real rock-and-roll record. From then on he was hooked. "That was very exciting to me," he says.

Eight years ago, he inherited UJBN, begun by Clifton's John Muller and a handful of other Jersey musicians and fans.

He also inherited a Jersey blues scene that now seems to be looking up – slightly. Newer artists like Johnny Lang, Joe Bonamassa and Damon Fowler are attracting newer, younger audiences to local venues. Jersey blues clubs are opening (Robin's Nest in Linden) and reopening (Stanhope House). The venues, Signorile says, are as important as the musicians and the fans.

"This is earthy, organic music," he says. "It's not built for stadiums. It's built for roadhouses where you can sit 20 feet away from the musician and see the spit coming out of their mouth. Real fans love that kind of thing."