Live review from 21st Anniversary Festival Day 2:
1. Shuffle Jam
2. Play My Blues
3. Good Times Roll
4. Walking Blues.
How does someone like Tommy Chung exist in Hong Kong? A city with zero blues tradition somehow spurted out a bona fide blues legend, wheeled out on occasions when a spot of musical gravitas is required.
Of course he can’t be the only one. My own research suggests that, just as Elvis Presley and The Rolling Stones repackaged and whitewashed the blues for a Western audience, Cantopop stars like Sam Hui and George Lam shaved off some of the rougher edges of this distinctly African-American tradition for a regional audience. (The later Ramband, led by guitarist Peter Ng, was hailed for bringing purer blues-rock flavors to Hong Kong audiences). Chung famously founded the city’s first and only blues bar, 48th Street Chicago Blues, in Tsim Sha Tsui, in 2001. A victim of Sars, it closed three years later.
But how many blues players are left in the city today? Old dudes steeped in the art of the 12-bar used to congregate at the monthly jams at Yau Ma Tei’s Green Wave Art, but that closed down a few years ago. Visual artist, raconteur and blues aficionado Yank Wong – subject of Angie Chen’s doc I’ve Got the Blues – could once be spotted sputtering out flat-fifth licks over too many drinks in the corner at Club 71. But we all know what happened to that.
All of which is to say, Chung may not be the only one – the last OG HK bluesman standing – but we do wonder what he does the rest of the year.
He clearly hasn’t stopped practising, storming into the opening extended instrumental “Shuffle Jam”, a 12-bar in E which served as a platform for his blazing, Strat-tastic licks. Interestingly, the former lawyer uses a thumb pick, freeing up his fingers for quick-fire arpeggios, a trick frequently and fluently employed for descending harmonic phrases.
In Logo – the self-described “lounge-punk” trio, defunct but with a posthumous album dropping soon – bassist Kylie Chow was always a beacon of detached, sunglass-shielded cool. But the blues made her work and sweat, ripping a short solo in the opening instrumental, before drummer Wu On-wai took a few bars. This would be about all the showcase these hired hands would get – the rest of the set they were relegated to plodding the bounce beneath Chung’s voice and, primarily, guitar.
“Come On (Let the Good Times Roll)” is so well known from Jimi Hendrix’s 1968 interpretation (on Electric Ladyland), Chung’s mellower, more faithful take on the Earl King classic – another blues in E! – felt a touch lethargic. However the two numbers that saw Chung take his open-tuned slide guitar were golden, displays of virtuosity and soul alike. Because that’s the thing about the blues: in the wrong hands, the idiom so obviously falls into the easiest cliches, offering the inexperienced soloist a chance to widdle at will with nothing to say. But to really play the blues, you gotta live it first.
-Rob Garratt
Live Review from Underground 72:
OK suddenly we had live drums and I realised how much I had missed them this evening – give me a 1-2-3-4 lol.
Tommy is back at The Underground after a three year gap (nobody really says why – I wonder why?). A lot of the audience had quite clearly turned up to watch Tommy in action and although I’m not really into blues, my feet and legs were moving and I was paying attention. Then after a couple of instrumentals, during the song “42nd Street” Tommy showed that he’s not only versatile on the guitar, he’s got the perfect bluesy voice to carry his tunes. Very enjoyable and I was honored to be here to watch Tommy.
A great night. I look forward to the next show at The Melting Pot.
Ashley B
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Live Review from Underground 12:
Tommy Chung & All Blues Band, this power trio went straight into their first song featuring solos and some fast fluid fingerwork. All five songs were pretty continuous and I suspect some of them weren’t originals, although they were forgiven as there was lots of scorching speedy licks similar to “Ten Years After”.
Nick Lovatt
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Live Review from Underground 10:
Tommy Chung & All Blues very professional. With a baby-faced drummer who was nearly thrown out of Venue for looking underaged and a young bassist backing Tommy, he played tracks from the soon to be released album. Tommy’s gruff singing & his expertise on his neckless guitar plus songs that sounded wonderfully familiar but were yet original! If you can tell the difference between BB King, John Lee Hooker and Albert Collins, then Tommy Chung & All Blues are the band for you!
Nick Lovatt
I’ve heard of Tommy for years, it was great to see him in action. But, the real story was the fantastic young talent that he’s given a stage to. The drummer, was very talented, and the interplay between him and the bassist was excellent. Watching this drummer was like watching a drum video: perfect technique and excellent chops. Both him and the bassist have a fantastic future in music. The entire set was great.
Justin Bahl
