Blues Brothers Tribute Bands; Jake & Elwood (Courtesy of Black Rhino) & The Blues Brothers was a rhythm and blues band fronted by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in character. Belushi (as vocalist Joliet Jake Blues) and Aykroyd (as harpist Elwood Blues) were both members of the original cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live. The Blues Brothers' television debut was as the musical guest in the April 22nd, 1978 episode of Saturday Night Live, often cited as one of the best-ever SNL episodes. How the band was formed The genesis of the Blues Brothers could be found in a January 1976 SNL skit. In it "Howard Shore and his All-Bee Band" play the Slim Harpo song "I'm a King Bee", with Belushi singing and Aykroyd playing harp, dressed in the bee costumes they wore for the "Killer Bees" sketch. In the January 4, 1979 edition of the Eugene Register-Guard, an article provides key details about the real origins of Belushi's serious interest in blues music. Belushi was in Eugene, Oregon, filming National Lampoon's Animal House. In October 1977, he went to a local hotel to hear 25-year-old blues singer/harmonica player Curtis Salgado. After the show Belushi and Salgado talked about the blues for hours. Belushi, interviewed for the article, found Salgado's enthusiasm infectious, saying: I was kind of sick of rock and roll and I hated disco, so I needed some place to go. I hadn't heard much blues before. It felt good. Salgado lent him some albums by Floyd Dixon, Charles Brown, Johnny "Guitar" Watson and others. Belushi was hooked. Belushi began to appear with Salgado on stage, singing the Floyd Dixon song "Hey, Bartender" on a few occasions. He used Salgado's humorous alternate lyrics to "I Don't Know" that Salgado used in his act. Salgado gave the innuendo-laden lyrics to him: I said Woman, you going to walk a mile for a Camel In the Blues Brothers debut SNL performance, he used the lyrics, and also borrowed Salgado's trademark shades and soul patch for his Jake Blues character. Belushi made it a point to credit Salgado whenever he could, dedicating the first Blues Brother album to Salgado, and sending him a photo of Belushi and Aykroyd in character, writing on it "Without you, we'd still be just TV actors." They regularly used his name in the introduction of their live show. The Blues Brothers Band The two "brothers" assembled what could have possibly been the greatest concentration of studio talent in the history of music; these men having played with Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Paul McCartney & Wings, Miles Davis, and everybody in between. Their style was fresh and in many ways, different from prevailing musical trends: a very raw and "live" sound compared to the increasing use of sound synthesis and vocal-dominated music of the late 70's and 80's. While the music of the Blues Brothers is always said to be based on rhythm, blues, and soul; it also drew heavily on rock and jazz elements, often takening a blues standard and bringing a rock sound and style to it. The band could be drawn into three sections: the four man horn section, the traditional rock instruments of the five-man rhythm section, and the two singing brothers. The sound of the band was an odd (but successful) synthesis of two different traditions: the horn players all came from the clean, precise, jazz-influenced sound of New York; while the rhythm section came from the grittier soul and blues sound of Chicago and Memphis. In a documentary included on some DVD editions of the first Blues Brothers film, guitarist Steve Cropper reports that some of his peers thought that he and the other musicians backing the Blues Brothers were selling out to Hollywood, or using a gimmick to make some quick money. Cropper responded by stating that he thought Belushi was as good as (or even better than) many of the singers Cropper had backed; he also noted that Belushi had, early in his career, briefly been a professional drummer, and had an especially keen sense of rhythm. The full band (not all appeared in the movie) was: * Jake Blues - Vocals
|