On Friday, Sept. 3, Sedona is turning Blue once again for the “Sedona Red Rockin’ Blues Festival” at the Mary Fisher Theater at 7 p.m. The event is co-sponsored by the Northern Arizona Blues Alliance (NAZBA) and features some of the best Blues artists in Arizona.
What better place to have a music festival, but SEDONA! The intimate Friday night concert features two premier blues solo artists: BD Frank and S.E. Willis.
BD Frank
Opening the show is BD Frank, a multi-instrumentalist, coming from the Phoenix area, having won the Phoenix Blues Society's Solo/Duo International Blues Competition (IBC) in 2017. He has been performing and recording music for over 40 years from the east coast to the southwest, stylistically capturing Americana Roots Music with one foot firmly planted in traditional acoustical blues and boogie while exhibiting a unique style like no other. Resonators are instruments that are typically brass or wood body instruments that project sound from an aluminum spun cone and “Reso-man” BD Frank specializes in performance on these traditional instruments. His style is Americana leaning towards roots and blues.
S.E. Willis
Next up is Mr. S. E. Willis, originally from West Virginia, has been playing the piano and harmonica since the age of six, and organ and accordion since his teens. He started playing in rock and roll bands along Arizona’s stretch of Route 66 in 1967. Willis’ music is deeply rooted in traditional American forms: blues, boogie-woogie, country, rockabilly, gospel, zydeco. A veteran band leader, S.E. (Steve) Willis has taken a supporting role in bands with such artists as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddly, Albert King, Jimmy Rogers, Roy Gaines, and, since 2000, Elvin Bishop (his accordion features prominently on the 2014 release “Can’t Even Do Wrong Right”).
All of the acts have competed in the NAZBA and/or Phoenix Blues Society’s (PBS) annual Blues competition and/or Best Self-Produced CD competition, with many artists going on to perform at the annual Blues Foundation’s International Blues Challenge (IBC), held for the past 37 years in Memphis. Just getting to Memphis is a journey by itself! Acts must win their local competition to qualify for the Memphis event where they are judged on the basis of Blues Content, Originality, Vocal Ability, Musicianship and Stage Presence in the scoring. Once in Memphis, acts then compete against 125 of the top blues solo/duo acts and 125 top bands from around the country and 20 other nations as far away as the Philippines.