Bobby Rush & Kenny Wayne Shepherd
To say that Bobby Rush is a vital American music treasure is both a statement of fact and an understatement.
Few artists in any genre can match this three-time Grammy Award-winner when it comes to tenacity, skill, charisma and a tireless work ethic that would challenge performers half or one-third his age.
Long hailed as “The King of the Chitlin’ Circuit” and “The Funkiest Man Alive,” Rush is still touring and recording at the age of 91.
Born Emmet Ellis, Jr., he was 15 when he launched his career as a singer and dancer in the Rabbit’s Foot Minstrels in his home state of Louisiana. After moving to Memphis, Rush was mentored in the early 1950s by blues-guitar great Albert King. Rush then led his first band, The Four Jivers — featuring future blues legends Elmore James and Pinetop Perkins — before moving on to Chicago where he befriended Al Capone’s brother.
Rush was 31 when his first single, the aptly named “Someday,” was released in 1964. He was 46 when his debut album, “Rush Hour,” came out in 1979. A quadruple-threat as a singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player, Rush has since released 43 more albums.
He was 87 when he earned his first Grammy for “Porcupine Meat,” that year’s winner in the Best Traditional Blues Album category. Prior to the 2020 pandemic shutdown of live events, Rush averaged 200 performances a year and has been building back up since then.
His memoir, “Ain’t Studdin’ Ya: My American Blues Story,” was published in 2021. The first stage readings of “Slippin’ Through the Cracks,” a musical based on Rush’s life, were held in New York in 2023. In another career first, on Aug. 2 Rush made his Grand Ole Opry debut in Nashville.
He is now on a 24-city U.S. tour with guitarist, singer and fellow Louisianan Kenny Wayne Shepherd to promote their arresting new joint album, “Young Fashioned Blues.” Shepherd has hailed Rush as a “master storyteller.” He is all that and more.
7:30 p.m. next Thursday, Sept. 4. Humphreys Concerts by the Bay, 2241 Shelter Island and Drive, Shelter Island. $89.10. ticketmaster.com
Percussionist Charlie Chavez, center, will perform at Quartyard with his dance-happy band Afrotruko. Their concert is a prelude to the 2025 San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival. (Courtesy Charlie Chavez)
Charlie Chavez & Afrotruko
The price is beyond right for Friday night’s free performance at Quartyard by percussion dynamo Charlie Chavez and his one-woman, 11-man band, Afrotruko.
A Jalisco native, Chavez moved to Tijuana in 2001, after studying trombone, percussion and piano at the University of Xalapa in Veracruz. He and Afrotruko have performed a number of high-profile gigs, including opening for Ruben Blades in 2012 at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Tijuana Cultural Center.
In addition to his numerous high-profile jazz and Latin-music credits, Chavez has toured with such disparate artists as singer-songwriter Lila Downs and Mexico’s pioneering rock en Español band Maldita Vecindad.
Chavez’s brassy, dance-happy Afrotruko’s Friday performance at Quartyard is a kick-off to the 2025 San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival, which will take place in both cities Oct. 2-5. Its opening-night concert, also at at Quartyard, will be headlined by an all-star band led by pianist Irving Flores, whose wonderfully engaging new album, “Armando Mi Conga,” was recently released.
San Diego Tijuana International Jazz Festival sets lineup for its second year
Admission to Friday’s all-ages show by Chavez is free for those who RSVP.
5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 29. Quartyard, 1301 Market Street, downtown. Free. RSVP at: eventbrite.com
San Diego blues and gospel vocal dynamo Earl Thomas will celebrate his 65th birthday with a Sunday concert at Winston’s in Ocean Beach. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Earl Thomas Bridgeman 65th Birthday Celebration
It is especially fitting that internationally acclaimed San Diego singer, songwriter and bandleader is having his 65th birthday festivities at Winston’s Beach Club. He and his band, The Blues Ambassadors, were mainstays at the Ocean Beach nightspot from 1988 to 1995.
He went on to perform around the world and to have his songs recorded by such admirers as Etta James, Tom Jones and Ike Turner. Having achieved nearly all of his goals, he retired from music in 2019 after a performance in Svalbard, Norway, and returned to his pre-music gig as a dental technician.
Happily, Thomas un-retired in 2023 when he launched his new group, The Gospel Ambassadors, with a gig here at Humphreys. Since then, he has resumed touring, released a studio album, the aptly named “Church Music,” and “Live in London,” which was recorded at Ronnie Scott’s, the English capital’s most famous jazz club.
Exactly what Thomas has up his sleeves for his Sunday birthday concert remains to be seen and heard. But you can count on a full house and a jubilant musical celebration.
5 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 31. Winston’s Beach Club, 1921 Bacon Street, Ocean Beach. $20 (advance), $25 at the door (must be 21 or older to attend). winstonsob.com
W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend To Cause Havoc), with Sonny & The Sunsets
There have been few more unlikely or inspiring comeback stories in the past 15 years than that of singer-and-band leader-turned-gemstone-miner-turned-singer-once-again Emmanuel Chanda.
In the 1970s, Chanda — whose stage name, then and now, is the Mick Jagger-inspired Jagari — led the pioneering Zambian rock band W.I.T.C.H. (short for We Intend To Cause Havoc). He and the group helped establish Zamrock, a fusion of rock, psychedelia and James Brown-styled funk with traditional Zambian rhythms.
W.I.T.C.H. made seven albums in the 1970s and was hailed as their country’s answer to The Beatles before disbanding in the mid-1980s. Chanda became a schoolteacher, then a gemstone miner.
His music career was revived in 2017 as the result of a film documentary about his band, of which he is the only surviving member. Now 74, Chanda leads an eight-piece band that teams him with Dutch and Zambian musicians.
W.I.T.C.H. made its San Diego debut in 2022 at the Belly Up, the same venue it performs at next week.
8 p.m. next Thursday, Sept. 4. Belly Up, 143 South Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $38.30 (must be 21 or older to attend). bellyup.com