Dec. 29--Chicago blues master Billy Branch is wasting no time plunging into the new year.
Having just returned from visiting Africa for the first time, he plays his opening show of 2016 on Saturday night at SPACE in Evanston.
Both the trip to South Africa and the past couple years of his musical life find him in a philosophical frame of mind, taking stock of issues global and personal.
In South Africa, Branch was moved to be visiting "the cradle of humankind," he said.
"We saw (Nelson) Mandela's house. We saw Bishop Desmond Tutu's home.
"One of the things that struck us the most was just the disparity of wealth there. The neighborhoods that we were in and we visited -- man, these were single-family dwellings, and I've seen hotels smaller than that. It was crazy, with the luxury and the wealth that the privileged have benefited from, while the bulk of the population is still in poverty, and some of them in abject poverty, in shanties.
"It was disturbing. They don't have running water. That messed me up."
Considering the social consciousness of Branch's songwriting in particular, and of course the blues in general, it probably won't be long until we hear these thoughts emerging in Branch's music. Until then, though, he has been confronting more specific issues.
In July 2014, Nick Charles -- who had played bass in Branch's Sons of Blues band for roughly two decades -- died of cancer, according to Branch's website. Early this year, Mose Rutues Jr. -- who had played drums for Branch for more than three decades -- retired from the band (though he appears as guest singer).
"So what happened was that for the first time that I can remember, I'm in the position of practically everybody else on the scene: I have to use subs," said Branch, who's doubly accomplished as harmonica ace and blues vocalist.
"And it was a huge challenge, because I had one of the few groups in town (where) you always saw the same guys. ... I always had the same exact band, and I never even thought about it.
"Now I have to rehearse guys, and I have to ask: Who do we have on drums this week? Couldn't we get so-and-so? No, he's out of town -- he's got another gig with so-and-so."
And yet, at the same time, Branch has been performing music from one of the best recordings of his career, "Blues Shock." Released in 2014, the album features 11 songs that show Branch at once celebrating blues traditions and stretching far beyond them. Listen to Branch singing poet Sterling Plumpp's poetic lyrics in "Sons of Blues," or the band riding Bill McFarland's jazz-inspired arrangement in "Baby Let Me Butter Your Corn" or the sense of serenity that pervades the all-instrumental "Song for My Mother" (which Branch wrote with Minoru Maruyama), and you're hearing a blues veteran creatively reinventing his art.
That's the repertoire Branch will be playing at SPACE, which means listeners should look out for the centerpiece of the recording, "Going to See Miss Gerri One More Time," Branch's homage to the intrepid woman who owned and operated Gerri's Palm Tavern on East 47th Street from the 1950s until it was ingloriously closed by the city of Chicago in 2001. Everyone from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Muddy Waters and Count Basie unwound at the Palm Tavern between shows at the Regal Theater across the street.
The story-song brought forth heartfelt expression from Branch, who sang of a "47th Street (that) would never go to sleep" and a club where "all would come to see Bronzeville's black nobility." As Branch delivered his blues aria, the sounds of strings and female backup vocalists transcended what some listeners might have expected.
"What I see is that there's been a percolation of these elements that have been brewing inside of (Branch) all of these years," Rosa Enrico, Branch's wife, told me in 2014.
"And it's interesting, because that song, 'Going to See Miss Gerri,' when he finally let that come out of there ... then everything else followed. ... It's very non-blues; it's more of a ballad, and it unleashed everything else. ...
"He's a very deep and thoughtful person, and I think he needed to find a way to express these deeper feelings and thoughts, outside of the 12 bars" structure of a classic blues song.
"Blues Shock" was Branch's first studio album under his own name in 15 years, and one hopes it won't be nearly as long until the next one. He says he's writing the follow-up music now and realizes that he'll be recording with a very different kind of ensemble next time.
"Now I have a young band -- I mean, relatively speaking," Branch said. "I'm like the grandfather. Sometimes they call me the godfather.
"It seems like just yesterday we were the new generation of Chicago blues. ... With this younger band, it brings a whole 'nother angle. It's a whole 'nother vantage point.
"But things happen for a reason. So as much as it was such a great loss to lose my guys -- as they say, one door closes and another one opens."
And as always, Branch is charging through it.
hreich@tribpub.com
"Portraits in Jazz": Howard Reich's e-book collects his interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and others, as well as profiles of early masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. Get "Portraits in Jazz" at www.chicagotribune.com/ebooks.
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston
Tickets: $15-$27; 847-492-8860 or www.evanstonspace.com
