Screams of excitement cut through the tightly packed bar, but the voice emanating from the speakers is deep and relaxed. It’s a packed night at the Funky Pirate and the waitresses are winding precarious paths between swinging bodies and fixed tables. There’s movement everywhere in the room, but the action is at center stage. There, sitting comfortably on a cushioned bench and wearing a broad grin, is Alton Carson.
Big Al Carson and the Bluesmasters are presiding over the evenings’ festivities at the Funky Pirate on Bourbon Street. Six nights a week, for the last ten years, they have filled this night spot with people from around the world. Featuring tasty, precise rhythm section work and Carson’s mesmerizing four octave vocal range, the Bluesmasters lay it down night after night for four hours or more. Tonight they are working the crowd to a fever pitch with a funked-up version of Muddy Waters’ “She Moves Me.” As the band brings the tune home, Carson’s rich stage voice takes over the room.
“Sho’ you right. We are Big Al Carson and the Bluesmasters and we’d like to thank you for coming out tonight. We’re going to slow things down for a minute and do a song by the late, great Sam Cooke.”
The band switches gears from funkified to sanctified with a deep, show-stopping rendition of “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Curling his voice around every note, Carson takes this classic and puts it in the moment. His soaring lead is punctuated by tight harmonies from guitarist and second vocalist Harry Sterling, and together they bring down the house. In the quick-hustle, tourist-dollar driven world of Bourbon Street, scenes of truly inspired music making can be hard to come by. With the Bluesmasters, the soul comes first, and moments like this are nightly occurrences.
Carson, a New Orleans native with a gospel singing mother, has been on the music scene for over 30 years. His tremendous singing voice is a unique and refined instrument possessing clarity, tone and flexibility that many horn players would envy. While his vocal stylings are what he’s best known for, his voice is only one of several instruments of which he has command. His musical education began at age ten with trumpet lessons and by his last year of junior high school at Andrew J. Bell he had picked up the tuba. He would go on to become known as one of New Orleans contemporary masters of the big horn. That same year he was elected president of the school’s music club and received the school’s highest honors in music. While attending Xavier University, Carson was featured in the university jazz band as both a vocalist and trombone player. After college he would spend time on the road playing trumpet in King Floyd’s touring revue, followed by a six year stint playing tuba in the pit band for both the New Orleans and touring productions of Vernel Bagneris’ hit musical One Mo’ Time.
Since these formative experiences Carson has used his multitude of talents to bring the spirit of the Crescent City to music lovers around the world, both through touring Europe and holding down one of the longest running steady gigs in the French Quarter. Playing marathon shows at the same venue every night for years not only requires stamina, a large repertoire and great stage skills, but presents the unique challenge of keeping the music fresh while not losing the essential character of the bands’ sound.
“I think it’s growth thing,” says Carson. “You don’t want to stop growing even though you do the same thing every night. We’ve been blessed that our stuff doesn’t die like that because we never perform it the same way. You may hear the same notes, but the feeling’s never the same.” As for his ability to keep audiences riveted with his control of vocal dynamics, Carson explains: “I like to jump through notes and come back, jump over, grab it and bring it back down. I’m not going to stay right ’chere, on that level. I’ve got too much happening behind, above and underneath. And when I’m hittin’ all that, why should I stay [sings a simple blues melody] ‘my baby left me, oh I’m so sad and blue’ when I can take the same thing and [sings the same lyric with more emotion while extending the melody]. Same key, same blues.”
In addition to Carson’s vocal talents and commanding stage presence, the other primary factor in the Bluesmasters’ continued success is, of course, the band. Not only are they excellent players, but they share a personal understanding that has allowed them to work in close quarters for so long with remarkably few personnel changes. Other than their tumultuous first few gigs, the Bluesmasters have seen only six full time members in this four piece band over ten years. Only two members have ever left the band, one of whom left for health reasons.
At the core of the Bluesmasters’ rhythm section is Harry Sterling’s remarkably full sounding guitar work. His driving sense of time and rich chordal style were developed under the tutelage of one of New Orleans’ greatest masters of the instrument, Danny Barker. As a youngster, Sterling played banjo in the original Fairview Baptist Church Band under Barker’s direction. This band would be the incubator for many of New Orleans’ most innovative brass band players, and Sterling maintains an approach that is unique amongst blues guitarists. Carson describes Sterling as “a fabulous guitar player, an exceptional player. You got cats be wanting to steal his shit, but he doesn’t play typical blues style.” With a musical relationship that dates back to the early ’80s and has been honed on literally thousands of gigs together, Carson and Sterling have a rare fit, both musically and vocally. Says Sterling: “In the process of listening to him, other chordal arrangements start going in my head and I know where I need to go. One night… I said ‘Let me get out of these minor sevenths and see what these nines sound like’ and he started singin’ with the nines, so I said ‘Let’s see if I can mess with him for a minute,’ and we do this all the time. I’ll sit there and play this real pretty major nine chord and Disgustin’ over here with damn ears will be singing all in between that, and I’m like ‘All right, you motherfucker, now wait a minute.’ He does something and I say ‘I know where he went’ and before he had enough time to even really get in there, I’m on his ass. But we do this because I’m constantly listening to him.”
Complementing Carson and Sterling’s hand-in-glove musical interplay is the rock solid bass work of veteran musician Harold Scott (previously employed by Irma Thomas and Terrance Simien) who replaced the Bluesmasters’ original bassist, Peter Vees (of Papa Grows Funk) five years ago. Holding the operation together from behind the drum kit is Cori Walters. She was already a familiar sight on the New Orleans scene before replacing the Bluesmasters’ founder, drummer Bob Eaton, who retired to battle cancer two years ago. On Bourbon Street, where bands are regularly chewed up and spit out in short order, the heat of constant musical effort has only forged this band into a unit who’s tightness and effectiveness and crowd pleasers is the envy of many. Bourbon Street has given the Bluesmasters not only a home base and a place to develop their sound and following, but the inspiration for a hit record as well. Their theme song, “Take Your Drunken Ass Home,” draws from the experiences of the band and their co-workers at the Funky Pirate. Not only is it a service industry rallying cry, but the song received considerable airplay on blues stations across the Gulf Coast and was recently put into rotation on XM Satellite Radio.
With ten years of gigs, world travels and successful records behind them, Big Al Carson and the Bluesmasters show no signs of slowing down. Their Monday through Saturday night schedule at the Funky Pirate remains unchanged, and a record release party for their third CD, Cuttin’ Up with Big Al Carson and the Bluesmasters, will be held there on Wednesday, October 27th.
