Jimmy's Juke Joint: Apparently I'm Never Off Duty

I sometimes tell myself I'm not going somewhere as a reviewer — I'm just stopping in for a couple of beers and some live music. Apparently that distinction exists only in my head. 

That was the plan Sunday afternoon when I stopped into Iggy’s Pub & Grub in Fonthill for Jimmy’s Juke Joint, drummer Jim Casson’s weekly Sunday residency featuring a rotating cast of musical guests. This week those guests were guitarist Paige Armstrong and bassist Dane Wedderburn.

I knew Armstrong’s name. Niagara’s music community is small enough that you hear names even when you haven’t really heard the player. But I didn’t know much about him, and I certainly hadn’t gone to Iggy’s intending to write about him.

Then he started playing.

What followed was a run through familiar blues territory, but it didn't take long before Armstrong had my full attention. A vintage Fender Stratocaster through a Fender Deluxe Reverb — already a man after my own heart — and an unmistakable Stevie Ray Vaughan influence in his playing. But this wasn't simply someone doing an SRV impression. Armstrong could play.

Armstrong sounded terrific, too — a warm, biting Strat tone that could get dirty without ever turning to mush, and plenty of dynamics under his fingers. It was the kind of sound that made me start looking at the gear almost as closely as I was watching the player.

Wedderburn sounded equally good. His bass was full and punchy without overpowering the little room, and after the first set I asked him about the rig. He was playing through a Markbass head with everything, he told me, essentially sitting at twelve o'clock. If it sounds good, why mess with it? The cabinet underneath was a 1 x 12 from a manufacturer I didn't recognize. When I admitted I wasn't familiar with it, Wedderburn laughed and told me he wasn't either — somebody had given it to him, he thought it sounded good, so he was using it.

I liked him immediately.

And that easygoing good humour wasn't limited to the conversation. Wedderburn looked like he was having a hell of a good time playing all afternoon, and it was infectious.

The musical highlight — or at least what I thought was going to be the musical highlight — came with Santana's “Evil Ways.” Casson tore through a killer drum solo, handed things over to Wedderburn for a bass feature, and then Armstrong came screaming back in on guitar. All three got room to stretch, and by the time it ended I thought, Well, that's the showstopper.

Apparently they weren't done.

Then came “Little Wing.” Armstrong stretched it into an extended guitar showcase that initially had me thinking of Stevie Ray Vaughan's famous instrumental treatment — long, fiery passages with plenty of room for the guitar to breathe. But this wasn't an instrumental. Armstrong would return to a Hendrix verse, then head back out for another extended guitar passage before finding his way back to the song again. Nor did he venture into the additional section made famous by Clapton and Derek and the Dominos. It was a terrific blend of the expansive instrumental approach associated with Vaughan and the Hendrix song itself — and Armstrong was astounding.

We didn't even get the chance to properly applaud it. Before the room could give Armstrong the response “Little Wing” deserved, he was already into “Third Stone from the Sun.” When that finally ended, the crowd enthusiastically gave him his due. One gentleman walked up to the stage and gave Armstrong a fist bump; I followed his lead, shook Armstrong's hand and told him simply, “That's for ‘Little Wing.’”
There was still more to come, including Pink Floyd's “Another Brick in the Wall” and the Beatles' “I Want You (She's So Heavy),” before an encore built around a surf-rock instrumental I recognized but couldn't put a name to. By then, though, the point had been made. I'd walked into Iggy's expecting a couple of beers and found a trio I couldn't stop paying attention to.

And some credit has to go to Casson for creating the opportunity in the first place. Jimmy's Juke Joint brings a rotating cast of musicians into Iggy's every Sunday afternoon, and judging by what Casson, Armstrong and Wedderburn brought to the room this week, I've clearly been missing out.

I do, however, have one complaint for Jim: Sunday afternoon? During football season? 😉

Thankfully, this particular edition landed before the NFL regular season got underway. Going forward, Casson is apparently asking me to make some difficult life choices. 

So much for being off duty.