St Andrews Radio

The Blueswater Collective; 17th February; The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh

The Blueswater Collective are an ever changing blues band that dabble in funk, soul and even gangster rap. They had their humble beginnings at this very University. Now a fourth year I still remember in my first year the joy at finding out that there was a live blues band playing at the Union every Sunday night in this small coastal Scottish town. Bluewater then progressed to playing at Aikman’s semi-regularly until becoming a staple at various Balls in the academic calendar. This all sounds very nice and parochial; indicative of events that happen in this Bubble. However, this summer Blueswater made the jump to the big city blues. A two month residency at the Radisson Rooms during the Edinburgh festival with their
show ‘Blues’, which tracked the evolution of blues music from Robert Johnson to Stevie Ray Vaughn via James Brown and BB King, gave the band a new, more professional shape.

This gig was a showcase of the band’s ability to walk the very fine line between quality and raucousness. On this particular night the ‘Collective’ involved leader singer, rhythm and lead guitar, bass, drums, harmonica, piano, two saxophones and two backing singers. A very big band, skilfully held together by the lead singer who managed, through the use of vigorous hand gestures, allow the band to go wild while keeping everybody in sync.
Blueswater opened with a nod back to their roots; starting off with some blues standards they were able to show off their technical prowess; likewise with a great cover of Black Magic Woman; a song that tests all elements of the band. However, where they really excel is being able to take a song further than just reconstruction. The clear example here is their cover of Sexual Seduction by Snoop Dogg. If incorporating all the instruments (yes that includes the harmonica) into this rap stalwart took immense creativity; then incorporating a funk, solo breakdown took genius. But; this is all very technical...

In all of this appreciation of the music, throughout the gig it was clear that the main aim for The Blueswater Collective was to please the audience; not in a shoegazing, indie kind of way but in a ‘let’s all get up and dance’ kind of way. Inclusions of songs such as Hound Dog (sung wonderfully by one of the women backing singers – as it originally was...) and I Feel Good in the set just show that with this band, on a Friday night, in Edinburgh, their
raison d’etre is just having a great time. Just to cement this point – they, the blues band, ended the night with a cover of Killing in the Name...I will just let that sink in...