Porretta Soul Festival 2002

I eventually achieved a long-standing ambition to visit the Porretta Soul Festival in Italy during early July 2002. The festival has been running since 1988 and is dedicated to Otis Redding and this year the festival returned to its spiritual home of Rufus Thomas Park in Porretta after being held in Bologna last year.

The festival is organised by promoter Graziano Uliani but the festival is embraced by the whole of this old spa town, which makes for such a pleasant experience. The festival has hosted some of the greatest names in soul in its 15-year history - Rufus Thomas, James Carr, Solomon Burke, Bobby Womack, Wilson Pickett, Sam Moore and the list goes on.

I decided to make this a short holiday with my wife Barbara with plenty of music thrown in with the wine and food. Porretta is located half way between Bologna and Florence and is easy to get to by rail or road from Bologna. We
flew into Bologna and hired a car, which was a good idea because when the festival is not on there are plenty of places to explore around the area.

This year's line-up had Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles, Carl Weathersby, Trudy Lynn, Marva Wright, Bobby Johnson, The Sweethearts of Swing, The Michael Allen Band plus some Italian support bands. One of the good things about
Porreta is that all the main acts bring their own bands, which makes such a difference.

The festival was held on 3 successive nights outdoors behind the main street in Porretta in a small park. The park has a concrete auditorium, which makes for excellent acoustics for an outside event. The atmosphere was electric
with 1500 people packed into a tight space with the bands on ground level, which seems to bring the performers closer to the crowd.

We stayed at the Hotel Roma recommended by the Porretta Festival website and it was excellent - other guests included Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson!!!!!! On the first night, I checked in with Syl and then later came across Ann Peebles on the hotel stairs as she waited to go over the road to perform. It 's that kind of a place where you can wander round and bump into the "stars" in a very relaxed atmosphere which they seemed to enjoy. I had several drinks with Syl and Ann who are very warm people and never seemed to tire of answering questions!!!

I had seen Ann Peebles before in the UK as part of the 1989 Waylo tour just after she had gone back on the road. Her performance was a revelation on the first night because she has grown in stature and her voice and performance
filled the auditorium from a woman who is physically small but big in heart and soul.

Paul Brown who leads her band on keyboards is spectacular performer who seems to have 3 pairs of hands as he plays. He used to be musical director for Shirley Brown and Bobby Rush. His arrangements of Ann's Hi classics were
superb and allowed her to explore the depths of these well-known songs. In her shining outfit she seemed like a golden goddess who had come down from the hills as the chilled night warmed to her voice, which had such intensity. All the songs we wanted to hear where there ... Breaking Up Somebody's Home, I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down and of course I Can't Stand The Rain.

Paul had put a great band together; Zenas Ivy, guitar, Dewayne Thomas, bass who stood in for Randy Middleton who unfortunately had a heart attack at Bologna airport on arrival in Italy, Peter Mendillo, drums, Steve Dolan, trumpet, Jamel Mitchell alto sax, Meil and Jo Jo Jefferies, background vocals. They are a great group people who I enjoyed talking to off and on over the 3 days of the festival. Jamel is the late James Mitchell's son the legendary horn player and nephew of Willie - it was like talking to a young Willie Mitchell!!!!!!! And can he play!!!! On the Sunday, they even put
together a "news conference" just for me but I let them down badly by going for a drive in the country!!!!!!!!!!

After the first night, I walked away from the auditorium mesmerised by a beautiful performance. I went backstage to see a woman who had given all and who now seemed strangely small after such filling the stage with her performance. So it was off into the night to chill out in Bar Italia, which is the meeting place for most of the soul fans and artists.

Paul Brown has a great website which is well worth visiting with details of his involvement in Memphis music:

http://paulbrownmusic.netfirms.com/

On the Saturday, we woke up to find that the street below had been turned into a huge open-air market, which filled the town. After walking round the streets, I decided to head for the news conference, which was to be held in Bar Italia and had already started when I arrived. This was a serious event with Syl, Ann, Paul Brown and Jamel Mitchell sitting at a table being grilled by Europe's leading soul cognoscenti and hosted by Graziano.

When the news conference finished, I was able to grab Syl Johnson for an interview. Syl was in good form and told me some fascinating stories about his family stretching back to the days of slavery as he drew a family tree on a hotel napkin. He had told me that he wouldn't be able to give me long because he needed to be at a rehearsal for that night's concert. As Syl was telling me the story of how his family lost their land the band started up their rehearsal in the park next to the hotel. Syl decided to sing the songs while he was in the room and I was treated to my own personal show as he
sang Ms Fine Brown Frame and Goodie Goodie Good Times!!!!!!!!!

After speaking to Syl, I went to an exhibition of paintings by a Swiss guy called Jean-Yves Mougin and if you are looking for the ultimate Christmas present for the record room then have a look at his site:

http://www.painterofsoul.com/English/PaintingGallery/Album.asp

I arrived for the second night in time for the infectious Bobby Johnson who really got the crowd going with classic soul tracks such as Knock On Wood, Stand By Me, Mustang Sally etc. So by the time Syl Johnson took the stage,
the atmosphere was electric. Syl blew us away with a fine performance which had him powering his way
through some classic songs Goodie Goodie Good Times, Ms Fine Brown Frame, Is It Because I'm Black, Sock It To Me, Back For A Taste Of Love, Take Me To The River. Ann Peebles then cam back for a blistering set including Full
Time Lover, I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down and I Can't Stand The Rain before singing with Syl on one number.

The final night was a change of emphasis for Porretta where they abandoned their Memphis soul roots and went for some of the current leading blues performers in Carl Weathersby, Trudy Lynn and Marva Wright who were all on European tours. Before they took to the stage, we were treated to a set by Michael Allen, which was firmly rooted in 60's Memphis soul. Michael is a former Stax and Waylo performer and writer who is based in Italy and got the crowd rocking to classics such as Midnight Hour, Dock Of The Bay, Fa Fa Fa Sad Song etc.

Carl Weathersby was a revelation and he is a fine singer who certainly set the crowd on fire as he walked through the crowd rapping ala Bobby Womack. He had a cracking band with him; Shawn Lewis keyboards, Iloss Green bass and
Melvin Carlisle on drums. They them provided backing for Trudy Lynn who is a powerful singer in an Etta James mould and she sang a mixture of blues standards and some tracks from her new album "U Don't Know What Time It Is"
and she also included a moving tribute to Otis Redding.

The highlight of the last night was Marva Wright who is one of the most powerful singers I have ever witnessed and who make any song sound soulful. She knocked the crowd dead and was backed by another great band The BMW's -
lead by bassist Benny Turner, Charles "Chuky-C" Elam III sax, Thomas Scott guitar, Marc Adams keyboards, Gilmore Chad drums.
Well after 3 knock out performances it was back to the Bar Italia to meet up with the many UK soul fans that had come over to Italy. My lasting memory of that night of drinks is seeing Marva Wright sitting next to us eating her
way through a huge piece of watermelon. You would never have guessed that she just had 1500 soul fans going mad across the road only an hour before.

If you are interested in going to Porretta then visit their website:

http://www.porrettasoul.com/

Big thanks to Graziano for all his hard work and hope to see you again in 2003.