Twisting Blues Rhythms Nestled amongst Brickwork
Nestled into a corner of the Foundry 616 amongst newfound friends, my wife and I experienced the subtle Piedmont blues fusion from Phil Wiggins and Dom Turner that filled the room. It was as if subtly and strength of musical invention paralleled the Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry’s twisting rhythms of visual light bee-hive activity framed by tall brick strokes on either side that we caught a glimpse of on the way to the venue. Wiggins, a leading American blues harmonica player, and Turner, a leading Australian resonator guitar bluesman, both had an instant rapport on stage; bathed in speckled purply blue light glowing out into the darkly lit blues room their gently undulating Piedmont blues gave way to the raucous driving Mississippi no-hold-barred gutsy dance sounds. Chunky sliding guitar riffs from Turner’s circular ‘blue neck bottle’ slider and undulated in and out of raucously subtle driving harmonica rhythms from Wiggins’ bellowing cheeks in a way that brought revelling people to dance-glide around the bar. Indeed, nestled in this brick enclave of the Foundry, echoing the undulating angled glowing rhythms of light in the brick-framed Gehry building around the corner, Wiggins and Turner brought this part of Sydney alive with bluesy groove echoing in solid brickwork of consummate artistry.
Bruce Crossman 