Original published in Blues in Britain Magazine
Guitarist and saxophonist, Steve Ajao has been an evangelist for the blues for more than 30 years. Now celebrating the anniversary of his debut album, Juanita McGowen caught up with Ajao at Music Up Studios to talk about how the blues changed his life and how he looks forward to another year of being one of the hardest working performers in the blues and jazz industry.
Your debut album, Pure Evil was released last year. Did it achieve all that you originally set out for it to do?
Yes, pretty much. It was just before Christmas when Bob Lamb, who’s responsible for UB40’s first album, said he had always wanted to capture my band as it sounds live. So, largely the album was recorded as if we were just doing a gig. And I think it more than captured how we really sound.
Why did it take 30 odd years to get something down on record?
Well, I had done one before. The BBC did something with me about 12 years ago. But it really is just down to me being so busy. I play jazz and blues as a sax and guitar player respectively and being knocked over didn’t really help. So when I was hit by a car that took me out for a spell. But as soon as I got back to gigging, it didn’t take long to get back to it and the album represents how the band currently sounds. We’re hoping to raise our profile on the live scene with plans to travel around and play wherever the wind blows us.
At the Prince of Wales, near the NIA in Birmingham, we would often play at a weekly set on Sundays particularly. They’ve moved operations to the Brown Lion in the Jewellery Quarter. And we’ve started playing there just the other week. It’s a great night, there’s hardly room to swing a cat if you know what I mean. But generally, I like to keep busy. I don’t like the grass to grow under my feet.
What influences the choices in your live sets?
We have a vast repertoire. I’m not much of a singer songwriter type of guy but rather interpret songs – which is the way I understand the blues tradition. Somebody would write a song, someone would half hear it and then make their version of it. At my performances, you won’t get studied replicas of tunes but rather I get the essence of it across to audiences. I like to run the whole gambit of the blues.
I like to show people that the genre isn’t depressing – no one wants to hear I got no money and my baby’s leaving me, particularly. What I like and what influences me is the humour of the blues…the wit, the darkness. The other day, we did “Who” by Little Walter that has some lovely lines in it – Who told you I’ve been fooling around, Who told you that I was going to town, Whoever told you baby better get outta town. People like those type of lyrics and we ad lib a few things like that. We make it humourous and when I say humourous, I don’t mean a laugh a minute. The blues isn’t miserable. It’s about making light of stuff.
What really has your heart? Blues or Jazz?
Indistinguishable. I love them both. I grew up listening to both. My old man was a guitar player and that’s how it really started for me. We lived in this pokey little back-to-back house in Ladywood and every Sunday his friends used to come round and set up equipment in my parent’s bedroom, which was just above our living room. My mom would say ‘Come on kids, your dad’s funny pals are coming round!’ These guys would turn up wearing berets, goatees and dark glasses with names like Robinson and Sugar. One would bring a huge double bass. My dad would play drums in those days and eventually he got tired of lugging around the kit. He eventually would get a guitar because it was portable. They would come to learn from him like be-bop numbers and bluesy stuff. As a kid, I heard that all the time, all day.
To my sister and me, the sight of a double bass against a wall was an irresistible object. We’d climb up it and slide down. Eventually, as I got more interested in the music, my dad would say ‘I’m going out, don’t touch my guitar’. So of course, it was like a red flag to a bull, I’d go straight to it, you see. Occasionally, a string would snap and I wouldn’t know how to put a new one back on. So after being scolded a few times, he finally got me an acoustic guitar when I was about 7 or 8 and I’m 59 now so it was a long time ago.
All that seems like such a pivotal moment for you as a musician. Did your dad and those guys coming round change your life?
Oh yeah, pretty much. My dad used to say ‘get on with your studies, don’t give too much to the world of music’. I was never really an academic guy. I went to art school and he thought I was going to be a beatnik forever. He wasn’t too far wrong with that.
My initial thoughts were when I grew up, I was going to be in a garage somewhere in Paris, painting every day and cruising around in a bohemian fog at night. But the blues kicked in and I ended up playing that – long before the blues bloom hit. All the sudden my friends started talking about Eric Clapton and people like that. I’d listen to some of their records and I’d think well I’ve got some of that stuff that he’s been listening to and I’d bring the originals in to my friends.
You must have some crazy stories from back then of all the people you’ve had the pleasure to meet and play with.
I’ve got loads!
I was a steward when Chuck Berry was playing the Lanchester Polytechnique at the Art Fest. With my big afro, I had to stop the punters from going up to the ‘stars quarters’. Anyway, Chuck Berry and Billy Preston were on the same bill that night and they were looking down from back stage at Slade playing. Chuck Berry yells over to me ‘Hey man, come over here brother. What’s the name of this band?’ I said, ‘They’re called Slade.’ He says, ‘What? Can’t hear you.’ I said ‘Slade!’ He replies, ‘They damn well should be!’ It was great.
Another great story is when I met BB King. My friend had just bought this defunct cinema near Moseley as he wanted to transform it into a gig venue. He managed to get BB King to come and play. No one must have believed BB King was playing because about only 80 people filled this huge cinema building on the night. He played a brilliant show. I think Robert Plant was in the crowd. After the show, I got friendly with this sax player because by this time I was playing sax. BB King walks up and he said ‘Man I’m hungry. Is there anywhere I can get me some food?’ I asked him what he wanted and he replied, ‘I fancy some good ole fashioned, English fish and chips.’ So I took him to Lou the Greek’s fish and chip shop. He got mushy peas, curry sauce and pickled onions. He had this huge portion of fish and chips with everything else thrown on it. And then off he went. Seriously, can you imagine telling your mates that you just took BB King for fish and chips around the corner?
Do you think it was a case of right place, right time for you?
I think if I had been just that tiny bit older then I would have been really equipped to take part in things. Undeterred, I carried on. Now, I think the climate for the Blues is getting better. Whenever I play now, I get inundated with young and old wanting to know where they can hear some more of this stuff – which is good!
How do you feel about this moniker of being a Blues music legend – a patriarch of sorts certainly in your hometown of Birmingham?
Well, it’s funny. My reputation is largely founded on years of playing. I see my role as just to carry on and hopefully I’ve inspired people to do the same thing. The other day I was playing the Warwick Cavern and this young guy was playing there and I thought ‘wow, it must be great to start off playing with all this wonderful equipment!’ That wasn’t quite the way I started. Nevertheless, it is great to see that the blues is still alive and well in young hands as well as hands as old as mine.
Pure Evil featuring Steve Ajao and his band, The Blues Giants is available to download on iTunes and features twelve renditions of classic Blues songs often featured in Ajao’s live performances including Money’s Getting Cheaper and Hot Little Momma.
Still living in his native Birmingham, Ajao is often seen performing at venues such as the Rush Hour Jazz Club at the Symphony Hall and on Sunday nights at the Brown Lion Pub in Hockley, Birmingham.
