Blues Harmonica Legend Sugar Blue Comes to Blue Note, Nov 4-5

A legend of the blues returns to Beijing this weekend, when Sugar Blue comes to Blue Note to play blues harmonica for two nights only.

Born Joshua Whiting, Grammy-award-winning Sugar Blue’s career spans well over 50 years, with the harmonica maestro having made music all over the world and played with all kinds of artists from the Rolling Stones (most famously) and Eric Clapton to Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy.

We caught up with Sugar Blue to talk about how cities influence his music, his first time hearing “Miss You” on the radio, and more ahead of the upcoming shows.

When was the last time you were in the capital and how does it feel to be coming back to Beijing?
It’s been far too long since I’ve been in that beautiful city and I can’t wait to return. To say that I’m excited would be an understatement!
 
Growing up in New York, you were exposed to music at an early age. What and who influenced you early on?
Music was a solace in my youth as it is today. Music was always there, on the radio or the record player and in the lullabies my mother sang to us before we slept. My mom and my stepdad were always listening to music which had a great impact on me as well as going to the Apollo Theater down the street from our apartment building. Those were wonderful times, we went to see Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Big Maybelle, King Curtis and many more.
 
You grew up in New York, spent time in Paris, and you’ve toured other cities the world over. Beyond people, how have cities played a role in your music, especially with your most recent studio album Colors?
New York, Paris, Germany, Zurich, Aberdeen, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Shanghai are just places on the map. It was the people I met in these beautiful cities that made the journeys meaningful! Though, I must say that the architecture and culture I experienced on my travels have had a profound and lasting impact on my life and creative process. I co-wrote a song called "Shanghai Sunset" that came to be as I strolled through the streets of the Bund one evening, Shanghai is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Now you’ve been asked time and time again about your stint with the Rolling Stones, but how did it come to be, especially the riff on “Miss You”?
The legend has it that I met Jagger in the Metropolitan (subway) in Paris while I was busking there. Let’s go with that story, shall we? The signature riff was contrived by the brilliant keyboard player Billy Preston I believe, Jagger sang an approximation of it and I followed suit. It was as the British say, a smasher!
 
What sort of feeling do you get, if any, when “Miss You" comes on when you’re listening to the radio or in public?
I remember hearing “Miss You” on the radio in Harlem when it first came out. I was hanging with my brother who said hey, dig that harmonica playing in that song, I wonder who’s playing, he’s pretty good! I laughed out loud and told him that’s me Greg, he didn’t believe me! I knew it was going to be a big hit if it was playing everywhere in my old neighborhood where few people knew about the Stones.
 
How was it to win a Grammy for your music? Do you consider it your crowning achievement or is there something more than that?
I remember getting a letter from the Grammy Awards organization saying that I was up for a Grammy award. I didn’t pay it any attention and put the letter in a drawer and forgot about it thinking it would never happen and went on about my life. When I was notified that we had won I was incredulous, when it was presented at the Chicago Blues Festival main stage it was euphoric!!
 
What can we expect at this upcoming Blue Note gig?
I will as Albert King said so beautifully, “I’ll play the Blues for you!”
 
Beyond the concert itself, are there any blues or jazz spots you’ll be visiting on your return trip (if you have time)?
I would love to see a traditional Chinese Opera if possible. I love the music of traditional Chinese instruments, I had the pleasure to meet and play with Wu Tong the great musician who plays the Sheng which is the forebearer of the harmonica and many other free swinging reed instruments.

Is there any advice you might have for any folks in Beijing (or anywhere in the world, for that matter) who are looking to play blues or music in general?
If you love the Blues or any of its progenies I think you should above all approach it as a musicologist. Take a deep dive into the origins of the music and the history of its creators. Become as familiar as possible with the stories and lives of the progenitors that gave birth to the genre. If you want to be able to play the music you must first understand it, where it came from, who made it, why they made it and how it came to be.

If you immerse yourself in these things then you will be able to understand it, and learn to play it with a basis in its authenticity and a profound knowledge of what you aspire to do! Then you won’t be just echoing sounds that you’ve heard on old records and tapes. If you want to play the Blues you have to live them, ‘cause as the Poet Laureate of the Blues, the great Willie Dixon said, “The Blues are the roots the rest are the fruits!”

“Live the life you love and love the life you live!” That goes for any and all genres of music from Mozart to Robert Johnson to Chuck Berry in my opinion.

Sugar Blue will be playing Blue Note Beijing on Saturday, Nov 4 and Sunday, Nov 5. Doors open at 6.30pm and show begins at 8pm. Tickets are RMB 320 per person and can be purchased by scanning the QR code in the poster.

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Images courtesy of Sugar Blue, MusicDish*China