Blues flow through heart of America

Like the languid flow of the great Mississippi River, the blues flows through the heart and soul of American music.

In The Evolution of the Blues, the Colin Ross Band follows the course of the blues from old time stride and boogie to contemporary musical fusion.

The concert plays at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall and is cosponsored by the Mile High Jazz Band Association.

The Evolution of Blues developed from Ross' own collection of music and in-depth studies of traditional American artists. The concert is not intended to be a historical presentation, he said, but a look at the influence of blues and Americana on other musical styles.

"The main element is all the different music," Ross said Tuesday in a phone interview. "What they have in common is blues. It's a concert of blues-influenced music."

The Colin Ross Band features Jerry Spikula on bass, Bryan Jenkins on the drums, Mig O'Hara on vocals and guitar, and Colin Ross on keyboards, guitars, vocals, various folk instruments, and other percussion noisemakers.

The Evolution of Blues avoids musical tracks of other artists, Ross said. He and his band play the traditional music with their own, unique slant. It's a mixture of standard American music from the '20s through early '40s, "mixed with our own original material influenced by that period."

"Rather than copying other artists, this is our own living versions of this music," Ross said. "There are quite a lot of musical varieties. A lot of musical varieties," he emphasized.

"It's a good rich mine of styles and American tradition."

Ross has been playing professionally for 31 years. After the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, he moved to Northern Nevada to "have a bit of piece and quiet." He played in casinos for awhile. In the last few years he has served residencies and toured schools. He plays as an artist in residence for Renown Hospital in Reno.

Evolution of Blues is partly funded by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council. Besides the Saturday concert at the Brewery, Ross also will demonstrate the musical influences of the blues this week at Carson City schools. Today, Ross will work with the band at Seeliger Elementary School and conduct an assembly at Fritch Elementary.

On Friday, he's at Bordewich Bray Elementary and Eagle Valley Middle School.

"I go in and bring in a bunch of different instruments in fairly quick succession," he said. "I don't talk a lot. I try to keep the playing and pace real fast."

Instruments for the school programs include various kinds of guitars, such as the 12-string, electric, acoustic, slide guitar, mandolin and octave mandolin; a family of recorders and lots of hand percussion instruments.

In smaller groups, Ross passes out percussion instruments for the students to play and experiment with the dynamics of the various styles of music. In band classes, Ross goes into music theory and teaches easy to learn songs from the blues genre such as "It Don't Mean a Thing," "Blue Skies," and "I Got Rhythm."

Whether in schools or on stage, Colin Ross and his band draw on a deep repertoire of musical styles and traditional instruments, ensuring no two presentations are the same.

According to Ross, "from its earliest roots to contemporary musical fusion, the blues is the common thread in American music."