Fri 7/10 @ 7:30PM
Few Cleveland-based musicians were as well known worldwide as Robert Lockwood Jr., the blues guitarist/vocalist who died in 2006 at the age of 91. Born in Arkansas in 1915, he was schooled by some of the founding fathers of the blues including the legendary Robert Johnson.
He landed in Cleveland in 1960 and never left, making it his base for his extensive recording and performing career, which took him to all the major blues festivals. He continued playing regularly, including in area clubs, until shortly before he died.
Since he would have been 100 in March, this is a year for the blues community to celebrate. Among those doing so is the Tri-C JazzFest, which will host a centennial tribute at PlayhouseSquare’s Ohio Theatre. It features New Orleans blues/jazz/soul singer-guitarist Walter “Wolfman” Washington, a young whippersnapper compared to Lockwood — he’s only 72 now. But, much as Lockwood added his own distinctively urban spin to the blues he learned in rural Arkansas, so Washington shows that the blues can still expand its reach.
Tickets are $25-$32.
tri-c.edu/tri-c_jazzfest_centennial_tribute_to_robert_lockwood_jr
Cleveland, OH 44115