Blues jewel

Saffire succeed in a man's world

by Don Fluckinger

Men govern the blues world. They rule the stage, from old stalwarts like B.B. King and Buddy Guy to younger firebrands too countless to name. They're in charge of the labels and they manage artists.

This is the case at Alligator Records in Chicago, where headmaster Bruce Iglauer helped sustain the careers of blues heroes like Buddy Guy, Son Seals, and Lonnie Brooks over the years. Sweaty, electric-guitar-toting men known for searing solos that blast from piles of speakers, a heavy, masculine sound. Sure, Katie Webster and Koko Taylor are on the label, but they sing tough songs men can relate to like "Two Fisted Mama" and "Love You like a Woman (But I'm Gonna Fight You Like a Man)."

So how in the world do an acoustic blues group like Saffire -- three middle-aged women whose music features distinctly women-oriented lyrics -- bag a contract? By sending in a demo tape. A raw, ragged, demo tape of a group who needed some practice but who showed an unmistakable wit, a musical talent, and a devotion to the blues.

"That tape would have been just a demo tape we made in somebody's basement with one microphone," says vocalist and piano player Ann Rabson who, like the others, quit her day job to play in Saffire. "Bruce wrote back and actually analyzed it -- in a not particularly favorable light, I might add. But he did say, `Next time you make something, please send it to me.'"

The group had sent the tape to many labels, and Alligator was the only one that saw fit to respond. Iglauer enjoyed Saffire's lyrics, perfect harmonies, and the smooth acoustic sound supplied by Rabson and colead vocalist/guitarist/harmonica player Gaye Adegbalola (current bassist Andra Faye McIntosh joined the band as they recorded their third album, Broad Casting).

Two demo tapes later, they were in the studio and had hired a producer. He, along with Iglauer's girlfriend, persuaded Iglauer to release the group's album on Alligator.

"He took a chance -- I realize now that he thought he was doing this as charity," Rabson says, then corrects herself, "not as charity, but as a socially correct thing to do. He expected not to sell very much."

It turned out to be a smart move from a business point of view. After five Saffire CDs and a Rabson solo recording, the group, who perform next Thursday at the Iron Horse, are sharp in sound and even sharper in wit; and they are popular with multiple audiences: blues fans and women (not always mutually exclusive), as well as jazz lovers and even folkies. At first mention, the folkie following Saffire attract seems unusual. But upon further consideration, it makes perfect sense.

First off, they take blues music and twist traditional themes in pithy ways. Take, for instance, the song "I Lost My Baby to Another Man" from the newest Saffire CD, Cleaning House. Sung by a man, the song laments a cheatin' woman running off with a boyfriend. Sung by a woman who's lost her man to another . . . man, its message is like that of no other blues song ever recorded. In "Hungry Woman's Blues," Adegbalola puts a twist on the staple blues theme of the bottomless sexual appetite: "I'm a hungry woman, feed me like I like to be fed/Yeah, you can feed my body/ But you really got to feed my head." And then there's "I Want My Money Back," in which Saffire metaphorically compare a lover to a garment that has shrunk and faded after too few washings -- so, naturally, they're demanding a refund. Sassy and not inclined to rely on standard blues posturing, the group play new and traditional licks, some dating back to the 1920s.

The diverse backgrounds and influences of the members help keep each Saffire varied within the blues idiom. Originally a guitar player and singer, Rabson (a quick study who picked up both computer programming and boogie-woogie piano playing after graduating from high school in tiny Yellow Springs, Ohio) is influenced by the likes of Little Richard, Jimmy Yancey, and Big Bill Broonzy. Adegbalola, who holds a master's degree in bacteriology, was raised in the segregated South listening to her father's organ jazz trio. McIntosh, who also plays mandolin and fiddle, was influenced by fellow Hoosier Yank Rachell.

Appealing to the folk crowd wasn't -- and still isn't -- Saffire's primary concern, though they attract fans from that corner of the music world. Blues, after all, is an important form of American folk music.

"We are not playing what is now called folk music," Rabson says. "Thirty years ago it would have been called folk music, but now folk music, oddly enough, seems to me to be less-traditional than what we're doing. We don't write all of our songs, we write some of our songs. We also play covers of much older material. To the folk world we're similar, but not the same . . . kind of an exotic flower."

Saffire play at the Iron Horse, in Northampton, at 7 p.m. on December 11. Tickets are $12.50 in advance, $15 at the door. Call (413) 584-0610.