Every year in late May, between the cherry blossoms and the rainy season, the Japan Blues Carnival packs the Hibiya Outdoor Theater with an afternoon and evening's worth of blues. This year the festival will feature Ike Turner, returning to the stage after a long absence, and Louisiana slide guitarist Sonny Landreth.
In the '50s, Ike Turner's tremolo-laden, whammy-bar technique on electric guitar was widely imitated and long before his Soul Revue with Tina Turner, he recorded widely as a guitarist at Sun Records, later leading The Kings of Rhythm, a seminal R&B band. With Tina, he recorded hit after hit through the '60s, including the classic "River Deep, Mountain High." In the mid-'70s, his career went into a tailspin. Tina divorced him amid public allegations of abuse. When he and Tina were to be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, Ike couldn't attend the ceremony because he was serving time for drug-related crimes. After his release, though, he returned to performing. Two years ago, he released "Here and Now," a return to his blues guitar roots, and earlier this year, we got "The Resurrection," a live recording of his scorching set at last summer's Montreux Jazz Festival.
Also high on the roster is Sonny Landreth, a slide guitarist's slide guitarist. His work has graced countless recordings -- that's him driving the band forward on John Hiatt's best work, racing neck and neck with Mark Knopfler on "Golden Heart" and funkifying Dr. John's "Creole Moon." Recently, though, he leads his own band with his impressive and deeply passionate guitar-playing out front. He's also an excellent composer. "Congo Square" from 1995's "South of I-10" has already become a Crescent City classic. His most recent CD, "The Road We're On," has a harder edge than much of his past work, but keeps the New Orleans' rhythms under his soaring guitar lines.