Blues for St. Joe

“Life without you, all the love you passed my way / The angels have waited for so long, now they have their way / Take your place.” —Stevie Ray Vaughan, “Life Without You.”

Comfort comes in community. And, in the blues world, it abounds. It is the very essence of blues music—an emotional dynamic, it moves us from sorrow into joy.

So this Saturday night, February 15, at the Crest Theatre, expect tears and laughter; expect powerful, healing, cathartic music. Expect to be mightily moved. An all-star Sacramento community of musicians and fans will gather together in “A Benefit for Joe,” a celebration of the life of Joe Murazzo, the dynamic drummer for Mick Martin & the Blues Rockers.

Murazzo, 48, suffered a sudden massive heart attack onstage at the Crest on January 13. He is survived by his wife, Annamarie, and two young daughters. All proceeds from the show will benefit his family.

Set to play with Martin and the Blues Rockers are Norton Buffalo & the Knockouts, Terry Hanck & the Soul Rockers, Sal Valentino and Stoneground. Steve Price, the drummer from Stoneground who later played with Pablo Cruise, will take over Murazzo’s seat.

“The band called him ‘St. Joe,’” Ron Stone, the director of Wahoo Productions, says. Stone’s company is the event’s co-presenter, with Capital Public Radio. “They honestly felt that he was the resurrection of that band.”

For singer/harp player Mick Martin, host of the popular “Blues Party” radio show on KXJZ, the loss of his friend and colleague reveals the huge impact Murazzo had. “When Joe joined our band,” Martin recalls, “it was Valentine’s Day, 2000. Even though we’d been on good blues labels, toured Europe and won acclaim, we were struggling—pretty much close to breaking up. It was Joe who really pulled us together. We had a definite need for somebody to come along and heal us and make us feel good about what we did. And that’s what Joe did.”

In a world where precious few bands reach their vision of universal fame, Murazzo, a man that rock producer Paul Rothchild (the Doors, Janis Joplin, Paul Butterfield) once described as having “a right foot that defies description,” had reached an even deeper, more universal truth—the pure love of playing, especially for an audience that loved him right back. Martin is clear on this. “He had no illusions about what it was we were doing: playing music to entertain people,” Martin says. “He took away a lot of our fame angst just by being the guy who said ‘Hey, let’s PLAY!!!’ He said, ‘You’ve got a huge following of people in Sacramento—what more do you want? These people are your friends—they care about you and your music—why go on the road and live in motels?’ He’d been there, done that, with all the touring bands he’d been in over the years. He taught us a big lesson that we do have something very special going here in Sacramento and to appreciate it. His philosophy of ‘We’re in the business of playing music, not the music business,’ is even more of a mantra to us now.”

It goes without saying that Martin and the band are still stunned, still sorting themselves out. How do you “hit the note” again when your comrade has fallen? But with the benefit coming up, Martin’s had a realization of sorts. “We got more reason than ever to play and keep going,” he says. “We’ve been humbled by the amount of support that we’ve gotten.” Along with the performers, the donors include the Crest, Loud Sound of Sacramento, the Sacramento Heritage Festival, the Sacramento Blues Society, the Sierra Blues Society and many more.

“Now, in a way, we feel like we are carrying on for what Joe did for us,” Martin, in a quiet voice, concludes. “We want to keep passing that on to everybody else, you know?”