John Hammond, Continental Club, Saturday 17

John Hammond

Continental Club, Saturday 17

John Hammond took the stage at the Continental Club with familiar company: bassist Larry Taylor and drummer Stephen Hodges from Tom Waits' band, guitarist Frank Carillo, and the one and only Augie Meyers on keyboards and accordion. Taylor, Hodges, and Meyers' presence was eminently appropriate, since all three perform on Hammond's essential new album, Wicked Grin, a tribute to Waits' music. The real tribute was Hammond himself, who took Waits' distinctive sound and imbued it with his own trademark Delta blues, rendering it with a rustic grace that never once made you miss the gravelly originals. His performance of Waits' music was reverent without being slavish, like square-cutting a diamond instead of the standard round cut. The Continental was packed with the faithful for this showcase; the audience swayed and clapped, swooned and cheered as the songs rolled like lucky sevens: "2:19," "Heart Attack & Vine," "Clap Hands," "Till the Money Runs Out," "16 Shells From a Thirty-Ought Six," "Buzz Fledderjohn," and the set-ending "Jockey Full of Bourbon." That, not coincidentally, is the order in which they appear on the album, except that Hammond jumped from "Buzz" to "Jockey," due to time constraints that left the audience roaring for more. They had to make do with a quick 40 minutes of precision performance by musicians who exemplify professionalism in a world of MTV expectations. Hodges' orchestra-sized bass drum gave Hammond's deft guitar a dark, hollow sound that was as effective as it was menacing, and Taylor's bass playing was like a Bourbon Street jazzman's, smoky and loping, and complemented by Carillo's sly guitar. But Hammond's wisest choice was adding Augie Meyers to not only the album but the touring band as well. Meyers' immense talent was always at its sharpest with the late Doug Sahm, and Hammond is just as formidable a musical foil for the keyboardist's genuinely unique style. The son of legendary CBS producer John Hammond Sr., the younger Hammond has impeccable credentials that were on full display in this resounding performance. Now that's a tribute.