What
makes Jeff Healey different from other blues-rockers is also what keeps
some listeners from accepting him as anything other than a novelty -- the
fact that the blind guitarist plays his Fender Stratocaster on his lap,
not standing up. With the guitar in his lap, Healey can make unique bends
and hammer-ons, making his licks different and more elastic than most of
the competition. Unfortunately, his material leans toward standard AOR
blues-rock, which rarely lets him cut loose, but when he does, his
instrumental prowess can be shocking.
Healey lost his
sight at the age of one, after developing eye cancer. He began playing
guitar when he was three years old and began performing with his band
Blues Direction at the age of 17. Healey formed the Jeff Healey Trio in
1985, adding bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen. The trio
released one single on their own Forte record label, which led to a
contract with Arista Records. The Jeff Healey Trio released their debut
album, See the Light, in 1988 and the guitarist immediately developed a
devoted following in blues-rock circles. Featuring the hit single
"Angel Eyes," the record went platinum in the U.S. While the
Jeff Healey Trio's subsequent records have been popular, none have been as
successful as the debut.
As the 21st century dawned, Healey began to change his direction. He
taught himself to play the trumpet and began to lean to the kind of
traditional 1920s and 1930s jazz that had always fascinated him. He
released two classic jazz albums, 2002's Among Friends and 2004's
Adventures in Jazzland, on his own HealeyOphonic label, and while he
continued to do some shows in his old blues-rock style, he increasingly
gigged with his jazz combo, the Jazz Wizards. His first album of jazz to
see wide release was It's Tight Like That, which appeared on Stony Plain
in 2006. Healey continued in the traditional jazz idiom for both Among
Friends and Adventures in Jazzland, released in 2007 on HealeyOphonic. ~
Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Al Campbell, A
