What do you get when you have a smoking blues band and a great venue? A great time.

            Vince DeFelice and the King Street Blues Band were the attraction at Ziggy’s, located on Kings Highway in Fairfield on May 6^th (which, by the way, is becoming one of our favorite places to frequent!)

Vince DeFelice is a seasoned musician, playing now for 30 years and heads up this band with vocals, harmonica and congas.  His band, King Street Blues,  is made up of seven to eight “revolving players”, and as of most recently, included in this mix is Vic Dias on drums, Peter Blossom on lead guitar, Joe Mayo on saxophone, Rich DeBritney on trumpet, John Zenella on bass and Chris Token on keyboards.  

            With roots “deep set in blues”, R&B, classic rock and funk, DeFelice “never wanted to listen to any artist too intensely because he didn’t want to become them”.  In characterizing his own style, “he listened with only half an ear”, all the while honing his own skills and personalizing his style-which has proved to be to his advantage.  DeFelice stated that, musically, he drew his inspiration from Eric Clapton and admired the vocal styling of Steve Perry, former lead singer of Journey. 

            DeFelice and the KSB opened up their first set with a saxophone charged, funky instrumental version of “Sissy Strut”, followed up with an original, “Stay” – a soulful, bluesy based song.  DeFelice, has experienced raspy vocals and nailed this tune.  Occasionally, DeFelice will bring guest artists aboard and for this particular gig, a solo artist from New Jersey by the name of Nicole Hart, took to the stage with a Susan Tedeschi fave, “Hurts so Bad”, followed up by “Willow Tree”.  Their first set blasted on with their version of James Brown’s “Cold Sweat” and “Oh Pretty Woman.” And that was just the beginning….

            A duet of Bonnie Raitt’s “Something to Talk About” opened up the second set and with that, DeFelice and Hart, pondered the audience, searching for some raw talent (!) which revved up this crowd.  The second set continued to rock on with crowd pleasing covers such as “Shaky Ground”, “Brown Sugar”, “Take Me to the River” and “Unity”.  With a wedding party now coming through the doors at Ziggy’s, DeFelice and the KSB, included the bride and groom in all of the hoopla.  

            Vince DeFelice and the Kings Street Blues would best be described as a deeply soulful, rocking, funk band which we thoroughly enjoyed and  would highly recommend.

           As for Ziggy’s, this venue is proving itself by continuing to host some of the hottest acts around.  The atmosphere is comfortable and fun, and it features a nice sized dance floor - perfect for shaking your tail after you have sampled a few of their great drinks.  Good food, great bands and fabulous drinks -  all of the ingredients for a fabulous night out.

Don’t miss Vince DeFelice and the King Street Blues at Ziggy’s in Fairfield, on Friday, May 26^th.   They will also be headlining the Italian Festival in Westport on July 8^th.