Susan Scott
	Michael Powers will bring his trio, and his new guitar, to Jazzbones on Saturday for a show featuring a mixed bag of jazz styles.

Synthesizer turns Michael Powers' custom-made guitar into orchestra

Rick Nelson; The News Tribune

Michael Powers is bringing his trio to Jazzbones on Saturday, but the talented musician sometimes seems like a one-man band.

That's because his custom-made guitar is set up to play through a synthesizer, which allows him to replicate sounds as varied as harmonica, saxophone, trumpet, steel drums and percussion.

"It's made things quite interesting," Powers said earlier this week. "I've become pretty adept at playing with the synthesizer."

The Seattle resident has been an adept guitarist for a long time. Tacoma fans may remember when he was a frequent visitor at Prosito's in the late '80s. In those days, Powers played a lot of straight-ahead blues. He has since moved on to a jazz emphasis, but said, "Blues is right at the core of what I do; always has been and will continue to be.

"My latest album is called 'Blues That You Can Use.' It's an organ trio-style record, all original music, and it covers all the different genres of blues, the bebop blues, swing blues, funky blues, Chicago style blues, the delta blues. It covers the whole map."

Powers' jazz credentials are impeccable, too. In late 2001, he was called on for a European tour featuring members of the legendary George Benson Quartet, organist "Dr." Lonnie Liston Smith and saxophonist Ronnie Cuber.

"That was out of the blue," Powers said. "It was sort of like I was filling George Benson's chair, and it was really exciting. We played all over, including Ronnie Scott's club in London. That's like a world mecca for jazz, and everybody came and hung out. It's an amazing place. Stevie Winwood came and played with us. Liza Minnelli sang with us. It was great."

In September, Powers had an experience that wasn't so exhilarating. All of his musical equipment was stolen.

"I didn't get any of it back," he said, "but I've got new equipment. It was a custom-built guitar, and I got another one built at Frameworks, a company in the Munich area in Germany. It's fabulous."

Powers just returned from headlining at a casino in Reno. Did he do anything different for the well-paying venue?

"No, we did what I do," Powers said, "my variety between relaxing jazz, funky jazz, bebop and blues. I just do what I do wherever I go."

That means an all-instrumental show. Powers doesn't sing, preferring "to make the guitar talk."

At Jazzbones, he will be backed by drummer Dave Austin and keyboardist Sandy Harvey.

"Sandy's from Tacoma," Powers said. "He grew up there. We're set up like an organ trio. Sandy uses a synthesizer to play organ sounds. He just doesn't want to haul an organ around."

"Blues That You Can Use" has been out for a couple years, and Powers is due for a new release.

"I've been gigging so much it's been hard to find the time," he said, "but I'm planning a DVD because I think seeing me play is an important part of enjoying my music, so I want to do visual things."

We can see him do "visual things" Saturday at Jazzbones after a 9:15 p.m. opening set by singer-songwriter Brenden Wires. The cover charge will be $10.

(Published 12:30AM, January 10th, 2003)