Review | Zito Marks the Blues Spot

These impressive factoids bear repeating: The Santa Barbara Blues Society (SBBS) proudly wears its badge as the oldest continuous blues society in the United States and is on the brink of its milestone 50th anniversary next year. During those decades of dutiful cultural service, the society has brought legendary and world class blues acts through our town, and, as of last week, it can cross another one off the list — the steamy fine veteran blues man Mike Zito, a superb guitarist and vocalist.

Zito and the band, featuring extra special guest Jimmy Vivino on guitar and some vocals, put on a powerful show in the Carrillo Recreation Center. As I came into the atmospheric old ballroom, longtime society leader and blues deejay Steve Daniels told me, “better be careful; this is the devil’s music. You might get infected.” He was correct, but it was the sweetest kind of infectiousness in the house that night. 

This date was made extra special by the presence and power of Vivino, best known for his work in Canned Heat and as bandleader of the Conan O’Brien show in the back when. Zito and Vivino — “brothers from another mother,” by their account — have a shared history, and Vivino now records for Zito’s label, Gulf Coast Records. They are fellow allies in the blues trenches with an obvious rapport, heard through several lick-swapping moments in the show. These were conversational encounters, less about any sense of a duel than proof of friendly duality.

Zito’s diverse Rec Center show, touching on varying shades of blues and blues-rock genres, spanned his own musical output, and ventured into such cover territory as Buddy Guy and a slow soulful rethink of Prince’s “Little Red Corvette.” The party started a driving and dirty shuffle with the title track from his latest album, Outside on the Eastside, and included the title song, a 12/8 blues lament, from his bold 2024 album Life is Hard. Other new material wove into the set, including “Don’t Take Advantage of Me” and “Kiss You All Over,” with a sneaky cool drum groove from gifted drummer Matthew Johnson.

Tapping a personal vein, Zito offered a song to his late wife Laura, with “Forever My Love,” with an intensifying testifying middle section somehow reminiscent of the Roy Buchanan tune “The Messiah Will Come Again.” Or maybe that’s just me, the rabid Roy fan.

Vivino had his spotlight moments in the mix, as when he dove into his new song “Ruby is Back,” from his first new album in 13 years, Gonna Be 2 Of Those Days. The music historian in him is at work here, with a tune paying homage to famed “Ruby” songs in the annals, from the Kenny Rogers classic “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” to the Leiber-Stoller standard “Ruby Baby,” turned harmonically luxurious and hip by Donald Fagen on his album The Nightfly. 

Sometimes, blues guitarists, even the very good ones, tend to lean into a stock vocabulary of blues riffs and phrases. Zito seems to have that vocabulary at the ready, but his solos reveal a probing and musical brain, seeking out new avenues and combinations. He also is keenly aware of texture, tone, and dynamics, squeezing out squealing overtones or beefy blasts to suit the thought or emotion in motion. 

Alive and fully in gear at 55, Zito is stoking the flames of a blues life deep in its roots and with sights on a promising future, which he alluded to in the show-closer “The Road Never Ends” (it just goes on and on). Santa Barbara has now officially been christened as another stop on said road map.

Judging from the ecstatic response of the crowd and the zeal of the musicians on stage, this may have been the first SBBS appearance, but it will not be the last.