Blues Afternoon, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, George Square Spiegeltent

The best value events of the festival offer up three different blues acts in three hours in the humid atmosphere of the Spiegeltent.  And a chance to stand up and have a welcome stretch and some air every hour!  This was the first of the four that take place on each Saturday and Sunday of the ten day festival period.  The idea is that the quality improves with each act, so the opener sets a standard for what's to follow, and up first today was...

BABY ISAAC

Longstanding stalwarts of the Scottish blues scene, the Fifers are a good cut above your average pub band standard and an ideal starter act for the show.  They're a five piece band with drums, double bass, guitar and harmonica, fronted by Angela Moore on vocals, and serve up conventional blues-rock with no gimmicks or frills.  A solid rhythm section, decent enough harmonica, and a guitarist who got better as the set went on.  Good rocking stuff, with the best bit being Moore's classic bluesy voice with a rough edge to the tone and good phrasing.  She's an excellent front woman too, keeping the intros short, with the odd joke thrown in, and concentrating on the music.  Forty five minutes of Baby I had the audience warmed up in more ways than one.

STACY MITCHHART

So we had a strong opening act, but the step up in quality was clearly a big one when the Nashvillian made his entrance.  Coming in from the back of the audience playing his 3 string cigar box guitar, engaging with the crowd, he quickly established himself as a special talent and a real entertainer.  Singing a mix of classics and his own songs, with acoustic and steel guitars on hand, his 50 minute set flew by.

Mitchhart's got a good voice, with some pleasing individuality to the phrasing,but it's his guitar work that marks him out as exceptional.  Full of unexpected transitions and arpeggios, imaginative and frequently fun too, he's a joy to listen to.  His final song, a cover of the Beatles' Come Together, showcased his ability to transform the familiar.  Add in a great sense of humour - imbued into many of his lyrics, such as the one suggesting he wanted to marry his mother in law - and Stacy is a man to leave an audience wanting more.  Definitely worth seeing.

IAN SIEGAL BAND

Whether or not the final act was a step up in quality from Mitchhart is debatable, but it certainly upped the volume and energy levels.  Backed by a young trio on drums, bass and guitar, Siegal initially comes across like an ageing wide-boy, but has the talent to more than back up the image.  his songs have decent lyrics and melodies, but it's his gruff voice and guitar work that mark the performance, especially playing slide at which he excels.  Sharing the lead guitar work Dutchman Dusty Ciggaar impressed with his solos, and some agonised facial expressions(!).

It was shame that Ciggaar and Siegal both suffered a few tech problems during the performance, but they did well to keep it all together and kept the music coming.  A strong rocking performance to end the show.

With each set only 45 to 50 mins the artists kept chat to a minimum, letting the music do the work, but both Mitchhart and Siegal each managed a piece of entertaining storytelling that suggested they could have done more given more time.  But Blues Afternoon is a showcase for variety in blues music, and delivers.