Back when Arthur Migliazza had hair and Tom Walbank's hair had only hints of grey, the Tucson blues musicians took their act to Memphis and made it to the finals of the 2010 International Blues Challenge.
On Saturday, Oct. 26, they will reunite — Migliazza with a goatee and no hair, Walbank with salt getting the better of the pepper in his still thick hair — for the Blues Heritage Festival at Kennedy Park.
“It’s going to be fun,” Migliazza, 44, said from home in Rhode Island, where he moved a year ago from New York with his wife and two young children. “I’m assuming it’s going to be like I just saw him yesterday.”
The duo join a lineup that includes the critically acclaimed young Brazilian blues guitarist Artur Menezes headlining with SoCal blues guitarist/singer Laurie Morvan and her namesake band opening.
Brazilian blues guitarist Artur Menezes headlines the 2024 Blues Heritage Festival on Saturday, Oct. 26.
This is the 39th blues festival, 20 of which were presented by the Southern Arizona Blues Heritage Foundation. The group took over the festival in 2003 after its founder, the Tucson Blues Society, disbanded.
Past events have been held at Rillito Downs, Reid Park and Oro Valley’s Steam Pump Ranch. This year it’s being held at Kennedy Park, where blues foundation President Rita Flattley said she hopes it will be held for years to come.
“I think it’s a really beautiful facility. It’s really well laid out. It’s perfect for musical events,” she said. “I want it to be our new forever home.”
It was Flattley’s idea to bring back together boogie woogie pianist Migliazza, who grew up in Tucson and left town a dozen or so years ago, and harmonica whiz Walbank. She also was behind the pair’s 2010 trip to Memphis.
The blues foundation back then hosted a battle of the bands contest and Flattley, who has been involved in the group nearly since its founding, proposed adding a competition for duos or soloists.
Walbank and Migliazza, who started playing together after a chance meeting in 2003, entered as a duo and won.
The band winner that year was the Bryan Dean Trio, which also went to the international competition and is on Saturday’s lineup.
Bryan Dean and his namesake trio are on the lineup for Saturday's blues festival.
“We’re bringing back both bands that were winners in 2010 who we raised funds to send to Memphis because we wanted the world to see how great our musicians are,” Flattley said.
The trio is in the afternoon slot ahead of Tucson blues band The Porch Rockers.
Tucson blues band Porch Rockers, from left, Larry Lee Lerma, Mike Blommer, Steven Michael Jonas and Justin Donaldson.
Saturday’s festival runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Kennedy Park, 33576 S. La Cholla Blvd. Tickets are $25 in advance through azblues.org/blues-heritage-festival-2024, or $30 at the gate; 18 and under are free.
The lineup:
The Laurie Morvan Band opens for Blues Heritage Festival headliner Artur Menezes, a Brazilian blues guitarist.
- 11 a.m., young artists from Tucson’s School of Rock
- 11:45, Eric Ramsey
- 12:45 p.m., Arthur Migliazza and Tom Walbank
- 1:45, Bryan Dean Trio
- 2:45, The Porch Rockers
- 3:45, Laurie Morvan Band
- 5:30, Artur Menezes
Phoenix Americana/blues singer Eric Ramsey is on Saturday's lineup.
Grammy-winning soprano Angel Blue performed a recital with Arizona Opera as part of the 2023 Tucson Desert Song Festival
