The life of Jimi Vincent is intertwined with music. When he was five, he played his first show. When he was seven, he started playing lead guitar for his father’s, James Paul Smith, country band. By age twelve, he had his own band. “I’ve been on my own ever since,” he said. His full name is James Vincent Smith, but he changed his stage name to Jimi Vincent to avoid confusion with the keyboardist Jimmy Smith.
Vincent lives in Savannah, Ohio but plays the blues all over the map with The Jimi Vincent Band. He is well known in Mansfield for his four piece band, which includes his son, Dustin Smith, who plays the drums. Steve Calabria plays bass, and Mike Consentino plays keys. Vincent plays lead guitar.
Last year in March, Vincent experienced some health troubles and has scaled back performances since. Currently he plays with his bassist in an acoustic duo called Two Trains Running. The duo will perform at China Club in Mansfield on Friday night, Valentine’s Day. They will hit the stage at 9:30 and play until 11 p.m.
“I’m a true blues man; I stick to what I’m doing,” said Vincent.
When asked to explain what he means by “true blues,” Calabria, the bassist, chimed in. He explained it as a feeling with a lot of heart and soul.
“It’s a feeling. It’s not a technical thing; it’s not a comparative thing. The thing about the blues is you can immediately pick out the faker. You can tell when it’s genuine or not,” said Calabria.
“And that’s what I like about it. The honesty and the heartfelt [attitude],” said Vincent.
Calabria lives in Wooster and plays in a blue trio band called Stick People. His friendship toward Vincent has grown since they first ran into each other at shows. Whenever they played together, according to the two, they were always on fire and the chemistry always felt right. One day, Vincent needed a bassist, so he asked Calabria to join.
Calabria has played bass since he was a teenager. His story is common of most bass players, he said. “Someone always needs a bass player,” he said with a smile. He used to be in a band based out of New York and they were signed to International Record Syndicate (I.R.S.) Records, the same label The Police and Sting signed to. Unfortunately, plans to record an album with the band fell through. He has played bass for numerous band since then.
“[Blues] is not a big money thing,” he said.
As an original band, they stay true to their own blues sound but are inspired by many artists who have striven for the same thing. The band’s influences include BB King, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Tommy Castro and Robert Cray – to name a few.
Vincent had an early start with song writing. He does all of the lyrical writing for the band. When he gets an idea, he puts all of him into getting the lyrics just right. He is working on a new song that captures the “prison break” concept.
“I spent all weekend where I practice and watched old movies on prison breaks and sat and listened to old negro singing while they’re cutting down trees or working in the fields. I’m trying to get my whole body into this something that I don’t have a clue what I’m writing about,” he said.
Vincent said he does not have a system or protocol on writing songs. “It’s just something I really like to do. I don’t have a ‘this is how I’m going to write a song’ kind of thing,” he said.
The Jimi Vincent Band is currently working on two albums. They have eight tunes recorded and more written, but did not disclose a release date for either album. Vincent is focused on getting healthy, so in the meantime he continues to play with Calabria at venues in Ohio as Two Trains Running.
On Friday, Jimi Vincent and Calabria will play at China Club in Mansfield. For more information, pictures and tour dates on Jimi Vincent, visit his website or read his profile on the Mansfield Music Hall of Fame.
To sample or download the band’s music, just click on one of the albums to find the individual songs at http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TheJimiVincentBand.
