BALDWINSVILLE — Some 36 years ago, Greg Spencer applied a little bit of business sense to a whole lotta blues to create Blue Wave Records, Central New York’s most accomplished independent recording label. Now 64, Spencer still runs Blue Wave out of his office in the home he shares with his wife, Sue, on Perryville Road in Baldwinsville.
Releasing an average of one album for each year it has existed, Blue Wave’s catalog runs the gamut from legendary rockers such as Eric Burdon, Kim Simmonds, Cub Koda and Syracuse’s own Jimmy Cavallo to the cream of CNY’s blues crop, bands like Built for Comfort, Backbone Slip, Kim Lembo & Blue Heat, and, of course, The Kingsnakes.
Concert dedicated to Mark Gibson
For the past four years, Spencer has celebrated the holiday season by presenting the Great Salt City Blues Concert at the Palace Theater in Eastwood, an all-star revue of his label’s artists and other musicians with deep roots in the blues.
The Great Salt City Blues Concert 5 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 26, at the Palace, 2384 James St., in Eastwood.
“We’ll be paying tribute to six legendary artists, Albert King, Nina Simone, Jimmy Cavallo, Little Milton, King Biscuit Boy and the Reverend Gary Davis,” Spencer said.
The concert will be dedicated to the late Mark Gibson, who passed away Dec. 8, 2020, after contracting COVID-19.
“Gibson was a much-loved CNY musician who had performed at all four previous Great Salt City Blues Concerts,” Spencer said. “Mark’s smiling face will be greatly missed at this year’s concert, but his spirit and presence will be felt by all.”
More than 20 area entertainers will perform on Dec. 26, including Joe Whiting, Ronnie Leigh, Morris Tarbell, Jeff Stockham, Dave Liddy, Tas Cru, Mary Anne Casale, Rex and Irve Lyons, Rodney Zajac and Tom Townsley.
Tickets are limited to 400 and cost $30 in advance, and — if there are any unsold tickets — they will be available at the door for $40 cash only. Tickets are available online at brownpapertickets.com/event/5290086 and in-person at The Sound Garden in Armory Square.
For info, contact Greg Spencer at Blue Wave: 315-638-4286; gspencer57@verizon.net.
Behind Blue Wave
As an indie label owner over the years, Spencer had to be a jack of all trades. He coordinated the sessions, oversaw the track lists, commissioned the cover art, arranged for pressings, stocked the stores, filled the orders and kept the books.
All that busy-work had a purpose over and above making records. He wanted to share the sounds of Syracuse with the world.
“I didn’t want to be a record company,” Spencer said. “I wanted to be a stepping stone.”
The Kingsnakes and Blue Wave Record earned national attention when the band’s second LP, “Hard Life Boogie,” received a 39-word review in Billboard magazine.
“I got lucky,” Spencer said.
Other notices would follow in Living Blues, Goldmine, CD Review and Cadence magazines, and orders started pouring in from blues fans from around the globe.
Along the way, Blue Wave products and performers won several Syracuse Area Music Awards, and Spencer himself was inducted into the Sammys Hall of Fame in 2005.
