Although his name is not being mentioned among the headliners for this weekend Jamaica jazz and blues festival, Jimmy Graham, is perhaps the only authentic exponent of the blues slated for the main stage.

The purists over the years, often expressed disappointment that this international music festival has not lived up to its name, in that it hardly feature any real jazz performers, and even to a lesser extent blues presentations.

Be that as it may, this year’s staging of the event which started in 1996, will include at least one blues act. That is the Franklin Town-born singer, guitarist/pianist who moved to the USA at 12 years of age. He will represent the blues’ genre to which he was attracted at a tender age before he left Jamaica almost 50 years ago.

“The blues is my genre,” Graham told the Observer. Promising that he is going to make a difference this time around, the musician with long flowing locks who describes himself as “The Blusic Man”, explained. “The blues was instilled in me at a very early age before I left Jamaica. It was heard all around in our house.”

Growing up in Los Angeles where he experienced the blues first hand, the entertainer who changed his named from Junior to his farther’s name Jimmy because it sounds more appropriate, once featured in the Broadway production, The Rock Opera. This was after he recorded an album with Carl Peterson. He performed with numerous international stars including Janet Jackson and Wilson Pickett. In time he recorded and released a live album in Japan titled Jimmy Graham’s Blusic Project. And is presently working on another album in Japan where he has been living for the past 24 years, also to be called Dues, Booze and Blues.

Although he straddles the blues idiom, the Brushy One String look-a-like who also plays drum, bass and trumpet, is no stranger to reggae music. He played with the Wailers, Peter Tosh, Pablo Moses and toured Africa with Black Uhuru.

Graham who sees himself as ‘the only true Jamaican born blues man,’ is in Jamaica at this time not only for the Jazz and Blues Festival, but for some other reasons, among which is homesickness.

“I was getting homesick and I ran out of places I wanted to go. I had to come back home and I would like to come back home more often,” was the first reason he gave.

Then came the big one. “I got married on November 27, 2010, on Jimi Hendrix’s birthday.” James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix was an American guitarist/ singer-songwriter.

“She (my wife) will be here to see me perform on the Jazz and Blues Friday night which will be a great honour for me. They have given me a 25-minute set and I am going to make it memorable. Is not the length of time y’know, is what you say at that moment,” oozed Graham who did his first concert in Jamaica (appropriately so) on the eve of his wedding (November 26,2010) at the popular Redbones Blues Cafe.

Since here he has so far initiated what he disclosed as his dream project which will see him blending the blues with reggae. “I started some recordings at different studios with some of Jamaica’s greatest producers, Clive Hunt and Computer Paul. I am going to fuse the blues with reggae. It’s a dream of mine for many years to put them together,” revealed Jimmy Graham who will also be appearing at Redbones once per month.