Back when they were kids, sax and harp player Scott Hamilton and guitarist Fred Bates started a blues band called Hamilton-Bates Blue Flames, with Preston Hubbard on bass and Chuck Riggs on drums.

Scott went on to become a world-famous tenor sax player, living in London and touring in Europe, where jazz thrives. Friday night he'll be at Chan's in Woonsocket, reuniting with his high-school friend Fred (and backed by Marshall Wood, Jim Gwinn and Paul Schmeling) for two shows: 8 p.m. $20, 10 p.m. $15, both $24.

You can see some photos of the Blue Flames in this autobiographical section at Preston Hubbard's site. (They've all played with Duke Robillard -- Preston went from Roomful of Blues to The Fabulous Thunderbirds.)

YouTube has a 1977 TV clip of Scott at 22 fronting a Toronto band, and you might want to watch it before you check out what's below, shot nearly 30 years later.

The Scott Hamilton Quintet perform Fats Waller's The Jitterbug Waltz.
filmed by Paul Hubbard at The Hi-Hat, Providence (undated, but recent)
featuring Paul Schmeling on piano; Marshall Wood on bass; Jon Wheatley on guitar; and Blue Flames original Chuck Riggs, heard on many Hamilton albums, as well as alongside Harry Allen in Manhattan.