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George Tyrogalas
Editing by:
Ken Kingsbury
2008 Poster:
2006 PERFORMERS
Celebrate the blues this year down by the San Francisco Bay at the world's oldest blues festival, September 23-24. Held on the green at Fort Mason's Great Meadow and framed by the stunning backdrop of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay, the Festival will celebrate its 33rd year with an all-star lineup of some of the best blues performers in the world.
West Coast Harmonica Jump
The MoFo Party Band has been traveling on Highway 99 across the central valley farmlands to Stockton and Modesto and the Bay Area since forming in Fresno in 1989. Performing over 150 shows a year, with occasional performances in Bakersfield, Los Angeles and Texas, the MoFo's have become one of the best blues ensembles to emerge from Fresno. Fresno and the central valley has been blues country since WWII, when pianist Mercy Dee Walton, who wrote the blues classic "One Room Country Shack," settled there after leaving Texas. Walton played in numerous roadhouses that dotted Highway 99, and soon after others followed, making the trip from L.A. to Bakersfield, Fresno, Stockton, Modesto, Oakland and San Francisco. Performers like Lowell Fulson, Pee Wee Crayton, Boyd Gilmore, L.C. Robinson, Jimmy McCracklin and Sonny Rhodes all traveled the famed California blues highway. The MoFo's have joined this legacy.
Known for their energetic performances and strong liking for old-school Chicago blues and West Coast jump, the MoFo's have developed a strong and loyal fan base, selling out most of their performances. Headed by the Clifton brothers, John and Bill, two former San Joaquin well diggers, MoFo's have recorded five impressive harmonica blues CDs.
Harmonica player and vocalist Chicago Bob Nelson was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana and got his nickname "Chicago Bob" from Muddy Waters. Nelson played harmonica in Chicago for many years, performing with Howlin' Wolf and Johnny Shines, as well as touring with John Lee Hooker. He learned harp as a young man from blues legends Big Walter Horton and Jr. Wells, while performing in the clubs on the southside of Chicago, where so many blues men earned their talent in the 1950s and '60s. He later co-founded the Heartfixers with guitarist Tinsley Ellis in the early 1980s. They were considered o be one of the most popular blues acts performing in the south at that time. His newest release, "Flying High," has been released on 95 North Records.
Pianist Dave Maxwell began his career in Boston, where he was tutored by Muddy Waters' great, pianist Otis Spann, in the mid 1960s. Influenced by such piano legends as Big Maceo, Memphis Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Champion Jack Dupree, Sunnyland Slim and afore-mentioned Otis Spann, Maxwell backed Freddie King for several years in the early 1970s. He also backed Bonnie Raitt from 1974-75, when she was working out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Maxwell also toured Europe and Japan as a member of the Otis Rush Band. He was also a longtime member of the James Cotton Band and performed on Cotton's Grammy Award winning album, "Deep in the Blues" in 1997. Maxwell has been a long-sought after keyboardist and has worked with such performers as John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rogers, John Primer and Bob Margolin. A pianist of prodigious abilities and a purveyor of tremendous musical depth, Maxwell has recorded several outstanding solo albums, including the 1997 release "Maximum Piano" on Tone-Cool Records, and the recent "Max Attack" on North 95 Records, which features appearances by Hubert Sumlin, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Ronnie Earl and Duke Robillard.
Brass Monkey Brass Band
For the past five years, Brass Monkey Brass Band (BMBB) has been one of the most celebrated bands of San Francisco. Their music has been featured in national television commercials and they have performed at some of the most prestigious music festivals on the west coast. BMBB's unique blend of funk, jazz, and New Orleans, balanced with wide-reaching writing and arranging, appeal to a constantly expanding and diverse audience. Relentless drums, rumbling tuba, and wailing horns - nothing kicks the party into high gear like a smokin' brass band! Now you don't have to trek to New Orleans to catch second-line fever - the Bay Area's own BMBB serves up infectious energy and funky good times in a traditional New Orleans style from jazz to second-line with the enthusiasm and energy of fiery Louisiana rocket!
BMBB is a powerhouse 8-piece in the style of New Orleans' own Dirty Dozen and Rebirth Brass Band, with the traditional lineup of tuba, saxes, trumpets, trombones, bass drum and snare. BMBB's wide repertoire ranges form classics like "When The Saints Go Marching In" to danceable favorites by a variety of artists, plus their own irrepressibly funky originals.
BMBB originally formed to play a Fat Tuesday party in 1999 by Bay Area tuba man Jon Birdsong (Beck, Victoria Williams, Beth Orton) and drummer Kevin Stevens (Meow Meow, The New Morty Show). The success of this one-off show inspired the members to start writing and playing together on a regular basis while maintaining their sideman gigs with greats including Santana, Boz Scaggs, Pharoah Sanders, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Howard Tate, and even the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Word quickly spread about BMBB's high-octane, highly danceable nights, establishing them as favorites on the S.F. club scene, playing the Fillmore, Bimbo's 365 Club, Great American Music Hall, Elbo Room, etc. Before long they were invited to play countless festivals such as the Monterey Jazz Festival and "New Orleans Day" at the Concord Pavilion with John Fogerty and Dr. John. While the band's musical chops earned them the coveted slot performing an impromptu set with Bobby McFerrin ad the S.F. Jazz Festival in 2002, BMBB's universal appeal made the band the perfect choice for the San Francisco Giants to have the band play Opening Day.
BMBB debut CD, "Live in Time and Space," released in 2001, received national airplay on a wide variety of radio, and the song "Saints" was the sound track for a 2002 Coca Cola commercial. BMBB has just mastered their second full-length recording, "The Highest Good," which features 75 minutes of wide-reaching writing, arranging and performing, and pushes the New Orleans brass band to the next level.
Big Easy Boogie, featuring the Mitch Woods Big Band w/ Herb Hardesty & the Blue Monday Horns
Mitch Woods has staked a claim as a living master of jump blues, the sound that took American music by storm in the 1940s and early '50s. Jump blues was the predecessor to rock 'n' roll and its great practitioners: Louis Jordan, Wynonie Harris, Jimmy and Joe Liggins, Roy Milton and Amos Milburn were its top-notch stars. This was the era of the little big bands with honkin' saxophone and driving boogie-woogie piano and shouting vocals that drove fans out of heir seats and out on the dance floor. "The best dance music is jump blues, period," says Woods. "You know, big belting boogie tunes with pounding piano and I have been playing it for the past 35 years." No mere revivalist, Woods' sound appeals to blues fans, dance lovers and New Orleans pianists. He has recorded with Lee Allen - the blistering tenor saxophonist who was an integral part of the New Orleans R&B sound of the 1950s and a contributor to recordings of Fats Domino, Lloyd Price and Little Richard, and guitarist Earl King, a key New Orleans R&B force for over four decades. A frequent visitor to New Orleans, Woods has become a regular at Tipitina's and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. "New Orleans is a piano town," he says, "and I've gotten to play with all the great players who live there, like George Porter and the Fats Domino Band and many others." "New Orleans piano is Professor Longhair," he says, "a combination of mambo feel in the left hand with blues changes and right hand improvisations." Woods, who has opened for the Neville Brothers, has been compared to the incredible Jerry Lee Lewis for his vintage rock piano grooves. He tours nationally and performs throughout Europe at major festivals. He has recorded extensively for Blind Pig Records and his newest CD, "Big Easy Boogie," features the original Fats Domino Band, including Earl Palmer, Herb Hardesty, trumpeter Dave Bartholomew, along with the Blue Monday Horns. It has been called "the Big Easy version of the Buena Vista Social Club" by the Times Picayune. All the songs are Woods' originals. Also featured is a companion DVD with performances at jazz festivals plus rare interviews. It is on Club 88 Records.
Mem Shannon
Mem Shannon is a native of New Orleans and is considered to be one of the best contemporary singer-songwriters to emerge from the Crescent City in the past decade. He has been featured in the New York Times, CBS' Sunday Morning, and PBS, largely because of his social conscious material. For example, his song "S.U.V." attacks the creation of the unsafe gas-guzzlers and the people who drive them. Shannon knows something about the psychology of people and what motivates them. He was a New Orleans cabdriver for over 15 years, working the heart of the city daily from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. His first album, "A Cab Driver's Blues," released in 1995 on Hannibal Records, included conversations with his many customers interspersed with his songs about the foibles of the daily life of New Orleans residents. Shannon is a top-rated guitarist who draws his inspiration from Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, the Funk Meters and the Neville Brothers. His music is funk, jazz, blues, and swamp rock, all drawn up into one unique style that has helped expand the boundaries of New Orleans music. If anything, he is a purveyor of the school of New Orleans funk and blues and is considered one of the best modern bluesmen around - one with a broader view. His songs, for instance, carry so much specificity and detail, but remain friendly and quite conversational. He has recorded five CDs; his latest, "I'm From Phunkville," was recorded at Tipitinas' studios in New Orleans. He performed at the Kennedy Center in a tribute to Muddy Waters and has appeared with Toots and the Maytals. He has performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 12 straight years.
Betty Harris, Tutu Jones (Dallas Guitar Blues), and Payne & Edmonson
Singer Betty Harris will always be remembered for her ten-year tenure in New Orleans, beginning in 1965, when she began a collaboration with pianist Allen Toussaint that has been compared to the one created by Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick. The Harris-Toussaint collaboration resulted in the recording of over 20 sides and established Betty Harris as a vocal New Orleans powerhouse soul singer. Her 1967 release on the Sansu label, "Nearer To You," rose to number 16 on the R&B charts. Her recordings of this period have long been appreciated as pure essence of New Orleans soul. She also collaborated with Lee Dorsey to record "Love Lots of Lovin'" and "Take Care of Our Love." These were some of the best records to come out of New Orleans. Harris' talent was not only her voice but the emotion she could bring to performances without slipping into cliche. Perhaps her most significant recording came in 1969, with the release of "There's A Break In The Road." This recording alone defined the emergence of what was to become New Orleans Funk, as Harris, backed by George Porter, Ziggy Modeliste and Leo Nocentelli, broke through a barrier and helped define a new musical method that New Orleans has since become distinctive for.
Before New Orleans, Harris had already developed a jumping off career, recording her first single in 1960. In 1963 she had a number 10 R&B hit, "Cry To Me," on the Jubilee label. That record marked the beginning of soul music and led to the emergence of Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. She performed at the Apollo Theater in New York and appeared on shows with Sam Cooke, Tammi Terrell and the Chiffons, to name a few. In 1967 Harris was schedule to tour Europe with Otis Redding when he was killed in a plane crash. Harris' recording career stretches from 1958-1975. She had four albums and appears on seven CDs. In 2005 she returned to performing again, singing soul!
Guitarist Tutu Jones hails from South Dallas, Texas. Only in his mid 30s, he has already been performing for over two decades, first as a prodigy drummer, then switching to guitar in his 20s. He was born into a blues family with several generations of grandparents as musicians. His father, Johnny Jones, is a blues guitarist of considerable worth in his own right, and uncles L.C. and V.C. Clark and Curly Miller are all musicians, as well. Tutu Jones began playing drums for R.L. Griffins' Dallas City Superstars while in his teens and also backed a list of hugely successful singers such as Al "TNT" Braggs, Johnny Taylor, Ernie Johnson, Little Milton and Z.Z. Hill during his hit days of "Down Home Blues." With Hill, Tutu toured all across the country. Guitarist Little Joe Blue suggested he switch to guitar and Tutu Jones went out on his own as a guitarist in 1989. He subsequently released his first solo album, "I'm For Real," of the London, England-based label JSP in 1994. His follow-up release in 1996 was "Blue Texas Soul," and in 1998 "Staying Power" was released, both for Bullseye Records. His latest release, "Tutu Jones Live," has had blues critics calling him one of the brightest stars in the future of 21st Century blues. Jones' passionate vocals, coupled with blistering Texas guitar, have had many compare him to Freddie King, from whom Jones learned as a child. His father was a long-time King band member. However, what comes out of his playing is pure Tutu Jones, yet he holds a deep feel for the Dallas-Fort Worth blues tradition, and most particularly, the blues roots of Oak Cliff, Texas.
The collaboration of singer Jackie Payne and guitarist Steve Edmonson has been a perfect match. Their debut CD release on Burnside Records, "Partners in the Blues," has been critically acclaimed. Payne, a super soulful singer in the school of Jr. Parker-Bobby Bland-O.V. Wright, was the lead singer in the Johnny Otis Band for 15 years. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Payne began his career in Houston, Texas, where he recorded his first records and toured with such luminaries as Gatemouth Brown, T-Bone Walker, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland and others. Payne has a remarkable, classic vintage R&B and soul voice which has been defined as Stax meets Chess. Guitarist Steve Edmonson toured for years as a member of the Dynatones. Leader of a band that can best be described as horn-driven blues, Edmonson has plenty of experience having worked with Van Morrison, James Cotton and Luther Tucker.
Sunpie Barnes and the Louisiana Sunspots
When not performing in New Orleans or southwest Louisiana, accordionist Sunpie Barnes works as a park ranger and tour guide at Jean Lafitte National Park in Louisiana. Barnes was born in Arkansas and learned blues harmonica from his father. He attended Henderson State University on a football scholarship and ended up playing for the Kansas City Chiefs. He has a degree in Marine Biology and speaks French fluently. Zydeco legend John Delafose taught him the rudiments of accordion. He also plays the diatonic accordion, as well as the frottoir (rubboard) and blues harmonica and African drums. A storyteller and traditional folk artist, Barnes has a vast knowledge of Louisiana's swamps and bayous. He has been compared to Taj Mahal in his extensive knowledge of Louisiana folk traditions and musical abilities. He has performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, as well as in 25 countries. He is a living resource of Louisiana music and his performances have been cited as wondrous. He has recorded over seven albums, including "Loup Garou," about a mythological beast of the swamp lore of Louisiana; "Lick a Hot Skillet;" and his newest, "Zydeco's Got Soul," on BFR Records.
Irma Thomas, Henry Butler, and Kermit Ruffins
Irma Thomas is a cultural icon of New Orleans. She is also referred to as the Soul Queen of New Orleans, whose first record, "You Can Have My Husband But Please Don't Mess With My Man," recorded at age 18, became a smash hit and established her as one of the greatest performers to emerge from the Crescent City. In the early 1960s, Irma began a long career recording for the Minit/Imperial label, where she teamed with pianist Allen Toussaint. Together the two made music history, producing some of the most popular and highly regarded R&B recordings to emerge from New Orleans, including such hits as "I Done Got Over It," "It's Raining," "Ruler of My Hart," and "Time Is On My Side," which was covered by the Rolling Stones, and "Cry On." Irma later won Grammy nominations for her live album, "Simply The Best!", and her collaboration with Marcia Ball and Tracy Nelson, "Sing It!", both on Rounder. Over the years Thomas has become a beloved favorite at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Following Hurricane Katrina, news stories spread rumors that Irma Thomas and other New Orleans music notables such as Fats Domino had gone missing. As it turned out, she had been performing in Austin, Texas and was safe, but her home, nightclub, mementos, photos and awards from her 40-year career were lost.
With the hurricane devastation behind her, Thomas returned to the studio for her first new album in six years. Titled "After the Rain," and released on Rounder Records, the album was recorded in Maurice, Louisiana, and captures the spirit and cultural devastation of the lives of New Orleans. Producer Scott Billington remarked about the project that, "Irma has one of the richest and most beautiful voices in contemporary music. It seemed confining at this stage of her career to make a straight R&B record, so we broke the mold." Thomas, who performed at this year's Jazz Fest., now resides in Gonzales, Louisiana.
Pianist Henry Butler draws his inspiration from a myriad of New Orleans sounds and beats - the life force of the Crescent City's rich musical history. Blind at birth, Butler began studying music at age six when he entered the Louisiana State School for the Blind. He eventually went on to receive a B.A. in music from Southern University in Baton Rouge and master's at Michigan State. However, as a native of New Orleans, he was drawn to the pianist traditions of the Quarter, especially those of Professor Longhair, James Booker, Tuts Washington and Allen Toussaint. Being blind, he developed his own fingering and musical language while spending numerous sessions absorbing texture and nuance directly from his teacher, Professor Longhair. He performed many double bills in halls and nightclubs with the renowned James Booker, who also taught Harry Connick Jr. the technique of New Orleans piano. From this, Butler has incorporated the methods of stride, boogie-woogie, barrelhouse, ragtime, traditional and contemporary jazz piano. He also studied the music of Bartok and Debussy and, with his extensive background, moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. He already had begun to fall under the influence of Art Tatum, Bud Powell and John Coltrane and, eventually, his main influence, McCoy Tyner. While living in Los Angeles in the mid '80s, he began sitting in with musicians at various jazz spots. At a session at the Comeback Inn in Venice, he sat in with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, which led to an experimental MCA/Impulse jazz album, "Fivin' Around," which includes Haden, Higgins and Freddie Hubbard. The album received critical acclaim and resulted in Butler's inclusion as Billboard's top 10 jazz album Artist of the Year. A second album followed, "The Village," which featured Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and a New Orleans mentor, Alvin Batiste. Then, in the late '80s, Butler moved to New York to be close to the jazz scene and draw inspiration from McCoy Tyner, Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan. He eventually returned to New Orleans and in 1990 recorded "Orleans Inspirations" at Tipitina's for Windham Hill Jazz. Butler was duly described by one critic as Professor Longhair on his left hand and McCoy Tyner on his right. George Winston called him "my favorite pianist and main inspiration." His next album for Windham, "Blues and More," became his first solo effort. Butler has covered a lot of musical territory and has become known for taking chances. Dr. John said Butler is "not only the pride of the Calliope, but the pride of New Orleans and a visionistical down-home cat and hellfired piano plunker to boot."
His home in New Orleans was completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina
New Orleans is the only place on the planet that could have produced native son Kermit Ruffins. Whether he's blowing trumpet on a Louis Armstrong classic or one of his own hot numbers, Ruffins embraces his music with the true spirit of the city. Ruffins, like New Orleans itself, swings hard. He was born on December 19, 1974, sharing the birthdate with New Orleans legend Professor Longhair. Ruffins is a modern hipster in possession of an old soul.
Ruffins first gained recognition with the ReBirth Brass Band, one of New Orleans hot young ensembles that helped shake up the traditional music. He and high school classmate, tuba player Philip Frazier, co-founded the group in 1982. Ruffins' strong musical presence and warm personality soon made him a crowd favorite. It was with ReBirth that Ruffins' talents as a composer emerged, contributing what would become brass band classics "Do Whatcha Wanna" and "Put Your Right Foot Forward." Like so many New Orleans trumpet players before him, Ruffins the musician also became Ruffins the vocalist.
Every trumpeter player I saw was singing," explains Ruffins of adding vocals to his musical repertoire. "I guess it's because of Louis Armstrong. So I thought I'd better start singing."
Ten years of blowing on the streets and around the globe and recording seven albums with the ReBirth honed Ruffins' chops and style for his future solo career. Because of his ever-growing popularity, he had also established a ready-made audience of fans who followed him on his new venture. "I think playing with ReBirth really exercised my chops as far as my lips, because we had to play strong all the time," agrees Ruffins, who is also skilled at reading music. "I think it made playing with the swing band a lot easier. When I put up my horn to play the lead part with the smaller band, it comes across real strong. Playing the lead with ReBirth, that really helped me as far as playing the melody," he continues. "I turned out to be the melody man" With a chuckle, the trumpeter remembers the advice given to him by the late banjoist/guitarist Danny Barker. "He would always tell me, 'Just play the melody, none of that funny stuff.'"
In 1992 Ruffins made his recording debut as leader with "World on a String" on the Justice label. For this important first album, the trumpeter put together an all-star cast of New Orleans musicians including pianist Ellis Marsalis. In Ruffins creative hands, classics like "Rosetta" found new young audiences while receiving approving nods from his elders. While there was only one original on the debut, Ruffins' fluid pen was in greater evidence on his sophomore disk for the label, 1994's "The Big Butter and Egg Man." Songs like his "I'll Drink Ta Dat" and "The Undertaker Man" stood with distinction alongside Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' with Some Barbecue." Sporting just the right attitude, Ruffins made Stuff Smith's "If You're a Viper" his own and audiences continue to demand it at all of Ruffins' shows.
Finding success leading his own swinging combo, Ruffins had another dream to fulfill. After seeing a video of Cab Calloway's big band, Ruffins' vision was to someday stand in front of an orchestra. "It brought tears to my eyes," remembers Ruffins, "and I said 'I wanna do that, I wanna swing with a big band!'" On October 28, 1995, Ruffins' 17-piece ensemble made its debut at a big band festival held in a church auditorium. Filled with young, talented musicians from New Orleans, the orchestra was impressive with its tight arrangements and, of course, its sense of swing. In the Jazz Tent at the 1996 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Ruffins and his big band knocked out what could be perceived as a tough audience. Ruffins' huge talent and natural charisma as a bandleader quickly won over any potential cynics in the crowd.
Meanwhile, Ruffins' swinging combo was digging in as an established group with a solid core of musicians ready for the next venture. In the fall of 1997 the band took the stage of Tipitinas, a legendary Uptown New Orleans club, to record in front of an adoring audience. The resulting "The Barbecue Swingers Live" was the first release by an eager new hometown label, Basin Street Records. Ruffins was truly in his element with the crowd demonstrating its approval for the new material like Ruffins' "Smokin' with Some Barbecue." Tracey Freeman got the call to produce the trumpeter's second release on the Basin Street label, 1999's groovin' "Swing This!" It moves from the very traditional "Bogalusa Strut" to Ruffins' hilarious "Hide the Reefer."
New Orleanians display their love for Ruffins nightly by packing the house at every appearance. In recognition of his talents and contributions to the community, Ruffins has received a steady stream of awards for his recordings and performances.
"The most important thing is how much I love the music," declares Ruffins with unabashed sincerity. "From the time I wake up in the morning, I'm just all hyped for the gig late that night. The suspense of waiting for that gig every day of the week like that is so exciting to me. It's crazy. You just have to know how much I love this New Orleans-style music."
Louisiana Voice of the Wetlands All Stars, featuring Cyril Neville, Tab Benoit, Jumpin Johnny Sansone, Waylon Thibodeaux, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Anders Osborne
The Voice of the Wetlands All Stars is an idea conceived by guitarist Tab Benoit to draw attention to the serious erosion of the Louisiana Wetlands and bayous. Over the past several decades these important tributaries, water bird refuges and fisheries have begun to vanish through incursions of the Mississippi River, Gulf Coast flooding and droughts. The once-rich lowlands and swamps are fast disappearing. Through efforts of conservation and public awareness, serious attempts are being made to reclaim the lost eco-systems. These performers hope by their example others will learn of the unfolding catastrophe.
Guitarist Tab Benoit was raised in the oil and fishing town of Houma, Louisiana. He is one of the most important musicians and spokesmen to come out of Louisiana in recent years. He has led the cause for the preservation of the Louisiana Wetlands and swamps by bringing the message of the dire conditions that exist in the evaporation of these natural resources. He performs over 250 dates a year and is deeply indebted to the cultural heritage of southwest Louisiana by bringing the message of this fragile eco-system through his music. His first album, "Nice and Warm," on Vanguard Records, released in 1992, sold in excess of 200,000 copies. He subsequently made four albums for that label before moving to Telarc, his current label. Born in Bayou-Petit Cailou, Benoit speaks Louisiana French fluently. He is a regular at the famed Grant Street club in Lafayette, once the performance headquarters for Clifton Chenier. He is a wonderful singer, with a gritty, stark and succinct guitar. He is deeply influenced by Buddy Guy. His music, and stage ambiance is deep down in the swamp, the silent waters, dried trees, the birdlife, the sound of the wet forest, the shifting sands, the sun, the humidity of the muggy air, the flavors of the crayfish pot and the memories of the high-pitched voices and accordions in unison. Benoit inspires us to think about the good of American culture and the role that nature plays in our lives.
Drummer-vocalist Cyril Neville, of the Neville Brothers Band, was born and raised in New Orleans. His interest in drums started with Clarence 'Juny Boy' Brown, the drummer in the Fats Domino Bad, who taught him the basics of New Orleans drumming. His first professional experience was as co-front man for brother Art Neville and the Neville Sounds in 1967. The band also featured brother Aaron, Zigaboo Modeliste, George Porter Jr., and Leo Nocentelli. This band eventually emerged as the Meters, a group that would transform the music of New Orleans with their funk beats and world music flavors. They defined New Orleans funk and the new spirit of New Orleans music and left a recording legacy of their own, while also recording with Earl King, Lee Dorsey, Betty Harris, Chris Kenner, Dr. John, Paul McCarthy, Robert Palmer and the Wild Tchoupitoulas. After the group dissolved, Art and Cyril formed the Neville Brothers in 1977, and the rest is history. The Nevilles are simply the first family of New Orleans music who carry on the flambeau of the city's rich R&B legacy.
Big Chief Monk is one of the original Mardi Gras Indians and the founder of New Orleans premier Indian marching tribes, The Golden Eagles. He was one of the original Indians of the Wild Magnolias and has been masking in the New Orleans tradition since age 12. A singer, Boudreaux has recorded extensively as a member of the Golden Eagles and he is considered the Bob Marley of the Mardi Gras Indians.
As a tall, harmonica-playing teenager who grew up in New Jersey just outside NYC, Johnny Sansone's early exposure to the blues came from slipping into bars and hearing the blues of Otis Rush and Muddy Waters and others. After leaving New York and stops in Texas and the Gulf Coast, Sansone settled in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he first made music with pals Joe Cabral and Rod Hodges, from the Iguanas. Another of the Iguanas' sax section, Derek Huston, joined Cabral to add the group's thick sax choir sound to several cuts of Sansone's most recent CD release, "Watermelon Patch" (Bullseye Blues & Jazz). The CD has been out since last fall, but because of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on the region, he is just now starting to tour to support it. The demand for his distinctive zydeco/blues is high in Louisiana, Texas and Europe.
Sansone's zydeco influence came from the day legendary zydeco accordionist Clifton Chenier died. Sansone went out and bought himself a big piano accordion, almost as an affirmation that this kind of zydeco influence will never die. Accordion-driven R&B is an important part of many of Sansone's originals, but for pure atmosphere, it's hard to beat his harmonica numbers. "Quagmire" sounds like a humid, gray day in the bayou without air conditioning: sweaty, sticky and unhappy! It's a tune that spun out from a long-standing gig at The Old Absinthe Bar, late of Bourbon Street; it's a musican condensation of all the in-your-face drunks and all things New Orleans. He has recorded with Kenny Neal, C.J. Chenier, Lucky Peterson and Billy C. Wirtz.
Guitarist-singer-songwriter Anders Osborne was born in Sweden. He moved to New Orleans in 1985, taking up residence on Decatur Street in the French Quarter. Attracted by the music of New Orleans, he launched into a recording career that fused New Orleans traditional jazz, blues, world music beat and American folk styles. His recordings have appeared on numerous labels, including Okeh, which included his first commercial break in 1995 with the release of "Which Way Is Here." The album resulted in two top-five singles, "Favorite Son" and "Pleasin' You." His 1999 release, "Living Room," on Shanachie, was nominated for a Grammy. Beginning in 1994, he has worked as a songwriter, spending time in Nashville penning songs for Polygram and Universal Records. His songs have been recorded by Jonny Lang, Dr. John, Keb' Mo,' Tab Benoit and country music superstar Tim McGraw. Osborne's composition, "Watch the Wind Blow By," sold three million copies and was number one on the country charts for Tim McGraw.
Violinist Waylon Thibodeaux was born and raised in southwest Louisiana. He has been collaborating with guitarist Tab Benoit on raising awareness of the fragile plight of the region's wetlands.
Anthony Paule and the Tone Kings
Guitarist-vocalist Anthony Paule was born in Durban, South Africa. When he was only 10 months old, his family moved to Los Angeles, California, where they stayed until he was 15. "When I was a kid in L.A. there was a club called the Ashgrove, where you didn't have to be 21 to get in. All the local and touring blues bands would play there. I would go there with my older brothers to see and hear many great performers such as T-Bone Walker, Joe Turner, Roy Milton, Johnny Otis, John Lee Hooker and Johnny Shines." His earliest guitar influences were Elmore James, B.B. King and John Lee Hooker.
Anthony Paule has spent the major part of his career recording and touring, with the likes of Earl King, Brownie McGhee, Charlie Musselwhite, Bo Diddley, Jody Williams, Johnny Adams, Maria Muldaur, Boz Scaggs, Phil Guy, Johnnie Johnson, Mark Hummel, Big Jay McNeely, Louisiana Red and Tommy Ridgely. He's performed at numerous blues and jazz festivals in Italy, Holland, Canada, Belgium, Turkey, Japan and the United States.
Mz. Dee Rochon
Like so many talented blues and R&B singers, Mz. Dee Rochon began her career singing gospel. She eventually turned to blues and soul styles, which led to her discovery by bandleader Johnny Otis. Otis' career as a bandleader began in the 1940s in Los Angeles and his various orchestras included many talented singers and discoveries alike, including Jimmy Rushing, Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Wynonie Harris, Big Mama Thornton, Hank Ballard, Mel Williams, Etta James, Linda Hopkins, Little Esther Phillips, Mel Walker and Barbara Morrison. Otis nicknamed her "Mz Dee," "The Queen of Hearts," and she eventually performed at Otis' induction into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1994. Mz Dee later joined another jump ensemble, The Johnny Nocturne Band, led by saxophonist John Firmin. She appeared on the group's latest CD. Through her work with the Nocturne band, she met guitarist Anthony Paule and began working in his various bands and was featured on Paule's "Big Guitar" CD release. She has toured the United States and Europe extensively.
Phil Guy
Phil Guy grew up picking cotton and pecans in Lettsworth, Louisiana, about 60 miles northwest of Baton Rouge. The Guy family was very poor. They had no electricity or running water for most of Phil's youth. When Phil was nine years old (and brother Buddy 13) the family made enough profit from their crops to obtain electricity. Besides the one light bulb that lit up their home, their daddy splurged on a radio and an old phonograph. They were intrigued with the sounds of Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker. Buddy started down the music road first with a guitar he made from screen wire and a lighter fluid can, and then progressed to a $2 guitar with two strings to eventually a Harmony f-hole guitar when he graduated from the eighth grade. Phil was not allowed to touch Buddy's guitar.
However, when Buddy moved to Baton Rouge to attend high school, he left his old guitar hanging on a nail on the wall of their country shack. Completely left handed, 13 year old Phil stared at it mesmerized. He took the guitar down and tried to figure out how to play it. Upside down and backwards didn't work so he forced himself to play right handed. Soon he began taking the guitar out on the levee. His cousin, Ervin Hartford, would join him playing harmonica. Even though Phil's influences were Lightnin' Slim, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Albert Collins, he said, "I didn't know but one song, just a rhythm line of a Jimmy Reed song."
One weekend evening, when Phil was 15, musician Lightnin' Slim stopped by Johnny McGlitcham's club in nearby Torres with his amplified guitar. Phil had never seen anything like it. Phil said, "Slim's amp was the size of a radio. He said he was just going to play for a little while, but when people kept throwing money into the hat, Slim ended up staying for a week. It was Slim who gave me my first chance to play an electric guitar." In the meantime in Baton Rouge, after years of listening to Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King, Buddy joined harp player Raful Neal's band. They performed at many of the local joints, including the Dew Drop Inn and The Rock House. Buddy yearned to see and learn from his idols, so on September 27, 1957, at 21, he moved to Chicago where they were. Before he left he told Raful that his younger, 17 year old brother, could also play the blues. Phil cut his musical teeth in Raful Neal's band, replacing Lazy Lester as rhythm guitarist. "From then on, I just started learning more and more," Phil said. He stayed with Raful's band until Buddy summoned him to come to Chicago. Phil ventured north in April '69 and began working immediately with Buddy in his bands. Often, they played in the basement at Theresa's Lounge on 48th and Indiana.
At that time, Phil's and Buddy's musical styles had gone in different directions. Phil was more into funky songs by Jimmy Reed and James Brown. His method was a deep picking, penetrating and searing style like Albert King. Buddy's approach was skilled Chicago blues like Muddy Waters, straight picking yet mixed with electrifying Guitar Slim style showmanship and powerful vocals. However, whenever these two blues brothers jammed together, their styles complimented each other exquisitely.
Soon after his arrival in Chicago, Buddy invited Phil to join his band on a trip to Africa sponsored by the U.S. State Department. "The trip was a huge success,"Phil said. "The Africans had heard of James Brown and Muhammad Ali but knew nothing about the blues. They were so amazed with the music they thought Buddy's strings were magic and stole them right off his guitar!" The Guy blues brothers, along with Junior Wells, had several high profile gigs in Europe, including opening for the Rolling Stones in 1970 and jamming with Eric Clapton. Buddy, Phil and Junior Wells were much better known across the ocean than in our homeland where blues took root.
A year after Woodstock and Altamont, in the summer of 1970, Buddy and Phil Guy joined a collection of future rock 'n' roll superstars, including Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers and others, on the infamous Festival Express. The Festival Express was a train that rock and rolled, jammed and partied, day and night across Canada - making concert stops in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. It was a multi-band, multi-day extravaganza that captured the spirit and imagination of a generation and a nation. The long lost film, never seen before, was found in the 1990s and made into a documentary 35 years later. Speaking of the rare footage of Phil and Buddy jamming on the train and performing in Winnipeg, Phil chuckled about his wild afro, beard and clothes, recalling, "It was a great musical experience...I was a hippie back then."
Phil spent quite a few years as a backing musician. Besides playing with Buddy, Raful Neal and Junior Wells, he backed up Son Seals, Albert Collins, Koko Taylor, Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker and Big Mama Thornton. He struck out on his own in the 1990s and formed his band Phil Guy and The Chicago Machine. His albums include: "Tina Nu" (1994), JSP label, "All Star Chicago Blues Session" (1994), and "Breaking Out On Top" (1995). His newest album, released this year, "He's My Blues Brother," featured Buddy Guy. It's on Black-eyed Records.
Chicago Harmonica Project, featuring Larry Cox, Omar Coleman, Big D, Russ Green, and the Chicago Bluesmasters
In the history of harmonica blues. Chicago has been the town where many of the greats honed their skills and led the attack on the development of the amplified harmonica sound. In the late 1940s, and into the 1950s and '60s, such harmonica notables as Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter Jacobs, Big Walter Horton, Jr. Wells, James Cotton, Mac Simmons, Carey Bell and eventually, Paul Butterfield and Charlie Musselwhite, all spread the tone and the word that Chicago was a blues town and if you wanted to learn the instrument, this is where you needed to be. The legend and the myth continues to this day, and while most of the originators are gone, there remains a continuation of the legacy and this is precisely what the Chicago Harmonica Project is about - presenting another generation of harp players steeped in the Chicago school.
Larry Cox hails from Tennessee and grew up around Sonny Boy Williamson. His father was a guitarist in Sonny Boy's band. Cox began playing harp at the famed Theresa's Lounge in Chicago and later the Checkerboard Lounge. He performed regularly with Louis and Dave Myers - formerly of Little Walter's Aces - in the early '80s.
Omar Coleman was born in Chicago in 1973 and works full time as a barber in Chicago. He credits Jr. Wells and Billy Branch as influences and performs regularly with John Primer. He also appears at Rosa's Lounge on a regular basis.
Russ Green was born in Chicago in 1967 and credits Sugar Blue as a prime influence.
BIG D was born in the Chicago area in 1981 and started playing harmonica while in high school. He has performed with Tail Dragger, the Rockin' Johnny Band, Dave Myers, Barkin' Bill, Robert Plunkett and Nick Moss and the Fliptops, to name a few.
The Chicago Bluesmasters consist of Twist Turner, formerly the house drummer at Theresa's and the Jr. Wells Band. He has worked with Jimmy Reed. Guitarist Rick Kreher was a member of the Muddy Waters Band for five years, and has worked with numerous Chicago blues musicians. Pianist Mark Brumbach has worked with Johnny Young, Eddie Taylor, Sam Lay, J.B. Hutto and Jimmy Reed. Guitarist Rich Kirch has worked with Jimmy Dawkins, Jimmy Rogers and John Lee Hooker. The Chicago Harmonica Project have released a critically acclaimed debut CD, "Diamonds in the Rough," on Severn Records.
Jimbo Mathus' Knockdown South
Jimbo Mathus was born and raised in Mississippi and spent much of his formative years between Corinth and Clarksdale. He has been described as a poor man's Steve Buscemi, with a serious case of sleep deprivation, wandering from gig to gig, in and out of projects, and from town to town. Jimbo's connections to North Mississippi blues could fill a Faulknerian drama. His first band, Johnny Vomit and the Dry Heaves, rattled everyone who saw them, as you can imagine. In his late 20s, he moved to North Carolina and started a platinum-selling band called the Squirrel Nut Zippers, who ended up selling over three million CDs of early neo-ragtime jazz and near-cacophonic instrumentation. Returning to North Mississippi in 1997, he re-discovered the lure of the Mississippi blues he heard in his childhood and recorded a dedication album to Charlie Patton, "Play Songs For Rosetta." Rosetta Patton was Charlie's daughter and Mathus helped her with the proceeds of the album after she had suffered a stroke.
In 1998 he formed the Knockdown Society and released another album, "National Antiseptic." After playing guitar on Buddy Guy's Grammy-winning "Blues Singer" CD and the acclaimed Guy release "Sweet Tea," Mathus created his Knockdown South band and delved deeply into the North Mississippi hill sound of Jr. Kimbrough, which featured raw groove heavy juke blues. His "Knockdown South" CD meshes hill country blues with hip-hop drum beats and honky tonk, combined with excellent songwriting and very strong vocal work. It has a very unpolished hip feel; a hybrid Mississippi juke joint voyage for the emotions. Mathus and other musicians of the area, specifically Kenny Brown, Cody and Luther Dickinson and Richard Johnston, are helping to spread the good news of the blues to a generation who wasn't even born before most of the practitioners of the genre were long dead and gone. Mathus has settled deep into the Clarksdale world of these new blues. He has opened a recording studio there - the Delta Recording Co. - and it serves as a recording studio -- $50 an hour - a rehearsal hall and hangout. His three gold albums adorn the wall and Elvis Costello has already recorded there and bands arrive from far away England to get a chance at cutting sessions in a mood-inspiring environment. Mathus also performs regularly down the road at Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club. Says Mathus about all this activity and the electrifying pull that blues seems to engender, "If Kierkegaard had heard the blues he could have saved himself a lot of trouble." His newest album, "Old School Hot Wings," on Z19 Records, was just released and dedicated to Jimmie Rogers, Charlie Patton, Ishmon Bracy, Sid Hemphill, Tommy Johnson - all outraged, racially radical and socially outcast and accepted by turns; not country, not blues, but one music, Mississippi music.
Hollywood Blue Flames, with Al Blake, Fred Kaplan, Larry Taylor, and Richard Innes, with special guests Mitch Kashmar and Jr. Watson
The Hollywood Blue Flames grew out of one of the most important blues bands to emerge from Los Angeles in the 1960s: The Hollywood Fats Band! Michael Mann, aka Hollywood Fats, was a young prodigy guitar player of prodigious talent who had stints with Albert King and Muddy Waters. The Hollywood Fats Band consisted of Al Blake, Richard Innes, Fred Kaplan, and Larry Taylor, and the aforementioned Fats. They performed or hung out with George Smith, Roy Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Big Mama Thornton, Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Eddie Vinson, Lloyd Glenn and Margie Evans. Also included in that list were traveling musicians like Lightnin' Hopkins, Jr. Wells, James Cotton and Louis Myers. The goal of the group was to add a powerful new mix to the L.A. blues sound by incorporating influences from Chicago, Texas and the West Coast. And they were successful. They had chops, tone, drive and plenty of talent. And they had a huge following. When Fats died from a drug overdose in 1986, the remaining members took up the cause and the Blue Flames were created to carry on the tradition.
Al Blake has been considered to be one of the best harmonica players to emerge from Los Angeles. A serious student of blues, he possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of the music. His influences range from Sonny Boy Williamson and Forest City Joe to Walter Horton and Maxwell Davis. Pianist Fred Kaplan was mentored by the great Lloyd Glenn. He has worked with William Clarke, James Harman, Kim Wilson, and Phillip Walker. Other piano influences include Otis Spann, Big Maceo and Charles Brown. Drummer Richard Innes has worked with Rod Piazza, George Smith, Little Richard and others. His influences include Fred Below, S.P. Laery, Odie Payne and Earl Palmer. Larry Taylor was a founding member of Canned Heat and has played bass with John Mayall, John Hammond and Kim Wilson, among others. He has also worked with Tom Waits. His influences include Ransom Knowling, Big Crawford and Paul Chambers.
The Hollywood Blue Flames have released two recent CDs, "Soul Sanctuary," and "Road to Rio/Larger Than Life," a two-CD package that includes previously unreleased material featuring the Hollywood Fats Band.
Also performing with the Blue Flames for this appearance will be harmonica player Mitch Kashmar and guitarist Jr. Watson. Kashmar was the founding member of the Pontiaxs, a seminal blues group out of Ventura in the early 1980s. They backed up Charlie Musselwhite, Luther Tucker, William Clarke, Lowell Fulson, Roy Gaines and Pee Wee Crayton, to name a few. A talented vocalist and a chromatic harp master, Kashmar has recorded a handful of outstanding albums including two recent releases for Delta Groove Records, "Nickels and Dimes," and "Wake Up and Worry." Guitarist Jr. Watson was a member of the Gary Smith Blues Band, the Mighty Flyers with Rod Piazza and Canned Heat for ten years. He has recorded or worked with Big Mama Thornton, George Smith, Jimmy Rogers, Shakey Jake, Charlie Musselwhite, Luther Tucker, Lynwood Slim and others. An impressive and wonderously talented blues guitarist, few can match Watson's incredible knack. He cites Tiny Grimes, Guitar Slim, Robert Lockwood and Earl Hooker as major influences.
Ruth Brown
Ruth Brown has been heralded as the original queen of Rhythm 'n' Blues. She has also been a TV and film actress and a Broadway star. In 1989 she won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, Black and Blue. In 1990 she won a Grammy Award for Best Female Jazz Vocalist. She also starred in John Waters' classic cult film, Hairspray.
Born in 1928 in Portsmouth, Virginia, Brown began singing in the church, before a daring change at age 16 garnered her first place in an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater. Her career was launched. Influenced by Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald and Hadda Brooks, Brown was hired opposite Bull Moose Jackson as female vocalist in the Lucky Millinder Band. She was soon scouted and signed, however, by Ahmet Ertegun to a recording contract at Atlantic Records and debuted with the 1949 hit, "So Long," which topped to number six on the R&B charts.
By 1950, "Miss Rhythm," as Ruth Brown would become known as during that decade, launched a number one hit with "Teardrops From My Eyes," an up-tempo rocker in the then-new R&B style that would eventually result in a span of more than 50 hits for Atlantic. That company would eventually become known as the label that Ruth built. In 1953, the Pittsburgh Courier awarded her the Bessie Smith Award and "Miss Rhythm" continued turning out the hits: "Hello Little Baby," "Rockin Blues," "Mambo Baby," "5-10-15," which hit number one in 1952, and "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean," which shot to number one in 1953. A steady big seller throughout the '50s, Brown shot up the charts again in 1957 with a minor Leiber and Stoller tune called "Lucky Lips." Then in 1960, she cut her last hit at Atlantic with a tune that would become a blues standard, "Taking Care Of Business." In the '60s, her career moved sideways, recording "I Love You Porgy," and working the Playboy Club circuit for several years, before being derailed like so many other artists by the Beatles and the British invasion.
Moving to Las Vegas in the early '70s resulted in theater work, including a role in Guys and Dolls, a TV series, Hello Larry, and appearances in Sanford and Son. In 1979, she returned to the concert stage, touring with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, Mel Lewis and Thad Jones. In the 1980s her career took off again and she has been working steadily ever since. Besides theater work, films and documentaries - "That Rhythm, Those Blues" - she has continued to record. Rhino has released her greatest hits and she has recorded albums for Fantasy and Bullseye. Ruth Brown is in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
Little Richard
Little Richard is one of the original R&B greats and a rock 'n' roll icon whose career was born from gospel and New Orleans R&B. One of his earliest influences was the great blues shouter Roy Brown, whose recording of "Good Rockin' Tonight" was one of the great recordings of the late 1940s and early '50s. Brown also influenced Elvis Presley, who covered the jump classic in the early days of his rockabilly career. Little Richard also credits the Prince of the Blues, the great Atlanta singer Billy Wright, whose recordings on Savoy were top ten hits in the early '50s. Little Richard's sheer electricity of vocals on his Specialty recordings, beginning in 1955, replete with piano, driving saxophone and a pounding rhythm section, spread rock 'n' roll to the world with over 14 hit records. Little Richard was all over jukeboxes and radio from 1955 to 1958, with such giant hits as "Tutti-Frutti," "Long Tall Sally/Slippin and Slidin," "Rip It Up/Ready Teddy," "The Girl Can't Help It," "Lucille," "Jenny Jenny," "Keep a Knockin," and "Good Golly Miss Molly." These songs would be the foundation of his career. Then in late 1957, at the peak of his career, Richard had a serious conversation after an extremely turbulent air flight on an Australian tour, and quit Rock 'n' Roll altogether and devoted his career thereafter to gospel music. One has to consider the magnitude of this decision because in the previous year and a half Richard had scored two hit records. He was at the peak of his commercial and artistic powers.
In 1962 he returned to Rock 'n' Roll and toured England extensively where his biggest fans - The Beatles and the Rolling Stones - attended his concerts. The Beatles were especially influenced by Little Richard and in 1964 recorded "Long Tall Sally." Many of the British invasion bands owed a gratitude to Richard, using his vocal style as a jumping-off point for their own music. Little Richard records were highly sought after and heard on radio everywhere. His appearance in the film "The Girl Can't Help It" had audiences dancing in the aisles of movie theatres everywhere. There were very few musicians who were not touched by the sound of Little Richard. Jimi Hendrix was in Richard's band briefly in the 1960s.
Richard's great recordings have since been re-issued numerous times and Fantasy Records has compiled a collection of his Specialty recordings, while Rhino has introduced "18 Greatest Hits," the definitive Little Richard collection. Little Richard had a resounding cameo in the motion picture "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," as well as a chart-topping song from Soundscore. With his considerable charm and charisma, Little Richard continues to perform, knocking out audiences everywhere with his enthusiastic stage presence and roll and signature roll abandon. Good Golly Miss Molly!
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