Blues
Allyn Robinson
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Autobiography: I have the soul & the sound of New Orleans in my blood. Born & raised here I have been working since 1966. I have been lucky enough to have worked with some of the creators of the New Orleans sound , such as Professor Longhair, ( I subbed for Johnny Vidacovich ) Ernie K Doe, Eddie Bo, Frankie Ford, Irma Thomas, Robert Parker (Bare Footin'), to mention a few. At 20 I was lucky enough to do the Wayne Cochran & C C Rider gig, the best school of life & music ever. While with this band I had the chance to play with some of music's greatest such as Red Rodney ( played with Charlie Parker ), Jaco, ( the name speaks for itself ) I appear in Jaco's book & on two tribute cd's. One for Warner Brothers & the other Holiday Park Records. Some other players were Lee Thornburg ( Tower of Power ), Randy Emerick ( Miami's first call for everything musical ) & the list goes on forever. During those years with Wayne, we recorded a landmark record for Epic Records at Columbia Studios in San Francisco. At that time we played a lil place called Keystone Berkley were some local band opened up for us, oh yeah, I think they were called Tower Of Power. lol. I think something about seeing an R & B band with 11 horns (4 trumpets, 4saxes & 3 trombones) & a 3 piece rhythm section
Bryan Lee
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Bryan played at the Old Absinthe Bar, (on Bourbon Street NOLA) for 15 years during the 80’ and 90’s . This was a gig that went a long way to establish New Orleans as a blues town as well as the granddaddy of jazz. Guitarist and leader of the Jump Street Five Band at the time, Bryan Lee was faithful to his loyal fans and the music. Today Bryan Lee is still going strong, touring across the US, Canada and Europe playing the blues with the Blues Power Band.
He recently had the honor of performing with Kenny Wayne Shepherd on his newest CD/DVD release Ten Days Out. Along with Kenny, Bryan had the distinct honor and pleasure of being on stage with Pine Top Perkins Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Flett , and Willie Big Eyes Smith. Bryan, Kenny and his band were also guests on NBC's Tonight show with Jay Leno on Feb. 14, of 2007. Bryan also had the honor of performing for BB King in 2005 for his birthday.
"People used to ask me why are you working so hard at all these stupid little bars, who cares?" "But hey," Bryan said, "there are people who care. I have to be sincere about it. In all walks of life you search for sincerity and there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of it."
Chris Thomas King
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Grammy-winning New Orleans musician and actor Chris Thomas King, who lost his Uptown New Orleans home and studio to Katrina did what any blues artist would do, he wrote a song about it asking the question "What Would Jesus Do?" He wrote and recorded the song which leads off his new inspired CD "Rise" only days after the levees broke, but Chris Thomas King is no stranger to the blues.
Initially known for his audacious fusion of blues and hip-hop, Chris Thomas King reached a whole new audience with the Coen Brothers film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, not only appearing on the award-winning soundtrack but establishing himself as a serious dramatic actor as well.
Chris Thomas King is the son of respected Louisiana bluesman and club owner Tabby Thomas and thus was surrounded by music from a very young age. He began playing trumpet in sixth grade and learned guitar shortly thereafter, soaking up as much as he could by hanging out at his father's club. Even so, the young Thomas was still affected more by rock (especially Jimi Hendrix), soul, and early rap music; he didn't really settle on the blues until his late teenage years when he accompanied his father on a tour of Europe and found the audiences much larger and more enthusiastic than he'd ever experienced at home. Upon his return to the States, Thomas (as he was still known) recorded a demo tape that landed him a deal with Arhoolie Records. He played all the instruments on his debut album, The Beginning, which appeared in 1986. Thomas supported the record with tour dates in Europe and Texas, and afterwards he relocated to Austin, where he spent the next four years expanding his musical horizons and honing a more contemporary sound.
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
For more than 50 years, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was an icon on the Texas music scene. His first recordings for Alladin in the late 1940s were pressed on 78 rpm records; his last recording for HighTone in 2004 was pressed on CDs. Brown recorded frequently, documenting most periods of his career, and toured incessantly, playing as many as 300 dates per year in the United States and abroad. Referred to as "the Count Basie of the blues," his expansive repertoire embraced bluegrass, zydeco, Cajun, and jazz, as well as the blues. "I don't want people to call me no blues player," Brown told Chris Morris in Billboard. "I'm an American musician."
Brown also gained a reputation for presenting a high-energy stage show, and for his combative personality that boasted of his own prowess as a musician. This same scrappy quality, however, gave his music the deep integrity of an artist who accepted no compromises. "A lot of people play music for the wrong reasons," Brown told Michael Corcoran in the Austin American-Statesman. "I never played to get women, though I had my share. I didn't do it for the money, though it pays the bills. I realized early on that I could create something beautiful that would build love within the people who came out to hear it."
John Mooney
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Throughout the years John Mooney has developed one of the most distinctive and easily identifiable guitar and vocal signatures of anyone alive today.
Part of the original impetus for his interest in music may have filtered down from his grandfather, a musician himself. “He used to play the mandolin and banjo back in the 20’s†says Mooney. “He even cut a couple of 78’s for the Peerless label that I’ve heard. It was really hot stuff, a kind of raggy jazz.“
John left home at 15 and began playing with Joe Beard at about that same time. Joe introduced him to the first and most enduring influence on the development of Mooney’s music, the legendary Delta blues singer, Ed “Son†House. Impressed by the 16 year old musician’s talent, Son and John soon became friends. “I wasn’t aware of what the opportunity meant, but I knew there was nobody better in Delta blues.“ Mooney cites Son’s heavily rhythmic style having a strong influence on him. In fact, the way Mooney adapts acoustic playing to a modern electric format is one of his most distinctive trademarks.
In 1976 John moved to New Orleans and immersed himself in that city’s vibrant music scene. John regularly played with the likes of Earl King, The Meters, Snooks Eaglin, and the man who was to influence his music greatly, the father of New Orleans piano, Professor Longhair. He was playing regularly in front of New Orleans drummers like Zigaboo Modeliste, John Vidacovich, and Herman Ernest. At this place in time John successfully combined the sounds of the delta with the syncopated rhythms of the Crescent City to create the style that has become uniquely his own.
Little Freddie King
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If you want the real blues - and I'm not talkin about some long-haired hippy beatin' on a National Resonator guitar or a mustachiod, Italian-suited slickster blowin' on a chromatic harmonica - baby, you'd better call Little Freddie King, Normally only seen once a month at BJ's Lounge located in the lowest bowels of the mighty Ninth Ward, where he shares floor space with a pool table and various carpet remnants, don't think for a second that his band won't be able to create the proper mood without their usual scrappy surroundings. The minute Freddie straps on his guitar and strikes up his gnarled chord and drummer "Wacko" Wade makes his presence known with a definative cymbal crash, this lean, mean, swampy aggregation of gut-bucket wild men transforms the poshest of venues into a back-of-town beer joint.
Born in McComb, Mississippi in 1940, Fread E. Martin grew up playing alongside his blues guitar-picking father (Jessie James Martin), then rode the rails to New Orleans during the early fifties where he crossed paths with itinerant South Louisiana blues man such as "Poka- Dot" Slim and "Boogie" Bill Webb whose unique country-cum-urban styles would influence his own. Honing his guitar chops at notorious joints like the Bucket of Blood (which he later immoralized in song), he jammed and gigged with Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker, and also played bass for Freddy King during one of the guitarist's stints in New Orleans. People began comparing the two musicians' styles, hence Martin's nome-de-plume. While well-vested in a variety of styles, nowadays Little Freddie sounds a lot more like his cousin Lightin' Hopkins - albeit after a three day corn liquor bender! Nevertheless, the King sobriquet if fitting, as Freddie is undeniably the monarch of the Crescent City blues scene.
Margie Perez
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Margie Perez is a dynamic and vivacious performer specializing in a versatile blend of Blues, Pop, New Orleans Funk, and Latin music. Originally from Washington DC, her first visit to New Orleans opened up a world of unlimited musical possibilities. She soon released her debut CD, "Part-time Goddess", filled with catchy tunes blending a Pop sensibility with an often hilarious take on love and relationships. Her infectious tune "Ooh Baby La La" won First place in the Pop category of the Songwriter's Association of Washington's 14th Annual Mid-Atlantic Song contest.
She proudly makes New Orleans her home now, and has put together a great band with whom she performs at clubs, festivals, and parties. They performed at the 2007 and 2008 Mid-City Bayou Boogaloo Festival and Carnival Latina in 2007. Her next CD, "Singing For My Supper" is set for an October 2008 release.
Here's what New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint had to say about Margie: "Not only is she a great singer, but she's also a great songwriter. She's taking New Orleans music in a direction I've never seen before." He invited her to sing backup for him at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She is also a background singer for the powerful Blues diva Marva Wright who said about her, "If you don't know her now, you will." Margie also performed at JazzFest 2007 as a member of the Afro-Cuban percussion ensemble Michael Skinkus and Moyuba. In 2008 they took home the Big Easy Award for Best World/Reggae band. Her star continues to rise. She is featured on the latest CD by Smoky Greenwell and the Blues Gnus, "Between Iraq and a Hard Place". They played the 2008 French Quarter Festival. You can hear her on the latest CD by the Crescent City All-Stars featuring New Orleans trumpeter James Andrews, "People Get Ready, Now." Of which the Gambit says "Charmaine Neville and Margie Perez shine on background vocals".
Mike Burkart
Mike Burkart
Autobiography: Music really started to take hold of my life at five when I got hold of my uncle's harmonica. I drove my family nuts playing with the harmonica and at the age of nine I toyed with a guitar. It wasn't till the 7th grade I decided to join the school band and play clarinet. In my Freshman year I watched Michael Lemler, A prodigy, play piano for the high school jazz band and I was awed and inspired to play such a beautiful instrument. I got one and began to teach myself. I never thought of being a professional player. I liked where I could go in my mind when I played.Years later I started playing with Sweet Pea's Revenge, playing harmonica and keys. Our Leader, Jim Brown asked me to find some B3 patches on my synth for that southern rock sound and from there my quest Of the Hammond B3 Organ began. While the Hammond B3 is my main instrument;
Olga Wilhelmine
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Hailing from San Francisco of Austrian parentage, Olga is among the vanguard of new blues artists combining innovation with a deep sense of roots. Though listening to her soulful voice you'd swear no other soil but the Deep South's could have reared this woman, her hardy carnivorous appetite attests to the Austrian blood coursing through her veins!
"I've always connected with the blues," she explains, "especially classic and country blues." She learned early on the healing it brings, although initially the music's power held her at bay. "I was afraid of the emotions that listening to the blues brought out of me. I was afraid to feel them...but once I let go of that, I discovered something that was comforting, soothing, and appealing to me...on all kinds of levels!"
Having received classical training in voice, piano, and violin from a young age, her friend's guitar and Jimi Hendrix: Blues soon kidnapped her mind and soul. At first she was hesitant. She'd "somehow become convinced that a white girl couldn't sing the blues." People still register disbelief when she tells them she's a blues maker. "Then they hear me and they really can't believe it!
Rockin' Jake
Based out of New Orleans since 1990, Rockin' Jake relocated briefly to Ft. Worth Texas since being flooded out by Hurricane Katrina, then settled in St. Louis where he now makes his home. Rockin' Jake has been hailed by many as one of the premier harmonica players in the country. His original sound is a hybrid of second line, swamp funk, blues and zydeco with influences from Paul Butterfield, Big Walter Horton, James Cotton, The Meters,WAR, J. Geils Band, Clifton Chenier, and the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Jake has conjured up this formula that is blowing crowds away from coast to coast. Widely known as a touring juggernaut among his peers, his schedule of over 200 performances per year include clubs, concert venues, and festivals.
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