Bman's Blues Report

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Blues On My Shoulders , from Peter Ward and it's quite good. Opening with solid shuffle, She Took It All , Peter Ward on guitar and lead vocal sets a great pace with Mudcat Ward on bass, Neil Gouvin on drums and Sugar Ray Norcia on harp. Excellent opener. Surf rocker, Which Hazel , is a solid rocker along the lines of Chuck Berry with a strong surf twist. Clever lyrics and guitar riffs by Ward give this track a lot of gas. On title track, Blues On My Shoulders , Anthony Geraci adds nice piano and I particularly love the guitar work by Monster Mike Welch. Collaborate is all about lush chords and sassy sax and Ward's guitar work with Sax Gordon Beadle's sax work is just that. Excellent! Shuffle track, It's On Me is another outstanding entry on the release with a hot sax solo from Beadle and hot fingering from Ronnie Earl and Ward. Very nice. Southpaw is a hot number with a smoking B3 solo from Rusty Sco...

During a recent sand sculpture competition on Revere Beach north of Boston, one contestant tied together his love of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters with his sand sculpture building skills. Check out this work by Prince Edward Island artist Abe Waterman. Sure beats my work with a little bucket! Thanks Mark Pucci

I just received the newest release, Proof of Love from Gracie Curran and the High Falutin' Band and it's powerful. Opening with a potent guitar riff into a saturated amp by Tom Caroll, the High Falutin' Band sets a smokin' tempo on Even With The Rain . Sax man Mark Earley has the bottom and he really has control. Curran has a strong, sassy voice and Latin rhythm by drummer Derek John Bergman spices up the track. Ballad Take You With Me is constructed along the lines of a "Band" track but with Curran taking it light and key man extraordinaire Bruce Bears adding the warmth and Doug Woolverton laying down counter melodies on trumpet. A sweet guitar solo on this track by Carroll shows influence by Dickey Betts. Jack & MaryJane has the rhythm of Use Me Up which is just a great groove and sax man Earley is strong making memorable use of his horn. Very nice! Another fluid guitar guitar solo with hints of Jimi adds to the tone of the track. Super ballad Rock...

On Monday December 9th, BOSTON’s latest studio album, "Life, Love & Hope" will be released in the UK by Frontiers Records. More than a decade in the making, the new album features 11 tracks replete with the classic and beloved BOSTON sound, as well as the latest in the evolution of Tom Scholz' musical artistry. Diverse and cohesive, the long-awaited album has something for everyone. It fulfils the expectations of Boston fans, while exposing a new generation to one of the world’s greatest rock’n’roll bands. Boston founder member Tom Scholz. Scholz says, "These are songs from the heart, each of them taking many months of effort to write, arrange, perform and record, always up to the demands of BOSTON's harshest critic. Me. The songs have been meticulously recorded to analogue tape on the same machines and equipment used for BOSTON's hits for the past 35 years." In 1976, BOSTON burst onto the music scene with ...

Sonny Stitt Alto Sax, Walter Bishop Piano. Tommy Potter Bass, Kenny Clarke Drums. Edward "Sonny" Stitt (born Edward Boatner, Jr., February 2, 1924 – July 22, 1982) was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums. He was nicknamed the "Lone Wolf" by jazz critic Dan Morgenstern, in reference to his relentless touring and devotion to jazz. Edward Boatner, Jr. was born in Boston, Massachusetts,and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. He had a musical background; his father, Edward Boatner, was a baritone singer, composer and college music professor, his brother was a classically trained pianist, and his mother was a piano teacher. Boatner was soon adopted by another family, the Stitts, who gave him his new surname. He later began calling himself "Sonny". In 1943, Stitt first met Charlie Parker, and as he often later recalled, the two men found that their sty...

I was born in Boston in 1949 and was brought up in nearby Brookline, Massachusetts. Inspired by Chuck Berry, I started to play guitar in 1964 and began playing in Rock bands right away. I soon followed the path of Chuck Berry’s inspiration back to the Blues. I was especially taken by the music of Muddy Waters and listened to as much of it as I could find. I worked in Blues or Blues-Rock bands in the Boston area, including with Luther “Georgia Boy” “Snake” Johnson, and The Boston Blues Band. In August, 1973, I went to see Muddy at Paul’s Mall in Boston. He had seen me in opening bands and had been very encouraging to me because I was trying to play his style of “Old School” (Muddy’s term) Chicago Blues. He had just lost long-time guitarist Sammy Lawhorn and he hired me to play in his band. While most musicians in modern times learn from listening to recordings, Muddy put me on his right side on the bandstand so I could watch him play guitar. I sure appreciated that opportunity while...

Their sound, though hard to define, has been referred to as “punk-blues”, “gutbucket soul”and “explosive stomp and groove”. This high-octane trio from Boston, MA has been touring the country for the past five years, taking their unique form of roots music (influenced by the sounds of the northern Mississippi hill country) to cafes, restaurants, record stores, rock clubs, theatres, festivals and back yard parties, and playing for anyone who will listen. In 2010, they released their first full-length CD, "I Get Blamed For Everything I Do" (Hillgrass Bluebilly Records). Their new album, “Undertow” (also on Hillgrass), will be officially released in March/April 2013.   If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Reuben "Ruby" Braff (March 16, 1927 – February 9, 2003) was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. Jack Teagarden was once asked about him on the Gary Moore TV show and described Ruby as "The Ivy League Louis Armstrong." Braff was born in Boston. He was renowned for working in an idiom ultimately derived from the playing of Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke. He began playing in local clubs in the 1940s. In 1949, he was hired to play with the Edmond Hall Orchestra at the Savoy Cafe of Boston. He relocated to New York in 1953 where he was much in demand for band dates and recordings. He died February 10, 2003, in Chatham, Massachusetts.  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

When 22-year-old harmonica ace Annie Raines first sat in with 42-year-old country blues guitarist Paul Rishell in a Boston bar in 1992, few in the crowd suspected that they were witnessing the beginning of a musical partnership that would span the next fifteen years and counting. As a working team, Paul and Annie have racked up hundreds of thousands of miles on the road in the U.S. and Europe, collaborated on original songs, and released I WANT YOU TO KNOW (Tone-Cool/Artemis 1996), MOVING TO THE COUNTRY (2000), the W.C. Handy Award winner for Acoustic Blues Album of the Year, and GOIN’ HOME (2004), which was nominated for two Handy Awards. Paul Rishell and Annie Raines’s fifth project together, the live recording “A NIGHT IN WOODSTOCK” was released in 2008 as a CD and in 2009 as a DVD on their own Mojo Rodeo label, and distributed internationally by Burnside Distribution, each release earning multiple Blues Music Award nominations. The live concert features special guests John Seb...

  JESSE DEE'S ON MY MIND / IN MY HEART MAKES WORLDWIDE DEBUT ON BLURT-ONLINE.COM ON MONDAY, JANUARY 14 On My Mind / In My Heart , the title track from the upcoming Alligator Records debut album from Boston's soul singing, songwriting, guitar playing Jesse Dee , will make its worldwide debut on Monday, January 14. The song will stream at Blurt-online.com , the website of the influential music magazine Blurt . The album will be released on Tuesday, February 26. Dee will tour extensively in support of the CD, with a show at New York's Iridium on Friday, March 8 and a hometown CD release party planned for Saturday, March 9 at Boston's Brighton Music Hall. The full tour schedule will be announced shortly. With his warm and honest sound, his instantly memorable melodies and positive, slice-of-life lyrics (evoking the heyday of the Brill Building songwriters), Jesse Dee expertly updates soul music for contemporary audiences. The new al...

Tree O Records Signs Boston-Based Juliet and the Lonesome Romeos and Will Release Their Debut Album, No Regrets , on January 15, 2013 NASHVILLE , TN – Tree O Records announces the signing of Boston-based group Juliet and the Lonesome Romeos, and will nationally release their debut album, No Regrets , on January 15, 2013. No Regrets was produced by Michael Dinallo and Ducky Carlisle, known collectively as “The Tremolo Twins,” whose credits include a Grammy Award, a number one single and various gold and platinum awards. Dynamic singer Juliet Simmons Dinallo, whose powerfully soulful vocals drive the band, demonstrates a flair for roots-infused pop music, while incorporating a definite leaning toward the country side of life. The deeply emotional songs travel down the highways and backroads between heartache and hope. Boston Globe writer Steve Morse described her voice as “fresh and emotionally charged, as though Juliet were a long-lost sister of...

Hammond B-3 blues organist Tony Z was long a fixture on the New England blues club circuit, and for two years as part of Boston-area guitarist Ronnie Earl's touring band, the Broadcasters. Born and raised in Boston, Tony Zamagni began playing organ at St. Patrick's School in Roxbury. He cut his musical teeth with the Boston band Combat Zone and then went on to play with the Platters for the next ten years. He spent most of the latter part of the 1980s trying to organize his own touring band (no small feat) and working as a session player in Miami for TK Records, where he recorded an LP with the group Miami. After meeting Ronnie Earl through a mutual friend, trumpeter Bob Enos, Zamagni teamed up with the guitarist and joined his road band, the Broadcasters, from 1989 to 1991. Get Down with the Blues In 1991, Zamagni moved to Chicago, where he worked for three years with guitarist Larry McCray and found work as a session musician on albums by Son Seals, Saffire, Little Smokey ...

I have just received a copy of the newest David Maxwell release, Blues In Other Colors . This is a 13 track composition with all songs written and performed by Maxwell. Joining Maxwell (keys) is Harry Manx (Mohan Vina and guitar), Jerry Leake (Indian and West African percussion) Fred Stubbs (Turkish ney),Boujmaa Razgul (Oud and Moroccan raita), Troy Gonyea (guitar), Eric Rosenthal (drums), Marty Ballou (double bass), Paul Kochanski (electric bass) and Andy Plaisted (congas). The recording is fairly hard to describe with conventional melodies and familiar sounds woven with the sounds of the east and Africa. Movin' On as an example, has a very traditional western styling which is carried throughout on piano but features the overlay of Mohan Vina and African percussion. The sounds are almost a juxtaposition of cultures. Conversely, Blue Dream begins with more of an eastern feel and is overlaid with piano as a woven compliment. The entire recording has a contiguous flow more in...

The Soul of a Man is an eight piece band dedicated to blues and soulful music. Incorporated in the band are musicians from as far away as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Quebec, Canada, and from all across the US. The Soul of a Man is based out of Boston, Massachusetts, but can be found performing through out the North East and the greater New England area. Please take a look at our performance schedule to see when the group will be playing a show near you. Thesoulofaman.com is the place to go to hear our most recent recordings, and to stay informed about our current and future performances. You will also be able to read individual band bios and get updates about the band. The Soul of a Man prides itself on delivering the best in live entertainment, and we hope to see you at our shows. We love to make music, but it’s the fans that really make it special for us. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the ...

Alan "Blind Owl" Christie Wilson (July 4, 1943 – September 3, 1970) was the leader, singer, and primary composer in the American blues band Canned Heat. He played guitar and harmonica, and wrote most of the songs for the band. Wilson was born in Boston, Massachusetts and grew up in the Boston suburb of Arlington. He majored in music at Boston University and often played the Cambridge coffeehouse folk-blues circuit. He acquired the nickname "Blind Owl" owing to his extreme nearsightedness; in one instance when he was playing at a wedding, he laid his guitar on the wedding cake because he did not see it. As Canned Heat's drummer, Fito de la Parra, wrote in his book: "Without the glasses, Alan literally could not recognize the people he played with at two feet, that's how blind the 'Blind Owl' was." With Canned Heat, Wilson performed at two prominent concerts of the 1960s era, the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. Canned He...

CHRIS SMITHER COSMIC BLUES COMES FULL CIRCLE ON 12th ALBUM, HUNDRED DOLLAR VALENTINE OUT JUNE 19 First long-player by fingerpicker/singer/songwriter to feature all original songs features session support from Morphine, Groovasaurus, The Lemonheads players BOSTON, Mass. — There are such things as the cosmic blues. Janis Joplin once recorded a song by that name — she spelled it kosmik . But Chris Smither lives them. Smither’s cosmic blues are on full display in Hundred Dollar Valentine, a brilliant amalgam made of equal parts past, present and future. It is music that traces its roots back deep into tradition, anchors its rhythms and textures in today, and reaches forward into the future, asking the Big Questions — why am I here? Is there purpose to all of this or is it just a spinning cascade of random moments? And he does it all with six strings, an insistent, understated groove and a sly wink — letting you know that we may all enter and leave this world alone, but that ...

The confusing plethora of artists working under the name of Luther (nickname here) Johnson can leave even those with a decent knowledge of blues in a major state of confusion. But in this biographical entry, we concern ourselves with the life and times of Luther "Georgia Boy/Snake Boy" Johnson who, to make matters even more confusing, also worked and recorded under the names Little Luther and Luther King. (It turns out his real name wasn't even Luther, but Lucius.) Upon his military discharge, he picked guitar as a member of the Milwaukee Supreme Angels gospel group, working the local church circuit. But the blues bug hit and he soon had his own little blues trio together, eventually settling in Chicago by the early '60s. He played for a while with Elmore James and was a regular fixture in the Muddy Waters band by the mid-'60s. He recorded as Little Luther for Chess in the mid-'60s ("The Twirl") and by 1970 was relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, wor...

Peter Parcek’s daring, incendiary and soulful style is a distinctive hybrid. He weaves rock, gypsy-jazz, country, folk, and blues-- especially blues-- into a tapestry of melody, harmony and daredevil solos that push those styles to their limits without sacrificing the warmth of his own personality. Peter calls his approach "soul guitar," an appellation that alludes to his playing’s depth of feeling and character, as well as its deepest roots in classic American music. But Peter’s sensibilities are equally attuned to the future. Peter’s journey as a musician began when the Vietnam War erupted and he graduated high school. With the blessings of his mother and the help of a family friend, he relocated to London, England, and found himself in the thick of the British blues explosion. "I got real lucky," he recounts. "Whenever I could afford it or sneak in, I could see Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Peter Green in clubs, as well as many other great guitarists who wer...