Bman's Blues Report

Leonard Harold "Lenny" Breau (August 5, 1941 – August 12, 1984) was a musician, guitar player, and music educator. He was known for blending many styles of music including: jazz, country, classical and flamenco guitar. Breau, inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, used fingerstyle techniques not often used in jazz guitar. Breau was born August 5, 1941, in Auburn, Maine. His francophone parents, Harold "Hal Lone Pine" Breau and Betty Cody (née Coté), were professional country and western musicians who performed and recorded from the mid-1930s until (in Hal Breau's case) the mid-1970s. From the mid to late 1940s they played summer engagements in southern New Brunswick, Canada, advertising their performances playing free programs on radio station CKCW Moncton. Their son began playing guitar at the age of eight. When he was twelve years old he started a small band with friends, and by the age of fourteen he was the lead guitarist for his parents' band,...

Jay Gaunt began playing harmonica at the age of 12, developing a passion for blues music. One of Jay’s first exposures to blues was The Blues Brothers movie and shortly thereafter he went to see Dan Aykroyd (in full Elwood mode) at the Opus Theater in West Nyack, NY, at which time Dan called up Jay to sit in for the encore. The moment he stepped on stage and played the Mississippi sax, Jay was hooked. Since then he has been hungrily seeking out everything he can find that relates to harmonica, blues and roots music. While Jay’s favorite music is the blues, he is not limited to just one genre. He also plays jazz, funk, rock and pop. Jay’s main influences on harmonica are James Cotton, Jason Ricci, Little Walter, Dennis Gruenling, Paul Butterfield, Chris Michalek, Sonny Boy Williamson, Kim Wilson, and Junior Wells. However, Jay does not only listen to harmonica players, but also draws influences from an array of musicians as diverse as Jimi Hendrix, John Coltrane, and Donny Hathaway. Jay...

Samuel James is part Bill Withers, part Tom Waits, part James Brown, part Leo Kottke, and part P.T. Barnum. A roots troubadour of the highest order, James will sing you a song with raw, sweat-pouring soul, all the while playing the guitar with such commanding virtuosity you'll swear he's reinventing it. Then he'll tell you a story enrapturing you to the point where you'll almost forget he's a musician. Samuel James was born the last in a long line of performers including dancers, story tellers, porch-stomping guitar thumpers, and a session-jazz pianist dating back to the 1890s. James' songwriting has everything from the heavenly flights and evil pits of love to tales of true and bizarre folk heroes. On stage he can be seen sliding on a resonator, fingerstyling a flamenco guitar, clawhammering a banjo, neck-racking a harmonica, and occasionally showing off on the piano if there happens to be one around. Samuel James has received standing ovations for his solo aco...

Jason Ricci (February 3, 1974) is an American harmonica player and singer. Raised in Portland, Maine, Jason Ricci is the son of the controversial businessman/politician/activist Joe Ricci. Ricci started playing music in punk bands at the age of 14. After discovering a love of the harmonica and Blues music, he turned his attention in that direction. In 1995, Ricci moved from Portland to Memphis, TN, where shortly there after he placed first in the Sonny Boy Blues Society contest at 21 years of age. Later that same year Ricci recorded his first album, Jason Ricci. In Memphis, Ricci began playing with David Malone Kimbrough, son of blues great Junior Kimbrough, and soon was a part of the bands of both Kimbroughs and was sitting in with R. L. Burnside.[4] This also marked a dark period for Ricci, as drug addiction led to a one-year stint in jail. Ricci claims to have been sober ever since. In 1999, Ricci won the Mars National Harmonica Contest, and began playing with Keith Brown, later rec...

At a young age Jason Ricci has compiled a musical resume that most musicians don’t achieve in a lifetime. Jason has won the Sonny Boy Blues Society contest, The Mars Music National Harmonica Contest, The Muddy Waters Award and many other accolades. Ricci has been featured on televison as well in various commercials, evening and morning news broadcasts, and on two episodes of Emril Legassi's show "Emril Live". Jason has gigged/toured or worked with (not "jammed with" or "Opened For") Big Al and the Heavy Weights, Jimmy Lloyd Rea, Susan Tedeschi, Billy Gibson, Bobby Little, The Hounds, Nick Curran, Josh Smith, Enrico Crivellaro, Big Bad Smitty, Satan and Adam, Junior Kimbrough, Shawn Kellerman and many more. Jason Ricci is that rare individual that only comes along once in a generation – an artist with the unique ability to help shape and redefine the sound of his chosen instrument and forever change the course of music history. His style is varied and h...