Bman's Blues Report

Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) was an American singer-songwriter and actress. Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. Born to an African American family, she was the eldest of seven children and a third cousin of actor Earle Hyman (best known for his recurring role on TV's The Cosby Show as Cliff's father, Russell Huxtable). After leaving Pittsburgh, her music training started at a music school. On graduation, she performed on a national tour with the group New Direction in 1971. After the group disbanded, she joined All the People and worked with another local group, The Hondo Beat. At this time, she appeared in the film Lenny (1974). She also did a two-year stint leading a band called Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor. Hyman was discovered in 1975 by internationally known pop artist and music industry veteran Sid Maurer, and former Epic Records promoter Fred Frank, ...

I just received the newest release, It Wasn't Real , from Gina Sicilia . Sicilia has a rich voice and a smooth delivery. Opening with the title track, It Wasn't Real , Sicilia delivers a sultry pop jazz track with nice sax work backing by Jay Davidson. Next up is a track that I became familiar with through my love for James Brown. This has a totally different feel with a more laid back swing type groove. Davidson again steps up with a sweet solo. Walkin Along The Avenue has a distinct 40's sound and possibly the coolest track on the release. Dennis Gruenling plays some really complimentary harp on this track and Joel Bryant adds a nice B3 line. City By The Water is a strong radio play track with a real bluesy feel. Davidson again gets the chance to shine with a real solid sax solo. The release is wrapped with country influenced Walkin' Shoes . Overall this release will appeal to a more adult audience with strong pop melodic tendencies. It is very well done.  If yo...

Jymie Merritt (born 3 May 1926) is an American jazz double-bassist.Raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he has worked in jazz, rhythm and blues, and blues. He has worked with Bull Moose Jackson, B. B. King, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan, Chet Baker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Max Roach, among others. He was an early adopter of the Ampeg bass (a hybrid acoustic-electric instrument) and founded Forerunner, a community organization in Philadelphia. He is the father of a bassist Mike Merritt from Conan.   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 favorites band! -  ”LIKE”  

After playing with Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton's bands in the mid-'40s, sax player Johnny Sparrow formed his own band, Johnny Sparrow and His Bows and Arrows. The group was based in Philly in the early 1950s, and signed to Gotham Records in 1952.   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!

Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording. Music critic Robert Christgau called her "uncoverable, possibly the greatest singer of the cent...

Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane", he was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Berklee College of Music in 2004, and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 2007. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Cheltenham Township, a local suburb, Michael Brecker was exposed to jazz at an early age by his father, an amateur jazz pianist. He grew up a part of the generation of jazz musicians, who saw rock music not as the enemy but as a viable musical option. Brecker began studying clarinet, then moved to alto saxophone in school, eventually settling on the tenor saxophone as his primary instrument. He graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1967 and after only a year at Indiana University, Michael Brecker moved to...

Donald "Duck" Bailey is an American jazz drummer. He is probably best known as the drummer in the trio of jazz organist Jimmy Smith from 1956 to 1964 and also for his work with The Three Sounds on Blue Note Records. Bailey also worked as a sideman for some of the most famous musicians in jazz including Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Hampton Hawes, Sonny Rollins, and Red Mitchell. He also played with John Coltrane in their early Philadelphia years. Bailey is also known as "The King of Organ Trio Drummers". In 1978, Bailey released a harmonica album called "So In Love" (Trio Records) in Japan which received rave reviews. His latest project "Blueprints of Jazz Vol.3 featuring Donald Bailey" was issued on the Talking House record label in 2009. Bailey continues to perform around the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States   “Like” Bman’s Facebook page. I use Facebook to spread the word about my blog (Now with translation in over 50 languages). I...

I just received a copy of the newest release, You Don't Know Nothing , by Frank Bey with the Anthony Paule Band . This release was recorded live in San Francisco and I have to say the people who saw this show got an ear full! Bey has a very solid soul style to his blues and this band is absolute killer! The recording opens with the title track, You Don't Know Nothing About Love which is a smokin' soul track. Bey is a great showman and Anthony Paule wastes no time in showing that he can really make his guitar sweat. Not only beautifully bluesy riffs but great filler riffs giving nice texture...and with great tone. Backed by a stellar band including Tony Lufrano on Keys, Paul Olguin on bass, Mike Rinta on Trombone, Paul Revelli on drums, Nancy Wright on Sax and Steffen Kuehn on trumpet. Yes, Bey is the star of this show and a mighty strong singer he is but take nothing at all from the great horn backing on this set. On Ain't That Lovin' You , Paule shows his jazz ch...

Billy Butler (December 15, 1925 – March 20, 1991) was an American soul jazz guitarist born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He played with The Harlemaires, Tommy Flanagan, tenor saxophonist Floyd "Candy" Johnson, Houston Person, organist Harry "Doc" Bagby, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Smith, David "Fathead" Newman, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bill Doggett, King Curtis, Sammy Price, William (Wild Bill) Davison, Dinah Washington, Panama Francis, Johnny Hodges, Norris Turney, Al Casey, Jackie Williams and others. He also co-wrote, with Bill Doggett, the 1956 R&B hit "Honky Tonk". He was with the Doggett band from 1954 to 1964 and recorded many albums with the organist.   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 ...

Ray Benson (born March 16, 1951) is the front man of the Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. Ray Benson performing in April 2009 In 1970, Benson, a Jewish native of Philadelphia, formed Asleep at the Wheel with friends Lucky Oceans and Leroy Preston. The group relocated to Austin in 1973 after a suggestion from Willie Nelson . Since then, the group has released more than 20 albums and earned 9 Grammy awards. Though the band's lineup has changed greatly over the years (about 90 people have been part of Asleep at the Wheel at some point), Benson has always remained at the helm as the band's driving force. In addition to his work with Asleep at the Wheel, Benson is also an accomplished producer whose credits include albums by Dale Watson, Suzy Bogguss, Aaron Watson, James Hand and Carolyn Wonderland; also single tracks for Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Brad Paisley, Pam Tillis, Trace Adkins, Merle Haggard, and Vince Gill. In 2003, Benson released his first solo album enti...

Shirley Scott (March 14, 1934 – March 10, 2002) was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist. She was most well known for working with her husband, Stanley Turrentine, and with Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, both saxophonists. She was known as 'Queen of the Organ'. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Scott was an admirer of Jimmy Smith, and played piano and trumpet before moving to the Hammond organ, her main instrument, though on occasion she still played piano. In the 1950s she became known for her work (1956–1959) with the saxophone player Eddie Davis, particularly on the song "In the Kitchen". She was married to Stanley Turrentine and played with him from 1960 to 1969. Later, she led her own group, mostly a trio. Saxophonist Harold Vick often played with her. In the 1980s, she became a jazz educator and became a highly known and respected member of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's jazz community. Scott died of heart failure in 2002, which was hastened by th...

Dynamic Roots Music Singer/Songwriter Gina Sicilia Readies New CD, It Wasn’t Real , for Release April 30 on VizzTone Label Group New Album Produced by Grammy-Winner Glenn Barratt PHILADELPHIA, PA - Dynamic roots music singer/songwriter Gina Sicilia announces an April 30 release date for It Wasn’t Real , her new CD on the VizzTone Label Group, which promises to expand her burgeoning career as one of the most creative, exciting and diverse artists in the genre today. Produced by Grammy-winner Glenn Barrett, It Wasn’t Real was recorded at Morningstar Studios in Gina’s hometown of Philadelphia, and features the singer backed by a cadre of local all-star session players who bring a soulful intensity that matches Sicilia’s emotionally-charged vocals.  The new album’s nine original songs showcase Gina’s growth as a songwriter who can deal with universal themes of love and fate, but is able to inject a personal deep-felt longing throughout with ...

Charles Thomas Potter, born in Philadelphia on September 21, 1918, died March 1, 1988, was a jazz double bass player. Potter is known for having been a member of Charlie Parker's "classic quintet", with Miles Davis, between 1947 and 1950; he had first played with Parker in 1944, in Billy Eckstine's band with Dizzy Gillespie, Lucky Thompson and Art Blakey. Potter also performed and recorded with many other notable jazz musicians, including Earl Hines, Artie Shaw, Bud Powell, Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz, Max Roach, Eddie Heywood, Tyree Glenn, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Buck Clayton and Charles Lloyd.   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!

Bill Doggett (February 16, 1916 – November 13, 1996) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist. He is best known for his compositions "Honky Tonk" and "Hippy Dippy", and variously working with The Ink Spots, Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Jordan William Ballard Doggett was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.[1] His mother, a church pianist, introduced him to music when he was nine years old. By the time he was fifteen, he had joined a Philadelphia area combo, playing local theaters and clubs while attending high school. Doggett later sold his band to Lucky Millinder, and worked during the 1930s and early 1940s for both Millinder and arranger Jimmy Mundy. In 1942 he was hired as The Ink Spots' pianist and arranger. Toward the end of 1947, he replaced Wild Bill Davis as the pianist for Louis Jordan's Tympany Five. It was in Jordan's group that he first achieved success playing the Hammond organ...

Young Philadelphia songstress Gina Sicilia exploded onto the scene in 2007, as her debut CD, ALLOW ME TO CONFESS, was met with joyous acclaim by fans and critics alike. She was heralded as a distinctive new voice in the Blues, as well as an insightful songwriter and interpreter of neglected classics in the Rhythm & Blues canon. In 2008 she was nominated for “Best New Artist Debut” at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tennessee, just as her sophomore release HEY SUGAR proved her also to be a legitimate contender in the worlds of Classic Country and Americana. With her new 2011 release, Can't Control Myself, Gina broadens her stylistic palette, infusing even more Soul and Americana into her bedrock influences of Blues and R&B. This CD features seven new Gina Sicilia compositions, as well as three choice covers borrowed from Bobby Bland, Stevie Wonder, and Ike & Tina Turner. Gina’s singing and songwriting continue to break new ground, showing remarkable depth, powe...

Bassist James Sweeting III – Bassist Born in Philadelphia in 1959 James was exposed to the great music scene of that City in the sixties and early seventies. Influenced by the music of the “Sound of Philadelphia” and the great bassist that were coming out of that city such as Stanley Clark, Christian McBride, Percy Heath, Jimmy Garrison and countless others, James initially sought to join his friends corner doo wap singing group but was persuaded to take up playing the instrument that most closely matched his vocal range, the bass, at the age of twelve. He studied at the Settlement Music School in Philadelphia and played in several local bands during his teenage years, in 1977 he took a break from music to go to college and then law school eventually becoming a successful attorney in the Central Florida area. After a twenty-five year hiatus James once again picked up the bass in 2002. He began playing for several local churches and developed into the principal bassist for the W.N. M...

Gladys Bentley (August 12, 1907 – January 18, 1960) was an American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. Bentley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of American George L. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote. She appeared at Harry Hansberry's "Clam House" on 133rd Street, one of New York City's most notorious gay speakeasies, in the 1920s, and headlined in the early thirties at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. She dressed in men's clothes (including a signature tuxedo and top hat), played piano, and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling voice while flirting outrageously with women in the audience. On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player", and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". ...

Clara Ward (April 21, 1924 – January 16, 1973) was an American gospel artist who achieved great success, both artistic and commercial, in the 1940s and 1950s as leader of The Famous Ward Singers. A gifted singer and arranger, Ward took the lead-switching style used by male gospel quartets to new heights, leaving room for spontaneous improvisation and vamping by each member of the group while giving virtuoso singers such as Marion Williams the opportunity to step forward in songs such as "Surely, God Is Able" (among the first million-selling gospel hits), "How I Got Over" (which she wrote; one of the most famous songs in the Black gospel repertoire), and "Packin' Up". Clara Ward's mother, Gertrude Ward (1901–1981), founded the Ward Singers in 1931 as a family group, then called variously The Consecrated Gospel Singers or The Ward Trio, consisting of herself, her youngest daughter Clara, and her elder daughter Willa. Clara Ward made her first so...

b. 3 January 1926, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 11 May 1994, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Guitarist and singer Overbea, who came out of the Chicago R&B scene, was one of the earliest pioneers of rock ‘n’ roll. He began his musical career in 1946 and first recorded in 1950 as a vocalist on an Eddie Chamblee track. Overbea joined Chess Records in 1952, producing his best-known songs, ‘Train Train Train’ (number 7 R&B) and ‘40 Cups Of Coffee’, the following year. Both were essentially rock ‘n’ roll songs before the concept of ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ had even emerged. In the pop market, ‘Train Train Train’ was covered by Buddy Morrow and ‘40 Cups Of Coffee’ by Ella Mae Morse. By 1955, when rock ‘n’ roll was making its breakthrough on the pop charts, Bill Haley And His Comets recorded ‘40 Cups Of Coffee’, which, even though it did not chart, proved to be one of their better efforts. Famed disc jockey Alan Freed featured Overbea many times in his early rock ‘n’ roll revues in Ohio and N...

Ernie Andrews has a raw vitality that communicates instantly, he exudes a "reach 'em by preachin'" energy, influenced by his gospel roots. Born Christmas day in Philadelphia, his early years were spent in his mother's Baptist Church. In his early teens, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he studied drums at Jefferson High School and continued singing. He was discovered by songwriter Joe Greene in 1947, when he won an amateur show at the Lincoln Theatre on Central Avenue in Los Angeles. Greene was so impressed that he immediately took Andrews into the studio to record at age 17. With a 300,000 seller hit, "Soothe Me" with "Wrap It Up And Put It Away" on the flip side, Ernie Andrews became a singer to be reckoned with. In 1953, he had another big record with "Make Me A Present of You" with Benny Carter. By this time, Andrews was working at home and out of town playing clubs, concerts and "after-hours" rooms. In 1959, ...