Guest Writing: Interview with Izzy and Chris

NOTE: Due to the death of my father-in-law, the first part of the Robin Trower interview will be posted tomorrow, and we are sharing our guest writers today.


Today we have some great guest writers. They are my friends, Izzy and Chris. Chris is from Pittsburgh. and Izzy is from West Virginia. Izzy and Chris recently ranked among the top 20 on the roots chart, and have opened for acts like Robin Trower, Keb ‘Mo, and Buddy Guy just to name a few. I sent Izzy and Chris twenty questions. These guys are so special that they even answered the extra credit! Please buy their CD, since they have done such a great job! Let's see what these two have to say:

1) Can you remember the first time you met?

Chris: The first time we met was an open stage at the Thunderbird Café in Pittsburgh. Izzy walked in with 3 girls hanging all over him liked he owned the place. I remember thinking who does this skinny kid think he is. He got up on stage, sang a song and it sounded like a 70 year old black man. I knew then he was the real deal. A couple weeks later I went to an open stage he was hosting at another blues bar in Pittsburgh called Moondogs. We have been performing together ever since then.

2) How long did it take you to get together to create something and how did it go?
Chris: It was only a couple weeks after we met that we were playing gigs. I think Izzy was a little leery at first, since he had been a solo act for so long. Izzy had several bad experiences in the past with what he calls aggressive harp players. The first time we played out in public it actually went great. Our playing styles just seem to complement each other well.

4) What do you admire most about your associate?
Chris: Besides Izzy’s awesome talent, it is the fact he is probably the most humble musician I know. Even with all the success he has achieved, he is never satisfied with his playing and always trying to improve.
Izzy: Besides being a great harmonica player, Chris has become a good friend and always has my back no matter what the situation. I call him the Wheelman. He takes care of all the business, does all the driving, and can change a guitar string in about 20 seconds. I am pretty sure the guy never sleeps.

5) Who is the glue to the group and why?
Izzy: That would have to be Chris. After the death of Jason Gula, who was our manager/booking agent and ran the record label, Chris took over handling all the business, since Chris is the only one with a telephone and a computer.
Chris: Jason and 80/20 Music Entertainment gave us an opportunity that most musicians only dream of. I felt that I owed it to him to give it my best to continue what he started. I had to learn a lot in a very short time. I attended seminars on marketing, promotion and entertainment law and talked to anyone willing to share their knowledge of the business. I get asked a lot by other musicians how we get the big gigs. The truth is, I just ask. Sooner or later somebody eventually says yes. It helps to have a great resume but you can’t sit around and hope the phone rings. Luckily Betsie Brown, a publicist that runs the Blind Raccoon Agency in Memphis, agreed to work with us this past year . With her help we re-released the cd and it went to #17 this July on the Roots Music Charts. She was able to get us both national and international radio play which is extremely important if you want to tour. The exposure she has gotten us has been a huge help. Managing the act is basically another full time job for me. I take care of bookings, merchandise, cd duplication and distribution, accounting and contracts. Hopefully someday another record label and a booking/management agency will pick us up. But for now we just keep plugging away doing the best we can.



6) What’s your first performance memory?
Chris: It was a club in MKees Rock PA . I remember in the middle of a song, a harmonica player walked up and asked if he could sit in hoping to impress his date, who I noticed had been staring at Izzy all night.

7) What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you on stage?
Chris: That would have to be when we opened for Watermelon Slim. We had some technical problems. Let’s leave it at that.

8) What's your best moment on stage?
Chris: That is a hard one . We have had some great gigs these past two years. Floyd Fest was one of the most memorable. It was one of our first major festivals and we nailed it. It was not even a blues festival but one of the best crowd responses we ever had. We actually sold 45 cds after that performance.

9) Name a song that impacted your life in some way and tell us why?
Chris: Honestly I can’t say there is one particular song that impacted my life.
Izzy: It was not just a song but an entire album that impacted my life. I was in New Orleans and bought my Dad a Robert Johnson album as a gift. Once I heard that I knew blues was the direction I was headed.

10) What artists are you listening to right now?
Chris: While on the road we listen to all kinds of music. Izzy likes the older blues, Lightnin’ Hopkins or Mississippi John Hurt, and I like the more modern players like William Clarke, Kim Wilson, Keb Mo. We also listen to guys like Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and G-Love.

11) Who are you influences?
Chris: As a harp player, I of course, have to include Little Walter, Kim Wilson, William Clarke, George Harmonica Smith, James Cotton and Sonny Terry. However my biggest influence was actually Greg “Fingers Taylor”. I have known him for several years and he has helped me a lot in developing my own style and sound.
Izzy: My influences include Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Howling Wolf . I think it is important to listen and learn from the old blues masters, but it is just as important to develop your own style. Too many acoustic blues acts sound the same. We work hard to be unique.



12) What have you done recently that has been a positive impact on your musical journey?
Chris: Making the top 20 on the Roots music chart, and getting both national and international airplay this past summer has been a huge help for our career. We have been main stage performers at several major festivals, opened for some blues legends, and have had the chance to travel throughout the country

13) Tell me about the songwriting on your latest CD? Did the songs come easy or was it a struggle?
Chris: All but one song were written by Izzy. All songs are based on real live experiences. Izzy has an uncanny ability to instantly turn a story into a song. Steady Rollin Daddy was actually written in the studio because the record label wanted another track.

14) What’s your favorite gear? Could you tell us about your endorsements?
Chris: I was signed as an endorser for the Seydel harmonica company right after our CD was released. I play their 1847 models which has stainless steel reeds. I love the tone and responsiveness of them. Out of the box they are the best harp I have ever played. I have actually never had a reed go bad on a 1847 in over a year. www.seydelusa.com .
Izzy: I play an Alvarez Yairi guitar and uses Di Adddario strings. We also have a Alvarez Artists Series as a backup.
Chris: If you have ever seen Izzy live you know he breaks quite a few strings during a performance.



15) At what age did you know that you should be following a musical path in your life?
Chris: I actually began taking piano lessons at the age of 7, but did not start playing harmonica seriously until I was in my 30s. I wanted to be a guitar player but my teacher recommended I try another instrument. Best advice I ever got. It was not until about 2 years ago when 3 record label executives walked into Shags bar in Follansbee WV and offered us a record deal that I ever thought music might become a career.
Izzy: I began playing guitar at age 9. I was about 17 when I realized that music was going to be what I did for living. I started playing clubs around that same time and music has been my main source of income ever since.

16) Did you ever want to quit doing music?
Chris: No we never wanted to quit music. Playing the festivals, traveling around the country and making cds is great and we hope it never ends. However playing music is something we will always enjoy and will always be a part of our lives. The music business part at times can become very discouraging. We have been very lucky to have some great people helping us out but you have to have a tough skin to survive and succeed in this business. It is a very competitive business full of obstacles and a lot of people looking to take advantage of you. However it is still the best job in the world. Playing for a living, you can’t beat it with a stick.

17) What would you like people to say about your music?
Chris: We just want people to say “They could really play”. We were talking on the way back from a gig the other day. Although we have only been doing this together for two years we both agreed that if it all ended tomorrow we have had a great run.

18) Does songwriting come easy to you are is it hard work?
Izzy: Song writing has always come easily for me.
Chris: Izzy does not only play the blues but he lives them. How he has survived this long is a mystery to me. However the stuff he has been through makes for some great blues songs.

19) How long does it take you to develop a song?
Izzy: It varies. We can be sitting at a bar or driving home from a gig discussing some event and it immediately becomes a new song. Arranging the music is what usually takes some time. Every time we play a new song we try new things with it until we come up with the version that just seems to sound right. Some times that happens right away sometimes it takes weeks. We have a steady Wed night gig which we use to fine tune songs.

20) What’s next for you?
Chris: We have begun traveling much more regionally and nationally. In Jan we will be in Memphis performing at the Blind Raccoon Agency’s show case in front of a lot of industry people. We also hope to have our next cd out next summer.



Extra Credit Question:
20) What else do you want to tell me?
Chris: We would like to thank our families, friends and fans for supporting us these last two years. We are very fortunate to be working steadily which is due to some great people believing in us and a lot of great fans that continue to come out to the shows. Also if anyone is interested our cd is available on line at www.cdbaby.com and www.cdmojo.com.

If you enjoyed reading about this blues acoustic act, you may enjoy this one:
Chris Smither

Thank you for reading American Blues News!

Copyright © 2009 Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2009 Maureen Ciedro. All Rights Reserved.

To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email info@americanbluesnews.com.

Guest Writer: Jayen Varma Guest Interview

Our guest writer today is quite interesting and unique! Jayen Varma of India holds the World Record in Bass Guitar as ‘Fastest Bassist’. This was declared by The Registry of Official World Records (Record Holders Republic) USA & UK in the year 2008. He plays Bass Guitar in the same way that the Indian percussion instruments Tabla, Mridangam and Kanjira are played. Jayen is another one of myspace friends that I asked to be a guest writer. As our guest writer, I sent Jayen a bunch of questions and asked him to answer them. Let's see what he has to say about the blues scene in India and how someone becomes the World Fastest Bass Player!


1) What made you want to be the fastest bass player?

My tough times in life!!! In 2004, I had to sell my one and only bass guitar, which I call ‘the tough times in my life’ or my blues. Since I did not have a bass guitar for around three years, I resorted to do only finger exercises on my mobile phone and a tool which I made myself. Having no bass guitar was a blessing in disguise! Slowly, I realized that I was getting better in speed with the finger exercises. At the end of 2006, I got a 150 USD bass guitar and decided to make my playing official and created a World Record in 2008.

2) How did you prepare for it?

I was doing a job other than music till 2008, playing bass guitar part time in professional bands since 1986 and learning the bass lines of hundreds of cover songs by different bands. Before that I was playing drums and the Indian classical percussion instrument mridangam. Everyday I had to sit three hours in a train since my work was in a very distant place, so during the ride I practiced. I used to practice around seven hours a day. With the help of a few musicians and sound engineering friends, I verified my playing speed using computers in studios. I had read that Adrian Davison of USA used to play piano style bass at 31 notes per second. I decided to make my playing a record and completed all the official formalities with The Registry of Official World Records USA and UK. After verification they confirmed in 2008 that my playing was 36 percussive notes per second.

3) Do you think you're the only fast bassist?

No, I do not think so. There are many fast bass players with different styles and techniques in the world. They may not be interested in going for a record. I cannot even imagine how they play their styles so beautifully. I did it because I just wanted to do it. I am still learning to be good in making good music and grooves.

4) What is Indian Slap Bass and how did you develop it?

I never had a bass instructor, so I had to play according to my convenience. Since I had a little knowledge of the Indian classical percussion instrument mridangam and ragas, I was applying Indian classical raga scales with mridangam/tabla style percussive playing on the Bass Guitar. It became a new genre of unconventional funk bass. It is slapping the strings without using thump, but hitting with 1st then 2nd and 3rd fingers held together, like playing tabla. The playing style is slightly different from the usual slab bass when backing Indian classical music.



5) Is there a blues foundation in India?

Though nothing as big as in the west, the blues and jazz lovers in India have formed certain communities and created special events to make things alive every year. Thanks to all who are responsible for this.

6) Which is your bass Guitar?

Now I play an Indian handmade 5 string bass guitar named Stelsie. Cost of my guitar is below 300 USD. There are many good luthiers in India and in India we get good wood to build the body.

7) Could you tell us about the music culture in India? Are there clubs to play? Is there much blues music?

Indian music culture is based on Indian classical music. I have to say that nowadays Indian classical music is more appreciated outside India, since the masses in India are for commercial filmy pop music. The film industry is a very profitable business in India. Film singers are more popular than other musicians here. So the best places for blues, jazz and classical musicians from India are in countries outside India. There are of course clubs in India to perform blues and jazz.

8) What are some of the challenges a musician faces in India?

Like I said, Indian classical music, blues and jazz are comparatively less popular in India compared to filmy pop music. So blues and jazz musicians find it hard to survive and they often look forward to collaborating with musicians outside India. Though there is a good response for blues in India, blues and classical musicians are paid a very low remuneration compared to cinema singers. There are some hotels and clubs in some cities hosting blues. This is of course a blessing for the musicians.

9) What do you wish to yet accomplishment in music?

I hope to popularize Tabla style Indian Slap Bass across the World and also wish to make sure that this kind of slap bass can be used in Indian classical music as well as blues and jazz. I am yet to release an album. I am also serving the underprivileged, disabled and homeless children to discover the real potential within them by igniting their minds. I desire to make an international project to help the children.

9) What are your favorite blues songs to play?

I love songs like Hoochie Coochie Man, Five long years, Still Got The Blues, Down In The Hole and many more, I really love 12 bar blues.
I enjoy blues artists like B.B.King, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Howlin’ Wolf, Tina Turner, Robert Cray, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Eric Clapton, John Mayall, Keith Richards, the list goes on and on.



10) Who inspires you the most?

I love all the bassists. I have been learning bass by watching videos and listening to bass lines by different electric bassists like Jaco Pastorius, Bootsy Collins, Jeff Berlin, Stuart Hamm, Billy Sheehan, Billy Cox, John EntWistle, Abraham Laboriel Sr, Larry Graham, Victor Wooten and many others. Every Bassist inspires me. And I love to see anyone holding a bass guitar.

11) Who were the artists that influenced your work?

Many musicians, I cannot name just a few. But I got the idea of pace from the name Shadkala Govinda Marar of India who lived in 1700-1800 AD. He was considered the fastest singer who ever lived in India. He used to sing at demi semi quaver speed (32nd notes). Playing fast may not always be music, but many musicians have experimented with it, even centuries back.

12) Where can we find you? Internet, radio, TV, appearances?

It is hard to do something with bass guitar from India in the international arena. The easiest way to know the music outside India is via the Internet. In the 70s and 80s I used to regularly listen to rock, blues and jazz from radio stations like Voice of America, Radio Australia, BBC etc. I even received letters and photos of Willis Conover and Duke Ellington in the 80s by posting on Voice of America, since I used to regularly listen to the jazz hour and respond to them by sending letters from India. In the 90s availability of CDs and tapes became easy.
Of course I have been featured on Radio and TV stations in India and elsewhere. MySpace, Facebook and Twitter are the places where I interact with musicians.

Jayen Varma
India





Read from another guest writer who is from Australia: Gerry Joe Weise

Thank you for reading American Blues News!

Copyright © 2009 Monica L. Yasher/Jayen Varma. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2009 Jayen Varma. All Rights Reserved.


To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email info@americanbluesnews.com.

Guest Writer: Gerry Joe Weise An Aussie in the USA

I asked Gerry Joe Weise to be our guest writer this week. Gerry is my friend on myspace. I know that many think FACEBOOK is the answer. But, I'm still a fan of MYSPACE since I can get to know more about the artist. I've been watching Gerry's moods for a while and he seemed to be a guy on the move. From his writing below, he confirmed it! Yep! He definetely is! Let's see what Gerry has to say.....Monica

I guess the hardest part about traveling overseas, are the airline companies, and more precisely concerning the musician's baggage. After I flew to Portugal with my three guitars and suitcase at no extra cost for the June Blues Tour. I was faced with the dilemma of choosing only one of my guitars to take with me to the States and leaving two of my best guitars behind in Paris, due to baggage restrictions in July. But that was alright as I bought a lovely all original vintage 1960 Airline Town and Country guitar from Arizona's Badlands' bassist during my stay in Phoenix. I tuned it to open G for slide guitar, and I was ready for the July US Blues Tour for four weeks.

It was great roaming around the Arizona desert in the sweaty heat, a sultry 110 degrees, that makes you want to play those smoldering blues. The Blues Tour kicked off to a great start at the Paradise Valley Country Club, with fellow musicians Pablo Richards on bass and Jimbo Gibbons on drums. We played a full set of popular originals like "B Good 2 Me", "Dreamtime Shuffle", "Broken Hill Blues" and the blues ballad "Blue Ice". The two main concert dates were at the Ruby Room, a colorful venue painted in red situated in downtown Phoenix, on a very hot Tuesday and Sunday night. Rocking the stage and bluesing through some of our favorite covers, such as "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Voodoo Chile" and Hound Dog Taylor's "I Just Can't Make It". These two concerts were captured live on video.

I was well accustomed to playing in the Australian Outback, especially up north in Darwin during the cyclone season. So I braved the Arizona heatwave, driving around with my guitars to picturesque places, playing solo in Cave Creek, Tucson, St Xavier, Picacho Peak, Superior and Gold Canyon.

Jimbo, Pablo and myself, stopped at the Leefelt Recording Studio in Tempe
Arizona, to record the original composition "B Good 2 Me". The seance was augmented with Christian Leefelt on rhythm guitar himself. The track has been signed to Metal Doll Records in Texas, and will be featured on their compilation "Native American Uprising" later in 2009.

While we were waiting for the plane to leave Phoenix Airport, everyone had to remain seated for about 45 minutes due to maintenance, the air conditioning wasn't working on that plane under that hot afternoon desert Sun.

A few hours later, I arrived in a much cooler Chicago. I checked out Chi-Town and the pier, I then hopped on down to Buddy Guy's Legends Blues Club for the jam night.

Meeting Buddy Guy once again was a real blast. I had guest supported him in the past at the Jazz Festival in Amiens, France, way back in 1993. Where we both stayed at the same luxury hotel, and rode the same limousine together. That was a great way to end the Blues Tour. Next stop for me in August, was to be performing at the Woodstock 40th Anniversary Tribute Festival outside of Paris.



When I left the States at the end of July, and arrived at the Paris Airport, there was yet another incident, where the plane parked a few feet short from the gangway, and we had to wait nearly an hour to be towed in. I guess I can go and write those "Airport Blues" now...




To read more about Gerry, click here!

Gerry thanks for sharing your trip and BTW-You rock! Readers Enjoy!





Copyright © 2009 Monica L. Yasher/Gerry Joe Weise. All Rights Reserved.
Photo Copyright © 2009 Gerry Joe Weise. All Rights Reserved.

To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email info@americanbluesnews.com.

Guest Writing: Robert Cray Interview by our guest Don Vecchio

After waiting for Robert Cray to return from a tour in Japan, I finally got a call so we could talk.

Robert Cray:Hi Don. This is Robert Cray.

Don Vecchio:Hi Robert. Welcome back to the States. How did the Blues go in Japan?

RC: Thanks. The Blues are always welcomed with open arms in Japan.

DV: Really? I had heard a bit but had no idea. Has it been that way for a while or has it been recent?

RC: Oh, for many years. I first played in Japan in the early 80’s with John Lee Hooker. There was a huge line of people with old John Lee albums to be signed.

DV: That’s incredible. I know you have a bittersweet story about Johnny Guitar Watson while you were performing in Japan.

RC: Yes, I was scheduled along with him at the Japan Blues Carnival (1996). I met him on the elevator and was excited. Later that night, he died on stage. It was such a tragedy.

DV: I’m sorry to hear that. He was a great talent and a good person, I’m sure. Speaking of great talents, I was watching an incredible video on youtube. The longer it went, the more amazed I was. It was listed as “Let the Good Times Roll” BB King and Albert King. I started watching. One by one comes- Junior Wells, you, Dr. John, Etta James, KoKo Taylor, Ry Cooder, Willie Dixon! WOW! Where and when was that filmed? How did they assemble all that talent on one stage?



RC: Oh, yeah. That was the Grammy Awards back in the late 80’s. There was that wild sax player, too.

DV: Big Jay McNeely-he was crawling backwards on the stage while playing.

RC: That’s it exactly! (laughs)

DV: You know you all sounded like you’d been playing together for years. How can you all do that with short practice time?

RC: It’s easy. You practice for an afternoon and you’re so scared you’ll be the one who screws up. You play the best you possibly can (laughs). The hardest part was that Ry Cooder and I tried to adjust to the way Albert King tunes his guitar. It was different and a little difficult.

DV:Robert, You have a pretty unique style on guitar and your music, itself. I really can’t look at any performer and say, “That’s where Robert Cray got his style.” Who were your influences?

RC: Well, that’s tough to pinpoint. My father was in the Army in Germany. That’s where I first got into music. We listened to Armed Forces radio. There was a mix: my dad liked Sara Vaughan and Ray Charles; my mother liked the singers like Sam Cooke and the Dixie Hummingbirds. It was from 1961-1963. I played the piano back then. After that, we moved back to Washington State. I quit the piano and picked up the guitar. I wanted to be a Beatle.

DV: (laughing) I think we all did back then.

RC:True, but then I listened and played Jimi Hendrix. He was from the area. The following year we moved to Newport News, Virginia and then I joined my first band. We played Hendrix and other rock. Then we moved back to Washington and got together with friend, Bobby Murray, who later played guitar for Etta James on tour. We played together through school. We were introduced to the music of Buddy Guy, Magic Sam, Albert King, Albert Collins and more. That’s where the blues influence kicked in. In 1974, I formed the Robert Cray Band.



DV: So, it’s tough to pinpoint one person as your main influence?

RC: Well, if I had to pick one person, I’d say Albert Collins. Love his great style on guitar.

DV: Good choice, I love the Iceman.

DV: Do you prefer playing before a live audience, where it’s possible for errors, faulty equipment and tired from touring…or playing in a studio where you can take your time and perfect your music?

RC: Oh, live for sure. Live is where it’s at! Even if you’re worn from the road, once you get on stage you get and adrenalin rush. You have no idea where it comes from but it’s there; even three hours after you’re done, you still are trying to wind down. (laughs)

DV: That’s great. I think it’s easy to tell the bands who love playing for an audience. I’ve seen it.

RC: Oh, yes. I have too. As far as the studio…”you’ll never attain perfection.” So just go out and play the best you can!

DV: One more interesting item-I understand you had your big screen debut in Animal House.

RC: Oh yes, I was the bass player in Otis Day and the Knights .They were filming that near where I lived.

DV:Thank you, Robert. I can’t wait to see you perform.

RC: Thank you, we’re looking forward to it.

Don Vecchio

*************************************************************************************

Thanks for a great interview, Don! Our guest writer today is Don Vecchio, who is the Vice President of my local blues society, Blues Society of Western Pennysylvania. His past accomplishments as co-editor of his college newspaper are paying off, as he is a major contributor for the BSWPA publication. You can catch all the great things happening in Pittsburgh at their website: www.bswpa.org

Copyright © 2009 Don Vecchio. All Rights Reserved.



To purchase the rights to reprint this article, please email myasher.americanbluesblog@gmailcom.

Arizona: Bob Corritore Guest Writer

Our guest blogger this Saturday is Bob Coritore. I have had Bob on myspace as a friend for a couple of years now. As I was looking for guest bloggers on the net, I found that Bob has been named an award recipient for Keeping the Blues Alive. With that said, I thought you would like to meet Bob and see why he was chosen for that award. I added some photos to the things that Bob shared with his fans through his newsletter from the past week. He will now share them with all of you here today!


September 11th Blues: We take time out on this day to reflect on the tragic events of 8 years ago, and if there ever was a blues moment, September 11th is it. Louisiana Red wrote and recorded his tribute song, “September 11th Blues” in memoriam to the loss of life on September 11, 2001. Take a moment to listen to this song today.

Jesse Fortune Funeral Information: This in from Jimmy Dawkins via Kevin Johnson of Delmark Records: memorial services for the late Jesse Fortune will be Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 10am at Corbin Colonial Funeral Chapel, Ltd., 5345 West Madison Street, Chicago - (773) 626-1092.



Dave Riley & Bob Corritore CD Release Party: The new Dave Riley & Bob Corritore CD Lucky To Be Living will be released on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. A CD release party happens this Saturday, September 12, 2009 at the Rhythm Room, 1019 E. Indian School Road in Phoenix with music by the Dave Riley/Bob Corritore Juke Joint Blues Band (Dave, Bob, Dave Riley, Jr., and Brian Fahey). The CD has been released with much fanfare, and you can see the accumulating reviews the CD has received by clicking here. Come by Saturday night to enjoy the festivities and pick up a CD.


BOB'S BIO:

Bob Corritore is one of the most active and highly regarded blues harmonica players on the scene today. His style passionately carries forward the old school of playing that Corritore learned as a young man directly from many of original pioneers of Chicago Blues. His sympathetic, yet fiery harmonica playing is featured on over 25 releases to date, on labels such as HighTone, HMG, Blue Witch, Blind Pig, Earwig, Putumayo, Random Chance, and the VizzTone Label Group. Many of these acclaimed releases have been nominated for various Handy, Grammy, and Blues Music Awards. Bob is also widely recognized for his many roles in the blues, as band leader, club owner, record producer, radio show host, arts foundation founder, and occasional writer. His amazing website www.bobcorritore.com and his weekly e-newsletter reflect a life thoroughly invested in the blues.

Born on September 27, 1956 in Chicago, Bob first heard Muddy Waters on the radio at age 12, an event which changed his life forever. Within a year, he was playing harmonica and collecting blues albums. He would see blues shows in his early teens, including attending a Muddy Waters performance at his high school gymnasium. He would cut his teeth sitting in with John Henry Davis on Maxwell Street until he was old enough to sneak into blues clubs. He hung around great harp players such as Big Walter Horton, Little Mack Simmons, Louis Myers, Junior Wells, Big John Wrencher, and Carey Bell, and received harmonica tips and encouragement from many of them. He would regularly see the Aces, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Billy Boy Arnold, John Brim, Sunnyland Slim, Smokey Smothers, Eddie Taylor, and in many cases became personal friends with these blues veterans. Corritore worked with Tail Dragger, Big Moose Walker, Willie Buck, Louis and Dave Myers, and Eddie Taylor in the late 70s and early 80s. He also produced his first recordings during that time, taking unheralded harmonica greats such as Little Willie Anderson and Big Leon Brooks into the studio to produce their now classic debut albums.

In 1981, Bob ventured southwest to live in Phoenix, Arizona. Within months, his Chicagoland friend Louisiana Red joined Bob, and the two played together around Phoenix for about a year until Red went to live in Germany. Bob quickly joined up with Big Pete Pearson, who was and is the reigning King of Arizona Blues in a musical relationship that continues to this day. He also worked around the southwest with Buddy Reed, Tommy Dukes, Chief Schabuttie Gilliame, and an emerging Janiva Magness in one of her earliest bands. In 1984, Bob supplemented his performances with a blues radio show called Those Lowdown Blues on KJZZ, which is still going strong. In 1986, former Howlin' Wolf drummer Chico Chism moved to Phoenix at Bob's invitation to start a 20 year partnership that lasted until Chico's passing in 2007. In 1991, Bob opened the now famous Blues and Roots Concert Club, The Rhythm Room. Having a club created yet another catalyst for Bob's musical projects. Often he would invite great artists to come to Phoenix, and Bob's band, the Rhythm Room All-Stars would back them on shows and in recording sessions. Bob's archives of these sessions are now famous, and include sessions with Bo Diddley, Little Milton, John Brim, Jimmy Rogers, Henry Gray, Pinetop Perkins, Henry Townsend, Honeyboy Edwards, Big Jack Johnson, Ike Turner, Smokey Wilson. Lil’ Ed, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Nappy Brown, R.L. Burnside, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Sam Lay, Barbara Lynn, and numerous others.

In 1999, Bob released his first CD as a national recording artist, combining some of the highlights of his vaults. The CD was called All-Star Blues Sessions, and was released on the HighTone record label to great fanfare. This momentum created a long series of CDs on HighTone with Bob in the harmonica player/producer role. Bob started breaking into the national circuit in festival appearances with Henry Gray and Louisiana Red. In 2005, Bob brought the Rhythm Room All-Stars Featuring Big Pete Pearson to The Marco Fiume Blues Passions Festival in Italy, which opened a whole new world of European interest in Bob's harmonica artistry. This led to return visits to Europe for various festivals and performances, as well as an ever-growing world-wide fan base. In 2007, the Mayor of Phoenix officially proclaimed September 29, 2007 to be "Bob Corritore Day" in honor of Bob's musical contributions to his community. Also that year, Bob received a "Keeping The Blues Alive" award from the Blues Foundation. Bob's 2007 collaboration with Dave Riley, Travelin' The Dirt Road, was nominated for a Blues Music Award. Bob also contributed harmonica work on the 2008 Grammy®-nominated CD/DVD by Pinetop Perkins, On The 88s. Bob 's prolific activity with the Blue Witch record label as label producer/harmonica player has garnered him additional notoriety. Bob performs regularly with The Rhythm Room All-Stars Featuring Big Pete Pearson, and numerous side projects with Dave Riley, Louisiana Red, Henry Gray, Sam Lay, Tomcat Courtney, Paris James, and others.

For more information, please contact:

Bob Corritore

bobcorritore@yahoo.com

www.bobcorritore.com
Phone: (480)994-1234

You may like to read the review of Bob's new CD: click here


Copyright © 2009 Copyright Monica L. Yasher. All Rights Reserved.
Photos courtesy of Bob Corritore

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please email myasher.americanbluesblog@gmailcom.

NEW YORK : The Great Republic of Rough and Ready by our guest writer: Jacob Hyman

Some bands make a career of striving toward the new: new sounds, new techniques, new combinations, new instruments. Few bands live in the past, making bygones relevant once again and resurrecting parts of music that died well before the start of the twenty-first century. But when a group like The Great Republic of Rough and Ready comes along, with the power to conjure the ghosts of music past, it can be a magical, albeit nostalgic feeling.


Everything about The Great Republic is of another time. From their hand-woven album artwork to the ‘30s jazz-club presentation of the music at bars around New York, The Great Republic reeks of a time and place in America that has been lost for the better part of a century. Guitarist Samuel Stein, sitting on a stool with only his guitar mic’d, never speaks a word and wears his vagabond suit and argyle socks as if he’s only just stepped off the steam-engine train after an arduous journey. He projects the style of a grizzled vet, wise beyond his years.



Singer Elissa Spencer stands at the microphone, completely at ease, oozing confidence and consistently sipping whiskey that, despite her outwardly obvious twenty-something years, gives her voice a sixty-something fineness. Think Nina Simone. Think Ella Fitzgerald. No effort at all…just smooth and smoky.





This picture that was painted in the dim light of Banjo Jim’s on Manhattan’s Lower East Side is painted just as clearly on The Great Republic of Rough and Ready’s eponymous debut EP. From the opening croon of “Candyman”--the song that drew me toward the front of the room at Banjo Jim’s and whose sweetness seeps from the speakers--to the closing electric riff of “Gospel Ship,” The Great Republic of Rough and Ready is twenty minutes of ephemeral and ethereal time travel. As Spencer croons “Candyman” again and again, accentuated only by a light mandolin, the silences between her breathy pleas are rife with both pleasure and pain. Her a cappella jazz-vocal intro to “See See Rider Blues” harkens back to a barbershop quartet. At first Spencer is a lone voice, but slowly (as the magic of computers allow), three other Spencers fill the sound, signaling the entrance of Stein’s fingerpicked guitar licks and droning bassline that underlie the remainder of the song. Stein whips out the electric on “Cherry Ball Blues,” and his driving groove dances playfully with Spencer’s choked, meandering vocals. The intricate electric guitar riffs on “Gospel Ship” play similarly with Spencer’s carefully crafted melody, but with a more rhythmic and lyrical focus. This is all to say that, despite the EP’s diminutive runtime, between jazz vocals and blues riffs and subtly experimental instrumentation, The Great Republic of Rough and Ready have covered nearly half a century of American blues tradition.


The Great Republic of Rough and Ready’s twenty minute journey tells of a transient man and a weathered woman from the early 1900s putting on a traveling show, telling the stories of their life together. Through the quaint simplicity of a guitar and a voice (with some horns, strings, harmonium and mandolin sporadically and subtly thrown into the mix), this brief yet powerful narrative seems very honest in a way that more modern electronic music simply cannot be. It sounds like the roots of Americana and folk and Southern blues just reaching through space and time to remind us that, without such sound routes, the Justin Vernons and the Sam Beams and, yes, even the Elissa Spencers, would be nowhere at all.



And now about our guest writer:
Jacob Hyman is a freelance writer and musician in New York. He is currently the drummer in two musical projects: the experimental electronic pop quintet, Freelance Whales, and the power blues trio, Jon and the .44. He began his writing career at the G.W. Hatchet in Washington, D.C., and continues to write for web and print for Starved Magazine and the Princeton Record Exchange, among many others. He also keeps his own music blog, A Stereo Sun, which can be found at www.jakehyman.net.