Blues & Jazz Festival 2007

Blues & Jazz Festival 2007

Blues & Jazz 2007 INFORMATION...

One World Tribe with
UpRise African Drum and Dance Ensemble
Founded by Kennedy Thompson in 1994, One World Tribe was created to bring together musicians of various backgrounds in order to break down social and racial barriers. One World Tribe is a musical feast whose musicians, dancers and extras combine Afro-Beat, Funk, Latin, Reggae and World Beat to create an original and engaging sound. With members hailing from Africa, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, One World Tribe is a truly multicultural ensemble. Longtime members include Kennedy Thompson, Ron "Preach Freedom" Williams, Mike Chin, Kenny Hollis, Kennedy Lorya, Ringo Brill, Mark Colicchia, Frank Singer, and D.J. Chilly J. The group is at work on its third CD, building on the success of their previous releases, Unity and Diversity and The World Today. This year the members of One World Tribe were artists in residence at Erie’s Flagship Transitional School. The residency had a focus on world cultures and a goal of creating an art-infused curriculum that would enhance students’ academic and social performance. The students learned three traditional African songs and dances and, in the process, also learned geography, history, language arts, math, and the importance of teamwork. The students formed a 20-member ensemble, UpRise, which will join One World Tribe on the Festival stage.

Familiar Spirit Band
Erie’s Familiar Spirit Band was founded in 1997 to “pleasure people with a plethora of diverse genres.” The band specializes in Motown and R&B classics. The five members of the band include background singer and drummer Allie “Rabbit” Porter, who utilizes the latest technology to enhance his acoustic drum set, and James Jackson, who provides vocals and dazzling dance moves. Howard “Gator Head” McCloud is the lead drummer, backup vocalist, and lighting director. Derrick “D.C.” Carson keeps a steady pulse with his bass, and lead singer and skilled keyboardist Rusty “Pad the Maestro” Jackson completes Familiar Spirit’s bold sound. Porter, Carson, James and Rusty Jackson were all original members of the well known Sky’s the Limit band, which traveled extensively across the United States opening for national acts such as Tiny Tim, The Floaters, and Mass Construction. They even trailed The Grateful Dead in Telluride, Colorado. Rusty Jackson has released an album entitled Those Daisy Dukes and is currently working on a second album to be released in fall 2007.

Geoff Achison & The Souldiggers
Australia native Geoff Achison has a reputation as a guitar player’s guitarist, equally adept at acoustic or electric styles, and can either be beautifully intricate or explode with high energy. Twenty years of touring and playing with artists like Hot Tuna, John Mayall, Levon Helm and Hubert Sumlin, and in recent years his own band, The Souldiggers, have brought him recognition as a songwriter, vocalist, and outstanding guitarist. Shortly after he first came to the States, Achison won the coveted “Albert King Award” in Memphis in 1995 and went on to score an endorsement deal with Gibson Guitars. He returns regularly to America to play clubs and music festivals. For the past eight years he has been a guest guitar instructor at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio. His newest CD, Little Big Men is his ninth album to date. “One of the most gifted artists to arrive on the scene. His playing verges on the miraculous.” (The Times, London, UK) “Geoff is one of the finest blues guitarists that I know, with a completely individual style. I have never seen anyone play quite like him.” (Jorma Kaukonen)

Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials
Although small in stature, Lil’ Ed Williams, is a true giant of the blues, and among the very last authentic West Side Chicago bluesmen. A gifted guitarist and a remarkably gritty and soulful vocalist, Williams and his band, The Blues Imperials, have been tearing up clubs and festival stages all over the world for almost 25 years. Not since the heyday of Hound Dog Taylor and The HouseRockers and (Lil’ Ed’s uncle) J.B. Hutto and the Hawks, has a Chicago blues band made such a consistently joyous, rollicking noise. Between the band’s wonderfully untamed music and William’s flying leaps, his back-bending, his toe-walking through the audience and his sliding across the stage on his knees, it’s no wonder The Boston Globe called The Blues Imperials “the world’s #1 houserocking band.” Lil’ Ed’s romping, sizzling guitar work and his rough-hewn vocals are accompanied by his brother James “Pookie” Young’s thumping bass, Mike Garrett’s feral rhythm guitar and Kelly Littleton’s unpredictable yet bone-crunching drumming. Together they produce a modern blues firestorm steeped in tradition.

Junior Brown
A monster guitar player, Junior Brown is usually described as a country artist, but his repertoire is soaked in the blues. A native of backwoods Indiana, Brown and his wife (and rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist) Tanya Rae make their home in Austin, Texas, “...where the lines between various musical styles and genres have always been a bit blurry.” Self-taught, Brown began playing professionally as a teenager in the late 60’s. He paid his dues on the road for more than two decades before finally achieving widespread recognition. Today he is widely regarded as one of the most remarkable guitarists alive, as well as an outstanding vocalist, songwriter and arranger. His signature instrument, created with luthier Michael Stevens, is the double-necked “guit-steel”, a combination electric guitar and lap steel guitar, with which he creates some of the hottest, most heartfelt playing ever heard. “The only boundaries are defined by what I like to do,” Brown states. His talents have led major magazines like Musician to herald Brown as a genius. Life magazine honored him as the only contemporary musician included in their “All-Time Country Band,” and Guitar Player has consistently featured him in their best lists. The Village Voice compared him to Jimi Hendrix, saying, “His Hendrix fixation, it’s now obvious, is not a slacker grabbing gimmick, but an honorable exploration of the highways and byways Jimi opened, and a journey moreover, where in Brown’s loose-as-a-goose wristing, combined with his guit-steel’s unique and extraordinary range, actually elevates him into the class of musical humans going where no man, Hendrix not excepted, has gone before.”

Gem City Jazz Band
Twenty dedicated Erie area musicians come together regularly as the Gem City Jazz Band to play for the love of jazz. Dedicated to performing big band jazz and swing sounds from all eras, the Gem City Jazz Band plays hits from legendary jazz musicians such as Count Basie, Buddy Rich, and Duke Ellington, as well as compositions by lesser-known and underappreciated composers. The Gem City Bands were founded in Erie in the 1930s. The bands were originally concert ensembles affiliated with the Siebenberger Singing Society and the 313th Machine Gun Battalion Club, and from 1970 until 2003 they were formally associated with the East Erie Turners Club. The Bands now make their home at St. John’s Lutheran Church, which provides a spacious rehearsal room and a large auditorium for spring and fall concerts. The Jazz Band was formed in 2003 by then conductor Tim McKinney as a smaller spin-off from the larger Concert Band. The 18 to 20 piece Jazz Band rehearses weekly and performs at a wide variety of community events. The Director of both Concert and Jazz Bands is Betty McKinney. Assistant director of the Jazz Band is Ned Trautman.

Cat’s A Bear
Latin, fusion, blues, funk and bebop come together in the original compositions that comprise the repertoire for Cat’s A Bear. This unusually-named group was founded by Frank Singer (guitar) and Joe Dorris (drums) in 1982 as a creative outlet for their musical explorations. The group has existed in many forms, first as a quartet and then a trio, until 1988 when Singer and Dorris began performing as an electronically enhanced duo. Tony Stefanelli (bass) joined up in 1991, re-establishing the band’s live sound. Soon the group was joined by the elusive, mystical Tito (Nick Ronzitti) and saxophonist Phil Papotnik, creating the ensemble as it is currently configured. An unusually tight and empathetic group (they play together at least weekly), Cat’s A Bear performs songs written by award-winning composer Frank Singer. The group performs regularly in Erie and the region and has released three CD’s (with the ingredients for several more in the works). “For jazz aficionados, a rocket ride through arrangements played with unmatched musical technique by some very serious talents.” (Bay City Nights)

Babik
Inspired by the legendary two-fingered Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, the jazz string band Babik (pronounced Bah` beek) is named after Django’s second son. The band features Joshua Assad on rhythm guitar and vocals, Kevin O’Brian upright bass, Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry on violin and Stuart Fuchs on lead guitar. “I liked the idea that we were like sons of Django,” Fuchs says, “illegitimate, American, and not Gypsies at all, but still following in the master’s footsteps.” Songs range from their own compositions, such as “Bossa Dorado,” to covers of Django tunes such as “Dark Eyes” and “Daphne,” to an amusing take on the “Spider-Man” theme song. Babik has had great success in the Buffalo area, recently receiving the ArtVoice Reader’s Award for Best Jazz Band for the second year in a row, and Buffalo Spree magazine’s “Best of Buffalo” Award in 2006. The group has released two CDs and will soon be performing with major symphony orchestras across the country, starting with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in February 2008.

Stew Cutler Trio
Jazz, blues, soul, roots and funk find new expression in the New York based Stew Cutler Trio. Bandleader, songwriter and arranger Stew Cutler cut his teeth on R&B, beginning with his first professional guitar gig at the age of 19 with blues legend Z. Z. Hill. Cutler went on to perform with Eddie Floyd, Jimmy Castor, Wilson Pickett, Earl King, Fontella Bass and Percy Sledge before turning to jazz and working with artists such as Lester Bowie, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Bobby Previte and Eliot Sharp. The Stew Cutler Trio features Cutler on guitar, Booker King on bass, and Garry Bruer on drums. The trio’s fourth and most recent CD, Stew Cutler Trio Live, recorded in part at the Erie Art Museum during a 2004 appearance as part of the Museum’s Contemporary Music Series, is a distillation of the guitarist’s diverse experiences: “The rhythm section kicks matters into high gear but it’s Cutler who looms as the driving force, due to his fiery single note flurries and off-kilter jazz-blues phrasings. He tops it all off with odd meters and odder, blitzing crescendos. Cutler is an exciting soloist who enjoys a bit of genre-bashing along the way.” (All About Jazz)

Rashied Ali Quintet
First achieving widespread recognition as the drummer with John Coltrane during his groundbreaking performances and recordings of 1965–67, Rashied Ali has remained one of the most original percussionists in jazz. For the past five years, he has led a quintet that includes Jumaane Smith on trumpet (a young man who “plays with fiery conviction and the technical virtuosity of a seasoned veteran”), Lawrence Clark on tenor sax (“his tenor tone is lush and enhances the allusion”), Greg Murphy on piano (“invokes the swing at the heart of Thelonious Monk’s rhetoric and rhythm”) and Joris Teepe’s (“steady walking”) bass. Owing more to Ali’s hard bop roots than to his familiar free jazz explorations, the quintet recently released Judgment Day, a two-CD set which has received uniform critical acclaim. “These are fantastic discs that exist inside the tradition while offering repeated opportunities for its fresh appraisal.” (Marc Medwin, Dusted.) “A fine blowing date with intelligently composed charts built around Ali’s uniquely cliché-free personal style.” (All About Jazz) “Though this band rarely plays outside of New York City, this is one of the more potent working quintets in jazz today.” (JazzTimes)