Denise LaSalle bio

Ora Denise Allen (born July 16, 1939, Belzoni, Mississippi, United States), known by the stage name Denise LaSalle, is an American blues and R&B/soul singer, songwriter, and record producer. LaSalle, who maintains an enormous following in the Deep South, has been recognized as a Queen of the Blues.

Born near Sidon, Mississippi and raised in Belzoni, she sang in church choirs before moving to Chicago in the early 1960s. She sat in with R&B musicians and wrote songs, influenced by country music as well as the blues, before winning a recording contract with Chess Records in 1967. Her first single, "A Love Reputation" was a modest regional hit.

She established an independent production company, Crajon, with her then husband Bill Jones. Her song "Trapped By A Thing Called Love" (1971) was released on Detroit-based Westbound Records. This reached #1 on the national R&B chart and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song ranked at #85 on the 1971 year-end chart. The RIAA gold disc award was made on 30 November 1971 for a million sales.

This wonderful song is now on the Jim Jarmush last movie “Only Lovers Left Alive”

From Jim Jarmush interview ”……..The Denise LaSalle song is so beautiful. And she's from Detroit, even though that track is very Memphis-sounding to me, especially with that hat horn section. So I had to have that in when they danced. Thematically, lyrically … "Why do I have to love this man who's driving me crazy? But I can't help it." So it fit in. Some of the original 45s were printed, incorrectly, with the title "Tunnel of Love" on them and they were worth a lot more money. I don't know if there's a Springsteen connection or not, though”.

She also wrote successful follow-ups, "Now Run And Tell That" and "Man Sized Job" which made #3 and #4 in the R&B Top Ten and also charted in the Hot 100. Her early hits were recorded at the Hi recording studios in Memphis, operated by Willie Mitchell, using the cream of southern session players. She continued to have hits on Westbound and then on ABC Records through the mid-1970s, including "Love Me Right" (#10 R&B, #80 pop) She continued to produce and perform live. Her co-penned song, "Married, But Not to Each Other" (#16 R&B) was included in the 1979 The Best of Barbara Mandrell, compilation album.

In the early 1980s, she signed as a singer and songwriter with Malaco Records, for whom she released a string of critically acclaimed albums over more than 20 years, starting with Lady in the Street (1983) and Right Place, Right Time (1984). Both albums became major successes among soul blues, R&B and soul fans and on urban radio stations. In 1985, she enjoyed her only recognition in the UK Singles Chart, when her cover version of Rockin' Sidney's, "My Toot Toot", reached #6. LaSalle appeared at the 1984 and 1993 versions of the Long Beach Blues Festival, and also in 1993, she performed at the San Francisco Blues Festival. Her album Smokin' In Bed (1997) sold well. After more than a decade away, when she recorded three albums with small Memphis-based soul-blues label, Ecko, she returned to Malaco for her 2010 outing called "24 Hour Woman".

She continues to work as a live performer, particularly at festivals, and more recently has branched out into the gospel genre. In 2011, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. LaSalle now lives with her husband, James E. Wolfe, in Jackson, Tennessee, where she recently opened a restaurant called Blues Legend Cafe.

In 2013 and 2014, LaSalle was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Soul Blues Female Artist' category.

Guitar Shorty, bio

"Blistering, modern blues-rock, bristles with galvanizing guitar and forceful vocals." -BILLBOARD

Bare Knuckle, a new album by blues guitarist Guitar Shorty Legendary guitarist/vocalist Guitar Shorty is a giant in the blues world. Credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, Guitar Shorty has been electrifying audiences for five decades with his supercharged live shows and his incendiary recordings. Like a bare knuckled boxer, Shorty strikes with his blistering, physical guitar playing and his fierce vocals, connecting directly with body and soul. What really sets Shorty apart is his absolutely unpredictable, off-the-wall guitar playing. He reaches for sounds, riffs and licks that other blues players wouldn't even think of. Amazon.com says his guitar work "sounds like a caged tiger before feeding time. His molten guitar pours his psychedelicized solos like lava over anything in his path." The Chicago Reader declares, "Guitar Shorty is a battle-scarred hard-ass. He slices off his phrases and notes with homicidal fury. He is among the highest-energy blues entertainers on the scene."

Through the years, Shorty has performed with blues and R&B luminaries like Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker. He started playing with these legends while still in his teens and recorded a handful of singles for a variety of labels and an obscure LP during the first 30 years of his career. After decades of paying his dues (like so many unheralded American bluesmen), it took a tour of England to establish Shorty's fame in his home country. His recordings since then all received massive critical acclaim, and his renowned live performances have kept him constantly in demand all over the world. His 2004 Alligator Records debut, Watch Your Back, became his best-received, best-selling album to date. His 2006 follow-up, We The People, won the coveted Blues Music Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year. Now, with his new CD, Bare Knuckle, Guitar Shorty unleashes a barrage of hard-hitting combinations of guitar, vocals and lyrics, hitting his listeners with some of the most awe-inspiring guitar and vocal work of his long career.

Produced by veteran Los Angeles-based songwriter and bassist Wyzard (an original member of Mother's Finest, he has toured and recorded with Stevie Nicks and others), Bare Knuckle finds Guitar Shorty singing and playing with ferocious urgency and a fierce righteousness. Bare Knuckle's blues burns with heavy rock and roll fire from start to finish, putting Shorty's infectious energy and guitar pyrotechnics on full display. From the up-to-the-minute "Please Mr. President" to the celebratory "Texas Women" to the politically charged "Slow Burn," Guitar Shorty has created an album that is as memorable for its menacing, slashing guitar work as it is for its defiant vocals and hard-rocking spirit.

Guitar Shorty was born David William Kearney on September 8, 1939 in Houston, Texas and raised in Kissimmee, Florida by his grandmother. He began playing guitar as a young boy, excited by the sounds of B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. His first lessons came from his uncle, but when it became clear that the youngster was serious about his music, his grandmother hired a teacher for him. "I learned so fast I was always two or three pages ahead of my teacher," Shorty recalls. After a move to Tampa when he was 17, the young Kearney won a slot as a featured guitarist and vocalist in the locally

popular 18-piece orchestra led by Walter Johnson. Being younger-and shorter-than the rest of the band, a club owner bestowed the name Guitar Shorty on him, and it stuck. After a particularly strong performance by Shorty in Florida, the great Willie Dixon, who was in the audience, approached Shorty and said, "I like what you're doing. You've got something different. I gotta get you in the studio." A few weeks later Shorty was in Chicago and, backed by Otis Rush on second guitar, he cut his first single, "Irma Lee" b/w "You Don't Treat Me Right," for Chicago's famed Cobra Records (the first label home for Rush, Magic Sam and Buddy Guy) in 1957. "Willie Dixon was a huge influence on me and my singing," Shorty remembers. "Willie helped me find my own singing voice and showed me how to tell a story with my words."

Shorty's fortunes continued to rise when the great Ray Charles hired the young guitar slinger as a featured member of his road band. While touring Florida with Ray, Shorty connected with one of his idols-guitarist/vocalist Guitar Slim, famous for his hit "Things That I Used To Do" as well as for his wildman stage antics. Slim's manager offered Shorty the opening slot on the guitarist's upcoming tour, and Shorty jumped at the chance, following his hero to New Orleans. Inspired by Slim, Shorty began incorporating some of the older artist's athletic showmanship into his own performances. Before long, he was doing somersaults and flips on stage. With his blistering talent and his wild stage shows, Guitar Shorty found his audience growing even larger. In New Orleans, he joined Sam Cooke's touring band and eventually ended up in Los Angeles. He gigged locally before recording three 45s for the Los Angeles-based Pull Records label in 1959. Those six sides-all Guitar Shorty originals-showed Shorty beginning to find his own trademark sound and style.

Shorty moved to Seattle in 1960 and through his friend, Marsha Hendrix, met her stepbrother Jimi. Jimi Hendrix loved Shorty's playing, and confessed that in 1961 and 1962 he would go AWOL from his Army base in order to catch Shorty's area performances, picking up licks and ideas. "I'd see Jimi at the clubs," Shorty recalls. "He'd stay in the shadows, watching me. I hear my licks in "Purple Haze" and "Hey Joe." He told me the reason he started setting his guitar on fire was because he couldn't do the back flips like I did."

Guitar Shorty moved back to Los Angeles in 1971, gigging around Southern California for many years, sometimes playing bigger shows farther away. He opened for all the great blues stars who passed through town, including Little Milton, B.B. King, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Copeland and T-Bone Walker. In 1978 he even performed on (and won) The Gong Show, playing guitar while standing on his head. After overcoming a serious auto accident in 1984, he recorded an EP for Los Angeles-based Big J Records. After that, he cut a few more singles and his debut LP for tiny Olive Branch Records in 1985, showcasing his fiery guitar licks and deep blues vocals. The strength of these recordings kept him busy on the club scene. He even appeared, playing himself, in the 1990 Tommy Chong film "Far Out Man." A major story in Living Blues magazine brought him even more attention and led to his first British tour. While in England, he cut an album for the JSP label. Released in 1991, My Way Or The Highway created a sensation among U.S. blues fans and received the Blues Music Award for Contemporary Foreign Blues Album Of The Year. It completely revitalized Shorty's career in the U.S.

With all the attention Shorty received, the New Orleans-based Black Top label signed him and released three albums (Topsy Turvy, Get Wise To Yourself and Roll Over, Baby) during the 1990s. In 2001 he recorded I Go Wild for Evidence Records, produced by Brian Brinkerhoff. All received an abundance of positive press as Shorty barnstormed his way across the U.S. and around the world, with stops in Europe and Japan. DownBeat raved, "Guitar Shorty's music is a funky, boisterous buffet of off-the-wall blues fun." Appearances at major festivals like The Monterey Bay Blues Festival, The San Francisco Blues Festival and The King Biscuit Blues Festival brought him to larger and larger audiences. At the 1998 Chicago Blues Festival, Shorty opened for his old boss Ray Charles and thrilled an audience of thousands with his jaw-dropping stage show.

In 2004 Brinkerhoff and Jesse Harms brought a newly-recorded Guitar Shorty album to Alligator Records. Alligator released Watch Your Back, and Shorty's long rise to blues stardom grew exponentially. The outpouring of soulful emotion, the power of his playing and the strength of the material added up to the toughest album of Shorty's renowned career. Living Blues called Shorty "a blues rock original [who plays] screaming, empowered guitar and sings with streetwise defiance."

2006's We The People found Shorty delivering some of the most fire-coated fretwork of his career and the most thought-provoking songs he's ever recorded. Critics and fans rallied, declaring their love for one of the blues' greatest practitioners. Billboard declared, "Bluesman Guitar Shorty has been cutting sides since 1957, yet it's difficult to imagine that he ever tracked a better album than We The People."

In a major feature in Texas Music Magazine, writer John Morthland summed things up perfectly, saying, "Axebuster extraordinaire Guitar Shorty is an old-school guitar showman. He plays with technique and flash, without ever sacrificing the passion. He's a blues-rock hero." GuitarOne declared, "Be prepared for a mighty surprise if you are tired of the same old blues and have never heard Guitar Shorty rip. With his harmonically saturated tone, soaring sustain, lethal licks and heavyweight blues-rock grooves, Shorty is not to be overlooked." Now, with Bare Knuckle and his one-two punch of blistering guitar work and passionate vocals, his combination of lyrically deep songs and one-of-a-kind live shows, Guitar Shorty proves again that he is one of today's true, undisputed heavyweight champions of the blues.

Jimmy Hall Biography

"Jimmy - my soul brother!"  —Gregg Allman

"If you are asking who I think is the best Southern Rock singer - hands down, Jimmy Hall, no question."  —John Bell, Widespread Panic

"For my money, Jimmy is the best white R&B singer alive."  —Steve Cropper

With Build Your Own Fire, Jimmy Hall, ex-frontman of the 70s Southern Rock group Wet Willie, and frequent vocalist with Brit Rocker Jeff Beck, presents his tribute to legendary Muscle Shoals guitarist and songwriter Eddie Hinton.

Jimmy Hall was born in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in Mobile by a musical family steeped in gospel tradition.

Wet Willie featuring Jimmy Hall At the age of 20, he moved to Macon, Georgia with his newly formed band, Wet Willie, and was signed by Capricorn Records. Hall shared the studio and stage with artists such as The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Jeff Beck Group, Grand Funk Railroad, and a host of others while Wet Willie gained the reputation as one of the hardest working bands on the road. Gregg Allman once said that Hall “…is the hardest man to follow on stage that I ever worked with”. As Wet Willie helped to create the Southern Rock genre they scored a major radio success with Keep on Smiling. This record solidified their place in rock and roll history, and Wet Willie’s hits are still being played on the radio today.

Jimmy HallIn 1980 Hall recorded the hit single I’m Happy That Love Has Found You, then went on to work with Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks (Allman Brothers Band), and Chuck Leavell (Allman Brothers Band, Rolling Stones) in BHLT. It was, however, his featured vocals in 1986 on the critically acclaimed Jeff Beck album Flash that Hall received his greatest accolade: a Grammy nomination for Best Male Vocalist.

In 1981 Hall moved to Nashville to raise his family, hugely influencing his three sons as they grew into their own remarkable musical talents. During this time Hall worked as bandleader, vocalist, saxophonist, and harmonica player for Hank Williams, Jr. Next, Hall formed the Prisoners of Love with top Nashville musicians and recorded the outstanding Rendezvous CD. Gregg Allman later recorded one of the album’s tunes, the Hall-penned Rendezvous with the Blues.

Jimmy Hall has numerous television performances under his belt including American Bandstand, Solid Gold, and recent CMT specials such as Crossroads (with Hank Williams, Jr. and Kid Rock), CMA Music Fest (with Hank, Jr.), Summer Fest (with Hank, Jr.), and The Jeff Foxworthy Show. He also appeared in numerous interviews on Jimmy HallGreatest Moments with Hank Williams, Jr. and was featured on backing vocals, harmonica, and sax in the first televised Outlaws concert.

Hall’s latest endeavors include the Triple Trouble CD with Lloyd Jones and Tommy Castro and backed by Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band Double Trouble. He also has compiled a soul-stirring CD called The Mighty Jeremiahs featuring Greg Martin from the Kentucky Headhunters. The newest Jimmy Hall project is a

tribute to the great singer and songwriter Eddie Hinton called Build Your Own Fire. This CD features legendary Muscle Shoals musicians and guest vocalist Delbert McClinton and is due out in spring of 2007.

Now Jimmy Hall is continuing the southern musical tradition by fronting a new all-star southern rock band called Deep South. His soulful voice is richer than ever and you can be sure the best is still to come.

Jimmy Hall is just come back from the South America in tour with Jeff Beck.

Donnie Fritts

One of the architects of the famed Muscle Shoals Sound, songwriter Donnie Fritts also enjoyed success as a longtime associate of Kris Kristofferson. A native of Florence, Alabama, as a teen Fritts played drums with local acts like the Satellites and Hollis Dixon; by the late 1950s, he was writing and performing with the likes of Arthur Alexander, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, all of them joining forces to forge the unique fusion of Southern soul, pop, country and R&B immediately recognizable as the Muscle Shoals Sound. Fritts' early songs were recorded by performers as diverse as Percy Sledge, Dusty Springfield, the Box Tops and Tommy Roe; by the late 1960s, he was employed as a Nashville staff writer, often working alongside fellow up-and-comer Kristofferson. Beginning in 1970, Fritts was Kristofferson's touring keyboardist, and they even appeared together in films including Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and A Star Is Born. In 1974, Fritts issued his debut solo LP, Prone to Lean; however, no more solo material was forthcoming prior to 1997's Everybody's Got a Song, which included new renditions of his classics "We Had It All" and "A Damn Good Country Song" recorded with guests including Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, John Prine, Lucinda Williams and Delbert McClinton.

Vaneese Thomas, bio

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Vaneese is the daughter of Rufus Thomas,

whose legendary career as a musician and entertainer began in Vaudeville

and spanned more than half a century in rhythm-and-blues recording and radio.

Her older siblings are the hit recording artist “Memphis Queen” Carla Thomas

and the highly respected keyboardist Marvell Thomas.

Embracing this remarkable musical legacy, Vaneese carries forward the rich

heritage of Memphis soul and R&B, a music that has touched several generations

and crossed many divides. At the same time she has combined all the influences of her background and

experience – R & B, gospel, blues, and jazz – to cultivate a soul-stirring style that’s all her own.

Highly regarded within the music industry, Vaneese’s talents as a singer, songwriter, producer, and actor

have made her a sought-after solo performer as well as a first-call vocalist for projects by other top-name

artists. She has worked with the renowned recording producer Phil Ramone and has sung with an astonishing

array of internationally known performers including Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Stevie Wonder, Michael

Jackson, Celine Dion, Eric Clapton, and numerous others.

Vaneese’s vocal career has taken her to concerts and festivals around the world. She has sung with the

Baltimore and Colorado Symphonies in “Too Hot to Handel” under the baton of Marin Alsop and at:

• several Pavarotti & Friends concerts in Modena, Italy

• the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland

• the Michael Jackson & Friends concerts with Luther Vandross in Seoul, Korea, and Munich, Germany

• and soul music festivals in Porretta, Narni, and Perugia, Italy.

Geffen Records released Vaneese’s first major recording in 1987. The self-titled album included the

Top Ten R & B hit "Let's Talk it Over." In 1999 Vaneese used her own Peaceful Waters Music label to

release When My Back's Against The Wall, a gospel crossover hailed by Billboard Magazine as "a small

label masterpiece that begs for attention from savvy majors." Following a few years later was A Woman's

Love, which combined R & B and silky, smooth-jazz vocals. Vaneese’s newest album project is Soul Sister

Vol. One, a collection of seminal soul classics. The CD, and the live show Vaneese has created from it,

both pay tribute to some of the original soul sisters and honor the historical value of this irrepressible music.

In addition to concerts and recordings, Vaneese has worked extensively in film and television. She was the

voice of Grace the Bass on the PBS series “Shining Time Station” and Clio the Muse, Goddess of History, in

Disney’s Hercules. She has sung on numerous film soundtracks including Anastasia, Mighty Aphrodite and

The First Wives Club. TV appearances include “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Late Night with

Conan O'Brien,” and “NBC's Today.”

Vaneese has also produced recordings, created vocal arrangements, and written songs for Patti Austin,

Freddie Jackson, Bob James, Larry Coryell, Melba Moore, and Diana Ross, who scored a Top Ten hit in the

United Kingdom with Vaneese’s “One Shining Moment.” She helped found the Swarthmore College Gospel

Choir and continues to direct the Alumni Gospel Choir.

Vaneese lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband and producing partner Wayne Warnecke.

Her songs are available on iTunes and Amazon and at select retail stores.

TONI GREEN, bio (from Soul Express interview by Heikki Suosalo)

On a beautiful Friday night at the Porretta Soul Festival on July the 19th in 2013 the lovely Ms. Toni Green hit the stage and kicked off with the funky Baby Love, originally recorded by Mother’s Finest in 1977. Backed by Paul Brown’s Allstar Band with a tight horn section and background singers, she next delivered the slow and intense Just Ain’t Working Out, followed by a tribute to Aretha Franklin by way of the rolling Soulville. The tempo came down for the second time for the dramatic I Who Have Nothing, but was geared up again for Lonely Teardrops, which blended into the rousing Shout. Toni’s thrilling 50-minute set ended with her encore song, the timeless Higher & Higher. Looking as gorgeous as ever, Porretta’s sweetheart returned still on Sunday night for another round of I (Who Have Nothing) and Lonely Teardrops & Shout.

THE JONES BOYS

Toni Green was born in Memphis “the third of September” in 1951 to Bobby Jean and Tommy Lee Green. “My father was more of a jazz musician, a singer and a trumpeter. My home was designated as the place, where everybody came to practise – the Bar-Kays, some of the Mad Lads, the Temprees... everybody.”

Among artists, Toni’s biggest favourite is and has been Aretha Franklin. “I have a mixture of favourites. Since I grew to jazz, it’s people like Ella Fitzgerald, Dakota Staton, Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington... people who were more inspirational because of my father. For the men it’s Nat King Cole and David Ruffin for me, and J. Blackfoot, who just passed.”

Four of Toni’s cousins – Elvritt Hambrick (“Lil June”), Cordell Jones, Walter and Melvin Robinson – had formed a gospel group in the mid-50s called the Jones Boys. “They were very popular on the radio and all throughout the south. They would remind you of the Mighty Clouds of Joy. I was very young then. I was probably three or four years old. They lived across the street, so they were practising at my aunt’s house – my grandmother’s sister’s house. So it was the gospel across the street and over where I was it was rhythm & blues and blues.”

The Knights

Elvritt Hambrick, Jr. formed later a 5-piece secular group called the Knights with a couple of his friends (Lockhart, Middleton and guy called Gerald, plus one more). “That was my cousin’s rhythm & blues group. They were very popular in Memphis at one time.”

At the very end of the 50s, Toni became a Teen-Towner for a short while at WDIA, established already in 1947. “It was a popular radio station in Memphis and the areas of the south, and it’s the oldest black-owned station in the country. There was a group every Saturday called the Teen Town Singers, and you had to be talented to get on there. Carla Thomas – that’s how she got her start. Rufus Thomas, Marvell, Vaneese – all of them were Teen Town Singers at one time or another. Every time we meet with Carla, she hugs and kisses me and calls me ‘Little Toni Green’. Later in the 60s I did some travelling and I was in a lot of talent shows.”

Imported Moods: Elvritt Hambrick, Patricia Love, Toni Green ja Leroy Broadnax

IMPORTED MOODS

Elvritt from the Jones Boys and later the Knights formed another group along with Toni, Pat Love and Leroy Broadnax and named it Imported Moods. “Carl Smith, who co-wrote Higher & Higher for Jackie Wilson, wrote along with Marshall Jones a song, What Have You Done with My Heart, and took it to Willie Mitchell. Willie loved it and that was my first single.”

Released on Hi 2179 in 1970 under the name of Imported Moods, this nice and laid-back mid-tempo song was flipped with I’m a Scorpio. Toni sings in a surprisingly high register, and the song bears a resemblance to something that Brenda & the Tabulations or even Barbara Acklin could have released those days. “It didn’t chart nationally, but we did pretty good in the south. We stayed on the charts in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas.”

In 1972 Toni hooked up with Luther Ingram and Isaac Hayes. “Luther Ingram at that time was on tour with Isaac Hayes. Isaac had, of course, Shaft and Luther had If Loving You Is Wrong. So they paired them up, and I became one of Luther’s background singers. And when one of Isaac’s girls was out or whatever that’s when I came and filled in for her. Luther Ingram was very nice and very understanding. He was a great teacher, an excellent vocalist and very spiritual.”

“I came from Imported Moods singing mostly lead, and then I jumped to background with Luther Ingram and Isaac Hayes, and I wasn’t too comfortable with that. It probably was a year and a half that I did tour with them, and then I branched off to do my own thing.”

Toni also got acquainted with the infamous Johnny Baylor. “During that time he was the manager for Isaac Hayes and Luther Ingram. I thought he was very charismatic, very inspirational, and for some reason we got along pretty well. I think I was as tough as he was. And he did love the women, but I think Isaac loved them a little bit more than he did (laughing). Back at that time music was difficult to get played on the radio. Mostly it was payola, and if you were black it was really hard to get your stations to accept your music – even if they were black. So there was a lot of influence going on that Johnny and his entourage people did.”

BOWLEGS

After her stint with Luther and Isaac, Toni returned to singing lead and this time it was with Gene “Bowlegs” Miller (1933-87). “Gene was a producer and a big band leader, so they hired me to do their lead singing. It was like a big band with the horn section, all the instruments, the whole works. They liked my voice, and I was very young and didn’t know too much about it, but they pulled me in to teach me. Marvell Thomas, Rufus’ son, and Andrew Love of the Memphis Horns – all of them were together, and that’s why I learned to do what I do now.”

“I was with them for a very long time. It just went on and on and on... whatever, it’s another gig that gets you money (laughing). It was in the 70s and partly into the 80s, and we still did a few gigs just before Gene passed.”

Besides single releases in his own right as a trumpeter and vocalist on such labels as Goldwax and Hi, Gene produced, arranged, played and directed music for numerous other artists, too, including Otis Redding,

Spencer Wiggins, Aretha Franklin, James Carr, Denise LaSalle, Ollie Nightingale, Ann Peebles and Peabo Bryson.

Gene also cut a single on Toni called Hey Aretha / Our Day will come on the Bowgat label in the early 70s. “It really got released, but I can’t recall any kind of big airplay. Hey Aretha was a pretty fun song. Bowgat was a label started by Gene Bowlegs Miller and Steve Gatling from the Memphis Sound studio, located here in Memphis, Tennessee.”

Alongside working with Bowlegs, Toni kept herself busy also in other walks of life for the rest of the 70s and early 80s. “I started going to school in Memphis. I went to college, got married and had a daughter. She’s really into communication. She’s in television work. She can sing, but she doesn’t want to. She has a beautiful voice. As a matter of fact, she looks just like Alicia Keys. They look like twins. I have a son now, and he sings, but he doesn’t want to pursue it. He was born in 1987. He’s going to school to be a paediatrician. I have two girls, one son and 3 grandsons.”

IF I COULD BUILD MY WHOLE WORLD AROUND YOU

Gene Miller produced Lanier & Co’s self-titled album on Larc Records (8012) in 1983, and invited Toni to share vocals with Farris Lanier Jr. on If I Could Build My Whole World Around You, which on this album is based more on a Caribbean beat than Marvin’s and Tammi’s original cooing on Tamla in 1967.

However, just prior to the release of the Lanier & Co record the newly-wed Toni had moved with her husband to Louisville, Kentucky, a little over 500 km northeast of Memphis, Tennessee. “I just moved there for not too long. I didn’t know everybody, but I built up a career by singing in the clubs. I was always invited to perform, be a headliner or be in a play... or whatever it was.”

“I did jingles, when I lived in Louisville. I was fortunate enough to do some of the jingles to Chevron, McDonalds and Kentucky Fried Chicken. That was part of my money-maker. You have to do what you have to do to learn as much as you can learn. Doing those things really could take me to where I am now, because it helped me to develop myself – how to write songs, how to even be on stage just in case the band may break a guitar string or something... I know how to improvise.”

Toni also did Midnight Ramble – live musical performances at midnight - at Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts for three consecutive years. “It’s one of those things you don’t get a chance to do unless you’re an established artist.”

MIXED EMOTIONS

After about twelve years in Louisville, Toni moved back to Memphis in the mid-90s. She hooked up with Quinton Claunch, who is best known for first playing guitar in early Sun sessions, then being a co-founder of both Hi and Goldwax Records and being an excellent Memphis producer and southern soul songwriter.

Quinton produced Toni’s first-ever album, Mixed Emotions (Soultrax, SLT-1007), and co-wrote six out of the eleven songs on display. It was released in June 1998. Quinton’s Soultrax label had been in existence since 1994 and soul music fans cherish also such releases as James Carr’s Soul Survivor and 24 Karat Soul and Jerry L’s Last Word in Lonesome on that label. Altogether they released ten CDs in eight years. Actually

Soultrax carried on, where the revived Goldwax left off in 1993; or as Ruby Andrews put it nicely in my interview with her in 1998: “Goldwax folded. The president of the company went crazy, and the investors pulled out.”

Toni: “I love Quinton to death, but we didn’t get along (laughing). He was very strange. He’d say about me ‘Toni’s one of the most talented people in the world, but she’s very smart. She can sing, but she’s not going to let you run over’.”

Recorded and mixed at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Recording Studio, Lester Snell on Hammond B-3 and Thomas Bingham on guitar and Jim Spake on sax are listed among the players. Some is programmed, but the strong horn section is real. There are a couple of familiar tunes, such as the bluesy Keeping up with the Joneses (earlier by Ollie Nightingale), You’ve Got the Papers I’ve Got the Man (Ann Peebles) and How Do You Want Your Thrill (Lee Shot Williams), but most of them are new ones.

Toni wrote with the late Quinn Golden two songs, a mid-tempo beater titled Don’t Do Me (If You Can’t Do Me Right) and a fine soul ballad called Stop Playing Me Close. “Actually I was the writer, lyrically and melodically. Quinn Golden was a co-producer, because he was instrumentally equipped and - because I wanted to be fair - I shared the rights with him; lyrics only. But he wanted to sell off the publishing rights, and I had to recover my rights.”

The highlight on the CD, however, was A White Dress, a Blue Lady, a beautiful country-soul ballad about a deserted bride. “That was written by Quinton’s son, Steve Claunch.” Actually the recording of the song coincided with Toni’s own divorce process. “Yes, thank God (laughing). I remarried after that, but now I’m free again.”

Besides Dress... and How Do You Want Your Thrill, the third single off the album was a quick-tempo, big-voiced story-telling song named Bear with Me Children (I’m Trying to Get Your Daddy Back), but none of those singles charted. “We didn’t have great promotion on them, it’s just a loss. Actually when I recorded that particular CD, I had walking pneumonia, so I could sing but I couldn’t talk.”

HOW CAN I SING THIS SONG

In 1999 Toni visited on J. Blackfoot’s album, Having an Affair (Basix Music 9335), and sang a duet with him on the title tune, which is a cheating ballad written by Rich Cason, and she co-sang also on the cover of the Soul Children’s 1969 hit, I’ll Understand. (The Soul Children & J. Blackfoot story is online at http://www.soulexpress.net/soulchildren.htm).

Toni: “It was J’s idea. For me it was such a blessing, because I never thought he’d think I was worthy to do it, but he said ‘there’s nobody else I want to do this with but Toni Green’, because he thought that we had those strong voices that we could really get out there and do what we do.”

Next year Toni appeared on a compilation CD entitled Beauty & the Beast (Avanti-1022). Johnny Vincent’s Avanti out of Pearl, Mississippi, had distributed already the Mixed Emotions CD, so Johnny was well aware of Toni and her talent. On this compilation there were tracks from Johnny’s other artists as well, such as Willie Clayton, Rue Davis, Reggie P., Ronnie Lovejoy, Tina Diamond, J.T. Watkins and Pat Brown. Toni’s three contributions – Sweet Thang, You’re so Precious and How Can I Sing This Song – are the three concluding tracks on the CD, and especially the last gem, written by Toni and Rue Davis, leaves a lasting impression.

“I love Johnny Vincent. One of the greatest inspirations that I’ve had in my life was Johnny, because when a person believes in you it makes a difference. And I believe that he really believed in me and gave me an opportunity.” Unfortunately Beauty & the Beast got lost, because Johnny passed in early 2000. “He was planning to make a CD with me.”

STRONG ENOUGH

Mike Haralambos was in the 60s a member of a Liverpool, U.K., band called the Almost Blues. In 1985 he published a book entitled Soul Music (the Birth of a Sound in Black America) and in 1994 Right On: from Blues to Soul in Black America. After that he concentrated on writing and publishing books on sociology, psychology and critical thinking. He also ran a company called Good Time Records, and Toni had two releases on that imprint. Besides Toni, in the 2000s Mike put out CDs also by such southern soul singers as Ronnie Lovejoy, O.B. Bryant, Luther Lackey and Kenne’ Wayne.

Toni’s first CD on Good Time (7602), Strong enough, was released in 2002. “I truly like that.” Vick Allen is the main producer, arranger and also one of the players, and – delightfully - the CD features only real musicians. Ronnie Lovejoy is the associate producer and the writer of as many as five songs out of nine on display.

Ronnie’s own Good Time CD, Still Wasn’t Me (GOT 7600), had been released over a year earlier, and prior to that in the 90s he had had two CDs on Johnny Vincent’s Ace and two on Avanti Records. You can read my very first interview with Ronnie at http://www.soulexpress.net/ronnielovejoy.htm, conducted right after the release of his Evejim CD, Suddenly, in 1993. Sadly, Ronnie passed in October 2001. “Ronnie was one of the best. He was really the one that took me to Johnny Vincent and from Johnny to Mike Haralambos.”

Ronnie wrote for Toni the first taster on the CD, a southern urban “hip-hop” beater named G-String and a Toothbrush, and the contemporary soul feel is retained also on two good Mary J. Blige songs that Mike suggested - the mid-tempo, loping Round and Round and the pleading slowie, The Love I Never Had.

The two most memorable songs from Ronnie on this CD are a catchy mid-tempo, laid-back swayer called Strong Enough to See You Go and the downtempo and poignant Still in Love. Another soulful ballad, No Romance, No Finance was composed by Homer Banks and Lester Snell, and Toni’s and Quinn Golden’s Stop Playing Me Close appeared already on the preceding Mixed Emotions CD.

SOUTHERN SOUL MUSIC

In September 2003 Good Time Records released Toni’s follow-up CD, Southern Soul Music (7605), but this time Lawrence Harper was the producer and Thomas Bingham, besides arranging, plays also guitar and keyboards. Tommy Lee Williams and Jerry Lee Smith are on saxophone. “Lawrence came through Mike. I’d never met him before. He told Mike that he could be a producer. I didn’t agree, but it happened” (laughing). Today Lawrence resides in the greater Memphis area and owns Muthalandproductions and Reprah Music. He worked as a songwriter for Willie Mitchell and Bar-Kays in the 80s.

Lawrence wrote the title tune, a nice mid-tempo ditty, which became the first radio single off the CD. A bluesy slow song called Just Ain’t Working Out (by Toni and John Cummings) was the second radio single.

Actually in late 2006 Toni re-released the song, flipped with We Can Work it out, a powerful and impassioned soul ballad and a duet with Stacie Merino.

Lawrence penned also I Want It, a ballad with a heavy beat and a duet with Floyd Taylor. Other noteworthy slow songs on the album are the lilting Wish I Could Be There, the poignant Driftin’ Away (by Joyce Cobb), the big-voiced Drive Thru Love Affair and the soulful Single Mothers (co-written by Morris Williams). Cheat Receipt, Walkie Talkie Man, Ohh Boy, Sugar Daddy and No Rang, No Thang all make your toes tap.

“I didn’t really care for anything on that album but those that I wrote (laughing). Lawrence wouldn’t allow me to breathe to be me. If you can’t be yourself, it’s not going to work.” Although the two Good Time albums and especially Strong enough were convincing and soulful enough and vocally, of course, impeccable, they were not very strong sellers and didn’t pave the way for further releases. “We had a bad promoter. Mike was really doing everything he could to make it work. But him being over there (in the U.K.) and people he trusted over here, it just wasn’t working.”

MORE LOVE

Toni’s next CD in the summer of 2005, More Love, was initially her own project but it was released on Phoenix Entertainment/Pegasus (1004). “Phoenix Entertainment asked me, if they could publish it, and publishing rights went from there to Malaco Records, which was a complete confusion. It was not only the publishing but the distribution that alarmed me. I was ecstatic that my contract ended with Phoenix Entertainment, who were in bed with Malaco, which relieved me of all obligations. Malaco Records is a phenomenal company, had I signed with them, but I found out only later about Malaco.”

“I’ve done my research on many reputable companies and I can reassure you that the great artists that have come out their studios were a lot of times unfairly treated. I truly want to be treated fairly. That’s why I’ve been in this business so long. I believe that it can be done. I’m not like a lot of artists, but then again I am. We all want to be successful and appreciated for the hard work we put in. My heart goes out for the older artists, who have died without seeing their fruits or even the ones, who are still alive, and the young artists have no clue about their legacy... or history.”

“The reason I wrote More Love is because my gigs stopped. There were no more contract deals, and I had to do something to keep my life and my career going, and in order to do that I had to step into something that wasn’t right. I recorded it in Mississippi with Morris Williams. It was a demo to me, because I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I just wanted to do something to keep my name out there. I was delving into things that I didn’t know much about, but I wanted to get me out there the only way I knew that my money would take me to. I just had to do something.”

Produced by Morris together with Toni and with Thomas Bingham on guitar, More Love features ten songs (Free is in two parts), most of which were written or co-written by Toni. The songs and Toni’s vocalizing are the best elements on the CD. You can enjoy beautiful melodies and intense delivery on such ballads as the

emotive Angel, the floating More Love, the melodic Best Woman, the soulful Mr. Wonderful, the hypnotic Hot and the powerful Free. I Am Ready and Bop are the catchiest toe-tappers.

“In 2005 I got sick with pneumonia. In November I was told I would never sing again, but in December the same year I performed in Italy. Whenever I break down and cry on stage, it’s because I’m still so grateful. Many times I’m also overwhelmed by people’s love.”

In 2007 Toni visited on the Soul Children’s outstanding CD, Still Standing, and, among other things, did a duet with J. Blackfoot on a deep ballad called Long Ride Home.

HOLD ON

In 2009 Toni released a stunning CD-single, Hold On / Every Man Ain’t a Bad Man. Both songs were written by Toni with Jesse Dotson, and released on Toni’s CharCole Productions. Hold On is a great and a bit bluesy soul ballad and with her intense and powerful delivery Toni in fact takes us to church. The downtempo B-side is almost equally thrilling. It has jazzy elements to it, and musically it’s something that Aretha could have sung in her heyday in the late 60s.

“You have to keep trying, and I’m still out there – no promoters, no help, no money, but I’m still trying to do all I can do. It’s really hard trying to survive... and trusting people, because, for example, earlier Mike Haralambos had given money to the promoters months before, and they took the money and ran.”

“It was wonderful to record Hold On, because of Willie Mitchell. I’m the last artist that he recorded. Solomon Burke was before me. Solomon had already recorded and taken the material to New York to have it printed. Willie kept on with me before he passed ‘Toni, come on and get to do the rest of it (album), and I just didn’t have the funds. So Willie was my first producer and I’m the last artist he recorded, before he passed.”

Actually those two songs – Hold On and Every Man – were supposed to be a part of a self-financed EP called Undeniable, but presumably the other two songs were released only at a later date. Both Undeniable, and Just Call Me represent a sort of nasty soul sound, which means that they’re both loud and almost aggressive mid-pacers by a very determined singer.

Two years later Archie Love recorded her daughter, Duchess, together with Toni on a big-voiced beat-ballad called Cry No More. Duchess‘ mini-CD, Writings on the Wall, was released on Archie’s Loveland label.

Next in 2012 on OTM Music Group Toni released another CD-single, a fast machine-driven dancer named Body Search. Written by Henderson Thigpen, Kevin Haywood and Toni, the quick-tempo Body Search sounds more like updated 70s Labelle disco than, say, house & techno music. “That was fun. Henderson and I were goofing off.”

The same year the very same team created another single, which in style was a far cry from Body Search. All Over Me is a smooth and sensual ballad, during which it becomes almost impossible to resist the call of the siren.

REBIRTH

Since 2010 Toni has been promoting her 2-disc CharCole compilation entitled Rebirth/Toni Green’s Greatest Hits, and it really is a comprehensive cross-section of Toni’s work during the last fifteen years on

Soultrax, Good Time, Phoenix/Pegasus and CharCole. They have even lifted from a single Toni’s first-ever recording in 1970 as a member of Imported Moods, the sweet What Have You Done With My Heart.

Toni has recorded for this set a cover of the Emotions’ 1969 hit, So I Can Love You, in a style not far removed from the original recording with high-pitched singing and everything, and this revived mid-tempo bouncer comes off delightfully fresh. “I chose the Emotions song, because it has always been one of my favourite songs. One night this particular song came on the radio and something spiritual came over me, and I knew that I wanted to redo So I Can Love You.”

My copy of Toni’s double-CD has 34 songs and the total running time is close to two hours and forty minutes, so that if anything is your money’s worth. Toni has also included on the set two of his duets, one with J. Blackfoot and the Soul Children on Long Ride Home, and the other one with Stacie Merino on We Can Work it out. I highly recommend Rebirth, because – alongside some uptempo material - it offers a lot of impressive slow and intense soul singing from an artist, who is one of the most credible ambassadors of traditional soul music today.

There’s also a DVD entitled Toni Green & The CIV Soul Band 2012, which was shot in June 2012 at Jazzbonne Festival in France. During her one-hour set Toni was backed by a 5-piece rhythm section, four horn players and three background female vocalists. Toni’s talent and stage charisma are well conveyed on the DVD, and my only complaint is that Toni doesn’t do any of her own material. Probably the organizer requested tried and tested old songs, which create a wave of nostalgia in the audience.

Toni goes through many familiar soul hits. In the funk category and among the movers there are You Got the Love (Chaka Khan), Say a Little Prayer (Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin) and Tell Mama (Etta James). Toni brings the tempo down for slow and impassioned – at times even jazzy - deliveries of It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World (James Brown), At Last (Etta), Doctor Feelgood (Aretha) and Breaking up Somebody’s Home (Ann Peebles). Even the more pop-slanted numbers like Simply the Best (Tina Turner) and Bad Girls (Donna Summer) are entertaining and fun to watch.

Toni has always been a prolific songwriter, and she’s not about to cut it down in the future, either. “I think I’m getting better” (laughing). She also used to own a radio station (KDLJ). “I don’t own it anymore. It’s basically going to be on the internet. It was really, really hard to even get the things put together, because everybody was vying with each other. Bigger companies were coming to take over other companies, and they didn’t want this, didn’t want that... just a mess! It wasn’t worth it.”

During her career Toni has flexibly moved from one genre to another - from rhythm & blues, soul and jazz to blues – although these days she doesn’t care for southern soul too much anymore. “It doesn’t give me anything to hold on to. It doesn’t fit. It’s like putting a round peg in a square hold. You can’t do it. I think I’m leaning more on jazz and r&b. I love gospel, of course, and I’m a fan of country. I love country. In Memphis we have to get back to the course of who we are. I pray I’ll be part of that before everybody dies off, because we’re all getting older. We’re setting precedents for something, and I hope that the younger artists will see that. We’re all established who we are in our own different sound.”

“My future plan is to open a school. I’ve been fortunate enough to teach some classes here. There were four young Italian guys, who asked ‘Toni, can you help us. We have this, but we need this...’ It stayed in my heart for a long time. That was in 2009. I started thinking, can I build a school in the United States and bring from here to America some young artists, who really need that help and guidance. So I’ve recently

looked into that, and we’re going to see what happens. That’s very close to my heart. Music is always first. If I can’t sing, I’m going to teach it.”

“I am also now working with a group from France called Malted Milk on their CD, with their original songs and a few of my songs on it. I’ll be also doing a festival tour that starts in 2014-15, and I’m releasing my new CD in the late spring 2014.”

Chilly Bill Rankin, bio

Memphis Singer & Songwriter - Currently a lead singer with The Mad Lads.

Performed at Memphis Sounds, Stax To The Max Concert, All Local Memphis News Programs, George Klein Television Show, B. B. King's and all the clubs on Beale Street, HBO special concert, Rock 'n' Roll Cafe, The Hard Rock Cafe, Ground Zero, and every major music club venues in Memphis. The Mad Lads performed in the summer of 2014 with Opus 1 (Memphis Symphony) and the Bo Keys. Co-writer with Teflon Don on "What About Memphis". Currently featured in recordings and musical productions in Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and Austin Texas.

Theo Huff, bio

Theo Huff, born in Chicago, Illinois, 1988 but raised by a Mississippi mother and grand mother. Both women ready and able to give him all the principles, values, and down home loving he would ever need.

Imagine being five years old and finding yourself engulfed with so love, and respect for “ Soul Masters “ like Sam Cooke, Johnny Taylor, Otis Redding, and his all time favorite Tyrone Davis, that all you wanted to was pay tribute, and be like each one of them.

Imagine a kid growing up to be handsome, exceptionally talented, matured, and wise beyond adulthood.

Imagine, having your first CD titled “ NOW IS THE TIME , “ and the music critics agreeing that “ NOW IS THE TIME.”

Imagine, working with Ms. Jackie Taylor at the Black Ensemble Theatre, and receiving nominations for most promising Actor, and best featured Actor in a ( Play, or Musical, ) for “That Sensuous Seductive Seventies. “

Imagine, getting on the job training by performing on the same stage with the likes of Koko Taylor, Bobby Rush, Harold Melvin,s Blue notes, Gene Chandler, Willie Clayton, Denise Lasalle, Albertina Walker, Garland Green, Darius Brook, and Ms. Millie Jackson. Now, imagine being blessed to accomplish all these things by the grace of God.

Theo Huff, has developed a Truly unique style, all of his own now, and understands that his new CD “NOW IS THE TIME” is a mirrored reflection of his life in the present time, and it will take him to new horizons.

  

Frank Bey & Anthony Paule Band

 Frank Bey was born on January 17, 1946, in Millen, Georgia, located 42 miles south of Augusta. He was the seventh of gospel singer Maggie Jordan’s 12 children. He began singing in church at age 4 with the Rising Son Gospel Singers, a group that included his older brother Robert and two female cousins. They soon had radio programs of their own on two stations in the Augusta area. He also sang with his mother, often at local concerts with such gospel stars as the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Harmonizing Four, Soul Stirrers, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. At 14, Frank began singing with Robert Sharpe and the Untouchables, a local R&B band. He had to sneak out of the house to do it because his mother didn’t approve of secular music. At 17, he moved to Philadelphia to work as a driver for his friend Gene Lawson, Otis Redding’s advance publicity man. Redding often rode in the backseat, and on occasion, when one of Redding’s opening acts didn’t show up on time, Frank was asked to open. Later in the ‘60s, Bey led a racially integrated band called Modern Mixes that performed throughout the eastern regions of Canada and the United States. From 1973 to ’77, he was a featured vocalist with Moorish Vanguard, a large soul band that recorded one single for Polydor but broke up due to dissention within the group over a dispute with the label and James Brown, who claimed producer’s credit. Bey’s band mates stranded him in Florida and left him so devastated that he stopped singing for 17 years. He returned to Philadelphia, where he became a building contractor and opened a seafood restaurant and bar. He eventually resumed performing at the restaurant and later at Warm Daddy’s, the Philadelphia club at which Noel Hayes first encountered him in 1999. Bey had recorded his first CD, Steppin’ Out on his own Magg label, in 1996, but ill health prevented him from properly promoting it. The singer spent over four years on kidney dialysis before receiving a transplant. Though weakened, Bey never stopped performing throughout the ordeal. He recorded his second CD, Blues in the Pocket for Jeffhouse Records in Philadelphia. A year later KPOO radio host, Noel Hayes first brought him to San Francisco to work with Anthony Paule and his band. Anthony Paule was born on December, 21, 1956, in Durban, South Africa. He came to Los Angeles at 10-months old, and settled in Northern California when he was 15. Paule has worked with some of the best singers in the business during the past quarter century. They include Johnny Adams, Brenda Boykin, Earl King, John Nemeth, Bo Diddley, Louisian Red, Jody Williams, Brownie McGhee, Maria Muldaur, Kim Nalley, Tommy Ridgley, and Boz Scaggs. He spent a dozen years as a member of the Johnny Nocturne Band and also toured with groups led by Muldaur, Scaggs, Mark Hummel, Charlie Musselwhite, and Mitch Woods. His extensive discography includes two albums of his own – 1999’s Big Guitar and 2001’s Hiding in Plain Sight – and two with Home Cookin’, a band that featured Boykin.

Frank Bey & Anthony Paule BandFrank Bey, Vocals; Anthony Paule, Guitar; Paul Olguin, Bass; Tony Lufrano, Keyboards; Paul Revelli, Drums; Nancy Wright Hazlewood, Tenos Sax; Thomas Poole, Trumpet; Derek James, Trombone.

the band

 

Paul Olguin - bass

Paul Olguin has been living and working in and around the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years. Originally from Los Angeles where he learned his craft both in school and on the job in a vibrant and thriving music scene in which the friendly though sometimes fierce competition provided a fertile learning environment. Averaging 250 plus bass jobs per year, Paul brings his knowledge of the instrument, general musicality and sense of humor to bear on every gig he plays. Paul has performed with many great acts including: Mary Wells, Brenton Wood, The Drifters, Tracy Nelson, Roy Rogers, Augie Meyers, Carl Weathersby, Mitch Woods, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Bob Weir, Elvin Bishop, Chuck Prophet, Richard Berry, Rosie & The Originals and many more. 

Tony Lufrano - keyboards

Tony Lufrano is a lifelong resident of Oakland, CA and a much-in-demand keyboard sideman for some of the Bay Area’s finest Rock, Blues and R&B artists.  He earned his bona fides backing up The Whispers on coast-to-coast Chittlin’ Circuit tours, highlighted by shows at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Since then, Tony has gigged, toured and recorded with a cavalcade of stars, including Boz Scaggs, Bonnie Raitt, Huey Lewis & The News, Elvin Bishop, Maria Muldaur, Robben Ford, Taj Mahal, Tommy Castro, Bill Champlin, Steve Miller, Joe Satriani, Carla Thomas, James Cotton, Linda Tillery, Eddie Money, Harvey Mandel, John Handy, Zigaboo Modeliste, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Earl King, Ernie K-Doe, Otis Clay, ‘Chinna’ Smith, Syl Johnson, Richard Berry, Johnny Johnson, Booker T and many more. 

Paul Revelli - drums

Born in the sixties, native San Franciscan Paul Revelli has been playing drums for most of his life. Diverse skills, a passion for playing, listening to all genres of music, and his intuition as the consumate sideman are at the heart of this drummer's beat. As a member of the eighties rock group Red 7, Revelli recorded two albums with the band, both on MCA. The first, Red 7, was produced by Mike Rutherford of Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics fame. A second album entitled When The Sun Goes Down was released, followed by extensive worldwide touring before the group disbanded in 1987. In 1989, Revelli joined Joe Louis Walker and the Boss Talkers, recording four albums with them: Live at Slim's, Vols. 1 and 2 (Hightone), Blues Survivor (Verve) and J.L.W (also on Verve). Additionally, he recorded a track on B.B. King's Blues Summit album (MCA) for Joe Louis Walker's duet with the blues legend.

    During his five years with the Boss Talkers, Revelli toured the United States, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia several times over. Along the way, he has shared festival stages with some of the greatest names in Blues and R & B, an incredible journey to say the least. From there, Revelli worked with roots rock artist Chuck Prophet and can be heard on three of Prophet's releases: Feast of Hearts (China), Homemade Blood (Cooking Vinyl) and The Hurting Business (Hightone).

Formerly of the band Green on Red, Prophet's reputation in Europe found Revelli once again playing some of the great festivals and venues there as a result. Paul has performed with many great acts including: Angela Strehli, Lou Ann Barton, Tracy Nelson, Marcia Ball, Bonnie Hayes, Howard Tate, Charlie Musselwhite, Maria Muldaur, Linda Tillery, Elvin Bishop, Bo Diddley,  Roy Gaines, Rusty Zinn,  Pinetop Perkins, Phil Guy, John Nemeth, Tom Rigney & Flambeau, Mighty Mike Schermer, and Mark Hummel.

Nancy Wright - saxophone

Nancy Wright, a Dayton, Ohio-born, San Francisco-based saxophonist has been lending her big tenor tones to blues bands, and over the past quarter century she played with some of the best. Her discography boasts recordings with Katie Webster, B. B. King, Elvin Bishop, and Joe Louis Walker, among others, and she's been on the road with Webster, Bishop, Walker, Lonnie Mack, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Adams, Earl King, Commander Cody, Maria Muldaur, and Greg "Fingers" Taylor and the Ladyfingers Revue featuring Janiva Magnus and Debbie Davies. Early in her career, before moving to California in 1984, Wright had been a fixture at Gilly's, a jazz and blues club in Dayton. She was a member of The Slugs, a blues-rock band that packed the place during happy hour every Friday. She worked other nights as a cocktail waitress, with permission from owner Jerry Gillotti that she could put down her tray and pick up her horn when invited to sit in by visiting bands. She jammed with Steve Ray Vaughan one night, Hooker another. Hooker was so impressed by her muscular tenor attack that he took her on tour. One of their first engagements together was at Carnegie Hall. 

Derek James, Trombone

He played with Johnny Nocturne Band which I played in for 13 years. Derek is one of the best trombone players in the Bay Area and does play with Pacific Mambo.

Thomas Poole, Trumpet

Tom is also one of the top trumpet players in the Bay and has played with just about everyone. See his email below when I asked him for bio information! 2 Grammys . One from Etta James , one from the Pacific Mambo Orchestra (PMO) . Billy Preston , Bobby Womack , original Boz Scaggs band , original Malo band (Suavecito) ,Gregg Allman Band , Elvin Bishop , Shirelles , Drifters , Coasters , Percy Sledge etc. , etc. , etc . For 25 years I have worked with every oldies act from Tiny Tim to Billy Preston . The list is endless.