One of the rising stars in Toronto’s roots-rock scene, Martin and her band can be seen frequently on stage at The Dakota Tavern,
Toronto's most respected Americana/Roots venue. With the release of
their self titled debut album, Samantha Martin and The Haggard in the
spring of 2012, the band will be taking their music on the road far
beyond Toronto. Recorded in July 2011 at Toronto's Lincoln County Social
Club, co-produced by the band and John Dinsmore (producer and
multi-instrumentalist with Kathleen Edwards, NQ Arbuckle, Sarah Harmer)
The album boldly traverses deep southern soul, roots/reggae and 50's
rock n roll.Tribute is paid to musical influences including
Otis Redding and Robert Johnson, The Rolling Stones, The Staples
Singers, CCR and Patsy Cline as well as Reggae artist Del Roy Wilson;
but the album is distinctly Samantha Martin and The Haggard. Few other
artists are able to incorporate such broad genres successfully and
present a cohesive sound all their own.The band is Samantha
Martin on rhythm guitar and vocals, Mikey McCallum on lead guitar, Greg
Sweetland on bass and Pete Lambert on drums. The album is tastefully
punctuated by the background vocals of Gospel Divas The Tonettes, (Amoy
and Ciceal Levy and Marlene O'Neill), and Country backup vocals are
provided by Dani Nash, Alejandra Ribera and Siobhan Power.
Multi-instrumentalist Derek Downham (of The Beauties) steps out from his
usual position behind the drum kit to play keyboards, wurlitzer and
combo organ on the recording.There are 9 original songs and 4
covers on the album, The original Gospel blues tunes, Six White Horses
and Dark Angel, feature Samantha playing slide resonator guitar. New
Kind of Blue and Hard Luck Woman are rockabilly and honky tonk country
tracks. Last thing on My Mind, originally written by Tom Paxton has been
covered by Dolly Parton and Porter Wagner, but the Sam Martin and the
Haggard version is most influenced by the Del Roy Wilson roots reggae
arrangement of the song. Rain from the Skies is another Del Roy Wilson
song that Sam Martin and the band have turned into a soul number. SAMANTHA MARTIN AND DELTA SUGAR
Mary Hott’s debut album “Shaman Lover” showcases her songwriting talent
and musical diversity in collaboration with the arranging and
performance mastery of guitarist Billy Thompson. She delivers raw and
genuine emotional expression that moves effortlessly across style
boundaries. You may hear echoes of her southern gospel roots, or
elements of the funk grooves she loves, intertwined with rock, soul,
jazz, country and blues.For most of her musical career Mary has played a supporting role,
helping other musicians realize their own musical goals. While living
in New York City, she became a sought-after recording studio session
singer and background singer, studied vocal jazz and improvisation with
seasoned pros, and became the front singer for several jazz and swing
ensembles. After moving to Boston and spending some time at Berklee College of
Music, her musical interests turned to the blues and she was soon
fronting several bands, including a ten-piece R&B-Soul ensemble with
regular appearances at The House of Blues and festivals and nightclubs
throughout New England. She has shared the stage with nationally known
musical acts as diverse as The J. Geils Band and Asleep At The Wheel.When asked about the album’s title, Mary references the author Elizabeth
Lesser, who in her book “Broken Open” defines a shaman lover as a
person who suddenly enters your life (or an abrupt event in your life)
that causes a radical change – so radical it stirs the shadow self, the
part of you kept hidden for way too long. A radical event in her own
life changed the role of music in her life and sparked the creation of
the songs on this album. MARY HOTT
Clare Teal
is one of the UK’s most celebrated and much loved jazz singers, as well as a
prolific recording artist and popular BBC Radio 2 broadcaster. To date she has
recorded and released 13 albums to public and critical acclaim. Her stunning voice,
encyclopaedic knowledge of jazz, swing and big band music, and her innate
warmth and wit have made Clare one of the most sought after singers and
broadcasters in the country. Grant Windsor is a pianist, composer, arranger, conductor and producer from Perth, Western Australia.He began classical studies early at the age of 9 beginning on flute.
This led him to be involved in groups all around Australia from an early
age, such as the National Children Wind Ensemble, West Australian Wind
Ensemble and at age 17 Grant arranged and performed the original musical
"Australian Stories" on tour.Bass player Simon Little is a graduate of The Guildhall School of
Music & Drama. He joined pop group 'The Divine Comedy' in 2001
toured extensively in Europe and the US and is still an active member.
Simon has also toured and recorded with a variety of artists, including
Maggie Reilly, Chris Difford, Ben Folds and Nick Cave. He is a regular
performer at the National Theatre and started 2012 in rep with "The
Comedy of Errors" there, playing an itinerant musician.Ben Reynolds is one of the most creative and gifted drummers in the
country and is in constant demand, playing with Clare, 2008 BBC Jazz
Award and Ronnie Scotts best newcomer Award Winners FRAUD, Joe Stilgoe
and 2009 Parliamentary Jazz Award Best Album Winners The Sam Crockatt
Quartet. CLARE TEAL
Israel's Blues Supergroup - this band has played with Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and Bernard Allison and opened for
Johnny Winter. Featuring Dov Hammer on vocals and harmonica, Andy Watts on guitar, Ilan Hillel on bass and Alon Hillel on drums. Check out the heartbreaking , hipshaking earthquaking power of the Blues Rebels!!
We are proud to present to you "Open Road" – the new album by The Blues Rebels.
The Blues Rebels began in 2012 as a one-time friendly jam between two
veteran Blues artists – guitarist Andy Watts and singer/harmonica player
Dov Hammer – but the immediate chemistry between the two and the
powerful stage show that resulted was undeniable. The Blues Rebels soon
became one of the hottest Blues bands on the Israeli scene, playing with
world-class Blues artists such as Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and
Bernard Allison. The band was also chosen to open for the legendary
Johnny Winter, who told the band how impressed he was by their
performance.
After 2 years of burning up stages with their incendiary live show, the
Rebels began work on their first album, a compilation of 14 original
songs by Dov Hammer and Andy Watts. The band set up in the studio at
Kibbutz Ma'abarot and tore through the songs in three days, capturing
the live energy and passion of their infamous live show. The songs
feature unique and heartfelt songwriting, blazing powerhouse Blues
guitar and harmonica and soulful singing. The rhythm section is funky
and in the pocket, with a groove that never quit.
THE BLUES REBELS
“ Nico Duportal capture the swing and Sounds reminiscent of Teddy Bunn,
Tiny Grimes, T.bone Walker, Gatemouth Brown and many others” (Lynwood
Slim, Los Angeles - California. 2007, singer/producer for Kid ramos,
Junior Watson, R.L Burnside, The mighty blue Kings, Rosebud Blue sauce,
Clarence gatemouth Brown, …). “ Fantastic Swingin’Blues and R&B !!!” (BBC-England). The American Blues scene has undoubtedly encountered its share of
adversity in recent years. wheneverI begin to doubt the uncertainty of
where this Music’s headed, along comes someone like Nico Duportal to
reassure me that everything’s gonna be just fine;
Jeff Scott Fleenor – Delta Groove Music (USA). “Nico Duportal sings and plays red hot guitar in a non stop trip into
the early roots of Rock’n’roll and R&B … this makes for the most
Swinging, the most rockin’ and definitely the most Jumpin’& rhythm
dance party sounds! the dance floor will be rammed for Mr Duportal
(Mark Hislop—Glasgow Rhythm & Blues festival). Nico Duportal a hot guitarist and Rhythm & Blues exponent, has
turned out a top class recording with his Rhythm Dudes providing
exquisite backing !!! recommended for Rockers, Strollers, Jiver and YOU
… (A. Smith – UK R’n’R Magazine). NICO DUPORTAL AND HIS RHYTHM DUDES
Born in Danville, Illinois, Jeff began playing trumpet at the age of
eight. After years of study in classical and jazz, he moved to L.A. in
1979 to pursue a career full time in music. He honed his live
performance skills on the LA club scene, then in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe,
and Atlantic City. Along the way, he developed an intriguing presence in
live performance that has to be seen (and heard) to be fully
appreciated. Now living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he continues to
play venues locally and around the country.In 2003 Jeff began to create loop based soundscapes using the computer
software program Sonic Acid. Uploading his music to MP3.com, his
innovative songs topped the ambient charts for months, with tens
thousands of downloads and streams worldwide.Soon after, Jeff began working with producer Will Ackerman, Grammy
winning guitarist and founder of Windham Hill Records. Together they
have recorded two albums, RELEASED and TRUE. Both albums have been voted
by broadcasters worldwide as Album of the Year, both have reached #1 on
Echoes, the nationally syndicated NPR radio program. Jeff's songs have
won Best New Age Song at the 2006 and 2008 Independent Music Awards,
and the music continues to receive airplay on XM/Sirius, Music Choice
and many other programs worldwide.Contributors to Jeff's recordings have included Bruce Swedien, legendary
mixing engineer of Michael Jackson's Thriller, Steely Dan's drummer
Keith Carlock, Grammy nominated artists Philip Aaberg, Eugene Friesen,
Michael Manring, and many other fine artists. JEFF OSTER
Lee Jones is a UK guitarist and composer. He has performed around the
national jazz scene in recent years and appeared as a special guest
with guitarist Martin Taylor at the Pizza Express, London.After
winning Jazz FM’s “Best New Instrumentalist” award, Lee completed the
BMus (Hons) jazz course at Birmingham Conservatoire in 2007; studying
with Partisans’ guitarist Phil Robson.He has released three solo
albums; “Swish” (2007), "Songs from the 13th Hour" (2011) and "After the
Pier" (2015) with former WEA producer Simon Tittley; recording
alongside Larry Coryell, Jean Toussaint, Dennis Rollins, Ric Sanders and
Chris Dagley amongst others. He also teaches guitar privately and for
various colleges.Lee is currently undertaking a PhD in jazz composition at The University of Salford.“…A fully developed personal style…” – The Observer"...an excellent composer and one heck of a guitarist..." LEE JONES
'A trio is the place where countless jazz pianists get their start,
finding security in the armature provided by a bassist and a drummer and
perhaps a sense of direction, too, from a long tradition that began in
the music’s early days and continues to evolve in nedirections.Theextraordinarily gifted Alexander Hawkins, by contrast, waited before
committing himself to a format so familiar as to represent, for a
creative pianist, a considerable test of the imagination.
Born in Oxford in 1981, Hawkins has been heard in many contexts, among
them his own six-piece ensemble, the Ethiopian vibraphonist Mulatu
Astatke’s band, the multinational Convergence Quartet, the three-piece
Decoy (in which he plays Hammond organ), the quartets of the trumpeter
Nick Malcolm, the drummer Steve Davis and the bassist Dominic Lash, as a
solo pianist, and recently in duo, quartet and octet environments with
Louis Moholo-Moholo. To encounter him at last in a trio (with the
bassist Neil Charles and the drummer Tom Skinner) is like hearing the
final element of a piece of machinery click into place.
..' ALEXANDER HAWKINS
The legacy of reggae vocalist Denroy Morgan has been passed on to his
sons, who have performed as Morgan Heritage since 1991. While its
mellow, R&B-influenced vocals and Rastafarian lyrics have been
compared to Garnett Silk, the group has continued to pave its own
musical path. The band's many hits include "Let's Make Up," "Tell Me How
Come," "Set Yourself Free," "Mama and Papa," and "Protect Us Jah."
Initially an octet featuring eight of Morgan's 29 children, Morgan
Heritage began recording in the early '90s. Although they attended
school in Springfield,
Massachusetts, they spent their weekends in their
father's recording studio in Brooklyn. Their debut single, "Wonderful
World," was produced by their father and released in 1991. An album,
Growing Up, followed shortly afterward. The first break for Morgan
Heritage came the following year when they performed at Reggae
Sunsplash. Their performance was so impressive that MCA offered a
recording contract almost as quickly as they were off the stage. Their
first album for MCA, Miracle, released in 1994, was a major
disappointment as the album clung to mass market reggae formulas.
Touring the Ivory Coast in 1995, Morgan Heritage rediscovered their
musical roots. Toward the end of the year, the group traveled to Jamaica
to record their next album. Recording during the day with Lloyd "King
Jammy" James and at night with Bobby "Digital" Dixon, the group took a
major leap forward. Shortly after releasing their second album, Protect
Us Jah, in 1997, Morgan Heritage were reduced to a five-piece. In
addition to Una Morgan (born 1973), the group included
keyboardist/vocalists Peter Morgan (born 1977) and Roy "Gramps" Morgan
(born 1975), rhythm guitarist Nakhamyah "Lukes" Morgan (born 1977), and
percussionist Memmalatel "Mojo" Morgan (born 1981). Don't Haffi Dread
from 1999 and More Teachings from 2001 continued to carry the roots
reggae torch while Three in One from 2003 broadened their sound a bit
with a guest appearance from the alt-rock band Good Charlotte. Full
Circle from 2005 featured the massive Jamaican hit "Tell Me How Come"
and was followed a year later by the live album Live: Another Rockaz
Moment. Mission in Progress arrived in 2008 with the singles "Raid Rootz
Dance" and "Love You Right." The 2009 compilation The Journey Thus Far
rounded up their hits, while their 2013 effort Here Come the Kings
featured the single "Perfect Love Song" along with a guest appearance
from Shaggy. Shaggy returned for 2015's Strictly Roots which was
released by the band's own label CTBC (Cool to Be Conscious). The album
also featured appearances from J. Boog, Chronixx, Bobby Lee of SOJA,
plus solo artist and son of Gramps, Jemere Morgan. MORGAN HERITAGE
