The Mighty Soul Drivers bring the classic Soul sounds of Memphis, Muscle
Shoals and points South to the hills of New England. The Mighty Soul
Drivers take their inspiration from the giants of Southern Soul - O.V.
Wright, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding and more and combine that with
contemporary tunes written in the classic style. The Mighty Soul Drivers
turn every venue they play into a Soul dance party!Bob Orsi - Vocals, Guitar, Veteran front man Bob Orsi's dramatic vocals have driven the success of
bands from CT's legendary Scratch Band to the award-winning D. Smith
Blues Band. Although perhaps better known to the public for his
harmonica skills, Bob is also an accomplished rhythm guitarist who
brings an extra dimension to several of the songs. And of course it is
his impassioned vocals that are at the core of The Mighty Soul Drivers'
sound. River City Slim - Drums, Vocals After singing and playing harp as the front man for The Blues Blasters
throughout the 90's, Slim has led The Zydeco Hogs as they brought the
sound of Louisiana Zydeco and Blues to the Northeast. Slim has been
spreading the Soul, Blues and R&B gospel over the air for years as a
DJ on WWUH and WAPJ. The idea for The Mighty Soul Drivers had been
kicking around in the back of his mind for a while when a chance meeting
with Bob at a CT Blues Society jam session in early 2012 finally put
the wheels in motion. Larry Willey - Guitar, Vocals Crowd-pleasing guitarist Larry Willey has led Blues and R&B bands
for years, including The Working Band and The Blues Talkers. After
witnessing the excitement of the Blues and R&B pioneers at the
legendary Shaboo Inn in its 1970's heyday, Larry cut his musical teeth
with CT Blues pioneers The Albert Otis Band, and has been a fixture on
the CT Blues and R&B scene ever since. Andy Karlok - Bass, Vocals Andy came off the road with nationally-known Blues artist Luther 'Guitar
Jr.' Johnson to join River City Slim & The Zydeco Hogs as they
barnstormed their way throughout the Northeast. Andy has also held down
the bottom for Dr. Ya Ya's Gumbo Party, a New England band specializing
in New Orleans R&B. Steve Donovan - Keyboards. THE MIGHTY SOUL DRIVERS
Ernie Peniston was inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame in 2003.
He is a product, in part, of the Minneapolis music scene, and he has
shared the stage with Prince, Morris Day, The Temptations, Koko Taylor,
Lonnie Brooks, James Brown, Albert Collins, and many others. He also
spent four years as the frontman with Blind Pig recording artists,
Chicago Rhythm & Blues Kings, traveling the US and Europe. A happenstance meeting in 2013 between Peniston and former EPB guitarist
Joe Collins and a daisy chain of phone calls thereafter pulled together
friends and musicians from across the country to re-form the Ernie
Peniston Band. This reunion led to a string of engagements, culminating
(so far) with the release of “Live at the Muddy Waters” (recorded
earlier this year) and an appearance at the opening night of the 30th
Mississippi Valley Blues Fest (Ernie played the first one in 1985).Peniston formed The Ernie Peniston Band in the Quad-Cities in the late
80’s, and the current players are a reiteration of an early 90's lineup
of reacquainted consorts from all over. THE ERNIE PENISTON BAND
Emphasizing old New Orleans-style ensemble playing, a stomping rhythm
section, and a genuine love of the hot, bluesy, no-frills melodies that
once poured forth from New Orleans’ dance halls, Shotgun Jazz Band
makes music that is both immediate in its influences and timeless in its
appeal.
To date, Shotgun Jazz Band has recorded 4 albums; Algiers Strut 2011, their enthusiastic live release, One DrinkMinimum 2012, and their official full-length debut, Don’t Give Up the Ship 2013. Scheduled
for a fall 2014 release is their latest, Yearning, recorded at
Luthjen's Dance Hall and featuring James Evans on clarinet &
saxophone, Charlie Halloran on trombone, and Ben Polcer on piano. While
SJB’s core lineup tends to be fairly consistent (Marla Dixon on trumpet and vocals, James Evans on reeds, Twerk Thomson on bass, Justin Peake on drums and John Dixon on banjo)
on any given night it may also feature incredible musicians such as
Orange Kellin, Tommy Sancton, Craig Flory, Charlie Halloran, Haruka
Kikuchi, Michael Magro, Walter Harris, Tom Saunders, Ben Polcer, Aurora
Nealand, Peter Loggins, Benji Bohannon, and Jon Gross. On special
occasions, even Barry Martyn comes out to play.These days Shotgun
Jazz Band is as equally at home playing for tips and smiles on Royal
Street as they are playing for dancers and fans at clubs, courtyards,
and weddings. SJB currently enjoys residencies at The Spotted Cat Music Club, Three Muses, & Maison Frenchmen, and may also be found at Mimi’s in the Marigny, Allways Lounge, Fritzel's European Jazz Club, DBA, Sbisa's, 21st Amendment, Marigny Brasserie, and Bacchanal. The Band has also been featured at Preservation Hall, Dew Drop Social & Benevolent Jazz Hall, WWOZ’s Traditional Jazz radio show as well as the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, and has participated / or is scheduled to participate in several festivals, both in New Orleans and across the country. SHOTGUN JAZZ BAND
Music lovers across the globe have discovered the secret that music is
easily enjoyed with our ears, but completely experienced when our bodies
are moving in total accord with the surroundings. New Orleans’s own
Flow Tribe aims to prove this truth in their own style every time they
take the stage. Growing up in the dive bars and neighborhood venues in the city’s dimmest corners, this six-piece ensemble captures the passion of
the Crescent City, bending genres into their own brand of "backbone-cracking music.” Rooted
in the tradition of New Orleans R&B and funk, spiced with Cuban
flair, and dipped in rock and hip-hop, these musicians invite their
audiences to groove their hips until they sweat as they jump from rhythm
to rhythm each and every night. FLOW TRIBE
Have been playing their unique style of blues the world over for almost forty years. Not limited to one style, but able to play Chicago Blues in the style of Muddy Waters. Little Walter and Billy Boy Arnold; Kansas City Swing in the style of "Big" Joe Turner; Texas Blues like "T" Bone Walker and Freddie King; and the swampy Louisiana sounds of "Lazy" Lester-all played with the distinctive originality of band leader Sugar Ray Norcia, vocals and harmonica, guitarist "Monster" Mike Welch, Anthony Geraci at the piano and Hammond Organ, Michael "Mudcat" Ward playing acoustic and electric bass, and drummer Neil Gouvin.All of the members of Sugar Ray and the Bluetones have been featured on other Artists recordings which include Hubert Sumlin, John Hammond, Johnny Winter, Otis Grand, Pinetop Perkins, The Mannish Boys, Sugaray Rayford, Debbie Davies, Duke Robillard, Ronnie Earl and many more. SUGAR RAY AND THE BLUETONES
Paul Thorn's new album "Too Blessed To Be Stressed" stakes out
new territory for the popular roots-rock songwriter and performer. "In
the past, I've told stories that were mostly inspired by my own life,"
the former prizefighter and literal son of a preacher man offers. "This
time, I've written 10 songs that express more universal truths, and I've
done it with a purpose: to make people feel good."That's really
Thorn's mission for Too Blessed To Be Stressed, which can be heard as a
running conversation about life between Thorn and listeners - a
conversation leavened with gentle insights, small inspirations, and
plenty of cheer. "I wrote these songs hoping they might put people in a
positive mindset and encourage them to count their own blessings, like I
count mine," Thorn observes. "There's no higher goal I could set for
myself than to help other people find some happiness and gratitude in
their lives." PAUL THORN
Mandy Lemons and Low Society are blazing new trails on the stomping
grounds of Blues and Americana music. Texas Blues, Memphis Rock 'N Soul
and a healthy dose of New York attitude help define the sound and spirit
of their latest album, 'You Can't Keep A Good Woman Down', on Icehouse
Records. It's a diverse collection of original songs that inject new
life into, while remaining firmly rooted in, the traditional music that
they live and breathe. Among the albums guest appearances are two of
Memphis' best known musicians, B.B. King and Lionel Hampton alumni Dr
Herman Green on the saxophone and Lucero's Rick Steff on keys and
accordion. The album was recorded at the historic Memphis landmark,
American Recording Studio, and mastered by Stax legend, Larry Nix.Low Society is the brainchild of blues belter Mandy Lemons, and her
partner in crime, guitarist and producer Sturgis Nikides, former
guitarist for John Cale (The Velvet Underground). The pair has codified
their shared love of Texas and Delta Blues, soul music and rock 'n roll
into their own subconscious language. Mandy sings the blues with an
emotionally charged powerhouse voice that mixes original southern fried
soul and northern attitude. Woven together with Sturgis Nikides
blistering slide guitar they blaze their way through a veritable map of
the South. Holding down the rock solid rhythm section are Memphis native
sons, Mike "Drummerlife" Munn and Nick Dodson on the bass guitar. The
band has traveled extensively, playing hundreds of shows on festival,
juke joint and club stages everywhere from Eastern Europe to NYC, from
Mississippi to Texas, to Memphis, to Arkansas and Missouri, to
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Montana, Florida and points
beyond. They have appeared at Clarksdale Mississippi's Juke Joint
Festival for the last 4 consecutive years, the 2012 Bluesalive Festival
in the Czech Republic and Poland, as well as NYC's Howl Festival for 3
consecutive years. They also participated in the 30th International
Blues Challenge. Their first album, 2011's 'High Time' received critical
praise for it's raw "neo-delta" roots and blues sound. Big City Rhythm
& Blues Magazine said “these hipsters have taken southern country
blues and super-charged it to a white-hot intensity”. The band will be
hitting the road, from coast to coast to support the new CD, make sure
to keep an eye on their schedule - you don't want to miss this!!! LOW SOCIETY
Composer, saxophonist, poet and Guggenheim Fellow,
Oliver Lake, is one of jazz's most prolific and eclectic artists of the
last 40 years. Oliver Lake is known for everything from his solo
saxophone performances and recordings; to his solo music-theater work;
to his reggae-jazz group Jump Up; to his work as a founding member of
the World Saxophone Quartet; to his Oliver Lake Big Band; to the Oliver
Lake Steel Quartet which performed at The Space in 2004; and The Organ
Quartet, one of his most recent projects. Lake was a founding member of
the Black Artists Group (BAG) in St Louis in the 1970's where he grew up
with trumpeter Lester Bowie and pianist
John Hicks. He has received multiple commissions from the National
Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer, and the Mary Flagler Cary
Charitable Trust and his works have been performed by the Arditti String
Quartet, the World Saxophone Quartet, the Amherst Sax Quartet,
violinist Regina Carter, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the San Francisco
Contemporary Players, New York New Music Ensemble, and Pulse Percussion
Ensemble of New York. He has worked with a wide range of artists
including the pop singer Björk, rocker Lou Reed, jazz vocalist Abbey
Lincoln and rap group, A Tribe Called Quest. Other projects include a
collaboration with writer and law professor Patricia Williams, and the
Quagmire Trio with komungo player Jin Hi Kim and bassist William Parker.
Also an exhibiting visual artist, Lake continues to perform worldwide
with his own ensembles as well as in Trio Three, the long-standing
cooperative trio with percussionist Andrew Cyrille and bassist Reggie
Workman (sometimes augmented by pianist Geri Allen). OLIVER LAKE
This intergenerational collaboration between Grammy© Award winning
trumpeter Brian Lynch and new piano star on the modern jazz horizon
Emmet Cohen combines new school excitement and exuberant swing. In the
quartet setting, joined by legendary drummer Billy Hart and master
bassist Boris Kozlov, Lynch and Cohen present a program of their own
searching and often epic original music, bridging traditional and
contemporary sounds with virtuosity, passion and swinging aplomb. And as
a duo, they essay and recast jazz classics and standards (both classic
and contemporary) with warmth, intelligence and lack of cliche, often
journeying into uncharted territory only bound by their searching
imagination and desire to swing.
The musical lock between Lynch and Cohen has roots that go beyond the
work they've put in towards crafting a distinctive sound in both quartet
and duo formats. Their common ground in committing to grounded, yet
contemporary and uncliched playing and composing, coupled with the
mixture of Lynch's magisterial command and Cohen's poised beyond his
years musicality, has resulted in a original and compelling new group
sound tailored for today's listener. BRIAN LYNCH AND EMMET COHEN
