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San Francisco Blues Festival
The San Francisco Blues Festival was active from 1973 until 2008, and was located in San Francisco, California. It was the one of the longest running blues festival in the United States. History Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the blues festival to educate the public about the history and evolution of the blues. Many of the performers at the early concerts were the pioneers and originators of the West Coast blues sound. In 2008, Mazzolini announced that after 37 consecutive years, the festival was forced to cease production due to economic reasons. Notable performers The 1970s 1973 Jimmy McCracklin, Charlie Musselwhite, Dave Alexander, K. C. Douglas, Little Willie Littlefield, L. C. Robinson, Luther Tucker, Johnny Fuller, Gary Smith Blues Band, Mr. Boogie, The Hi Tide Harris Blues Band 1974 Little Joe Blue, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Mark St. Mary, Cool Papa, Robert Lowery, K. C. Douglas, L. C. Robinson, Boogie Jake, Dave Alexander 1975 Queen Ida, Sonn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Queen Ida
Ida Lewis "Queen Ida" Guillory (born January 15, 1929) is a Louisiana Creole accordionist. She was the first female accordion player to lead a zydeco band. Queen Ida's music is an eclectic mix of R&B, Caribbean, and Cajun, though the presence of her accordion always keeps it traditional. Biography Born Ida Lee Lewis to a musical family of rice farmers in Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, her family were Louisiana Creole people and her first language is French. Her family moved to Beaumont, Texas, when she was ten and eight years later moved to San Francisco, California. Although her mother was an accordion player, women were not encouraged to play in public, and Queen Ida learned mostly from her brother Al Lewis, later known as Al Rapone. After marrying Raymond Guillory she raised their three children and worked as a bus driver but occasionally sat in with her brother's Zydeco band, also cooking Louisiana cuisine for the band members. She was dubbed "Queen Ida" after be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smokey Wilson
Robert Lee "Smokey" Wilson (July 11, 1936 – September 8, 2015) was an American West Coast blues guitarist. He spent most of his career performing West Coast blues and juke joint blues in Los Angeles, California. He recorded a number of albums for record labels such as P-Vine Records, Bullseye Blues and Texmuse Records. His career got off to a late start, with international recognition eluding him until the 1990s. Biography Wilson was born in Glen Allan, Mississippi, and raised in Lake Village, Arkansas, He played alongside Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, Big Jack Johnson, and Frank Frost, before his move to Los Angeles in 1970. He opened the Pioneer Club in Watts, where he was the frontman of the house band. He also In booked blues musicians to perform at the club, including Big Joe Turner, Percy Mayfield, Pee Wee Crayton and Albert Collins. His down-to-earth guitar playing was typical of his Mississippi Delta background. "I bring the cotton-field with me," he said, "and I got the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lowell Fulson
Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921March 7, 1999) was an American blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. He also recorded for contractual reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, he was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Fulson was born on a Choctaw reservation in Atoka, Oklahoma, to Mamie and Martin Fulson. He stated that he was of Cherokee ancestry through his father but also claimed Choctaw ancestry. His father was killed when Lowell was a child, and a few years later, he moved with his mother and brothers to live in Clarita and attended school at Coalgate. Career At the age of eighteen, he moved to Ada, Oklahoma, and joined Alger "Texas" Alexander for a few months in 1940, but later moved to California, where he formed a band which soon included a young Ray Charles and the tenor saxophone player Stanley Turrentine. Fulson was drafted in 1943 and served in the U.S. Navy until 194 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louisiana Red
Iverson Minter (March 23, 1932 – February 25, 2012), known as Louisiana Red, was an American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He was best known for his song "Sweet Blood Call". Biography Born in Bessemer, Alabama, Minter lost his parents early in life; his mother died of pneumonia shortly after his birth, and his father was lynched by the Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ... in 1937.Wynn, Ron. [ Louisiana Red: Biography]. Allmusic.com. He was brought up by a series of relatives in various towns and cities. Red recorded for Chess Records, Chess in 1949, before joining the United States Army, Army. He was trained as a parachutist with the 82nd Airborne and was sent to Korea in 1951. The 82nd Airborne was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George "Harmonica" Smith
George "Harmonica" Smith (born Allen George Smith, April 22, 1924 – October 2, 1983) was an American electric blues harmonica player. Apart from his solo recordings, Smith is best known for his work backing both Muddy Waters and Big Mama Thornton. Life and career Born in West Helena, Arkansas, United States, but brought up in Cairo, Illinois, Smith's mother taught him how to play the harmonica from the age of 4. In his teenage years he performed in a country band with Early Woods and Curtis Gould. He also joined Mississippi gospel group, the Jackson Jubilee Singers. From the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Smith travelled throughout the south and played harmonica on the streets. In 1941, Smith moved to Rock Island, Illinois and joined a group with drummer Francis Clay. Around this time he was working at the Dixie theatre and began to use an amplifier he'd salvaged from an old projector to amplify his harmonica playing on the streets. He moved to Chicago and began playing profess ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Records. In 2011, they signed with Severn Records. Their first two albums were released in 1979 and 1980, with Kim Wilson's lead vocals and harmonica, Jimmie Vaughan as lead guitarist, and Keith Ferguson on bass guitar. Mike Buck was on drums for the first album but left the band and was replaced by Fran Christina on the second. Both albums initially sold through the small number printed (about 3000 units) and are now regarded as significant blues recordings. The Thunderbirds' blues style mixed Texas blues with the harmonica-laced swamp blues sounds of Slim Harpo and Lazy Lester—both of whom the Thunderbirds covered. The band's third album, ''Butt-Rockin, released in 1981, took the band closer to old rhythm and blues and added additional music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phillip Walker (musician)
Phillip Walker (February 11, 1937 – July 22, 2010) was an American electric blues guitarist, most noted for his 1959 hit single, "Hello My Darling", produced by J. R. Fulbright. Although Walker continued playing throughout his life, he recorded more sparsely. Life and career Walker grew up in Texas and learned to play guitar in his teens in Houston. He worked with Lonesome Sundown and Lonnie Brooks, and briefly joined Clifton Chenier's band in the 1950s. By the 1960s he was in a R&B band in Los Angeles with his wife Ina, who used the stage name Bea Bopp. His album ''Bottom of the Top'' was released by Playboy in 1973. Further albums were released on Black Top, Hightone, JSP, Joliet, and Rounder Records. Walker was also known for his variety of styles and the changes he would often make for each album. Not until 1969 did he begin to record more regularly, when he joined with the record producer, Bruce Bromberg. He appeared on show 237 of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Cray
Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed at Fort Benning. Cray's musical beginnings go back to when he was a student at Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia. While there, he played in his first band, The One-Way Street. His family eventually settled in the Tacoma, Washington, area. There, he attended Lakes High School in Lakewood, Washington. Career By the age of 20, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. In the late 1970s he lived in Eugene, Oregon, where he formed the Robert Cray Band and collaborated with Curtis Salgado in the Cray-Hawks. In the 1978 film ''National Lampoon's Animal House'', Cray was the uncredited bassist in the house party ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Albert Collins
Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing and his use of altered tunings and a capo. His long association with the Fender Telecaster led to the title "The Master of the Telecaster". Early life Collins was born in Leona, Texas, on October 1, 1932. He was introduced to the guitar at an early age by his cousin Lightnin' Hopkins, also a Leona resident, who played at family gatherings. The Collins family relocated to Marquez, Texas, in 1938 and to Houston in 1941,Obrecht, Jas, ed. (1993). ''Blues Guitar: The Men Who Made the Music''. 2nd ed. Miller Freeman Books. pp. 246–259. . where he attended Jack Yates High School.''Albert Collins''. Vital Blues Guitar Series. Transcriptions by Richard DeVinck. Creative Concepts Publishing (California), 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Kelton
Robert Kelton Jr. (January 1, 1908 – May 19, 1996) was an American blues guitarist and banjo player, influential in the development of jump blues and early rock and roll. Early life Kelton was born in Kansas City, Kansas, and learned to play ukulele as a child, playing in cabarets in Turner by the mid-1920s. After becoming proficient on the banjo, he moved to Chicago in 1926 and the following year to St. Louis, Missouri, where he worked with Dewey Jackson's band on river boats. He next moved to Denver, Colorado, and then Phoenix, Arizona, where he married and played in George Morrison's band, before relocating to Los Angeles in 1932, and taking up the guitar. Roque Carbajo, "Robert Kelton", ''GuitareClassique.net'', November 8, 2008 Retrieved 20 November 2016 ...
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Charles Brown (musician)
Tony Russell "Charles" Brown (September 13, 1922 – January 21, 1999) was an American singer and pianist whose soft-toned, slow-paced nightclub style influenced West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s. Between 1949 and 1952, Brown had seven Top 10 hits in the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart. His best-selling recordings included "Driftin' Blues" and "Merry Christmas Baby". Early life Brown was born in Texas City, Texas. As a child he loved music and received classical music training on the piano.Dahl, Bill. "Biography". Allmusic.com Retrieved 10 November 2015 He graduated from Central High School in |
