Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel (born October 24, 1943) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

and blues-rock music, and has also worked extensively on combining blues and classical music. He is best known as the co-leader of the Siegel-Schwall Band, and as the leader of the Chamber Blues group.

Musical career

Corky Siegel's professional music career began in 1964, when he met guitarist

Jim Schwall Jim Schwall (November 12, 1942 – June 19, 2022) was an American musician, singer-songwriter, and photographer. He was best known as a co-founder and member of the Siegel-Schwall Band. Musical career Jim Schwall was born in Evanston, Illinois ...

. Both were studying music at

Roosevelt University Roosevelt University is a private university with campuses in Chicago and Schaumburg, Illinois. Founded in 1945, the university was named in honor of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The unive ...

in Chicago. The two became a duo, performing blues music. They landed a regular gig at Pepper's Lounge, where well known, established blues musicians such as

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time. Over a four-decade care ...

, and

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

would often sit in. After a while the duo became a quartet, the Siegel-Schwall Band. The Siegel-Schwall Band enjoyed increasing popularity, and by 1967 were touring nationally, playing at large rock venues like the

Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Str ...

and sharing the bill with famous rock bands. Between 1966 and 1974, they released ten albums. After 1974, they stopped playing concerts, but the band re-formed in 1987. They released two albums of new material. Until "Siegel-Schwall lovingly disbanded" in March 2016, they still played occasional live dates and featured drummer

Sam Lay Samuel Julian Lay (March 20, 1935January 29, 2022) was an American drummer and vocalist who performed from the late 1950s as a blues and R&B musician alongside Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Paul Butterfield, and many others. He was inducted into ...

and bassist

Rollo Radford Rollo ( nrf, Rou, ''Rolloun''; non, Hrólfr; french: Rollon; died between 928 and 933) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, today a region in northern France. He emerged as the outstanding warrior among the Norsemen who had se ...

; Lay played with Siegel in the Happy Year Band of 1973 which also featured

Chicago blues Chicago blues is a form of blues music developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier blues idioms, such as Delta blues, but performed in an urban style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of the first half of the twentieth cent ...

guitarist Albert Joseph. The idea of combining blues and classical music was first suggested by classical conductor

Seiji Ozawa Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racing driver *, Japanese politician *, Japanese film directo ...

. Ozawa brought together the Siegel-Schwall Band and the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

. They first performed " Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra", by William Russo in 1968. In 1973, the band and Ozawa released a recording of this work performed with the

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...

. In 1975, Siegel and Ozawa, with the San Francisco Symphony, first performed another William Russo work, "Street Music: A Blues Concerto". A recording of this piece was released in 1979. Inspired by his collaboration with Ozawa, Corky Siegel formed Chamber Blues in 1988. The group's music combines elements of classical, blues, and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

. The band consists of a

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

– two violins, a viola, and a cello – along with percussionist Frank Donaldson, and Siegel on harmonica and also sometimes doubling on piano. As of early 2019, Chamber Blues has released four albums, and still tours nationally and internationally. Siegel has also worked on numerous other musical projects. In 2004, he was a member of the Chicago Blues Reunion band, which released the album ''Buried Alive in the Blues''.

Book

With Peter Krammer, Corky Siegel wrote a book for musicians and music students, called ''Let Your Music Soar: The Emotional Connection''. It was published by Nova Vista Publishing in 2007.

Discography

For Siegel's recordings with the Siegel-Schwall Band, see Siegel-Schwall Band. *''Corky Siegel'' – Corky Siegel (1974 – Dharma) *''Street Music: A Blues Concerto'' –

and Corky Siegel (1977 –

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

) *''Out of the Blue'' – Corky Siegel (1980 – Stuff) *''Goodbye California'' – Corky Siegel (1984 – Skitzo/Frenia – re-release of ''Out of the Blue'') *''Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues'' – Chamber Blues (1994 –

Alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additiona ...

) *''Complementary Colors'' – Chamber Blues (1998 – Gadfly) *''Solo Flight'' – Corky Siegel (1999 – Gadfly) *''Corky Siegel's Traveling Chamber Blues Show'' – Chamber Blues (2005 – Alligator) *''Buried Alive in the Blues'' – Chicago Blues Reunion (2005 – 33rd Street) *''Different Voices'' – Chamber Blues (2017 – Dawnserly) *''More Different Voices'' – Chamber Blues (2022 – Dawnserly) *''Something Wrong'' – Corky Siegel (2022 – Dawnserly) *''Songs for Truth and Harmony'' – Corky Siegel (2022 – Dawnserly)

References

External links

Corky Siegel
the official website of his musical endeavors, including Chamber Blues and the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band {{DEFAULTSORT:Siegel, Corky 1943 births American blues harmonica players American blues pianists American male pianists Living people Musicians from Chicago Blues musicians from Illinois Jewish rock musicians 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians