Little Mike and the Tornadoes are an American

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

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

band from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. They are known for their high energy blues sound, modeled after the Chicago bands in the 1950s. Since 1990, they have released nine albums on a variety of record labels.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that the band's frontman, harmonica and keyboard player, Mike Markowitz, "is an extremely hard working, level-headed blues musician".

Career

The band's leader, Mike Markowitz was born on November 23. 1955, in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. Raised in New York's then expanding blues environment, Markowitz was initially influenced by the work of

John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues. Hooker often ...

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 ...

, and

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

. He commenced playing the harmonica at the age of 14 and progressed to the piano within a couple of years. Upon hearing Hooker playing live, coupled with

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

on record, led Markowitz to regularly attending concerts and forming a number of blues bands in his teenage years. In 1978, he formed the Tornadoes, and their local reputation saw them back

Big Walter Horton Walter Horton (April 6, 1921 – December 8, 1981), known as Big Walter (Horton) or Walter 'Shakey' Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming, shy man, he is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the hi ...

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s art ...

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

Lightnin' Hopkins Samuel John "Lightnin" Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – January 30, 1982) was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist from Centerville, Texas. In 2010, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list o ...

, and

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B genres. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog", in 1952, which becam ...

. This work carried them forward as a touring outfit, providing backing behind

Pinetop Perkins Joe Willie "Pinetop" Perkins (July 7, 1913 – March 21, 2011) was an American blues pianist. He played with some of the most influential blues and rock-and-roll performers of his time and received numerous honors, including a Grammy Life ...

Hubert Sumlin Hubert Charles Sumlin (November 16, 1931 – December 4, 2011) was a Chicago blues guitarist and singer, best known for his "wrenched, shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions" as a member of Howlin ...

, and

Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several popu ...

. In 1988, the band contributed to, and Markowitz produced, Pinetop Perkin's first release, '' After Hours''. Hubert Sumlin's ''Heart & Soul'', was released the following year, with the band again playing on and Markowitz producing the record. Little Mike and the Tornadoes first recording contract was signed in 1990 with

Blind Pig Records Blind Pig Records is an American blues independent record label. Blind Pig was formed in 1977 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Jerry Del Giudice, owner of the Blind Pig Cafe, and his friend Edward Chmelewski. The label is now based in San Francisco. I ...

, who issued their debut album, ''Heart Attack'', the same year. The album had guest appearances from Perkins, Sumlin, Butterfield,

Ronnie Earl :''This article refers to the musician. For the district attorney of Travis County, Texas, see Ronnie Earle.'' Ronnie Earl (born Ronald Horvath, March 10, 1953, Queens, New York, United States) is an American blues guitarist and music instructo ...

, and

Big Daddy Kinsey Lester J. Kinsey Jr., (March 18, 1927 – April 3, 2001) known as Big Daddy Kinsey, was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. Biography He was born near Pleasant Grove, Mississippi. He grew up playing gospel music ...

. The band toured promoting the album, playing across North America and Europe. In 1992, Blind Pig issued the band's follow-up work, ''Payday'', before the band signed and recorded for

Flying Fish Records Flying Fish Records was a record label founded in Chicago in 1974 that specialized in folk, blues, and country music. In the 1990s the label was sold to Rounder Records. Bruce Kaplan, the label's founder, was a native of Chicago and the son of ...

(which has since been acquired by

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

). This resulted in their third album, ''Flynn's Place''. By 1998, the band had moved on to

Ichiban Records Ichiban Records is an American independent record label, founded in 1985 by John Abbey and Nina Easton in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. History Wrap Records and Nastymix Records were some of its subsidiary labels. Urgent! Records and Mr. Henr ...

, who issued their next recording, ''Hot Shot''. Shortly after its release, Markowitz was involved in his second traffic accident. Although no-one was hurt, Markowitz took stock having a wife and two children at home. In total he spent almost ten years away from the music industry. Markowitz relocated near to

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...

, and his band went their separate ways. Their guitarist, Tony O. Melio (formerly the lead guitarist with

the Legendary Blues Band The Legendary Blues Band was a Chicago blues band formed in 1980 after the breakup of Muddy Waters' band. Biography In June 1980, Muddy Waters' backing musicians Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums), Pinetop Perkins (piano), Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (bass ...

), continued working in the business. Their bassist, Brad Vickers, formed Brad Vickers and his Vestapolitans, and their drummer, Rob Piazza, undertook studio session work. In addition, Blind Pig released a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

in 2012 called ''Heaven'' by Pinetop Perkins, on which Markowitz played the harmonica and also co-produced the collection. In 2013, ''Forgive Me'' was released jointly on

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "C ...

and Elrob Records, but it contained material recorded over a decade earlier. However the original line-up reformed at that time and eventually issued ''All the Right Moves''. It contained eleven tracks penned by Markowitz with a couple more songs written by Melio and Vickers. Jim McKaba played the piano as a guest performer on the album, and

Sonny Rhodes Clarence Smith (born Clarence Edward Mauldin; November 3, 1940 – December 14, 2021), known as Sonny Rhodes, was an American blues singer and lap steel guitar player. He recorded over two hundred songs. "I'm what you call a self-proclaimed Di ...

also contributed to the recording. Little Mike and the Tornadoes toured in the summer months of 2014, 2015 and 2016, playing at various concert dates and music festivals in parts of the US and Europe. In February 2015, ''Live at the St. Augustine Bluzfest'', was released with their special guest vocalist,

Zora Young Zora Young (born January 21, 1948, West Point, Mississippi, United States) is an American blues singer. She is distantly related to Howlin' Wolf. Young's family moved to Chicago when she was seven. She began singing gospel music at the Great ...

. It was issued at the same time as ''Friday Night'', billed as by Zora Young with Little Mike and the Tornaodes. Within that busy period, the band jointly contributed to ''Genuine Blues Legends'', an album recorded by themselves, backing Pinetop Perkins and

, Their most recent album, ''How Long?'', was released in August 2016.

Discography

‡ - Credited to Zora Young & Little Mike and the Tornadoes

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official websiteDiscography @ Discogs.com"Me and the Blues" video
American blues musical groups Rock and roll music groups Musical groups established in 1978 Contemporary blues musicians Musical groups from New York City Blind Pig Records artists Ichiban Records artists Flying Fish Records artists