- Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore are off to the Boquete Jazz & Blues Festival in Panama! The city of Boquete, Panama will become a music hub for Central America on February 28th – March 3. Those are the dates for the Boquete Jazz & Blues Festival which features music, parades, parties, art shows, concerts and jam sessions. This year the music lineup will include Tail Dragger & Bob Corritore, B3, Andy Egert, Randy Oxford Band, Carlos Ubarte Latin Jazz Quintet, Ron Hacker & The Hacksaws, Spicy Latin Jazz Band, Rigobertto Coba Big Band, Maria Rivas & Her Libertango Band, Sounds like a party to us! For more information on this event please click here.
- RIP Cleotha Staples April 11, 1934-February 21, 2013. Cleotha died on Thursday, after years of battling Alzheimer’s disease. She was 78 years old. Cleotha “Cleedi” Staples gave the world years of joy as the high voice in the unworldly great harmonies of the Staples Singers. Though Cleotha was the oldest of Pops Staples children, it was her sister Mavis that received the most attention as the most frequent lead vocalist of this cherished family band. But Cleotha’s contributions were essential to the Staple Singers sound. “A lot of singers would try to sing like her,” Mavis Staples said “Her voice would just ring in your ear. It wasn’t harsh or hitting you hard, it was soothing.” To find out more about her distinguished music career, click here.
- John Primer & Bob Corritore CD Album Art! The forthcoming album John Primer & Bob Corritore / Knockin’ Around These Blues will be released Aril 16th on the Delta Groove label. This album features a fantastically traditional sound with John amd Bob in top form surrounded by the all-star cast of Barrelhouse Chuck, Chris James and Patrick Rynn, Billy Flynn,Bob Stroger, Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith and Brian Fahey. The beautiful album design featuring a cover photo by Dave Blake, inside photos by Daniel Swadener, and graphic design by Josh Temkin is now complete and can be seen by clickinghere.
- Blues Music Awards voting closes at 7:59 AM on March 1. Voting for the 2013 Blues Music Awards (BMAs) is in progress and Blues Foundation members can make their choices now until 7:59am on March 1. To see the list of this year’s nominations click here. Bob Corritore is nominated for a BMA in the “Harmonica” category. Also two releases that Bob is associated with are up for a couple awards each; Mud Morganfield / Son Of The Seventh Son, and The Mannish Boys /Double Dynamite. The award winners will be anounced at the formal ceremony which takes place on Thursday, May 9th at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. For more on the awards and the Blues Foundation go to http://www.blues.org/.
- Bear Family Records to release updated, definitive Sun Records blues box set! Sam Phillips‘ Sun Records from Memphis, Tennessee was certainly one of America’s most defining record labels. Though best known for artists such asElvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and others, Sun had it’s start with the blues. Being at the center of the South, producer Sam Phillips launched and furthered the career of many blues artists: Howlin’ Wolf, Little Milton, Big Walter Horton,Ike Turner, Rosco Gordon, Rufus Thomas, Earl Hooker, and Pinetop Perkins to name a few. On March 15th Bear Familywill release The Sun Records Blues Box, a 10 CD set complete with a booklet containing photos and discography. This is in conjunction with Sun’s sixtieth anniversary, and Bear Family is also releasing two other definitive box sets showcasing the labels vast contributions to county music and to a rock ‘n’ roll. The Sun Records Blues Box has been released in two forms already on England’s Charly Records. But this appears to be the most inclusive set possible to date, including items not available at the time of the past releases. Here is what the info sheet says: “Finally, the last word on the SUN, and pre-SUNblues recordings! Nearly 30 years after the original Sun Blues Box was released on LP, it’s back on CD with so much more than was on the original set. Recently discovered music from well-known artists … and incredible artifacts like Sam Phillipsnarrating a radio commercial for a West African herbalist who would soon be jailed for selling bogus patent medicine. Recordings produced by Phillips but issued on Chess, RPM, TRUMPET and other labels were unavailable in 1983, but are now included. Researcher Steve LaVere finally allowed the world to hear the Sun audio and see the Sun -related photos he collected back in the late 1960s. In fact, the entire blues research community came together to make this a once-in-a-lifetime blues experience!” Thank you Bear Family.
- Magic Slim Funeral Services. This comes to us from Magic Slim‘s Manager Marty Salzman. The funeral service for Magic Slim will be at Horizons Community Church , 3200 Grainger Parkway , Lincoln Nebraska on Saturday, March 2, at 10AM. A musical memorial tribute is currently being planned in Chicago IL. The Zoo Bar in Lincoln is also planning a musical tribute. Both tributes will be announced when details are finalized. These memorial tributes will be benefits with all proceeds going to Ann Holt and her family.
- T-Bone 1966 performance on YouTube! Please enjoy this 1966 clip of T-Bone Walker leading an all-star band at a Jazz At The Philharmonic concert in London. The band includes Dizzy Gillespie, Teddy Wilson, Louis Bellson, Clark Terry,Coleman Hawkins, Zoot Sims, Jimmy Moody, Benny Carter and Bob Cranshaw. T-Bone performs a medley that includes “Going To Chicago”, click here to see, and to see Norman Granz’s introduction, and T-Bone singing “Woman, You Must Be Crazy”, click here.
Bob Corritore - Official Website 