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Sunday, October 1, 2017
SUNDAY BLUES BRUNCH AND BLUES / JAZZ JAM SESSION
Hosted by the PHILLY BLUES KINGS, featuring two sets of flaming hot blues followed by an open mic for blues and jazz players.
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$4 at the Door, 11:30 am to 4:30 pm, Every Sunday
No reservations needed. Grab your favorite axe, a bottle of wine and some friends and head on over. Delicious brunch will be served all day. What a great way to begin the new week with a happy stomach and an ear full of some of the best blues and jazz in the east.
http://www.phillyblueskings.com
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Friday, October 13, 2017
GINA SICILIA BAND
“This young woman is a force to be reckoned with...Surely a candidate for best album of 2017”
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CONCERT - $16 Online/$18 Door, 8:00 pm
Dynamic vocalist and live performer Gina Sicilia’s new album, Tug of War, celebrates her status as one of the reigning voices in modern blues and marks a potent evolution in her songwriting. The 11-song set is Sicilia’s seventh release since her emergence as a doyenne of the genre a decade ago. Today, Sicilia’s experience and the fully realized powers of her warm, flexible, emotionally nuanced singing resonate like never before.
Although Sicilia had planned a career in journalism, her natural gifts made music a stronger draw. While she was still in college, her 2007 debut, Allow Me to Confess, was released. After that, things happened fast. She was signed by one of the nation’s premier roots music booking agencies just one week later and began to tour the globe, play major festivals and rise up the blues charts. The album garnered her first Blues Music Award nomination, for Best Debut Artist.
Since then Sicilia has remained in the upper echelon of female blues vocalists, regularly releasing albums that earn accolades and ride the charts, and playing 150 dates each year. Asked about her passion for making music and her tireless pace, Sicilia replies: “Working—writing songs, touring, recording—motivates me. That keeps me inspired and focused. I’ve learned that hard work and experience are what it takes to grow and become a better artist. And I see myself as always evolving, reaching for a kind of perfection within the music I love to make. I’m not sure I’ll ever find it, but I’ll never stop searching.”
https://www.ginasicilia.com/
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Friday, October 20, 2017
PHILLY GUMBO
"not just irresistible but positively transcendent."
-The Philadelphia City Paper
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CONCERT - $16 Online/$18 Door, 8:00 pm
Philly Gumbo has been the foremost exponent of New Orleans music in the Philadelphia area and has been thrilling audiences at major venues and festivals with an intoxicating mix of New Orleans R & B, blues, funk, reggae and Mardi Gras anthems. Led by the power-house vocals of India Rex, the band’s performances are the next best thing to being at Jazz Fest. Twice recognized by Philadelphia Magazine in the annual “Best of Philadelphia” issues, Philly Gumbo delivers joyous music that is dance-inducing as well as listener-friendly.
“the area's tastiest musical ragout of New Orleans parish soul, blues, reggae and dense funk"
-The Philadelphia Inquirer
"On South St. Philly Gumbo ruled the funk scene when The Roots were mere seedlings"
-Vintage Guitar Magazine
https://www.facebook.com/pg/phillygumbo/
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Saturday, October 28, 2017
LILI ANEL BAND
"A Music Visionary"
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CONCERT - $15 Online/$17 Door, 8:00 pm
Philadelphia resident Lili Añel released her latest recording Another Place, Another Time to excellent reviews and regular rotation on WRTI 90.1 FM, Philadelphia’s premier Jazz radio station (featured on the Jazz Hot 11 Countdown for 14 weeks, with 2 weeks in the #1 spot). As well, she was well received across the U.S. making the JazzPlaylist.
Once again teaming up with fellow musician and co-producer Dale Melton, the 2017 release of “Another Place, Another Time” is an EP of 6 songs: 2 songs, “Forgotten” and “I’ll Never Forget You” penned by Añel, 2 co-written with her twin sister, Barbara “Another Place, Another Time” and “I Don’t Care (Groucho’s Blues)” and 2 covers. One cover, “Traffic Jam In A One Horse Town” was written by her friend Philadelphia guitarist Jef Lee Johnson who passed away in 2013. “I decided when Jef left us that I would always include one of his songs on my records. I know he felt he wasn’t heard while he was still here. His music is so amazing and has had such an effect on me, I want to share it with the world. My hope is that people will seek his music out after hearing my renditions.” The second cover, which Lili first heard on a Nina Simone recording, “It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine” is a gospel hymn about deliverance, written by Blind Willie Johnson. Anel’s take includes a bridge she added which includes the line “…if I sing my heart is rejoicing…” putting a positive spin on the mostly fundamental lyric, along with her uplifting vocal delivery.
I am performing with Dale Melton - Keys/B3, Jeffrey Blount-bass (elec.) and Jonathan Whitney, drums/percussion.
http://www.lilianel.org
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Saturday, November 11, 2017
DIRK HAMILTON
"One of the few legitimate poets on the scene."
-New York Press
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CONCERT - $15 Online/$17 Door, 8:00 pm
“I began playing guitar and singing songs when I was 8 years old. I was writing stories and poems before that. I always thought of the two activities as completely different and separate -- writing was ‘serious’, playing and singing was ‘fun’. Then I discovered Dylan and learned that songs could be just as deep as the best poetry. It was an epiphany! At that moment I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
By the early 70’s, he was playing professionally in nightclubs in the San Joaquin and Central Valleys and in the San Francisco Bay Area. In ’74, he moved to LA where he eventually signed with ABC records thanks to Steely Dan producer Gary Katz who produced his first album, ‘You Can Sing on the Left or Bark on the Right’. Dirk went on to record 3 more major label records, another one for ABC (‘Alias i’) and two for Elektra (‘Meet Me at the Crux’ and ‘Thug of Love’). He toured the country with his band for 5 years receiving good and rave reviews for his records and live performances but somehow never became a huge commercial success.
In the early 80’s, Dirk traded the record business for a seat at ‘The Shamrock’ a bar below a boxing gym in Stockton, California. To this day he says it was ‘the best deal I ever made’. When he ran out of money, he painted walls and guarded sugar as a rent-a-cop at the Holly Sugar plant near Tracy, California. Eventually he became a counselor for emotionally disturbed teenagers and joined a cover band with his buddy Dave Halford. During the following two years he rediscovered his calling as a songwriter, quit his counseling job and began playing solo in coffee houses and clubs with a new band.
In the decades that followed, Dirk toured Europe and the US every year, playing solo and with bands, and released 14 more CDs on Appaloosa, Fan Club and Comet Records in Italy, also on CORE (Nashville) and his own Acoustic Rock Records in the US.
Dirk currently lives in Texas, still writing and performing. His latest CD is called ‘Touch and Go”.
http://www.dirkhamilton.com
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Friday, November 17, 2017
CHUCK ANDERSON TRIO
Featuring Coreen
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CONCERT - $20 Online/$22 Door, 8:00 pm
Chuck Anderson is a world renowned concert jazz guitarist, composer, educator, author, and lecturer. He has worked extensively in the concert field as a jazz artist. His original writing differentiates Chuck from most concert jazz guitarists in the field today. As an educator and author, he brings enormous experience to master classes, private teaching, lectures, clinics and workshops.
Eric Schreiber is a very versatile, experienced bass player. He has recently added a unique form of upright bass playing to his arsenal. Whether the feel is driving and powerful or needs the sensitivity of a ballad, Eric makes a major contribution to the Trio.
Ed Rick is one of those rare drummers who can play effectively at all volume levels. This is a critical skill with the Trio's emphasis on dynamics. From swing, to jazz waltz to bossa to ballad, Ed blends with the bass to provide excitement as well as great rhythmic stability and propulsion.
The Trio is currently ranked #1 locally, nationally and internationally in the jazz genre on Reverbnation, the world's largest musician website.
https://www.chuckandersonjazzguitar.com/
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Saturday, November 18, 2017
DEB CALLAHAN BAND
"Sweet Soul reveals the Philadelphia singer-songwriter to be in full possession of her abilities, confident, relaxed, yet pulsing with verve."
-Living Blues Magazine
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CONCERT - $16 Online/$18 Door, 8:00 pm
Philadelphia’s blues and soul drenched vocalist and songwriter Deb Callahan grew up in the Boston area but has been a mainstay on the mid-Atlantic music scene since the late 90’s. During this time she has gained a reputation for writing creative blues, soul and roots influenced original music and using her powerful, expressive voice to deliver an exciting live show. Her 2002 debut CD “If the Blues Had Wings” was featured as the hot debut in the October/November 2004 issue of Blues Revue Magazine. Blues Revue referred to her as the next Bonnie Raitt and raved “Philly’s Deb Callahan has the pipes, the songs and the raw talent to graduate to the next level”.
Deb released her 5th CD “Sweet Soul” Sept 1, 2015 on Blue Pearl Records. The CD, produced by renowned producer and drummer Tony Braunagel, was recorded at Ultratone Studios in Los Angeles, CA. Deb and guitar player Allen James traveled to Los Angeles in February 2015 to record the tracks with an all star studio line-up including Johnny Lee Schell, engineering and slide guitar, Mike Finnigan on keyboards, Reggie McBride on bass, Braunagel on drums and James on guitar. This group of LA musicians have recorded and toured with performers such as Etta James, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal so it was a truly wonderful experience to play with and learn from each one.
http://www.debcallahanband.com
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Saturday, December 2, 2017
DAN MAY BAND
"The annual Birthdaypalooza concert is back!!"
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CONCERT - $18 Online/$20 Door, 8:00 pm
Singer-songwriter Dan May’s career path has taken more twists and turns than a corkscrew in a hurricane. He has worked as a grave-digger, television cameraman, short-order cook, nuclear missile security guard, gas station attendant, ice cream truck driver, delivery man, amusement park worker and greenhouse laborer; all before the age of 25.
While studying music composition in college, he inadvertently stumbled upon an international opera career that forced him to leave a promising future as a songwriter behind. Cut to 15 years later, and after a vocal cord surgery that left him no longer able to meet the demands of opera, Dan returned to doing what he does best; writing and performing his own songs.
Dan May has a way of crafting a song that immediately resonates with the listener. Referred to by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "a master storyteller," he's released 6 albums of Americana songs in a short 10-year span, and his latest CD, "Heartland," like the other five, has met with critical acclaim. And whether those songs are about pain or joy, the listener feels like a part of the story being sung. In addition to his songs, his live shows include excerpts read from his new book "Adventures In Grocery Shopping, named as one "Best Books of 2016" by the Philadelphia Inquirer.
https://www.danmaycd.com/ |
