Jazz & Blues Florida February 2023

JOHN PRIMER

Primer and his sister Barbara with her family in Mississippi. She promised to bring them to Chicago when they turned 18 and to visit them when she could. It was Primer’s loneliness that would lead him to the blues. When he reached 18, Primer’s mother retrieved him as promised. Moving to Chicago in 1963, he started out with his own band the Maintainers with Pat Rushing at the legendary Maxwell Street, then moved on to play with Sammy Lawhorn and Junior Wells at Theresa’s Lounge. By 1968 John left The Maintainers when the opportunity arose to front the soul and R&B group, The Brotherhood Band. Then in 1978-79, Willie Dixon was impressed enough to give Primer a spot tour with him and his Chicago Blues All-Stars Band. Traveling through the US, Mexico and Europe, Primer developed his skills as a songwriter, rhythm guitarist and powerful vocalist.

In 1980, Primer finally got to play with his idol, Muddy Waters, who called for him to lead his band. Waters served as a father figure to Primer, teaching him how to be a great bandleader, how to play slide guitar, and instilling in him the importance of keeping the blues true and traditional, and alive for the next generation. After Waters’ untimely death in 1983, Primer spent the next 14 years traveling the world with Magic Slim & The Teardrops. Primer would open the show with his own songs and sound. He even originated the “Chicago lump” sound with Slim’s bassist and brother Nick Holt. While Primer was serving as bandleader of Magic Slim & The Teardrops, they won the W.C. Handy Award a few times for Best Blues Band. In the early 1980s Primer also began playing at Buddy Guy’s legendary Checkerboard Lounge on Chicago’s south side. He was the house bandleader, holding open jam nights and teaching the next generation how to play the blues until the original nightclub closed its doors in 2001.

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BRADFORDVILLE

BLUES CLUB

TALLAHASSEE

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HEARTWOOD

SOUNDSTAGE

GAINESVILLE

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ENGLEWOODS ON DEARBORN

ENGLEWOOD

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COTTONMOUTH

KITCHEN BRADENTON

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REILLY ARTS

CENTER

OCALA

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ARTS GARAGE

DELRAY BEACH

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VERO BEACH

In 1995

BLUES FESTIVAL

INDIAN COUNTY

FAIRGROUND

Primer released his major label debut The Real Deal, and began leading his own band, The Real Deal Blues Band. These days the band is comprised of master harmonica player, lifelong friend of Primer’s and original RDBB member Steve Bell; drummer Lenny Media, who joined in 2012 after working with Primer for years in The Teardrops; and newest member bassist Dave Forte, who previously toured with Toronzo Cannon and Lonnie Brooks. Primer has appeared on more than 87 albums, including 17 albums in his own name. A small sampling of the stars Primer has recorded with includes James Cotton, Hubert Sumlin, Jimmy Rodgers, Zora Young, Lucky Peterson, and The Rolling Stones.

He has written and produced close to 60 songs on more than six record labels including his own, Blues House Productions. To date Primer has received two Lifetime Achievement Awards, two Grammy nominations, three Blues Blast Awards, two Living Blues Awards, a Blues Music Award, the “Muddy Award” for being a traditional blues icon, and has been inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.

Primer’s current CD, Hard Times, is a 2023 BMA nominee for Album of the Year and Traditional Blues Album of the Year. Primer himself is nominated for Traditional Blues Artist of the Year. The album features the debut performance of Primer’s daughter Aliya, who wrote and sings the song “Tough Times.” His brand new release Live At Rosa’s Lounge – Teardrops for Magic Slim (with an all-Teardrops band) will be released on February 24. More at johnprimerblues.com.

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PINECREST GARDENS PINECREST

Chino Nunez

The only son of Puerto Rican immigrants, Pablo “Chino” Nunez was raised in Brooklyn, NY. Inspired and encouraged at a young age, Nunez is self-taught with a career that spans four decades and an impressive list of credits as a noted producer, composer, arranger and musician. He has worked with Tito Puente, Marc Anthony, Ruben Blades, Spanish Harlem Orchestra (with whom he won a 2004 Grammy) and a host of others at places and events such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Montreal Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, and Major League Baseball events. He is known for fusing styles with unique and rhythmic swing in salsa, big band, Latin jazz, Christian, gospel, bach ata, reggaeton, hip hop and R&B rhythms. His resumé includes the Broadway shows The Life of Celia Cruz, Evita and The Lion King also works in voice-overs and jingles, has performed and/or produced radio and television commercials, and even had a cameo role in the movie Moscow on the Hudson. In 2005, Chino launched his solo career to worldwide acclaim with his debut Chino Nunez & Friends, A Tribute to the Dancers, It’s ShoTime, which he produced and arranged. Nunez, Doctor Salsa followed in 2007, which he also produced and arranged. A respected educator, Nunez’s presentations include conservatories, schools, studios, universities and events. He also performed, narrated and produced industry-standard percussion instructional DVDs, and is on staff with CasaSalsa as a percussion instructor. More on this West Palm Beach resident at jango.com.

Dr. David Evans

Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Memphis, Dr. David Evans is one of the leading contemporary blues musicologists and academics, and the author of the seminal traditional folk blues history Big Road Blues – Tradition and Creativity in the Folk Blues and The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to the Blues, among others. His latest book, Going Up the Country: Adventures in Blues Fieldwork in the 1960s, co-authored with Marina Bokelman, is a collection of field notes from the ’60s by the two then-graduate students – in the blues communities of Mississippi and Louisiana. Evans has also has produced more than 50 albums of eld and studio recordings for the University of Memphis’ High Water Records. He holds degrees from Harvard and UCLA, has won two Grammys for Best Album Notes, and counts a Fulbright award among his many honors. After recording singer Jack Owens in 1966 as part of his studies, Evans later produced records by him, Jessie Mae Hemphill, R.L. Burnside, and others. But Dr. Evans is also a performer, and his mastery of blues tunings, picking styles, slide and regional styles and an encyclopedic song repertoire mean he can play it as well as he can explain it. Evans has performed at concerts and festivals throughout the U.S. and toured more than 70 times as a solo performer and/or accompanist in 22 countries. In Memphis and the mid-South he performs with the Last Chance Jug Band and recorded Shake That Thing with them in 1997. He has also recorded five solo CDS, the latest being 2018’s Lonesome Midnight Dream. Find him on Facebook.

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James Suggs

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At age 15, James Suggs started playing professionally with jazz groups in the Northeast Ohio area and occupied the first chair position in the Canton Youth Symphony. After touring internationally with The Continental Singers while still in high school, Suggs went on to earn his Bachelor’s Degree in music performance with a jazz emphasis from Youngstown State University in Ohio. While there, he performed in the University’s big bands and was featured on the CDs Biddle De Bop and Lester Left Town. He also performed in jazz combos, classical orchestras, salsa, and Latin jazz groups. Between 2000 and 2006, Suggs was contracted by Norwegian and Royal Caribbean cruise lines, where he performed in jazz combos and orchestras. In 2005 he was hired as the trumpet soloist in the Glenn Miller Orchestra, touring the U.S. and recording their latest CD, Steppin’ Out. A year later he performed as the soloist with another legendary big band, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Starting in late 2005, Suggs spent eight years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, playing, teaching and touring the world with Argentine bands, notably Los Pericos. While there, he formed a Miles Davis tribute band and continues to perform with an American version of the quintet since returning to the U.S. He also has a strong affinity for the music of New Orleans, and pays his creative respects with a sextet that maintains the original format of those great bands, utilizing both a clarinet and a tuba. In 2018, Suggs received a Masters Degree in music – jazz performance from the University of South Florida, and released his You’re Gonna Hear from Me. More at b-and-s.com

w/ JAZZ ASSOCIATES ALE & WITCH ST. PETERSBURG

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BLUE TAVERN TALLAHASSEE

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STOTTLEMYER’S SMOKEHOUSE SARASOTA

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BOURBON ON MAIN NEW PORT RICHEY

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BIG TOP BREWERS BRADENTON

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CORTEZ CLAM FACTORY BRADENTON

John Ford

If you stir up some 1920s and ’30s blues, some Robert Johnson and Son House, a bit of 1940s country, and a pinch of gospel rhythm, you might luck out and arrive at John Ford’s version of the roots experience. Ford has been writing since his early teens, growing up in New Richmond, Ohio, a small river town 20 miles east of Cincinnati. His first EP, 2011’s Injection of the Blues was followed by another in 2014. Songs From Room 414 was recorded at The Gunter Hotel in San Antonio, Texas – the hallowed ground where Robert Johnson recorded 16 out of his 27 songs in November of 1936. A 2015 nomination for a Cincinnati Entertainment Award preceded Ford’s 2016 full-length debut. The John Ford Blues Society featured some of Cincinnati’s best musicians on its ten tracks. Ford’s latest, 2019’s John Ford Live (with The John Ford Blues Society) was recorded at Morehead State University and contains six songs: five blues classics and one original, “Ma Sibbi’s Chicken & Dumplins.” His blend

Delfeayo Marsalis

An acclaimed trombonist, composer and producer, New Orleans-born Delfeayo Marsalis has also dedicated his prolific career to music theatre and education. Along with the Marsalis family of musicians including his father Ellis, the artist was destined to a life in music. “I remember my dad playing piano at the house, and me laying underneath the piano as a child, listening to him play,” he recalls. “After briefly trying bass and drums, in sixth grade I gravitated towards the trombone, which was an extension of my personality.” In 2011, the Marsalis family (Ellis, Delfeayo and his brothers Branford, Wynton and Jason) earned the nation’s highest jazz honor – a NEA Jazz Masters Award. As a music producer from the age of 17, Marsalis has produced more than 120 recordings for major artists. He has toured extensively and internationally with jazz legends such as Ray Charles, Art Blakey and Slide Hampton, as well as leading his own groups. he formed the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, which focuses on maintaining important jazz traditions such as riff playing, New Orleans polyphony and spontaneous arrangements. In 2000, Marsalis formed the Uptown Music Theatre. This non-profit empowers youth through musical theatre training. So far he has written 16 musicals based on historical themes and/or uniting the community, composed over 90 songs that help introduce kids to jazz through musical theatre, and reached thousands of students nationally with his Swinging with the Cool School jazz workshops. This Gold Coast Jazz Society performance is titled An Evening with the Delfeayo Marsalis Quintet. More at dmarsalis.com

FROM A PHOTO BY ZACK SMITH

George Mitchell

Born in Coral Cables, Florida and raised in Atlanta, George Mitchell was among a handful of people (including Dr. David Evans, also featured in this issue and performing in the same show) who ventured into Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia to research blues music beginning in the 1960s. Mitchell’s field recordings of Cecil Barfield, R.L. Burnside, Jimmy Lee Williams, and area fife and drum ensembles are standouts among his hundreds of hours of recordings. Mitchell was the only person documenting black female guitar players there at the time, including Precious Bryant, Jessie Mae Hemphill and Rosa Lee Hill. Mitchell turned those experiences into a master’s thesis that would double as his first book, Blow My Blues Away. After a stint as a reporter, Mitchell began overseeing the Georgia Grassroots Music Festival. He then worked for the Columbus Museum, researching a project entitled tional Arts of the Lower Chattahoochee Valley. Before retiring from field recording, Mitchell designed Atlanta’s 1984 National Downhome Blues Festival. The three-day festival was the largest gathering of old-time blues musicians ever assembled, before or since. The packed event yielded a one-hour PBS program and four albums. Mitchell then devoted himself to teaching photography, and has spent the last two decades working with Atlanta high school students while also producing book projects of his own. His photographs can be found in the per manent collections of the Columbus Museum of Art and museums in Sacramento, California and Utrecht, Holland. Now residing in Fort Myers, Mitchell is one of the most experienced professional oil can bassists in the country. More at thecountryblues.com

Christian McBride

While pursuing classical studies at the Juilliard School, Christian McBride was recruited to the road by saxophonist Bobby Watson. His new curriculum: a decade’s worth of study through hundreds of recording sessions and countless gigs. In 2000 his “studies” culminated in the formation of his longest-running project, the Christian McBride Band. In 2009 McBride began focusing this same energy through a more traditional lens his critically-acclaimed Inside Straight quintet, and again with the Christian McBride Big Band and its Grammy-winning 2012 release The Good Feeling. McBride next tapped rising stars pianist Christian Sands and drummer Ulysses Owens, Jr. for the Christian McBride Trio’s Grammy-nominated Out Here. His 2021 release with Inside Straight, Live at the Village Vanguard, was preceded by 2020’s studio album The Movement Revisited. Christian McBride’s New Jawn is a quartet project, whose eponymous 2018 release featured eight bandmember-written originals and one Wayne Shorter song. Currently he hosts and produces The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian on SiriusXM and NPR’s Jazz Night in America He is also deeply involved with nationally-recognized community arts organization Jazz House Kids. From jazz (Chick Corea, Pat Metheny) to R&B (Natalie Cole, James Brown) to pop/rock (Sting, Paul McCartney) to hip-hop/neo-soul (The Roots, Queen Latifah) to classical (Kathleen Bat tle, Shanghai Quartet), he is a luminary with one hand ever reaching for new heights, and the other extended in fellowship. More at christian mcbride. com.

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram

From playing behind one of his mentors, Mississippi blues icon Bill “Howl-NMadd” Perry (who bestowed Ingram’s “Kingfish” moniker), to performing at the White House for Michelle Obama in 2014 as part of a delegation of student musicians from the Delta Blues Museum, to the release of 2019’s Grammy-winning Kingfish, guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Christone “Kingfish” Ingram has been turning heads and winning awards at a truly impressive pace. At only 24 years old, he has already headlined national tours and appeared on Austin City Limits with Buddy Guy. He was interviewed by Sir Elton John on his Rocket Hour podcast, and recently released a duet with Bootsy Collins. In January 2021, Ingram was on the covers of both Guitar World and DownBeat magazines. NPR Music called him “A rising blues prodigy... A torchbearer.” Kingfish debuted on the Billboard Blues Chart in the No. 1 position, and remained on the chart for an astonishing 91 weeks. The lead single “Fresh Out” was the most played song on SiriusXM Bluesville, and topped Living Blues’ Top 50 Albums Of The Year. In 2020, Ingram won five Blues Music Awards and four Living Blues Awards. Meanwhile, Ingram wrote the songs for his next album, 2021’s 662. The number is the telephone area code for Ingram’s northern Mississippi home, and it first came into use the same year he was born—1999. With 662, he creates contempo rary blues music that speaks to his generation and beyond, de livering the full healing power of the blues. And he can’t wait to bring that power on stage. More at christone kingfish ingram.com.

FROM A PHOTO BY LAURA CARBONE