BIG BEAR iTunes

BIRMINGHAM INTERNATIONAL JAZZ & BLUES FESTIVAL 26th Edition July 16th - 25th 2010

THE JAZZ RAG

20th year of publication Bi-monthly, throughout the UK and beyond.

For booking information and availabilities please contact Tim or Dave at:

Big Bear Music, PO Box 944, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 8UT, England
Tel: 0121 454 7020 Fax: 0121 454 9996 Email: agency@bigbearmusic.com

The Blues is never far away from the heart of popular music. Trends come and go, but the blues is always there. The best of the blues is available from:

AL COPLEY (USA)

The legendary Al Copley was the founder and creative force behind Roomful Of Blues, the great American blues outfit which produced Duke Robillard, Sugar Ray Norcia, Porky Cohen and no less than four Grammy nominations. After 16 years on the road, Al quit Roomful Of Blues and now pursues a solo career. Al's playing is 100% dynamic entertainment - two-fisted rolling barrelhouse and blues piano, a snatch of boogie woogie and roaring vocals direct from blues bars of south side Chicago.

BIG MAN CLAYTON

This is blues and boogie-woogie piano and vocals as good as it gets. Big Man Clayton built his reputation the hard way, by getting out there on the road night after night, town after town, singing and playing the blues. He is now clearly established as one of Europe's finest exponents of Blues and Boogie piano. He originated in Birmingham, England, fronted the now-famous 44s, got disillusioned with the UK after being on the receiving end of a bizarre onstage mugging and relocated to Munich, Germany.

CHICK ‘STOOP DOWN MAN’ WILLIS (USA)

One of the last of the great U.S. Bluesmen, Chick Willis 'The Stoop Down Man', was born in Cabiness, Georgia in 1934 and now lives in Forsyth near Macon. Son of a railroad man, Chick played guitar and sang from childhood, influenced by Sam Lightnin Hopkins, Guitar Slim and Little Milton. As a young man he played with Jackie Wilson, Esther Phillips, Ruth Brown, Sam Cooke, Big Joe Turner, Nappy Brown and Ray Charles. During the 50s Chick toured with his famous cousin Chuck Willis, 'The King Of The Stroll', taking over the spotlight on Chuck's death in 1958. His hit with 'Stoop Down Baby, Let Your Daddy See' brought him fame and notoriety in equal measure. One of the most sought-after on the international blues circuit.

DIZ & THE DOORMEN

Diz and the Doormen were the best of a great crop of British bands making amazingly good rock’n’roll out of classic American dance music in the 70s. Diz Watson, born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, began on piano with boogie woogie and, after his family returned to Yorkshire, found himself close to blues legend, and by then Halifax resident, Champion Jack Dupree, who was Diz’s idol at that time. Diz moved to London in the early 1970s and joined Juice On The Loose before forming his own band, Diz & The Doormen, named after the commissionaires’ uniforms the band picked up at a posh London hotel. After that came the recordings with Fats Domino hornmen Roger Lewis, Walter Kimble and Lee Allen, the tours with Dr. John and Chas’n’Dave, the sessions with Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry and Big Jay McNeely, and so on. Now he is back with his own individual, playful and robust take on the New Orleans Rhumba Boogie.

Big Bear Music, PO Box 944, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B16 8UT.