Brook's Blues Bar at The Parsons Green Club
OUR NEW SEASON AT THE PARSONS GREEN CLUB CONTINUES ON SATURDAY 21st APRIL 2012.
Blowin’ the Blues Away in Fulham
BROOKS BLUES BAR AT
THE PARSONS GREEN SPORTS AND SOCIAL CLUB
(PARSONS GREEN CLUB)
BROOMHOUSE LANE
FULHAM
SW6 3DP
TEL: 020 7736 1401
APRIL-NOVEMBER 2012
Third Saturday (usually) of every month
Doors 7.30 – music 8.30 – club bar open till midnight.
www.brooksbluesbar.co.uk
Delicious Italian food prepared by chefs from Il Pagliaccio available from7.30pm– 8.45 pm.
Two courses £12.00 Please book a table
LISTINGS AT A GLANCE - APRIL - NOVEMBER 2012
APRIL |
|
SATURDAY 21 |
|
|
(SOLE LONDON APPEARANCE) |
MAY |
|
SATURDAY 5 |
|
FRIDAY 25 |
|
|
|
JUNE |
|
SATURDAY 16 |
|
SATURDAY 30 |
|
|
|
|
BROOKS BLUES BAR TAKES A SUMMER BREAK IN JULY/AUGUST |
|
|
SEPTEMBER |
|
SATURDAY 22 |
|
|
|
OCTOBER |
|
SATURDAY 20 |
|
|
|
NOVEMBER |
|
SATURDAY 17 |
|
|
|
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING BROOKS BLUES BAR
KEEP MUSIC LIVE…AND ALIVE!
Bookings correct at time of printing. Please ring to check line-up or see www.brooksbluesbar.co.uk for updates, or ask to join our email list for regular reminders: info@brooksbluesbar.co.uk.Your email address will be confidential.
SEASON LISTINGS APRIL - NOVEMBER 2012
BLUES PIANO ORGY – A BROOKS BLUES BAR SPECIAL.
The range and variety of sound from a piano is as diverse as the instrumentalists. Brooks Blues Bar initiated the Blues Piano Orgy nine years ago to celebrate these styles, with John B Harris, John Challis, and Janos Bajtala. John Harris plays in the style of the legendary Otis Spann and Professor Longhair, John Challis is a riotous barrel-house player who sings bawdy songs echoing Roosevelt Sykes ‘The Honeydripper’ and Janos Bajtala fills the gaps, adding boogie-woogie and classic blues with a tinge of jazz. The evening of soloists comes together with all three on the keyboards for an uproarious and spine-tingling finale.
A Brooks Blues Bar special in more ways than one.
Admission £12
EDDIE MARTIN
Phenomenal..surely his time has come..A live act not to be missed" Blues Revue USA,
"A Blues Master" New Jersey Times
, "a wonderful musician, the most remarkable bluesman of his generation" Blues in Britain"
A roller-coaster year for Eddie Martin has seen him win Blues Act of the Year in the South West Blues Awards as well as repeat nominations for Guitar and Harmonica Player of the Year in the British Blues Awards. His cd has been rave-reviewed internationally ("Superb" fRoots, Masterpiece" Blues in Britain, "Truly blistering guitar player" Guitarist).
Fans of Seasick Steve will love the one-man-band show, complete with his Diddley Bo "Frankenstein". Martin honed his solo show touring the US, where he lived for a while, holding down residencies in Beale St Memphis and in the Jook Joints of Clarksdale Mississippi. Playing a full drum-kit with bass-drum suitcase and simultaneous harp and guitar, the one man band show is a visual and listening treat for roots and blues lovers.
Admission £10
www.eddiemartin.com
GROANBOX (USA) UK TOUR – back by popular demand.
Groanbox, the North American trio of Paul Clifford, Cory Seznec, and Michael Ward-Bergeman, are a musical hybrid of ideas and ideals. At first glance a roots band steeped in the traditions of American music, they play with all the guts of rock and roll and all the soul of the wandering troubadour. But somewhere along the way, that troubadour turned off the road and, setting sail from the melting pot of New Orleans, began a journey that would take their sound to new, uncharted territories with influences from around the world.
Paul Clifford is a skilled west coast Canadian drummer and multi-instrumentalist with a gift for improvisation. Paul has played professionally in jazz, folk, blues, country, rock and Latin bands; worked as a percussionist, composer and actor and travelled widely to keep his music fresh. Though formally beginning percussion studies in Malsapina Jazz College [Vancouver Island], he continued with Bata Folkloric in Havana, Cuba, and frequent pilgrimages to New Orleans soaking up the second-line, with added study at the Banff centre for the Arts, participating in Afrocubanismo 1997. Paul’s new creative home is Muskie Studios in Kent UK, a reconditioned caravan equipped with the latest old 4 track in the business. More information can be found on his website.
Corentin “Cory” Seznec is a Franco-American musician born in France and raised in Bahrain, Connecticut, and finally in Annapolis, Maryland. A multicultural household, extensive travels and musical encounters, and a passion for history exposed Cory to sounds from around the world, helping him to develop his own distinct style that reflects his broad interests. He maintains a music blog called Cocoringo’s Circadian Sounds.
More information can be found on his website.
Michael Ward-Bergeman is a passionate performer, songwriter and composer. His sensitive and creative approach to music making has led to performances and collaborations with world-class musicians and composers from across a wide range of genres. Michael is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. More information can be found on his website
Admission £12
BROOKS BLUES BAR – CD LAUNCH –GORDON SMITH & ALAN GLEN – LIVE CLUB RECORDING
“Gordon Smith – LIVE” is Brooks Blues Bar’s first CD- Gordon Smith & Alan Glen with Tim Penn on piano and Jim Mercer on bass, recorded live at the Parsons Green Club in February 2011.
The late John Peel famously described Gordon Smith as “the foremost white blues guitarist in the world”, but Gordon is also one of the great blues vocalists.
Gordon has come a long way since his birth on 12th March 1949 in South Shields, Tyne & Wear. Over the years Gordon has played alongside Jimmy Rogers, Billy Boy Arnold, Snooky Prior and also supported Muddy Waters, Jo-Ann Kelly, Lowell Fulson and Dr Ross amongst many others as well as recording some excellent albums.
Upon relocating to London, Gordon recorded his first album in 1968 on Mike Vernon’s Blue Horizon label backed by Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (this album entitled “Long Overdue” with its note perfect fourteen tracks which took a mere five hours to complete has for years been a collector’s item but it was re-released in 2008 on a double CD issued by Sony including twelve previously unreleased tracks).
In the early 1970s Gordon joined the Kevin Coyne Band cutting five albums in three years for the Virgin label. Thereafter Gordon formed his own band, toured Italy and cut two albums for the Appaloosa label entitled “Takin’ Time” and “Down On Mean Streets” in 1979 and 1980 respectively. In 1992 Gordon, with help from Geoff Taylor, recorded an excellent self-financed cassette, strictly for selling at gigs, entitled “Out of The Woods” followed in 1999 with a release on the Mastermix jazz label entitled “Out Of The Bottleneck” showcasing Gordon at the height of his musical powers.
In 2009 “The Essential Gordon Smith” was released on Note-Records which should have won the blues release of the year. It is also musically one of the finest blues studio recordings issued over the last decade. And now finally we have here a companion to that studio recording, “Gordon Smith – LIVE”, recorded at a memorable gig for Brooks Blues Bar at The Parsons Green Sports & Social Club in Fulham, London accompanied by some of London’s finest blues musicians. This live recording and unique performance should almost make you feel that you were there.
Admission £13 to include the CD
OPEN HARP SURGERY –Sole London Appearance – back by popular demand.
In 2011, after 20 years together, Open Harp Surgery decided to take a break and try their hand at other things. However, due to popular demand, we've managed to persuade them to reform for one night only at Brooks Blues Bar. Come and celebrate a special night with these two fabulous musicians, Nigel Feist on harmonica and Russ Grooms on guitar, as they take us on a journey through the blues. The words of the great Big Bill Broonzy spring to mind; Warm, witty and wise. Not to be missed.
Admission £10
BROOKS BLUES BAR TAKES A SUMMER BREAK IN JULY/AUGUST
THE SEZNEC BROS (USA) – UK TOUR
The Seznec Brothers are Cory and Yann. They really are brothers, though it may seem like an elaborate ruse to gain credibility. Cory now lives in France. Yann now lives in Scotland. When they meet up they make music.
They have played music together for about 20 years. Their influences and musical interests are vast, ranging from Appalachian banjo music to 20th century electroacoustic composition by way of 1960s West African pop and interactive sound art. Keeping true to their blues roots there will be old piano-guitar blues duets that Cory and Yann have played for years, paying homage to Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, plus old country blues, gospel, and rags and perhaps an occasional hillbilly old time tune here and there.
Using mostly acoustic instruments including gourd banjos, piano, guitars, the brothers defy strict categorization. Their music is strongly rooted in tradition yet forward looking, introspective yet universal, straightforward yet complex.
Their album “Jagged Land” is now out.
Admission £10
www.seznecbros.com
RAG MAMA RAG – UK TOUR – Back by popular demand.
Formed in 1991, the English duo RAG MAMA RAG, have slowly and consistently built up their reputation as one of Europe’s finest Country Blues acts.
With an interesting and wide range of instruments, (ASHLEY DOW, Henderson acoustic guitar, national & Dobro resonator bottleneck guitars, Weissenborn acoustic lap steel, ukulele and vocals, plus DEBORAH DOW, harmonica, washboard, percussion and backing vocals), RAG MAMA RAG create an exceptionally full and hard driving rhythmic sound which soon has audience’s feet tapping.
Their repertoire is 20s and 30s Blues based, but extremely varied, encompassing Mississippi blues, East Coast ragtime sounds, early white country tunes, original compositions, and many other regional styles of the 20s and 30s period.
Touring non- stop in Europe during the last ten years RAG MAMA RAG have clocked up well over 2000 concerts and have played at many major festivals in France, Belgium and Germany
Admission £10
www.rag-mama-rag.com
VERONICA AND THE RED WINE SERENADERS (ITA) - UK TOUR
Veronica and her band have wowed audiences in Europe, and are well on their way to winning the hearts of the British as their first short tour last year drew enthusiastic audiences all wanting more. This tour is based around the Brooks Blues Bar date and which we confidently expect to be another triumph.
The Red Wine Serenaders are Veronica Sbergia on vocals, ukulele and washboard; Max de Bernardi on guitar, vocals, mandolin and ukulele; Mauro Ferrarese on slide guitar and vocals; and Alessandra Ceccala on double bass and vocals.
Hailing from Italy, they came together 3 years ago, rekindling good-time blues, country blues, ragtime, hokum and jug band music, and all that rural music from the 20s and 30s.
Each is a virtuoso musician in their own right. They play music from the 20s and 30s, covering artists such as the Mississippi Sheiks, Billie Holiday, Hank Williams and Memphis Minnie, are big favourites at numerous international music festivals, and are now establishing their fan base in the UK.
If you caught them last year, you will know why they are fast building a reputation as one of the best live acts around – if you haven’t seen them, come and see why they earn standing ovations. A quick search for them on YouTube will give you a good idea of their repertoire.
This band provides something different from the norm, playing and singing with great skill and virtuosity, with the emphasis firmly on having a good time.... Red Wine Serenaders is not only a project; it is a lifestyle, like good wine: honest, amusing… engaging!
Admission £15