Information About this Event
The Harlem Blues Project specializes in soulful New York blues with a twist! The band features blues masters Jerry Dugger, Junior Mack, and Barry Harrison plus a revolving cast of NYC's finest blues musicians including Bill Sims Jr., Michael Hill, Irving Louis Lattin and Solomon Hicks.
Jerry was raised in Harlem and caught the music bug early in life. A fateful walk through Washington Square Park found him being introduced to the New York City Blues scene by way of the now infamous Dan Lynch Blues Bar. Jerry spent the next thirteen years learning to play Bass and sing, while also hosting the Saturday and Sunday Blues Jams. There Jerry Shared his stage with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Copeland, James Cotton and many more Blues Artists. His Bass baritone voice and thunderous bass playing have earned him a place in New York's Blues Hall of Fame. Jerry's band "The Dugger Brothers" are a staple on the New York City Blues scene.
Influenced by Duane Allman, Dickey Betts, Jan Akkerman, and Wes Montgomery, Junior Mack deftly displays these influences, although the foundation of his playing lies in the soulfulness of Gospel and Blues. An opportunity to play for the late Pops Staples and the encouraging reaction from both Pops and Mavis Staples was the first in a chain of events that drove Mack to present his interpretation of the blues to a wider audience. He has sat in or worked with The Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks, Robert Randolph, Dickey Betts, and Honeyboy Edwards. He has also recorded an excellent CD, Live Adventures.
Drummer Barry Harrison spent five and a half years with the legendary Johnny Copeland, and after his passing, Harrison went on to spend six years working with his daughter, Shemekia Copeland. He has also worked with Sonny Rhodes, Eddie Kirkland, Phil Guy, and Lonnie Shields.
Bill Sims, Jr., is an American blues musician. He grew up in Marion, Ohio and began playing piano at the age of four. At age 14, he turned professional and joined the rhythm and blues band the Jacksonian Blues, which he left to attend Ohio State University. In 1971, Sims joined another rhythm and blues group, the doo-wop-influenced Four Mints. He left the band in 1976 to form The Lamorians, an avant-garde jazz band influenced by traditional African drumming. In 1988, he returned to the blues, founding Bill Sims and the Cold Blooded Blues Band. He released his debut album, Blues Before Sunrise, in 1992, and in 1999, PBS did a 10-hour documentary on Sims and his interracialfamily (with Sims's partner Karen Wilson). Sims released another album to coincide with this broadcast.
Michael Hill is a 2011 inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame as a Master Blues Artist. Michael Hill's Blues Mob has recorded six internationally released albums of their Original, New York-Style Blues. The Mob has captivated audiences in twenty-nine countries around the globe. Beginning with "Bloodlines", their 1994 Alligator Records debut, they've built a distinguished body of work that has drawn world-wide critical and audience acclaim for dynamic musicianship and vivid storytelling. Michael Hill's lyrics eloquently convey the passion, the humor and the desire for freedom and justice that are intrinsic to the blues. The band transmits those lyrics through blues that is seasoned with flavors of rock, R&B, funk and more, making every show a celebration of music, life and love.
Native Chicagoan Irving Louis Lattin has been playing since he was 13 years old. He grew up on the music of blues and gospel, listening to artists like Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Motown, Memphis/Stax, and the British Invasion. The list of influences is endless. He began writing songs when he was 17 and also began playing the piano when he turned 25. Now at the ripe old age of ??, he is still making the music he loves, which is a blend of R&B, pop, and funk.
Solomon Hicks is a 18 year old guitarist/singer prodigy musician. He excels in Jazz, Blues, Classical, Gospel, R&B, Funk and classic Rock. Solomon performs several times a week at the COTTON CLUB. He has a CD with the Cotton Club All Stars Band, featuring Solomon, at 14 years old.
