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JOANNA CONNOR –KEEP The soundtrack of Joanna Connor’s childhood in her adopted home town of Worcestor, Massachusetts was diverse, bounteous and included plenty of blues. In fact, her favorite record as a child was Taj Mahal’s “Take A Giant Step/ The Old Folks At Home.” “I vividly recall trying to sing like Louis Armstrong’s ‘Hello Dolly’ in our Brooklyn apartment. It came on the radio often,” she says. “I knew I was small, but when I researched what year this version was on the charts, I was floored with the realization that I was two years old!” At age ten, Connor saw Buddy Guy perform at a local university, and it left a powerful impression. Connor played saxophone and guitar and sang through her school years, and began performing professionally at age 17.
“I wasn’t intimidated by anything. I was just determined,” she explains. “When
I was a kid, I was into sports, and I used to want to be a baseball player. I was shocked when I learned girls couldn’t play in the major leagues. I thought girls got the short end of the stick, so I just made up my mind that if there was something I wanted to do, I was going to do it and no one was going to stop me. My mom was pretty radical — she’s the reason. She brought music into the house. She took me to see blues and reggae and rock when I was a real little kid, and she was into women’s liberation. So she was always telling me to do my own thing.”
FROM A PHOTO BY CORY ANDERSON
“Here’s a woman who looks like somebody’s mom, and she’s playing like this.”
Connor moved to Chicago in her early twenties to pursue her love of the blues, and began going out
every night. “Within a month I had my first gig with the legendary Johnny Littlejohn. A few weeks later I became a part of Dion Payton and the 43rd St Bluesband. We were the house band at the Checkerboard Lounge, on the south side of Chicago, then owned by Buddy Guy. That’s when my schooling kicked into overdrive. I played with Buddy, Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Sammy Lawhorn, Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Magic Slim, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, just to name a few. I was blessed.”
Connor launched her own group in 1988 with weekly appearances at the Kingston Mines in Chicago. Her formidable guitar playing and distinctive soul-churning vocal ability led to the release of her 1990 debut album Believe It. National and international accolades turned into a decade of world tours, a dozen recordings, a documentary on Germany’s WDR Television, and a multitude of TV appearances and radio features. Connor and
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PING UP APPEARANCES her band shared stages with such greats as Luther Allison, BB King, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Robert Cray, Jimmy Page, ZZ Top, Joe Cocker, Etta James and others.
In 2005, Connor took a hiatus from touring to spend time at home raising her family. 15+ year residencies at the
House of Blues and The Kingston Mines honed Joanna’s considerable guitar and vocal chops further, and cemented her status as a Chicago Blues institution. 2016 marked Connor’s return to recording, and Six String Stories launched her back into a vigorous, 200-nights-a-year touring schedule on top of her local appearances. It was followed by 2019’s well-received Rise.
Meanwhile, videos of her incendiary slide guitar solos went viral. “It was just a phenomenal thing that happened,” she says. “I was getting calls from America’s Got Talent
and movie people reaching out; I even had a Russian billionaire fly me to Spain to play a birthday party. I think people loved the combination: ‘Here’s a woman who looks like somebody’s mom, and she’s playing like this.’” The videos caught the attention of Joe Bonamassa, who offered to produce the kind of record he felt Connor had always had in her. Released in 2021 on Bonamassa’s new independent label and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, Connor’s 14th release 4801 South Indiana is at once steeped in tradition and evidence that the blues is still alive… and kicking! More at joannaconnor.com.
JULY 15 BRADFORDVILLE BLUES CLUB TALLAHASSEE JULY 16 SKIPPER’S SMOKEHOUSE TAMPA JULY 20 FUNKY BISCUIT BOCA RATON JULY 21 BUCKINGHAM BLUES BAR FORT MYERS JULY 22, 23, 24 GREEN PARROT KEY WEST
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S P O T L I G H T JULY 21 CORAL GABLES CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH CORAL GABLES
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BIA Quintet
(from left) Brass Institutes of America President, Artistic Director and Co-Founder Buddy Deshler’s burgeoning trumpet career has allowed him to perform with the likes of The Rodney Marsalis Philadelphia Big Brass, The Phoenix Brass Collective and The Dallas Brass. He has performed with numerous symphonies and orchestras, and tours nationally, conducting lectures and clinics. Co-Founder and Director of Program Development Samuel Ambrose turns back-row tuba playing into frontline artistry in support of a variety of ensembles, most recently The Vice City Brass. He teaches Instrumental Music at two elementary schools, and is also tuba faculty at the Fredericksburg Brass Institute, and on staff with the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps. As an ensemble performer, Chief Operations Officer Dakota Corbliss is the Third Horn in the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and plays with other regional orchestras. He has performed with Miami City Ballet, South Florida Philharmonic, and other prestigious ensembles. An avid chamber musician, Corbliss co-founded Vice City Brass, and a horn and saxophone duo called PIVOT. Derek Ganong is the Director of Jazz at Boise State University, and serves as artistic director for the Gene Harris Jazz Festival. He is highly regarded as both a jazz and classical trumpeter and has performed with the Palm Beach, Miami and Space Coast Symphonies. He has shared the stage with Arturo Sandoval, Barry Manilow and Terence Blanchard. Kenneth Johnson has performed in numerous orchestras and serves as Principal Trombone of the Ocala Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Gulf Coast, and Bass Trombone of the Gainesville Orchestra. Johnson has performed with Manhattan Transfer, Mary Wilson, and the Tallahassee and Albany Symphony Orchestras. More at brass-usa.com.
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Joe Caruso New Orleans’ legendary Club Desire was just across the street from Joe “Survival” Caruso’s house, and it was where he first heard the sounds of blues and R&B from performers like a young Ray Charles, Guitar Slim, Count Basie. At age 15, his first band was opening for headliners such as Etta James, Hank Ballard and Aaron Neville. But after serving in Vietnam, Caruso returned to New Orleans in 1971 to find that the world of blues had taken some new turns. After three years as a session musician, and another three with Sweet Poison, house band at the famous Club Alhambra, Caruso launched his own band, Survival. In 1984, Caruso moved the band to Oakland, CA. Later, he became bandleader for soul singer Buddy Ace and toured the U.S. and Germany before returning to New Orleans in 1992. It was there in 2001 that Caruso recorded his album of cover songs, I’ll Never Get Out of These Blues Alive. In late 2005, after losing everything to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Caruso left the Big Easy (with his elderly mother) for Florida. Following 2011’s I Got The VooDoo Baby! and 2013’s I Gotta Tell Somebody, his 2015 release You Never Had These Blues is dedicated to the memory of his mother, who passed away during its recording. His latest is 2018’s Sunshine Blues. This Florida show precedes a
FROM A PHOTO BY R KEITH LAMBERT
JULY 8 BRADFORDVILLE BLUES CLUB TALLAHASSEE
trip to South Carolina to perform as part of the celebrity jam at Mac Arnold’s 80th birthday celebration. More at lakehouse records.com. 6
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Chico Pinheiro Born and raised in São Paulo, Brazil, guitarist Chico Pinheiro began working as a studio session guitarist in his teens, and JULY 8 was soon being called to MASTERCLASS collaborate with artists GUITAR & IMPROV/ in his hometown, then in CAP SUMMER Brazil, then abroad. In 2002 CONCERTS SERIES Pinheiro put together a CORAL GABLES band of his own and started recording as a leader. His debut, 2003’s Meia Noite Meio Dia received glowing reviews and was included in the ‘Top 10 Brazilian albums of the year’ in Brazil’s major newspapers. His self-titled second release enjoyed similar acclaim in 2005. The third album, NOVA, was released in 2007 in collaboration with American guitarist and composer Anthony Wilson. Next, 2010’s There’s a Storm Inside was released in 35 countries and included guests such as Dianne Reeves and Bob Mintzer. It was featured in the Downbeat, Revista Rolling Stone, and other publications’ best albums of the year lists. It won Best Brazilian Jazz Álbum of the year and Best Latin Jazz Composition of 2010 for “Mamulengo”from the Latin Jazz Corner Association, USA, with Pinheiro himself winning Best Latin Jazz Guitarist. In 2012 he released TRIZ in partnership with pianist/composer André Mehmari and singer/composer Sergio Santos. Meanwhile, in Downbeat’s Annual Critics Poll, Pinheiro has been listed three times as Rising Star Guitar. He appeared on 2017’s Varanda (Reunion Project) before releasing 2020’s Grammy-nominated City of Dreams. Along with his projects as leader, Pinheiro has collaborated with artists such as Placido Domingo, Dave Grusin, Kurt Elling, Nnenna Freelon and Herbie Hancock. More at chico pinheiro.com. JULY 7 CAP SUMMER CONCERTS SERIES CORAL GABLES
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Jimmy V
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FROM A PHOTO BY ARNIE GOODMAN
Although best known for serving 26 years as Conan O’Brien’s musical director, guitarist and bandleader, Jimmy Vivino (aka Jimmy V) has always considered himself “a blues man with a job.” Born and raised in suburban New Jersey, Vivino began working in New York clubs in the early 1980s. In 1984 he served as musical director for the play Leader of the Pack, and later led Jimmy Vivino and the Black Italians. Al Kooper considered Vivino to be one of his “discoveries” and had him as musical director for fifteen years. Vivino then became a consistent element in Conan O’Brien’s late night career, starting with the first episode of Late Night with Conan O’Brien in September 1993. In June 2008, Vivino moved from New York to Los Angeles and worked as music director/guitarist/ arranger on The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour, and until 2018, lead Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band on Conan. Vivino has produced, led bands and recorded with countless rock and blues artists including Bob Weir, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Son Seals, Shemekia Copeland, Levon Helm, Phoebe Snow, Dion, Laura Nyro and Joe Louis Walker. When not producing, recording or touring with other artists, Jimmy still tours the country and the world with his own band and is due to release a new blues album later this year. More at jimmyvivino.com.
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Abstract Citizen The newest group from south Florida guitarist/composer Aaron Lebos, Abstract Citizen’s genre can be catJULY 16 egorized under the wide umSOUTH brella term of Modern Jazz. MIAMI-DADE All the music was originally CULTURAL ARTS written as a response CENTER to the pandemic. The group CUTLER BAY is a marked departure from The Aaron Lebos Reality, whose 2019 release 141 Layers of Ikigai was, according to many, his strongest yet. Lebos is a Miami native and has been an active member of the music scene since he was 16. He performs with some of the biggest names in South Florida including Nicole Henry, Spam All-Stars, and Nu Deco Ensemble. Lebos incorporates his diverse and eclectic style fully in the music of Abstract Citizen, his first project utilizing vocals. The band explores the endless textural possibility in stunning and genre-defying ways, with simple-yet-unique melodies and complex-yet-accessible time signatures, improvisation, and a balancing of structure and chaos. Joining Lebos on this project is a remarkable band featuring some of the most sought-after musicians in South Florida, including Justine Garcia on vocals, Marty Quinn on bass and Brahm Masla on drums. All are graduates of the highly acclaimed University of Miami Jazz program. In recent years they’ve played regularly at Miami hot spots like Lagniappe House, The Fish House and Heartland, and have begun touring throughout Florida. Their debut album was recorded at The Bridge studio Miami and is set for release later this year. Find them on Facebook. JULY 6 THE FISH HOUSE MIAMI
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S P O T L I G H T with GROOVE MAKERS JULY 8 PORT CHARLOTTE TWISTED FORK JULY 29 SARASOTA THE BIG TOP
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Michael Hepner
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FROM A PHOTO BY BRIAN K KREUSER
One of the most sought-after live and studio keyboardists in the country, “Detroit” Mike Hepner’s career started with multiple recording contracts. He has performed at festivals and on stages with artists including Mike Zito, Koko JULY 31 Taylor, Eliza Neals, and Las Vegas’ legendary Moanin’ Blacksnakes. Hepner SNOOK HAVEN ’s passion to keep live music alive led him to the creation and hosting of the VENICE still-popular Band Night at the Summit, and he was voted into the Las Vegas SOLO PIANO Fans Entertainers Hall of Fame two years in a row. After several years as the JULY 9, 22, 23, 30 PRIME SERIOUS STEAK keyboardist/producer for the Elwood Splinters Blues Band, Hepner released a solo CD, 2009’s Blue Shores, a collection of improvisational songs showcasing VENICE Hepner’s affection for genres from boogie woogie and blues to jazz to new with TREY WANVIG age. A relocation to Florida in 2017 coincided with playing JULY 10 for Grammy-nominated Bryan Lee during his last two years, BONITA SPRINGS and recording with T. C. Carr and The Kid Royal Band. CENTER BAR Hepner continues to play for several Florida acts including with TOM CRAIG BAND The Tom Craig Band, Trey Wanvig and Kettle Of Fish, and JULY 14 has a duo act with vocalist Kate O’Connell. He can also be ENGLEWOODS ON DEARBORN, ENGLEWOOD found playing solo piano at local venues. After spending a year performing with Randy Stephens and the Groove Makers, JULY 15 the group was awarded Best Band and People’s Choice at BARREL ROOM last fall’s SW Florida Blues Society Regional International FORT MYERS Blues Challenge. He has produced for others and recorded JULY 16 many of his own songs. More at hepnermusic.com. MAZARYK WINERY MAZARYKTOWN
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