In 2011, the band will release its sophomore CD, Cicada. Like that mysterious insect, who as a nymph lives in the earth surrounded by roots and then comes forth to sing, the music created by these eight accomplished and inventive musicians is earthy and at one with its origins, but suggestive of mysterious worlds beyond.A pointer to Hazmat’s methodology can be found in the band’s configuration. Schuman’s guitar, diatonic harmonica and intensely earthy vocals set the tone. A solid battery of sounds—tuba, chromatic harmonica, trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, tenor and baritone saxes, piccolo and duduk, mandocello and steel guitar—explores the textural and melodic outer limits of Hazmat’s meticulously woven compositions, while guitars and drums lock down a groove and provide sonic spicing.

Bruno De Filippi is born in Milan on May 8, 1930 and dedicates all his life to music.Since his first years he shows a special passion for music. At the age of seven, his uncle Andrea shows him how to put his fingers on mandolin strings, teaching him his first chords.Bruno meets pianist Don Friedman in the ’90s, and they begin to collaborate. Several albums are recorded, and they tour in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Indonesia and Hong Kong. As a duo, they achieve significant success with the public and with critics.

When Juke Joints leadsinger/drummer Peter Kempe visited the 2008 Chicago Blues Festival, he was so impressed with Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater's performance there, that he simply had to have a word with him after his show. This resulted in an invitation to their Kwadendamme Blues Festival in 2009. Eddy fired on all cylinders and The Juke Joints excelled as his backing band. This cooperation led to mutual enthusiasm, more shows around Europe and the determination to record together as soon as possible.

Marcio Abdo is finding its way since the early 90s, as an harmonica player and blues singer.Marcio participated in the III International  harmonica players festival in Brasil, designed by Flavio Guimaraes, in several editions of  the Blues Harmonica Project, designed by Sergio Duarte harmonica player, and the “harmonica in Concert in Mountain Blues”, among others. He excelled participating in shows with Flávio Guimarães, Sérgio Duarte, Mauricio Sahady, Faiska, Norba Zamboni, Ricardo Corte Real, Prado Blues Band, Blue Jeans, Danny Vincent, and the great harmonica players and Americans Steve Guyger Mark Hummel and others .

John Popper loves being in Blues Traveler, which has an album slated for 2012.But that love didn’t come easy, especially in the early days when hits such as “Hook” and “Run-Around” were years away.In those days, Blues Traveler was helped by producer and songwriter Jono Manson, who served as a mentor when the young band first moved to New York City in the late 1980s from New Jersey.Manson was the frontman of The Worms, a popular band touring the New York club circuit, and frequently booked Blues Traveler to open their shows. “He was a big brother,” Popper said.

Albert Raisner (30 September 1922 – 1 January 2011) was a French harmonica player, founder of the award-wining Trio Raisner and a TV and radio host and producer. He was the host of the hit show Age Tendre et Tetes de Bois, which aired from 1961 to 1967 and featured world-renowned artists including The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder, Isaac Hayes and French singers Johnny Hallyday and Claude Francois. He is regarded as an icon and a pioneer of French television and was knighted by the French president in 1977.

A 40 year veteran of the music business, Tommy Dardar is a consumate vocalist, as well as a true blues harp master. Dardar plays a powerful brand of swamp rock steeped in the traditions of Louisiana Zydeco and blues masters such as Bobby Bland and the legendary Jimmy Reed.  Tommy Dardar recently finished his regional tour of the Southwest United States in support of his latest release “Fool for Love”. Produced by Tony Braunagel (Taj Mahal), the CD was cut over four days in Los Angeles, and features former members of Bonnie Raitt’s backup band.

With the release of his third album entitled “Diversions” Thierry has created a repertoire of many contrasts, sometimes light and optimistic, sometimes lyrical and deeply moving. This Belgian harmonica player was born in 1958. As a self-taught musician, he was very early involved in listening to great harp players like, of course, the Belgian Master Toots Thielemans. But he was also loving the sound of Blues Harp that much. So, unlike most harpists who favor one or the other, Thierry became equally proficient on both chromatic and diatonic harmonicas.

Lazy Lester new album, recorded entirely live in June 2010 in Antequera, edited by Cambayá Records and produced by Mike Vernon. Exclusively by Garito of Blues Radio.

Leslie Johnson, known as Lazy Lester (Torras, La., June 20, 1933), is a well knonw singer and harmonica swamp blues player, with a career spanning over half a century. In the beginning he worked as a session musician in some works of Slim Harpo, Lightnin ‘Slim, and Katie Webster. Author of some classics, like “I’m a Lover Not a Fighter”, “I Hear You Knockin ‘,” Sugar-Coated Love “and” Bloodstains on the Wall. ” his themes have been interpreted, among others, by The Kinks, Freddy Fender, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Edmunds, Raful Neal, Anson Funderburgh and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. Lester recently moved to Paradise, California to be with his girlfriend, Pike. 

Boston, Massachusets in the late 1960s had a thriving rock scene, which was not surprising for a major Northeastern city with numerous colleges in the city itself and the nearby suburbs. However, while there are various overviews of the Boston scene available on the web, I know of no complete and accurate chronology of rock shows in the Boston area available in print or on the Web. As a result, performances for many groups have fallen under the radar. This is the case of this live recording of the legendary Paul Butterfield Blues Band. This audio quality of the recording is not the better which goes around but the show itself justify my interest in this live performance.

Harmonica Pierre (“America’s Got Talent 2010″), harmonica virtuoso, was born in Belgium and studied the violin as a child. He fell in love with the sound of the harmonica at age 15, after he heard world-renown harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler. Pierre subsequently taught himself to play the harmonica using his violin method books. Pierre was the soloist for the Trio Candido, who won the Harmonica World Championship in Luxembourg in 1957. They toured Europe and the United States from the 1960s through the 1980s.

James Cotton’s hard-driving, powerful harmonica performances have earned him a reputation as a foot-stomping, infectious good-time entertainer. In the course of his career, James Cotton has racked up an impressive series of ten critically-acclaimed albums. In 1984, Alligator Records released the successful HIGH COMPRESSION. His next album, LIVE FROM CHICAGO ... MR. SUPERHARP HIMSELF!, came out in 1986 and was his second lp on Alligator Records.

With more than 15 years dedicated to the blues, Big Chico stands out as one of the best blues harmonica players of Brazil. The charismatic style synthesizes her main influences and always guarantees a concert tour with the language of traditional blues, the funk-soul groove of the jump blues and swing. Big Chico, one of the best blues harmonica players of Basil has toured the U.S. playing in clubs such as BB King's Blues Club, and shared the stage with artists like Rod Piazza, Keb 'Mo', Howard Levy, Deacon Jones and Rick Estrin. Big Chico is also a Hering endorser, which is the most famous Brazilian manufactured brand of Harmonicas.

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1948, Lee Oskar landed in the States in the mid 60’s and is most popularly known as one of the founding members of the seminal jam band WAR. Together with Harold Brown, BB Dickerson, Howard Scott, Lonie Jordan, Charles Miller, and “Papa Dee” Allen, WAR started out supporting the former Animal front man, Eric Burdon. Together with Burdon, their very first recorded effort contained the popular tune Spill The Wine, unleashing the genre-busting sound of WAR for the first time. Not far down the road the group set out on their own to compose and perform huge hits like, All Day Music, City Country City, Me and Baby Brother, Low Rider, Why Can’t We Be Friends, The Cisco Kid, Slipping into Darkness, The World is a Ghetto, and many others.

Rodrigo Eberienos is considered to be among the premier harmonica players in Brazil. During his 14 years of experience with diatonic and 8 years with chromatic harmonicas, he has participed in special recordings for globo tv on several occasions, in addition to soundtracks, jingles, commercials, and supporting the records of renowned artists.

Born in May 1979, the musician from Rio de Janeiro started participating the diatonic harmonica in 1994 with the aid of Flavio Guimarães and Nilo Guzman. In 1999, he had the opportunity to learn about chromatic and functional harmonicas with José Staneck.

To get acquainted to Jean Labre, let’s go back in time. Everything is beginning in the end of the forties, in an harmonica club called " Charm ", founded by Albert RAISNER. Jean is often there with his first trio " Les Vagabonds de l’Hudson " as soloist, with Robert Prouff (chord) and, successively, Jean Bouhours and Marc Pero (bass).

In 1949, he is contacted by Borrah MINEVITCH to be part of the new european famous ensemble : the " Rascals ". But he is under 20 and is obliged to decline the proposition to which his father is firmly opposed.

This album is the result of the enormous amount of musical and life experiences of the band after his performances at clubs and festivals throughout Europe, Mexico and the U.S. with people like Charlie Musselwhite, Aron Burton, etc.

A major influence on this recording has been the multicultural nature of the band since the base is formed by the Galician Marcos Coll harmonic and Adrian Costa, voice and guitar, the Spaniard Javier Vacas at guitar, the German Cristian Rannemberg at piano and Mozambican Carlos Delalane, drums and bass. The collaborations have been many and varied, the sax of Gary Wiggins, the accordion of Dwayne Verheyden  ... Antonio Pax at drums and the voice of Miguel Angel Hernando "Lychis" from the group La Cabra Mecánica.

RAOUL AND THE BIG TIME was formed in July 1998 by Ottawa raised actor/musician Raoul Bhaneja. THE BIG TIME features Darren Gallen on guitar, Cheong Liu on upright bass and Tom Bona on drums.Their energetic mix of “Toronto / Chicago / Hollywood” Blues has won them numerous awards on a national level at the Maple Blues and Real Blues Awards, including Best New Artist, Best Debut CD and multiple instrumental awards.

Raoul and the Big Time bring their blues with them when they hit the road.The Toronto band found a way to get the Vancouver Folk Festival crowd into the mood for the blues despite the bright sunny summer weather. But really, it all makes sense when you remember the blues were born in the sunny South.

After a thirty-five year career as a blues performer, including more than two decades with the W. C. Handy Award-nominated duo Satan and Adam, harmonica player Adam Gussow has made his solo debut. Kick and Stomp showcases Gussow in an unexpected but logical setting: a harp-powered one-man blues band.

Taking a cue from his Harlem mentor, Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee, Gussow does it all, in real time—singing, blowing amplified harp, and stomping out some thump-and-metal grooves.

Now, here is an album that came so close to being something really special. This Montreal-based MC mixes his outstanding harmonica playing into familiar hip-hop beats and rhythms. Obviously, it's a combination that has tons of promise. Opening track “Melody” has no rap over it and comes off as an inventive track, reminding me of GZA’s (the Genius) instrumentals. One track in and I was ready to be totally sold!

When the harmonica is heard in jazz, it is most often the 12-tone chromatic harmonica, not the diatonic “blues harp,” which is associated more with Bob Dylan and Chicago blues. Howard Levy, however, has almost single-handedly developed the full jazz potential of the diatonic harmonica. His harp can be heard with the original version of Béla Fleck’s Flecktones and with Paquito D’Rivera and Kurt Elling, as well as on a host of pop recordings by artists as varied as Steely Dan and Dolly Parton.