Upcoming Performances- John Penney [ 8/31/2010 - 17:54 ] # THREE ARTISTS WHO GRACED OUR STAGES RETURN TO THE MOTOR CITY
For 31 years Labor Day Weekend has been spelled J-A-Z-Z in Detroit. With over 100 performances spanning four days on six stages extending from Hart Plaza's waterfront up Woodward Avenue to Campus Martius, the Jazz Fest is one of our city's most important and enduring cultural institutions. Two of our favorite artists are playing the Fest this year.
 Jason D. Williams honed his chops on Beale Street with the legendary Memphis Slim. His performance at the Redford Theatre during the 6th annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival threatened to bring down the rafters. The performance and interview footage can be seen on our DVD Boogie & the Blues Diva.
Jason D. returned for our intimate 11th Fest last year and tore up the stage at Callahan's Music Hall.
Jason D. Williams will tear up the Detroit International Jazz Festival's Chase Main Stage in Campus Martius on Sunday, September 5th, from 5:45 to 7:00pm.
 New Orleans writer, producer, arranger, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Allen Toussaint was inspired by Professor Longhair and later Fats Domino. As a producer for Minit Records in the 60’s, Toussaint played a primary role in defining the New Orleans R&B sound. He has written hundreds of songs that have been hits for everyone from Herb Alpert (Java) to the Rolling Stones (Fortune Teller). Allen performed at the 10th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival in 2008.
Allen Toussaint will perform solo on the DJF's Chase Main Stage Monday, Sept. 6th from 5-6:30.
KENNY NEAL AT CALLAHAN'S!
Born in New Orleans and raised in Baton Rouge, Kenny Neal is the son of reknown bluesman Raful Neal. He grew up surrounded by music and steeped in the tradition. Kenny performed for us on the stage of the Royal Oak Music Theatre in 2005 and can be seen on the DVD Gen2 Blues. Make sure to see him in the intimate atmosphere of Callahan's, THE home of the blues in SE Michigan.
Kenny Neal performs at Callahan's Friday Sept. 10th at 8:00pm.
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF News Events of Interest
|  | | 11th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival a success- John Penney [ 10/22/2009 - 11:48 ] # For 10 years the Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival got bigger. Bigger stages, bigger venues, bigger bands, bigger names - double that when the fest expanded to two nights in 2005 – more cameras and bigger crews, bigger video trucks…and much, much bigger bills.
This year, it was time to breathe.
At the 11th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival there were no cameras, no trucks, fewer cables, and you could count the crew on the fingers of one hand. We weren’t in a concert hall with 1701 seats and a proscenium augmented by a 30’ wide orchestra pit between the audience and the musicians. We were at Callahan’s Music Hall, where you can’t be much more than 50 feet from the stage or you’ll be in the middle of South Boulevard in Auburn Hills.
The artists were old friends already documented and brought back by popular demand; Kelley Hunt played for us at the Redford Theatre in 2003 and can be seen in our public television show and DVD, 2003 Motor City Boogie Woogie and Blues Festival. Jason D. Williams performed at the Redford in 2004 and appears in Boogie & the Blues Diva.
 At this year’s two sold-out shows, audiences were treated to performances that were up-close and personal, in an atmosphere that can only be described as a good old-fashioned house party. You could see the sparks flying from Jason’s fingers, and the power of Kelley’s voice literally knocked you back in your seat.
We cannot sing high enough praise for Callahan’s Music Hall. Since opening the doors two years ago, Callahan’s has become the blues club in SE Michigan. The folks there are in it for the music. Their priorities are to assure that the audience can see and hear and that the artists are comfortable. Their attention to both the house sound and the monitor mix on stage brings out the best in performers, and is a major reason why they too sing high praise for Callahan’s and return to the room again and again.
Sadly, our friend and master photographer, John Collier, was unable to attend this year. He was sorely missed. While we can’t match his artistry, we do have photographs. Enjoy the slideshow! 
Thanks to all for making the 11th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Festival an unmitigated success!
AMRF Festivals and Concerts
| | | In Words and Pictures: 10th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival- John Penney [ 12/8/2008 - 22:19 ] #
 Over the past decade the AMRF’s annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival has presented 59 artists (not counting supporting players) in 14 concerts and produced four nationally distributed public television programs. Three more programs will be on the air soon and four more are in production.
Our live audiences each night are treated to three or four hours of incredible performances by both legendary artists and those deserving wider recognition. Audiences are aware that we are filming for television – it’s hard to miss the looming 26ft. boom of the jib camera as it swoops in and away from the stage – but that’s about as far as it goes.
Each television program presents an hour of the best performances viewed from the best seats in the house, enhanced by interviews that bring viewers closer to the artists and their music. The DVDs contain about an hour of “extras,” including additional performances and extended interviews with the artists. 
That’s a total of six hours of entertainment from each concert, 12 hours per year since the Festival expanded to two nights in 2005. Producing those 12 hours requires hundreds of hours of work by dozens of people. Planning for the next festival begins shortly after the last one ends.
We have written thousands of words about what we do and why we do it and could write a few thousand more about how our 10th Annual Festival was one of the most challenging but ultimately gratifying and important we have ever produced. But the cliché is that pictures are worth thousands of words and we have an unsurpassed collection of thousands of photographs documenting all of our festivals, including a few hundred from this one.
The photographer is John Collier, our long time friend who won many awards for his work at the Detroit Free Press. The slide show/photo essay linked below takes you behind the scenes with us during the final, frantic four days of this year’s production. We hope that the artistry of the photographs and the events they capture bring you as much joy as they have brought us.
Happy Holidays from all of us at the American Music Research Foundation.
THE 10TH ANNUAL MOTOR CITY BLUES AND BOOGIE WOOGIE FESTIVAL IN WORDS AND PICTURES.
THE AMRF IS A REGISTERED 501(C)(3) DEDICATED TO THE PROMOTION, PRESERVATION, AND DOCUMENTATION OF AMERICAN MUSIC SO THAT CURRENT AND FUTURE GENERATIONS MIGHT UNDERSTAND AND NOT FORGET WHERE THEIR MUSICAL AND CULTURAL HERITAGE COMES FROM. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO MAKE A DONATION CONTACT BRANDI STRIBBELL AT BRANDIS@AMRF.NET OR TOLL FREE 866-270-5141
AMRF Festivals and Concerts
| | | 10 Years Young!- John Penney [ 9/26/2008 - 00:21 ] #  The Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival has always been about more than just presenting a great annual concert or two. From the beginning it was conceived as a vehicle that would bring great artists together so that their performances and stories could be captured on videotape.The goal is to document and preserve our musical and cultural heritage so that future generations will have an opportunity to understand it. This is the mission of the American Music Research Foundation.
As we celebrate our 10th anniversary we can look back with satisfaction on the history we have preserved and even some history we have made. We have documented the music and stories of over 59 artists, including such seminal figures as Koko Taylor, Johnnie Johnson, and Jay McShann. (For a complete list visit the artists page of our website.)
In 2004 Maria Muldaur recreated the sound and look of the Classic Blues singers of the 20's with James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band, a performance that inspired the best selling album, "Naughty, Bawdy & Blue," and the title of our TV show and DVD, "Boogie & the Blues Diva."In 2006 we presented 22 artists on stage for a night of Big Band Boogie Woogie, including performances in which world renowned solo pianist Bob Seeley played with a big band for the first time. In 2007 we reintroduced Frank "Sugarchild" Robinson, who disappeared from the scene after having been one of the biggest stars of the day as a child in the 50's.
We have produced four public television programs that have aired over 600 times on close to 200 stations across the country. Five additional hours of programming are in production, and this year's Festival will result in at least two more.
Throughout our 10 years, our good friend John Collier has documented our festivals with his brilliant photography.
VIEW A PHOTOGRAPHIC RETROSPECIVE OF THE MOTOR CITY BLUES &BOOGIE WOOGIE FESTIVAL.
AMRF Festivals and Concerts History
| | | discussion
- Beautiful slideshow. I can't wait for the show this weekend!
- [ryan] read more (1 total) |
| The 10th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival- John Penney [ 8/22/2008 - 13:43 ] #  It's our 10th anniversary and we're proud to present a particularly rich array of artists with deep roots in boogie woogie, blues, gospel, and soul at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Detroit.
General admission tickets are $35 each night, $75 VIP tickets provide you with mezzanine seating, complimentary buffet, and a cash bar. Available at the Music Hall box office (313-887-8500) and through ticketmaster.
For more information click here. or call toll free 1-866-270-5141.
AMRF Festivals and Concerts
| | | 10TH ANNUAL MOTOR CITY BLUES & BOOGIE WOOGIE FESTIVAL- John Penney [ 8/5/2008 - 12:37 ] # The 10th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival was hosted by the Detroit Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts on Friday October 3 and Saturday October 4, 2008. The performances and interviews with the artists were recorded and will be used to produce nationally distributed programs for public television. For our 10th anniversary we were proud to present a particularly rich array of artists with deep roots in the blues, boogie woogie, gospel, soul, and rhythm and blues.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 3
Allen Toussaint - New Orleans writer, producer, arranger, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Allen Toussaint was inspired by Professor Longhair and later Fats Domino. As a producer for Minit Records in the 60’s, Toussaint played a primary role in defining the New Orleans R&B sound. He has published some 800 songs that have been recorded by everyone from Al Hirt ("Java") to Irma Thomas, Bonnie Raitt, and Labelle.
Pinetop Perkins is the last of the original boogie woogie pianists. Perkins spent 12 years playing with Muddy Waters before going out on his own. The Blues Foundation named him Blues Pianist of the year so many times that it eventually “retired” him from the award and named it after him. In 2005 he was given a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was born in Helena AR and moved to Chicago when he was 17. He began sitting in with Muddy Waters' band in 1957 and soon beame a permanent member, playing live and on all of Muddy's Grammy winning albums. Willie then formed the Legendary Blues Band with Pinetop Perkins, Louis Myers, Calvin Jones, and Jerry Portnoy. The group recorded four critically aclaimed albums and received several Grammy nominations.
Bob Seeley - Detroit’s own Bob Seeley will return to the Festival to celebrate his 80th birthday. Seeley is revered around the world as one of the greatest solo boogie woogie players working today. A friend and contemporary of none other than the legendary Meade Lux Lewis, Seeley plays with a fire and conviction reminiscent of Lewis, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4
Bobby Rush began performing in the juke joints of northern Louisiana as a teenager. He moved to Chicago in the mid-50’s, where his bands included the likes of Fredie King, Earl Hooker, and Luther Allison. Rush calls his music “folk-funk,” deeply rooted in tradition but decidedly modern. Rush was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006, and in 2008 was honored by the Blues Foundation as both Acoustic Blues Artist and Male Soul Blues Artist of the year.
Otis Clay is one of the premier deep soul and gospel singers working today. Born in Mississippi, Clay began performing with such legendary gospel groups as the Pilgrim Harmonizers and the Sensational Nightingales. He moved to Chicago and launched a solo career as a deep soul singer with a series of hit singles in the mid-60’s. His raw, fiery vocals drive an energetic and danceable blend of soul, R&B, and Blues.
 Aaron “Little Sonny” Willis, “King of the Blues Harmonica,” is known for his hot, driving sound and is one of the most respected artists in Detroit. Willis began singing gospel and spirituals in church as a child in Alabama and became interested in the blues after his mother gave him a toy harmonica. He moved to Detroit in 1953 and has been performing in the city and around the world ever since.
Eddie Burns – Burns grew up in the Mississippi delta where his grandfather ran the local juke joint. He began playing harmonica and picked up the guitar after settling Detroit in 1948. Burns worked as a member of John Lee Hooker’s band and backed him on the legendary recording, “Real Folk Blues.” He has been a fixture in the Detroit Blues scene ever since, with numerous recordings and international tours to his credit.
TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM THE MUSIC HALL BOX OFFICE AND TICKETMASTER
AMRF Festivals and Concerts Artists Blues Boogie Woogie Rhythm and Blues
| | | Gen2 Blues comes to Public Television- John Penney [ 9/5/2007 - 13:49 ] #
WATCH FOR IT ON PUBLIC TELEVISION
BUY THE DVD WITH 75 MINUTES OF BONUS FOOTAGE
 Childhood is different when your father is a famous blues musician; if you follow in his footsteps you bring a different perspective on music and history to your own artistry. This is what unites the performers in Gen2 Blues: Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival. Kenny Neal is the oldest son of Raful Neal, Tasha Taylor grew up on the road with her father, Johnnie “The Wailer” Taylor, and Bernard Allison learned his first guitar licks by copying father Luther’s records. Special guest Tito Jackson broke father Joe’s rule to not touch the guitar but if he hadn't it might not have been the Jackson 5.
Backed by the Phantom Blues Band these stellar performers create a joyous celebration of the blues. This program was recorded at the Royal Oak Music Theatre during the 7th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Festival in October 2005.
Click here for rough-cut 3-minute sampler
AMRF Festivals and Concerts AMRF ON TV
| | | 9th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival moves to Music Hall in Downtown Detroit- John Penney [ 8/9/2007 - 15:17 ] # The American Music Research Foundation is pleased to announce that the 9th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival will take place in downtown Detroit at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts on Friday October 5th and Saturday October 6th. The performances will be recorded for public television.
Headlining on Friday night are Koko Taylor & Her Blues Machine. With two Grammies, eight Grammy nominations, and a record 24 W.C. Handy Awards, Koko Taylor is one of the most celebrated blues performers alive today. She got her big break from Willie Dixon, who produced her first hit, “Wang Dang Doodle” in 1966.
The Tommy Castro Band is simply one of the most exciting live blues bands on the circuit today. Guitarist/vocalist Castro was voted 2006 Blues Artist of the Year by readers of BluesWax, the largest subscribed blues publication in the country. Texas’ Ruthie Foster has been compared to Aretha, Ella and a young Tina Turner. The Austin Chronicle writes, “Foster’s deeply soulful vocals dip into gospel and swing towards contemporary folk with R&B panache. When she sings a cappella, the heavens part.” Finally, Ana Popovic was born and raised in Belgrade, but her soul resides in Memphis, where she has recorded three critically acclaimed albums. In 2003 she received a W.C. Handy nomination for “Best New Artist,” and in 2006 was nominated for six Living Blues Awards.
Saturday night’s performance celebrates boogie woogie and blues piano. Headlining is the bayou queen of southern boogie, long, tall, Marcia Ball. Her performances never fail to raise the roof and bring down the house. Deanna Bogart is as proficient on the saxophone as she is on the piano, and The Deanna Bogart Band serves up the energy of 30’s style boogie woogie with the contemporary blues of places like Memphis, New Orleans, and Chicago. Leon Blue may just be the finest blues piano man you’ve never heard, but only because he has spent most of his career as a sideman, including lengthy spells with The Ike & Tina Turner Review, Lowell Fulsom, and Albert Collins to name but a few. In the early 50’s, Frank “Sugar Chile’” Robinson was a child star, playing boogie woogie on record, on television, in movies, and on tour with Count Basie among others. He gave up the big time as a teenager to pursue other interests, which included earning a PhD, but he continues to play piano in the church, where the music is the same but you have to call it something different. Rounding out the bill is today’s teenage boogie woogie sensation, Maryland’s Matt Wigler. Matt has appeared on stage with Buckwheat Zydeco, Bobby Rush, Tab Benoit, Sir Mack Rice, and many others. His debut album, “Matt Wigler XIII” was produced by Deanna Bogart.
Tickets are $27, $37, and $47, available at the Music Hall box office and Tickemaster.
AMRF Festivals and Concerts
| | | Pictorial Review of the 2006 Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival- John Penney [ 11/22/2006 - 09:49 ] #
 The words may change, but it’s the same refrain every year: “It doesn’t get any better than this.” It’s Founder Ron Harwood, understated as always, saying 15 minutes into the Big Band Boogie Woogie show, “I guess this was a good idea.” And Judy Greenwald, the most expressive member of our group, standing by the sound board with her jaw on her chest saying over and over again, “Oh….my…..God!”
It was the Friday audience dancing all night long to Calvin Cooke, Alberta Adams, Johnnie Bassett, Sir Mack Rice, and the Howling Diablos. It was the Saturday house, still packed, demanding yet another encore from the big band at 12:30 in the morning.
We don’t put our shows together the way most people do. We don’t book artists just because they'll provide the biggest draw, and we don’t measure success by how many tickets we sell. We don’t try to make as much money as we can by paying the artists as little as possible and charging as much as possible for tickets. Rather, at the AMRF the artists come first, and we try to keep ticket prices as low as practicable in order to encourage folks to come see and hear music and musicians that they might not otherwise experience.
Our rewards come in the form of comments like these from audience members:
“Thank you one & all for the ALL-TIME BEST BOOGIE WOOGIE FESTIVAL to date!”
" AWESOME!"
"…the BEST concert I have ever been to in my life with major dance parties in the balcony!"
"… the best night of my life!"
"I thought I was in heaven!"
"I never knew what Boogie Woogie was, but NOW I do!"
"I'll never be the same!"
"Why wasn't EVERYONE THERE???"
And like this, from Big Band Boogie Woogie Music Director, Bassist and Band Leader Paul Keller:
“…everything about the show was great. I loved every minute of it! Again, thank you for the opportunity and the means for us to participate in this glorious project! It was an epic saga of immense depth, breadth and magnitude! It was a lot of work by a lot of people. The final result was spectacular!!!”
By the end of the weekend, we had turned some audience members on to music they either didn’t know existed or didn’t think they really liked, and had given the artists a weekend that bore little resemblance to “just another gig.” And we made many, many new friends.
Like I said, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Photography by John Collier, shown at work above.
(c) 2006 American Music Research Foundation
WATCH FOR "BIG BAND BOOGIE WOOGIE" AND "DETROIT BLUES & BEYOND"
ON TV AND DVD IN 2007!
Sir Mack Rice works the crowd with Thornetta Davis up front
Watch the slideshow!
l-r, Charles Boles, Mr. B, Bob Seeley, George Bedard, Dave Bennett, and Red Holloway do the boogie woogie!
Watch the slideshow
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AMRF Festivals and Concerts Blues Boogie Woogie Gospel Jazz Rhythm and Blues
| | | discussion
- Nice shots Mr. Collier!
- [ryan]
- Wow! When can I buy the DVD?
- [bugs] read more (2 total) |
| A Pictorial Recap of the 7th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival- Ronda Lee [ 11/11/2005 - 15:22 ] #
Please click on the "view slideshow" icon below to see a pictorial review of the 7th Annual Motor City Blues & Boogie Woogie Festival.
For those of you who did not attend the festival, the slide show will give you an opportunity to see what you missed and will give you a preview of what we hope you won't miss in the coming year. For those of you who did attend, these photos will surely bring back the experience.
After you watch the slide show we encourage you to register on our website so that you may add your thoughts and opinions to the dissussion board, enabling us to gauge your likes and dislikes or anything else you might wish to express about the festival.
Enjoy the show...
AMRF Festivals and Concerts
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- Post your comments here. If you didn't attend the festival, did the photos of t...more
- [ronda]
- The Blues Festival at the Royal Oak Theatre was great fun. The show was fantasti...more
- [name not provided] read more (2 total) |
| 2005 Festival Announcement- Ryan Hertz [ 7/28/2005 - 11:48 ] #
AMRF Festivals and Concerts
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