Friday 4 December 2015 – Edinburgh Blues Club Present Big Joe Louis + The Simon Kennedy Band
Big Joe Louis serves up an authentic Delta Blues sound with an intensity and authenticity that is unrivalled by any other British artist. Big Joe has twice been voted ‘Best Male Vocalist’ in the British Blues Awards and backs this up with an uncompromising guitar style that can switch from swinging groove to outright attack. He has played with Van Morrison and Jools Holland as well as some of the ‘blues greats’, including David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, Carey Bell and Lazy Lester.
Big Joe Louis & his Band had their first LP issued at the beginning of May 1989 – selling out the first pressing after only four days in the shops. Veteran producer Mike Vernon said of the session:
“Working with Big Joe Louis And His Band was a real experience and one I would not have missed for the world. Take it from me – this is as tough as it gets this side of the pond!”
In 1992, a new Mike Vernon-produced CD and LP was issued on the Dutch Tramp label, reflecting the group?s increasing popularity in Europe. On the release of the new record, a sell-out concert was held at one of the premier music clubs in The Netherlands, Amsterdam’s “Paradiso Club”, and was filmed and recorded for a double live compilation CD released in June 1992. In autumn 1995, the band completed their third studio album with guests including (ex-Muddy Waters/Magic Slim guitarist) John Primer. The band have also recorded with Mississippi Delta Blues legend David Honeyboy Edwards and Big Joe Louis has recorded with Van Morrison and Jools Holland. For two years from the beginning of 2000, Big Joe Louis was the singer with the legendary UK Rhythm & Blues band the Big Town Playboys.
Big Joe Louis was born in Jamaica, West Indies, and moved to the UK during the 1970s. The Blues Kings were formed 18 years ago and have taken their special kind of real down-home Blues to venues the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland and with great success in virtually every country in Western Europe and Scandinavia. 1998 and 1999 brought two invitations to play in the USA, leading to exceptional reviews. A groundbreaking tour of Norway and Russia (filmed for Russian TV) in October 1993 brought blues to the north of Russia for the first time and a 1996 trip to Bulgaria was enthusiastically received. Big Joe Louis And His Blues Kings have recorded radio and TV sessions worldwide and the last 2 years have seen trips to South Africa, Poland, Finland, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Egypt as well as two visits to the Caribbean for the Mustique Blues Festival.
“One of the greatest British Blues Artists” – Jools Holland
British Blues Awards:
BIG JOE LOUIS: Best Male Vocalist 1993, 1994
Support by the Simon Kennedy Band
Born in Dundee, Scotland in 1981, Simon Kennedy grew up hearing great music through his Dad’s vinyl collection. It was also on his Dad’s acoustic guitar that he began his musical journey, preferring the sounds of Hendrix and Cream than the music of his contemporaries. As he delved deeper into the music of the past, the three Kings, Freddie, Albert and B.B., inspired him to explore the blues more deeply. By his mid twenties he’d joined his first blues band playing festivals all over the UK including Maryport, Edinburgh and Dundee with a personal highlight supporting The Animals at Jools Holland’s bar in Edinburgh.
Moving onto join other local blues bands, and doing session work for others, he eventually decided to start his own in 2014 enlisting the help of some of the area’s most talented musicians. The well received debut album, Make Up Your Mind, was released in November 2014 showcasing some gospel-tinged, funky guitar led blues tunes.
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