SUGAR BLUE
6-18-2016
One of the foremost harmonica players of our times, Grammy award-winning Sugar Blue has been called both the Jimi Hendrix and the Charlie Parker of the harmonica, both appropriate names for this revolutionary and eclectic harpist. He bends, shakes & spills flurries of notes with simultaneous precision and abandon, combining dazzling technique with smoldering expressiveness and gives off enough energy to light up several city square blocks.
Raised in Harlem, New York, where his mother was a singer and dancer at the fabled Apollo Theatre. He spent his childhood among the musicians and show people who knew his mother, including the great Billie Holiday. In a career spanning decades, Blue has played and recorded with Willie Dixon Stan Getz, Frank Zappa, Johnny Shines, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones,… That’s his harmonica blasting on their platinum disco hit “Miss You” from the "Some Girls" album.Besides his work on the Some Girls album, he can be heard on Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You. He appeared live with the Stones on numerous occasions and was offered the session spot indefinitely, but he turned it down, opting instead to return to Chicago and learn from the masters of blues harmonica, Big Walter Horton, Carey Bell, James Cotton and Junior Wells. He also spent two years touring with his friend and mentor Willie Dixon as part of the Chicago Blues All Stars before putting his own band together in 1983.
He received the 1985 Grammy Award for his work on the Atlantic album, Blues Explosion, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He has performed at the most prestigious festivals across America, Europe and Africa with the likes of Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, The Stones, Frank Zappa, Prince, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Art Blakey, Art Tatum, Lionel Hampton and many more.
His newest album, "Voyage," will be released in May of 2016, just in time for this show at Bull Run. Get a signed copy.
"An extravagantly lyrical harmonica player" - The New York Times.
"A very strange and talented musician" - Mick Jagger.
Watch Sugar Blue at Bull Run: HERE and HERE
One of the foremost harmonica players of our times, Grammy award-winning Sugar Blue has been called both the Jimi Hendrix and the Charlie Parker of the harmonica, both appropriate names for this revolutionary and eclectic harpist. He bends, shakes & spills flurries of notes with simultaneous precision and abandon, combining dazzling technique with smoldering expressiveness and gives off enough energy to light up several city square blocks.
Raised in Harlem, New York, where his mother was a singer and dancer at the fabled Apollo Theatre. He spent his childhood among the musicians and show people who knew his mother, including the great Billie Holiday. In a career spanning decades, Blue has played and recorded with Willie Dixon Stan Getz, Frank Zappa, Johnny Shines, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones,… That’s his harmonica blasting on their platinum disco hit “Miss You” from the "Some Girls" album.Besides his work on the Some Girls album, he can be heard on Emotional Rescue and Tattoo You. He appeared live with the Stones on numerous occasions and was offered the session spot indefinitely, but he turned it down, opting instead to return to Chicago and learn from the masters of blues harmonica, Big Walter Horton, Carey Bell, James Cotton and Junior Wells. He also spent two years touring with his friend and mentor Willie Dixon as part of the Chicago Blues All Stars before putting his own band together in 1983.
He received the 1985 Grammy Award for his work on the Atlantic album, Blues Explosion, recorded live at the Montreux Jazz Festival. He has performed at the most prestigious festivals across America, Europe and Africa with the likes of Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, The Stones, Frank Zappa, Prince, Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Art Blakey, Art Tatum, Lionel Hampton and many more.
His newest album, "Voyage," will be released in May of 2016, just in time for this show at Bull Run. Get a signed copy.
"An extravagantly lyrical harmonica player" - The New York Times.
"A very strange and talented musician" - Mick Jagger.
Watch Sugar Blue at Bull Run: HERE and HERE