Jesús Valdés Rodríguez, better known as Chucho Valdés, is a Cuban pianist, bandleader, composer and arranger whose career spans over 50 years. An original member of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, in 1973 he founded the group Irakere, one of Cuba's best-known Latin jazz bands. Both his father, Bebo Valdés, and his son, Chuchito, are pianists as well. As a solo artist, he has won four Grammy Awards and three Latin Grammy Awards.
Norman Jeffrey Healey was a Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter who attained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. He reached No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with "Angel Eyes" and reached the Top 10 in Canada with the songs "I Think I Love You Too Much" and "How Long Can a Man Be Strong".
John Popper is an American musician and songwriter. He is most famous for his role as frontman of rock band Blues Traveler performing harmonica, guitar, and vocals.
The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica and saxophone player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, drummer Stephen Bladd, vocalist/keyboardist Seth Justman, and bassist Danny Klein. Wolf and Justman served as principal songwriters. The band played R&B-influenced blues rock during the 1970s and soon achieved commercial success before moving towards a more mainstream radio-friendly sound in the early 1980s, which brought the band to its commercial peak. After Wolf left the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career, the band released one more album in 1984 with Justman on lead vocals, before breaking up in 1985. Beginning in 1999, the band had several reunions prior to the death of its namesake, J. Geils, on April 11, 2017.
Hohner Musikinstrumente GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of musical instruments, founded in 1857 by Matthias Hohner (1833–1902). The roots of the Hohner firm are in Trossingen, Baden-Württemberg. Since its foundation, and though known for its harmonicas, Hohner has manufactured a wide range of instruments, such as kazoos, accordions, recorder flutes, melodicas, banjos, electric, acoustic, resonator and classical guitars, basses, mandolins and ukuleles
The Richter-tuned harmonica, or 10-hole harmonica or blues harp, is the most widely known type of harmonica. It is a variety of diatonic harmonica, with ten holes which offer the player 19 notes in a three-octave range.
Canadian blues is the blues and blues-related music performed by blues bands and performers in Canada. Canadian blues artists include singers, players of the main blues instruments: guitar, harmonica, keyboards, bass and drums, songwriters and music producers. In many cases, blues artists take on multiple roles. For example, the Canadian blues artist Steve Marriner is a singer, harmonica player, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.
Lorne Ryder is a Canadian singer-songwriter and instrumentalist. In his twenty-five years in the Canadian music scene, he has received three Canadian Country Music Association top-ten nominations for Keyboard Player of the Year, two nominations for Best Country Artist at the Ontario Independent Music Awards, and was nominated for a 2009 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards for Best Original Composition for his song, "Beautiful Feeling."
Michael Pickett is a multiple award-winning Canadian blues and roots singer, guitarist and harmonica player.
Mezcla is a music group from Cuba.
David Barrett is an American blues harmonica player, author and teacher.
The Sheepdogs are a Canadian rock and roll band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2004. The Sheepdogs were the first unsigned band to make the cover of Rolling Stone and have gone on to a career featuring multi-platinum album sales and four Juno Awards.
Colin Dussault's Blues Project is a Cleveland, Ohio, based five piece blues-rock group best known for songs such as "Little Chicken Wing Girl," "Good Booty & BBQ," "O.J. Simpson's DNA," and "Tidioute, Pennsylvania Revisited;" and their 1998 remake of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain". The band's CD releases, live shows, and work schedule have resulted in group being called the "Hardest Working Band in Northern Ohio. Their tag line is "Our Music is better than it sounds"."
Jimmy Bowskill is a Canadian blues singer, guitarist and bassist based in Toronto, Ontario.
Bill Johnson is a Canadian blues guitarist, singer-songwriter and music educator. After a long career as a sideman and guitarist in the 1990s, he began touring with The Bill Johnson Band. They released their second album, Live, in 2006, which led to Johnson being nominated for Best Guitarist at the Maple Blues Awards. He self-released his third solo album, Still Blue, in 2010, which was nominated for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2012. Johnson continues to tour and has hosted blues workshops throughout Canada.
Bonny B. is a Cambodian-Swiss blues musician and harmonica player.
Fathead is a multiple Juno Award and Maple Blues award-winning Canadian blues band, founded by Al Lerman and originally formed with members Mike Fitzpatrick, Ted Leonard, John Mays and Bob Tunnoch.
Ted "Teddy" Leonard is a Canadian blues musician, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. He is best known for his long standing association with the Canadian blues band Fathead and has been a working professional musician since 1977.
Matthew Skoller is an American Chicago blues harmonicist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has released five albums, as well as recording his harmonica playing on other musicians work, including John Primer, Lurrie Bell, Koko Taylor, H-Bomb Ferguson, Toronzo Cannon, Bernard Allison, Larry Garner, Big Daddy Kinsey, Big Time Sarah, Michael Coleman, and Harvey Mandel. On stage, he has supplied part of the backing to Big Time Sarah, Jimmy Rogers, and Deitra Farr.
