Hamburg Blues Band

Last updated
Hamburg Blues Band
Genres Blues
Years active1982 (1982)–present
Members
  • Gert Lange
  • Miller Anderson
  • Hans Wallbaum
  • Michael "Bexi" Becker
  • Krissy Matthews
Past members
Website www.hamburgbluesband.de

The Hamburg Blues Band is a German blues band, being associated with prominent English musicians as invited guests and band members.

History

The Hamburg Blues Band is a German blues rock group and was founded by the singer and rhythm guitarist Gert Lange in 1982. The original band composition was complemented for a number of years by Alex Conti on lead guitar.

Following the departure of Alex Conti, the current line-up of the Hamburg Blues Band consists of Miller Anderson on lead guitar (formerly of Keef Hartley and Savoy Brown), Gert Lange (vocals and rhythm guitar), Hans Wallbaum on drums and Michael "Bexi" Becker on the bass. Prior to Anderson becoming the band's lead guitarist, the band engaged Clem Clempson, formerly of Humble Pie, among other bands. Becker had also been a member of Lake, a band revived by Conti in the early 2000s, while still a member of the Hamburg Blues Band. The Hamburg Blues Band's former keyboard player, Adrian Askew, was also a member of the revived Lake.

British saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith (formerly Bluesbreakers and Colosseum) was an integral part of Hamburg Blues Band from its 1982 inception until his death from cancer in 2004. Heckstall-Smith died shortly before the release of the band's album Live - On The Edge of A Knife. On this album, Heckstall-Smith was given a special memorial with his 18 minute song "Woza Nasu" ( Bring Home The Goods ).

An informal band member was songwriter Pete Brown, known for his association with Jack Bruce and Cream and the primary lyricist for "White Room" and "Sunshine of Your Love", among other songs.

A very special experience was the "Herzberg Blues Allstars" compiled in the summer of 2006 for the "Burg Herzberg Festival". The HBB formed the baseband here, opened the concert and was reinforced in the course of the evening by a lot of stars of the European blues scene. These were in particular: Chris Farlowe , Clem Clempson , Mike Harrison and Pete Brown. This was recorded on a double DVD produced by the WDR Rockpalast.

Following the departure of lead guitarist Alex Conti in spring 2008, former Humble Pie and (yet) Colosseum guitarist Clem Clempson was featured as a permanent member of the band. He left the band again in 2012 and made way for Miller Anderson . Keyboarder Adrian Askew Lake also left the band in 2012 to support Clem Clempson in his solo career. Both are already playing on the 2008 produced studio album "Mad Dog Blues", which was released in mid-January 2009. In 2011, they toured with Arthur Brown and Chris Farlowe .

In the "Friends for a LIVEtime" tour in winter / spring 2013, the trio Lange / Becker / Wallbaum continued to perform together with the guitarist Miller Anderson . As a guest vocalist, the ex- Stone the Crows singer Maggie Bell was on tour.

In 2015, the band hired young guitarist Krissy Matthews at the music festival "Musik am Noor". Since then, the band toured with him as a permanent lead guitarist.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Bruce</span> Scottish musician (1943–2014)

John Symon Asher Bruce was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Farlowe</span> Musical artist (born 1940)

Chris Farlowe is an English rock, blues and soul singer. He is best known for his hit single "Out of Time" written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1966, and his association with bands Atomic Rooster, the Thunderbirds and Colosseum. Outside his music career, Farlowe collects war memorabilia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Heckstall-Smith</span> English saxophonist (1934–2004)

Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for primarily playing tenor, soprano, and baritone saxophones, as well as piano, clarinet and alto saxophone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colosseum (band)</span> British jazz-rock band

Colosseum are an English jazz rock band, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisation. Colin Larkin wrote that "the commercial acceptance of jazz rock in the UK" was mainly due to the band. Between 1975 and 1978 a separate band Colosseum II existed playing progressive rock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Hiseman</span> English drummer and sound engineer (1944–2018)

Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later formed what has been described as the "seminal" jazz rock/progressive rock band, Colosseum. He later formed Colosseum II in 1975.

<i>Daughter of Time</i> (album) 1970 studio album by Colosseum

Daughter of Time is the fourth album by English jazz rock band Colosseum, released in 1970. The album remained for five weeks in the UK Albums Chart peaking number 23. Recorded in the midst of an upheaval in the band's lineup, only one of its eight tracks, "Three Score and Ten, Amen", features all six of the official band members.

<i>Colosseum Live</i> 1971 live album by Colosseum

Colosseum Live is a live album by Colosseum, released in 1971. It was one of the band's most commercially successful albums, remaining in the UK Albums Chart for six weeks and peaking at number 17. The album peaked at number 48 in Australia in 1972.

<i>Colosseum LiveS – The Reunion Concerts</i> 1995 live album by Colosseum

LiveS The Reunion Concerts 1994 is a live album by English progressive jazz-rock band Colosseum. It includes two tracks from their reunion concert at the Zelt-Musik-Festival in Freiburg, Germany and six tracks from the second reunion concert at the E-Werk in Cologne, Germany.

<i>Bread and Circuses</i> (Colosseum album) 1997 studio album by Colosseum

Bread & Circuses is a 1997 album by Colosseum.

<i>Tomorrows Blues</i> 2003 studio album by Colosseum

Tomorrow's Blues is an album by the band Colosseum that was released in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Clarke</span> English bass guitarist

Mark Clarke is an English musician, bass player and singer, best known for his work with Colosseum and Mountain, as well as brief stints with Uriah Heep and Rainbow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clem Clempson</span> English guitarist

David "Clem" Clempson is an English rock guitarist who has played as a member in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie.

Michael Starrs is Scottish rock singer best known for his work with Colosseum II and Lucifer's Friend. He left Scotland for London in the late 1960s and worked in various minor bands. Starrs was signed by the record producer Tony Atkins for Marquee Productions and released several unsuccessful singles. He joined Colosseum II in 1975 after being spotted singing in a local pub and featured on their first album, Strange New Flesh in 1976. Starrs' powerful and distinctive singing style, complimented the guitar work of Gary Moore, the keyboards of Don Airey and the rhythm section of Neil Murray and Jon Hiseman and the result was a potential British supergroup in the making.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miller Anderson (musician)</span> UK-based blues guitarist and singer (born 1945)

Miller Anderson is a UK-based blues and rock guitarist and singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Beaker</span> English blues musician

Norman Beaker is a blues guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, band leader and record producer who has been involved in the British blues scene since the early 1970s.

<i>Rough Diamond</i> (album) 1977 studio album by Rough Diamond

Rough Diamond is the only studio album by the British rock band Rough Diamond.

Bakerloo was an English heavy blues-rock trio, established by Staffordshire guitarist David "Clem" Clempson, Terry Poole and others in the late 1960s, at the high point of the influence of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Although the group was prominent only for around a year (1968–9) and released only one album, it played an important part in the history of the genre, especially in view of its members' subsequent involvement with Colosseum, Humble Pie, May Blitz, Graham Bond, Vinegar Joe, Judas Priest and Uriah Heep.

Hubert Leroy "Herbie" Goins was an American rhythm & blues singer. He worked mainly in England in the 1960s, notably with Alexis Korner and then as the leader of Herbie Goins & The Night-Timers. He later continued his career based in Sezze, Italy.

<i>Cities of the Heart</i> 1994 live album by Jack Bruce

Cities of the Heart is a Jack Bruce double CD release of sections of two live performances given on 2 and 3 November 1993 in Cologne, Germany, to celebrate Bruce's 50th birthday. They were recorded for the WDR "Rockpalast" TV show and a DVD of the shows, entitled Rockpalast: The 50th Birthday Concerts, was released by MIG Music in 2014.

<i>Touch</i> (Mike Harrison Hamburg Blues Band album) 2001 studio album by Mike Harrison and the Hamburg Blues Band

Touch is an album released on Ruf Records in 2001 by Mike Harrison and the Hamburg Blues Band.