Have Bass Will Travel…. I was born in South East Missouri in a small town Haiti, where I lived on a farm. I moved to Chicago in 1955. I lived in the back of a night club on the West Side, where Howling Wolf and Muddy Waters played. It looked like they were having a lot of fun and I made up my mind that what I wanted to do was play music. I got married at an early age and I used to watch my brother-in-law play music. His name was Johnny Ferguson and he and JB Hutto had a band they called the Twisters. They were working on 39’th and State Street in Chicago and I would carry them to work every night and watch them. Then at home I would try to teach myself to play. My cousin Ralph Ramey said that we should start a band and we did just that. We got my brother (John Stroger), who played the drums, to learn the songs we knew and in four months we were making some noise. We went to a club and played two songs and the man said we had a job. It was one of the better clubs, where musicians like Memphis Slim worked. The owner wanted us to wear uniforms but we had no money to buy them, so we got black tams and put a red circle in the top and called the band the Red Tops and that was the way it started. We got so good that they wanted the band to travel, but Ralph’s wife did not wont him to travel. so my brother formed a band with Willie Kent and myself and called it Joe Russel and the Blues Hustlers. We played together for a while,but eventually I decided to move on, because i wanted to travel more and see the world and I found out you can make money doing this. I joined a jazz band and played with Rufus Forman for about 3 years, but we were doing very little work. Then I met Eddie King and we talked. I told him I was in a jazz band and we needed a guitar player that could play blues. He sead OK and joined our groop, and we started playing blues and RB and things took off. We called the band Eddie King and King Men, and we stayed together for 15 years. Then we split up for about 2 years and later we started the band up as Eddie King and Babee May and the Blues Machine and we stayed together until Eddie King moved out of town. I quit playing for 2 years becouse we were so close I did not want to play with anyone but Eddie. Then I met Jessie Grean when I was playing with Morris Pejo and he liked the way I played bass and one night Otis Rush need a bass player, so Jessie said come and work with him. The rest is history. I have been playing music for 39 years and I am still having fun.

Singer, guitarist, and songwriter, Jimmy Burns is a contemporary bluesman who combines his Delta roots with R&B and soul to come up with a sound uniquely his own. Burns is a charismatic performer with an expressive, soulful, voice and a melodic guitar style to match.

The Cash Box Kings are bona fide blues royalty. Co-led by real-deal Chicago blues vocalist and songwriter Oscar Wilson and Madison, Wisconsin-based songwriter, harmonica giant and singer Joe Nosek, the band plays masterfully raw and unvarnished houserocking blues. Wilson’s huge, gritty vocals and Nosek’s powerhouse harmonica fuel their razor-sharp original songs. With their top shelf musicianship and trademark good humor, The Cash Box Kings are a one-of-a-kind blues band. In the words of MOJO magazine, the band is “flawless.”

Billy Flynn is an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter.

Miss Lee was born and raised in Tagawa city, Fukuoka Prefecture, South Japan. She started to play classical piano in childhood. After graduating from a music college, she met the blues. Since then she taught herself and consistently playing the blues piano.

In 2004, she started to play with local blues bands as well as the musicians who are visiting her hometown on tour.

She is visiting Chicago every summer since 2008 and playing with great musicians, such as Kenny”Beedy Eyes”Smith, Billy Flynn, The Cash Box Kings etc.

Lately, she moved to Kanto area, and is playing many clubs in Tokyo with professional bluesmen including Takashi “Hotoke” Nagai, Kotez, Hitoshi Koide and Shun Kikuta.

Her first leader album “THE UNION MEETIN’” was recorded with great musicians in Chicago and released in July 2014. In 2016, She made 45 rpm single record  “THESE BLUES KEEP DOGGIN’ ME/ BLUES IS EVERYWHERE” with Billy Flynn(g). The latest album “LEE’S BOOGIE”, which was focused on her solo piano playing, was released on 25 Nov, 2017.

She is also playing on album of many blues musicians, such as the blues.the-butcher-590213, Shun Kikuta & Blues Company, Shoji Naito and The Cash Box Kings, etc.

Miss Lee became the 2018 Chicago Blues Piano Contest winner. She is a lady blues pianist who is dedicated to playing old school Chicago blues, a rare kind in these days.

Her main influences are: Leroy Carr, Big Maceo, Otis Spann, Memphis Slim, Pinetop Perkins and Barrelhouse Chuck

Mr. Melvin “Pooky Styx” Carlisle. Carlisle has an impeccable drumming reputation with over 25 years of professional experience in the music industry. Carlisle was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago. He has toured the world with musical legends ranging from KoKo Taylor, Toronzo Cannon, Sugar Blue, Carlos Johnson, Jimi Johnson, Chico Banks, Muddy Waters, Demetrius Taylor, and a host of others. In addition to being an internationally recognized drummer, he has endorsements with musical companies such as Ear Piece Technology, Slug, Sabian Cynbals, Vic Fifth Stick, and many more.

Melvin has been playing bass guitar for over 25 years in venues from small clubs to large international festivals. His career has had him performing in bands with such luminaries as Koko Taylor, Lurie Bell and Billy Branch. He has also performed with Carl Weathersby, Big James and the Chicago Playboys, Jimmy Johnson, Phil Guy, Lefty Dizz, Melvin Taylor, Charlie Love, Jimmy Burns and many others. Melvin is one of the most sought out bass men in the Chicago blues scene today.

Dave Katzman has been working in the Chicago Blues scene for over 4 decades. He has traveled the world as an Engineer, Guitarist, Producer and Road Manager. Working with artists like Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Otis Rush and many others.