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Latvian Blues Band
The beginnings of the Latvian Blues Band go back to year 1997, when
three young latvians decided to form a blues band. They started out by
listening to established
blues masters, such as Elmore James, Robert Johnson, Howlin’
Wolf and Little Walter. While
working hard on their blues skills, the combo received its first local
and international recognition by
participating in several music festivals in Latvia and Lithuania.
Year 2000 appeared to be a start for the Latvian Blues Band as a blues
formation. Johnny V, a well known Canadian blues player, came to Riga
to record his CD "Blues
Party" together with LBB. Johnny V also helped LBB to find their way to
Canada, where they
participated in several blues festivals (Blues Fest International -
Windsor and London, South Country
Fair, Fort Macleod) and played in different blues clubs, including
Silver Dollar Room in
Toronto.
Just before their trip to Canada, LBB went to Lithuania to participate
in the International Blues Festival "Bliuzo Naktys" ("Blues Nights").
Since then they are an
eagerly welcomed headliners every year.
The band was chosen to play the opening shows for Joe Cocker (Riga,
2002), Coco Montoya (Vilnius, 2003), and Victor Bailey Group (Riga,
2003). They have toured
Croatia ("Century of Blues" Festival, Zagreb, 2004), Greece (Athens
— "Euro Jazz 2004",
Thessaloniki, Preveza), Poland (Suwalki, 2003, 2005), Lithuania (with
Keith Dunn, 2005), and Spain
(Madrid, 2006). In 2005 they played at the "Chicago Blues Festival" and
several Chicago
blues clubs — "Buddy Guy’s Legends", "Kingstone
Mines", "B.L.U.E.S.",
"Artist’s Lounge", "Puffers" and others. Same year LBB
received recognition from the Thropees France Blues,
which nominated them in the best European Blues Band category.
In Latvia, LBB performs at the Bites Blues Club almost every weekend
— here you can enjoy their own shows, as well as see them
hitting the stage with highest rank
blues artists from the U.S. So far the band has performed with more
than 150 blues stars, including John
Primer, Carlos Johnson, Bob Margolin, Carey Bell, Sugar Ray Norcia,
Monster Mike Welch, Darell
Nulisch, Duke Robillard, Bruce Katz, Bryan Lee, Al Coplay, Phill Guy,
Rico McFarland, Zora Young, Tad
Robinson, Nora Jean Bruso, Sonny Rhodes, Louisiana Red, Chico Banks,
Bill Perry, Joanna
Connor, James Solberg, Willie „Big Eyes” Smith,
Debbie Davis, Lazy Lester,
Jerry Portnoy,...and the the list is still growing!
In 2009 Latvian Blues Band released their first own studio album
"Unreal" featuring 10 original songs written by the band during last 5
years. The entire album was produced
by Duke Robillard. The year ended up with a powerful performance at the
annual Baltic Blues
Challenge competition in Eutin, Germany on October 30 and 31 where the
Latvian Blues Band convincingly
won in the category of blues groups and were promoted to take part in
the International Blues
Challenge 2010 finals in Memphis, U.S.A. January 2010.
Latvian
Blues Band:
Jānis ‘Bux’ Bukovskis – guitar, vocals
Rolands ‘Rolx’ Saulietis – drums, vocals
Reinis Ozoliņš - bass
Artis Locmelis – sax, organ, piano
Nauris Strezs - trombone
Quotes
"I love the many styles the band can play,
from deep blues on "Evil," to finger snappin' shuffles. Duke's
production highlights the bands strengths." -Art Tipaldi (Blues Revue)
Awards/Accolades
2010 Represented Baltic Blues
Association in International Blues Challange in Memphis, TN
2005 Nominated Best European Blues Band by Thropees France Blues
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Latvian
Blues Band - Unreal
Style: Blues
“Unreal”
is the first studio album by the Latvian Blues Band, who have been
performing together since 1997, largely in Latvia, but also in
Lithuania and throughout Europe, with occasional visits to the United
States and Canada, including most recently when they were a contestant
in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN in January of 2010.
This album showcases the band’s songwriting talents, with ten
of the fourteen tracks being written by the band. Duke Robillard makes
guest appearances playing guitar on two of the album’s songs
and is also the album’s producer.
Catalog
#4520 (Released August 17, 2010) |
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