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Available Now!
"You Know I Can't Refuse: The Bill Heid Sessions". This is the
first release from RJ
Spangler's Blue Four!
This collaboration with legendary
keyboardist Bill Heid
mixes swing, bop and blues. In addition to Spangler on drums and Heid
on keys, the quartet also features
Pat Prouty on bass and Keith
Kaminski on sax. Legendary Detroit guitarist Johnnie Bassett is featured on three tracks!
 Now available at iTunes! Also available at Amazon.com! Click here to read the reviews!
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Available Now! The long-awaited release of a 45RPM vinyl
single from
The
Planet D Nonet! The PD9
is a down & dirty little swing band from Detroit playing the
classic swing music of
Ellington & Strayhorn,
Fletcher
Henderson, Count
Basie & Benny
Carter as well as more modern jazz by Sun Ra and Pharoah Saunders…always
with a Detroit twist.
The
Planet D Nonet is about swing, blues, space-age jazz and
classic American songs all served up with plenty of good humor. Check
it out.
Also available Now! Two new EP CD's from PD9! Check out the Releases section for more info! 
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Alberta
Adams
has long been the undisputed Queen of the Blues here in Detroit. She
started as a dancer in the late 1940's and has been doing it ever
since. Along the way she toured with T-Bone Walker, Louis
Jordan, Cleanhead Vinson and even played the Apollo Theater
with Dizzy Gillespie. It is amazing that a woman
born in 1917 is still out there doing it and doing with power. She
continues to represent the real old school and is still touring. She
just got back from a tour down south in fact!
Alberta has just completed her third CD for the Eastlawn label, called "Detroit
Is My Home." On it she sings with three different and amazing
pianists: Mark Braun, aka Mr. B, Al Hill
(from the Bettye LeVette Band) and Ann Rabson, from
Virginia. Ann is a member of Saffire, a great all female blues band
that tours internationally. All three are fine pianists that offer
different takes on the blues. Mark being the boogie-woogie expert, Ann
coming from an old-timey music background and Al, whom has toured with
Alberta, being a little funkier than the others. All three are great
Alberta Adams fans!
On the new CD, Alberta sings boogie-woogie, slow blues, ballads, New
Orleans style R&B and other various styles of blues, always
putting her very personal take on the groove. Alberta also contributed
several songs, which sets her apart from many traditional female blues
singers. This is her third full-length CD for the Detroit-based
Eastlawn label. Alberta has also recorded for Cannonball, Chess, Savoy
and the Thelma (Gordy) labels.
Here's what DJs are saying
about the new
Alberta Adams CD!:
• "Alberta Adams, who has paid her dues, is now "the Mother"
of all female blues singers, making "Detroit Is My Home" a very proud
statement -- her latest hot cd of original and classic tunes, excellent
backup bluesicians and making the magic happen for all blues/jazz
lovers around the Globe." - Bill Nolan,
WPKN-FM - Bridgeport CT
• "I love it! It was a brilliant idea to have a variety of
very fine pianists play behind her and the rest of the band is
excellent as always." - Robert Barclay, "The Juke
Joint" - WCMU - Central Michigan
• "I hope it does well as it deserves to be heard by many.
Alberta is a real treasure." - Art Schuna, "Two for
the Blues" - WORT - Madison WI
• "It sounds great!!!" - Charlie Lange,
KUSP - Santa Cruz NM
• "This album's great! Gonna add it this week."
- Jonny Meister - WXPN-FM - Philadelphia PA
• "I
would say Alberta has still got it, but I don't think anyone ever
questioned if she lost it. She is Detroit's Queen of the Blues for a
reason; describe her style and you describe Detroit - grit with class."
" - Daedalian Lowry - 89.7-WLNZ -
Lansing MI
Alberta
Adams Bio
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• Friday, May 7 - Planet D Nonet @ Cliff Bell's Jazz Club - 9:30PM 2030 Park Ave., Detroit MI - http://cliffbells.com
• Saturday, May 8 - Alberta Adams w/ RJ's Rhythm Rockers @ Cliff Bell's Jazz Club - 9:30PM 2030 Park Ave., Detroit MI - http://cliffbells.com
Alberta Adams
(born Roberta Louise Osborne, c 1917)) is a Detroit blues, jump blues,
and Chicago blues singer. She was raised in Detroit, Michigan by a
relative and began performing during the 1930's in a club on Hastings
Street (amidst other artists like John Lee Hooker).
She later landed a recording contract with Chess Records and was backed by Red Saunders for the label. Adams toured with Duke Ellington, Eddie Vinson, Tiny Bradshaw and Louis Jordan,
amongst others. Her solo career did not lift off until the 1990s, when
she landed a contract with the now defunct Cannonball Records, and
recorded two albums for them: 1999's Born With the Blues and 2000's Say
Baby Say. Her album from 2004, entitled I'm on the Move, was released
on the Eastlawn Records label. Adams recently returned to the studio at
91 years of age and recorded Detroit Is My Home for the same label, on
which Ann Rabson guests on four tracks. Native Detroit up and coming
soul-blues singers Cee Cee Collins and Thornetta Davis
also guest on several tracks. AA has been nominated for several
National blues awards and won many Detroit Music Awards, including Best
Blues CD. In 2009 she performed at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, NY,
for the first time in 50 years! She is the undisputed queen of the
blues in Detroit!
On Saturday May 8, she will backed by her longtime band, RJ's Rhythm Rockers.
The Rhythm Rockers have backed AA from coast to coast in the US &
Canada, including the aforementioned show at the Apollo as well as
tours throughout the south, going as far as Key West. This summer
Alberta will turn 93 and she doesn't get out as much as in the past but
she still delivers the goods when she does!
RJ's Rhythm Rockers:
Shawn McDonald - piano & vocals
Paul Carey - guitar
Mike Marshal - bass
RJ Spangler - bandleader & drums
• Sunday, May 16 - Planet D Nonet @
Blue Goose Inn (Co-Leader James O'Donnell's 50th Birthday) - 4:00PM 28911 Jefferson Ave., St. Clair
Shores MI - http://www.myspace.com/bluegooseinn
• Sunday, May 23 - Planet D Nonet @
GP War Memorial 100 Year Anniversary - 1:00PM 32 Lake Shore Dr., Grosse Pointe Farms MI (313)884-6638
- http://www.warmemorial.org
• Wed. thru Sat., May 26-29 - Planet D Nonet @
Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe' - 6:30PM 97 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe Farms MI
http://www.metroalive.com/Michigan/grossepointe/dirtydog
Planet D Nonet:
Justin
Jozwiak / alto sax & cl, Jim Holden / tenor sax & cl, Joshua
James, bari sax & cl, James O’Donnell / trumpet, flügelhorn &
vox, Ken Ferry / trumpet, Tony Buccelli or John Paxton / trombone, Dave
Gadd / piano, Bill MacLeod / string bass, RJ Spangler / drums
http://www.myspace.com/planetdnonet
Also...
• Alberta Adams is now in regular rotation on Bill
Wax's Bluesville Show on XM Radio.
• Click Here for a Metro Times article about RJ Spangler!
•
Support Public Radio! Listen to Eastlawn artists on these fine radio
stations:
 
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