CURATION
-
from this page:
by Matrix
The Integrated Global Creative Economy
-
Name:
Charlie Musselwhite
-
City/Place:
Clarksdale, Mississippi
-
Country:
United States
-
Hometown:
Kosciusko, Mississippi
Current News
-
What's Up?
“Legendary is an overused term, but it’s also the only word that suits this heavyweight blues harpist.”
– Time Out New York
“Harmonica virtuoso Musselwhite raises the level of emotional expression on his instrument beyond even the masters he learned from…the grizzled veteran richly decorates his music with telling nuance and chiseled detail.”
– San Francisco Chronicle
“Charlie Musselwhite continues to astonish. Musselwhite achieves an authoritative deep blues sound through spare understatement as only a master can.”
– Off Beat Magazine
Life & Work
-
Bio:
Charlie Musselwhite's odyssey through the blues spans from his roots in Mississippi to stints in Memphis, Chicago, and eventually California. Arriving in Chicago during the early sixties, he found himself immersed in the midst of the influential blues revival. At the tender age of 22 in 1966, he etched his mark with the seminal album "Stand Back!", which garnered widespread acclaim. A swift move to San Francisco in 1967 saw him embraced by the counterculture scene, where his music resonated deeply, solidifying his status as an authentic ambassador of the blues.
Over five decades of relentless touring, performing, and recording, Musselwhite has amassed a wealth of accolades, proving that exceptional music only matures with time. Having honed his craft alongside luminaries like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf in the early 1960s Southside Chicago, Musselwhite remains a beacon of authenticity, delivering raw truths through his distinct voice and unparalleled harmonica skills.
With over 20 albums under his belt, Musselwhite continues to reign supreme in his field, revered as a venerable statesman of the blues who shows no signs of slowing down. His collaborations with esteemed artists such as Ben Harper, Cyndi Lauper, and Tom Waits underscore his enduring influence and versatility.
Musselwhite's legacy as a harmonica virtuoso is unrivaled, inheriting the legacy of his predecessors with music that echoes the depths of Mississippi's soil and the boundless skies of California. In an age saturated with fleeting fame, Musselwhite stands as a true maestro of American vernacular music, deserving of reverence and recognition as a living legend in the realm of blues music.
Contact Information
-
Management/Booking:
BOOKING IN NORTH AMERICA
Michael Morris
Mint Talent Group
312.260.0857
www.minttalentgroup.com
ALL OTHER WORLD BOOKINGS
Henrietta (Henri) Musselwhite
Musselwhite Music
[email protected]
BOOKING IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Alan Evers-Buckland
Manager: Australia + New Zealand
[email protected]
+ 61 407 322 244
Frank Stivala
Booking Agent: Australia + New Zealand
[email protected]
+61 3 9699 9555
More
-
Quotes, Notes & Etc.
Charlie's Band
MATT STUBBS: GUITAR
Matthew Stubbs has spent the past 11 years as guitarist for Charlie Musselwhite. During that time he’s backed up and toured with other blues giants such as John Hammond, James Cotton, Junior Watson and James Harman.
Outside of his time with Charlie, Matt has most recently formed GA-20, a traditional Blues band signed to Colemine/Karma Chief Records. The project was born out of a love of traditional Blues, R&B, and Rock & Roll of the late 50s and early 60s. With bandmates Pat Faherty and Tim Carman, the trio performs a raw, passionate and honest version of their beloved art form. The highly anticipated debut album is expected in the Fall of 2019.
Concurrently, Matt fronts the instrumental psych-rock acid-blues outfit Matthew Stubbs & the Antiguas. In addition to his exemplary guitar work, Matt’s roles in both bands include writing, arranging, producing and mixing credits. In their short tenures, both bands have garnered multiple nominations and a win at the Boston Music Awards.
JUNE CORE: DRUMS
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, June is a self-taught musician. He got his first paying gig at 17 after only playing for a year. Over the next few years June gigged in and around Cleveland with organist Eddie Baccus and with various funk, jazz and soul groups. In 1978 June was introduced to Robert Lockwood Jr. and Johnny Shines. Who taught June, in one day, five different shuffles to use in any blues. “That was start of my career”, says June. Robert and Johnny Shines became June’s second fathers and June’s musical relationship with Lockwood lasted nearly ten years. In 1980, June moved to New York and played pickups with jazz and funk bands doing the club circuit that included The Bitter End, Lonestar Café, and Freddies Café.
In 1982, June returned to Cleveland. As a result of his relationship with Robert Lockwood, June shared the stage with BB King, James Cotton, Mighty Joe Young, Willie Dixon, and Albert Collins.
In 1987 June headed west to San Jose, California where he was immediately hired by Mark Hummel, a stint that lasted two years. He soon met Andy Santana and the West Coast Playboys and then, along with Andy and Mike Schermer, founded the Soul Drivers, a highly successful Santa Cruz based blues band. In 1991, The Soul Drivers became Angela Stehli’s backup band. June also worked as a side man for Miss Laverne Baker. In 1996 June joined Little Charlie and the Nightcats and spent five years touring with that band. In 2004 Charlie Musselwhite hired June – June has been a most valued player with Charlie ever since. Recently, June played on Grammy nominated CDs Remembering Little Walter and Musselwhite’s Juke Joint Chapel, as well as Mark Hummel and Elvin Bishop’s CDs nominated for BMA awards. In 2015 June was nominated for Blues Music Awards best blues drummer
RANDY BERMUDES: BASS
Randy Bermudes has been a part of the rich bay area music scene for over twenty- five years. Randy has toured around the world with national and international artists such as, Rusty Zinn, Mark Hummel, RJ Mischo, Little Charlie and the Nightcats, Eric Lindell, Anson Funderburgh, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Billy Boy Arnold, Kim Wilson, Lazy Lester, Carey Bell, James Harman, Charlie Musselwhite and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.
“I love Randy’s playing – he’s dedicated to the blues, like I am. He’s dependently great at holding down the groove. I look forward to playing with Randy for many years to come!”
– Charlie Musselwhite
Clips (more may be added)
Few people know that the Bay of All Saints was final port-of-call for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. And few people know the transcendence these people, and their descendents, wrought. That's where this Matrix begins...
Wolfram MathWorld
The idea is simple, powerful, and egalitarian: To propagate for them, the Matrix must propagate for all. Most in the world are within six degrees of us. The concept of a "small world" network (see Wolfram above) applies here, placing artists from the Recôncavo and the sertão, from Salvador... from Brooklyn, Berlin and Mombassa... musicians, writers, filmmakers... clicks (recommendations) away from their peers all over the planet.
This Integrated Global Creative Economy (we invented the concept) uncoils from Brazil's sprawling Indigenous, African, Sephardic and then Ashkenazic, Arabic, European, Asian cultural matrix... expanding like the canopy of a rainforest tree rooted in Bahia, branches spreading to embrace the entire world...
Recent Visitors Map
Great culture is great power.
And in a small world great things are possible.
Alicia Svigals
"Thanks, this is a brilliant idea!!"
—Alicia Svigals (NEW YORK CITY): Apotheosis of klezmer violinists
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers (BOSTON): Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory ... Former personal recording engineer for Prince; "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"
"Dear Sparrow, Many thanks for this – I am touched!"
—Julian Lloyd Webber (LONDON): Premier cellist in UK; brother of Andrew (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Phantom of the Opera...)
"This is super impressive work ! Congratulations ! Thanks for including me :)))"
—Clarice Assad (RIO DE JANEIRO/CHICAGO): Pianist and composer with works performed by Yo Yo Ma and orchestras around the world
"We appreciate you including Kamasi in the matrix, Sparrow."
—Banch Abegaze (LOS ANGELES): manager, Kamasi Washington
"Thanks! It looks great!....I didn't write 'Cantaloupe Island' though...Herbie Hancock did! Great Page though, well done! best, Randy"
"Very nice! Thank you for this. Warmest regards and wishing much success for the project! Matt"
—Son of Jimmy Garrison (bass for John Coltrane, Bill Evans...); plays with Herbie Hancock and other greats...
I opened the shop in Salvador, Bahia in 2005 in order to create an outlet to the wider world for magnificent Brazilian musicians.
David Dye & Kim Junod for NPR found us (above), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (he's a huge jazz fan), David Byrne, Oscar Castro-Neves... Spike Lee walked past the place while I was sitting on the stoop across the street drinking beer and listening to samba from the speaker in the window...
But we weren't exactly easy for the world-at-large to get to. So in order to extend the place's ethos I transformed the site associated with it into a network wherein Brazilian musicians I knew would recommend other Brazilian musicians, who would recommend others...
And as I anticipated, the chalky hand of God-as-mathematician intervened: In human society — per the small-world phenomenon — most of the billions of us on earth are within some 6 or fewer degrees of each other. Likewise, within a network of interlinked artists as I've described above, most of these artists will in the same manner be at most a handful of steps away from each other.
So then, all that's necessary to put the Brazilians within possible purview of the wide wide world is to include them among a wide wide range of artists around that world.
If, for example, Quincy Jones is inside the matrix, then anybody on his page — whether they be accessing from a campus in L.A., a pub in Dublin, a shebeen in Cape Town, a tent in Mongolia — will be close, transitable steps away from Raymundo Sodré, even if they know nothing of Brazil and are unaware that Sodré sings/dances upon this planet. Sodré, having been knocked from the perch of fame and ground into anonymity by Brazil's dictatorship, has now the alternative of access to the world-at-large via recourse to the vast potential of network theory.
...to the degree that other artists et al — writers, researchers, filmmakers, painters, choreographers...everywhere — do also. Artificial intelligence not required. Real intelligence, yes.
Years ago in NYC (I've lived here in Brazil for 32 years now) I "rescued" unpaid royalties (performance & mechanical) for artists/composers including Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, Mongo Santamaria, Jim Hall, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd (for his rights in Bob Marley compositions; Clement was Bob's first producer), Led Zeppelin, Ray Barretto, Philip Glass and many others. Aretha called me out of the blue vis-à-vis money owed by Atlantic Records. Allen Klein (managed The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Ray Charles) called about money due the estate of Sam Cooke. Jerry Ragovoy (Time Is On My Side, Piece of My Heart) called just to see if he had any unpaid money floating around out there (the royalty world was a shark-filled jungle, to mangle metaphors, and I doubt it's changed).
But the pertinent client (and friend) in the present context is Earl "Speedo" Carroll, of The Cadillacs. Earl went from doo-wopping on Harlem streetcorners to chart-topping success to working as a custodian at PS 87 elementary school on the west side of Manhattan. Through all of this he never lost what made him great.
Greatness and fame are too often conflated. The former should be accessible independently of the latter.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay (they paid).
Matrix founding creators are behind "one of 10 of the best (radios) around the world", per The Guardian.
Salvador is our base. If you plan to visit Bahia, there are some things you should probably know and you should first visit:
www.salvadorbahiabrazil.com
Across the creative universe... For another list, reload page.
This list is random, and incomplete. Reload the page for another list.
For a complete list of everybody inside, tap TOTAL below:
TOTAL