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World-Beat Acoustic BLUES
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Celebrating the release of their debut CD, Cool Drink a Water, BlueBeat takes to the stage their unique style of acoustic worldbeat blues. Inspired by their extensive world travels, BlueBeat's Nance, Helgeson, and Wise have created soulful compositions reflecting the influence of world music legends, such as African guitarist Ali Farka Toure and blues singer Taj Majal. Cool Drink a Water explores world sounds, colorful lyrics, and an eclectic mix of instrumentation by the trio and other top-notch players, including percussionist Marc Anderson, Latin-jazz bassist Enrique Toussaint, and violinist Gary Schulte. The trio's members have each achieved recognition within their own right. Jim Nance has been singing, writing lyrics, and playing harmonica for over 10 years. Jim comes from a musically talented family, and combines great talent with amazing soul. His lyrics are influenced by African music and American country blues. His song-writing explores life's struggles and awakenings. Jim has written songs with blues great, Willie Murphy, and the Jazz group, Rio Nido. He has performed with Luther Allison, Koko Taylor, and Willie Murphy. Glen Helgeson is best known as an acoustic guitarist, composer, and leader of the worldbeat jazz group, Axis Mundi. He has recorded three albums that received national radio and TV airtime, including play on public television, broadcast satellite networks, and Entertainment Tonight. Before forming BlueBeat, he earned top honors from the Minnesota Music Academy in the "Instrumental, Environmental and Experimental" category. Master tabla drummer Marcus Wise frequently travels to India to study and perform. He has accompanied many great East Indian artists both locally and abroad. He earned the Minnesota Music Academy award for "Best Ethnic Drummer" four times, and has recorded with virtuoso artists such as Dean Magraw and Steve Tibbets. With African music as their foundation, BlueBeat fuses cultural and rhythmic influences from India, Pakistan, and Brazil with traditional American country blues. Blue Beat was formed when Jim Nance and Glen Helgeson began to fuse these diverse styles into compositions with soulful blues lyrics and innovative acoustic guitar. When Marcus Wise joined BlueBeat for a set at the Cedar last year, a unique synergy was instantly created, and his tabla drums provided a mesmerizing rhythmic power. Since then, BlueBeat has been featured in theaters, coffee houses, outdoor stages, and on many college campuses throughout the midwest. _______________________________ The BlueBeat CD RELEASE Concert web support by http://4insight.com/bluebeat/ |
