The American Music Research Foundation Presents:

The 2004 Performer Lineup

	Maria Muldaur Maria Muldaur’s musical roots run deep. Born and raised in New York City’s Greenwich Village, Muldaur was surrounded by bluegrass, folk, jazz, blues and gospel, but her very first musical influences were from the records of country and western singers Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Hank Snow, and Ernest Tubb. “I was a little girl trapped in the urban jungle, and the magic of radio opened up the world of country music to me,” Maria recalls. At age five, she would sing Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” while her aunt accompanied her on the piano. As a teenager, Maria tuned into early rhythm and blues and was an avid fan of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Clyde McPhatter and Ruth Brown. She became interested in the girl “doo wop” groups coming into the scene and formed her own, The Cashmeres, while in high school. As pop radio became less soulful, Maria turned to the wealth of American roots music that was being discovered right in her own backyard. On any given day, she could stroll through Washington Square Park in the Village and hear blues, jug band, gospel, bluegrass and old timey music. Soon she was hanging out and joining in on nightly jams and song swaps called hootenannies. In the eighties, Maria recorded two critically acclaimed jazz albums, two gospel albums, and one album of swing tunes for “kids of all ages.” Sweet and Slow, a duet album with longtime collaborator Dr. John, featured songs by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and another of Maria’s blues heroines, Sippie Wallace. Transbluecency, Maria’s 1986 release, garnered The New York Times Pop/Jazz Album of the Year Award. In 1992, Maria signed with Black Top Records. Louisiana Love Call, recorded in New Orleans, came at a time when American roots music began to experience a gigantic worldwide surge in popularity. The album featured guest appearances by Dr. John, Aaron and Charles Neville, accordionist Zachary Richard, and guitar guru Amos Garrett. Instantly embraced by critics and fans alike, with impressive accolades coming in from everywhere, Louisiana Love Call was hailed as the best album of her career. Rolling Stone, People, Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, adult alternative radio, and blues radio raved! The album was awarded “Best Adult Alternative Album of the Year” by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors. She also garnered a nomination for “Outstanding Blues Album” from the Bay Area Music Awards. Maria’s latest project, Richland Woman Blues, released on Stony Plain Records brings her full circle to the blueswomen and men of the 1920’s and 1930’s who were her earliest inspiration and who says Maria, “are the most original and unique cultural elders of the 20th century.” Paying homage to blues legends like Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt, and Blind Willie Johnson, Maria has collaborated in an acoustic setting with an all-star cast of contemporaries who draw from the same musical well as Maria, and have been equally influenced and inspired by these blues pioneers. The veteran singer-producer continues to do 200 nights a year on the road all over the world and every Maria Muldaur performance is infectious – part down-home revival, part sophisticated and joyful sensuality, and all a celebration of her total nature – strong independence and loving openness. The gratification Maria feels from the deepening range and expressiveness in her voice mirrors the same richness of wisdom and enthusiasm evident in her newer albums. “My goal is to continue growing and improving as a singer of the soulful songs all my life.: With that kind of hope and clarity of vision, the continuing musical journey with Maria Muldaur only becomes more enriching and significant. http://www.mariamuldaur.com
	Jason D. Williams Enthusiastic, Reckless, Stormy, Rock & Roll in it’s natural state… This explains why the Kansas City Star pronounced Jason D Williams as “…the past and future of rock & roll.” The Beacon Journal dubbed him as “The World’s Greatest Piano Player.” Most importantly this reminds you of why you got into rock & roll in the first place…to get a little wild. After seeing his live show, there is no doubt why fans and critics alike agree with that summation of the dynamic piano player from Memphis. Jason D. has the same musical innovation and on the edge attitude as Jerry Lee and Elvis. Jason’s style is difficult to describe. From classical to Rockabilly to Country to Jazz and on to Rock & Roll, Jason D adapts to each different concert setting he performs. Jason is on the road 200 days a year playing to crowds in every setting from clubs to amphitheaters and many corporate sponsored events. A longtime relationship with the Dallas Cowboys brought Jason to play at their 2 Superbowl Victory Parties. Jason D is unique, talented and raw energy. This is one act you have to see and hear to believe…once you do – you will believe! http://www.rockinjasondwilliams.com
	James Dapogny’s Chicago Jazz Band James Dapogny’s Chicago Jazz Band: Dapogny’s internationally-known touring and recording eight-piece band is inspired by the classic jazz past, tracing its ancestry to Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington and other great artists. They specialize in classic jazz: ragtime, New Orleans and Chicago jazz of the 20s and 30s, and small-band swing of the 30s and 40s. Pianist/arranger/leader Dapogny says, “Of course we live the music’s rich history and lore, but the real point is the music itself, its excitement, variety and beauty. Our performances have to succeed here and now, so our concern is balancing authenticity with up-to-date excitement. But with this music that’s not a problem>” And, in the words of Washington Post critic Mike Joyce, “If this is jazz revisionism, let there be more.” A year into its third decade, the band has played in forty states. Among other special performances have been sold-out Kennedy Center concerts devoted to the music of Jelly Roll Morton, lecture concerts for the Smithsonian entitled Stomping At the Lincoln Gardens: Chicago Jazz in the 1920s, and Small-Band Swing,, opening for Benny Goodman, jazz festival engagements in countless venues, nine appearances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, and opening for comedians Rich Little, Phyllis Diller and Bob Newhart. The band’s concerts feature entertaining and informative commentary by Dapogny: “I try not to get carried away,” he says. A noted jazz scholar, Dapogny has spent years researching, transcribing and arranging the music of the jazz masters: to his credit are Jelly Roll Morton: The Collected Piano Music, a first-ever scholarly edition of a jazz musician’s work, more than twenty biographical-critical articles on jazz figures in Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and a forthcoming set of scores by master swing-era arranger Fletcher Henderson, to be published by the Smithsonian’s Jazz Masterwork Editions.
	Butch Thompson This most prominent traditional jazz musician’s most recent travels include appearances with the St. Louis Symphony (with whom he premiered his original piece, Ecuadorean Memories), the Cairo (Egypt Symphony, the Erie Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, and many others; a running association with the award winning off-Broadway hit Jelly Roll? Both in New York and on national tours; and coast-to-coast concert and festival appearances as a soloist and with his trio. Continuing an association of over 20 years, he is also a frequent guest on public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion. He also writes frequently on jazz for Downbeat, the Mississippi Rag, and other magazines, and produces the radio show Jazz Originals in Minneapolis. Thompson’s love affair with jazz began during childhood in the river village of Marine, Minnesota, where he began piano study at six years old and nurtured an early interest in boogie woogie. In high school, he studied clarinet, organized his first jazz band (Shirt Thompson and His Sleeves) and played his first professional engagements at age 16. While an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota in 1962, he joined the Hall Brothers New Orleans Jazz Band of Minneapolis. He studied with the veteran clarinetist George Lewis and others in New Orleans, made his first piano records – tow LPs of Jelly Roll Morton solos in 1966 and 1968 – and began touring American and European clubs and festivals. From 1974 to 1986, he led the Butch Thompson Trio on A Prairie Home Companion, often featuring well-knows jazz players. Among Thompson’s recent recordings are “Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton,” issued on the Verve label; and the solo CD “Lincoln Avenue Express,” the eighth in his acclaimed solo series on the Daring label. http://www.butchthompson.com/
	Alma Smith A professional musician for more than fifty years. The youngest of nine children, Alma was born in Montgomery, Alabama and raised in the North End area of Detroit. Almas's fascination with music started early. Her mother had played piano as a youngster and she encouraged Alma to continue. “My brother played very good boogie-woogie, but he died young,” she recalls. “And my sister could play. But I was the one that made music my livelihood.” Alma’s keyboard prowess was recognized early on, and she received lessons when her family could support them. Alma went to Cass Technical High School as a music major and also honed her dancing skills by taking lessons from La Clair Knox. “I appeared in Carmen and Aida at the Detroit Institute of Arts with Black Opera Guild. I also played piano after school in a band called King’s Aces.” Alma’s influences on piano were, and remain, Errol Garner, Art Tatum, Nat Cole and Fats Waller.
Plus Some Very Special Guests