Donny Blair With Judy Blair - The Other Place

Styles: Hammond Organ
Year: 2010
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:27
Size: 113,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:42)  1. Off The Top
(5:37)  2. So What
(7:04)  3. High Cotton
(7:12)  4. The Other Place
(5:00)  5. Tamara
(5:47)  6. Footprints
(5:08)  7. Groove's Groove
(5:54)  8. A Child Is Born

JUDY BLAIR was born in East Texas and has been singing and playing the piano, synthesizer and the Hammond B3 organ professionally for more than 40 years. JUDY has performed solo and with groups all over the UNITED STATES in NEW YORK, DALLAS, SAN FRANCISCO, LOS ANGELES, PEBBLE BEACH, CARMEL, RENO, SANTA FE, and many other cities including a three year stint in NEW ORLEANS playing with the best. She also performed during a two year period in the CARIBBEAN and has appeared on JAPANESE television in a travel series about CALIFORNIA.

She has played numerous jazz and blues concerts, festivals and clubs in FRANCE as well as in other parts of EUROPE. 1997 - She recorded and produced an album in FRANCE, “LES COULEURS DU NOIR ET BLANC” on which she plays solo piano and sings ballads and American Standards. It includes original compositions by JUDY. 1999. She recorded a second CD in DALLAS, TEXAS called “THE OTHER PLACE” in collaboration with her brother DONNY BLAIR on guitar, BRUCE TATE on electric bass and DINO VERA on drums. On it, she plays piano and Hammond B3 organ and it includes original pieces by both JUDY and DONNY BLAIR. 2000 - She recorded a third one “CLOSE ENCOUNTER” in NEW YORK, playing the Hammond B3 organ with HOUSTON PERSON (tenor-sax), ALVIN QUEEN (drums), REGGIE JOHNSON (bass) and DONNY BLAIR (guitar). Like the others, this CD included original material.   Her fourth CD “SUNSHINE” was recorded in DALLAS, TEXAS. She sings, plays piano and Hammond B3 along with her brother DONNY BLAIR (guitar), ABDU SALIM (tenor sax), CHRISTIAN (Ton Ton) SALUT (drums) and guest artist LUCKY PETERSON (vocals, piano and Hammond B3). All the songs on this album were written by JUDY and one was co-written with LUCKY PETERSON.

Judy has participated in numerous international JAZZ & BLUES venues, to include: MARCIAC, AIGUILLON, and MONTAUBAN , MIREPOIX, and CAHORS in France.    Her concerts include:  SOS New Orleans 2005, SOS Haïti 2010,  LE TOUQUET, and VILLENEUVE SUR LOT Jazz and Blues Festival, RIOM International Piano Festival, MONSÉGUR 24 hours swing in Monségur, 2004 quartet, and ENGHIEN-LES-BAINS (Mayday Music for Louisiana).  In 2010 Judy performed a concert with Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker at ABBAYE NOUVELLE.   IN SPAIN, she has performed the AUTUMN JAZZ FESTIVAL in CASTILLA along with ALVIN QUEEN, drums, REGGIE JOHNSON, bass. In 2006 Judy performed in TUNISIA at the TABARKA, Jazz Festival, In SICILY in 2007 at SYRACUSE and CATANIA, and in ENGLAND the WOKING concert for the new year 2009-2010, as a guest of GARY BROOKER and ERIC CLAPTON .

Donny Blair picked up his first guitar at the age of 10 in 1965 on the heels of his sister, jazz musician Judy Blair. Though his first exposure to guitar was listening to The Ventures, Donny’s roots are firmly planted in the great tradition of Texas blues and swing. In his teens, Donny continued developing his jazz chops listening to endless Blue Note recordings of the great organ trio guitar masters Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Gene Edwards, and Grant Green. An accomplished horn player in high school and college bands, Donny quit school to go on the road with his sister’s band at the age of 19 playing both trumpet and rhythm guitar on the club circuit from Texas to California, where he played a variety of pop and jazz. The early 1980s found Donny in the military playing lead guitar in a rock ‘n roll band in the Far East for several years. After his discharge from the military, Donny took leave of the guitar for a number of years to pursue a career in electrical engineering. 

In 1998 he picked the guitar up once again, producing and recording a CD with sister Judy titled “The Other Place”. This project was quickly followed by a successful concert at Montauban, France in 1999. In 2000, Donny joined his sister once again along with jazz giants Houston Person, Alvin Queen, and Reggie Johnson in New York for the CD “Close Encounter”, which garnered critical acclaim in Europe. In 2005, Donny appeared on “Sunshine” with his sister, a CD recorded in his town of Dallas, Texas. One will find with Donny’s playing a distinctively smooth blues/jazz style with strong hints of Grant Green and Wes Montgomery, always underpinned by the distinctive sound that is Texas blues guitar. http://www.judyblair.com/?section=bio

The Other Place

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