|
|
Jerry
Portnoy was born in 1943 and
grew up in the blues rich atmosphere of Chicago's famous Maxwell Street
Market during the golden age of Chicago Blues. He began his professional
career in the late 60's and since that time has performed, live and on
television, to more people in more places than any other blues harmonica
player.
During a career that includes
six years as a member of the fabled Muddy Waters Blues Band,
another six as leader of the Legendary Blues Band,
four years at the head of his own band The Streamliners,
and another four as a featured member of the Eric Clapton Band,
he has maintained a constant touring schedule that has carried him to
every state in the union and twenty-five foreign countries on five
continents, with performances at the White House, Carnegie
Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Smithsonian,
London's Royal Albert Hall, and at major jazz
festivals worldwide, including the Newport Jazz Festival,
the Montreaux Jazz Festival, the
Warsaw International Jazz Jamboree, the Hawaii
Pacific Jazz and Music Fair, and the Grande
Parade du Jazz in Nice, France.
He has played on several
Grammy Award winning albums while recording with a wide variety of
artists, and was a Grammy Award nominee in 1997 for his work with the
Muddy Waters Tribute Band. Television credits
include appearances on Saturday Night Live, Soundstage, MTV,
VH1, and the Disney Channel, as
well as writing and performing original music for Sesame
Street. In addition, he has lectured at the
Berklee School of Music in Boston, and his definitive 3/CD
instructional package, Jerry Portnoy's Blues Harmonica
Masterclass, is widely regarded as the premier teaching tool
for those wishing to learn the instrument. He now makes his home outside
Boston, Massachusetts.
|
"No complaints about playing the blues" By David Sinclair Eric Clapton is the most revered English guitarist in the history of rock. But although it is his name on the £22 tickets, Clapton will not be alone when he takes the stage tomorrow for the first of 12 shows at the Albert Hall. For nearly three weeks beforehand, in a secret location just outside London, a crack team of backing musicians has been rehearsing with Clapton, perfecting the arrangements and polishing the performances of the songs he will play. This year's shows are given over exclusively to the blues and this is reflected in Clapton's choice of a lean but stellar five-piece band, incorporating guitarist Andy Fairweather Low (formerly of Amen Corner, and a Clapton stalwart), bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn (of the original Blues Brothers and Booker T and the MGs), drummer Richie Hayward (of Little Feat) and keyboard player Chris Stainton (from Joe Cocker's band). But no serious blues group is complete without its harmonica player. and setting the seal on this year's line-up is Jerry Portnoy, a veteran of Muddy Waters's band and a musician steeped in the authentic Chicago blues. Portnoy was born in Chicago in 1943 and brought up in the vicinity of the Maxwell Street market, where his father owned a rug store. There, among the haggling customers and traders, many of the original blues players who had drifted to Chicago from the south would set up and play for whatever loose change was dropped at their feet. Even so, it was only at the age of 25, and after failed attempts to master several other instruments, that Portnoy discovered his aptitude for playing the harmonica. Just five years after first picking up the instrument, he was off touring with Muddy Waters. "For a harmonica player that was the top job in the world. He was a great band leader, the Duke Ellington of the blues in the sense that he turned out a lot of stars and a lot of band leaders and people who went on to make their own mark." A supremely agile player, Portnoy has as his trademark an ability to balance passages that are light and filigreed against moments when he pushes down hard on the reed to produce a fiercely heavy tone. According to Portnoy, the popular and faintly disparaging view of the "humble" harmonica ignores the versatility of the instrument. "All musicians want to speak through their instrument which is what makes the harmonica such a valuable tool for playing the blues. Its tonal capabilities are unique, so that you can make it sing, speak, talk, moan, cry, bark, growl, beg for mercy or just about anything else." Portnoy moved to Boston in 1977, but continued working with Waters' band until 1980. It was during this period that Waters toured as support to Eric Clapton, and Portnoy first met his present employer. As he says, "there are easier ways to make a decent living than by playing blues," but he is not surprised to find a superstar such as Clapton, at the peak of his career, going back to the basics. "The blues is his source. He returns to the blues for regeneration. It is the primal wellspring of American music. Obviously his musical ability stretches beyond the boundaries of blues, but it is still his deepest source of inspiration." |
The Critic's Choice
|
©1997
Jerry Portnoy Home
About Discography Photos
Lessons
Merchandise Bookings
Email |
