Left to Right: Rod Gross (drums),
Arthur Neilson (guitar),
Jeremy Baum
(keyboards), Kevin Jenkins (bass),
Shemekia Copeland (vocals)
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Arthur Neilson
Guitar
Arthur Neilson born and raised in New York City, taught himself to play guitar on an electric Teisco Del Rey at age fifteen. After purchasing a Harmony acoustic, he honed his folk repertoire and finger picking skills. Then, one night, he heard Albert King. Arthur got goosebumps from his head to his toes, and has been hooked on the blues ever since. Arthur developed his dynamic guitar style by playing along with every blues record that he could find.
With a longing to play the blues, but unable to find the right situation, Arthur worked in rock & roll bands (he also loves Chuck Berry). Then, in the early seventies, he responded to an ad in the Village Voice, seeking a blues guitarist. He then formed the "A Train Blues Band" with Felix Cabrera. This propelled him into the burgeoning New York blues scene, which gave Arthur the opportunity to back up the late Victoria Spivey and jam with James Cotton and Hubert Sumlin.
In 1979, Arthur caught the attention of the band Blue Angel with his rootsy, aggressive guitar playing. After joining Blue Angel, they recorded an album for Polydor, which garnered much critical acclaim. Cyndi Lauper was the lead singer of the band.
Rod
In the eighties and through the nineties, Arthur's phone was always ringing, as his guitar work was in much demand. Not only was he playing the blues, but rock & roll, rockabilly, and country too. In fact, at one point, he was gigging in seven bands, including "Oxford Blues", "Kid Java", "Felix and The Havanas" and "The Guitar Guys from Hell".
Some memorable moments were working with guitar great, Otis Rush, as well as Ronnie Spector, Benny Mardones and The Commitments.
Arthur was schooled in New York City bars and clubs, such as Dan Lynch Blues Bar, Lone Star Cafe, Manny's Car Wash and Tramps. This has led to sharing the stage with many of his influences, most notably B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, and Albert King, who upon hearing Arthur said, "That boy sure can play!"
In 1998, Shemekia Copeland found Arthur to be the guitar player that she was looking for to complete her touring band. Arthur has been performing with her across the globe and can be heard on her latest record, "Wicked".
Recently, Popa Chubby asked Arthur to be part of his New York City Blues record. Arthur contributed four of his songs, including the track "Fenderbender" which showcases his intense fretwork.
Visit Arthur's Official Website |
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Kevin Jenkins
Bass Guitar Originally from Boston MA, Kevin moved to New York City while still a teenager to pursue his dream of being a professional musician.
Kevin has worked with Cyndi Lauper, Taylor Dayne, Roberta Flack, Maxwell, Enrique Iglesias, Alana Davis and numerous other New York city singer/songwriters. He toured extensively with all the above and recorded with Cyndi, Taylor, Maxwell, Black 47, and Holly Palmer. Kevin has appear with some of the artists noted above on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Johnny Carson, The American Music Awards, The Late Show with David Letterman, Soul Train, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, and numerous other specials and awards shows. |
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Jeremy Baum
Keyboards Jeremy was born in 1971, just outside Woodstock, NY. He started playing piano at the age of five, and in his teens played classical recitals at the State University of New York in New Paltz, and eventually studied jazz piano at the same college. It was there that he joined Murali Coryell’s band (son of jazz-guitar great Larry Coryell). Murali’s band played an eclectic mix of rock, funk, soul and rhythm and blues, and in 1995 they recorded Eyes Wide Open for Big-Mo records. After college, Jeremy joined Bill Perry’s Blues Band. In the mid-90’s, they were the house band at Manny’s Car Wash blues club in NYC. On Bill’s first CD, Jeremy co-wrote In My Lonely Room with Perry, which received airplay on radio stations around the country. In 1998 Jeremy received his MFA from the SUNY Purchase music conservatory, and since then has done
freelance work for many different artists. This includes touring and recording as a sideman with members of the Band (Jim Weider, Levon Helm), as well as many blues artists (Sue Foley, Debbie Davies, Slam Allen). He has been featured on national television; MSNBC's Imus in the Morning show, playing piano for bluesman Little Sammy Davis, and he recorded with Richie Havens for the TV show, "The Practice," for the Fall 1998 season. In 1999 he recorded a CD with Debbie Davies that featured Double Trouble (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band). In the Fall of 2000 he performed on CBS’s Sat Early Show with Jim Weider, and a song from Sue Foley’s CD Ten Days in November appears in the Academy Award nominated movie “You Can Count On Me.” His most recent work as a side-man featured Jeremy on the Hammond Organ with the soul-jazz legend Melvin Sparks, recording It Is What It Is for Savant records in the spring of ’04. He is also pianist
and arranger/composer for Soñando, an exciting nine-piece Afro-Cuban band. In the summer of '98, they performed live on National Public Radio, and in the summers of '99 and ’00, they performed in the Puerto-Rican Day Parades in NYC. In the spring of ’00 they performed with Tito Puente’s All Star Band in Poughkeepsie, NY. Their debut CD of original music and arrangements Sueño del Valle was released in 2004.
Jeremy also leads his own organ trio, which is rooted in the blues and heavily influenced by the funky soul-jazz sounds of the late 60’s (Booker T. and the MG’s, the Meters, Jimmie Smith, Jimmy McGriff, etc.) The band is also inspired by the current masters of groove from the Jam Band scene (Medeski Martin and Wood, Soul-Live, Derek Trucks). Jeremy’s first CD, Lost River Jams, was released in 2002 on Flying Yak Records. His band also recently recorded Snap Back Jack for a Jack McDuff tribute album which will be released on Scufflin’ Records in 2005. Visit Jeremy's Official Website |
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Rod Gross
Drums Info forthcoming |
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