Featuring: JOHN MAYALL, RICK ESTRIN, LITTLE CHARLIE BATY, CURTIS SALGADO, & MARK HUMMEL
"These shows are like family gatherings, we all get our own time on stage, but end the night all jamming together. " — John Mayall
"A specialist in the West Coast blues, he’s a seasoned showman who knows more than a thing or two about how to please an audience. " — The New Yorker
Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowout returns to The Shedd Institute's Jaqua Concert Hall with a tribute to Mississippi bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson II, featuring British blues harmonica legend John Mayall, Little Charlie Baty and Rick Estrin of Little Charlie and the Nightcats; the soulful singer and harmonica blower Curtis Salgado, a graduate of the Santana and Robert Cray bands who was named the 2013 Blues Music Awards’ B.B. King Entertainer of the Year, and Mark Hummel himself, whom one-time Muddy Waters band harmonica ace Jerry Portnoy praised for his “tremendous chops and great knowledge, not only of traditional blues harmonica but other music as well...R&B and swing and big-band jazz”--all backed by The Blues Survivors, Hummel’s topnotch band, with Baty on guitar, RW Grigsby on bass and June Core on drums.
This series was started in 1991 and has grown to become an international event, having played festivals and theatres like Nottonden Blues Fest (Norway), San Francisco Blues Fest, Chicago Blues Fest and many other venues. The project last stopped at The Shedd in 2012 with a phenomenal tribute to Little Walter and we've got to believe this new installment will be even better!
Hummel's been steadily on the road since 1984 and released 17 albums and CDs since starting out. Mark's been nominated for three years in a row for Best Harmonica by the BMA Awards. He has performed with these multi artists events with the top players in the genre all across the planet, from Charlie Musselwhite, Huey Lewis, James Cotton, Rod Piazza, Kim Wilson, John Hammond, Magic Dick, Lee Oskar, Jerry Portnoy, Sam Myers, Carey Bell, Lazy Lester, Billy Boy Arnold, Snooky Pryor, Paul Delay, William Clarke and many more. Blind Pig Record's newest release Remembering Little Walter is a Hummel produced effort starring Hummel, Musselwhite, Arnold, Sugar Ray Norcia and James Harman.