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Our Bio |
 In
the early 1970’s there was a place well known to young (and
not so young) people in Southeastern New England that hosted
bands which played a different kind of beat than usually
heard around the area. The crowds swarmed around “Roomful of
Blues” every Sunday night at “The Knick”, or formally The Knickerbocker Café on Railroad Avenue in Westerly, Rhode
Island. The resurfacing popularity of that musical genre
soon gained social momentum, duplicated on Friday and
Saturday nights with acts booked featuring bands performing
blues based swing and jump dance music. When the anchoring
band moved on down the road to success, it left behind many
musicians and dancers still loyal to that swingin’ beat.
Thirty five years later, there remains a few former members
of those bands, still performing for their old friends from
the “Knick”, but also for their children who were brought up
listening to Mom and Dad’s blues and swing music, (probably
against their will, from time to time ). In these days of
multi-hyphenated venues of music produced by musicians in
search of their own stylized expression, it’s an assuring
phenomenon when another generation can appreciate and “dig
on” the root form of Rock and Roll.
Ed Parnigoni, original bassist for “Roomful of Blues”,
provides the anchor to The Kevin Crandall Band. Guitarist
Keith Sorensen and pianist Ed Hanks, who played southern New
England with former “Roomful” frontman Sugar Ray Norcia from
1972 to 1975, (opening for Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the
Arcadia Ballroom ), are back together and were fortunate to
find percussionist Dave Lang of northeastern Connecticut.
The band’s namesake, Kevin Crandall, also hails from the
Conn-RI border area, and has been highly acclaimed by
audiences and critics alike while he fronted “The Wildcats”
and “The High Rollers” during the ‘80’s.
Originally, the band formed to perform one set of songs at a
benefit memorial held in April, 1997 for a friend who had
died in a motorcycle accident in the spring of 1996. It was
collectively decided that the song list selections would be
ones that Mark Pescatello would appreciate; songs penned by
the more obscure performers of the nineteen fifties and
sixties. Continuing that same philosophy, the band’s ever
growing repertoire reflects their ten plus years of
performing. The works of Wynonie Harris, Junior Wells,
Little Walter, Otis Rush, Jimmy Reed, Lowell Fulson, Freddy
King, James Harman, Bobby Bland, Junior Watson, Lazy Lester,
Snooks Eaglin, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters, James Cotton,
Charlie Musselwhite, B.B. King, Taj Mahal, Billy Boy Arnold,
Sonny Boy Williamson, and Little Milton are but some of the
artists looked to for musical inspiration. Most songs are
performed in their traditional version; some are rearranged
to showcase their soloing abilities, and others to enhance
their “dance-ability”. |
