Maple Blues Revue

The Maple Blues Revue is a first rate Canadian Blues Show featuring three dynamic vocalists with an outstanding eight piece band. All members of the Revue are multiple Maple Blues Award winners and nominees. They represent the cream of the crop in this country's Blues elite, drawn from legendary acts like Downchild, Fathead, The Jack de Keyzer Band, The Whiteley Bros., The Johnny Max Band and Raoul & The Big Time. The Maple Blues Revue has been honoured with performances at The Ottawa Blues Fest, The Southside Shuffle, The Wasaga Beach Blues Fest, The Toronto Jazz Festival, The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, Omaha's Playing with Fire Festival, The Twisted Pines Music & Arts Festival and Festival International Du Blues De Tremblant, CNE Bandshell Blues Festival to name a few. MBR consists of Dawn Tyler Watson (vocals), Chuck Jackson (vocals), John Mays (vocals), Gary Kendall (bass), Michael Fonfara (organ/piano), Teddy Leonard (guitar), Tom Bona (drums), Al Lerman (harmonica/tenor sax), Chris Whiteley (trumpet), Pat Carey (tenor sax), Chris Murphy (baritone sax). The Maple Blues Revue released it's debut recording, Live at Twisted Pines on the Preservation Music label in 2009.

Booking & Media info:
Bluestime Productions 416-467-1453 gary_kendall@rogers.com

Congratulations to John Mays, Maple Blues Award, Vocalist of the Year 2010 & Chris Whiteley, Maple Blues Awards, Horn Player of the Year 2010

	GARY KENDALL: Musical Director/Band Leader/Bassist www.garykendall.com Gary Kendall is probably the best known bass player in Canadian Blues, having toured and recorded with the legendary Downchild Blues Band twice, 1979-83 and currently since 1995. He has won the Maple Blues Award for Bassist of the Year six times and received fourteen nominations. In 1993 Gary received the prestigious “Blues With A Feeling Award” from The Toronto Blues Society. In 2002, the city of Thunder Bay presented him with the “Thunder Blues Award”, along with The Thunder Bay Blues Society's “Keeping The Blues Alive” Award. Gary Kendall has performed with Snooky Pryor, Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Big Jay McNeeley, Bob Margolin, Big Dave MacLean, Duke Robillard, Morgan Davis, Zora Young, Phil Guy and Joe Louis Walker, to name only a few. Besides Downchild and The Maple Blues Revue, he has recorded with Chris Murphy, Little Bobby & The Jumpstarts, Peter Schmidt & Shane Scott, Brian Blain, Maria Aurigema, Ray Edge and Son Roberts. His own 47 Records label has released the solo recordings, Dusty & Pearl and Feels Real Strong along with the digital singles, This Sacred Ground and Sumlin Around. When not with Downchild, The Maple Blues Revue or The Gary Kendall Band, his insatiable need to play the Blues finds him with Robin Bank$, The Swingin' Blackjacks, Son Roberts and The Mighty Duck Blues Band.
	TEDDY LEONARD: LEAD GUITAR Teddy Leonard has won The Maple Blues Award for Guitarist of The Year once and been nominated in that category three times. He is a longtime member of the Juno and Maple Blues Award winning band Fathead . A guitarist who is known for his own original blues sound, Teddy has recorded and toured with Fathead, Little Mack Simmons, Big Daddy G, The Johnny Max Band, Paul Reddick, Porkbelly Futures, The Gary Kendall Band and Rita Chiarelli along with maintaining a busy career as a freelancer. In 2010 the city of London, Ontario presented Teddy Leonard with "The Jimmy Lewis Award", a life time achievement award recognizing his long career as a blues musician.
	MICHAEL FONFARA: HAMMOND ORGAN & ELECTRIC PIANO www.iridescentmusic.ca Long known as one of the busiest, most versatile keyboard players in North America, Michael Fonfara has added immeasurably to hundreds of recording sessions in a career that began in the 60s when he was a member of Mike Bloomfield's, Electric Flag and the supergroup, Rhinoceros. Since then he has played with artist's as varied as Lou Reed and Solomon Burke. A member of The Downchild Blues Band since 1992, Fonfara has won The Maple Blues Award for Keyboard Player of The Year four times and has be nominated in that category nine times.
	CHRIS MURPHY: BARITONE SAXOPHONE & HORN ARRANGEMENTS www.chrismurphysax.com Saxophonist, Chris Murphy has been a full-time musician since 1978 and has been fronting his own band since 1985. HOTWIRED, his 3^rd solo CD, and his 7^th recording as a bandleader was released in October 2011. Chris has toured and recorded with Jack de Keyzer, Alberta Adams (Detroit's Queen of the Blues) and Chicago Pete.
	AL LERMAN: HARMONICA & TENOR SAXOPHONE www.allermanmusic.com www.fathead.biz Multi-instrumentalist Al Lerman (harmonica, tenor saxophone, guitar and vocals) is the band leader of the 2x Juno Award winning blues/roots outfit FATHEAD. He also performs regularly as a solo acoustic artist and often works as a guest sideman with a myriad of top-notch bands. With FATHEAD, Al has received two Juno Awards, a Canadian Indie Award, a pair of Jazz Report Awards for Blues Group Of The Year as well as two Maple Blues Awards for Electric Act of The Year. He has produced and appeared on numerous internationally acclaimed recordings including releases by blues legends Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Mel Brown. An accomplished songwriter, he released his first solo album “Crowe River Blues” in January 2012. Al has previously been nominated for Maple Blues awards as “Songwriter”, “Horn player” and “Harmonica Player Of The Year”.
	PAT CAREY: TENOR SAXOPHONE www.patcarey.ca Pat Carey has been the saxophone player with The Downchild Blues Band since 1985. Pat has received seven Maple Blues Awards for Horn Player of The Year and has been nominated fifteen times in that category. A very busy freelance musician, Pat has appeared on Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne's Juno Award Winning CD "Let It Loose", Sam Myers' WC Handy Award Nominated CD "Coming From The Old School", as well as numerous recordings by Downchild, Fathead, Jack de Keyzer, Rita Chiarelli, Jimmy Cavallo, Ron Hynes, Curley Bridges, Gary Kendall, Raoul & The Big Time, and many others. He also leads and records with his own jazz group, Pat Carey's Jazz Navigators.
	CHRIS WHITELEY: TRUMPET, GUITAR, HARMONICA www.chriswhiteley.com Chris Whiteley has been performing, recording and composing blues and roots music for over 30 years. He has received numerous awards, including Maple Blues Awards for Horn Player of The Year, Songwriter of The Year, Blues With A Feeling Award, a Jazz Report Award for Blues Album of The Year, and six Juno Award nominations. He has performed on Saturday Night Live with Leon Redbone and with his brother Ken at the Chicago Blues Festival. He has appeared on over 150 recordings and his compositions have been recorded by Amos Garrret, Fathead, Cindy Church, Penny Lang and Quartette. His successful partnership with Diana Braithwaite has produced to excellent recordings, "Morning Sun" and "Night Birds" on the Electro-fi label.
	TOM BONA: DRUMS www.tombona.com Tom Bona (Toronto/Halifax) is a multiple Maple Blues Award Winner, including four time winner for Drummer of the Year. A long time member of the Maple Blues Revue, and Raoul and the Big Time, Tom also holds drumming duties for Jon Knight’s SoulStack. Tom has toured, performed and recorded with a diverse variety of national and international artists, in many different genres encompassing blues, r&b, pop, and country, with the likes of The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Steve Lukather (Toto), Martha and the Muffins, Sue Foley, Jeff Healey, Colin James, Colin Linden, Duke Robillard, Roxanne Potvin, and the Good Brothers. Career highlights include; an appearance at the Cape Breton International Drum Festival with a solo drum kit educational piece called “The Seven Beats of Blues and Other Groovy Grooves”, performing for Muddy Water’s drummer, Willie Big Eyes Smith, and re-recording the pop song “Echo Beach” with Martha and the Muffins to celebrate the song’s 30th Anniversary. Other recent recordings include releases by Raoul and the Big Time, Treasa Levasseur, Maple Blues Revue, Sue Foley and Soulstack. Tom is also an accomplished songwriter, arranger and producer. Tom Bona plays Pearl Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Regal Tip sticks and Remo Heads exclusively.
	HOWARD MOORE: TRUMPET Residing in Toronto, Howard Moore is a classically trained musician who studied music at York University, University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music. His in-depth and versatile career has been as a trumpet player, keyboard player and vocalist. Over the past 15 years Howard has toured and recorded with many international reggae stars such as Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Third World, Gregory Isaacs and Dennis Brown. TV appearances include the NHL Awards, Juno Awards, Genie Awards, Gemini Awards and the 2006/07/08 Canadian Idol series. Movie/TV music supervisory roles include BRAVO’S “The Jazz Man”, Disney’s “In a Heart Beat”, “In My Father’s Shoes” staring Lou Gosset Jr. and “Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang” staring Gary Busey and Ice-T. Howard has consistently recorded with many of the country’s best artists. He has appeared on over 200 albums, acting as music arranger/producer on many of them! In addition to performing with The Maple Blues Revue, Howard’s busy performance schedule also includes playing with Bradley & The Bouncers, Chuck Jackson’s Big Blues Revue, Sophia Perlman & the Vipers, Big Rude Jake, The Gillian Margot Quintet and Pat Carey's Jazz Navigators. When not playing around town, Howard is busy with plenty of studio work.

Maple Blues Revue

Click on Picture

to download

300dpi 8x10

Maple Blues Revue

Click on Picture

to download

300dpi 9x4

Chuck Jackson

Click on Picture

to download

300dpi 4x5

Dawn Tyler Watson

Click on Picture

to download

300dpi 4x6

John Mays

Click on Picture

to download

300dpi 4x5

Maple Blues Band 2011

Click on Picture

to download

300dpi 10x5

l-r Micheal Fonfara organ & piano, Pat Carey tenor saxophone, Gary Kendall, bass, musical director, band leader, Chris Whiteley trumpet, guitar, harmonica, Tom Bona drums, Teddy Leonard electric & acoustic guitar, Chris Murphy baritone saxophone, Al Lerman harmonica & tenor saxophone

Photo Credit: Tracey Savein, Southpaw Productions

Click Here for the Maple Blues Revue Stage Plot w/ Electric Piano

Click Here for the Maple Blues Revue Stage Plot w/ Grand Piano

Maple Blues Revue with Dawn Tyler Watson and the 2011 Maple Blues Awards

Treasa Levasseur with The Sojourners and The Maple Blues Band

Harry Manx with the Maple Blues Band

Maple Blues Revue Live at the Mont Tremblant Blues Festival

	CHUCK JACKSON: www.chuckjackson.com Chuck Jackson began his singing career applying his versatile voice to a wide range of musical styles. It was in 1979 when he joined The Cameo Blues Band that he really began to shape the distinctive rhythm and blues style. Armed with a hot blues harmonica, Chuck has been featured on many television and movie projects as well as working with Bo Diddley, James Cotton and Georgie Fame. Chuck Jackson has been the vocalist with the legendary Downchild Blues Band since 1990. He has been nominated three times for The Maple Blues Award for Male Vocalist of The Year and won the award in 2000 and 2007. In 2001 he was presented with the lifetime achievement, Blues With A Feeling Award.
	JOHN MAYS: www.fathead.biz John Mays has been the lead vocalist for the Juno and multiple Maple Blues Award winning band, Fathead, since 1992. He has won The Maple Blues Award for Male Vocalist of The Year six times and has been nominated in that category often. As a member of The Insiders, he toured with James Brown in the seventies. Prior to joining Fathead he was a co-founder of The Bleeker St. Band.
	DAWN TYLER WATSON: www.dawntylerwatson.com Multi-talented vocalist and songwriter, Dawn Tyler Watson gained international attention in 1997 with three songs on a Preservation Records compilation CD. In 2001 she released her own much anticipated and critically acclaimed “Ten Dollar Dress” on that label. Dawn has seventeen Maple Blues Award nominations in the Vocalist, New Artist, Album, Entertainer and Producer categories. Dawn Tyler Watson has received The Maple Blues Award for Female Vocalist of the Year 2005 and 2007. She also hosted the 11th annual Maple Blues Awards ceremony in 2008. Besides doing her own concerts she has shared the stage with Colin James, Sonny Landreth, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Jeff Healey, Big Time Sarah, Sue Foley, Rita Chiarelli, Harry Manx, Mel Brown, Jimmy Bowskill and Ray Bonneville.