CARLOS DEL JUNCO @ SACKVILLE (NB) FALL FAIR - SEPT. 22/07

Sackville Fall Fair and TBS (Tantramarsh Blues Society) Present Cuban-born, Toronto-based Carlos Del Junco and his band on Saturday, September 22, at 9 PM, in the Bridge Street Tent, Downtown Sackville, NB - ADMISSION IS FREE!

Also Playing:

New Brunswick’s bluegrass masters Caledonia Drive (David Lewis, Ron Girouard, Ron Savoie and Calvin DeLeavey)

Saturday, September 22nd, 7 PM - ADMISSION IS FREE

2005 "Best Blues" Award - NOW Magazine, Toronto, ON

1997 - 2006 Harmonica Player of the Year - SEVEN times out of the Canadian Maple Blues Award's TEN year history

1998 JUNO NOMINATION for BIG BOY CD

1996 Blues Musician of the Year Award - Jazz Report Magazine

1993 Hohner World Harmonica Championship – Trossingen, Germany - two Gold Medals in both diatonic blues and diatonic jazz

Born in Havana, Cuba, Del Junco (loosely translated "of the reeds") immigrated with his family at the age of one. He bent his first note on a harmonica when he was fourteen and has an honours from a four-year programme, majoring in sculpture at the Ontario College of Art. Sculpture has definitely had an influence on his outlook on music: "Music is just a different way of creating textures and shapes."

Playing a ten-hole diatonic harmonica, Carlos has developed the unique ability to play chromatically by using a recently developed "overblow" technique taught to him by jazz virtuoso Howard Levy. Overall, this approach to the diatonic harmonica, although much more difficult to achieve, is in many ways more expressive and communicative than the mechanised tone produced by the chromatic harmonica.

Carlos is one of the few pioneers of this overblow method, bringing musical credibility to what has still been considered by many in the music industry - a fringe folk instrument. The sophisticated sound produced by Del Junco is at once sensitive, soulful, and sexy while never forgetting the rawness inherent in blues music. During the '80s, Del Junco performed with many bands, including Latin/reggae/r&b band Eyelevel, Ontario College of Art Swing Band, with Bill Grove, and he had a six-year stint with rhythm and blues group The Buzz Upshaw [R.I.P.] Band.

With Kevin Cooke, in 1990, he formed a blues/jazz/fusion band, The Delcomos. He has recorded with Marcel Aymar (Cano), Cassandra Vassick, Oliver Schroer, Zappacosta, and has also worked with Dutch Mason, Domenic Troiano, Hock Walsh (Downchild Blues Band) and Holly Cole.

In 1991, Del Junco performed and composed the music for Tomson Highway's Dora award-winning play, "Dry Lips Oughta Move To Kapuskasing". The production toured Canada and was held over for seven weeks at Toronto's Royal Alex Theatre.

In 1993 Carlos won two gold medals at the Hohner World Harmonica Championship held in Trossingen, Germany. He was judged world's best in both the diatonic blues category and the diatonic jazz category. With the late Bill Kinnear, Carlos released his first CD, Blues, on independent label Big Reed Records in November 1993. The rich collection of blues classics was a collaborative effort, with Kinnear playing acoustic and dobro guitars and handling lead vocals.

Five out of six reviewers in the Toronto Blues Society selected Blues in their top ten releases of 1993. In March/April 1995, Del Junco travelled to Chicago with a Canada Council grant to study with Howard Levy.

This year saw the release of the critically acclaimed Just Your Fool, a sizzling live session with Kevin Breit on guitar, Al Duffy on bass, and Geoff Arsenault on drums. It was this CD and the collaborative effort with Thom "Champagne Charlie" Roberts, Big Road Blues, that won Carlos the 1996 Blues Musician Of The Year Award.

Del Junco continues to produce an eclectic palette of music on Blues Mongrel, his (2005) 6th recording and his debut for Northern Blues. The set features his daring harmonica style, which flirts with Latin rhythms (“Let’s Mambo”), rockabilly (“Run Me Down”) and even a quirky jazz-ska hybrid (“Skatoon”). And, as a singer, Carlos’s voice is almost as unique as his harp playing. Remarkable guitar work by Kevin Breit, one of the most sought-after session players in Canada and now in the U.S., thanks in large part to his work with Norah Jones and Cassandra Wilson, adds texture to the 13-track collection.

Carlos has toured Canada regularly since 1996 and tours often in Germany and the United States. He has played all the major jazz, blues, and folk festivals across Canada. For more on the Fall Fair and the lineup in the Tent, please visit:

www.sackville.com/community/FallFair

'Hope to see you at that show....

Regards,


The TBS Team
Mount Allison University
Sackville, NB