- past festival performer

ONE OF THE ONLY BLUES BANDS IN THE WORLD TO SELL OVER 1 MILLION ALBUMS,

For over two decades Powder Blues has been one of Canada’s leading proponents of a vital music that incorporates some of the most vibrant elements of Swing, Blues, Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blues into a readily identifiable sound they can truly call their own. This broad approach has resulted in an appeal whose demographic is so wide that it is not unusual to find people from seven to seventy swaying side by side at a Powder Blues concert. Throughout the years they have toured ceaselessly throughout Canada, the United States and overseas, spreading the joy of a music that makes people smile and dance.
Fads come and go, as in the current resurgence of interest in Swing and Jive music, but Powder Blues is no follower of trends; on the contrary, they seem to foresee trends and set them. When they first burst upon the recording scene in late 1979, with their self financed and self produced debut album, ‘Uncut’, after nearly two years of wood shedding and honing their unique blend of sounds in Vancouver’s then flourishing nightclub scene, the established recording industry label giants shrugged their effort off as ‘not commercial’. The band was told there was ‘no market for the blues’.

Not to be discouraged, the band pressed the album at their own expense and proceeded to sell it off stage and deliver it to radio stations. When the switchboards at the stations lit up with calls asking ‘who’s that?’ other stations followed suit. After selling nearly 30,000 copies in a matter of weeks, the major record labels came calling and entered a bidding war for the band’s services and the right to distribute this ‘non-commercial’ product nationally. RCA won the contract and to date that album has gone on to sell nearly a million copies worldwide.

Band highlights include winning Canada’s most prestigious National Music Award, the Juno, in 1981, headlining and recording a live album at the world famous Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland in 1983, being presented with the W.C. Handy Award in Memphis, Tennessee in 1986 and touring the Soviet Union and being released on Melodya Records in 1990. They have appeared in concert with such legendary names as Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, James Brown, Albert Collins, James Cotton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Who, ZZ Top, the Doobie Brothers, Edgar Winter and Tower of Power.

The Powder Blues currently have four CD titles in print; ‘First Decade/Greatest Hits’ on WEA Records, ‘Live At Montreux’, on Peerless Records, and ‘Let’s Get Loose’ on WEA Records and their latest CD titled ‘Swingin’ the Blues’ on Blue Wave Records which was released in September of 2001. The band continues to tour regularly and has never played less than 50 shows and sometimes as many as 300 shows in each of the 23 years they have been performing.

Leader, Tom Lavin has written many of the band’s best-known songs, including ‘Doin’ It Right’ [‘On the Wrong Side of Town’] and ‘Boppin With the Blues’. Originally born in Chicago, Illinois where he learned his craft by watching and working with both cover bands and many of the local ‘blues legends’, Tom moved to Vancouver in the late sixties to study filmmaking. By night he made his living working as a musician in the thriving downtown nightclub scene. This eventually lead to his career as a studio musician and subsequently, to his role as record producer and studio owner.

Tom has been singing and playing guitar for a living for over 35 years. He has been presented with a number of awards including B.C. Music Industry Association awards for ‘Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter and Producer of the Year’, a Canadian Music Industry Association Juno award for ‘Best New Band’ and the American W.C. Handy award for ‘Best Foreign Blues Band’. He has over a dozen ‘Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum’ record awards for playing in, writing for or producing such bands as Powder Blues, Prism, April Wine, Long John Baldry, Amos Garrett, Susan Jacks, The Good Brothers and P.J. Jackson.

He has produced albums for many international labels including RCA, WEA, Capitol, Columbia, EMI, BMG, Polygram, Peerless and Stoney Plain Records and has produced albums or written songs for such notables as Long John Baldry, Amos Garrett and Lowell Fulson. His four story, 20,000 square foot recording complex, Blue Wave Studios has not only produced Gold Records for Powder Blues and numerous other artists, it has recorded sound for film, TV and radio. It is also home to Burkeville Productions, a company responsible for the themes, scores and jingles for countless movies, TV shows and products including Ford, McDonalds and Bell Telephone.

The Powder Blues: Historical Highlights
1978:
Form house band in Vancouver’s Gastown. Play local club scene for 18 months.
1980: Release debut album ‘Uncut’. Tour Canada and U.S. on strength of four top ten records.
1981: ‘Uncut‘ goes double platinum. Band wins ‘Best New Group’ at Juno Awards, airplay on the BBC and in Europe. Second album, ‘Thirsty Ears’, is released on Capital Records. Ships platinum and first single reaches top 5 nationally. Touring continues at over 300 shows per year. Record album with blues great Lowell Fulson.
1982: Third album, ‘Party Line’ released. First single gets heavy national airplay. Band plays 65 U.S. dates to promote.
1983: European tour garners spectacular reviews at prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland. ‘Red Hot/ True Blue’, a double album with 18 tunes, cut live in the studio, is issued on RCA Records.
1984-1985: Fifth album ‘Live At Montreux’ is released on Blue Wave Records, to critical acclaim. CBC airs on hour national TV special, ‘Powder Blues Live at Montreux’. Band performs 175 dates in U.S. and Canada.
1986: The coveted W.C. Handy Award for blues is presented to the Powder Blues in Memphis, Tennessee for ‘Best Foreign Blues Band’.
1988: Ten Year Anniversary sees the band touring at a pace of over 100 dates per year.
1990-1991: ‘First Decade/Greatest Hits' is released featuring 19 cuts. Band performs 12 concerts in the Soviet Union, releases product on Melodya Records. Touring continues and band begins work on a new studio album.
1993: ‘Let’s Get Loose’ containing 12 new studio cuts, is released on WEA records. Band tours nationally to support release.
1994-1996: Band continues to tour playing an average of 50 shows a year including major blues and jazz festivals in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City.
1997: 'Lowell Fulson with the Powder Blues' finally released on Stoney Plain Records. ‘Live at Montreux’ is restored to its original concert length, re-mastered digitally and released worldwide. Powder Blues ‘First Decade/Greatest Hits’ on WEA goes ‘gold .
1998-1999: Powder Blues play over 100 live shows from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
2000-2001: Work begins on the writing and arranging of ‘Swingin’ the Blues’, touring continues.
2002: ‘Swingin’ the Blues’ is released in Canada and the U.S. on Blue Wave Records as the band plays 70 live shows.
2003: In studio to complete big band CD. 25th anniversary for band. Touring continues.
2004- 2005: Big Band CD 'blues + jazz = BLAZZ!!' released and band plays over 100 shows as the Blue Wave rolls on.

Contact Us: Temecula Valley International Jazz Festival

Temecula, CA 92590 - Southern California's Wine Country - A Vacation is waiting for you

Jon Laskin - founder / CEO (951) 678-2517 or (928) 222-3009 fax

email@musiciansworkshop.org or email@jonlaskin.com

© Copyright 2003 – 2007. All rights reserved.
Temecula Valley International Jazz Festival,
Musicians Workshop