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Winnekenni Jazz and Blues Festival
I have assembled a diverse cast of very special guest to join the Joey Vellucci Band for this first Jazz and Blues festival at the Winnekenni. I have worked with all these artist and they are my favorite folks to work with. Each of them is very talented, soulful and perform from there hearts. I must also mention that joining me will be my regular band consisting of Skip Fisher on drums and Jim Lamond on bass. These two guys are just the best musicians around and they make me sound better then I actually am!!! There great guys too.
Our first guest of the day will be :

Lisa Marie:
In just 3 short years Lisa Marie has made her presence known with her vocal range and powerful vocal delivery. Lisa can can belt out a searing soul tune and then surprise you with sweet accapella. A true entertainer and performer, her presence onstage draws the audience right in.
Evan Goodrow:
Evan Goodrow is a fantastic guitar player, singer and writer who I first met a couple years ago and we became instant friends and guitar pals. As a guitarist Evan is just unbelievable, he can play the most beautiful classic jazz guitar or rip you in half with soulful blues-rock-fusion soloing over a stone cold funk or hip-hop groove. Evan can play any style of music and he plays it all at a much higher level then what normal people call great guitar playing. He is also one of my favorite singers and writers. He really has a unique style that is very hip and very creative. There is no doubt in my mind that Evan will break nationally very soon and go onto huge success.

Scott the Cat Anderson:
I recently started working with Scott the Cat Anderson after years of hearing stories about this legendary guitarist/singer. I first heard about Scott when he was the lead singer for Roy Buchanon (known as the greatest unknown guitarist in the world, and it was true) and then about 6 months ago I was reading the book called American Axe the story of Roy Buchanon and I knew that I had to seek out this Scott the Cat Anderson and work with him. Well I was able to reach him via Al Coccaroccio president of Black Rose Records and the rest is history. Scotts career rolls back about 30 years ago to the rough hard drinking bars on Nantasket Beach. Bars and Clubs long forgotten except for dusty memories in people lucky enough to have caught shows there.

Legendary record producer Barry Marshall wrote
““This kid has a big future!”
I first met Scott in 1972 (30 years ago!) at Isabelle’s Harbor BookStore in Scituate, Massachusetts. Scituate is my hometown; next door is Cohasset, where Scott terrorized the locals while growing up. Isabelle’s store was both an education in itself and a fluke of both marketing and music history, which could never happen today. She was a bohemian and intellectual (Sarah Lawrence grad) who opened up three bookstore/record stores in 1939, and never “returned” anything that she didn’t sell!
Anyone who grew up in the South Shore towns of Marshfield, Scituate or Cohasset from the thirties until the seventies probably got part of their early music and or book learning from Isabelle. She was also “different” enough to be prematurely a beatnik, hippie and punk rocker before anyone heard of any of those cultural stereotypes, and to scare some of the more provincial parents. What Isabelle also had in her store by the early seventies was a treasure trove of mint condition records from every era. I worked there while going to school and starting out as a pro musician, and while there met all sorts of interesting characters from the crazy world of record collecting. Besides Scott, I met several others who I later worked with in various capacities in the music business like Andy Paley, Lenny Kaye, and Peter Wolf. Obsessed music nuts! Original pressings, EPs and picture sleeves! Scott was looking for Elvis picture sleeves in particular and rockabilly and country and rhythm and blues records in general. And he was obsessed. When I saw him perform shortly thereafter, I could see why. He seemed literally possessed by the true wild spirit of rockabilly. I think the dynamic spirit of his performances is captured here in these recordings, which range in time from 1974 until 1991. While the production quality varies here, the level of musicianship and Scott’s energy never flags. Scott always had great guitar players (besides wielding a mean Telecaster himself) and here you can hear some tasty and at times unrestrained licks from the likes of Boston legends Bobby Keyes, Billy Coover, and Eric Rosenfeld. He later went on to tour for several years with the truly transcendent Roy Buchanan, but that’s another story for another record: “Attack of the Telecasters” which is being released in 2003.
Some of my fondest early memories of gigging were playing drums behind Scott during the seventies. We must have played every dive in the Boston area, particularly a slew of the “buckets of blood” on the old Nantasket Beach/ Paragon Park strip. Long gone joints like the Hillbilly Ranch (Sleepy LaBeef’s regular stop), Frontenac (Scott bellowing from the stage: "I’ll have three White Russians-Make that four White Russians”!), and Jimmy’s Irish Lounge (can’t you just picture it?) resonate in the dimly grasped memories of many, but also provided the musical chops, fortitude and entertainment skills to Scott, myself and anyone demented enough to share the stage with us. We both went on to other great gigs. Scott, notably with Myles Connor and Roy Buchanan, and myself playing with LaVern Baker and producing greats like Ben E. King and Peter Wolf.
We had a reunion of sorts when I hired Scott to be part of Doc Pomus’ 65th Birthday party in New York. What a night! We put together three acts: one to play Doc’s Elvis and Rockabilly tunes (guess who sang), one to play Doc’s blues and R n' B Classics (singing great Philip Hamilton), and one to back up jazz great Jimmy Scott. Scott the Cat acquitted himself well and got a heartfelt Thanks from Doc, and a crowd (including Phil Spector, Lyle Lovett, Lou Reed, Paul Shaffer and Ivana Trump (!) – Doc had a motley and large group of friends that danced up a storm.
Scott’s now entering a new phase of his career, gigging again, but also releasing records (on CD finally). Upcoming releases include the aforementioned Scott/ Roy Buchanan live sides and new recordings of Scott singing Doc Pomus songs (some of which have never been recorded before- Doc gave them to us after his party). As Doc told me that night: “This kid has a big future!”
~Barry Marshall