Brian Bisesi
McIntosh, Iain
I'm a great admirer of his recent playing with folks like Steve Guyger
and Luther Guitar Junior Johnson. I'm interested to have a bit of
background info on the man.
By the way, for anyone who doesn't have it, Johnson's recent
"Talkin' About Soul" is a real cracker.
Iain McIntosh
Winchester, Hampshire, England
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Steve Edmonson
Brian Bisesi (pronounced Bih-say-zee) is an old friend of mine who has
backed some of the best in blues, including Muddy Waters (some of you may
remember when Muddy would bring out this little dude who played "Mojo" with
him in the late seventies/early eighties...that was Brian. His position in
Muddy's band has been alternately described to me as everything from
"Personal Manager," or "Stage Manager," to "Valet," or even "Gopher,") J.B.
Hutto (I have a couple of recordings of Brian with J.B.,) Guitar Junior
Johnson, Lazy Lester, Victoria Spivey, and many more. I worked with him
backing James Cotton on a few dates back in the early nineties. Originally
from New York, Brian moved out west from Atlanta to join the Dynatones.
When that didn't work out for him, he left the Dynatones, but stayed in the
SF Bay Area for the next 5-6 years. He left here some time back to move to
Philly to play with Steve Guyger. The last time that I talked to him, he
had moved to New York, and back to Philly again. In recent years, he also
made a recording with old friend, Ola Dixon, that was released on Severn, I
believe. Brian is a stickler for "stylistic integrity," and that can
sometimes rub people the wrong way, but he is one of my favorite blues
guitar players, and during the five years that I played with him regularly
while he was living in SF, I learned something new from him every night.
Brian grew up with Conan O'Brien guitarist, Jimmy Vivino, and I know that
they enjoy playing together whenever possible. Brian is a VERY musical cat
who come from the "less is more" school of guitar playing. He always
strives to make the ensemble sound better, rather than to make his playing
stand out. Although Brian has mastered many styles of blues, and taught me
quite a bit, listening to the other band members and being an ensemble
player are definitely the greatest things that I learned from him. He is
another seasoned blues player that should be getting a lot more recognition
than he's been getting, especially since there a fewer and fewer blues
musicians out there that actually learned from directly from first
generation blues players, or as Brian used to put it, "musicians that have
drunk directly from the well!" I will forward my response and your initial
post to Brian, and see if he wants to contact you directly. Brian is one
blues guitarist defintiely worth seeking out, especially live!
Steve Edmonson
edmo...@comcast.net
The Jackie Payne-Steve Edmonson Band
http://www.payne-edmonson.com
ChicagoB...@aol.com
Johnson.
CB
<<
Steve Edmonson
----- Original Message -----
From: "McIntosh, Iain" <iain.m...@hants.gov.uk>
To: <BLU...@LISTS.NETSPACE.ORG>
Subject: Brian Bisesi
Iain McIntosh
Winchester, Hampshire, England
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