Downchild
Michael Baryshnikov
Замечательная канадская блюзовая команда.
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Downchild - Come On In
(с)AMG Biography
Led by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Donnie "Mr. Downchild Walsh, the Downchild
Blues Band is the premier blues band in Canada. Their saxophone-driven jump
blues provided a major inspiration on Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi's
Blues Brothers, who included Walsh's tunes, "Everything I Need (Almost)" and
"Shotgun Blues", on their 1978 debut album, Briefcase Of The Blues.
Formed in 1969, by Walsh and his brother, Richard "Hock Walsh, the Downchild
Blues Band endured continuous personnel turnover. More than eighteen musicians,
including Gene Taylor, who went on to play with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and
Kenny Neal, who joined after leaving the employ of Buddy Guy and relocating to
Toronto. Conflict between the Walsh brothers resulted in Hock Walsh being fired
from the band, shortly before work began on their third album, in 1974.
Although he returned to work with the band in 1977 and 1985, his hard living
caught up with him on February 1999 when he succumbed to an apparent heart
attack. Since the early 1990s, Downchild Blues Band has benefited from a
more-fixed lineup. Vocalist/songwriter Chuck Jackson, who joined in 1990,
received a Maple Blues award as "best male vocalist of 1999" and a "Blues With
A Feeling" award, from the Toronto Blues Society, for his "achievements during
a distinguished career".
A former member of 1960s rock band, Rhinoceros, Michael Fonfara received a
Maples Blues award, in 2000, as "piano/keyboards player of the year." Mike
Fitzpatrick has played drums with Big Joe Turner, Sonny Rhodes, Hubert Sumlin
and Bob Margolin and has recorded with such blues artists as Snooky Pryor and
B.B. Odom. Gary Kendall, who played bass on the band's earliest recordings,
returned after a twelve year break, during which he booked concerts at Toronto
blues club, the Silver Dollar. The recipient of a Toronto Blues Society "Blues
With A Feeling" award, in 1993, he received Maple Blues awards as "bass player
of the year" in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002.
The signature sound of the Downchild Blues Band continues to emanate from
saxophone player, Pat Carey. A member of the band since 1985, Carey previously
worked with the Winnepeg Symphony, the Jimmy King Golden Boy Brass, Tony Faim
And The Dukes and Richard "Hock Wilson.
In addition to providing horn arrangements for such Canadian artists as Jack
DeKeyzer, big Daddy G, Sonny Fournier and Chuck Jackson and The All Stars, he
has recorded with Rita Chiarelli, Fathead, the Unity Band, Danny Brooks and
Curley Bridges. The recipient of a Maple Blues award as "horn player of the
year", in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, he recorded an album, Starlight with his
group, Pat Carey's Jazz Navigators. Raised in northern Ontario, where their
parents ran a resort hotel, Donnie and Richard "Hock Wilson relocated to
Toronto in their teens. Together with the Downchild Blues Band, they recorded
one of the first independent albums to be released in Canada. Recorded in two
nights, in a small makeshift studio at Rochdale College, the album, titled
Bootleg, was picked up for distribution by RCA Victor and re-released in Canada
and Japan.
Their second album, Straight Up", released in 1974, included the band's only
hit, a reworking of Joe Turner's "Flip, Flop And Fly".
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Rest begards...oh, sorry, best regards, Michael
... Badder than old King Kong meaner than a yankyard dog...