26/07/2024
French Bluesman Makes His American Debut In Sparta
The Sparta Summer Concert Series continues this Friday July 26th. Coming all the way across The Atlantic is French bluesman Manu Lanvin & The NYC Session Band. After releasing his first three albums between 2000-2006, in which he mainly focused on rock music, Manu Lanvin finally found his most natural path with the Devil Blues, a power trio that suited him perfectly.
In 2013, he played 120 concerts, including prestigious stages in Europe and the United States (such as Olympia, Apollo Theater, and Montreux Jazz Festival), and was jointly invited by Claude Nobs and Quincy Jones to perform at the Jazz Foundation of America's galas in New York. He was selected to represent France at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis in 2014, and finally won the Cognac Blues Passions Prize in July 2015. During this infernal tour, the Devil Blues found time to produce the brilliant "SON(S) OF THE BLUES" in 2014, which retains a large part of the musical heritage of the southern United States and Highway 61.
On November 13, 2015, Paris suffered an unprecedented terrorist attack. Youth, freedom, and the world of entertainment were targeted, and the whole world was shaken. "If the gods are here to kill, then I prefer to be the Devil because mine doesn't kill, mine advocates peace and love through music, blues, and rock 'n' roll," Manu said, getting a devil tattooed on his back. This strong image was immortalized by photographer Eric Martin and became the cover of the album "BLUES, BOOZE AND ROCK’N’ROLL" released in 2016.
"BLUES, BOOZE AND ROCK’N’ROLL" is undoubtedly Manu's album of maturity and earned him praise from the music press and recognition from professionals. The album was selected as one of the "Best Albums of the Year" by Le Parisien, his show was recognized as one of the best performances of the year by Rock & Folk magazine, and Manu was nominated for "Best Male Performer" at the 2017 Globes de Cristal.
Acclaimed by an increasingly large audience at "Le Diable" concerts and hailed by his peers such as Paul Personne, who regularly joins him on stage, or Johnny Hallyday, who invites him to open for him, Manu perfectly embodies the disillusioned bluesman who sings about life's low blows while remaining an optimistic rocker who advocates for devil's music for a better world.
During the 2017 tour, Manu and his team stopped for three days at the 4A Sound Factory, a recording studio located near the Forges Les Eaux casino, to record some covers. These 3 days quickly turned into 13 studio days, during which Manu, surrounded by his favorite musicians, embarked on recording a new full album consisting of some revisited blues classics as well as original songs, all recorded live in this superb vintage-equipped recording studio. The result is "GRAND CASINO" a pure Blues n' Roll album where one also discovers and savors with delight some duets with prestigious friends who have answered the Devil's call: Taj Mahal, Beverly Jo Scott, Johnny Gallagher, Popa Chubby and Paul Personne.
The NYC Session Band are an allstar cast featuring guitarist Arthur Neilson (Blue Angel w/Cyndi Lauper & decades with Shemekia Copeland), bassist, producer & composer Mike Muller, and British drummer Steve Holley (Wings, Joe Cocker, Ian Hunter & Elton John).
Opening the show, Cold In Hand. Veterans of the Tri-state Blues scene, Bob Lanza and Al Gold join forces in a new group they call, “Cold In Hand”. Both are singers, songwriters, guitarists and recording artists with their own sound, vision and inspiration. Add Mark Pavlica and Tom Papadatos (bass & drums) and you add tone, taste, ability, experience and an unflappable nature to go above and beyond what’s asked of them. Playing from NYC, NJ to Texas, New Orleans and back again, their energetic up-tempo style connects with any age audience.
Shows are FREE to the public, 7PM start, rain or shine. Dykstra Park, 22 Woodport Rd, Sparta. Please visit www.spartaarts.org for more details.
