I was selected as a nominee for best Jazz/Blues artist for the 2007 SF Weekly Music Awards! Please show your support and vote for me here:

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2007/10/two_gallants_the_pack_top_the.php

Although, I feel funny about music/art/film awards, it feels nice to be recognized every now and again. The other nominations went to Howard Wiley, Ben Goldberg and Terrence Brewer...all friends and musical associates. We are very different, artistically speaking, so that's we're my feelings about "winning" come into play. But enough of those "feelings". Help me win!

Thanks for your support, I can't do what I do without you.

-Wil

Hey Peoples-

I was voted "Organist of the Month" from two Hammond-related websites in June and July! In June, I was selected by www.captain-foldback.com where I did a short interview and in July, by www.iajo.org. For IAJO, I wrote a few paragraphs on my musical journey and how I ended up on the Hammond B3... which I'll reprint here...

Wil tells his story how he came to the organ:

I grew up just outside of Chicago in Evanston, IL. As a kid I got into music at a pretty early age. Initially, I was interested in playing drums and after many put together drumsets, made out of pans, boxes and film trays for cymbals, my parents bought me a Sears drumset. It was part toy/part real. I was 8 years old then but, after a year or so I was really playing, so my parents stepped up and bought me my first real drumset. From there, I studied in school and played in the school band. I also tried to put my first band together in 4th grade. It was funny because I was really serious about it and trying to get the other 9 year olds to take it seriously wasn't easy.

By the time I was 13, I had gotten into the electric guitar. I kept studying and playing the drums, but I also began guitar lessons and was very serious about that. In high school I started listening to a lot of "classic rock", mainly Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd. I remember one specific time when I was 15, my friends Bru, Tweedie and I were playing a gig. Bru was on keyboard and I was on drums. Bru put on a sound that was supposed to be like a Hammond and I remember thinking how killin' that sound was. After that I really started to notice the organ in music I was listening to ... Pink Floyd, The Doors, Santana and all those people. Also, growing up in Chicago, I was always hearing the B-3 sound unconsciously via the Blues bands that played there.

I became obsessed and I had to have a Hammond. So my senior year of high school, I bought my first Hammond. The summer before, I had scraped together a little cash from some fence painting that I had done. I had just enough to get a Hammond M-3 (a baby B-3 with no bass register), no leslie speaker. I was still seriously playing the drums and guitar and planned to go to college for the guitar. And I keep hearing about some cat named Jimmy Smith that people were telling me to check out. After finally hearing him, I was the knocked the hell out. It was completely different from the stuff I had been hearing.

When I was 18, I moved to San Francisco where I was studying with the great bassist Herbie Lewis at New College of California. My second year there, I was asked by a friend of a friend to play a Saturday happy hour set at John Lee Hooker's Boom Boom Room. The club had a B-3 and two leslies! I was so excited and ended up doing it every Saturday. It was the Boom Boom where I really learned to play the B-3 ... The guitarist and drummer forced me to play my own bass. Having to do this every week really made me pick the instrument up fast. Within a couple years I could hold my own.

It was Herbie Lewis who asked me to choose one instrument to focus on. I think he felt like I was juggling too much by trying to play three instruments. I didn't have to waste much time to choose the organ! Also around this time I met Dr. Lonnie Smith. When I told him I was playing on an M-3, he got real close and said, "throw it away!" Within a month or two, I got myself a Hammond C-3 (identical to the B-3). By that time, the phone was ringing and gigs were coming along ... I had also picked up tuesday nights at the Boom Boom with trumpet player, Oscar Myers. Still under age, I was playing the Boom Boom two to three nights a week illegally.

As write this, I'm 27 and have been playing B-3 for 8 years or so. I've never regretted choosing this instrument. It has such a beautiful sound and it makes me feel good just thinking about it. I am completely self-taught on organ with the exception of the mentorship that Dr. Lonnie Smith has so graciously given me. Playing drums gave me the coordination to play organ and playing guitar gave me the melodic ear. I just put the two together and applied it to the organ. In the years I have been playing, I have been fortunate enough to play with some musical greats including John Lee Hooker, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Melvin Sparks, Idris Muhammad and many others. I hope to continue doing this for as long as I possibly can and maybe a little beyond that!

Wil Blades

Hey, so a few of my friends have put out some pretty impressive records recently...So, I thought I'd share.

*Will Bernard - Party Hats - I play organ on this one...
http://www.willbernard.com

*Nathan Germick - Year of the Dragon
http://www.germart.org

*Adam Shulman - On Second Thought
http://cdbaby.com/cd/adamshulman

*Dayna Stephens - A Timless Now - Feat. John Scofield
http://www.daynastephens.com

I have to say it is really inspirational to see and hear some of my close friends putting out such good music. All four of these records have been in heavy rotation around the Blades/Harper household, and not just because they're friends, they all stand out to me as some of the best music I've heard this year.

So, we went into the studio last Wednesday and that shit was ridiculous! I really couldn't be happier. Everyone put everything they had into the session. The cast was Idris Muhammad on drums, Will Bernard on Guitar, Dayna Stephens on tenor, Gabe Eaton on alto and Mike Rinta on trombone(who just got a gig with Sly Stone!!!) Idris said he hasn't made a record like this since Lou Donaldson! It really floored me when he said that, considering how many great records he's made.

So, hopefully we will get everything taken care of in the next few months and I will finally have a record! The record is being release with Doodlin' Records: www.doodlinrecords.com

You can check out pics from the session on my photos page.

So, I have switched to Pete Fallico's wonderful new record label, Doodlin' Records. In addition to DJing on many radio stations, Pete has, for a long time, been putting on shows with everyone from Jimmy Smith, Joey Defrancesco, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Charles Earland, Big John Patton, Shirley Scott, Larry Goldings, and MANY more. And that's just the organists. So, I'm VERY honored to be a part his new record label.

Next month I'll be going in to the studio with the follwing line-up:

Idris Muhammad, Drums
Will Bernard, Guitar
Dayna Stephens, Tenor
Look for a record in the coming months...

I think my 11 month old daughter, Maelah might be a musical genius. I was listening to the Jimmy Smith album, Got My Mojo Working, when all of the sudden she goes and hits an F on the piano. The tunes was a Blues in F(suprise, suprise)! Then to top it off, right when the VI chord comes in before II(sorry about the musician speak), she hits a D on the piano! That shit tripped my out.

Babies sometimes do stuff that is so right on, it makes you wonder. Coincidence? Probably. But, nevertheless it made my day. Just thought I'd share a cool thing from a bragging Daddy...

I was featured on KQED's "Spark" last night. Spark is a television show that features local artists of all trades. The segment features interviews with myself, Dr. Lonnie Smith, a crazed club owner, as well as performances from O.G.D and Dr. Lonnie and I. The show aired at 7:30pm on channel 9, but will be rebroadcast on Friday at 11pm. The Spark segment is also available for streaming off the web...



To view the segment from the web, go here:

http://www.kqed.org/arts/people/profile.jsp?id=7461



For episode & rebroadcast info, go here:

http://www.kqed.org/arts/spark/episode.jsp?id=6860


And finally, to hear a free O.G.D. MP3, go here:

http://www.kqed.org/arts/spark/page.jsp?id=9..2006


Hope to see ya soon!


-Wil Blades

http://www.wilblades.com
http://www.myspace.com/wilbladesb3