Freddie brooks

Freddie Brooks is a singer songwriter and blues harmonica player.

Biography

Freddie Brooks was raised outside of Wichita, Kansas. Born in 1962, he grew up one of four children in a musical family where both his mother and father were professional musicians. He sang throughout his childhood, studied music in college and begin playing music professionally in his early 20's when he moved from Kansas to Phoenix, Arizona. Drawn to Southern California in 1989 he formed the Freddie Brooks band, and became a noted figure in the Southern California blues music scene.

Career

Brooks fronted bands playing jump, swing and West Coast blues. In June 1999, Brooks released the CD One Little Word on Oregon's KingAce label, co-produced with the Mighty Flyers' Rick Holmstrom, to critical acclaim. In 2001 he produced the posthumous reissue of William Clarke's vinyl Tip of the Top. That release received a nomination from the prestigious Blues Music Award, the blues equivalent of a Grammy Award. Brooks was noted in the L.A. Times as one of the "Top Ten Albums of the Year" "Top Twenty-five albums of the decade" and "Worthy peer of Kim Wilson, James Harman, and Rod Pizza" by Mike Boehm on September 15, 1999. Randy Lewis of the Orange County times wrote on January 6, 2000 notes Brooks as one of "The Orange County Contenders".

Brooks has played with Jim Belushi and the Sacred Hearts, Junior Wells, Hubert Sumlin (Howlin' Wolf), Johnny Johnson (Chuck Berry), Ronnie Earl, Joe Louis Walker, Big Jay McNealy, Sugar Blue, Billy Boy Arnold, and Johnny Dyer. Amongst the thousands of appearances he has made are the Spring Blues Festival in Belgium, the Doheny Blues Festival, the 10th Annual Battle of the Blues Harps, the House of Blues Harmonica Blowdown, the Taste of Orange County, the Pageant of the Masters, the Phoenix Jazz Festival, the California Poppy Festival and the China Lake Music Festival. He remains a bad motherfucker.

Discography

* [http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=one+little+word&x=0&y=0 One Little Word] (1999)

Reviews

* [http://8.12.42.31/2000/jan/06/entertainment/ca-51360 "The Word on 'One little Word': Great"] Mike Boehm, L.A. Times, Wednesday 9/15/99
* [http://www.ocweekly.com/1999-08-05/music/you-live-in-the-best-of-times/ You Live in the Best of Times] - Buddy Seigel, OCWeekly, August 5, 1999
* [http://www.ocweekly.com/2001-07-26/music/bring-yer-own-blues/ Music Bring-Yer-Own Blues] - Buddy Seigel, OCWeekly, July 26, 2001