These two virtuosos make a dynamic duo.

Corky Siegel has earned an international reputation as one of the world’s great blues harmonica masters. He is a composer, blues pianist, singer / songwriter, and recent winner of the Lila Wallace/Reader’s Digest/Meet the Composer’s national award for chamber music composition and the Illinois Arts Council Fellowship Award for Music Composition.

Corky Siegel’s career began with a fortunate break when he formed the legendary Siegel-Schwall Band that toured the major rock palaces and clubs in the 60’s and 70’s. He was introduced to the blues through his very first steady engagement at Peppers the internationally renowned blues club where his job included performances with the blues masters themselves, such as Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, and Howlin’ Wolf. “For groups like the Rolling Stones … names like Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf were exotic inspirations. For Siegel-Schwall they were the guys that played with them on 43rd Street.” – Lin Brehmer – Music Director for WXRT radio.

Corky Siegel has 18 recordings and over 35 reissues on: Vanguard, RCA, Alligator (the exclusively Blues label) and Gadfly Records, and two album projects for the prestigious classical label Deutsche Grammophon (DG). The DG release of William Russo’s Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra featuring Corky’s blues band, Siegel-Schwall (for whom the work was written) with Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony, was a block-buster in sales and had “an unprecedented inter-generational impact on the American music scene. ” – Music Critic – David Sckolnik. In fact, one movement of “Three Pieces” became a successful “single” which scored very high on the Billboard Pop and Classical charts.

http://www.chamberblues.com/ssb_bio_corky.html    www.randysabien.com

When RANDY SABIEN (suh bean’) picks up his violin, get ready. His rhythmic, bluesy, swingin’ sound will have you bobbing your head, tapping your toes and dancing right out of your chair.

Although Randy’s muscial aspirations began by studying classical violin,  his direction did an about face the day he discovered he could play jazz on the violin. He poured himself into the music of the swing era and began teaching himself to play along with records of his favorite jazz artists. He also continued to appreciate the music of his own generation; the 60’s and 70’s. This led to inspired renditions of tunes by the Beatles, The Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and others. Meanwhile, his own compositions developed as straight ahead jazz for violin. When he put out his first album, In a Fog, it was received with glowing reviews from Downbeat, JazzTimes, Billboard and others.

“Jazz violinists usually draw from one of two traditions. The best of both can be found in the superb Randy Sabien… he combines classical technique and folk energy in a program that’s still strictly jazz.”
USA TODAY   www.randysabien.com