J.Diamond & special guest..

CONTEMPORARY BLUES

Jim Diamond, guitar, vocals Bob Ramsey, organ, piano, vocals Bob Marston, bass, vocals Aaron Montgomery, drums Francesco Formenti, trumpet Marco Nevano, tenor sax Nigel Casey, alto sax

Jim Diamond was such a success last year, thanks to his dynamic and aggressive style that captures listeners and holds them mesmerised, as is required in the bars and lounges of the mid-west blues circuit where he made his name. But Jim is much more than an energetic “rocker” and Lugano loved his sensitive interpretations of ballads and the sensitivity of his own compositions. However, it was during the last moments of the 2004 edition in Morcote, when he improvised a concert under the arches for the hundreds of faithful that had crowded around him away from the pouring rain, that he gave full rein to his showmanship. When artists return to Blues to Bop they come with something different and this year only Jim’s “main-man”, Bob Ramsey on Hammond, returns the new group. Bob has written the arrangements of the numbers that include the local Swing Horn Section. The seven members of this Kentucky-Ticino bluesband might well prove one of the best of the many surprises in this year’s Blues to Bop programme.