On harp, John O’Leary is second to nobody. Listening to these
recordings in the player you can hear all the classic influences that
great harmonica playing is firmly built upon as John easily glides
through the stylings of Cyril Davies, Junior Wells, James Cotton and
others, too numerous to mention here. But for all you Blues Buffs you
know real harp when you hear it…and we know you’re hearing it now. As
well, his vocals are strong, clear and soulful. Also, these
recordings are definitely FIRST CLASS.
Now, as professional players go, harmonica cats are generally a very
misunderstood lot. They’re like the roving gnomes of the music world,
and most are firmly entrenched in the blues…that is to say, if there’s
a harp in the mix…it’s definitely The Blues. So, like many Great
Harmonica players, John has seen many incarnations, and in order of
appearance in the British Blues Scene, they’re as follows: John Dummer
Blues Band, The Famous Bluesblasters, Mainsqueeze, The Andy Cortes
Band, The (Chicago)Sunsets, Black Market, Juju Blue, The Sidewinders,
The Engineers, Grass Roots, and Sugarcane. But he’s also shared stage
bills with some of the Great Brit Stars like the Legendary Pop-star,
Donovan.
John O’Leary’s career has been a sojourn through the English rock and
blues scene…and he shares history with some of the greats from
London’s elite underground. At the age of 18 he was exposed to the
beginnings of this journey at the Legendary Ealing Jazz Club, a
fertile ground of Brit creativity spawning the influences on such
bands like The Rolling Stones.
One of John’s early Bright Spots was his place in British Rock and
Blues History as an original founding member of the great Brit Blues
Band, Savoy Brown and his life long friendship with Guitarist, Kim
Simmonds.
He’s been on several albums including the maiden voyage album of
“Shakedown” with Savoy Brown, before his leaving the band after a tiff
with management. This alone firmly roots John in the history records
along with the British invasion of the American pop scene of the
sixties. However his latest album “Sins” from the John O’Leary Band is
an incredible recording and a fitting testimony to John’s perennial
endurance, love of music and staying power. Just listen to the first
song in the player called Waiting For You…THAT IS, what it is folks,
plain and simple. We’ll hang our hats on that one!
We’re greatly honoured to have such a player join the roster of
Worldwide TMA and John O’Leary is a gentleman of rare breed. Backed by
an incredible lineup like the face blistering guitar work of Jules
Fothergill, and then Joachim Greve on drums, Roger Inniss on bass ,
and the Hammond B3 work of Jools Grudgings (Roger and Jools being part
of Mike Hellier’s Movin’ Music Crew)…their work on the album “Sins” is
a MUST BUY. |
