Inner City Blues Band
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olumbus, Ohio is home base for Inner City Blues Band, but it’s common to find the group performing in Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and as far south as Tennessee and Mississippi, and towns and cities throughout Ohio. Their CD, City Limits, continues in rotation in many of the country’s blues radio stations and XM Satellite radio too.
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ikki Scott is the featured vocalist with Inner City Blues Band; Nikki really enjoys performing and looks forward to getting the audience involved in the Inner City Blues Band party stmosphere, striving to put all of her energy into the show. Nikki’s foray into song writing with her compositions appearing on the City Limits CD is an extension to her longevity in the Columbus music scene. rummer Leon Robinson formed the Inner City Blues Band while touring with zydeco legend, Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural. Growing up in the Dayton funk scene of the ‘70s, Leon became well educated in funk from his contemporaries in the Ohio Players and Zapp. He later branched out to many southern R&B artists, and is well respected in the Louisiana music scene. Leon too has developed his song writing and producing skills to complement his aggressive drumming style.
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ike Roberts grew up during what many consider as the golden years of the Columbus music scene, which was filled with the likes of tenor-man “Night Train” Rusty Bryant, Gene “King Sax” Walker, and organ/piano legend Hank Marr. The 70s Ohio funk scene brought Mike to national attention as a featured member “The Crowd Pleasers” label mates of the Ohio Players and the Funkadelics. Besides his duties with Inner City, Mike has been a member of the Stone City Band backing funk pioneer Rick James. uitarist Nick Sonye grew up in Lima, Ohio and one of the local young guitarist in the late 60s to be mentored by Steely Dan and guitarist, Elliott Randall. Moving to Columbus in 1990 to attend Ohio State University, Nick met Leon and after a “one note” audition he joined Inner City Blues Band. It was through Leon that Nick began his relationship with Buckwheat Zydeco and is still “on loan” to Buck and still performing nationally with the zydeco master when not on duty.
Inner City Blues Band
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Inner City Blues Band | 47 Parsons Avenue | Columbus, Ohio 43215 | 614-266-4104 | 614-224-1899
www.InnerCityBluesBand.com Myspace.com/innercitybluesband
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he wide breadth of music listed on the Inner City Blues Band song list requires the bassist be flexible and able to change styles and “attitudes” sometime in the structure of a song. Tony Pulliam brings his broad musical approach to the bass chair. Growing up Youngstown, Ohio, hometown of bassist extraordinaire Chuck Rainey, Toney developed the mentation to fit such a role, and like Leon and Mike, Tony too became influenced by the Dayton music scene. As a student of the bass Tony feels right at home with the rhythmic challenges of their repertoire.
Inner City Blues Band CITY LIMITS
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out the Northeast. While performing in cities like Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, and Lima, Inner City Blues Band has opened for acts such as Johnny Taylor, Lonnie Mack, Buckwheat Zydeco, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Kenny Neal and Bobby Womack.
On Sale Now!
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he Inner City Blues Band is pleased to announc the release of their new CD, City Limits a sweet compilation of Blues, Rock & Roll and “Old School” R&B with a twist of Funk on the side.
AVAILABLE ONLINE NOW www.innercitybluesband.com
The combined talents of Leon Robinson on drums, Nick Sonye on guitar, Mike Roberts on Saxophone, Nikii Scott on vocals, Donald Payne on Bass and Wayne Williams on Keyboards produce a large sound that has received airplay in cities through-
Inner City Blues Band | 47 Parsons Avenue | Columbus, Ohio 43215 | 614-266-4104 | 614-224-1899
www.InnerCityBluesBand.com Myspace.com/innercitybluesband
INNER CITY BLUES BAND®
City Limits
Blue Gill 11661-9609-2
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his skin-tight blues band’s inner city Columbus, Ohio. The core of the unit is made up of Nick Sonye on guitar, Dean Francis on Keyboards, Mike Roberts on tenor sax, Tony Martin on bass, and Leon Robinson on drums with a punchy three-piece horn section on several tracks. Except for spots for Just A Little Bit and Roberts Big Legged Woman and the live performances of Take Off Your Shoes by guest guitarist Bobby Stewart that closes the set, all of the vocals are by the highly capable Nikki Scott, who lists Etta James and Koko Taylor as her main influences. Other than the deep soul ballad The Love Of My Man, the songs are all band originals than span an admirable range of mood and tempo when remaining both bluesy and contemporary.—JB
Inner City Blues Band | 47 Parsons Avenue | Columbus, Ohio 43215 | 614-266-4104 | 614-224-1899
www.InnerCityBluesBand.com Myspace.com/innercitybluesband
www.soulandjazzandfunk.com
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he Inner City Blues Band work out of Columbus, Ohio where they work the local club circuit, but they've also featured on nationwide tours opening for people like the late Johnny Taylor, Bobby Bland, Little Milton and Bobby Womack... and that kind of tells you about the band's sound. Like those heroic artists they offer an amalgam of blues based soul – music with an old school feel. Moreover in lead singer Nikki Scott they've found a lady who
can offer plenty of passion and commitment. Hear it to best effect on the great opener, 'Nothing To Lose'. This one's a throwback to the great days of Stax and features some nifty brass riffing from the outfit's augmented brass section. It's a new song, but Nikki and the band have the confidence to take on some classics too. They makes a splendid fist of the Theola Kilgore chestnut 'The Love Of My Man', and though they offer nothing new they are, at least keeping the authentic soul flag flying. Such a pity then that they spoil a version of the R&B standard 'Just A Little Bit' by using a drum machine. Odd really, since the credits list a "proper" drummer – Leon Robinson. Elsewhere, 'Fussin' And Fightin' is an-
other great brassy soulful blues while 'Easy Recipe' and 'You Got To Go' have a pleasing old school roll about them. 'Treat Me So Cold' is rockier; 'Table Scraps' is one of those semi-spoken, didactic soul songs and 'Big-Legged Woman' (featuring an uncredited male vocal) is a laid back urban blues that doesn't quite come off. The album is completed with a live recording of the Frederick Knight/Bettye Crutcher song 'Taker Off Your Shoes'. Sadly the sound mix is messy; still good to know that there are bands still taking blues and soul on the road. You can find out more @ www.innercitybluesband.com ■
Inner City Blues Band | 47 Parsons Avenue | Columbus, Ohio 43215 | 614-266-4104 | 614-224-1899
www.InnerCityBluesBand.com Myspace.com/innercitybluesband
Inner City Blues Band
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BLUESVILLE TOP PICKS TO CLICK “These are the featured discs for the next week getting about two plays a day for each tune we play off the platter.” Bill Wax Program Director XM’s Bluesville
1 Keep It Simple—Keb “Mo” - Epic 2 City Limits—Inner City Blues Band—Blue Gill Records 3 Love, Murder, and Mosquitos—Paul Geremia—Red House 4 Lee Gates and the Alabama Cotton Kings—Same-Music Maker Recordings 5 A Nite Out—Mel Waiters—Waldoxy 6 Alan Lomax’s Southern Journeys Remixed—Tangle Eye— Zoe 7 Sisters and Brothers—Eric Bibb, Rory Block, and Maria Muldaur—Telarc 8 Shades of Blue—Kirk Fletcher—Cross Cut Records 9 Live in Dallas—Mike Morgan and the Crawl—Severn Records 10 The Legend Live—Robert Lockwood Jr—MC Records 11 Remember Me—Charles Caldwell—Fat Possum 12 Throw Away The Book—Byther Smith—Black and Tan 13 Me and Mister Johnson—Eric Clapton—Reprise 14 Sanctuary—Charlie Musselwhite—Real World 15 No Borders To The Blues—Vesti Jackson—VJM Records
Inner City Blues Band | 47 Parsons Avenue | Columbus, Ohio 43215 | 614-266-4104 | 614-224-1899
www.InnerCityBluesBand.com Myspace.com/innercitybluesband