The lineup of professional musicians of the Knickerbocker All-Stars are Grammy and Blues Music Award (BMA) nominees and winners. The band has been nominated for a BMA for best soul blues album of 2018 and has climbed the radio charts reaching #1 on the Living Blues Charts. They have performed and recorded with legendary musicians like Marcia Ball, Jimmie Vaughan, Sugaray Rayford, Duke Robillard and virtually all the alumni of the Roomful of Blues.
The Knickerbocker All-Stars
Willie J Laws Jr.- guitar and vocals
Willie J Laws Jr is one of the most notable Blues acts with a modern funky style that’s uniquely his own. A Texas guitar “gun slinger”, vocalist and songwriter following in the footsteps of T-Bone Walker, Lightning Hopkins, Albert King and many others. His music is the kind of real Texas soul, all mixed up with classic R&B, country, blues/funk that grows from the Texas soil.
Early in his professional career Willie was named Best Blues Band in San Diego, then went on to tour with legendary Texas Bluesman, Phillip Walker. Later he was a house band at Margeritaville in New Orleans, and then for five years he lead his Willie Jaye Band as the house band at The House of Blues/Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Willie has played extensively throughout the world: in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and three tours of Russia as a Roots Music Ambassador for a program created by the US Consul General of St. Petersburg.
Since moving to New England, he has become a N.E. favorite. He was named the winner of the Mass Blues Society Challenge 2011, Semi-finalist at the International Blues Competition 2012 and a Beale St Kings Awards nominee. He is a four-time nominee for New England Music Award – Best Blues Act, and a nominee for Boston Music Award – Best Blues Act. Come see what many are calling the “Real Deal”.
Darcel Wilson – vocals
Darcel Wilson is a vocal phenomenon; Darcel possesses an engaging sound that is powerful and expressive. Since the age of fifteen, she’s lent her talents to noteworthy projects.
She’s worked with Branford Marsalis, Paul Simon, Mark (Marky Mark) Wahlberg, Walter Beasley, Fatwall Jack, Brad Delp (lead singer of Boston,) Armstead Christian, Keith Robinson (with Metropolis,) and with Producer Dan Serafini.
She also served as Lead Session Singer and Vocal Arranger for the Broadway show Brooklyn The Musical with writers Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson. Darcel ventured to Germany to coach German singer Ute Schoenherr and provided vocal production services on recording sessions in London and Los Angeles.
Darcel’s voice can be heard on a multitude of radio and television. jingles. Credits include CVS, McDonald’s, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Filene’s Basement, The WB Network, Comcast Cable, Sprint, Eye World, and The Boston Herald.
Darcel co-wrote and sang on a song for the Arthritis Foundation as well. The song, produced by George Duke, was recorded in Los Angeles at O•Henry and LeGonks. Other performers included Jeffery Osborne, Deniece Williams, Phillip Bailey, Chante Moore, Sheila E., Boney James, Everett Harp, Lori Perri, Howard Hewitt, Rick Braun, Kenny Lattimore, Lynn Fiddemont, and many others.
Since 1998, Darcel has worked as an instructor of Theory, Ensembles, and Voice for the City Music Saturday Program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She devoted nine summers to the College as a full-time faculty member in the Five-Week Summer Performance Program before joining the Ear Training faculty in 2006.
Darcel has been very active on the international front. In 2007, she traveled to Kobe and Nagoya, Japan as a performing clinician at Koyo Conservatory. In early 2008, she accompanied Berklee College of Music for a Vocal Summit in Frieburg Germany with fellow faculty Donna McElroy, Bob Stoloff and Dennis Montgomery. Also, in May 2008/2009 in Puerto Rico, Darcel taught at the Heineken Jazz Festival.
Ben Cook – keyboards
Ben Cook is a pianist whose performing career encompasses numerous different musical arenas. As a regular pianist in the Boston Pops Orchestra, he has logged hundreds of performances at Symphony Hall, the Tanglewood Music Festival, on U.S. tours under the direction of maestros Keith Lockhart and John Williams, and on the orchestra’s 2023 tour of Japan. His roles in the ensemble include orchestral pianist, rhythm section player, and accompanist in numerous styles, including jazz, pop, Broadway, classical, and John Williams movie soundtrack music.
Cook also works extensively as a jazz pianist, as an accompanist and sideman, in the New England area. He appeared on several records by multi-instrumentalist Miles Donahue, performed on four albums with the jazz/world music ensemble Crosscurrent, and is a veteran of countless Broadway tour pit orchestras. Cook is a graduate of University of North Texas, where he studied with Dan Haerle and Mary Nan Mailman.
Brad Hallen – bass
Brad Hallen is a much in demand bassist in the New England area. He has toured and recorded with numerous national and international artists including Johnny Winter, Billy Boy Arnold, Susan Tedeschi, Iggy Pop, Duke Robillard, Roomful of Blues, The Founders, Jimmie Vaughan, James Cotton, Scott Hamilton, Hubert Sumlin, Ministry, Jane Wiedlin (The Go Go”s), Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton and Ben Orr (The Cars), Otis Clay, and Aimee Mann. At last count he has played on over 200 released records.
Forrest Padgett – drums
Drummer Forrest Padgett has performed with such artists as The Radio Kings, Brian Templeton, Paul Rishell, Duke Robillard, Charlie Baty, Charlie Musselwhite, Luther Guitar Jr. Johnson, Lavern Baker, Cheryl Arena, and more. He currently performs with Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters
Mark Earley – tenor sax
Two-time Grammy nominated, Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame inductee,and 6 -time W.C. Handy Award-winning saxophonist Mark Earley’s lifelong musical journey has brought him across the globe from NYC’s Lincoln Center The San Francisco Blues Festival, The Moscow International Performing Arts Centre to The Zouk Mikael International Festival in Beirut, Lebanon, The King Biscuit Blues Festival to The Le Méridien Etoile’s Jazz Club as part of the JBL Jazz Festival in Paris.
Over the years, he has collaborated with scores of talented musicians, both on stage and in the recording studio. Jay McShann, Duke Robillard, Albert Collins,Louis Bellson, Joe Williams, James Cotton, Billy Boy Arnold, Billy Price, Otis Clay, Gerald Levert, Taj Mahal, Kim Wilson’s Blues Review, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Roomful of Blues, Victor Wainwright, The Temptations, The Coasters, Joey McIntyre, Bobby Brown, Omar Hakim, Wayne Newton, and Red Skelton.
These are but a handful of world-renowned artists that have recognized Mark’s extraordinary talent. This career experience illuminates how sharing the spiritual magic of music to audiences across the world is a true blessing
Doc Chanonhouse- trumpet, arranger and music director
Doc Chanonhouse is a trumpet player, vocalist and music arranger. He studied classical trumpet with Armando Ghitalla, former principal trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, while in high school and at The School of Fine and Applied Arts at Boston University, where he was the assistant principal trumpet in the symphony orchestra.
During this period Doc was also a freelance musician, playing music in many genres, including jazz and rhythm and blues. He eventually decided he had to commit to one style of music in a more intensive way and changed his course of study.
He graduated magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music in 1980 with a Diploma in Professional Music and has pursued the jazz and blues side of his musical personality ever since. He played with Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Bo Diddley and Laverne Baker in the 90’s. He has spent many years in New England leading and arranging for rhythm and blues horn sections with the Bobby Watson Band, The Linemen (a band sponsored by the Bose Corporation), Ricky “King” Russell, a prominent blues guitarist and vocalist from Boston and is the trumpet player, arranger and music director for The Knickerbocker All Stars of Rhode Island. He is leader and arranger for The Cadillac Horns, and he can be heard on many New England recordings. He has toured nationally and internationally and has recently appeared with James Montgomery, Christine Ohlman, Willie J. Laws, Parker Wheeler’s Blues Party, The Love Dogs, Otis Grand and Roomful of Blues.
Carl Querfurth – trombone
After graduating high school Carl Querfurth joined a group of friends to form Fat City Blues Band in 1974-5 playing parties and nightclubs around NH. In 1976 he moved to Providence RI to join the group Back Slap Blues Band.
In 1978 he took a job as trombonist with Roomful of Blues. He joined Loaded Dice in 1982 playing drums. In 1988, he rejoined Roomful of Blues when Porky Cohen retired. Traveled extensively throughout Europe and the US with Roomful of Blues over the next 10 years. In 1991, he went on a summer tour with Pat Benatar and two performances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, (the second included a mass jam with The Tonight Show Band featuring Doc Severinsen) and one performance on the Arsenio Hall Show. In 1998, after ten years of touring, he decided to quit Roomful of Blues and live a less itinerant life. His Roomful work also included live performances on WDET in Detroit, BBC in London, nationally syndicated House of Blues Radio along with many interviews and promotions.
From 1998 through the present, he’s been freelancing and recording on trombone around the New England area with many different groups.
All GA sections (Main Floor GA & Miles Davis Mezzanine) will be seated by host and are first come, first served (other than where a reserved sign is posted to table). If you require special seating, please call the venue for accomodations no later than 48 hours prior to show date.
Please note that if you do not purchase all seats aat a table, other customers may be seated at the table.
ALL TICKETS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE AND CANNOT BE EXCHANGED FOR ANOTHER SHOW.
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