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Steve Blailock Biography

steve-blailock
  • Born: July 9, 1944 in McComb, MS
  • Years Active: 1970s-2000s
  • Member of: Dukes of Dixieland
  • Genre: Jazz

Since the 1970s, guitarist Steve Blailock has performed and recorded with jazz and blues notables such as vocalists Lou Rawls, Betty Carter, and Big Mama Thornton. Blailock's résumé also includes stints with saxophonist Hank Crawford and clarinetist Dr. Michael White amid performances with trumpeters Nicholas Payton and Wynton Marsalis. Blailock is a consummate guitarist who possesses a deeply personalized style and a broad-based jazz and blues vernacular. Born in McComb, Mississippi (90 miles north of New Orleans), Blailock was greatly influenced by New Orleans Jazz and R&B, as well as the indigenous blues of his native Mississippi. Turning professional in his early teens, he worked the blues circuit in Mississippi, Louisiana, and other Southern states. Moving to Nashville, Tennessee to study with the legendary guitarist Hank Garland, he found employment as a studio guitarist to coincide with numerous club gigs and concert tours. Leaving Nashville and moving to Los Angeles, this versatile guitarist was hired by Lou Rawls and became a fixture in the Los Angeles Jazz and Blues scene. He furthered his craft by studying with guitar greats Barney Kessell and Joe Pass. Blailock returned to New Orleans in 1984 and has worked steadily in that city ever since, while touring China, Italy, France, Germany, Finland, Japan, and elsewhere. The artist can be heard on hundreds of CDs and albums, spanning a 20-year career as a studio musician. In 1996, he released his first solo CD, Mixed Bag. In 1996 and 1997, Blailock appeared at New York City's prolific Village Vanguard jazz venue with New Orleans traditional jazz clarinetist Dr. Michael White. Other credits include a live CD recorded at Birdland in New York City with veteran alto saxophonist Benny Waters. In New Orleans, Blailock has taught blues and jazz guitar for the Department of Jazz Studies at Dillard University, in addition to master classes and clinics at other institutions. In 1997, New Orleans Magazine voted him an All-Star Guitar and Banjo Player. In 1998, Blailock was inducted into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame. The guitarist toured Japan in 2001 and 2002 with trombonist Wendell Brunious and the New Orleans Jazz All-Stars. He continues to perform in New Orleans and abroad. ~ Glenn Astarita, Rovi

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