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Dave Weld
Born
in Chicago in
1952, Dave was first influenced as a child when he found an old
Victrola in the basement and wore out the blues 78's. In high school
the Stones, Clapton and Mayall first came out but Dave traded those
records for Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin Hopkins, and BB King.
After
high school Weld moved to New Mexico, and studied guitar under Kurt
Black, a jazz
Dave's
first band!
Hound Dog Taylor's group of Brewer Philips and Ted Harvey. They had
been working with JB Hutto after Hound Dog's death, and after they came
back from breaking iff with JB in Boston, they had a little house gig
at Sweet Pea's. Weld joined the band and played with them for a year.
Brewer
Philip and
Ted Harvey are well known because their music started Alligator
Records, the world largest blues label. Brewer learned from Memphis
Minnie, one of the most famous women in blues history! Their recordings
and tours with Hound Dog over 16 years signaled an increase in
popularity of the blues in middle class America.
player
who worked
with Benny Carter, Grant Green and others in the New York jazz scene.
Also he drove to Nevada and met and jammed with Gatemouth Brown.
Weld
bought Hound
Dog Taylor's first Alligator album, heard Howlin Wolf over the radio in
the desert one night, packed up and drove back home in his 67' Ford,
and made it with $10 to spare.
Dave
found out the
West side of Chicago in the black hood was friendlier than the North
side, and started sitting in at clubs, and landed a gig with Hound Dog
Taylor's band, Brewer Phillips,
The
Garfield, at
Homan and Madison was right around the corner from Ed's house and
featured Little Wolf, Hound Dog, and Little Ed's band stayed there
about a year.
Ted
Harvey, at
Sweet Peas on 43rd St. While there a year, there were shake dancers and
fistfights. The gig ended when Brewer was stabbed in the throat by his
wife, but they reconciled.
Weld
then moved to
the 1815 Club on W. Roosevelt, owned and operated by Eddie Shaw who had
Howlin Wolfs band, the Wolf Pack. Dave stayed there and played in the
band with Chico Chism, Lafayette Gilbert, Hubert Sumlin, Detroit
Junior, and Eddie Shaw. The going rate was $15 per night, but Dave
played there with Otis Rush, Maxwell St. Jimmy, Guitar Junior, Jew Town
Burks, Doug Macdonald, Boston Blackie, Tail Dragger, Little Wolf, Big
Bad Ben, Little Aurthur, Johnny Littlejohn and more. The gig ended when
the band was taken to the Maxwell St. lockup because of the nude
dancers. Shaw bailed them out.
During
this time
Weld was under tutelage from JB Hutto, a Grammy awarded Blues Hall of
Fame slide man from Georgia. He studied at JB's house for three years
until
JB
introduced Dave to his nephews, Little Ed and James Young. They started
the band "Little Ed and the Blues Imperials" and played every joint in
the West side for ten years.
Necktie
Nates at W
Roosevelt was a hotbed of blues and Little Ed and the Blues Imperials
stayed there a year, during which Buster Benton came in to play quite a
bit. The gig ended when Nate insulted Pookie's aunt and James jumped
down off the stage to give Nate quite a lesson in manners.
About
$15 a
night, until Bruce Igauer from Alligator recorded them in a historic
session "Roughousin'" and they started world tours.
Dave
started "Dave
Weld and the Imperial Flames" in 1988 with Little Ed's Blessing and
they came out with their first CD "Roughrockin' in Chicago", on
Parsifal Records in Belgium, and Dave toured Europe, Canada and Japan
with his own band.
Little
Ed joined
Dave's band twice for two years each time and the second time they
recorded for Earwig Music, "Keep on Walkin'", and this brought them
overseas again, as well as local, regional, and national gigs. When Ed
went back to his band he was replaced by the great Abb Locke, legndary
sax man who is in the band today with Jeff Taylor and Herman
Applewhite. They continue working every week since the band was formed
in 1988, and Dave made his first UK tour in 2005, with the second to
closing slot at the Maryport Blues Festival, going full circle by
opening up for Hubert Sumlin and the Legendary Blues Band!
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