Born in 1924 in Vinton, Louisiana, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown has been entertaining over fifty years. A multi-instrumentalist “Gatemouth” performs mostly on guitar & violin. He appeared with his band “Gate’s Express” last Sunday at BB King’s.
Some band-leaders attract consummate musician’s. It is not uncommon for musician’s to want to sound good and they enjoy playing behind someone who knows how to make them sound that way. The members of “Gate’s Express” are accomplished in their own right but they are dedicated to this man, and we are all, so fortunate to be able to still enjoy him.
Harold Floyd, Electric & Acoustic Bass, began his career with Jimmy Buffet and has been a member of “Gate’s Express” since 1984. Harold is a member of the Alabama Blues Hall of Fame and has appeared on six of Clarence’s albums.
David Peters, Drums, began playing with John Fred and The Playboys. He joined “Gate’s Express” in 1976, left to form his own band and rejoined in 1993.
Eric Demmer, Alto Sax, joined “Gate’s Express” in 1993. He has played with The Allman Brothers and Johnnie Johnson among others. He wrote one of the composition’s the band played, a wonderful instrumental called “Grape Jelly”, which is featured on Gatemouth’s last album “Back To Bogalusa”.
Joe Krown, Piano & Hammond B3. Joe joined “Gate’s Express” in 1992. I recently had the pleasure of sitting with both Joe and Gatemouth at our recent “Melvin Spark’s Guitar Benefit” at the Jazz Standard. Joe is heir to a great New Orleans piano tradition and has released three fine cd’s on his own.
The performance was perfection. “Gatemouth’s” voice is still in fine form. Gatemouth sang “I Got My Mojo Working”, “Unchained Melody”, and “ Please Send Me Someone To Love” among others. I’m already looking forward to April 3rd, when they return to our area to play the Woman's Club of Maplewood, 60 Woodland Rd, Maplewood, NJ. Contact Peter Katz 973 762-7516 for more information on that show or visit:
http://www.artsmaplewood.org.