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For nearly
three decades Powder Blues has been Canada’s favorite blues
band. Their music incorporates elements of Swing, Blues, Jazz,
Rock & Roll and Rhythm & Blues into their unique and instantly
identifiable sound. This broad approach has resulted in an
appeal whose demographic is so wide that it is not unusual to
find people from seven to seventy swaying side by side at a
Powder Blues concert. Throughout the years they have toured
ceaselessly throughout Canada, the United States and overseas,
spreading the joy of a music that makes people smile and dance.
Fads come
and go, as in the current resurgence of Swing, Juke and Jive
music, but Powder Blues is no follower of trends. When they
first burst upon the recording scene in late 1979, with
their self-financed and self-produced debut album, ‘Uncut’,
after nearly two years of wood shedding and honing their
unique blend of sounds in Vancouver’s then flourishing
nightclub scene, the established recording industry label
giants shrugged their effort off as ‘not commercial’. The
band was told there was ‘no market for the blues’.
Undiscouraged,
the band pressed the album at their own expense and proceeded to
sell it off stage and deliver it to radio stations. When the
switchboards at the stations lit up with calls asking ‘who’s
that?’ other stations followed suit. After selling nearly 30,000
copies in a matter of weeks, the major record labels came
calling and entered a bidding war for the band’s services and
the right to distribute this ‘non-commercial’ product
nationally. RCA won the contract and to date that album has gone
on to sell over a million copies worldwide.
Band
highlights include winning Canada’s most prestigious
National Music Award, the Juno, in 1981, headlining and
recording a live album at the world famous Montreux Jazz
Festival in Switzerland in 1983, being presented with the
W.C. Handy Award in Memphis, Tennessee in 1986 and touring
the Soviet Union and being released on Melodya Records in
1990. They have appeared in concert with such legendary
names as Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, James
Brown, Albert Collins, James Cotton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the
Who, ZZ Top, the Doobie Brothers, Edgar Winter and Tower of
Power.
The Powder
Blues latest CD titled ‘blues + jazz = BLAZZ!’ on Blue Wave
Records which was released in 2004. The band continues to tour
regularly and has never played less than 40 shows and sometimes
as many as 300 shows in each of the 28 years they have been
performing.
 Leader,
Tom Lavin has written many of the band’s best-known songs,
including ‘Doin’ It Right’ [‘On the Wrong Side of Town’] and
‘Boppin With the Blues’. Originally born in Chicago, Illinois
where he learned his craft by watching and working with both
cover bands and many of the local ‘blues legends’, Tom moved
to Vancouver in the late sixties to study filmmaking. By night
he made his living working as a musician in the thriving downtown
nightclub scene. This eventually lead to his career as a studio
musician and subsequently, to his role as record producer
and studio owner.
Tom has been singing and playing guitar for a living for
over 35 years. He has been presented with a number of awards
including B.C. Music Industry Association awards for ‘Guitarist,
Singer, Songwriter and Producer of the Year’, a Canadian Music
Industry Association Juno award for ‘Best New Band’ and the
American W.C. Handy award for ‘Best Foreign Blues Band’. He
has over a dozen ‘Gold, Platinum and Double Platinum’ record
awards for playing in, writing for or producing such bands
as Powder Blues, Prism, April Wine, Long John Baldry, Amos
Garrett, Susan Jacks, The Good Brothers and P.J. Jackson.
He has produced albums for many international labels including
RCA, WEA, Capitol, Columbia, EMI, BMG, Polygram, Peerless
and Stony Plain Records and has produced albums or written
songs for such notables as Long John Baldry, Amos Garrett
and Lowell Fulson. His four story, 20,000 square foot recording
complex, Blue Wave Studios has not only produced Gold Records
for Powder Blues and numerous other artists, it has recorded
sound for film, TV and radio including themes, scores
and jingles for countless movies, TV shows and products.
 Founding
member, Willie MacCalder, was born in Victoria and raised
in Edmonton where he developed his craft by playing in a number
of teen bands, until, in the mid sixties, he found great success
with his own band, ‘Willie and the Walkers’. They signed with
Capitol Records and enjoyed a number of pop hits on rock radio,
touring extensively through out the U.S. and Canada. He and
Tom met in Vancouver in the mid seventies where they discovered
their mutual love of the blues. Willie’s trademark piano stylings
have won him a number of ‘music poll awards’ and contribute
greatly to the Powder Blues instantly identifiable sound.
Currently, he has a solo album as well, entitled ‘Broken Down
Piano’ on Jay-El Records.
 Bassist,
Bill Runge, born in Edmonton, joined the band in 1981. He
has appeared on many Powder Blues albums playing baritone,
tenor and alto saxophones and on some cuts, the electric bass.
This gifted multi-instrumentalist has also written, arranged
and performed with his own jazz ensemble, winning the coveted
‘Alcan National Jazz Award’. An exceptional recording musician
and composer, he has played, written and arranged sessions
for countless commercials, movie and television scores and
albums over the past two decades. He has also served on the
governing board of directors of the Vancouver Musicians Union
Local 145.
Jerry Cook, tenor saxophone, was born at Kent, England and
raised in Sydney, B.C. on Vancouver Island. He immersed himself
in the Jazz Studies programs at both Grant McEwan College
in Edmonton, Alberta and Capilano College in North Vancouver.
He has performed with a number of well-known blues and jazz
acts including Guitar Shorty, Pinetop Perkins, Frankie Lee
and Big Joe Duskin. His work with Crash, an original Jazz/Funk
group, included a CD release on the Maximum label and headlining
a number of jazz festivals. In addition, he has recorded over
20 albums with blues, jazz, funk, pop, rock and R&B artists.
When the opportunity arose to hire a tenor sax, Jerry auditioned
at a gig and Tom asked him to join the band the same night.
He has been an indispensable member ever since.
 Bill
Clark, trumpet, was born and raised in Surrey, B.C. and joined
the Powder Blues in 1985, touring with the band at a pace
of over 200 shows per year. A ‘first call’ session man, he
has also lead jazz ensembles that have toured both across
Canada and the U.S. and in Europe. For a number of years previous
to his involvement with the band, he traveled the world as
a well-known musician and bandleader for a number of popular
cruise ship lines. At present, when not performing with he
Powder Blues, he teaches music and band in the secondary school
system.
 Daryl
Bennett, the tall man behind the Powder Blues driving beat
has worked as a professional
drummer for more than 20 years. In addition to the Powder
Blues he has performed live and recorded with many notable
artists including David Foster, Celine Dione, Andrae
Crouch, Bryan Adams, Kenny Logins, Kenny Rogers, Boz Scaggs,
and Ray Charles. In 1990, he began composing for film
and TV and over the next 14 years wrote music for over 30
film and TV projects including: First Wave, Outer
Limits as well as Beggars and Choosers and Voyage
of the Unicorn, an effort which garnered him a 2002
Gemini nomination – the Canadian equivalent of the Emmy.
When not on the road with the band, he continues to
be a much sought after recording session drummer.
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