Bob Corritore

Corritore's first live performance came in his teens on Maxwell Street when John Henry Davis invited him to sit in for five or six numbers. He subsequently started attending performances at clubs on the South and West Sides, where he was mentored by Louis Myers, Lester Davenport, Junior Wells, Big Leon Brooks, Little Mack Simmons, Big Walter and others, who regularly invited him on stage to play.[2][5]

Corritore began a career in music production in 1979. He recorded harmonica player Little Willie Anderson, creating his own label, Blues On Blues Records, in the process. Released as Swinging The Blues and produced with the assistance of future Grammy winner Dick Shurman and Delmark Records owner Bob Koester, the LP debuted the same year and was reissued 13 years later in CD format on Earwig Music.[5][6] A second release, Big Leon Brooks' Lets Go To Town, followed in 1982.[7]

In 1981, Corritore relocated to Phoenix, Arizona, where he was joined a few months later by Louisiana Red. The pair worked together in duo and full-band formats and lived together for a short period of time before Red relocated to Germany.[8][2] Corritore subsequently joined a succession of bands fronted by regional favorites Big Pete Pearson, Janiva Magness, Tommy Dukes and Buddy Reed.[5] Years later they worked together again when Corritore produced Louisiana Red's Sittin' Here Wonderin' (1995) (Earwig Music).[1] Since 1984, Corritore has been hosting "Those Lowdown Blues," a five-hour Sunday night on KJZZ (FM).[2][9]

Two years later, Corritore recruited former Howlin’ Wolf drummer Chico Chism to relocate from Chicago to Phoenix for various band and studio projects, a relationship that endured until his death in 2007.[5] Corritore opened The Rhythm Room music venue in Phoenix in 1991. It has served as his home base ever since. He and hIs house band, the Rhythm Room All-Stars, have backed dozens of high-profile blues musicians, both at the club and in recording sessions, a roster that includes Bo Diddley, Pinetop Perkins, Ike Turner, Nappy Brown, Eddy Clearwater and many others.[1][2][5]

His first release as a front man, All-Star Blues Sessions, came in 1999 on the HighTone label with Corritore playing in support of 16 blues artists, including Diddley, Chism, Robert Lockwood Jr., Henry Gray and other talents.[10] That release established Corritore as both a harmonica player and producer in the blues community in a career that has included several subsequent releases under his own name, often sharing billing with other traditional blues artists, including John Primer, Gray, Kid Ramos and Dave Riley.

As a harmonica player, he has guested on albums by R.L. Burnside, Pinetop Perkins, Dave Mason, Zac Harmon, Louisiana Red, Nappy Brown, Diunna Greenleaf, Bob Margolin, Bill Howl-N-Madd Perry, Dave Specter, Smokin’ Joe Kubek, Mannish Boys, Kilborn Alley Blues Band, Tomcat Courtney, Big Pete Pearson, Sam Lay, Mud Morganfield, Johnny Tucker, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, Ben Levin, Tom Walbank, Deb Ryder, Adrianna Marie, Sugaray Rayford, Tony Holiday, The Freemonts and several others. And he has served as producer for releases by R.L. Burnside, Mojo Buford, Kim Wilson, William Clarke, Chism and compilations released by several labels. The Wilson album -- Smokin' Joint, released on M.C. Records in 2001 -- was a finalist in the best traditional blues category at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards.[11] He has released albums on the HighTone, Blue Witch, Delta Groove and SWMAF labels, as well as his current home, VizzTone.

Corritore has appeared at major blues events around the world including Chicago Blues Festival, Lucerne Blues Festival and Bellinzona Blues Sessions (Switzerland), Edmonton Blues Festival and Calgary Blues Festival (Canada), King Biscuit Blues Festival and Big Blues Bender (U.S.), Bossa Y Jazz and Pocas de Blues (Brazil), Cognac Blues Festival and Bay-Car Blues Festival (France), Marco Fiume Blues Passions Festival (Italy), Moulin Blues Ospel (Holland), Blues At The Savoy (Finland), Hondarribia Blues Festival (Spain), Lahnsteiner Blues Festival (Germany), Boquette Blues Festival (Panama) and more. He has also performed at the Kennedy Center, The Strathmore, The Dodge Theater, AVA Amphitheater and other prestigious venues.[2]

An official endorser of Hohner harmonicas, Corritore regularly leads harmonics master classes at the Blues Foundation's annual International Blues Challenge week in Memphis. The editor and main writer of the Bob Corritore Blues Newsletter,[2] his 2020 album, The Gypsy Woman Told Me, a partnership with John Primer, was a finalist for traditional blues album of the year in the Blues Blast Music Awards after winning the same honor for Don't Let The Devil Ride in 2019.[12]

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