Hi I'm Jack Becker,
I was introduced to the blues in 1970 and had the luck to be able to see and learn from acts like Muddy Waters, Albert King, John Lee Hooker and more, at a place called "the Ashgrove" in Hollywood, CA. This was a great time for the blues as young white audiences embraced the blues artists. At the age of 16 I was fortunate to have met Albert King backstage at the Ashgrove. I asked him if he and B.B. were related. His answer was "we had the same daddy".
The more I watched and listened, the more I understood how truly complicated the blues was. Playing riffs on a turn-around, is much more difficult than it looked. I moved to Seattle in 1985 and after auditioning for several local bands I decided to form my own band "the Cadillac Jack Revue" which enjoyed a healthy life in the Seattle area.
Around 1996 I decided to streamline my sound and stop playing "Brick House" regardless of how big the tips were.
My first CD "GuitarMan" went over pretty well in Europe, and for that I am eternally grateful. To the European DJ's who played my CD even though I was and still am relatively unknown, I again say thank you.
My new CD"AlivE" is more about my playing. This is more of a performance CD, than a showcase for my songs. There's alot of slide guitar on the CD. At live gigs I play alot of slide , so I thought I would put it on the CD.
I started playing slide guitar in 1973 and luckily met Johnny Winter one night at the Continental Hyatt House in Hollywood, CA. Johnny was a nice guy and very humble even though he was a giant rock star at the time. I imersed myself in Johnny's playing, and then Duane Allman surfaced . After Duane came out, the bar was raised to another level. There was no looking back.
I want to thank CDBaby because they offer artists a chance to expose themselves to their audience without going through the red tape of signing with a label. Please listen to my sound bytes and let me know what you think. thanks again-Jack Becker - e-mail; jacklbecker@msn.com
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