“Diamond” Jim Greene
Walk into a record store with a decent blues section nowadays and there will be a slew of compact discs by a new generation of country blues performers who not only have revived the acoustic tradition, but have created a lively and growing audience. [Diamond Jim Greene] is among the new practitioners, along with [Guy Davis] Corey Harris, Del Rey, Eric Bibb, Rory Block, Keb' Mo' and Alvin Youngblood Hart, who are responsible for this resuscitation”
Blues Revue Quarterly
Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, "Diamond" Jim Greene's initial exposure to blues was through Arvella Gray, a blind Chicago street singer and guitarist, who Jim saw performing on Ellis Avenue on Chicago's south side during the late 1950's. Since that first exposure, Jim has performed in numerous blues band configurations, including a stint with the Southern California-based all acoustic "Blues Ambassadors". For the last 20 years, he has performed unplugged and solo, or with a harmonica player and/or upright bass. John Cephas, Phil Wiggins, the late John Jackson, the late Archie Edwards, Paul Geremia, Roy Bookbinder, all of whom Jim had the pleasure of meeting and playing with during the mid 1980's, remain constant influences as does fellow Chicagoan "Honeyboy" Edwards. "He's one of the most authentic Delta blues players I've ever heard . . . He's like Robert Johnson reborn".
Los Angeles Times
Jim has toured extensively throughout Europe since 1995, spreading the good news about acoustic blues on major festival stages in the U.S. and abroad, including the Chicago Blues Festival (1997, 2000 and 2005), the Long Beach Blues Festival (1997) and the International Blues Festival at Lucerne, Switzerland (1996 and 2006), to name but a few. Blues Revue Magazine said of his last CD, "Snapshots" (2005) on the Cooling Board label: “Greene is an accomplished fingerpicker and slide guitarist who works effectively in Delta and early Chicago veins as well as the East Coast style of Blind Boy Fuller.” (Issue No. 96, Oct/Nov 2005). His instruments of choice are prewar National Steels and 12 string guitars which he has used to open for James Cotton, Buddy Guy, Ike Turner, Otis Clay, KoKo Taylor, John Hammond, Duke Robillard, Cephas & Wiggins, Saffire (the Uppity Blues women), Sherman Robertson, Joe Louis Walker, Mississippi Heat, Lonnie Brooks, and a host of other well-established blues performers; he will no doubt continue to perform wherever discriminating blues lovers gather.
Currently based in Chicago, Jim will be playing engagements both large and small all across America and Europe in 2007 and beyond. His newest CD, ‘Holdin On’ (December, 2006) is now available at Chicago’s Jazz Record Mart, CD Baby or by visiting www.diamondjimgreene.net. For more information including booking contact: Cooling Board Records P.O Box 940 Evanston, Illinois 60204 e-mail: fingerpicker@sbcglobal.net
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