The
guitar found it's way into Muddy Fraser's hands when he was 11 years old
and living in Ottawa,then Muddy found his way into the guitar, and it's
the Vancouver Blues scene that's all the richer for it. Beginning in his
early career playing the usual round of high school dances and local functions,
it didn't take long before the young guitar player/singer was setting
up his gear on more visible stages. At the age of fifteen he played Ottawa's
L'Hibou coffee house where he could sit and listen or sit in with blues
heroes like Howlin' Wolf,Otis Span,Taj Mahal and James Cotton. |
If there had ever been any question as to which
direction Muddy would venture musically, those auspicious meetings laid
any doubts to rest. Some people are born to play the Blues. Whether he
knew it at the time or not, Muddy Fraser was one of them. At age 20, Muddy
was playing in The Take It Easy Blues Band with the drummer from Howlin'
Wolf's band, who hailed from Chicago. The other guitar player in that
band, Jim Prophet, got Muddy into B.B. King's music and Chicago blue-style
guitar. Armed with that inspirational honing skills on guitar, blues harp
and vocals, Muddy and his band toured Canada and the United States playing
the coffeehouse and college circuit.
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In 1975,
it was Vancouver's turn to discover Muddy when he moved to the West Coast.
It didn't take long for the tall man with the Les Paul and the soulful
voice to make fans and musicians alike sit up and take notice. He became
a familiar presence at Vancouver's premiere blues club, The Yale Hotel,
playing with co-founder and bassist for the Powder Blues band Jack Lavin,
in the bar's backup band. Together,they supported such established acts
as PineTop Perkins, Taj Mahal, Big Joe Duskin, Guitar Shorty A.C. Reed
and countless other blues greats. " We hosted the jams.We did one
on Saturdays and a double on Sundays.Any body that was in town playing,
recording or filming would drop in to listen or sit in .I did a few tunes
with Gary Busey one time and got to jam with Jimmy Page once.That place
meant a lot to me." Muddy recalls fondly. |
In 1983 and 1985,
Muddy recorded two independent albums with his own band, The Muddy Fraser
Band. A credit to his song writing skill that combine traditional blues
elements with inspired new material, both albums boast an impressive selection
of original tunes. In demand by other local blues musicians, Muddy's contributions
can also be heard on several notable recordings. Russell Jackson, who
played bass with B.B. King for seven years, made use of Muddy's talents
both as a writer and player on his 1993 album,The Alley Man. Muddy's harmonica
playing is featured on local artist Tim Hearsey's recently released CD,
Close Calls, and he can also be heard on Best Kept Secret,a harp compilation
album recorded live at The Yale and distributed by Thumbs Up Music. Currently,
Muddy is busy fronting The Muddy Fraser Band, and bringing his own brand
of soul satisfying blues to the Vancouver-area clubs. He also spent some
time teaching and has made inroads to the film industry, with appearances
in several locally shot movies. Muddy has received a diploma in internet
development and spends a lot of time making web sites and graphics for
c.d. covers. |
