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Itinerary
In the summer of 1967, "the summer of love", San Francisco was at the apex defining for the world an entire generation's, style, music, and culture. At the center of this cultural revolution was the immensely popular Siegel-Schwall Blues Band who performed and held court regularly at the paragon of bay area music halls, Bill Graham's Fillmore West. The old Family Dog posters are historic remnants cataloging countless Siegel-Schwall performances in the early 60's and 70's. They only hinted at the explosive excitement that routinely featured artists like: Siegel-Schwall, Jeff Beck, Janis Joplin, Sly and the Family Stone and Richie Havens - all packed into one unbelievable euphoric night of music on one stage.
 The members of Siegel-Schwall were known as the "musician's musicians", and their popularity pervaded even into the classical world resulting in a benchmark release in 1971 for international classical label giant, Deutsche Grammophon. At the invitation of Maestro Seiji Ozawa, the popular Siegel-Schwall band were guest soloists with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra on a piece exclusively commissioned for them titled: "Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra" by William Russo. The release went "gold", and was credited in a book on the San Francisco Symphony by David Schneider for getting the symphony "back into the recording business". The music of "Three Pieces" was also made into a full ballet titled: "Mother Blues" for the San Francisco Ballet and was performed in repertory for two seasons, as
well as use for a sound-track for Carl Sagan's popular "Cosmos" program on National Public Television. The fact that Siegel-Schwall were featured at the 2004 renown San Francisco Blues Festival shows they continue to translate well across genres and generations.
Corky Siegel, called "a phenomenon on harmonica" by the Washington Post, has earned an international reputation as one of an elite handful of virtuoso Blues harmonica masters. Blues icon, drummer and vocalist Sam Lay is recorded on over 48 classic recordings from the works of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and Willie Dixon. Sam Lay can also be heard on one of the most significant recordings of Bob Dylan - "Highway 61". Mr. Lay is included on Dylan's 2003 anthology set released to critical acclaim. He is featured in numerous books on the Blues as one of the most important and influential Blues drummers of the twentieth century. He is featured in the Blues, Jazz, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame, and recipient of the Grammy Foundation's prestigious 2001 "Hero's Award". His original drums from the 1960's are currently on a tour of national museums, and on display this summer at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry for their
monumental "Big City, Big Blues" exhibition .
The band is rounded out by Siegel-Schwall's bassist and vocalist Rollo Radford, who got his start with Dinah Washington, and performed world-wide with Sun Ra, as well as Martha and the Vandellas, and Joe Williams. Guitar, mandolin and vocals are performed by co-founder, Jim Schwall, whom the Boston Globe heralded as: "one of the best Blues guitarists in the business".
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