Chris Zaloom, a professional musician for a lifetime, specializes in the Fender Telecaster electric guitar and also plays acoustic six-string and slide, electric lap and slide guitars as well as dobro and pedal-steel guitars. Chris' career has spanned the world, from street singing on several continents to sharing the stage with well-known performers. Chris has played with Jimi Hendrix, Levon Helm and other members of The Band, Paul Butterfield, Carlos Santana, Johnny Winter, John Herald and many others. His recorded work has appeared on many discs. More »

Chris Zaloom, a professional musician for a lifetime, specializes in the Fender Telecaster electric guitar and also plays acoustic six-string and slide, electric lap and slide guitars as well as dobro and pedal-steel guitars. Chris' career has spanned the world, from street singing on several continents to sharing the stage with well-known performers. Chris has played with Jimi Hendrix, Levon Helm and other members of The Band, Paul Butterfield, Carlos Santana, Johnny Winter, John Herald and many others. His recorded work has appeared on many discs.

Chris began on acoustic instruments, developing a love for Delta, Piedmont and Texas blues. He discovered both the Fender Telecaster and his teacher, Roy Buchanan in Washington, D.C. where Chris acquired one of Roy's 1950's Teles. While in D.C., he started his first band, the Brave Maggots, who had a regional hit single written by Chris and who migrated to New York's Greenwich Village to spend the summer of '66 sharing the stage daily with Jimi Hendrix. In Atlanta, Chris formed Fear Itself with blues-woman and vocal-phenom' Ellen McIlwaine plus master-drummer Bill McCord and bassist Steve Cook [later, Paul Album]. Their Paramount album sold well, retains a cult status today and has just been re-released on C.D. The band played prestigious shows and appeared in Esquire magazine and on the cover of the New York Times Magazine.

Upon moving to Woodstock, New York, Chris began raising his sons and performing on the Rock, Blues and Country circuits, playing clubs and concerts, touring and recording. The Woodstock scene afforded a rich resource of collaborators and friends such as John Herald, Paul Siebel, Paul Butterfield, Cyndi Cashdollar, John Hall, John Sebastian, Tony Levin, Jerry Marrotta, Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Richard Bell. Chris most often played with Jim Weider, Randy Ciarlante, Beki Brindle, Flash, Mike Esposito, Frank Cambell, Rob Leon, Ted Orr, Kyle Esposito, Megan Johnson, Scredni Volmer, Gizmo Fullin, Earl Lundy and the late, great drummer David Beebe, not to mention numerous others.

Chris Zaloom's musical style ranges over Rock, Blues and Country while he has performed many other styles from acoustic sounds to Indian slide guitar. He achieves a highly individualistic, very dynamic personal sound that has lent itself to soulful self-expression as well as sensitive accompaniment of others.

Chris' synthesis of styles and charged stage presence has earned him the reputation of a "musician's musician". The press has called him "a guitar legend, a wild-man", "a legend among Woodstock's finest musicians," "A guitar master", "Soulful and articulate", "raw and rootsy, bad and bluesy", "a guitar shaman" and "a preternatural guitarist". Writers have cited his "true acoustic mastery" as well as noting that "he tears his own heart out" and "the man's not in control anymore" His late friend and collaborator, John Herald called him "a guitarist whose been oohhed and ahhed and ogled about".

Despite his up-front role as guitar-hero, Chris likes nothing better than featuring his band-mates, especially the rhythm section and soloists other than himself and providing sensitive, dynamic accompaniment to singers and their songs. Chris sums it up this way: "I feel very lucky to have spent a lifetime in roots music absorbing the inspiration from so many strong players and having had a chance to influence and entertain a wide audience. I.m excited that this new stage of my career is letting me take my musical message across the country and around the world." « Less

George grew up in in the arts-colony of Woodstock NY. He dabbled in the local-beatnik scene as a youth. By the mid-1960's he got his first guitar by redeeming several books of Grand Union blue stamps. Sent away to a Military school in 1967, George promptly left for the road and lived for months in a YMCA in Pennsylvania trading guitar licks with local college students in the shower rooms. Back to Woodstock in the late sixties George was jamming with exploding music scene there even helping to construct the first Woodstock festival. More »

George grew up in in the arts-colony of Woodstock NY. He dabbled in the local-beatnik scene as a youth. By the mid-1960's he got his first guitar by redeeming several books of Grand Union blue stamps. Sent away to a Military school in 1967, George promptly left for the road and lived for months in a YMCA in Pennsylvania trading guitar licks with local college students in the shower rooms. Back to Woodstock in the late sixties George was jamming with exploding music scene there even helping to construct the first Woodstock festival.

George played all styles of bass guitar with local artists as well as with show bands in the many Catskill hotels through the seventies. By the early eighties, George started his long tenure playing bass with folk legend John Herald, touring internationally and recording several albums with him During this period of great musical influence, George also performed/and recorded with Vassar Clements, John Sebastian and The Greenbriar Boys among many others.

George still lives in Woodstock region, writing songs of the Catskill Mountains, working on Photography, writing about local back-country skiing. « Less

A lot has happened since Mr. Cotton began playing drums in fifth grade and for a brief time, the saxophone. That summer, his band teacher gave him a beat-up old drum set to practice on during the summer. “I guess he saw that I had some natural ability. By sixth grade, I had taught myself to play” and was in the school’s jazz band and a drum set player. He was also helped along by his drumming idol, Tom Delfavero, who was three years ahead of him in school and later was a member of the Hell Cats. More »

A lot has happened since Mr. Cotton began playing drums in fifth grade and for a brief time, the saxophone. That summer, his band teacher gave him a beat-up old drum set to practice on during the summer. “I guess he saw that I had some natural ability. By sixth grade, I had taught myself to play” and was in the school’s jazz band and a drum set player. He was also helped along by his drumming idol, Tom Delfavero, who was three years ahead of him in school and later was a member of the Hell Cats.

During Mr. Cotton’s senior year, he joined a Top-40 band and spent most of the year on the road performing in hotel lounges. On the way home on Sunday nights in the van, he did his homework. Sometimes, they wouldn’t get paid, because the club owners would find out that he, but usually the band’s female keyboard player/vocalist, was underage.

“Why my parents let me do it, I don’t know … I was the third kid. I guess I was headstrong. I was a good kid. I never got involved in drugs or drinking.” From the beginning, he said they realized that he liked music and “were unbelievably supportive of this whole thing.”

While playing with different bands after high school and recording, he got a call from the manager for Gary Nichols, a country act. Mr. Cotton spent five years traveling with him and performing at country fairs all over the Northeast and opening for many famous country artists during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

During this time, he learned a great deal from his mentor, bass player Mitch Powell, who in the 1960s was a drummer for a television network. Mr. Powell knew how to play drums and had the touring routine down pat, Mr. Cotton said. In the best way possible, he said he gave him advice. “One of the things that drummers tend to do during sound check, especially starting out, is play a whole lot of stuff, and he would be like, ‘No, no don’t show them your stuff. Keep it for the show. Nobody wants to hear you play now, they want to hear you play with the band.’”

Once Mr. Nichols and the band moved to Nashville for his career and there wasn’t much work, Mr. Cotton returned to New York.

For the next five years, he toured with the Don Lewis rock-and-roll band and made three records. After they were signed to Detonator Records, a division of SONY, and it didn’t sell well, their contract was not renewed.

This was difficult for the band, because they were very close, everything was going great and suddenly they were dropped. Even though they had radio hits, Mr. Cotton said people weren’t buying their records.

At this point he was in his mid-20s. He posted some advertisements on the Internet searching for work, from which he got two calls – One was from the Dent; the other was from the Mighty Purple.

He chose the Dent, a Power Pop band, which is a mix of Top 40 and punk music. “Artistically, I had to be involved with them … to keep that side of my playing alive while I went to the blues too.”

In the 1990’s leaving the Don Lewis band Dennis hooked up with Charles Lyonhart. Playing with Charles at many of his gigs in the 90’s in Charles’ band Next of Kin. In 1998 Dennis was featured on “Exception to the Rule”, recorded and produced by Newburgh, New York’s guitarist extraordinaire Steve Raleigh.

He was also working with Bobby Charles in New York at that time.

His big break came soon after his 30th birthday in January 1999, when he recorded a record with Mr. Charles, which was being produced by Duke Robillard (a huge blues name).

When they all met up again three months later while billing together at an outdoor festival in Ft. Pierce, Fla., Mr. Robillard said his new drummer wasn’t working out and asked him if he would join his band to finish out his tour in the states and Europe for his new record, “New Blues for Modern Man.”

“It was a very easy choice to make, because Duke was Duke. It’s a huge name and Duke worked a lot and it was Europe, a good label,” Mr. Cotton said.

A year later, Mr. Cotton began working with George Fletcher, another blues act.

Through contacts, he was pulled into Commander Cody, known for the hit, “Hot Rod Lincoln.”

By this time, Mr. Cotton was being perceived as a “blues expert.” Joining Savoy Brown made him a British Blues expert. “Through them, I got to play with the British Blues All-Stars,” an experience he described as an opportunity to play with the greatest guys in British blues.

“That dissolved because three of the members of the band died,” including Long John Baldry, the father of British blues. Mr. Baldry discovered both Elton John and Rod Stewart.

“Most solo people work their way through other artists.

“You kind of have to cut your teeth on the road and learn how things work, sort of as an apprenticeship.”

Mr. Cotton is still part of a band called the Vantwistics that for the last 18 years has periodically gotten together to perform in New York.

The two other key members are bass player/singer Annie Hat, Broadway actress and former Saturday Night Live performer and Tom Delfavero, who switched from drums to guitar.

In 2009 Dennis was called by his old friend Charles Lyonhart to play on Charles’ new CD “Outside Looking In”. Joining the new band “The Junkyard Angels” along with Chris Zaloom and George Quinn, the CD took close to two years to make and was produced by Julie Last, who worked with Joni Mitchell, John Lennon and Talking Heads to name just a few. Dennis is now a full time member of the Junkyard Angels and will be touring and recording with Mr. Lyonhart.

Though he is not turning away completely from performing, Mr. Cotton’s future goals sound more altruistic. “I have spent 20 years of my life devoted to drumming and I can see that it makes a difference in people’s lives. “And now I’m going to stop being the rock star with the focus on me and I’m going to start doing this for other people. I walked away from a ton of money, fame and a lot of stuff because I feel like there’s something else that I can do that’s more important than getting up on stage.”

Dennis Cotton’s drumming is featured on new records by artists Bobby Charles, Charlotte Kendrick, Charles Lyonhart and the Junkyard Angels and Savoy Brown. « Less

TG Vanini grew up, under the name of Laurie Kirby, in Hong Kong and England. He played violin from an early age and performed with many fine and obscure ensembles including an English folk-dance band named Black Pig, a French folk-rock outfit called Menerval, the strange and beautiful Breaking Ground, and the inimitable Fighting McKenzies. More »

TG Vanini grew up, under the name of Laurie Kirby, in Hong Kong and England. He played violin from an early age and performed with many fine and obscure ensembles including an English folk-dance band named Black Pig, a French folk-rock outfit called Menerval, the strange and beautiful Breaking Ground, and the inimitable Fighting McKenzies.

But it wasn't until after T. G. had established a career in mathematics - studying at Cambridge and Manchester, teaching in Paris and Princeton, and becoming a professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York, where he still teaches - that he started to take his songs and song-poetry seriously. As a result he decided to do something he would never have dreamed of before: singing in public.

One New Year's Eve he had a job wandering from table to table at a fancy restaurant, playing the violin to beguile or embarrass the revelers and romantic couples. He decided to go as The Great Vanini, and the name, modestly shortened to T. G., stuck.

You can explore some of T. G. Vanini's poetic-mathematical musings at his web page; and Professor Laurence Kirby has his own page. « Less