Currently spending time with Hardrick Rivers, Pop Hymes, Donnie Hyams, Sammy Nix, Carlos Ortiz, Mickey Burton, David Dupree and Silas Dollar ...
Time’s been spent with Aaron Flinn, Jeff Magid, Danny Sonenfeld, Pete Zifchak, the Blue Wave Band, RJ Ramirez, David Krupp, Faith Assembly, Steve Crabtree, Larry Klein, Roy MacDonald, the Moondogs, Jeff Rachall and 24/7, Drew Pickens, Dave Szulkin, George Miller, Marcello Ozain, Adam Topol, Abe Laboriel Jr., the Bloodfarmers, the Six Million Dollar Band, Jean Jacquette and the Blue Threads, Jim Litzenberg, Bill Keller, Dave Schlom, Fred Chao, Gywnne Kahn, Dennis Mack, James Loveman, Richard Dambaugh, Charles Colbert, Jim Banim, Mike Biddinger, Donnelly Fenn, The Kenton Korporation, Southern California Honor Choir, Lima Youth Symphony, El Camino Community Orchestra ...
In rural Ohio, Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, San Diego, Long Beach, Seal Beach, Boston, New York, Burlington, Memphis, Seattle, New Orleans, Shreveport/Bossier City and Natchitoches.
At the Whiskey a Go Go, Scream, Troubadour, Central, Coconut Teasers, Madame Wong’s East and West, Music Machine, Anti-Club, BBC-1, NBC Boston, the Johnny Mann show, Silverlake Street Scene Festival (LA), Harper’s Ferry, Middle East, Blue line subway, Berklee (Boston), Antenna Club, Java Cabana, Green’s Lounge (Memphis), Fiddlers, Blue Moon Saloon, Northwest Folk Festival, Wintergrass (Seattle), Mama’s Blues Room, Pioneer Pub, NSU, Natchitoches Country Club, Strait Country, Cherokee Club (Natchitoches), Roper’s Night Life (Bossier City)
Influences
Otis Rush, Grant Green, Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Duke Ellington, Joe Turner, Ray Charles, Buddy Miles, Mike Bloomfield, John Lennon, Jack Bruce, Jimi Hendrix, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman, Hank Crawford, George Benson, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, Don Rich, Clarence White, Gram Parsons, David Crosby, Noel Redding, James Brown, Roy Nichols, Roy Buchanan, Chuck Berry, BB King, Freddie King, Albert King, Earl King, Dr. John, Mills Brothers, Ink Spots, Cadillacs, Bill Haley, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, T-Bone Walker, Taj Mahal, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Big Bill Broonzy, Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Lawrence Welk, Johnny Cash, Paul Butterfield, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Bix Biederbecke, Neville Brothers, Booker T., the Meters, Fatback Band, the JBs, Maynard Ferguson, John McLaughlin, Jimmy Smith, Big Mama Thornton, Willie Nelson, Fats Waller, Fats Domino, Willie Dixon, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Chris Squire, John Entwistle, Jack Casady, Stanley Clarke, BB Dickerson, Charlie Christian, Wes Montgomery, Ron Carter, Herb Ellis, Kenny Burrell, Lenny Kravitz, Curtis Mayfield, Prince, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Steve Winwood, Muddy Waters, Duck Dunn, David Porter Jr.
Sounds Like
Someone who’s been playing for over thirty years and has possibly learned something or two about himself in the process.
A native of Royal Oak, Michigan, John has been on-stage playing music for 35 years - since he was eight. He formally studied clarinet, violin, piano, voice and composition from elementary through high school (although he switched from violin to double and electric bass at 11), taught himself guitar, accordion and lap steel, and over the years learned a repertoire and style that has crossed, blended and defied genres. At 12, he was asked to play bass in a high school jazz ensemble, earned outstanding ratings from the Ohio Solo & Ensemble Federation on clarinet and violin, and was a bassist with the Lima Youth Symphony; at 14, he replaced a graduating senior as bassist in his school jazz band; at 15, he sat in with a Community College adult orchestra and got his first paying gig in the pit band for the entire run of a Cal State Dominguez Hills musical. He was recognized for achievement in instrumental and vocal music by all of his instructors, and received his high school’s Louis Armstrong Jazz Award. After graduating, John met a group of older Chicago blues musicians and started playing clubs throughout Los Angeles, although still underage, where he met blues legends like Peewee Crayton, who called him a “bad m*f* bass player.” A few promising opportunities (a project with Peewee’s grandson Marshall and keyboardist Jeff Lorber, a band with the lead singer of Corpus Delicti, and a revamped lineup of psychedelic revival band The Things) failed to materialize, but John kept playing and writing as part of the goth, punk and garage band scene in LA. At 26, wanting a change of scenery (and coasts), he applied to, and was accepted by Berklee College of Music on a voice scholarship.
After two unfocused years hanging out in Boston, John shifted musical gears again by moving to the home of many of his influences – Memphis. Hundreds of acoustic shows and a stint as an ordained Elvis impersonator later, he looked westward again, to Seattle. Once used to being married, and the weather, he realized while grunge and punk had attracted him, his folk and country roots and focus on his guitar playing kept him busy. Relationship problems then forced another move; this time, back to rural Ohio, where a cousin happened to have a band. Soon, though, John got bored and looked to another great musical inspiration -- New Orleans. There from 1999 until Hurricane Katrina, he established a family and immersed himself in writing and recording.
Since relocating to Natchitoches in 2005, John has regularly performed on guitar, bass, lead and backing vocals. He currently works with Hardrick Rivers in both the Rivers Revue and Rivers Blues Band. He also maintains a 32-track digital home studio, and continues to write and record on guitar, bass, dobro, mandolin, violin and piano.
In addition to his musical accomplishments, John is also a published poet. For more information or to contact John, visit his website and blog at www.litzenberg.net.
