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Mac Potts was born May 23, 1991. Although blind from birth, he soon showed musical talent. He was picking out nursery rhymes at the piano at 2, taking classical lessons at 4, and performing by age 8 at local events.
He began recording music at age 11 for fun, and began taking lessons from legendary Portland blues pianist DK Stewart at 12. He became interested in jazz, blues and boogie-woogie music from then on, and started learning more material. He was invited to play at the Kalama Blues Festival, where he was a big hit with the crowd. Mac also met Michael Allen Harrison, who influenced his playing. He began playing at church every week, and learned some technique from Ron Williams.
Meanwhile, Mac needed to learn an instrument for band. He was given a broken alto saxophone. He taught himself despite the fact that the horn was barely able to make notes. He got a nicer keyboard, and began recording music more seriously.
Mac met Ben Rice and joined Ben Rice and the Youth of Blues in early 2005. He also met Reggie Houston, a world famous saxophone player, who gave Mac a few pointers and direction. Mac was now getting more engagements, both solo and as part of the Ben Rice band, or joining Reggie Houston with one of his projects. The Ben Rice band has played the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland as well as concerts all over the Northwest.
Mac began playing solo piano at Hudson’s lounge in the Heathman Hotel in Vancouver in the summer of 2005. He is a crowd favorite, playing music from Gershwin to Elton John, Ray Charles to Cole Porter, show tunes, pop tunes, and almost every style (except country).
Mac studied jazz and gospel with Janice Scroggins in 2006, and is currently studying accompaniment and stage performance with Georgina Phillipson.
Mac traveled to New Orleans in 2006 and 2007 for the Jazz Fest. He was introduced to many local musicians, and had the honor of playing with Henry Butler, Charmaine Neville, and a quick jam with Harry Connick, Jr. He has met Dr. John, James Cotton, Michael Kaeshammer, Tom Grant and many other piano masters. Mac also was a featured artist at the Cincinnati Blues Festival in 2007, where he performed solo and with a band at the Boogie Woogie Piano Stage.
In his spare time, Mac has learned to do a little piano tuning, play the harmonica and drums, and has recorded a new solo Jazz album with piano, saxophones, drums, and keyboard bass. He continues to strive to improve his musicianship on all the instruments. Mac is currently a 10th grader at Kalama High School, where he is earning a 3.9 grade point average. He also recently won his age division in the National Braille Challenge in Los Angeles, where he displayed his Braille literacy and technology skills.
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