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Praised by Living Blues Magazine as "one of the most consistently creative guitarists playing blues today," Grammy winning musician Steve Freund will perform at the ProArts Playhouse on Sept. 6 with Fast Freddy & The Blue Lava Blues Band and Sheryl Renee. Freund's recording credits include Boz Scaggs, Bonnie Raitt and Koko Taylor.
"I'm 72 now and I started when I was about 16 or 17, so it's kind of in my blood," says Freund about his passion for blues. "I was about 18 when I listened to Albert King in the Fillmore East and that was it. I dedicated my life to this. It just makes me feel good to listen to it and when I play, I feel good as well."
Moving to Chicago in the mid-1970s, he spent years playing with many blues greats including Sunnyland Slim, James Cotton, Big Walter Horton, Floyd Jones, and Luther Allison. It was acclaimed pianist Sunnyland Slim (born Albert Luandrew) who encouraged him to move from Brooklyn to Chicago. They had met at a show in Greenwich Village.
"I went to see Sunnyland on the South side in a kind of rough neighborhood," he recalled. "I had my guitar and a little battery powered amp, and introduced myself and he said, 'well, we're going to get you up to play.' All of a sudden, I'm coming from being basically a street musician in Greenwich Village to playing in front of an actual traditional blues audience on the South side of Chicago at two in the morning, and I got a lot of applause."
Getting gigs around Chicago, he eventually became a full time musician. "I became Sunnyland Slim's main guitar player for 18 years. I played with Big Walter Horton and Koco Taylor, and I toured Europe."
It was with Koko Taylor that he earned a Grammy award for the album "Blues Explosion," after he was invited to back her in Europe. "I showed up in Paris and we did a five week tour," he says. "Part of the tour was playing at a blues festival and Atlantic Records recorded all the bands, and that album won a Grammy."
His collaboration with Bonnie Raitt was featured on the acclaimed tribute record "First Came Memphis Minnie." They recorded a version of the legendary blues musician's "Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin'."
"Maria Muldur used to come to some of my shows, and she was doing this tribute to Memphis Minnie," he says. "She hired me to play a duet with Bonnie and a duet with Ruthie Foster. I not only play like the modern urban guitar style, I also play a little bit in the style of Big Bill Broonzy or Lonnie Johnson, a more simpler 1930s or '40s style."
Relocating to the Bay Area, he became buddies with Boz Scaggs. "Boz was doing these Tuesday night jam sessions at his little studio he had behind Slim's in San Francisco," he explains. "So we started jamming and I toured with him, and he invited me to play on his record ("Come On Home"). He's an amazing guy."
Freud's most recent recording "Come on in This House," captures this talented vocalist/guitarist artist on covers by various blues greats, from Freddie King's "Play it Cool" and Junior Wells' "Come On in This House, to St. Louis Jimmy's "Can't Stand Your Evil Ways." It also included a version of Janis Joplin's "Turtle Blues.
"I saw Janis at the Fillmore," he says. "I enjoy doing that song, I just changed the gender around on the lyrics."
As for his tasty, soulful guitar style, a Downbeat review praised, "Steve Freund shines every time he steps forward, playing with sizzling drive, taste, and real creativity."
"The people that I listened to in my formative years, my main guys were B.B. King and Peter Green from Fleetwood Mac," he explains. "And Big Bill Broonzy, and some jazz guys a little bit. To me, it's all about phrasing. It's picking the notes, choosing the notes, being tasteful."
Steve Freund performs at the ProArts Playhouse on Sept. 6 at 7:30 p.m., with Fast Freddy & The Blue Lava Blues Band and Sheryl Renee. It's produced by the Maui Jazz & Blues festival and ProArts. Tickets are $30 and $25.