DAVID PINSKY and his Rhythm Kings

Musicians Tom Stamper and David Pinsky have performed, jammed and recorded with some of the top blues artists in the nation.

By Laurie Heuston
Mail Tribune
May 25, 2007
One night sometime in 1983 at a renowned night spot in Ashland, a blues guitarist named Clarence Brown asked a local musician — who also happened to be the club's owner — to sit in on a performance. David Pinsky left his post as bartender and stepped up to the stage to accompany "Gatemouth" Brown on harmonica. After the song was over, Brown turned to Pinsky and said, "Hey, you pretty good."
"Those are the things you live for," Pinsky says.
IF YOU GO
Who: The Royal Blues Band
When: 8:30 p.m. Mondays
Where: Alex's Plaza Restaurant, 35 N. Main St., Ashland
Cover: Free
Call: 482-8818
Pinsky co-owned the Brooklyn from 1980 to 1985, a venue noted for great players such as Brown, Robert Cray, Albert Collins, Canned Heat, John Hammond Jr. and Floyd Dixon.
Those heady days when a litany of fine blues musicians stopped in to jam at the Brooklyn and other clubs in Ashland may be gone, but theirlegacy lives on.
Today, the Royal Blues Band, featuring Pinsky on rhythm guitar and harmonica, Tom Stamper on drums, Bob Di Chiro on bass and Michael Vannice on piano, presents original and classic blues every Monday night at Alex's Restaurant on the Plaza.
"The bands that came through here were great," Stamper recalls. "Ashland has always attracted fine musicians because of the quality of performers that live here."
Blues, jazz and rock musicians made regular stops in Ashland to perform at clubs like the Brooklyn, Jazmin's and the Vintage Inn on their way to gigs up and down the West Coast.
"We got a quick reputation as a good place to play," Pinsky says. "We'd feed them, put them up for the night and pay them decently."
Stamper arrived in Ashland from San Francisco in 1987. He's performed in concert halls across the country with artists such as The Klezmorim, Elvin Bishop and Luther Tucker. He performed with Nancy King when she opened for Ray Charles at the Britt Festivals, and he has been featured on many recording projects, including a 2003 CD recorded by the BluesDusters, a local band featuring John Hauschild and Leonard Griffie.
Stamper and longtime friend Pinsky have worked together many times over the years. Pinsky's band, The Rhythm Kings, featured Stamper on drums occasionally and opened shows for headliners such as Elvin Bishop, Maria Muldaur, Leon Russell, Tower of Power and B.B. King at local and regional music festivals during the 1990s.
The Rhythm Kings have four albums to their credit. Check out the music at therhythmkingsonline.com.
Pinsky grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and he began studying music at Juilliard when he was 7. First he played trumpet, then he learned piano and guitar. He moved to Ashland via Los Angeles in 1973.
"The music scene was already set when I moved here," Pinsky says. "It was an arts community full of talented people."
Setting the standards for blues, Pinsky and his partners booked new artists such as Cray, Curtis Salgado, Paul deLay, Los Lobos and Little Charlie and the Nightcats. Pinsky's own house band opened shows for many of the bands and jammed with the best of them.
Who were the favorites?
"Anyone with the last name King," Pinsky laughs.
The Royal Blues Band's members share similar professional experiences of performing with some of the greatest blues artists in the country.
"It's more like an invitational jam session," Stamper says. "We get Gene Galien from Grants Pass who plays guitar and has worked with Buddy Epson, Barbara Mandrell, Ida Lupino and Tex Williams.
Other players include guitarist Mark Adams who played with Nick Gravenites, a Chicago-born composer who wrote "Born In Chicago" and "Buried Alive In The Blues," Stamper says. Stamper played drums on Adams' 2001 CD "Country Boy," and he played in a band with him during high school in San Francisco. The CD is available at the Music Coop in Ashland.
"You never know who is going to stop in," Stamper says. "Everyone's been playing professionally for about 25 years."
Other players include lead and rhythm guitarist Joe Diehl of AnnieMac and Soul Food, Gary Halliburton on piano and, of course, Vannice is of the Robert Cray Band's fame.
Venues for live music have been scarce in Ashland since clubs like the Brooklyn closed.
"We're keeping it alive," Stamper says. "And no small thanks goes to Charles and Quinn Tobey of Alex's. They've hung in there to provide live music in Ashland at no cover charge."
The Tobeys hired Stamper's band, the BluesDusters, about a year ago as a house band to perform on Monday nights at the restaurant. That group evolved into the Royal Blues Band.
"We're seasoned blues veterans," Stamper says. "What's happening now is part of the whole scene and the lifestyle we have here."
- Medford Mail Tribune/Tempo

Alex's got me feeling the blues

Our nightlife reporter tells you why Blues Night (almost) makes
Mondays tolerable

By Chris Conrad
September 14, 2007 6:00 AM

It's been reported the human voice has the ability to shatter glass.
So?
I'm more impressed when a particular voice cracks my heart in half just before it shocks my pathetic bony legs into
dancing.
And that voice can be heard every Monday night at Alex's Plaza Restaurant in Ashland.
It belongs to Karen Lovely, who sits in with the Royal Blues Band, featuring Dave Pinsky, he of the loud Hawaiian
shirt, on rhythm guitar and harmonica, Tom Stamper on skins, Bob Di Chiro on bass and Michael Vannice on piano.
(Full disclosure: My boss, Gary Nelson, the Mail Tribune's opinion page editor, sometimes sits in with the band on
trombone. I only saw him play once and he was quite good. And I'm not just saying that because I have a job
performance review coming up. Trust me.)
Fine musicians all, but it is Ms. Lovely who commands my attention and obedience.
I first heard Ms. Lovely's soulful call one night a few weeks ago while on my way to the Black Sheep.
Where the hell is that coming from? I remember thinking.
The Voice tore from Alex's and filled up the Plaza. To be sure, it was a welcome contrast to the consumer buzz
permeating the heart of Ashland most summer days.
Ms. Lovely cites as influences Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thornton and Ida Cox. Those ghosts are
definitely swirling around the room during her performance. I hear a little Janis Joplin in there, too, along with some
Ike-years Tina Turner.
It didn't take long before I was upstairs at Alex's watching a packed bar — young and old, married and single,
hippies and hipsters — in full swing.
The dancing is pretty good, by Ashland standards. There was little epileptic hippie jumping, and no bump-and-grind
shenanigans best left to the Kat Wok zombies.
The best part: Most of the faces were familiar. Thankfully, we locals have carved out a piece of Ashland to call our
own in the thick of the summer tourist plague.
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For the most part, Mondays are where good times go to die in Ashland. Imagine how grateful I was to find
somewhere a local can join in an old-fashioned rave-up to begin his or her week.
Blues Night starts at 8:30 p.m. and goes until around midnight. There is no cover charge.
Reach reporter Chris Conrad at 776-4471, or e-mail cconrad@mailtribune.com.
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David Pinsky and his Rhythm Kings
Live at the Bella

David Pinsky has spent over 30 years playing the blues, and on his latest release, Live at the Bella, he shows off what he's learned: how to have fun while talking about misery.

Pinsky obviously has fun with what he's doing. He laughs in between songs and jokes with his Rhythm Kings. Before “Mo' Money”, a largely political song, he talks about asking President Obama for money. Pinsky has the kind of balance between joking too little and too much with an audience that only experience can bring.

And he should – Pinsky has toured with a slew of blues musicians, including B.B. King and Bo Diddley. He's changed backup bands (and the names of them) several times, but the Rhythm Kings play smoothly enough with him that they sound like they've been there for his entire career.

Pinsky has a voice made for the blues. While you can't always understand him, and the lyrics are sometimes repetitive, his singing makes up for it. He sounds at times miserable and at others jovial, all while staying in touch with the audience and making them feel included. Pinsky plays guitar and harmonica as well, and I was shocked when I found out he's the only guitar player in the band. The piano player, Gary Halliburton, is particularly noticeable, even through Pinsky's vocals and the other members. It shows Pinsky's experience again that he isn't afraid to let members of his band into the spotlight.

“We're working/well I guess we're playing/music, it's this thing, you play it” he sings on “Mo' Money”, and he's got the right idea. Musicians in all genres should take Pinsky's advice and have as much fun as he is with what they're doing.


Abbey K. Davis – MuzikReviews.com Staff
December 21, 2009
©MuzikReviews.com
For Questions Or Comments About This Review Send An Email To info@muzikreviews.com - Muzik Reviews.com

BOBTJE BLUES BLOG

International Blues Party in da Blues #20
March 31,2007


This episode of da Blues is more “international” then ever. Kickin’ off is Chicago Bluesman Magic Slim with an excellent and raw track from his Blind Pig live recording “Anything Can Happen”, a must have for the die hard fan of the real Chicago stuff. The Rhythm Kings do not have the most original name in the bluesscene (many ‘Rhythm Kings’ out there), but David Pinsky (rhythm guitar, harmonica and vocals), bassist Mark Cunningham, drummer “Billy Rock” Smith and lead guitarist Jeff Ebnother create a style of swing, R&B, jump and traditional down home Chicago Style blues that will keep you moving all night long.
- BLOG

By LAURIE HEUSTON
Mail Tribune
David Pinsky strikes a pose in front of an old theater on Main
Street in Helena, Ark., during a trip to perform with the Rhythm
Kings at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival.
A journey to the heart of
the Mississippi Delta
and “the crossroads” — the
place where Highways 61 and
49 intersect at Clarksdale
and where bluesman
Robert Johnson
made his legendary pact with the devil — has brought David Pinsky and his Rhythm Kings new enthusiasm for American blues.
Pinsky and his band
— whose lineup has changed over the years to include many of the Rogue Valley’s best players — have presented guitar and harmonica based blues since 1988. A new album by the group has been in the works for more than a year.
“I had a bunch of stuff in the can and about eight rhythm tracks,” Pinsky says. “I wanted to do something new, but I just wasn’t hearing the thing that I wanted.”
Then in October 2007, Pinsky and
the Rhythm Kings were invited to perform as
emerging artists at the
Arkansas Blues and Heritage
Festival, formerly the King
Biscuit Blues Festival, in
Helena, Ark.
“The trip was a life- changing experience,” Pinsky says. “Everything — the friendliness of the people, eating ribs on Beale Street in Memphis and going to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. You could feel the blues in the air.”
And while visiting Clarksdale, Pinsky stood at Robert Johnson’s famous crossroads.
When Pinsky returned home, he put the finishing touches on a collection of original songs for the new album, titled “Jump Everybody.”
“Its sound comes from the early blues era of Atlantic Records,” Pinsky says. “Its roots are in that ‘50s-style jump swing music that includes artists such as Ray Charles, The Robins, the Clovers, Ruth Brown and Billy Ward and the Dominoes, which featured vocalists Jackie Wilson and Clyde McPhatter.
“Mix that with Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter Jacobs and anyone with the last name King, and you’ll get where we’re coming from,” he says..
Along with Pinsky, the album features Mark Cunningham, J. Rockefella Smith, Jeff Ebnother, Gary Halliburton, Brent Norton and Joe Diehl.
The Rhythm Kings will perform for a CD release party to be held at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, March 1, at Alex’s Plaza Restaurant, 35 N. Main St., Ashland. Copies of the new CD will be available at the show and also at cdbaby. corn.
Saturday night’s band lineup will include Tom Stamper and Jay Jorgenson, along with Halliburton, Diehl, Norton and appearances by past members of the Rhythm Kings.
Standing at those crossroads, did Pinsky make a deal with the devil for fame and fortune?
“No,” he says. “He never showed up.”
Mail Tribune, Friday, February 29, 2008 Tempo 5
- MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE /TEMPO 2-29-08