Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums

Called "Instant Crowd Favorites" by the San Francisco Blues Festival and "Consummate musicians and entertainers" by New York City's Lincoln Center, Lucky and Getit really shine before a live audience, bringing an intense energy and sheer personal magnetism to the stage, exercising wit in a continuous battle of the sexes. They've earned a reputation as captivating entertainers with "superior musicianship" (Downbeat), engaging audiences at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Half Note Jazz Club in Athens, Greece, the San Francisco Blues Festival, as the house band at the Derby in Hollywood, and hundreds of nightclubs, festivals, and performing arts centers around the world.

Their presentation of high-energy jump-blues, '50s R & B, swing, vintage jazz, and boogie-woogie is aimed at engaging the audience. The San Francisco Bay Guardian describes Lucky and Miss Getit as a “perfect union of skilled and fueled merrymaking". The two are natural entertainers and they put on a great show. Fans say "they rock". Look for them in MGM's "Be Cool" with John Travolta and Uma Thurman. Their new CD will be released this summer featuring two songs from "Be Cool". And legendary pianist Pinetop Perkins' called Miss Getit his "favorite guitarist"; she appears on his 2005 Grammy nominated CD "Ladies Man".

Drawing from the likes of such legends as Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Dinah Washington, T-Bone Walker and Ruth Brown, Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums have a true respect for the original roots of Jazz and Blues. Whether the band is rockin’ the blues, jumpin’ or swingin’ them, listen and see why Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums make In Style Magazine’s short list of “coolest bands” around.

Born in Seattle and raised near Detroit, Steve Lucky started playing piano at age eight and was playing and singing professionally by the time he was thirteen. He founded and led the six-piece Blue Front Persuaders through the ‘80s, playing swing, jump-blues, and ‘40s and ‘50s R & B, while living in Ann Arbor and attending the University of Michigan. Their novel sound and wild show was a big draw on the Midwest college circuit, earning them a spot on Star Search and a notable review for one of Lucky's original songs in Billboard magazine.

In 1987 Lucky moved to New York City to play keyboards for Grammy award-winning guitarist and vocalist Johnny Clyde Copeland. During the next five years he was active in the Greenwich Village music scene, was hired to score performance art and theater, and performed with a diverse group of musicians including Joan Osborne, Blues Traveler, and the Spin Doctors.

Sticking to his musical roots, Lucky formed his own band in New York City working the nightclubs and touring throughout Europe. In 1993 he moved to San Francisco and started the Rhumba Bums as a quintet, but admits the band really took shape in ‘94 with the addition of Miss Carmen Getit on vocals and guitar.

In Carmen's powerful vocals, one can hear echoes of her idols Ruth Brown, Etta James, and Dinah Washington. Miss Getit is a dynamic performer and versatile vocalist, interpreting "slick jazz a la Dinah Washington" or shouting down-and-out blues according to the Ann Arbor Observer.

Miss Getit got her musical start plucking out melodies on the piano before she learned to read. Piano lessons soon followed, and at age ten Carmen began singing and playing acoustic guitar with a group of girl guitarists at her local church. Over fifteen years later Steve Lucky bought her an electric guitar and turned her on to early blues and jazz. In 1998 she recorded a critically acclaimed release with the Rhumba Bums, "Come Out Swingin'!", earning four stars in both Downbeat and Blues Access Magazines and accolades from the press. Getit is recognized for her more swinging styles in Guitar Player Magazine as "smooth and steady", and her grittier blues playing in Experience Hendrix Magazine, where Frank-John Hadley calls Getit "one of the most striking young blues guitarists in the country".

Carmen has performed and recorded with Elvin Bishop, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and piano blues legend Pinetop Perkins on his 2004 release “Ladies Man”, and is featured in productions like "Queens of Boogie Woogie", "Women In Blues" and "Divas of the Blues" with other women artists including Lavay Smith, Carol Fran and Ruth Davies. Carmen graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan, and received awards as a professional dancer and dance instructor.

The band is rounded out with some brilliant musicians including Scott Petersen, Matt Cowan and Doug Rowan on saxophones, Brian Fishler on drums, and Lukas Vesely on bass. They have performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians including jazz greats Joe Williams, Dizzy Gillespie, Rosemary Clooney, Weather Report's drummer/percussionist Alex Acuña, classical clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, reggae legends The Abyssinians and Don Carlos, and pop stars Aretha Frankli