Sonny Black

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Sonny Black (Bill Boazman)

Background information
Birth name Bill Boazman
Also known as Sonny Black
Origin England
Genre(s) Blues, Folk
Occupation(s) Guitarist,
singer,
songwriter
Years active 1960s to present
Label(s) Various, see Discography
Associated acts Sonny Black's Blues Band, The Dukes, Heron
Website http://www.sonnyblack.co.uk
For the German rapper who uses Sonny Black as a pseudonym see Bushido (rapper), for the American mafioso see Dominick Napolitano.
Bill Boazman redirects here


Sonny Black is a leading acoustic guitarist based in the UK, who plays blues, rags and original compositions usually fingerstyle or slide. "Sonny Black" is a pseudonym adopted when he began the first "Sonny Black's Blues Band". He previously became well-known by his real name of Bill Boazman on the folk club circuit and at college gigs during the 1970s as a singer, songwriter and acoustic guitarist. He has been credited with accompanying J. J. Cale, but this is a fallacy arising from a typographic error involving an American musician with a similar name.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] First influences

At the age of seventeen Boazman first heard "San Franscisco Bay Blues" by Jesse Fuller, which led to his enduring love of blues music. At Les Cousins in Soho, London he learnt from Roy Harper, Bert Jansch, Ralph McTell, The Incredible String Band, Davey Graham and many an American guitar picker.

[edit] Early collaborations

With Mike Cooper, a leading light of the emerging UK country blues scene in the late 1960s, he began playing acoustic and slide guitar with him on gigs around the UK and Europe. He played on a couple of Cooper's albums on the Pye label, alongside such luminaries as Danny Thompson, Stefan Grossman, Mike Osborne and Alan Skidmore. He also added his vocals and guitar to albums by Ian A. Anderson.

[edit] Heron

During the early 1970s he worked with Heron, alongside a line-up of Michael Cooper - Vocals; Gerald (G. T.) Moore - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals; Roy Apps - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals; Mike Finesilver - Bass; Steve Jones - Keyboards; Tony Pook - Percussion, Vocals; Mike Cooper - Guitar; and Terry Gittins - Drums. Boazman appeared on the early Heron albums, but (contrary to some sources) was not formally a member of the band.[1] These albums are now highly collectible, fetching about £150 each. Some of the tracks on these albums were composed by Boazman.

[edit] Solo work

Bill Boazman in singer/songwriter mode at Bracknell Festival in July 1978
Bill Boazman in singer/songwriter mode at Bracknell Festival in July 1978

There then followed a period in the 1970s and 80s when Bill spent much of his time working as a trucker by day and playing solo gigs in the evenings at which he performed mainly self-penned songs with guitar accompaniment, in his distinctive blues-influenced style. He steadfastly refused to record these songs (and has not performed them since those times), although a couple have survived in the form of recordings by other artists (The Worm Forgives The Plough recorded by both Johnny Coppin and Paul Downes; and Roll on River recorded by Wizz Jones and Werner Lämmerhirt). Other notable Boazman compositions of this period include The Ballad of Charlie Daniels, Tall Ship, Bless These Children, and Breaking Even.

[edit] Sonny Black's Blues Band, Sonny Black and the Dukes

Boazman then adopted the persona of "Sonny Black" and formed the first line-up of Sonny Black's Blues Band with Paul Swinton on harmonica, Dick Jones on bass guitar and a variety of drummers, playing a hard Chicago type of blues and acting as the houseband at Dino's Blues Bar at the West End Centre in Aldershot, playing with Eddie C Campbell, Lowell Fulson, Guitar Shorty, Carey Bell and others. The band came and went through various line-ups featuring, at different times: Sam Kelly (drums), Dan Smith (piano), George Pearson (bass), Alan Glenn (harmonica), Dino Coccia and Damon Sawyer (drums) and Bob Haddrell (organ/piano) - some of whom reformed as The Barcodes. Although performing entirely in a traditional blues idiom, most numbers were written by Sonny Black.

[edit] Return to acoustic roots

In the 2000s Sonny Black was drawn back to playing just finger picking acoustic and national steel guitar, often accompanied by bassist Chris Belshaw. His repertoire is now a varied selection including blues, ragtime, jazz standards. He has performed live sessions for BBC Radio 2's Paul Jones and Johnnie Walker shows and, under the name of Bill Boazman, has produced a guitar tutorial DVD, "Jazzin' The Blues".

During 2008 Sonny Black will be performing at festivals in France and Italy as well as a limited number of U.K. dates.

[edit] Selected discography

  • Heron (Dawn Records) - 1970*‡‡‡
  • Twice As Nice & Half The Price (Dawn Records DNLS3025) - 1972*‡‡‡
  • Smile on the Blues (Roads Records RRCD0001) - 1993 **‡
  • Free Spirit (Free Spirit Records FS100) - 1998 **‡‡
  • Heart & Soul (Bluetrack Records BRCD004) - 2000 **‡‡
  • Blues of a Kind (Free Spirit Records FSCD002) - 2002 **
  • The Corner Seat (Free Spirit Records FSCD004) - 2006 **
  • The Best of Days (Free Spirit Records FSCD0005) - 2007 **
  • DVD - Jazzin' The Blues *

*as Bill Boazman **as Sonny Black ‡with Sonny Black's Blues Band ‡‡with The Dukes ‡‡‡with Heron

[edit] External links