Born and raised in The Bronx, New York.Coming from an Italian Family as a kid I was always around music like Sinatra, Dean Martin or Jerry Vale. As I got older I discovered Rock and Roll and immediately wanted to be a guitar player.
At ten years old I started taking lessons. Back in those days they tried to get you to play songs like Bill Bailey or Little Brown Jug. I wanted to play Beatles stuff!! After a couple of years I got bored with it, it was only when my family decided to move to South Florida a few years later that I picked it up again. When I got to see Jeff Beck play live I knew I wanted to play in a band.
Mostly self taught, I play in the styles of Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana & Stevie Ray Vaughan also Blues guys like Freddie King, Magic Sam, Muddy Waters and Elmore James. Living in South Florida I've played in a lot of Southern Rock bands covering songs by The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshall Tucker Band and The Outlaws. I was also a big Cream and Led Zeppelin fan as a teenager so I sort of discovered Blues music from English guitar players. These days I incorporate a lot of the styles I learned as a teenager; hopefully it comes out sounding like me!
I have been lucky to have played with and in some cases learned first hand from great musicians such as Harvey Mandel(canned Heat/John Mayall),Stan Bronstein (Elephants Memory/John Lennon), Bo Diddley, John Cephas, Thom Doucette (Allman Brothers)and Warren Haynes.
From 1984 -1990 my family owned The Blue Midnite Blues Bar in Ft.Lauderdale,Florida where I was part of the house band â€The Midnite Blues Band†which included guitarist Harvey Mandel. Musicians including Albert Collins, James Cotton, Elvin Bishop, Jaco Pastorias, Sugar Blue, Roy Buchanan, The Blasters, Junior Wells, Billy Preston, Bobby Keys, Robert Lockwood Jr. and Los Lobos have all hung out and sat in with the band. That was my Collage education, getting to meet and play with these guys at my age was priceless!!
After The Midnite Blues Band I joined The Hurricane Blues Band and went on the road with them for a year or so, lots of fun. I got to play a lot of real funky Blues clubs!! After the Hurricanes disbanded I came back to Florida and put together a new version of The Midnite Blues Band featuring former Allman Brothers Harmonica player Thom Doucette.This lineup had a weekly gig at Woody's on Miami Beach, a club that Ronny Wood of the Rolling Stones Had opened.
I also played in a band called The Blind Tigers For awhile. In early 1990 we where one of the two house bands at Bon Ton Square Club in Ft. Lauderdale where we got to play with Zachary Richard and Clarence "gatemouth" Brown. This band also did some gigs with Bo Diddley. Later that same year I was asked to join “Kilmo and The Killers".This band got me to stretch out on guitar a lot more. We played a lot of fired up Blues, R&B and funky New Orleans material, focusing on more soloing, kind of like Cream meets James Brown. We had the opportunity to perform with Dan Ackroyd and open up for the likes of Johnny Winter and Jeff Healy.
After 4 years drummer Reggie Smith and I formed Midnite Johnny and Smokestack Lightin’ along with bassist Jim Kessler we became a very powerful trio, focussing on a more of a funky Blues/Rock sound. This line-up continued until 1994 when John Grillo – drums and Jeff Sanchez – bass/vocals joined the band followed shortly after by Stan Bronstein – sax and Sonny Williams – keyboards. This same line-up has remained constant for the last 14years.
Now known as Midnite Johnny band we have released CDs including Lyin’ Eyes and Boogie and Blues Review. Midnite Johnny’s material has also been included on compilation CDs with Lyin’ Eyes used in the film Suicide Blonde.The band has remained one of the top Blues/Rock bands in South Florida.
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