MARIE McCORMICK BLUES BAND 7:30 Saturday January 26th at Resolis Memorial Hall, the Black Isle.

Resolis Community Arts has persuaded Marie McCormick to leave her home turf in Glasgow and bring her Blues Band north for their FIRST EVER Highland gig. Well known in the Central Belt the band which varies from a six to an eight piece regularly plays the major jazz and blues festivals north and south of the border and has also played the prestigious 'Chicago 1920 'Festival in Prague.

The band Marie is bringing to Resolis is a six piece outfit fronted by her blues singing which has the "raw ability to draw pain to the surface during one soaring bar of a song then gently soothe like a healing balm in the next".
JamieTemple delivers top class lead guitar influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jeff Healy. Haunting solos and accomplished playing on bottle-neck and slide guitars, he never fails to capture an audience. On bass is 'Spike' James MacLean who provides the solid rock-steady foundation for the band together with the exact precision of Kenny Wheelers drumming. Archie McEwan is a highly talented keyboard player' and on tenor, baritone and alto saxophones is Felix Milan. Well known on the international big band circuit he often plays with top jazz musicians. The band play many of their own compositions and classics such as summertime and Stormy Monday.

" This is pure self indulgence on my part says David Gilbert of Resolis Community Arts. In my student days I frequented the legendry Orford Cellar in Norwich and was lucky enough to see of the great blues based bands of the sixties. John Mayall, Alexis Korner,Alex Harvey,Graham Bond, Mick Fleetwood, Zoot Money, they all played there, several on a regular basis so I got to see and hear many remarkable musicians, including Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Dick Heckstall-Smith, the fantastic sax player. The Cellar was very small and you would often be standing so close to these guys you could touch them. It was an unforgettable time. I have been looking for a contemporary band that captures some of that great music, sixties electric blues, and I had really given up when a friend said she knew a band that might fit the bill and lent me a CD , Inner City Blues by The Marie McCormick Band. One hearing and I knew the search was over. All I had to do was persuade them to come to Resolis and that was quite easy! Saturday will be a nostalgia trip for me and I hope for many others too. The Blues was the the basis for the subsequent Rock and Pop explosion which still continues "

Support is provided by the well known local band, MAMAS BRAND NEW BAG who's take on the acoustic blues from the American barrel house era will be the perfect complement to the main act.

Tickets are available on the door, £8 £6 or can be reserved on 01381 610204.