Felix Cabrera

Felix Cabrera

Genres: electric blues, blues, harmonica blues

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About Felix Cabrera

Felix Cabrera was born in La Habana, Cuba. He listened to music on the radio since he was 5.....not only his native music but also Bill Haley and Nat King Cole. His musical activity at that time was beating conga patterns on benches with school friends.... Then to the U.S. ....Miami Continued to listen to the radio....first r & b record heard was "Hit the road, Jack".....started singing a bit with records.....did a lot of dancing in after school hops....albeit alone.... Then to Union City, New Jersey..... Continued listening radio.....sang along with Levi Stubbs and Eric Burdon.....heard Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and was caught by the sound....went out and bought a harmonica.....saw Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield live and was hooked.....bought more harmonicas......played along with records.......saw BB King, Albert King, Otis Rush, James Cotton and Muddy Waters......also, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Lloyd and Chico Hamilton and started liking jazz......played with various bands until, in 1974, he and Arthur Neilson formed the "A TRAIN BLUES BAND" .... one of the first Chicago styled Blues bands in the New York metropolitan area. The band backed up and recorded with VICTORIA SPIVEY and North Carolina bluesman TARHEEL SLIM besides doing their own gigs. Felix also played duets with Honey Boy Edwards. Blues Unlimited writer Andre Hobus saw Cabrera perform at MAX's KANSAS CITY and wrote about his....."fluent harp techniques". In the next few years Felix experimented with the diatonic harmonica in Cuban music and co-led THE INTERNATIONALS.....mixing blues and classical overtones. They opened shows for BIG JOE TURNER and JAMES COTTON. New York City In 1984 he formed FELIX AND THE HAVANAS, recording "NEXT!!", which was released by the SKYRANCH record label in France.....the opening gig for this aggregation was for JAMES BROWN at the LONE STAR CAFE in New York City......they opened for the Godfather of Soul another 6 times......they also opened many times for Buddy Guy and Jr. Wells, Bobby Blue Bland, Jr. Walker, Wilson Pickett, Dr. John, Lonnie Mack, Marcia Ball and others......... Felix was the inaugural act at MANNY'S CAR WASH, the renowned New York Blues Club....he performed on NPR's program BLUES STAGE, hosted by Ruth Brown.. In the late 90's, Mr. Cabrera joined Jimmy Vivino and the Black Italians. They became a Thursday night fixture at the Manhattan Music Club, DOWNTIME.....Felix was then backed up by Vivino and Co. and released his second CD, "CUBOPS CUBLUES" ....Vivino and most of the Black Italians became the MAX WEINBERG SEVEN on the CONAN O'BRIEN SHOW on NBC T.V. ....Felix has also been on stage in MARK NAFTALIN'S MARIN COUNTY BLUES FESTIVAL where he performed with Naftalin, Jimmy Vivino and the late great drummer BILLY DAVENPORT. It was in Marin Country that Felix re-discovered the rage Butterfield favorite "East West". After working with Jimmy Vivino for 5 years, he again became a band leader.....the formation of "The Felix Cabrera Band" led to the recording of PRESSURE COOKER with a distinguished group of old friends.....Arthur Neilson and Vivino on guitars, Drummer Bill Schroeder, Keyboardist Danny Louis, Bassist Phil Butler, Giovanni Arencibia on Congas, and the horns of Jerry Vivino, Howard Johnson and Mark Pender. Felix is actively performing on the club circuit supporting his CD's.

Taken from Last.fm

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