Biographies

A vocal phenomenon, Darcel Wilson possesses an engaging sound that is powerful and expressive. Since the age of fifteen, she’s lent her talents to noteworthy projects.

She’s worked with Branford Marsalis, Paul Simon, Mark (Marky Mark) Wahlberg, Walter Beasley, Fatwall Jack, Brad Delp (lead singer of Boston,) Armsted Christian, Keith Robinson (with Metropolis,) and with Producer Dan Serafini.

She also served as Lead Session Singer and Vocal Arranger for the Broadway show Brooklyn The Musical with writers Mark Schoenfeld and Barri McPherson. Darcel ventured to Germany to coach German singer Ute Schoenherr, and provided vocal production services on recording sessions in London and Los Angeles.

Darcel’s voice can be heard on a multitude of radio and television. jingles. Credits include CVS, McDonald’s, The Oprah WinfreyShow, Filene’s Basement, The WB Network, Comcast Cable, Sprint, Eye World, and The Boston Herald.

Darcel co-wrote and sang on a song for the Arthritis Foundation as well. The song, produced by George Duke, was recorded in Los Angeles at O•Henry and LeGonks. Other performers included Jeffery Osborne, Deniece Williams, Phillip Bailey, Chante Moore, Sheila E., Boney James, Everett Harp, Lori Perri, Howard Hewitt, Rick Braun, Kenny Lattimore, Lynn Fiddemont, and many others.

Since 1998, Darcel has worked as an instructor of Theory, Ensembles, and Voice for the City Music Saturday Program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She devoted nine summers to the College as a full time faculty member in the Five-Week Summer Performance Program before joining the Ear Training faculty in 2006.

Recently, Darcel has been very active on the international front. In 2007, she traveled to Kobe and Nagoya, Japan as a performing clinician at Koyo Conservatory. In early 2008, she accompanied Berklee College of Music for a Vocal Summit in Frieburg Germany with fellow faculty Donna McElroy, Bob Stoloff and Dennis Montgomery. Also in May 2008/2009 in Puerto Rico, Darcel taught at the Heineken Jazz Festival.

Darcel enjoys continued success while she’s working on her new solo album project.

Doug James is an American blues and rhythm and blues baritone and tenor saxophonist, songwriter, arranger, record producer and audio engineer. In a career spanning 50 years, James has played on many albums, including those recorded by Roomful of Blues, Duke Robillard, Jimmie Vaughan, Joe Louis Walker, Colin James, Pat Benatar, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and many others. In addition, James has released four albums bearing his name.

On stage, James has backed blues musicians including Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Big Joe Turner, LaVern Baker, Helen Humes, Colin James, Freddie King, Charlie Musselwhite, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Junior Walker, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Witherspoon. James has had five nominations for a Grammy Award and received a W. C. Handy Award.

He was born in Turlock, California, United States. His mother, who was the organist in his father's church, encouraged James to have an interest in music, although he became largely self-taught on the saxophone. He eventually favoured the baritone saxophone, but has been recorded playing tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, as required. In 1960, James had heard Pepper Adams saxophone solo on Charlie Mingus' "Moanin'", and this experience prompted James to play the baritone. In his youth, James parents relocated to Oregon, before moving again to Rhode Island. It was in Rhode Island in 1970, when Duke Robillard was expanding his fledgling group, Roomful of Blues, to include a horn section, that he met James. He was nicknamed "Mr. Low", after a song Joe Williams had recorded with the Red Saunders Orchestra in August 1950, called "Blow, "Mr. Low-Blow"". James's connection with Roomful of Blues continued, albeit intermittently, until 1998. He recorded twelve albums with the ensemble, including Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson & Roomful of Blues (1982). Through his connections to Roomful of Blues, James also got the opportunity to back Roy Brown, Helen Humes, LaVern Baker, and Jimmy Witherspoon.

James has also recorded with Eddie Clearwater, Toni Lynn Washington, Jerry Portnoy, Jimmy "T99" Nelson, Jay McShann, Debbie Davies, Billy Boy Arnold, Kim Wilson, and Bryan Lee. Opportunities to take part in various 'W.C. Handy All-Stars' touring ensembles saw James play the saxophone behind a varied mix of artists, such as Charlie Musselwhite, Little Milton, Ruth Brown, Joe Louis Walker, Trudy Lynn, and Johnnie Johnson.

In 2001, Stony Plain Records invited James to record his debut solo album. The album, Blow Mr. Low, contained tracks where James played tribute to his heroes such as Paul Williams, Haywood Henry, and Leo Parker, and Smiley Lewis. James wrote four of the ten tracks plus, with Robillard, co-penned one other.

On the original soundtrack album, Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: The Road to Memphis (2003), the final track was Rosco Gordon's "Now You're Gone", performed by an ensemble consisting of Gordon (vocals, piano), Robillard (guitars), John Packer (bass), Jeffrey McAllister (drums), with James and Gordon Beadle (saxophones).

James has continued to tour and record albums with Robillard, such as on the November 2020 release, Blues Bash with Duke Robillard & Friends. He also leads the Doug James Big Band.

In the 2021 Blues Music Awards, he was nominated in the 'Instrumentalist - Horn' category.

After graduating high school Carl joined a group of friends to form Fat City Blues Band in 1974-5 playing parties and nightclubs around NH. In 1976 he moved to Providence RI to join the group Back Slap Blues Band.

In 1978 he took a job as trombonist with Roomful of Blues. He joined Loaded Dice in 1982 playing drums. In 1988, he rejoined Roomful of Blues when Porky Cohen retired. Traveled extensively throughout Europe and the US with Roomful of Blues over the next 10 years. In 1991, he went on a summer tour with Pat Benatar and two performances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, (the second included a mass jam with The Tonight Show Band featuring Doc Severinsen) and one performance on the Arsenio Hall Show. In 1998, after ten years of touring, he decided to quit Roomful of Blues and live a less itinerant life.

From 1998 through the present, he's been freelancing and recording on trombone around the New England area with many different groups.

Recordings: Roomful of Blues: Lets Have a Party (1979); Pat Benatar: True Love (1991); Colin James: Colin James and the Little Big Band (1993); Duke Robillard: Living With the Blues (1998) As producer: Roomful of Blues: Dance All Night, Turn it On Turn it Up, Roomful of Christmas, Under One Roof; Porky Cohen: Rhythm and Bones (1996); Sugar Ray Norcia: Sweet and Swingin' (1998); Jimmy T99 Nelson: Rockin' and Shoutin' the Blues (1998); Blues Wagon (1999) Radio and television broadcasts: His Roomful work also included live performances on WDET in Detroit, BBC in London, nationally syndicated House of Blues Radio along with many interviews and promotions.

Marty Ballou was born in 1960 and grew up in South Kingstown, Rhode Island, graduating from high school in 1978. He later attended Northeastern University and the University of Rhode Island. He studied improvisation with trombonist/educator Hal Crook, jazz guitar with Leo Amitrano, classical guitar with Vincent Fraioli, and acoustic bass with John Lockwood. His professional career began in 1979.

From 1986 to 1992, he performed and recorded with the vocal jazz group, The Ritz (formerly known as Puttin’ On The Ritz), playing at the Fresno and Helsinki Jazz Festivals, the Newport Jazz Festival in Japan, and numerous clubs throughout the world. While with The Ritz, Marty recorded six internationally released albums, one for Pausa Records and five for Denon Records including their 1987 self-titled release featuring tenor sax giant Frank Wess and their final album, Almost Blue, with legendary trumpet and flugelhorn player Clark Terry.

Beginning in 1992, Marty spent the next five years as a member of the Duke Robillard Band, recording several albums behind the guitar legand and touring the U.S., Europe, Australia and South America.

Like most of his contemporaries on the southern New England blues scene, Marty served a stint with Roomful of Blues beginning in 1998. He formed the final Roomful rhythm section to feature original drummer John Rossi and recorded one of the band’s most celebrated albums, There Goes The Neighborhood.

Beginning in 2002, he worked with John Hammond’s Wicked Grin Band, making three albums with him and touring internationally.

In 2008, he joined Peter Wolf’s Midnight Travelers band and played on their 2010 album, Midnight Souvenirs.

Despite his far-flung travels and recording commitments, Marty has retained a strong presence on the local music scene. He enjoyed a decade-long musical partnership with the late guitarist Thom Enright and he has recorded three albums with world-renowned Grammy winning folk artist Bill Harley.

He appears frequently with guitar virtuoso Bobby Keyes along with his most frequent rhythm section partner, drummer Marty Richards. The three musicians are also members of The Mystix, dubbed by The Boston Phoenix “a roots supergroup.”

In addition to performing in tandem with Keyes and The Mystix as well as with Duke Robillard, John Hammond and Peter Wolf, the Richards-Ballou team (affectionately known as “The Marties” on the Rhode Island scene) also provides backing for a host of other acts including jazz/blues artist Ursula George and The Young Adults.

Marty has also performed with an impressive list of southern New England jazz luminaries including Dick Johnson, Art Pelosi, Ted Casher, Herb Pomeroy, Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi, Bob Gullotti, Tony Zano, Artie Cabral, Paul Broadnax, Scott Hamilton and Mike Renzi.

In the studio, he has lent his special talents on his instrument, as an arranger, and as a producer to dozens of other performers including Jay McShann, Herb Ellis, Martin Sexton, Cheryl Wheeler, Kenny White, Chris Flory, David Maxwell, Jerry Portnoy, Dan Moretti, and the North Star Jazz Ensemble.

Brad Hallen is a much in demand bassist in the New England area. He has toured and recorded with numerous national and international artists including Johnny Winter, Billy Boy Arnold, Susan Tedeschi, Iggy Pop, Duke Robillard, Roomful of Blues, The Founders, Jimmie Vaughan, James Cotton, Scott Hamilton, Hubert Sumlin, Ministry, Jane Wiedlin (The Go Go”s), Ric Ocasek, Elliot Easton and Ben Orr (The Cars), Otis Clay, and Aimee Mann. At last count he has played on over 200 released records.

With almost three decades of touring and recording under his belt, Boston-based blues guitarist Monster Mike Welch is a seasoned veteran of the international blues scene. Given the nickname “Monster Mike” by actor/Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd at the tender age of 13, Welch has since carved out a niche as a highly accomplished and in-demand guitarist. To date, Welch has released several albums under his own name and in 2001, he joined the ranks of one of New England’s most beloved blues institutions, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones, where he stayed until 2017, recording five albums and racking up multiple Blues Music Award nominations for the band in that time. In addition, Welch has recorded with Shemekia Copeland, Ronnie Earl, Danielle Nicole, Duke Robillard, Johnny Winter, Victor Wainwright, Nick Moss, the Mannish Boys and Sugaray Rayford, among others. Welch left the Bluetones in 2017 to focus on his partnership with Mike Ledbetter, which led to seven Blues Music Award nominations and the formation of the Welch Ledbetter Connection within the first year. Welch has received three consecutive Blues Music Award nominations by the Blues Foundation for Instrumentalist-Guitar beginning in 2016, a Boston Music Award for Best Blues Act, and is an inductee of the Rhode Island Music Hall Of Fame. In 2023, Monster Mike Welch embarked on the next phase of his career when he signed with Gulf Coast Records to make new music. monstermikewelch.com

During the course of his 40+ year career, Marty has become internationally known as a “go-to” player for any setting. He is a gifted accompanist whose innate sense of swing and unerring sense of time have graced hundreds of stages and more than one hundred fifty recordings behind a list of artists that reads like a “who’s who” of American popular music.

After high school, he enrolled at the Berklee College of Music and earned his degree in 1985. Shortly after graduation, Marty began performing with vibraphone legend Gary Burton and in 1987, along with pianist Makoto Ozone, saxophonist Tommy Smith and Burton’s longtime bassist Steve Swallow, recorded the album Whiz Kids for ECM Records.

His ten year association with the Burton quintet opened the door on a whirlwind of activity and over the course of the next three decades, Marty became one of the most in-demand drummers in the country and racked up an incredible list of credits.

Here are just a few highlights from the list of the artists with whom he’s toured and/or recorded: 

Marty has toured and recorded extensively with Duke Robillard over the years and is the drummer on this 1997 album which Billboard called, “Jump blues at its finest.”

He was the principal drummer on the first recordings by acclaimed singer/songwriter Norah Jones. This album was recorded in 2000 just weeks before Norah began work on her first Blue Note album and Marty appears on half of the tracks. Released in 2003, it climbed to #1 on Billboard’s Top Blues Albums chart and #2 on its list of Top Independent Albums.

Marty’s former Duke Robillard bandmate Gordon “Sax Gordon” Beadle launched his solo career with this 1998 album on which Marty is the drummer and co-writer of “Hubcap Pete.”

Celebrated singer-songwriter Pete Francis of the band Dispatch pursued a solo career during his band’s ten year hiatus beginning with the 2003 release of this album for which Marty held down the drum chair.

Marty joined up with Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry for the recording of Joe’s fifth solo album in 2009 and the group toured the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in support of its release.

Marty has performed with The J. Geils Band for most of their reunion shows since 2005 deputizing for retired original drummer Stephen Jo Bladd.

He appears frequently with guitar virtuoso Bobby Keyes along with his most frequent rhythm section partner, bassist Mary Ballou. For five years and three albums, Marty, along with Ballou and Keyes, was also a member of The Mystix, dubbed by The Boston Phoenix “a roots supergroup.” In 2015, Richards rejoined The Mystix and plans are in place to record a live album. In addition to performing in tandem with Keyes and The Mystix as well as with Duke Robillard, John Hammond and Peter Wolf, the Richards-Ballou team (affectionately known as “The Marties” on the Rhode Island scene) also provides backing for a host of other acts including jazz/blues artist Ursula George and The Young Adults.

Marty’s list of credits also includes Peter Wolf’s solo projects; performances and recordings with bluesmen James Montgomery, James Cotton, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, John Hammond and Kim Wilson of the Fabulous Thunderbirds; tours with The Blues Brothers and guitarist Johnny A. of The Yardbirds; and onstage appearances with some of the most legendary of the all-time jazz greats including Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter and Tommy Flanagan.

On April 26, 2015, Marty Richards was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in the Sideman category and remains one of the busiest and most in-demand drummers in the country.

Award winning Blues and Boogie Woogie pianist Arthur Migliazza began playing the piano professionally at the age of 13. It was through his love of Blues music and his dedication to the piano that he came under the wing of such mentors/teachers as Henry Butler, Ann Rabson and Mr. B.

Arthur has been inducted into the Arizona Blues Hall of Fame, was a finalist at the 2010 and 2014 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN, and in his 25+ years of performing has played on some of the world’s greatest stages, including Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow as part of the sold out Kings of Boogie Tour, Birdland Jazz Club in New York City, Benaroya Hall in Seattle, as well as on National Public Radio in the US.

In 2014 he received the Best of the Blues Award for Best Keyboardist in Washington State and his album Laying It Down, resided at #1 on the Roots Music Report charts for Washington State for the summer of 2014, and reached #20 on the national chart. Laying It Down also appeared on the GRAMMY Entry List for the 2015 Grammy award nominations. Arthur released his latest album, Bumble Boogie, independently in Jan 2018.

As a star of the critically acclaimed Off Broadway show BOOGIE STOMP!, Arthur performed at the Elektra Theater in Times Square, NYC for five months in 2015. His first instructional book, considered by many to be a benchmark in blues and boogie woogie piano instruction, is entitled How to Play Boogie Woogie Piano and is available for purchase worldwide through publisher Hal Leonard. In 2016, Arthur started the world’s first online boogie woogie piano school, School of Boogie, to provide people around the world with access to free boogie woogie piano lessons.

Arthur currently resides in Westerly, RI.