John Deal
Blues Bassist
General Musician

 
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Welcome to my music Website!  The purpose of this website is to introduce myself to the Saratoga Springs, NY area musical community having somewhat recently moved from the musically dead (for me anyway) Virginia Eastern Shore in 2013.   Before moving to the Virginia Eastern Shore, I spent most of my adult and musical life in one of the world's music Meccas, the Boston, Massachusetts area. Having recently retired from software engineering and university teaching, I been working the local music scene! I am always interested in a good gigging or recording project.
  

Situation
Wanted:

 Membership in a band(s) performing original and/or cover blues, R & B, folk, alternative pop music in various venues in upstate New York.  I am open to a verity of musical situations from back yard parties to music festivals.  My goal is to play more good music and have fun doing it before I die!
 

Musical
Journey:

 I started music late in life and have been playing in a verity of situations since 1992.  I started out playing Bob Dylan songs on acoustic guitar then studied part-time with two semester long series of private lessons on jazz guitar.  I greatly disappointed my instructor as far as being the next Joe Pass, but the theory learned has been invaluable.

My first band was a bassist in a 10 piece soul/R&B band in the Commitments style called Soul Struck then as a guitarist then bassist of a mostly original alternative pop band called The Next in which I started writing original material.  Then on to my first blues band The Daily Grind which gigged a bit and generally had fun. 

After this I moved on to a New Hampshire rock/R&B band called Rattlesnake Shake which did some gigging in various places in New Hampshire and the White Mountains. 

From here I started gigging much more with various blues and R&B bands beginning with The Rampage Trio which gigged all over northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire then moving to The Charlie Dee Blues Band which introduced me to a real strong leader heavy gigging regional level blues band.   Charlie Dee was and is a regionally well known blues guitarist/vocalist.  This is also where I was recorded on a released CD Bloodshot Blue Eyes which was a recording of two live radio broadcasts from the Blues Deluxe show of WJUL (now WUML) (University of Massachusetts-Lowell) in 1997 and 1998.  Another band The Bridge was basically Charlie Dee's rhythm section backing a guitarist/vocalist that did some gigging in the Fitchburg, Massachusetts area.

While continuing with Charlie Dee I started a long term relationship with the blues band Shaky Deal which developed into a significant regional gigging blues band playing shows in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.  We made 2 CDs Shaky Deal (1999) and Live at the Chicken Bone (2002).  My participation in this band would last until I moved to Virginia in August 2003 (which I highly regret).

Meanwhile, I was also playing bass for another 10 piece soul/R&B band Soul Out which gigged fairly often including multiple weddings which I enjoyed quite a bit.  During this time I also was doing sound work for mostly the rock band See No Evil.   For about a year, I was playing with Charlie Dee, Shaky Deal, Soul Out, doing sound work, and working 60+ hours a week as a software engineer.  It was intense but what a trip!

For more information see my profile and individual band pages.

 

Contact:

 Email: bassdeal@gmail.com

Copyright ©2003-2023 John R. Deal Jr.