Biography
Jon Paris, a New York City-based multi-instrumentalist who handles guitar, bass, vocals, and songwriting while leading his own groups, has demonstrated an enduring aptitude for blues and blues-rock performance. Milwaukee, where he spent his formative years amid a thriving scene for those sounds, provided the setting for his initial work across several regional outfits during the 1960s. More recently, his longstanding connection to guitar pioneer and innovator Les Paul has drawn him into jazz explorations as well. Paul held a standing weekly slot at the Iridium in Manhattan and earlier maintained one at the since-shuttered Fat Tuesday's.
Although Paris earned wide notice through his years as a supporting player in Johnny Winter's various trios across the 1980s and 1990s, he has since developed a flourishing independent path. Solo releases encompass Rock the Universe from 1996 on Fountainbleu Records and the 2004 album Blue Planet issued by New Jersey's Blues Leaf Records.
His stage life began in high school on drums, yet by graduation he had also acquired guitar, limited bass, and harmonica skills that led to fill-in work with area bands amid Milwaukee's active club circuit. Both parents being artists, Paris initially envisioned a path in commercial art or painting, until 1960s radio broadcasts by figures such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry revealed the blues foundations beneath that music. He and fellow musicians only gradually recognized their proximity to Chicago, then the epicenter of the form, a realization sparked by British Invasion acts including the Animals, the Rolling Stones, and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. Attention soon shifted to the Chicago-based blues players who periodically traveled north to Milwaukee, where Paris witnessed Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Big Walter "Shakey" Horton, Johnny Young, Big Joe Williams, and Magic Sam. He has cited Magic Sam as a core influence on his own guitar approach. His Milwaukee touring bands delivered original takes on classics by Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Chuck Berry, and Eddie Cochran, with the most prominent pre-New York ensemble being the one formed alongside Jim Solberg, who later toured extensively with Luther Allison and issued two albums under his own name in the 1990s.
Paris relocated to New York City in his early twenties after feeling he had exhausted opportunities on the Midwest club circuit, following friend Stuffy Shmitt who had landed a recording contract. Solo performances and a blues jam at Broadway Charlie's brought encounters with Honeyboy Edwards, Sugar Blue, and the Uptown Horns during the mid-1970s. Upon that venue's closure he transferred the jam to Tin Palace on the Bowery, near the storied CBGB, where he connected with Robert Gordon, who arrived alongside Link Wray. Gordon and Wray subsequently invited Paris to join a European tour on bass, with Anton Fig on drums. Those 1977 and 1978 dates coincided with Gordon's hit "Red Hot," immersing Paris in classic rockabilly by Gene Vincent, Johnny Burnette, and Elvis Presley with Scotty Moore.
After returning from the Wray and Gordon tours, Paris encountered Johnny Winter at a Manhattan club during a Louisiana Red performance. (Red had been briefly married to folk-blues singer Odetta.) Explaining his command of both bass and guitar plus his original material, Paris supplied his contact details, prompting a call days later from Winter seeking a bassist for an impending U.S. tour. With his own long-running trio residency at Tin Palace winding down, Paris joined on bass and occasional harmonica, a role that lasted until roughly 1990. He has since concentrated on solo work while making select appearances with George Thorogood and Mick Taylor. During his New York tenure he has supported an array of blues and blues-rock figures including Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin, Elvin Bishop, Phoebe Snow, Percy Sledge, and Big Jay McNeely. Session credits encompass Johnny Winter, Bob Dylan, Ron Wood, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, and John Hiatt, and he has shared stages with heroes ranging from B.B. King and Freddie King to Luther Allison and John Mayall. Beyond the solo albums already noted, Paris appears on numerous Johnny Winter recordings.
Although Paris earned wide notice through his years as a supporting player in Johnny Winter's various trios across the 1980s and 1990s, he has since developed a flourishing independent path. Solo releases encompass Rock the Universe from 1996 on Fountainbleu Records and the 2004 album Blue Planet issued by New Jersey's Blues Leaf Records.
His stage life began in high school on drums, yet by graduation he had also acquired guitar, limited bass, and harmonica skills that led to fill-in work with area bands amid Milwaukee's active club circuit. Both parents being artists, Paris initially envisioned a path in commercial art or painting, until 1960s radio broadcasts by figures such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry revealed the blues foundations beneath that music. He and fellow musicians only gradually recognized their proximity to Chicago, then the epicenter of the form, a realization sparked by British Invasion acts including the Animals, the Rolling Stones, and Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac. Attention soon shifted to the Chicago-based blues players who periodically traveled north to Milwaukee, where Paris witnessed Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Big Walter "Shakey" Horton, Johnny Young, Big Joe Williams, and Magic Sam. He has cited Magic Sam as a core influence on his own guitar approach. His Milwaukee touring bands delivered original takes on classics by Muddy Waters, Little Walter Jacobs, Chuck Berry, and Eddie Cochran, with the most prominent pre-New York ensemble being the one formed alongside Jim Solberg, who later toured extensively with Luther Allison and issued two albums under his own name in the 1990s.
Paris relocated to New York City in his early twenties after feeling he had exhausted opportunities on the Midwest club circuit, following friend Stuffy Shmitt who had landed a recording contract. Solo performances and a blues jam at Broadway Charlie's brought encounters with Honeyboy Edwards, Sugar Blue, and the Uptown Horns during the mid-1970s. Upon that venue's closure he transferred the jam to Tin Palace on the Bowery, near the storied CBGB, where he connected with Robert Gordon, who arrived alongside Link Wray. Gordon and Wray subsequently invited Paris to join a European tour on bass, with Anton Fig on drums. Those 1977 and 1978 dates coincided with Gordon's hit "Red Hot," immersing Paris in classic rockabilly by Gene Vincent, Johnny Burnette, and Elvis Presley with Scotty Moore.
After returning from the Wray and Gordon tours, Paris encountered Johnny Winter at a Manhattan club during a Louisiana Red performance. (Red had been briefly married to folk-blues singer Odetta.) Explaining his command of both bass and guitar plus his original material, Paris supplied his contact details, prompting a call days later from Winter seeking a bassist for an impending U.S. tour. With his own long-running trio residency at Tin Palace winding down, Paris joined on bass and occasional harmonica, a role that lasted until roughly 1990. He has since concentrated on solo work while making select appearances with George Thorogood and Mick Taylor. During his New York tenure he has supported an array of blues and blues-rock figures including Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin, Elvin Bishop, Phoebe Snow, Percy Sledge, and Big Jay McNeely. Session credits encompass Johnny Winter, Bob Dylan, Ron Wood, Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, and John Hiatt, and he has shared stages with heroes ranging from B.B. King and Freddie King to Luther Allison and John Mayall. Beyond the solo albums already noted, Paris appears on numerous Johnny Winter recordings.
Albums
