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Peanut Butter Wolf

As a young kid growing up in San Jose, Chris Manak soon realized he needed an escape from the realities of suburban life in the Silicon Valley. The age of nine was his coming of age. This was the year he discovered sports (Pittsburgh Pirates), video games (Pac man), girls (Anita Balderama), and hip hop ("Rappers Delight"). Alongside partner Sweet Steve, young Chris fashioned primitive mix-tapes (using the pause button) and ran amok at the local roller rink.

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James Blood Ulmer

James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 2, 1942 in St. Matthews, South Carolina) is an American avant-garde and and . Ulmer's distinctive guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging." His singing has been called "raggedly soulful." Ulmer began his career playing with various ensembles, and first recorded with organist John Patton in 1969. After moving to New York in 1971, Ulmer played with Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, Joe Henderson, Paul Bley, Rashied Ali and Larry Young.

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Norman Connors

Norman Connors (born March 1, 1947 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, producer, and headliner, who has led some influential jazz and R&B groups. He had some big R&B hits of the day, especially in the area love ballads and songs with a positive statement in both titles and lyrics. Connors became interested in jazz as a child, and began playing drums early, once sitting in for Elvin Jones at a John Coltrane performance he attended while in middle school.

Read more about Norman Connors on Last.fm.

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Corey Harris

Corey Harris (born February 21, 1969, Denver, Colorado) is a guitarist based in New Orleans on the Alligator label. He spent some time in western Africa studying, and rhythms from this area are very prevalent in his music, most conspicuously in "Mississippi to Mali." He performs a wide variety of music, from poppy selections (Santoro, eg) to raw, traditional guitar and piano blues (Honeysuckle, eg). He is one of the few contemporary blues artists that is able to avoid being either a staunch traditionalist or totally separated from its roots.

Read more about Corey Harris on Last.fm.

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Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka is an influential American poet, dramatist and music critic. Known for his outspoken political activism, he may be best remembered for his controversial tenure as Poet Laureate of New Jersey. Important writings include Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961) and Blues People: Negro Music in White America (1963), which remains one of the most influential volumes of jazz criticism. Baraka's website is http://www.amiribaraka.com/.

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Willie Colon

William Anthony Colon is a Puerto Rican salsa music icon. First and foremost a trombonist, also sings, writes, produces and acts. He is also involved in municipal politics in New York City. Colon was born in the Bronx, New York in April 28 1950, to Puerto Rican parents. He picked up the trumpet from a young age, and later switched to trombone, inspired by the all-trombone sound of Mon Rivera and -at least during a specific period in the 1960s- that of Eddie Palmieri. He was bullied in his neighborhood because of this, and had to defend himself quite often from gang members.

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