Rob Paparozzi

This page was updated on 1/18/12

New Jersey-based frontman, singer, & harmonica player Rob Paparozzi has been a blues performer since 1967. But Rob is far from being strictly a blues musician. In fact, he's at home playing a wide range of music, ranging from rock to blues to jazz to pop. This versatility is reflected in the long and remarkably diverse list of major artists Rob has worked with, including B.B.King, Dr. John, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Carole King, Roberta Flack, Culture Club, Cyndi Lauper, Randy Newman, Jimmy McGriff, and James Galway.

Rob has toured the world with the “Original Blues Brothers Band”, featuring guitar legend Steve Cropper and special guest Eddie Floyd and also as Frontman-Lead Singer for the Legendary "Blood Sweat and Tears"

Rob’s own band The Hudson River Rats features Ed Alstrom, John Korba, Chris Eminizer, Bernard Purdie, George Naha and Bailey Gee. The shows are Local in NY-NJ as well as International, Europe & Asia. In 2008 Rob worked on his debut CD which features many varied styles and “special guests”. In 2009 the CD has been getting lots of airplay worldwide and terrific acclaim in the press. Special thanks to Bob Putignano, Gary Walker, Michael Bourne and Rich Skelly for having Rob on their radio shows in 2009 WBGO, WFDU, WRSU and Roxy Perry on KCOR

More Reviews and Press releases!

“Please take the time to listen to Rob’s new album. I’m positive you will be amazed if you have not heard him before.”

--Steve Cropper (Booker T. & the MGs, original Blues Brothers Band)

“Rob’s CD sounds amazing and his performances are over-the-top killing!”

--Will Lee (David Letterman, Fab Faux)

Frank-John Hadley

Writer:Downbeat,Grove Press writes:

Native New Yorker Rob Paparozzi is a special artist who sings and plays harmonica with just the right blend of verve and empathy on his first feature album Etruscan Soul—now available on the Honeydripper Records label. The front man with the legendary, globetrotting, Blood, Sweat & Tears and the popular Tri-State area Hudson River Rats is joined on this swinging and intelligent rock-blues-soul-jazz-r&b release by world-class talent. The supporting vocalists are the one-and-only Phoebe Snow, Vanesse Thomas, and Antonique Smith. Among the stellar sideman are guitarists Leo Nocentelli (from the Meters), Chuck Rainey, Hugh McCracken, and George Naha; bassists Harvey Brooks and Will Lee; keyboardists John Korba and Ed Alstrom; and drummers Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, Chris Parker, and Shawn Pelton. Paparozzi says in the liner notes that these “skilled musicians help me paint the muse deep inside my ‘Etruscan Soul’.” It’s way more than a snappy album title. The phrase is defined throughout the 15 songs of the recording by the depth and clarity of the man’s singing and his harmonica playing. The special you-know-it-when-you-hear-it spirit—yes, Etruscan Soul—that motors Paparozzi’s music traces back many centuries to his family’s origins in ancient Etruria, the west-central Italian country whose great civilization was eclipsed by Rome in the third century B. C. Talk about good genes. Combining soulfulness and musical imagination, Paparozzi exhibits a natural ability to personalize songs that rate among his all-time favorites. He has chosen carefully from the treasure-troves of classic pop, rock, blues-rock, and jazz: the Beatles’ “Ticket To Ride,” Cream’s “Strange Brew,” Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With,” Randy Newman’s “I Think It’s Going To Rain Today,” Sting’s “She’s Too Good for Me,” Steely Dan’s “Peg,” and Elton John & Bernie Taupin’s “Border Song.” The man knows his way around top-grade blues and r&b songbooks too, revamping in his distinctive way Delbert McClinton’s “Monkey Around,” Keb’ Mo’’s “Keep It Simple,” Allen Toussaint’s “I’m Gone,” Little Willie John’s “Let Them Talk,” Arthur Adams’s “Love and Peace” (covered years back by Quincy Jones, the Jazz Crusaders, etc.) and the standard “Peg O’ My Heart.” There’s also a fresh, inventive arrangement of the Quincy Jones film soundtrack number that Ray Charles interpreted so stirringly, “In the Heat of the Night,” plus the jazz chestnut “Body and Soul.”

"Checkout Rob's Reverbnation Site"

http://njjazzlist.com/

Winter 2012

Wishing you all a great 2012.. be sure to check Rob's calender below and see you soon!

"Rob Jamming with Les Paul in NYC"

Rob's Mini Blog

Here is Etruscan Soul's LATEST review!
excerpted from Blues Revue magazine issue #126 Nov/Dec 2010

Rob Paparozzi Etruscan Soul - Honeydripper Records

Singer and harmonica virtuoso Rob Paparozzi applies considerable musical skills to a recording wish list on his debut CD, and the sequence and pacing of his choices is as engaging as their masterful presentation. Named for the land where the roots of his family tree took up their artistic sensibilities, ETRUSCAN SOUL takes a fresh look at some familiar tunes from the recent and not so recent past, shining them all up with Mediterranean intelligence and humor. His cohorts on the record, including John Korba, George Naha, Ed Alstrom, Bailey Gee and the great drummer Bernard Purdie, all from Paparozzi's old band The Hudson River Rats, make it sound easy and fun. From the harmonica hook that opens the Beatles "Ticket to Ride," the band's irresistible swing reminds you what a great song it is while Paparozzi adds his own flourishes, hinting at jazz classics, then heading off in another direction. His John Lennon tribute gets support from Naha on guitar and Alstrom on Hammond organ. On Allen Toussaint's "I'm Gone," he unveils a charming vocal style along with the harp chops, anchored by Will Lee on Bass and Chris Parker on Drums.

-Kay Cordtz

Rob's Broadway, movie, and television credits are also extensive, including: shows Big River and The Will Rogers Follies; films Flirting With Disaster and Ride; TV programs the Bill Cosby Show, CBS Early Show and the David Letterman Show, appearances in 2006 with Dolly Parton and George Jones on Conan O'Brien and David Letterman's LATE SHOW

TV Commercials. jingles for Scotch 3M BLUE tape, KFC, Pizza Hut, Maxwell House, Wendy's, Lincoln Mercury, Stouffers, Dodge, Ford, Coke,Pepsi, Dominos, Tylenol, etc.

The bottom line is, even if you haven't heard of Rob Paparozzi before, you've probably heard--and enjoyed--his work!

Rob's Broadway Credits are extensive, Starting Off Broadway in 1977 in Richard Hobson's "Memphis is Gone" Then subbed on Roger Miller's "Big River" for the late Donny Brooks on BROADWAY and had his own chair working directly with Cy Coleman on The Harmonica Book for "The Will Rogers Follies" starring Keith Carradine on Broadway in 1991.

In 2009 Rob worked on a Broadway stage doing a duet with Bernadette Peters in Concert for Broadway Cares.

Harmonica & Drum Workshop and Show This February 2012
Rob Paparozzi & Bernard Purdie
in Downtown Philly

WHEN: February 11th, 2012

WHERE: Clinic 3-6pm followed by an evening show 9pm at
THE TWISTED TAIL

How The Clinic Works?

The Drums Students will join Purdie on the Stage side of the Club and The Harp Students join Rob in the back Room: The clinics are separate until the last Hour when Rob & Bernard both take the stage to provide you with BAND playing tips and invaluable performance information

Sign up in advance to reserve your spot for $35 which is for a "3 Hour Clinic (3-6pm) & full band Show (9pm)" that evening at the same club with The PAPA-PURDIE BAND. You can also have a terrific dinner at the club in between the clinic & the eveing show. Here is a link to the club but you sign up right HERE at Rob's Site VIA PAYPAL

The Twisted Tail

For the evening show at 9pm The band is: Rob Paparozzi, Bernard Purdie with Andy Lalasis (Bass) and Jon Pruit (Piano & Vocals) and some VERY special guests!

BERNARD PURDIE - Drums was born June 11, 1939 in Elkton, Maryland as the eleventh of fifteen children. Purdie began already as a six-year-old to bang out rhythms on improvised equipment. At 14 years of age he purchased his first real drum set and became the most important provider for the family - earning his pay with country and carnival bands. This "schooling" enabled Purdie to "feel my way into nearly every kind of music, 'cause I had to know all styles and was never afraid to try something new." Purdie moved to New York in 1960 after finishing high school and played with (among others), Lonnie Youngblood before landing his first hit with King Curtis. This led to his engagement with Aretha Franklin in 1970 - the beginning of an unparalleled career. Since then, Purdie has been a regular guest in the studios of the stars of Jazz, Soul, and Rock, working together with Paul Butterfield as well as Larry Coryell, Miles Davis, Hall & Oates, Al Kooper, Herbie Mann, Todd Rundgren and Cat Stevens, as well as regularly producing his own solo albums under his own name. Liner Notes from Purdie "Soul To Jazz." 3-96. With Brecker Brothers, ACT Music & Vision GMBH. Which musician did Aretha Franklin definitely NOT want missing from the line-up when she recorded her most inspired albums at the beginning of the seventies Who provided the back-beat for Steely Dan's "Aja", and for whom have Isaac Hayes, Donny Hathaway, B.B. King, "Sweet" Lou Donaldson, Joe Cocker and Hank Crawford reserved that stool behind the drum kit? The list is incomplete, it must be, because no other drummer in the last three decades has seen the interior of a recording studio as often as Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. The 57 year-old native of Elkton, Maryland has laid down the beat on over 3000 albums to date.

If you'd like more info please e-mail Rob

Rob Paparozzi's Email

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Click here to see the latest ETRUSCAN SOUL CD review in:

Blues Blast Magazine

Rob’s New DEBUT CD “Etruscan Soul” is now available and features Special Guests: Phoebe Snow, Harvey Brooks, Will Lee, Chuck Rainey, Bernard Purdie, Leo Nocentelli, Shawn Pelton and Hugh McCracken.

Click the picture below to order from CD Baby

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Click here for Paypal*

*just pay $20 to chromboy@earthlink.net and the CD will ship the next day and this includes tax and postage!