Bugs Beddow at the Ford Detroit International Jazz Festival  
Big, bad trombone + rock beat = Bugs' blues.
Also see: Ford Detroit Jazz Festival

"A blues trombonist? You bet! Bugs' 'bone really shouts the blues, 
as does the man himself. Fronting an electric band with a big beat, 
and choosing from a list of tunes that's quite atypical of the blues, 
Beddow's group sounds like a cross between Chicago and Bob Seger. 
Which makes them very popular around Detroit (everybody loves Chicago, 
and Seger remains a hometown hero) and bona fide party-starters. 
Don't look for yet another version of "Sweet Home Chicago" -- 
but get ready to work up a good sweat on the dance floor boogieing 
to such pop chestnuts as "You Can Leave Your Hat On." 

It might sound a little unusual to blues purists but hip rockers --
and club owners who specialize in high-volume pandemonium -- love it."



Jim Dulzo, September, 2000  
 


"Bugs Beddow is much better known for his work on the trombone than for
anything he's ever done on cross-country skis.

But it's the North American Vasa cross-country ski race that brings him 
to Streeter's in Traverse City this weekend, an annual pilgrimage the Bugs
Beddow Band makes to coincide with the popular skiing event.

Beddow and his high-energy group will be playing at Streeter's today and 
Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

The celebrated Motor City bluesman is no stranger to this part of the state.

He attended college at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, and even 
headed the music department at Leland Public Schools from 1975 to 1977.

Beddow, 46, calls himself the 'T-Rex of the T-Bone.' He performed the 
National Anthem three times at Tiger Stadium, receiving a 1993 Motor City
Music Award as best solo blues performer and being inducted into the Metro
Times jazz hall of fame.

The rest of the band - Duffy King on guitar, James Morse on saxophone, 
Jim Pryor on drums and Don Turner on electric and string bass - also
share on vocals.

Typically, a Bugs Beddow Band show revolves around humor, mixing covers
of well-known blues tunes with originals.

Their high-energy style, described as 'trombone party blues,' has made
them one of the state's premiere dance club bands.

They've been the studio band for Mitch Albom's radio show on WJR since
1996, and have backed up such headliners as Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, 
Alex Bugnon, Buckwheat Zydeco, Lonnie Brooks, Martha Reeves, Spyro Gyra,
Eddie Rabbitt, Boz Scaggs, Eddie Money, and Robert Cray.

The band has recorded six albums: 'Bone Appetit Tour - LIVE at the Mid-
Michigan Blues Festival' (1997), '3D Blues' (1996), 'Goin Blind' (1994), 
'Bootleg Brigade' (1993), 'Yuda Man' (1991), and 'Bugs Beddow' (1983).

Bugs was also featured in the soundtrack of the 1992 Oliver Stone film
'Hoffa'.

Born in Detroit in 1953, Beddow started playing trombone at age 9 (the
story is that he attended a school assembly and noticed that the
trombone player seemed to be having a lot more fun than the other 
musicians).

In 1970, he graduated from Birmingham Groves High School. His parents
wanted him to become a dentist, but he decied to become a music
teacher and then - after a two-year hitch in Leland - a professional
musician.

In the late 1970s, he performed with one of the area's best-known
party bands, Newt and the Salamanders.

He formed his own band in 1982, heavily influenced by longtime friend
Lowell Cauffiel of the Progressive Blues Band.

'I was trained as a classical player, and I have enjoyed and performed
all kinds of music,' he said. 'But the blues definitely lets you 
communicate with the largest group of people.'

For more information, call Streeter's at (616) 932-1300."




Mike Norton, Traverse City Record-Eagle, January 14, 2000