Tag Archives: blues

Alvin-Choate-Diamond-In-The-Night

Alvin Choate

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Alvin started playing drums in a funk band at age 13 in Bluefield, WV. He lent his talents to a number of different bands before eventually deciding that he want to shape his own musical direction. After moving to Columbus, Ohio, in a bid to increase his recognition and fan base, Choate has begun to develop a following for his distinct solo compositions, which are often a blend of jazz, funk, blues and rock. When asked about the particulars of his sound, he said, “I am using a Yamaha keyboard to compose my tracks. I play the drums and keyboard and some bass guitar as my main instruments but the horns, violins, et cetera are courtesy of the programs on my keyboard. I use a music software called Studio One made by Presonus to record.”

In 2018, Alvin released his first full length album with our label, Diamond In The Night, a vintage sounding record of instrumental originals paying sonic tribute to those classic jazz, funk, and r & b vibes from the 70s and 80s. Special Delivery soon followed, an effort which found Alvin branching out to include his soulful vocals on a handful of tracks. As always, these compositions were recorded in his own basement studio, an intimate, accessible setup which allows him to pursue the majestic perfection of his vision, as he continues striving toward his goals as writer/producer.

Apple Music/iTunes:  Diamond in the Night 

Special Delivery

Amazon: Diamond in the Night

Bishop Robinson/Steve Blood

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(click on album cover to browse/listen)

This duo has crafted a compelling, unique sound that we’re not even sure how you’d begin to categorize – all we know is that we like it. If pressed you might say they play modern jazz of sorts, but with the occasional space rock transmissions from a distant planet and a whole lot of other curveballs thrown at the listener. Or something like that.

In 1963, Bishop started at one of the same clubs as Alice Cooper, Monterey Palace in Tucson, with a group called The Runaways. During this time they actually shared a bill with the Hollies, and the Spiders, which was Cooper’s first major band. He also went to high school with the legendary Linda Ronstadt.

Along with fellow Exquisite Noise artist Doc Van Etten, Robinson was in a Seattle based band in the 70s. They did the Don Steel show in LA and came close to being managed by a major. “Who knows, LA b.s., but we were being told that,” Bishop says now, reminiscing about those days. The band members were – and still are, in fact, very tight, living together in a 7 bedroom house just outside of Redmond, WA.

As for Steve Blood, he and Bishop were in a Tacoma based group called NuVines in the 1980s and 90s, releasing 4 albums. Tom Murphy, who has also drummed for the likes of Robert Cray and Albert King, was their drummer at the time.

Like many a lifelong musician, they seem to have come this close to fame on many occasions – but as anyone knows, there’s a certain crapshoot element to all of this. According to Robinson, there was a point in time he spent a brief stay at Dennis Wilson’s log cabin on Sunset strip. There was talk of Bishop doing some backup on an album, but it never happened. He also played with Jerry Miller of Moby Grape fame for a while. But the biggest potential break of all may have occurred with a band called MUF in the late 1960s. They headlined the 1969 Aldergrove Rock Festival and were in the process of negotiating a contract with Capital Records. They were neck and neck with another group that was also fighting for a contract. Capital called MUF’s manager and said, Robinson recalls, “you have far better promotion, but please send more recordings as so far, we like the other band’s recording.  Well he put us in a cheap studio with a case of wine and the rest is history. The other band was Grand Funk Railroad.”

He has also been lucky enough to play with the Sam Andrews Band at the Moore theater. This included Mick Taylor (John Mayall, The Rolling Stones), Sam Andrews (Lead from Big Brother, and the bass player from Cold Blood). Another accomplishment was to play with members of Moby Grape. While in Tucson, he also worked in development and put together the renowned Ages n Stages community event. 

check out the Robinson & Blood iHeartRadio station!