The Blues Aces Band features ~ Ron “Mudcat” Davidoff ~ Vocals & Harmonica, Thomas “Guitar Sr. “ Ford ~ Vocals &, Guitar, ~ Ray “Blu“ Bausano ~ Bass, ~ Howard “Beat It” Burton ~ Drums & Percussion.
Here are A Few Band Members Autobiographies ~ More To Come Later !
Ron “Mudcat” Davidoff
Hello, A little about me and the blues!
I first became a fan of the harmonica when I met a fellow student in high school who had a Hohner Marine Band Harmonica. The way he played that thing, I wanted to play it too. The bending of the notes and bluesy sound grabbed me between the ears and wouldn’t let go. I had to have one of those instruments against my lips. That was the 60’s and Musicians like “Sonny Boy Williamson I” ,” Muddy Waters” , “B.B. King”, and “Slim Harpo” were expanding their exposure in the blues word. Other musicians like “John Sebastian Jr.” was also bringing harmonica to the world of Rock, while his father, “John Sebastian Sr.” was bring the harmonica to the world of Classical and Popular music. “Bob Dylan” was also popularizing harmonica in Folk music. My favorite “Harp” player at that time was “Little Walter” who backed up “Muddy Waters” and also recorded his own albums. I was in awe. I practiced my harmonica and would play now and then, with a few other musicians who played guitar. I felt what it was like to join others in making music. I always appreciated the camaraderie as much as the jam.
It was about 2004 when I met a guitarist and his buddy, a conga player who had a band. I asked to sit in and soon was playing regularly with them. That band was “The Underwoods” fronted by the incredible Gregory Underwood. Gregory is a musician’s Musician. He can do it all with amazing excellence. He can sing, play guitar, bass, percussion, drums, keyboards, horn and compose wonderful music and lyrics. In 2005. “The Underwoods Band” , played on Sundays at a Bar/Restaurants called Warmdaddy’s in Philadelphia. The music was Rhythm & Blues and the camaraderie was great. Gregory and I still play together. Anyway, it was then that I got bitten by the performance bug and really enjoyed playing to an audience. As time went on, other opportunities to join bands came my way. I have also played harmonica with; “Quadrock”, “Dr. Ben and His Backbone Blues Band”, “Twister Baby”, “The Reddie Freddie Show”, “Ancient of Days”, “The Last Minute Men”, the “Bobby Dee’s” (a Bob Dylan Tribute Band) and currently ,”The Blues Aces”. “TBA” was previously known as the “The Nameless Blues Band”, mainly because our members could not decide on a name.
I started the “Blues Aces” with guitarist friend Tom Ford. My idea was to bring together like-minded musicians whom would enjoy each other’ company regardless of the music. I wanted a group chemistry that would just make working together as musicians, as close to effortless, as possible. Musicianship was also of course important. The other idea I had for the band was that I was searching for musicians who wanted to play songs by classical blues band artists. So here we are ~ The Blues Aces.
Enjoy,
Mudcat
Tom “Guitar Sr.” Ford
Interest and love for music began at an early age as a result of my exposure to many musical genres, particularly Classical, Big Band, and then a bit later, Rock and Roll. Although I expressed a desire to play piano and take lessons early on (age 7-8) those lessons did not last long, as the primary emphasis with them was with reading music and not actually playing as I wanted. A few years later in my early teens I developed a more serious interest again with both the piano and guitar and largely taught myself by ear. Scott Joplin, Beethoven, Beatles, and the blues became a simultaneous leisurely pursuit with the guitar and the piano, and by the time I reached my 15th year I was in a band. Most of what was played in that band when it started was a mixture of Beatles and Rolling Stones tunes along with a few other stray numbers, and before long my guitarist colleage/friend and I began exploring blues/jazz based Rock as interpreted by such groups as Cream, Traffic, Blind Faith, Steve Winwood, Dave Mason, John Mayall, The Allman Brothers, Derek and the Dominoes and others. Shorlty after this period began a cursory exploration of original blues artist such as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, and others. In High School I joined the jazz band as guitarist, supplementing my knowledge of that style with further reading skill development. Shortly after this initiation I was invited to join a touring 12 piece professional showband and played throughout upstate New York for a little over a year. During my senior year in high school I decided that I wanted to become a better pianist and began a study of that instrument’s Classical repertoire – something that I had heard a lot of throughout my early years. Shortly after I was accepted as a private piano student of a reputable piano professor at Syracuse University.
Ray“Blu” Bausano (Guitar & Bass)
I first became interested in guitar at the age of 13. I was inspired by the song “Sunshine Of Your Love” by Cream. I remember being excited when my parents hired a teacher to give me guitar lessons. I learned to play on a rented, steel string, F hole guitar.
My 1st lessons were with learning to play jazz. I took these lessons for about a year then continued at a self-taught pace and found myself moving more and more into Rock & Roll. I was learning songs by Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Beatles. At about the age of 17, I moved into learning to play The Blues and was inspired by classical blues artists like; Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters and Lightning Hopkins.
My first band was an 8 piece band called, “The The”. Our songs were all originals. Our band had a Sax player, 3 Vocalists, a Pianist, 2 Guitarists, a Drummer, Bass player and Keyboard player. After that, it was a band called; “Show of Hands” this was when I was about 18-20 yrs. old, Then for the next few years, I worked for a music booking agency that got us music gigs and I went on the road. I played bass in a trio called, “The Kid”. Thereafter, I wrote originals and worked a 9 to 5 job to pay the bills, but, I always continued playing blues in my spare time. One day, about a year ago, I met Mudcat at a jam at a blues club and we found a musical connection. The rest is the history that resulted in our “Duo” Blues Project.