Willie Alexander has been making music practically as long as Mick Jagger, but the similarities don't stop there. Willie's lanky and youthful like Mick, and if you've seen them both perform, you'll recognize that something, that real star quality, in Willie, not unlike Jagger - both the quintessentially rock stars. Willie has IT, that undefinable star aura, that confidence and presence, that transcends his music, which by the way, has been on more than 40 CD's since the 60's.

His sound is sometimes loud with a driving beat, sometimes playful and funny, sometimes wistful, but all featuring his boyish, delightful voice. He's been scribbling notes to himself since the 60's, filling volumes of big black books, which he then transforms into poetry, and many of these make it into songs. He says that the songs happen when "he trips over them,"

He finds inspiration everywhere, and his studio is a ceiling to floor photo-collage he's created from images or printed words that intrigue him. Even his keyboard, is covered, in what his unique visual inspiration.

What's next? "I'll just keep doing what I'm doing because I love it," says Willie.

Visit his website to read more
Purchase CD's on Willie's website

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The Revolutionary Snake Ensemble is a funk & street beat brass band, playing New Orleans and other modern improvised celebratory music. Led by saxophonist Ken Field, the Snake Ensemble derives it's style from three sources: the modern brass band music of New Orleans, the improvisational approach of third stream jazz, and the urban funk style of James Brown. Notable Revolutionary Snake Ensemble performances have included the Krewe of Muses Mardi Gras Parade (New Orleans), Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Cambridge River Festival, ArtBeat, the Central Square World's Fair, Tonic (NYC), the Somerville Theater, First Night Boston, First Night Providence, First Night Fall River, the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Puffin Cultural Forum, the Big Top (New Orleans), Berklee Performance Center, and numerous other venues.

Cuneiform Records will release the group's 2nd CD, Forked Tongue, in May 2008. The disc features unique treatments of music by Field, Ornette Coleman, Billy Idol, and others.

The group has traveled by train four times from Boston to New Orleans, playing on board the Amtrak Crescent, to march with the Krewe of Muses in their annual Mardi Gras parade. The Ensemble can be heard on Parade of Numbers, an animated counting piece regularly aired on the television program Sesame Street.

Repeatedly nominated in their Best Music Poll by the Boston Phoenix and WFNX Radio, the Revolutionary Snake Ensemble includes a roster of notable Boston-area musicians. The group has been twice nominated by a panel of music writers and critics for a Boston Music Award.

The group's 2003 debut, Year of the Snake, included music by Field, Sun Ra, John Scofield, James Brown, and others. Liner notes were contributed by two-time Grammy-winning New Orleans music producer Scott Billington. The CD was listed as one of the top discs of the year on New York NPR affiliate WNYC, in the New Orleans Gambit Weekly, and on Radio Popolare in Milan, Italy. Year of the Snake is available at innova.mu.

"They've pretty much modernized the traditional concept, and they've spun it into a singular sound that's very unique and very vibrant. They accelerated the norm. They went past the tried and true. They managed to do it all with a very distinct musical persona." - All About Jazz writer Glenn Astarita on NPR's Morning Edition

"Captures the abandon of a street parade while expanding its stylistic scope ... it's got the essential ingredients spiced with fresh flavors." - Dan Ouellette, regular contributor to Downbeat

"One of the best unsigned bands in the country!" -- Joyce Kulhawik, WBZ-TV Channel 4

"Urban tribal music that blends an audacious New Orleans brass band spirit with the sensual fever of African and Latin rhythms." --- The Boston Herald

"The best party in town!" --- Beth Germano, WBZ-TV Channel 4

"Boston’s own rabble of horn players and drummers bring a positively Sun Ra shine to second-line music"
--- Jed Gottlieb, The Boston Herald

contact:
Ken Field - ken@kenfield.org

www.RevolutionarySnakeEnsemble.org
www.innova.mu
www.cuneiformrecords.com
http://myspace.com/revolutionarysnakeensemble

Upcoming Gigs
CD release gig in NYC at Drom on May 16

Dynamic Grooves World Music Festival near Bridgeport, CT on May 17th

CD Release at Ryles, Cambridge, MA on May 30th