Corky Siegel

Mark Paul "Corky" Siegel (born October 24, 1943) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. He plays harmonica and piano. He plays and writes

Corky Siegel's professional music career began in 1964, when he met guitarist

The Siegel-Schwall Band enjoyed increasing popularity, and by 1967 were touring nationally, playing at large rock venues like the Fillmore West and sharing the bill with famous rock bands.^[6][7] Between 1966 and 1974, they released ten albums. After 1974, they stopped playing concerts, but the band re-formed in 1987. They released two albums of new material.^[8] Until "Siegel-Schwall lovingly disbanded" in March 2016, they still played occasional live dates and featured drummer Sam Lay and bassist Rollo Radford; Lay played with Siegel in the Happy Year Band of 1973 which also featured Chicago blues guitarist Albert Joseph.^[9]

The idea of combining blues and classical music was first suggested by classical conductor Seiji Ozawa. Ozawa brought together the Siegel-Schwall Band and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They first performed "Three Pieces for Blues Band and Symphony Orchestra", by William Russo in 1968. In 1973, the band and Ozawa released a recording of this work performed with the San Francisco Symphony. In 1975, Siegel and Ozawa, with the San Francisco Symphony, first performed another William Russo work, "Street Music: A Blues Concerto". A recording of this piece was released in 1979.^[10]

Inspired by his collaboration with Ozawa, Corky Siegel formed Chamber Blues in 1988. The group's music combines elements of classical, blues, and jazz. The band consists of a string quartet – two violins, a viola, and a cello – along with percussionist Frank Donaldson, and Siegel on harmonica and also sometimes doubling on piano. As of early 2019, Chamber Blues has released four albums,^{[11][12][13][14][15]} and still tours nationally and internationally.^[16]

Siegel has also worked on numerous other musical projects. In 2004, he was a member of the Chicago Blues Reunion band, which released the album Buried Alive in the Blues.^[17] In April of 2013, Siegel was inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame.^[18]

Book

With Peter Krammer, Corky Siegel wrote a book for musicians and music students, called Let Your Music Soar: The Emotional Connection. It was published by Nova Vista Publishing in 2007.

Discography

For Siegel's recordings with the Siegel-Schwall Band, see

• Corky Siegel – Corky Siegel (1974 – Dharma)
• Street Music: A Blues Concerto – San Francisco Symphony and Corky Siegel (1977 – Deutsche Grammophon)
• Out of the Blue – Corky Siegel (1980 – Stuff)
• Goodbye California – Corky Siegel (1984 – Skitzo/Frenia – re-release of Out of the Blue)
• Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues – Chamber Blues (1994 – Alligator)
• Complementary Colors – Chamber Blues (1998 – Gadfly)
• Solo Flight – Corky Siegel (1999 – Gadfly)
• Corky Siegel's Traveling Chamber Blues Show – Chamber Blues (2005 – Alligator)
• Buried Alive in the Blues – Chicago Blues Reunion (2005 – 33rd Street)
• Different Voices – Chamber Blues (2017 – Dawnserly)
• More Different Voices – Chamber Blues (2022 – Dawnserly)
• Something Wrong – Corky Siegel (2022 – Dawnserly)
• Songs for Truth and Harmony – Corky Siegel (2022 – Dawnserly)

References