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At
age 18, the Worcester England native teamed up with Steve Winwood,
Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood to form the legendary band Traffic.
At 19, Mason penned the song "Feelin' Alright". This song has since become
a rock and roll anthem, having been recorded by well over 48
artists, the best known version being Joe Cocker. The group's
profound influence over rock music remains unquestioned even
today.
Mason departed from the group after their second album. In 1969
Dave headed for the USA to pursue a solo career. He struck gold
with the album "Alone Together", which is considered
a rock classic. This was followed by five albums for CBS/Sony
including "Dave Mason" and "Mariposa De Oro",
four of which received gold albums. "Let It Flow",
which has gone well over platinum, contained the classic "We
Just Disagree", a top-ten single!
In addition to performing to sold-out audiences, Mason performed
on a number of albums such as The Rolling Stones' "Beggars's
Banquet", George Harrison's
"All Things Must Pass", Paul McCartney's "Listen
To What The Man Said" and Jimi Hendrix's "Electric
Ladyland". One of the songs from the "Ladyland" album,
"All Along the Watchtower", featured Dave playing acoustic
guitar. This song, written by Bob Dylan, remains a big favorite
in Dave's live show!
In October of 1993, Dave Mason formally joined the legendary
group Fleetwood Mac and spent two years touring with them around
the world. The band completed and album for Warner Brothers called "Time",
which was released in October 1995, and features Dave's lead
vocals on songs including "Blow By Blow" and "I Wonder Why".
Dave Mason's career spans over 37 years and has encompassed producing,
performing and song writing. Not to mention being one of rock's
great guitar players! Along with his induction as a founding
member of the group Traffic into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame,
he is currently putting the finishing touches to a brand new
solo album. In January. Along with his partner Ravi Sawhney,
Dave launched a brand new electric guitar company at the 2004
NAMM show, in Anaheim, CA.
(www.rksguitars.com) |
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Lead Guitar/ Vocals |
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Gerald Johnson: bass player, born in Washington DC. One of his earliest credits is working with the Sweet Inspirations, the female group (in which Cissy Houston was a founding member) that at one time, backed up Elvis Presley.
He has toured with and appears extensively on Steve Miller's record catalog. In the 70's he went on to play with Dave Mason, along with Mike Finnigan as part of Mason's steady touring troupe. In 1977 Gerald worked on the CSN record. In 1978 he worked with Stills on his last Columbia records release Thoroughfare Gap".
He also toured with Stills in 1979, and was present at the now famous Havana Jam shows in March of 1979. He has also played with and appears on several records of both Les Dudek and Carl Wilson. He went on to tour with Stills solo in 1995, and has been working with him and CSN since then, for the 1996 and 1997 tours, as well as Stills and CSN gigs in 1998 & 1999. Currently residing in Los Angeles, he is also the bass player for The Jones Boys R&B Band. |
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Bass Guitarist
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Born
John Sambataro on August 27, 1953 in South Florida Johnne started
playing guitar at the age of 7. He has played in local bands
in the South Florida area since middle school. His professional
career started at around age 16. Johnne’s instruments include
guitar, bass, mandolin, Midi-sequencing as well as being a vocalist.
Among his other talents he has also been a song and jingle writer,
record producer, and a recording engineer.
Inspired by his dad Louis, also a musician and band director
and growing up in a musical family Johnne’s choice of career
was easy. After attending schools in South Florida he then continued
his education taking two years at Miami Dade Community College
studying music theory and guitar. In 1975 Johnne began working
at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami. There he was able to
meet producers who used local musicians to create parts for their
artist. Some of the artists that Johnne was fortunate to perform
and record with are Andy Gibb, Barry Gibb, Stephen Stills, Eric
Clapton, Peter Frampton, Terri DeSario, Meat Loaf, John Parr,
David Coverdale/Jimmy Page and other various artists. His experience
at Criteria gave him the opportunity not only to record but to
tour with Dave Mason, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman (The Byrds),
Firefall as their new lead singer/guitarist and Dion (Dion & The
Belmonts).
Johnne has performed on television shows with the following
artists: In 1978 Midnight Special (McGuinn Clark & Hillman),
1979 Unicef Benefit (Andy Gibb), 1983 & 1984 MTV (Firefall
Video), 1986 Solid Gold (Firefall), 1987 Nashville Now (Firefall),
1989 VH1 Special (Paul Shaffer & Dion), 1989 Producer, vocalist,
mandolin & guitarist for the theme song on T.V. sitcom “Heartland”.
In 1978 while Johnne was recording “Shadow Dancing” with
Andy Gibb, Dave Mason was also at Criteria recording his album “Mariposa
de Oro”. Johnne sang backing vocals on the Mariposa album
and later that year Dave asked Johnne to go on his summer tour.
Following that from 1979 – 1980 Johnne was the lead guitarist/vocalist
for McGuinn, Clark and Hillman. In 1983 – 1989 the lead
singer/guitarist and co-songwriter for the rock group Firefall.
During that time Firefall recorded two albums “Break Of
Dawn” & “Mirror Of The World”. In 1989 – 1996
Johnne was the lead guitarist/vocalist/musical director for Dion.
In 2001 Dave touring again in Florida, asked Johnne to sit in
on his DVD “Live At Sunrise”, recorded at Sunrise
Musical Theater. Johnne’s now beginning his fourth year
touring with Dave and loves every minute of it.
Johnne admits that one of the most awesome things about
playing with Dave on stage and in the studio is that ever since
he was a teenager he has always been a fan and still is. He feels
that Dave’s music and song writing are legendary.
Johnne lives in South Florida with his wife Cathe and has
two sons Jason & Jarrad that are also musicians. |
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| email
Johnne |
| www.johnsambataro.com/ |
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Born in
Chicago, Alvino began playing drums at 10 years old with the
William Penn Elementary School drum and bugle corps. Soon after,
he started playing for various local bands. At fourteen, he began
traveling the country, working the club circuit.
He was spotted in a club at age 17 and approached by blues legend,
KoKo Taylor, to lend his talent. At the same time, many other
blues and R&B luminaries began to call on him for his talent.
These stars included: Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Cash McCall,
and Mighty Joe Young just to name a few.
In 1974, Alvino got a call call to tour with the late great songstress,
Minnie Ripperton. This tour opened the doors for many other projects,
such as working with Gong Show Guest, Jaye P. Morgan and the
vocal group "The Originals". In addition, Alvino also
worked with the family singing group, "The Sylvers".
This, in turn, led to many Motown and other recording sessions.
Alvino hit on one of the biggest projects of his career in 1978,
which was the million selling R&B band, "L.T.D.",
of which he was a member for 5 years.
Alvino quickly became a highly sought after "in demand drummer" for
such stars as Cheryl Lynn, Chaka Khan, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Loggins,
Bryan Ferry, Robin Trower, Sheena Easton, Little Richard, Slash's
Blues Ball, Patrice Rushen, Little Richard, Bo Diddley and many
more.
In 2003, while playing a local gig near his home in So. California,
Bill Mason from Dave Mason's band stopped by to "sit in" with
Alvino and friends. The two exchanged numbers and became friends.
Within a few months, a spot was open for drums with the Dave
Mason Band. Alvino has been an integral part of the band ever
since!! |
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Drums |
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Alvino |
| www.myspace.com/alvinobennett |
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Bill began his music journey at eight years old, studying organ and piano. Born and raised in southern California, Bill now calls the San Fernando Valley home. He spent the early part of his career playing in various local bands, honing his craft and becoming known as a respected Los Angeles studio musician.
Joining the Eddie Money band, Bill began touring extensively...and met Dave Mason while touring on the east coast. When Bill became available, he was quickly recruited to play for Dave Mason and Jim Capaldi.
Taking some time off from the road in 2001, Bill is back with the Dave Mason Band and could not be more artistically satisfied. Bill states, “Every night when I hear Dave sing and play I still get chills....and I get to play keyboards for him as well. Its all good!!!!"
Playing on recordings that have sold over 15 million copies, Bill's talent has run a full spectrum....producing , engineering , writing the music, and theme for the syndicated reality TV show “Cheaters”.... Synthesizer programing for Tupac Shakur, Keyboards for Carole King... The Judd’s, Eric Burdon, Eddie Money ....the list goes on..
Bill’s philosophy is, “ Its always about the music”
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Keyboards |
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Dave's live sound engineer, Chris
Curtis, has a long history of musical production in his background.
Born and raised in Southern California, Chris became interested
in music as a pre-teen after his older brother's friends formed
a rock and roll band. Chris learned to play drums and started
touring with bands as soon as he could drive. During those
years, Chris played with various local bands, both professionally
and for the sheer joy of music.
In 1978 Chris discovered he had an ear for sound engineering.
He joined the local band Liquid Blue as their sound enginner.
Additionally he mixed live shows for Artist's Vixen, Wanderlust,
Mala, The Team and a number of other local Artists.
Chris' talent
for mixing sound led him to become a recording sound engineer
in the late 1980's, founding his own recording studio "Pacific Coast Recording" in
1990 located in Long Beach, CA. His client list included
Eddie Money, War, Edgar Winter, Snoop Dogg and Keith Emerson
while getting gold and platinum recognition for latin music
artist Lupe Rivera. His audio engineering talents also crossed
into the multimedia world where he recorded and edited audio
for movies and commercials which included the talents of
Carol Burnett, Barbara Eden, Gary Sandy while working with
companies like Burger King, Disney, Carl's Jr., Medelsohn/Zien,
Yamaha, Marvel films and most of the local Los Angeles radio
stations.
After 14 successful years with his recording studio
Chris decided to go back to live sound engineering. Introduced
to the Dave Mason camp by long time friend and keyboardist Bill
Mason, Chris has been with Dave since 2003. He continues to
produce and engineer in the studio during his off-the-road
times at home. He has quickly found his place as a valuable
asset with the Dave Mason Band. |
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Front-Of-House Engineer |
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