Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp

Called “a fine and funky pianist” by Living Blues, Craig Brenner  grew up in North Miami Beach, where he studied classical piano with Elizabeth Fishbein and jazz with Wally Cirillo. After graduating from Florida Southern College, he studied piano with Enrica Cavallo, improv. with David Baker, and composition with John Eaton at the Indiana University School of Music. At the New Orleans Jazz Fest Craig saw Professor Longhair, James Booker, Tuts Washington, and others who explore rhythmic and barrelhouse styles. This caused Craig to reevaluate his musical direction, and he began studying, playing, and composing blues, jazz, and boogie-woogie.

Craig has played with Bo Didley, Bob Seeley, Henry Butler, Marcia Ball, and many others; opened for B. B. King, C. J. Chenier, Buckwheat Zydeco, Gary Burton, and more; and performs at boogie-woogie, blues, and jazz festivals throughout the US and Europe. In 2015 he started Bloomington Boogies: The Bloomington Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Festival, in Bloomington, IN. Since 2005 Craig has performed frequently at the Jazz National Park and Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans, playing solo, duo with the late Uganda Roberts, and/or with Craig & The Crawdads.

With seven recordings of his own, Craig also appears on recordings by many other artists. His most recent release is Passages (2020). In addition to performing and recording with bands Craig & The Crawdads and The Ragin’ Texans, Craig composes, arranges, and teaches the fundamentals of jazz, blues, and boogie-woogie. For more information, recordings, sheet music for individual pieces, and Craig’s book, Piano Music by Craig Brenner, visit craigbrenner.com.

Barry Cuda specializes in roots piano blues, jazz, and cubano. He insists on playing an acoustic piano for historical accuracy. He sings, plays, entertains, and educates and plays solo as well as with various aggravations all around the world. Formerly known in the Tampa Bay area as St. Petey Twigs, his cult band “The Silver King Band” with Rock Bottom and Flo Mingo remain a testament to attitude and unique instrumentation. He currently resides in Provence, France and the north coast of Sicily.

“A Blazing Young Piano Player” –Lawrence Wright, The New Yorker
Henri Herbert currently resides in Austin, Texas and tours extensively in the United States and Europe as a soloist. From an early age, Herbert was fascinated by the piano-pounding pioneers Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino and Pete Johnson. A video of Henri playing an impromptu blues on the public piano in London’s St Pancras Train Station has now reached an incredible 70 million views on Youtube. Henri was personally invited to perform with Canadian rock star Bryan Adams at Bryan’s Christmas party in London in 2014, and in 2022 gave a special performance in Nice, France for the Royal Family of Monaco. He has been hired for a return performance in Nice for 2025.

Henri was a member of the famous rock’n’roll band The Jim Jones Revue from 2011 to 2014, performing several world tours, including appearances at Rock En Seine in Paris, David Letterman’s The Late Show in New York and Album of the Week on Canal + in Paris. After the dissolution of The Jim Jones Revue, Herbert embarked on a solo career and has released several albums under his own name. All these releases were accompanied by numerous international tours including sell out concerts in London and New York City. He is a regular performer at The Arches Piano Stage, and he has performed at the Cincinnati Blues Festival, South By Southwest Festival, Milan Piano Festival and the International Jazz Festival in Davos, Switzerland, as well as 2 sold out shows at The Blue Note in Hawaii. Henri is also in great demand as an accompanist, having worked with Bryan Adams, Kim Wilson, Carolyn Wonderland, Dave Alvin, Charlie Sexton and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

Piano & Guitar duo Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues have performed together since 1983. Based in St. Pete, Florida, they’ve taken their own brand on blues, boogie woogie and originals around the U.S. as well as Europe. Liz, who was born with only six fingers, also plays rack harmonica and trombone. Both singers & songwriters, Liz & Doc have released seven albums on Upright Records since 1986, including their latest CD Quirky Boogie released in 2016.

Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues were inducted into the Boogie Woogie Piano Hall Of Fame in 2008. The duo has also performed at the prestigious Chicago Blues Festival (1996), the Brussels Boogie Woogie Piano Summit in Belgium (2004) and The International Boogie et Blues Festival in Paris (2013). Since 2009, Liz & Doc have organized the Annual Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp at the Palladium Theatre in St. Pete. Over the years, they have appeared with artists such as Pinetop Perkins, Marcia Ball, and Leon Russell.