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Leo Joseph and Key Grip
Phone: 215 237 5010
Leo is an Australian songwriter, piano and guitar player who has been living in Philadelphia since May 1997. Though he
laid low musically until recently, he became a regular at the once-a-month acoustic blues nights at the Mermaid Inn and then
at the weekly blues sessions at Warmdaddys run by Randy Lippincott and at the Rusty Nail run by Craig Tillman.
Leo started playing in 1968 at the ripe old age of 10. Reveling in barrel house boogie piano as much as the kind of second
guitar you'd notice more if it's missing than when it's there, Leo decided it's time to get out and start some serious playing
again, including acquainting people with some of his own music. His own material ranges from Jobim-style samba to country
boogie to real rhythm 'n' blues. "It's all there," he says!
Key Grip is the name Leo has used for any musical venture he initiates - whether a band in Australia or an upcoming night
of toe-tapping boogie and rhythm 'n' blues at the Mermaid Inn with some of the finest blues and jazz musicians in the
Philadelphia area such as Byard Lancaster.
Leo likes to not take himself too seriously - "Let's face it", he says, "my name doesn't have the most
catchy showbiz ring to it." So to keep things light he likes to use a pseudonym, "Gene Drifter", which sums
him up in more ways than one: he's from Australia and has also lived in Uruguay and the US and the name comes from, well,
another part of his working life!
Leo's aim when playing is to try to leave the audience humming a tune and tapping their fingers and feet.
Come see Leo and Key Grip at the Mermaid Inn on August 31, 2005
KeyGripBand@yahoo.com
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