Chris Duarte

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Chris Duarte (born February 16, 1963, San Antonio, Texas, USA) is an Atlanta-based guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. Duarte plays a rhythmic style of Texas blues-rock that draws on elements of jazz, blues, and rock 'n' roll.

Background

Chris Duarte was first inspired by music at age of 8 after he seeing " Fiddler On The Roof " on television. Duarte began playing his brother's guitar and learning Rolling Stones, Beatles and Black Sabbath songs. Chris got his first electric guitar at the age of 14 and played With bands in San Antonio . In 1979 at the of age 16 Duarte moved to Austin, Texas by himself and purchased a 1963 Fender Stratocaster guitar for $500. Duarte began exploring the jazz music of John Coltrain and Miles Davis and getting a blues education by performing with artists such as Bobby Mack & Night Train and Junior Medlow & The Bad Boys. Duarte's love of blues gained momentum when seeing a then unknown Stevie Ray Vaughan performing at a club in Austin. Duarte cites Vaughan as a major influence but has since moved on developing his own style and sound.

Duarte won a major label deal with Silvertone Records and released Texas Sugar/Strat Magik in 1994, and was named "Best New Talent" in Guitar Player’s 1995 Reader's Poll.^{[citation needed]} He finished fourth in the magazine’s "Best Blues Guitarist" category behind Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and B.B. King.

Though Duarte has played a limited number of U.S. dates in recent years with the Japanese band Bluestone Company backing him, he performs primarily as a power trio, the Chris Duarte Group. Originally formed with long-time friends and collaborators John Jordan on bass and Jeff Hodges on drums, the current incarnation features Matt Stallard on bass and Chris Burroughs on drums. Apart from his band, Duarte has performed with Julie Burrell, Diana Cantu, Bobby Mack, Tracy Conover, Indigenous, and Omar & the Howlers.

Chris recently wrapped recording on a new CD with Bluestone Company. Produced by Mike Varney, the album was recorded at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, CA and was tentatively scheduled for a January 2009 release on Blues Bureau. There will be a full 11 city tour of Japan in support of the release including Osaka, Kyota, Hiroshima, and Tokyo.

Chris Duarte's December dates in Asheville, Charlotte and Greenville were filmed for the "The PBS Project". This side-project featured Steve Bailey on bass and Jeff Sipe on drums, both of whom are renowned musicians. Jeff Sipe (aka Apt Q258) has toured and recorded extensively with Leftover Salmon, Aquarium Rescue Unit and occasionally Phil Lesh among others. Steve Bailey is featured on several Victor Wooten albums including 2005's Soul Circus and has also recorded and toured with everyone from Dizzy Gillespie to Tab Benoit and Jethro Tull.

Equipment

In a May 1998 interview with Murf Murphy, Daurte stated he was then using Boss DS-1, Boss DD-2, Boss DD-3, Mutron 5 Octivia, Echoplex, and a Boss Flanger as guitar effects. Duarte's stage amplifier configuration at that time consisted of four amps including one Fender Vibroking, one Marshall JCM 900 and two Rivera Knuckleheads running all four at the same time. Chris Duarte has used many guitars in his career the following is a list of makers and models. Fender: 1963 Stratocaster—1964 Duosonic - 1963 Musicmaster. Gibson: ES175 - Melodymaker - SG models Vex Exotic X Epiphone: Les Paul - Emperor - Casino. Tacoma: acoustic guitars Hamiltone: 1995 Washburn: Montgomery. Recently Duarte has added two amps to his line-up including the Chicago Bluesbox Humbolt Head and the Chicago Bluesbox Bassman.

Discography

• Chris Duarte & The Bad Boys, 1987 (SRS Records)
• Texas Sugar/Strat Magik, 1994 (Silvertone)
• Tailspin Headwhack, 1997 (Silvertone)
• Love Is Greater Than Me, 2000 (Zoë/Rounder)
• Romp, 2003 (Zoë/Rounder)
• Blue Velocity, 2007 (Blues Bureau International)
• Vantage Point, 2008 (Blues Bureau International)
• 396 - Chris Duarte & Bluestone Co., 2009 (Blues Bureau International)
• Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, All Things Blue, 2009 (Blues Bureau International)

Fan Club Releases

• RADIOACTIVE! "Mr. Mystery Tape" 4/25/96, AeroLiner RecordsAmplitude (Aeroliner Records)
• RadioActivity "Mrs. Mystery Tape" 6/5/96, AeroLiner Records)
• SIDEMAN 11/29/96, AeroLiner RecordsBandwith (Aeroliner Records)
• Testify! Junior Medlow 6/97, (AeroLiner Records)
• AirDuarte 1/20/98, (AeroLiner Records)
• WCDG 10/98, (AeroLiner Records)
• 4x3: Edge 1999, (AeroLiner Records)
• BANDWIDTH 3/00, (AeroLiner Records)
• AMPLITUDE 6/01, (AeroLiner Records)
• BLUE VELVET 1/02, (AeroLiner Records)
• Tape Trips Vol.1 6/02, (Aeroliner Records)
• Tape Trips Vol.2 2/25/04, (Aeroliner Records)
• CHRIS DUARTE & BLUESTONE, Live House ENN, Sendai, Japan 1/11/06 5/06, (AeroLiner Records)
• Tape Trips Vol.3 8/21/07 (Aeroliner Records)
• Staring at The Sun (DVD) (2009) (Aeroliner Records)

Guest appearances

• Night Train, Bobby Mack & Night Train 1985, (SJM Records)
• Bad Attitude Blues b/w Just For You, Julie Burrell (1986, Gem Session Productions)
• Terry Warren & The Texas Tiger Band 1986, (SRS Records)
• Say What!, Bobby Mack & Night Train 1990, (Train Time Music)
• Back Here Again, Wendi Slaton 1992, (Justice Records)
• Thrill For Thrill, Junior Medlow 1993, (Blue Train Records)
• Force Majeure, Craig Erickson 1996, (Shrapnel Records)
• 21st Century Blues, Various artists1997, (K-tel)
• Blues Next: The New Generation, Miscellaneous artists 1998, (Scimitar Entertainment)
• Only One, John Jordan 1999, (Tana Records)
• LIVE@La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX '99, Indigenous 1999, (Pachyderm Records)
• NEW BLUES BLOOD. Various 2000, (ERA Records)
• The Blues White Album, Various artists 2002)
• The Mysterious Quartet From Helsinki, (John Jordan, Chris Duarte, Alex Coke, Jimmy Way), March, 2002, (Tana Records)
• Texas Guitar Slingers, Volume 1 Various artists May, 2002
• Boogie Man, Omar & The Howlers 2003, (Ruf Records)
• Tracy Conover, 2003, (Guardian Wolf Music)
• Box Of The Blues, Various artists 2003, (Rounder)
• HipPOP, Greezy Wheels2004, (Tana Records)
• Nature of the Beast, Robert Laxson 2006
• Retrospective 1991-2006, Tracy Conover 2006, (Guardian Wolf Music)
• Bluestone Co., Bluestone 2006, (Big Stone)
• The Benefit Concert, Vol. 2 Warren Haynes March, 2007, (Evil Teen Records)
• The Benefit Concert, Vol. 2 (bonus cd), Warren Haynes March, 2007, (Evil Teen Records)
• Freeway Jam: To Beck and Back, Miscellaneous Artists 2007, (Tone Center)
• BLUEBARI JAM, Will Scruggs Jazz Fellowship 2007, (Summit Records)
• How I Spent My Summer Vacation, Lissa Hattersley 2009, (Kimbark Road)

Instructional DVDs

• The Total Guitar CD Volume 6, Total Guitar May, 1995, Total Guitar TOTGUIVOL6
• Axplorations June, 2006, Hal Leonard Corporation
• Chris Duarte Group Fans
• Chris Duarte at Allmusic
• Chris Duarte early years
• Chris Duarte Group fan forum
• Chris Duarte interview with A1 Blues
• Chris Duarte Group Myspace

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