Cadieux Cafe Presents: Bill Heid/RJ Spangler Group outdoors at Mussel Beach

4300 Cadieux Road,Detroit MI 48224

27 June, 2021

Description

Longtime friends Bill Heid and RJ Spangler get together a few times a year for a musical reunion when Bill returns from the Washington, DC a Longtime friends Bill Heid and RJ Spangler get together a few times a year for a musical reunion when Bill returns from the Washington, DC area for a few gigs. Bill started in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Bill played in both piano and organ groups performing mostly blues that later led to gigs with Jimmy Witherspoon, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and Son Seals. For Chicago's Alligator Records, he recorded with Fenton Robinson, Roy Buchanan and KoKo Taylor, and later two LPs for MCA/IMPULSE guitarist Henry Johnson. Bill had a 32 year "career" of hitchhiking in 48 U.S. states, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, China and the Thailand/Cambodia border. His 400,000 documented miles of thumbing gained a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records. Some of his journeys lead him to the "chicken houses" and organ rooms of major cities where he interned with Jimmy Ponder, Sonny Stitt, David Newman, Ira Sullivan and Mickey Roker, and as a pianist with Don Patterson. Bill is bringing his friend Rudy Petschauer in from NYC on drums who had a decade long association with Organist Jack McDuff as his drummer and made 5 records with him on the Concord label. He has also appeared at most of the Jazz Clubs and Festivals in the world. Over the years Rudy has worked with many of the people active on the NYC jazz scene such as Renee Rosnes, David Fathead Newman, Lou Donaldson, James Moody, Slide Hampton and Jimmy Heath, Jerry Weldon and Joe Magnarelli. Rudy is also a part of the resurgent Soul/Funk movement in Brooklyn and as such has recorded on the Daptone Record Label with The Sugarman 3 and toured with Sharon Jones and Lee Fields. On sax is east sider Steve Wood who started his professional training at Oakland University where he studied with Marvin “Doc” Holladay and Sam Sanders. He also studied with legendary trumpeter, Marcus Belgrave in his Jazz Development Workshop. In 1990 Steve won a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship to study with jazz great, George Coleman. In his professional career Steve has performed with many of the world's finest jazz musicians including Mose Allison. Detroit drummer, producer, bandleader, manager, and label owner RJ Spangler is a journeyman musician who has done much to resurrect the careers of some forgotten blues artists. A versatile performer, Spangler has performed with such luminaries as Earl King, James Carter, Big Jay McNeely, and many others. Introduced to jazz and blues by his uncle, drummer Bud Spangler, who played with Detroit jazz legends the Tribe, RJ grew up listening to the greats of the music. By the early '80s Spangler had formed his own jazz band, the Sun Messengers, who earned a Motor City Music Award in 1982. That group later re-emerged as the Sun Sounds Orchestra on 1991's Open the Doors. Although he spent most of his teens and twenties focusing on jazz, Spangler never forgot about the blues. In 1994, he joined guitarist Johnnie Bassett for a concert date, later released as Live at the Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival. Bassett had fallen into obscurity since the time he was a successful session man in the '50s and '60s. After the gig, Spangler began working regularly with the guitarist and helped him get his career back on track, a trajectory that culminated in several more albums and a successful tour of Europe. His work with Bassett also garnered him a W.C. Handy Blues Award nomination in 2001. Since then, Spangler, who also runs his own Eastlawn Records, has performed and recorded with other legacy blues artists, including Alberta Adams, Joe Weaver, Odessa Harris, and others. He also records regularly with his own groups, delivering such albums as the 2012 trio date This Is What We Do, 2015's A Lil' More, and several with keyboardist and vocalist Bill Heid. For this gig RJ will be on congas. Featherbowling, steamed mussels, more than a dozen beers from Belgium... at the Cadieux Cafe, as the bumper sticker on the wall says, “It’s Beautiful To Be Belgian.” Since its days as a Prohibition-era speakeasy, the Cadieux Cafe has been a social hub for Metro Detroit's Belgian population. Flemish culture flourishes at the Cadieux, which is or has been the unofficial headquarters for an array of clubs promoting pastimes from across the pond, including pigeon racing, archery, bicycling, darts and, of course, feather bowling. The Michigan Traditional Arts Program awarded the Cadieux the Michigan Heritage Award for “continuing family and community cultural traditions with excellence and authenticity.” They’ve been careful to maintain the place’s old-world charm and traditions, but they've also made it more accessible to the masses – particularly the 21-35 year-old demographic – by bringing in live musical acts and staying open until 2am daily. It’s still beautiful to be Belgian at the Cadieux Cafe, but you’re more than welcome to pretend. Reservations for dinner are accepted for groups of eight or more. To reserve featherbowling lanes, please call (313)882-8560 to reserve your time in advance.