User:Julio Finn/Julio Finn

Julio Finn is an African American bluesman, author, and documentary film producer. Born in Chicago into a family of educators, musicians, and scholars amongst his siblings are bluesmen Jerome and Billy Boy Arnold, authors Margo Crawford and Russell Prince Arnold, and singers Salome and Namon Kendalo. At the age of nineteen he moved to Europe, where he was befriended by James Baldwin, and recorded with Memphis Slim. A student of Latin-American culture he became personally acquainted with many Latin American authors, including Jorge Luis Borges, Alejo Carpentier, and Guillermo Cabrera-Infante. As a musician he has performed and recorded with Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Muddy Waters, Eddie C. Campbell, Dennis Bovell, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Jeanne Lee, Dan-I, Alpha Blondy, Matumbi, Guardian Angel, Brigitte Fontaine, Sterling Plump, Donald Kinsey, Philly Joe Jones, U-Roy, Barry Ford, Scritti Politti, and Errol Dunkley, and well as leading his own group, The Julio Finn Blues Band.

Books:

Nefario (novel). The Bridge of Dreams (novel). Poet of the Cigar. The Bluesman: The Music of Black Men and Women in the Americas. Voices of Negritude. Zen and the Art of Cigar Connoisseurship. Proust et le noveau orientalism (essay). The Blue Bayou (short story). Tales from the Havana Cigar Investigation Bureau (short story).

Recordings:

The Julio Finn Blues Band, Rainbows All Over My Blues. The Julio Finn Blues Band, Deal For Service. Archie Shepp, Blasé. Archie Shepp, Black Gypsy. The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Certain Blacks. Linton Kwesi Johnson, Forces of Victory. Linton Kwesi Johnson, LKJ in Dub. Denis Bovell, Brain Damage. Matumbi, Seven Seals. Dan-I, The Ghostess Named Dinah. Guardian Angel, China Gate. Muddy Waters, Live At L'Olympia. Errol Dunkley, A Little Way Different. Alpha Blondy, Grand Bassam Zion Rock. Julio Finn and Denis Bovell, Urban Voodoo Juice.

Documentary Films:

The Roots of Black Music (BBC). We Are the Blues (ARTE-France). The Gullahs of the South Sea Islands (in preparation).