August 26, marks the launch of the new Ike and Val Woods Blues Band CD "Movin Up" with a CD Release Party presented by Jay Royce Entertainment to be held at the fabulous Fusion Cafe in the Paradise Entertainment Mall in Davie Florida. The night will feature live performances by the Ike and Val Blues Band and Estimated Phophet.
Band leader and lead vocalist/ guitarist Ike Woods has enjoyed a long and productive career first as a sought after sideman and later as the front man for his own band the Ike and Val Woods Blues Band. Ike was the third of seven sons born to Pentecostal minister Willie Woods and wife Emma Woods. He began his musical journey at the tender age of six years when he took his first guitar lesson from his dad. He was quickly recognized as a child prodigy who went on to excel as a musician during his school years. At the age of seventeen Ike auditioned for Jazz greats Nat Adderly and Curtis Fuller at a high school music workshop. They immediately offered this exciting and accomplished young guitarist the opportunity to travel to New York and play with them professionally. Ike, however, chose to remain in Florida to finish his education, marry and pursue his career.
He went on to play professionally as a young man with Florida Bands led by Dick Knight, Richard Strahan, Forest (Tex) Beverly, Joey Gilmore, Joe Orr,
Betty Wright and Jimmy BoHorne. During this period in his career Ike was also a highly sought after studio musician due to his versatility and high skill level.
At the age of thirty five Ike Woods met singer/ songwriter
Valerie Hall (who performed in her own band "The
Valerie Hall Band") during a rehearsal of a local church choir. Val encouraged Ike to start his own band. Ike took her advice and asked her to join him as the co-lead vocalist. This was a match made in heaven as the two formed the Ike and Val Woods Blues Band and later married.
This dynamic duo has performed throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean. They have recorded four LP's and were nominated by the local Grammy committee for their single "Let Love Come Through". In 2007 the Ike and Val Woods Blues Band competed and won first place at the Monterey Blues Festivals' "Battle of the Bands." They have shared the stage with Buddy Guy, Gill Scott, Ramsey Lewis, KEM, Jerry Butler, Jeffrey Osborne, Bobby Blue Bland, the Whispers, Tommy Castro, Eddie Cotton Jr., Jonathan Butler, David Sanborne, Earl Klugh, Betty Wright, Nestor Torres, the Ruppingtons, Pancho
Sanchez and the O'Jays.
The new LP "Movin' Up" highlights IkeWoods virtuoso guitar performances along with Ike and Val's soulful Blues vocals providing the listener with a musical experience second to none. The LP was produced and engineered by Grammy award winning producer Gabriel Cifuentes. The first single release from the LP entitled "The Party's Jumpin'" has held the number three spot on the Reverbnation local Blues chart for eight weeks.
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