Blues Session mit Willy Jordan

In the organizer's words:

The Elville Blues Band around Tom Schaffert celebrates the blues every month with changing guests at the dasHaus cultural center.

Unfortunately Willy Jordan cannot perform at the upcoming Blues Session, but we have a fantastic plan B:
Jim Kahr, the blues guitarist and singer from Chicago!

Kahr was a member of the Bobby Blue Bland Band in the early 1970s before performing with Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor and Jimmy Rogers, among others. He was then hired by various stars such as John Lee Hooker (1978) and Freddie King.

The blues guitarist, mandolin player, singer and songwriter Jim Kahr comes from the blues city of Chicago, where he was part of the urban blues scene in his younger years. He was often the only white musician in Chicago's black blues clubs. The guitarist of the Butterfield Blues Band Michael Bloomfield, also from Chicago, wrote about him in Guitar Player Magazine: "Jim Kahr is an excellent, accomplished guitarist".

Since he toured Europe in the mid-1970s as John Lee Hooker's backing guitarist and also made guest appearances in Germany, a romantic relationship began to develop with a German blues lover. This led to the Mannheim and Ludwigsburg area becoming a second home for Jim Kahr. The fact that he received a lucrative recording contract in Germany and that Germany's vibrant blues scene offered many performance opportunities prompted him to relocate his main base to Germany.

Born and raised in Chicago, Jim Kahr immersed himself in the world of blues at an early age and established himself in the bars and clubs of his home town, encouraged by Junior Wells and others. From 1972, he worked with Jimmy Rogers, who took him on national tours for the first time and used him on record productions. Jim was then a member of Bobby Blue Bland's band, supported other greats such as Koko Taylor, Lightning Hopkins and Charlie Musselwhite, and was finally a member of John Lee Hooker's Coast to Coast Blues Band.
He came to Europe with John Lee Hooker in 1977, where he has lived since 1979 and still does. The Southside rocker has since released several of his own albums on various labels and met the legendary promoter Horst Lippmann (American Folk & Blues Festival, Lippman and Rau), who actively supported him and brought him to the major European festivals and stages. Jim Kahr's album "Incredibly Live" received the German Record Award in 1997 and his latest album "Keepin It Hot" is nominated for the same award in 2024.

His band's rousing shows are characterized by Jim Kahr's deep understanding of the blues in his own variations from rock to funk. His repertoire includes his numerous own songs and stylistically confident interpretations of rhythm'n blues classics. And even in a minimalist presentation as a solo artist or as Blazin 2 in a duo with saxophonist Ian Fullwood, Jim Kahr impresses with his virtuoso guitar playing and authenticity.