Al Caldwell

Al Caldwell

Clinician, Performer, Engineer, Producer,
Al Caldwell loves music. Inspired by his music teacher Herman Morgan, Al learned an array of musical instruments in school. He planned to be a music teacher until he was encouraged by his College professor, Steve Shenkel at Webster University to be a performer.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, with Mississippi and Tennessee family ties, Al was surrounded with R&B and Blues from birth. He started out on a plastic guitar when he was 5 years old. He began to play clarinet and then moved to trumpet. Inspired by the music of Stevie Wonder and Bootsy Collins, Al added Electric and Acoustic Bass to list of instruments in 1976.He had the privilege of playing bass for Albert King and Shirley Brown at local Blues Festivals.
In 1983, Al decided to take the big step and move to New York. He was introduced to one of the greats, the Father of multi-string bass, Anthony Jackson, who later became his mentor. While in New York, Al toured with The Blues Brothers guitarist Matt “Guitar” Murphy. When the Tour ended, In 1985 he audition and won a spot in the Orchestra at The Famous Playboy Club in New York City. In 1986 Al moved back to St.Louis to start his own band. He named it Alsamad, pronounced (uh-sah-ma). He sang lead vocals and played bass. It was then when he developed as a songwriter. He moved back to New York in 1988. Al got a call from Johnny Kemp to play electric and synth bass for his tour. Johnny Kemp had the Number 1 song in the country, “Just Got Paid”. Al toured with some of the biggest names in Hip Hop and R&B on that tour.
Heavy D, Salt and Pepper, Big Daddy Cane, Keith Sweat, Rob Base, Tony, Tony, Toni and Teddy Riley were just a few of the acts that shared the stage. After 9 months on tour Al returned home to New York and joined Jonathan Butler .He was a brilliant new singer from South Africa. He was a R&B singer who also played incredible Jazz Guitar. He was a huge influence in Al’s career. With Jonathan, Al traveled all over the World. He played for the King of Swaziland to 70 thousand screaming fans on a soccer field. Jonathan had several Hits songs like “Lies, Sarah, Sarah, More than Friends, and the jazz guitar instrumental 7th Ave.”Al stayed with Jonathan until 1991.
Al moved back to St.Louis and studied with Blues legend Oliver Sain.He taught Al how to be an engineer and producer. Al worked with local talent and developed his song writing skills. He had several Top Ten Hits in St.Louis.He also studied with Perry Emge and adopted his philosophy of 70’s style of substance production. This concept allows you not to get carried away with all of the bells and whistles of the current technology and deal with the substance of the song. Al worked with Folk, Rock, Country, Rap, Jazz and R&B artist to develop his skills as a producer. Later he gravitated towards Gospel. In 1997 Al got a phone call from Rob Mathes to play bass synth and electric bass with Vanessa Williams. Playing for Vanessa Williams was a wonderful opportunity because her musical vocabulary spread across so many styles. From Broadway to Brazilian, from Pop to Hip Hop, from Jazz to R&B, she covered it all. There were many performances with Symphonies and Guest Entertainers like Yo Yo Ma and Elmo to name a few. Al was blessed to play on her “Everlasting Love” and “Silver and Gold” CD. These CDs featured Brian McKnight and George Benson and the Great Ozzie Davis. Playing for Vanessa afforded Al access to some of the finest venues such as Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl to name a few. Al also traveled to Egypt, Japan and China with Vanessa Williams. It was a wonderful chance to see how true talent is appreciated across the Globe.
In 2004, Al was inspired by the movie “Oh Brother Where are Thou?” He bought a Banjo and learned of its rich history. He took 3 lessons and worked on his style of his own. He loved the banjo styles of Earl Scruggs and Roy Clark but he had never heard funk or R&B represented on a Banjo. He started the project named “The Travelin Black Hillbillys”. The word “Black Hillbilly,” a named coined by the great Deford Bailey, should represent the African Influence in the music. He named his style “Hootananny Soul”. Al met Jens Kruger and Greg Deering and that expanded his Banjo Horizons. They introduced him to the Electric Banjo.Al converted it to MIDI to trigger keyboard sounds. He’s also added harmonica to his long list of instruments. His latest CD “The Travelin Black Hillbilly” is his best work yet. It’s a combination of Country and Blues. Though Al is new to Country Music, his heart really is in this project.” Music is like the Earth…It’s just Honest,” he says.

Member of:

Local 802 Musicians Union

Baby Al Productions (CEO)

Grammy Voting Member of the Chicago Chapter

AARP

Bass Musician Magazine (Staff Writer)


Endorsements:

Radial Tonebone/ Deering Banjos/ Genz Benz/ Madison Speakers/ Lizard Spit Guitar Polish/ Jorg Schroeder/ S.I.T. Strings/ Garry Goodman Strings

Al Caldwell Performances:

The White House
Carnegie Hall
Madison Square Garden
Hollywood Bowl
Savis Center
Atlanta Stadium
Tour of Europe 4 times
Tour of Japan 4 times
Tour of South America 1
Tour of South Africa 1
Television Performances:
The Tonight Show
David Letterman
Oprah
Rosie
A&E Christmas Special
PBS White House Memorial Special

Performed With:

Vanessa Williams
Vicky Winans
Earth Wind and Fire
Luther Vandross
Phyllis Hyman
Chuck Mangione
Chris Botti
Jonathan Butler
Heather Hedley
Stanley Turrentine
Oliver Sain
Albert King
Johnny Kemp
George Benson
Brian McKnight
Glenn Jones
Greg Howe
Shirley Brown
Dallas Symphony
St. Louis Symphony
New York Pops Symphony
Washington National Symphony
London Philharmonic Symphony