Al Copley (born Almon LeGrande Copley, April 29, 1952,

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, United States) is an American blues pianist and singer, plus arranger and co-founder of

Roomful of Blues Roomful of Blues is an American jump blues and swing revival big band based in Rhode Island. With a recording career that spans over 50 years, they have toured worldwide and recorded many albums. Roomful of Blues, according to the ''Chicago Sun ...

. After 16 years with Roomful, Copley relocated to Europe in 1984, and back home to the US in 2010. Copley has been performing extensively in Europe and the northeast US since 2010, appears regularly in New England, Switzerland and Paris, and continues to develop in style and taste, always noted for energy, versatility and harmony. He has been included in Chapman Roberts' 2018 "Broadway Jazz Festival" in Manhattan with stars from Chapman's hit plays ''

Blues in the Night "Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun wi ...

,'' '' Smokey Joe's Cafe,'' ''

Five Guys Named Moe ''Five Guys Named Moe'' is a musical theatre, musical with a book by Clarke Peters and lyrics and music by Louis Jordan and others. The musical is based on an earlier musical short of the same name by Louis Jordan from 1943. It had its UK debu ...

'' and ''

Bubbling Brown Sugar ''Bubbling Brown Sugar'' is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke El ...

.'' In 2016, Copley instigated a reunion recording of the 1970s version of Roomful of Blues. This is due to be released in 2021. The goal, according to co-founder

Duke Robillard Michael John "Duke" Robillard (born October 4, 1948) is an American guitarist and singer. He founded the band Roomful of Blues and was a member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Although Robillard is known as a rock and blues guitarist, he also play ...

, was to "make a record equal to or better than our first record." In June 2002 and 2009, Copley performed four of his own full symphonic orchestrations before an audience of more than 25,000 with the Boston Festival Orchestra at Summer Pops.

Career highlights

Copley has twice been nominated for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

(1983 and 1984) in the category

Best Traditional Blues Album The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011 and from 2017 onwards. Until 1992 the award was known as Best Traditional Blues Performance and was twice awarded to individual tracks rather than albums. The award ...

. In 1978 he performed with the original

Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers (formally, The Fabulous Blues Brothers’ Show Band and Revue) are an American blues and soul revue band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, who met and began collaborating as original cast members of ...

John Belushi John Adam Belushi ( ; January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, singer and musician. He was one of seven ''Saturday Night Live'' cast members of the first season. He was arguably the most popular member of the ''Satur ...

and

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

, and in 1993 he opened for

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

in London for 12 concerts, performing with

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Lawrence Vaughan Jr. (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. He was a founding member of The Fabulous Thunder ...

. His performances on the main stage at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

Montreux Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

include opening for

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

in 1998, opening for

's Legends in 1997, doing a duo of "Jazz-Hot" with

Jeff Healey Norman Jeffrey Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008) was a Canadian blues, rock and jazz guitarist, singer and songwriter who attained popularity in the 1980s and 1990s. He reached No. 5 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart with " Ang ...

in 1997, and opening the Blues Summit with

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known as the Ch ...

and B. B. King in 1993. Copley also performed at the first Montreux Jazz Festival in Japan with

George Duke George Martin Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as ...

and

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...

in 1998.

Discography

Solo recordings

*''A Handful of Keys'' (1986), Off Beat Records WIK 52 *''Acoustic 88'' (1988), Suffering Egos SE752 *''Automatic Overdrive'' (1989), Black Top BT 1047, original edition entitled ''Ooh-Wow!!'' (1987) Suffering Egos SE751 *''Rockabilly Pie'' (1990), Suffering Egos Records SE753 *''Royal Blue'' (1991), Al Copley & Hal Singer, Black Top Records BT1054 *''Good Understanding'' (1993), Al Copley & the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Bullseye Blues Records BB9596, original edition same title (1993), Suffering Egos SE754 *''Live at Montreux'' (1994), One Mind Records OM1201 *''Blue Paris Nights'' (1995), One Mind Records OM1202 *''Rainy Summer'' (2000), One Mind Records OM1203 *''Jump on It'' (2002), One Mind Records OM1204 *''Radio Play'' (2005), One Mind Records OM1205 *''Stardust'' (2010) One Mind Records OM1208 *''Albi's Boogies'' (2011) (compilation) One Mind Records OM1207 *''A Summer Place'' (2012) One Mind Records OM1212 *''The Summer Wind'' (2015) One Mind Records 1209 *''Beach Ball Blast'' (2016) One Mind Records OM1210 *''Here's to Life'' (2017) One Mind Records OM1211

With
Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...

*Shades of Blue (Philadelphia International Record 1980)

With
Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson (born Edward L. Vinson Jr.; December 18, 1917 – July 2, 1988) was an American jump blues, jazz, bebop and R&B alto saxophonist and blues shouter. He was nicknamed "Cleanhead" after an incident in which his hair was ...

*'' Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson & Roomful of Blues'' (Muse, 1982)

References

External links

AlCopley.com
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Copley, Al 1952 births Living people American blues pianists American male pianists Musicians from Buffalo, New York Black Top Records artists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians