Frank John Hadley Bio

Frank-John Hadley

Summary

* Music journalist and critic since 1980s. Placed countless hundreds of features and reviews of blues, jazz, folk, roots rock, reggae, klezmer, bluegrass, pop, and world music in various magazines and newspapers, and in cyberspace. Music publicity writer since 1990s.
* Recipient of Blues Foundation's 2007 "KBA" journalism award
* Grove Atlantic author.
* Former consultant-writer for Isaac Tigrett and Dan Ackroyd at original House of Blues club (Cambridge, Mass.) and feature writer-columnist at Experience Hendrix (Seattle).
* Contributed to Encyclopedia of the Blues (Routledge Press).

Music Publicist

* Researched and wrote press releases and biographies (for web sites and press kits) at Braithwaite & Katz Communications (the internationally known music PR firm based in Lincoln, Mass.) and Diane Connal Publicity (NYC). Also edited at Braithwaite & Katz. *Researched and wrote press releases and biographies (for web sites and press kits) for Sandy's Jazz and Blues Revival Club (Beverly, Mass.) and as a freelancer.

Blues, roots rock, or jam-band clients from around the country included: Will Bernard (T. J. Kirk, Dr. Lonnie Smith), Jon Catler & Meridith Borden (Willie McBlind Band), Guy Davis, Tinsley Ellis, Luther "Guitar" Johnson, Jorma Kaukonen (solo and with Hot Tuna), Chris Morda & the Stone Crazy Blues Band, Nick Moss & the Flip Tones, Robert Walter (Greyboy Allstars, Head Hunters).

Jazz artists, based in Boston, NYC, San Francisco, and other parts of the USA included: Aaron Alexander (Midrash Mish Mosh, Frank London), Either/Orchestra, Full Circle, Holly Hoffman, David Krakauer (Klezmer Madness, etc.), Virginia Mayhew, Alexander McCabe, Leslie Pintchik, Issy Rosen, Avery Sharpe (McCoy Tyner), Mark Sherman, Greg Skaff (David "Fathead" Newman, Stanley Turrentine), Judy Silvano (Women's Work, Joe Lovano), Mike Tucker, Wayne Wallace (Pete Escovedo, Santana, etc.), Ezra Weiss, Frank Wess (Count Basie Orchestra).

Folk/Pop artists included Mindy Jostyn, Liz Queler, Kevin So.

Author

The Grove Press Guide to the Blues on CD. Internationally distributed book well-received by public and press. Published in 1993, remains in print. First critical blues CD guide. Forward by Nat Hentoff. Book tour. Electronic rights purchased by Amazon.com.

Contributing Writer

* Amazon.com (Seattle), Blender (NYC), Blueswire (Mass.), the Boston Phoenix, DownBeat Magazine (Chicago), Experience Hendrix, the Houston Press, Jazziz Magazine (Gainesville, Fla.), Living Blues Magazine (Oxford, Miss.), Metronome (New England), the Miami New Times, Pulse! Magazine(NYC), more. Feature articles, profiles, record, CD, DVD and book reviews, concert reviews. Conducted DownBeat Blindfold Tests. Written work on a variety of music excerpted for numerous record company publicity campaigns and advertisements in the States and Europe.

* For features have conducted interviews with, to name just a few: John Abercrombie, Nick Brignola, Gary Burton, Sam Bush, J. J. Cale, Johnny and Shemekia Copeland, Elvis Costello, Robert Cray, Willie Dixon, Ronnie Earl, Bella Fleck, Al Green, Buddy Guy, Corey Harris, Alvin Youngblood Hart, the Holmes Brothers, Homesick James, Rob Ickes, John Lee Hooker, Etta James, B. B. King, Diana Krall, Cleo Laine, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Joe Lovano, Bob Margolin, Mighty Sam McClain, Jimmy McGriff, Charles Musslewhite, Pinetop Perkins, Jean-Luc Ponty, Vernon Reid, Rockin' Jake, John Scofield, Esperanza Spalding, Koko Taylor, Otis Taylor, Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, James "Blood" Ulmer, Lucinda Williams, Mitch Woods.

* DownBeat feature writer and blues columnist; DB's internationally distributed and the world's oldest music publication.

* Liner notes provided for recordings by, among others, Joe Beard, Gatemouth Brown, Ronnie Earl; Hank Crawford & Jimmy McGriff, the Holmes Brothers, J. B. Hutto, Ron Levy, Mighty Sam McClain,; Roomful of Blues, Junior Wells. Record labels represented include Audioquest, CBS/Columbia, Delmark, Fantasy, Rounder, Telarc.

* Featured interview on PBS radio and also interviewed by journalists at major daily papers around the country.

* Founded Jazziz blues column in the 1990s.

Award

* Received the 2007 Blues Foundation "Keepin' the Blues Alive" award for "outstanding" journalism.

Among Best Received Writings...

* DownBeat: cover story, Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi, "First Family of Modern Blues"

* DownBeat: cover story, B. B. King & Buddy Guy--"Blues Hit Town"

* feature article, "Country Jazz," linkage of country music and jazz, with interviews of Gary Burton, Jean-Luc Ponty, Bela Fleck, 15 others.

* DownBeat feature article, "Best Blues Records of All Time," polled Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, and dozens of other musicians or music professionals.

* DownBeat, feature article, "Best Jazz Vocal Albums of All Time," polled Nancy Wilson, Cleo Laine, Elvis Costello, and 50 more singers.

* DownBeat, feature article on bassist Esperanza Spalding

* Experience Hendrix. feature interview piece, set in Nashville, with Jimi Hendrix's bass player Billy Cox.

* Jazziz, "Blues Royalty," feature article included interviews with John Lee Hooker, Etta James, and Willie Dixon.

Consulting/Activities

* House of Blues in Cambridge MA; reported to co-owners Isaac Tigrett and Dan Ackroyd; researched and wrote several hundred biographies of blues/r&b/soul musicians for display on video screens in Cambridge (and later other clubs in the HOB chain); selected and constructed music list for HOB juke box; assisted with cataloging of prized folk art collection;

A founder of the Boston Blues Society.

* Former Vice-President of the Berman Center for Performing Arts (Beverly, MA); co-produced shows by national jazz and blues acts on Boston's North Shore. Performers included Ronnie Earl, Tinsley Ellis, Dizzy Gillespie, Tiny Grimes, Art Hodes, Luther "Guitar" Johnson, Paul Julian, Joe Newman (Count Basie Orchestra), Preacher Jack, Carrie Smith.

QUOTES

"I'm glad [Frank] is still writing about the blues."-Peter Guralnick

"[Hadley's] text is as direct and concise as the music it describes."- Marc Weidenbaum Editor, Blender and Pulse!

"Hadley...demonstrates honest, commitment, insight, and wit... [He] rates five stars." - Helen Oakley Dance T-Bone Walker biographer/Jazz Times

"[Frank's Grove Press book] is a first-class manual that goes into my music reference library as an extremely welcome addition." - Elwood Blues aka Dan Aykroyd

"It is this vivid, continually surprising variety of the blues that has been carefully, lovingly illustrated in Hadley's Grove Press Guide...This guide should be in every school, from middle schools through universities." - Nat Hentoff (from his book introduction)