Meet the Band

Roger Ceresi
(Vocalist)

Roger Ceresi’s desire to express himself through the arts first emerged at the young age of five. Growing up in the projects was not easy and Roger found that dreaming about becoming a performer helped him to escape the difficulties of that period of his life.

Thankfully, Roger’s saving grace was his grandparents love. At the age of ten, his grandparents took him from his unhealthy environment and brought him into their loving, nurturing home to live, which Roger can only describe as "heaven". Here he now was encouraged to turn his dreams into reality.

The first instrument he attempted to play in 4th grade was trumpet, which was very soon replaced by drums. The drums were an instrument on which Roger could truly excel giving him an outlet to release his spirit in a powerful and energetic fashion. He took drum lessons with several great drummers: Rocco Ruggiano, Arti Cabral and the world renown, Allan Dawson. He majored in classical piano and voice at Rhode Island College where he was offered a scholarship in classical voice, He then went to Berklee College of Music where he majored in piano and arranging & composition. Roger went on to play drums for many years in rock, jazz, horn and show bands.

When Roger played for a period of time in a show band, he used to come out front and do an Elvis impersonation. The audiences went crazy. That's when he realized that for him fronting a band was where he felt most alive. From that point on Roger never looked back. He began studying voice with Dante Pavone in Boston who tutored artists such as Michael Jackson, Diana Ross and Steven Tyler and then in Los Angeles with Seth Riggs who taught all the musical greats.

Roger fronted a very successful Rock & Roll band called "The Breakers" in Boston in the late 70's. They played up and down the East Coast, including Boston, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire & Maine. They played the infamous Rat Skeller in Boston at the same time "The Cars" and "Aerosmith" performed there.

In the early 80's, Roger moved to California and fronted an original rock band called "Good Thunder" which performed thoughout Los Angeles. He also made guest appearances with a well-known New Age band called "Freeway Philharmonic". He did extensive studio work singing on video and movie sound tracks. He also studied acting at the well-known Santa Monica Playhouse and went on to perform roles in plays and a comedy film. Roger eventually moved back to Rhode Island where he started to sing with R&B horn-bands.

He began fronting a band from Massachusetts called "The Kidds". The group was renamed "Roger Ceresi & the Kidds" and later renamed "Roger Ceresi & the Rockin' Soul Horns". They performed successfully throughout the New England area for 7 years.

Roger eventually moved on to form his current band, "Roger Ceresi's All Starz". Backed by a stage full of incredible musicians, each a star in his own right, Roger leads this horn-driven band with all of his soul. Roger is an engaging performer who draws from all his life experiences to create a powerful, high-energy performance filled with passion, excitement and pure unadulterated fun! Audiences are immediately swept up by his energy and enthusiasm. But, like any other great performer, he knows that without a great group backing him up, it wouldn't be the same. To that end, Roger says "this is the best group of guys I've ever performed with, hands down no doubt! I love this band. I have found my home and I'm loving it!"

Kenny "Doc" Grace
(Bass)

Kenny "Doc" Grace has been playing bass in the New England blues scene since the 70's, starting with the very popular "Back Slap Blues Band". They backed up the great bluesman Jimmy Rogers (when he left Muddy Waters' band) on his road trips through New England. Rogers wrote some of the great blues standards like; "Walking By Myself", "Ludella", and "Chicago Bound" to name a few. Since the early 1980s Kenny has been a member of the band "Loaded Dice". He toured the US and Europe with the Dice backing up Louisiana swamp king "Lazy Lester", and later with the great Chicago harmonica man "George 'Wild Child' Butler". In 1993 he was enlisted to tour with "Roomful of Blues" for 5 years, during which he recorded 4 CDs including the Grammy nominated '' Turn it on, Turn it up''. He can also be heard on "Dance All Night", "Roomful of Christmas", "Under One Roof" and Porky Cohen's "Rhythm and Bones". Doc's hard drivin Bass playing is the glue that holds it all together.

Carl Querfurth
(Trombone)

Carl Querfurth, born in Camden NJ Feb. 3, 1956, grew up in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He played trombone in junior and high school bands and then moved to Providence RI in 1977 to join the Back Slap Blues Band. In 1978 he joined Roomful of Blues for 1 year, before Porky Cohen. From 1979-1988, he played around New England and Eastern Canada with Blue Lights and Loaded Dice. In 1988, Carl rejoined Roomful, on Porky's retirement and stayed until 1998.

He opened for the Stones twice, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson twice, The Arsenio Hall show, The Juno Awards (Canadian Grammies), headlined the first sold out show after opening night at the New Orleans House of Blues, The Black and White Ball for the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, The NARM convention, a week long performance in Rome on DOC (the Italian version of American Bandstand), a week long tour in Japan, and Sony corporate party on San Marco Island.

Barry Fleischer
(Saxophone)

Barry Fleischer, tenor, Alto, baritone saxophone; flute, Clarinet - 5/22/55 New Haven CT; has been playing professionally since the age of 14. Studied music with private teachers, and attended Julius Hart School of Music Summer Program, Choate Summer Music Program under the direction of Trombonist and Woody Herman almunis Phil Wilson, University of Bridgeport, Music Education Program. While playing in the Duke Ellington Fellowship Orchestra at Yale University, under the direction of Willie Ruff and Dwike Mitchell, of the Mitchell Ruff duo, he was a featured solo artist with such jazz notables as Dizzy Gillespie, Slam Stewart, Benny Carter, Clark Terry, Earl Warren, Dick Katz, Oliver Jackson, Peck Morrison, Bo Diddley, and the Mitchell Ruff duo. Barry has been an active and visible part of the Boston Music Scene since moving from New York City in 1982. In the early 1990's he was leader of his own instrumental quartet, " Swing House".

His music has been described as an authentic, jump blues style, with all the energy and drive reminiscent of the late 1940's and early 1950's saxophonists. His unique and warm tone can be heard with many popular Boston bands. He has recorded three albums on Rounder Records with Michelle Wilson. He is currently a member of the "Sweet Willy and the Continental Walk" and Roger Ceresi's All Starz.

Joey Sullivan
(Drums)

Joey Sullivan started playing drums when he was just eight years old but didn't take it seriously until he saw Ringo Starr play on the Ed Sullivan Show. He's been a die hard drummer ever since. Joey's first "paying gigs" were with rock-n-roll bands while still in high school. After high school he joined his father's jazz band. His dad was an upright bass player with many contacts and he got Joey started in the "business". Joey played with many types of bands during this period: Jazz bands, Rock-n-Roll bands, a Las Vegas style show band, a Funk band, a Tijuana Brass tribute band and even a Dixieland band.

Joey became a bandleader when he formed his own rock-nroll band called the "Rockin' Midnites" which he kept working full time for seven years. When it disbanded he took a year off from the music business. During this time he moved back to his birthplace of Newport, RI. It wasn't long before he missed playing music so he joined a Rockin' band called "Little Sister" but he couldn't help noticing the abundance of blues bands active in RI. Years ago Joey had a friend who played with James Cotton and his friend was having so much fun that it left a favorable impression on him. Joey started free-lancing with local blues groups and eventually joined "Blueswagon" and then "Killer Kane & the Blue F.O.'s". Joey played with the "Chris Fitz Band" for two and a half years and appears on Chris' album entitled "This Is My Church". Joey also played with "Rick Russell" "Fatwall Jack" "Two Bones and a Pick" "The Matthew Stubbs Band" "Stovall Brown" "Cheryl Arena" "Tom Enright" "Loaded Dice" and "The Doug James All Stars".

Joey currently performs with "Roger Ceresi's All Starz". He also has his own rock-n-roll band, with All Starz band mate Rob Nelson, called "JoJoMiMa". When not appearing with Roger, Joey continues to free-lance and can be seen with "Gary 'Guitar' Gramolini, The Mojo Kings and Jason James & the PsycoBilly Cadillac to name a few. Lastly, Joey performs traditional Irish music with a group named "Spraoi" (pronounced Spree). Spraoi is based in Dublin, Ireland and Joey appears with them in Ireland as well as in the good old U.S.A.

Rob Nelson
(Guitar)

Rob Nelson has been playing in bands in the New England area since 1968. These bands include the Backslap Blues Band, Stovall Brown, Blue Lights, Louis Camp, The Heptones (with Fatman Wilson on vocals), Loaded Dice, Blueswagon and Sugar Ray Norcia. He has also done several tours as the guitar player for Roomful of Blues. As a member of these bands, he toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, Canada and the West Indies.

Prestige gigs include the Montreal Jazz Festival (50,000 people), the W.C. Handy Awards in Memphis, TN, (with B.B. King--host), Tipitina's (New Orleans), Lone Star Café (N.Y.C.), Antone's (Austin, TX), Slim's (San Francisco), Buddy Guy's (Chicago) and virtually every major (and minor) blues club in North America. I've toured with Lazy Lester (a legendary blues harp player from Baton Rouge, LA.) for 5 years. Also toured with bluesman Wild Child Butler. Over the years I've had the pleasure of playing with artists like Big Joe Turner, Lloyd Glenn, Buddy Guy, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Johnson, Joe Louis Walker, Anson Funderburgh, Katie Webster and Coco Montoya, etc.

Rob has opened for just about every major blues star including Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker and recorded with Porky Cohen, Sugar Ray Norcia, Loaded Dice, Blueswagon and NOW the Roger Ceresi's Rockin' All Starz.

John "Leather Lungs" Abrahamsen
(Trumpet)

Okay, why "Leather Lungs"? John's brother Pete told him that he should use the nickname because a lot of people who play blues music have them, and this is a name which a newspaper gave him a couple of years ago. He studied physics in college and works days as a contract software engineer. He took private trumpet lessons in high school for years from a wonderful man named Nelson Balsamo, and played trumpet as often as he could. John loves performing for people and loves to see them enjoy and be uplifted by good music. Over the past few years he has worked as a musician in the New England region.

Some of the people/groups he has played with are: Nick Curran, Roomful of Blues, Duke Robillard, Sugar Ray Norcia (Great singer with the famous Roomful of Blues band for many years), Loaded Dice w/Danny Vitale (Swing, jump blues group with many former Roomful of Blues members), K.D. Bell (R&B, Funk and Blues music), The Movers (Winners of the 1995 Harper's Ferry Battle of the Blues Bands and the 1995 12th Annual International Blues Talent Competition in Memphis, TN), Ibrahima Camara (Senegalese Talking Drum Master, African Pop Music; recorded on his release, "Sama Yie", which won the Boston Music Award, International category in 1993), Concord Band (Community band concerts and solo work), Luther "Guitar, Jr." Johnson (great Chicago-style blues), Hot Tamale Brass Band, Mickey Bones (marching brass band modeled after the great street bands of the city of New Orleans), Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Eric "Two Scoops" Moore (recorded with him on his 1996 release, "Big Buffet"), Chris "Stovall" Brown, Jay Place, Matt Woodburn and the Kat 'N' the Hat Band, Scott Shetler, "Sax" Gordon Beadle, Charlie Hunt & Search Party, and last, but not least, Phil Wilson.

Mark Taber
(Piano)

Mark Taber is a varitable pillar of the Providence music scene. His professional career spans 46 years. In the 60's he toured the US with Ken Lyon and Tombstone supporting their first release. That was back when the young guitar star Duke Robillard was playing with Ken. Mark stayed with the Tombstone band for 30 years. More recently he has played with Blueswagon and lately he's been working with the Doug James Big Band and Loaded Dice plus more solo performances than anyone should know about. Mark (the best looking man in show business) plays some classy and rollicking blues and boogie and loves what he does.

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