Lenny "Fuzzy" Rankins: Press

Hear Lenny on Jazz, Jazz, Jazz on WSRadio.com

New Thursday blues shows start

at Sheraton Four Points

 

A new weekly blues venue will open Thursday, Aug 19, at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel adjacent to Montgomery Field.

Each Thursday, a leading blues performer will be the featured guest, backed by the band of Fuzzy Rankins, a stalwart on the San Diego scene for two decades.

 

Fuzzy will be the highlighted artist at the debut show, which will be held at 8pm in the Skies Lounge at the Sheraton.  the room can accommodate up to 250 people.

 

In subsequent weeks, headliners are expected to include Sugaray Rayford of Aunt Kizzy'z Boyz, Len Rainey, Bill Magee and others.  Each week, the lineup will include local musicians handpicked by Fuzzy to sit in with his group.

 

"We think this is a great venue to showcase some of the blues talent in our community," said Floyd Smith, whose Floyd A. Smith & Associates is producing the series.  The company also produces Friday night jazz at the Skies Lounge.

 

The Sheraton Four Points is located at 8110 Aero Drive, adjacent to Montgomery Field.

 

Lenny "Fuzzy" Rankins is known in San Diego for his guitar playing while fronting both blues and jazz bands.  But the Cleveland-born musician got his start playing gospel music.

 

Through his two decades in San Diego, he has won many long-standing admirers, and in 1999 was the lead guitar player for the award-winning play "Ain't Nothin' But The Blues."  Following a month-long run at the Lyceum Theater in downtown San Diego, the play toured the U.S. and Europe and eventually won several Tony Awards for its Broadway, New York production. 

Take A Brotha Home Fuzzy Rankins MoonCook Productions

If you like your blues with a lot of funk, you need look no further.  San Diego's own Lenny "Fuzzy" Rankins showcases his funk sensibility on this disc with his stinging guitar solos and growly voice, a fine band and subtle backup singers.

There are several classic blues songs you've heard before, like "Black Cat Bone," "Texas Flood," "Little Red Rooster," and "Crawlin' King Snake," but you haven't heard them done like this unless you've seen Fuzzy and his band live.

This music will get you moving!

Leonard H. Rankins, Senior, Fuzzy's late father, appears on the CD on keyboards.

FUZZY ... Sold Out In 10 Minutes!

Otherwise known as Lenny Rankins.

If you could sit down for one grooved out jam session with Fuzzy and the band, you would no longer want to know who Brittany Spears or the N'SYNC band were.  AND if mainstream America would spend one evening listening to Fuzzy, a rhythm & blues jazz groove (Shall I go on?) - ok, funk, soul, and at times gospel band, it's mass marketing of pop music, acid washed jeans and fanny packs would probably vanish forever!  And after just one evening of listening to these guys, we'd all be so cool, so groovy, so laid back and funked out that nothing about us or America would ever be mainstream again.

These guys are so good that I felt like I was witnessing the soon scent of stardom in the air! Soon, I'm gonna be saying, "Yeah, I saw those guys years ago when they used to play small local venues in San Diego.  Now look at them.  SOLD OUT IN 10 MINUTES!"

Formerly Fuzzy & the Bluesmen, now just known as Fuzzy, has a sound that makes you glad to be alive and happy that you have ears.  Their tunes make you feel things in your body that you've never felt before.

Lenny Rankins was given the nickname of Fuzzy when just a young boy.  The name stuck.  His love affair with music began in Delaware, where he was introduced to gospel music and started singing and playing in the Church choir.  Then he moved to Pennsylvania and had an opportunity to play with Shirley Cesar and Al Green.  Music then became who he was.  At 19, he formed his own band and started touring the East Coast.  During that time, he had the opportunity to perform with major artists the likes of Roy Clark and Patty Labelle.

When Fuzzy moved to California in 1989, it was with the thought in mind to expand his musical career and to do things his own way, "make his own sound."  He met up with Fro Brigham (formerly associated with Louis Armstrong) and began playing with Fro's band for a while.  Later he formed Fuzzy & the Bluesmen.  The group has opened for Etta James, been to the Newport Jazz Festival, and been the featured artist at a special dedication to T-Bone Walker.

Talking to Fuzzy, you can feel his passion for music.  HIS music!  Most of his time is spent in the studio and in concert.  In the studio, he messes around with tunes and puts the words to tunes.  he is charismatic and "fantastical"! And so is the band!  They make this ASTONISHING sound look effortless.

Better see them now...BEFORE 10 MINUTES ARE UP!  THEY MIGHT BE SOLD OUT!

  One of the hottest breakout songs at the Fall SOS was This Old Man by a guy called Fuzzy.  The song first appeared on his 2001 release, Good Lovin’.  After noting the potential popularity of the song, Mike Farver and Judy Collins of Judy’s House of Oldies, picked up the song for One20’s SOS 2006 compilation release, Where Memories Are Made….  Look for this song to jump into a high position on the charts.  Fuzzy’s real name is Lenny Rankins.  Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he received his nickname from his mother early on because he had so much “peach fuzz” as a baby.  His siblings and other members of the family picked it up, and he has been called “Fuzzy” ever since.  Fuzzy operates MoonCook Productions, the name of which came from another nickname given to him by his brother.  Fuzzy was constantly cooking up his music at night, hence, “MoonCook”.  This Old Man will be with us for a long time coming, for it is truly our kind of music.

And the 2010 Nominees are ...

 

Best Blues Album

Chet & the Committee - I'll be Down in San Felipe

Delta Heat - Let's Have A Party!

Fuzzy Rankins - Take A Brotha Home

Patrick Yandall - One Hour Blues

Sue Palmer - After Hours

The Burnsville Band - Give Me A Job

Zapf Dingbats - s/t