Joe Louis Walker

He is one of the most innovative contemporary blues musicians acclaimed for the originality and energy of his live shows, all this despite the fact that his career is built on the more traditional blues, both in the music and in the way plays it. Joe Louis Walker (San Francisco, California, 1949), also known as JLW, reaches the 21e edition of Mallorca Jazz Sa Pobla with a new album under his arm, Hornet's Nest   (2014).

JLW was born into a family of musicians and became fond of blues listening to figures like the recently deceased BB King, Elmore James and Pete Johnson. At age eight, he got hold of his first guitar and at 16 he was already known in the music scene of the Bay Area - the metropolitan region surrounding the San Francisco bays, where in 1995 he was elected Blues Musician of the Year.

Throughout his career he has recorded twenty albums and garnered several major music awards, for both solo and collaborative work with other musicians. Including the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album for Deep in the Blues, with James Cotton and Charlie Haden.

In 2013 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis and was nominated in four categories at the Blues Music Award.

In the Plaza Major of Sa Pobla, Joe Louis Walker (guitar, harmonica, vocals) is accompanied by Philip Young (keyboards, saxophone and vocals), Lenny Bardford (bass and vocals) and Byron Cage (drums and vocals).

Mallorca Jazz Sa Pobla 2015 will be held from August 4 to 8 to program five concerts, the international jazz seminar by the Traveling School of Jimmy Weinstein and an exhibition of illustrations by Jaume Salvadiego.

Also the MenJazz, a gastronomic initiative in which collaborate the bars and restaurants of the Plaça Major of Sa Pobla.