Bobby “Blues Ray” Early was one of the most renowned blues musicians in Sacramento, California in the '60s. His musical influences included Sam Cooke and Bobby Blue Bland, and he was a regular performer at many of the city's live music venues. The band “Full Circle” is another popular blues group from Sacramento. This four-member band covers a variety of instruments and vocal styles, including songs by The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allen Jackson, Tracy Byrd, Johnny Cash, and Eric Clapton.
The Speakeasies are a perfect band for an intimate evening with friends. They specialize in soft acoustic jazz, swing from the 30s and 40s, classic soul and blues from the 50s and 60s. The A List Jazz is a Grammy-nominated band comprised of the best professional musicians in the Bay Area. They are available for private parties, corporate events, concerts, festivals and clubs.
Campbell's Jazz Soup plays a fun mix of jazz and swing from the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s at events, parties, festivals and weddings throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Greg Jacobs is another influential blues musician from Sacramento. He has given more than 1000 shows in the past five years with his Greg Jacobs Quartet. The quartet plays a selection of tasteful jazz standards and some original compositions.
Parlor Tricks is an industrial ragtime band that plays a mix of swing, jazz standards, vaudeville and more. They have been performing for more than a decade in the Bay Area. THE MULES is another popular blues band from Sacramento. They have been described as “contagious” and “a crossroads full of rhythms where the West Coast in the style of T-Bone Walker shuffles, Stax, the scorching soul”.
In addition to these bands, there are several influential blues photographers from Sacramento who have documented their performances. Ryan Angel Meza is an editorial photographer published in Sacramento Magazine who has also contributed to The Wall Street Journal and Comstock magazine. He works with organizations and brands to create cohesive brand identities through photography. Susan Yee is another talented wedding photographer with almost 20 years of experience in the field.
Her style is flexible and includes studio portraits with natural light, ambient outdoor portraits with subtle strobe lighting and totally candid photojournalism-style photographs. Her work has appeared in Sunset Magazine and Sacramento Magazine among others. Greg Jacobs is also a talented portrait artist and wedding photographer whose work has appeared in several publications. His style varies with its theme: airy and dreamy for brides and pregnant women, bright and bold colors for creative entrepreneurs, and casual boho lifestyle photos for brands in the field of health and well-being. Audrey Perez is another photographer who specializes in portraits of older people as well as capturing the beauty of a teenager's transition to adulthood. She also offers styling help to her clients to help them document the best version of themselves. Sacramento has been home to some of the most influential blues musicians over the years who have taken the genre to unprecedented levels on the American music scene.
Photographers like Ryan Angel Meza, Susan Yee, Greg Jacobs, and Audrey Perez have documented their performances for posterity.
