| raised in the skidrow neighborhood of "uptown" in chicago, jake la botz was exposed often to what is perhaps that city's most important export, the blues.
jake dropped out of school in the ninth grade and began hoboing around the country. whenever he was back in chicago, he spent his sunday mornings hanging out at the place where every great chicago bluesman got his start, the maxwell street market. here jake befriended legendary bluesman maxwell street jimmy davis, who was to become one of his best friends and mentor.
as a teenager, jake would sneak into clubs to hear other blues legends such as homesick james and honeyboy edwards, with whom he later spent a great deal of time playing music both on and off the stage.
with the encouragement of his heroes, jake began to play the blues professionally. he worked the clubs and bars, streets and subways of chicago for a number of years, occasionally making trips to the mississippi delta and other parts of the south where he played in local jukejoints.
with a passion and understanding of blues, spirituals, gospel, soul, rhythm and blues, hillbilly, ragtime and early jazz, jake is able to draw from a deep well of music to create his own songs.
now residing in los angeles, jake performs regularly both solo and with his band. he has just released his first cd, "the original soundtrack to my nightmare," which takes traditional american music down some twisted and untrodden paths. |
