blues

Solomon Hicks

1 upcoming festival

Harlem blues guitar prodigy — big-band chops and old-school warmth, a young player with a veteran's poise.

Solomon Hicks is a guitarist and singer from Harlem, New York, who took up the instrument as a child and was leading his own band around the city's clubs, including regular work at the Cotton Club, while still in his teens. His playing draws on electric blues, soul and jazz, favouring a warm, rounded tone and phrasing that owes more to mid-century players than to contemporary rock-blues.

Hicks released the album Harlem in 2020, and has spent much of his career on the road, both under his own name and in support of other blues and roots acts. He is generally known less for volume than for economy: horn-friendly arrangements, an emphasis on song, and a settled, unhurried stage manner.

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