The AWB Store is Open!

Yes, the moment you've all been waiting for has finally arrived. You asked for it, and now you've got it! The new AWB Online Store is open. We have shirts, caps and CDs available. The shirts are a limited edition, so get them while they last.

The AWB Store

Alan Gorrie New Release

Alan Gorrie's new double 'A' side single, with The Big Light Band in Dundee is available for pre-order.  All proceeds go to the local branch of La Sistema to give Dundee's youth the means to make music (instead of mischief), and help further the city's great continuum of live performance into the next generations. Have a listen to "Letter From Perth" and "The Future", at this link, and give generously!
Letter From Perth pre-order page

Welcome Aboard, Rob Aries!

Joining AWB, to fill the very large shoes of Mo Pleasure, on keyboards and bass is an old friend (with very large feet), Robert Aries. Rob's wide ranging resume includes producing Freddie Jackson (which earned him a platinum album), touring and recording two CDs with John Scofield, as well as touring with Change, Melba Moore, Special EFX, Eliane Elias, Bill Evans, Donald Harrison and Liza Minnelli (how's that for wide-ranging?)

Robert is no stranger to the world of AWB, having played on our "Living In Colour" CD, as well as working with many of us throughout the years on our various side projects. We're very happy to finally have him as a full-time member

Meet Morris Pleasure

Music maestro Morris ("Mo") Pleasure - keyboardist, bassist extraordinaire and
composer / arranger - has joined the ranks of AWB. He did some key dates with
the band a year ago, most notably at Celtic Connections in Glasgow where his
entire musical artillery made Average White Band's guest artists' inclusion seem
as if they'd done this together for ever, such is his comprehensive instinct for all
styles of music and vocals, and the magic he brings to them.

Of course, Mo is no stranger to those of you who have followed his progress, with
Earth, Wind & Fire where he was musical director for some years, and with the
eclectic range of artists he has accompanied - especially recently the David Foster
concerts series packed with international musical luminaries and vocal giants.

We must thank Monte Croft who has sat in this chair the past nine months for
doing a great shift on so many gigs last season, and wish him well in his next
endeavors - he's a class all-round musician, too.

Mo will be 'filling out' the AWB repertoire with his distinctive and funky keyboards
and will then give ME more than a run for my money on bass when we trade off
instruments, and his being in the band will allow us to explore some of the more
exotic depths of AWB's catalog, and move swiftly toward that new studio album
that has eluded us for so long.

Welcome to the show, Mo!

A.G.

Good Luck Klyde

We'd like everyone to know that Klyde Jones, Alan Gorrie's long-time lead vocal partner, and keyboard/bass/guitar wiz, is leaving AWB's grueling travel schedule to spend more time with his young family, and to get valuable home time to write and develop his new CD.

This is Klyde's eighth year with the band, and it has grown immensely in his time with us, as I'm sure all our fans can attest. The reaction this year has been fantastic from every quarter, and we are happy to have had such a great run with him. His last dates will be the upcoming West Coast tour: Seattle's Jazz Alley weekend, Yoshi's in Oakland, Anthology San Diego, and then Las Vegas' AWB fans should all look forward to the last hurrah from this particular AWB lineup.

Since the touring year is coming to an end, we will take time to consider and select who will be replacing our friend, and we'll be checking out a few talents whom people have brought to our attention. In the meantime, the Atlanta duo of Brent Carter on vocals and multi-instrumentalist Morris Pleasure will more than fill the gap, and we are looking forward to some exciting gigs with them in the band.

We wish Klyde all the best with his career from here onwards and thank him for his great contributions to the Average White Band and its ever-growing legions of avid supporters.

Farewell To An Old Friend

All of us in AWB, and our families, express our deep sadness at the passing of our
great friend and musical compadre, Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, on Sunday. He was a real
gem of a person and one of the finest musicians one could ever meet. In fact, it
would be hard to find a song from any era of American rock n' roll, R&B, and 'real'
country music that T-Bone didn't know, and could likely play any of the parts.
Most know him as the long-time bassist and currently guitarist and M.D. with Daryl
Hall & John Oates, but he has a much wider and deeper pedigree with a number of
artists in different genres of today's music. He will be incredibly missed by all of
us, and we send our condolences to his family, his friends and colleagues, and
especially to his close musical 'family' of which we are proud to have been associates.
You were a diamond geezer, T-Bone! Goodbye, old friend

New AWB Reissues

Edsel Records ( a division of Elvis Costello's Demon Music Group) is proud to announce the acquisition of the license to issue the complete Average White Band catalogue of albums released from 1973 to 1982. They will be issuing all twelve albums in four 2 CD slip-cased sets, all overseen by AWB's Alan Gorrie, Hamish Stuart and Onnie McIntyre, featuring memorabilia from their own collections and fully annotated.
The first package contains the band's first album Show Your Hand (never previously issued on CD in Europe). The album is expanded to feature eight bonus tracks, seven of which are previously unreleased.
The second disc in the package contains what was intended to be the band's second album for MCA, How Sweet Can You Get?. This album, originally rejected by MCA, has only been released as part of a "White Album" package many years later. Edsel has recreated the original artwork for this special release.

Atlantic Records Jerry Wexler heard the songs, signed the band to Atlantic Records, and with producer, Arif Mardin, set about re-recording eight of the songs, along with two new compositions. The resulting album Average White Band was released in September 1974



Show Your Hand & How Sweet Can You Get & Average White Band
The second reissue in the series contains Cut The Cake, Soul Searching and the long unavailable Benny & Us.

Cut the Cake/Soul Searching/Benny and Us

The third package contains the live Person to Person double album and Warmer Communications. This package includes to bonus fracks:Joe Zawinul’s “Walk Tall”and a previously unreleased version of Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations hit “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”.

Person to Person/Warmer Communications
The fourth and final release in the series includes three and-a-half albums: Feel No Fret, Volume VII (along with bonus track "Miss Sun"), Cupid's In Fashion and Shine (with a 6 minute 12" version of "Let's Go Round Again" and the previously unreleased bonus track "Wasn't I Your Friend").


Feel No Fret/Volume VIII/Shine/Cupid's in Fashion