Subsequent festivals have featured Seeley, Sunpie, Henry Butler, C. In 2014 Craig performed at the Festival International de Boogie Woogie de Laroquebrou France. After returning to the US, Craig began Bloomington Boogies: The Bloomington Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Festival in 2015, featuring Bob Seeley, Carl Sonny Leyland, Marcia Ball, Sunpie Barnes, Uganda Roberts, Liz Pennock & Dr. Craig is also featured on the Cooler Kings' Looks Like Trouble, on Cathi Norton's Various Stages of Undress, on Piney Woods' Big Blues Party and Sonny Carter's Wings of Time, on CDs by Bret Raper, Andy Ruff and the Dew Daddies, Red Eye Max, on Music for Memory, produced by Mark Butterfield to benefit the Alzheimer's Association of Indiana, on tUnE-yArDs' album, Sketchy (2021), and on Tj Jones' Old School Funk (2022). Live At The Old Mint: Blues and Boogie Woogie Piano (2014), includes solo tracks by Craig, duos with Uganda Roberts, and a duet with Lori Brenner on rubboard.Ĭraig's most recent recording, Passages (2020), features Lori Brenner and Merrill Garbus on vocals (Merrill appears courtesy of 4AD), Nate Brenner and Ron Kadish on bass, Dan Hostetler and Tim Brookshire on drums, Mike Baker and Gordon Bonham on guitar, Joe Donnelly and Jake Belser on sax, Dena El Saffar on violin and viola, Kyle Quass on trumpet, and Dave Pavolka on trombone. Also joining Craig and the band on Live to Love is accordion player David Wierhake. Live to Love (2009) by Craig Brenner & The Crawdads consists of all original music, with the first appearance on record of expressive vocalist Lori Brenner. Window On the Soul (2002) includes ten original compositions, with Craig's sons Eli and Nate Brenner, Gordon Bonham, Norton, Brookshire, Pavolka, clarinetist James Campbell, drummers Jeff Chapin and Pete Wilhoit, sax player Joe Donnelly, percussionist Bob Dubinski, trumpeter Pat Harbison, French horn player Jerry Morris, vocalists Janiece Jaffe, Jane McLeod, Sonja Rasmussen, Sue Swaney and others. The jazzy Man At the Piano (1997) features guest vocalist Lauren Robert.

Play it Again, Professor! (1995), includes conguero and Professor Longhair collaborator 'Uganda' Roberts, members of Craig & The Crawdads and guests, including drummers Kenny Aronoff and Tim Brookshire, guitarist Stuart Norton, bassists Brian Lappin and John Huber, tenor sax-man Dennis Riggins, and trombonists Tim Riggins and Dave Pavolka. The Texans and Crawdads have included remarkable musicians in addition to Bonham and Bracken, other guitarists include Jeff White, David Steele, and Stuart Norton, horn players include Dennis and Tim Riggins and Tom Gullion - known as 'The Long Horns' - and Dennis Hoshijo, drummers include Bunchy Johnson, Lenny Marsh, and Uganda Roberts, and special guests have included Lisa Germano, John Prine, John Mellencamp, Dominic Spera, Jason Wilbur, and many other touring musicians.īackstage Boogie (1990), Craig's first recording, features Dan Hostetler on drums. Craig's bands include Craig & The Crawdads and The Ragin' Texans - Jim Bracken, Gordon Bonham, Brian Lappin, and Craig - with drummers Kenny Aronoff, Tim Brookshire, or Dan Hostetler. Chenier, Queen Ida, Buckwheat Zydeco, Gary Burton, Richard Thompson, Wayne Toups, Honeyboy Edwards, Matt 'Guitar' Murphy, the Radiators, Duke Robillard, Jimmy Rogers, and Terrance Simien, and many others.

He has performed with Bo Didley and opened shows for B.

Craig is the founder of Bloomington Boogies: The Bloomington Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Festival.Ĭraig performs solo and with his groups at blues, boogie woogie, and jazz festivals and venues throughout the U.S. Craig has also studied and performed multiple times with boogie woogie and stride master Bob Seeley and the late Big Joe Duskin. Prior to moving to Indiana, Craig studied in Miami with jazz pianist Wally Cirillo and classical pianist Elizabeth Fishbein. Craig Brenner explores the jazzy side of blues and boogie woogie piano. Called 'a fine and funky pianist' by Living Blues, Craig has received many arts grants and has been voted 'Best Musician' in Bloomington, IN, in the Bloomington Independent, and Craig Brenner & The Crawdads has been chosen best band. A graduate of Florida Southern College who grew up in North Miami Beach, FL, Craig attended the I.U. School of Music from 1976-80, studying with composer John Eaton, pianists Joseph Rezits and Enrica Cavallo Gulli, and jazz educator David Baker, among others.

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