The Breeze Kings - Voyager Magazine


Story and Photos by Art Howard		"The Breeze"
A couple of years ago I was rocking hardcore to one of my favorite Atlanta bands, The Urban Shakedancers, when this guy with slicked back pompadour hair, a goatee and a harp got onstage. The mystery man's voice and harp playing actually took one of my favorite bands up a couple of notches! What the hell, I thought, is this town just crawling with people who can walk in off the street and blow your mind or what? Turned out the guy's name was Carlos Capote and he had a band of his own called The Breeze Kings -- "breeze" meaning "harp blowin'." Not long after that I was arranging an all-blues show, and Capote and the Breeze Kings came up to play. The Kings proved they could pump out hours of classic blues, with Capote adding the icing with a voice as rough as Wolfman Jack but as smooth as patent leather. Capote can frequently be seen sitting in with bands all over Atlanta, spinning harmonica flourishes like a more down-home John Popper.

Carlos "The Breeze" Capote did not grow up in the usual blues hot spots of New Orleans, Austin or Chicago. The harmonica maestro's formative years were passed in the city of West Palm Beach, Florida where he cut his musical teeth on Top 40. "I don't even want to tell you this because I know you're going to put it in there -- I know every pop song from the `80's by heart," he says (and sure enough, its printed).

However, one fateful evening during high school, the sounds of Men Without Hats and Air Supply were upstaged by a a B.B. King tape. "A friend of mine played a tape called The Best of B.B. King. I just thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I had heard blues in movies a thousand times and thought it was cool, but had never had real exposure to it. I heard that tape and just couldn't stop listening to it. I borrowed that tape, and then I borrowed The Best of Muddy Waters. That was it," the harp man remembers.		Jim Ransone: Blues and Fender tweed

From there he introduced himself to all the well-known blues greats: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, Robert Johnson. It was not until he was working on a degree in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, however, that he actually began playing blues himself. "I got a CD player and the first CD I bought was Sonny Boy Williamson. That's when I said, 'Wow, this harp thing is kinda cool.' So then I went and bought a $9 harmonica and cassette out of the Parade thing in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I had that for a year and drove people out of the dorm. It took me a year to realize you're supposed to have more than one!"

Joe Caprara		Eventually Capote got a full set of harps, and in no time was pulled onstage to play at the birthing room for most Atlanta-bred blues stars, the Northside Tavern. "They started a big ruckus and dragged me up on stage, and I played one song at the Monday night jam, and I was on cloud nine. That weekend Stoney Brooks (local harmonica hero in Atlanta - Art) was playing and I came to see Stoney. He said, 'I heard you played at the jam on Monday and did good. Good enough that you're going to play with me tonight!'"

After that night Capote began playing with several different Atlanta blues outfits simultaneously, and soon he and guitarist Mark D'Alessio were offered Thursday nights at the Northside. The harpist and guitarist were eager, but didn't have a band. Within a week, however, they assembled a full, semi-rehearsed band. Capote had never sang before, but showed a knack. Later D'Alessio was replaced by Jim Ransone. Bassist Dave Roth and drummer Joe Caprara rounded out the lineup.

Carlos is as well known for talking his band up around town as he is fronting it. With this gift for gab, it is best to let him explain what it is about blues that excites him, "The feeling. Something about blues, the emotion and the intensity comes across. I don't know how to put it without sounding cheesy. Somehow the energy and the passion that were put into it come across the strongest. When you watch rock music I'm blown away, I'm impressed and enthralled, but I don't feel the connection. I don't feel connected to the guys that are up there, I feel in awe of them. With blues players I feel a connection, even if its on a tape. You feel a connection. You feel some kind of similarity because you can say, 'I've been there,' or, 'I've felt something like that.' As a bluesman when you sing a blues song its very easy to find something in your life that can give you your perspective on those same lyrics. It totally gets into you.		Dave Roth - Never was in Van Halen

Carlos makes a breeze.		"And you've seen it, everyone you meet who gets into blues is enthralled by it. Once you get that bug and that feeling, its awesome. When I'm at a blues club, I feel like I'm somehow involved. If the band is really doing it right, I get into it, I can't stop talking about it on the way home, I can't stop thinking about oh, I love this song. I don't care if I've heard the song 15 times by 15 different people because everyone finds their own thing to put into it. Blues is such a heritage, and it gets me all worked up."

The Breeze Kings are getting audiences all worked up opening for national acts like Steve Miller, George Thoroughgood, and Bo Diddley. They're also giving new meaning to the phrase "working band," playing around 170 shows a year, and are quickly beginning to edge into other East coast cities. Find out when The Breeze Kings will be playing near you at www.BreezeKings.com!