New York City-based guitarist, bassist, singer/songwriter, and bandleader Jon Paris has long had a gift for singing and playing blues and blues-rock. He was raised in Milwaukee, a town famous for those styles, and cut his teeth in a procession of area bands in the 1960s. But in recent years, Paris has branched out into jazz as well, through his long friendship with guitar legend and inventor Les Paul. Paul maintains a weekly residency at the Iridium jazz club in Manhattan, and for years before that, he performed a weekly esidency at Fat Tuesday's, a now-closed jazz nightclub. Paris may be best known as a longtime sideman to Johnny Winter in his various trio groups during the 1980s and '90s, but in recent years Paris has launched his own successful solo career. He recorded Rock the Universe in 1996 for Fountainbleu Records and Blue Planet in 2004 for the New Jersey-based Blues Leaf Records label.