Willie McNeil is one of LA’s most diversified percussionists. He has played professionally now for 30 years and racked up quite a few credits. He’s known for his band The Solsonics and their critically acclaimed CD ‘Jazz in the Present Tense’, Big Willie’s Burlesque or his tenure as the musical director of the famous Hollywood burlesque club Forty Deuce and his residency currenty at the Edison. But in whatever line up you know him from you’ll always remember his style.
Willie has had two major record deals and one major publishing deal and has played over 100 shows a year for the past 20 years. He finds himself busy doing session work, usually for film, as well as public and private dates and international tours. He writes, sings, produces and even does some acting.
He has performed with acts as diverse as the rapper Guru, John Mayall (at age 21), Joe Strummer and Ernest Ranglin, to name a few. Willie has had a love affair with Latin music for some time now and it shows in his original project Sono-Lux, a band that mixes salsa, timba Cuban folklore and funk and his 40’s & 50’s mambo band ‘Mambo Loco’.
Willie currently plays Cuban music every Friday at La Descarga in Hollywood and every other Thursday performs with Big Willie’s Burlesque at the Edison in downtown Los Angeles. He's had quite a career of residencies going back to the original King King, Bokaos and Lucky 7 to the more recent Ivan Kane's Forty Deuce, The “New” King King, La Descarga, Harvard & Stone and No Vacancy.
Willie’s compounded experience in the music business over the past 30 years is irreplaceable, and makes him a valuable asset in any musical venture.
bigwilliemedia@gmail.com
323-309-6922
Willie McNeil Quartet
Hey Wooley
Sono Lux
Groove & Soul Orchestra
Big Willie's Burlesque
The New Recessionaires
Available now: Music To Make Deals By
Mambo Loco