'Sovereign Blues' to Raise Funds for HVCA

One of the most in-demand saxophone players in Metro Detroit is helping Huron Valley Council for the Arts raise funds.

Nick Palise’s Sovereign Blues Band will perform a concert benefiting HVCA in its Steeple Hall, 205 W. Livingston Road in Highland, starting at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 11.

Palise explained the band’s music will cover a variety of music and style that are recognizable, fun and educational.

A former Huron Valley Schools band director, Palise plays in several local professional jazz, blues and big band groups, which include All Directions Jazz Band, Big Band Express, and Oakland Community College (O.C.C) Jazz.

More recently he has played with the 10-piece Regular Boys R&B Band, and the 10-piece Dr. Pocket Monster Horn Band. He leads the Sovereign Blues Soul Jazz Band as well as the Sovereign Saxes, a sax quartet.

In the 1960s and 1970s, he toured with show bands such as George Young and the Youngsters, Johnny and the Thunderbirds, Lonnie Mack and a number of other nightclub bands. He played with the Tommy Dorsey Touring Band and has recorded with Holland, Dozier, Holland of Motown fame, Golden World Records, and United Sound Studios. Currently, he is performing in concert-type venues with top musicians in the Metro Detroit area.

Other members of the band include:

• Mark LoDuca on piano, who has been in the music business since he was 13 years old. His specialty is jazz piano and the Hammond B-3 Organ. Though his background is mostly rooted in jazz, he also has worked extensively in the world of the blues. He enjoys playing in the different styles of funk/soul/fusion and blues idioms. He is currently working with many of the top musicians and bands in the Detroit area, and is an arranger and producer for many groups that demand his talent.
• Drummer Dave Marcaccio has enjoyed an extensive musical career. His attention to the groove has made him a current favorite of many great Detroit-based artists and groups including blues vocalist Thornetta Davis, The MillionAires Band, jazz singer-songwriter Tracy Kash Thomas, the Rick Stel Project, guitarist Jim McCarty and The Lynn LaPlante Seven.
• Bassist Bob Conner is in his fifth decade as a performing musician, starting with the touring rock music group, Scarab, in the late 1960s. He turned to blues and jazz, spending the 1970s and 1980s with Parade, the Detroit Blues Band and a growing freelance career. He also was the bassist for Sully’s Bar’s house band in Dearborn, where he backed artists such as Earl King, Eddie Bo, Johnny Adams, and Hubert Sumlin. During the next 20-plus years, he has backed rhythm and blues or blues acts such as The Coasters, Big Jay McNeely, Pinetop Perkins, Lazy Lester, Andre Williams and Sir Mack Rice. He also toured Europe with Johnnie Bassett as well as nationally with Fabulous Thunderbirds front man Kim Wilson. In addition, he’s traveled many miles with Doug Deming's band. Currently, he’s in his 12^th year as bassist/bandleader for The Millionaires, a 10-piece Detroit based Swing and Jump Blues Band.     

Tickets may be purchased for $15 at HVCA, 205 W. Livingston Road, during regular office hours (by appointment Mondays and Tuesdays, from  

For more information, please call HVCA at 248-889-8660.