Cover photo © 2025 Jim Hartzell

There are plenty of musicians who fashion lengthy, successful careers providing stellar accompaniment for other artists. When it comes to blues guitar players, names like Hubert Sumlin, Luther Tucker, Wayne Bennett, and Clarence Hollimon come to mind. Based on a quick scan of the list of artists he has played guitar for, one could certainly add Chris Vitarello to the list, although he early on envisioned a different career path.

“Around my junior year, senior year of high school, I didn’t really think about playing guitar much. I loved to play with my friends, but I was more into baseball then. I thought I was going be a baseball player. And senior year I was going start at second base and thinking about going to college. Then I caught mono and I couldn’t play my senior year. It was devastating. So I just dove into guitar and eventually came around to thinking about doing it for a living.

“That senior year when I had Mono, I was sick and out of school for three weeks. I had tickets for Johnny Winter at the Beacon Theater with Dr. John. Buddy Guy, Albert Collins, and Johnny Copeland. I snuck out of the house, got in the car with friends, and took off for the show that Johnny Winter headlined. I think that night I turned my friends onto blues music. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to see Stevie Ray Vaughan. He had died my senior year.”

Vitarello’s father had an acoustic Epiphone guitar. After he served in Viet Nam with the U.S. Navy, he used G.I. Bill credits to go to school, including a music secondary school where he took guitar for a year. Then life got in the way, and his father stopped playing. But the guitar was laying around, so Vitarello started tinkering with it when he was seven years old. Fast forward to age 15 years, when he would go to a friend’s house where he would sit and watch the friend’s band practice.

“One of my friends showed me how to play “Jumping Jack Flash” on the guitar. I immediately got serious. My father gave me his acoustic, then bought me an electric Fender Stratocaster- style guitar. I started out playing metal music because I was born in 1971, listening to MTV and the hair metal bands. I still love AC/DC. Angus Young was probably my first influence. Then I started getting into heavy metal like Slayer and Metallica because that’s what all the kids listening to.

“Eventually I veered over to the bluesier side because of a teacher that I had in high school. I had a teacher, his name was Mr. Phil Dollard at New Rochelle High School. He used to bring his guitar to school. Once he found out that I played, he made me copies of Johnny Winter’s Second Winter album, and the Duane Allman anthology. It all started with my English teacher turning me on to the blues. But I didn’t think I was going be a blues player for a living until I went to Berklee.”

Attending the renowned Berklee College of Music for two years, the guitarist wanted to learn to read music properly. He quickly became a frequent visitor of the nearby three story Tower Records store. One visit led to another revelation.

“They were advertising the first House of Blues that opened up in Harvard Square in Cambridge. Dan Aykroyd was part owner. The Blues Brothers Mobile, the cop car, was going around Berkeley to turn kids to this new blues club. So I went to Tower Records and grabbed a copy of a local music magazine. Ronnie Earl was on the cover. I read the article and went right to the CD section and bought Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters Test Of Time, a retrospective of his albums on Black Top Records. He was playing at House of Blues that weekend.

“I got to see Ronnie when he started to play as an instrumental band, with Rod Carey on bass, Bruce Katz on keyboards, and Per Hansen on drums. When I saw that show I knew that was what I wanted to do, play blues guitar on the a jazzier side. I literally focused on playing that kind of style. Years later, I ended up playing with Bruce Katz and Rod Carey in a band. When I left Berkeley, I met my wife, we were dating and we used to go see Ronnie Ear all the time.”

Leaving Berklee in 1993, the guitarist started his own band, embarking down the music-as-a-career path. He would eventually receive a bachelor’s degree in music from Western Connecticut State University.

“At that time Berklee was a very big jazz school. I really wasn’t the greatest reader and jazz player. The school got me into playing jazz, but I wasn’t good enough to be in all the ensembles, so that was part of why I left. I’m didn’t blame the school. It’s literally the best music school in the world. I have friends that teach, like Dave Limina who is the piano chair there.

“I just wasn’t really fitting in and figured I would get more gigs if I left the school. It was hard to do gigs in Berkeley because there was so many great players. I think I was young and naive. But I ended up playing four or five nights a week, got really inspired to get off my ass and be a professional. I wasn’t good enough yet. And I was too young to realize that I probably should have finished.”

The lessons he did learn at Berklee paid off. Working in an jazz organ trio, Vitarello impressed a guy named Sal, who was booking organ players like Joey DeFrancesco, Rueben Wilson, and Jimmy McGriff, one of the giants of jazz organ.

“Oh man, I got to play with Jimmy the last part of his playing life. Sal took a liking to me, partly because we’re both Italian. He told me he booked Jimmy McGriff, and asked if I’d like to audition. Of course, I said yes! I love the organ trios. It is my number one favorite thing to play. I’m known as a blues player and an organ trio, soul jazz player. I had been playing in a band with my friend Jeremy Baum on keyboards, and we were doing a Jimmy McGriff song called “Peanuts.”

“”Peanuts” was a song written by Wayne Boyd, who was Jimmy’s guitar player for many, many years. His son’s nickname was Peanut. I had never met Jimmy. I had just talked to his wife, Margaret, on the phone. Sal told me to just show up at the Lennox Lounge in Harlem, that I was on the gig for the evening, like a little audition. I asked what tunes we were going play. Sal replied, just show up.

“So here I am with my guitar in Harlem, and Jimmy looked at me and he says, Hey man, you know, Sal’s been talking you up. What song would you like to open up with? And I looked at him and said, “Peanuts”. Jimmy and the band got all teary eyed. He’s like, are you kidding me? Wayne had just died about a month before and they were still grieving their buddy, and I didn’t even realize that song would touch them, you know?

“Jimmy looks at me and says, man, you call that tune, you got the gig. Never even heard me play. So it was hysterical. We played the tune and I did okay. It was a beautiful thing the first two years. Jimmy was fine, but you could tell that he had multiple sclerosis. We got to play with the real Jimmy, and then the last year he was starting to get sick. Then the band surrounded him and helped him out. I got to play with him until he couldn’t play anymore. I got to play with an icon and finish his career off. I recorded one record with him, called Live At Smoke .”

After his stint with McGriff, Vitarello started to feel like life was passing him by as far as music was concerned.

“I was driving one time in Massachusetts, feeling down on myself because all my buddies had touring gigs, playing with really good players while I was just playing locally and teaching guitar lessons. I said a little prayer in my head. I’m like, God, I would love to play in the Bruce Katz band. I love this music.

“Two months later, I don’t know if you believe in God or prayer, but Bruce called me and it was a surreal thing. It was almost like I thought it was a joke because my friends knew that I loved him. Bruce called me because of my time with Jimmy McGriff. He had just moved to New York from Boston, and wanted to meet me. I went to his house, we jammed, and a month later I was in his band. It’s funny how things work out sometimes.

“That gig came at the right time because I had auditioned for Sugar Ray and the Blue Tones. I thought I was going to get the gig. I don’t know if they didn’t like me or they just never called me back, or maybe they forgot about me. I was very down on myself when Sugar Ray didn’t call me back, I was even thinking about quitting, wasn’t sure if I was good at the music thing anymore

“Then Bruce called me and that was a really nice blessing to be able to feel like now I’m stepping up a level. Bruce is one of the best musicians I’ve ever met, a genius musically. His tunes are amazing. We’re best friends, done hundreds and hundreds of shows, traveled around the Europe and the world. I became a better musician playing with Bruce. he loved that I was the blues player and the jazz player combined. He gave me so much space and I started singing in his band because we needed a singer when Rod Carey hurt his back and we became a trio. I gained a lot of confidence in that band.”

Over the years, Vitarello has played, toured, and recorded with many notable artists, too many to mention in this article, despite his best attempts to give everyone a mention.

He counts Dennis Gruenling, one of the finest blues harmonica players, as a real friend. “I played with Dennis for five years, before I was with Bruce. He held both of my newborn kids in his lap. In 1997, my wife was pregnant with our son Danny. I was reading Blues Revue magazine. Dennis and Steve Guyger were on the cover. His email was there. That was when e-mail was brand new. My wife & I shared the same address. We used her name, Christine. I sent Dennis a message to introduce myself.

“Later I sent him like a demo CD of me playing blues guitar. Because my email was” Christine”, he thought I was a woman. I went to meet him at a gig he had in New Jersey. Dennis invited me to come and sit in, as he was possibly going to need a guitar player. I showed up with my wife who was eight months pregnant. Of course, Dennis thought she was me. I explained that we share the e-mail, and he had a good laugh. We just hit it off instantly. He turned me onto a lot of the swing guitar stuff, the older stuff with Bill Jennings on guitar.”

Another high profile gig started with Katz trying to get Vitarello an audition for the guitar player slot in Gregg Allman’s band, which ultimately went to Scott Sharrard, a fine slide player. A few years down the road, a different opportunity came knocking.

“Butch Trucks, one of the original drummers for the Allman Brothers Band, was putting together his Freight Train band. His son, Vaylor, was playing guitar. Vaylor is the young boy on the cover of ABB classic album Brother and Sisters. It was nice that he got hang with his dad, but he had to stop playing because he had a real job. He is a really great at computer programming.

“Bruce Katz got me an audition gig with the band. I played the gig. At the end of the first show, Butch grabbed me, put his arm around me and said, “Chris, I, I love your playing. You sound great. But if you want to be in this band, you’ve got to play long guitar solos!” He told me to start the solo off, build it, and then bring it back down, then build it again.

“That was another great experience. I got to play with Butch in his last days. He ended up passing away while we were on the road. That was devastating. I was playing with a Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, and the band was really starting to click. One of the most memorable moment of my life was playing at the Butch Truck’s Memorial in Macon, Georgia. It was completely surreal, basically his funeral. The Allman Brothers go up there, do their three songs, then the Freight Train Band goes up there and plays, with me looking around like I don’t really belong here. I’m honored to be a tiny bit part of the that family.”

Vitarello did a lengthy stint with singer Chris O’Leary, appearing on the band leader’s first three albums. They had been playing together for a spell when destiny came around the corner.

“ I love Chris’s singing and harmonica playing. We were doing gigs on our own. Levon Helm was just starting to make his comeback after his first bout with cancer. Levon heard some demos that we had recorded that Pete Kanaras, guitarist for the Nighthawks at the time, was producing. Levon wanted to hire the band, take us to New Orleans to play at his Storyville club in New Orleans.

“I kind of got ousted out of the band, which was good because I had just gotten married and I just started going to Westcott to get my degree in music, which would’ve meant I would have had to leave school. I probably would’ve got divorced too, because I was literally a newlywed.

“So Chris went off and did his thing with Levon. That became the start of Levon’s Midnight Ramble. When the club ended up closing down, Chris stopped playing for a few years due to problems with his voice. One day he called me and he’s like, man, I really miss playing, and I want to start a band with you. So we started the Chris O’Leary band. Our first gig was in Woodstock and from that gig, we went on to record our real first record, which ended up getting nominated for the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist Debut. And then the band just blew up.”

Not one to let grass grow under his feet, the guitarist next got connected with another artist who was rapidly capturing the attention of the blues community.

“It’s funny how things happen. I met Vanessa Collier when she opened up for the Bruce Katz band on her very first gig ever under her own name. Ever since then, she was trying to get me to do gigs with her. I was never available because I was playing with Bruce, Chris O’Leary, and Butch Trucks. Then one day, we made it happen. Ever since then, I’ve been one of her guitar players.

“Laura Chavez is number one. Arthur Neilson, who was one of my mentors growing up and plays with Shemekia Copeland, he’s number two. I don’t get called as often because I have my teaching job and my music director job at the church. But Vanessa usually saves the summer for me. I love playing with her. She’s taken me to the coolest places, probably the biggest blues festivals I’ve ever played have been with her.”

Other heroes that Vitarello has backed include the outstanding singer Tad Robinson, with Bruce Katz and in Robinson’s band. More recently, he has been touring in support of another fine vocalist, Darrell Nulisch, with some help from his very good friend, bass player Mike Law. Both singers mix soul and blues influences, keeping Vitarello on his toes.

At the end of May, he will be joining Jeremy Baum and drummer Michael “Leroy” Bram for a Chris Vitarello Power Trio show.

“We’re going to do a night of Grateful Dead Music as an organ trio. We’re calling it “Organizing the Dead”. The guy at the club called it the Chris Vitarello Power Trio. I didn’t really want him to call it that, but he did. We played there a couple months ago and sold out two shows, which is awesome. I’ve been playing with Mike and Jeremy for over 20 years, 25 years. They are my music buddies.”

In his spare time, Vitarello teaches at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, Connecticut, an all boys private school that is shared with the sister school, Greenwich Academy. He directs a 35 member boys choir, works with 32 guitar students, three guitar classes, and also teaches an improv band.

“I was teaching fifth grade, had to learn how to play saxophone, flute, and clarinet. For five years, I taught the fifth grade for one class at the end of the day, Monday through Thursday. That really rocked my world and changed my life. We made it through COVID. I had work when the world shut down and all the musicians had no gigs.

“Now I get to teach, to give back and inspire the kids. The funny thing is I’m still playing as many gigs as I did when I was doing it for a living, but I’m just not doing it on the road as much. Everybody knows I’ve got to get back for work and I never ever called in sick in six plus years. It’s nice to have a salary, traveling around is tough. It was important to be here for my son. My daughter got to go to the school for free and it really changed her life. I spent three years with her every day. She ended up getting a scholarship to college. Teaching has opened me up to being a way better musician and having more patience for people.

“It’s a really good job, allowing us to buy a home in Ridgefield, Connecticut that has a separate building that we turned into a studio for our son, a drummer and a producer. He didn’t really want to go to college, so my wife and I said, why don’t we invest money in this studio? Selfishly, I get to have my own studio, but it’s really my son’s. Chris O’Leary’s Alligator Records debut, The Hard Line, was recorded at my house by Danny, our son. A proud moment for me.”

Recently the guitarist added another role to his lengthy resume. He had been an associate music director before being named Director of Worship for the Walnut Hill Community Church.

“I had that job as I was touring, doing all the scheduling for five campuses. There are about 90 musicians that I’m responsible for. I used to be in Europe touring, and in the middle of the night doing scheduling or filling a spot where somebody couldn’t do it. Mostly I’m at the Bay Campus now that fits about a thousand people. It’s a part-time job where I’m training people to be leaders and musicians. So it’s another great job. Honestly, I don’t have to gig now if I don’t want to, but that’s what I really love to do. I’m a teacher second and a musician first. I’m a musician that teaches, and I have to keep playing.

“I’m really grateful for the Blues fans that I’ve met throughout the years. I don’t think any of us would be able to do any of this stuff without them. At a blues festival, you hang out with people who love your music. That makes it that much more beautiful to play for them. I’m very grateful to be accepted in this community of blues fans. I don’t have a thousand fans. I literally have a thousand friends. Most importantly, none of it is possible without the support of my wife Christine and our two children, Danny and Allegra.

“I really feel that it is important to let people know that they make it possible for us to be able to play. I’ve done all kinds of gigs. I’ve played in wedding bands, pop gigs, country, done so much stuff, church music, Christian rock, contemporary stuff. In the end, I guess I am a blues guitar player that aspires to be a jazz guitar player, but I always get pulled back into just the straight up blues.”