Peter Hostage

Mr. Hostage taught himself guitar and piano starting at the age of 10. The Beatles and Bob Dylan were his first major influences, but he was soon taken with the blues of B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Paul Butterfield, Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt.

Peter started gigging in his early teens as a solo guitarist/vocalist playing country blues at coffeehouses and house parties. That led to opportunities to play guitar and piano with local blues and R&B “bar” bands, though he was still under age for those kinds of gigs!

Peter attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, as a piano/composition major from 1978 until 1982. There he found a deep appreciation for jazz and improvisational music, and started performing jazz along with blues and classic R&B.

Mr. Hostage formed his own rock and R&B band in the early '80s, and in 1986 released his first album “Motion,” a collection of original “blue-eyed soul” songs. By the late '80s he had also started performing with his jazz trio, and gigging with some area jazz big bands.

In 1999 Peter released his second original album, “Do That!”with his jazz trio. In 2001 he put together a 9 piece swing and jump blues band called the Peter Hostage Situation, and released an album, “Swingin' the Blues,” of mostly original songs penned by Mr. Hostage. “American Standard Blue,” released in 2008, features jazz standards and blues covers, performed with his working band at that time.

In 2012, Peter recorded an album of “songs from the birth of jazz and blues,” called “The Wayback Machine.” On this recording, Mr. Hostage plays all of the instruments including piano, bass, organ drums, guitar and vocals.

Mr. Hostage continues “blurring the line between jazz and blues” with his newest (2018) release “Uptown,” on which he again performs all of the instruments. This album of 12 songs is written, arranged, recorded, produced and mastered by Peter in his modest home studio.

Mr. Hostage is a full-time music instructor with over 50 students per week, so touring is not an option right now. Instead, he will embark on his “World Wide Web” tour with live streaming concerts from his home studio broadcast to Facebook Live and concert streaming websites. He is also writing songs for a new release planned for 2019.

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