Angelo J Rossi, aka “AJ Crawdaddy” is an American  Guitarist.  Born in Palo Alto, California and a long time SF Bay Area performing artist.  AJ is most well known for his work with the popular Marin based pop group, Pablo Cruise, but worked with numerous groups as a hired gun in the 70's and 80's including, Cockrell & Santos, Taxxi (Portebello) The Ducks (Santa Cruz) Lucky Mud (San Diego).  He is a BMI published writer and voting member of N.A.R.A.S. (Grammy).  

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https://open.spotify.com/album/2tNGH45CkTTExcGGDrUSMh "Vaporized" 2015

https://open.spotify.com/album/2DebfF4eBagNwRck22UYfh "Slow Cookin'" 2017

https://open.spotify.com/artist/0P6MkozGRAQtez1iOXkNyB "Steppin' Out" 2020

https://ajcrawdaddy.bandcamp.com/track/love-war "Love & War" 2021

     

Blues Influences include:

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1998 - 2000 Angelo produced two blues records, "It's About Time" and "Rain Of Tears" with his brother, Mike Rossi releasing and performing as "The Rossi Brothers".  Both records were recorded and engineered by Robert Berry and Thom Duell at Soundtek Studios and promoted by Leslie Ann Knight.

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In that same time period, AJ started sitting in with some of the LA West Coast Blues cats when they would travel up north to play the Boom Boom Room, Biscuits & Blues, or special events at Apple Computer and National Semiconductor.

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"Finis Tasby (Nevada, TX)  "The Texas Twister" was a very special cat. I got to spend a lot of time with Finis and always enjoyed his company his stories about driving Albert Kings' bus and insights into the blues genre.  He personally introduced me to John Lee Hooker".  

 

"King Earnest (Natchez, Mississippi) was another cat who always let me sit in.  These gentlemen were dedicated and gracious men. Finis died after suffering a stroke in 2014 and King Earnest was killed in a car accident returning from a gig in San Louis Obispo".

 

"JJ Bad Boy Jones (Baton Rouge, LA) was another great, “Original Blues Man” I had the pleasure of sitting in with.  He was gracious and welcoming, an excellent vocalist/writer. He suffered a fatal heart attack on his front lawn heading out the door to a gig at 77 years of age."

 

"Roy Gains (RIP) was a hell of a bluesman and I always looked forward to sitting in with him at the Boom Boom Room.  He was quite picky, so it was an honor to sit in with Roy.  Jan Garfinkle use to hook me up with all these cats when they would travel up north to play in SF at the Boom Boom Room.  Jan and I were mates in our college band, “Lucky Mud”, opening for Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, and others in Hawaii in the summer of 1970". 

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AJ later decided to become ProTools proficient and move 'behind the glass' as an engineer/producer, owning and operating the Cave Recording Studio in Mountain View from 2010 - 2018, which eventually morphed into the, "Cave Records" label.  He recorded, produced and worked with many local blues artists, Bruce Conte (TOP), Terry Hiatt, Steve Freund, Paula Harris, Terrie Odabi, Kid Andersen, The Lucky Losers, Ben Rice and others.  

 

He has also worked with notable musical luminaries in his vibrant career.  Working with Bud Cockrell and Patti Santos on their debut album for A&M Records, "New Beginnings" penning "Run Coyote Run" for Flora Purim, hanging out with Airto, Jaco Pastorius and David Garibaldi (TOP) who all recorded on the record (1979).  He's also worked with legendary record producers Tom Dowd, Bill Schnee, Bob Monaco and Jim Gains.  http://thecaverecoringstudio.us

 

One of his last recording projects at the Cave was with the late, Native American Beat Poet, John Trudell and The Bad Dog Band, recording their final album and John's last verse and spoken word  off site (Remote) from his hospital bed at El Camino Hospital, Mtn. View CA in 2015.  This record is currently being produced by Jackson Brown for release in February 2024.  

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AJ's love of music performance is infectious and his presentation of the Blues genre, authentic, energetic and fun for the listener.