Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Barrelhouse Blues Boogie Woogie Volume 4

This is a 2005 CD release on Storyville Records and contains some wonderful performances from 1960 to 1972 including some concert performances in addition to studio ones. Champion Jack Dupree is represented by six fine performances, Little Brother Montgomery by one (a rendition of a Fats Waller number), Speckled Red by two (including a raucous "The Dirty Dozen"), Sunnyland Slim by two including a reworking of his Aristocrat recording of "Johnson Machine Gun Blues"), Memphis Slim by three and Eddie Boyd by two. The performances are universally first-rate and there is a good variety from Little Brother's ragtime-tinged Fats Waller number to Memphis Slim's muscular boogie. Some real masters of piano blues represented here.

David Whiteis has a nice chapter on Sunnyland Slim in his recently published "Chicago Blues"

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