Mitch Woods A Tip of the Hats to Fats

Mitch Woods
A Tip of the Hats to Fats
Blind Pig

If one is already familiar with Mitch woods, then you will know what to expect with the live recording from the 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Woods has been playing boogie-woogie and jump blues piano for decades and in the past couple of decades, has added a heavy dose of New Orleans R&B gumbo to his musical mix. He is a terrific pianist and a warm, natural singer who always brings a good-time party.

For this live recording, he had a band with Roger Lewis on baritone sax, Amadee Castenell and Brian 'Breeze' Cayolle on sax, John Fohl on guitar, Cornell Williams on bass, and Terence Higgins on drums. It is a tight band that captures the classic New Orleans sound on Woods' idiomatic original, "Solid Gold Cadillac," and his tribute to Professor Longhair, "Mojo Mambo." The last number is derived from Earl King's "Big Chief." The centerpiece of this lively set was three numbers associated with Fats Domino to whom the 2018 Festival was dedicated. Booting sax solos from Cayolle and Lewis enliven a relaxed "Blue Monday," and Lewis storms through his baritone sax solo on "Jambalaya." Then there is a terrific rendition of "Walking To New Orleans." The classic old Clarence Garlow recording, "Crawfishin'," is a rocking New Orleans flavored jump blues with a superb John Fohl guitar solo and more rousing baritone sax from Lewis, while "Rocket 88" becomes a storming boogie-woogie."

A closing rendition of the classic pop boogie-woogie number, "House of Blue Lights," puts a close to the party that Woods was leading at the Blues Tent that JazzFest day. Well recorded by Munck Music, this is another wonderfully performed Mitch Woods performance to add to his marvelous body of recordings.

I purchased this recording. Here is Mitch Woods doing a 2019 in-store appearance at the Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans to promote "A Tip of the Hats to Fats."

Mitch Woods And His Rocket 88’s Shakin’ The Shack
Blind Pig

San Francisco pianist Mitch Woods and his bay area jump band, the Rocket 88’s, serve up another helping of jump blues mixed in with some Professor Longhair inspired rockers. A two-handed pianist rooted in boogie woogie and post war jump blues piano, he is also a capable, if unexceptional vocalist. Woods’ Rocket 88’s are a solid band with two fine saxophonists, and Derek Irving’ s guitar. This is at least his fourth album and is comprised of a set of originals mostly patterned after the jump blues of the past. There are echoes here of Ray Charles, Professor Longhair, Louis Jordan, Larry Williams, and Amos Milburn, and if Woods doesn’t reach the level of these past masters, his performances are still quite good. The best track is the superb Cryin’ For My Baby, a slow blues reminiscent of Charles Brown’s Black Night. Not everything is based on classic jump blues. Zydeco the Boogie is a rocking zydeco number although but the lyrics about mixing zydeco and boogie ignores the fact Zydeco long ago incorporated elements of boogie woogie. The closing track, Bonin’, is a feature for guitarist Irving who turns in a T-Bone Walker styled performance. This is Mitch Woods’ most consistent album as he continues to help keep jump blues alive.

This review originally appeared in the January-February 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 188). I likely received a review copy from Blind Pig. Here is Mitch over 25 years later with a band including the late Herb Hardesty at the 2011 New Orleans and Jazz Heritage Festival.

Mitch Woods - Jammin' On The High C's

Mitch Woods is a real solid conveyor of boogie woogie piano and jump blues and for over a decade has been running Mitch Woods Club 88 on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues cruises. It started simple enough when as an invited guest on the cruise, he noticed the ship had a piano bar that wasn't being used, so he simply started playing and people came by to listen and musicians came by to sit in. Soon the jams were lasting until daybreak and someone put up a sign saying Mitch Woods' Club 88 which became the Club 88 Piano Bar and Blues Lounge n the cruise with now 4 piano players on every cruise alternating shifts from early evening to until ?.

Woods had a variety of performances from the January 2015 cruise recorded and they have just been issued on Club 88 Records (distributed by VizzTone), "Jammin' On The High C's" which is subtitled "Live From Mitch Woods' Club 88 on the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise." Its a fun recording with his boogie and jump piano joined on different selections by members of Roomful of Blues, Julia Magness, Billy Branch, Victor Wainwright, Papa Chubby, Coco Montoya, Lucky Peterson, Tommy Castro and Dwayne Dopsie.

Mostly the music is renditions of well known blues standards played in an ebullient fashion with Woods handling the old Smiley Lewis classic "Big Mamou" to open it up. Highlights are Lucky Peterson singing Jimmy Reed's "Bright Lights, Big City," Billy Branch reprising Sonny Boy Williamson's "Eyesight to the Blind," Papa Chubby handling "Wee Wee Hours," and Dwayne Dopsie joining on a rocking "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On." One also gets entertained by Tommy Castro singing Little Richard's "Rip It Up," and a nice "Rock Me Baby" from Coco Montoya.

My major criticism is the lack of fuller personnel information (although I might imagine it would be pretty lengthy), and more seriously the lack of composer credits. These performances are entertaining and fun if not classic and the sense of good times comes though on this nicely put together recording which includes Woods reciting the history of Club 88. Certainly one of aspects of the Cruise that makes it a consistent sell-out.

I received my review copy from VizzTone. This review originally appeared in the September-October Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 362). Here Mitch previews this disc.

In Turkey Mitch Woods Discovers Blues Without Borders

Mitch Woods has been pounding the 88s for a few decades now and his latest recording of jump blues and boogie woogie is Blues Beyond Borders on Woods own Club 88 label. This is a combined CD/DVD release that was recorded in the fall of 2010 at the Efes Blues Festival in the Republic of Turkey, as part of a tour where Mitch and his band played 26 shows in 20 cities over five weeks in that country. In addition to containing video of the performances the DVD also includes insightful extras of the band’s adventures on the road, a travelogue of Turkey, impressions of the Turkish culture and the group’s experiences as “blues ambassadors” around the world. Joining Mitch Woods (piano, vocals) are His Rocket 88s: New Orleans all-stars Amadee Castenell (sax/background vocals) and Cornell Williams (bass,/vocals), as well as Adam Gabriel (guitar/background vocals) and Larry Vann (drums).

Mitch Woods is a terrific person as well as a splendid pianist and singer in the jump blues vein. His playing can get deep into the blues as well as rollicking with the general tenor of the performances being let's have a good time and party. Things kick off with Woods’ original Solid Gold Cadillac, a boogie rocker taken at a nice tempo with the band providing crisp support (Castenell adding tenor riffs behind Woods unhurried, rolling boogie woogie solo). Besides being a fine idiomatic performance, Woods lyrics ring true like we are hearing a revival of a fifties jump blues classic. The same can be held about another original, Boogie Woogie BBQ, where again Woods demonstrates his flair for lyrics that sound like they were decades old. Its a rollicking number as Woods sings about BBQ, fried chicken and oyster stew while Castenell takes off on his solo. 

A favorite Woods original is Mojo Mambo, which takes us to New Orleans with melody and whistling lifted from Earl King’s Big Chief, before Woods sings that if you want to have a ball good down to New Orleans and do the mojo mambo with a voodoo queen as bassist Williams and drummer Vann kick out that hot second-line groove while Woods channels Professor Longhair.

Of course there are some choice interpretations, most of which are relatively obscure such as Down Boy Down, which the legendary Henry Glover co-wrote and features some riveting saxophone. Then there is a rocking Roy Milton revival What Can I Do, where Mitch sings he will do anything to prove his love, with a some guitar fireworks from Gabriel. Clarence Garlow’s Crawfishin’ is another rocking vehicle for Woods and in the DVD one can see Mitch show the crowd to signify a crawfish with their hands when he sings ‘crawfishing.’ Gabriel rips off another storming solo as does Castenell on the second break. Bassist Williams shows off his gospel roots on a stunning vocal on Eddie Boyd’s Third Degree that evoked Johnny Adams. This man is that good and should be recorded on his own. Castenell stands out again with some bluesy saxophone 

Before taking the concert out on The House of Blues Lights, Woods and the band do a medley of Professor Longhair’s In The Night with a popular Turkish song, Lambaya Puf De, that certainly is received enthusiastically with Gabriel taking the vocal for this local favorite. The DVD of the concert has a few spoken overlays in which Mitch adds his reminisces of the tour, experiencing the country of Turkey and the warmth of the folk he met. The video production and editing is really well done with focus on the musicians. The is also a DVD extra that has video of the band on the road along with Kenny Neal and his band who shared the tour with Mitch’s recollections added. Mitch also introduces each of his band members, tells about celebrating Turkish Independence Day, and introduces us to the crew that arranged and produced their tour, along with a photo slide show.

As Mitch states in the liner notes “[M]usic truly crosses all boundaries and Blues certainly beyond borders.” The enthusiasm his performances received attests to the truth of that comment. Blues Beyond Borders documents one night of a magical blues and boogie woogie tour with Mitch and his band in terrific form.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a clip from the video to whet your appetite for this.

Lluis Coloma's Boogie Woogie and Blues Portraits

Spanish pianist Lluís Coloma is representative of a worldwide group of pianists devoted to the classic boogie woogie and blues form. His most recent album on Swing Alley, Blues Portraits is comprised of a solo performance along with eleven duets with blues and boogie woogie pianists from around the world. The other pianists (some of whom I am familiar with) include August Tharrats, Mitch Woods, Carl Sonny Leyland, Julien Brunetaud, Bob Seeley, David Giorcelli, Mark ‘Mr. B” Braun, Frank Muschelle, Barrelhouse Chuck (Goring), Philippe LeJeune and Bernat Font.

He opens with his own, lively Coloma’s Boogie. Coloma is then joined on a range of traditional or classic blues and boogies along with a few idiomatic originals. Coloma is on the left speaker throughout. It allows the listener to discern the different in approaches such as Tharrats who sounds a bit honky tonk on the gospel Just a Closer Walk With Thee, while Mitch Woods takes us to New Orleans on Red Beans, adding an affable vocal.

Carl Sonny Leyland's opening bar on C C Rider, evoked Amos Milburn as the two provide a nicely crafted underplayed blues here, while Julien Brunetaud has an appealing vocal on I’ve Got to Learn to Do the Mambo, with crisp lead playing along with his strong left hand, while Swanee River Boogie, dates back at least to Albert Ammons and Fats Domino prior to the furious duet by the two that Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson would be proud of.

David Giorcelli takes lead on the classic piano blues theme 44 Blues, with a rub-board adding rhythmic accents, although the tempo smooths out some of the intriguing twists and turns that Sykes and Little Brother Montgomery provided when playing this. The spirit of Meade Lux Lewis is suggested on the duet between Coloma and Frank Muschelle on the furious Honky Tonk Blues Bar Boogie, while Barrelhouse Chuck conjures up Sunnyland Slim on his terrific reworking of Floyd Jones’ “Schooldays on My Mind,” whereas Philippe LeJeune adds a bit of sophistication on Ray Bryant’s I’ll Stick With It, whose melody is quite similar to Johnny Copeland’s Cut Off My Right Arm.

This is a first-rate album of performances that illustrates the wide number of excellent blues players out there that will be mostly unfamiliar to most. Coloma himself is a superb player who also is quite willing to allow the others to shine here. Piano players do play together, and quite well as shown here.

This review was written for Jazz & Blues Report, but I do not believe it was ever published. I received a review copy from a publicist for this release. His website is http://lluiscoloma.com/en/index.asp.  Here is some videos of him performing.