Bryan Lee Play One For Me

I remember discovering Bryan Lee in the late 1980s at the Old Absinthe Bar during my first visit to New Orleans. With the sideshow that marked (and still marks) Bourbon Street, discovering Lee's straight, no chaser blues was a real joy. I picked up his self-produced vinyl lp at the time and it was a solid souvenir of the music I heard that evening.Since discovering Lee, I have been pleased to see him again on several later visits to New Orleans and at some music festivals as well as his body of recordings, mostly for a Canadian label. 

David Earl's Severn label has just issued a new CD by the Blind Giant of the Blues, Play One For Me. On it Lee is supported by, amongst others, Fabulous Thunderbirds guitarist Johnny Moeller on rhythm guitar; Kevin Anker on keyboards; Steve Gomes on bass; Robb Stupka on drums with Kim Wilson adding harmonica to a few tracks. Also the great Willie Henderson has arranged and conducted strings and horns on several tracks with some of the Washington, DC area's finest players including trumpeter Kenny Rittenhouse, baritone saxophonist Leigh Pilzer and trombonist Reginald Cyntje. 

As expected with Severn, the production and recording are first-rate, and the result is a fresh take on Bryan lee and his music. There is plenty of his guitar to be heard here, but it is with his vocals that he really shines as he sings so soulfully. The album opens with his take on Aretha (Sing One For Me), a hit for George Jackson and includes wonderful renditions of Freddie King's It's Too Bad (Things Are Going So Tough), Little Sonny's When Love Begins (Friendship Ends), that was a hot for Bobby Womack, and Lee's soulful original Let Me Love You Tonight.

Lee's take on the Womack recording undoubtedly will be a surprise for some of Lee's family with his fine soulful singing and Albert King-laced guitar backed by Henderon's uptown strings and horns that musically is on par with some of today's best soul-blues recordings. Lee's "Let Me Love You Tonight is a terrific soul-blues performance that has an infectious groove that should get dancers up and on the floor. For a bit of more of a down-home feel there is a nice rendition of Howling Wolf's recording, Evil Is Going On, and the down home flavored original Poison. Kim Wilson adds his harmonica to both selections.

In its mix of straight blues with southern soul-blues, this recording provides a change from Lee's prior recordings that perhaps focused more him as a solid singer and guitar slinger. While there is plenty of fine guitar here, this particular recording displays just how exceptional a singer Bryan Lee is. He is that good here and Play One For Me is that good a recording.

I received my review copy from Severn Records. Here is a clip of Bryan Lee performing.

Tom McDermott's Bamboula

While thought of a ragtime and traditional new Orleans jazz pianist, Tom McDermott is a pianist who resists such easily categorization. Certainly his performances of a Scott Joplin rag or a Jelly Roll Morton stomp as well as his playing in various classic New Orleans ensembles might foster that view  However, we are talking about a person also conversant with the classical-blues-funk fusion of one James Carroll Booker and very adept at the Brazilian cousin of ragtime, Choro. To the previous items,  add that McDermott is as intriguing a composer as a marvelous pianist. Some of you may be aware of him from his appearances on the HBO drama Tremé.

This leads us to a marvelous retrospective of recordings by McDermott over a span from 1994 to 2011, Bamboula (Minky Records). This was curated by Van Dykes Parks, a person of certain fame himself. In his brief appreciation of McDermott, Parks compares McDermott to the pioneering New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk. In the manner the rhythms of Congo Square marked that composer's work, the rhythms of Cuba and Latin America similarly infuse the work of McDermott. This recording contains 16 selections from albums by McDermott. They include solo selections, duets and marvelous ensemble recordings with his close musical associate Evan Christopher, trombonist Rick Trolsen and several Brazilian musicians.

I can't think of a better McDermott recording to make casual listeners better take note than the title track, his marvelous arrangement of Gottschalk's most famous composition. It is performed at a brisk tempo with with an irresistible hot rhythm with McDermott's fluid and clean ragtime-laced playing along with marvelous trombone and clarinet. Opulence contrasts with its stately classical flavor with some lovely soprano sax. This track is followed by a playful ragtime-flavored duet with Christopher, Irresitîvel. On Scott Joplin's Heliotrope Bouquet, McDermott steps away from the piano as Christopher and Trolsen are supported by the Brazilian string players (Caio Marcio is outstanding on seven-string guitar). Patrick Harison's accordion supplies a gypsy jazz flavor to Musette in A Minor.

For Brenda is a lovely original rag on which McDermott, with his lovely playing, evokes the graceful charm of Joplin.  The interplay with Christopher on another duet, La Manege Rouge, displays their empathy for each other. Its back to Brazil for a rendition of Joplin's The Chrysanthemum with fresh rhythmic accents, while another duet with Christopher, Tango Ambiguo, (translated as ambiguous tango) with its subdued tempo is especially lovely. Lost Rio is a wistful solo piano performance, while the closing Santa Teresa is another spirited original choro with wonderful playing by his Brazilian and New Orleans associates (Henry Lentino is scintillating on bandolin). 

Van Dyke Parks has curated a terrific introduction to Tom McDermott's recordings on Bamboula. The sixteen selections provide listeners a chance to experience the depth and range of McDermott's piano playing and compositions. I would not be surprised if this leads many to delve further into his recordings and music. Highly recommended.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a video of Tom McDermott & Evan Christopher performing duets at the New Orleans Record Store, Louisiana Music Factory.

 

All Purpose Blues Band Likes Cornbread & Cadillacs

 

Led by Willie Lockett, the All Purpose Blues Band asserts to be Bourbon Street's top Blues Soul Band. This Crescent City aggregation has a new CD Cornbread & Cadillacs, on Catbone Music & Film, part of that label's Jukin' wit the Blues series. Lockett is a veteran of the New Orleans scene, having played trumpet with Professor Longhair in the sixties, shared the stage with many greats, and led The Blues Krewe with whom he had his first album in 1995. Others in the group include bassist Paul R. Boudreaux who played with Irma Thomas, the Nevilles and others; drummer Tony D'Alessandro who is another Crescent City veteran having worked with Frankie Ford, Roland Stone and Rockie Charles; and guitarist Billy Gregory, who toured with Professor Longhair, Johnny Adams, Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey,d others. Greg Villafranco guests on organ to fill out the sound on this.

I can see this be a popular band in the French Quarter based on this set of shuffles, blues and soul. It is a solid band, although nothing stands out. They are tight and Gregory is an explosive guitarists with a bit of blues-rock pyrotechnics mixed in with some jazz-laced playing. Lockett is a gruff vocalist who certainly might ignite a party on Bourbon Street as on the opening Going Back to New Orleans. He also can get a bit down and bawdy as he tells his woman I'm Your Hambone Baby. Subtlety ain't his strong suit.

I assume it is bassist Boudreaux who takes the soulful vocal on Sweet Disposition, a number that is similar to some of Zac Harmon's recordings. It sounds like he also takes the lead on the Stax-styled soul-ballad From Memphis. Boudreaux and Lockett share the vocal on I Got Everything. The rocker V-8 Ford has plenty hot guitar and I wonder if its Gregory who takes the lead vocal before channeling Alvin Lee of Ten Years After in his solo, with the speed and cleanness of his delivery notable. Lockett's trumpet provides a nice foil for Boudreaux's prime vocal on Sam Cooke's classic A Change Is Gonna Come. It ends an album of some entertaining blues and soul.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a video of the All Purpose Blues Band.

Dayna Kurtz - Secret Canon Vol. 2

I was not familiar with Dayna Kurtz prior to receiving her new album, Secret Canon Vol. 2 (M.C. Records), but when she starts singing the opening I Look Good In Bad, she immediately grabbed my attention. Now resident in New Orleans, she is originally from New Jersey and I have discovered she has quite a resume. This is her second album of of lost and obscure blues and R&B gems from the 1940's-1960's with a couple of originals added including the powerful opening track where she belts out “I’ve been bad since you left me, but I look good in bad.”

Recorded in New York and New Orleans, she is supported by Joe Cowherd on keyboards for both sessions. Papa John Gros is on organ for the New Orleans sessions that also included Jason Mingledorff on saxophone who is outstanding on “ Look Good In Bad. Kurtz displays a presence and authority throughout. And she certainly has selected some nice songs to revive. I share her love of Johnny Adams, and she is brave enough to do a solid cover of Adams’ recording of Reconsider Me, although I think it would have been even stronger if she hadn’t tried to emulate Adams’ falsetto. Then there is the soulful lament where she asks to meet him Same Time, Same Place. There is terrific trumpet from Barney Floyd behind her nuanced vocal on this. If You Won't Dance With Me, with a New Orleans second-line groove, is a playful number where she proclaims to her lover that if you won’t dance, than that guy will and “I don’t care you paid for dinner, you ain’t going home a winner.” The mood changes back to the blues as she does not ask for sunshine or for the world to be hers, but wistfully says that All I Ask Is Your Love. 

She turns down the heat on the jazz-tinged I Had My Moments, with John Bailey contributing the nice trumpet, that closes this excellent collection of blues, ballads and laments. With wonderful backing and choice selection of material, Secret Canon Vol. 2, wonderfully displays Dayna Kurtz’s striking vocals.

I received my review copy from M.C. Records. Here is a video of Reconsider Me that was made to help promote this CD.

RIP Bob French

JazzFest 07 Last Day-1350, a photo by NoVARon on Flickr.

Word just came that Bob French passed away. This New Orleans legend was part of the studio crew at Cosimo's studios and played on countless classic New Orleans recordings. Later, he took over leadership of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band from his father which he maintained for some time. His nephew Gerald now leads it.

Above he is seen at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival where Marsalis Music celebrated its album of Bob. He was joined he was joined by friends and those he mentored including Harry Connick, Jr., Bradford Marsalis, Kid Chocolate and Trombone Shorty.

He also hosted a show on WWOZ for several years, championing New Orleans Music which he closed by saying that if you liked his show, tell all your friends and if you didn't like it, don't tell anybody. A character who was true to himself.

Hee is Keith Spera's obituary from nola.com, http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2012/11/bob_french_longtime_original_t.html.

Below is Bob performing with the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band at the 2009 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Little Freddie King Still Chasing the Blues

A icon of the New Orleans music scene, Little Freddie King has a new CD on the MadeWright Records label, Chasing the Blues. There is nothing fancy about his blues. There is a bit the swamp blues of such folks as Lightnin’ Slim, Lonesome Sundown, Lazy Lester, Clarence Edwards, with some of the North Mississippi Hill Country blues of R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. His vocals and guitar as supported by drummer “Wacko” Wade Wright, bass guitarist Anthony “Sheets” Anderson, the harmonica of Lewis diTullio, Jr. and an uncredited pianist. They provide simple, direct backing which suits King well.

The influence of the swamp blues opening Born Dead, with its stark lyrics about hard times growing up in Mississippi, while the feel of Crackho Flo, with its simple lyrics, is more in the vein of some of the somber slow drag recordings of Junior Kimbrough. An uncredited pianist is added to Louisiana Train Wreck, with a simple Hill Country styled groove with King rapping the blues here. Got Tha Blues On My Back is another swamp blues with King’s guitar bursts complemented by as he sings about having the blues in a great big cotton sack.

Better is Pocket Full of Money, which adapts the melody of Slim Harpo’s I’m a King Bee, as he tells his women he has plenty of money and let him come inside. Back To New Orleans takes us back down in the alley.” An easy going instrumental, Little Freddie’s Shuffle has the harmonica more prominent. Better is the slow moody instrumental, Night Time in Treme. In contrast, another instrumental “Bywater Crawl” leaves little impression on the listener.

Little Freddie King is a wonderful entertaining performer who perhaps is limited as a guitarist and songwriter. He still has a way of delivering a performance. Chasing The Blues is not an essential blues recording but it has atmospheric and entertaining music.

I purchased this. Here is Little Freddie King helping the Louisiana Music Factory celebrate its 20th Anniversary. That is poet, activist and music historian John Sinclair introducing him.

Maria Muldaur's New Release Displays Her Mature Soulfulness

Steady Love (Stony Plain) is the new release by Maria Muldaur and finds the soulful singer backed by a group of New Orleans musicians under the leadership of keyboard master David Torkanowsky. In addition to Torkanowsky, the backing band is Shane Theriot on guitar, Johnny Allen on bass and Kenny Blevins on drums, with Shannon Powell taking the drum chair on four tracks as well as among those adding background vocals with Rick Vito adding slide guitar to a track and Jimmy Carpenter and Ian Smith add horns to the title track. On a cover of Please Send Me Someone To Love, a band including guitarist Mighty Mike Schermer is present.

Muldaur's voice has aged and has a husky quality and body that lends an authority to the vocals. Her voice is certainly different from the younger singer who projected an innocence, yet seductiveness, on Midnight at the Oasis. David Torkanowsky has provided settings to enhance her vocals here. The band plays strongly throughout and the backing vocals at times lend a gospel flavor to some of the performances, some of which like the traditional " Done Made It In My Mind (to serve God until I die), Rev. W. H. Brewster's As An Eagle Stirreth In her Nest, and Stephen Bruton's Walk By Faith, are spiritual in message whereas other songs find her give an uplifting dimension to lyrics such as on the opening I'll Be Glad, as she sings about bad luck and suffering and being tired of living in this world of hurt and she will be so glad when she gets her groove back on.

Then there is her nice rendition of the late Bobby Charles' classic on backbiting so-called "friends," Why Are People Like That? In contrast, she gets sassy for the strutting groove of Soulful Dress, which contrasts with Greg Brown's Blues Go Walking, which has a country soul feel. Rain Down Tears is a strong blues performance with an interesting melodic twist that guitarist Arthur Adams and Will Jennings penned. Get You Next To Me, finds Maria singing about standing on the corner, cell phone in her hand while wanting her man to call her number as she can't wait until she gets her man next to her. Greg Brown also penned the title track with a bit more urban flavor (and a reggae feel to the rhythm).

Rick Zito's I Am Not Alone, is another spiritual affirmation. Zito's marvelous slide guitar and the arrangement lend this song the tenor of an updated Blind Willie Johnson song and puts a close to this exemplary recording that showcases the maturity that has come to Maria Muldaur's performances. Recommended.

I received this from a publicist for the label

Snooks Eaglin - Crescent City Rhythm and Blues Troubador

Back three decades ago, Samuel Charters produced a series of blues lps for the Swedish Sonet label, The Legacy of the Blues, along with some other blues recordings. Charters is known as both a blues author (The Country Blues, The Poetry of the Blues, Bluesmen) as well as a producer of blues recordings, including the classic Chicago, The Blues Today! and albums by Junior Wells and Buddy Guy to name a few of the artists he recorded. Universal Music, through its Verve imprint has just issued seven of the seven Sonet lps for reissue in a series, The Sonet Blues Story. Six of these are from The Legacy of the Blues series. This is the sixth in a series of posts of my reviews from this series, although my statement about Snooks being the only living performer in the series is no longer true. These reviews that originally appeared in the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283)


It should be noted that on these Sonet reissues, the playing time is somewhat short. Even those with extra tracks (such as the one reviewed below) do not exceed 45 minutes. Still there is some good to exceptional music to be heard on these. This CD may be out-of-print but is available from various sellers and is available as mp3 files. I received my review copy from the publication.


Snooks Eaglin, the remarkable New Orleans singer-guitarist, is the only performer still living in this series. Unfortunately Samuel Charters recorded Eaglin as a solo artist rather than in a band context, helping perpetuate the myth of him being a street singer-songster. Not to say that this disc is not full of engaging performances including takes on songs from Sam Cooke (Good News), Little Richard (Lucille), John Lee Hooker (Boogie Children taken at a slower tempo and opening with Eaglin’s own spontaneous rap), Jimmy Rogers (That’s All Right mistitled here as Who’s Loving You Tonight and credited to Eaglin), and Lonnie Johnson (Tomorrow Night), as well as a stunning guitar adaptation of Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie and a terrific Funky Malaguena. Previously unissued bonus tracks include Shake a Hand and Shake Rattle and Roll.


Listening to these performance one is astonished by the fertility of Eaglin’s imagination but also one wishes that he had been plugged in, but one would have to wait for Rounder and Black Top to capture the side of Snooks that still dazzles us today. This is not to dismiss the many pleasures here, but Snooks could be electrifying, not simply astonishing.

Babe Stovall Was The Old Blues Ace

Born in Tylertown, Mississippi in 1907, Jewell ‘Babe’ Stovall learned music from his brothers and other musicians near Tylertown and included songs from the church as well as string band traditions, and around 1930, the legendary Tommy Johnson came around Tylertown where he got the basis of Big Road Blues. Eventually he moved to New Orleans where he sang on the streets and based on Marc Ryan’s urging, was booked in Boston and Cambridge in 1965 where he and Ryan stayed with David Evans in Evans’ Harvard dorm room.


Evans contributed the liner notes to a new Arcola release of Stovall, The Old Ace, and notes that his repertoire is that of a songster. Included are some familiar blues and gospel numbers including Candy Man, Baby Let Me Follow You Down (which he learned from Bob Dylan but to which he added some traditional verses and Evans suggests also was influenced by Professor Longhair’s 1957 Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand), The Ship is At the Landing, and Will the Circle Be Unbroken.


There are renditions of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Good Morning Little School Girl, Jim Jackson’s Kansas City Blues and Leroy Carr’s How Long How Long Blues. Included are some interviews where he talks about family and playing in new Orleans and a medley of Tommy Johnson’s Big Road Blues with Careless Love, in which Johnson’s influence can be heard and felt. Bob West produced these recordings in New Orleans in 1968 and Stovall strongly played his National guitar and sang with verve although he was a bit hoarse for a latter session issued here.


Stovall was not exactly overecorded. Larry Borenstein recorded him in 1961 which was issued on Flyright on vinyl and I do not believe it has become available on cd. Also he recorded for Prestige Bluesville if I remember correctly. These are frankly as good of recordings as I heard him play and the accompanying booklet with Evans notes and some great pictures, including one of him playing with the guitar over his head makes for a most enjoyable set of down home acoustic blues like you do not hear anymore.

This review originally appeared in the May-June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 282). I believe I purchased this CD which should still be readily available. One can check www.arcolarecords.com.

Alabama Slim's Down Home Blue & Lonesome Blues

Here is the latest installment in my series on small blues gems issued by the Music Maker Relief Foundation, Alabama Slim's "Blue & Lonesome" Slim was born Milton Frazier in Vance, Alabama in March, 1939. He grew up playing in juke joints before moving to New Orleans in 1965 and got jobs with a moving company and later making cooking oil before hooking up with his cousin Little Freddie King with whom he would jam ever so often. Drinking heavily for a period, he cleaned himself up in the 90's and resumed a close friendship with King. The pair have shared an album on Music Maker and Blue & Lonesome is a welcome solo disc by Slim who towers near 7 feet tall.


Slim is rooted in such artists as Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and especially John lee Hooker, which is made clear in his rendition of Fannie Mae that opens this up a duet with Freddie followed by a Hooker-styled rendition of Muddy Waters' Someday Baby, and then on the invigorating Old Folks Boogie, a take on Hooker's Boogie Chillum, and Junior Parker's Feeling Good. Ardie Dean adds some light percussion for this performance on which Slim's controlled performance adds to its appeal. "Weather Done Got Cloudy," is the first of several tracks featuring him with a Huntsville, Alabama band and is a nice brooding blues in a Hooker-ish vein which has lyrical allusions to "Checking on My Baby."


Ain't I Been to You is a one chord Hooker styled blues that would sound at home in the North Mississippi Hills with some biting guitar runs. Joined by Freddie, West Texas Blues, is a nice song showcasing Slim's restrained, pleading style. Two O'Clock in the Morning is a spare Texas styled blues based on Lowell Fulson's Three O'Clock in the Morning. There is a bit more modern flavor on Has Anybody Seen My Baby, which sounds like as Hooker interpreting a B.B. King blues, while "I Love My Guitar" is a Hooker-styled boogie as Slim tells his woman not to get hooked on him as he loves nothing but his guitar. The album closes with I'm Blue and Lonesome, a lazy Jimmy Reed blues interpreted in a manner that John Lee Hooker might have.


Alabama Slim has produced an entertaining collection of blues with strong evidence of the influence of John Lee Hooker. While one might not call this essential, it should appeal to fans of post-war, down-home, country blues. It certainly caught this reviewer's ear.


I received this from the Music Maker's Relief Foundation as a donor to that organization. Visit www.musicmaker.org for information on purchasing this and other recordings as well as contribute to help blues and other roots musicians.

New Atlantis Tells Story How Music and Musicians Are Helping rebuild New Orleans

New Atlantis: Musicians Battle For The Survival of New Orleans
John Swenson
Oxford University Press


Music journalist and scholar John Swenson has authored an important new book about the efforts of New Orleans musicians to help rebuild and restore their city after the "federal flood" that occurred after the levees broke during Hurricane Katrina. After an opening chapter dealing with the Voice of the Wetlands project that Tab Benoit had initiated prior to the Hurricane, and a chapter on the Mardi Gras Indians, Swenson interweaves the rebuilding of the city and music scene and the return of some of the musicians who returned over time.


It isn't an easy recovery. For some who came back, there were others who never would, or would pass away not long after returning. And the early returnees came to a city occupied by the National Guard and terrible street violence with musicians and tourists not being safe from gang related violence. But there are James and Troy (Trombone Shorty) Andrews returning to New Orleans 17 days after Katrina to play at Jackson Square at ceremonies associated with the President's speech and having to deal with what they saw.


Musicians slowly came back and started playing but as Swenson observes they did more than simply make music. Craig Klein of Bonerama started the Arabi Wrecking Crew to help gut ruined houses and then partnered with a group building a musicians community. And then there is music such as that by harmonica player Andy Forest with a recording "Real Story," while Coco Robichaux started playing at Molly's when the lights went back on there, and a group including Walter 'Wolfman' Washington played a concert at the Maple Leaf that the National Guard closed down at 8:00PM after curfew, and James Andrews playing a concert at the Ogden Museum, resuming its concert series that Katrina had interrupted.


Taking us through Halloween and Mardi Gras, Swenson introduces us to a variety of individuals (some famous nationally and others local) such as DJ Davis, the real person who served as the basis for the character on the HBO show "Tremé," Paul Sanchez, Papa John Gros, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Dr. John, Dr. Michael White (the great clarinetist who lost countless and irreplaceable musical artifacts in the federal flood), Theresa Anderson, John Boutté, Evan Christopher, Susan Cowsill, Glen David Andrews, the Radiators and others.


There was a protest against the street violence that the musicians were a major force behind as well as important efforts to revive neighborhoods and communities. He discusses a variety of recordings as well as performances and the unique relationship between the musicians and their fans from not just the city but around the world. Swenson's draws the reader into the rich tapestry of people and events that he so compellingly tells us about. It is a superb and import book of a story that still is unfinished and is recommended to anybody who loves New Orleans and its music.


I received an advance review copy from Amazon.com's Vine program, but had purchased this for my kindle.

Mem Shannon's Lively Night at Tipitina's

Mem Shannon is the former New Orleans taxi driver who started a career as a blues artist two decades or so ago. He brought a very recognizable approach to his music, with soul accents and lyrics that told stories, not simply some catchy lines with hooks. It has been some four years since Northern Blues issued his last album, although he is now associated with the Threadheads and his next project will be for Threadhead Records. The following review was written in 2007 for Jazz & Blues Report, but was not published.

The former New Orleans taxi driver, Mem Shannon, has just issued a new CD, Live: A Night At Tipitina’s (Northern Blues), which presents his immediately recognizable blend of soul, funk & blues. He is backed by his band, The Membership, that includes Joshua Milligan on the drums, Robert ‘Rhock’ Dabon on keyboards, and Angelo Nocentelli on bass which is augmented by saxophonists Jason Mingledorff, Joe Cabral and Tim Green and revisits staples of his repertoire as Payin’ My Dues, Who Are They? and Phunkville along with unusual covers of The Neville Brothers’ Voodoo and Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down.


There will be no surprises to Shannon’s fans, as his studio albums have captured his sound pretty well with his soul-laced singing, his witty, ironic lyrics and tight funk grooves that are laid down. The performances are a bit lengthier giving him and the band a chance to stretch out (although one might suggest a couple songs are a tad long, but otherwise this can safely be recommended to his fans and for those unfamiliar with the body of his recordings, this set certainly is a good place to become acquainted with his distinctive music.


I received my review copy from either the label or a publicist.

Davis Coen's Bright Blues Lights

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, now resident in Charleston, South Carolina with time spent in among various places New York City and Connecticut, Davis Coen brings a variety of musical elements to his thoroughly engaging Blues Lights For Yours and Mine (Soundview). Influences that can be detected include Tom Waits, Professor Longhair, Eric Von Schmidt, John Hurt, Bob Dylan, and John Lee Hooker, which he incorporates in this album that gets down in the alley at times as well as takes us to a rollicking barrelhouse.

The opening Basement With the Blue Light, is a blues and soul tinged ballad with an appealing vocal and a nice understated guitar break, whereas Mambo Jambo, is a lively Crescent City flavored rocker. Jack Of Diamonds takes the classic country blues from Texas (think Blind Lemon Jefferson and Black Ace) and adds a Mississippi Hill Country groove for a rocking original take on this theme, while Accelerated Woman, is a stunning stomp-boogie that is clearly inspired by early John Lee Hooker.

With a small group backing he then delights us with a Piedmont rag, Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down, that crosses Dave Van Ronk with a light juke joint groove, followed by a return to New Orleans for his rendition of, Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand, derived from Professor Longhair’s recording of this traditional blues theme and sporting some rollicking piano, while Lordy Lord, sounds to these ears like a reworking of an old Frankie Lee Sims tune. A bit of traditional spiritual flavor is found on Since I Left My Burden Down, with his deft acoustic guitar supported by the rhythm.

Down in the Alley, is another rollicking number featuring some barrelhouse flavored piano, before he closes this set with a solo rendition of CC Rider. What totally impresses about this disc is how even at its most traditional, Coen never simply copies but adds his own seasoning and his heartfelt, yet restrained performances come across so much more compelling than artists who are superficially more emotional. Not having heard of Davis Coen prior to this CD, this writer emphasizes how impressed he was by this and how the music has stayed fresh even after several hearings.

One can download this at itunes and cdbaby.com and amazon.com are among those carrying this CD. Coen’s website is www.daviscoen.com.

This review was submitted to a publication a few years ago, but apparently never ran. My review copy came from a publicist.

Mystery Street's Fine Collection of Contemporary New Orleans SOunds

Mystery Street Records is an affiliate of the fan-funded Threadhead Records, that was established after Hurricane Katrina, as a way for lovers of New Orleans, its food, culture, architecture and music, to assist in the recovery of the city and its musical scene. Mystery Street has just issued the second anthology of New Orleans music, Vieux Carré, that presents a wide range of music that might be heard in The fabled French Quarter. 14 selections from a variety of sources (not simply Threadhead productions) make for a throughly entertaining hour or so of listening.

Just to give a sampling of the contents there is an engaging rendition of Smiley Lewis’ Hook Line and Slinker, by the Creole String Beans, Ingrid Lucia’s sultry Midnight Rendezvous, John Boutté, Bill Lynn and Paul Sanchez joined by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band for a cynical look at BP’s response to its Oil Well spill, Nobody Knows Nothin’, Tricia Boutté and the Norwegian Ytre Suloens Jass-Ensemble on a stirring gospel Keep Your Hands On the Plough (I downloaded the underlying CD Oh Mahalia after hearing this), Holley Bendtsen & Amasa Miller on a wonderful song about missing New Orleans, Creole Moon, Ensemble Fatien’s African-jazz reworking of St. James Infirmary, Paul Sanchez and friends including Shamarr Allen recounting the horrors of the levees breaking on the previously unreleased Home, and Matt Clark and others (Sanchez, Allen, Ivan Neville, and Teedy Boutté) letting us know their spirit is Bent Not Broken, and that New Orleans will be coming back.

This is such a marvelous sampling of the diversity of New Orleans music. Bent Not Broken and Nobody Knows Nothin’ were previously issued as digital singles and the other material is generally from recordings that can be obtained from www.louisianamusicfactory.com and better sources. The applicable websites are www.threadheadrecords.com and www.mysterystreetrecords.com.

Bob Seeley's Strong Boogie Woogie

Bob Seeley at 2011 WWOZ Piano Night

Attending the annual WWOZ Piano Night, Monday May 2, after the first weekend of the New Orleans Jazz & heritage Festival, I had the pleasure of seeing a number of really terrific pianists, some who may be familiar, but others less known.Many of the pianists were from New Orleans and their music echoed such Crescent City stand bearers as Professor Longhair and James Booker. One exception was Boogie Woogie pianist, Bob Seeley from outside of Detroit.

A Detroit neighbor, Seeley was fortunate enough to become friends with one of the true legends of the idiom, Meade Lux Lewis, who along with Albert Ammons and Peter Johnson, are the primary influences on his music. Seeley’s performance at Piano Night was marvelous with a standout performance being of W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” in which he adapted Earl Hines’ “Boogie Woogie on St. Louis Blues” as well as a section in which Seeley employed stride piano elements in interpreting this classic. Also strong was a rendition of “Just a Little Walk,” which added boogie woogie elements to his interpretation of this gospel staple. It was a remarkable live performance in which he displayed a strong left hand bass as well as a driving and precise right hand. His articulation of his piano playing was on point.

After his set I engaged him on his performance and told him I especially enjoyed his treatment of “St. Louis Blues.” He had several CDs for sale and recommended his CD “Detroit Style Boogie & Blues PIano” (Bob Seeley Music, Inc.) It was a purchase I certainly did not regret as it contains a number strong interpretations from the likes of his friend, Meade Lux Lewis, “Chicago Flyer,” “Honky Tonk Train” and “Boogie Tidal,” as well as renditions of Pete Johnson’s “K.C. on My Mind,” Hersal Thomas’ “The Fives,” Freddie Shayne’s “Mr. Freddie’s Blues,” and Jimmy Yancey’s “Barbershop Blues.” There are also superb renditions of “St. Louis Blues” and “Just a Closer Walk,” that exhibit his powerful, focused and deft attack that would make Lewis proud of his disciple. He also does not slavishly copy his sources as heard on the classic “Honky Tonk Train,” as well as “Barbershop Blues,” where his playing owes more to Lewis’ rock solid approach than Yancey’s lyrical playing. Arguably, his boogie flavored interpretation of “Watermelon Man,” does not quite succeed but a minor blemish on what is generally a terrific recording.

Bob Seeley’s CDs (except for a collaboration with Mark Barun (Mr. B) may be diificult to locate him. You might email him for information on this and other CDs at bobseeleypiano@aol.com.

Classic New Orleans Sounds on Smithsonian Folkways

Another in Smithsonian-Folkways “Classic” series, the anthology Classic Sounds of New Orleans from Smithsonian Folkways compiles a variety of recordings that were issued by Folkways when it was under the auspices of the late Moses Asch. This compilation by Robert H. Cataliotti mines the recordings of New Orleans music by Frederick Ramsey, Jr., and Samuel Barclay Charters along with other recordings make for a varied grouping of performances, that includes jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, spirituals and other roots music expressions.

The music on this opens and closes with the Eureka Brass Band who kick things off with the classic hymn, Just a Closer Walk With Thee, and ends with their propulsive rendition of Lord, Lord, Lord. The latter number may be familiar to fans of todays Crescent City Brass Band such as the Tréme Brass Band that have recorded it, but the performances by Eureka harken back to what many would think of the classic traditional New Orleans Jazz sound. Eureka Brass Band was an amazing group and I would recommend either of their releases on the American Music label. Also representing the Brass Band tradition is the late Doc Paulin’s renditions of We Shall Walk Through The Streets of the City, both as a dirge and as a march with a second line rhythm. The melody is the same as Red River Valley, and Doc Paulin’s sons still carry on the family tradition in the Paulin Brothers Band.”

Street music is represented by an anonymous shoeshine boy vocals and hand slapping on Shine - Hambone, the solo harmonica rendition of Tiger Rag by Freddie L. Small, and Dora Bliggen’s call of a fruit vendor on the streets, Blackberries! It is followed by Red White and Blue Got the Golden Band, by Mardi Gras Indians from assorted tribes. Certainly this 1956 recording is amongst the earliest of this tradition. It is followed by several spirituals/gospel performances including Dark Was the Night by Reverend Lewis Jackson and Charlotte Rucell.

New Orleans Jazz is represented with Kid Punch Miller (with Sam Charters on piano) doing Bucket’s Got a Hole In it, and an absolutely brilliant drum solo, Spooky Drums #1 by Baby Dodds. Clarinetist Emile Barnes leads an enthusiastic rendition of Milenberg Joys, while The Six and Seventh Eighths String Band of New Orleans are heard on Clarinet Marmalade, which should delight fans of skittle bands. Two celebrated New Orleans guitarists, Snooks Eaglin and Lonnie Johnson, are heard on celebrated New Orleans classics. Eaglin turns the classic High Society Rag, into a brilliant solo guitar showcase while Johnson does a nice Careless Love, recorded in 1967, long after he had left his native city. Billie and De De Pierce, another couple mainstays of the New Orleans scene in the fifties and sixties are heard on a nice blues Lonesome Road, warmly sung by the pianist Billie Pierce. It is followed by Kid Clayton’s Corrine, Corrina, with the famed pianist Sweet Emma Barrett part of his group.

After these performances, another Snooks Eaglin performance, of Saint James Infirmary, makes the transition to the blues although this recording and other contemporaneous ones of Eaglin gave the mistaken impression that he was a solo street singer when he know he played rhythm and blues and contemporary jazz at the time. In any event Eaglin’s guitar playing is marvelous, even if acoustic. A medley of pianist HJ Boiusseau provides a glimpse into a the period between ragtime and jazz. Like Lonnie Johnson, Champion Jack Dupree left his home city when young, yet the influence of some of the pianists who taught him was always evident in his playing including the second line rhythms in Rattlesnake Boogie. In contrast to Dupree, the great Roosevelt Sykes grew up in Arkansas and Delta and moved to St. Louis, becoming one of the greatest of all blues pianists, but he moved to New Orleans in1962 where he became a fixture of the music scene. His adaptation of Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone, displays a technical facility and sophistication that many celebrated blues pianists would be unable to match.

A nice Jimmy’s Blues by trumpeter Kid Clayton has some fine clarinet from Albert Burbank, tailgating trombone from Kid Avery and barrelhouse piano from Sweet Emma, followed by another splendid solo performance by Lonnie Johnson, C.C. Rider. Another staple of the traditional New Orleans repertoire, Shake It and Break It, is heard in a performance by Billie Pierce, with Lawrence Tocca, not her husband De De, on trumpet. Sam Charters noted at the time this recording was first issued that it was one of the most exciting recordings done in new Orleans in years.

All in all, this is a splendid compilation of a wide range of New Orleans music. In includes a marvelous booklet with a concise overview of the collection as well as observations on all of the included recordings. It is a terrific introduction to traditional New Orleans music.


Smithsonian Folkways provided an electronic download for my review.

John Mooney's Big Ol' Fiya

The following review appeared in the December 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 289) and oddly my comment opening this review still holds true as its been Mooney’s last release and its been over four years since this was released. I picked it one of the outstanding releases of 2006 and is still available (although perhaps easier to download than find a physical copy).

Its been four years since John Mooney had a new album out Big Ol’ Fiya, and he has produced his latest on LML Records (Live Music Lives), which should satisfy fans of his unique musical gumbo of Son House-influenced delta blues with Crescent City grooves.


This album also includes the keyboards of Jon Cleary along with the bass of the late Jeff Sarli, percussionist Alfred ‘Uganda’ Roberts and drummer Raymond Webber although Bernard ‘Bunche’ Johnson is on two tracks and engineer Mark Bingham picks up the bass for one track. Opening with a hot groove on 2 Get 2 Heaven, the band kicks into high gear as Mooney sings “I didn’t come here, to preach & pray; I ain’t here to soothe you; ‘Cause you works all day; I ain’t here, tokiss & tell; I’m just tryin’ to getta out this hell.” as Mooney adds some driving, crying slide. The title track follows as thetempo slows a bit with Cleary on organ as Mooney adds some nice slide runs with a lyric about what was love at first sight and how she is on his mind all day long but she left him and broke his heart. Voice and slide are in harmony as Mooney starts Dig My Way 2 China, how his woman left him so low heis digging his way down to China.


Few attempt to rework Son House songs, but Mooney’s interpretations carry an authority that in part reflect what he learned directly from the archetypal blues legend. Here he provides us a strong small band rendition of House’s Louis McGhee, with Sarli, Roberts and Webber providing the strong complimentary backing for Mooney. A Mooney original, Do You Love Me, is another strong performance rooted in the delta blues of House and his friend Willie Brown.


The remainder is in a similar vein and is a most welcome addition to Mooney’s strong discography. For more information can check Mooney’s website, www.johnmooneylive.com which will link you to www.cdbaby.com which is where your reviewer obtained this strong release.

Fulmer's Evocative Mystery, "Rampart Street"

Here is a review of David Fulmer’s novel “Rampart Street” from the the November-December 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 288). The book has since this review was published, has been issued in paperback and Harcourt has subsequently published Fulmer’s The Dying Crapshooter’s Blues, an excellent mystery set around thirties Atlanta and Blind Willie McTell, and several other novels including a new Valentin St. Cyr novel, Lost River, which I have not read. I believe I received a review copy of Rampart Street from the publisher. BTW, I previously blogged my review of The Dying Crapshooter's Blues.


About a year ago I picked up a paperback by Atlanta based David Fulmer, Chasing the Devil’s Tail. It was a mystery set in New Orleans of the early part of the century and featured a Creole of color, Valentin St. Cyr as its main character. St. Cyr was a one-time New Orleans policeman who left the force and began working for Tom Anderson, the King of Storyville, who owned a legendary cafe in “The District.” In a novel populated with Jelly Roll Morton and Buddy Bolden, at a time right after the Supreme Court’s infamous opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson, St. Cyr solves the Black Rose murders of some of the District’s working ladies. By the time of the second volume, Jass, Buddy Bolden has been institutionalized and the members of a jazz band are being murdered. Everyone seems to want him not to solve the case except the musicians and after the case is solved St. Cyr leaves New Orleans.
Rampart Street takes place a year and a half after the events in Jass, and has somehow gotten back in the good graces of Tom Anderson, working Anderson’s, bar but somehow someone disinterested in handling the pickpockets, card sharks and other predators as he had a few years before. A prominent New Orleans businessman is found murdered on Rampart Street, at the time the back end of the city where such a man would not have been found and an alderman goes to Anderson to have St. Cyr try to find the killer on behalf of the businessman’s daughter. Not that they want him to actually solve the case. Its better that the death quickly get forgotten, so no one but the daughter or St. Cyr want him to really solve the case. A street criminal is picked up and charged with the murder, but the evidence of the bullet wound and the lack of the powder burn does not support this being a case of a street robbery. 

St. Cyr seems to have everybody working against him and more people get killed around him including the person at the Picuyane’s morgue who had been helping St. Cyr in trying to unravel the series of murders. Unlike the earlier novels, Jelly Roll Morton is now in Chicago and jazz has a lower profile than in the earlier novels. Yet, the Sicilian grocery and saloon owner, whose place St. Cyr has a room at, features a jazz band in the saloon and Beansoup, the street kid who had been assisting St. Cyr and had been in the waif’s home at the same time as Louis Armstrong, is now playing harmonica in Jackson Square behind Charlie Jackson, a blues singer and guitarist who performs’Duncan and Brady, a ballad about an altercation between a saloon keeper and a sheriff in East St. Louis.

Fulmer continues to develop his characters and weaves the story together in a compelling fashion. I could not put this down after starting it or the two earlier novels. He really brings this long gone period to life in all three of these excellent books. If you like mysteries, you certainly might read Chasing the Devil’s Tail first (it and Jass are currently available in paperback) and if you enjoy it (as I suspect you will), you will dig into the sequels including Rampart Street. The Valentin St. Cyr mysteries certainly are absorbing.

Champion Jack's One Last Time

Recorded right after his Forever and Ever album, and a little more than half a year before his death in January 1992, One Last Time (Bullseye Blues), provides a fitting final studio recording by the New Orleans pianist and vocalist. According to producer Ron Levy, this was a session Dupree wanted to do, as he told Levy after completing Forever and Ever, he didn’t know if he’d be back. Dupree was joined here by Kenn Landing, his regular guitarist of the time, and several Crescent City musicians including Earl Turbington, Jr., on alto saxophone, and Walter Payton on bass.


This opens with Bad Blood which he previously recorded for the classic Blues From the Gutter album that was on Atlantic, and if this version doesn’t match the earlier recording, it is more than a credible performance with Turbington’s bluesy horn and Landing’s stinging guitar sounding very nice. He plays tribute to some past blues masters including Roosevelt Sykes on She’s Jail Bait, and Louis Jordan on Somebody Done Changed the Lock on the Door, and Early in the Morning. While credited to Dupree, Give Me Flowers When I’m Livin’, where he asks to give him his rewards while he can enjoy them, goes back to Peetie Wheatstraw. Ironically, I believe it was one of Wheatstraw’s last recordings as well.


With his fine backing section, Dupree lays down his barrelhouse piano, and sings authoritatively with his relaxed, grainy voice that really could deliver a lyric and tell a story. His performances here belie his age. While I do not concur with annotator Bob Porter’s view that this is the best of Dupree’s three Bullseye Blues albums (I prefer Forever and Ever), it is a very good listen. With Columbia/Legacy’s release of his Okeh recordings, Atlantic’s Blues From the Gutter, and imports of his recordings for King, and various New York labels, there is no shortage of superb Jack Dupree.


This review appeared in the October 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 185) and I believe One Last Time is still available as is Blues From The Gutter (which is available as part of reissue with another Dupree album),  while the Sony/Legacy New Orleans Barrelhouse Boogie is available used.  All of Dupree's 3 Bullseye Blues albums along with Blues From The Gutter and other recordings (not the Sony) are available as downloads.  JSP has issued a 4CD box of his earliest recordings which I hope to discuss at some future time.  


I likely received a review copy from Rounder Records at the time this review originally ran.