Almost Guitar Shorty's Best

The review below was part of a review of several Black Top Records compilations issued by Shout Factory in 2006 and appeared in the September-October Jazz & Blues Report (issue 286). I may have received this directly from Shout Factory or from the publication. Reviews of the Anson Funderburgh compilation has already run and another will run in the next few days. I have made some stylistic changes. I should point out that a  number of the Black Top recordings are available in reissue or mp3 and you might want to check collector's choice music as well as Amazon and other websites for the Black Top recordings.

David Kearney, best known as Guitar Shorty, was among the three major rediscoveries that Black top made (Robert Ward and Bobby Parker are the other two). The Florida born singer- guitarist was heavily influenced by Guitar Slim who made some choice recordings for Cobra Records and the LA based Pull label. For a period he was married to Jimi Hendrix’ stepsister and would swap ideas with the future leg-end. 

Kearney had recorded a wonderful My Way or the Highway for the English JSP label before joining Black Top where he recorded three albums, Topsy Turvy, Get Wise To Yourself, and Roll Over, Baby. After leaving Black Top, there were live albums on Collectibles followed by Evidence’s I Go Wild and more recently he signed to Alligator. Shout Factory’s The Best of Guitar Shorty: The Long and Short of It, is taken from the JSP album, the three Black Top CD and the Evidence. The highlights include a stunning remake of Hard Life, You Better Get Wise to Yourself, Swamp Dogg’s I Want to Report a Crime and a duet with Carol Fran, I’m So Glad I Met You. 

The two cuts from the JSP disc, No Educated Woman and Red Hot Mama, are almost equal to the Black Top discs which employed such first-rate players like Lee Allen Zeno on bass, Herman Ernest III, Shannon Powell or Raymond Weber on drums, David Torkanowsky on keyboards, Kaz Kazanoff on sax. Oddly the only number from Black Top that had South Central, his working band of the nineties, was a credible rendition of Hey Joe, a tribute to Hendrix which is ok, but there are some other selections that are missing, especially his rendition of Al Kooper’s (I Love You) More Than You’ll Ever Know, derived from Donny Hathaway’s recording. Hathaway was a major influence on Shorty as a singer, but you would never know it from most of which has been written about him that focuses on his guitar playing and Hendrix connection. 

With the more rock-oriented production of his recent recordings, his vocals also suffer. But if this gem had replaced a track from the Evidence album, then the title would be more accurate as opposed to really being Almost The Best of Guitar Shorty. Still this will have to do until Topsy Turvy and Get Wise To Yourself are reissued. The JSP is in print. 

Here is Guitar Shorty doing one of his signature songs, It's A Hard Life.

The Blind Boys Down in New Orleans

A new release by The Blind Boys of Alabama, Down in New Orleans (Time-Life) has the legendary gospel singers in the Crescent City where they are backed by a terrific trio of David Torkanowsky on piano, Roland Guerin on bass and Shannon Powell on drums along with guest appearances by the Hot 8 Brass Band, Allen Toussaint and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. 

Mixing in gospel classics like Free at Last, You Got to Move, and I’ll Fly Away with secular positive message songs like the late Earl King’s Make a Better World, the group continues to move the heart with the sheer conviction an awe-inspiring vocals of Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter and the others. Certainly even if their voices have some raspiness from age, it is not rust and delivering How I Got Over, the vocals send chills through the listener.

 The Preservation Hall Jazz Band can be heard backing them on Across the Bridge, Uncloudy Day and Down By the Riverside, on which Allen Toussaint adds some gospel funk piano. Toussaint also is heard on the fine If I Could Help Somebody, while the Hot 8 enliven Make a Better World as well as the exhilarating rendition of I’ll Fly Away, that closes this CD that is another marvelous addition to the Blind Boys extensive discography. 

This review originally appeared in the February 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 301). I believe I received a review copy from a publicist. Here are the Blind Boys with the Dirty Dozen Brass band at Tipitina's Uptown.

Davell Crawford's The B-3 & Me

Touted by some as the latest emerging New Orleans keyboard master, Davell Crawford’s second album for Rounder’s Bullseye Blues & Jazz, The B-3 & Me, presents a different side of his music than his earlier album, Let Them Talk. While that album showcased his vocals, rollicking piano and gospel influences, the present album features him in an organ trio. Crawford is joined by a couple of major young voices: saxophonist Clarence Johnson II and drummer Shannon Powell. Guitarist June Yamaguchi of the Wild Magnolias band plays on one track, Germaine Bazzle sings on one, and Henry Butler plays piano on another. Many of the songs are blues-based but the playing here is more forward looking than some similar albums. Johnson’s sometimes acerbic tone, which occasionally reaches to the saxophone’s upper range, is complimented by Crawfords’s chicken-fried organ. The trio sounds tight whether it takes the music into the alley or hits a hot bebop groove. Powell’s contributions cannot be underestimated as he propels the performances with shifting rhythmic accents along with a solid rhythmic pulse. In addition to original blues like Johnson’s Struttin’, and Crawford’s The Cat, the trio shows a particular affinity to Ray Charles as they go to church on the country classic, I Can’t Stop Loving You along with Hallelujah I Love Her So. Johnson sits out I Can’t Give You Anything But Love. The track with Butler on piano showcases not only that each is a master of the keyboards, but also how much they compliment each others solos. This review originally appeared in the April 1998 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 230). Davell will be having a new album coming on Basin Street Records in the not distant future which will be highly welcome as he has not had a nationally distributed recording in some time. He is Davell performing.

Johnny Adams Keep His Music Planted In The Blues

The late Johnny Adams was among my favorite blues and soul singers, but he was so capable of more. His catalog on Rounder is universally excellent. The following review of one of his excellent Rounder albums appeared in the December 1996 DC Blues Calendar as well as the February 1997 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 218). I likely received my review copy from Rounder Records. This CD is available currently as a download.

Johnny Adams is simply a terrific singer and his latest Rounder album, One Foot In the Blues, has him backed by Dr. Lonnie Smith on the Hammond B-3, guitarist Jimmy Ponder and drummer Shannon Powell along with saxophonists Ed Peterson and Donald Harrison Jr. and with trumpeter Jamil Sharif. Despite the jazzy backing, this has more of a blues flavor than Adams’ two previous Rounder releases. He is in good form, although he no longer vocally soars into the stratosphere as he did a couple decades past. The title song is a fine new number penned by Dan Penn, Jonnie Barnett and Carson Whitsett. Other songs include a couple of fine blue ballads from Buddy Johnson’s pen, including I Wonder Where Our Love Has Gone, and three Percy Mayfield Numbers including the classic Two Years of Torture. Smith greases the musical stew, Ponder adds some tasty fills and solos, and the horn players cook There is a relaxed groove and tasty looseness to these performances that add to Rounder’s invaluable catalog of Adams releases. Here is Johnny Adams in performance at the Lone Star in NYC from 1990.

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