Columbia / Legacy Roots N’ Blues Reissues

Columbia / Legacy Roots N’ Blues Reissues
Columbia

The latest batch of Roots N’ Blues reissues from Sony Corporation maintain up the series’ high standard. One of the latest releases is Bessie Smith, The Complete Recordings Vol. 4 (Columbia/Legacy C2K 52838) which brings us near the end of her recording career, and contains some of her most celebrated recordings, including Me and My Gin, Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out, Empty Bed Blues, You’ve Got to Give Me Some. Other numbers may not be as well known, but are memorable for the total conviction of the performances. James P. Johnson’s stride piano enlivens a number of performances , and the cornet of Ed Allen or Louis Metcalfe is heard on several tracks. But it is the majesty of Bessie’s vocals that make this so memorable, and the sound reproduction from the vintage 78s is quite good.

Blind Willie Johnson, The Complete  (Columbia Legacy C2K 52835), duplicates what has been available for a couple years on two Yazoo albums. Blind Willie Johnson was one of the most astonishing practitioners of the bottleneck guitar (his standard guitar playing was adequate), and sang in a raspy, hoarse shouting style with an intensity reminiscent of  Son House. House’s formidable slide guitar playing can sound rudimentary and mechanical compared to Johnson. Johnson’s recordings including Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed, It’s Nobody’s Fault But

Mine, If I Had My Way I’d Tear the Building Down, Lord I Can’t Help But Keep From Crying, You’ll Need Somebody on Your Bond and John the Revelator are classics of African-American roots music, and influenced numerous numerous others who adapted them including Gary Davis, Son House, Muddy Waters, and Fred McDowell. Johnson’s masterpiece was Dark Was the Night- Cold Was the Ground with his wordless vocalising and slide guitar accompaniment, that later Ry Cooder played homage to. Sam Charters provides a lengthy annotation that covers Johnson’s life, his music, and his impact. This is essential music, the only question being whether one already has the Yazoo albums.

New Orleans Barrelhouse Boogie (Columbia/Legacy CK 52834) collects Champion Jack Dupree’s first recordings made for Okeh in 1940 and 1941. Several of the 25 recordings are previously unissued alternate takes to issued sides. Most of the songs here find Dupree’s piano and vocals backed by just  a bass, although the final eight recordings feature Jesse Ellery’s nimble guitar. New Orleans Barrelhouse Boogie is a fitting title, describing his driving two handed piano style, although his bass heavy playing here lacks the touch and articulation found in his later recordings. A major reason for Dupree’s appeal was his soulfully delivered vocals that were ebulliently delivered, and his downhome country supper lyrics which touched a chord with those listening to him sing about ‘those greens those Cabbage Greens.’ Junker’s Blues  and Angola Blues reflect his New Orleans roots, while New Low Down Dog is a barrelhouse version of a Leroy Carr recording which he later recorded as Stumbling Blocks. While Dupree sang about drugs and prison, these songs were not based upon Dupree’s personal experiences, but from knowing people, and personalizing their stories. This marriage of lyric and performance that make these Champion Jack

Dupree recordings stand up half a century later. This collects some of his finest recordings.

The Slide Guitar, Bottles, Knives & Steel Vol. 2 (Columbia/Legacy CK 52725) is the second such collection in the Roots N’ Blues series. While there are no selections from Robert Johnson or Blind Willie Johnson, this provides a diverse sampling of slide players, with a healthy number of selections featuring Tampa Red, perhaps the most influential of all slide guitarists. One interesting song by him is Things Bout Coming My Way, heard in both instrumental and vocal versions. Derived from Sitting on Top of the World, he later revamped it as It Hurts Me Too. Perhaps the most influential slide guitarist in blues hisory, he was not represented in Rhino’s supposedly essential collection. Sam Montgomery, who recoded as the King of Spades is heard on the previously unissued Where the Sweet Orages Grow, a Kokomo Blues variant recored a few months before Robert Johnson waxed Sweet Home Chicago. Other slide guitarists heard here include  Casey Bill Weldon’s with lively Hawaiian style playing on the Hokum Boys’ Caught Us Doing It; Barbecue Bob backs Nellie Florence’s powerful singing; Curley Weaver’s slide is heard with the Georgia Browns and supporting Buddy Moss  sober vocals; and  Sylvester Weaver, is heard on the selections by Helen Humes and his partner Walter Beasely.

The most intriguing of these releases may be the two compact disc set, White Country Blues-

Lighter Shade of Blue (Columbia/Legacy C2K 47466), devoted to recordings of blues by various white performers of what was then marked as old time or hillbillymusic. As the respected country music historian Charles Wolfe notes, there was a distinct white country blues tradition that certainly reflected the influences of pioneering African-American performers, but reached a different audience. Some performances, like Frank Hutchinson’s lively K.C. Blues are not far removed from contemporaneous recordings of Furry Lewis, and the hawaiian style steel guitar heard on some of these will remind some of Tampa Red’s hokum recordings, or Casey Bill Weldon. In a blindfold test, the Blue Ridge Ramblers might be mistaken for a Memphis based jug band, and Larry Hensley stays pretty faithful to Blind Lemon Jefferson Match Box Blues, even if he can’t replicate all of the nuances of Jefferson’s recording. After all, who can.  Other recordings, like those by Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers, are string band blues performances that have few recorded counterparts by African-American musicians. While some of the performances here are more country than blues, they are more than dry historical specimens, and illustrate the influence and reach of the blues outside of the African-American community long before the rock and roll era. They also show how skillfully and movingly the music was adapted by white southerners who were drawn to the power and simplicity of the blues, just like many of us are drawn to the blues today.

This review appeared in issue 188 of Jazz & Blues Report from 1994. The original review also included "The Okeh Rhythm & Blues Story 1949-1957" which I will reprint on Monday the 28th. I received review copies from Columbia Records. 

Gracie Curran & Friends Come Undone

Gracie Curran & Friends
Come Undone
VizzTone

Originally from Boston but now living in Memphis, "Come Undone" is singer and songwriter Gracie Curran's second release. Her first album, 'Proof of Love," was nominated for a Blues Music Award as Best New Artist Debut. She co-produced this new release with Damon Fowler who plays guitar on it — also playing on this Matt Walker on guitar, bass and Wurlitzer; Pat Harrington on guitar on the first track; Victor Wainwright and Jeremy Powell each playing on keyboards for two of the eight tunes; Doug Woolverton on trumpet; Mark Earley on sax; and Reba Russell on backing vocals.

Some of the publicity material compare her vocals to that of Mavis Staples. I would not go quite that far, but she certainly impresses the listener on the title track, which is a very appealing serving of Memphis soul with a reggae accent. In contrast, "Ernestine" is a folk-roots styled performance with Reba Russell complementing her country-flavored singing. "Stay Up!" is a jump-style party blues with plenty of swagger in her vocal with a crisp guitar solo and the horns doing a call and response with each other. Trebly guitar adds to the atmosphere to her insistent vocal on "The Things We Like" as she sings about not wanting to but having to let one go.

"Sweet Sativa" is a blues about marijuana with stinging slide guitar (could be lap steel guitar) taken at loping tempo. "If Mama Ain't Happy" is a rocking blues with some outstanding piano from Wainwright and a brief, crisp guitar solo. Perhaps the most outstanding song is a soulful ballad, "Love Is The Cruelest Thing I Know," It shows how nuanced a singer she is and how convincing she is with the restraint exhibited here. The closing track "Chasing Sunset" shits gears to a delightful country roots rocker.

The strength of Gracie Curran's performances is that while she can belt out a lyric, she focuses more on timing, phrasing, and vocal dynamics. The songs were fascinating, and the backing excellent. The only fault might be the eight songs only last a little over a half-hour. There are no complaints about the actual music heard on a very notable album.

I received my review copy from VizzTone. Here is a performance of "Come Undone."

Jimmy Carpenter Plays the Blues

Jimmy Carpenter
Plays the Blues
VizzTone

Veteran saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter is currently part of blues rocker Mike Zito's band, though he previously has lengthy stints with Jimmy Thackery and Walter 'Wolfman' Washington. Zito produced this and adds his guitar and vocals to Carpenter's tenor saxophone, bassist Bob Bridges, Matthew Johnson's drums, and Marc Adams keyboards with a variety of guests including guitarists Tony Diteodoro, Tinsley Ellis, Anders Osborne and Jonn Del Toro Richardson and keyboardists Lewis Stephens and Dave Keyes.

The ten songs heard include two originals and eight covers starting with Magic Sam's "You Belong to Me," and ending with a rousing Junior Walker's "Shotgun." Carpenter plays plenty of rousing, raspy saxophone in a Junior Walker-King Curtis--Boots Randolph vein throughout and, if not a great singer, is like-able with an unforced delivery as on the hot Little Walter shuffle "Too Late." The longest selection is "Jimmy Plays the Blues," a nice blues instrumental with plenty of space for his roadhouse saxophone. The other original is a piece of old-fashioned rock and roll, "Kid in My Head," with rollicking piano from Stephens in support of the leader's yakety-yak sax playing.

Jonn Del Toro Richardson adds some nice guitar support on the cover of "Blues With a Feeling," which has a booting sax solo as well, while Tinsley Ellis joins in for a musical dialogue with with Carpenter on a rendition of Freddie King's "Surf Monkey," and Anders Osborne contributes to an instrumental interpretation of Sam Cooke's "Change Is Gonna Come," which arguably has Carpenter's finest playing with a more attack employing a broader tonal range. Up next is a rousing rendition of King Curtis' "Preach," and then Otis Rush's "All Your Love (I Miss Lovin').' with fine guitar from Zito and another booting sax solo.

A straight cover of "Shotgun" closes this straight-forward, well played recording that entertains even if it breaks no new ground.

I received my review copy from VizzTone. This review originally appeared in the November-December 2017  Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 375). Here is Jimmy Carpenter playing "Shot Gun."

 

Jimmy Carpenter Walk Away

Jimmy Carpenter
Walk Away
Threadhead Cultural Foundation/ VizzTone

Saxophonist Jimmy Carpenter is perhaps best known as a member of Walter ‘Wolfman’ Washington’s Roadmasters as well as playing with blues-rocker Mike Zito. He has recently issued a CD “Walk Away,” co-produced with Chris Finney with a core band of guitarist John Fohl: keyboards from John Gros; bass from Casandra Falconer and drums by Wayne Maureau. Carpenter handles vocals, saxophones and rhythm guitar with a variety guest appearances including vocalist Reba Russell, guitarists Anson Funderburgh and Mike Zito and trumpeter Anthony Gambrell (Carpenter’s band-mate in the Roadmasters).

Carpenter, known for his robust saxophone, shows himself to be quite an affable singer on the 13 originals here starting with the easy rocking “Can’t Let Go” that features some fiery Funderburgh guitar along with some grease on the Hammond B-3 from Gros. The crisp ensemble playing and the brassy horn arrangements are typical of the production throughout with plenty of punch. The title track has a southern swamp-rock feel with a strong R&B accent with Fohl’s guitar accenting the vocal before Carpenter takes one of several full-toned solos on his recording. “When You’re Ready” is a driving rocker with nice interplay between guitarists Fohl and Zito, along with Zito’s scorching guitar solo.

“She’s Not You” opens with some commanding saxophone before a soulfully sung lament about this woman telling him he seems distant while he still can’t get over his ex on a number that is evocative of Bruce Springsteen. Another song suggesting Springsteen is the jaunty “Crazy ‘Bout You.” “Seventh Street Shuffle” is a greasy instrumental taken at a walking tempo while “C King Blues” is a feature for his sax with a loping tempo. The subject of “More Than Meets The Eye” causes heads to turn although her looks hide what is inside her. This has a Memphis funk backing with a similar feel to the blues-soul of “Hard To Be Cool.”

After the garage-rock flavored “On the Outside,” (where Carpenter is looking in), “Walk Away” closes with “Fellow Traveller” a duet with Reba Russell. Fohl’s judicious use of tremolo and Maureau’s stick work contribute to the wistful atmosphere here along with a nice sax solo. There is plenty of music to enjoy here as Carpenter shows in this recording that integrates his blues, country, soul, and pop influences, he is far more than a road house saxophonist.

I received my review copy from VizzTone. This review originally appeared in the January-February 2015 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 358). Somehow I forgot to post it before, so I am belatedly posting in now. Tomorrow I will be posting my review of Jimmy's most recent recording, "Plays The Blues." Here Jimmy Carpenter doing an in-store performance in New Orleans at the Louisiana Music Factory with a band including John Fohl and John Gros.