Ton Van Bergeyk Black And Tan Fantasy, Fingerpicking Guitar Solos

Ton Van Bergeyk
Black And Tan Fantasy, Fingerpicking Guitar Solos
Guitar Artistry

Stefan Grossman calls Ton Van Bergeyk the finest fingerstyle guitarist in the last 25 years, and the Guitar Artistry album, Black and Tan Fantasy, Fingerpicking Guitar Solos, certainly will make both casual listeners and guitarists take notice. Van Bergeyk extends the fingerpicking guitar style, familiar to fans of the Piedmont blues, to the jazz and popular songs of Duke Ellington (the title track and a medley of Jubilee Stomp and Take It East), George Gershwin (I Got Rhythm), Thelonious Monk (Blue Monk), Hoagy
Carmichael (Georgia on My Mind and Rocking Chair), Jelly Roll Morton (Kansas City Stomp), and some novelty numbers.

Duck Baker's liner notes make the case as to Van Bergeyk's skill as a player and the arranger, noting that while fingerpickers can dazzle an audience with simple tricks, even skilled players may not appreciate the difficulty of a piece without trying to play it. From the listener's standpoint, this reviewer found these performances throughly ingratiating, and well worth seeking out by those who love well-played acoustic guitar.

This review originally appeared in issue 180 of Jazz & Blues Report in 1993. I likely received a review copy from Shanachie or a publicist. Here Ton performs I Got Rhythm.

Frank Fotusky Meet Me In The Bottom

Frank Fotusky
Meet Me In The Bottom
Snappy Turtle Records

It was a pleasant surprise to receive this recording by fingerstyle blues guitarist and singer, Frank Fotusky. Fotusky showcases his wonderful, fluid fingerstyle playing and his amiable vocals on covers of blues from Bo Carter, Robert Johnson, Blind Boy Fuller, Jelly Roll Morton, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Willie McTell, and others along with four instrumental originals.

Things get off with Bo Carter's "Who's Been Here," with Fotusky's deft playing accompanying his light-hearted singing of Carter's hokum-laced lyric. Following this is a charming lulling instrumental "339 Ninth St." The other instrumentals are similarly enticing. For Jelly Roll Morton's "Winin' Boy Blues" (listed as "Windin' Boy" on the album cover), Fotusky displays his nimble touch on a twelve-string guitar. More superb Piedmont style guitar is heard on Blind Boy Fuller's "Pigmeat."

There are well-played covers of Robert Johnson's "When You Got a Good Friend" and Leroy Carr's "How Long, How Long." The use of the twelve-string guitar and the wistful vocal make the latter song a highpoint. Other notable selections include a nicely paced "Trouble in Mind," and Blind Willie McTell's "Mama T'aint Long For Day," where he employs a slide. Almost all fingerstyle guitarists today bear the influence of Reverend Gary Davis. Fotusky pays homage with a buoyant "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning," again displaying his skill on the 12-string guitar. It is among the many pleasures to entice listeners on this CD. Released in 2015, I do wish I had come across this before.

I received this cd from Frank Fotusky. Here is Frank performing in 2015 several songs that are on this recording.

 

Mary Flower Loves Company

The marvelous blues and roots fingerstyle guitarist-vocalist, Mary Flower, has a new release Misery Loves Company (Yellow Dog Records). The title refers to the fact that eleven of the twelve performances here are duets with other musicians (and a vocalist) adding support to her guitar and vocals. It is a wonderful addition to her discography.

Whether performing a blues or a rag, Mary Flower plays wonderfully with an easy flowing approach to her music. When performing a deep Chicago blues, such as Muddy Waters’ Hard Day Blues or Son House’s Death Letter Blues, she recasts the song into a Piedmont styled blues, while adding her honey-toned vocals. Her vocal strikes this listener as more successful on the former number (with Curtis Salgado adding some nice harp), although the slide guitar and guitar interplay between her and Alan Hager is marvelous. Recession Rag, is a delightful instrumental duet with mandolinist Brian Oberlin, while Jitters is a lovely duet with tuba player Mark Vehrencamp that with Mary channelling Blind Blake in her deft playing here.

Colin Linden adds electric dobro her atmospheric Way Down in the Bottom, (where darkness meets despair), while LaRonda Steele adds a harmony vocal to Mary’s exquisite rendition of Reverend Gary Davis’ Goin’ To Sit Down On The Banks Of River, with an accompaniment that displays how ably she has mastered the music of this legendary giant. Her son Jesse Withers plays bass while she displays her cleanly articulated slide playing on Tampa Red’s Boogie Woogie Dance, while pianist David Frishberg adds some bop-infused piano on the delightful I’m Dreaming Of Your Demise, about her beady-eyed, devious man who spouts nasty lies. Mary’s music possesses some of the same qualities that Elizabeth Cotten’s music had so its no surprise that she so ably interprets Shake Sugaree, where Johnny B Connolly embellishes her vocal and fingerstyle wizardry with his button accordion.

A solo rendition of Scrapper Blackwell’s Scrapper’s Blues is the last selection on her latest recording. Mary Flower continues to delight blues and roots fans with a recording that continues to demonstrate that she remains one of the finest fingerstyle guitarists. Also her vocals flow as natural as her finger picking.

My review copy was provided by Yellow Dog Records.

Doug MacLeod's Blues Ring True

Years ago in the Washington D.C. area, legendary WPFW-FM blues radio personality Jerry ‘The Bama’ Washington would play at least a couple times a month an evocative song, Night Bird, by one Doug MacLeod (some may be familiar with Eva Cassidy’s recording of this song). Hearing this led me to the No Road Back Home album that MacLeod, Dennis Walker and Bruce Bromberg produced for Hightone.


MacLeod has since has compiled a fairly extensive discography and established himself for his evocative vocals, guitar and songs, rooted in the blues tradition but speaking from personal experiences. In recent years he has eschewed the electric guitar, preferring to perform and record acoustically with the focus on his intricate fingerstyle guitar as well as slide playing, and his intimate vocals.


His most recent disc is on the Dutch Black & Tan label, Dubb, which refers to the nickname the late legend George ‘Harmonica’ Smith gave him. He’s backed by bassist Denny Croy and drummer Dave Kida with Carl Sonny Leyland adding some piano for several tracks. Songs that spin some philosophical take on relationships, (If You Going to the Dog House) mix with songs about a women who really gets down and upsets the neighborhood (She’s Boogy’n), a touch of cynicism about our supposed to be public spirited politicians Dubb’s Talkin’ Politician Blues), observations of someone who can’t stop yapping (One Fool Show) and a lying lover ($50 Wig with its line “You got a $50 wig, setting on a $5 head), and a touch of the Dust My Broom melody (North Country Woman).


Some songs I am sure will grab you more than others, but certainly Macleod’s songs rings a bit bluer than some award-winners and his understated approach stands out with so much rocked music these days. Seems like some good material to cover in here as well. Definitely a release to check out.


I wrote about Doug’s 2010 DC Blues Festival appearance last year. I believe it is appropriate to revive this review of a fine recording that appeared in Europe and should still be readily available along with others by him. This review originally appeared in the November 2005 DC Blues Calendar and the February 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 280). I believe I may have purchased this.

John Jackson's Superb Piedmont Blues

I was at John Jackson’s last performance on New Year’s Eve, 2001 as part of the City of Falls Church Virginia’s annual celebration. Alternating sets with an old time string band, John was his usual warm self and the vigor of his performances belied the fact that he would soon go into the hospital for treatment for cancer. Less than three weeks later he passed and the church where his funeral was held was full of his many friends, some who came from great distances to pay their respects to a wonderful musician but also one of the most wonderful persons one could ever meet. In the release of Jackson’s music, Rappahannock Blues, Smithsonian Folkways, the late Piedmont blues master is lovingly represented by 20 selections (18 previously unissued) that demonstrate his marvelous finger style playing, his untutored vocals and the warmth of his personality that comes out through the nearly hour of music here.

The performances, taken at various performances represent the breadth of his repertoire that extend from his interpretations of songs associated with his main influence, Blind Blake ( Too Tight Rag, Diddy Wah Diddy,” and West Coast Rag); standards of the Piedmont tradition such as Blind Boy Fuller’s Truckin’ Little Baby, and Step it Up and Go, along with Red River Blues; adaptations of country songs such as Tom T. Hall’s The Year Clayton Delaney Died, and the Delmore Brothers Brown’s Ferry Blues; and traditional songs and ballads like Cindy (played on banjo), and Railroad Bill. Also included are religious songs like Don’t You Want to Go Up There, and Just a Closer Walk With Thee, and Jackson’s adaptation of Candy Man, from his friend Mississippi John Hurt.

Frankie and Johnny has been performed numerous times by numerous folk, but listening to Jackson’s vocal and his nimble and precise picking, is like listening to this number afresh. Perhaps no better demonstration of John Jackson’s superb guitar playing is John Jackson Breakdown, a brilliant guitar tour de force that is proof that he was amongst the greats of the Piedmont style guitarists, and was on the same level as Blind Blake and Reverend Gary Davis. For further proof, one can listen to his sterling recreation of Blind Blake’s West Coast Rag with which this album closes.

There were only six albums by John Jackson issued during his lifetime. Fortunately two CDs on Arhoolie and one on Alligator are still readily available. “ Rappahannock Blues” is a terrific addition to this body of music. Anyone who has any interest in acoustic blues, especially the Piedmont tradition, will find this an essential purchase. Included is a booklet with copious notes on John and the songs from producers Barry Lee Pearson and Jeff Place that matches the quality of John jackson’s exquisite performances. For information on this release and others from Smithsonian Folkways, visit, http://www.folkways.si.edu/index.aspx. For this release follow this link: http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=3273. 


Smithsonian-Folkways provided me with a download of this CD.

Mary Flower Beautifully Bridges Folk and Blues

Here is a review that I wrote earlier this calendar year by a wonderful singer and guitarist, Mary Flower, one of the most accomplished fingerstyle guitarists alive today. It was originally written for Jazz & Blues Report and appeared in the April 2009 issue which can be downloaded at www.jazz-blues.com, and go to download issues. Dr. John is on the issue's cover

Mary Flower is one of the unsung heroines of traditionally oriented blues and roots music. She is one of the finest fingerstyle guitarists alive and Yellow Dog records has followed up her acclaimed CD “Bywater Dance” with a new release, “Bridges,” sure to please her fans and introduce her to many others. She has recently relocated to Portland, Oregon after spending decades around Denver, and on this new disc collaborates with a variety of Portland artists including transplanted New Orleans saxophonist Reggie Houston,guitarist and banjoist, Tony Furtado, keyboard players Janice Scroggins and Matt Potts, her sons Jesse Withers on bass and bluegrass legend Tim O’Brien on mandolin and fiddle. The program for this CD includes obscure gems from the songbooks of 1920s and ’30s America to complement her own rootsy compositions, enabling Flower to explore and illuminate the complex relationships between Piedmont blues, ragtime, jazz, and old-time gospel music. With varying instrumentation, the tenor of the songs range from traditional Piedmont style blues to more contemporary folk-blues oriented roots.

The opening “Rhythm of the Road,” has a folky air as she delivers a world weary vocal about her travels down the road as Furtado complementing her fingerstyle lead with his banjo and slide guitar fills. It is followed by ”There Ain’t No Sweet Man Worth the Salt of My Tears,” a delightful number new to these ears with a jaunty backing and nice piano solo from Janice Scroggins. A reflective treatment of Bessie Smith’s “Backwater Blues,” follows with Scroggins spare piano supporting Flower’s melancholy vocal. “When I Get Home I’m Gonna Be Satisfied,” is a gospel number handled at an easy tempo and featuring some adept lap slide guitar from Ms. Flower. The original instrumental, “Columbia River Rag,” is one example of her marvelous fingerstyle work in the Piedmont tradition. A highpoint during her rendition of Emmett Miller’s “The Ghost of the St. Louis Blues” is the interplay of the laughing clarinet from Doug Bundy and Reggie Houston’s soprano sax. “A medley of “On Revival Day” with “There’s Gonna To be the Devil to Pay,” is a delightful performance with Scroggins buoyant piano complementing Flower’s spirited playing and vocal. “Portland Town” evokes some classic Piedmont blues, but this fresh original Flower co-wrote has a nice lilting rhythm with an interesting accordion accompaniment. Another stunning fingerstyle instrumental, “Daughter of Contortion,” is followed by a strong rendition of“Big Bill Blues,” a Big Bill Broonzy recording. Next is a fine small group rendition of Thomas Henry Lodge’s 1909 composition,“Temptation Rag,” that has lovely interplay by Flower with Robin Kessinger on flatpicked guitar before Spud Siegel kicks in on mandolin and takes the tempo up a notch. Tim O’Brien adds his fiddle to “Up a Lazy River,” which comes off as a nod to Eddie Lang and Joe Venuti before Flower adds a nice vocal. With O’Brien on mandolin and Courtney Von Drehle on accordion, she concludes this delightful recording with a lovely original “Blue Waltz.” “bridges” is yet another enchanting recording by a marvelous acoustic blues artist. This should be available at cdbaby.com, itunes or better stores. You can also order this from Mary’s website, www.maryflower.com.