Mavis Staples Live in London

Mavis Staples
Live in London
Self-Produced

This gem of a live performance was recorded by the great Mavis Staples at London's Union Chapel over two July 2018 nights. She was backed by Rick Holmstrom – guitar and background vocals, Jeff Turmes – bass and background vocals, and Stephen Hodges – drums. Donny Gerard and Vicki Randle also provided backing vocals. She powerfully sings songs written by Ben Harper, Jeff Tweedy, her father Roebuck Staples, David Byrne, George Clinton, Curtis Mayfield, and others, along with one she co-wrote with Tweedy.

With a career extending seventy years, she continues to amaze with the vitality and nuanced phrasing of her vocals. Holmstrom's trebly, at times acidic guitar and the simple, functional backing from Turmes and Hodges, provide austere support for Mavis' robust, expressive vocals. The result is an album of compelling performances by a living legend.

This recording is available as a download on Bandcamp, https://mavisstaples.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-london.

I purchased this. This review appeared in the March-April 2020 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 389). Here Mavis Staples is heard and seen performing "No Time For Cryin'" from this album.

Bryan Lee Sanctuary

Bryan Lee
Sanctuary
Earrelevant Records

Some of my most memorable experiences listening to blues live (as well as listening to blues recordings) came from Bryan Lee. This is his latest CD with a variety of backing musicians including Jimmy Voegeli on keyboards, Jack Berry on bass and Matt Liban on drums.

Lee calls this a blues-gospel recording and that might impact one's reaction to this. I do not take away from Lee's convictions, but some might find too much preaching here although Lee sings strongly and plays wonderfully. The band is excellent as well but even on a solid shuffle like "The Gift" where he recites his musical influences he was says Jesus straightened him out and now Bryan knows what to do. Then he sings that "Jesus Gave Me the Blues," that is followed by a rendition of the late Cootie Stark's "U-Haul," with its lyric that we don't owe anything since we can't take it when we pass on. Lee does a fervent new recording of one of his older blues, "Don't Take My Blindness For Weakness," where he sings I'm as good as you, and anytime one makes one, Bryan has to make two. There is also a nice arrangement of "The Lord's Prayer," that Lee sings his heart out.

As stated, "Sanctuary" is musically a solid Bryan Lee performance, but again some may be turned off by the religious content.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the January-February 2018 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 382). Here is an earlier live version of "Don't Take My Blindness For Weakness."

Leo Bud Welch The Angels in Heaven Done Signed My Name

Leo Bud Welch
The Angels in Heaven Done Signed My Name
Easy Eye Sound

This is the final recordings by the late Mississippi blues and gospel artist Leo 'Bud' Welch. Welch's first two albums appeared on Fat Possum and then Big Legal Mess. I have not heard the previous two albums, but the present one is one in its straightforward presentation of his gospel singing and guitar backed by the small ensemble that provides generally sympathetic settings for his heartfelt songs of praise.

The pure heartfelt soul of his singing on "I Know That I Changed," is matched by the raucous backing on "I Come To Praise His Name" with its emphatic repeated riff and backing vocals. Then there is the brooding "Walk With Me" with his vocal and backing building in intensity. On "Right On Time," they get a groove suggestive of Hill Country Blues with a gospel group adding backing vocals. Over 80 when he recorded this, he perhaps can't sing as strongly as when younger and playing in jukes, but the heartfelt quality of his vocals moves on "I Wanna Die Easy."

With producer Dan Auerbach's slide guitar the only additional accompaniment, the brief "Sweet Home," closes a most moving recording. It should be noted that the recording time of the 10 songs is less than 30 minutes, but there is no filler for this posthumous release by the down-home Mississippi performer.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a video of "Right On Time."

Marie Knight The Gospel Truth Live

Marie Knight
The Gospel Truth Live
M.C. Records

A surprise is this posthumous concert recording by the late great Gospel singer, Marie Knight. Knight was then one of the last great singers from the Golden Age of Gospel (1940-1960), who may be kn own for association with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the nationally famous gospel singer-guitarist, who she met in 1946. The two became gospel’s preeminent duo of the 1940s, recording hits for Decca Records, including “Didn’t It Rain,” “Up Above My Head,” and the gorgeous “Beams of Heaven.” By the late 1940s, Marie and Rosetta had split to pursue separate musical projects—Marie to do solo gospel work on Decca.

Tharpe and Knight still reunited frequently on stage during the 1950s, however. In addition to singing before thousands of gospel fans in Washington, DC in 1950, and touring with up-and-coming gospel vocalist Wynona Carr in 1954. In the 1960s, Marie cultivated a rhythm-and-blues career, touring with the likes of Brooke Benton, the Drifters, and Clyde McPhatter. After a hiatus, she re-emerged in the mid-1970s to record gospel music. After recording a song on a Sister Rosetta Tharpe tribute album, she recorded an album of the gospel songs of Rev. Gary Davis titled “Let Us Get Together” which came out on M.C. Records in June 2007 and was the last studio album she recorded.

The posthumous "The Gospel Truth Live," was recorded October 19, 2007 at a Gospel Festival at the Church Street Center in North Adams MA. As noted in Bil Carpenter's liner notes, it was a wet and overcast day when she first met with students at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and then headlined the school's Gospel Fest. She was accompanied only by pianist Dave Keyes on a program that is mainly drawn from the songbooks of Tharpe and Davis (not surprising since Knight's album of Davis songs had been released a few months earlier) interspersed with her introductions and parables about life, including a moving reminiscence of performing in California and learning her mother and two children perished in a fire and having to sing between the tears.

Certainly a good portion of the songs will be familiar including "Didn't It Rain," and "Up Around My Head," from her days with Sister Rosetta Tharpe (and the latter number seems very popular today), along with "I Belong to the Band," "12 Gates to the City," "I Am the Light of the World," and "Let Is Get Together," from Reverend Gary Davis. Then she mixes in traditional spiritual numbers like "Jesus Loves Me," "I'll Fly Away," "Closer Walk With Thee (on which Keyes sings) and "For Thine is the Kingdom." Keyes provides a stately, sometimes barrelhouse rooted, boogie backing that supported her wonderful singing, that belied her age of 87 at the time. Time had little affected the power she could invest her nuanced vocals with.

Less than two years later she would pass away, and a cherished voice was silenced. Not having the pleasure of seeing her perform, I can appreciate the honesty and passion of the music here. Thanks to Mark Carpentini for producing this and making this wonderful release available.

I received from my review copy from M.C. Records.  Here she sings Up Above My Head."

Race Records and the American Recording Industry 1919-1945: An Illustrated History

Race Records and the American Recording Industry 1919-1945: An Illustrated History
Allan Sutton
Mainspring Press, Littleton, Co.
2016: 366 +x pp

Allan Sutton is a noted historian of the American Recording Industry. I have read two of his three volumes detailing the history of the American Recording Industry from its inception in the cylinder days and the emergence of discs to the transition from acoustic to electric recording, as he detailed the rise and fall, bankruptcy, consolidation and more of the recording companies in the United States: "A Phonograph in Every Home," and "Recording the Twenties." A succinct description of this present volume is that it "is the story of the companies, and individuals, who within several decades, made the recording more inclusive, and far more interesting than it once had been." It is a history of the emergence of 'Race Records,' or a history of recordings that were intended primarily for black consumers.

In his introduction, Sutton notes that Blacks comprised only a minuscule portion of early record catalogs. Black songwriters fared somewhat better but their material was likely to be performed by whites often employing stereotypical 'darky' accents. The few black recording artists generally only recorded " carefully polished spirituals, antebellum plantation songs, close-harmony quartet songs or self-deprecating "coon songs," material that white audiences expected and found acceptable.

At the close of World War I, three companies dominated the recording industry, Victor Talking Machine Company, the Columbia Gramophone Company, and Thomas A. Edison, Inc. Victor catered to an upscale market as well as its founder and president believed part of Victor's mission was to refine public taste. Victor did issue recordings of the Castle House Orchestra, under the direction of James Reese Europe's direction, but his picture was not used in advertising and the company reportedly auditioned a Creole Jass Band, but nothing was ever issued. Edison, the smallest of the three, was hobbled by Thomas Edison himself who was nearly deaf (and had strong ethnic and racial prejudices) and insisted on auditioning his company's recordings and his veto was rarely challenged. Columbia was the most populist of the labels and released recordings of Bert Williams, W.C. Handy, and Wilbur Sweatman. Increasingly though Blacks were clamoring for better representation in record catalogs and with the success of Mamie Smith's recordings along with the efforts of George Broome's label and Harry Pace's Black Swan label, recording companies a more accepting attitude in pursuit of profit.

This somewhat detailed background (two pages of text in the volume) provides the context for the story Sutton provides here. He briefly chronicles the career of George W. Broome who was the first black-owned record company (First publicized in Tim Brooks "Lost Sounds —Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry"), who was manager for the renown African-American tenor Roland Hayes. Hayes, after not being able to interest Columbia in recording him, paid Columbia to record a number of his solos which he sold by mail. Broome started a label in a year, 1919, in which some newer labels had begun to record Black artists including Aeolian-Vocalion label who signed Fred Dabney, a popular Harlem composer, bandleader and associate of Jim Europe. Pathé recorded vocalist Noble Sissle and the Eubie Blake Trio as well as the Wilbur Sweatman Jazz along with Europe's 369th's Infantry Band. However these artists were still artists having appeal to whites. Broome recorded composer Harry T Burleigh making his only recording of "Go Down Moses," along with recordings by sopranos, a baritone and a violinist. These recordings however sold very little and in a few years Broome was operating a printing business.

Sutton next touches on the Mamie Smith's recording of "Crazy Blues," which resulted in part from the General Phonograph's Company's Okeh Records efforts carve out a niche with songwriter Perry Bradford's persistence as a song plugger and promoter of the blues and the talent of Smith, a stage and cabaret artist. After sufficient sales of her initial recording, on August 10,1920, she recorded "Crazy Blues" and another tune backed by the Jazz Hounds. This was released in October 1920 and the advertisements for it indicate it was sold to a general audience not simply blacks as some like Daphne Duval Harrison erroneously has written. Sutton also corrects the claims of 75,000 sales the first week and over a million that have been made over the years as sales records have not survived but also hard to reconcile with what we know generally of sales of recordings at the time. Still it clearly was a strong seller. The book thus plays a service in correcting some myths and providing more to the story of Smith and how her success impacted the other recording companies. and led to the blues craze although more conservative companies like Edison and Victor were resistant. In contrast, Columbia and smaller labels like Arto recorded acts like Mary Stafford and Lucille Hegamin.

Next discussed is Harry Pace, formerly W.C. Handy's partner formed his new venture, Black Swan, to hire only Black talent. With the Black press itself promoting Black Swan, Pace hired a young Fletcher Henderson to play piano on many recordings. Initially to present Black Swan as a reputable operation to investors, he produced cautiously records to appeal to Harlem's upper crust who viewed blues as distasteful, so initial releases were a black concert singer or concert soprano appropriately accompanied. But it was the recording of Ethel Waters doing popular numbers that led to a change. Her initial release of "Down Home Blues" and "Oh Daddy," sold well and the chapter details Harry Pace's sometimes excessive claims in promoting his company as well as follows some of the other artists Pace recorded like Trixie Smith, details his efforts to get his records distributed and the ultimate inability to obtain national distribution, a problem white start-up labels also faced. Sutton also describes efforts at getting manufacture of the records closer to home, forming a classical division and unsuccessful efforts to find capital. This lack of capital eventually led to Black Swan s acquisition by the New York Recording Laboratories (owners of the Paramount label) which was one of its most substantial creditors and many Black Swan releases became issued on a hybrid Paramount-Black Swan label.

After a chapter on other early Black Entrepreneurs and short-lived labels like G-B Record Company, the Spikes Brothers Sunshine label, SeeBee, Meritt and Blu-Disc (whose releases included The Washingtonians and Duke Ellington), Sutton discusses the Mass-Producing of the blues by labels such as Emerson (releases by Fletcher Henderson, Lena WIlson, Hazel Meyers and others), Vocalion (who signed Ethel Waters, Victor, Brunswick and even Edison (whose racist head still auditioned all his artists and recordings and also auditioned recordings from other labels), along with the efforts of Joe Davis to promote his artists and songs he published.

A chapter is devoted to Ajax Records that advertised itself as The Quality Race Record. It should be noted that while Race Records depicted the performers and expected market for a recording, the term "Race" was used by Black intellectuals who wanted to uplift "The Race" through various activities, including cultural ones. Ajax recorded a variety of jazz and blues, including Hazel Meyers, a few releases from Mamie Smith and even boxer Jack Johnson (depicted in an advertisement that is among the many illustrations in this book), but factors like poor distribution and lack of distinctive artists contributed to its failure like other labels of the time.

Attention is next directed to the recording activities in the Midwest and Gennett, who after recording the white New Orleans Rhythm Kings, waxed the classic recordings with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Richmond, Indiana, as well as some of recordings in Chicago. Bessie Smith's recording career is also discussed and it is noted that despite being a race artist her recordings crossed over to a more general audience. In addition to the efforts of Gennett, the recordings for Okeh and other labels in Chicago are chronicled as are those of Paramount in recording Ma Rainey and Ida Cox as well as the recording of more rural sounding performers. These efforts are documented along with numerous examples of newspaper advertisements and discussion of efforts at promoting and distributing such material.

There is a full chapter on Paramount and the country blues and the success of artists like Blind Blake and Papa Charlie Jackson was highly influential and the the major labels themselves were in transition in how they recorded similar material. But such efforts are also contemporaneous with the recording of Louis Armstrong's Hot Five and Seven recordings. also labels like Okeh and Victor started traveling to remote locations to record race and old timey artists. The result of field recordings led to performers like Cow Cow Davenport, Victoria Spivey, Lonnie Johnson and Rev J.M. Gates being waxed, while in Chicago studios King Oliver and his Dixie Syndicators, Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers and others were recorded. Sutton also notes shifts in the individuals holding management position of efforts at producing race records, their approach to producing recordings and how they sold and distributed such country blues records.

A chapter is devoted to the recording of "Shouting Preachers and Singing Evangelists' that included the Black Billy Sunday, Reverend James M Gates, and other preachers along with evangelists including Arizona Dranes, Washington Phillips and Blind Willie Johnson. A further chapter focuses on 'Urban Blues, Hokum and Boogie Woogie' and the impact of such folks as Leroy Carr, Tampa Red and Georgia Tom, and Roosevelt Sykes.

In the pivotal year of 1929 Victor was acquired by the Radio Corporation of America and it finally creating a race record catalog. It was a year Victor issued Blind Willie McTell, Jim Jackson, Johnny Dodds and Rev. McGee, while Louis Armstrong's recordings appeared to veer in popular music direction and a year Paramount first recorded Charlie Patton at Gennett's Richmond, Indiana studio while starting construction of its Grafton Studio.

Sutton chronicles the decline in the industry following the October, 1929 stock market crash which augured bad times ahead for the record industry. Labels like Paramount fell, others went into bankruptcy followed by the rise of cut-rate labels including Bluebird as well as the emergence of Decca Records and the emergence and demise of American Record Corporation that was owned by Consolidated Film Industries. Consolidated had acquired Columbia after the esteemed label fell into bankruptcy, and issued recordings on a variety of labels including Perfect, Romeo and Vocalion. While Robert Johnson was among those who recorded for the ARC labels, Sutton observes that he "made no impact on America's recording culture or its musical culture prior to his rediscovery in the 1960's." While ARC flourished in the late 1930's, it was eventually acquired by the Columbia Broadcast System, which would operate it for decades.

The next to last chapter concerns the rebound in the recording industry as reflected in the catalogs of various companies and describes changes in the production and sale of recordings. The final chapter considers the War Years, including the impact of the first Petrillo strike and the emergence of new independent labels relating to records directed primarily, not exclusively, at Blacks. An epilogue notes changes in attitudes leading to abandonment of the term, 'Race Records" and its replacement by Rhythm & Blues. One appendix lists the various race record series of the various record labels, while another one enumerates Race Series talent scouts, talent brokers, and artist and repertoire managers.

Sutton's monograph provides a concise, well-written, discussion. Its most immediate appeal will be to enthusiasts of blues and early sacred material. One might wish a bit more space had been provided on the black jazz and dance bands, along with vocal quartets. It was perhaps unavoidable otherwise one might have a considerably (and perhaps unwieldy) larger volume which likely would not added much more to understanding the history of race records. In any event, this volume likely belongs in any strong library relating to African-American music, and replaces Dixon and Godrich's "Recording the Blues," as the basic authority on the subject of the pre-World War II blues recording industry.

I purchased this book. It is $39.00 for US sales (postage included) and $59.00 for shipment outside the US (includes insured airmail). Visit http://www.mainspringpress.com/.

Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams

Washington Phillips
Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams
Atlanta GA: Dust-To-Digital
2016: 76 pages plus16 track CD

Atlanta-based Dust-To-Digital has another important Book-CD combination with "Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams." As noted on its website, Dust-To-Digital's, inaugural release, 2003’s "Goodbye, Babylon," included two recordings by a mysterious gospel musician from Texas named Washington Phillips. Now, this book and CD by this unique singing evangelist who played a very unusual instrument provides much new information on this artist as well new masterings of all of his extant recordings from pristine copies.

Michael Corcoran has uncovered new information on Phillips, just like he did on another great Texas evangelist, Blind Willie Johnson. He was able to track down Phillips family history, including that his grandfather was a slave born in Kentucky and was in Texas during the Civil War. He uncovers the facts of Phillips death, refuting the story he died in an mental asylum (it was a cousin, also named Washington Phillips who died there), but rather died after falling down the stairs in a Texas state building in 1954. Corcoran also refutes the generally accepted idea he backed himself on the duceola, a rare kind of portable piano. Rather he cites a 1907 newspaper clipping that refers to what Phillips called the Manzarene. This may have been one or two zithers (which he was photographed with at one of his recording sessions) to which he may have employed a self-invented stringing along with a unique tuning.

Additionally, with interviews of persons who knew Phillips, Corcoran rounds out our knowledge of this evangelist and his life. There is also discussion of his recording sessions and a consideration of several artists who have been affected by the unique, almost ethereal, recordings he made. Compared to Blind Willie Johnson he lacks perhaps the overt, fiery passion, but when Phillips sings "Mother's Last Word To Her Son," "I Was Born To Preach The Gospel" or the two-part "Denomination Blues," there is a smoldering intensity to his singing along with his unique accompaniment resulting in these often mesmerizing performances. There also are lyric transcriptions included in this handsomely packaged and illustrated music reissue and book.

I purchased this from Dust-To-Digital and for more information on a book-CD package that would make a marvelous Christmas present, check out http://www.dust-digital.com/.

Here is Phillips from an earlier mastering of perhaps his most famous recording, "Denomination Blues, Part 1."

Sojourners Sing And Never Get Tired

Fans of gospel music with a bluesy twist may find a new album by the Canadian gospel trio, The Sojourners, Sing And Never Get Tired (Little Pig Records) to their liking. Comprised of Marcus Mosely, Will Sanders and Khari McClelland, The Sojourners are backed by a small group that includes producer Paul Pigat on guitar and Steve b on harmonica for the Vancouver recording. 

Sing and Never Get Tired explores the roots of the connection between gospel and social action by dipping into the deep well of American roots music to revisit classic songs associated with The Staples Singers, The Dixie Hummingbirds, Rosetta Tharpe and Nina Simone, along with songs from Stephen Stills and Bob Dylan. The songs speak of faith, struggle and the promise of redemption. Of this Mosely commented, "This album is grittier and has more of an edge than anything we've done before. These new songs have a groove to them. We're doing dance music, and if you come to see us, you should come ready to have a good time.”

Pigat’s trebly guitar evokes Pops Staples perhaps on the opening Don’t Knock the first of the truth and gospel songs that the trio deliver the message that one does not knock heaven’s door, simply walk right in. Its the first of an album full of wonderful singer and tight rootsy backing that enhances their fervent vocals. Marriner adds some strong harmonica for the driving parable, Christian’s Automobile where faith is one’s steering wheel. Like the Staples might adapt a Bob Dylan song, the three provide a fresh setting and take of Stephen Stills’ mid-sixties message song For What It's Worth. Ezekial is a jubilant telling of the Jewish Scriptures story while Milky White Way, with piano, recalls some of the classic gospel recordings of the fifties. 

Other selections include a terrific rendition of The Staples Why Am I Treated So Bad, a rocking rendition of This Train, with some fine harmonica in a backing that has some rockabilly tinges and Dylan’s “ Shall Be Released, with Pigat being very effective in his guitar backing. The unaccompanied I Ain’t Got No Home, another number with a social message, ends this recording with more strong, committed vocals that make Sing And Never Get Tired such a fine recording. Fans of Mavis Staples most recent recordings along with those who loved The Staple Singers will have plenty to enjoy.

I believe I got this from Little Pig Records.  Here is their rendition of For What It's Worth.

The Como Mamas Get An Understanding.

An unexpected delight is Daptone Records release of a CD from an a cappella trio of gospel singers, The Como Mamas, Get An Understanding. Como, Mississippi is best known as the home of Mississippi Fred McDowell and while best known as a giant of Mississippi blues, McDowell also recorded religious songs with members of his church. Michael Reilly first met the three ladies when traveling down south for a documentary about local musicians. He met Angela Taylor along with Ester Mae Smith and Angela’s sister Della Daniels and found out they had been singing gospel together since they were kids. The three sang “Peace of Mind” at the time that Reilly recalled sent chills to Reilly and his associates. 

He came back and recorded the three at Mt. Mariah Church, a small structure surrounded by a cemetery where several relatives were buried, including Ester’s grandfather, Miles Pratcher, who was a guitarist, songwriter and entertainer and often played music with fiddlers and guitarists on the porch (including with Fred McDowell). In 1959 Alan Lomax in fact recorded some of these porch sessions which Ester recalled. Now five decades later, Esther and her two close friends came together for the a cappella gospel on this recording.

Ester takes the lead on most selections with her powerful voice with the others providing the fervent responses to her calls on the moving performances here starting with Old Landmark, with their call to the old ways and staying in the service of the Lord. God Is Able to carry one through and all one has to do is trust in Jesus with their vocals preaching their deep beliefs in the gospel. The old style gospel continues on such songs as God Is Good To Me, Peace of Mind, Meet Me At The River Jordan, One More River To Cross and Ninety Nine And A Half Won’t Do. The latter song, originally from Dorothy Love Coates, was transformed by Wilson Pickett into a secular deep soul classic. “

The passion here is present until the closing moments of Nobody’s Fault But Mine. Get An Understanding is must listening for fans of traditional gospel and anyone who loves great, heartfelt singing.

I was sent a review copy from a publicist. Here is a clip of The Como Mamas performing.

Mavis Staples Urges Us To Have A Little Faith

One of the highlights from this summer’s Pocono Blues Festival (2004) was the performance by Mavis Staples. Her set included some classics associated with the Staple Singers and what was then a preview of the recently issued Alligator disc, Have a Little Faith. This new album will be welcome for Ms. Staples’ many fans and gain her new fans. 

While the material is religious in nature, the basic messages of songs such as the title track, God Is Not Sleeping, In Times Like These and Step Into the Light can move persons of all faiths. The mood of many songs is mostly reassurance in these very troubling times we live in. There are some nods to the unsettled times on There’s a Devil on the Loose, while a couple of songs, Ain’t No Better Than You and At the End of the Day, promote the idea that whatever our state in life, we are all basically the same. As she sings on the latter number that whether one is a Wall Street broker or a fruit cart vendor, “At the end of the day, we’re all the same.” 

Mavis Staples at 2010 Pocono Blues Festival
Photo © Ron Weinstock

She recalls her late father on Pops Recipe, singing about he taught how to sing and how to live and gave his family all his love and everything he had to give. A Dying Man’s Plea is a moving rendition of See That My Grave is Kept Clean, with additional lyrics that Pops Staples had added with nice dobro and fiddle from John Rice. The album concludes with a new rendition of Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which was the first song the Staples learned to sing as a family and was a hit for them on Vee-Jay. 

Produced with Jim Tullio who adds percussion, bass and guitar on various tracks, Mavis Staples sings brilliantly with so much passion. The musicians in the studio provide a most sympathetic backing, with a bluesy-soul feel on most of the songs. This writer may be a religious skeptic but these performances move me. This is clearly among the best recordings (blues or otherwise) of this year. 

This review appeared in the October 2004 DC Blues Calendar and the November-December 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 271). I received a review copy from Alligator.  Here is her with her dad Pops Stales and her sisters, The Staples Singers doing one of their classics.

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.

Lurrie Bell Knows That The Devil Ain’t Got No Music

A new Lurrie Bell recording, The Devil Ain’t Got No Music (Aria B.G. Records), represents a double departure from Bell’s prior recordings. First of all the album focuses on the sacred side of Lurrie’s repertoire and secondly the performances are rendered in a stripped down vein, mostly acoustically. Part of its origins was the years growing up as a child with his grandparents in the South that Lurrie spent playing and singing in church. After moving North, where he become known for his blues guitar and vocals, Bell would sing and play many of the songs heard on this new release around his home. The Devil Ain’t Got No Music was produced by Matthew Skoller and in addition to Bell, has guests Joe Louis Walker, Billy Branch, Josef Ben Israel, Kenny ‘Beedy Eyes’ Smith, and Bill Sims, Jr.

Its a bit more informal sounding than Lurrie’s electric blues recordings with producer Skoller presenting the performances in a variety of settings ranging from the opening Swing Low, Lurrie’s personalized interpretation of Swing Low Sweet Chariot, where his guitar and vocals are backed by Smith’s percussion and Sims’ hand claps as he vocally riffs on “swing low.” Joe Louis Walker contributes slide guitar and backing vocal to It’s a Blessing, while Lurrie’s vocals and guitar are joined by backing vocal on Thomas Dorsey’s Search Me Lord. Don’t Let the Devil Ride is one of several songs on the theme of stay away from the devil with Lurrie’s trebly guitar evocative of Magic Sam with Kenny Smith’s supportive drumming. On Muddy Waters’ Why Don’t You Live So God Can Use You, Lurrie’s self-accompaniment channels Lay My Burden Down.

The title track was written by producer Skoller and based on a quote from Mavis Staples. With a small combo (with Skoller on harp) Bell notes the devil has fire, horns and a tail but the devil has no music so that’s why his home is hell. On Thomas Dorsey’s “Peace of the Valley” Bell adds string slapping while Joe Louis Walker adds whining slide accents to the fervent vocal. Smith’s percussion and Cynthia Butts background vocals are the stark backing for Bell’s delivery of Tom Waits’ Way Down In The Hole, which is where you want to keep the devil.

Bill Sims adds second guitar as well as provides the arrangement to Lo and Beyond, while Joe Louis Walker and Sims add their clapping and enthusiasm as Lurrie shouts I’ll Get To Heaven On My Own, which Walker wrote. Billy Branch is part of the unplugged small Chicago blues styled backing on Trouble In My Way, with Mike Avery and James Teague adding their backing voices.

The Devil Ain’t Got No Music concludes with a lengthy, solo rendition of Reverend Gary Davis’ Death Have No Mercy. As noted, it presents a definite different musical side of Bell. Bell sings with passion while the emphatic, percussive manner of his guitar style is evident. The unusual twists and turns his guitar playing often take is less prevalent but still it is certainly a release that is well worth checking out.

I received a review copy from a publicist for this release.

Soul Enriching Journey of McCrary Sisters

Singing comes naturally to the McCrary Sisters, daughters of the late Rev. Samuel McCrary --  one of the original members of the legendary gospel quartet The Fairfield Four. The harmonies siblings Ann, Deborah, Regina and Alfreda produce reflect the singing they grew up with in the home and at their father’s church and they have produced a recording Our Journey (McC Records) which is a result of their years of singing music of praise on a program of songs that might draw some comparisons to the Staples (except the material is more straight gospel and less some of the message songs of that legendary group).

While the sisters are the executive producers, they had assistance from Kevin McKendree, Gary Nicholson, Buddy Miller and others. McKendree is among the musicians on this album that also include Buddy Miller, the late saxophonist Dennis Taylor and guitarists Todd Sharp and Bob Britt. Guest vocals are added by Delbert McClinton, Mike Farris and Patty Griffin. Included are some covers as well as six originals penned by the sisters.

The opening interpretation of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind is simply stunning with its gospel-inflected arrangement and guitarist Ron McNelley’s stinging fills. This is a performance likely would have crossover appeal. There is a country-soul tinge to the Follow Me Up and original by co-producer of this track, Tommy Sims, that would have been at home on a Staples recording with its message of reassurance and comfort. Kevin McKendree and Regina McCrary collaborated on Bible Study, a hot jump blues melody with its gospel lyric about talking about Jesus and a groove that dancers may find irresistible as they sing mama get your daughter and daddy get your song and get right with the bible.

Julie Miller’s Broken Pieces is given a lovely performance that Alfreda takes the lead on as she sings about one can have her heart if one doesn’t mind the broken pieces. Ann McCrary’s Know My Name is a powerful gospel performance with sparse, percussive backing and followed by the fervent Memphis soul-gospel flavor of Give Him My All, a song collaboration between Regina and Bob Dylan that evokes the Staples at their best. He Cares has a softer R&B flavor as Alfreda leads the sisters in telling us he cares for us with what wounds her heart and soul, followed by the a cappella rendition of traditional Dig a Little Deeper in God’s eternal love where Deborah takes lead. On Other Side of the Blues (Since I Met You), Regina is joined by Delbert on a gospel-uptown blues as they sing about meeting their savior they are on the other side of the blues.

The album closes with more down home gospel a cappella singing on the title track about through song, the sisters journey keeps moving along. One of the sisters comments “That’s the way daddy would have done it” and indeed he would be overjoyed by the performances as they sing “through our song our journey keeps moving on.” And moving listeners and audiences is certainly what the performances do. Highly recommended.

I received a review copy from a publicist for this release. Here are McCrary Sisters on you tube performing Blowin' In the Wind.

Utah Smith almost makes me a believer

A recent post on Memphis Gold noted the deep influence his upbringing in the Church of God in Christ had on his music. When chatting about it and the name of Utah Smith came up he launched into an a cappella Smith's iconic number "I Got Two Wings," and recalled seeing Smith perform wearing his wings. To reiterate a point I made, while Robert Wilkins showed Chester Chandler specific things on playing the guitar, Utah Smith's music is part of the musical DNA of his music as displayed on his recent albums.

When I was in New Orleans this past spring I came across (at the Louisiana Music Factory) Lynn Abbott's book on Utah Smith, "I Got Two Wings which comes with an accompanying CD that includes several versions of "Two Wings," including some previously unreleased versions and recordings by associates (Arizona Dranes, Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and his daughter, on this intriguing biographical study that I recommend enthusiastic. Additionally the CD has some wild fervent music. There is a review on amazon that is also helpful. You can get it from either www.louisianamusicfactory.com or amazon.

Sacred Steel's First Exposure

Its just been over ten years since Arhoolie Records issued its first anthology of the sacred steel music tradition. In the intervening decade some performers in the tradition such as Aubrey Ghent, the Lee Brothers and the Campbell Brothers have become well known outside this music's religious origins and Robert Randolph has become a star on the pop circuit. Here is my 1997 review from the Jazz & Blues Report of the CD that initiated the interest in this music. Kudos to Chris Strachwitz for generating interest in this genre like he did in cajun and zydeco, norteno and so much more roots music.

Arhoolie Records has issued a most intriguing collection titled Sacred Steel. Comprised of various field recordings, some from concerts and some from religious services, its subtitle of Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida should give a sense of its contents. Producer Robert Stone provides a lengthy discussion of the music and the performers here. As his accompanying booklet notes, steel guitar (both lap steel and pedal steel) is an integral part of the worship in the House of God, and the five performers featured here are among its greatest proponents. Certainly there are moments where the music will be very much like blues, but with a different message. Steel guitar lends itself to vocalized playing that has always been a part of African-American music and this is illustrated in Sonny Treadway’s instrumentals of classic hymns as well as by Willie Eason, a pioneer of this music who recorded in the forties and fifties, and reprises his Franklin D. Roosevelt, A Poor Man’s Friend that he originally recorded after FDR’s death. The music from the religious services, where the steel playing gets entangled in the frenzied celebrations, is mesmerizing, as the music hits a fever pitch that would make a hot John Lee Hooker boogie sound like a bedtime lullaby in comparison. This collection serves didactic and entertainment functions equally well with many inspired performances.

Marie Knight's loving tribute to Rev. Gary Davis

Fans of Sister Rosetta Tharpe may be familiar with the name Marie Knight whose alto could be heard with Tharpe’s soprano and guitar on such records as Up Above My Head, I Hear Music, and Didn’t It Rain. Knight, who had her own gospel hit with Gospel Train, was located and participated in MC Records highly praised tribute to Tharpe, Shout, Sister, Shout, and is now featured on a stunning new MC records release, Let Us Get Together: A Tribute to Reverend Gary Davis. Produced by Larry Campbell, who played lead guitar and other instruments in Bob Dylan’s Band from 1997-2004 but has played with numerous acts such as Paul Simon and Willie Nelson. Campbell in the early 1970’s became obsessed with Rev. Gary Davis’ music and as he shows on this release, is a marvelous guitarist in the Piedmont finger style approach. His guitar is the foundation for Knight who still remains a vigorous vocalist that invests her renditions of Lord I Feel Like Goin' On, I Belong To The Band, Samson & Delilah, I Am The Light Of This World, 12 Gates, and Death Don't Have No Mercy, with such fervor. Perhaps her range is diminished a tad with age but her phrasing and delivery belies her age. Five selections are solo including Lord I Feel Like Goin’ On and Samson and Delilah, while several, including I Am the Light of the World, have a backing band that may get occasionally messy but do not detract from the exuberance and celebration. Catherine Russell contributes an effective backing vocal here while Kim Wilson adds harmonica in addition to the rhythm to Twelve Gates to The City, and Death Don’t Have No Mercy. The latter track is the recording’s longest and Knight is compelling on this spellbinding performance that is perhaps the highlight of a truly excellent disc. In addition, there is a short Quicktime video which gives Marie Knight a chance to tell us about herself and she is as vivacious as in her performances. Gary Davis’ memory is served well by this disc that is also a reminder that the magnificent Ms. Knight is alive and very well. One of the best discs in any genre this writer has heard this year.

Floored by the Thunderbolt of the Middle West

Brother Joe May
Thunderbolt Of The Middle West
Specialty

The first time I heard this Brother Joe May Specialty album, (reviewed in Jazz & Blues Report in the November 1993 issue) I was overwhelmed. Here was as powerful a singer as I had heard and if not religious, I could not help but be impressed by the fervor as well as his power in the performances. Concord has acquired Fantasy (and Specialty) and this CD is still in print and should be readily available.



Fantasy Records not only has a fine series of reissues from the Specialty rhythm and blues catalog, but also the equally invaluable Legends of Specialty Gospel series. Space limitations prevents as extensive coverage of all these releases that they deserve. One recent release in particular stands out with one of the most remarkable singers of any genre that America has ever heard. Thunderbolt of the Middle West spotlights Brother Joe May, with guest appearances by Sister Wyonna Carr, the Pilgrim Travelers, and, on the live recording of Old Ship of Zion that opens this collection, Charles Brown on organ and the Sallie Martin Singers. It isn't simply his range, it is, as the annotators state, his uncanny sense of dynamics and vocal projection that leave their mark on the listener. His vocals go from a gentle recitation to a soaring affirmation of his beliefs that make his renditions of Thomas Dorsey's How Much More of Life's Burden Can We Bear or I'm Gonna Live the Life I Sing About in My Song, so compelling. In addition to his powerful singing, there are also a dozen or so songs from the late gospel composer. Brother Joe May was firmly committed to gospel music, and resisted efforts to have him make secular recordings. If he had crossed over, he would have been one of the rhythm'n'blues artists recently honored with a stamp by the postal service.

Excellent new Holmes Brothers CD

The Holmes Brothers new Alligator album, State of Grace, is another solid disc by brothers Wendell and Sherman Holmes and drummer Popsy Dixon. Listening to this disc, like most of their recordings, one gets a mix of soulful R&B, gospel, country and blues which certainly transcends simple labeling of the trio as a blues group, a term that becomes increasingly meaningless but also one that does disservice to them. There are some choice originals like Sherman Holmes wonderful country soul ballad, Close the Door, and remakes of pop classics such as Nick Lowe’s (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace Love and Understanding. Wendell Holmes handles the lazy southern funk of Gasoline Drawers. Rosanne Cash joins Wendell on a lovely rendition of Hank Williams’ I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love With You, with some lovely mandolin from Larry Campbell behind the very heartful vocals. Glenn Patscha adds accordion and Campbell is on fiddle to add some cajun flavor to a lively rendition of John Fogerty’s Bad Moon Rising, while Popsy Dixon handles the vocal on Glenn Patscha’s Three Gray Walls, a terrific song that sounds like a classic R&B song from the pre-Beatles period. Joan Osborne takes the vocal joined by the Brothers on Those Memories of You, another soulful reworking of a country song, while Levon Helm joins in for I’ve Just Seen the Rock of Ages. Other delights include Sherman’s interpretation of he soulful-folk of Lyle Lovett’s If I Had a Boat, Wendell’s handling of George Jones’ Ain’t It Funny What a Fool Will Do, and his own Standing in the Need of Love, a strong blues original with a strong guitar solo from him as well, and the closing rendition of Lyle Lovett’s God Will where Popsy is at the forefront. The album displays the attention to good songs, solid musicianship where there is a recognition that understatement is often a virtue and marvelous singing that has been the hallmark of The Holmes Brothers recordings for the past few decades. This terrific disc is easily recommended even if difficult to classify as fitting within any particular genre.