RIP Lionel Batiste

1997_Salute_to_Uncle_Lionel-115, a photo by NoVARon on Flickr.

I first met Lionel Batiste when the Tréme Brass Band played the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival in the mid-nineties. He was an institution in his home town, beloved by musicians and music lovers (to use the term of Kermit Ruffins). I just found about his passing and just want to express my sadness. He brought so much happiness to so many.

Keith Spera had an obituary of him at nola.com that I am linking, http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2012/07/uncle_lionel_batiste_treme_bra.html

The image at the top was taken at a salute to him 15 years ago during jazzFest at the Funky Butt. The image at the bottom was taken at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

Duke Ellington and Orchestra in Zurich with Special Guest Don Byas

TCOB Music calls itself The Montreux Jazz Label ™ and has several different series which can be distinguished by the color of the CD spine. Red is devoted to bebop, hardbop and postbop, green is devoted to the Swiss Radio Days Jazz Series and has vintage jazz concerts recorded by Swiss radio (I have heard an excellent live Art Blakey set), while blue is devoted to the music of the forties and fifties in general. One of the recent productions in the blue series presents vintage Duke Ellington & Orchestra.

Live in Zurich, Switzerland presents a May 1950 performance by Ellington in Zurich that certainly will be welcomed by fans of the Duke Ellington. The Ellington Orchestra that day included trumpeters Harold Baker, Ernie Royal and Ray Nance; trombonists Lawrence Brown and Quentin Jackson; saxophonists Jimmy Hamilton, Johnny Hodges, Harry Carney, Jimmy Hamilton and special guest Don Byas; the Duke and Billy Strayhorn sharing the piano chair, Wendell Marshall on bass, and Butch Ballard sharing the drums with Sonny Greer.

In addition to Don Byas’ appearance here, the program is quite fresh opening with Suddenly It Jumped, before going into Ring Them Bells. Creole Love Call features Kay Davis’ remarkable vocalizing while Harry Carney gets to showcase his baritone on Paradise. Air Conditioned Jungle showcases Jimmy Hamilton’s clarinet, while Byas shines on How High the Moon, which opens as a ballad for two or so minutes before the band kicks up the tempo first moderately, then ratchets it up into hyperdrive before Byas slows it down for its ending.

The Tattooed Bride, which was then a relatively recent composition of the Duke, is the lengthiest performance here with Lawrence Brown’s trombone and Jimmy Hamilton’s clarinet prominent Billy Strayhorn takes the piano chair for the band’s his classic, Take the A Train, while Frankie and Johnny features a healthy does of rollicking stride piano from the Duke, some violin from Ray Nance and more clarinet from Hamilton.

More piano is heard in the introductory portion of Rockin’ in Rhythm. Johnny Hodges’ alto is featured on the tone poem, Violet Blue, and the hot blues, Jeep is Jumping. It likely is Ray Nance handling the vocal on W.C. Handy’s St. Louis Blues, while trumpeter Ernie Royal is showcased on S’Wonderful, opening first using a mute before launching into his bop-inflected saxophone. This is a very welcome addition to the Ellington discography with its interesting personnel and the very interesting selection of material. The sound of this live recording sounds pretty good as well.

This review appeared in slightly different form in the April 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 303). I believe I received my review copy from that publication. This is still available including as mp3s.

Lil ‘Ed & The Blues Imperials Jump Start Their Houserocking Blues

Alligator Records has just released the labels eighth album by Lil ‘Ed & The Blues Imperials, “Jump Start. Only Magic Slim and the Teardrops has a lengthier tenure of playing down classic Chicago blues and like Slim, Lil ‘Ed Williams benefits from having stability in his group. In fact, the present line-up of cousin James ‘Pookie’ Young on bass; Michael Garrett on second guitar and Kelly Littleton on drums has been together for nearly 25 years, since right before Ed’s second album, Chicken Gravy & Biscuits. This helps explain the tightness of the performances heard here.

Fans of Lil ‘Ed & the Blues Imperials will find little new on this collection of hard driving slide blues and Chicago shuffles. With the exception of a J.B. Hutto cover, Ed wrote or co-wrote the songs here. There is a mix of a slow, straight blues such as You Burnt Me, where after being left out on the street Ed asks why would he want her back, and the amusing slide-burner Born Loser, on which Ed sings about living on the edge and walk on the wild side but opportunity knocked and his door was locked, and murphy’s law is his motto. On the driving House of Cards, Ed tells his woman that she was living in a dream and the game has turned around and her house of cards is tumbling down after dealing Ed a bad hand with her dating another man.

Jump Right In, is an amusing song about this woman telling him to jump right in to the pool and she’ll teach him to swim and when he is ready for his swimming test she’ll take him to her deep end. Michael Garrett takes the solo on this. Marty Sammon’s organ adds atmospheric to Life Is A Journey, which he wants to share with his woman. Musical Mechanical Electrical Man musically channels uncle J.B. Hutto’s Please Help, as he tells his woman he will fix her up as he has a plan. Ed’s evokes his uncle further on his fervently performed cover of Hutto’s “If You Change Your Mind” with Sammon adding piano behind Ed’s passionate sining and driving slide guitar. It may be the stand-out performance on an album that is consistently entertaining and full of heartfelt blues.

Like the entire body of recordings by Lil ‘Ed and the Blues Imperials, Jump Start will get the party rocking with its good-time houserockin’ blues.

I received a review copy from Alligator Records. Here is Lil 'Ed & the Blues Imperials at the 1993 Pocono Blues Festival. I was at this show. Nearly two decades later they are still going strong.

Don Sebesky's Masterwork Giant Box

Don Sebesky’s Giant Box is part of the CTI Masterworks reissues of classic CTI albums marking the label’s 40th Anniversary. Originally issued as a double album, the single CD here makes available the music that Sebesky contributed arrangements/orchestrations to along with some original compositions from him. While it might seem this was a tribute to him from the label’s artists, in fact it was his attempt to showcase some of the label’s soloists he had worked with, and while writing the material he had a feeling who should play specific solos. Sebesky himself the arrangements and compositions here were amongst the most ambitious he had written at that time.

Among those featured on the performances on this recording are Sebesky and Bob James on keyboards; Ron Carter on acoustic, electric and piccolo bass; Billy Cobham and Jack DeJohnette on drums; George Benson and Harry Leahy; Airto, Dave Friedman and Ralph McDonald on percussion; Paul Desmond, Joe Farrell; and Grover Washington, Jr. on saxophones; Milt Jackson on vibes; Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and flugelhorn; Hubert laws on flute; and Jackie Kral and Roy cain on vocals.

The liner notes to the original release are included and while there is considerable classical influence (including his full use of strings, horns and woodwinds) in how Sebesky approaches some of the performances, he affirmatively answers that the ultimate result is jazz. He uses Stravinsky's Firebird to frame his orchestral arrangement for John McLaughlin’s Birds of Fire that is one of the showcases for Hubert Laws’ flute along with Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet and Harry Leahy’s guitar. Paul Desmond’s dry martini alto saxophone is showcased on the interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s Song to a Seagull, on which Sebesky is heard on electric piano.

Sebesky’s electric piano opens his original Free As a Bird with soaring horns has outstanding solos that take flight from James on piano, Hubbard on flugelhorn, and Washington on soprano sax (note how he really digs in on this). James is on organ for the arrangement of Jimmy Webb’s setting for Psalm 150, with Jackie Kral and Roy Cain singing praise for the Lord with Hubbard’s trumpet and Carter’s bass adding to the joyful sounds. Desmond opens the interpretation of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise, which is followed by some vibes-piano interplay between Milt Jackson and Bob James along with more Desmond on a lovely performance with some flamenco tinges and lovely use of horns in the orchestration.

Sebesky invokes us with his vocal to fly high as we could if we only could try opening his original medley Fly/Circle. This performance opens somewhat dreamingly that has both Laws and Farrell both displaying a fair amount of reverb in their flute and soprano sax respectively before an interlude with DeJohnette and Carter followed by Farrell’s serpentine solo and a skittering solo from Laws. The closing original Semi-Tough has a funky groove, some skittering piano from Sebesky, a gospel rooted vocal chorus, some gritty alto saxophone from Washington, and George Benson making judicious use of pedal effects in his driving guitar.

The performances on Don Sebesky’s Giant Box display how his ambitious synthesis of classical, jazz and popular music was so realized. His orchestrations frame the featured players here and enhance the solos that exhibit the skill and imagination of some of the greatest jazz musicians of four decades ago with m,ore than a few spectacular moments.

I received my review copy from a publicist for the release.

Zac Harmon Heals One's Blues On Music Is Medicine

The latest recording by Zac Harman, Music Is Medicine (Urban Eagle), brings a southern soul-blues sensitivity to a bit of prominence in its musical palette. With the current Zac Harman Band that includes Cedric Goodman on drums, Corey Lacy on keyboards and Buthel on bass with Christopher Troy and others playing on some selections. Harman had a hand in writing all eleven of the songs on this.

The most striking thing about this recording is just how good a vocalist Zac is, which should be no surprise. On this Zac handles a range of lyrical themes such as his celebration of Miss American Girl, with its musical evocation of Sly and the Family Stone’s If You Want To Stay; a witty look at Viagra®; singing songs of praise and faith in Running From the Devil, and Grandma’s Prayer; a bit of hootchie kootchie on Country Boy; a plea to keep the relationship going on Talk To Me; and I’m a Healer, with Zac singing about music being medicine and how he is gonna heal things.

Zac and his band are tight, his vocals are naturally soulful and he adds some blues-rock tinged searing guitar as appropriate. The standout track to this listener is Talk to Me, a song in the same vein as Latimore’s classic Let’s Straighten it Out, with Harman asking his woman about the airplane ticket she has and lets talk things over. He evokes Latimore and he brings a similar warmth and expressiveness on his own deep take on relationships. The harder blues feel of Country Boy, his celebration of his country roots is another excellent performance as is the country-soul flavor of Grandma’s Prayer, on which the band members show that Zac isn’t the only one who can deliver a vocal.

Music Is Medicine is a terrific demonstration of Zac Harman’s musical healing arts. He is one of the few artists today that can bridge the various blues scenes today, appealing to blues cruisers as well as those who turn out to hear their favorite soul blues and southern blues acts on the chitlin circuit and this recording can similarly bridge a wide range of listening audiences.

I received this from the DC Blues Society for review in its newsletter, the Capital Blues Messenger. The DC Blues Society received it from Zac’s manager. Here is a performance of Zac Harmon of one of his signature songs, Who's Knockin'.

Magic Slim Rockin' Zoo Bar Blues

Here is another vintage Magic Slim review. It appeared in the November 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 216). I have made a few minor stylistic changes. I believe I purchased this CD. Magic Slim & The Teardrops Are among the blues most prolific recording artists, with numerous albums on a variety of labels. They will have a new Blind Pig album later this fall or early next year. Austrian Wolf Records recently issued Spider In My Stew/the Zoo Bar Collection Volume 4 consisting of 1980s live recordings from the famous Lincoln, Nebraska club. Despite the similarity in tempos (many being mid-tempo boogaloo-Jimmy Reed shuffles), and a somewhat restricted musical palette, Magic Slim has been able to build a loyal and growing following partly due to the Teardrops’ ability to lay down a consistent driving groove. One surprise here is a very fine, slow-drag tempo used on the late Buster Benton’s Spider in My Stew. If lacking a great vocal range, his subtle embellishments can be quite powerful. If Slim is not one of the virtuoso blues guitarists, his driving, stinging attack is supported by a tight groove keeps the dance floor full with a tempo that never is rushed or hurried. There is plenty of familiar material here including Standin’ on the Highway, which Slim has recorded previously and he rocks through its easy shuffle groove. A singer, Earlene Owens, guests on a medley of blues classics, while Slim’s eclecticism is found in his renditions of other classics like a driving shuffle take of Eddie Miller’s (I’d Rather) Drink Muddy Water, where he exhorts the audience to a call and response, before launching into a hard driving solo. He engages in broomdusting on Walkin’ Cane (a retitled Look On Yonder’s Wall), while gives a smoky blues cast to Ivory Joe Hunter’s Since I Met You Baby. After rocking J.B. Lenoir’s Mojo Boogie, with a raspy vocal, this excellent live recording concludes with Slim’s own affirmation of Little Milton’s The Blues Are All Right. In Magic Slim’s hands the blues certainly are all right, and this is among the better of his recordings that this writer has heard.

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.

Johnnie Bassett Can Make It Happen

A couple years after his acclaimed The Gentleman Is Back, recording, that gentleman of the Detroit Blues, Johnnie Bassett, is back with a new release on Sly Dog Records, I Can Make That Happen. This new release on the Mack Avenue subsidiary label brings the veteran singer and guitarist produced by keyboardist Chris Codish and saxophonist Keith Kaminski, both of whom have long tenures playing with Bassett. The program of eleven songs display Bassett's genial vocal style and jazz-inflected guitar that evokes some of B.B. King's recordings from the mid-1960's. I am particularly thinking of the live Blues Is King album although Bassett is a little bit lighter in his attack. In any event, the performances here are rendered with a relaxed soulfulness and a definite panache starting from the opening moments of his salute to his home city Proud To Be From Detroit, to the closing moments of Let's Get Hammered.

Proud To Be From Detroit is a mix of travelogue (going from Greek Town to Belle Isles), a salute to the city's sports teams, ladies, music and other matters ("if you come to visit, you may never leave") set to a nice funky groove (James Simonson's bass merits note) with Bassett taking a fleet, skittering solo. Its followed by some risqué blues including Bob Codish’s Love Lessons, where Johnnie will take this lady to school, taking care of her in home room and helping her with her homework. Spike Boy has strong guitar in addition to intriguing railroad imagery, as Johnny boasts of being a natural born driving and is better than any machine. Horns help frame the performance. The title track, by Chris Codish and Nashville songwriter Jim ‘Moose’ Brown, has a nice groove as Johnnie tells this lady that if she wants to get out of her rut, come to him and he can make it happen, and if she needs some satisfaction, well Johnnie can make it happen.

A fairly straight cover of Solomon Burke’s Cry For Me follows and is a pleasant performance, although Johnnie’s vocal does not carry the weight that Burke does. My own favorite rendition of this song is the deep southern soul reading that Bobby Powell gave it. Bob Codish’s Teach Me To Love, is a classic R&B ballad with Detroit blues diva Thornetta Davis sharing the vocals and Keith Kaminski taking a booting tenor sax solo. Kaminski contributed the swinging instrumental Dawging Around, which is a tribute to the late Scott “E. Dawg” Petersen, who was a member of Bassett’s Blues Insurgents. This finds the leader in more of jazzy guitar vein, Kaminski is clean and solid and Codfish gets gritty on the organ. More funk follows on Cha’mon as Bassett urges everyone to get grooving while on Motor City Blues he sings about some of the harder times in Detroit while expressing an optimism that the Motor City will be coming back. The closing Lets Get Hammered is an ebullient shuffle with Codfish rocking the 88s where Johnny says to bring him some alcohol.

Included on my advance copy is a nice understated cover of Jimi Hendrix’s The Wind Cries Mary, but which has been replaced on the issued CD by a cover of Reconsider Baby, apparently at the request of the Hendrix estate. I cannot comment on that latter performance, but even if were a lesser performance this would not change the opinion that this is another well produced and enjoyable recording. Johnnie Bassett is still making it happen with his soulful and sophisticated blues.

A publicist provided me with a review copy. Here is Johnnie doing a selection from his prior album.

Big Time Sarah and the Blues Women of Chicago

Big Time Sarah (Streeter) with her band, the BTS Express, has a new album, Blues In The Year One-D-One (Delmark), which should appeal to straight ahead Chicago blues fans. A shouter who strongly suggests Koko Taylor, although not quite on the level of Chicago’s blues Queen, Big Time Sarah succeeds on this entertaining set with the range of material she handles, including some nice remakes of Hound Dog (given a fresh arrangement), Ain’t Nobody’s Business, Steal Away, Chicken Heads and Down Home Blues. On the latter number, her keyboard player, Tony Llorens, opens with some classical sounding piano which Sarah interrupts saying she doesn’t want to hear that, she wants to hear the downhome blues. Among the remakes is her first recording, Long Tall Daddy that she made years ago with Sunnyland Slim on piano (and I believe Magic Slim on guitar). The guitarist on this session, Emery Williams passed away while the album was being readied for release, and is featured on Bouncin’ and Breakin’, an instrumental takeoff on B.B. King’s Woke Up This Morning, which Sarah capably performs. The wide range of material is engagingly performed, and while Big Time Sarah may not be at the top echelon of blues singers, she has more than capably succeeded with this solid session. A recent Delmark album that I missed reviewing when it was released is Women of Blue Chicago which brings together some recordings by Big Time Sarah, Karen Carroll and Bonnie Lee along with tasty performances by Lynne Jordan, Shirley Johnson and Katherine Davis. Lynne Jordan casts a wide net with little Willie John’s R&B rocker, I’m Shakin’, along with a vaudeville blues classic that Ruth Brown has revived, If I Can’t Sell It, while Shirley Johnson is backed by Johnny Moore on a tasty As the Years Go Passing By, and It Hurts Me Too (with Moore adding nice slide). This collection can be safely recommended. The above review appeared in the October 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 215) and I likely received review copies from Delmark. Here is a DVD of a more recent performance of Big Time Sarah.

Clifton Chenier Was Zydeco Dynamite

Rhino has issued Zydeco Dynamite, The Clifton Chenier Anthology, which is a two compact disc, 40 track retrospective of Clifton Chenier’s recording career (thirty two tracks on two cassettes). Compiler Greg Durst observes, “If these scorchers don’t make you move like an alligator in a pond of hot sauce, you’d better consult a physician,...…Clifton Chenier will always be the one who makes the Bon Ton Roulet.” And the good times sure roll on here from Louisiana Stomp, Clifton’s first record for the Elko label, through some of his Specialty recordings that rocked almost as hard as the hottest Little Richard numbers (although Clifton was more down in the alley, and less flamboyant), his lengthy association with Arhoolie Records (from which about half of the recordings are derived), to rarities made for a variety of labels including I’m a Zydeco Man, the title track of his Grammy Award winning album. One cannot underestimate the importance of Clifton Chenier. He is to zydeco what Bill Monroe is to bluegrass. His french recasting of blues, and rock and roll songs, mixed with adaptations of cajun and creole themes, made the language barrier less imposing. Like Fats Domino, his creole accent, and the total sincerity manifest in his vocals, gave his songs a certain irresistible appeal for those exposed to them. He was a first rate blues singer as well as a person that could get the house rocking for a marathon zydeco live dance. The compilation opens with a good helping of his rare recordings for Specialty, Chess (the Argo and Checker subsidiaries) and Zynn (one of Jay Miller’s labels), and with the exception of Eh Petite Fille, many of these early recordings are hot rock and roll songs not far removed from the recordings of Fats Domino and Little Richard. Ay Ai Ai is the first of the many Arhoolie recordings represented. Others include Bon Ton Roulet (his French reworking of Louis Jordan’s Let the Good Times Roll), I Am Coming Home, an adaptation of a Charles Brown recording that was Clifton’s favorite recording, the hot live Zydeco Cha Cha where brother Cleveland and drummer Robert St. Judy take a somewhat irresistible percussion break, and I’m on the Wonder, from a session with Elvin Bishop. Bogalusa Boogie, which many consider Clifton’s finest album, is represented by four selections. One thing that set these recordings apart is the saxophone of John Hart, probably the greatest blues saxophonist since J.T. Brown. Hart is also present from on a number of other selections including Easy, Easy, Baby from an album that also included Stanley Dural (Buckwheat Zydeco) on keyboards and several selections albums on Floyd Soileau’s Maison de Soul label including Hot Tamale Baby. There is a wealth of material here although there are some gems that were omitted like You Used to Call Me, a bluesy waltz, Ma Negresse, with uncle Morris Chenier contributing alley fiddle, and the country blues flavor of Black Snake Blues. With compiler Durst’s cogent discussion of the man and his music, this is a fine reissue. For those wanting more Clifton Chenier, Arhoolie has issued Clifton Sings the Blues. It includes 12 recordings that Roy Ames produced in 1969 that have appeared on several labels including Prophesy, Home Cooking and Arhoolie, along with seven cuts from the album Clifton Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band, an album with John Hart and Stanley ‘Buckwheat ‘ Dural. Easy Easy Baby appears to be the only duplication with the Rhino collection. Other songs include Ain’t No Need of Crying, a song Clifton sang in French on Arhoolie as Louisiana Blues; a rocking version of Fats Domino’s Rosemary; Be My Chauffeur which is derived from Memphis Minnie; the standard Trouble in Mind; Worried Life Blues, and a rocking version of Boozoo Chavis’ Paper in My Shoe. Outstanding cuts from The Red Hot Louisiana Band include Hungry Man Blues, which uses the Hootchie Kootchie Man melody, and Grand Prix, a wonderful bilingual tune with Clifton’s lament about the price he paid for loving his woman. By all means get the Rhino, but don’t stop there. Clifton was one of the true greats of the blues, not simply zydeco, and even with 40 cuts, Rhino merely skims the surface of his musical legacy. With his music, the good times continue to roll. This review originally appeared in the July/August 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 183) and I have made some stylistic edits. I likely received review copies from the record label or a publicist. Both are available as used (with the Rhino apparently being easier to find). The Arhoolie is also available as digital downloads. Here is the King of Zydeco singing I'm A Hog for You.

The Blues Foundation's Hall Of Fame Merits Your Supporty

As stated on its website, www.blues.org, The Blues Foundation is currently engaged in a capital campaign to build a physical Blues Hall of Fame. On the website, the Foundation notes the history of the Blues Hall of Fame and its plans:

“Since 1980, The Blues Foundation has been inducting individuals, recordings and literature into the Blues Hall of Fame, but until now there has not been a physical Blues Hall of Fame. Establishing a Blues Hall of Fame enhances one of the founding programs of The Blues Foundation. The campaign calls for up to $3.5 million to create a hall of fame that will be the place to: honor inductees year-round; listen to and learn about the music; and enjoy historic mementos of this all-American art form. The new Blues Music Hall of Fame will be the place for serious blues fans, casual visitors, and wide-eyed students. It will facilitate audience development and membership growth. It will expose, enlighten, educate, and entertain.”

It is a substantial amount to raise but certainly would provide a way to have more than a virtual Hall of Fame to honor the legendary performers, recordings and related individuals of the Blues. More information including the making of pledges and donations can be found at the website with a link on the Blues Foundation’s home-page. I encourage all the blues lovers in the blues community to honor the legends and history of the music and support the Foundation’s fund-raising efforts.

By the way, the graphic is taken from the Blues Foundation's website. The donate button on the graphic here does not work. The donate button at www.blues.org does work.

Excellent If Not The Essential Magic Slim

Morris Holt, best known as Magic Slim, has had a celebrated recording career over 40 years, and rarely produced a blues record that was merely good. It is misleading for Blind Pig to call the compilation of some of the best tracks from his half dozen or so Blind Pig albums, The Essential Magic Slim since any compilation of Slim’s recordings that do not span his entire career including the superb records that have been issued on Rooster Blues, Alligator and the Austrian Wolf label can hardly be called Essential. Best of Magic Slim on Blind Pig would be more accurate.

This is not to say that the music here is substandard. In fact the music here is typical of the hard-driving rocking Chicago blues that Slim has been producing since his 1966 45 of Scufflin’. Opening with a rocking rendition of Bo Diddley’s Before You Accuse Me, rocketing through the terrific shuffle, Mind Your Own Business and continuing with a driving updating of Jimmy McCracklin’s Think, Magic Slim forcefully delivers his lyrics while laying down some stringing guitar. He is one of the few who can produce a listenable Mustang Sally while going down in the alley on the slow groove of Crazy Woman. Those backing him here include guitarists John Primer, Steve Freund, Michael Dotson and Jon McDonald, with brother Nick Holt handling the bass on most of the 15 tracks.

This may not be “The Essential” Magic Slim, but it is an excellent introduction to his music if you are not familiar with his distinctive and recognizable style.

I wrote this review in 2007 for the DC Blues Calendar and Jazz & Blues Report but I am not sure if either publication ran it. I likely received a review copy from Blind Pig.

James Cotton Always Was Deep In The Blues

James Cotton’s new Verve release, Deep in the Blues, has the legendary harmonica player and blues singer accompanied by Joe Louis Walker and jazz bassist Charlie Haden. Also, longtime Cotton collaborator, pianist Dave Maxwell is present on three of the 14 tracks. The album is an acoustic “unplugged” session, and a total delight. Cotton has had health problems in recent years, and the most evident toll has been on his voice which has come across as a ghost of its former husky self, but little effect is evident in his still splendid harp playing. Not straining against a full electric band backing, Cotton’s vocals sound comfortable in the setting. The songs are mostly blues standards, including Sonny Boy Williamson’s Dealin’ With the Devil; Lightnin’ Hopkins’ Play With Your Poodle; Percy Mayfield’s Strange Things Happenin’ and Big Maceo’s Worried Life Blues (two splendid duets with pianist Maxwell); and Muddy Water’s Sad Letter. Both Walker and Haden each have a solo instrumental, with Walker’s spotlighting his considerable skills using a slide. Walker forcefully sings on Muddy’s Two Trains Runnin’ with Cotton’s harp providing the crying harp commentary. Blues in My Sleep, a fine moody harmonica instrumental is the only selection where all four play together. There’s no new musical ground here, but rather musicians, friends and peers that have come to play some blues together. It’s a very congenial, low-key effort that will delight fans of Cotton and many others. This review originally appeared in the November 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 216). I likely received a review copy from the record label. Here is Cotton with Eric Clapton unplugged.

Jimmy Rushing's Classic Blues Shouting

Avid Jazz is one of several European Public Domain reissue labels that have compiled reissues of vintage jazz albums primarily from the 1950s and among recent reissues is Four Classic Albums Plus by Jimmy Rushing. Rushing is best known as a vocalist with the classic Count Basie Band of the swing era. His career of course started prior to that and his first recording was made with the legendary Blue Devils. Later he was associated with the Bennie Moten Orchestra which after the leader's death eventually morphed into The Count Basie Band. While more than simply a blues singer, his vocals on such songs as Boogie Woogie, Good Morning Blues, Goin' To Chicago, Sent For You Yesterday, and Don't You Miss Your Baby, led him to be cast as a blues singer. Of course he did sing more than just blues as exemplified by the Hoagie Carmichael classic New Orleans, with Moten as well as such pop tunes and novelties as as Exactly Like You, Boo Hoo, Georgiana, and Mama Don't Want No Peas 'N' Rice 'N' Coconut Oil. Like his blues vocals, he always swung hard with his phrasing and his full-throated and ebullient delivery.

By the 1950s he had established himself as a single artist. He had recorded for Vanguard Records under John Hammond's direction in the early 1950s with members of the Count Basie band and boogie woogie legends like Pete Johnson and Sammy Price. Subsequently he recorded a number of albums for Columbia of which four are featured on this Avid Jazz compilation: Jimmy Rushing and the Smith Gals, Little Jimmy and The Big Brass, Brubeck & Rushing and The Jazz Odyssey of James Rushing Esq. In addition to the music from those albums, these reissues also include a performance from the legendary TV show The Sound of Jazz and a rare British EP, The Way I Feel.

Altogether there are 49 songs over the two CDs included here so there is plenty of music. Some of the recordings are familiar to me from a Columbia vinyl reissue of the 1970s, but many of these specific recorded performances are fresh to the ears. On much of the recordings he is backed by some of the cream of the swing era musicians including Basie veterans like Walter Page, Buck Clayton, Dickey Wells, Sweet sEdison, Jo Jones, Vic Dickenson, and Buddy Tate, along with such other legends like Coleman Hawkins, Budd Johnson, Hank Jones, Milt Hinton, Hilton Jefferson, Doc Cheatham, Danny Barker and Zutty Singleton. And of course one of the albums included here had Rushing backed by Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Eugene Wright and Joe Morello.

From the opening moments of Arkansas Blues to the closing The Way I Feel, one is treated to some wonderful renditions of blues and classic pop songs that are sung with heart and humor. He can sound world weary on the blues like Down Hearted Blues, and Jimmy's Blues, yet wink about the fact Somebody Stole My Gal. He provides his own personal signature on classic blues like T'aint Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do, and I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts of Town as well as interpretations of Louis Jordan's hit, Knock Me a Kiss, and the classic Earl Hines tune Rosetta. And we should not neglect to mention the welcome reissue of the rare EP with the terrific blues Go Get Some More.

While most of the recording has him with big band (or little big band in some cases), the album with Brubeck has its own charm with a bit more intimacy in the setting and the somewhat lighter backing provided on a revival of Evenin', one of the songs he recorded with Basie, Fats Waller's Ain't Misbehavin', and the torch song Am I Blue. There is a definite appeal to Brubeck's understated piano and Desmond's dry martini alto sound and if Brubeck may have been skeptical when Rushing first suggested they collaborate, the result was another stellar showcase of a vocalist who touched many years ago and whose singing still sounds fresh today.

Like other similar reissues, the liner notes are reproduced in the accompanying booklet (although in some cases only portions are). The music also sounds good to these deafening ears. There is not a solid overview of Rushing's Columbia recordings available on CD. This makes this reissue even more valuable in addition to the wonderful music contained here.

This was a purchase. Here Jimmy sings I Left My Baby, from the legendary TV show, The Sound Of Jazz.

Debbie Davies Debut Picture This

Debbie Davies has a new release on M.C. Records I will be reviewing soon. It has been nearly 20 years since she had her first album, Picture This on Blind Pig. The following review appeared in the July/August 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 183) although I have made a few minor stylistic changes. I received my review copy from Blind Pig Records. Debbie Davies spent three years on the road as part of Albert Collins’ band before branching out into a solo career. Picture This (Blind Pig) is her debut album, and is more than a promising set of blues by a new female blues guitarist and vocalist. Obvious comparisons are to Joanna Connor and Sue Foley, however her music lacks the hard rock aspects of Joanna Connor and, unlike Sue Foley, she sings with authority on a program of modern blues, that include several tasty covers and a couple of solid originals. The title track gets off to a rocking groove, as her dryly delivered vocal leads to a solid solo. Albert Collins guests on I Wonder Why with a typical solo from him. The following number, Livin’ on Lies, is her best original song with memorable lyrics, a New Orleans rhythm and a biting solo as she effectively plays off the groove. Another fine original, How Long Till I Win Your Love, has a Magic Sam flavor. Another influence is Freddie King and she plays relaxed versions of King’s instrumentals Sidetracked and San-Ho-Zay. Admittedly there is nothing startlingly new here, just a set of modern blues that is well played and sung. Horns are added to several selections that help frame her playing and vocals as well as add variety. This reviewer was impressed when he saw her live, and this well-produced debut recording reinforces that impression. Recommended.

Big Time Sarah Lays It On 'Em Girls

Big Time Sarah is another blues woman from Chicago who has never received the acclaim her talents merit. The following review appeared in the September 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 184) to which I made minor stylistic changes. Lay It On ‘Em Girls is the first of three albums she recorded for Delmark. I will be posting in a week or so a 1996 review of another Delmark CD by her. This CD is still available. A woman blues singer with a strong release is Big Time Sarah with her brand new release on Delmark, Lay It On ‘Em Girls. One-time a protege of Sunnyland Slim, she is one of a number of tough women Chicago blues singers (others include Bonnie Lee and Zora Young) . I’ve been told that live, Big Time Sarah is an especially bawdy performer. She previously recorded in France on an album shared with Zora Young and Bonnie Lee, and later had an album out on the Blues R&B label. Delmark has issued the nicely produced album with a good mix of material which includes several Willie Dixon numbers (I Make Love, Hootchie Kootchie Woman, Lay It On ‘Em Girls, and Every Man I See), and unusual material such as Summertime, and Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine. She possesses a husky voice, and sings in a somewhat dry fashion, although she growls on occasion like on Evil Gal Blues. Her performances of the Dixon songs are first rate, perhaps being the high points of the set with the opening I Make Love and the title cut being especially sassy performances. Other performances are entertaining although her Evil Gal Blues and Summertime, while refreshing choices, are less successful. Her band, The BTS Express, is excellent and adds a jazz and funk sensibility to its blues playing. Guitarist Rico McFarland impresses with his fleet, jazzy attack and imaginative soloing while Rodney Brown’s tenor sax work is especially tasty. Certainly another blues woman to be reckoned with.

Shirley Brown's Classic Woman to Woman

Amongst recent reissues in Concord’s Stax Remasters reissues is the classic album Woman To Woman by Shirley Brown. Brown had one of the last big records for Stax (although on the Truth subsidiary) and the title track with an opening rap about calling this woman that Shirley found her number on a piece of paper in her man’s pants and then singing to tell the woman she will do everything to keep her man. Exhibiting a powerful gospel-rooted vocal, she delivers a commanding vocal performance.

The Arkansas native was brought to Stax by Albert King with whom she he performed shows with. On the album she was backed by a band that included Al Jackson Jr. on drums; Bobby Manuel on guitar; Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn on bass; Marvell Thomas on piano; and Lester Snell or organ with the Memphis Horns, and supporting vocals and orchestra. And they are present for varied material including It Ain’t No Fun, where she sings about her man coming home and acting just like a friend and that it ain’t much fun living by oneself and the one you love loves another. The song incorporates a rap in the middle.

A different mood is present on the Caribbean flavored groove of Long As You Love Me, as she lets us know she’ll be all right and she delivers this in a bit more relaxed vein. Jerry Ragovoy penned Stay With Me Baby, and Brown’s strong cover of the Lorraine Ellison original leads one to speculate how she might have handled other Ragavoy songs such as Piece Of My Heart and Cry Baby. More heat is present on Frederick Knight’s I Can’t Give You Up, with a relaxed rhythm.

Five tracks are appended to the original release. Yes Sir Brother, with a strong dance groove, is from the same sessions that produced the original album. There are three covers of Aretha Franklin recordings of which Ain’t No Way benefits from being less familiar than Respect or Rock Steady. Not that these are bad recordings, but they are overshadowed by Aretha’s original recordings and influence. The disc closes on a lengthy reworking of Signed, Sealed, and Delivered, I’m Yours, opening with a rap before she starts digging into the Stevie Wonder classic at a lumbering tempo and pouring out all her heart into her vocal. The tempo picks about 2/3 of the way through with the brass adding fuel to her vocal fire.

Included are the brief original notes as well as Lee Hildebrand’s notes to a 2008 English reissue and a more recent consideration from Billboard’s Gail Ellison that add background to what is contained but as Ellison whote “Stop reading and start listening.” Fans of Stax and souther soul who don’t have this in previous reissues will certainly want this excellent reissue.

I received a review copy from a publicist or the record label. In more recent years Shirley recorded for Malaco and here is a video of her performing.

James Cotton in 1967 Seems Like Yesterday

The Canadian Just a Memory label continues its documentation of live blues performances in Montreal in the late 1960s. The latest release, Seems Like Yesterday is by James Cotton from a September 28, 1967 appearance at the New Penelope Cafe, which was around the time when this writer saw Cotton at La Cave in Cleveland. I do not believe Cotton had the same band when I saw him. I believe that Alberto Gianquinto, who is on piano, had left Cotton, being replaced by a saxophonist, but I definitely recall the late, highly underrated Luther Tucker on guitar, drummer Francis Clay and bassist Bobby Anderson backing James at La Cave. Musically, this release mixes the blues and soul repertoire that characterized Cotton’s first Verve-Forecast album with renditions of songs from James Brown (I Feel Good); Big Jay McNeely (There is Something on Your Mind, although Cotton’s vocal is based on Bobby Marchan’s hit version, not McNeely’s original with Sonny Warner on vocals); and Bobby Bland (Good Time Charlie), along with classic Chicago Blues themes from Willie Mabon (I Don’t Know) and Little Walter (It Ain’t Right). Likely recorded from the soundboard, this may not be high fidelity, but one can hear what is going on. In addition to his first-rate harp, Cotton was in strong voice back then and sounds particularly convincing on Stormy Monday on which Tucker plays in an especially striking fashion. Cotton’s openness to a variety of sources is shown by his rendition of Nat Adderly’s Work Song. This may have been inspired by Paul Butterfield’s famous recording of the tune. Because of the less than perfect sound, casual listeners may pass on this. Others who remember this particular band, or are fans of Cotton will want this for historical and other reasons. This review appeared originally in the July-August 1998 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 233) and I probably received a review copy from a publicist or the label. Here is James Cotton from 1969 in a low-fidelity and slightly washed out video.

Magic Sam Had The Magic Touch

One of the blues artists I discovered when I first started listening to blues was Samuel Maghett, better known as Magic Sam. The release of West Side Soul on Delmark was quite an important album and highly acclaimed. Alas Sam died only a few years after despite the promise of a career that might have taken off. The following review of some club recordings appeared in the April, 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 180) and I have made minor stylistic revisions. I likely received a review copy from the label. It is out-of-print but is available used. It should be noted that this was released originally on vinyl on the Dutch Black Magic label around 1984 and they likely issued it on CD as well. Black Top’s release of Magic Touch makes available a live club recording by the legendary Magic Sam that was originally on the Black Magic label. Recorded at Sylvio’s (Howlin’ Wolf’s home base and it is Wolf that introduces Sam and Shakey Jake) by the Belgium blues and jazz collector George Adins, it complements the recordings from the Alex Club that Delmark issued on Magic Sam Live and is valuable as additional documentation of him. Magic Sam was joined by Shakey Jake Harris on harp and vocals on six of the fourteen selections, the bass of Mack Thompson, and the drums of Odie Payne. These are location recordings, and not hi-fi. The sound on this is better than on the Delmark, Adins source recordings likely being better. However, the editing is not as clean as the Delmark, so instead of the banter with the audience between songs on the Delmark, tracks get cut off abruptly as the song ends and the applause begins. The music is extraordinary, and there are some songs that Sam didn’t record elsewhere including Just Like a Fish, Dirty Work Going On, and I Just Can’t Please You. Shakey Jake sounds as good as he ever did on record on She’s Nineteen Years Old, and Juke. Thompson and Payne would play on Sam’s Delmark studio recordings, and add a tight, bottom to the music. Sam’s studio albums, West Side Soul, and Black Magic, are the logical places for persons unfamiliar with Magic Sam. Those hooked on his music will certainly want this and the Delmark live recordings. This is great stuff that shows why forty odd years later he is still revered by the musicians he worked with and blues enthusiasts everywhere. Here is the cover of the original Black Magic release of this material.

Wild Child Butler Knew These Mean Old Blues

These Mean Old Blues by George ‘Wild Child’ Butler appeared on Bullseye Blues in the early 1990s. The following review appeared in the June 1992 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 171), although I have made slight stylistic revisions. This release is still available as a CD or as digital downloads. I received my review copy from Rounder Records, Bullseye’s parent company. A fine set for harmonica blues fans, George ‘Wild Child’ Butler’s These Mean Old Blues (Bullseye Blues, are his first recordings since Funky Butt Lover in 1976 (now available on Rooster Blues). This London session captures some of the flavor of a Willie Dixon session. Some of these songs, The Devil Made Me Do It, and No One Woman’s Man, sound like songs Dixon wrote for Howlin’ Wolf. Butler is a capable, harmonica player who best suggests Sonny Boy Williamson, and he is a solid, ebullient, vocalist. He is particularly effective in a solo, country-blues mode (where he recalls the second Sonny Boy) such as on Walkin’ the Little Girl Home, where the mix of harp and narrative is very effective. Wild Child’s It’s a Pity is a nice Dixon-like topical minor-key blues. Wild Child Butler may not be among the first-rank of post-war blues singers or harp-players, but he puts on a good show, and makes a good record. Overall, this is a tasty blues morsel. Here is a video of the Wild Child performing.