Taking the Blues Time Machine Back to June 1977

This is my blues column from the June 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had Dizzy Gillespie on the cover. I have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. This column is devoted to live performances as well as reviews of reissues by John Lee Hooker and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. These albums were reissued by Fantasy I believe and may be available today.

The Belle Starr out in Colden, NY continued to bring blues acts to the Buffalo area. Early May saw Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. I caught their opening act and wasn’tt oo impressed with their new back-up band. When both Philip Guy and Buddy started to take the spotlight things got better and things were going well till Buddy broke a string during Junior Wells stint. Buddy wasn't able to get back in tune and it was a little disappointing. Others told me that other nights went much better.
 

Son Seals' debut at the Belle Starr, and first Buffalo area appearance in a couple years, was one of the finest blues acts I've seen in awhile. Son is an acidic singer and fiery guitarist and accompanied by a tough and tight band, including the aptly named Harry 'Snapper' Mitchum on bass, Pete Allen on guitar and Tony Gooden on drums, that provided quite a full sound. Son played quite a varied set doing hot versions of I Wonder Why, Sweet Angel Child, Why I Sing the Blues as well as tunes from his two Alligator albums such as Ray Charles' I Believe, Junior Parker's Telephone Angel and his own No, No Baby and Down on My Knees. Your Love is Like a Cancer is my own favorite taken at a rocking tempo with its stinging lyrics and guitar work. Son, on the basis of his records and his live performances deserves to be better known. If you are near where he is playing, do check him out.

As far as records go Fantasy has a twofer series of blues reissues. John Lee Hooker's Black Snake (F-24722) is reissued from two sets on Riverside. Hooker is solo on one record and on the other side bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes accompany on most of the material. There is better John Lee Hooker available, but their is also a lot worse stuff to listen to by him.

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee are one of the blues most celebrated duos delighting audiences for many years. Midnight Special (Fantasy F-24721) captures Sonny's exuberant harp playing and Brownie's fluid guitar. While this isn't down home country music but rather music for a white folk audience these 960 sides show that their professional approach doesn't mean the music lacks warmth or spirit. There mastery of the rural blues tradition shines and this set provides ample testimony to their contribution to American music.

Finally the Belle Starr continues to bring blues acts to the area. June 23-26 blues singer and guitarist Mighty Joe Young will be out at Holland-Glenwood Road. Mighty Joe Young is one of Chicago's finest musicians, a fact readily seen by his being in demand as a session man. He has recorded behind the late Magic Sam, Jimmy Dawkins, Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Fenton Robinson, Tyrone Davis among others. He has four albums out including the fine Blues With a Touch of Soul on Delmark, an album on GNP-Crescendo and two sets on Ovation. Joe is a mellow singer with a clean fluid guitar attack. This will be my first chance to see him in about six years. Hope to see you there.
 

Shawn Holt & the Tear Drops Daddy Told Me

Shawn Holt is the son of the late blues legend, Morris “Magic Slim’ Holt, and after the passing of his father has taken over The Teardrops. Blind Pig has just issued the first CD from Shawn Holt and The Teardrops, Daddy Told Me, and it is a strong recording very much in the vein of his father with driving medium tempo shuffles and slow-drag, bump and grind, blues. In addition to his guitar and vocals, he is joined by Levi William on guitar, Chris Biedron on bass and Brian ‘B.J.’ Jones on drums. On two selections, John Primer, who had a long tenure playing with Magic Slim, replaces William.

The tone is set with the opening Fannie Mae, where the Teardrops groove kicks in with Holt delivering the lyrics playing stinging guitar. The title track is an original, but based on Howlin’ Wolf’s How Many More Years and Baby How Long. Holt is a terrific singer who sings a bit more directly than his late father, as heard on his rendition of A.C. Reed’s Buddy Buddy Friends. This was a staple of Magic Slim’s repertoire which might explain why is is erroneously credit to Holt and not Reed. Other standout tracks include the rollicking rendition of Jimmy Reed’s Down In Virginia, and the Junior Wells, classic Little By Little. Primer handles the vocal and lead on Bo Diddley’s Before You Accuse Me, and which incorporates  the Dust My Broom riff.

Besides his strong singing and guitar playing, Shawn Holt also contributed several originals including the title track and the powerful Love Got Me Walkin’. The music here never sounds hurried or frantic and the medium tempos will undoubtedly appeal to dancers. Shawn Holt and the Teardrops may be perpetuating Magic Slim’s legacy with the performances on this first-rate recording, but he also shows that he is himself a promising, significant voice for today’s blues.

I received my review copy from Blind Pig Records.  Shawn will be appearing at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival in July. Here is a video clip of Shawn at Kingston Mines in Chicago with Eddie Shaw making guest appearance.

Taking the Blues Time Machine Back to May 1977

This is my blues column from the May 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had the great Roy Haynes  on the cover. My column was relatively lengthy, and included a Blues On EP segment which I will post next week. have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. Note that Southern Record sales from which I obtained some releases no longer exists, and of course Living Blues is no longer published in Chicago. Some of the recordings I reviewed are not easily found these days, but the Carey Bell, Johnny Shines and Phillip Walker should be available in some form.

March and April have been good months for live blues in Buffalo. Muddy Waters came to town with Johnny Winter and James Cotton for an entertaining show at the Shea's though Winter's contribution was strictly his name as he sang terribly and his guitar playing characterized by the typical excesses of rock guitarists. The following weeks concert of B.B. King and Bobby Bland has each do nice sets of their hits and then dueted together to close a fine evening of blues.

Johnny Shines, Big Walter Horton and the Rhythm Rockers were at the Belle Starr in Colden. The Rhythm Rockers are an excellent white blues band led by John Nicholas on vocals and guitar and Ron Levy on piano (He played with B.B. for several years). They played some fine West Coast styled blues mostly and did provide strong support for Horton and Shines. Horton proved himself the greatest living harp player alive with his warm fluid style of playing and his fat tone. Shines played some electric slide guitar and sand with his gut-tearing vibrato. The highlight of the night I saw them was the duets of Horton and John Nichols which was great stuff.

I missed Muddy's appearance at the Belle Starr with his regular group though I'm told they did well. Finally Robert Jr. Lockwood's appearance at the folk festival was marred by the sound at the Clark Hall. Robert's guitar work suffered as he and his band's other vocalist Otis Trotter sang well. Robert's white guitarist Mike Hahn did much of the soloing and displayed considerable mastery. "Hold Everything" was Robert's best number as the sound was sorted well enough for Robert's dazzling chord-work to shine. It was nice, but Robert and his band should be booked into a club where they can get a better feel. Robert is playing weekends (Thursday through Sunday) in Cleveland.

For those who caught Walter Horton and Johnny Shines at the Belle Starr I would suggest you check up on their recordings. Big Walter's album on Alligator (4702) features his fluid work backed by Eddie Taylor. Carey Bell, one of Walter's pupils on harp, also duets with his teacher on a nice set ranging from Having a Good Time, Little Boy Blue to Trouble in Mind. Johnny Shines has several fine albums out. His Advent album (2803) is stunning featuring six solo performances in the Mississippi Delta tradition and five tracks where he is backed by guitarist Philip Walker's band. One of the band tracks My Love Can't Hide is done over a smoldering band with Shine's vibrato singing creating an intensity matched only by Otis Rush. I agree with Living Blues that this is not to be missed. Both of these albums have been available for some time now but as many may be unfamiliar with these, do try to pick up on them.

Philip Walker incidentally has a solid new album, Someday You’ll Have These Blues (Joliet 6001). Philip had a now out of pr!nt album on Playboy and has done much session work (Johnny Shines and Eddie Taylor for Advent) and is a fleet guitarist and a grainy singer who comes through with strong performances. Particularly fine are Mama's Gone, EI Paso Blues and a gospel number When It Needs Gettin' Done. Definitely one to check out. If you can't find it at stores try Southern Record Sales, 42 North Lake Ave., Pasadena, Cal. 91101. Stores interested in carrying this album night write Joliet Record Co P.0. Box 67201, Los Angeles, Ca. 90067 or Southern Record Sales for information on where they might be able to acquire copies for sale.

Another West Coast bluesman is Sleepy Jim Berry who I had acquired a 45 of a few years back. That single Long Time Blues is included on his album The Berry Patch (Consolidated BR-103) an album which is mixed in material and quality but does Include some good strong slow blues notably Long Time and Dehydrated Love. Southern Record Sales can supply this.

It is great to have James Peterson back in Buffalo playing the blues weekends at the Sunset Inn on Main Street. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells are scheduled at the Belle Starr May 4-8 and of course the great Big Joe Turner and Lloyd Glenn at the Tralfamadore at the end of May (the 27-29) as a benefit for WBFO and part of Listener Support Week.

Trudy Lynn - Royal Oaks Blues Café

Has it really been over seven years since Trudy Lynn had a new recording out. Connor Ray Music issued Royal Oaks Blues Café, her first recordings since she recorded I’m Still Here (Sawdust Alley 2006) with the late Calvin Owens and his Blues Orchestra. The Houston based Lynn was among a number of artists who first came to folks attention on the Ichiban label and then for Ruf, Jus Blues and Sawdust Alley before this new recording.

The album cover bills this as Trudy Lynn featuring Steve Krase, and Krase’s harmonica is featured throughout. The studio band on most of this is guitarist John Del Toro Richardson, pianist Randy Wall, bassist Eugene ‘Spare Time’ Murray, and drummer Carl Owens. Its a solid small combo that contrasts with the Owens Blues Orchestra that supported her on her last album, and while the backing lends some difference in the mood perhaps, Trudy Lynn comes off as sassy and powerful as before.

She certainly benefits from a good mix of material from her strong rendition of the Jay McShann-Walter Brown blues standard Confessin’ The Blues, on which Krase and Richardson impress with their strong playing behind Lynn whose vocals display a clarity in phrasing and an expressive range (from a whisper to a shout). Wall’s piano kicks off the cover of a Bobby Bland recording, Play the Honky Tonks. Street Walkin’ Daddy benefits from the laid back backing with Richardson evoking the likes of Clarence Holliman and Pete Mayes behind Lynn’s soulful vocal. The tempo is boosted a few notches on the jump blues Red Light, while Lynn caresses the lyric of I’m Gonna Put You Down (“Did you ever wake up in the morning with your mind running two different ways”). Then she changes her attack for the jubilant celebration of Beale Street and the blues on the rollicking shuffle Down in Memphis.

There is fine Richardson guitar on the relaxed Effervescent Daddy with a choice harmonica solo as well. The closing Whip it To A Jelly further displays how nuanced a singer Lynn is as she brings out humor and wit of Clara Smith’s lyrics, Many blue singers today would come across as emotive or heavy-handed singing this. Her ability to convincingly deliver so many shades of blues makes Royal Oaks Blues Café such a terrific recording.

I purchased this. Here is a short video of the making of Royal Oaks Blues Café.

Janine Gilbert-Carter At Last

I was at the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival performance by Janine Gilbert-Carter which was recorded and released under the title “At Last." Carter is among a number of wonderful vocalists that can be heard in the Mid-Atlantic region, regularly performing around Washington DC and its suburbs. Carter, has toured internationally and as I write this, about to appear at the Metropolitan Room in New York City. She was mentored by the late Washington vocal legend Ronnie Wells. and brings a background in gospel, blues and jazz together with singing that is full of heart and passion delivered with humor or pathos and with her wonderful intonation and timing. On this self-produced recording, before a packed audience of friends and fans, she is backed by pianist Eric Byrd, bassist Wes ‘Sugah’ Biles, drummer Jeff Neal and saxophonist Brian Lee Settles.

She gets the audience involved in a call and response on a lively “Let the Good Times Roll,” while captures the indigo mood of the Ellington classic, “Don’t Get Around Much More,” with  tenor sax from Settles. This is a set list of favorite songs including a nice “Stormy Monday” (Byrd is outstanding on piano); a  reworking of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”; lovely ballad renditions of “Since I Fell For You” and “My Family Valentine”; and some strong scatting on “How High the Moon.” Much of her interpretation of “Fever” is a duet with bassist Biles followed by a rocking “I Don’t Hurt No More,” (with more outstanding playing from Settles) before closing with “At Last,”  a song that is always being requested by those attending her performances. Eric Byrd takes us to church during his solo here.

The performances that evening were marvelously recorded, mixed and mastered by Bluehouse Productions. Some folk might question the inclusion of so many well-known and familiar songs, but these are the songs that are her bread and butter and favorites of those who came for to see her that night. In her voice, these are not tired standards, but heartfelt renditions of classic songs. All that were at that show received this recording that stands up as more than a souvenir. This is available at cd.baby.com. Her website is http://www.janinecarter.com.

Here is Janine Gilbrt-Carter singing "Stormy Monday" at Westminster Church in Washington DC as part of their weekly Friday night Jazz series.

Taking the Blues Time Machine To May 1977 with Big Joe Turner

This is from the May 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had the great Big Joe Turner on the cover to help promote the show he did at the Tralfmadore Cafe. I believe I wrote the bio of Joe to promote the sbhow he and Lloyd Glenn did and I was privileged to emcee. While some of the specific albums may be out of print, most, if not all, of Big Joe Turner's recorded output that is listed is available today, although perhaps in different form. I will post my column from that issue next week. I have  noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. 

"Joe Turner can take the most innocuous song:and invest it with tremendous significance. He has a big, commanding voice which has served as the inspiration for many singers, from Jimmy Witherspoon downwards, and it is interesting to ob- serve that when rock-'n'-roll became popular during the nineteen-fifties Joe was able to stage a come-back without any alteration to his basic singing style." -Alun Morgan in Jazz on Record

The legendary blues shouter, Big Joe Turner, will be com- ing to the Tralfamadore Cafe Friday through Sunday May 27 through 29 along with pianist Lloyd Glenn. Big Joe is perhaps the premier blues shouter and a major figure in the histories of blues, jazz and popular music. Lloyd Glenn, if less known than Joe, is a fine pianist whose association with T-Bone Walker and Lowell Fulson as well as his own recordings insure a place in blues and jazz history.

Joe Turner was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1911. He started singing professionally at the age of 14 and in the 1930s was associated with the late Pete Johnson, who spend his last years in Buffalo, at the Sunset Inn where Joe tended bar and sang and Pete tinkled on the ivories. In 1938 they were participants at the famed "Spirituals to Swing Concert" that John Hammond organized at Carnegie Hall. Later in 1938 Pete and Joe joined pianists Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons at Cafe Society. Besides Joe's great singing the Cafe Society was headquarters of the three greatest boogie woogie piano players.

Joe also started a recording career, that is still going strong, recording with Pete Hot Lips Page, Art Tatum and others. Joe sang with Count Basie, Any Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy with whom Mary Lou Williams was playing piano, Duke Ellington, and Joe remembers that "I sang with Benny Goodman on the air when he had the Camel Hour, with Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson, and I sang with their trio."

Joe continued to record in the forties and made sides for a variety of labels including National, Savoy, Swing Time, Aladdin and Imperial. People he worked with on those records include Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Russell Jacquet, Don Byas, Art Farmer and Fats Domino.

In 1951 Joe was signed to Atlantic where his first session produced "Chains of Love" which earned Joe a gold record. With Atlantic Joe was a monster hit maker on the R'n'B charts with "Sweet Sixteen", "Honey Hush" “Shake Rattle & Roll" (which Bill Haley would later cover). "Flip Flop & Fly" (with Elmore James' band) and "Corrine, Corrina" which Joe first did with Art Tatum. 1956 produced a reunion album with Pete Johnson Boss of the Blues which was aptly titled as they produced a great album of Kansas City Jazz and did new versions of "Roll 'Em Pete", "Cherry Red" amongst the tunes associated with Joe. Joe has continued to record and perform.

The last few years he has sung with the Johnny Otis Show and recorded several .excellent albums on Pablo. His late 1976 engagement at New York's Cookery with Lloyd Glenn was a critical and popular smash.

Big Joe Turner and Lloyd Glenn are being brought to the Tralfamadore by PubIic Radio Station WBFO-FM as a benefit for the station. The concerts wiII launch Iistener support week at WBFO al)d besides great music you wi II be helping WBFO to expand its service to the community and to continue imto expand its service to the community and to continue improving its programming. As Benny Green has written "Joe Turner is one of the very few who sing the blues as though born to it.”

(Joe Turner quote from Paul Clinco's interview with him, Living Blues, Autumn, 1972)

Partial Joe Turner Discography
Rock in' the Blues .~ Atlantic Big Joe is Here - Atlantic
Big Joe Rides Again- Atlantic Boss of the Blues - Atlantic Best of Joe Turner - Atlantic
Joe Turner: His Greatest Recordings - Atlantic
BIues - Savoy
Careless Love - Savoy
Jump in' the Blues - Arhoolie (with Pete Johnson)
Roll 'Em- Bluesway
Super Black Blues - BluesTime (with T-Bone Walker and Otis Spann) 
The Bosses - Pablo (with Count Basie)
Meets the Trumpet Kings - Pablo (with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry and Roy Eldridge '
Nobody in Mind -Pablo (with Milt Jackson and Roy Eldridge)

Toby Walker - What You See Is What You Get

Toby Walker is amongst the finest living solo blues guitarists alive today and he has a new self-produced recording which displays his considerable talents, What You See Is What You Get. It is a marvelous recording with Walker employing a variety of guitars and even playing slide on an electric as he plays in a variety of older blues styles covering songs from Big Joe Williams, Rube Lacy, Louisiana Red, Mississippi John Hurt, Rube Lacy, Blind Willie Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson and Blind Willie McTell as well as performs several originals.

Walker’s gravelly vocal style does strain sometime and is less convincing to these ears on the opening Baby Please Don’t Go Do and Blind Willie Johnson’s God Moves On The Water, than it is on the able interpretation of Louisiana Red’s Dead Stray Dog, with some lively picking and slide. There is a jaunty Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, and a nice interpretation of Statesboro Blues, with splendid twelve-string playing. It is a delight to hear someone revive Rube Lacy’s Ham Hound Crave, with some guitar in the manner of such folks as Charlie McCoy and others. The rendition of John Hurt’s Got the Blues, Can't Be Satisfied is delightful.

Originals include a terrific finger style guitar feature dedicated to the legendary Blind Blake Putting On the Blakes, which cleverly mixes together pieces from various Blake recordings into a marvelous whole. I am unfamiliar with his previously recording but his playing is stunning here. Similar styled guitar is heard on the humorous Everything I Want, where he sings about chewing off more than he can financially handle. This has a fun lyric with marvelous playing. There is more wonderful playing on “Highway,” with a bit of country-folk flavor, while  driving slide playing on the amusing Put Something Stupid On The Tube, suggests it could be a vehicle for a group playing southern rock or country-rock.

The strong performances on What You See Is What You Get, make this a release to appeal to anyone who enjoys acoustic blues. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone playing better solo guitar today. In addition to music on the CD, a link is provided that gives access for three more downloads, 4 videos of interviews; stories and songs; 3 video guitar lessons; and more. More information on Toby Walker and this CD can be found on www.littletobywalker.com/.

I received my review copy from Toby Walker. Here is a video of Toby providing a bit of instruction on Mississippi John Hurt’s Got the Blues, Can't Be Satisfied.

Cathy Lemons Black Crow

Bay area singer Cathy Lemons brings a rich plate of musical gems including blues and blues-infused rock in a fashion that might suggest Bonnie Raitt. She perhaps a bit more grit in her vocal textures than Raitt, but communicates with perhaps a bit more understated approach and than Raitt. Her no album Black Crow (VizzTone) is a wonderful recording comprised mostly of her thoughtful originals ranging from rocking shuffles Texas Shuffle, strutting funk of I’m a Good Woman to soulful country-laced laments as on Kiernan Kane’s Ain’t Gonna Do It.

Her vocals strike the listener with their natural, relaxed and soulful quality. She is backed by a fine band with co-producer Steve Gurr on guitar, Paul Olguin on bass, D’Mar or Robbie Bean on drums, and Kevin Zufti on keyboards on three tracks. Doug James adds sax on three selections, Volker Strifler plays guitar on two, while Kid Andersen, another co-producer (who also recorded mixed and mastered this), adds organ to one selection and sound effects to another.

The title track is a country-rock number with a evocative lyric and her moving, smokey vocal supported by understated atmospheric backing as she weaves a lyric if a maimed black crow with her relationship to her man with the lament, “You’re my maimed black crow; All I ever wanted was your wings around me; I swear we both got to burn; But I’ll take you with me.” The laid back feel of this performance is followed by the Hip Check Man with  nifty guitar and harmonica from Gurr on a rocker with a driving groove and an understated, almost spoken, vocal. You’re in My Town, a slow blues, has echoes of Boz Scaggs in Gurr's guitar and the backing, as Lemons warns her man to take that woman from out of his eyes, or it will be the last thing he ever does. A gem is her cover of Earl King’s It All Went Down the Drain with the restraint of her vocal and Volker Strifler’s guitar adding to the atmosphere. There is a pleasant cover of James Brown’s The Big Payback with James  on baritone sax followed by another slow blues lament I’m Gonna Try.

Strifler adds a bit muscle to his guitar backing on the rocking Texas Shuffle as Lemons sings about give her an old time Texas Shuffle as she tries to get out of town. The album closes with The Devil Has Blue Eyes, with Gurr’s acoustic guitar and harmonica, is her reworking of Skip James’ Devil Got My Woman. It is a lament about how the devil took her man away, “Heart has no say; The heart has no say; This devil has taken my love away,” It has an austere and haunting quality and completes what is a memorable and recommended recording.

I received my review copy from VizzTone. Here Cathy performs Black Crow.

Oran Etkin - Gathering Light

Israeli born Oran Etkin is among a number of distinctive voices (others include Chicago’s Jason Stein and Baltimore’s Todd Marcus) specializing on the bass clarinet. Etkin’s music has long incorporated elements from the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere and his new recording Gathering Light (Motéma Music) continues in this vein taking inspiration in part by tours the past few years in Indonesia, China, Japan, Israel and Europe. On this he is supported by his trio of bassist Ben Allison and drummer Nasheet Waits along with Curtis Fowlkes on trombone and long-time collaborator Lionel Loueke on guitar and vocals.

The compositions range from an Indonesian folk song to Louis Armstrong’s theme song and indicate the range of musical flavors heard here. The opening Gambang Suling is the Indonesian folk song referred to with just the trio as Etkin displays his mastery of the bass clarinet's full range from the deep woody low reaches to  saxophone like horn lines as the rhythm duo of Allison and Waits provide the groove and complement Etkin’s serpentine playing that sugests a klezmer clarinet. Taxi Dance has an African flair with Loueke’s guitar contributing with his chords and single run accents while Fowlkes adds color behind the leader’s clarinet. Loueke also solos with his mix of distorted staccato runs and rhythmic accenting before the three take off with some collective improvisation. The lovely Israeli song Shirim Ad Kan has lovely clarinet and a brief bass interlude from Allison.

African flavor characterizes the joyous, Gratitude, with the quintet that opens with Etkin's’s woody tone punctuated with squeaks while Loueke adds some prickly guitar and a vocal as the ensemble gets into an energetic groove. Takeda (Homesick Blues) has a more subued feel with Etkin’s clarinet (with Fowlkes’ trombone’s embellishments) casting a melancholic flavor on a composition based on a traditional Japanese song.

Tony’s Dance with its unusual structure is a performance in the spirit of some of Eric Dolphy, while Guangzhou Taxi is a fascinating  performance with changes in tempo and temperature of the performance as Loueke sets off some fireworks during his solo. Louis Armstrong was Etkin’s first inspiration and a rendition of When it’s Sleepy Time Down South is full of lyricism It is a marvelous performance that concludes a superb recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. His website is www.oranetkin.com. Here is a video of Gambang Suling.

Taking the Blues Time Machine to April 1977

This is my blues column from the April 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had the great Roy Haynes  on the cover. My column was relatively lengthy, and included a Blues On EP segment which I will post next week. have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. Note that Southern Record sales from which I obtained some releases no longer exists, and of course Living Blues is no longer published in Chicago. Many of the recordings I reviewed are not easily found these days. Also the scheduled Jimmy Dawkins' performances mentioned did not happen as Jimmy was fed up with the music scene at the time. Big Joe Turner and Lloyd Glenn were replacements. I have corrected typos and spelling errors in the original review.

After a month that brought Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland and B.B. King legendary blues artist, Robert Jr. Lockwood, will be appearing at.the University of Buffalo Folk Festival Friday evening, Ap i I 15. (The festival runs through Sunday the 17th). Lockwood, the stepson of Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson has played and recorded with many of the greats such as Sonny Boy WiIIiamson (with whom he appeared on the famous King Biscuit Time radio program in the early 1940s), Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Eddie Boyd, Willie Mabon, Otis Spann and Roosevelt Sykes. One of the blues finest guitarists, his fluid chord-work should also appeal to jazz enthusiasts. He has influenced many other guitarists including B.B. King and the late Freddie King.

A number of new albums came my way this month documenting the less well known of America's folk traditions. Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Band is heard on Zydeco (GNP Crescendo GNPS 2101) a fine collection of musical gumbo. Queen Ida is the only zydeco artist to have an album other than Clifton Chenier. Playing a push-pull diatonic accordion (as opposed to a piano accordion) behind her brother AI Lewis' guitar and vocals, a set of very relaxed enjoyable music results. The music is more traditional cajun though about half the album is in a bluesy frame. Very infectious.

Live recordings document blues from Fort Worth/Dallas and Saint Louis. Robert Ealey and His Five Careless Lovers Live at the New Blue Bird Nite Club is an infectious and rock-ing set recorded in Fort Worth (Blue Royal BR 300) as singer Ealey, tough keyboard player Good Rocking Ralph and a mostly young white band go through a series of blues and boogie. Highlights include a nice Sweet Sixteen, Black Night and a hot Further on Up the Road. Good party music.

Clayton Love, once pianist for Ike Turner, turns in a bluesy, if somewhat short, set, Mississippi Music, Mud & Misery (Flash Back Records), recorded at the Carousel in St. Louis. Love, a very mellow singer and strong pianist, plays as producer Sid Wallace raps for over seven minutes about Mississippi and the blues and the various people from there (emphasizing his (Sid Wallace's) home town of Tunica. This goes into a nice rocking blues Big Question. A fast Worried Life Blues opens the second side which also includes a really nice St. Louis Blues and a nice treatment of Tore Up, an Ike Turner song that Otis Rush has also recorded. Key to the Highway closes with some harp backing. The only reservation of this album is the playing time, as the music is fine.

Barrelhouse Records has a small catalog of blues and rockabilly records. Of the three latest releases one is a sure winner, the other two are plagued by some recording problems. Bring Me Another Half a Pint (BH 09) features some of the lesser known Chicago harp players. Drummer Kansas City Red is heard with harpist Nate Armstrong to fine advantage on Money Tree and sounds like Robert Jr. Lockwood on Lockwood's tune Mean Black Spider. Nate Armstrong's Red Light Boogie is a fine chromatic harp feature. Easy Baby has gentle vocal and strong harp on his Good Morning Mr. Blues. Sonny Boy McGhee turns in two strong performances, sounding very much. like his mentor John Lee WiIIiamson. Earl Payton's tracks are pleasant but recorded when he had a broken arm and don't allow him to show his ability. Billy Branch turns in an assured vocal on Hootchie Kootchie Man and brilliant harp work recalling Walter Horton. Billy currently travels with Willie Dixon and is a name to remember. Steve Wisner recorded these sides and the sound is good. Special note must be made of Walter 'Big Red' Smith's guitar work. Steve also produced the fine Good Rockin' Charles album on his own Mr. Blues label.

George Paulus own productions for his label, Blind Joe Hill's Boogie in the Dark (BH-08) and Joe.Carter's Mean and Evil Blues (BH-07) feature what is interesting music, but the vocals of both are poorly recorded making it difficult to estimate their abilities as vocalists. Blind Joe Hill, a one-man band from Akron, Ohio is less affected as his abilities in the Jimmy Reed mode are well preserved. Through a wide range of material, Boogie in the Dark, Tin Pan Alley, Hideaway, Manish Boy, Sweet Home Chicago and She Gotta Go, he proves adept on harp guitar and keeps the beat with bass drum and high hat cymbal. As Tim Schuller's liner notes claim, Joe Hill is an artist of 'incredible singularity'!

Joe Carter is a fine slide guitarist who can recall both early Muddy Waters and Elmore James: With just Big Red's second guitar and drummer Johnny Junious he produces rocking music. I can't make any judgment on his singing because of its distorted character, though on the Elmore James tunes I'm Worried, It Hurts Me Too, Shake Your Moneymaker and Dust My Broom a certain enthusiasm is apparent. A nice treatment of Robert Jr. Lockwood's Take a Little Walk With Me is also included. Only one tune.really falls apart and that is Muddy's Blow Wind Blow. Despite its flaws an enjoyable set that makes one wish more care had been shown to the details. If George Paulus is trying to get a down home sound, he perhaps succeeded too much.

I have seen the Queen Ida in local stores, the others I ordered from Living Blues, 2615 N. Wilton Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60614, (Southern Record Sales, 42 North Lake Ave.. Pasadena, Calif. 91101 can also supply). The new Living Blues should be available when you read this and includes an obituary article on Freddie King (with interviews) and big feature on Son House; Willie Dixon currently has a column and extensive reviews and news is also included. Single copies now cost $1.00 and a six issue (1 year) subscription runs $5.50. Serious blues fans should check it out if you haven't already.
Finally, WBFO will be bringing in Jimmy Dawkins to the Tralfamadore Cafe the last weekend in May (May 27-29). Jimmy is the most original guitarist to emerge in the blues in the past 10 years and will be bringing some tough West Side Chicago Blues to Buffalo. More details next month.

Jim Byrnes St. Louis Times

While living in Canada for a number of years, Jim Byrnes grew up in St. Louis, Missouri and his new CD, St. Louis Times (Black Hen) is a salute to the blues music and artists who influenced him during his youth and adulthood. Subtitled Songs From and About St. Louis, this recording provides his take on music from such St. Louis icons as Chuck Berry, Albert King, Little Milton and “Stump” Johnson, as well as the likes of Lonnie Johnson and W.C. Handy, and several originals by Byrnes and producer Steve Dawson. In addition to the vocals and guitar of Byrnes and Dawson’s guitar, Dawson brought together a rhythm section of Daryl Havers on keyboards, Jeremy Holmes on bass and Geoff Hicks on drums. John Hammond ( a long-time friend of Byrnes) guests on four selections adding harmonica to three selections, slide guitar to one and shares a vocal on one, while Colleen Rennison shares the vocal on one selection.

The material includes songs associated with Albert King, Little Milton, Fontella Bass and Bobby McClure, Chuck Berry, W.C. Handy, Peetie Wheatstraw and Lonnie Johnson along with four Byrnes / Dawson originals with the performances ranging from pretty straight renditions of Albert King’s I Get Evil and the Bass/McClure You’ll Miss Me (When I’m Gone), to the traditional jazz inflections added to James ‘Stump’ Johnson’s The Duck Yas Yas Yas, St. Louis Blues, and Wheatstraw’s recording of Cake Alley. Dawson’s use of pedal steel adds an usual flavor to the cover of Chuck Berry’s Nadine, while Little Milton’s That Will Never Do is rendered in a somewhat austere stripped down setting.

Byrnes’ grainy vocals appeal with their sincerity and natural, thick molasses delivery helped by the understated backing from the rhythm section. He delivers the lyrics in an unforced matter, often with a bit of humor as on his duet with Hammond on The Duck Yas Yas Yas, with some nice clarinet from Jim Hoke and trumpet by Steve Herrman. He displays the most urgency on the duet with Rennison on You’ll Miss Me (When I’m Gone), while indicating a touch of Peetie Wheatstraw’s on Cake Alley where he employs the Devil’s Son-In-Law’s “oh well well” vocal embellishment. Tom Colclough plays the fine the clarinet on Handy’s famous St. Louis Blues, along with Dawson’s fine National slide guitar to support Byrnes of-the-beat vocal. The originals are solid tunes with The Journey Home being exceptional with recollections of the Mississippi, listening to the Dodgers and the Cardinals over the radio, and the Illinois Central trains with Dawson’s telling guitar responses to the latter.

An affectionate salute to his home town, Jim Byrnes St. Louis Times delights with his heartfelt, and fresh, renditions of some vintage blues and originals The varied settings add to the listening enjoyment of the amiable performances on this engaging CD.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here Jim Byrnes in is recent performance doing St. Louis Blues.

The Holmes Brothers Brotherhood

The Holmes Brothers, Wendell, bassist/songwriter/vocalist, Sherman Holmes and drummer/vocalist and brother-in-spirit Popsy Dixon, have a new Alligator album Brotherhood. It is the 5th for the label and 11th overall since they had their first Rounder album in 1991. Since the days at Dan Lynch’s in New York City, the trio have been spinning a mix of blues, soul and gospel for thirty-five years with an ever increasing fan base.

Brotherhood opens with Wendell’s original Stayed At The Party, a secular gospel number with Wendell’s lyrics very telling about he would not have done some wild things when younger if he knew he would live so long. It bookends the performances on this CD with the Brothers fervent rendition of Amazing Grace that closes this CD. There are many performances to savor including the wonderful harmonies on Ted Hawkins’ I Gave Up All I Had, and the cover of a Earl Hooker recording of Ike Turner’s You Got To Loose, with Glenn Patscha on Wurlitzer piano echoing Big Moose Walker’s piano on Hooker’s late sixties recording. There is a terrific sax solo (from John Ellis) on this and nice use of backing vocals.

The soulful country-tinged lament, Loving You From Afar, is a marvelous duet between Wendell and daughter Felicia. The jaunty shuffle My Word Is My Bond has a terrific vocal from Wendell and nice guitar, while Sherman is featured on Drivin' In The Drivin' Rain, where he wants get back to his woman’s arms. Popsy provides the soulful rendition of William Bell’s My Kind of Girl. There is much more to enjoy about this.

One must acknowledge producers, Glenn Patscha, Chris Bruce, and Hector Castillo who helped produce another excellent blues and roots stew by The Holmes Brothers. Alligator Records, on its web page devoted to the trio, correctly state that “The Holmes Brothers …are true treasures of American roots music.” Brotherhood is yet another treasure by them.

I received my review copy from Alligator Records. Here is a video of The Holmes Brothers in performance.

Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers EponymouslyTitled CD

Unfamiliar with Lincoln Nebraska’s Josh Hoyer and the Shadowboxers, their self-titled and self-produced recording left a definite impression from the first note. Led by vocalist, keyboardist and baritone saxophonist Hoyer, the band includes Benny Kushner on guitar and vocals, Justin G. Jones on drums, latin percussion and vocals, Brian Morrow on bass and vocals, Tommy Van Der Berg on trombone and Mike Dee on tenor sax with a trio of backing vocalists for a collection of soul and funk with some blues accents.

Hoyer himself is a big voiced soulful singer who might be compared to New Orleans blues-eyed soul blues boss, Luther Kent. He sings powerfully with a similar authority to Kent, although the program here are all his originals. Hoyer and the Shadowboxers are a terrific band evident from the opening Shadowboxer with the band hitting a deep groove and coming off like a contemporary New Orleans funk band. The horns (with trumpeter Russell Zimmer added on this track) come off as tight and full of punch while the rhythm section gets a deep soulful groove down.

Hoyer has cast a marvelous web with his use of overdubbing allow him to play some greasy organ and add bottom to the horns with his baritone sax while crafting the vocals (and backing vocals) into driving, stone solid soulful performances. The crisply played Close Your Eyes has a more mellow feel to it with its gritty lyrics about people scrambling to try to find what they are looking for. His horn arrangements frame the vocals and he even takes a gutty baritone break before some bluesy guitar runs from Kushner. Illusion gets back to the funk with its topical message about many everyday things being an illusion and things not being what they seem and living in strange times, before Van Der Berg’s strong trombone solo.

The remainder of the eight tracks are equally performed strongly. Its a varied set of performances that show influences from Memphis, Chicago (think Tyrone Davis) and New Orleans, but put together for this very impressive release. Josh Hoyer is a first-rate vocalist and the Shadowboxers are soulful and funky. Based on their terrific release, I can see them performing much more often outside of their Lincoln, Nebraska base.

I received my review copy from a publicist. You might check out their website, http://joshhoyerandtheshadowboxers.com, for more information. Here is a video of them in performance.

Gloria Estefan Sings The Standards

Gloria Estefan certainly is among the best known vocalists in the world today ever since her days fronting the Miami Sound Machine. Sony Masterworks issued at the end of 2013, The Standards, a celebration of the American Songbook and more as it international song classics sung in English, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French, some with new lyrics written by Estefan backed by a big band or a full orchestra with arrangements from Shelley Berg.

One can’t fault her singing of such timeless songs as Good Morning Heartache or They Can’t Take That Away From Me, nor find much to criticize in the full, often lush backing, although her singing is more in the vein of a pop singer (or a torch singer). Certainly she won’t make anyone forget Billie Holiday with the opening song, no matter how good it is. It is a matter of taste and musical preference for this listener, but this one wished she was less formal in her delivery, although her rendition of I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face is quite lovely with nice acoustic guitar and a lighter accompaniment.

Hearing her sing a less familiar song as Jobim & de Moraes’ Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar, sung in Portuguese, has the advantage of one not being able to compare it with iconic recordings of the song. Joshua Bell provides the violin solo on the romantic The Day You Say You Love Me for which Estefan provided English lyrics. Dave Koz adds alto sax to the Gershwins' How Long Has This Been Going On, while she duets with Laura Pausini with her Spanish lyrics on Charles Chaplin’s Sonrîe, aka Smile.

It is refreshing to hear a recording of standards not simply copy well-known arrangements for the repertoire here and Gloria Estefan sings extremely well throughout, even if this is not to my taste. The Standards is marvelously recorded and received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here she is seen performing They Can’t Take That Away From Me.

Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon Live in Japan

It was a surprise to hear that Delmark was going to release for the first time in the United States recordings made of Sleepy John Estes during Japanese tours from the mid-1970s. The performances have finally been released on Live In Japan With Hammie Nixon, which bring together 19 songs from four performances by the pair. A Japanese quartet, Yu Ka Dan, joins them for four songs.

Estes was a marvelous storyteller and songwriter with a crying, expressive voice and a rudimentary guitar style with which Nixon would supply supporting vocals (with a few lead vocals as well) along with his deep harmonica style, kazoo and jug. The two mix in songs that were staples of Estes’ repertoire including Broke and Hungry, You Shouldn’t Say That (with Nixon sharing lead vocals), Stop That Thing, The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair, Divin’ Duck Blues, Rats in My Kitchen and Brownsville Blues, along with standards “Corrina Corrina,” and I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal You, and spirituals Holy Spirit, Don’t You Leave Me (sung by Hammie) and Jesus Is On the Mainline. The performances are done simply and directly with Estes crying vocals at the forefront with Nixon accompaniments providing much of the musical interest, whether his responsive harmonica, or buzzing kazoo and jug (as heard on Corrina, Corrina).

This is wonderfully recorded and one can hear the appreciation shown by the Japanese audience, including the response when they start The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair, indicating more than passing familiarity with Estes’ recordings. Yu Ka Dan does a nice job adding their accompaniment on several tracks including a lovely Love Grows In Your Heart, Estes’ rendition of Careless Love.

Steve Tomashefsky accompanied the pair on their Japanese tours and wrote the liner notes recapping the time they spent over there and I presume is the voice introducing them on track 12. Nixon did most of the song introductions and storytelling on stage. This are among the last recordings the two recorded together and is heartfelt blues  from two giants of early blues. As wonderful as the music is, some may enjoy this better by listening to it in parts rather than straight through.

I received my review copy from Delmark. Here are Estes and Nixon from a European telecast during an American Folk Blues Festival tour.

Rip Lee Pryor - Nobody But Me

There is nothing fancy about the new CD by Rip Lee Pryor, Nobody But Me (Electro-Fi). Pryor is the son of the late blues legend and blues harmonica pioneer, Snooky Pryor, but started learning to play harmonica when his father had dropped out of music. He played with his dad for a time, but in recent years had walked away from music, and recently resumed after bouts with gambling problems and cancer (now in remission). On this Rip Lee plays harmonica (using a rack) and guitar with Alex Fraser or Bucky Berger adding drums on several selections.

His father and John Lee Williamson (the first Sonny Boy Williamson) are obvious influences on his playing especially on the opening Shake Your Boogie that both Sonny Boy I and Snooky recorded. His guitar playing is pretty bare, just laying down a bare bass riff on most selections over which he sings and plays his crying harmonica. He is a very expressive singer (like his take on Elmore James’ You Gotta Move, but also handles the humor of Rice Miller’s rendition of an old English folk song, the delightful Wake Up Baby, with Fraser’s bass and circus drum adding support.

The title track is an original with Rip Lee laying down some boogie guitar to get a rocking groove which underlies his driving harp solo. Another original Lonesome, is a moody slow blues with some strong harp to accent his pleading vocal. Heard The News, credited to Snooky, is an easy boogie shuffle that incorporates Good Rocking Tonight, I Feel So Good as well as Snooky’s own Boogie Twist. Stuck on Stupid is a Rip Lee original with a Jimmy Reed boogie groove. His father’s Pitch a Boogie Woogie has Berger’s drums which helps propel the easy rocking boogie performance here with some real fine harmonica here.

The music here is pretty straight-forward and as Scott Bock observes in his liner notes, Rip Lee has a pretty stripped down sound. Nothing fancy perhaps, but Rip Lee Pryor proves he doesn’t need Nobody But Me for a straight dose of classic Chicago blues that is increasingly rare.

I purchased this.  Here is a video of Rip Lee Pryor in performance and he will be at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival this July and the link is to my Festival preview.

Taking the Blues Time Machine To March 1977

This is my blues column from the March 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which had Benny Goodman on the cover. My column was relatively lengthy, and included a Blues On EP segment which I will post next week. There would be no column for February issue as the Blizzard of 1977 that paralyzed the city around the time the issue would have come out. I have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report) have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. Note that Southern Record sales from which I obtained some releases no longer exists. The albums I reviewed (with the exception of the Gabriel Brown and the Albert King) are available as CDs (although they may be on different labels) with the exception of the Gabriel Brown. The Otis Rush Japanese live album is available on Delmark as So Many Roads.

Lot of live blues in the Buffalo are in March. Muddy Waters will be joined by James Cotton and Johnny Winter at Shea's Buffalo on Saturday, March 12. Saturday, March 19 finds Bobby Bland and B.B. King at the Shea's Buffalo. Robert Jr. Lockwood, who was supposed to have been at UB Feb. 4 will be a featured act at the UB Folk Festival the weekend of April 15 and 16. Lockwood will most likely be playing Friday night April 15. More details next month.

Gabriel Brown is a country blues artist, who, during the forties and early fifties, was based in New York. An English reissue of his music Gabriel Brown and his Guitar (Policy Wheel PW 4592) reveals him to be a talented performer. Brown's singing reminds me of Kokomo Arnold, a one-time Buffalo resident (60 years ago) whose music influenced many blues artists including Robert Johnson. Brown's guitar work is interesting and the selection of material is varied. Highlights include "I'm Gonna Take It Easy with slashing bottleneck guitar, Cold Love and the mildly pornographic "It's Getting Soft. While external packaging is somewhat skimpy, a booklet with all known biographical information and lyric transcriptions is included. There is some surface noise but these are on the originals and the sound is overall pretty clear. There are 18 selections including two 1930s recordings by one Poor Bill on which Gabriel may have played 2nd guitar. A very worthwhile reissue which, like the Otis Rush live album, Southern Record Sales can supply.

Albert King's new Utopia album Albert Live (CYL2-2205) was recorded at Montreux. It is a double record with generous playing time (almost 90 minutes) as Albert tackles a wide variety of material from Watermelon Man to Stormy Monday, with the typical intensity and featuring his pinched note guitar playing. On one long number, Jam in A Flat he is joined by rocker Rory Gallagher (who is on other tracks). and bluesmen Louisiana Red and Lowell Fulson. The packaging is nice, though Robert Palmer's notes are media-hype.

Hard Again- Muddy Waters -(Blue Sky PZ 34449) is Muddy Waters first album since leaving Chess. Musically this is a pleasant set with support from Johnny Winter, James Cotton and Joe Willie 'Pinetop' Perkins. The presence of Winter and Cotton should help sell this though others could have replaced them without hurting the music. 'Pinetop' proves to be a worthy successor to the late Otis Spann and does play some brilliant blues piano. Tunes include reworkings of Muddy's Mannish Boy and I Can't Be Satisfied, Willie Dixon's I Wanna Be Loved and several new tunes that are in the same mould. Muddy seems to sing strongly but the recording mix I find grating. Johnny Winter should be thanked for helping Muddy get more recognition, and also some financial rewards, which is a nice way to show his appreciation for Muddy. Muddy has made many of the classic recordings in the Chicago band blues idiom and in comparison to them this album suffers. With such recent blues albums as those by Otis Rush and Son Seals out I can't give this anything but a qualified recommendation.

Otis Rush's very first record, I Can't Quit You Baby was a top ten record on the r'n'b charts in the mid-fifties. Otis, despite being one of the finest and most individualistic performers in the post- B.B. King guitar dominated blues, has never been able to achieve, much less maintain, a position of popularity and recognition as one of the blues' premiere performers. As both a singer and guitarist Rush bows to no one and has been compared favorably to the legendary country bluesman Robert Johnson. Rush on record has been hard to find until recently. Last year Delmark released Cold Day in Hell a fine album that was Otis' first American recording issued in 7 years. Bullfrog Records has just issued Right Place, Wrong Time (301) which Otis recorded for Capitol Records in 1971, but which Capitol chose not to release.

I refer you to the liner notes for speculation why this excellent set wasn't issued as this is probably the finest set of Otis Rush out and one if issued a few years back might have established Otis as a publicly recognized master of the blues. The album is tightly produced with horn arrangements recalling many of Albert King's fine Stax recordings of the time. Rush's guitar work also suggests King, though Otis is a more fluid guitarist and a stronger, more intense vocalist than King (which is high praise indeed.)

The material on this set is varied and the recording mix provides for Otis' guitar work to be properly framed. Material includes rave-ups like Tore Up and Natural Ball, cooking instrumentals Easy Go and I Wonder Why and the slow blues on which Otis lets his soul out. The title track and Take a Look Behind are bound to become blues classics and are masterpieces of the modern blues idiom as Otis' anguished singing is couple with blistering guitar. This album is a must for blues enthusiasts.

Also Trio Records of Japan has issued Blues Live (PA-3086) featuring Otis live in concert with just a rhythm section doing cooking renditions of I Can't Quit You Baby, All Your Love, and So Many Roads before an enthusiastic Japanese audience. This is available from Southern Record Sales, 42 North Lake Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101 though its price as an import may deter some buyers it is a most impressive workout. Delmark Records owns the American rights to this, though it may be some time before they issue it. They can supply the Bullfrog release which hopefully wiII be in local stores. Bullfrog Records is tied to Advent so stores carrying Advent should be able to get this. (If you write to Southern Record Sales, mention you read about them here). {{As noted this is available as So Many Roads}} on Delmark}}

Alligator is a small label that has excellent distribution locally and an impressive small catalog of modern blues. Son Seals' new set Midnight Son (AL 4708) is an excellent set of hard, intense blues sung with guts and played with Son's stinging Chicago guitar. Tight horn arrangements along with Son's cooking band has produced a varied set from the funky No, No Baby, the driving Don't Fool With My Baby to the slow Going Back Home, which should win Son new fans. This is even better than Son's first album, (Alligator AL 4703). Alligator also has excellent albums by Hound Dog Taylor, Big Walter Horton, Fenton Robinson and Koko Taylor out and they show concern for preparation and programming which sometimes small and major labels don't provide.

Lena Seikaly - Looking Back

Lena Seikaly is one of the Washington DC area’s finest vocalists with the clarity of her singing along, her control of her pitch and vibrato and the instrumental quality of her phrasing and scatting. One could cite a number of influences, and Ella Fitzgerald may be one, but the overall quality of her singing is akin to Roberta Gambarini. Her third, self-priced album Looking Back has her backed by the Chris Grasso Trio (Grasso, piano; Zach Pride, bass; and Lenny Robinson drums), the go to trio to back jazz vocalists in the Nation’s Capital. Also present is the marvelous guitarist Paul Pieper, whose subtle single note solos and chords add to the wonderful accompaniments here.

The eleven songs here take us back to what John Edward Hasse calls the “golden age of American songwriting” (mostly from the twenties and thirties) with emphasis on material recorded by Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. I am not familiar with I’m Nobody’s Baby, which gets things off on a swinging note, with some scatting, a crisp drum break and wonderful piano. Fascinating Rhythm opens as duet with Pride with her scatting before the full group enters. Her phrasing is such a delight to listen to and Pieper adds a choice solo before she scats in unison with him for a few bars on this delightful performance. Her rendition of Foolin’ Myself suggests Billie Holiday in her phrasing, with the clean, restraint shown by band adding to the performance's feel.

The settings here lend freshness to familiar songs. A duet with guitarist Pieper results in a lovely,  lively Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone, while on the Gerald Marks- Walter Hirsch ballad, Baby, What Else Can I Do, Grasso and Pride provide relaxed backing. Donald Heywood and Will Marion Cook’s collaboration, I’m Coming Virginia, may be better known today from the Frankie Trumbauer- Bix Beiderbecke recording, but  was popularized by Ethel Waters. Seikaly and the trio are a bit more vigorous performing it. It is followed by a moody I Cover The Waterfront. Duke Ellington’s I Love You Madly is a pretty duet with bassist Pride. Pieper’s guitar replaces Grasso’s piano on Guilty, which in addition to Pieper’s sublime playing has Pride taking an arco bass solo while Robinson’s tastefully employs brushes.

Of special interest is Irving Berlin’s Supper Time whose lyrics take the perspective of an African-American wife and mother whose lost her husband to a lynching. Written for Ethel Waters, this has been previously done by Roberta Gambarini with the late Hank Jones on piano. Simply accompanied by Grasso, she straightforwardly sings the lyrics. The simplicity of the performance delivers the stark imagery of Berlin’s lyrics powerfully,

With superb backing, imaginative and varied settings for the songs, Looking Back is another wonderful recording by Lena Seikaly. I have seen Lena Seikaly perform on a number of occasions, and this recording captures  the qualities that make her live performances so marvelous. Her website is lenaseikaly.com, and this CD is available on cdbaby.com.

I purchased my copy. I should not that I saw her perform this on April 19 at Loew's Madison in Washington backed by Grasso and Pride and she was wonderful as usual. She will be appearing Friday April 25 at a special Jazz Appreciation Month Take 5 program at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art's Kogod Courtyard dedicated to the music of Ella Fitzgerald. The Museum's website says she will be part of a performance by the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra on a program that will highlight Ella Fitzgerald’s collaborations with big bands, including the Count Basie Orchestra and the Duke Ellington. More information can be found on the Museum's website. Here she performs After You're Gone from her new album.

Jimmy Johnson
End of the Road
Ruf Records

Jimmy Johnson’s infrequent albums are always occasions of great interest for blues lovers. With his wiry guitar attack and high tenor vocals, the Chicago bluesman has produced some very distinctive and fine recordings. This new one is another strong addition to his discography. Johnson has contributed some fine originals like the opening Roots of All Evil (about money, and sporting a trumpet solo by

Jimmy Johnson at the 2007 Pocono Blues Festival

Claude Egea), End of the Road which contains an appearance by the late Luther Allison who rides the song out with a fiery short solo, and The Street You Live On, with its lilting reggae beat.

In addition, Johnson’s covers of Thunderbird Davis’ Blue Monday, Black Night and Cut You Loose are fresh, with crisp funky arrangements. Throughout this, Johnson plays in his recognizable style that perhaps show the influence of Otis Rush and Albert King more than others, as well as delivering his vocals without too much in the nature of hysterics.

In addition to his fine band, Johnson is backed by a nice horn section that includes jazz trombonist Frank Lacy and saxophonist Paul Cerra in addition to trumpeter Egea. With Johnson being in strong form both vocally and instrumentally, he has produced a very fine release.

This review originally appeared in the November/December 1999 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 242). It is available from third party sellers on amazon. Photo of Jimmy Johnson © Ron Weinstock. Here is a video of Jimmy Johnson performing with Dave Spector.

Tweed Funk First Name Lucky

I have become aware of the Milwaukee based blues and soul band Tweed Funk from some very positive remarks on social media. Tweed Funk has a new recording, First Name Lucky on Tweed Tone Records that I understand is their third CD. Tweed Funk is fronted by a powerful vocalist, Joseph ‘Smokey’ Holman. The quintet backing him includes guitarist JD Optekar, bassist Eric Madunic, drummer Nick Lang, saxophonist Jon Lovas, and trumpeter Kevin Klemme. One selection also includes Brian Lucas’ harmonica. Seven of the 11 songs were written by Optekar. He is an able guitarist and the horns add punch and both are fine soloists while the rhythm section keep the groove going.

The party feel is exhibited on the funky Time to Burn. Their cover of Let the Good Times Roll is good but does not stand out. It is interesting they cover Black Joe Louis’ Sugarfoot but Smokey’s vocal comes off as strained. In contrast, they provide a nice cover of Lil Bob and the Lollipops I Got Loaded (familiar to some from Los Lobos’ cover. It is incorrectly credited to Peppermint Harris whose I Got Loaded is a different song), with Lovas contributing a nice tenor solo. The slow blues, Sippin Misery, stands out. It has a 3 o’clock in the morning feel with Smokey’s low-key vocal, Optekar’s jazzy guitar here (and he might use this attack elsewhere) and marvelous playing by Lovas and Klemme (the latter making nice use of horns) for a magical performance and shows just how good they can get. In contrast to this wonderfully paced performance, the closing Get It On sounds a bit frenzied. Slowing the tempo down a notch might have  led Smokey’s vocal to have more impact.

Tweed Funk’s First Name Lucky  is an record perfect for parties with a mix of blues and soul.

Received my review copy from a publicist.  Here is a video of Tweed Funk.