June 17, 2022

Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio - Something Smells Funky 'Round Here (2018)

► The album

His Eminence Bishop and his pals
Three pals playing together some blues in Bishop's home studio just to have a good time, that's what this album is. As their name, Big Fun Trio, let it be guessed, their music is unpretentious and that's probably what makes it so enjoyable.
Bishop, who grew up in a farm in Iowa then Oklahoma and was 75 when this album came out, has been a key figure of the post-1960 blues scene, playing with some of the greatest blues artists since he started with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in Chicago back in 1963.

Bishop (left) & Mike Bloomfield,
in the Paul Butterfield Blues Band times
After leaving the P3B, he moved to the San Francisco area where he played next to Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield, B.B. King and many others before embarking on a solo career. In 1975, his "pop" song "Fooled Around And Fell In Love" hit the commercial jackpot and earned him comfortable royalties.

But it was not the kind of music he really wanted to play. He didn't do any album for seven years, but continued with live performances. In 1988, he definitely returned to his blues roots and signed with Alligator Records, releasing five albums between 1988 and 2000. New period of silence, until 2005 when he went back to the studios and released his album "Gettin' My Groove Back" on Blind Pig Records, a revealing title, that brought him a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.


The Big Fun Trio was formed in the end of 2015, with his friends Bob Welsh from The Fabulous Thunderbirds on piano and guitar, and blues drummer Willy Jordan on cajón (a hand-played Peruvian percussion box) & vocals, three buddies who refuse to let age keeping them from having fun ans play blues. "Something Smells Funky 'Round Here" is their second production. Now a veteran of the blues scene, Bishop penned three songs and co-wrote two more with his two pals.

The title song is a straightforward charge against Donald Trump, then occupying the White House. No need to say more, the song speaks for itself. The band sounds as greasy as a Mississippi BBQ on a scorching windless summer day. The soul "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher" is a solid revisited version of the R'n'B hit originally recorded by Jackie Wilson in 1967 (not to be mistaken with Sly and the Family Stone's funky "I Want To Take You Higher" released in 1969 and performed the same year at the Woodstock Festival… boom laka-laka-lak'  ! boom laka-laka-lak'  !... remember ?). The band has more energy than needed, not Sly (who had a whole lot too) but our Big Fun Trio veterans.

The songs follow on, one after the other, nice energetic blues with good (slide) guitar licks from Bishop, powerful virtual bass from  Welsh on keyboard, and steel beat from Jordan : "Right Now Is The Hour" (but not to turn off your stereo !)... "Another Mule" (a laid-back rural blues from Bishop’s 1995 "Ace in the Hole" album, a mix of Dave Bartholomew’s “Another Mule” and Muddy Waters’ "Long Distance Call", with double-entendre lyrics : "When your left eye starts to jump/And your heart begins to thump/Man that's all/Another mule is kickin' in your stall")... "That's The Way Willy Likes It"... "Bob's Boogie" (with a hot Bob Welsh on piano)... "I Can't Stand The Rain" (another revisit of a famous classic from Ann Peebles in 1973, and later re-popularized by Tina Turner, with nice slide guitar and a heavy bass sound)… "Stomp" (another shaky slide boogie)… "Lookin' Good" (a humorous number talked by a boozer Bishop making fun of getting old)… "My Soul" (featuring an accordion ― a great idea !), and the album suddenly stops.
Finished already ?! You didn't feel the time passing (36" to be exact), so you play it again (Sam !) just because it's unpretentious but warmly enjoyable ! ■


● Elvin Bishop site : https://www.elvinbishopmusic.com/

Interviews
● For French speaking people, a long 2014 interview from the Bands Of Dixie magazine : https://www.sweethomemusic.fr/Interviews/ElvinBishop.php
► To watch or to listen
● 2021, Elvin Bishop & Jim Campilongo (from Patreon.com) talk about Elvin’s great new record with Charlie Musselwhite “100 years of Blues”, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, jamming with Jimi Hendrix, “Travelin’ Shoes”, “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” and more… :
● 2019, audio interview : https://youtu.be/inJ6a3WqoZc
● 2018, audio interview on Casey Radio, Melbourne (Australia) : https://youtu.be/nkvbW3xDT6k

For those who mlssed it on Blue Dragon, listen to it here : https://youtu.be/g3oTC27W_mc
[1. Keep On Rollin' (4:36) 2. Honey Babe (2:46) 3. It's You, Baby (2:11) 4. Ace In The Hole (2:34) 5. Let's Go (4:35) 6. Delta Lowdown (3:00) 7. It's All Over Now (3:36) 8. 100 Years Of Blues (4:53) 9. Let The Four Winds Blow (3:24) 10. That's What I'm Talkin' About (5:02) 11. Can't Take No More (3:15) 12. Southside Slide (2:40)]


Elvin live
● 2021, Club Fox, Redwood City (California). guitarist/vocalist Elvin Bishop, guitarist/pianist Bob Welsh and percussionist/vocalist Willy Jordan launches The Big Fun Trio, accompanied by the amazing Christopher "Kid" Anderson : https://youtu.be/WaBN0a6XkzU
Bishop & Musselwhite
● 2020, Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite. The Music Hall, Tarrytown (NY) :
● 2019, Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio with Rick Estrin & Kid Anderson, White Mountain Boogie N' Blues Fest., Thornton (New Hampshire)  :
● 2019, with Tommy Castro, Crest Theatre, Sacramento (California) : https://youtu.be/C4U8g-KhNyU
● 2018, Chenango Blues Fest. :
● 2017, Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse, Berkeley (California) : https://youtu.be/_6TAjViZHGE
● 2017, Venice Blues Festival, Venice (Florida) : https://youtu.be/uTroyFR8TRg
● 2017, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love", Dimitrou’s Jazz Alley, Seattle (Washington) : https://youtu.be/7-baASnWot4
● 2016, Big Bull Falls Blues Fest., Wausau (Wisconsin) :
● 2016, Club Fox, Redwood City (California) : https://youtu.be/3hxhM0xtOVM
● 2016, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise :
→ https://youtu.be/1BUoNTjVT_M (Elvin Bishop, Mickey Thomas, Ronnie Baker Brooks & Tommy Castro)
● 2014, the Coach House, San Juan Capistrano (CA) : https://youtu.be/vt1w51mdzhA
● 2013, Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise :
→ with Tab Benoit : https://youtu.be/PSylS_wAGr8
→ with Mickey Thomas : https://youtu.be/c0Xi5mikPJk
● 2013, Callahan's Music Hall, Auburn Hills (Michigan) : https://youtu.be/a3XI_SOBWDw
● 2013, Cajun Blues Fest., Isleton (California) : https://youtu.be/cJgSOp4OMT8
● 2013, with S.E. Willis Band, The Poor House Bistro, San Jose (California): https://youtu.be/ooW9rdUVI4w
[Elvin Bishop: Vocals & Guitar, S.E. Willis: Keyboard, Bobby Cochran: Drums, Bob Welsh: Guitar, Ruth Davies: Bass, Nancy Wright: Sax, Ed Earley: Trombone] 
● 2012, with James Cotton, Santa Cruz Blues Fest. : https://youtu.be/hQ2Xa3R7S3M
● 2012, Vinnie's Bar & Grill, Concord (CA) : https://youtu.be/fgvGQRhb95c
[Elvin Bishop: Vocals & Guitar with BeauFunk Band : Timm Walker : Bass & Vocals, Ian Lamson : Guitar, Simon Russell : Keyboard, T. Moran : Drums. + guests : Takezo : Vocals & Guitar, Mike Rinta : Trombone, Keith Crossan : Sax, Steve Willis : Accordion]
● 2010, Big Bull Falls Blues Fest., Wausau (Wisconsin) :
● 2009,  Harvest Jazz & Blues, Fredericton (New Brunswick, Canada) : https://youtu.be/MqByjQJav_E
● 2003, Terrassa Jazz Fest., Barcelona (Spain) :
[Elvin Bishop – vocals & guitar - Ian Lamson : rhthm guitar -  Ed Earley : trombone & vocals - Steve Willis : piano, keyboards, vocals - Jerome Hammond : bass - Bobby Cochran - drums, percussion & vocals]
● 1996, Pig Out in the Park, Spokane (Washington) : https://youtu.be/uMoutWaZ0Zs

The good ol' times
● 1984, Marin Civic Auditorium, San Rafael (CA), Paul Butterfield, Rick Danko, Carlos Santana & Elvin Bishop : https://youtu.be/qwULVEMod4U
● Unknown date, The Bottomline, New York : https://youtu.be/bbwAJAs3mLw
● 1980, Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa (Oklahoma) : https://youtu.be/jI44vOry1AM
 [Elvin Bishop : Guitar/Vocals,  Tyler Eng : Drums, Terry Hanck : Sax/Vocals, Jerry McKinney : Sax/Vocals, Carl Severied : Bass, Gary Vogensen : Guitar/Vocals/Harp, Clay Cotton : Keyboards] 
● 1979, Soundstage, with Mighty Joe Young & Son Seals : https://youtu.be/huuynfQQRcY
● 1977, Midnight Special, "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" with Mickey Thomas on vocals : https://youtu.be/HvVRvkbfZCc
● 1973, Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco (California) : https://youtu.be/rPjoWix9afA
● 1970, Elvin Bishop Group, Fillmore East, New York (NY) : https://youtu.be/uPPKTvMC00w


Bob Welsh

Willy Jordan
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