November 02, 2022
Johnny Sansone - The Lord Is Waiting And The Devil Is Too (2011)
October 29, 2022
The Mighty Soul Drivers - I'll Carry You Home (2022)
Mighty groovy
The band is tight around the beat. Bassist Tony Delisio and drummer Peter “River City Slim” Rost put out a powerful funky groove. Larry Willey, Bob Orsi and guests Paul Gabriel and Michael St. George deliver swinging rhythm guitar and great solos. Steve Donovan does a really fine job on keyboards with some churchy organ parts. John Smayda (saxes) and Neil Tint (trumpet) bring that Memphis/ Muscle Shoals sound along with a female background gospel-like choir. And the energetic Bob Orsi tops the whole pastry with his soulful vocals. What else do you need to get up and dance ?
October 27, 2022
James Brown - Live At The Apollo, 1962 (Expanded Edition, 2004) / Live At The Apollo Vol. II, 1967 (2-CD Deluxe Edition, 2001)
The rude boy saved by R'n'B
Born in an impoverished family of South Carolina, raised in Augusta, Georgia, by an aunt who ran a whorehouse, dismissed from school at the age of 12 for "insufficient clothing" (!), the young James Brown turned a bad boy in his teens. At age 16, he was arrested for armed robbery and sentenced to three years in jail. Paroled in 1952, he started to sing in a vocal gospel quartet and met singer Bobby Byrd. In 1954, Brown joined Byrd's vocal gospel band, The Gospel Starlighters. In 1955, the group, influenced by Little Richard, evolved into a R'n'B band, was soon renamed the Famous Flames and started to play nightclubs in Macon, Georgia.
October 25, 2022
Bob Corritore & Friends - Do The Hip-Shake Baby! (2019)
October 17, 2022
Duke Robillard & Herb Ellis - Conversations In Swing Guitar (1999) & More Conversations In Swing Guitar (2003)
When jazz (Ellis) meets his old cousin blues (Robillard), and when the two heroes of the meeting are both superb guitarists, the result of the encounter is necessarily appealing.
October 16, 2022
Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Live (2004)
October 13, 2022
The Catch-back, vol. 3 : Herb Ellis - Pat Boyack - Buckwheat Zydeco - Doug MacLeod - Eddie Kirkland - Johnny Cash - Toby Walker - Lost Bayou Ramblers - Mercy - Robert Cage - Shawn Pittman & Jay Moeller
...some that deserved to be featured here…
Herb Ellis - Texas Swings (1992)
► Get the album at the usual place...
This 10-song all-instrumental album features mainly Western swing and jazz standards, with only two Ellis compositions. If the final "America the Beautiful" is a disputable choice in my view, the nine preceding tracks are cheerfully swinging without being wild. The exciting sound of Remington's pedal steel is sometimes reminding that of Buddy Emmons on Danny Gatton's two "Redneck Jazz Explosion" 1978 live albums, and the fiddles bring a vintage Country & Western sound on some tracks.
October 09, 2022
Bobby Parker - Bent Out Of Shape (1993)
First a word about the excellent backing band casting. On the keys one finds Sammy Berfect (accidentally Marva Wright's brother), a skilled musician who played for many musicians like Willy Deville, Harry Connick or Tori Amos ; Lee Allen Zeno (from Buckwheat Zydeco band at the time) on bass ; Raymond Weber (Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Solomon Burke) on drums ; and a solid and experienced horn section : renowned Austin musician, arranger & producer Mark 'Kaz' Kazanoff on sax, Rick Trolsen (Dr. John, Boz Scaggs...) on trombone, Willie Singleton (Four Tops, Rita Coolidge, Nancy Wilson, Lou Rawls...) and Hollywood film scores musician Jamil Sharif on trumpet. These four bring a strong r'n'b touch to the album. Too strong ? That's a good question...
October 06, 2022
Special Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers Live - Give Him Cornbread, Live (1993, 2000) / Git It, Beau Jocque! (1995
The volcanic Beau Jocque burst on the Zydeco circuit with his Hi-Rollers in 1991 and instantly became the public's favorite along with Boozoo Chavis, B.J.'s main influence and future rival. Andrus Espré aka Beau Jocque ("Big Guy” in Louisiana Creole) had listen to many successful Zydeco artists, studied every detail of their style and every reaction of the audience, and came up with a synthesis of the most efficient points he had identified, mixing varied genres, rock, blues, r&b, funk, reggae, with his strong crush for boogie. Himself not an very outstanding accordionist, he compensated with his unique energy, his gruff voice and his impressive physical stature (1,98 m, 120 kg), and with his gift as a band leader.
October 04, 2022
Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram - Kingfish (2019)
This debut work offers a range of styles reflecting Ingram's tastes and guitar skills. From barn-burners songs like “Outside Of This Town”, “It Ain't Right” and “If You Love Me”, that seem coming straight from Texas and immediately remind SRV or ZZ Top, to Delta blues with acoustic ballads like the innovative “Been Here Before” or the more classical “Hard Times”, through soul blues like the sorrowful “Listen” with Keb' Mo enlightened by fine arrangements around organ waves, “Before I'm Old” and “Believe These Blues”, both with a great guitar solos, “Trouble” and its Louisiana/New Orleans touch, or “That's Fine By Me” featuring nice piano by Marty Sammon. Among these are also two outstanding tracks : “Fresh Out” with Buddy Guy, and “Love Ain't My Favorite Word” mixing crossed influences from B.B. King and Hendrix in a memorable guitar hero solo.