February 18, 2023
John Mooney - Telephone King (1980, 1990)
February 16, 2023
Rebirth Jazz Band - Here to Stay (1984, 1997)
The RBB was founded in 1983 by a bunch of school mates from the Tremé district of New Orleans lead by Phillip "Tuba Phil" Frazier, his brother bass drum player Keith Frazier and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins. As can be guessed from their name, they wanted to reanimate the New Orleans brass band tradition : the marching bands performing at funerals and “second line” parades.
February 15, 2023
Pat Thomas - His Father's Son (2009)
February 14, 2023
Roy Rogers - Chops Not Chaps (1985)
Yet if Rogers revisits Delta classics with such energetic virtuosity, this album is clearly a Delta Blues one as confirmed by the three additional Johnson's numbers (“Judgment Day”, “Terraplane Blues” and “Kindhearted Woman”) and two from Skip James (“Devil Got My Woman”) and Elmore James (“Shake Your Moneymaker”). Rogers also included four exciting self-penned originals : “Hot To Trot/Ready To Go”, “Guilty Of Lovin' You”, “Feel So Blue” and “One More Time”.
February 12, 2023
Eric Clapton - Me And Mr Johnson (2004) / Sessions For Robert J (2004)
A special edition of the second album, “Sessions For Robert J”, was released with a 96-minute DVD about the recording of the 18 Johnson's songs, including in one of the very places the young Delta legend recorded some himself (508 Park Avenue, Dallas. Texas). Actually the DVD includes a 19th bonus song : “Stones In My Passway”.
February 09, 2023
Buddy Guy - Live : The Real Deal (1996)
→ Get the album at the usual place...
In a few days (February 17th, 2023), he'll get onboard The Damn Right Farewell Tour that should take him around the world from North America to Australia, Europe and Israel over an eight-month period.
February 06, 2023
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Will The Circle Be Unbroken, 30th Anniversary Edition (2 CD + Bonus Tracks) (1972, 2002)
The circle is still unbroken
In 1971, the five multi-instrumentalists of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (NGDB), "a bunch of long-haired West Coast boys” as Roy Acuff described them, had gathered some of the best guitar and banjo pickers, country singers and fiddlers around (asked to participate, Bill Monroe would have refused), managing to have them coming down from their mountains or leave their Tennessee or Kentucky ranches, from Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs or Merle Travis to the “King of Bluegrass” Jimmy Martin, Mother Maybelle Carter of The Carter Family, the “King of Country Music” Roy Acuff or master fiddler Vassar Clements, for this celebration of “old time” music, namely country and bluegrass, that was engraved for posterity on this historic triple LP (later re-issued as a 2-CD set).
February 03, 2023
Earth, Wind & Fire - That’s The Way Of The World (1975)
Soul, funk & groove
Funk, Afro-beat, soul and jazzy horns melt in this rather agreeable work by EW&F. The band had at least two peculiarities : three lead singers (Maurice & Verdine White and Philip Bailey), and most members played percussion besides their own main instrument.
Little song-by-song review.
→ “Shining Star” is most appropriately titled : it's one of the shining stars of the album indeed, a track of pure funk with an Afro-flavored bubbling guitar intro and nice lead guitar solos (Al McKay, Johnny Graham), R'n'B style horns, appealing harmony vocals by Maurice & Verdine White and Philip Bailey, a good dancing title with a chorus a little too disco though. You already notice Verdine's efficient bass, one of the backbones of EW&F's funk.
February 01, 2023
C.W. Stoneking - King Hokum (2005)
► Get the album at the usual place...
More vintage than vintage !
Is it the re-issue of an old 78-rpm recorded a long time ago by an obscure country blues musician ? No, this reincarnation of a pre-war Deep South bluesman is Mr. C.W. Stoneking, a young Australian of 31 at the time, who amazingly sounds as vintage as most of the early 20th century musicians who influenced him.
January 29, 2023
Phil Alvin - Un “Sung Stories” (1986) / County Fair 2000 (1994)
Blasters' co-leader solo adventures are musically exhilarating, vocally unique and full of exulting humor. Be it with jazz or brass bands (The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Sun Ra's Arkestra, The Faultline Syncopators), accompanied by his Blasters, or by a tasty choice of guests (Billy Boy Arnold, James Intveld, Jerome Bowman, Mary Franklin, Top Jimmy, Fayard Nicholas, Eddie Baytos, Ike "Diz" Williams, Jerry Angel…), or alone on guitar, Phil Alvin's journey through the roots American music is absolutely rejoicing.
Phil musical career started in his native California in 1979 when he and younger brother Dave formed the cult roots rock revival band The Blasters. Although receiving largely positive reviews and developing a devoted fan base, mainstream commercial success didn't follow. When Dave left in 1985, Alvin returned to California State University to complete a master's degree in mathematics and artificial intelligence (he would have got a Ph.D. later) while working on his first solo project, “Un 'Sung Stories'”, which was released the following year (1986). Meanwhile he had reformed the Blasters without Dave and through various line-ups in time. A second solo album, “County Fair 2000”, appeared in 1994, featuring, among others, the “new” Blasters and members of his side project, The Faultline Syncopators.