→ Thanks to my unique partners...
Boring is certainly not the word to use about this “Portrait Of The Tremé Prince”, a compilation of some of his most representative works released in 2019 on Louisiana Red Hot Records. Already, the name of the label itself, which evokes a famous hot pepper sauce plantation and factory in Ile Petite Anse (Avery Island) in the middle of the Vermilion Bay bayous, sounds like a thrilling promise !
from New OrleansThis is the strange paradox of “Deacon” John Moore. Without any hit under his name, he can be heard on lots of iconic recordings from New Orleans early R'n'B kings and queens !
CastrocasterFrom the start his band line-up was build according to the blues-rock trinity ― guitar-bass-drums ― but he added an extra instrument to spice up the R'n'B flavor : a saxophone held by the fourth member of the band, Keith Crossan. And last but not least, he is also a striking songwriter.
→ Thanks to my unique partners...
But wait wait wait... it's Mel Brown playing, here ! And that changes everything. The whole thing is turning into an orgiastic show of unique electrifying guitars and passionate vocals, with the gripping help of his guest friend the late Texan guitarist Denny Freeman (1), and the backing of his super tight homewrecking band.
→ Thanks to my unique partners...
For their first album, the band neglected the studios and preferred the energetic spontaneity of a live recording (on a two-track analog recorder) in their den, the legendary Cricketeers blues bar in their home city of Bordeaux.
→ Thanks to my unique partners...
And, surprise !, what you hear is blues indeed, a heavily soul-infused blues sung with a powerful gravel-textured voice backed by a nice little band, the Blues Grifters, featuring a skilled guitarist named Mac MacNabb.
“I wanted this album to be a homage to the great blues artists who inspired me", he explained, and that's exactly what it is, an exciting collection of horn-filled R'n'B-flavored covers.
→ Thanks to my unique partners...
Hooked On Blues - I Have To Stop (1994)
Meanwhile in Austria a bunch of young blues crazies formed a band baptized Hooked On Blues. A few years later, Magic Slim was in Austria for some concerts and happened to hear them perform. He was so impressed by their understanding of Chicago blues that he advised Wolf to make them record, and consequently Wolf organized a first session. When Magic Slim came back to Austria with the Teardrops (which was featuring John Primer on guitar, and Slim's brother Nick Holt on bass), Wolf set another session, this time including Slim, Holt, Primer and Bonnie Lee.
Totally possessed by his music, he strums or rather slams and slaps his resonator guitar so hard that it's a miracle the strings survive each song, knocks the beat on the body, and is unable to stay on his seat, suddenly lifting up his right leg as if he'd been stung by a bee, sometimes throwing both legs in all directions like an octopus, or playing his instrument in all kind of positions, all that while singing his succulent stories with a powerful rasping voice ! Just watch some of the videos listed below, you won't believe it !
Converted to blues the day he heard John Lee Hooker in his country, he did with blues what his fellow Cameroonian musician, the late jazz-funk saxophonist Manu Dibango, had done with makossa, a popular rhythmic musical style from Cameroon, that he infused with jazz.
Formed in 1965, The Meters developed a brilliant combination of tight melodic grooves and syncopated New Orleans "second line" rhythms highly charged with the organ, guitar, bass and drums each weaving lines trading off melody and rhythm roles seamlessly.