OPEN

BURNSIDE

The late 60’s was a landmark era for the Blues, helped along by the English Blues revival which exploded around the world. Most of the early English rock bands were deeply rooted in the blues. Young guitarists like Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck faithfully copied Chicago Blues from the masters--sometimes note for note! Eventually, they began to forge their own style of Blues/Rock which became the dominant theme in popular music for more than a decade.

While all this was happening, Rod Price was sculpturing his own slide-guitar-based Blues style in London. In 1966 he answered an ad for a ‘Chicago-style’ Blues guitarist and got a job with Shakey Vick’s Big City Blues Band. The group played straight-ahead Blues, sticking as close to original arrangements as they could. The band lasted only two years but it was highly acclaimed. Champion Jack Dupree said it was "the best Blues band in Europe."

Price played with two more Blues groups before joining some ex-Savoy Brown alumni in 1971 to form Foghat, which would become one of the most successful English rock bands. For 30 years, Price led Foghat, racking up eight gold albums and many awards. Only recently, he came back to his first love to create an exceptional album of classic Blues.

Price romps through ten tunes, sliding his way through evergreens like Sittin’ On Top Of The World, Long Distance Call, Key To The Highway, Walking Blues and others. His old Blues partner, Shaky Vick, rejoins Price and adds some juicy harp to the mix. America owes England a big thanks for getting us interested in our own roots music again and Rod Price gets some of the credit along with the others who discovered the special magic in Blues back there in the schizophrenic sixties and brought it to our attention. Open is a fine tribute from a musician who very obviously loves the Blues.

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SAY BABY SAY

CANNONBALL

Blues history includes a tradition of royalty. Blues Queens have been anointed since the beginning. Mamie Smith, who made the first blues recording, Ma Rainey, Memphis Minnie, and Dinah Washington all wore the crown. I think most would agree that Koko Taylor gets the title these days, but she’s not alone. All around the world, wherever there’s a Blues community, there’s usually a local "Queen of the Blues." Diamond Teeth Mary was the Tampa Bay Area’s pride and joy. Then there's Marva Wright in New Orleans, Roxy Perry in New York, Joanne Taylor in Colorado and in Detroit, Alberta Adams, a woman who can legitimately contend for the world title.

Adams likes to say that she was born with the blues. Back in the 20’s, she was given up for adoption by an alcoholic mother. Later she moved in with relatives in Detroit. She had to battle her numerous cousins for food. She got her start in show business as a dancer on Hastings Street--the street made famous by John Lee Hooker in his classic, "Boogie Chillun." When the regular singer didn’t show up one night, Alberta got her chance and she hasn’t stopped singing for more than 50 years.

It was on Hastings Street that the Chess brothers discovered the petite but powerful singer and signed her to their record label. She recorded several gems with Red Saunders’ band from Chicago. Later she recorded for the famous jazz label, Savoy. One of those songs, still in her repertoire, is the title for her latest album.

Garner’s gamble paid off and his career has taken off since he gave up his day job. He recorded two well-received albums in Europe and in 1995, received raves for his American debut CD, You Need To Live A Little. That same year he recorded the songs on this album, but they were never released until Evidence Records picked up distribution rights recently.

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Now, at the age when many are selecting a retirement home, Odetta is on the march again, touring extensively this year to promote her 50th anniversary in show business, and her new album, her first in 14 years.

Blues Everywhere I Go is a remarkable production. Odetta’s careful selection of songs pertinent to the human condition, and her warm robust performances, make it one of the most powerful and moving musical documents ever made. As Robert Gordon says in the liner notes, "What sets this album apart . . . is its reclamation of the soul of the blues."

Odetta's performance evokes images of the blues queens of the past--Memphis Minnie, Sippie Wallace, Ma Rainey, and Bessie Smith as she sings about poverty, loneliness, poor health, and unresponsive government. The lyrics for many of the songs could have been written recently, but most are decades old.

Roy was exposed to music as a youngster. His mother encouraged him and his older brother, Grady, to pursue a musical career. His first instrument was the piano, and Grady took up the saxophone. One night as Roy was playing in his brother’s band, he noticed all the girls in the audience were paying close attention to Grady when he walked the floor playing his sax. They would follow him back to the stage and toss their phone numbers and other items at him. Roy decided then and there to switch to the guitar. "I decided I had to play . . . something I could walk around with, if I wanted to have some effect on the girls like Grady did," he recalls.

When he was 14, Roy met his idol at City Auditorium in Houston. T-Bone was headlining the show and Roy was thrilled to go back stage and meet him. But he was petrified when the blues master invited Roy to join him on stage. "I was about to pee on myself" he says! But he handled himself so well that he got a compliment from T-Bone and several jobs as a consequence. He was even billed as "T-Bone Jr." for a while. Later, Roy followed T-Bone to California and in time they became great friends.

Roy considers himself the "keeper of the flame" of T-Bone’s legacy. And this album is one he has wanted to make for a long time. Roy has absorbed much of T-Bone’s style and lovingly recreates the smooth, sophisticated sound that was T-Bone’s trademark. Most of the songs are T-Bone originals. If you're a fan of T-Bone, you will enjoy this CD. I especially liked Roy's take on "Dream Girl," and his acoustic version of "Stormy Monday," but this is gratifying listening all the way. Right on Roy!

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Kathi was always pretty intense. She got her big break in show biz when Ike Turner heard her singing in the audience at a performance and invited her to join the Ikettes, his backup vocalists. Not too many blondes became Ikettes.

In 1974, Kathi attracted the attention of Capitol Records which put out her first album, an astonishing debut, with guest appearances by Sly Stone, Neal Schon and other Bay Area music luminaries. I still get goosebumps listening to her wail on Willie Dixon’s "Insane Asylum." Later, Kathi moved to Seattle, where she became prominent in the Northwest music scene. Her powerful chops are still in great demand and she has appeared on more than 70 gold albums.

Above & Beyond, her newest CD, is a marvelous display of vocal skills, polished and ripened to near perfection. Backed up by ace organist, Brian Auger, harmonicat Lee Oskar and some of Seattle’s finest, Kathi belts her way through a dozen songs, singing with the passion and fire that has been her trademark all along. Auger matches McDonald’s intensity with some kick-ass solos that make me wonder why he hasn’t been recording more lately. If you’re a B-3 fan, don’t miss "I Put A Spell On You," and "Season Of The Witch."

Above & Beyond is on the tiny Merrimack label and you might not find it at all record stores, but keep looking--it's worth it!

Love Gotcha finds Jones busting loose with a dozen potent original songs, sliding smoothly from funk to rock to blues in a joyous display of virtuosity. Backed up by tight horns and rhythm, Jones soulful vocals and peppery guitar are the perfect ingredients for a blues banquet. Jones wrote all the songs for the new album and his lyrics are in the groove. I particularly enjoyed "Treat Me Like The Dog I Am," and "Old News" which starts off, "I used to be a headline, now I’m just old news. . ."

BACK TO THE BLUES

WOLF

Dana Gillespie is an outstanding singer. Sometimes called Europe's "Queen of the Blues, she has been singing professionally since 1965. I remember vividly an early album cover, which featured the young singer in a revealing negligee. She’s wearing long pants on the new album, but she still looks great and has never sounded better.

Dana has racked up 34 albums so far--most of them blues. Only a few have been released in America which may explain why this very talented lady is virtually unknown here, but is regarded as a superstar in Europe and elsewhere. She was voted Britain’s top female blues singer four years running, from 1992-1996.

Gillespie is also a populat DJ, hosting Twentieth Century Blues weekly on BBC Radio and a world music show broadcast every Saturday. She produces a blues festival on the Caribbean island of Mustique every year.

Her latest CD, BACK TO THE BLUES, presents Dana at the top of her game. Her voice is sultry and sensuous. Her songwriting is superb, and the band is slick and tight. The music ranges from sweet to saucy and every song has "blue" in the title. The album is available in the USA through Wolf’s American subsidiary Wolf USA and it is highly recommended. If you’d like to find out more about this remarkable singer, check out her website at: www.dana-gillespie.com

EVERY ROAD ENDS SOMEWHERE

RUF

Jimmy Johnson has been one of Chicago’s premier blues guitarists for more than twenty years. His compelling guitar and high-pitched vocals have been entertaining Windy City blues patrons since the ‘50s, but he is not well known nationally, most likely because he has recorded only a half-dozen albums and tours infrequently.

Johnson is more popular in Europe, where he has made several tours and recorded a couple of albums. His latest CD, recorded in France in 1997, is a billboard for Johnson’s magnificent skills. The music mix is one part soul, two parts blues and a pinch of zydeco for spice. Johnson blends the styles perfectly, as he amalgamates his main influences--Otis Rush, Freddie King, Magic Sam and Jimmy Dawkins.

Johnson’s song-writing skills blossom on eight originals. His lyrics deal with real life and reflect his compassionate nature. Johnson dedicates the CD to two friends who passed away--his former bass player, Anthony Merrill, and Luther Allison. His inspiring composition, "Everyday Of Your Life," seems to have been inspired by their deaths.

I hope that Ruf gets this album out to all the blues DJ’s. It deserves wide exposure. Jimmy Johnson is one of the best in the business and this is one of his best albums.

Life has been tough for Red. His parents both died when he was just a toddler. He lived with a succession of relatives who treated him badly and then spent years in an orphanage. He talks and sings about his hard life on his latest album, MILLENNIUM BLUES. Listening to his recollections of his years of abuse in stories and songs is fascinating.

Red’s lyrics are true-to-life and he details them vividly. He sings about his childhood, his women, his experiences in the Korean War, his dreams and visions. He accompanies his vocals with slashing guitar riffs and bottleneck blues in a style that is eerily like Muddy Waters, who backed Red up on his first recording session for Chess.

R.L. BURNSIDE

WISH I WAS IN HEAVEN SITTING DOWN

R.L.’s stark view of the world has not grown any rosier on his new album, recorded at age 74. It is full of dark comments on life. He personalizes the songs--even those written by others, in such a way as to make them sound like part of his family history.

The opener, Hard Time Killing Floor, is a lament about the losses of R.L.’s brothers, uncles and father to urban warfare in Chicago. He sings with the weariness of an old man who has seen too much suffering. Gritty realism is the style here--vivid pictures of tragedy, lost loves and hopes. Nothin’ Man is an incredible musical statement and R.L’s Story is a hair-raising narrative of life and death in Chicago.

In spite of the dark topics, I found this album very enjoyable from top to bottom. (which by the way features three surprise tracks not listed in the liner notes) R.L. just reeks of authenticity--a rare commodity nowadays. Drawing room Blues this is not, but real Mississippi hill-country Blues? You can’t do better.

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OTIS SPANN

LAST CALL

MR. CAT

He was one of the most important cornerstones of Chicago Blues, right there with Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf and the others. He was considered to be the bedrock of the Waters Band during its heyday. It is his piano you hear on dozens of classic hits: Muddy’s Hoochie Coochie Man, Little Walter’s Key To The Highway, Chuck Berry’s You Can’t Catch Me, Howlin’ Wolf’s Wang Dang Doodle and on and on. In spite of his impressive credentials, Otis Spann’s name is not well known outside hard-core blues circles. It was like that back in the early years too, when Spann usually took a back seat to his more flamboyant contemporaries.

Spann arrived in Chicago from Mississippi the same year as Little Walter, 1947. He soon became an integral part of the Chicago Blues Scene, playing and recording over the years with nearly all of the legends. Oddly, Chess Records failed to recognize Spann’s great vocal talent and limited his solo sessions to only a few, most of which were not released for many years.

He finally broke out in 1960, recording a brilliant album with Robert Lockwood Jr. for Candid Records. He followed with more solo efforts including a collaboration with Eric Clapton. In 1969, Spann was set to launch his solo career full-time. After 16 years in the Muddy Waters Band, he gave up his chair to Pinetop Perkins. He recorded an album with Fleetwood Mac and was planning a world tour when fate stepped in.

Spann was diagnosed with terminal cancer of the liver in March, 1970. In spite of his serious illness, he flew to Boston on April 2nd with his wife Lucille and his band, and performed for three nights. The two reels of tape of these shows were lost for 25 years. They turned up last year in a San Fernando Valley storage unit. The best of the tapes comprises the new album.

The audience was small in Boston--maybe 50 people in a hall that could hold 400. They could see that Otis was not feeling well. His suit looked three sizes too big, hanging on his frail frame. He couldn’t speak above a whisper and did not sing, leaving that to his wife and lead guitarist, Luther "Snake" Johnson. He let his piano do the talking instead, playing with the style and grace, if not the power, that always identified his music. The small crowd, sensing the finality of the moment, gathered around Spann’s grand piano and remained there for the rest of the show .

As a performance, it did not rank as high as some of Spann’s earlier triumphs, like the night at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 when he dazzled the crowd, but as the closing chapter in a great career, this performance is an important part of the legacy of Otis Spann. He died three weeks later. He was only 40.

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CANNONBALL

Johnnie Bassett is a marvelous performer. The editor of Real Blues called him "one of the finest blues/jazz guitarists of the decade." Listening to his latest CD makes one curious why such a skilled musician is not better known. Bassett has lived most of his life in Detroit. He’s been there since the late ‘40s when Hastings Street was giving Beale Street a run for its money.

Bassett’s guitar mastery stems from an eclectic history that includes stints with Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, Little Willie John, Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and even Jimi Hendrix. His smooth, elegant style and velvet-coated urban sounds conjure up aural images of T-Bone Walker and B.B. King--two of his major influences. Although his first recordings were made in 1955, Bassett recorded his first solo album just three years ago. Since then, he’s recorded two more and his latest is a real treasure.

Party My Blues Away is a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. The Blues Insurgents’ tight, horn-and-organ-driven backup is perfect for Johnnie’s cool guitar, harmonica and warm vocals. The band shuffles, stomps, and boogaloos through a collection of outstanding originals. Particularly likeable is the laid-back "Call Your Mama’s Name," and a gorgeous ballad, "Wonderin’ Blues"--a song with the feel of an instant classic.

32 BLUES

Robert Lockwood Jr. has spent most of his long life playing in the shadow of Robert Johnson. Johnson spent several years with Robert’s mother and Robert Jr. regarded him as his stepfather. The relationship between the young boy and the legendary blues icon resulted in Johnson teaching him some of his carefully guarded playing secrets. "The only reason . . . was ‘cause he was living in the house with my mother," Robert admits.

After Johnson’s tragic death by poisoning in 1938, Lockwood took off on his own blues odyssey. He was one of the first bluesmen to go electric and after a stay in Helena, Arkansas, playing with Sonny Boy Williamson, he found his way to Chicago. There, he quickly gained a reputation as a versatile studio musician, backing up Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Eddie Boyd and many others.

Lockwood recorded a few songs in the 50’s, but it was the 70’s before tiny Trix Records invited him to record two albums. He cut Contrasts in 1973, and Does 12 in 1975. Both of these albums demonstrated Lockwood’s remarkable range and are considered to be his best work. They were out of print for a decade and now have been reissued on this exceptional album.

The Complete Trix Recordings highlights the wide variety of styles that Lockwood has mastered; down-home slide, full-tilt swing, straight ahead jazz, and 12-string guitar. He puts his own imprint on his stepfather’s classics like "Dust My Broom," "Little Queen Of Spades," and "Walkin’ Blues." A song he co-wrote with Johnson, the poignant "Mr. Down Child" is a rare treat. Lockwood’s own compositions are equally moving, from the jump blues classics, "Annie’s Boogie," and "Down Home Cooking," to haunting ballads, "Little Boy Blue," and "Come Day, Go Day."

Robert Lockwood Jr. is one of the last living links to Delta blues. Only recently has he begun to receive the acclaim he deserves as one of the originators of modern blues. With the release of The Complete Trix Recordings, his available recorded legacy now includes some of his best performances.

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KILLER SWAMP BLUES GUITAR -- House Rockin’ & Hip Shakin’ Vol 3

Hip-O

When it comes to down home blues, there are few labels to compare with Excello Records. Founded in 1952 by Nashville record store owner and DJ Ernie Young, Excello had a profound influence on the direction of blues and rock & roll. A major reason for Excello’s success was its connection with legendary producer Jay Miller.

Miller owned a record store in Crowley, Louisiana. He built a studio near the store and began recording local artists, releasing them on several small labels and later leasing his masters to bigger companies like Decca, Dot and Jamie. Miller found his primary outlet when he agreed to lease masters to Excello.

The small label prospered and made stars of laid-back country bluesmen like Slim Harpo, Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester and Lonesome Sundown among others. Universal Music acquired the rights to these masters recently and has released three albums of Excello classics in its "House Rockin’ & Hip Shakin’" series on the HIP-O label.

Volume three features all the major players on Excello, plus lesser known (but equally "swampy") artists like Clarence Samuels, Joe Johnson, Silas Hogan and Jimmy Anderson. Miller’s production on most of the 20 tracks gives the album that instantly identifiable Excello sound. This is southern country blues at its laconic best, hot, humid and lazy. You can almost smell the Honeysuckle.

JAZZ ME BLUES

Prestige

Jimmy Witherspoon’s strong, mellifluous voice preached the blues for more than 50 years. "Spoon" had a rare talent of making lyrics seem very personal. His phrasing and timing was always impeccable. When you listen to him sing, you can’t help but share his joy and his pain.

Although he initially achieved fame as a rhythm and blues shouter in the 40's, his later recordings leaned heavily towards jazz. Probably more than anyone else, he nurtured the close relationship between jazz and blues and "Jazz Me Blues" celebrates this affinity in grand style.

Some great players perform on these tracks, recorded in the 50's and 60's. Harry "Sweets" Edison, George Benson, Teddy Edwards, Ben Webster, Gerry Mulligan, Roy Eldridge, Woody Herman and many other jazz notables contribute outstanding accompaniment to Spoon’s warm baritone. Especially enjoyable are tracks from a 1965 session with another master of laid-back blues, T-Bone Walker.

"Jazz Me Blues" was produced by long-time friend, David Axelrod, who selected some of Spoon’s most intimate sessions for the album. Try this one late at night with a glass and/or a smoke for 68 minutes of sublime satisfaction.

four-disc set on Epic Records.

When I think about the ‘80s, I remember it as mostly a decade of vapid pop muzac. Yeah, there was Sting and a few others who managed to rise out of the muck, but for the most part music was prosaic and quickly forgotten. But then along came Stevie Ray Vaughan. Blazing out of Texas like a rocket to Arcturus, he burned his way into history and became the most popular, and perhaps the most emulated bluesman of all time. The ‘80s was his decade and he played the game to the hilt--as if he knew he didn’t have much time. He was at the top when he clocked out in a helicopter crash after a concert in Wisconsin in 1990.

For a career that lasted less than 15 years, Stevie Ray managed to leave behind a considerable legacy. Five albums were released during his lifetime, and since his death a half-a-dozen more of various live shows and collections have appeared. These newer albums contain bits and pieces of outtakes and live performances that hinted at a much larger treasure chest of SRV material still unheard. Now Epic Records has opened up the vaults with this four-CD set, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble. This collection offers more previously unreleased tracks than all the others put together and is a welcome addition to the Stevie Ray Vaughan library.

A 1977 studio take of Thunderbird opens the set, with the earliest recording released so far of Stevie Ray, playing with the popular Austin band, "Paul Ray & The Cobras." It’s interesting to hear Stevie's voice at the age of 22, before he had fully developed his vocal chops.  Disc one continues with live sets from Austin, Houston and Toronto recorded between 1979 and 1981, his Grammy award-winning version of Texas Flood, recorded at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1982, a track from his famous appearance at El Mocambo in Toronto in 1983, and guest shots with Johnny Copeland and Albert King.

Disc two features a live performance from Hawaii in 1984, outtakes from the Soul To Soul sessions in 1985, an MTV appearance in 1987 and two previously unreleased tracks from the Carnegie Hall Concert in 1984. Disc three has more live tracks from Philadelphia in 1987, Albuquerque in ‘89, solo shots from a Texas radio show and MTV’s Unplugged, and rare tracks from his last concert at Alpine Valley, Wisconsin on August 26, 1990, the night he died.

The fourth disc in this exceptional set is a DVD with five songs from a Stevie Ray performance on Austin City Limits that was taped, but never aired.

In terms of content, this set is a monster. Usually you get only dribs and drabs of extra tracks in anthologies. Often there are lots of repeats, but most of the tracks here are in the "never before available" category. For SRV collectors this set is a must-have. And since many live versions and alternate takes of some of his most well-known songs are included, it will also serve as a fine introduction to the Texas Tornado, Stevie Ray Vaughan.