Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Georg Schroeter & Marc Breitfelder


Tristan Mackay — Wherever You Lay Your Head

Formerly the best busker in Leeds - now hopefully making a success as a gigging musician


Monday, February 27, 2012

Deolinda - Portuguese 'bluesy fado'

Wikipedia

The band's style is inspired by fado but differs substantially from that traditional Portuguese genre. For instance, Deolinda does not use Portuguese guitar as fado would dictate. Deolinda's songs and lyrics are not serious and fatalistic like classic fado: instead, they often use humor, irony and a fast, happy pace.
I came across them browsing the Tube and I will definitely listen again


Michael Winslow does Jimi Hendrix

This is both humorous and kind of unbelievable. Michael is wonderful at what he does, I wish we could get him to do some of the sound effects imitating slide guitar players.



Notes from YouTube: The opening act of the legendary Michael Winslow's hilarious performance in Michael Winslow Live at the Improv. Known universally as the sound-effects ninja guy from Police Academy, he continued to refine his noises and impersonations long after the movies disappeared from public view. He now returns with his amazing signature Jimi Hendrix impersonation along side other incredible acts later in the show including a Led Zeppelin performance and a host of other sound-effect related gags.


Saturday, February 25, 2012

Louisiana Red - I'm Too Poor To Die and Sweet Blood Call

RIP Louisiana Red, may you have a peaceful journey.



From Wikipedia: Louisiana Red (born Iverson Minter, March 23,[1] 1932, Bessemer, Alabama, United States[2] - February 25, 2012 Hanover Germany,[3]) was an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who recorded more than 50 albums. He is best known for his song "Sweet Blood Call".


Esperanza Spalding – Black Gold (OFFICIAL)

Can't wait till the album is released here


Teri Lyne Carrington Group Voodoo Chile (2002)


Bix: Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke

Wikipedia

With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s. His turns on "Singin' the Blues" (1927) and "I'm Coming, Virginia" (1927), in particular, demonstrated an unusual purity of tone and a gift for improvisation. With these two recordings, especially, he helped to invent the jazz ballad style and hinted at what, in the 1950s, would become cool jazz.


Friday, February 24, 2012

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Pinetop Perkins - Mississippi bluesman

Pinetop played with many of the greats including Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker and Hubert Sumlin. He took his nickname from his mentor Clarence Pinetop Smith Official site


Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Lightnin' Hopkins - im going to build me a heaven of my own

Born Mar 15, 1912 in Centerville, TX
Died Jan 30, 1982 in Houston, TX



Little Bob and the Lollipops - The Way It's Got to Be

Notes from YouTube: Their name suggests a teen doo wop group but this unissued gem is deep, deep soul. Bob was actually a surname - his name was Camille Bob. He is a Louisiana music legend.


Raw Video: White House Blues Party

From YouTube: Mick Jagger, B.B. King, Buddy Guy and more belted out the blues for President Obama in an East Room concert celebrating the rich history of the blues and its impact on American music. (Feb 21)


Django: Jean Baptiste Reinhardt

Wikipedia

With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42", and "Nuages"


Tuesday, February 21, 2012

روائع أسطورة الطرب الحساني ديمي منت أبه the legend Dimi mint Abba

Can you hear the blues in this song?

From Wikipedia: "Dimi Mint Abba (Arabic: ديمي منت آبا‎‎; 25 December 1958 – 4 June 2011)[1] was Mauritania's most famous musician. She was born Loula Bint Siddaty Ould Abba in 1958 into a low-caste ("iggawin") family specializing in the griot tradition."


Gary Clark Jr. - Don't Owe You A Thing (Live At The Foundry Two Piece)

Gary Clark Jr. - Don't Owe You A Thing (Live At The Foundry)


Bob Pace "Pancake Blues" Live at Zimm's (part one)

Happy Pancake day everybody. If I had known, I would have had pancakes for breakfast.


Happy Birthday Nina Simone Here Comes The Sun

Happy Birthday to Nina Simone, she was a wonderful singer.


Billie Holiday & Louis Armstrong – The Blues Are Brewin

It is impossible and pointless to pick 'the best' or 'favourite' Ella tune - YouTube just helps us relish wonderful performances. These two were certainly great .....


Monday, February 20, 2012

Ella: Ella Fitzgerald

The First Lady of Song - definitely the best voice I have ever heard. I like the ways her voice changed throughout her extensive 59 year career. I judge all others by her standards - it is so difficult to choose any favourite songs or performances. I am always willing to learn if anyone has any suggestions.

Fitzgerald had an extraordinary vocal range. A mezzo-soprano (who sang much lower than most classical contraltos), she had a range of “2 octaves and a sixth from a low D or D flat to a high B flat and possibly higher”

and scat


Sunday, February 19, 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Dee Dee: Dee Dee Bridgewater

Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee (The birth name of Billie Holiday)


Thursday, February 16, 2012

Louisiana Red

Iverson Minter, is an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who has recorded more than 50 albums - he settled on the nickname "Louisiana Red," derived from his love of Louisiana hot sauce.


Wednesday, February 15, 2012

bright lights, big city - JIMMY REED


Lightnin' Hopkins Bring Me My Shotgun


Hi De Ho: Cab Calloway

He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. He played co-house at the Cotton Club with Duke Ellington As a result of the success of "Minnie the Moocher," he became identified with its chorus, gaining the nickname "The Hi De Ho Man" It still makes me beam with joy now - some things are timeless.


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

High Priest of Bop - Thelonious Monk

The standard jazz repertoire would be much the weaker without Thelonius Monks' input which include "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser" and "Well, You Needn't". He is truely a giant in any American genre and is the second most recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington, which is particularly remarkable as Ellington composed over 1,000 songs while Monk wrote about 70. Truly a delight


Monday, February 13, 2012

Aretha Franklin - Eleanor Rigby (Fillmore West,San Francisco - Mar 7, 1971)

Always loved Aretha's very soulful version of this great song. Really love her piano playing on some versions that I have heard over the years.


Fat Girl: Fats Navarro

A pioneer of bebop he earned his nickname due to a weight problem. Coupled with a heroin addiction and tuberculosis he tragically died at the age of twenty-six.


Sunday, February 12, 2012

High Priestess of Soul - Nina Simone

I love every single thing Nina Simone did! Wikipedia says

Her musical style arose from a fusion of gospel and pop songs with classical music, in particular with influences from her first inspiration, Johann Sebastian Bach,and accompanied with her expressive jazz-like singing in her characteristic low tenor. She injected as much of her classical background into her music as possible to give it more depth and quality, as she felt that pop music was inferior to classical. Her intuitive grasp on the audience-performer relationship was gained from a unique background of playing piano accompaniment for church revivals and sermons regularly from the early age of six years.


Friday, February 10, 2012

Bean: Coleman Hawkins aka "Hawk"

Father of the Tenor Sax - gained his nickname from the shape of his head. (arguably overtaken in jazz popularity by Lester Young)


Thursday, February 09, 2012

Ray Charles – Eleanor Rigby 1984

Absolutely spot on


Wednesday, February 08, 2012

Blind Boy Fuller

He was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists

Piedmont blues (also known as East Coast blues) refers primarily to a guitar style, the Piedmont fingerstyle, which is characterized by a fingerpicking approach in which a regular, alternating thumb bass string rhythmic pattern supports a syncopated melody using the treble strings generally picked with the fore-finger, occasionally others. The result is comparable in sound to ragtime or stride piano styles.
There is some dispute (see the Wikipedia article above) whether his blindness - complete by 1928 - was caused by ulcers behind the eyes or during a confrontation with a girlfriend.


Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Long Tall Dexter: Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and an Academy Award-nominated actor. His height was 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm), and so consequently he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" and "Sophisticated Giant." He adapted the bebop musical language of people like Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, to the tenor saxophone. His studio and live performance career spanned over 50 years.


Saturday, February 04, 2012

Memphis Slim - "Every Day I Have the Blues"

Loads of versions - I like these


Thursday, February 02, 2012

northsyde band

Two Allman Bros. covers Appeared at the Cambridge Festival


Susan Tedeschi - Sweet Forgiveness

Notes from YouTube: Music video by Susan Tedeschi performing Sweet Forgiveness. (C) 2006 The Verve Music Group, a Division of UMG Recordings, Inc.


Wednesday, February 01, 2012