Thursday, March 29, 2012

Blood: James "Blood" Ulmer- Blues Allnight

Wikipedia

James "Blood" Ulmer (bis an American jazz and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer's distinctive guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging." His singing has been called "raggedly soulful."
A comprehensive bio at jazz.com
An early lesson that Benson taught Ulmer was to use his thumb to strum and pick notes in the style of guitarist Wes Montgomery.This approach helped Ulmer expand the range of sounds he was able to produce on the guitar. James showcased this new technique in performances with organ-based combos led by Jimmy Smith and Richard Groove Holmes. During this time, he was given the nickname Youngblood, which was then abbreviated to Blood.


Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Brian Kramer's Acoustic Underground with Mats Qwarfordt; "No Regrets" 3/...



Note from YouTube: Our "final" Acoustic Underground session at St; Clara in Stockholm. With Mats Qwarfordt on harp & Johan Toft on mandolin (off camera) Playing my spankin' brand new "Ivory" National resonator guitar.
Song; No Regrets, written by B. Kramer


Sunday, March 25, 2012

Charles Mingus - Better Git It In Your Soul



"Better Git It In Your Soul" performed by Charles Mingus and band. Taken from the 1959 "Mingus Ah Um" Jazz album. Composed by Charles Mingus.

Musicians:
John Handy: Alto sax
Booker Ervin: Tenor sax
Shafi Hadi: Tenor sax
Jimmy Knepper: Trombone
Horace Parlan: Piano
Charles Mingus: Bass
Dannie Richmond: Drums


Saturday, March 24, 2012

Brother Ray: Ray Charles

Wikipedia

Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, and number two on their November 2008 list of "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In honoring Charles, Billy Joel noted: "This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. I don't know if Ray was the architect of rock & roll, but he was certainly the first guy to do a lot of things . . . Who the hell ever put so many styles together and made it work?"


Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Bo Diddley, Billy Boy Arnold & Jerome Green Blues

An amusing little video


Monday, March 19, 2012

Bu: Art Blakey

Wikipedia

.... Arthur "Art" Blakey ... converted to Islam ... and took the name Abdullah Ibn Buhaina (which led to the nickname "Bu"). In the early 1950s he performed and broadcast with such musicians as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis




Robert Nighthawk

Robert Lee McCollum recorded under the pseudonyms Robert Lee McCoy and Robert Nighthawk - he assumed the nickname Nighthawk after he released an album called Prowling Night Hawk.

After some initial success with Chess - even being compared with Muddy Waters recording and performing in 1951 and 1952, he failed to achieve great commercial success.

In 1963, Nighthawk was rediscovered busking in Chicago and this led to further recording sessions and club dates, and to his return to Arkansas, where he appeared on the King Biscuit Time radio programme on KFFA.Unfortunately after a second go at fame he died from a heart attack.




Sunday, March 18, 2012

Ezekiel Saw The Wheel - Louis Armstrong

I love it when Louis Armstrong played gospel music.




Saturday, March 17, 2012

Miles Davis 1983 Decoy


Gretchen Parlato - The Lost and Found

Guardian

...it's a delectable set just the same.

allaboutjazz
Gretchen Parlato is emerging as the most important jazz singer since Cassandra Wilson. Her vocal approach is so unique and her repertoire so eclectic that she stands to create a jazz vocal genre unto herself






Friday, March 16, 2012

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

God: Art Tatum

Wikipedia

Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time[1] and he was a major influence on later generations of jazz pianists. He was noted for the complexity and speed of his performances, which set a new standard for jazz piano virtuosity.
NPR.
"The great stride pianist Fats Waller famously announced one night when Tatum walked into the club where Waller was playing, 'I only play the piano, but tonight God is in the house.'"


'Sugar Mama' by The Deep Dark Woods


Monday, March 12, 2012

Chris Smither

Always an interesting artist with a long and varied career (see Wikipedia here).


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Django Django


Peter Green – Need your Love so bad

We all do - don't you think?


Saturday, March 10, 2012

Carolina Chocolate Drops - Leaving Eden

In an article titled Carolina Chocolate Drops Hooked on Old Time Sounds NPR covers the Carolina Chocolate Drops New Album.

Carolina Chocolate Drops breathed new life into old-time music with the 2010 album Genuine Negro Jig, which put a contemporary spin on Southern string tools from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. That collection went on to win a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.

"I really didn't hear old-time music until I got into the contra dance community," says Rhiannon Giddens, singer and founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops. "I just fell in love with the banjos, played claw-hammer style. I'd never really heard a whole lot of that, and that was it. I was completely hooked."








Thursday, March 08, 2012

Lincoln Durham

A raw voice - see his website for more information


Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Otis Taylor - Contraband 2012

Washington Post

.... Throughout it all, Taylor's captivating arpeggios on guitar and banjo underline his gruff baritone. He repeats his blues mantras to tell the stories of newly freed slaves, love-hungry men, a World War I veteran, spurned lovers and Jim Crow victims. Somehow it all comes together in a cohesive but utterly distinctive sound that gets the point across with a minimum of lyrics.
1. The Devil's Gonna Lie
2. Yell Your Name
3. Look To the Side
4. Romans Had Their Way
5. Blind Piano Teacher
6. Banjo Boogie Blues
7. 2 or 3 Times
8. Contraband Blues
9. Lay On My Delta Bed
10. Your 10 Dollar Bill
11. Open These Bars
12. Yellow Car, Yellow Dog
13. Never Been To Africa
14. I Can See You're Lying


Monday, March 05, 2012

Maria Muldaur — Steady Love 2011

I think anyone remembering her pop days will be pleasantly surprised to say the least. Yet another 50+ year trouper - go for it gal!

Home Page


Sunday, March 04, 2012

Sunnyland Slim performing at the Chicago Delta Fish Market

I had a few other videos from the Chicago Delta Fish market and the blues scene that flurshed around it. But all the others except this one have been removed for one reason or another.

Notes from YouTube:

Sunnyland Slim performing at the late, lamented Delta Fish Market on Chicago's west side, c. early 1980s. The band is Sunnyland Slim, piano & vocals; Bennie "Boston Blackie" Houston, guitar; Hound Dog Taylor's long-time drummer Ted Harvey, drums; Sam Burckhardt, sax; unknown, bass.


Trampled by Turtles – Codeine (Lyrics)


Johnny Winter " Texas Guitar Slim " medley


John Martyn with Eddi Reader – He Got All The Whiskey


Booker T. Jones — The Road from Memphis

Sometimes you need to chill
Popmatters

..... This is the guy who helped write such classics as “Green Onions” and “Time Is Tight” after all. Still—to think the 66-year-old can continue to produce such unparalleled authentic, indescribably funky and unprecedented soulful rhythm and blues music in such a fashion is nothing short of astonishing. All told, The Road From Memphis is enough to make Jim Stewart, Estelle Axton, Duck Dunn, Rufus Thomas, Eddie Floyd, Johnnie Taylor, Isaac Hayes and any other member of the Stax family smile wherever they are.
BBC
As long as there’s been soul music there’s been Booker T. Jones. A session saxophonist on Stax Records while it was still Satellite Records at age 16 in 1960.... Crazy, Walking Papers, The Hive and Rent Party are such sweet examples of Booker T.’s craft – it’s as if mod never went away.
Despite a comment in one of the reviews given I like this


Saturday, March 03, 2012

Keith B. Brown — Down The Line

Impersonator of Skip James in the Wim Wenders film Soul of a Man - his web site here His 3rd album sees him deep in Delta Blues


Friday, March 02, 2012

Susan Tedeschi - Gonna Move

Notes from YouTube: The author of this amazing song is the incredible, late Paul Pena . From the album : "wait for me" .



Susan Tedschi @ Amazon.com


Thursday, March 01, 2012

Lightnin' Hopkins Black Cadillac

Can I ride???


Tedeschi Trucks Band — These Walls

From the album Revelator