April 8, 2010
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A Night with Little Walter, Cambridge, 1964! Rare Little Walter Photos! Thanks to Dave Luxton & Al Thompson for sharing some rare photos of Little Walter taken in 1964 at the Alley Club in Cambridge, England. Some of these images first appeared in the booklet of the grammy winning Little Walter / The Complete Chess Masters (1950 - 1967) on Hip-O Select, but some are previously unseen. To see these photos, and to hear the full story click here.
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RIP Herb Ellis, August 4, 1921 - March 28, 2010. Jazz guitarist Herb Ellis always had a blues sensibility to his fine playing. In the words of the New York Times "Herb Ellis, a jazz guitarist whose polished, blues-inflected playing earned him critical acclaim as an outstanding soloist and worldwide recognition as a member of the pianist Oscar Peterson’s trio, died Sunday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 88." Ellis recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Stuff Smith, Stan Getz, and of course Oscar Peterson. Ellis' co-wrote the jazz classic "Detour Ahead" which was most notably covered by Billie Holiday. To read the full New York Times obit, click here.
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RIP Ray Hoff, December 29, 1942 - March 19, 2010. Gil Onyett reports on the passing of Australian blues/roots rock musician Ray Hoff. In Gil's own words; "Australia lost another rock 'n' roll/rhythm 'n' blues legend with the passing of Ray Hough, who recorded as Ray Hoff. He made some recordings in the '60s as Ray Hoff & The Offbeats. Hoff's only subsequent recording, "Loud, Dirty, 'n' Rockin', appeared in 2000, and was produced by Australian rockabilly star Red Rivers". To read more about Ray Hoff, click here.
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Bob Corritore & Friends included in the Lakeside Jazz Series at Tempe Center for the Arts! Bob Corritore will bring a showcase of his blues associates to the beautiful Tempe Center for the Arts on Saturday, November 27th at 8pm, as part of the Lakeshore Jazz Series. This spectacular performance center is a joy for both artist and audience alike. The series features top names in the business including Mose Allison, Benny Green Trio, Brian Bromberg and others. To find out more about the Lakeshore Jazz Series and to purchase tickets click here.
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Candye Kane appears at the Rhythm Room this Friday! Delta Groove recording artist Candye Kane brings her fun loving show to the Rhythm Room on Friday, April 9th with an opening set by Skip Heller. The Rhythm Room is located at 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85014. Doors open at 8pm, cover charge is $12. Rack Shack Barbeque will be available at this event. This night will be a patio smoking only event; no indoor smoking will be permitted.
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Bukka White on YouTube! Please enjoy this great film clip of Bukka White singing and playing "Got Sick And Tired". Bukka's tough voice, insistently percussive guitar style, and passionate delivery make him one of the greatest champions of country blues. Note that Howlin' Wolf and Son House are in the background of this film. Click here to see the clip.
March 30, 2010
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New Pinetop Perkins / Willie "Big Eyes" Smith CD forthcoming! Producer Michael Freeman of Coachouse Music reports "I've just finished producing a long awaited album for Pinetop Perkins and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith for Telarc, titled Joined At the Hip, and due for a May/June release." We look forward to this very natural pairing of alumni of the Muddy Waters band, which BTW, also includes the great John Primer on guitar (another Muddy alum). Pinetop is now 96 years young, and is still playing at the top of his game. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith has emerged a frontman / harmonica player in the last few years, and this CD will surely help advance his already solid reputation. Thanks Michael for this great news!
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RIP Bobby Alexis, birth-date unknown - March 4, 2010. Dorothy Hill reports that keyboardist Bobby Alexis died in Houston on March 4th of a heart attack. Alexis worked for many years in the Albert Collins band, and also had played with Guitar Shorty, and Bo Diddley. Sadly, very little biographical information is available about Bobby Alexis, though he was very well known in musician circles.
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Get well cards for Fontella Bass. Deitra Farr reports on an ailing Fontella Bass, the St. Louis based soul singer, best known for the hit "Rescue Me". Deitra states "Fontella Bass has been very ill from a series of strokes. I would love for her fans and fellow musicians to show her some love and support." Get well cards and letters may be sent to: Fontella Bass, c/o Rosewood Care Center of St. Louis, Room 415, 11278 Schuetz Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63146.
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Chicago Blues Festival honors Howlin' Wolf! Lineup announced! The Chicago Blues Festival takes place on June 11th, 12th, and 13th, at Grant Park. This year the Fest celebrates the centennial of Howlin' Wolf's birthday with performances and panels by his former band members and associates. Among those associates performing will be Eddie Shaw, Henry Gray, Hubert Sumlin, Sam Lay, James Cotton, and Abb Locke! For more information and to see a full lineup for the Chicago Blues Festival, click here. To see a recently published photo page honoring the great Howlin' Wolf, click here.
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2009 BMA photo page posted! The Blues Music Awards is the greatest annual gathering of the blues world. The BMAs are a simply wonderful party, where some wonderful and unique blues people meet and greet. Please enjoy this photo display from last year's Awards show. Included are photos of Koko Taylor, Bobby Rush, Steve Guyger, The Mannish Boys, Lil' Ed, B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Chris James, Patrick Rynn, Big Pete Pearson, Bill Wax, Bob and Linda Porter, Fionna Boyes, Hubert Sumlin, Steven Seagal, Irma Thomas, Bobby Bland, and more! This year's BMAs will take place in Memphis on Thursday, May 6th. To see the 2009 BMA photo page click here. For more information on this year's BMAs click here.
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Some great new blues books! Three wonderful, newly published books have come to our attention. The first is Blues Before Sunrise, The Radio Interviews, which features a sampling of amazing interviews that Chicago author/radio show host Steve Cushing conducted with blues artists and producers such as Yank Rachell, Gray Ghost, Jody Williams, Little Hudson, Ralph Bass, John and Grace Brim, Johnny Williams, Cadillac Baby, Alberta Hunter, and more! Steve's uncanny historical knowledge is apparent throughout this fascinating set of life stories that Steve ably coaxes from each interview subject. We should also mention that Steve is a great blues drummer and producer, who made records with Magic Slim and Big Smokey Smothers. For more information on Blues Before Sunrise, The Radio Interviews, click here. To enjoy a filmed interview with Steve Cushing on WGN click here. Also from, and about the windy city comes The Chicago Music Scene, 1960's and 1970s by Dean Milano. This is a thought provoking photo essay of a time and place filled with musical zest and activity. Approximately a fifth of this book is devoted to the blues, and does so in fine form, with great era photos of the most prevalent blues artists of that period. The cover photo alone is worth the price of admission with a great shot of Lonnie Brooks performing at Chicago Fest at Navy Pier in the late 1970s. To see the cover and read more about this book click here. The third book that has come to our attention is Blues, Booze, and BBQ by Michael Loyd Young which is a spellbinding photographic journal of the modern day Mississippi blues experience. With stunningly colorful and vivid images in high quality reproduction, Young takes us on a journey through Highway 61. This is the Delta of today, complete with both the timeless deep south quality of the blues, and the juxtaposed tourist based blues modernization that is now part of the landscape. To read more about Blues, Booze, and BBQ and see a slide show of some of the book's images click here, then Essays, and Blues, Booze, and BBQ. All three of these books are spectacular in that they aptly accomplish their mission statement and bring a wonderful focus to the blues!
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Athology CD of vintage Phoenix blues get first reviews! Earlier this year the Southwest Musical Arts Foundation released a complilation of vintage Phoenix Blues titled Flyin' High, A Collection Of Phoenix Blues, Rhythm, and Spirit from the 1950's and 60's. The CD's 27 tracks include Big Pete Pearson's first recordings, Reverend Louis Overstreet, J.C. Arline, The Lone Wolf, Duke Draper, Maxine Johnson, John "Oklahoma Zeke" Lewis, Dumas King, Roosevelt Nettles, Budd Spudd & The Sprouts, Jimmy Knight, Baby Jean, the Curtis Gray Combo, and more. It has received its first two reviews, courtesy of Blues Source and Blues & Rhythm Magazine. You can read these reviews online by clicking here. To see the cover art for Flyin' High, click here, and to read the extensive liner notes by John Dixon, click here. This CD is currently available through Bluebeat Music and can be purchased by clicking here. Proceeds from the sales of this CD will go to the Southwest Musical Arts Foundation who are planning more historically important blues releases.
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Posthumus Gary Primich CD released! This news just in from Harri Haka: "A newly released CD collection of Gary Primich live performances in Finland, called Gary Indiana, has been released by the Finnish Blues Society on the Blue Star record label." Harmonica ace Gary Primich, passed away on Sept 23rd, 2007, at the early age of 49, so this continuance of his legacy is most welcome. For more information on the new, release click here.
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Albert Ammons & Pete Johnson on YouTube! Please enjoy this amazing colaboration of Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson, two of the definitive innovators of boogie woogie piano, who perform together on this vintage film clip of "Boogie Woogie Dream" (click here to see)
March 26, 2010
RIP Clayton Love November 15, 1927 - Feb. 28, 2010. Clayton Love will best be remembered as the vocalist and pianist in Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm. He passed away at a hospice in St Louis from complications of a stroke and heart problems, He was 82. He was born in Mattson, Mississippi in 1927. During 40s and 50s Love was a popular musician around the Vicksburg area, fronting and organzing sophisticated swing bands. This sound was reflected in his first recordings done for the Trumpet label in 1951. His association with Ike Turner soon followed and eventually led to his mid 1950's relocation to St. Louis, where he would front Ike's band, The Kings of Rhythm, and record such great songs as "Do You Mean It", "She Made My Blood Run Cold", and "The Big Question". Clayton Love would make St. Louis his lifelong home, and he was one of that town's proud blues statesmen until the day he died. His long career saw releases with Trumpet, Modern, Aladdin, Federal, Groove, Bobbin, Monad, Modern Blues, Ace, Charley, Collectibles, and Alligator. His great R&B vocals and spectacular recordings will live forever in blues history. To see a Clayton Love interview with with STL Blues click here. Rockie Charles November 14, 1942 - March 12, 2010. New Orleans soul singer and guitarist Rockie Charles passed away in his home town on Friday March 12th, after a long struggle with cancer. He was 67. Born Charles Merrick in Boothville, Louisiana, he would learn guitar at an early age from his father, and at age 13 moved to New Orleans where he would formally study music. As a young man in the 1960s he hit the road backing O.V. Wright, Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, and others. He would record a handful of singles and albums, of which the best known is his CD, Born For You, on the Orleans label, which finds this wonderful vocalist and songwriter at the top of his game. He had become a popular attraction at the annual retro roots festival called Ponderosa Stomp. To read the NOLA.com article about Rockie Charles' life and times, and to see a nice video clip, click here. RIP Marva Wright March 20. 1948 - March 23, 2010. New Orleans blues and gospel singer Marva Wright passed away from complications from a 2009 stroke. She was 62. She came into prominence in the 1980s and became known as the "Blues Queen of New Orleans". She recorded and toured frequently, and won over audiences in the US and Europe with her powerful voice and stage presence, and her kind and sincere personality. For more information on Marva and to enjoy her beautiful website click here. To see a film clip of Marva performing "Heartbreakin' Woman" click here, and performing "Bluesiana Mama" click here. Thanks Marva, for giving us your heart with each performance. RIP Rod 'Beachhead' Jeffery February 26, 2010. This sad news in from Colin Briscoe of Sydney, Australia, who reports "Rod “Beachhead” Jeffrey, one of the pioneering Australian bluesman, and vocalist with the band Beachhead, passed away on Friday, February 26th, after a long and arduous fight with cancer."Rod's bio indicates that his major activities took place in the 1980s and his influence and blues contribution, in his community was great. To see Ron "Beachhead" Jeffery's website, filled with photos and information, click here. RIP Barbara Brown, birth-date unknown - February 3, 2010. Ace Records Reports that Memphis soul singer Barbara Brown, passed away on February 3rd. She was in her 70s. Brown was best known for her hit "Big Party", on the Stax label, with Barbara & the Browns (featuring her and her 3 sisters). She would also record classic soul sides for XL, Cadet, Tower, Atco, Sounds of Memphis. Her short lived career ended in 1972 when she left music for good. But a resurgence of interest happened in 2007, when Kent reissued her classic sides on the album Can't Find Happiness, and again a year later when the highly acclaimed soul collection Take Me To The River (also on Kent Records), featured one of her brilliant recordings. It is wonderful that she was able to see this appreciation during her her lifetime. To see the article on Ace Records website, click here.
