The music of Keefe Jackson's all-reed group Likely So is both a new direction and a continuation of his abiding mission: combining composition and improvisation with an emphasis on the interaction of the individual musicians. On a Round Goal, this leads to an exploration of sound-areas including the textural, the melodic, and the instinctual. Mars Williams, Waclaw Zimpel, Jackson, Marc Stucki, Dave Rempis, Peter A. Schmid, and Thomas K.J. Mejer play the entire range of saxophones (from sopranino to contrabass) and clarinets. This album is a live set recorded at the Jazzwerkstatt Festival in Berne, Switzerland.
The Memphis Nighthawks got together in Champaign-Urbana, IL, were members of the U. of I. Jazz Band and took their name from a 1932 recording though neither group came from Memphis Ron DeWar (soprano sax, clarinet, C Melody sax) has since worked with pianist Judy Roberts. Co-founder Steve Jensen (trumpet) also co-founded the Jazz Members Big Band, Trombonist Joel Helleny moved to New York and did the trombone solos on the soundtrack of Cotton Club, was only 20 when these sides were cut in the late 70's. The rhythm section includes bass saxist Dave Feinman & Mike Miller (banjo, guitar). Joe Klee in the Mississippi Rag said "From the opening track this band moves like a house afire"!
Chicago's Jimmy Burns accompanies his soulful, countrified voice with unstoppable rhythms and sure-handed solos. His vibrant, heartfelt blues and boogies echo the Mississippi Delta, where he was born and raised. - Guitar Player review of "Leaving Here Walking" (DMK #694). "Back to the Delta" reflects those same influences with 13 new original songs including "Juke, Juke, Juked," "Stranded in Clarksdale," "Country Boy in the City" and others. The title track is about Jimmy's hometown just up the road from Tutwiler, where the blues was born.
The Rockin' Johnny Band has been one of Chicago's most loved blues bands since 1995. Their Monday night residency at the Smoke Daddy led to Straight Out of Chicago (DMK 720), the first CD. Their original, energetic approach made them a strong draw bringing in blues aficionados, every musician in town and a younger crowd that normally didn't go hear blues bands. The Rockin' Johnny Band plays modern Chicago blues, but also ventures into funk, rock, and swing. With Rick Kreher, rhythm guitar; John Sefner, bass; Steve Bass, drums; Big D, harmonica. Grim Reaper features many new original compositions including It's Expensive to Be Broke, One And One Ain't Two, Shoe Leather & Tire Rubber.
Delmark's 55th anniversary blues bash at Buddy Guy's Legends on March 7, 2008 featured most of Delmark's local blues roster, a Delmark Day proclamation from Mayor Daley and a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for the groundbreaking Hoodoo Man Blues album. Live performances by Lurrie Bell, Tail Dragger, Zora Young, Jimmy Johnson with Dave Specter, Aaron Moore, Little Arthur Duncan, Eddie Shaw and Shirley Johnson.
This is country blues at it's best from the master of the nine string guitar. It's also the first new Big Joe album on Delmark in 30 years, and it features recordings made in St. Louis from 1958 which also gave US "Piney Woods Blues" (DMK #602) and "Stavin' Chain Blues" (DMK #609), as well as from recordings made in Chicago from 1961 which also gave US "Blues on Highway 49" (DMK #604) and "Nine String Guitar Blues" (DMK #627). Bassist Ransom Knowling accompanies on three songs and their studio banter is priceless! More blues tales from one of the greatest story-tellers of all time.
Shirley is back with that same blend of traditional good-rockin' Chicago blues, smoldering R&B and poppin' soul she is known for. Almost all of the 14 songs on Blues Attack are new original compositions by various musicians on the CD however there are great covers of classics "Unchain My Heart" and "634-5789"."Raised in the church but evidently born to sing the blues, Shirley Johnson belts like a spiritual daughter of Koko Taylor, flexing her husky voice on ballads and up-tempo love songs, hitting gravel when she reaches for a higher note or pushes her volume." - Ted Drozdowski, Pulse!
Chicago music buffs eagerly anticipate the second weekend of June for the annual Chicago Blues Festival and if that weren't enough of an incentive to bring out-of-towners into our city, it's also when the Bob Koester's Jazz Record Mart hosts it's annual Blues Brunch. This CD was recorded at the 2005 Blues Brunch with Michael Coleman's group acting as the core band. Also features Willie Kent, Bonnie Lee, Little Arthur Duncan (all three now passed away making this disc all the more crucial), Lurrie Bell, Steve Freund, Zora Young, Shirley Johnson, Tail Dragger and Aaron Moore. An entertaining hour-long smorgasbord of no-nonsense straight ahead Chicago blues.
Sharon Lewis unleashes another extraordinary Delmark album; Grown Ass Woman features 12 new original songs with special guest appearances by Sugar Blue and Joanna Connor. In a review of her first Delmark album Rosalind Cummings-Yeates said "The Real Deal" (DMK 816) qualifies as one of the best blues albums of the year" - Illinois Entertainer, December 2011. The new album kicks off with "Can't Do It Like We Do" a tribute to the current Chicago Blues sound and scene. "Hell Yeah!" is a total party jam, there's plenty of soul like "They're Lying" and "Call Home", and "Freedom" is a timely song which points out that "freedom cannot be freedom until freedom means freedom for everyone!"
On CD for the first time. Recorded on December 30, 1964 at Preservation Hall, New Orleans this album is unique because at the time there were few sessions being done by traditional jazz units other than six or seven piece bands. And it found favor with a wide range of fans, combining elements of both the West Coast and New Orleans styles. It's been 45 years since pianist Bob Greene and banjoist Steve Larner strutted down St. Peter Street from Preservation Hall to the Red Garter to meet cornetist Ernie Carson and tubaist Hal Johnson. But the great music lives on with the addition of 4 previously unissued songs, 14 songs in all.
Giles Corey's credits include being in the bands of Billy Branch & the Sons of Blues and Otis Rush. Giles also played and recorded with Syl Johnson, Mississippi Heat and Buddy Miles. The talented singer/guitarist was a founding member of the funk/blues/rock & roll powerhouse Lubriphonic. When Lubriphonic stopped touring in 2011, the seed was planted for Stoned Soul, Giles' debut as leader. The band features Marty Sammon on keys, Joewaun Scott on bass and Rick King on drums. The album features eleven new originals and covers of "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You", a 1971 hit for Wilson Pickett and Gary Clark Jr.'s "Bright Lights". Stoned Soul features a unique blend of roots music, rich in history yet contemporary and forward-looking.
Reviews of Toronozo's first Delmark CD were overwhelmingly glowing. 11 new original compositions ranging from straight ahead blues to funky soul to the psychedelic rocked out title track. Guitarist Lawrence Gladney and bassist Larry Williams return but this time around drummer Brian "BJ" Jones keeps the booty grooves shakin'. "With consistently powerful performances from Cannon, a batch of compelling original songs, and the exemplary band work, Leaving Mood is a must-hear CD that should rank among the year's best." - Living Blues "Southside Chicago native Toronzo Cannon is a genuine triple threat artist (guitarist/singer/songwriter) as he amply demonstrates on Leaving Mood." - Blues Revue.
New York guitarist Howard Alden and Chicago guitarist Andy Brown co-lead a swinging two-guitar quartet session. Playing a mix of standards, Brazilian tunes, and songs by fellow jazz guitarists, this recording documents a fifteen-year relationship between the two musicians.
Mike Wheeler has been playing the blues for almost 30 years and has played with Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, Shemekia Copeland, Jimmy Johnson, Son Seals, Willie Kent and a who's who of today's Chicago Blues!!. Mike is an extraordinary blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He wrote most of the material Self Made Man including the title track where he sings "I'm a self made man and I made myself have the blues". Mike is accompanied by his regular group including Brian James, keyboards; Larry Williams, bass; Cleo Cole, drums and special guest Omar Coleman, harmonica on three songs. Others songs include "Get Your Mind Right", "Movin' Forward", "I Don't like It Like That", "Here I Am".
We like our blues with a dose of funk, soul and all other kind of stuff, says Omar Coleman. Eventually these supposedly separate genres run into each other especially with the new generation of blues artists taking over. Even though it was only available for the second half of the year Omar's Delmark debut Born & Raised was #15 on Living Blues magazine's top radio albums of the year. In the LB review of the album Roger Gatch said "The album bears the mark of an artist who is appropriately confident in his abilities as a singer, harmonica player and songwriter and who is steeped in the classic blues sounds of his home city yet unafraid to take them in a more contemporary direction."
The second installment of Art Hodes' recordings for the Euphonic label this contains another hour of inspired piano solos from the legend who's been described as a blues drenched jazz pianist. Hodes (1904-93) was active in the '20s so this is music played by a guy who was there when Bessie Smith was alive and recording. On this 1976 session he pays tribute to the great blues vocalist Bessie Smith. Contains the 12 songs from the original LP plus unissued tracks including St. Louis Blues After You've Gone Cakewalkin' Babies from Home & Pallet on the Floor.
Chicago jazz pianist Jim Holman brings together an exciting crew for Blue Skies, his second Delmark CD. Multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan, who was there in bebop's heyday and played with Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Art Blakey and others continues to set the standard of greatness. Each of his phrases is an epiphany. Here Ira plays trumpet and tenor saxophone. Drummer Roger Humphries embodies the spirit of jazz: sophisticated yet uninhibited. He is best known for playing drums on Horace Silver's Song for My Father but also played with many greats including Stanley Turrentine and Ray Charles. Nick Schneider, Dennis Carroll, (bass) and George Fludas (drums) each contribute.
The release of this CD should propel St. Louis' legendary trumpet player Dewey Jackson from a footnote to his rightful place in jazz history. Jackson was born in St. Louis, June 21, 1900 (before Louis Armstrong). He played a year with rag timer George Reynold's Keystone Band before joining Charlie Creath and alternated between Creath, Fate Marable and his own groups before briefly joining the first Cotton Club band in New York. Jackson recorded for Vocallion in 1926, with Creath for Okeh in '27 and with bassist Singleton Palmer. He occasionally gigged through the '50s and '60s and passed away in March of 1966. This album triples his discography and features Don Ewell, piano; Frank Chace, clarinet; Sid Dawson, trombone; and Booker T. Washington, drums.
Sleepy John Estes was one of the most individual of all recorded blues singers. He sang with phrasing that fairly dripped with expressiveness in a high crying tone that seemed often like he was speaking to the listener. The songs he wrote were well suited to this treatment, dealing frequently with his and his neighbors' lives. - Gerald Brennan. This session is from July 19, 1974. None of these performances have ever been issued before. Estes, vocals, guitar; Hammie Nixon, vocals, harmonica, kazoo.
Founded in 1953 by Bob Koester, Delmark Records continues to record jazz and blues under his leadership. This special celebratory CD package features previously unissued performances by blues legends and new songs from Delmark's current line-up of exciting talent. Tracks include an unissued Junior Wells song from the South Side Blues Jam session featuring Otis Spann; Magic Sam from a 1968 live performance, a sneak preview of the full CD slated for November; an alternate take from the Little Walter Trio featuring Muddy Waters which has never been on CD; Toronzo Cannon, Studebaker John, Linsey Alexander, Quintus McCormick, Lurrie Bell, Eddie C. Campbell and much more.
This is the first album for Young on an established American label, which is surprising since she is one of the most creative blues singers in Chicago; born in West Point, MS & raised in Chicago, where she grew up singing gospel - after years in the R&B "chittlin circuit," she switched to blues & has shared the stage with B.B. & Albert King; here, she's joined by guest guitarist James Wheeler.
(CD + DVD) the Space Between is a multi-faceted sound/visual orchestration based on multiplying forces and the space between these forces. It pursues the idea of the Indra's Net, a continuous reflection of, but always changing reality of, our universe and what is not seen or heard. Featuring the dynamic flute of Nicole Mitchell, the Wellsian voice of Damon Locks, and stellar contributions from the other members of the Ensemble, along with Marianne M. Kim's multi-layered visual poem, the Space Between represents a step into the direction of sound as vision / vision as sound. Contains one CD and DVD (in PCM stereo, DTS and Dolby 5.1). Also contains Illumination Drone #17, Mazurek's silent video. NTSC all region, 47 minutes.
Jazz drummer Frank Rosaly's debut album as leader. Cicada Music is an extension of drummer Rosaly's original soundtrack work from the documentary Scrappers, which follows the life of two Chicago recyclers scouring the alleys for scrap metal. Rosaly's music is a meditation on that struggle, the vast complexity of the urban environment and the beauty of human perseverance. Using some of the leading voices in Chicago's free music scene, these 10 tracks feature James Falzone, clarinet; Jason Stein, bass clarinetist; Keefe Jackson, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, contra-bass clarinet: Jason Adasiewicz, vibraphone; Jason Roebke, bass; and Frank Rosaly, drums, electronics.
Robert Nighthawk recorded for United on it's first day of sessions and two of United's first five releases were by "Robert Nighthawk and his Nighthawks Band". He had a national hit in late '49 on Aristocrat and perhaps United had envisioned Nighthawk as it's blues-singing slide guitar rival to Chess' Muddy Waters. Sales didn't pan out but to many he was the ultimate slide guitarist of the amplified blues era, one who influenced the likes of Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Earl Hooker. B.B. King cited Nighthawk as one of his "Ten Favorite Guitarists" in "Guitar Player" magazine. Today, more than 30 years after his death, Nighthawk is ranked among the greats in blues history.
Eddie C. Campbell brings his unmistakably individual, engaging and memorable verve and variety and his command of the Chicago blues tradition to "Tear This World Up", his most fully realized chapter in a highly regarded discography which has generated covers by Lynyrd Skynyrd and Lee Atwater and a Christmas staple. Eddie has long been a master of classic Chicago blues, but always his own man, turning out venues worldwide with funk and rock & roll as well as blues, all with his rich, wide-ranging vocals, the trademark reverb drenched sound of his vintage metallic purple Fender Jazzmaster guitar and creative song writing.
Andy Brown's previous album, Soloist (DMK 5019), received outstanding reviews in JazzTimes, Jazziz, Vintage Guitar and in Down Beat where Scott Yanow described Andy as "a fixture on the Chicago jazz scene since 2003" superior mainstream guitarist." Direct Call features a rarity in jazz today - a working band. Several years of performing weekly at Andy's Jazz Club has given this quartet a cohesive and tight-knit sound that can only be gained through countless gigs together. With pianist Jeremy Kahn, bassist Joe Policastro and drummer Phil Gratteau, the album features an eclectic mix of standards, Brazilian music and jazz compositions.
Rob Mazurek & Chad Taylor have been the heart & soul of the Chicago Underground groups for over a decade. Bassist Jason Ajemian makes his CUT debut, bringing a wide range of musical influences to the table. 'The trio's music is never frenetic.
