Solo jazz guitar is an exacting art, and Chicago guitarist Andy Brown has been pursuing his unique finger-style approach to chord-melody playing since falling under the spell of George Van Eps, Joe Pass, and Kenny Poole a couple of decades ago. Praised by Just Jazz Guitar magazine as "a world-class guitarist who is more than capable of giving a clinic on solo guitar performance," this recording captures Andy's nuanced playing on a beautiful array of standard songs, bossa novas, and jazz tunes. Recorded on a frigid January evening during one of Chicago's worst winters in history, this CD is sure to warm your soul! 14 tracks include "Stompin' at the Savoy", "Drum Boogie" and "Anything Goes". Also available: Howard Alden / Andy Brown Quartet, Heavy Artillery (5008).
The 70's Japanese tours of Otis Rush, Jimmy Dawkins, Eddie Taylor and others created a small but intense Japanese blues following that bursts over with talent three generations and forty years later. Delmark Records presents No Border Blues, the first-ever American compilation of some of the best bluesmen and women in the Japanese underground blues scene today, with musical contributions by Johnny Burgin and production by Stephanie Tice.
Rob Mazurek (cornet), John Herndon (percussion), and Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone) are deeply rooted in the Chicago and international avant garde, jazz and post-rock scenes. Starlicker expel sound with pervading energy and other-worldly delicacy. Mazurek leads, composes for and performs with the critically acclaimed Exploding Star Orchestra, Chicago Underground, Smarcho Paulo Underground, and Sound Is Quintet. Herndon, of the post rock collective Tortoise, creates waves of rhythm and maintains an abstract pulse uniquely his own. Adasiewicz is a Chicago mainstay and Down Beat magazine rising star, and plays in his own Sun Rooms Trio, Exploding Star Orchestra, Rolldown, and Loose Assembly.
A walk in the Delta with sanctified swagger, It Ain't Right is a joyous culmination and testimonial to Jimmy's vocal talent and musical gifts. Relevant and inspiring, these songs are loaded with a great sense of collective purpose. Other musicians may cover a tune, but his clear and soulful message and individual approach make any song directly his own, and Jimmy Burns our musical treasure. Jimmy is accompanied by his working band Anthony Palmer, guitar; Greg McDaniel, bass: Bryant "T" Parker, drums; with additional support from Sumito "Ariyo" Ariyoshi, piano; Roosevelt Purifoy, organ; Marques Carroll, trumpet; Chris Neal, tenor sax; Aaron Getsug, baritone sax.
Sun Rooms consists of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, Mike Reed on drums and Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass. Arise as a trio that focused on free improvisation, they mostly use documents of Adasiewicz off. These recordings were made in Amsterdam at the end of a tour. Under the slogan "We are all Drummers and we all want to swing ", the trio also pushes this CD bounders on the musical sound of world famous Chicago.
With Billy Branch, Eddie Shaw, Big Time Sarah, Eddie Taylor Jr.., Shun Kikuta, Roosevelt Purifoy, Greg McDaniel and Pookie Styx. The debut CD by the daughter of legendary Eddie Taylor (Jimmy Reed rhythm guitarist), who had a hit for VJ with the song "Bad Boy" in 1955. Demetria revisits the song here as a tribute to her late father. But Demetria is not just riding pops' coattails. Even though she just turned 38, Demetria won the B.L.U.E.S. on Halsted Blues Diva Contest 2010, has already performed three times at the Chicago Blues Festival and guested on two Eddie Taylor CDs. 11 songs including the rousing duet with Big Time Sarah on "Wang Dang Doodle".
Jazz saxophonist Rich Corpolongo is back with his 3rd Delmark CD. The first two Smiles (Delmark 502) and Just Found Joy (Delmark 489) featured Rich's avant-garde as well as his mainstream jazz music and both received a four star rating from Down Beat. Get Happy is straight-ahead jazz in trio format (Rich Corpolongo, tenor sax; Dan Shapera, bass; Rusty Jones, drums) reminiscent of Sonny Rollins. Features 2 Charlie Parker compositions, "Chi Chi" and "Dewey Square" and eight standards including "Body And Soul", "Get Happy" and "Lullaby of the Leaves".
In 1978 Ernest Dawkins formed New Horizons Ensemble, a group which today continues to create a sound that showcases their unique combination of jazz, bebop, swing, and avant-garde. The Chicago Tribune describes them as "a band with an uncommon versatility that erupts into new music bursts of dissonance and color. This band can enlighten an audience while enthralling it." the Prairie Prophet is NHE's fifth Delmark CD and features Ernest Dawkins, saxophone; Steve Berry, trombone; Marquis Hill, trumpet, Jeff Parker, guitar; Junius Paul, bass; Isaiah Spencer, drums. Contains all new original Ernest Dawkins compositions. This CD is dedicated to Fred Anderson.
Blues From The Inside Out is the most expressive project of Dave Specter's 35 year career. Featuring his debut as a vocalist, the album is an exciting and timely celebration of blues, soul, jazz, funk and gospel. With a guest appearance on guitar by Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna fame, who also co-wrote one of the album's 12 original tunes. These are exciting times to hear Specter, an evolving artist who embraces growth and discovery. In times when darkness and doubt may seem to hang over us, we need to remember the world is illuminated by possibilities. With this new album, Dave Specter's brilliant light shines down on us all.
Chicago is known as a Jazz city that carries on the tough tenor sax tradition. The Blues feeling was always an important element for the great tenor sax players like Gene Ammons, Von Freeman, Eddie Johnson, Red Holloway and now that they are all gone it's Ari Brown that is the leading torch bearer. The album title Freebop for Mal is a tribute to the late Chicago trumpeter and Delmark recording artist Malachi Thompson who called his Jazz Freebop because it combined elements of Free Jazz and Bebop. On this, his fourth Delmark album, Ari is accompanied by brother Kirk Brown, Yosef Ben Israel, Avreeayl Ra and Dr. Cuz.
Tennessee blues poet Sleepy John Estes made his recorded debut in 1929 with the song "Broken Hearted, Ragged and Dirty Too". In '35 John teamed up with Hammie Nixon and they went on to record many classic sides together until WWII. After a twenty-year absence Delmark's Bob Koester rediscovered John and presented him to the new blues audience in '62. This led to a series of LPs and a reinvigorated career. This album was recorded in November of 1974 at concerts in Japan, one of the very first tours of that country by a blues artist - preceded only by a B.B. King State Department appearance. The Estes tour was a great success and even resulted in an Estes track appearing on the Japanese Top 100 chart! 73 minutes.
Soulful Days is the debut album by Soul Message Band but, for the most part, these masterful musicians are not appearing on Delmark for the first time. Organist Chris Foreman and drummer Greg Rockingham both came from the now defunct Deep Blue Organ Trio who have two Delmark albums and one DVD. Alto saxophonist Greg Ward appeared as a sideman on Jason Roebke's High Red Center album (DMK 5014) and tenor man Geof Bradfield recently came out with his Delmark debut, Yes, And... Music For Nine Improvisers (DMK 5027). Newcomer Lee Rothenberg is featured on guitar and wrote "Sir Charles", the smoking opener for this funky, greasy organ combo album.
Bluesman Linsey Alexander was born in Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. His first guitar was never retrieved from the pawn shop where he left it almost 50 years ago. Using the money to help pay his way to Chicago, he now has a variety of guitars. Linsey has played with B.B. King, Bobby Rush, Buddy Guy, Little Milton, Magic Slim Johnnie Taylor, Larry McCray, A. C. Reed, Byther Smith, John Primer, Otis Clay and Eddie Clearwater. Been There Done That is Linsey's Delmark debut and it features an eight piece band including the LA Horns plus special guest Billy Branch on harmonica. Lots of brand new original songs brought to life by Linsey's powerful vocals.
With Louis Myers, Dave Myers, Mac Simmons and Big Moose Walker! Blues vocalist Willie Buck was born in 1937 in the small town of Houston, Mississippi. Willie performed on what became known as the "Chittlin Circuit". Shortly after developing his reputation, Willie migrated to Chicago in 1954 where he truly immersed himself in the Chicago blues scene and became a real force on Maxwell Street. Willie was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Chicago in the summer of 2004. The Life I Love was recorded in 1982 and was issued then in a very limited edition LP. It appears on CD for the first time now and features previously unissued live tracks totaling 65 minutes of genuine Chicago blues.
This CD extols the hot "Chicago Style" jazz of the 20s and 30s. Led by octogenarian, guitarist Marty Grosz, the band features a contingent from The Fat Babies who hold forth at the Green Mill on Chicago's north side and special guest Jim Dapogny. In 1948 Marty Grosz hitchhiked from New York to Chicago in search of "Hot Music". He returned to New York in 1950, made his first records, and then, after a stint in the Army, returned to Chicago where he played for 21 years. A"too-good-to-be-true" offer lured him back to New York, to Carnegie Hall, The White House, and all over the globe. Marty has amassed an acoustic discography that's seventy-seven pages long. 16 songs.
No other contemporary blues artist brings as much of the rousing sanctified spirit of the church to his overall musical approach as Professor Eddie Lusk. One of the Windy City's busiest blues session players for the last decade, the Professor mastered the keyboards while still in his teens at his father's South Side church, and that enduring spiritual base remains at the heart of the Professor's blues. In addition to the Professor's hearty vocals, the band also showcases the gutsy pipes of Karen Carroll, a second generation blues woman whose mother, Jeanne Carroll, has graced the scene herself for many years.
After leading albums on Delmark that featured jazz vets Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, Kahil El'Zabar is back with a pride of young lions. Tenor saxophonist Kevin Nabors has studied with Von Freeman, Ari Brown and recorded with Corey Wilkes. Keyboardist Justin Dillard is in many bands in various styles of music including his own D-O-3-O organ group. Bassman extraordinaire Junius Paul has recorded with many Chicago jazz greats including Corey Wilkes, Ernest Dawkins and Dee Alexander. Kahil is featured on drums, African hand drum and kalimba. What It Is features seven songs including a burning "Impressions".
Jazz cornet player Rob Mazurek has created a sound world that is uniquely his own, sculpting a total sound environment, by fully utilizing the beautiful instrumentation of the Exploding Star Orchestra and sounds from a variety of sources, including: rain from the Brazilian Amazon, insects at the turn of an eclipse, the hammering overdrive of bicycles in Copenhagen, stacked muted cornets run through various filters, drones built from electric eels and piano feedback, hi-frequency sinuous lines from tone generators, pitched bass guitars, and other prepared instruments. With Nicole Mitchell, Jason Adasiewicz, Greg Ward, Josh Abrams, Mike Reed. Also on LP; CD has one extended track and one bonus track not on the LP.
This live recording takes US back to just a few months after the release of the legendary Hoodoo Man Blues (DMK 612) album. Junior is accompanied by the Aces - Louis Myers, guitar; Dave Myers, bass; Fred Below, drums. Eleven songs and great bits between Junior and the audience in between songs comes to over 60 minutes of pure blues delight. "I Wanna Boogie", "Messin' with the Kid", "Man Downstairs", "Worried Life Blues", "Hideaway", "That's All Right", "Look on Yonder's Wall", "Fattening Frogs for Snakes", "Got My Mojo Workin'" and more.
Add Cripple Clarence Lofton, Henry Brown and Speckled Red to the boogie woogie triumvirate cited in the album title, and you've got one solid, piano-pounding collection! Includes Pinetop's Blues Albert Ammons; Doll House Boogie Meade Lux Lewis; Dirty Dozens Speckled Red; Boogie Woogie Prayer Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson & Meade Lux Lewis; Deep Morgan Henry Brown; G-Flat Blues Pete Johnson; Streamline Train Cripple Clarence Lofton, and more.
Ever since he burst on the scene in the late 60s Archie Shepp has been recognized as one of the great avant-garde jazz artists of all time. The New York Contemporary Five are Archie Shepp, tenor sax; John Tchicai, alto sax; Don Cherry, cornet; Don Moore, bass; J.C. Moses, drums. Recorded November 11, 1963 at Jazzhus Montmartre, Copenhagen. Features six compositions: "Cisum", "Crepuscule with Nellie", "O.C.", "When Will the Blues Leave", "The Funeral" and "Mik". "Since this was a recording of a performance, one is treated to a display of raw, highly emotional music. At turns the music is sloppy, powerful, imperfect, moving, irritating - but always alive and distinctly human." - Cadence.
Nicole Mitchell's Ice Crystal project explores water and glass chemistry of flute and vibes, by combining the creative flutist with young luminary Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone. Ice Crystal's sound reminds US of the legendary collaboration between flutist Eric Dolphy and vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, but with a Chicago twist. Expression of yet another color in Mitchell's kaleidoscope of approaches, Aquarius is blues-inflected serenity, playfully swinging to the ethereal. Mitchell may have migrated to California, but her Chicago story continues, as she teams up with veteran improvisers Joshua Abrams (bass), Frank Rosaly (drums) and Jason Adasiewicz to take free swing to the ninth degree.
Sharon Lewis made her Delmark debut in 2007 as a special guest vocalist with Dave Specter on Live in Chicago (CD DMK 794, DVD DMK 1794). Born in Fort Worth, Texas Sharon's earliest musical experience was as a member of a gospel choir. She moved to Chicago permanently in 1975 and became active on the Chicago blues scene in the early 90s. In 2005 Sharon formed her own band, Texas Fire. "... it's Sharon Lewis who provides the disc's (Live in Chicago) most exciting moments. Her powerful pipes inject a strong gospel vibe into her originals "In Too Deep" and the head-turning ballad "Angel". - Blues Revue.
Blues guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader Dave Weld got his start on Chicago's west side in the late 70's. At the 1815 Club on Roosevelt Road, Dave was in the house band with Chico Chism, Shorty Gilbert, Hubert Sumlin, Detroit Junior, and Eddie Shaw. Dave played there with Otis Rush, Guitar Junior, Tail Dragger, Little Arthur, Johnny Littlejohn and more. Weld was under the tutelage of Grammy winning slide guitarist JB Hutto. JB introduced Dave to his nephew, Lil Ed. They started the band "Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials" and played every joint in the West side for ten years. Burnin' Love is Weld's Delmark debut and it features Lil Ed on guitar and the legendary Abb Locke on saxophone.
