Bman's Blues Report

I just had the chance to review the new 3 CD set, 4 0 Years of Stony Plain and it's a super bag of super recordings and unreleased music. CD One called Singers, Songwriters and much more features tracks by Colin Linden; Spirit of the West; Corb Lund; Doug Sham; Harry Manx & Kevin Breit; Emmylou Harris; James Burton, Albert Lee, Amos Garrett, David Wilcox; New Guitar Summit; Rodney Crowell; Valdy & Gary Fjellgaard; Jr. Gone Wild; Tom Hus; Ian Tyson; Jennifer Warnes; Steve Earle; & Eric Bibb featuring Taj Mahal, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Ruthie Foster. This CD has a real rural feel with folk, country and grassy feel. Louis Riel by Doug Sham is a super track with a Tex Mex country sound. Rockabilly, That's Alright by James Burton and crew is another standout. New Guitar Summit's Flying Home throws a bit of swing jazz in with super nice flavor. Tim Hus's Wild Rose Waltz has real traditional country feel and is pure as snow. Eric Bibb and crew deliv...

I just received the newest release, Heal My Soul , by Jeff Healey and it's pretty cool. These are tracks that were recorded between 1996 and 1998. Opening with Daze Of The Night , Healey takes a solid rock stance with a catchy melody and ripping guitar work. Joe Rockman provides a nice bottom and Dean Glover does an excellent job on drums (love the cow bell). Moodswing continues in the blues rock vein with a heavy feel and slaying guitar riffs. Tom Stephen sits in on drums on this track with a lot of back slap and tension. Healey's guitar phrasing is terrific and his vocals solid as always. Healey shifts gears with pop track, Baby Blue , which has all of the components of an absolute top 40 track. Super melody, vocal blending and easy guitar rhythm with laid back lead work is the ticket here... think Bread or Badfinger. Very nice! I Misunderstood is another track with a nice melody but with tom tom heavy drums by Dean Glover and searing guitar soloing by Healey, this track...

I just received the newest release, Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues from Jeff Healey and it's great! Healey, a serious vintage record collector (over 30,000 78's of classic 20's and 30's music) was well known as Canada's top rock and blues guitar player and band leader but prior to his untimely death in 2008 opened a club in Toronto and formed Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards. Fortunately, some of that fine work that Jeff did in his love for the early music is compiled here as a part of The Best of Series. Opening with Kalmar and Ruby's Three Little Words , featuring Healey on vocal and guitar, Jesse Barksdale on rhythm guitar Reide Kaiser on piano, Colin Bray on bass and the exceptional solo work of Tom Pletcher on coronet and Dan Levinson on clarinet. You've never heard Healey play this guitar style. Excellent! Lang and Venuti's intrumental, The Wildcat , screams along with really nice violin work from Drew Jurecka on violin and Healey on guitar. Wow! ...

Stony Plain Records Announces Next in Its “Best of” Series with New Compilation from Jeff Healey, Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues , on July 17 EDMONTON, AB – Stony Plain Records announces a July 17 release date for the latest in its series of Best of the Stony Plain Years compilations with a set from the late guitarist extraordinaire, Jeff Healey, Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues . Compiled with the participation of Jeff’s widow, Cristie, as well as long-time friend Roger Costa, Jeff Healey’s Best of the Stony Plain Years CD includes 11 tracks from his four Stony Plain albums of vintage jazz and swing projects, as well as “Sweet Georgia Brown,” a track previously released on a promotion-only CD sampler that also features jazz legend Chris Barber on trombone. The CD carries a special reduced list price of $12.98. “Stony Plain was honored to release Jeff Healey’s four vintage jazz/swing projects, plus a DVD with his beloved Jazz Wizards,” writes Holger Petersen, Stony Pla...

On Friday 22nd February , inakustik will release a compilation of three rare and previously unreleased German concerts recorded and filmed in 1989, 1995 and 2000, from the Canadian blues rock guitarist, Jeff Healey . Entitled " Jeff Healey - As The Years Go Passing By: Live in Germany 1989 - 1995 - 2000" , the concerts will be released as a 3 CD-set , and as a Deluxe Edition 3CD + 2DVD. The latter includes an extensive booklet featuring contributions from the participating musicians, plus rare photos. The three concerts include "Ohne Filer Extra" (May 10, 1989), " Extraspät in Concert" (April 2, 1995), and "Ohne Filter Extra" (October 31, 2000). "With the fifth anniversary of Jeff's passing coming up on 2nd March 2013, we were looking for a special way to commemorate and help celebrate Jeff’s life and legacy,"says Jeff’s widow, Cristie Healey . ...

Ronald "Ronnie" Hawkins (born January 10, 1935) is a Juno Award-winning rockabilly musician whose career has spanned more than half a century. Though his career began in Arkansas, USA, where he'd been born and raised, it was in Ontario, Canada where he found success and settled for most of his life. He is considered highly influential in the establishment and evolution of rock music in Canada. Also known as Rompin' Ronnie, Mr. Dynamo or simply The Hawk, Hawkins was one of the key players in the 1960s rock scene in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Throughout his career, Hawkins has performed all across North America and recorded more than twenty-five albums. His hit songs included covers of Chuck Berry's "Thirty Days" (entitled "Forty Days" by Hawkins) and Young Jessie's "Mary Lou", a song about a "gold digging woman". His other well-known recordings are "Who Do You Love?", "Hey Bo Diddley", and "Suz...

Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey (March 25, 1966 - March 2, 2008) was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Over the years, Healey toured and sat-in with many legendary performers, including Dire Straits, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, BB King, ZZ Top, Steve Lukather, Eric Clapton and many more. In 2006, Healey appeared on Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's CD/DVD Gillan's Inn. Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other musical artists, including Terra Hazelton and Amanda Marshall. In early 2009, Healey's album Mess of Blues won in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Blues Album. Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Norman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey (March 25, 1966 - March 2, 2008) was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Over the years, Healey toured and sat-in with many legendary performers, including Dire Straits, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, BB King, ZZ Top, Steve Lukather, Eric Clapton and many more. In 2006, Healey appeared on Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan's CD/DVD Gillan's Inn. Healey discovered and helped develop the careers of other musical artists, including Terra Hazelton and Amanda Marshall. In early 2009, Healey's album of Blues won in The 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Blues Album. Get Facebook support for your favorite band or venue - click HERE

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Healey was raised in the city's west end. He was adopted as an infant; his adoptive father was a firefighter. When he was eight months old, Healey lost his sight to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes. His eyes had to be surgically removed, and he was given artificial replacements. After being signed to Arista Records in 1988, the band released the album See the Light, featuring the hit single "Angel Eyes" and the song "Hideaway", which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. While the band was recording See the Light, they were also filming (and recording for the soundtrack of) the Patrick Swayze film Road House. Healey had numerous acting scenes in the movie with Swayze, as his band was the house cover band for the bar featured in the movie. In 1990, the band won the Juno Award for Canadian Entertainer of the Year. The albums Hell to Pay and Feel This gave Healey 10 charting singles in Canada bet...