Bman's Blues Report

On 4 th of July, America’s birthday, we review American Tunes ...  the last, and posthumously released, album by one of the USA’s most influential, diverse, and loved musicians, composers, and musical luminaries, the late. This album finds Toussaint many times alone at his piano. When he is accompanied it is often sparse but with impeccable precision.    As his persona requires, all the accompanists are top notch musicians in their own right. A man well known for his own compositions, American Tunes instead features Toussaint’s unique interpretations of other people’s American music.   Many are well known classics from his hometown, New Orleans.    The album starts off with Delores’ Boyfriend with Toussaint alone at the piano doing what I call a “sportin’ parlor ragtime blues.”   It sounds and smells like pure New Orleans, and is the first of only 2 cuts on the album written by Toussaint himself. The second track, Viper’s Drag...

The Honey Island Swamp Band Brings A Sledgehammer To Demolition Day Out April 29 During Jazz Fest In New Orleans “They’re irresistible by their name alone…” - Elmore Think The Band’s Music From Big Pink album and add a splash of hot sauce with “Willin’’ by Little Feat – this group of New Orleans vagabonds nails it. New Orleans, LA or San Francisco, CA– From the pristine waters of the Honey Island Swamp, to the vibrant streets of New Orleans, to the hazy corner of Haight-Asbury in San Francisco, this band has endured devastation, relocation, and revitalization. A group whose sound has been tagged “Bayou Americana,” the Honey Island Swamp Band takes the hammer to the nail with the help of producer Luther Dickinson, and presents Demolition Day to the world April 29 on Ruf Records. This album marks the 10-year anniversary of the Honey Island Swamp Band, which formed in San Francisco, CA via New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina displaced the founding me...

MADRID (AP) — Legendary New Orleans pianist, songwriter, producer and performer, Allen Toussaint, who penned or produced such classics as "Working in a Coal Mine" and "Lady Marmalade," has died after suffering a heart attack following a concert he performed in Spain. He was 77. Rescue workers were called to Toussaint's hotel early Tuesday morning and managed to revive him after he suffered a heart attack, Madrid emergency services spokesman Javier Ayuso said. But Toussaint stopped breathing during the ambulance ride to a hospital and efforts to revive him again were unsuccessful, Ayuso said. Toussaint performed Monday night at Madrid's Lara Theater. "He was a legend in the music world," said Quint Davis, who produces the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Toussaint performed there so often — frequently as a headliner — that Davis said he referred to it as his "annual concert." Toussaint was born in New Orleans' Gert Town, ...

Big Chief Theodore “Bo” Dollis, who led the Wild Magnolia tribe for several decades and whose gritty voice helped introduce Mardi Gras Indian music to a worldwide audience, has died. He was 71. His death was announced Tuesday by the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame. “It is with profound sadness that I must inform you of our newest ancestor. Big Chief Theodore ‘Bo’ Dollis passed this morning,” reads a message posted to the Hall of Fame’s Facebook page. “His wife, Big Queen Laurita Dollis, has requested prayers for the family and his soul at this time. Please honor her request and refrain from calls and text messages as she prepares for his public life celebration.” Dollis was born in New Orleans in 1944 and raised in Central City. He was fascinated by the Indian tribes in his neighborhood from a young age and masked for the first time at age 14. According to published reports, Dollis made his suit at a friend’s home because he didn’t want his family to know he had become...

I just received the newest release, Heavy Water , from Fo'Reel and I gotta say it's spectacular! Opening with one of my favorite all time funky blues tracks, Breaking Up Somebody's Home this band sets a solid groove. C.P. Love is a superb singer and he's gunning hard on the first track. Johnny Neel on organ and Mark Domizio on guitar set the pace and Domizio really makes the guitar squirm with his soulful riffs. A super horn section consisting of Jon Smith (tenor sax), Ward Smith (bari sax) and Barney Floyd (trumpet) really add depth to this already deep recording. Excellent! Next up is the title track, Heavy Water , and it has a funky New Orleans jazz funk feel. Love is again leading the way and Daryl Burgess keeps the bottom really tight pushing David Hyde on bass. Nice solos from Neel and Domizio add nicely to Love's lush vocals. Leave Your Love Alone has a change up on vocals lead by Rick Lawson. A walking bass line by Hyde really sets the tempo for this ...

ROCK N ROLL HALL OF FAMER, AND SIX-TIME GRAMMY WINNER, DR JOHN GOES BACK TO THE SOURCE WITH SKE-DAT-DE-DAT...SPIRIT OF SATCH New Orleans musical giant pays tribute to fellow Crescent City legend Louis Armstrong with star-studded, divinely-inspired new tribute disc Proper Records / September 1st  Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and six-time GRAMMY®-winner Dr. John is New Orleans' most prominent living musical icon. The embodiment of his hometown's freewheeling creative spirit and multiple musical traditions, he's built a visionary, idiosyncratic body of work that's deeply rooted in the Crescent City's myriad blues, R&B, jazz and rock 'n' roll traditions. So it's fitting that Dr. John's new album on Proper Records, Ske-Dat-De-Dat...Spirit of Satch, pays heartfelt tribute to another larger-than-life New Orleans legend: the seminal trumpeter and vocalist Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, whose musical innovations created the ...

Tabby Thomas, the renowned Baton Rouge blues guitarist, died early Jan. 1, 2014, just shy of his 85th birthday, according to a source close to the family. Thomas was perhaps best known for having opened Tabby's Blues Box, a ramshackle room on North Boulevard that was a haven for blues lovers across the world. Thomas was born Ernest J. Thomas on Jan. 5, 1929 in Old South Baton Rouge, where he grew up on Mary Street. He quickly became known as Tabby for his catlike reflexes on McKinley High School's football team. Thomas served with the Air Force following his graduation from McKinley, but music had always been on his mind since singing with the church choir at St. Lukes. While in California with the Air Force, he entered and won a talent competition with KSAN radio in 1952. That first success stuck with him, and it ignited a lifelong dedication to his craft. After his first few records didn't sell well, Thomas returned home to Baton Rouge where he began recording new tr...

Sidney Bechet (May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz (beating cornetist and trumpeter Louis Armstrong to the recording studio by several months and later playing duets with Armstrong), and was perhaps the first notable jazz saxophonist. Forceful delivery, well-constructed improvisations, and a distinctive, wide vibrato characterized Bechet's playing. Bechet's erratic temperament hampered his career, however, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet was born in New Orleans in 1897 to a middle-class Creole of color family. Sidney's older brother Leonard Bechet (1877–1952) was a part-time trombonist and bandleader. Sidney Bechet quickly learned to play several musical instruments kept around the house, mostly by teaching himself; he soon decided to specialize in clarinet. At the age of six, Sidney started playing along with his brother's band at a f...

    HISTORY ® ’ S SWAMP PEOPLE ® CELEBRATES THE MUSIC AND CULTURE OF THE DEEP DELTA   Collection from the heart of alligator country features the Neville Brothers, Hank Williams, Jerry Reed, Tony Joe White,  Buckwheat Zydeco, Zachary Richard,    Bobby Charles and introducing Steel Bill   Thirteen-song set, due out May 21 on Rounder Records through Concord Music Group, in partnership with HISTORY ® , captures the spirit of the top-rated series of the same name   NEW ORLEANS, La. — The storied backcountry of southern Louisiana is a place of rich history and fascinating cultural lineage. Its inhabitants — the Cajuns and their “Swamp People” brethren — are part of a unique tradition that dates back some three centuries to the immigration of Acadian refugees. In the 21st century, the region boasts not only a flavorful cuisine, distinctive music and a vastly vibrant culture, but also a d...