Poor Boy Blues - King Curtis & Champion Jack Dupree

From King Curtis & Champion Jack Dupree Live from Montreux June 17th 1971 with Cornell Dupree on guitar, Jerry Jemmott on bass and Oliver Jackson on drums. Filmed two months before King Curtis' tragic death. William Thomas Dupree, best known as Champion Jack Dupree, was an American blues pianist. His birth date is disputed, given as July 4, July 10, and July 23, in the years 1908, 1909, or 1910. He died on January 21, 1992. Champion Jack Dupree was the embodiment of the New Orleans blues and boogie woogie pianist, a barrelhouse "professor". His father was from the Belgian Congo and his mother was part African American and Cherokee. He was orphaned at the age of two, and sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs (also the alma mater of Louis Armstrong). He taught himself piano there and later apprenticed with Tuts Washington and Willie Hall, whom he called his 'father' and from whom he learned "Junker's Blues". He was also "spy boy" for the Yellow Pochahantas tribe of Mardi Gras Indians and soon began playing in barrelhouses and other drinking establishments. He began a life of travelling, living in Chicago, where he worked with Georgia Tom, and in Indianapolis, Indiana where he met Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr. While always playing piano he also worked as a cook. In Detroit, after Joe Louis encouraged him to become a boxer, he fought in 107 bouts, winning Golden Gloves and other championships and picking up the nickname 'Champion Jack', which he used the rest of his life. He returned to Chicago at the age of 30 and joined a circle of recording artists, including Big Bill Broonzy and Tampa Red, who introduced him to the record producer Lester Melrose, who claimed composer credit and publishing on many of Dupree's songs. Dupree's career was interrupted by military service in World War II. He was a cook in the United States Navy and spent two years as a Japanese prisoner of war. Afterwards his biggest commercial success was "Walkin' the Blues", which he recorded as a duet with Teddy McRae. This led to several national tours, and eventually to a European tour. Dupree moved to Europe in 1960, first settling in Switzerland and then Denmark, England, Sweden and, finally, Germany. During the 1970s and 1980s he lived at Ovenden in Halifax, England and a piano used by Dupree was later re-discovered at Calderdale College in Halifax. Dupree continued to record in Europe with Kenn Lending Band, Louisiana Red and Axel Zwingenberger and made many live appearances, still working as a cook specializing in New Orleans cuisine. He returned to the United States from time to time and appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Dupree died of cancer on January 21, 1992 in Hanover, Germany. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Drop The Bomb - Snooks Eaglin

Snooks Eaglin, born Fird Eaglin, Jr. (January 21, 1936 – February 18, 2009), was a New Orleans-based guitarist and singer. He was also referred to as Blind Snooks Eaglin in his early years. His vocal style is reminiscent of Ray Charles; in the 1950s, when he was in his late teens, he would sometimes bill himself as "Little Ray Charles". Generally regarded as a legend of New Orleans music, he played a wide range of music within the same concert, album, or even song: blues, rock and roll, jazz, country, and Latin. In his early years, he also played some straight-ahead acoustic blues. His ability to play a wide range of songs and make them his own earned him the nickname "the human jukebox." Eaglin claimed in interviews that his musical repertoire included some 2,500 songs. At live shows, he did not usually prepare set lists, and was unpredictable, even to his bandmates. He played songs that came to his head, and he also took requests from the audience. He was universally loved and respected by fellow musicians and fans alike. Eaglin lost his sight not long after his first birthday after being stricken with glaucoma, and spent several years in the hospital with other ailments. Around the age of five Eaglin received a guitar from his father; he taught himself to play by listening to and playing along with the radio. A mischievous youngster, he was given the nickname "Snooks" after a radio character named Baby Snooks. In 1947, at the age of 11, Eaglin won a talent contest organized by the radio station WNOE by playing "Twelfth Street Rag". Three years later, he dropped out of the school for the blind to become a professional musician. In 1952, Eaglin joined the Flamingoes, a local seven-piece band started by Allen Toussaint. The Flamingoes did not have a bass player, and according to Eaglin, he played both the guitar and the bass parts at the same time on his guitar. He stayed with The Flamingoes for several years, until their dissolution in the mid-1950s. As a solo artist, his recording and touring were inconsistent, and for a man with a career of about 50 years, his discography is rather slim. His first recording was in 1953, playing guitar at a recording session for James "Sugar Boy" Crawford. The first recordings under his own name came when Harry Oster, a folklorist from Louisiana State University, found him playing in the streets of New Orleans. Oster made recordings of Eaglin between 1958 and 1960 during seven sessions which later became records on various labels including Folkways, Folklyric, and Prestige/Bluesville. These recordings were in folk blues style, Eaglin with an acoustic guitar without a band. From 1960 to 1963, Eaglin recorded for Imperial. He played electric guitar on Imperial sessions with backup from a band including James Booker on piano and Smokey Johnson on drums. He recorded a total of 26 tracks which can be heard on The Complete Imperial Recordings. Much of the material on Imperial was written by Dave Bartholomew. Unlike the Harry Oster recordings, these works on Imperial are New Orleans R&B in the style for which he is widely known today. After Imperial, in 1964, he recorded alone at his home with a guitar for the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, released as I Blueskvarter 1964: Vol.3. For the remainder of the 1960s, he apparently made no recordings. His next work came on the Swedish label Sonet in 1971. Another album Down Yonder was released in 1978 featuring Ellis Marsalis on piano. Apart from his own work, he joined recording sessions with Professor Longhair in 1971 and 72 (Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge). He also played some funky guitar on The Wild Magnolias' first album recorded in 1973. He joined Nauman and Hammond Scott of Black Top Records in the 1980s which led to a recording contract with the label. Eaglin's Black Top years were the most consistent years of his recording career. Between 1987 and 1999, he recorded four studio albums and a live album, and appeared as a guest on a number of recordings by other Black Top artists, including Henry Butler, Earl King, and Tommy Ridgley. Eaglin died of a heart attack at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans on February 18, 2009. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2008 and had been hospitalized for treatment. He was scheduled to make a comeback appearance at the New Orleans Jazz Fest in Spring of 2009. In honor of his contributions to New Orleans music, he was depicted in an artist's rendering on the cover of the "Jazz Fest Bible" edition of Offbeat Magazine for the New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2009. For many years, Eaglin lived in St. Rose in the suburbs of New Orleans with his wife Dorothea. Though he did not play many live shows, he regularly performed at Rock n' Bowl in New Orleans, and also at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Blueberry Hill - Henry Gray

Louisiana-based pianist and singer Henry Gray has a career in American roots music that goes back more than 60 years. Gray was born January 19, 1925, in Kenner, LA, now a suburb of New Orleans. He grew up in Alsen, LA, a few miles north of Baton Rouge. Henry began playing piano as an eight-year-old, and he learned from the radio, recordings, and Mrs. White, an elderly woman in his neighborhood. As a youngster, he began playing piano and organ in the local church, and his family eventually got a piano for the house. While blues playing was not allowed in his parents' home, Henry was encouraged to play blues at Mrs. White's house, and by the time he was 16 he was asked to play at a club near the family home in Alsen. After he told his father, his father insisted on going with him, and once he saw that little Henry made decent money playing blues, he had no ethical or moral problems with his son playing blues piano. After a stint in the Army in the South Pacific in World War II, Henry relocated to Chicago where he had relatives. After arriving in Chicago in 1946, Gray began hanging out in the bustling postwar club scene there, checking out the Windy City's best piano players. One day while he was sitting in at a club, he caught the attention of Big Maceo Merriweather, then a big fish in a small pond of Chicago piano players. Merriweather kindly took Gray under his wing and showed him around the city's blues clubs, and he got to know stars of the scene, including Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. In 1956 Wolf asked Henry to join his band. Gray quickly accepted the offer and stayed on as Wolf's primary piano player until 1968. Gray also became a session player for other recordings made by Chess Records, and over the years he has recorded with many icons of the blues. In addition to Wolf, Gray has recorded or performed with Robert Lockwood Jr., Billy Boy Arnold, Muddy Waters, Johnny Shines, Hubert Sumlin, Lazy Lester, Little Walter Jacobs, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Little Milton Campbell, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Reed, and Koko Taylor, among others. Although Howlin' Wolf did not pass away until 1976, Gray left Wolf's band in 1968, following the death of his father, and returned to Alsen to assist his mother with the family fish market business. Gray worked with the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board as a roofer for the next 15 years. A Tribute to Howlin' Wolf In the past 30 years, since he's been back in Louisiana, Gray has performed at nearly every New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as well as other prestigious gatherings, including the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, and the San Francisco Blues Festival. In 1999 he was nominated for a Grammy for his playing on the Tribute to Howlin' Wolf album released by the Cleveland-based Telarc label, and in 1998 he was handpicked by Mick Jagger himself to play Jagger's 55th birthday soiree in Paris, along with a few other noted blues musicians. Having spent so much of his life as a sideman, Gray's recordings under his own name were few and far between, but that all began to change in the 1990s. Gray's recordings include Lucky Man for Blind Pig in 1988; Louisiana Swamp Blues, Vol. 2 for Wolf Records in 1990; Watch Yourself in 2001 for Lucky Cat; Henry Gray Plays Chicago Blues for Hightone Records in 2001; and the Henry Gray and the Cats CD and DVD sets for the Lucky Cat label in 2004. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Alligator Records artist: Anders Osborne - Three Free Amigos - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the new Anders Osborne EP release, Three Free Amigos. This will be available on Alligator records on February 12. The release opens with Marmalade, a reggae island pop track. This has strong commercial potential and should carry the release on it's own. It's Gonna Be OK is a songwriters song and very reminiscent of Neil Young from his Gold Rush period. It's a simple ballad but it's a well written and executed ballad. Never Is A Real Long Time, another quiet ballad, paints a acoustic photograph of Osborne's thoughts, joined by Maggie Koerne on vocal. This is a cool track. The title track, Three Free Amigos, my favorite track on the release has a freshness offered by new contemporary country music with none of the hype associated with pop music. Osborne is accompanied by bassist Carl Dufrene and drummer Eric Bolivar, Michael Burkhart on Hammond B3 organ, Johnny Sansone on harmonica and accordion and Billy Iuso on acoustic guitar. This is a really pleasing set of primarily acoustic music with a blend of musical styles. I think that it will make a lot of listeners very happy.

 If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

CC Rider - Alton Purnell

Alton Purnell (April 16, 1911, New Orleans - January 14, 1987, Inglewood, California) was an American jazz pianist. He was a longtime performer in Dixieland jazz. Purnell sang before playing piano professionally, beginning to do so locally in New Orleans in 1928. He played in the 1930s with Isaiah Morgan, Alphonse Picou, Big Eye Louis Nelson, Sidney Desvigne, and Cousin Joe, and with Bunk Johnson in the middle of the 1940s. In 1946 he joined George Lewis's band, remaining there well into the 1950s and touring Europe with Lewis. In 1957 Purnell relocated to Los Angeles. There he worked with Teddy Buckner, Young Men from New Orleans, Joe Darensbourg, Kid Ory, Barney Bigard, and Ben Pollack. He also recorded extensively as a leader, including for Warner Bros. Records, GHB, and Alligator Jazz. In the 1970s and 1980s, Alton Purnell was a regular at the South Bay New Orleans Jazz Club in Gardina California, with or often shared the stage with Ed Garland or Buddy Johnson. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

New Orleans Bump - George Baquet with 'Jelly Roll' Morton

George Baquet (1882/1883 – Jan. 14, 1949) was an American jazz clarinetist, known for his contributions to early jazz in New Orleans. His father, Theogene Baquet, was also a clarinetist, as were his brothers, Achille and Harold. (Hal Baquet was stabbed to death, and the murder was once thought to have been carried out by Clarence Williams.) Baquet's professional career began in 1897 while he was still in his early teens. He played in the Lyre Club Symphony Orchestra and then on the road with P. T. Wright's Nashville Students Company. He then joined the Georgia Minstrels, but returned to New Orleans in 1905, where he played with Buddy Bolden. In the 1900s and early 1910s he played off and on with John Robichaux, Freddie Keppard, and the Onward Brass Band. Baquet and Keppard played in Los Angeles with the Original Creole Orchestra, an ensemble Baquet remained in until 1916. Both Keppard and Baquet considered recording at this time, but didn't; Keppard worried about the theft of his musical ideas, and Baquet had financial concerns. Later in the decade Baquet played in New York City at Coney Island. In 1923 he joined Sam Gordon and his band, the Lafayette Players, in Philadelphia; Baquet lived there until his death. He assembled several of his own groups, including the New Orleans Nighthawks and George Bakey's Swingsters (sic). In the 1920s, Baquet recorded with Bessie Smith; in 1929, he recorded with Jelly Roll Morton, and in the 1940s with Sidney Bechet. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Holy Cow - Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint (/ˈtuːseɪnt/; born January 14, 1938) is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B. Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through versions by other musicians, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)", "Southern Nights," "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "I'll Take a Melody" and "Mother-in-Law". Toussaint grew up in a shotgun house in the New Orleans neighborhood of Gert Town, where his mother welcomed and fed all manner of musicians as they practiced and recorded with her son. After a lucky break at age 17 in which he stood in for Huey Smith at a performance with Earl King's band in Prichard, Alabama, Toussaint was introduced to a group of local musicians who performed regularly at a night club on LaSalle street Uptown; they were known as the Dew Drop Set. Initially, he recorded for RCA Victor as Al Tousan and recorded an album of instrumentals, including the song "Java", which years later became a big hit for Al Hirt (also on RCA). In his early years Toussaint worked mainly for Joe Banashak's Minit Records and Instant Records, but after Minit was sold to its distributor, he teamed up with Marshall Sehorn, starting their own record label variously known as Tou-Sea, Sansu, Deesu or Kansu. In 1973 Toussaint and Sehorn created the Sea-Saint recording studio in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans In the early 1960s he wrote and produced a string of hits for New Orleans R&B artists such as Ernie K-Doe, Irma Thomas, Art and Aaron Neville, The Showmen, and Lee Dorsey. Some of his songs from this period were published under the pseudonym "Naomi Neville", such as "Ruler of My Heart", recorded by Irma Thomas. The song would go on to be recorded by Otis Redding under the title "Pain in My Heart". In 1964, "A Certain Girl" (originally by Ernie K-Doe) was the B-side of the first single release by The Yardbirds; the song was released again in 1980 by Warren Zevon. A two-sided 1962 hit by Benny Spellman comprised "Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)," later covered by The O'Jays, Ringo Starr, and Alex Chilton, and the simple but effective "Fortune Teller", which was covered by many 1960s rock groups including The Rolling Stones, The Nashville Teens, The Who, The Hollies, ex-Searchers founder member Tony Jackson and more recently (2007) by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss on Raising Sand. A significant early influence was the second-line piano style of Professor Longhair. Toussaint's piano and arrangements show up on hundreds of records during the early 1960s on records by Lee Dorsey, Chris Kenner, and scores of other artists. Starting in the 1970s, he switched gears to a funkier sound, writing and producing for The Meters, Dr John, and the Wild Tchoupitoulas Mardi Gras Indians tribe. He also began to work with non-New Orleans artists such as B.J. Thomas, Robert Palmer, Willy DeVille, Sandy Denny, Elkie Brooks, Solomon Burke, Scottish soul singer Frankie Miller and southern rocker Mylon LeFevre. He arranged horn music for The Band's 1971 album Cahoots, plus Rock of Ages and The Last Waltz film, in conjunction with arranging horn parts for their concert repertoire. Boz Scaggs recorded Toussaint's "What Do You Want the Girl to Do?" on his 1976 album Silk Degrees, which reached #2 on the U.S. pop albums chart. In 1976 he also collaborated with John Mayall on the album Notice to Appear. Toussaint also launched his own solo career, which peaked in the '70s with the albums From a Whisper to a Scream and Southern Nights. It was during this time that he teamed with Labelle, and produced their highly acclaimed 1975 album Nightbirds, which spawned the Number One hit, "Lady Marmalade". The same year, Toussaint collaborated with Paul McCartney and Wings for their hit album Venus and Mars. Two years later, Glen Campbell covered Toussaint's "Southern Nights" and carried the song to Number One on the Pop, Country and Adult-Contemporary Charts. Along with many of his contemporaries, Toussaint found that interest in his compositions was rekindled when his work began to be sampled by hip hop artists in the 1980s and 1990s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and, in 2009, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On May 9, 2011 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Contrary to rumors at the time, Toussaint did not take refuge at the Louisiana Superdome in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Instead, Toussaint weathered the storm in the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel. After the hurricane Toussaint left New Orleans for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and eventually settled in New York City, where he is currently living while his house is being rebuilt. His first television appearance after the hurricane was on the September 7, 2005 episode of the Late Show with David Letterman, sitting in with Paul Shaffer and his CBS Orchestra. Toussaint performed regularly at Joe's Pub in New York City through 2009. The River in Reverse, Toussaint's collaborative album with Elvis Costello, was released on 29 May 2006 in the UK on the Verve label, by Universal Classics and Jazz UCJ. It was recorded in Hollywood and, notably, in Toussaint's native New Orleans as the first major studio session to take place after Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Toussaint performed a duet with Paul McCartney of a song by fellow New Orleans musician and resident Fats Domino, "I Want to Walk You Home", as their contribution to Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard). In 2008, Toussaint's song "Sweet Touch of Love" was used in a deodorant commercial for the Axe (Lynx) brand. The commercial won a Gold Lion at the 2008 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. In February 2008, Toussaint appeared on Le Show, the Harry Shearer show broadcast on NPR via KCRW. Toussaint appeared in London in August 2008, where he performed a gig at The Roundhouse. In October 2008 he performed at Festival New Orleans at The O2 alongside acts such as Dr. John and Buckwheat Zydeco.[9] Sponsored by Quint Davis of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Philip Anschutz, the event was intended to promote New Orleans music and culture and to revive the once-lucrative tourist trade that had been almost completely lost following the flooding of Hurricane Katrina. After his second performance at the festival, Toussaint appeared alongside then-Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, Mitch Landrieu. The following day, he performed again in London at the NFL Tailgate Party. Toussaint performed a taping for the popular PBS series Austin City Limits on June 30, 2009 as part of the show's 35th anniversary season. He played instrumentals from his most recent CD, "The Bright Mississippi", as well as many songs from his back catalog. He performed with Levon Helm and his band on Imus in the Morning on October 9, 2009. In December 2009 he was featured on Elvis Costello's "Spectacle" program on the Sundance Channel, singing "A Certain Girl". Toussaint appeared in Eric Clapton's 2010 album, Clapton, in two Fats Waller covers, "My Very Good Friend the Milkman" and "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful". Toussaint is a musical mentor to Swedish-born New Orleans songwriter and performer Theresa Andersson If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

THE BUCKET'S GOT A HOLE IN IT - Maryland Jazz Band w/ Percy Humphrey

Percy Gaston Humphrey (January 13, 1905 – July 22, 1995) was a jazz trumpet player and bandleader in New Orleans, Louisiana. In addition to his own jazz band, Percy Humphrey and His Crescent City Joymakers, for more than thirty years he was leader of the Eureka Brass Band. He also played in the band of the pianist Sweet Emma Barrett. From its opening in the early 1960s, until shortly before his death Humphrey played regularly at Preservation Hall, traveling internationally for performances with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and his own bands. Percy Humphrey was the son of clarinetist Willie Eli Humphrey, as well as being the younger brother of clarinetist Willie Humphrey and trombonist Earl Humphrey. His grandfather was the renowned "Professor" Jim Humphrey, who took the train from New Orleans to sugar cane plantations during the 1890s, in order to teach the basics of music to the children of plantation workers. Many of those he taught would play the jazz that was born in New Orleans near the turn of the twentieth century—including these members of the two following generations of his own family. The Eureka Brass Band had been founded in 1920, by trumpeter Willie Wilson[disambiguation needed], and its early members included clarinetists Willie Parker, John Casimir, and George Lewis. In the 1930s Wilson became ill, during which time trumpeter Alcide Landry had nominal control over the band, but after 1937, Wilson's illness forced him to leave completely. At that time, trombonist Joseph "Red" Clark briefly became the leader, followed by Dominique "T-Boy" Remy, who led it from 1937 through 1946. Finally, Humphrey took over the band and led the group for the remainder of its existence. The members of the band varied at any given time, usually having nine to eleven members. The typical instrumentation was three trumpets, two trombones, two reeds, tuba, snare drum, and bass drum. Reed instruments are many, including the saxophones that often are found among jazz bands, but the clarinet is characteristically the signature reed instrument of New Orleans jazz. They recorded prolifically. Phonograph records and albums were cut for Pax, Alamac, Folkways, Jazzology, and Sounds of New Orleans. A 1951 album, New Orleans Parade, features Humphrey, trombonists Charles "Sunny" Henry and Albert Warner, and saxophonist Emanuel Paul. Their 1962 sessions, Jazz at Preservation Hall, Volume 1: the Eureka Brass Band of New Orleans, issued on Atlantic Records, features Humphrey and his brother, clarinetist Willie Humphrey, trumpeters Kid Sheik Cola and Pete Bocage, trombonists Albert Warner and Oscar "Chicken" Henry, Emanuel Paul on tenor saxophone, Wilbert "Bird" Tillman on sousaphone, snare drummer Josiah "Cie" Frazier, and bass drummer Robert "Son Fewclothes" Lewis. After 1975, the Eureka Brass Band disbanded, but Humphrey revived the name occasionally for festival performances and other appearances. He continued to lead his own band and played with others at Preservation Hall until his death in New Orleans in 1995. His last gig was at the annual New Orleans jazz festival in April, three months before his death at the age of ninety. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Muskrat Ramble - Danny Barker

JABBO SMITH (t,v) & DANNY BARKER (g) Frog Joseph (tb) Orange Kellin (cl) Lars Edegran (p) Franck Field (b) John Robichaux (d,ann) Danny Barker (January 13, 1909 – March 13, 1994), born Daniel Moses Barker, was a jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele player and author from New Orleans, founder of the locally famous Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band. He was a rhythm guitarist for some of the best bands of the day, including Cab Calloway, Lucky Millinder and Benny Carter throughout the 1930s. On September 4, 1945 he recorded with Ohio's native jazz pianist—Sir Charles Thompson—a date that included saxophonists Dexter Gordon and Charlie Parker.Barker's work with the Fairview Baptist Church Brass Band was pivotal in ensuring the longevity of jazz in New Orleans, producing generations of new talent. Brothers Wynton Marsalis and Branford Marsalis both played in the band as youths as well as "The King of Treme" Shannon Powell, Lucien Barbarin, Dr. Michael White and countless others. One of Barker's earliest teachers in New Orleans was fellow banjoist Emanuel Sayles, whom he recorded with. Throughout his career, he played with Jelly Roll Morton, Baby Dodds, James P. Johnson, Sidney Bechet, Mezz Mezzrow, and Red Allen. He also toured and recorded with his wife, singer Blue Lu Barker. Danny Barker was born to a family of musicians in New Orleans in 1909, the grandson of bandleader Isidore Barbarin and nephew of drummers Paul Barbarin and Louis Barbarin; he first took up clarinet and drums before switching to a ukulele that his aunt got him, and then a banjo from his uncle or a trumpeter named Lee Collins. Barker began his career as a musician in his youth with his streetband the Boozan Kings and also toured Mississippi with Little Brother Montgomery. In 1930 he moved to New York City and switched to the guitar. On the day of his arrival in New York, his uncle Paul took him to the Rhythm Club, where he saw an inspiring performance by McKinney's Cotton Pickers. Ironically, that was also their first performance in New York as a band. During his time in New York, he frequently played with West Indian musicians, who often mistook him for one of them due to his Creole style of playing. Barker played with several acts when he initially moved to New York, including Fess Williams, Billy Fowler and the White Brothers. He worked with Buddy Harris in 1933, Albert Nichols in 1935, Lucky Millinder from 1937 to 1938, and Benny Carter in 1938. From 1939 to 1946 he was frequently recording with Cab Calloway, and started his own group featuring his wife Blue Lu Barker after leaving Calloway. In 1947 he was performing again with Lucky Millinder, and also with Bunk Johnson. He returned to working with Al Nichols in 1948 and in 1949 rejoined efforts with his wife in a group. During the 1950s he was primarily a freelance musician, but did work with his uncle Paul Barbarin from 1954 to 1955. In the mid-1950s he went to California to record yet again with Albert Nichols. ...I had certain teachers that really inspired me, like Danny Barker, and John Longo. Wynton Marsalis Sometime in the early 1960s he formed a group he called Cinderella. He performed at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival with Eubie Blake. In 1963 he was working with Cliff Jackson, and then in 1964 appeared at the World Fair leading his own group. In 1965, Barker returned to New Orleans and took up a position as assistant to the curator of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. In 1972 he found and led a church-sponsored brass band for young people—the Fairview Baptist Church Marching Band—which became popular. In later years the band became known as the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. During that time, he also led the French Market Jazz Band. It was the earnest and general feeling that any Negro who...entered the hell-hole called the state of Mississippi for any reason other than to attend the funeral of a very close relative...was well on the way to losing his mentality, or had already lost it. Danny Barker in reference to touring with Little Brother Montgomery in Mississippi quoted in Escaping the Delta by Elijah Wald The Fairview band also launched the careers of a number of professional musicians who went on to perform in both brass band and mainstream jazz contexts, including Leroy Jones, Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Kirk Joseph, and Nicholas Payton. As Joe Torregano—another Fairview band alumnus—described it, "That group saved jazz for a generation in New Orleans." Barker played regularly at many New Orleans venues from the late 1960s through the early 1990s, in addition to touring. During the 1994 Mardi Gras season, Barker reigned as King of Krewe du Vieux. He also published an autobiography and many articles on New Orleans and jazz history. Barker also authored and had published two books on jazz from the Oxford University Press. The first was Bourbon Street Black, coauthored with Dr. Jack V. Buerkle, in 1973, which was followed by A Life In Jazz in 1986. He also enjoyed painting and was an amateur landscape artist. Living during a period when segregation was still common practice in the United States, Barker faced many obstacles during his career. Barker suffered from diabetes throughout most of his adult life, and was often in general poor health. He died of cancer in New Orleans on 13 March 1994 at age 85. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! 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Wild Man Blues - Henry Red Allen

Coleman Hawkins on saxophone, Rex Stewart on cornet, Jo Jones on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, Pee Wee Russell on clarinet, Danny Barkerand on banjo, Vic Dickenson on trombone. This is taken from the Sound of Jazz, a CBS special which appeared in the 50s. Henry James "Red" Allen (January 7, 1906 – April 17, 1967) was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong. Henry James "Red" Allen was born in the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of bandleader Henry Allen. He took early trumpet lessons from Peter Bocage and Manuel Manetta. Allen's career began in Sidney Desvigne's Southern Syncopators. He was playing professionally by 1924 with the Excelsior Brass Band and the jazz dance bands of Sam Morgan, George Lewis and John Casimir. After playing on riverboats on the Mississippi River he went to Chicago in 1927 to join King Oliver's band. Around this time he made recordings on the side in the band of Clarence Williams. After returning briefly to New Orleans, where he worked with the bands of Fate Marable and Fats Pichon, he was offered a recording contract with Victor Records and returned to New York City, where he also joined the Luis Russell band, which was later fronted by Louis Armstrong in the late 1930s. In 1929 Allen joined Luis Russell's Orchestra where he was a featured soloist until 1932. Allen took part in recording sessions that year organized by Eddie Condon, some of which featured Fats Waller and/or Tommy Dorsey. He also made a series of recordings in late 1931 with Don Redman, and in 1933 he joined Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra where he stayed until 1934. He played with Lucky Millinder's Mills Blue Rhythm Band from 1934 to 1937, when he returned to Luis Russell for three more years by the time Russell's orchestra was fronted by Louis Armstrong. Allen very seldom received any solo space on recordings with Armstrong, but was prominently featured at the band's personal appearances, even getting billing as a featured attraction. As a bandleader, Allen recorded for Victor from 1929 through 1930. He made a series of recordings as co-leader with Coleman Hawkins in 1933 for ARC (Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, Romeo, etc.) and continued on as an ARC recording artist through 1935, when he was moved over to ARC's Vocalion label for a popular series of swing records from 1935 through late 1937. A number of these were quite popular at the time. He did a solitary session for Decca in 1940 and two sessions for OKeh in 1941. After World War II, he recorded for Brunswick in 1944, Victor in 1946, and Apollo in 1947. Allen continued making many recordings under his own name, as well as recording with Fats Waller and Jelly Roll Morton, and accompanying such vocalists as Victoria Spivey and Billie Holiday. After a short stint with Benny Goodman, Allen started leading his own band at The Famous Door in Manhattan. He then toured with the band around the USA into the late 1950s. In December 1957, Red Allen made an appearance on the "Sound Of Jazz" television show. In 1959 Allen made his first tour of Europe when he joined Kid Ory's band. From 1954 until the club ceased its jazz policy in 1965, Allen led the house band at New York's Metropole Cafe. Allen returned to working under his own name making numerous tours of the United States and Europe. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in late 1966, and after undergoing surgery, made a final tour of England ending six weeks before his death on April 17, 1967 in New York City. He left behind his widow, Pearly May, and a son, Henry Allen III. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Don't Knock - The Spiders

Hayward "Chuck" Carbo (1926–2008) was an American R&B singer, best known for his time as a vocalist in the New Orleans group The Spiders. Carbo sang with his brother, Leonard "Chick" Carbo, in The Spiders, who recorded for Imperial Records in the 1950s and scored a string of hits on the U.S. Black Singles chart. After his brother launched a solo career, Chuck Carbo also recorded as a solo artist, cutting discs for Imperial, Rex, and Ace. Carbo continued to perform intermittently for the next several decades, though he took odd jobs (including as a truck driver) whenever he could not make a living performing. In 1989, he recorded a version of the song "Meet Me with Your Black Drawers On", by Jeannie & Jimmy Cheatham, which led to a comeback album on Rounder Records in 1993 featuring Dr. John and Edward Frank. A second full-length followed in 1996. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Brand New Blues - Cyril Neville

Grammy Award winning New Orlean’s Neville Brother Cyril Neville has been called a philosopher, poet, and one of the last great southern soul singers. In 1970 he released his debut solo single, “Gossip” b/w “Tell Me What’s On Your Mind,” which included backing music by brother Art’s new outfit, the Meters. It just so happened at this time that the Meters were looking to expand their lineup, and asked Cyril to join in on vocals and percussion contributing to the classic Meter’s albums such as 1972′s Cabbage Alley and 1975′s Fire on the Bayou. Later that year, The Rolling Stones invited the Meters to support the bands World Tour and Mick and Keith wouldn’t have it any other way “you guys should come on tour with us with Cyril as your singer.” is how it was put to the Meters who obliged. Cyril has co-written songs with Bono of U2, Taj Mahal, Daniel Lanois, to name a few and was the one that Lanois credits as the musical catalyst that led to the Neville’s Grammy Award winning record ‘YELLOW MOON.” Most recently he has fronted and sang for New Orleans Funk band Galactic, the Voice of the Wetlands All-stars, The Neville Brothers, and continues to do shows with his own group Tribe 13. His most resent television have been on 2011′s episode of Jimmie Kimmel LIVE and HBO’s hit series “Treme.” Cyril is featured on recordings by Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Dr. John, Tab Benoit, Edie Brickell, Willie Nelson, plus many more. He has performed all over the world including the infamous Amnesty International tour with U2 and the Police and has sung for Nelson Mandela. There is no doubt that with in the first few vocal notes it is easy to tell that musical royalty runs deep in Cyril’s blood and he remains a percussionist to be reckoned with. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Early Morning Blues - Archibald

Archibald was one of the last in the long line of traditional New Orleans pianist entertainers. It had seemed that he had a promising future ahead of him when his first record, "Stack-A-Lee", sold well enough on Imperial to enter the R&B charts in October 1950. The record was in two parts and Archibald had plenty of scop to perform this old folk song as he must have done many times before in the bars and clubs of New Orelans, including a healthy ration of his delightful piano work. A tour of the West Coast was organized but this was cancelled when Archibald fell sick with ulcer trouble. Although he had further records on Imperial and Colony, he never had the chance again and was not recorded after 1952. Johnny Vincent tried to record him for his Ace label in the late 1950s, but said Archibald's voice had gone; Archibald himself said Vincent did not offer enough money. Archibald was born Leon T. Gross in 1912 on September 14 at 12:16 a.m., just off Plum and Hillary in New Orleans, as he used to delight in telling. When he started playing fraternity houses and the wild parties in the early days he was known as "Archie Boy" and he was mainly influenced by Burnell Santiago, the self-styled "King of Boogie" as well as other pianists like Eileen Dufeau, Miss Isobel and Stack-O-Lee. He was drafted into the Army in the war years and on his return continued playing in New Orleans before he was signed by Al Young, the talent scout for Imperial in 1950. "Stack-A-Lee" was his first record. He was a resident at the Poodle Patio Club on Bourbon Street for many years, but when a small party visited him in 1970 at his small, wooden one-storey home on 4th Street, it was clear times were not exactly good. He was suspicious, but after passing a bottle of whisky his confidence improved and he sat down at his battered piano and proceeded to give as good a show as one could wish for on a wet Saturday April morning. He sang in a Kansas City shouting style, fond of scat improvisation, and among the songs he played were "Stack-A-Lee", "Blueberry Hill", "Swanee River Hop", "Early Morning Blues", "Pinetop's Boogie", "Muskrat Ramble", and an amazing "Hungarian Rhapsody Boogie". Even singing and playing in his own living room, he had tremendous presence, and it was easy to imagine his popularity in the bar clubs of New Orleans. Somehow, Archibald's importance as one of the last links of the old New Orleans piano style has been overlooked, and now it's too late becuase he died of a heart attack in 1973 (January 8). So sadly, his music must remain a relic of the past, a magnificent pianist whose boogieing New Orleans style never came to grips with the rock & roll age. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Dizzy Miss Lizzy - Larry Williams

Lawrence Eugene "Larry" Williams (May 10, 1935 – January 7, 1980) was an American rhythm and blues and rock and roll singer, songwriter, producer, and pianist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Williams is best known for writing and recording some rock and roll classics from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including "Bony Moronie", "Short Fat Fannie", "High School Dance" (1957), "Slow Down", "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (1958), "Bad Boy" and "She Said Yeah" (1959), which were later covered by British Invasion groups and other artists. John Lennon, in particular, was a fan of Williams, recording several of his songs over the course of his career. "Bony Moronie" is listed as one of the Top 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll. Williams lived a life mixed with tremendous success and violence-fueled drug addiction. He was a long-time friend of Little Richard As a child in New Orleans, Williams learned how to play piano. When he was a teenager, he and his family moved to Oakland, California, where he joined a local R&B group called the Lemon Drops. In 1954, Williams went back to New Orleans for a visit. He began work as Lloyd Price's valet and played in the bands of Price, Roy Brown and Percy Mayfield. In 1955, Williams met and developed a friendship with Little Richard Penniman, who was recording at the time in New Orleans. Price and Penniman were both recording for Specialty Records. Williams was introduced to Specialty's house producer, Robert Blackwell, and was signed to record. In 1957, Little Richard was Specialty's biggest star, but bolted from rock and roll to pursue the ministry. Williams was quickly groomed by Blackwell to try to replicate his success. Using the same raw, shouting vocals and piano-driven intensity, Williams scored with a number of hit singles. Williams' three biggest successes were "Short Fat Fannie", which was his first hit, reaching #5 in Billboard's pop chart, "Bony Moronie", which peaked at #14, and its flip "You Bug Me Baby" which made it to #45. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" charted at #69 on Billboard the following year. Both "Short Fat Fannie" and "Bony Moronie" sold over one million copies, gaining gold discs. Several of his songs achieved later success as revivals, by The Beatles ("Bad Boy", "Slow Down", and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"), The Rolling Stones ("She Said Yeah") and John Lennon ("Bony Moronie" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy"). Williams had been involved with underworld activity since his early teens, and had reputedly been a pimp before he ever recorded music. After 1957 Williams did not have much success selling records. He recorded a number of songs in 1958 and 1959, including "Heebie Jeebies", with band members such as Plas Johnson on tenor sax and Jewel Grant on baritone, Rene Hall on guitar, Gerald Wilson on trumpet, Ernie Freeman or Williams himself on piano, and Earl Palmer on drums. He was convicted of dealing narcotics in 1960 and served a three-year jail term, setting back his career considerably. Williams made a comeback in the mid-1960s with a funky soul band that included Johnny "Guitar" Watson, which paired him musically with Little Richard who had been lured back into secular music. He produced two Little Richard albums for Okeh Records in 1966 and 1967, which returned Little Richard to the Billboard album chart for the first time in ten years and spawned the hit single "Poor Dog". He also acted as the music director for the Little Richard's live performances at the Okeh Club. Bookings for Little Richard during this period skyrocketed. Williams also recorded and released material of his own and with Watson, with some moderate chart success. This period may have garnered few hits but produced some of his best and most original work. Williams also began acting in the 1960s, appearing on film in Just for the Hell of It (1968), The Klansman (1974), and Drum (1976). In the 1970s, there was also a brief dalliance with disco, but Williams' wild lifestyle continued. By the middle of the decade, the drug abuse and violence were taking their toll. In 1977, Williams pulled a gun on and threatened to kill his long-time friend, Little Richard, over a drug debt. They were both living in Los Angeles and addicted to cocaine and heroin. Little Richard bought drugs from him, arranged to pay him later, but did not show up because he was high. Williams was furious. He hunted him down but ended up showing compassion on his long-time friend after Little Richard repaid the debt. This, along with other factors, led to Little Richard's return to born again Christianity and the ministry, but Williams would not escape LA's seedy underworld. On January 7, 1980, Williams was found dead from a gunshot wound to his head in his Los Angeles, California home. He was 44 years old. The death was deemed suicide, though there was much speculation otherwise. No suspects were ever arrested or charged. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

How Long - Alberta Brown w/ Chink Martin

Martin Abraham, better known as Chink Martin (June 10, 1886, New Orleans - January 7, 1981, New Orleans) was an American jazz tubist. Martin played guitar in his youth before settling on tuba as his main instrument. He played with Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band around 1910, and worked in various other brass bands in the city in the 1910s. In 1923, he traveled to Chicago and played with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings with whom he made his first records. He also recorded guitar duets with Leon Roppolo, but these unfortunately were never issued. He returned to New Orleans with the Rhythm Kings in 1925, and made further recordings with them. He also played with the Halfway House Orchestra (with which he recorded on both tuba and string bass), the New Orleans Harmony Kings, and the New Orleans Swing Kings. In the 1930s, Martin worked as a staff musician at WSMB radio. He continued to play tuba for his entire career, though he also played and recorded on the double-bass (like many New Orleans tubists) from at least the 1920s onward. He played with dozens of noted New Orleans jazz musicians, appearing on record with Sharkey Bonano, Santo Pecora, Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, and others, and released one album under his own name on Southland Records in 1963. Martin's son, Martin "Little Chink" Abraham, is a jazz bassist. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Lost Mind - Johnny Adams with George Porter Jr.

Laten John Adams (January 5, 1932 – September 14, 1998), known as Johnny Adams, was an American blues, jazz and gospel singer, known as "The Tan Canary" for the multi-octave range of his singing voice, his swooping vocal mannerisms and falsetto. His biggest hits were his versions of "Release Me" and "Reconsider Me" in the late 1960s. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the oldest of 10 children, and became a professional musician on leaving school. He began his career singing gospel with the Soul Revivers and Bessie Griffin's Consolators, but crossed over to secular music in 1959. His neighbor, songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie, supposedly persuaded him to start performing secular music after hearing him sing in the bathtub, and he recorded LaBostrie's ballad "I Won't Cry" for Joe Ruffino's local Ric label. Produced by teenager Mac Rebennack (later known as Dr. John), the record became a local hit, and he recorded several more singles for the label over the next three years, mostly produced either by Rebennack or Eddie Bo. His first national hit came in 1962, when "A Losing Battle", written by Rebennack, reached #27 on the Billboard R&B chart . After Ruffino's death in 1963, Adams left Ric and recorded for a succession of labels, including Eddie Bo's Gone Records, the Los Angeles-based Modern Records, and Wardell Quezergue's Watch label. However, his records had limited success until he signed with Shelby Singleton's Nashville-based SSS International Records in 1968. A reissue of his recording of "Release Me", originally released on Watch, reached #34 on the R&B chart and #82 on the pop chart. Its follow-up, "Reconsider Me", a country song produced by Singleton, became his biggest hit, reaching #8 on the R&B chart and #28 on the pop chart in 1969. Two more singles, "I Can't Be All Bad" and "I Won't Cry" (a reissue of the Ric recording) were lesser hits later the same year, and the label released an album, Heart and Soul. However, he left SSS International in 1971, and recorded unsuccessfully for several labels, including Atlantic and Ariola, over the next few years. At the same time, he began performing regularly at Dorothy's Medallion Lounge in New Orleans as well as touring nightclubs in the south. In 1983, he signed with Rounder Records, and began recording a series of nine critically acclaimed albums with producer Scott Billington. Beginning with From the Heart in 1984, the records encompassed a wide range of jazz, blues and R&B styles while highlighting Adams' voice. The albums included tributes to songwriters Percy Mayfield and Doc Pomus, as well as the jazz-influenced Good Morning Heartache which included the work of composers like George Gershwin and Harold Arlen. The albums, which also included Room With A View Of The Blues (1988), Walking On A Tightrope (1989), and The Real Me (1991), brought him a number of awards, including a W.C. Handy Award. He also toured internationally, including frequent trips to Europe, and worked and recorded with such musicians as Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr., Lonnie Smith, and Dr. John. He died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1998 after a long battle with prostate cancer. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

PRESTON JACKSON UPTOWN BAND

James Preston McDonald, better known by his stage name Preston Jackson (January 3, 1902 – November 12, 1983) was an American jazz trombonist. Jackson was born in New Orleans and moved to Chicago in 1917, but did not pick up trombone until 1920; within nine months he began playing professionally. Among his teachers in the early 1920s were Roy Palmer and Honore Dutrey. He sometimes deputized for Dutrey in King Oliver's band. In the 1920s he played with Tig Chambers, Al Simone, Eli Rice, and Art Sims, and recorded with Bernie Young and his Creole Jazz Band at the Marsh Laboratories (1923) and Richard M. Jones. In the 1930s he played with Dave Peyton (1930), Erskine Tate, Louis Armstrong (1931-32), Half Pint Jaxon (1933), Carroll Dickerson, Jimmie Noone, Roy Eldridge, Walter Barnes, Johnny Long (1939), and Zilner Randolph's W.P.A. Band. He also played on Johnny Dodds's last recordings in 1940. In the 1940s he began playing less often, but his career saw a resurgence late in the 1950s, playing with Lil Armstrong. Moving back to his childhood home of New Orleans in the 1960s, he began playing at Preservation Hall where he would continue to be featured for the rest of his life. He played with Little Brother Montgomery in 1969 and with Kid Thomas's New Orleans Joymakers in Europe in 1973-74. In addition to many recordings made as a side man, Jackson recorded as a leader in 1926 and 1946, then issued his own album in 1972 and a split album with Benny Waters the following year. Jackson died in Blytheville, Arkansas in November 1983. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Mahogany Hall Stomp - George Lewis New Orleans Jazz Band

George Lewis (13 July 1900 – 31 December 1968) was an American jazz clarinetist who achieved his greatest fame and influence in the later decades of his life. Lewis was born Joseph Louis Francois Zenon, in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. Lewis' great-great grandmother by his mother, Alice Zeno, was a Senegalese slave who was brought over to Louisana around 1803. Zeno's family retained some knowledge of Senegalese language and customs until Alice's generation Lewis was playing clarinet professionally by 1917, at the age of seventeen, working with Buddy Petit and Chris Kelly regularly as well as the trombonist Kid Ory and other leaders. At this time, he seldom traveled far from the greater New Orleans area. During the Great Depression he took a job as a stevedore, continuing to take as many music jobs after hours as he could find, a schedule that often meant he got very little sleep. In 1942, when a group of New Orleans jazz enthusiasts, including jazz historian Bill Russell, went to New Orleans to record the older trumpeter Bunk Johnson, Johnson chose Lewis as his clarinetist. Previously almost unknown outside of New Orleans, Lewis was soon asked to make his first recordings as a leader on American Music Records, a label created by Russell to document the music of older New Orleans jazz musicians and bands. Although purists, such as folklorist/musicologist Alan Lomax and others, touted Lewis as an exemplar of what jazz had been before it became overly commercialized by the popular swing bands of the late 1930s and early 1940s, Lewis was no "dinosaur," in Gary Giddins' words. When Lomax brought Lewis on a Rudi Blesh's radio show in 1942, he played the solo from clarinetist Woody Herman's then-recent hit, "Woodchopper's Ball", but his hosts had no idea that Lewis was applying his distinctive style to one of the latest hot tunes. In 1944 Lewis was injured seriously while working on the docks. A heavy container nearly crushed his chest, and for a time it was feared he would never play again. Against all odds, however, Lewis began practicing while convalescing in bed at his Burgundy Street home in the French Quarter. His friends, banjo player Lawrence Marrero and string bass player Alcide "Slow Drag" Pavageau, brought their instruments to Lewis's bedside. Bill Russell brought his portable recorder, and they recorded, among other things, an improvised blues that was to become Lewis' signature piece, christened "Burgundy Street Blues" by Russell. The performance interpolated a number of phrases and ideas that can be found in Louis Armstrong's playing, in particular his Hot Five recording of the Kid Ory composition "Savoy Blues." These blues figurations were perhaps just "in the air" around New Orleans in the early days, but it is also true that Armstrong's records were popular in New Orleans just as they were in the rest of the country. As he recorded Lewis, Russell occasionally retitled some of his interpretations of pop tunes, for example, "New Orleans Hula" for "Hula Lou". These changes may sometimes have been made for copyright reasons, but occasionally it was simply because the musicians reported the titles inaccurately to Russell. Lewis stayed with Bunk Johnson's newly popular band through 1946. This included a trip to New York City, where they played for dancing at the Stuyvesant Casino on Second Avenue. At this time, the band members included Johnson, Lewis, Marrero, Pavageau, trombonist Jim Robinson, pianist Alton Purnell, and drummer Baby Dodds. While in New York, they recorded for the Decca and Victor labels. After Bunk's retirement, Lewis took over leadership of the band, usually featuring Robinson, Pavageau, Marrero, Purnell, drummer Joe Watkins, and a succession of New Orleans trumpet players—including Elmer Talbert, Avery "Kid" Howard, and Percy Humphrey. Starting in 1949 Lewis was a regular at the French Quarter's Bourbon Street entertainment clubs and had regular broadcasts over radio station WDSU. The Lewis band was featured in the June 6, 1950 issue of Look magazine, which was circulated internationally. The article was accompanied by photographs taken of the band by Stanley Kubrick. National touring soon followed, and Lewis became a symbol of the New Orleans jazz tradition. Traveling ever more widely, he often told his audiences that his touring band was "the last of the real New Orleans jazz bands." In 1952 Lewis took his band to San Francisco for a residency at the Hangover Club. That was followed by a tour around the United States. In the 1960s he repeatedly toured Europe and Japan and many young clarinetists around the world modeled their playing closely on his technique. While in New Orleans, he played regularly at Preservation Hall from its opening in 1961 until shortly before his death late in 1968. Paintings of him performing were painted by New Orleans artists and sitting portraits sold to collectors. A recording of his band by Atlantic Records, part of a series titled "Jazz at Preservation Hall," was like the others in the series actually recorded not at the Hall but at Cosimo Matassa's recording studio on Governor Nichols Street. His music was extremely influential on a whole generation of British New Orleans jazz musicians, and many clarinettists based their style (at least initially) on Lewis's playing. He first visited Britain in 1957, playing across the country with Ken Colyer's Jazzmen. In 1959 he returned, this time with his full band, and received a warm response. British fans of the old New Orleans style were thrilled to see and hear in the flesh some of the old masters from the Crescent City. George Lewis is name-checked in the Bob Dylan song "High Water" from the album "Love and Theft". Jazz author and critic Gary Giddins has described Lewis as "an affecting musician with a fat-boned sound but limited technique" If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Maryland Jazz Band and Willie Humphrey

Willie James Humphrey (December 29, 1900 – June 7, 1994) was a New Orleans jazz clarinetist. Willie Humphrey was born in a musical family, the son of prominent local clarinetist and music teacher Willie Eli Humphrey; his brothers Earl Humphrey and Percy Humphrey also became well known professional musicians. After establishing himself with such New Orleans bands as the Excelsior and George McCullum's band, Humphrey traveled up north, playing with such other New Orleans musicians as Lawrence Duhé, and King Oliver in Chicago (Photos show Humphrey with Duhé's band playing in the stands for the infamous 1919 World Series). In Saint Louis, Missouri in the 1920s he made his first recordings. Back in New Orleans, he played for many years with the Eureka and Young Tuxedo Brass bands, the bands of Paul Barbarin and Sweet Emma Barrett, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Humphrey's clarinet playing remained vigorous and continued to grow more inventive in his old age. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Night & Day - Charles Neville

A ride on St. Charles Avenue trolley in New Orleans early in the morning may catch Charles Neville in his favorite location practicing T'ai Chi. The Neville Brother most known for his pursuit of Eastern spiritual knowledge is also the family's keeper of the horn. His brothers affectionately refer to him as "The Horn Man." His saxophone won him a Grammy in 1989 for his haunting rendition of "Healing Chant" on the Yellow Moon CD. But the instrument's history goes way back for this artist with five decades of musical experience, long predating the formation of the family band in 1977. Charles Neville formed Turquoise with brother Art and some friends in the early '50s. Life and the Navy led Neville out on the road, gigging with everyone from Jimmy Reed to B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland. A member of the house band at the renowned Dew Drop Inn, Neville played with some of the biggest names in his hometown, including Allen Toussaint, James Booker, Huey "Piano" Smith, and Ernie K. Doe. A drug conviction landed him a stay in Angola prison, whose alumni roster reads like a who's-who of New Orleans musicians. With influences like these, no wonder Charles Neville became the eclectic musician he is today. Living in New York exposed him to the major artists of his instrument, from Sonny Rollins to Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Claiming Louis Jordan as his inspiration, Neville gigged in the Big Apple with George Coleman and Billy Higgins. Treacherous: A History of the Neville Brothers 1955-1985 He returned to New Orleans to play with his brothers in 1977. Being a member of the First Family of Funk has made him world famous. But for years, the Nevilles produced great music that was seldom heard outside of the Crescent City. Some of their best work is on Treacherous (1986), which incorporates everything from Mardi Gras Indian songs to Aaron Neville's top-charted "Tell It Like It Is." Little they have done since can compare with the album's gospel finale. When Aaron Neville asks his brother Charles the Horn Man to blow for them one time, he really does. Or witness his burning sound on "Fever" on the same CD. Much as they were revered in their hometown, the Neville Brothers' ascent to superstardom had to wait until the musical collaboration between Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt woke up the rest of the world to what they had been missing. Aaron Neville's career as a soloist points up a key fact about the Neville Brothers. Each has his own separate musical identity: Cyril Neville with his reggae rhythms, Art Neville with the Meters, and Charles Neville with his group Diversity. Charles Neville & Diversity Known for ethereal performances at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Diversity followed the masterful lead of Charles Neville. Drawing from the immense pool of fine musicians in New Orleans, from Johnny Vidacovich to Michael Ray, anything became musically possible. The group produced a CD in 1991 entitled And Diversity, which gives the listener a good overview of their amazing range. Diversity is still part of Charles Neville's repertoire, along with the huge body of recordings and personal appearances the Neville Brothers have made in the past decade. Charles Neville's talented daughter, Charmaine Neville often joins her father on-stage. In 2001, Neville released The Painter, in which he truly does paint with music on classics and original tunes. Also released in 2001 was Safe in Buddha's Palm, in which a seasoned and spiritually minded Charles Neville pays homage to eastern philosophy, the healing power of the feminine, and the wealth of his musical tradition. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!