I just received the newest release (June 4, 2013), Solo Live From The Meisenfrei Blues Club, by Kirsten Thien. Thien, a Georgetown University Business School grad turned singer has put together a solid 15 track solo album where she expresses herself nicely vocally and accompanies herself on acoustic guitar. One of my favorites on this release, Ain't That The Truth is a clean acoustic folk blues track written by Thien. The release is consistently good including tracks by Ida Cox (Wild Women Don't Have The Blues), Dylan(It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry), Sheryl Crow (Leaving Las Vegas), Sippie Wallace (Women Be Wise)another of my favorites on the release; Elvin Bishop (Fooled Around And Fell In Love), Leon Russell (I'd Rather be Blind), Bill Withers (Ain't No Sunshine)and Roy Hawkins and Rick Darnell (The Thrill Is Gone). A relatively sedate folk blues recording, Thien really uses the stage to showcase her voice nicely. There aren't any screaming guitars, and there's no harmonica, but it is blues in a nice polished vocal package ready to be enjoyed.
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Sonny Payne (May 4, 1926 – January 29, 1979) was an American jazz drummer, best known for his work with Count Basie and Harry James.
His father was Wild Bill Davis's drummer Chris Columbus. After early study with Vic Berton, in 1944 Payne started playing professionally around New York with the Dud and Paul Bascomb band, Hot Lips Page, Earl Bostic (1945–1947), Tiny Grimes (between 1947 and 1950), and Lucille Dixon (1948).
From 1950 to 1953, Payne played with Erskine Hawkins' big band, and led his own band for two years, but in late 1954 he made his most significant move, joining Basie's band for ten years of constant touring and recording.
He left Basie in 1965, leading his own trio, touring with Illinois Jacquet in 1976, and rejoining Basie twice (1965–1966, and 1973–1974). Most of the rest of his career, however, was spent in the Harry James band, which he joined in 1966, and with which he was working at the time of his death.
Harry "The Hipster" Gibson (June 27, 1915 – May 3, 1991) was a jazz pianist, singer and songwriter.
Gibson played New York style Stride piano and boogie woogie while singing in a wild, unrestrained style. His music career began in the late 1920s, when as the young Harry Raab, his birth name, he played stride piano in Dixieland jazz bands in Harlem. He continued to perform there throughout the 1930s, adding the barrelhouse boogie of the time to his repertoire, and was discovered by Fats Waller in 1939 and brought down to mid-town Manhattan, where he made a splash and changed his surname to Gibson. Between 1939 and 1945, he played at various Manhattan jazz clubs on 52nd Street ("Swing Street"), most notably the Three Deuces, run by Irving Alexander, and Leon and Eddies, run by Leon Enkin and Eddie Davis.
In the 1940s, Gibson was known for writing unusual songs, which are considered ahead of their time. He was also known for his unique, wild singing style, his energetic and unorthodox piano styles, and for his intricate mixture of a hardcore, gutbucket boogie rhythms with ragtime, stride and jazz piano styles. Gibson took the boogie woogie beat of his predecessors, but he made it frantic; similar to the rock and roll music of the 1950s Examples of his wild style are found in the songs "Riot in Boogie" and "Barrelhouse Boogie". An example of his strange singing style is in the song "The Baby and the Pup." Other songs that Gibson recorded were "Handsome Harry, the Hipster", "I Stay Brown All Year 'Round", "Get Your Juices at the Deuces", and "Stop That Dancin' Up There." Gibson recorded a great deal, but there are very few visual examples of his act. However, in New York in 1944, he filmed three songs for the Soundies film jukeboxes, and he went to Hollywood in 1946 to guest star in the feature-length film musical Junior Prom. Gibson preceded the first white rock and rollers by a decade, but the Soundies he recorded show significant similarities to rock and roll.
"Harry the Hipster" headlining at the Onyx on 52nd Street, May 1948. Note in the photo the Deuces as well as Leon and Eddie's.
While working on "Swing Street" at night, Gibson was a fellow at the Juilliard Graduate School during the day. At the time, Juilliard was strictly a classical music academy, and Gibson excelled there, which partly explains the richness of the music he brought to the jazz world. The other part of the explanation is, his own inventiveness, and Gibson was almost always billed and promoted as a musical genius.
Unlike Mezz Mezzrow, who was white but consciously abandoned his heritage to adopt the black music and culture as a "white negro," Gibson grew up near Harlem, New York City. Gibson's constant use of black jive talk was not an affectation; it was simply his uptown New York dialect. His song, "I Stay Brown All Year Round" is based on this issue. In his autobiography, Gibson says he coined the term hipster some time between 1939 and 1945, when he was performing on Swing Street and he started using "Harry the Hipster" as his stage name.
His career went into a tailspin in 1947, when his song "Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine" put him on the music industry blacklist. His own drug use led to his decline, and with the rising popularity of young rock-and-roll musicians among teenagers in the 1950s, older musicians were not in demand. In the 1960s, when Gibson saw the huge success of The Beatles, he decided to switch over to rock-and-roll. By the 1970s, he was playing hard rock, blues, bop, novelty songs and a few songs that mixed ragtime with rock-and-roll, and his hipster act became a hippie act. His old records were revived by Dr. Demento, particularly "Benzadrine" which was included in his 1975 compilation album Dr. Demento's Delights.
His comeback resulted in three more albums. Harry the Hipster Digs Christmas, made of new recordings in 1974, is a home recording and is not noteworthy. Two professionally produced albums were released after this, which were Everybody's Crazy but Me, (its title taken from the lyrics of "Stop That Dancin' Up There"), by Progressive Records in 1986, and Who Put the Benzedrine in Mrs. Murphy's Ovaltine released in 1989 by Delmark Records. Those two albums include some jazz, blues, ragtime, and rock and roll songs about reefer, nude bathing, hippie communes, strip clubs, male chauvinists, "rocking the 88s", and even about how hip Shirley MacLaine is.
Harry Gibson may have been the only pianist of the 1930s and 1940s to go on to play in full-scale rocking blues bands in the 1970s and 1980s. Unlike his 1940s contemporaries, most of whom continued to play the same music for decades, Gibson gradually shifted gears between the 1940s and the 1970s, switching from jazz to rock. The only elements that remained constant were his tendency to play hard-rocking boogie woogie, and his tongue-in-cheek references to drug use.
Harry's family did a biographical movie short on Harry's life and music in 1991, shortly before his death. The movie is called "Boogie In Blue" and was published as a VHS video that year.
Suffering from congestive heart failure, Harry had long ago decided that he would end life on his own terms if he ever became chronically ill. Harry Gibson took his own life by putting a handgun to his head on May 3, 1991
The Band: Wilbur De Paris Tb; Doc Cheatham Tp; Sidney De Paris Cnt; Omer Simeon Cl; Sonny White Pn; John "BJ John" Smith Gt; Hayes Alvis Bs Wilbert Kirk Dr.
Beginning his life in one major American city and jazz center and ending it in another, Hayes Alvis occupied the low end of the band's sound spectrum but ran up a high number of recording credits with several all-time jazz greats. In fact, it seems like the bassist and tuba player worked with only the very best, leaving the second-rate bandleaders for someone else to scuffle with. He actually started out playing drums, but during a two year term of employment with Jelly Roll Morton from 1927 to 1928 he oomphed over to tuba and double bass. From 1928 to 1930, he played the low horn in the innovative bands of Earl Hines. This pianist and sometime scat singer was always looking for new arrangers from amongst his sidemen, part of the reason the Hines bands always seemed to have a supply of fresh, innovative charts. He took an interest in the notes Alvis spent his time scribbling during rehearsals, and recorded his arrangement of "Blue Nights" on a 1929 Victor release.
After moving to New York in 1931 to collaborate with one of the top New Orleans clarinetists, Jimmie Noone, Alvis performed on both his axes with the Mills Blue Rhythm Band from 1931-1934, rejoining for another stint in 1936. A half-dozen re-releases of this big band's work are available on swing revival labels such as Classic, and are ample evidence that this was an overlooked band with great versatility. Alvis specialized in bowed bass solos in this band and is sometimes credited with one of the earliest recorded double bass solos on the 1932 track entitled "Rhythm Spasm." He also played some baritone sax with this group. There were quite a few excellent jazz musicians in this outfit, including guitarist Lawrence Lucie, trumpeters Shelton Hemphill and Henry "Red" Allen, and trombonist J.C. Higginbotham. Alvis liked hanging with this crowd well enough to even act as the group's road manager, probably less of a responsibility than providing the bass lines, although surely more dangerous. From the mid-'30s, he stepped up to perhaps the greatest jazz big band, Duke Ellington, staying with the group from 1935 through 1938 and becoming part of one of the Duke's great rhythm sections. On drums was the dynamic Sonny Greer. Ellington experimented with twin bass lines during some arrangements from this period, with Alvis and Billy Taylor doubling up in various combinations of bass and tuba. Score another point in the innovative bass involvements for Alvis, as this seems to be the first time two basses were used at once in a jazz group. He was also part of a vocal trio backing up one of Ellington's best vocalists, Ivie Anderson, on the record "I've Got to Be a Rug Cutter."
Stints followed with alto saxophonist and composer Benny Carter, pianist and Hines disciple Joe Sullivan, and then several years with another of the music's reigning megalords, Louis Armstrong, in whose combo he replaced the rambunctious bassist Pops Foster. This dream gig ended in 1942 with a pair of Army boots and everything else that went with it. He played in an Army band led by arranger Sy Oliver through 1945, and then joined a rhythm section with pianist Dave Martin, which kept him busy through 1947. Following a seemingly endless run as a house musician at New York's Café Society, he wanted more of the spirit of liberty one might obtain through the insecurity of freelancing. The work offered to him became more and more related to attempts at swing revival, including New Orleans jazz bands led by Wilbur De Paris in the late '50s. One of his final playing relationships was once again with a jazz giant, in the form of the charismatic and mightily cooking Kansas City pianist Jay McShann. Alvis' last great band was the trio with McShann and guitarist Tiny Grimes, which toured Europe in 1970.
Duane Eddy (born April 26, 1938) is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he had a string of hit records, produced by Lee Hazlewood, which were noted for their characteristically "twangy" sound, including "Rebel Rouser", "Peter Gunn", and "Because They're Young". He had sold 12 million records by 1963.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994
Born in Corning, New York, he began playing the guitar at the age of five. In 1951 his family moved to Tucson, and then to Coolidge, Arizona. At the age of 16 he obtained a Chet Atkins model Gretsch guitar, and formed a duo, Jimmy and Duane, with his friend Jimmy Delbridge (who later recorded as Jimmy Dell). While performing at local radio station KCKY they met disc jockey Lee Hazlewood, who produced the duo's single, "Soda Fountain Girl", recorded and released in 1955 in Phoenix. Hazlewood then produced Sanford Clark's 1956 hit, "The Fool", featuring guitarist Al Casey, while Eddy and Delbridge performed and appeared on radio stations in Phoenix before joining Buddy Long's Western Melody Boys, playing country music in and around the city.
External video Oral History, Duane Eddy shares early moments of his life story. interview date July 19, 2009, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library
Eddy devised a technique of playing lead on his guitar's bass strings to produce a low, reverberant "twangy" sound. In November 1957, Eddy recorded an instrumental, "Movin' n' Groovin'", co-written by Eddy and Hazlewood. As the Phoenix studio had no echo chamber, Hazlewood bought a 2,000 gallon water storage tank which he used as an echo chamber to accentuate the "twangy" guitar sound.[citation needed] In 1958, Eddy signed a recording contract with Lester Sill and Lee Hazlewood to record in Phoenix at the Audio Recorders studio. Sill and Hazlewood leased the tapes of all the singles and albums to the Philadelphia-based Jamie Records.
"Movin' n' Groovin'" reached number 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1958; the opening riff, borrowed from Chuck Berry's "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," was itself copied a few years later by The Beach Boys on "Surfin' U.S.A.". For the follow-up, "Rebel 'Rouser", the record featured overdubbed saxophone by Los Angeles session musician Gil Bernal, and yells and handclaps by doo-wop group The Rivingtons.[5][8] The tune became Eddy's breakthrough hit, reaching number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It sold over one million copies, earning Eddy his first gold disc.
Eddy had a succession of hit records over the next few years, and his band members, including Steve Douglas, saxophonist Jim Horn and keyboard player Larry Knechtel would go on to work as part of Phil Spector's Wrecking Crew. According to writer Richie Unterberger, "The singles - 'Peter Gunn,' 'Cannonball,' 'Shazam,' and 'Forty Miles of Bad Road' were probably the best - also did their part to help keep the raunchy spirit of rock & roll alive, during a time in which it was in danger of being watered down." On January 9, 1959, Eddy’s debut album, Have 'Twangy' Guitar Will Travel, was released, reaching number 5, and remaining on the album charts for 82 weeks. Eddy's biggest hit came with the theme to the movie Because They're Young in 1960, which featured a string arrangement, and reached a chart peak of number 4 in America and number 2 in the UK in September 1960. It became his second million selling disc. Eddy's records were equally successful in the UK, and in 1960, readers of the UK's NME voted him World's Number One Musical Personality, ousting Elvis Presley.
In 1960 Eddy signed a contract direct with Jamie Records, bypassing Sill and Hazlewood. This caused a temporary rift between Eddy and Hazlewood. The result was that for the duration of his contract with Jamie, Eddy produced his own singles and albums.
"Duane Eddy and the Rebels" became a frequent act on The Dick Clark Show.
Later career
During the 1960s Eddy launched an acting career, appearing in such films as A Thunder of Drums, The Wild Westerners, Kona Coast, The Savage Seven, and two appearances on the television series Have Gun–Will Travel. He married singer Jessi Colter in 1962 and that same year he signed a three-year contract with Paul Anka's production company, Camy, whose recordings were issued on the RCA Victor label. It was in the early days of recording in RCA's studios that he renewed contact with Lee Hazlewood, who became involved in a number of his RCA released singles and albums. Eddy's 1962 single release, "(Dance With) The Guitar Man", co-written with Hazlewood, earned his third gold disc by selling a million records.
In the 1970s, he produced album projects for Phil Everly and Waylon Jennings. In 1975, a collaboration with hit songwriter Tony Macaulay and former founding member of The Seekers, Keith Potger, led to another UK top ten record, "Play Me Like You Play Your Guitar". The single, "You Are My Sunshine", featuring Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, hit the country charts in 1977. He also recorded an album of completely acoustic music, Songs of Our Heritage.
In 1986, Eddy recorded with Art of Noise, remaking his 1960 version of Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn". The song was a Top Ten hit around the world, ranking number 1 on Rolling Stone's dance chart for six weeks that summer. "Peter Gunn" won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental of 1986. It also gave Eddy the distinction of being the only instrumentalist to have had Top 10 hit singles in four different decades in the UK. (Although his 1975 top 10 hit featured a female vocal group).
The following year, Duane Eddy, was released on Capitol. Several of the tracks were produced by Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne, Ry Cooder, and Art of Noise. Guest artists and musicians included John Fogerty, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ry Cooder, James Burton, David Lindley, Phil Pickett, Steve Cropper, and original Rebels, Larry Knechtel and Jim Horn. The album included a cover of Paul McCartney's 1979 instrumental, "Rockestra Theme". In 1992 Eddy recorded a duet with Hank Marvin on Marvin's album Into the Light, with a cover version of The Chantays' 1963 hit "Pipeline".
In the spring of 1994, Eddy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Eddy's "Rebel Rouser" was featured that same year in Forrest Gump. Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers used "The Trembler", a track written by Eddy and Ravi Shankar. Also in 1994, Eddy teamed up with Carl Perkins and The Mavericks to contribute "Matchbox" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. Eddy was the lead guitarist on Foreigner's 1995 hit "Until the End of Time", which reached the top ten on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. In 1996, Eddy played guitar on Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for the film Broken Arrow.
On 5 April 2000, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, the title "Titan of Twang" was bestowed upon Eddy by the mayor.
In 2004, Eddy was presented with the Guitar Player Magazine "Legend Award". Eddy was the second recipient of the award, the first being presented to Les Paul. Among those who have acknowledged his influence are George Harrison, Dave Davies, Hank Marvin, the Ventures, John Entwistle, Bruce Springsteen, Adrian Belew, Bill Nelson, and Mark Knopfler.
In October 2010, Eddy returned to the UK at a sold out Royal Festival Hall in London, at which he was given a standing ovation before he had played a note or spoken a word. Following the concert an equally appreciative ovation was bestowed upon him.
This success promulgated the subsequent album for Mad Monkey/EMI, which was produced by Richard Hawley in Sheffield, England. The album, Road Trip, was released on 20 June 2011. Mojo placed the album at number 37 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011." Eddy performed at the Glastonbury Festival on 26 June 2011.
I just received the newest release, A Tribute To Little Johnny Taylor by Jimmy Wolf and it's a great showcase not only of Taylors music but Wolf's excellent guitar work. Opening with Walking The Floor, a standard 12 bar, Wolf plays some sweet riffs but never overplays giving the music the opportunity to breathe. One of my personal favorites, Somebody's Got To Pay, is up next and Wolf digs deep to find the right voice for such a deep track. Wolf has excellent backing on this release including Thomas "T.C." Carter on bass, Joe "Lawd Deez" Cummings on keys and Stephen "Rhythmcnasty" Bender on drums. Wolf rips a hole in this track with some voracious guitar riffs... out of control! Carter lays down some real funk for Hard Head and Bender is certainly up to the task. Wolf again lets it rip and he really plays fearlessly. Don't see that often and I like it! Everybody Knows About My Good Thing is another stellar song and Wolf's voice hits it's stride. The Wolf is on the loose and Katy bar the door! Really stiff hitting guitar riffs highlight this track. You'll Need Another Favor, a bottom driven blues track establishes a great groove and Cummings stretches out nicely on organ. Wolf keeps it simple on this track letting the groove speak for itself. Junkie For Your Love, a real funky number, gives Wolf the opportunity to show some searing riffs. Part Time Love, another of my personal favorites, has a real nice groove to it and Cummings brings the volume up and down to accentuate dynamics on this track. Wolf grabs his guitar by the throat on this one and doesn't let go. Real nice! Sometimey Woman has a R&B upbeat tempo and moves along quite nicely. Cummings takes another sail on the keys and creates a nice wake for Wolf to bust it loose. Using the patience of Albert King, Wolf lays down some pretty nice riffs and gets back to some of the better vocals on the track. On My Way Back Home closes the release setting a strong R&B driving rhythm. Wolf plays some real tasty riffs on this track and the tempo is spot on.
This is a really enjoyable release with hot guitar and great rhythm. Check it out! |
| Photo: William P. Gottlieb |
Herbie Nichols (3 January 1919 – 12 April 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who wrote the jazz standard "Lady Sings the Blues". Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics.
Born in San Juan Hill, Manhattan, to parents from St. Kitts and Trinidad, Nichols grew up in Harlem.
During much of his life he was forced to take work as a Dixieland musician instead of playing the more adventurous kind of jazz he preferred, but he is best known today for his own highly original compositions, program music that combines bop, Dixieland, and West Indian music with harmonies derived from Erik Satie and Béla Bartók.
His first known work was with the Royal Barons in 1937, but he did not find performing at Minton's Playhouse a few years later a very happy experience. The competitive atmosphere did not suit his personality. However, he did become friends with fellow pianist Thelonious Monk, even if his own critical neglect would be more enduring.
Nichols was drafted into the Infantry in 1941. After the war he worked in various setting, beginning to achieve some recognition when Mary Lou Williams recorded some of his songs in 1952. From about 1947 he persisted in trying to persuade Alfred Lion at Blue Note Records to sign him up. He finally recorded some of his compositions for Blue Note in 1955 and 1956, a number of which were not issued until the 1980s. His tune "Serenade" had lyrics added, and as "Lady Sings the Blues" became firmly identified with Billie Holiday. In 1957 he recorded his last album for Bethlehem Records. All of his recordings as leader have been released on CD.
Nichols died from leukemia in New York City at the age of 44.
John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb
Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was a Jamaican American jazz pianist.[1][2] He is perhaps best known for working with trumpeter Miles Davis from 1959 to 1962
The son of Jamaican immigrants, Kelly was born in Brooklyn, New York. He started his professional career in 1943, before his teens, initially as a member of R&B groups. Around this time he also played organ in local churches.[4] R&B bands that he played with up to 1951 included those led by Ray Abrams, Hot Lips Page, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis.
Kelly became better known after joining Dinah Washington's band in 1951, going on to record 14 titles for Blue Note in his trio in the same year. After this he played with bands led by Lester Young and Dizzy Gillespie, recording with the latter in 1952. Kelly was drafted into the army in September 1952, and stayed for two years, ending that period with a music performance for an audience of 10,000 in the Chastain Memorial Park Amphitheater in Atlanta, Georgia. After leaving the military, Kelly worked with Washington again (1955–1957), Charles Mingus (1956–1957), and the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band (1957), before leaving Gillespie and forming his own trio, which then recorded the second album under Kelly's name, more than six years after the first.
He would, however, be most famous for his stint with Miles Davis from 1959 to 1963, recording such albums with him as Kind of Blue, At the Blackhawk, and Someday My Prince Will Come. On 1959's Kind of Blue, Kelly replaced Bill Evans on the track "Freddie Freeloader". Kelly likewise appeared on a single track from John Coltrane's Giant Steps, replacing Tommy Flanagan on "Naima". When he left Davis, Kelly took the rest of the rhythm section (bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb) with him to form his trio. This trio also joined Wes Montgomery, appearing on three of the guitarist's albums. Kelly recorded as a leader for Blue Note, Riverside Records, Vee-Jay, Verve, and Milestone.
Kelly had a daughter, Tracy, in 1963, with partner Anne. The track "Little Tracy", on the LP Comin' in the Back Door, is named after Kelly's daughter. Tracy Matisak is a now a Philadelphia television personality. Kelly's second cousin, bassist Marcus Miller, also performed with Miles Davis in the 1980s and 1990s. Other cousins are pianist Randy Weston and rapper Foxy Brown.
Kelly died in Toronto, Canada, from an epileptic seizure, on April 12, 1971. He had travelled there from New York to play in a club with drummer George Reed and vocalist Herb Marshall. Kelly had a longstanding epilepsy problem, and had to monitor his condition to avoid the danger of swallowing his tongue or dentures during a seizure. An account of his death was given by his friend, Jimmy Cobb: "Wynton called his girlfriend in New York and said, 'You know, I don't feel good.' She said, 'Why don't you go downstairs to the bar and if something happens somebody could tend to you.' We don't know if he did that, because when they found him he was in the room." Kelly was found in his room in the Westminster Hotel on Jarvis Street by Herb Marshall. He was reported to have had almost no money at the time of his death.
A memorial concert was held on June 28 in New York and featured numerous well-known musicians of the period
