Working Man Blues - Guitar Slim And Jelly Belly

Alec Seward (March 16, 1902 - May 11, 1972) was an American Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Some of his records were released under pseudonyms, such as Guitar Slim, Blues Servant Boy, King Blues and Georgia Slim. His best remembered recordings were "Creepin' Blues" and "Some People Say." Seward, one of fourteen siblings, was born in Charles City County, Virginia. Similar to Gabriel Brown, Ralph Willis and Brownie McGhee, Seward relocated from the Southern United States to New York, in his case in 1924. Seward befriended Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, and retained his Piedmont blues styling despite changes in musical trends. He met Louis Hayes (who later became a minister in northern New Jersey) and the duo performed variously named as the Blues Servant Boys, Guitar Slim and Jelly Belly, or The Back Porch Boys. During the 1940s and 1950s Seward played and recorded with Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, McGhee and Terry. Around 1947 Seward, Guthrie, and Terry, recorded several chain gang related songs including "Chain Gang Special", and some other older songs adapted to having chain gang themes. They were later released on the compilation album, Best of the War Years. Under his own real name, Seward issued Creepin' Blues (1965, Bluesville) with harmonica accompaniment by Larry Johnson. Later in the decade Seward worked in concert and at folk-blues festivals. Seward died at the age of 70, in New York of natural causes, in May 1972. He is not to be confused with Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones, Guitar Slim, Jr., James "Guitar Slim" Stephenson nor Norman "Guitar Slim" Green  

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Do You Call That A Buddy - Martin, Bogan and Armstrong

Carl Martin was part of a rich musical tradition in Appalachia - a tradition that saw blues and ragtime mesh with pop and the styles of white musicians from rural mountain communities... a tradition that defies most conventional images of music from Appalachia... a tradition that produced some of the finest American music that you can find anywhere. Martin was born near Big Stone Gap, Virginia on April 15, 1906. The town recently memorialized his musical contributions with a historical marker. Click here to read more about the memorial and Martin himself. He is said to have been able to play any instrument with strings, and his career spanned several decades playing solo and in bands including the Four Keys, the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, the Wandering Troubadours and Martin, Bogan, and Armstrong. Martin moved to Knoxville, TN with his family when he was twelve. His older brother taught him to play guitar and he soon learned other stringed instruments and began playing regularly around the Knoxville area. In the late 20s he formed his own band with Howard Armstrong. They called themselves the Tennessee Chocolate Drops. During these early years, they developed a repertoire that included not only blues, ragtime and jazz, but also hillbilly styles and Tin Pan Alley pop songs. They debuted in 1930 on WROL in Knoxville. They proceeded to make their first record on the Vocolian label. Soon after, they teamed up with guitarist and singer Ted Bogan. They migrated to Chicago where they found themselves often playing in white immigrant neighborhoods. They drew heavily upon Howard Armstrong's experience growing up in LaFollete, TN where early industry had created an ethnically diverse community. In this atmostphere, Armstrong had learned several languages and styles of music that served the band well when they started "pullin' doors" in the big city. Martin began recording under his own name in 1934. Over the years he recorded with a number of labels including Vocolian, Decca, Bluebird and Champion. In 1941 he joined the army and did not really return professionally to music until 1966 when he was swept up by the folk revival and recorded an album for Testament called Crow Jane Blue. Then, after more than thirty years, he was reunited with Bogan and Armstrong. As "Martin, Bogan and Armstrong," they toured folk and blues festivals, coffeehouses and college campuses. They recorded three more albums for Rounder and Flying Fish. Martin died in 1979 at the age of 73. Bogan and Armstrong continued playing and were the subjects of a feature-length documentary by Terry Zwiggoff in 1985. The documentary is entitled Louie Bluie (after Armstrong's stage name). You can hear some of Carl's story in his own words by listening to the interview posted above. There's also a short interview and some music in the video to the left.

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Tab's Blues - Frankie Newton

Frankie Newton (William Frank Newton, January 4, 1906 – March 11, 1954) was a jazz trumpeter from Emory, Virginia. He played in several New York bands in the 1920s and 1930s, including those led by Sam Wooding, Chick Webb, Charlie Barnet, Andy Kirk and Charlie "Fess" Johnson. In the 1940s he played with bands led by Lucky Millinder and Pete Brown. He played in clubs in New York and Boston, with musicians such as pianist Art Tatum, pianist James P. Johnson, drummer Sid Catlett and clarinetist Edmond Hall. He accompanied Bessie Smith on her final recordings (November 24, 1933), Maxine Sullivan on 'Loch Lomond', and Billie Holiday on her original 'Strange Fruit' session in 1939. Between March 1937 and August 1939, eight recording sessions issued under Newton's name were produced. Three sessions in 1937 were made for Irving Mills's Variety label. In 1939, Newton recorded a six-song session with Victor, a four-song session for Vocalion, two individual one-song sessions for Blue Note, and finally one two-song session for Vocalion—14 records in all.

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Pearl Bailey

Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC Afterschool Special, Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. Her rendition of "Takes Two to Tango" hit the top ten in 1952. Bailey was born in Southampton County in southeastern Virginia, to the Reverend Joseph and Ella Mae Ricks Bailey. She was reared in the Bloodfields neighborhood of Newport News, Virginia. She made her stage-singing debut when she was 15 years old. Her brother Bill Bailey was beginning his own career as a tap dancer, and suggested she enter an amateur contest at Philadelphia’s Pearl Theater. She entered, won first prize, later won a similar contest at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater, and decided to pursue a career in entertainment. Bailey began by singing and dancing in Philadelphia’s black nightclubs in the 1930s, and soon started performing in other parts of the East Coast. In 1941, during World War II, Bailey toured the country with the USO, performing for American troops. After the tour, she settled in New York. Her solo successes as a nightclub performer were followed by acts with such entertainers as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. In 1946, Bailey made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman. Bailey continued to tour and record albums in between her stage and screen performances. Early in the television medium, Bailey guest starred on CBS's Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town. Her support of female impersonator Lynne Carter led him to credit Bailey with launching his career. In 1954, she took the role of Frankie in the film version of Carmen Jones, and her rendition of "Beat Out That Rhythm on the Drum" is one of the highlights of the film. She also starred in the Broadway musical House of Flowers. In 1959, she played the role of Maria in the film version of Porgy and Bess, starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge. Also that year, she played the role of "Aunt Hagar" in the movie St. Louis Blues, alongside Mahalia Jackson, Eartha Kitt, and Nat King Cole. Though she was originally considered for the part of Annie Johnson in the 1959 film Imitation of Life, the part went to Juanita Moore, for which Moore received an Academy Award nomination. Bailey in a 1968 Ed Sullivan Show performance. In 1967, Bailey and Cab Calloway headlined an all-black cast version of Hello, Dolly! The touring version was so successful, producer David Merrick took it to Broadway where it played to sold-out houses and revitalized the long running musical. Bailey was given a special Tony Award for her role and RCA made a second original cast album.. That is the only recording of the score to have an overture which was written especially for that recording. A passionate fan of the New York Mets, Bailey sang the national anthem at Shea Stadium prior to game 5 of the 1969 World Series, and appears in the Series highlight film showing her support for the team. She also sang the national anthem prior to game 1 of the 1981 World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee Stadium. During the 1970s she had her own television show, and she also provided voices for animations such as Tubby the Tuba (1976) and Disney's The Fox and the Hound (1981). She returned to Broadway in 1975, playing the lead in an all-black production of Hello, Dolly!. She earned a B.A. in theology from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., in 1985. Later in her career, Bailey was a fixture as a spokesperson in a series of Duncan Hines commercials, singing "Bill Bailey (Won't You Come Home)". In her later years Bailey wrote several books: The Raw Pearl (1968), Talking to Myself (1971), Pearl's Kitchen (1973), and Hurry Up America and Spit (1976). In 1975 she was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald Ford. She enrolled in Georgetown University and, at age 67, graduated with a bachelor's degree in theology. Her last book, Between You and Me (1989), details her experiences with higher education. On January 19, 1985, she appeared on the nationally-televised broadcast of the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, the night before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. In 1988 Bailey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan. Pearl Bailey died at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia on August 17, 1990. Following an autopsy, Dr. Emanuel Rubin, professor and chairman of the Department of Pathology at Jefferson Medical College, announced the cause of death as arteriosclerotic coronary artery disease with significant narrowing of the coronary artery. She is buried at Rolling Green Memorial Park in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Seth MacFarlane, creator of television's Family Guy and American Dad!, paid tribute to Pearl Bailey in American Dad!, where the high school that Steve Smith attends is called Pearl Bailey High School.

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Hungry Woman - Gaye Adegbalola

Gaye Todd was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Virginia. She graduated as valedictorian of the then-segregated Walker-Grant High School. She finished Boston University with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. Prior to becoming a teacher, she worked as a technical writer for TRW Systems, a biochemical researcher at Rockefeller University, and a bacteriologist at Harlem Hospital. She has a Master’s degree in Educational Media (with a concentration in photography) from Virginia State University. In the early '70s, she began her teaching career. She was an educator in the Fredericksburg City Public School system for 18 years, and honored as Virginia State Teacher of the Year in 1982. Throughout her teaching career, she directed Harambee 360º Experimental Theater. She was able to creatively use performance as a tool to assist black youth in gaining confidence as they struggled with identity issues during the spread of "integration." During her teaching career, Ms. Adegbalola moonlighted as a musician. By maintaining the blues legacy, she now sees herself as a contemporary griot – keeping the history alive, delivering messages of empowerment, ministering to the heartbroken, and finding joy in the mundane. As a founding member of Saffire – the Uppity Blues Women, she became a full-time performer. (Saffire ended in November, 2009, after making music together for 25 years.) She has toured nationally and internationally, and has won numerous awards including the prestigious Blues Music Award (formerly the W.C. Handy Award – the Grammy of the blues industry). As of 2012, Adegbalola has 14 CDs in national distribution, including 4 on her own label, Hot Toddy Music. Gaye composes, sings and plays acoustic guitar, slide guitar, and harmonica. She is the mother of son, Juno Lumumba Kahlil. Motherhood is essential to her bio.

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Keep Straight Blues - Guitar Slim And Jelly Belly

Alec Seward (March 16, 1902 - May 11, 1972) was an American Piedmont and country blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. Some of his records were released under pseudonyms, such as Guitar Slim, Blues Servant Boy, King Blues and Georgia Slim. His best remembered recordings were "Creepin' Blues" and "Some People Say. Seward, one of fourteen siblings, was born in Charles City County, Virginia. Similar to Gabriel Brown, Ralph Willis and Brownie McGhee, Seward relocated from the Southern United States to New York, in his case in 1924. Seward befriended Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, and retained his Piedmont blues styling despite changes in musical trends. He met Louis Hayes (who later became a minister in northern New Jersey) and the duo performed variously named as the Blues Servant Boys, Guitar Slim and Jelly Belly, or The Back Porch Boys. During the 1940s and 1950s Seward played and recorded with Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, McGhee and Terry. Around 1947 Seward, Guthrie, and Terry, recorded several chain gang related songs including "Chain Gang Special", and some other older songs adapted to having chain gang themes. They were later released on the compilation album, Best of the War Years. Under his own real name, Seward issued Creepin' Blues (1965, Bluesville) with harmonica accompaniment by Larry Johnson. Later in the decade Seward worked in concert and at folk-blues festivals. Seward died at the age of 70, in New York of natural causes, in May 1972. He is not to be confused with Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones, Guitar Slim, Jr., James "Guitar Slim" Stephenson nor Norman "Guitar Slim" Green

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Wahoo - Les Cooper & His Soul Rockers

Les Cooper (b. Mar. 15, 1921, Norfolk, Virginia) was an American doo wop musician, best known for his hit rock instrumental "Wiggle Wobble". Cooper sang in several New York doo wop groups, including The Empires and The Whirlers, and was the manager of the group The Charts. In 1962, he signed to Everlast Records and released the single "Dig Yourself" b/w "Wiggle Wobble", billed with his band as Les Cooper & the Soul Rockers. Both sides were produced by Bobby Robinson. The B-side was an instrumental featuring the saxophone playing of Joe Grier (formerly of The Charts himself); it caught on at radio and became a nationwide hit, peaking at #12 R&B in 1962 and #22 on the Billboard Hot 100 early in 1963. It was his only hit; one of the follow-up singles was the sonically similar "Let's Do the Boston Monkey", recorded for Enjoy Records.   


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Bird's Nest - Charlie Parker Quartet

George Sylvester "Red" Callender (March 6, 1916 – March 8, 1992) was a jazz bass and tuba player, famous for turning down a chance to work with Duke Ellington's Orchestra and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. Callender was born in Haynesville, Virginia. In the early 1940s, he played in the Lester and Lee Young band, and then formed his own trio. In the 1940s Callender recorded with Nat King Cole, Erroll Garner, Charlie Parker, Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon and many others. After a period spent leading a trio in Hawaii, Callender returned to Los Angeles, becoming one of the first black musicians to work regularly in the commercial studios, including backing singer Linda Hayes on two singles. On his 1954 Crown LP Speaks Low, Callender was one of the earliest modern jazz tuba soloists. Keeping busy up until his death, some of the highlights of the bassist's later career include recording with Art Tatum and Jo Jones (1955–1956) for the Tatum Group, playing with Charles Mingus at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival, working with James Newton's avant-garde woodwind quintet (on tuba), and performing as a regular member of the Cheatham's Sweet Baby Blues Band. He also reached the top of the British pop charts as a member of B. Bumble and the Stingers. He died of thyroid cancer at his home in Saugus, California.

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The WV Blues Man - Nat Reese

Blues musician Nathaniel H. ‘‘Nat’’ Reese (March 4, 1924-June 8, 2012) was born in Salem, Virginia. When he was four, Reese’s family moved to Itmann, Wyoming County, where coal jobs were plentiful. In 1935, the family moved to Princeton where Reese heard a rich musical mix from big-name jazz musicians, local black musicians, and performers on such radio broadcasts as the Grand Ole Opry. He learned to play instruments, including guitar, piano, organ, bass, and string harp. Reese worked in the coal mines after classes at Genoa High School. For two years, he played jazz and blues on Bill Farmer’s Saturday night show on radio station WHIS Bluefield. He attended Bluefield State College for two years, then left to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. During and after his college years, he was part of a dance band that played jazz, polkas, and blues throughout the southern coalfields. In the early 1950s, Reese moved to Michigan and worked in construction, returning to West Virginia in 1959 to work for the State Road Commission. In 1962, he was hired as a photographic silkscreen printer at Rockwell International’s aviation plant in Princeton, where he stayed for 13 years. Reese, who lived in Princeton, played and taught at the annual Augusta Heritage Arts Workshops at Davis & Elkins College, and performed regularly. His recordings included ‘‘Just a Dream’’ and ‘‘West Virginia Blues by the West Virginia Blues Man.’’ Among his honors were the 1988 John Henry Award and the 1995 Vandalia Award. He was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009.

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Barber Shop Blues - Claude Hopkins Orchestra

Claude Driskett Hopkins (August 24, 1903 – February 19, 1984) was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader. Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia in 1903. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his birth. His parents were on the faculty of Howard University. A highly talented stride piano player and arranger, he left home at the age of only 21 as a sideman with the Wilbur Sweatman Orchestra but stayed less than a year. In 1925, he left for Europe as the musical director of The Revue Negre which starred Josephine Baker with Sidney Bechet in the band. He returned to the USA in 1927 where, based in Washington, he toured the TOBA circuit with The Ginger Snaps Revue before heading once again for NYC where he took over the band of Charlie Skeets. At this time (1932–36), he led a fairly successful Harlem band employing many jazz musicians who were later to become famous in their own right such as Edmond Hall, Jabbo Smith and Vic Dickenson (although it's worth noting that his records were arranged to feature his piano more than his band). This was his most successful period with long residencies at the Savoy and Roseland ballrooms and at the Cotton Club. In 1937 he took his band on the road with a great deal of success. He broke up the band in 1940 and used his arranging talents working for several non-jazz band leaders and for CBS. In 1948/9 he led a "novelty" band briefly but took a jazz band into The Cafe Society in 1950. From 1951 up until his death, he remained in NYC working mostly as a sideman with other Dixieland bands playing at festivals and various New York clubs and recording. Often under-rated in later years, he was one of jazz's most important band leaders and has yet to be given full recognition for his achievements. He died on 19 February 1984, a disillusioned and dispirited man. As popular as Hopkins' band was, it never achieved the high level of musical brilliance that Ellington, Henderson, Hines, Basie, Webb or Lunceford achieved. Besides Hopkins' piano being featured within the band, the high-pitched vocals of Orlando Roberson brought the band a good part of its popularity  

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Girl Dressed In Green - JOHN TINSLEY

b. 10 February 1920, Chestnut Mountain, Virginia, USA. Tinsley learned guitar when he was 11, and from the age of 18 played at social events. He acquired much of his repertoire from, and was stylistically influenced by, the records of Blind Boy Fuller and Buddy Moss. He also composed personal blues, including one arising from a 1949 incident when he shot and wounded his stepfather. In 1952 Tinsley recorded a 78 with Fred Holland for a local label, but its failure to sell induced him to stop playing blues by 1955. In 1977, he resumed playing with the encouragement of blues music researchers, made some likeable recordings and visited Europe a couple of times, despite a dispute with a Danish promoter on the first occasion. 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! Video is Here

Don't You Remember - Joan Shaw

Salena Jones (born Joan Elizabeth Shaw, January 29, 1944 in Newport News, Virginia) is an American jazz and cabaret singer. She was born Joan Elizabeth Shaw in Newport News, Virginia, the same home town as Ella Fitzgerald. Jones said, "I loved Sarah Vaughan so much and adored Lena Horne's elegance; I put them together as ‘Salena.’ It looked good. And I kept Joan in ‘Jones.’” And that's how Salena Jones was born." Jones began singing in church, school and began club work at the age of fifteen. After winning a talent contest in New York's Apollo Theater, singing "September Song". She began making demonstration records for Peggy Lee and Lena Horne, acquired her own contract. Her first disc was 1949's "He Knows How to Hucklebuck", with the Paul Williams Orchestra—and she toured and sang throughout the 1950s with Louis Armstrong, Arthur Prysock, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and Big Maybelle—sharing bills with fellow Newport News natives the The Five Keys as well as LaVern Baker, before touring in Spain (1965) and Britain (1966), where she appeared for an extended season at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. Since then she has appeared at most leading concert halls and clubs in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia, and appeared regularly on radio and TV, with her own series in the United Kingdom. Since visiting Japan for the first time (1978) she appeared there annually, memorably in the Unesco Save The Children Telethon (1988), and on a concert tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1992).[3] In 1964, Down Beat jazz critic Leonard Feather chose Salena Jones as one of the female vocalists of the year, alongside Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Nancy Wilson. Salena has also appeared throughout Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Turkey, Austria and Bulgaria. She has also made numerous television and radio broadcasts in Britain, and throughout Europe, often supported by the BBC Big Band. Also performed in Australia, Africa, South America, China, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and Japan. Since her first visit to Japan in 1978 she has returned at least annually, appearing in concert halls, on television, radio and regularly at the Blue Note Jazz Clubs in Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka. In her career to date Salena has recorded over forty albums, covering nearly five hundred songs, and sold over 500,000 albums worldwide and her album entitled "My Love" recorded in Tokyo won her an award in Japan for outstanding sales. Salena's musical biography includes many distinguished musicians, band leaders and other artists with whom she has performed or recorded. These include such performers as King Curtis, Herman Foster, Arthur Prysock, Tom Jones, The Coasters, Count Basie Orchestra, Adelaide Hall, Art Farmer, Brook Benton, Barney Kessel, Art Themen, Sarah Vaughan, Hank Jones, Maynard Ferguson, Dudley Moore. . . . and many more. In Rio de Janeiro not long before Antonio Carlos Jobim's death she recorded Salena Sings Jobim With The Jobims (1994) (licensed from Japanese Victor by Vine Gate Music UK), Jobim's hits sung in English, with Paulo Jobim on vocals, flute and guitar, grandson Daniel Cannetti Jobim on piano and the composer himself on two duets, Kenny Burrell on one track: 14 Jobim songs plus Michael Franks's tributes "Antonio's Song (The Rain- bow)" and "Abandoned Garden", and including two duos with Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim himself. A beautiful recording and one of her best. In the 1990s Salena made a sequence of six albums all consisting of standards and, incidentally, completed in six weeks, including mixing. Some of these albums, including Dream with Salena, Journey with Salena, Broadway and Hollywood are themed with songs appropriate to the titles. Early 2000 saw Salena starring at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, backed by the Hank Jones Quartet including such current luminaries as Russell Malone, Lewis Nash, and also featuring trumpeter Roy Hargrove, singer Dianne Reeves and Freddie Cole. January 2001 saw Salena return to Israel for eight sell-out shows, and she took her trio to Japan in May for two weeks appearing for Cartier, the exclusive jewellers, at their prestigious trade fairs throughout the country. In May 2006, Salena was thrilled to sing again in China opening the Shanghai International Jazz Festival (opened in 2005 by Diana Krall). Salena opened with Lee Ritenour, and Tower of Power. She is now based in the United Kingdom. She also gets a mention in the meaning of life (Monty python) 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!

Delta Groove Music artist: Kevin Selfe - Long Walk Home - New Release Review

I just received a copy of soon to be released (February 19, 2013 on Delta Groove Records) Long Walk Home by Kevin Selve. This is a really cool release with a variety of blues styles covered. The release opens with Duct Tape On My Soul, a nice loping blues track with plenty of T-Bone Walker influenced guitar riffs. Selfe takes advantage of this rhythm and lays down some really sweet solos. Mama Didn't Raise No Fool gets a bit more of a Chicago tempo featuring Mitch Kashmar on harp as well as stinging fretwork from Selfe. Selfe also has a hot voice for this style of music and blends nicely with his band. One of my favorites on the release, Moving Day Blues, has a slow T-Bone walker style setup with piano by Gene Taylor and great horn work by Joe McCarthy (trumpet), Chris Mercer (Tenor Sax), Brad Ulrich (Bari sax) and particularly hot riffs from Selfe.... dig those double stops, hot off tempo riffs and soulful bends. Smokin!!!! Last Crossroad is a lighter acoustic style blues with a running rhythm and slide. Dancing Girl opens with a ZZ Top riff and then opens into a very traditional sounding Chicago stye blues track. This is a really strong track. I particularly like Selfe's guitar work on this track. He has a strong style of his own and his solos are intense and provoking. Midnight Creeper opens with some nice open tuned slide work. Developing into a rocking blues track Selfe continues to show the diversity of his songwriting. Walking Funny is a fast "jump" blues again backed by Jimi Bott on drums who adds a specific brightness. Taylor again on piano and the horn section really drive Selfe on classic jump blues riffs. This is a hot track! Second Box On The Left, a loping blues track, opens with with sweet guitar riffs and again allows plenty of space for smooth vocals and guitar by Selfe but also features some nice horn backing and soloing. Put Me Back In Jail is a slide "free for all" along the lines of Hound Dog Taylor. Overall this is a really strong recording and one that I'm certain will be well received.

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Traveling Coon - LUKE JORDAN

Luke Jordan (January 28, 1892 – June 25, 1952) was an American blues guitarist and vocalist of some renown in his local area of Lynchburg, Virginia. Born in Appomattox County, Virginia, United States, his professional career started at age 35, when he was noticed by Victor Records, and went to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1927 to record several records. These records sold moderately well, and Victor decided to take Jordan to New York in 1929, for two more sessions. He recorded very few known tracks in his career, but a few remain intact. He died in Lynchburg in June 1952. His song, "Church Bells Blues" was later recorded by Ralph Willis. 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! 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!

That Will Never Happen No More - John Jackson

John Jackson (February 24, 1924 – January 20, 2002) was an American Piedmont blues musician; his music did not become primary until his accidental "discovery" by folklorist Chuck Perdue in the 1960s. He had effectively given up playing for his community in 1949. Born in John H Jackson in Woodville, Virginia, United States into a musical family, he learned to play as a boy before moving in his twenties to Fairfax, where he had a day job as a gravedigger, one of many jobs he performed. His easy-swinging guitar and strongly accented singing were first heard outside of his locality on the early 1960s albums for Arhoolie. He visited Europe several times, played at folk festivals, and also recorded for Rounder and Alligator Records. He also appeared around Washington, D.C. with 'the Travelling Blues Workshop', which included Jackson, Archie Edwards, Flora Molton, Mother Scott, Phil Wiggins and John Cephas. Jackson died in 2002 of liver cancer in Fairfax Station, Virginia, at the age of 77. Jackson had six boys and one girl with his wife Cora Lee Carter Jackson. He was preceded in death by his wife Cora Lee (1990), and his sons John Jackson Jr (1978), Ned Jackson (1978), and MacArthur Jackson (1996). Two of his remaining sons died after him; Lee Floyd Jackson (2006) and Timothy Jackson (2008). His daughter Cora Elizabeth (Beth) Johnson and James Edward Jackson still live in the Fairfax, Virginia area. In January, 2011, Jackson was nominated in the Blues Album and Live Performance Album categories for the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards. 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 Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live - Blind Alfred Reed

Blind Alfred Reed (June 15, 1880 – January 17, 1956) was an American folk, country, and old-time musician. He was one of the artists who recorded at the Bristol Sessions in 1927, alongside more famous names such as Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family. He played the fiddle along with his son Arville, who played the guitar. Reed was born completely blind, in Floyd, Virginia. He was raised in a very conservative family, and acquired a violin at a young age. Later, he began performing at county fairs, in country schoolhouses, for political rallies, and in churches. He even played on street corners for tips. He used to sell out printed copies of his compositions for ten cents each. This is about all the information that can be gathered from him in his early life, as most of the events during this time were not written down nor talked about much in his later years. While playing during a convention in 1927, Ralph Peer, who was the director of Bristol Sessions, heard Reed playing "The Wreck of the Virginian", and asked him if he wanted to make some recordings. Reed consented, and he recorded four songs, one solo, "The Wreck of the Virginian", and three with Arville's guitar accompaniment: "I Mean to Live for Jesus", "You Must Unload", and "Walking in the Way with Jesus". After the Bristol Sessions, Reed kept recording until 1929, which was the year of his most famous song's release "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?". After 1929, he stopped recording and lived out the rest of his life mostly in the Princeton area in Mercer County, West Virginia. Reed continued to perform locally until 1937 when a statute was passed prohibiting blind street musicians. In addition to being recording artist and a musician, he also served as a lay Methodist minister. In 1956, Reed died, supposedly of starvation. He is buried in Elgood, West Virginia 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!

Long Gone Records artist: Cathy Ponton King - The Crux - New Release Review

I just received the new release, The Crux, by Cathy Ponton King. King has assembled a who's who of contemporary blues artists including Jimmy Thackery, Ronnie Earl, Butch Warren and Ron Holloway. The release features 10 new blues ballads covering the spectrum from the zydeco influenced I Want You To Be Happy to the jazz infused Little House In The Country. Opening with Sugarface, a horn filled track with cool guitar riffs from Thackery and nice key work from Bill Starks King sets the groundwork for the release. I'm Just A Woman has a bit of country blended into the blues again featuring Thackery on guitars. The riffs on this track are right out of Thackery's bag of country tricks. Cerulean Blues is a pure ballad featuring the beautiful guitar phrasing of Ronnie Earl. Blues Companion, again featuring Earl, is a standard 12 bar blues track. Tattoo On My Heart, a country folk style ballad, features some really nice acoustic guitar work from Jason Byrd. Holloway has a nice sax run on this track as well. Sweet Change To My Heart really has some exceptional guitar riffs by Earl. This is my favorite track on the release. With it's Bossa Nova beat, Little House In The Country touches on the light jazz fare and could easily make airplay. Earl and Starks each play some really sweet riffs on this track making it quite memorable. Bridges That You Burned has some really nice guitar work by Dave Hovey and Mike Lessin. Finishing up with funky track, I'm Suffering, CPK leads the band through another jazzy track featuring Thackery on guitar. Other musicians on the release include Chris Battistone on trumpet, John Jensen on trombone, Bruce Swaim on sax, Antoine Sanfuentes on drums, Jim Roberson on bass, John Priviti on bass, Tom Corradino on accordian, Butch Warren on Bass and Jeff King on Vocals. This is a smooth blues/jazz CD for a mainstream listener. 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”

Can Of Gas & A Match - The Bush League - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the newest release, Can Of Gas & A Match by The Bush League and it's killer. The recording opens with the title track, Can Of Gas & A Match which has a solid base like Brush With The Blues from Royce Folks on bass and Debbie Flood on drums. JohnJason "Sleepy Eyed Jay" Cecil carries the track with an incredible modern swamp blues voice and Shane "Chicago Slim" Parch plays simple over driven rhythm guitar and excellent raw guitar punctuation throughout this track...think modern blues meets RL Burnside. This is a great track. Devil Cryin' In The Churchyard has a lighter feel with Parch painting lightly on the guitar as Cecil has a more modern delivery on vocal. The rhythm section is particularly tight on this track. Another track that I really like is Don't Touch My Liquor. This is a driving swamp boogie with wide open distortion on guitar and swingin' vocals. Drumming by Flood is really notable and crisp. Parch lays some fat slide guitar down on this track and Folks keeps the drive solid with prominent bass leads. Running Through The River is really a wide open jam with great rhythmic drumming and over the top guitar work. Cecil really does a nice job on vocals the the driving manner of the track is really effective. '59 Chevy takes a turn toward funk with a bit of spoken lyrics. This will likely appeal to fans liking a more modern approach to the blues. Mexico opens with Parch on an opened tuned resonator picking up momentum as Flood joins playing flashy rudimentary drum riffs. The track actually puts me in mind of an old Kim Simmonds track, Let It Rock, which is a great song. This is a slide rocker with a bit of distortion adding to the fatness. Another really strong track. Penicillin follows a traditional 12 bar format with an uptempo beat. Cecil has a great voice for this style of music and Parch keeps the slide hot for an occasional strike. .38 Special Blues is a slow blues in the manner of Going Down Slow. This is a departure from the balance of the recording and a nice contrast in style. Cecil shows a different side of his vocal style and the band keeps it tight , not overplaying giving Cecil all of the room he needs. Parch lays out a really sweet slide solo on this track with no pretense... just guts. Really cool track. There is also some nice piano work on this track but I didn't notice the player's name...sorry. Death Of Robert is another swampy track which has a slight tail of the British influence in it. Vocals are again delivered in a more spoken manner as is seen in more modern approaches to the blues. Parch uses the open tuned slide to lay out some really fat music over the solid rhythm of this track. This is a pretty strong track to end the release and another one that may see a bit of public attention. There is a bonus track on the commercial CD (no on the download)... and old R Wilkins track called Prodigal Son. This is really a strong track done acoustically and a really super addition to the entire package. Clean guitar picking, and great vocals from Cecil. This is a really solid release and one that should carry The Bush League to the big leagues!

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Musicomania - John Kirby Sextet

John Kirby (December 31, 1908 – June 14, 1952), was a jazz double-bassist who also played trombone and tuba. Kirby's early life is largely unknown; he may have been born in Winchester, Virginia, although other sources state he was born in Baltimore, Maryland, orphaned, and adopted. He began working in New York at 17, initially playing trombone until it was stolen, when he switched to tuba. Some sources link him to Baltimore in 1926, but he seems to have been based in New York until moving to California shortly before his death. Kirby joined Fletcher Henderson's orchestra as a tuba player in 1929. In the early 1930s, he performed some complicated tuba work on a number of Henderson's recordings, but switched to double-bass when tuba fell out of favor as jazz bands' primary bass instrument. About 1933 Kirby left Henderson to play with Chick Webb (twice), before returning to Henderson, and thence joining Lucky Millinder; he briefly led a quartet in 1935, but was usually employed as bassist in others' groups. Securing a gig at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street in 1937 confirmed Kirby's status as a bandleader, although in the first Onyx Club lineup, it was singer-drummer Leo Watson who got featured billing. Kirby's sextet was soon known as the Onyx Club Boys, and took the shape it would basically hold until World War II, usually with: Kirby, bass Charlie Shavers, trumpet Buster Bailey, clarinet Russell Procope, alto saxophone Billy Kyle, piano O'Neill Spencer, drums "The Biggest Little Band in the Land," as its P.R. called it, began recording in August 1937 and immediately enjoyed success with a swing version of "Loch Lomond." The group's name would vary with time and depending on who was officially credited as session leader: John Kirby and His Onyx Club Boys, John Kirby and His Orchestra, Buster Bailey and His Rhythm Busters, Buster Bailey and His Sextet. The band would become one of the more significant "small groups" in the Big Band era and was also notable for making the first recording of Shavers's song "Undecided". Vocals were often performed by Maxine Sullivan, who became Kirby's wife in 1938 (divorced 1941). In 1938 four members of the group (Shavers, Bailey, Kyle and Kirby) participated in two recording sessions for Vocalion Records (11 May and 23 June) accompanying singer Billie Holiday as Billie Holiday and her Orchestra. Kirby tended toward a lighter, classically influenced style of jazz, often referred to as chamber jazz, which has both strong defenders and ardent critics. He was very prolific and extremely popular from 1938-1941, but World War II took away Kyle and Procope; bad health claimed Spencer, who died from tuberculosis in 1944. Nevertheless, Kirby kept trying to lead a group in clubs and in the studio, occasionally managing to attract such talents as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Clyde Hart, Budd Johnson, and Zutty Singleton. As Kirby's career declined, he drank heavily and was beset by diabetes. After the war, Kirby got the surviving sextet members back together, with Sarah Vaughan as vocalist, but the reunion did not last. A concert at Carnegie Hall in December 1950, with Bailey plus drummer Sid Catlett, attracted only a small audience, which "crushed Kirby's spirit and badly damaged what little was left of his career." Kirby moved to Hollywood, California, where he died just before a planned comeback. 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!

Theres No Friend to Me Like Jesus - Rev. Daniel Womack

Daniel Womack b, December 24, 1904 in Keeling, Virginia. Womack sang, played guitar, harmonica and piano. 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!