Blues Legend Captain Luke Passes Away at Age 87

Remembering Captain Luke   Early this morning, May 12th, blues legend and musical pioneer Luther "Captain Luke" Mayer passed away at age 87. In the month since his health began declining, he was so happy to receive an outpouring of love and support from so many of you. He very much appreciated the calls, cards and well-wishes; he recently told us all the love from fans made him truly realize how much his music has meant to people. We've posted a collection of photos on our blog here, and we invite you to comment and share your memories of Captain Luke. He will be sorely missed.

Cleopatra Records artist: Canned Heat with John Lee Hooker - Carnegie Hall 1971 - New release review

I just received the newest release, Carnegie Hall 1971 from Canned Heat and it's a living snapshot of a great live band at it's peak with one of the kings of the blues! Opening with the slinky, Framed, Bob Hite speaks the lines and belts out the chorus. Backed on lead guitar by Henry Vestine, Fito de la Parra on drums, Joel Scott Hill on guitar and Antonio de la Barreda on bass this is a great track! Classic Heat, Let's Work Together is up next and a classic Heat jam. Vestine takes a cool lead solo but this track is all about the mystique of Heat. Hey Babe features the one and only John Lee Hooker on vocal and guitar. There are few vocalists to my hearing that deliver the blues like Hooker and this track spells it out in spades. One of the difficulties that I have complained about with Hooker in a larger band setting was the band's inability to capture Hooker's real sound and trying to make all of his measures even and equal. Hooker's sense of timing is not harmed here and Heat follows the master like a hound on a rabbit. Excellent! Shake 'N' Boogie is an extended track (in excess of 19 minutes) with Hooker leading the way. The track breaks about 7 minutes in for a frenzied guitar solo by Vestine. Cranking this track up to the end is Canned Heat's inspiration by Hooker. A true boogie with loose solos including a longer solo by de la Parra on drums. A great driver! Willie Dixon's Back Door Man is up next opening with a lot of guitar distortion and loose playing. Maturing into a loaded jam, this track is the embodiment of Heat jamming during it's prime. Hooker takes the lead once again for one of his own creations, Tease Me Baby. This track, showing one of Hooker's tracks with a blues rock base, gives the band the opportunity to close this performance with an upbeat rocker while still featuring the super power of JL Hooker. I tight little rocker and a sure closer for a cool live release.


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 Here's a studio version of Framed:

 

Cajun and Blues Music Festival Coming Next Month To Simi Valley, CA

BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY	CANNED HEAT
LEO "BUD" WELCH	ROYAL SOUTHERN BROTHERHOOD
CANDYE KANE	GUITAR SHORTY
REVEREND TALL TREE	THE RECORD COMPANY
SPENCER DAVIS GROUP	BIG BROTHER AND THE HOLDING COMPANY

DWAYNE DOPSIE AND THE ZYDECO HELLRAISERS	TERRANCE SIMIEN AND THE ZYDECO EXPERIENCE
ANDRE THIERRY & ZYDECO MAGIC	JEFFERY BROUSSARD AND THE CREOLE COWBOYS
THE MAGNOLIA SISTERS	RUBEN PAUL MORENO
CURLEY TAYLOR AND ZYDECO TROUBLE

Jazz Great Cheryl Barnes Sky Rockets on Billboard

Jazz Great Cheryl Barnes Charts Billboard CD Meteoric rise to number 5 starting the week of May 16th Earlier this month Ms. Barnes received two prestigious awards from the Black Women in Jazz & The Arts Association and now she adds this meteoric rise on the charts.  Cheryl received the coveted Best Black Female Video of the Year award along with the Best Black Female Record of the Year Award prior to the CD sky rocketing number 5 spot on Billboard's Contemporary Jazz Album chart.

Three Alligator Artists Receive Five Blues Music Awards

Elvin Bishop Leads All Artists -- Wins Album, Song And Band Of The Year

Newcomer Selwyn Birchwood Wins Best New Artist Album Of The Year

Marcia Ball Wins Piano Player Of The Year -- The 10th BMA Of Her Career

On Thursday, May 7, 2015, The Blues Foundation announced the winners of the 2015 Blues Music Awards, the blues world's highest honors. Blues legend and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvin Bishop led all artists with three awards. His Grammy-nominated 2014 release Can't Even Do Wrong Right won Album Of The Year and the title track won Song Of The Year. The Elvin Bishop Band took the award for Band Of The Year. Bishop had been nominated eight previous times but hadn't won until now. On Monday, May 11, Bishop will appear on TBS' CONAN, sitting in with Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band.

Newcomer Selwyn Birchwood -- winner of the 2013 International Blues Challenge -- received the award for Best New Artist Album Of The Year for his breakout Alligator debut, Don't Call No Ambulance. This is Birchwood's first nomination and first win.

Austin piano queen Marcia Ball won the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Of The Year Award. This is Ball's 10th career Blues Music Award. She has received a total of 44 nominations.

The 36th Annual Blues Music Awards were presented in Memphis on Thursday, May 7, 2015 at the Cook Convention Center.

Alligator artists and awards are as follows:

ELVIN BISHOP:
Album Of The Year - Can't Even Do Wrong Right
Song Of The Year - Can't Even Do Wrong Right (written by Elvin Bishop)
Band Of The Year - The Elvin Bishop Band










SELWYN BIRCHWOOD:
Best New Artist Album Of The Year - Don't Call No Ambulance











MARCIA BALL:
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player Of The Year

Carl Hall, Northern soul singer, 'Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-72' coming on Omnivore June 23

CARL HALL’S YOU DON’T KNOW NOTHING ABOUT LOVE: THE LOMA/ATLANTIC RECORDINGS 1967-1972, OUT JUNE 23, 2015, IS INTRODUCTION TO PROLIFIC, UNDER-THE-RADAR NORTHERN SOUL SINGER  Compilation’s 19 songs include hits plus 13 unissued bonus tracks. All were produced by Jerry Ragovoy, and not previously available on album.   LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Carl Hall’s four-octave range first came into prominence on the gospel sides he cut in the 1950s for labels like Vee-Jay and Savoy. His later acting work on Broadway (Inner City, The Wiz, and Truly Blessed: A Musical Celebration of Mahalia Jackson) and in the film version of Hair was renowned. But it’s the soul sides he cut for the Loma and Atlantic labels, with producer Jerry Ragovoy, that are truly sought after. You Don’t Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 not only fills that need, but delivers in spectacular fashion. This 19-track CD, set for release on Omnivore Recordings on June 23, 2015, collects the singles from this era and adds an astonishing 13 previously unissued tracks, brand new to soul collectors, who up until now have only had the aforementioned single sides issued on the original 45s. In addition to the title track, “I Don’t Wanna Be (Your Used to Be),” and Hall’s take on Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” (re-titled “Need Somebody to Love” for Hall’s version) You Don’t Know Nothing About Love gathers unreleased versions of hits from The Beatles (“The Long and Winding Road”), Broadway’s Stop the World — I Want to Get Off (“What Kind of Fool Am I”) . . . and even The Rolling Stones, who themselves had a hit with their cover of Ragovoy’s “Time Is on My Side,” represented here in a pair of unissued versions. You Don’t Know Nothing About Love acts as both a primer and a definitive statement on Hall’s six years under the Warner Bros. umbrella. The mystery of why so much of this music lingered in the vaults for so many decades and a historical overview of both Hall’s and his colleagues’ careers are brought to life via an essay from musicologist Bill Dahl. From Dahl’s notes: “The stratospheric four-octave vocal range of Carl Hall was truly a gift from on high. No less an esteemed authority than Anthony Heilbut declared him the finest male soprano in gospel. But after establishing himself in the sacred field, Hall crossed over to the secular arena, cutting a series of mesmerizing soul singles that showcased his uncanny vocal mastery just as vividly as those spirituals had.” Omnivore Recordings is proud to present yet another set of recording that many have talked about, but few have had the pleasure of hearing. You Don’t Know Nothing About Love: The Loma/Atlantic Recordings 1967-1972 guarantees you’ll know about Carl Hall. And, make you wish it hadn’t taken so long to find out. Track Listing: 1.       You Don’t Know Nothing About Love* 2.       Mean It Baby*3.       Just Like I Told You 4.       He’ll Never Love You 5.       It Was You (That I Needed) 6.       The Dam Busted* 7.       I Don’t Wanna Be (Your Used To Be)* 8.       Dance Dance Dance 9.       What Kind Of Fool Am I? 10.    Sometimes I Do 11.    The Long And Winding Road 12.    It’s Been Such A Long Way Home 13.    Time Is On My Side 14.    Need Somebody to Love* 15.  Change With The Season*  Alternate Takes: 16.  Just Like I Told You (Take 7)17.  It Was You (That I Needed)  (Take 12)18. The Dam Busted (1971 Remake) 19.  Time Is On My Side (Takes 1 & 2) All selections previously unissued except *  # # #

Provogue Records artist: Sonny Landreth - Bound By The Blues - New release review

I just received the newest release (June 9, 2015), Bound By The Blues, by Sonny Landreth and I think it may be his best yet! Opening with Delta blues track, Walking Blues, Landreth maintains a sense of the original but with just the right amount electric slide and drums to make it sound fresh. Very nice! Title track, Bound By The Blues, has a more modern sound but it's basic bones are very primitive. I like his mixture of acoustic and electric instruments and the driving beat which gives it it's certain footing. The High Side has a cool funk but set over a mostly acoustic sound. A unique track for these reasons alone but coupled with Landreth's skillful slide work and a catchy melody, it's really nice! Tampa Red track, It Hurts Me Too, again done stripped down with only basic backing to Landreth's vocals and slide this track is a screamer. It is great to see Landreth laying down on the blues straight up and he's doing it here. Excellent! Latin jazz influence on Where They Will has an entirely different flavor and I really like the smooth slide work on this track for a lot of reasons. Very cool! Skip James' Cherry Ball Blues has a total rework, but maintaining it's primitive grittiness. Fat slide runs and a solid blues base makes this one of the killer tracks on the release. Firebird Blues is done in memory of the great Johnny Winter. Winter, who dominated the blues rock scene for more than 40 years was a figure to be reckoned with,with lightning fast riffs, outrageous slide work and voracious energy. This is a nice 12 bar number with just basic cardboard box drum by Brian Brignac and ukulele bass backing by David Ranson. Robert Johnson's Dust My Broom is done shuffle style with a real nice drum lope. Instead of Elmore James style slide riffs which anyone else would have done, Landreth steps back and rips melodic slide lines of his own, giving in only on the track close with these sliding landmarks. Very nice! Big Bill Broonzy's Key To The Highway, played by just about everyone and especially popular by Derek & the Dominos with Clapton and Duane Allman, is up next. Landreth seems content to keep it simple as a basic blues track for a chorus or so but them opens the can and lets out the dogs. Fat slide tones and nicely thought through guitar runs, leading to a full blown slidathon makes this one of the releases strongest outings. Wrapping the release is cool instrumental boogie, Simcoe Street, with a great walking bass line by Ranson. Landreth takes a remarkable slide journey with tight backing by Brignac and Ranson capping a spuer outing by Landreth.

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Ironing Board Sam's Electric Jazzfest Return!

Ironing Board Sam's New Look at Jazzfest! Ironing Board Sam at Jazzfest 2015 Ironing Board Sam, Major Handy, Ernie Vincent and Little Freddie King played at the New Orleans Jazzfest last week. Jazzfest is always an amazing opportunity for our artists; new fans experience their shows live and they are immersed in the musical camaraderie of the festival atmosphere. Ironing Board Sam, in particular, feels a strong connection to the festival, as it is where he debuted some of his most incredible stage shows (check out photos of the "underwater blues show" on our blog here!) This year, Sam's dazzling performance included a reflective outfit and drumming with flaming sticks! Check out this video of Sam's drummer, Kerry Brown's, finale, and more photos from Jazzfest are on the blog here!       Dom Flemons Entire EP - FREE today! Get Dom's "What Got Over" EP for FREE through Digital Download through today! Check out the EP and download it for free here! We Are the Music Makers wins award! Our 2014 book We Are the Music Makers: Preserving the Soul of America's Music, won an Independent Publisher Award! We were awarded Bronze in the performing arts category - learn more here!     Keep up with Music Maker's gigs See who's playing in your area! You never know when a Music Maker artist will be rolling through your town. Check out the Tour Calendar.     Keep the Roots Alive. Donate today.