If it's spring, can the blues be far behind? Especially this week. Blues releases are piling up at the temporary BlueNotes World Headquarters in sunny St. Pete, Fla. (Actually, it was cloudy all day today. If that's not the blues, I dunno what is.)
A lot of those releases hit the shelves this week, so for the sake of my loyal readers (both of you), I'll try to tear myself away from the Good Life long enough to let you know what I think is worthwhile.
First up, mainly because it's full of great old Chicago blues that touch BlueNotes where he lives, performed with classic Chicago chops, is a double CD called "Chicago Blues: A Living History" (Raisin' Records).
The idea behind the album is simple: Take a handful of musicians with Chicago blues in their blood, find a handful of great old Chicago blues songs and recreate them -- not necessarily to duplicate the exact sound, but to recapture their flavor and spirit. The result is not so simple: Some really great blues created by some of the greatest Chicago bluesmen, and re-created by some of their greatest musical progeny. Yes, I really like this music.
The main men in the band are Billy Boy Arnold, John Primer, Billy Branch and Lurrie Bell. They turn their considerable blues skills to some of the best.
I love it that the two-CD boxed set opens with something form the real John Lee Curtis "Sonny Boy" Williamson (he often gets lost in the shadow of the also great, but name-stealer, Aleck "Sonny Boy Williamson" Miller,) The opener is John Lee's "My Little Machine." which has to be one of the best auto-erotic blues, along with Memphis Minnie's very sexy "Me and My Chauffeur Blues."
CD number one revisits Chicago blues from 1940 to 1955. Volume two brings it up to the present. They present the music of, among others, Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, Maceo Merriweather, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, Earl Hooker, and even more than that. There an informative booklet that talks about the music and the musicians (if you can read the small print -- if there was ever an argument for bringing back vinyl, it's the small print on CD booklets).
And in case you were wondering, these guys are good. They're all first-class blues musicians. They're not just knocking off covers of some good music -- they're blasting out great old blues in the spirit in which they were created. Even if you have all the originals, it's still a treat to hear this music as it might be played today.
Speaking of old music
I stopped in at today at Beak's Old Florida, a seemingly vintage St. Petersburg bar that actually opened in 2007, complete with open air drinking areas, funky Florida memorabilia, and, yes, good beer. But best of all was the music. Our friendly waitstaff person told me that it was from the personal collection of owner Jamie Farquharson, and it's hard to imagine a better selection of background music that I thought could only be found in cities like BluesBurgh. There was Ruth Brown ("Lucky Lips"), LaVerne Baker ("Jim Dandy") and even the Midnighters ("Switchie Witchie Titchie") -- you'd think that Pork the Tork had been the owner. It was almost BlueNotes Heaven.
Arts Festival blues
The music lineup for the Three Rivers Arts Festival was released today, and blues fans might find a few reasons to pay attention. Check out Shemekia Copeland, the Black Keys, Robert Randolph (great steel guitar) and Booker T. (Note to Arts festival organizers: There was a media embargo on this info untill 3 p.m. yesterday. Did you actually think that if the schedule got out before that, that fewer fans would show up? Or that the music wouldn't sound as good?)
Here's the entire lineup, as a courtesy to non-blues fans:
June 5, 7:30 p.m.: The Black Keys, garage rock; Jessica Lea Mayfield (6:30 p.m.).
June 6, 7:30 p.m.: Medeski, Martin & Wood, jazz; Zee Avi (5 p.m.) and The Wood Brothers (6:30 pm).
June 7, 6 p.m.: Trombone Shorty, New Orleans jazz.
June 8, 8:15 p.m.: Formula 412, hip-hop; Boogie Hustlers, funk (7 p.m.)
June 9, 8:15 p.m.: Donora, local rock; Meeting of Important People (6 p.m.) and Apostle of Hustle (7 p.m.)
June 10, 7:30 p.m.: Toubab Krewe, fusion of rock and West African music.
June 11, 8 p.m.: Booker T., Memphis soul; Hayes Carll (7 p.m.)
June 12, 7:30 p.m.: Robert Randolph and the Family Band, gospel-blues-tinged jam rock.
June 13, 7:30 p.m.: Shemekia Copeland, Chicago blues
June 14, 6 p.m.: The Wailers, reggae.
Posted
Apr 21 2009, 01:00 AM
by
Jim White