june 2006 specialissue 283free

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ortjazz

&blueswww.jazz-blues.com

Cleveland FatsLouisiana Red

Live at the Parkview Night Club

PLUS...Much More News,CD, DVD & Book Reviews

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE TWO

Published by Martin WahlCommunications

Editor & Founder Bill Wahl

Layout & Design Bill Wahl

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ContributorsMichael Braxton, Mark Cole,Chris Hovan, Nancy Ann Lee,Peanuts, Mark Smith, DuaneVerh and Ron Weinstock.

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The big news that was an-nounced since our May-June pulpissue went to press is a Sunday,June 4 show at the Parkview onWest 58 St. with Cleveland Fatsjoined by blues guitar master Loui-siana Red, plus Omar Coleman onharmonica. Coleman’s latest CDwas reviewed in our last issue byRon Weinstock.

The show will have an openingset with Fats and his band, then asecond and third set with Redbacked by Fats and his band, joinedby Coleman. It is expected that be-fore the end of the night Fats andRed will have a “shoot-out.”

Cleveland Fats, aka Mark Hahn,has just recorded a new CD forMichael Frank’s Earwig Records ofChicago. Frank, who also managesRed in the U.S., came up with theidea to pair the two guitar playersfor some live dates.

Fats is a versatile guitarist whopossesses a strong reverence forthe tradition of blues. As a young-ster he started playing the guitar bystudying the recordings of suchmasters as Muddy Waters, TheKings (Albert, B.B., and Freddie),Earl Hooker, and T- Bone Walker.He was particularly interested inmany of the Chess recordings of the1950s.

While in high school he joinedthe band of Otis Trotter, who had aloyal following in Fats’ hometown ofRavenna, Ohio. Playing in Trotter’sband allowed Fats the opportunityto perform and develop his craft byworking first – hand with seasonedblues veterans. Shortly after finish-ing high school Fats met and be-friended Robert Lockwood, Jr. Soonthereafter, Fats was asked to jointhe band of Mr. Lockwood. While amember of the Lockwood band,

Fats had the opportunity to continuehis musical education by studying atthe feet of a master. Fats performed,traveled, and recorded with RobertLockwood, Jr. for the better part ofseventeen years.

Since leaving Lockwood’s band,Fats has recorded for Ichiban/WildDog Blues, Blueswayed, and Honey-bee. He has toured England, Canada,and the United States and continuesto play today.

Cleveland Fats is a master bluesguitarist. He plays with a rich, deeptone and is comfortable playing ev-erything from solo Delta-style acous-tic to traditional Chicago blues to up-town Memphis and West Coast blues.Fats is a dedicated bluesman and thiscan be seen whether he is playingsolo or fronting his hard – drivingband.

Fats has shared stage with AlbertKing, Freddie King, Matt “guitar”Murphy, Johnny Shines, John

Cleveland FatsLouisiana Redplus...Omar Coleman

Live at the Parkview Night Club

June 2006 • Issue 283 PAGE THREE

Hammond, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Carrand Pinetop Perkins, among others.He has performed over 1,200 showsas member of Robert Lockwood,Jr.’s band; noteworthy shows in-clude: Chicago Blues Festival, KingBiscuit Blues Festival, Montreal JazzFestival, Lonesome Pine Special(PBS with John Hammond), Tours ofJapan and much of US.

He plays over 100 shows peryear with his own band, includingtours of UK and Canada, ChicagoBlues Festival, King Biscuit BluesFestival, Great British R & B Festi-val, BBC radio performance andtours of much of the US.

It’s long been said that you haveto live the blues in order to playthem. Whether you believe this no-tion or not, it would be difficult to ar-gue that anyone performing on theblues scene today has felt the bluesmore than Louisiana Red. BornIverson Minter in Bessemer, Ala-bama on June 23, 1932, Red hasovercome adversity at virtually ev-ery step of his life. His songs arepower and passionate and reflectboth his tragic childhood and lifestruggles.

Red’s life sadly began with thedeath of his Mother to pneumoniawhen Red was only 7 days old.When he was 5 years old the KKKmurdered his Father. From here hewas shuffled between family mem-bers where he was abused physi-cally and psychologically. He alsospent two years in an orphanage,where he suffered further abuse.

His solace throughout these dif-ficult times was his music. Red madehis first instrument at the age of 9,out of an old cigar box and rubberbands. He got encouragement in hisplaying from his grandfather, a self-taught bottleneck guitarist, who gavered his first real guitar – an old Kayacoustic that he still has in his pos-session. While living in Pittsburgh hebecame a protégé of local legendCrit Walters, and even received en-couragement from John Lee “SonnyBoy” Williamson,” who gave Red anold standby harmonica.

At the age of 16, and after lyingabout his age, he joined the army tofight in the Korean War. After hishonorable discharge, and a briefstint in New Jersey, he found him-self in Chicago where he recorded a

handful of tracks for the Checker la-bel, a subsidiary of Chess Records(featuring Little Walter on harmonicaand Muddy Waters assisting on gui-tar.) This allowed him to hit the thriv-ing Southside blues joints where hewound up playing with JimmyRogers, Otis Spann, and Baby FaceLeroy both learning from them, andhelping to develop their styles. Per-haps his greatest inspiration how-ever came when he moved to De-troit and found himself playing withJohn Lee Hooker, the final piece ofthe puzzle that would make up Red’sstyle.

In recent years red has foundhimself incredibly busy. Now resid-ing in Hanover, Germany, Redspends a couple of months everyyear touring the United States. Healso spends a great deal of time tour-ing throughout Europe and for thatmatter the world. He now has over adozen albums under his belt, and stillcontinues to record and write newmaterial. His style of playing is over-amplified and raw, while his lyrics areboth honest and often remarkablypersonal. He continues to connectwith audiences throughout the worldand as he puts it “Plays the blues…hard.”

Playing harp at the Parkviewshow will be Omar Coleman.

Omar was born in Chicago in1973. He has been interested in mu-sic since childhood. He first took aninterest in hip hop and other popu-lar music, however, once he was ex-posed to the great blues of the windycity, his interests changed quickly.He started playing the harmonicawhile a teenager and he has beenworking diligently to master his craft.His main influences are such mod-ern day masters as Billy Branch andSugar Blue; however, he also sitesJr. Wells and Big Walter Horton asinfluences. Omar plays regularly withJohn Primer’s band and makes regu-lar stops at clubs such a Rosa’s. Heoccasionally sits in with his idol andmentor Billy Branch.

Omar Coleman is a featuredmember of the Chicago Blues Har-monica Project. They have recordeda cr i t ical ly acclaimed CD forMaryland’s Severn Records andhave performed at several venuesincluding the Chicago Blues Festi-val. Omar occasionally fronts his

own band in the windy city and of-ten sits in with established blues actsboth in Chicago and other towns.

Sorry about the late notice.Sometimes things just happen thatway. At least our local readers whoare savvy enough to check the sitefor updates now know about it. Markit down i f i t is not already toolate.. .Sunady, June 4 at TheParkview Night Club, 1261 West58th St. on Cleveland’s west side.The show starts at 8 p.m. For moreinformation, cal l the club at216.961.1341.

New York, NY, – Following a14 country sold-out European tourwith an impressive seven-night runat London’s Royal Albert Hall and ahistoric show in Moscow’s RedSquare, Eric Clapton will travel to theU.S. for the first leg of an Americantour. European fans have showngreat enthusiasm for the varied setlist featuring rarely played Derek AndThe Dominos masterpieces “Got ToGet Better In A Little While,” “Layla”and “Let it Rain” along with Claptonclassics such as “Pretending,” “IShot The Sheriff” and “Cocaine”mixed with the newer soulful tunesfrom the latest Clapton album Back

Home. As the London Times head-l ine read, “The guitar heroreawakens” and the ManchesterEvening News review said,“Claptons guitar playing just keepsgetting better.”

The U.S. tour will begin on Sep-tember 15 in Minneapolis and willtravel to 13 U.S. states plus two Ca-nadian shows in Toronto and Ottawa,along with two nights at MadisonSquare Garden. Further news andshow dates of this tour will be an-nounced shortly.

Adding additional guitar powerand excitement to the shows,Clapton has assembled an impres-sive band. The 2006 tour band willconsist of: Eric Clapton, Guitar, aswell as Doyle Bramhall II and Derek

Eric Claptonannounces Fall2006 U.S. Tour

Doyle Bramhall II andDerek Trucks add guitars

to Clapton’s band

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE FOUR

Trucks also on Guitar, Chris Staintonand Tim Carmon on Keyboards, WillieWeeks on Bass, Steve Jordan onDrums, The Kick Horns: SimonClarke, Roddy Lorimer, and TimSanders on Brass, and backing vo-cals by Michelle John and SharonWhite. The Robert Cray band will bethe opening act for U.S. shows.

Tickets wi l l be avai lable viawww.ticketmaster.com

CURRENT LIST OFU.S. TOUR DATES

Sept. 16 (Sat) Minneapolis, MNXcel Energy Center; Sept. 18, (Mon)St. Louis, MO Savis Center; Sept. 20(Wed) Chicago, IL United Center;Sept. 21 (Thur) Grand Rapids, MI VanAndel Arena; Sept. 23 (Sat) Detroit,MI Palace; Sept. 24 (Sun) Toronto,ON Air Canada Center; Sept. 26(Tue) Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place;Sept. 28 (Thur)New York, NY Madi-son Square Garden; Sept. 29 (Fri)New York, NY Madison Square Gar-den; Oct. 3 (Tue) Boston, MA BankNorth Garden; Oct. 6 (Fri) Uncasville,CT Mohegan Sun; Oct. 7 (Sat)Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun; Oct. 9(Mon) Philadelphia, PA WachoviaCenter; Oct. 10 (Tue) WashingtonD.C. MCI Center; Oct. 12 (Thur)Charlottesville, VA CharlottesvilleArena; Oct. 14 (Sat) Duluth, GAGwinnet Civic Center; Oct. 15 (Sun)Raleigh, NC RBC Center; Oct. 17(Tue) Charlotte, NC New CharlotteArena; Oct. 18 (Wed) Birmingham, ALBirmingham-Jefferson Arena; Oct. 20(Fri) Orlando, FL TD WaterhouseCenter; October 21 (Sat) Jackson-ville, FL Veterans Memorial Arena;October 23 (Mon) Miami, FL Ameri-can Airlines Arena.

Stay tuned for additional informa-tion.

Cleveland Fats

The Schwartz Brothers

DC and the

Continentals

For Bookings Contact

HONEYBEE ENTERTAINMENT

4786 Dressler Rd #145

Canton, OH 44718

330-904-0454

Pblues@hotmail.com

At the Rock Hall...

CLEVELAND – The Rock andRoll Hall of Fame and Museum inCleveland, Ohio will add new arti-facts from the Heil Sound companyto the Museum’s technology andmusic exhibits.

These exhibits include a LesPaul display that explores the inven-tion of the electric guitar and multi-track recording; the Memphis Re-cording Service installation; and theEvolution of Audio Technology ex-hibit, which examines the develop-ment of personal audio technologyfrom Edison’s phonograph to theiPod and Satellite Radio.

Heil provided live sound produc-tion in the late 1960s through the1970s for many of the world’s mostnotable groups, including The Who,ZZ Top, Grateful Dead, Joe Walsh,Eagles, Peter Frampton, HumblePie, The James Gang, Jeff Beck, JGeils and many more. The dedica-tion will take place with a privateparty at the Rock and Roll Hall ofFame on June 7.

Items on display include the Ma-vis mixer built for Pete Townshendand the Who’s Quadrophenia tour aswell as Townshend’s guitar andRoger Daltry’s microphone, which isstill wrapped in red gaffers tape toprevent the microphone from beinglaunched into the crowd as thesinger twirled it overhead. AnotherWho mixer on display is the SunnColiseum, which was used on theWho’s Next tour.

Other historic pieces include theLangevin recording console, whichwas transformed into a live soundmixer for the Grateful Dead. Themost famous piece of gear is prob-ably the Talk Box, which was usedon Joe Walsh’s recording of “RockyMountain Way” and by PeterFrampton on his incredible Live al-bum. The unit is serial number 1 andis signed by both artists. There arealso many photographs of perform-ers using the actual gear on display.

“Bob Heil is truly an innovator inthe field of live sound,” says HowardKramer, the Rock and Roll Hall of

Rock and Roll Hall of Fameand Museum to introduce

Heil Sound Exhibit

Fame and Museum’s curatorial direc-tor. “His contributions to the livesound industry are countless. Bobdeveloped so many important prod-ucts, including the first live mixingconsole, the first electronic crossoverand parametric equalizer, as well asthe first fiberglass speaker horns andnumerous other products that havemolded the industry into what it is to-day. These artifacts are a wonderfuladdition to our Museum and help ex-pand our mission of educating aboutall aspects of music.”

“I am thrilled and honored to havethis exhibit represent my body of workin live sound,” said Heil. “Those yearsin live sound were an incredible ride.I started out as this small music store,Ye Olde Music Shop in Marissa, Illi-nois. I was catering mostly to theHammond organ market, and boy didthings change – quickly. Now I lookback at those years with amaze-ment.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fameand Museum is the nonprofit organi-zation that exists to educate visitors,fans and scholars from around theworld about the history and continu-ing significance of rock and roll mu-sic.

It carries out this mission boththrough its operation of a world-classmuseum that collects, preserves, ex-hibits and interprets this art form andthrough its library and archives aswell as its educational programs.

The Museum is open seven daysa week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. OnWednesdays the Museum is openuntil 9 p.m. Museum admission is $20for adults, $14 for seniors (60+), $11for children (9-12) and children un-der 8 and Museum members are free.

About Heil SoundEstablished in 1966, Heil Sound

Ltd. has developed many profes-sional audio innovations over theyears, and is currently a world leaderin the design and manufacture of pro-fessional grade microphones forbroadcast, recording, live sound andamateur radio markets.

With corporate headquarters andmanufacturing facilities located inFairview Heights, Illinois, Heil Soundmicrophones are by distributed world-wide by TransAudio Group in LasVegas, and may be contacted at (702)365-5155 or via its website atwww.transaudiogroup.com.

June 2006 • Issue 283 PAGE FIVE

Clevelander Jody C. Getz takes second place

The International SongwritingCompetition (ISC) has to announcedthe winners for its 2005 annual com-petition. ISC received almost 15,000entries from 82 countries in its fourthyear, and has been called “thesongwriting competition to take noteof” by the New York Times. ISC prizesinclude more than $150,000 (USD) incash and merchandise shared by 50winners in 16 categories.

“Way Down Homeless Blues,” bySteve Romig, is awarded First Placein the Blues category. This Melbournesinger/songwriter has come a longway since the novelty songs of hisearlier songwriting days. In the midstof stints in a top-notch function bandin the ‘90’s, a jazz band in Japan, andlending backup vocals for Oz starsKylie Minogue and Tommy Emmanuel,Romig had two songs covered by thelegendary John Farnham in 1999 and2003. Apart from a couple of monthsrecuperating from a broken neck in2005, Romig has been performingsolo or with his band aroundMelbourne and at festivals. The ISCwin comes at a great time in anticipa-tion of the release of his new album,tentatively set for May, 2006.

Second Place honors have beenawarded to Jody C. Getz, from Cleve-land, Ohio, for her song “Old Fash-ioned Guy;” and Third Place honorshave been awarded to Sam Taylorfrom Islandia, New York, for his song,“Someone To Hold.”

In addition to these winners, nineother Blues songs garnered place-ment in the top 1.4% of the competi-tion.

A complete list of Blues winnersincludes:

First Place - “Way Down Home-less Blues” — Steve Romig —Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Second Place - “Old FashionedGuy” — Jody C. Getz — Cleveland,OH, USA

Third Place - “Someone To Hold”— Sam Taylor — Islandia, NY, USA

Honorable Mentions - “Baby, IAm Your Crime” — Richard Stuart

2005 InternationalSongwriting Competitionannounces Blues Winners

Coburn - Albrightsville, PA, USA;“Blackjack” — Papa George - London,England; “Déjà Vu All Over Again” —Keith Dunn - Rotterdam, Netherlands;“I’m Good To Go” — Rick Fines -Peterborough, ON, Canada; “Leave ItGone” — Mojo Stu, Mitch Goldfarb -Thorndale, PA, USA; “Missing You” —Lene Strøyer Sørensen - Værløse,Denmark; “Move A Little Faster” —Andy Logan - Nashville, TN, USA;“Poor Man Blues” — Paul Oscher -Santa Monica, CA, USA; “SouthernComfort” — EG Kight, Tom Horner -Dublin, GA, USA

For a complete list of all ISC win-ners, go to:

www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners.htm

Judges for the 2005 competitioninclude: Tom Waits; Loretta Lynn;Sonny Rollins; John Scofield; SteveVai; Macy Gray; Joss Stone;MercyMe; Amy Ray (Indigo Girls);Darryl McDaniels (Run D.M.C.);LeAnn Rimes; Isaac Brock (ModestMouse); Jeff Stinco (Simple Plan);BeBe Winans; Peter Hook (New Or-der); Benji Madden (Good Charlotte);Charlie Musselwhite; The Donnas;Monte Lipman (President, UniversalRecords); Keith Wozencroft (Presi-dent, Capitol Music UK); Glen Barros(CEO/President, Concord Records);Bruce Iglauer (Founder/President, Al-ligator Records); Cameron Strang(President, New West Records); DanStorper (President, Putumayo WorldMusic); Michael McDonald (President,ATO Records); Alexandra Patsavas(Owner, The Chop Shop Music Super-vision - credits include The OC, Grey’sAnatomy, Without A Trace, Carnivale,Rescue Me ); Darrale Jones (VP A Ur-ban, Atlantic Records); Chris Parr (VPMusic Programming Talent Relations,CMT); Barbara Sedun (VP Creative,EMI Music Publishing Canada); TaraGriggs- Magee (Executive VP of Gos-pel/Urban Music, Sony Records); LeibOstrow (CEO, Music For Litt lePeople), Thomas Brooman (Co-Founder/Artistic Director, WOMAD);Cory Robbins (Founder/President,Robbins Entertainment); EmilyWittmann (Vice-President, NickRecords); Patrick Moxey (President,Ultra Records/You Records/SequenceRecords/Escondida Music/EmpireMgmt.) and Danny Epstein (MusicSupervisor, Sesame Street/SesameWorkshop).

Guitar Player TV brings guitarplayers 24/7 access to

thousands of video guitarlessons, exclusive interviews,

live performances, and the latestproduct and gear reviews

New York, NY – Music PlayerNetwork, the world’s leading musicinstrument publishing company, haspartnered with TrueFire TV, a majorInternet TV broadcast network, tolaunch the first Internet-based TVstation for guitar players. GuitarPlayer TV (www.guitarplayertv.com<http://www.guitarplayertv.com/> ) isa Web-based television experiencefor guitar players of all levels thatfeatures thousands of video guitarlessons, exclusive interviews withtop players, live performances, homerecording tips, and information onnew products. This extraordinarypartnership of the planet’s foremostguitar magazine and America’s pre-mier online guitar-lesson provideroffers guitarists 24/7 access to themusic, lessons, and information theycrave.

“Guitar Player TV expands Gui-tar Player’s print trademark to a vast,uncharted community of players andmusic enthusiasts who exclusivelyderive their information from theWeb,” explains Michael Molenda,Editorial Director of the Music PlayerNetwork. “And, boy, are those play-ers and fans going to flip over themultimedia experiences offered bythis channel. From lessons to be-hind-the-scenes interviews to spe-cial concerts and ‘sitdowns’ with theGP editors, users of all skill levelsand musical styles will be simulta-neously educated and excited by therich content on GPTV. GPTV is a funand truly delightful resource for pick-ing up new techniques and improv-ing how you sound and play.”

“Guitar Player TV is excitingfrom the professional musician’s per-spective as well,” adds Jazz guitarlegend Larry Carlton. “The site al-lows us to share our music and ex-

Guitar PlayerMagazine launchesfirst Internet-based

TV station forguitar players

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE SIX

CLEVELAND – The RobertoOcasio Foundation today announcedthat Bobby Sanabria will be Artist inResidence at The Roberto Ocasio2006 Latin Jazz Music Camp July 19-21 at Lake Erie College in Painesville,Ohio. He will also appear as the spe-cial guest artist during the Camp’s Fri-day-night concert on campus in MorleyMusic Hall at 7 p.m.

Sanabria, renowned drummer, per-cussionist, composer, arranger, educa-tor, producer, and award-winning re-cording artist, is a leader in the Afro-Cuban and jazz fields and is recog-nized as one of the most articulatescholars of la tradición. He was thedrummer for the legendary MarioBauzá Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra andhas performed with major artists in theworld of jazz and Latin music, includ-ing Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, RayBarretto, Mongo Santamaria, CandidoCamaro, Paquito D’Rivera, and more.Featured on numerous Grammy-nomi-nated albums, including The MamboKings soundtrack, Bobby’s own big-band CD Afro-Cuban Dream wasnominated for a mainstream Grammyas Best Latin Jazz album of 2001. Hewas honored as 2005 Percussionist ofthe Year by the readers of DRUM!Magazine and has received recognitionfor his work in radio and television, in-cluding award-winning documentariesfor PBS, BRAVO, and TheSmithsonian. Bobby is a graduate ofthe Berklee College of Music and wasa recipient of its prestigious FacultyAssociation Award. With a strong dedi-cation to passing on the tradition,Bobby is a professor at the famed Man-hattan School of Music and associateprofessor at the New School Univer-sity in the jazz and contemporary mu-sic program.

“We are extremely fortunate tohave Bobby join us this year,” said Su-san Stone, Foundation Trustee andmusic-education specialist. “Not onlywill he bring his wonderful assets ofknowledge, talent, and worldwide per-forming experience, but he will also bean inspiration to the young people withhis exemplary standards, enthusiasmand pursuit of excellence.” Sanabria isalso an advisor and honorary trustee

pertise in a unique way with our cur-rent fans, and it helps us reach outto a new generation of up-and-com-ing gui tar players who use theInternet as their primary resource forentertainment, tips, lessons, and livemusic.”

Guitar Player TV is the first offour Internet-based TV sites for theMusic Player Network with KeyboardTV, Bass Player TV, and EQ TV setto launch in the coming months.

“Interactive marketing is becom-ing an essential part of our market-ing effor ts . Websi tes l ikeGuitarplayertv.com will help us cre-atively engage and interact with gui-tarists of all levels to get a largernumber of quality impressions in ourniche industry than other media suchas TV, print, and radio can offer,”said Kevin Lello, Vice President ofMarketing, U.S. Music Corporation.

For more information on GuitarPlayer TV, go towww.guitarplayertv.com.

The Music Player Network is theworld’s leading music instrumentpublishing company and publisher ofGuitar Player, Bass Player, Key-board, EQ, and Backbeat books, hasa circulation of 300,000 loyal read-ers. MPN is a division of CMP En-tertainment Media, which producesmagazines, books, Web sites, tradeshows and events for musicians andthe professional audio, video, andinstallation industries.

For more information, pleasevisit www.musicplayer.com.

TrueFire TV works with mediapartners to craft co-branded stationsand deliver highly targeted program-ming to their audience at large. Thecompany’s combined libraries ofhigh-quality, educational and enter-tainment streaming content are un-paralleled in the music industry.TrueFire TV broadcasts from over15,000 servers, across 1,100 net-works in 69 countries. For more in-formation, go to www.truefiretv.com.

Search Thousands of CD & DVD

Reviewswww.jazz-blues.com

Bobby Sanabria to be Artistin Residence for Roberto

Ocasio Music Camp

of The Roberto Ocasio Foundation(www.bobbysanabria.com)

Open to instrumental music, per-cussion, and vocal students in grades8-12, the Camp program will includeinstruction in the technical aspects ofplaying, the composition and improvi-sation of Latin jazz, and the history andinstrumentation of Afro-Cuban rhythmsin addition to hands-on learningthrough jam sessions and an authen-tic Caribbean beach and percussionexperience.

For more information and applica-tion forms, call 440.572.2048. A Foun-dation subsidy and a $150 student fee($175 after June 1) will cover instruc-tion, materials, supervised overnightdorm accommodations, all meals, andsocial activities. Scholarships andtransportation are available to studentsqualifying for assistance. Students willbe grouped according to experiencelevels by a committee of music educa-tors and professional musicians.

The Roberto Ocasio Foundationwas established in 2004 to perpetuateRoberto Ocasio’s music and to furtherhis efforts on behalf of music educa-tion, diversity, and young people’sachievements. The Foundation pro-vides a program of events and educa-tional clinics, lectures, and demonstra-tions throughout the year in honor ofRoberto. Roberto’s lifetime of musicbegan at the age of ten with later for-mal training in NYC and at Boston’sBerklee College of Music. He per-formed locally and across the U.S.,opening or sharing the stage with na-tional artists and taking his talents toschools and colleges, teaching andstrenuously promoting knowledge ofLatin music and its roots. His award-winning band, Roberto Ocasio’s LatinJazz Project, established in 1997,achieved wide popularity throughoutnortheast Ohio and is continuing toperform Roberto’s legacy of originalcompositions. Roberto Ocasio passedaway tragically on January 31, 2004.(www.latinjazzproject.com)

Lake Erie College, founded in1856, today offers 22 undergraduatemajors and master’s degrees in busi-ness administration and education.This coeducational college, groundedin the liberal arts, enrolls just over 1,000students of all ages and is nationallyrecognized for its equine studies pro-grams, international internships, andstudy trips abroad. (www.lec.edu)

June 2006 • Issue 283 PAGE SEVEN

EXQUISITE NEW RELEASES FROM BLUE NOTE!EXQUISITE NEW RELEASES FROM BLUE NOTE!EXQUISITE NEW RELEASES FROM BLUE NOTE!EXQUISITE NEW RELEASES FROM BLUE NOTE!EXQUISITE NEW RELEASES FROM BLUE NOTE!

THE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSTHE RUDY VAN GELDER EDITIONSFrom 1953 to 1967, Alfred Lion produced a body of work that ranks as the most innovative series of recordings in modern jazz.Almost all of these masterpieces were documented by the extraordinary Rudy Van Gelder; a self-taught engineer who morethan set a new standard. Devoid of caution or timidity, he captured the full power and rich sound of jazz ensembles withdazzling clarity. His contribution to the focused approach that Blue Note took at every stage of any album was immeasurable.Decades later, Rudy agreed to take a second look at the original recordings, bringing them into the digital domain with thesame skill and focus. Six more RVG Editions have just been released. If you think you’ve heard these gems before, listen again.

Gettin’ Around, Dexter Gordon Smokestack, Andrew Hill Workout, Hank Mobley

The Gigolo, Lee Morgan Horace-Scope, Horace Silver Quintet Joyride, Stanley Turrentine

Time Lines, Andrew Hill Indigo 4, Gianluca Petrella

Thunderbird, Cassandra Wilson

Solo, Gonzalo Rublacaba

Remember, Pat MartinoBest of Lou Rawls, Lou Rawls

Plus...Six More RVG Titles Released February 21Mosaic, Art Blakey • A Swingin’ Affair, Dexter Gordon • Dippin’, Hank Mobley • Tom Cat, Lee Morgan • Silver’s Serenade, Horace Silver • Softly As A Summer Breeze, Jimmy Smith

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE EIGHT

We only bring you

the Cream of the Crop!

VERVE’S SONETBLUES STORY SERIES

BUKKA WHITEBIG JOE WILLIAMS

WELDON “JUKE BOY” BONNERSNOOKS EAGLIN

MIGHTY JOE YOUNGEARL KING

CHAMPION JACK DUPREESonet Blues Story (Series)

VERVE RECORDSBack three decades ago, Samuel Charters produced

a series of blues LPs for the Swedish Sonet label, TheLegacy of the Blues, along with some other blues record-ings. Charters is known as both a blues author (The Coun-

try Blues, The Poetry of the Blues, Bluesmen) as well as aproducer of blues recordings, including the classic Chi-cago, The Blues Today! and albums by Junior Wells andBuddy Guy, to name a few of the artists he recorded. Uni-versal Music, through its Verve imprint, has just issuedseven of the seven Sonet LPs for reissue in a series, TheSonet Blues Story. Six of these are from The Legacy ofthe Blues series.

Some of the albums in The Legacy of the Blues werefrom other producers. In fact, the volume by Bukka Whitereissues the Takoma LP that captured the 1963 Memphissession that Ed Denson and John Fahey taped after Whitehad been located. White was one of the great Delta sing-ers who first recorded in the 1930s. He had seen CharliePatton and was influenced by this pioneering artist. Whiteplayed a driving slide style that complimented his rough,shouted vocals. One of the blues most imaginative lyri-cists, he could weave a lyric story out of the sky as hewould do for Arhoolie. The recordings, many remakes oftunes he waxed for Columbia, are strong, focused perfor-mances whether the reworking of Aberdeen and Missis-sippi Blues; the train blues, New Orleans Streamline andThe Atlanta Special, where his playing echoed the traintraveling through the countryside; the gospel message ofI Am the Heavenly Way or the country boogie Shake ‘Emon Down, these performances remain as vital as when herecorded them over forty years ago. If you have theTakoma album, you do not need this. Otherwise this isone of the best Delta blues recordings of the past half-century.

Big Joe Williams was another great Mississippibluesman who is best known for Baby Please Don’t Go. ADelta musician who as much as anyone led the life of thetraveling bluesman, Williams lived in St. Louis for a pe-riod where, after Peetie Wheatstraw’s death, he startedplaying his trademark 9-string guitar. A repertoire thatranged from originals to songs from Charlie Patton, Rob-ert Johnson and Tommy Johnson, Williams played astrong rhythmic style and also sang in a highly exclama-tory fashion. This volume, which includes five previouslyunissued recordings, was a typically fine session by anartist who rarely made a poor recording. Songs includePatton’s Hang it on the Wall, Big Fat Mama and Black GalYou Sure Been Looking Warm. This is another artist whobelongs in any blues collection.

Weldon “Juke Boy” Bonner was a Houston based one-man band who was a notable blues poet as well as a per-former but who never was able to get out of his hard life.His recordings for Arhoolie demonstrate his one-man ap-proach with his effective harp and guitar playing as wellas his songs which often dealt with topical themes. Re-corded by Arhoolie’s Chris Strachwitz, the performanceson Bonner’s Blues Story volume are fine ones openingwith I’m a Bluesman, singing about his hard life (“My fa-ther passed when I was two”) with an easy groove fol-lowed by Problems All Around (I can’t get ahead frombeing held down) taken at a slow tempo. Besides his stronglyrics, Bonner provides likewise strong boogie-laced gui-tar playing and tough rack harp playing that made him afascinating purveyor of the one-man blues band idiom.Like his other releases, this is a gem that one should bedelighted is widely available now.

June 2006 • Issue 283 PAGE NINE

Snooks Eaglin, the remarkable New Orleans singer-guitarist, is the only performer in this series who is stillliving. Unfortunately, Samuel Charters recorded Eaglin asa solo artist rather than in a band context, helping per-petuate the myth of him being a street singer-songster.This is not to say that this disc is not full of engagingperformances, including takes on songs from Sam Cooke(Good News), Little Richard (Lucille), John Lee Hooker(Boogie Children taken at a slower tempo and openingwith Eaglin’s own spontaneous rap), Jimmy Rogers (That’sAll Right mistitled here as Who’s Loving You Tonight andcredited to Eaglin), and Lonnie Johnson (TomorrowNight), as well as a stunning guitar adaptation of Pinetop’sBoogie Woogie and a terrific Funky Malaguena. Previouslyunissued bonus tracks include Shake a Hand and ShakeRattle and Roll. Listening to these performances one isastonished by the fertility of Eaglin’s imagination, but alsowishes that he had been plugged in – but would have towait for Rounder and Black Top to capture the side ofSnooks that still dazzles us today.–This is not to dismissthe many pleasures here, but Snooks is electrifying, notsimply astonishing.

The late Chicago singer-guitarist, Mighty Joe Youngwas a fine purveyor of soul-laced blues in a mellow modelike his good friend Fenton Robinson. This writer had thepleasure to see Young while a senior at Case Western Re-serve University in Cleveland, and in fact he came on myWRUW blues show while playing The Kove in Kent, Ohio.He was promoting his Delmark album, Blues With a Touchof Soul at the time and was accompanied on the trip by aDelmark employee, Bruce Iglauer, who was a year or so

from issuing the first album on his own Alligator Records.The Delmark album is my favorite of the various discsYoung recorded with a band with horns providing a tightbacking for his extended blues performances. Young ex-plained to me several years later that he dropped the hornsbecause as he got booked increasingly on the then col-lege market, horns were not viewed as blues instruments.Sonet has released a session with his then working bandthat included horns, with a few overly familiar songs likeRock Me as well as then not overly-recorded numbers likePercy Mayfield’s Baby Please and an original, Early in theMorning, which seems inspired by the Louis Jordan clas-sic but with different lyrics. There is a nice mix of soulinto his blues stew, but despite the fine piano of Bob Riedyand bassist Sylvester Boines, the session doesn’t fully jell,and while Young sings and plays well, it is overshadowedby the earlier Delmark release.

The one release of the seven that was not part of TheLegacy of the Blues series is the one by Earl King thatreissues the Sonet LP That Gold Old/New New OrleansRock and Roll. Charters assembled a tight band that in-cluded Dave Lastie and Clarence Ford on saxes, MauriceRichard on piano and the French Brothers, Bob and Georgeon bass and drums respectively for King to reprise sole ofhis classics like Trick Bag, Mama and Papa and Come OnLet the Good Times Roll, along with Let’s Make a BetterWorld, that Dr. John had recorded, and Do Re Mi, whichLee Dorsey had recorded. King always had a way of put-ting songs together with neat lyrical hooks but neither hissoulful vocals or guitar playing were ever in the listener’sface, and the performances could show a certain quirki-

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE TEN

ness. Listening to less familiar songs like Baby Sittin’’orThe Panic’s On, one’s almost tempted to term the musicquirky, but really there is a craftsmanship at work here inhow the songs are put together and in the restrained per-formances that is very engaging. Certainly this reissue ismost welcome.

Champion Jack Dupree had been resident in Europefor over a decade (and he would remain there for therest of his life) when he entered the studio in 1971 torecord with English musicians. The New Orleans bornpianist and former boxer had first recorded somebarrelhouse blues and boogie woogie in a style that pre-dated the modern New Orleans tradition that ProfessorLonghair launched. Dupree was a strong player with afertile lyrical mind and the CD opens with an anti-warblues, Vietnam Blues, followed by a diverse group ofmaterial from the odd rhythms of Drunk Again, and Any-thing You Want, with its light second-line groove. Dupreemixes spoken lines with his vocal lines with plenty ofhumor and good spirits as his backing band provides un-derstated backing with occasional guitar solos from onePeter Curtley as Paul Rowan adds some harp. One canhear echoes of Leroy Carr, an influence on most bluesmengrowing up when Dupree was, on the wistful slow bluesWill It Be, with nice harp adding to the feel. It’s followedup by a rollicking groove on You’re the One. Dupree hasa fairly extensive discography out and this is an enjoy-able addition to it. A very different take of Vietnam Blues,is one of several unissued tracks made available for thefirst time.

It should be noted that on several of these reissues,the playing time is somewhat short, and even those withextra tracks do not exceed 45 minutes. Still there is somereally good music to be heard on these releases, whichare welcome additions to available blues recordings.

Ron Weinstock

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OTIS RUSHAll Your Love I Miss Loving

DELMARKNews of a previously unissued live recording of Otis

Rush from the mid-seventies created much excitementamong blues enthusiasts. Rush, a Mississippi native,moved to Chicago and became part of the West Side Chi-cago blues scene playing some blistering guitar and sing-ing with great fervor.

One of many blues artists in the post-B.B. King style,Rush’s first recording for the Cobra label, I Cant Quit YouBaby, charted on the R&B charts, and was followed byearly recordings including All Your Love (I Miss Loving),

TERJE RYPDALVossabrygg

ECMFrom the organ swells and pulsing, splashy cymbal

work to the ostinato bass and sparing touches of electricpiano, the leadoff track of jazz guitarist Rypdal’s most re-cent disc refers unblinkingly to Miles’ “Shh! Peaceful” fromIn A Silent Way. That seminal jazz-fusion work, with itsemphasis on multiple textures and spatial relationships overconventional solos, is a likely template for this set overall.

The ten tracks that comprise Vossabrygg play like asuite, or, more precisely, like a continuum. Themes, ar-ticulated primarily by Rypdal and/or trumpeter PalleMikkelborg, are both underpinned and linked by stretchesof electronics. Interestingly, the sonics manifested by mod-ern-day synthesizers frequently recall the primitive mid-20th Century pioneer days of the electronic “school” incharacter.

This is a work big on dynamics, frequently movingfrom and to a whisper-quiet place. It is also a work thatexpects much attention from the listener. Duane Verh

June 2006 • Issue 283 PAGE ELEVEN

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My Love Will Never Die, and Three Times a Fool. After theCobra label folded, he briefly was on Chess and then DonRobey signed him but only issued one single, Homework.Many of these songs have become part of the modernblues repertoire and covered by such blues-rock acts asJohn Mayall, Led Zeppelin and J. Geils. He was one of theartists featured on the legendary Chicago, The Blues To-day series and has had a number of albums issued overthe past three decades.

Delmark issued Cold Day in Hell in the mid-1970sand it had received a fair amount of airplay on rock sta-tion WXRT which led to WXRT recording and broadcast-ing Rush in performance from Chicago’s Wise Fools Pubin January 1976. Now about three decades later, this per-formance is available for all blues lovers on this newDelmark CD. Featuring his superb band of the time withBob Levis on second guitar, Bob Stroger on bass, JesseGreen on drums and Alberto Gianquinto (ex-James Cot-ton, ex-Santana) on piano, Rush is in superb form. Heopens with B.B. Kings Please Love Me and redoes his ownAll Your Love and It Takes Time as well other songs fromKing, T-Bone Walker and Chuck Willis. To hear Rush, oneof the most intense guitarists in the blues, laying out hissoul singing You’re Breaking My Heart, or rearranging T-Bone Walkers Mean Old World to the melody of I CantQuit You Baby, one is treated to a performance that willreaffirm for many of us why we love the blues…to para-phrase Steve Tomashefsky’s liner notes.

Few blues artists put as much soul into their perfor-mances and reach the level that Rush at his best achieved,and he was at his best that January 1976 night at theWise Fools Pub. Ron Weinstock

VARIOUS ARTISTSJazz Vocalists Here & Now

CONCORDConcord has just released this 2-CD set featuring a

wide array of jazz vocals from 37 singers on a total of 36tracks (one is a duet with Vanessa Rubin & Etta Jones.)The project’s proceeds will benefit the Jazz-AllianceInternational’s (JAI).

Disc One features singers covering “more contempo-rary” songs...such as the opening track with Ray Charlesdoing “Mary Ann,” followed by Shirley Horn covering “Ev-erything Must Change.” Some of the others on the firstdisc are Freddie Cole with a wonderful version of “I Can’tMake You Love Me” – a big hit for Bonnie Raitt – and DianaKrall and Lizz Wright doing their own compositions “Temp-tation” and “Salt.” Just a few of the other singers on thatdisc are Cassandra Wilson, Al Jarreau, Karrin Allyson,Joni Mitchell and Norah Jones. There may be a few pleas-ant surprises for many listeners as they stumble upon someless-known voices such as Jackie Allen (who does a haunt-ing version of “Lazy Afternoon,” Mary Stallings andMadeleine Peyroux. Brazilian singer Luciana Souza alsooffers a bossa nova song done as a voice-guitar duo.

Disc Two covers older jazz standards, but also doneby a variety of singers, including Dianne Reeves, JaneMonheit, Abbey Lincoln, Jimmy Scott, Kevin Mahogany,Nancy Wilson and Ernie Andrews...to name just a hand-ful. This set features such chestnuts as “Taking A Chance

On Love,” “Lover Man,” “Skylark,” “Don’t Get AroundMuch Anymore” and “You Don’t Know What Love Is.”

The project’s concept is best summed up by producerMichael Cuscuna, who states “In 36 tracks on two discs,we set out to represent listener-friendly vocal jazz by in-cluding songs meant to entice the novice just looking toget into this music. We embraced the time-honored icons,veterans making a comeback, new artists (the emergingand successful) and singers from other fields who’ve cho-sen to do jazz projects.” The last part of the statement nodoubt refers to Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and a fewothers, and they fit in here just fine. Cuscuna obviously istoo good at his job to include some who have taken a stabat jazz, such as Rod Stewart and Carly Simon. Good man!

In short, this is a wonderful set sampling the manypossible facets of jazz vocals. It is extremely listenable,flows very well and is an excellent way to sample 37 dif-ferent singers. On a closing note, all but three of the sing-ers on the set are still with us. Etta Jones, Ray Charlesand Shirley Horn passed away in 2001, 2004 and 2005respectively. Bill Wahl

HARDWAY CONNECTIONHot Ticket

WILBE RECORDSIts been a decade since an unheralded walk-on group

competed and won the International Blues Challenge inMemphis, edging out a group fronted by Susan Tedeschi.Previously unknown to many blues lovers, the Hardway

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE TWELVE

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Connection has since become one ofthe best-loved blues and old schoolsoul bands in the Mid-Atlantic. Fea-turing several truly excellent singersand a tight band with two keyboards,guitar, bass and drums, they have pro-duced soulful and funky music. In thecourse of their three self-producedCDs, they have come up with somestrong original material along withcovers of some gems by Roy C.

William Bell, the legendary soulartist, has compiled 15 tracks from thethree discs on his Wilbe label, whichhopefully will make their music easierto find. What is impressive is the qual-ity of their originals (which shouldn’tbe surprising since guitarist-vocalistRober t Owens is Don Covay’snephew) as well as the remarkablevocals of Jerome MacKall backed bythe group’s strong playing.

Originals range from the get up onthe dance floor groove of Come Onand Dance; the southern soul of WhatShe Doesn’t Know about a man in anaffair; Horn-ee Side, perhaps an un-fortunate title for a lyric in whichMacKall sings about wanting to reachthe hornee side of his women’s mind;one of the group’s finest soul ballads,It Must Be Love; and Somebody, adeep soul lyric that evokes the BeeGees To Love Somebody. Guitarist

Robert Owens gets to the vocal mikeon the popular medley of Roy C songsMorning Train/ Peeping Thru the Win-dow (presented in both radio andunedited mixes) as well as the follow-up, One in the Morning, in which Rob-er t attempts to remedy what hiswoman viewed as the deficiency in hisequipment being too short. And whenone sees Hardway Connection per-form, one mainly hears them perform-ing their originals along with selectedcovers from Dorothy Moore, EttaJames and others. Hopefully this discwill be available in better stores.

You can get it at the group’s per-formances of course along with theWilbe website, www.williambell.com.

Ron Weinstock

CYRUS CHESTNUTGenuine Chestnut

TELARCMaking his Telarc label debut, pia-

nist Cyrus Chestnut mixes originalmaterial with some familiar pop tunesfor an appealing 11-track session.

Accompanied by bassist MichaelHawkins and drummer Neal Smith (aCleveland native) and guest artistsRussell Malone (guitar) and StevenKroon (percussion), Chestnut servesup a very palatable, diverse set thattrumps some of his recordings of thepast two decades. His originals suchas “The Brown Soldier,” “El NumeroTres,” “Ellen’s Song,” and others dem-onstrate that Chestnut is as accom-plished a composer as he is a per-former.

At any tempo, Chestnut is a phe-nomenal and passionate player and hechose the right team for this project.With Malone and Kroon, Chestnut de-livers a gorgeous rendition of the bal-lad gem “If,” which shows off his deli-cate keyboard touch. On his speedballoriginal, “Mason Dixon Line,” Chestnutis remarkably adept, navigating sometricky passages with unfettered finesseand allowing Smith solo room. Albumhighlights include a lush, spine-tingling,Latinate ballad reading of “The FirstTime Ever I Saw Your Face” by Chest-nut, Hawkins and Kroon and a swing-ing version of “I’m Walkin‚” with the coretrio and Malone. Chestnut closes the setwith an amen, a lovely solo piano ren-dering of “Lord, I Give Myself To You.”

This is a very listenable, straight-ahead album that should endure forages. Nancy Ann Lee

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITEDelta Hardware

REAL WORLDFrom the first rocking notes of

“Church is Out,” to the fade out at theend of the disc veteran harmonicamaster Charlie Musselwhite makes itclear that despite a career that in-cludes 18 W.C. Handy Awards, sev-eral Grammy nominations and dozensof albums, he’s not content to rest onhis laurels. Instead, he continues topush himself in fresh directions.

On “Clarksdale Boogie” he incor-porates a drum and bass loop and livecrowd samples to transform a normalhard hitting shuffle into somethingedgier. On “Sundown” he uses an in-cessant, pounding drum beat to ac-cent his bitter take on hard work thatleft him with nothing “but muscle inhis arms and pain in his back.” “GoneToo Long” is a sarcastic kiss-off to aformer lover who wants to rejoin theaction after way too much water haspassed beneath the bridge. “InvisibleOnes” and “Black Water” dip into thedeep divisions in our country betweenthe working poor and the rich.

While the devastation of hurricaneKatrina serves as a starting point forhis observations he makes it clear thatthe problems go far deeper than justdealing with natural disasters: noth-ing short of a rejection of the richfolks’ “let them eat cake” attitude willsolve the seething resentment and tur-moil that bubbles just below our sur-face appearance of civility.

Backed by his crack touring band

June 2006 • Issue 283 PAGE THIRTEEN

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Musselwhite isn’t forced into the polite instrumental inter-play that sometime creeps into recordings involving per-formers of his status. These guys are used to pushing himhard on stage and they do it here with no apologies. As aconsequence, Musselwhite’s vocals and harmonica play-ing have a forceful, energetic edge that makes this soundmore like a debut recording of a hot new talent than some-thing coming from someone who has done it all before.

Skip the big box store and shop at Charlie’s DeltaHardware. Mark Smith

EDDIE GOMEZ & MARK KRAMERArt of the Heart

ART OF LIFE RECORDS Bassist Eddie Gomez and pianist Mark Kramer play

an array of 12 jazz, pop and show-tune standards on thisromantic duo session.

The pair seems destined for performing together. Bothare melodious, chops-perfect players who get deep intoeach tune and complement each other spectacularly.Gomez’s use of arco (bowed) bass adds much to this ses-sion and Kramer’s keyboard style of single-note lines, trillsand other techniques heighten listening enjoyment.

Included on the disc are lovely renditions of “Won-derful, Wonderful,” “Chances Are,” “Hello Young Lovers,”“Call Me Irresponsible,” “They Say It’s Wonderful,” “Smile,”“Easy To Love,” “If I Loved You,” “It’s Not For Me To Say,”and more love song favorites from the earlier decades.

You won’t miss the drums at all on this relaxed, mel-low, warmhearted album and you’ll want to play it overand over. Nancy Ann Lee

MAGIC SLIM & THE TEARDROPSAnything Can Happen

BLIND PIGThis 11 cut live disc recorded at the Sierra Nevada

Brewery’s “Big Room” features straight up, unadorned elec-tric guitar blues. With nothing more than two guitars, a bassand drums, Magic Slim and the latest batch of Teardrops weavethat deep, hard hitting groove that fans of electric Chicagoblues love so well. Having stood shoulder to shoulder with thelikes of the legendary Magic Sam and Hound Dog Taylor inChicago blues clubs after migrating from Mississippi in the50’s, Slim exudes authenticity regardless of whether he’s lay-ing down a slow scorcher like Please Don’t Dog Me or MuddyWater’s Still a Fool or filling the dance floor with the shuffle

WILLIE EGANWow Wow:

The Complete Vita/Mambo SessionsEMPIRE MUSICWERKS

Willie Egan was one of the less known rhythm’n’blues/rock & roll pioneers whose recordings were reissued onEuropean vinyl LPs in the 1970s and 1980s. The UNI dis-tributed Empire Musicwerks label hopes to lift him fromhis ‘obscurity’ with the release of Wow Wow: The Com-plete Vita/Mambo Sessions.

Egan, who died in 2004, was a Louisiana native whosefamily moved to the L.A. area when he was 9 years old.The notes suggest that he was a rocker in the vein of NewOrleans legends Fats Domino and Smiley Lewis. Eganhimself referred to Amos Milburn, Hadda Brooks, CamilleHoward and Nellie Lutcher as his main influences whilehe had a vocal style akin to Little Willie Littlefield. J.R.Fulbright recorded him in 1949 (at the age of 16) for theElko label, but it wasn’t until he was living in Watts andplaying in clubs as the House Rocker that he was noticedby the A&R man for the Pasadena based Mambo/Vita la-bel. Paired with guitarist Lloyd Rowe, he produced 12 sideswhich, with four alternate takes, produces the 16 trackson this somewhat short (about 32 minutes) CD.

There is the loping instrumental Potato Stomp, where

BOBBY PREVITEThe Coalition Of The Willing

ROPEADOPETrue fusion music is what drummer Previte offers here.

Not as in the industry term “fusion” but rather music madefrom diverse sources; diverse and sometimes almost atodds with one another. Neo-garage rock meets blues harpmeets free jazz- get the picture?

Coalition is a collection of instrumental tracks fre-quently disturbing and almost always compelling, an-chored mostly by the Hammond-cum-Farfisa constructsof organist Jamie Saft and Previte’s primarily prog-rock-grounded drumming. Additional coloration comes fromthe varied voicings of guitarist Charlie Hunter. Jazz ispresent but on equal terms with other sources, used muchthe way the more esoteric of 70’s Brit and Euro art-rock-ers did (Soft Machine, Henry Cow, etc.). George Orwell’s1984 is the title source for most of the tracks: “The Minis-try Of Truth” and “Memory Hole” for two, and no doubtthe inspiration for the unsettling mood Previte so success-fully creates here.

Coalition should rate as one of the year’s most inter-esting releases. Duane Verh

blues of Goin’ To Mississippi or the high energy romp of ShakeIt.

While numerous performers think that the path to a bluesaudience is through vintage equipment or note for note rever-ence to the songs of the first generation of bluesmen, Slimknows better. You write your own tunes, tour constantly andwork your butt off to capture everyone within the sound ofyour guitar. This disc features Slim and the Teardrops veryhard at work. You can’t like traditional Southside electric blueswithout falling for this release. Mark Smith

June 2006 • Issue 283PAGE FOURTEEN

both get to display there skills, or the title track with ech-oes of the New Orleans sound perhaps filtered throughthe West Coast Jump Blues, itself a source of inspirationfor Egan. Then the hard rocking blues, I Don’t Know WhereShe Went, as well as Willie’s Blues and Wear Your BlackDress.

Nothing fancy about the music here as it is a healthydose of that old-fashioned rock and roll. Ron Weinstock

TOM SCOTT W/ PHIL WOODS

Bebop UnitedMCG JAZZ

BOB MINTZER BIG BANDOld School, New Lessons

MCG JAZZMCG Records, a product of the Manchester

Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh. Tom Scott’s live record-ing finds him fronting a seven piece band, featuring a spe-cial guest, alto sax giant Phil Woods, on three tracks. WhileScott has over recent decades been known in the con-temporary jazz circles, he has turned to his bebop rootsfor this first class live concert recording. This is a splen-did set of swingers and ballads with wonderfully smoothunison horn parts throughout. Three Scott compositionsare heard along with five other pieces, including WayneShorter’s “Children Of The Night,” “Chick Corea’s “TonesFor Jones Bones” and Cannonball’s “Sack O’ Woe.” Theother players on the front line are Ronnie Cuber/baritonesax, Randy Brecker/trumpet and Jay Ashby/trombone.The rhythm section consists of veteran pianist GilGoldstein (here on acoustic grand only), Duane Burno/bass and Willie Jones/drums.

Some of the outstanding moments here are Woods’solo on Scott’s “Silhouettes” and Cuber’s baritone workon “Sack O’ Woe” as he follows Ashby’s likewise strongbone solo. In short, an exquisite and very classy concertfrom Scott and friends...and not at all what many wouldexpect given his popular recorded output.

Another live recording from the same venue comesanother artist most people would not associate with a bigband – tenor saxophonist/flautist Bob Mintzer, known tomost as a member of the contemporary jazz groupYellowjackets. Recorded in April, 2005, this is the secondlive MCG release for this unit.

He also has some guests – Yellowjackets on two cuts(the other three, as, obviously, Mintzer was already onhand) and singer Kurt Elling on two others. As for theband, the most familiar names for most would be PeteYellin/alto sax & flute, Phil Markowitz/piano and LawrenceFeldman/alto sax & flute...but as a unit this 16-piece bandkicks some butt with fresh, modern arrangements and of-fers plenty of talented soloists. The two songs Elling singsare Coltrane’s “Resolution” (from A Love Supreme) andthe ballad “My One And Only Love,” a song also associ-ated with Coltrane due to his outstanding version withsinger Johnny Hartman in 1962. The remaining seven cutsare all Mintzer originals. There is some very nice stuff here.The only question for some would be if they want to hearElling singing the above-mentioned songs...perhaps es-pecially “Resolution,” for which he wrote the words. If that

might be a hangup for you, by al l means go toAmazon.com and sample the two cuts there.

Both of these concerts were recorded at ManchesterCrafstmen’s Guild, a venue which has been the site of manyexcellent jazz concerts over the years, and many of thosehave been released on its record label. MCG is a multi-discipline, minority directed arts and learning center serv-ing Pittsburgh’s urban community. Check them out atwww.mcgjazz.org and look into some of the other fine re-cordings they have to offer. Bill Wahl

MARGIE BAKER AND FRIENDSLive at Bach Dancingand Dynamite Society

CAP RECORDSBorn in a dirt-shack in East Texas, Margie Baker grew

up to earn a Doctorate in Education and become a jazzand blues vocalist, being mentored by Dizzy Gillespie. Aftergetting coaxed out of the audience by a guitarist friend atHenri’s Room at the San Francisco Hilton to sing a song,she immediately got a job from Conrad and Barron Hiltonleading to her singing two nights a week (5 nights duringthe Summer) at Henri’s Room as well as occasionally atother Hiltons.

Former Paul Butterfield pianist Mark Natfalin often hadMargie sing with his band at festivals and Jimmy Lyonsbooked her not only at the Monterey Jazz Festival but atfestivals worldwide.

At the age of 68, CAP Records has just issued her firstnationally-released album, a 2-CD package with two setsfrom the Half Moon Bay venue just south of South Fran-cisco. Guitarist Rodney Jones, Ruth Brown’s East Coastbandleader, is the best known of the backing band. AlanSteger and Shota Osabe are each heard on piano on onedisc and synthesizer for the other, while Harley White onbass and Omar Clay on drums complete the rhythm sec-tion. Horns are played by Fred Berry on trumpet andMichael O’Neill on saxophone.

This is a pretty diverse program including songs as-sociated with Louis Jordan (Let the Good Times Roll),Bessie Smith (‘Gimme’ a Pigfoot), Count Basie (Goin’ toChicago), Duke Ellington (It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’tGot That Swing), Jimmy Reed (Baby ‘Whatcha’ Want Meto Do), Nellie Lutcher (Real Gone Guy), Willie Nelson(Ain’t It Funny How Time Slips Away), Charlie Parker(Parker’s Mood), Antonio Carlos Jobim (Favela), JulieLondon & Esther Phillips (Cry me a River) and other jazz,blues and ballad standards. Given her experience in per-forming over the decades, one should not be surprisedhow well she delivers this fairly eclectic repertoire withnice support and some very solid solos adding to themusical mix.

There is plenty of sass and spirit as well as tender-ness in how she can caress some of the lyrics, and she isone of many excellent older women vocalists (AlbertaAdams and Odessa Harris from Detroit are two others thatcome to mind) that are similarly having careers blossomat this stage in their lives when they can go out and per-form with a bit more regularity.

While this should be available at better stores, it isalso available at www.jazzbeat.com. Ron Weinstock

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June 2006 • Issue 283

BILL CONNORSReturn

TONE CENTEROne would search a good while to discover a pair of im-

provisers more kindred that guitarist Connors and pianist BillO’Connell. Some sessions thrive on contrast but the unity oftouch and approach by the principal soloists is the key fea-ture of this relatively straight-ahead jazz set.

Connors and O’Connell pass the solo torch so smoothlybetween themselves that unbroken moods prevail. They ap-pear to hear the same possibilities in virtually all ten tracksand are both prone to both energetic readings and gracefullyricism. The rhythm trio- bassist Lincoln Goines, drummer/producer Kim Plainfield and occasional percussionist MyraCasales reliably keep from a high simmer to rolling boil.

All in all this is a pleasant outing. Duane Verh

Jazz & Blues on DVD

SMOKIN’ JOE KUBEKBNOIS KING

My Heart Is In TexasBLIND PIG DVD

True to this label’s video format to date, the Kubek/King disc is a no-frills bar set, presented in a straightfor-ward manner with minimal camera play. The New Year’sEve ambience at the J & J Blues Bar in Fort Worth pro-vides just enough roadhouse backdrop for Messr’s K &K’s four-piece and the end result is that the band’s musicitself is the “star”.

The band’s stock in trade is King’s mellow, authorita-tive vocals and Kubek’s intense. rock-ribbed guitar workand here they serve it up tune after tune on an all-origi-nal set. The focus changes slightly when the two engagein trade-off solos now and again but the energy level ispretty consistent overall.

The rhythm section does their job and it’s kind of coolto watch a blues band keep a dancin’ crowd on the floor.The casual bar-side interview is a nice extra. It’s a goodshow overall and will serve fans of these fellas well inbetween “live” gigs. Duane Verh

KAHIL EL’ZABAR’S RITUAL TRIOLive at the River East Art Center

DELMARK DVDChicago-based percussionist Kahil El’Zabar’s Ascension

Loft Series, held in Chicago every three or four months, be-gan in 2003. This DVD documents a live loft-party perfor-mance at the River East Art Center on December 18, 2004and features El’Zabar (kalimba, drums, percussion), tenorsaxophonist Ari Brown, bassist Yosef Ben Israel (in the chairof the late Malachi Favors) and special guest Billy Bang onviolin. The setting at the fine arts and performing arts centeris integral to the loose feel of the performance and camerasalso capture canvas painters and other artists creating worksthat the music inspires.

The trio’s intuitive collaborations, ancient and modernat the same time, are captured by five cameras and, whilevideo quality is quite good (with the exception of one shakycamera angle), there’s a raw feel to the filming and editingthat matches the avant-garde style of the musicians on fiveoriginal El’Zabar tunes ranging from about four and a halfminutes to over 18 minutes. “Big M,” a tribute to Malachi,launches the set, focusing on El’Zabar’s imaginative percus-sive talents, Brown’s earthy-toned sparse improvs and long-time friend Bang’s spirited bowing, plucking and strumming.Other tunes include “Return of the Lost Tribe,” “Where DoYou Want To Go?,” and “Oof.” Extras on the DVD include aJanuary 2005 interview with band members and a Delmarkdiscography.

El’Zabar joined the AACM at the age of 18, furthered hisstudies at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and at LakeForest College, and trained formally for seven months inGhana, West Africa. He founded the Ritual Trio in the early1980s as a way to bring together two generations of AACM(Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians)musicians. Initially, the group featured trumpeter Lester Bowieand bassist Malachi Favors. Bang has recorded with the grouptwice before and Brown has been a member of the RitualTrio since the mid-1980s. This is Yosef Ben Israel’s first re-cording with the Trio.

Anyone who has ever caught Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trioin live performance knows that this band nobly carries onthe tradition of the AACM. This concert performance is analluring, audio/visual masterpiece that should bring aware-ness to hordes of new fans. Nancy Ann Lee

booksSONG FOR MY FATHERS:

A NEW ORLEANS STORY IN BLACK & WHITEby Tom Sanction

OTHER PRESSTom Sancton was the Paris Bureau Chief for Time

Magazine for 22 years, a city where he still lives. He co-authored the bestseller Death of a Princess. He is alsoan accomplished traditional jazz clarinetist who has re-corded over a dozen albums. This story is a memoir ofgrowing up in New Orleans in the late fifties and earlysixties where he fell under the spell of the musicians atPreservation Hall, several of whom mentored him andwere his musical fathers. The memoir is as much abouttheir impact on him as well as his own father, thereforethe plural in the book title. It will be published by OtherPress June 5.

Sancton’s father was a Harvard graduate who was amanaging editor of the New Republic before Henry Lucerecruited him to write for Life magazine, where he be-came a forceful advocate of racial equality. He married awoman from an established family in Jackson, Missis-sippi and moved to New Orleans, where he wrote for thelocal press and wrote two novels which had little impact.He later became a public relations person, although nota very skilled one. The introduction to the book opens

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with the son and his father in Jack-son, where his parents had fled afterKatrina, and notes his unsuccessfulattempt to convince his father not toreturn to their disheveled, damagedhome.

The memoir opens with Sanctonand his father attending the funeralof Papa Celestin, an event that hecould not understand at the age offive, but did realize the special na-ture of the event. After briefly dis-cussing his father’s life, he then re-counted the failures of his father’snovels, and that in 1960 he discov-ered music emanating from the re-cently opened Preservation Hall anddiscovered among the musiciansGeorge Lewis, Jim Robinson and“Slow Drag” Pavageau, musicians hehad befriended in New York whenthey played with Bunk Johnson in the1940s. Their musical careers had fal-tered in the intervening years untilPreservation Hall opened. And withthese friendships renewed, Sancton’sfather eventually brought the familythere, where the bluesy untutoredclarinet of George Lewis and JimRobinson’s tailgate trombone wouldmesmerize the young boy.

It was Lewis that would first men-tor young Sancton who bought hisrecords, memorizing the solos andeven trying to play them on a tinflute. After getting a clarinet, youngSancton showed it to Lewis, and af-ter trying to play it, Lewis said heneeded a new reed, as the reed wastoo hard for a beginner. In betweenGeorge telling him about his life andshowing his Albert System clarinet(Custom built for the legendaryJimmy Noone), he showed him ba-sics, playing a phrase and havingSancton play it back, occasionallycorrecting his fingering and laterlending Sancton a better clarinet.After a few more lessons, he had theyoungster join him on stage at Pres-ervation Hall.

While having some regrets aboutnot paying more attention to theschooled clarinet players like WillieHumphrey, Lewis Cottrell and AlbertBurbank, his apprenticeship withLewis taught him what Lewis knew.“With George, it was all playing fromthe heart.”

Lewis is only one of a number ofmusicians who took Sancton undertheir wing and he recollects his ex-

periences with trumpeters PunchMiller and Kid Thomas; banjo playerCreole George Guernon; bassist“Slow Drag” Pavageau and many,many others – he also tells their sto-ries. With Creole George Guernon,Sancton learned about reading aswell as other experiences, includingthe differences between the moreeducated and refined Creole popula-tion and other African-Americans likeLewis. Guernon also took him toEmile Barnes, another wonder fulCreole clarinet player, in part to weanhim away from simply copying Lewis.And from sitting in at PreservationHall, Sancton soon joined one of thebrass bands and started participat-ing in their funeral marches and pa-rades.

He also met Antoine Plessy, acousin of the plaintiff in the infamouscase in which the Supreme Court setforth the doctrine of “separate butequal” that permitted the legal deg-radation of African- Americans fornearly seventy-five years.

It was a time when his fondnessfor old African-American musicianswould be seen as weird by his class-mates in a world that segregation stillruled, and one in which the Beatleswere leading a musical revolutionthat would appear to threaten thepreservation of early jazz – and he istorn between his musical and life les-sons and the music the Beatles pre-sented. And, as his high school yearscome to a close, he sees some of hisfriends finally passing on.

Songs For My Fathers is marvel-ous coming of age memoir, bringingto life these long-past masters ofearly jazz style who brought somemuch life and joy to their music, andhelped shape young Tom Sancton,who would fol low his father toHarvard.

I would not be surprised if thosereading this book start delving intothe catalogs of recordings by the likesof George Lewis, Jim Robinson,Sweet Emma Barrett and so manyothers, and hear the joyful noise thatthey made – and whose music stilluplifts us today l ike it did TomSancton four and a half decades ago.

Ron Weinstock

BLOWING THE BLUES-FIFTY YEARS PLAYINGTHE BRITISH BLUESBy Dick Heckstall-Smith

& Pete GrantCLEAR BOOKS

Those who recall the British jazz/blues/rock group Colosseum knowthat the bald bloke who often blewsaxes two at a time was one of thatfirst-class outfit’s most distinctivefeatures. Tenor/soprano man DickHeckstall-Smith brought a love of jazzfrom Sidney Bechet to Wardell Grayto Coltrane to his inventive craft andhad a big thing for blues besides.From pure bop beginnings in the50’s, he professionally fell in with theburgeoning British blues and r&bscenes of the 60’s. Heckstall-Smithbecame a mainstay with AlexisKorner’s Blues Incorporated, the leg-endary Graham Bond ORGANization-where he hooked up with futureCream rhythm men Jack Bruce andGinger Baker- and in the horn sec-t ion of John Mayal l ’s late 60’sBluesbreakers. That last lineup leddirectly to Colosseum, a band thatblew away live audiences but whoserecords never met with commercialsuccess commensurate with theircollective talent.

The closing chapters of BlowingThe Blues deal with this conundrumwhich became a constant inHeckstall-Smith’s career. His oscilla-tion between the jazz and bluesworlds hasn’t been an easy sell torecord labels. The bulk of the book,however, tells great tales of the upsand downs of a unique musical era,populated with some of the most in-teresting, sometimes problematiccharacters one could ask for. Thehotheaded Baker, the multi-talentedBruce, the dapper, dedicated Mr.Korner, the easier-going-than-one-might-expect Mr. Mayall and the bothbrilliant and self-destructive GrahamBond make fora a great cast as seenthrough the eyes of this witty and in-sightful artist.

All fans of the British blues sceneshould enjoy this book and a 7-trackCD of unreleased material is a greatdeal-sealer. Duane Verh

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