Racism, hunger, oppression, random bouts of syphilis — the life of a typical 1920s blues guitarist was not exactly a barrel of laughs. So just imagine how much worse it was being blind. Back then, a great many of them were: Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Blind Lemon Jefferson…in fact, just scroll down the Blues Hall of Fame list and every third musician seems to be preceded with the word “blind.”
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/blind-blues-musicians
John Lee Hooker, Centennial release on Concord
John Lee Hooker was born near Clarksdale, Mississippi on August 22nd, 1917. After running away from home at age 14, he made his way to a factory job in Detroit, Michigan, via Memphis, and Cincinnati. It was there, in 1948, his first recording, “Boogie Chillun,” was made, selling over a million copies.
To begin the centennial celebration of Hooker’s birth year, Vee-Jay Records, a division of Concord Bicycle Music, will release Whiskey & Wimmen: John Lee Hooker’s Finest, on March 31st. The multi-label compilation features songs from Hooker’s Vee-Jay, Specialty, Riverside and Stax Records releases, and includes many of the bluesman’s most iconic songs.
https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2017/03/john-lee-hooker-centennial-brings-new-album/
Dr. Jazz
Pioneering New Orleans cornet player Joe “King” Oliver wrote “Doctor Jazz” in 1926. The song has remained popular since the 1920s. Chris Barber and Harry Connick Jr. have covered it, but Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers achieved definitive heights of improvisation and collective counterpoint in this 1926 version:
Gil Scott-Heron: Bluesologist
Gil Scott-Heron was one of the most influential spoken-word poets of late 1960s and early 1970s. His post-beat poetry concerned a wide array of urban socio-economic, political, and racial issues. The ‘Godfather of Rap’ absorbed stylistic inspiration from Langston Hughes, Malcolm X and Huey Newton. A self-described “bluesologist” concerned with the traditions of blues and jazz music, he was born in Chicago, and grew up partly in Tennessee and the Bronx. Worldly and wordy from a very young age, he published his first volume of poetry at the age of 13. While attending Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, he started the band Black & Blues with musician/producer Brian Jackson.
The ‘revolution’ began when Heron recorded his well received debut album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox on Flying Dutchman Records in 1970. The album opened with the hip anthem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” which derives its name from a catchphrase used by African-American activists during the 1960s. The next year, Scott-Heron recorded Pieces of a Man, marking a shift to a funkier-sounding yet more structured album. In 1974, Scott-Heron and Jackson released their collaborative album Winter in America on Strata-East Records, which retrospectively became their most critically-acclaimed work. Winter in America delivered a combination of blues, soul and jazz with his rapping and often melismatic singing. These early works of Gil Scott-Heron were seminal to styles of music such as hip-hop, neo-soul, and contemporary jazz.
http://www.westword.com/music/gil-scott-heron-a-bluesologist-cultural-anthropologist-and-black-icon-5702821
Jason Isbell at the Joy
Setlist for Saturday October 22, 2016 at The Joy Theater in New Orleans. A ton of soul from the Muscle Shoals maestro and plenty of 400 company and Drive by Truckers material and a John Prine cover to boot.
Go It Alone
Flying Over Water
Different Days
24 Frames
Something More Than Free
Decoration Day
Speed Trap Town
The Life You Chose
Traveling Alone
Codeine
Elephant
Alabama Pines
Cover Me Up
If It Takes a Lifetime
Stockholm
Never Gonna Change
Encore:
Storm Windows (with Josh Ritter)
Super 8
Children of Children
Tab Benoit at Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival
Down-Houma blues with Tab Benoit (Houma, LA) on the opening night of the 2016 Crescent City Blues & BBQ. Here is a clip of “Solid Simple Thing” from 2003’s The Sea Saint Sessions. Benoit has crafted an authentic gunslinging blues style over the last 30 years. He learned the ropes in Baton Rouge from blues heroes like Tabby Thomas and Henry Gray in the ’80’s.
The 3 day event in Lafayette Square Park is open to the public and put on by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Hendrix Band of Gypsys' debut to be released
Jimi Hendrix’ Band of Gypsys first show finally gets released. The 12/31/69 Fillmore East show opened sonic doorways into the 1970’s with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. A totally divergent sound from that of his earlier Experience, this group fused a more muscular brand of blues rock on standout tracks such as “Machine Gun” and “Freedom.
Ride ’em on Down – The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones video cover of Eddie Taylor’s Ride ’em On Down. The Stones last featured it live on July 12, 1962 according to setlist.fm. They began their career as a Chicago blues cover band put together by founder Brian Jones. While he pushed for the Stones to remain more blues purist, he later settled for being a colourist accessorizing Jagger-Richard compositions. At the tail end of the 60’s Mick Taylor followed his bluesy Mayall Band stint with deep explorations into roots music for half a decade. After that the Stones played less Chuck Berry and fewer blues covers while still doing more than the next band. Now 50 years after moving away from blues as a main concert or album motif, the Stones seem prepared to take it in with a concentrated force unseen since 1965 when Satisfaction signaled their pop writing validation. The cd also contains count ’em 4 covers of Marksville, Louisiana’s Little Walter. In 2016, they returned to a work by a Chicago blues icon with Ride ’em on Down. Please enjoy the official video..
The Day Carlos Santana Met Miles Davis
“Miles was right. We didn’t understand harmonically or structurally what he and his band were doing. They had another kind of vocabulary, which came from a higher form of musical expression. It came from a special place—from Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane—and at the same time it was deep in blues roots and expanded into funk and rock sounds” – Carlos Santana recounts meeting Miles from Ashley Kahn’s book Santana.
King Biscuit Blues Festival 2016
Finding some tasty Delta Blues at King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas. John Mayall closed out a great evening with Rebirth Brass Band and Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets (pictured). Looking forward to seeing Charlie Musselwhite this evening!
