Four Steps From The Blues

On hiatus until May 15th

2012-02-03T06:46:00.001-05:00

. . Recent events have made it obvious to me that the era of music sharing on Blogger is coming to an end. Postings will continue on my forum, Two Steps From The Blues. Membership is unfortunately required because the phpBB software on the host server is old and obsolete. Newer versions will allow guest posting but I haven't been satisfied with any of the candidates. I've postponed my

BE-BOP: Benny Carter

2011-12-11T00:10:00.005-05:00

All 11 of the songs are somewhat obscure and therefore fresh Carter compositions ("Summer Serenade" is perhaps the best-known) and Dizzy Gillespie sits in with the group for three songs. But even with Gillespie, guitarist Howard Alden and pianist Roland Hanna, the solo star throughout is the ageless Benny Carter, who at the age of 80 still seemed to be improving. ALLMUSIC by Scott Yanow I have a

Best performers beginning with the letter N

2011-11-29T11:08:00.001-05:00

Best performers beginning with the letter K

2011-11-25T07:40:00.006-05:00

JAZZ-BLUES: Mose Allison

2011-11-02T00:10:00.010-04:00

Mose Allison's is a songwriter and jazz piano player who sings the blues and has a large following of rock musicians. His songs have been covered by Van Morrison, The Bangles, Elvis Costello, Blue Cheer, Bonnie Raitt, The Yardbirds, even the Clash. I would guess that the most well-known cover version is Young Man Blues by The Who. Back Country Suite was the soundtrack to the hero's

BLUES: B.B. King

2011-10-12T00:10:00.139-04:00

This is a contribution from George Mac, who did a powerpop set for my rock blog last August. He posted a B.B. King compilation in a forum I visit which showed a deep knowledge of B.B.'s work. George had created an excellent two disc set, one covered studio albums and the other had live recordings 1964-1991. The live disc was extraordinary, borrowing from the retail releases as well as several

LATIN JAZZ: Laurindo Almeida

2011-10-05T00:10:00.005-04:00

This is all of Brazilliance (1955) and half of Brazilliance, vol. 2 (1958). The first is considered one of Almeida's best, though I prefer volume two. All of these songs are lively and enjoyable but in my opinion they all seem to blend together. I often didn't notice that one track ended and the next one had begun. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and they don't sound similar. The

JAZZ: Stan Getz

2011-08-30T16:30:00.004-04:00

I hadn't planned to make a post today but I was working on the "G" section in my stacks of discs to be evaluated. I have many Stan Getz discs and needed to thin out their number so the discs referenced on this compilation are going away. This collection samples from seven albums. Stan Getz is a saxophone player in the West Coast/Coll Jazz mode. He's best known for his series of bossa-nova

BLUES: Taj Mahal

2011-07-27T00:10:00.008-04:00

There wasn't supposed to be a post this week. I had this Taj Mahal compilation ready, but it was waiting for artwork. I recently began a partnership with Arnel of Best Of Both Worlds. He had done some beautiful covers for another of his blogs, and graciously accepted my invitation to contribute here. He died on July 21st, some hours after submitting his four potential covers for this

JAZZ: Beverly Kenney

2011-07-20T04:20:00.002-04:00

Singer Beverly Kenney was an exquisitely nuanced stylist whose sophisticated phrasing perfectly complemented the cool jazz sensibilities of the late '50s. She committed suicide at the peak of her career. My apologies. I prepared this compilation last week and then didn't write up an introduction. This is paraphrased from AllMusic.com. There's also a terrific GQ magazine story about her by

JAZZ: George Benson

2011-07-08T12:30:00.006-04:00

George Benson is a jazz guitarist who made his solo debut in 1964. His repertoire shows a lot of interpretations of popular rock songs. From the beginning, he was a crossover artist who hoped to score some hits. While that once was common, it would become increasingly difficult as the years progressed. It sounds like he was trying to find a place as a legitimate soul singer in 1969, I don't

JAZZ: Bill Holman

2011-07-01T00:10:00.020-04:00

Holman-Rosolino Holman-Cooper

JAZZ: Frank Rosolino

2011-06-30T00:10:00.005-04:00

This, oddly, is disc 3 of a multi-part set begun yesterday. The reason being that I did not have artwork for disc 2. The remaining volumes will be posted in the next few days. I do not have any original compilations prepared for next week so there will probably be another retail CD, possibly some Freddie Hubbard from the junk pile. Paraphrasing Wikipedia once again... Born in Detroit,

JAZZ: Bob Cooper

2011-06-29T00:10:00.061-04:00

Well this is a lousy post. Part of a multi-disc set from a well known reissue label. paraphrased from Wikipedia: Bob Cooper (December 6, 1925 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – August 5, 1993) was a West Coast jazz musician known primarily for playing tenor saxophone, but also for being one of the first to play solos on oboe. He worked in Stan Kenton's band starting in 1945 and married the band's

BLUES: Sonny Boy Williamson

2011-06-22T12:10:00.054-04:00

In keeping with last week's theme of major artists making guest appearances on others albums. This is the original Sonny Boy Williamson, (both were harmonica players) who is probably heard less often than his successor. He was 34 years old and living in Chicago when he was robbed and murdered in 1948. This compilation is a distillation of tracks recorded from 1937 to 1939, and found on the

JAZZ: Eric Dolphy

2011-06-15T00:10:00.039-04:00

When I began researching jazz in the Eighties, Eric Dolphy was portrayed as one of the greatest of the genre. I bought several of his albums but had difficulty accepting Free Jazz. My response to this roadblock was to collect some of Dolphy's contributions to other artist's albums which were not so far "Out There". A few years ago I put my favorites onto a CD compilation. As I've said

BLUES: Keijo

2011-06-08T00:10:00.046-04:00

Keijo (née Keijo Virtanen)Based in Jyväskylä, Finland, Keijo Virtanen is somewhat of a legend in the Finnish psych scene. He’s been working on music for ages but his work has only been starting to get attention during the last few years. In his 52 years, he has travelled the world twice and seen his share of turmoil. This artist’s music is unlike any other, it is often based in ambient and drone

BLUES: Willie Dixon

2011-06-03T00:10:00.075-04:00

Willie Dixon was the single most influential person involved in the creation of post-war Chicago Blues. By extension, the British musicians who turned rock & roll into rock would have had an entirely different base to draw from, and folk or jazz might have been the dominant music today. Willie Dixon set Willie was a boxer who wrote songs as a hobby. He won the Illinois Golden Gloves

JAZZ: Cannonball Adderley, part deux

2011-05-20T00:10:00.017-04:00

This should wrap up my exposition on Cannonball Adderley. These recordings highlight what most consider Adderley's best band. Joe Zawinul on piano, Yusef Lateef on flute, oboe and tenor sax. Brother Nat on cornet, bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes. I believe I've covered most of his high points.on this blog. This is a pairing of two live albums from 1963 - Lugano 1963 and Nippon

JAZZ: Air

2011-05-13T13:01:00.003-04:00

======================================================================== IT'S ALIVE !! I must confess that I am the one who broke Blogger. I had just made the most changes since I started this blog. Re-upping expired posts, updating covers, screwing with the template, even fiddling with different ownerships and permissions. Probably twelve hours of solid work. Then I went to bed. According

BLUES: Amos Milburn

2011-04-27T12:23:00.004-04:00

I had such a good time doing the Pinetop Perkins set that I wanted to tackle another Boogie-Woogie piano player. Amos Milburn was one of the biggest urban bluesmen of the post-war era with nineteen top ten R&B singles between 1948 and 1954, four of them going to #1. He formed a band in his hometown of Houston Texas just after WWII, playing piano and singing. He was offered a contract by

JAZZ: Esperanza Spalding

2011-04-21T08:19:00.001-04:00

Thursday morning. I had not begun any work on a compilation although I had promised one for this week. I felt that it was time for a jazz disc. Fortunately, I had not only already gathered the tracks for one but it was a small set to sort through. Before the Grammy Awards last February, I had never heard Esperanza Spalding. Her name had been popping up frequently as a rising star in jazz,

BLUES: Pinetop Perkins

2011-04-08T00:10:00.064-04:00

Pinetop was eighty years old in 1992 when he began recording solo albums regularly. Some sessions were definitely better than others. Some sessions his fingers were stiff, on others his voice was hoarse. In my opinion his voice gave out a few years before his piano playing. A two disc set is more than enough. I had a third disc worth of material that was good but I didn't think it was equal

BLUES: Junior Kimbrough

2011-03-29T00:10:00.095-04:00

This was requested by someone using the button in the top right corner. Good things happen when you participate. Junior Kimbrough was a guitar player from the Mississippi hill country, just north of Clarksboro. His house parties, and later his juke joint became the social center of Chulahoma, Mississippi for more than forty years, often accompanied by his friend R.L. Burnside. He was a

BLUES: Albert Collins 1962-1982

2011-03-24T00:10:00.148-04:00

The Pinetop Perkins compilation is coming along very well. I've gathered 140 songs from 22 albums which means that this will probably be a three disc set. I'm reluctant to take it to four, but would like to get it down to two. It begins in 1976 with Boogie Woogie King (aka Pinetop Is Just Top), samples one each from Muddy Waters and Legendary Blues band, and runs through 2010 with most of his

BLUES: Chris Cain

2011-03-19T00:16:00.002-04:00

I knew before I started that I would not like this one. I was wrong. In general, I am disappointed by blues performers after 1980. Many of them sound too polished, the production is too slick, and there is too much influence from rock. The blues have not been popular since the early Sixties and record companies keep trying to re-invent them in order to spark new interest. Chris Cain took B.B

JAZZ: Rabih Abou-Khalil

2011-03-16T00:06:00.009-04:00

This is a compilation of five tracks each from Rabih Abou-Khalil's two best albums Blue Camel (1992) and Arabian Waltz (1996). They are FLAC files and all of the original artwork is supplied, although the covers do not scan well. I had intended to post one of these in an annual compilation of albums in my rock blog but there was no room for it and it didn't mesh well with the progressive/

BLUES: Billy Boy Arnold

2011-03-08T00:34:00.008-05:00

I am tired and also anxious to post once again, so this biography will be short. Billy Boy Arnold received his first harmonica lessons in Chicago with the original Sonny Boy Williamson. He had a crucial part in Bo Diddley's early band, was a star on VeeJay records in the late Fifties, and his compositions were covered by British blues bands like The Yardbirds and The Animals. One day in 1948,

JAZZ: Ronnie Cuber 1976 & 1978

2011-03-06T04:30:00.009-05:00

Ronnie Cuber is a baritone saxophonist. He played with Maynard Ferguson and George Benson in the Sixties before releasing albums under his own name. He pays the bills by touring with pop & R&B bands and has been a featured member of The Mingus Big Band since the mid Nineties. These tracks are from two albums he made in the late Seventies. They've been transferred from vinyl and it's more

Swan Dive

2011-01-13T02:45:00.005-05:00

This one's a bit of a rush, but I promised you content and I'm trying to deliver six times a month. Last week I mentioned this duo, who although they are a pop band, remind me very much of Astrud Gilberto, Brasil '66 and other pop/bossa-nova from the Sixties. Last week's offering didn't get a lot of love, I'm hoping we have a few more open-minded people surfing today. On second listen, they

JAZZ: Room Eleven

2011-01-08T00:10:00.009-05:00

No Mr. DeMille, I'm not ready for my close-up. I have more than enough material to fuel this blog for the next year but none of it is ready today. Or probably next week. I've been listening to a lot of blues. Foolish, because I get more readers with my jazz posts. But I'm an American, and that gives me the Divine right to do whatever I want. Right? Well, we can talk about that some other

BLUES: Buster Benton

2011-01-03T00:10:00.013-05:00

When Buster Benton was "discovered" by Willie Dixon, he had been playing the blues professionally for fifteen years. Born in Arkansas in 1932, he began singing gospel at 13, emulating his idol Sam Cooke. To make friends, he also learned to play guitar, and for that he copied B. B. King, almost to a fault. In 1952 he moved to Toledo, Ohio and took up the blues about three years later and made

BLUES: Cedell Davis

2010-12-30T06:24:00.007-05:00

"If you're in a good mood, blues is good. If you're in a bad mood, blues is good. See, if the song don't fit you, it fits somebody. See, rock and roll don't tell no story. A lot of that stuff don't tell no story. Blues tell a story about you, me, everybody. As long as there's people there's gonna be blues. Because if I had a good woman and she walked off and left me, I'd

JAZZ: Booker Ervin

2010-12-24T12:10:00.135-05:00

Booker Ervin was a tenor saxophonist whose most prominent work was as a sideman for Charles Mingus. He can be found sharing the bill on many other artists' albums (Weston, Gordon, Parlan, Waldron, Stitt, Little, Dolphy, Haynes to name a few). His own sax-piano-bass-drums quartet was a unique configuration but he did not achieve fame and his solo career lasted only ten years before his death

BLUES: Lowell Fulson

2010-12-22T00:10:00.014-05:00

BLUES: Otis Taylor

2010-12-17T00:10:00.050-05:00

This is another incomplete overview of an artist's career, but it does cover seven albums over seven years. According to AllMusic, Otis Taylor released one album prior to this and three more afterward. This bluesman didn't excite me. He's a competent banjo & guitar player, but his voice is caustic. For the most part, he sticks to repeating a few basic chords but is frequently joined by strings

Frank Sinatra 1967-1984

2010-12-12T00:10:00.056-05:00

A continuation of my previous post. This Reprise set has been in my collection for a while, but posting it has inspired me to expand the project. I've been collecting the Sinatra albums on Capitol Records and plan to build a companion for the 3CD Capitol Years collection. I think the existing 3CD box covers the era very well, so I'm hoping to keep this next set down to two discs. Maybe one.

Frank Sinatra 1961-1966

2010-12-10T00:10:00.014-05:00

About eleven or twelve years ago, there was a rash of electronics store chains that went out of business. It was before the dominance of the internet, so they were well stocked with CDs. For someone with uncommon tastes like myself, this was a goldmine. It usually took a month or two to clear out the merchandise, and the discounts were bigger each week. The top ten albums of the moment sold

JAZZ: Sahib Shihab

2010-12-05T00:10:00.032-05:00

To me, the saxophone is to jazz as the electric guitar is to rock. It is the the first instrument that I think of when I imagine a jazz combo. When that group plays, I prefer to hear the cocktail glass rumbling sound of a baritone sax. There are not many well-known baritone players; Pepper Adams, Serge Chaloff, Gerry Mulligan, Cecil Payne. This is one of the lesser names. I like the way

BLUES: Andrew Brown

2010-11-30T00:10:00.014-05:00

This is a retail compilation with the same name that I acquired on the internet and boiled down from two discs to only one (I originally posted this with both discs). I made new covers because it was sold as a longbox and the provided cover had been squashed into jewel box size and was unusable in my opinion. I hope you forgive the sensationalist new covers, I was having some fun. Some

BLUES: Guy Davis

2010-11-25T00:10:00.003-05:00

This is disappointing. The blog has been short of Blues offerings, so I chose two entries for posting. One had been burned to disc earlier and has gone bad; I'm having trouble pulling all of the tracks. As I work things out, I give you my other selection. I was turned on to this acoustic bluesman through a compilation called A Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His 60th Birthday,

JAZZ: Afro Cuban All-Stars

2010-11-15T18:09:00.005-05:00

BLUES: Etta Baker

2010-11-07T12:34:00.002-05:00

http://clancybrothersandtommymakem.com/trad_1007_appalachians.htm

Best performers beginning with the letter XYZ

2010-10-26T00:21:00.007-04:00

BLUES: Robert Nighthawk

2010-10-24T10:59:00.009-04:00

Robert Nighthawk was a slide guitarist who influenced a generation of blues men such as Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Earl Hooker, Elmore James. Despite his impact, Nighthawk is a mostly forgotten figure. For whatever reasons, he didn't enjoy Chicago and rarely stayed there for long. This put him at a disadvantage in the Fifties and early Sixties, the prime era of the blues. His life was spent

Best performers beginning with the Letter V

2010-10-24T00:10:00.017-04:00

Best performers beginning with the Letter U

2010-10-23T00:10:00.024-04:00

Best performers beginning with the Letter Q

2010-10-22T00:10:00.020-04:00

Best performers beginning with the Letter O

2010-10-21T05:30:00.008-04:00

A whole passel of blues songs

2010-09-21T00:10:00.004-04:00

Another cheap and fast post from whatever was within arm's reach. This is an MP3 compilation of blues songs with no underlying theme or reason. Voluminous Megrims 1

JAZZ: Sonny Criss 1949-1976

2010-09-16T00:10:00.047-04:00

It started (as it always does) with an attempt to weed out albums that I no longer wanted. I had six Sonny Criss albums on three discs and thought that I could narrow it down to only two by getting rid of songs that I didn't enjoy. Sonny Criss was an alto saxophonist who became known in Los Angeles in the Forties. He was a quick study of Charlie Parker's style and became a fluid and agile

JAZZ: Ken Nordine's Word Jazz

2010-09-11T00:10:00.011-04:00

Ah yes, the unique experience that is Ken Nordine. Firstly, like many men, I am envious of his voice. I can imagine the harem of women that I could enslave with such a smooth voice. I think of the millions that I could make doing voice-overs for commercials while working at home, surrounded by pillows and my harem. The concept of Word Jazz seems so simple to invent, so easy to perform.

JAZZ: Oscar Peterson 1945-1952

2010-09-06T00:10:00.003-04:00

Oscar Peterson was one of the top jazz pianists, but doesn't get much respect. He was criticized because although he could play at great speed, some felt the music lacked emotion or soul. It was also said that his music lacked variety. He determined how he wanted to play and stuck with it for the next fifty years. Few would argue that he had flawless technique, the argument is about how well

JAZZ: Larry Young 1960-1975

2010-09-01T00:10:00.027-04:00

Larry Young Jr. is credited as the jazz organist who led the way after Jimmy Smith; pioneering in both modal jazz and fusion His work can be found on important recordings by Grant Green, Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, Carlos Santana and Tony Williams. Young was only 19 when he cut his first album, 'Testifying', on Prestige Records. He released twelve more through 1977 and along the way, was an

JAZZ: John Zorn & Masada

2010-08-25T21:56:00.006-04:00

There are plenty of fifty year old records that I can listen to, but I'm a musical explorer. Despite what we bloggers tell you, there are very few remaining musical geniuses from the Sixties left undiscovered. At some point one has to come to grips with the fact that music has changed, be it fusion or rap. If you want to keep hearing great new music, you have to accept those new forms.

JAZZ: Sonny Rollins, session man 1951-56

2010-08-23T00:10:00.099-04:00

As I continue to work on new collections, I'm scavenging for existing material that can be posted with minimal work. Many of my personal compilations are based on what recordings I want to keep versus those that need to be thinned out. Good tracks on lesser albums are collected together, while other albums are left intact. That leaves holes in my personal compilations that would be

JAZZ: Wes Montgomery live 1962-65

2010-08-20T00:10:00.032-04:00

A quick but not careless Wes Montgomery live collection. An introduction instead of a definitive career overview. Something nice to listen to on the way to work. I was working on a compilation of guitarist Wes Montgomery for a friend, and it was taking longer than I had hoped. I constructed this instant gratification for her from my live recordings as an apology for the delay. There were

JAZZ: Stan Kenton 1940-60

2010-08-17T00:10:00.039-04:00

An off-the-wall choice today. It's been sitting in the queue for a few months, and I'm tired of working around it. To enjoy this collection, you'll have to have some appreciation of postwar Big Band music or Exotica. As you begin to explore Jazz, you'll see Stan Kenton's name mentioned often. He is a controversial figure, recognized as a flawed genius by many. This set covers roughly 1940-

JAZZ: Willis 'Gator' Jackson

2010-08-11T00:10:00.029-04:00

Willis 'Gator' Jackson was a tenor saxophonist who was more likely found at your neighborhood bar than a pricey NYC jazz club. His music is something that you put on for a noisy party instead of listening alone with headphones to admire his technique. He was a honker in the style of Illinois Jacquet or Big Jay McNeely. The music that I'm presenting samples from nine albums over a period of

BLUES: Bobby 'Blue' Bland 1957-1974

2010-08-05T16:03:00.015-04:00

Bobby 'Blue' Bland is my all-time favorite R&B/Soul artist. The name of this blog was adapted from one of his songs (Two Steps would be blasphemous and Three Steps was already taken). I don't think anyone has done it better, and that's why I am presenting him to you. One of the great soul/blues singers, he is all but forgotten now. He cut his first single way back in 1951, and put at least

BLUES: Hound Dog Taylor

2010-07-03T00:10:00.007-04:00

"Cain't no Negro sing no love song; cain't no white man sing the blues." This can't be the Blues, these people are having fun! It's hard for me to imagine someone not liking this music, even if they don't like the blues. Hound Dog Taylor and his band were joyful and uninhibited, as though they were playing in a garage just for themselves. They usually were sloppy drunk and on the edge of

JAZZ: D.D. Jackson 1996

2010-06-30T00:10:00.035-04:00

D.D. Jackson is a 43 year old jazz pianist from Ottawa, Canada. The portions of his music that I've heard are mostly bop-oriented ballads. I find him very pleasant to listen to, and recommended his 'Rhythm Dance' album a few weeks ago. The recording does have one trait that annoys me; every once in a while when I'm grooving to a smoky riff, someone tosses in a handful of cacophonous notes just

JAZZ: Abdullah Ibrahim 1980s

2010-06-15T00:10:00.007-04:00

I urge you to try out this compilation, I think it will appeal to a wide variety of people. I first heard Abdullah Ibrahim in 1986. Paul Simon's Graceland album had brought focus to African music and radio stations were looking for ways to capitalize on the trend. The DJ that I was listening to had broadcast an entire side of Ibrahim's 'Ekaya'. I don't think that's possible in the USA

Best performers beginning with the letter J

2010-06-09T00:10:00.011-04:00

JAZZ: Vijay Iyer

2010-06-06T00:10:00.008-04:00

Vijay Iyer

Best artists beginning with the letter I

2010-06-01T17:42:00.021-04:00

Before we all got our music from the internet, it was a good idea for your band's name to start with an I or an O (in an English-speaking country). Music used to be filed alphabetically with dividers between the letters. Many records were bought on impulse because someone thought the cover was interesting or liked the song titles or band name. There were many bands that started with B or S,

JAZZ: Jean & Doug Carn

2010-05-28T00:10:00.044-04:00

I worry about today's music listeners because radio has broken down and I don't know what has replaced it. There was a wealth of different music to be found and changes in weather patterns made it possible to pick up a station from 2000 miles away that you'd never heard. You didn't have to rely on some blog's write-up to decide if it might be worth downloading, it was right there in your ear.

JAZZ: Tina Brooks

2010-05-11T12:10:00.016-04:00

Tina Brooks was a tenor sax player who failed to make the leap to the big time. His given name was Harold, but he acquired the nickname Tina in grade school because of his teeny size. He made his recording debut in 1951 playing R&B for Sonny Thompson and spent most of the Fifties in other R&B bands for Charles Brown, Lionel Hampton and Amos Milburn. Under the tutelage of Benny Harris, he

JAZZ: Art Blakey 1955-65

2010-05-09T00:10:00.005-04:00

Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers were a constantly evolving group. Originally pianist Horace Silver's name fronted the band, but he left in 1956. Though Art Blakey led the band and was their drummer for the next 35 years, his legacy will likely be the number of future greats that served their apprenticeship with him. Clifford Brown, Hank Mobley, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Wayne

JAZZ: A Tropicalia collection

2010-05-08T00:10:00.014-04:00

This is not Jazz, it sounds more like the rock and pop music prevalent everywhere in the Sixties, but with a local flavor that makes it very different. Since Brazilian/Afro-Cuban jazz was featured two days ago, the time seemed right for this. An excerpt from Wikipedia. Tropicália, also known as Tropicalismo, is a Brazilian art movement that arose in the late 1960s and encompassed theatre,

JAZZ: Summer weather means Latin Jazz

2010-05-05T00:10:00.008-04:00

I'm from a cold climate, so in my mind, Summer begins when the temperature hits 75F (24C). I moved to somewhere a bit nicer a few years ago and I'm delighted that Summer starts two months earlier. These collections are from a few years back. The music is good, but the covers are wretched. Some of these are straight copies of regular CDs, others use official compilations as a base but the

BLUES: Roy Buchanan...Buchanan...Buchanan

2010-05-04T00:10:00.005-04:00

Telecaster master Roy Buchanan was born in Arkansas in 1939 and grew up in rural California. He was inspired by blues and R&B records that he heard in late night radio broadcasts, and learned how to play guitar when he was seven years old. He moved to Los Angeles in 1955 and found a job with R&B bandleader, producer and tour promoter Johnny Otis. That led to a gig with rockabilly great Dale

BLUES: Lonnie Johnson

2010-05-01T00:10:00.014-04:00

Lonnie Johnson was one of the most influential bluesmen, but his talents were much broader than that. More than any other man, Lonnie Johnson was responsible for the guitar solo. He built his reputation as the first jazz guitarist to base his style on single-note melodies, like a horn player - a decade before Charlie Christian or Django Reinhardt. His history is the history of 20th Century

JAZZ: Coltrane On Impulse!

2010-04-28T12:10:00.014-04:00

This compilation covers John Coltrane's time at Impulse! from 1961 to 1965. It includes roughly half of his 'Love Supreme' album, which many cite as one the top ten Sixties albums of all genres. During this period, he transitioned from Post-Bop to the beginnings of Free Jazz. I don't enjoy the music that came afterward, but he lived less than two more years so he didn't have a fair chance at

JAZZ: John Coltrane on Atlantic 1959-1961

2010-04-28T00:10:00.045-04:00

I had forgotten that this series was not finished until someone left a comment (keep those cards & letters coming!). Here then, is the final post in my history of John Coltrane's years as group leader. It covers his time with the Atlantic record label. He was still playing strictly Bop at this stage, but was beginning to define what he wanted his music to sound like in the future. The

JAZZ: Ahmad Jamal

2010-04-24T00:05:00.011-04:00

Piano players don't get any respect in my house and that goes double for Jazz piano. Boogie-Woogie is fine. I like Duke Ellington's big bands. But someone playing in a small Jazz ensemble has to be very good before they get added to my collection. Maybe I associate the piano with Classical music, or because I struck out with too many women at the Holiday Inn piano bar during business trips.

BLUES: Marcia Ball 1985-1997

2010-04-15T02:01:00.010-04:00

OK, I'm not officially back from break. I was gathering up my unwanted recordings starting with B and decided to post this recording by Marcia Ball. I have tried very hard to like her music, but it leans heavily towards a New Orleans R&B/early-rock sound. New Orleans-flavored rock is not high on my list of favorites. At first, I had four full abums by Marcia. I wasn't satisfied, so I trimmed

JAZZ: Cool Jazz vocals

2010-03-21T00:05:00.013-04:00

Something Cool. I don't know what the weather is where you are, but it's cool enough here already. I need a little heat. But no matter, it never hurts to be prepared. The chicks in my district dig this one, so maybe you can stir up some heat yourself. This is a collection of Fifties and early Sixties jazz vocals, with a focus on women. What you would hear in a Las Vegas lounge or New York

BLUES: Lonnie Brooks

2010-03-20T00:05:00.007-04:00

Lonnie Brooks is mentioned as one of the few remaining Chicago bluesmen. Like most of those, his playing is really a mixture of blues, funk, country and rock. He was born in Louisiana, so you can toss cajun, swamp pop and zydeco music in the pot too. Brooks' was born in 1933 and his given name is Lee Baker Jr. His first big job was playing Zydeco with the great Clifton Chenier's band in the

JAZZ: Donald Byrd 1958-1967

2010-03-19T00:05:00.002-04:00

Without further bloviation, here's the rest of the Donald Byrd collection 58-61 Fuego 61-61 Cat Walk 61-67 New Perspective

JAZZ: Donald Byrd 1967-1976

2010-03-18T00:05:00.006-04:00

Today, we are highlighting the career of hard-bop trumpeter Donald Byrd. He was very good, but I'd place him in the 3rd tier of Jazz trumpeters - below Miles Davis and Lee Morgan. What makes Byrd special is the way he adjusted to the decline of Jazz. < needless exposition on the decline of jazz and concurrent rise of rock & roll deleted > Donald Byrd was a forerunner in Funk and Acid Jazz.

Tool for calculating remaining time on CD

2010-03-13T15:41:00.003-05:00

The next two posts are still being uploaded. Here's a tool that I find useful for creating mixtapes. You feed it song lengths and it totals up how much of the 80 minutes you have left to fill. It also subtracts time. Microsoft Excel works, but sometimes I'm able to confuse it when I cut and paste. onlineconversion.com

JAZZ: Coltrane On Prestige 1958-1959

2010-03-07T12:10:00.008-05:00

Talk about Jazz, and it won't be long before John Coltrane's name comes up. The saxophonist was definitely one of the giants on the scene from the mid-Fifties until his death in 1967. There were several phases to Coltrane's solo career and in the simplest terms, you can categorize them by the record label he was recording for. I favor his Bop material, before he headed off into Free Jazz and

JAZZ: Vocalese

2010-03-03T09:16:00.010-05:00

I believe that I've created a very good collection, but one that concentrates on a specialized topic which may not appeal to everyone. I'm going to post this one because I already have it in the on-deck circle. Tomorrow, we're going to move to Rock. This is a compilation of Jazz Vocalese. That is the art of writing lyrics to fit recorded instrumental solos. This is different from Scat

JAZZ: Sax compilation

2010-03-01T02:51:00.008-05:00

Not much to say here. Just a nice grouping of tunes dominated by the saxophone player. Mostly mellow. Wild Sax

BLUES: Juke Boy Bonner 1968-1975

2010-02-23T04:07:00.010-05:00

B is for Bonner. Here's another compilation I baked up just for y'all. These are not the blues of the Rolling Stones, or even B.B. King. Weldon 'Juke Boy' Bonner lived a hardscrabble existence, he really had the blues. Born in Texas during the Great Depression, orphaned by 8 years old, and dead from liver failure at the age of 46. He billed himself as 'The One Man Trio', guitar, harmonica

JAZZ: Cannonball Adderley 1958-59

2010-02-22T05:46:00.019-05:00

I am putting up a link to keep myself interested in this blog, despite my frustration in learning how to present my spreadsheets. Since we started with the letter A, I have put together a Cannonball Adderley sampler of four of his albums from 1958 and 1959. They are among his best of that era. The collection is an excellent complement to Adderley's SOMETHIN' ELSE album. Cannonball Adderley

Best performers beginning with the Letter B

2010-02-13T09:34:00.013-05:00

Best performers beginning with the Letter A

2010-02-12T04:07:00.025-05:00

Why I'm Here

2010-02-12T01:15:00.003-05:00

I have a large music collection and had to assign grades to all of the recordings so that I could toss out the lesser ones to make room for the new. I use the standard 5 star system with higher numbers being better. I've leaned heavily on the style section of All Music Guide in order to assign things to very broad categories that would make it easy to sort by the type of music. This blog will