New Releases -
May 2001
Rita Chiarelli Breakfast At Midnight NorthernBlues NBM0003/Festival
The story of Rita's latest is our lead story this month and deservedly so - this is a major new release for our community. Rita has never sounded better and producer Danny Greenspoon has captured on disc a lineup that many people just dream about. The names are worth repeating: Colin Linden, Kevin Breit and Papa John King, guitars; Pat Kilbride or George Koller, bass; Al Cross, drums; Richard Bell, keyboards, Carlos del Junco, harmonica and Phil Dwyer guesting on sax. Jackie & Betty contribute backing vocals. The comfort and assuredness through all the styles strike you every time you play it and you'll play it often. My favourite songs are the opening "Woman In Blue", "Memphis Has Got The Blues", "Last Train" and "Eggs Over Easy", which contains my favourite lines, "..I've got a lot of friends/But not at this hour". Breakfast At Midnight will be available shortly at all the major stores through Festival or you can visit www.northernblues.com.
Ellen McIlwaine Spontaneous
Combustion Tradition & Moderne T&M 018/Festival
I guess we can't have an album of Ellen McIlwaine's set with the Women's Blues Review Band from last summer, but a new studio album of much the same material is a more than acceptable replacement. As you'll recall from that evening, she resolutely ignores musical boundaries: a rocking "Mockingbird" (with Taj Mahal taking the other vocal) starts it off with Al Green's "Take To The River"; a solid new blues, "Dead End Street" for vocals and acoustic slide; Hendrix' "Up From The Skies", The Indian raga-like "Sidu (Grandmother)"; a version of "Sitting On Top Of The World" for just Ellen at the piano; an a capella gospel duet, "Bid You Goodnight", again with Taj Mahal; the current re-working of "Spontaneous Combustion"; a lovely new ballad, "Say A Single Word" and her vocalizing over a drone-like slide piece "Egyptian Blues". The former Taj Mahal rhythm section of Kester Smith on drums and Bill Rich on bass provide unwavering support throughout her musical travels. Plenty of blues and plenty of slide - as the first studio album in a long time, it's welcome indeed.
Various Artists 25 Years Stony Plain SPCD 1274/Warner Music
I want to draw your attention to the two-CD overview of Stony Plain Records you read about last time. Disc one concentrates on the roots/country side of the company and will please almost all of you but disc two will be especially interesting. Selections from many of the albums mentioned here over the years are featured in a sample you could assemble yourself from the catalogue on your burner but here it's done for you from the complete library, with some you can't have yet: "Linin' Track" from Long John Baldry's forthcoming Lead Belly tribute; "Going To The River", a real gem of a song that did not make it to King Biscuit Boy's 1988 LP, Richard Newell a.k.a. King Biscuit Boy, itself not yet available on CD and "Blues On My Birthday", a truly fine slow blues written for Holger Petersen and recorded by Sonny Rhodes during the Blue Diamond sessions. On disc one, "Train To Texas" is a sneak peak at the next Duke Robillard/Herb Ellis jazz guitar collaboration. These are nice to have but the blues (and roots) scene in Canada would be virtually non-existent without Stony Plain and this whole celebratory compilation is all the proof you need. It will go from your shelf to your player often. It will also make a wonderful gift.
Steve Burnside with The Original Marquis: The Blues Collection Prospect PR-008/Indie
Niagara Falls ON-based road warrior Burnside has been performing for some years as The Burnside Blues Band. Gradually, with original members coming out of retirement, he was able to re-form the Marquis, a peninsula band with a history that goes back to 1958(!). The Marquis, with Mike Addario, keyboards; Johnny Johnston, drums & Chuck Lee, bass, recorded "Record-Hop Blues" (now lost), "Something You Got"(1964) & "Rockin' Crickets"(1966), the last of which was with Big John Little, a Port Colborne native now retired in St. John NB. "Rockin' Crickets" was a local hit and was cited by none other than Jimi Hendrix as an influential single. More history will have to wait though as the CD at hand is a new recording with Burnside fronting the band on guitar & vocals in a program that reflects their repertoire today. And if I were to happen upon them on a night I would be pleased indeed. The performances are very effective, covering a wide range of styles well. The song selection covers a few more standards than I would like but the arrangements are fresh, even for "Stormy Monday". "(Turn On Your) Lovelights" is here but so is Gatemouth Brown's "Midnight (Is A Lonely Hour)" with the lone original, the humourous "Job Down At The Bakery". Guesting on the CD are saxman Glen Hicks and backup vocalists Joanne Brown & Noreen Zanatta. Available through their website, www.burnsidebluesband.com.
Jimmy James Blue Moon Rising JJ-02/Indie
The guitar virtuosity of Montreal's Jimmy James has been the stuff of legend here for years but a brief visit to Soul `n' Blues a few years ago and a very-limited-distribution first album were all we had to put substance to the legend. The launch of this studio album at the Silver Dollar at the end of the month should change that. From his stage name onwards, the torch of Jimi Hendrix has led the way for James but these songs build on the legacy rather than dwell in it, led by "Addicted" with its quotes from "All Along The Watchtower", to the slow blues, "Blue Moon Rising" and "Spread Your Wings" with more Jimi references, this is an album for fans of electric guitar. Cliff Gelfand is the veteran bassist with David Devine on drums to complete the power trio. No word on distribution, so you'll just have to come to The Silver Dollar Room on April 27 to get your copy.
Marcia Ball Presumed Innocent Alligator ALCD 4879/Warner Music
After 30 years of performing and after a stack of albums on Rounder, including the acclaimed tour/album with Irma Thomas & Tracy Nelson, bandleader/singer/pianist/songwriter Ball has inexplicably stayed out of the top ranks of fame. If this album doesn't do it, we might as well all quit. Thirteen very strong songs, her powerful road band augmented with extra horns and backup singers, guests such as Delbert McClinton, Sonny Landreth and Gary Primich; top flight production from Doyle Bramhall & Ms. Ball all led by her Grammy and Handy nominated vocals and piano-playing make this an unbeatable package. Musically, she works the R&B/soul/gospel/New Orleans field and one highlight among many is the duet with McClinton, "You Make It Hard", two more are "Thibodeaux, Louisiana" and "Coming Down With The Blues".
Marcia Ball has been one of the most consistently satisfying live shows I've seen, I hope a tour supporting Presumed Innocent stops here.
R.L. Burnside Well...Well...Well M.C. MC 0042
R.L. Burnside Mississippi Hill Country
Blues Fat Possum/Epitaph 80341
With his new CD's showcasing a 75-year-old bluesman in a variety of modern rock settings, along come two albums from earlier in his career in mostly acoustic settings. If nothing else, the new albums have gained him a huge new audience and plenty of work but these two should go a long way towards pleasing the traditionalists among us as well as perhaps showing some of his new fans where he came from.
Well...Well...Well is a companion to MC Records' earlier R.L. disc, Acoustic Stories (released in '97, recorded in '88), with Jon Morris, the harmonica player on that album compiling a selection of live recordings from 1986 through 1993. These find R.L. in good form, telling stories and generally enjoying himself in a program of his Mississippi Hill Country blues.
Two songs, "Mellow Peaches" and "Goin' Down South" are with Calvin Jackson on drums and R.L. on electric guitar and they overlap the first two Fat Possum albums, in my opinion still his finest work. Before Fat Possum came along, R.L.'s only available recordings were for Arhoolie Records and for the Dutch label Swingmaster, whose marvellous collection of acoustic blues remains untapped here.
Fat Possum has changed that, at least for R.L. That 1984 LP is now on CD and has three additional songs from the George Mitchell 1967 field recordings, the rest of which are currently available on Mississippi Delta Blues in the 1960's-Vol. 2(Arhoolie CD 402). Of the two, Mississippi Hill Country Blues benefits from being a more formally organized album but the relaxed feel of Well...Well...Well has many pluses. R.L. is a major blues artist, at the peak of his powers.
You should try the "new" albums because they are by no means all bad, but there are no reservations about these two - they supply all the proof of greatness you'll need.
Taj Mahal & The Hula Blues Band Hanapepe Dream Tradition & Moderne T&M 017 /Festival
When not touring with his Phantom Blues Band, Taj Mahal lives in Hawaii and jams with a group of ethnically-diverse local players that have come to be called the Hula Blues Band. They released a studio album a couple of years ago and decided to take the show on the road. This album was mostly recorded during a European tour, in Bremen, Germany, last August and should probably be filed in the Worldbeat section of your library rather than in blues but that should not prevent you from checking it out. There is plenty of slide guitar, just of the slack key variety, and the new versions of "Stagger Lee" and "Creole Belle" are very good indeed. Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" sounds just fine too from this band! The mini-industry known as Taj Mahal moves on - I believe this is album number forty, but with quality control this high, you needn't worry at all.
Various Artists Mardi Gras In New Orleans Rounder Heritage 11600/Universal
Various Artists Keep It Rollin'-The Blues Piano Collection Rounder Heritage 11601/Universal
These are further albums in Rounder's new re-mastered/re-issue series but it's a little difficult to see them as re-issues, because many of the original albums don't seem to have made it here the first time around! Much of Keep It Rollin', for example, is drawn from a 1991 album, Keys To The Crescent City, which I don't recall ever seeing. The music is here now, though, and it's fabulous. For fans of solo blues piano, this one goes right to the top of the list. Willie Tee (Turbinton), of The Wild Magnolias, was rarely recorded but two songs are here along with fine contributions from Charles Brown, Booker T. Laury, James Booker, Eddie Bo, Tuts Washington and more - seventeen slices of blues piano in up-to-the-moment sound. The Mardi Gras disc collects from more sources with almost seventy minutes of carnival dancing music from Bo Dollis, Beau Jocques, Zachary Richard, Irma Thomas/Marcia Ball/Tracy Nelson, The ReBirth Brass Band and more. Your feet won't fail you with this one.
Lucky Peterson Double Dealin' Blue Thumb 549 475/Universal
Multi-instrumentalist Peterson plays features his guitar more on this outing and turns in one of the best recent contemporary blues CD's. In hindsight, Peterson's last few albums have tended to lose blues interest in the midst of showcasing his prowess at most styles of modern R&B. He corrects that oversight with a vengeance here. The songs are very good indeed, with the title song (by Jimmy McCracklin), "Smooth Sailing", "Mercenary Baby" and Andre Williams' "3 Handed Woman" leading the way. Tamara Peterson (Mrs. Lucky) plays `Ethel' in the song "It Ain't Safe" and the Texacali Horns are on board. The band features Johnny Lee Schell, rhythm guitar; Jon Cleary, keys; Reggie McBride, bass and Tony Braunagel, drums. If you want some electric blues that doesn't like to sit quietly in the background, get this one.
- John Valenteyn, jayvee@ican.net
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2001