April
2003
Ray Bonneville Roll It Down Stony Plain SPCD 1285/Warner
Montreal's Ray Bonneville's fifth album is the result of two separate sessions, one in Montreal produced by Rob Heaney, the other in Nashville produced by Colin Linden. Interestingly, the overdubbing for each session was supervised by the "other" producer, so there isn't as much distinction between the two sessions as one might have expected. The instant identifier you can use, though, is the drum work of Geoff Arsenault, who did the percussion work on the Montreal sessions. There is plenty of that trademark Bonneville sound however. He now lives in Arkansas part of the year and that J.J. Cale/Tony Joe White sound comes out of his pores. "Who's Talkin' To Me" deserves to be a radio hit with its gorgeous melody and Richard Bell organ fills. "Roll It Down", "Stand Real Still", "I Been A Train" and "Tiptoe Spider" are among the finest blues he's written but these fit in with the other songs as only Bonneville songs can. As usual, he plays slide and rack harp with his vocals as guitars, mandolins, fiddles and keyboards drift in and out in a mesmerizing package. His albums just get better and better. Visit www.raybonneville.com.
The Rick Fines Trio Riley
Wants His Life Back RAF004/Festival
Something a little different
this time out! As you read in the lead story, Rick thought he would write an
album based on guitar/piano/bass trios, specifically those of The Big Three
Trio, with a young Willie Dixon, Nat "King" Cole
etc. The result shows how beneficial this can be as an exercise. In this case,
writing songs in an entirely different style has resulted in some fine songs
and some unusual lyrics. I don't think he would have written the anti-war
lyrics of "Can You Forgive Me" or the cynical "Perfect
Politician" for any earlier album. Or the title song, based on "The
Life of Riley". The trio, Rick on guitar & vocals, Rob Phillips,
piano and Richard Simpkins, bass play this more sophisticated style
very well with guests, primarily Al Webster on drums and Chris
Whiteley on trumpet/cornet added occasionally. Alec Fraser also
contributed to the songs in addition to his usual quality recording duties at
his Liquid Sound Studios. Three of the songs grew into something
resembling those on the earlier albums: "What's Home To Me" has Matthew
Fines' dobro and a folk feel, "I Just Had to Ask" a Cajun touch
with Peter Andree's accordion and "Livin' Fast" the almost
rock-like but drummer-less (!) closer. It should be interesting to hear these
songs done live at Hugh's Room. The web site to visit is www.rickfines.com.
Mark
"Bird" Stafford Harpspace Indie
Fresh from the Harmonica Workshop there, Mark Stafford will be back at RD's on May 2nd for the official release of this CD. Harpspace continues his interest in Chicago in the fifties and boasts eight original songs built on that solid foundation. The basic band is Peter Schmidt on guitar, Bob Vespaziani on drums, Tyler Yarema on piano and either Alec Fraser on electric bass or Ka Cheong Liu on upright bass. The album was beautifully recorded by Alec Fraser, who also co-produced with Mark. The opening track is the album's title song, a strong chromatic harp feature followed by Johnny "Guitar" Watson's "Gangster of Love", which features a solid, confidant vocal and sax support from Pat Carey. The Little Walter-inspired mid-tempo "I'll Be Back" is up next with Shane Scott on bass and Mel Brown on piano. "Bunnie Bop Boogie" is a cleverly written addition to the "Jo Jo Gunne" canon. T-Bone's "Party Girl" is up next, with Schmidt soloing beautifully over Pat Carey's saxes. "Ruby" is jazzier in style with Tyler on trumpet. Much more down home is Stafford's "Take A Step Back" with Jack de Keyzer playing some early Muddy-like slide as the only accompaniment. With its strong lyric and harp solo, this is my favourite on the CD. There are fourteen songs altogether and with a band as good as this with good material, a strong leader, maybe we won't have to wait seven years for album #3. Visit www.markbirdstafford.com.
Tony
D The Size of Your Shoes HOA9274
Coming soon after his sizzling
electric CD, Live Like Hell, this acoustic one hasn't received the
attention it deserves. But it shows him to be an accomplished acoustic player
who can play in a wide variety of styles and, importantly, blend them into a
satisfying whole. New Orleans' John Mooney guests on second guitar on
the
attention-getting opening, "My Baby So Far", before he lets loose on
the solo instrumental "Up Jump Blues". Ken Hamm joins Tony
next for a version of Robert Johnson's "Malted Milk" slightly
hampered by an off-mic vocal. "La Tormenta", a `gypsy jazz' piece
teams Tony with James Cohen, who gets his own, NorthernBlues, release
featuring that style this month. The soloing here sounds a lot like the kind
of thing Lonnie Johnson would play and contributes mightily to variety
without losing focus. "The Crying Song" is a fine new blues that
might work very well in a band context. "Hot Mama Lava" certainly
would as the performance of this raver with Mooney proves. A tender ballad,
"All About You" leads to "Hideaway" & "Long
Distance Call" before seemingly closing with "Little Saint", a
folky duet with Cohen. A hidden track turns out to be another take of "My
Baby So Far" ending the disc as it began, with its strongest song. This
CD is available with sound samples from www.tonydband.com.
Harmonica
Shah Tell it to your Landlord Electro-Fi E-Fi 3377/Festival
Straight-ahead, no-nonsense blues and for sixty-seven minutes: Shah is on vocals, harmonica and songwriting, Howard Glazer on guitar, Bob Godwin on bass and either Art "Thunder" Vaughn or Charles Stuart on drums. That's it: no guests, no overdubbing. This recorded-in-Detroit effort makes you think you're right there, in your neighbourhood bar with a much better band than one often encounters there. Glazer's guitar is sometimes in overkill mode but not often and the rhythm section is spot-on throughout. Shah's songs are a lot like Wild Child Butler's in that they are loosely structured but effective with strong vocals and appropriate harp fills. I especially liked "Crying Michigan Tears", "Welfare Shoes Blues" and the slightly overlong "Guilty". Check out www.harmonicashah.com.
Various
Artists Midnite Blues Party Volume 2 Electro-Fi E-Fi 3378/Festival
Volume 1 was drawn from R&B/Soul/Blues singles from the late 50's and early 60's. The subtitle here is "Rare Blues and Rhythm & Blues from the 1940's & 1950's" and is exactly that. About Volume 1, I complained that I would have chosen more blues but I complain no more. This is all from the golden era of indie labels and 78's sold out of car trunks. It was only the poor distribution and promotion that kept these songs and artists from being better known, certainly not the talent that's on display here. There are 29 (!) songs, expertly transferred by Eddy B from mint condition 78's from his collection. None have been previously available anywhere other than on the original 78 rpm disc and many are not even listed in the various discographies. As detailed reviews of the last one came along in the magazines, each expert seemed to have more info on the artists-I look forward to learning about this group of unknown heroes.
Various Artists Classic Blues Smithsonian SFW 40134/KOCH
Rev. Gary Davis If I Had My Way Smithsonian SFW 40123/KOCH
In one respect this is an odd
pairing to review together. In the notes to his CD of early Davis recordings, John
Cohen, later of the New Lost City Ramblers and now a noted
photographer and filmmaker, says this is Davis' music for the people of
Harlem. It's the music he was playing on the streets as he and Kinny
Peebles were busking to get by. Classic Blues is a sampling of the
kind of blues Folkways thought would be appropriate to the new, largely white,
fans of folk music (narrowly defined as this was in the fifties). Cohen points
out that Davis would adapt his own style to this new audience in his future
commercial recordings. ("I'm a black man, like a fly in the
buttermilk" he is quoted as saying in the notes.) Outside of a couple of
street recordings, these 1953 home tapings are the first documents of Davis'
music since his Blind Gary gospel 78's of 1935. There are several songs
here that Davis never recorded again and no other recordings are known of
Peebles. Gospel authority Horace Clarence Boyer provides notes on the
genesis of the songs. The recorded sound is more than acceptable, successfully
capturing the intensity of the performances and making this a valuable
addition to the Davis legacy. Moses Asch was part of an important left
wing political movement in New York and used his Folkways label to make
political statements. He also used it to make sure that important types of
music were made available. The blues benefited enormously, albeit in a rather
academic context. He wanted performers to revive older styles,
styles they no longer used in the clubs in Harlem at night. This CD samples
the recordings he arranged for rather than the 78's he re-issued (The Harry
Smith Anthology) and in spite of what I just wrote, there are many reasons
here for you to add this to your collection. Not least worthy is K.C.
Douglas' version of "Mercury Blues" for Cook Records, which has
never been re-issued in any form before. Some of the selections are from
existing CD's on the label which you are encouraged to seek out but others,
like the Henry Townsend, Son House & Lonnie Johnson
make their first CD appearance here. You get seventy-three minutes of truly
classic blues for your money with copious notes by Barry Lee Pearson.
Roomful
of Blues That's Right Alligator ALCD 4889/Fusion III
Album #17 for this New England-based jump blues band and over 35 years some lineup changes are inevitable. Rich Lataille is still here on saxes and Chris Vachon on guitar is now I think the longest serving player on that instrument but the new members seem only to have revitalized the proceedings. The most obvious newcomer is Mark DuFresne on vocals & harp and his Kim Wilson-styled vocals suit the sound just fine. There are no original songs here this time but nothing overworked either: "Ocean of Tears" is an excellent song I first heard from Bonnie Lee but turns out to have been recorded by Big Maybelle for Okeh in 1955 and only recently issued. This era is Roomful's home turf and it shows. "Stranger Blues", Elmore James' latin-flavoured masterpiece for Bobby Robinson also gets a fine reading. May there be many more Roomful albums!
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2003