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September
2005
Johnny V's House Party Band Agonostically
Eclectic Blow Your Top BYTP1562
He does not record a lot but when he does, the blues
community sits up and takes notice. Only a very
few have this combination of talent, knowledge and commitment. One
of Johnny's closest musical partnerships was with the late
King Biscuit Boy and he was on board for a
recent, aborted album, some songs from which
turned up on the Mustard and Relics CD. Johnny
has taken a big role in efforts to acknowledge Richard
Newell's contribution to the Canadian music
scene and this CD comes with a petition you are asked to sign and
mail in to request Newell's induction into the Canadian Music
Hall of Fame. This is a bit of a preamble for
the CD's opening and strongest track, "The Return of
Richard's Biscuit", a tour de force of a song and
one of the strongest performances you're ever likely to
hear. Over that patented Biscuit boogie, Johnny
V and crew, musically and lyrically, give you all the evidence
you need. After this the album alternates original songs
and tributes to blues men with only slightly less energy and
commitment. The tributes are to those less
well-known but with excellent songs: Cousin Joe
(Pleasant Joseph), a New Orleans piano player, is first
up with a couple, then Jimmy McCracklin, Big Joe Williams
and John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson.
Johnny V's take on Jerry Ragovoy's "Stop"
takes us out of strictly blues but is one of the CD's highlights.
"New Louisiana Blues" is another, a
stomping travelogue of a blues with a great horn
chart. Sonny Rhodes takes the vocal on "Living
On The Outside", an excellent new soul blues. Being Johnny
V, he doesn't simply interpret other people's songs, he
re-arranges them to suit his needs and "Joe's Mercy
Killing", incorporates "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by
Joe Zawinul and music by Quincy
Jones. It's one of several songs he's decided to
record here after many years on the set list. With its free jazz tenor
sax solo from Mike Clark, it's also one of three here that deviate
from a `standard' blues CD. "Suicide Bomber
Blues" is some thoughts on this topic over a rather
nice blues groove and "Tartaria" is a straight-ahead
jazz piece co-written with pianist Bob
Erlandson and arranged here for this band.
Fortunately, if you don't feel adventurous, you
can program your player around these and still have a
normal-length playlist. The House Party Band
deserves recognition for their work behind Johnny
and his guitars: Chris Byrne, bass;
Duris Maxwell, drums; Peter Fischer, piano,
Brock Gillis, B3; Sherman `Tank'
Doucette, harp; and Mike Clark &
Paul Ashwell, horns. An album this good
just has to be in your library. Get yours at
www.megatunes.com, it's a Calgary CD store with a web site,
or visit www.johnnyv.org. By the way, Johnny
V writes that the title is a combination of the words agony
+ antagonist + agnostic and was inspired by the "Word Fugitive" in
The Atlantic Weekly. As further food for thought
while listening, he has subtitled the album "Slidequette and
Other Such _A-Muchisms"
The album we've been hearing about for months at the
TBS Office is finally here. Brian Blain, of course, is our
Managing Editor here and at Downtown Jazz along with various tasks
as
media consultant. This necessarily but not unhappily means that
if there's one person you will see regularly at clubs around town,
it's him. And as a performer as well as a fan and observer. It's from
this vantage point that Brian writes his songs, a professional from
both sides of the stage. His songs are mostly acoustic and his
voice & guitar assisted by some of the finest players around. The
title song pokes fun at discussions of blues credentials, "No
More Meetings" will ring true for almost anyone
these days. "One More Weasel" takes aim at the
record business types who are too busy schmoozing
at the bar to actually pay attention. There's a serious side too
with "Blues Is Hurting" a product of too
many nights at poorly attended shows or too little money for
a night's work. Brian's background as a musician in the Eastern
Townships of Quebec provides the grist for
"Terrace Blues", a tribute to bar bands based on a
Magic Sam riff. My favourite is "One Way Ticket",
a plea for leaving co-written with Scott
Billington of Tangle Eye. Michael
Jerome Browne, Harry Manx, Richard
Bell, Paul Reddick, Michel Josef
and Jim Galloway are just a few of the
players who contribute most effectively. It's difficult to
categorize or classify Brian because he doesn't
sound like anyone else but I think you'll enjoy
the way he invites you into his world. The Silver Dollar hosts a
launch party on Friday, September 30.
Julian Fauth will be launching his new CD
at Healey's on September 23. If you've seen him perform, you
already know that he's a young, highly original songwriter and a
gifted blues pianist/singer. He's a largely self-taught barrelhouse
piano player and he seems to delight in the
`Bluebird Beat' era of Chicago players like early
Memphis Slim and, like most good
songwriters, he's even better at writing liner notes.
Of course, he starts off the CD playing guitar, on the
Woody Guthrie-like "Cobalt" and on
the traditional "Big Brazos" as well. On most of
the songs he's accompanied by harmonica, with
Paul Reddick, Dave Rotundo, Al
Lerman and Wayne Charles sharing the role. "Winter of 99"
and "Highway 61" catch the ear immediately
with their keyboard pyrotechnics but "Red Richard" is a
slower, sombre tale of life in the South Side of Chicago. Very
effective as well is "When My Mother Died" which
has some most appropriate guitar from Mel
Brown. "Spadina Avenue Stomp" would seem like a
perfect title for a finger busting barrelhouse
romp and I guess it is that but Fauth has cleverly worked in elements
of folk tunes of the various ethnic groups represented on
that famously multicultural thoroughfare. The time spent busking
in Kensington Market was valuable in more ways than one. If you
need more justification for the CD title, you
should try "Suicide Note" but "Flying Crow"
will improve your spirits markedly, its an infectious
Bluebird tribute to Washboard Sam. J.B.
Lenoir's "Mojo Boogie" helps here too.
Bob Vespaziani on drums and Sam
Petite or Alec Fraser on bass join in for some
nice variety with the band tracks. As good as
"Red Richard" is, I think "You Can't Choose The
World You Live In" is the better song. The concluding line of
the chorus: "You can choose the way you live".
With sixteen songs totaling some 74 minutes, Mr. Fauth has a lot to
say and that's not counting the song on TBS-20
Years, which is not here. It's a good thing he
says things so well and so musically. Go to
www.julianfauth.com.
Available around the world only on Stony Plain,
Maria Muldaur's second part of her blues
trilogy should do even better than her first did -
Richland Woman Blues garnered a
Grammy nomination and two W.C. Handy
Awards. This volume has more Memphis
Minnie songs, with Del Rey and Steve
James on board to re-create the famous guitar duets
with husband Kansas Joe McCoy. Together the trio do a terrific
job on her "I Am Sailin'", "Lookin' The
World Over" and "Crazy Cryin' Blues".
Alvin Youngblood Hart duets with Muldaur
for another Memphis Minnie delight, "She Put
Me Outdoors". "Sweet Lovin' Old Soul" is
a Sara Martin song, performed with a jug band. Here,
Fritz Richmond, the jug player from the
Jim Kweskin Band, joins Suzy
Thompson on fiddle and Taj Mahal on guitar. It
deserves to be the CD's title. Taj Mahal takes the
Butterbeans role with Muldaur as
Suzy in their "Ain't What You Used To Have".
Maybe this performance will bring more of this fabulous and
risque material into prominence. Taj takes the lead in
Blind Willie Johnson's "Take A Stand" with
Muldaur on Angeline's harmony vocal. Muldaur
solo turns in a beautiful, raunchy performance of Bessie Smith's
"Empty Bed Blues" and is joined by Tracy
Nelson for the Bessie Smith/Clara Smith duet,
"I'm Goin' Back". Saving the best for last,
Muldaur, Rey and James turn in the show stealer on
Lucille Bogan's "Tricks Ain't
Walking", a devastating song about the effect of
the Great Depression on even the world's oldest profession. For all
the guests, this is most definitely a Maria Muldaur album and
I eagerly await volume three. Meanwhile, be at Hugh's Room
on September 13 to hear the album live!
Johnny Copeland's daughter is perhaps
the brightest star in the Alligator galaxy, and with this, her
fourth release, her star will climb much higher. Legendary
producer/guitarist Steve Cropper has set
her commanding voice and songs written just for her in a
contemporary jewel of an album. This is modern R&B
shining at its brightest. And the songs are good.
"Who Stole My Radio" is the best indictment
of current radio I've heard in a long time. Don't expect to hear
it there! "Strong Enough" is a gorgeous
soul ballad. "You Can't Have That" shows she can
rock with the best of them but "Uptown Line" is
a slow burning statement of independence that you'll keep coming
back to and then you get "Givin' Up You"
to hammer the point home. "Used" is a
beautiful contemporary ballad that features a duet with
Dobie Gray. A highlight of her stage show at the
Chicago Blues Festival a couple of years ago
was an acoustic set and the CD ends with a new
song for it: "Something Heavy" is an
Eddie Hinton song with Cropper supplying
the blues guitar. Copeland is demanding substance, not fluff and
she supplies that in spades throughout this CD.
She is only 26 years old and I fervently hope she has a long
and productive career _ I'll certainly leave space on my shelf for all
her albums! I've heard and read that Alligator CDs sound too modern,
well, this one is unashamedly modern but that
doesn't mean mechanized or electronic sounds, all the notes you hear
are played by real, live
Blind Willie McTell The Devil Can't Hide
From Me True North TND 374/Universal
You should know about this little budget release that
might otherwise escape your notice. These are the complete recordings
that McTell did for John Lomax and the Library
of Congress in 1940. McTell talks about the
origins of the blues and plays "Murderer's Home
Blues", in his words an early blues song. There's
an early version of "Dying Crapshooter's Blues"
and a medley of gospel tunes on twelve-string
guitar played with a slide that, presumably because
of wear and tear on the original acetates, has a wonderful flutter
effect. This is a part of the Atlanta blues
great's work that is not often re-issued and this
CD comes highly recommended.
Fabulous Thunderbirds Painted On Tone-Cool TCD285/Koch
Kim Wilson is the sole continuing member of
the T-Birds and at one point was the only
member, having hired session players to record an album. Here, though,
he has assembled a stellar lineup of West Coast veterans:
Kirk Fletcher and Nick Curran on guitar,
Jimi Bott on drums, Ronnie James
Webber on bass and Gene Taylor on
keyboards. This lineup will headline the main stage at
The Southside Shuffle on Friday, September
9th. What will you hear? Well, one hell of a tight
band for one thing. For another, they've been listening to a lot
of Rolling Stones albums. But this is still a
blues band and they've come up with some excellent songs. "Hard
Knock" starts things off in rocking fashion and
"Two Time Fool" has a trademark T-Birds
harp intro to bring back memories. Detroit
Cobra Rachel Nagy duets with Wilson on a new
soul soon-to-be-classic "Love Speaks Louder Than
Words" and it has a great horn arrangement too.
Don't take the CD out too soon because there's a
slow-burning version of "Hard Knock" tacked on the
end. Do your homework - get the CD and enjoy the show! - John Valenteyn,
jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
Brian Blain Overqualified for the
Blues NorthernBlues NBM0011/Festival
Julian Fauth Songs of Vice and
Sorrow Electro-Fi 3391/Festival
Maria Muldaur Sweet Lovin' Ol'
Soul/Stony Plain SPCD 1304/Warner
Shemekia Copeland The Soul Truth Alligator ALCD
4905/Fusion
musicians. Play it often.
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