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September
2009
Sass Jordan
From Dusk
‘til Dawn Kindling/Warner Music
With the announcement of Sass Jordan’s participation in this fall’s Women’s Blues Revue, I thought you might like to know something about her just released new CD. The veteran Montreal-born rocker, actor and Canadian Idol judge has indeed branched out into a bluesier sound. Her last CD, Get What You Give, was produced in Nashville by Colin Linden and it has that Nashville sheen - this one is much grittier. The producer and song co-writer this time is Derek Sharp and his acoustic guitar instrumentation works very well. “What I Need” is the percussion-heavy, rocking opener and is a video at her web site, a fine choice as a single. It’s followed by the Stax-styled “Fell In Love Again” - a great one-two punch. A couple of songs later, there’s a tenderly-sung blues ballad, “Love ‘N Affection”, with an equally impressive electric lead guitar part. These three would make for a great set in the Revue. “Matter of Time”’s old-timey arrangement took me right back to Rod Stewart’s first album and it’s followed by a gorgeous version of Tom Waits’ “Ol’ 55”. Her biography lists her role as Janis Joplin in the off-Broadway hit, Love Janis, and her performance at the SARS Benefit Concert along with the Rolling Stones along with her many other accomplishments. Check it all out at www.sassjordan.com.
Doc MacLean & Big
Dave McLean
Big Road Blues
CBC
The new tour, as you’ve no doubt already read in this issue, is called The Century Tour, after its more than one hundred upcoming engagements. What good fortune it is to have this memento of the first one. What you are going to get on the tour, and what you’ll hear on the new silver disc, are two of our finest country blues performers at the top of their game. The show was at the Red Onion in Calgary and was beautifully recorded by the CBC, near the end of that tour, by which time the wrinkles of two solo performers working together had been well ironed out. The two alternate vocals, with the other usually accompanying and Doc MacLean gives us live versions of some songs from his Narrow House CD plus two new ones. Big Dave McLean shows us what he does with traditional blues songs for a pleasing mix of the familiar and perhaps less familiar. Big Dave’s more outgoing performing style also goes some way to lighten the sometimes rather dour Doc. He knows the blues isn’t pretty but too much reality may not be a good idea when it comes to an evening’s entertainment. Big Dave starts things off with his main man, Muddy Waters, and “Feel Like Goin’ Home”. “Jimmy Lee Jackson’s Blues” is a new one by Doc, and unlike on Narrow House, he keeps the valuable introduction. Dave adds harmonica and vocal interjections. Big Dave’s arrangement of “You Got To Move” is a highlight and Doc’s humming accompaniment is spot on. “Johnson Terraplane” is nearly double the length of its Narrow House predecessor but worth every second. You really have to hear Big Dave’s solo re-working of “Little Red Rooster” - it’s a masterpiece. Doc has been doing “Angola Prison Rodeo” for some time and its rather necessary introduction didn’t make Narrow House. It’s here now. After Dave’s take on “Rainin’ In My Heart”, Doc does a traditional tune himself. “Preacher Went A-Huntin’” makes for a nice addition to Doc’s own songs. Dave takes on Willie Dixon next with a crowd-pleasing version of “Don’t Go No Further”. After Doc’s “Three Cards on a Coffin”, they go out with Dave’s rousing version of “Walking Blues”. With Dave on his National and Doc on harmonica, you realize it doesn’t get any better than this. Find out about the show near you at www.centurybluestour.blogspot.com and get this CD while your there.
Danny Brooks
Live At
The Palais Royale/Soulsville III
HisHouse
On May 27th, Danny Brooks & The Rockin' Revelators recorded the 3rd installment for the Soulsville Trilogy that was started with Soulsville Souled Out 'n Sanctified and Rock This House. With Alec Fraser producing this time, the full Rockin' Revelators line-up was: Bucky Berger on drums, Dennis Pinhorn, bass, Papa John King, guitar, Lance Anderson, piano & B3, Ed Zankowski, sax, Rocky Verweel, trumpet and Award winning soul shouters Amoy Levy & Hiram Joseph on background vocals behind Danny Brooks on guitar/harp/vocals. These are not live versions of those songs, only one of those is here, but excellent new ones and recording them live was a stroke of genius. The song that has been released to radio, “Carolina”, shows Danny re-discovering slide guitar and it rocks. It’s about hearing a band in the wrong part of Fayetteville, North Carolina. “Still Got This Thing For You” tells his story beginning with his older brother buying soul 45s in Buffalo and leading to his continuing fascination with the sound of Solomon Burke, Joe Tex and all the other masters of that 60’s Memphis & Muscle Schoals soul. As in the first two in the series, Danny’s ability to write in this style of music is uncanny. His voice, too, has only improved with age. From the bluesy “The Other Side of the Clouds” to the solid blues of “Righteous Highway” to the gospel fervor of “Somebody On Your Bond”, Danny & the band will transport you to different place. The blues “Carry Me Home” and “Holy Ghost Highway” are just voice & guitar and add a nice touch of variety. As you might tell from the song titles, Danny continues to find his salvation in the Lord and his book on his experiences, “Miracles For Breakfast”, is also doing very well. This should not interfere with your enjoyment of the album or the earlier two, after all it all comes from gospel music anyway. If you grew up with this music, as a lot of us did, you’ll be going back to this disc repeatedly. Find out more at www.dannybrooksmusic.com.
Digging Roots
We Are
Odeimin/Outside Music
After a much more blues friendly first album, We Are is billed as ‘groove-heavy, hip-hop/blues fusion’. Whatever it’s called, it’s an ambitious undertaking. ShoShona Kish & Raven Kanatakta with producer Kinnie Starr have assembled a very contemporary sound, with quite a large cast them helping out. Tanya Tagaq, the Inuit throat singer, being one of them. The multi-tracking, synths & drum programming, though, are all put to the service of the songs and there are some very good ones here - particularly the socially charged ones: “We Are”, "Plant The Seeds" and "Brave Enough". “Spring To Come” seems a perfect definition of the hip-hop/blues fusion with rapping by Raven & ShoShona over a slide part by Raven on a National, along with a lot of other things layered in. ShoShona’s showstopper about cutting her hair at the Women’s Blues Revue last year seems to have evolved into this complex effort. Maybe it can be revived someday in its original form. Raven's blues guitar playing is very much in evidence throughout and especially so on his vocal, “Lonely”. “Bring The Water” & the reggae-influenced “Strong & Beautiful” are equally impressive, both for their content as well as production successes. Song lyrics are thoughtfully provided. The web site is www.DiggingRootsMusic.com.
The Twisters
Come Out
Swingin’
NorthernBlues/Outside Music
The Twisters are back with their second one on NorthernBlues (their fifth overall) and with so much critical acclaim for After The Storm, why tamper with a good thing. They went back to Whitehorse to record. The BlueStar Studio there obviously did wonders and does so here again. Also back is Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne on keyboards. They have however added some new grooves and they do indeed come out swinging: the opening song, “I’ll Make It Up To You” sounds like it came right out of the swing era. They then move smartly into rhumba territory with “Something’s Gotta Give”. “Long Overdue” is more along the lines of what we’ve come to expect. But “Doghouse” is unhyphenated rockabilly. “Guess That I Was Wrong” is a straight blues. As you might expect, these seemingly disparate styles are all performed effortlessly by this stellar band. David Hoerl’s vocal on “Something’s Gotta Give” is initially quite jarring, singing his Great Recession lyrics over such a jaunty rhythm. It’s very effective. Guitarist Brandon Isaac sings on slightly more than half the songs. Keith Picot is on bass and Lonnie Powell is on drums. There is more rockabilly and even some reggae on “Take My Own Advice”. Another highlight for me is the country blues duet of “I Refuse To Get Old” with Hoerl on vocals & harp and Isaac on guitar. Isaac tackles Albert King on “Dirty Boy Blues”. “The Twisters Theme” concludes the CD with a delightful group vocal that tells us all we need to know about this band. It’s been a while since they’ve been here. I hope it’s not too much longer. This album has already been nominated for a West Coast Music Award for Best Blues Album of the Year. Get more news and tour info from www.twisters.ca.
Stu Heydon
3rd
Degree Self
Windsor-born Stu Heydon is a veteran bluesman with his first CD as a leader. He began his career playing with Detroit’s legendary Bobo Jenkins, to whom this CD is dedicated. A charter member of the Windsor/Detroit scene, he was also a long time member of the Wild Child Butler band after he re-located to Windsor. So he knows about the blues. Although he has since moved to Carmel CA, he recorded much of this album at Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton with our A-List players: Prakash John & Jordan John are on bass & drums, Mike Branton on rhythm guitar, Les Smith on harp and Michael Fonfara/Bob Phillips/Dennis Keldie on keyboards. The result is a solid program of original songs. “Middle Of The Night” is a chugging opener that reminds me of Coco Montoya or John Mayall. “Closing Time”, at a similar tempo, is another one of the highlights – a packed seven minutes that goes by too quickly. The B3/lead guitar sound he likes reaches its peak on the title instrumental, a jazzy delight. The slow blues “Fooled Myself” features a lengthy solo by the unheralded Les Smith although solo may not be the right word. Heydon simply sings over the hard-working band, much as a jazz singer might. It’s unusual but works very well here. As a singer, he has a fairly limited range but he knows that and he uses it well. “Sleazy” is another instrumental with Heydon taking a good solo. Check out his web site at www.stuheydon.com.
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
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