"chicago 2002"

Chicago guitarist Jimmy Johnson didn't release his first full domestic album until he was 50 years old. He determinedly made up for lost time, establishing himself as one of the Windy City's premier blues artists with a twisting, unpredictable guitar style and a soaring, soul-dripping vocal delivery that stood out from the pack. Locally, Johnson is rated the equal of such acclaimed Chicago bluesmen as Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Lonnie Brooks and Son Seals.

A collection of 80s/ first 90s music videos from AOR band Chicago. The promos of their best known hits and ballads are here included, coming both from the Peter Cetera and the Jason Scheff eras. Among them: 'Hard to Say I'm Sorry', 'Love MeTomorrow', '25 or 6 to 4', 'Will you still love me?', 'You're Not Alone' and 'Chasin' the Wind'.
According to Billboard chart statistics, Chicago is second only to the Beach Boys as the most successful American rock band of all time, in terms of both albums and singles.

This recording, comprised of two complete Art Ensemble of Chicago albums – Les Stances a Sophie with singer Fontella Bass from 1970 and People in Sorrow from 1969 – offers two very different sides of the group's sound from this key period in their development. Recorded in France and released on the Nessa label in the United States, the two discs show how much in command the AEC were of their strengths even at that early date, though for the record it should be noted that with the exception of Don Moye and Lester Bowie, the trio of Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors had been playing together since 1965. Living in self-imposed exile in France, the band explored the complete historical continuum of jazz and moved the free jazz boundary further to the left.

Broken English is one of two-discs' worth of material (along with Short Visit to Nowhere) that the Brötzmann-led tentet recorded in the summer of 2000. Oddly, "Stonewater" was performed on the previous release of the same name in a somewhat shorter version (despite being the only track on that album). Here, it begins with Hamid Drake on frame drum reciting passages from the Qu'ran, soon accompanied by Brötzmann's ecstatic tarogato. Just when the listener thinks the piece will consist of unfolding layers of Middle Eastern exotica, the full band breaks in blaring shades of the leader's early FMP sides. The rest of the work is meted out in episodic fashion, sparse solo interludes mixing with dense ensemble passages, eventually settling into a quasi-groove to take it out. The structure is a bit on the clunky side, but it provides ample space for solid solos from, among others, Jeb Bishop, Joe McPhee, and the ever-astounding Mats Gustafsson. Ken Vandermark's title composition also begins with a vaguely Arabic aura, Michael Zerang's hand drums accompanied by high-register bowed bass, but soon leaps into a raw, up-tempo mode that alternates with a brooding, noir-ish theme for the remainder. In both pieces, the value is found more in the imaginative and heartfelt solo work than in the framework of the compositions. While enjoyable, this isn't nearly as effective as live performances by this group could be, where the composed and the improvised intertwined seamlessly, often to spectacular effect. Broken English is a good album, but the tentet had yet to be captured on disc in all their power.

Tommy McClennan would work in the cotton fields by day and in the evenings he would play on the streets of Greenwood, MS. Later he worked in juke joints and for dance parties, playing both the guitar and the piano. McClennan was a small man, standing just 4 feet 10, but this in no way negated the powerful voice that he possessed. His guitar playing is typical of the Mississippi style; simple, dominant, solid rhythms from the bass end with dashes of spikey treble riffs interjected between the vocal choruses. His voice was rough, hoarse and loud. Loud enough to be heard over the hubbub in a Mississippi juke joint on a Saturday night. Honey Boy Edwards tells of Tommy’s habit of standing in front of a mirror talking to himself…

Really, this is probably Chicago's most underrated and overlooked of their early albums, but full of great material, and certainly one of their finest…