Alex Wood

This is the bomb! It goes off with spectacular flair. From back at a time when it was the sax (not the guitar) that was the primary instrument in rock’n’roll, the various artists on This Is The Night: Lessons In Wild Saxophonology (Koko Mojo) run the gamut from Rosco Gordon’s “Tummer Tee,” Jimmy Tolliver’s “Hoochie Kootchie Koo” and Kansas City Jimmy’s “Cheating Woman” to Screaming Joe Neal’s “She’s My Baby,” Johnny Wright’s “Look At That Chick” and Otis Riley’s “Little Miss Bibbitty Bobbitty Boom” (highlights all). But wait, there’s more. From “Hot Tamales” by Noble Watts, “Way Out” by The Vibrators and “I’m Gonna Whale On You” by the politically incorrect Little Arthur Mathews to “Huchia Cuthia Lovin’ Man” by King Alex & The Untouchables,” these unbelievably great jump-blues and rockin’ rhythm rides will have you heaving and twitching. Scouring the depths of ‘50s and ‘60s sides (with some ‘40s thrown in too), it never fails to amaze how many poppin’ pulsating slabs of wax were made by little-known artists from long-ago and far-away. Well, here they are!

Ray Russell and Alex Harvey formed Rock Workshop in the early 70's, and it became an expansive band of thirteen musicians, most of which were of the U.K.'s leading young jazz musicians, who created an innovative and technically innovative form of experimental rhythm and blues. Ray Russell recalls that he was playing with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames and then appeared in the 'Hair' musical together with Alex Harvey's brother Les. It was from this meeting, and Alex Harvey's involvement on backing vocals in the musical, the idea of Rock Workshop was born. The collective's first album was issued in 1970 to great critical acclaim…

Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music–influenced instrumentals, modern electronica (with chillout, and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro-space-age cultural elements…