Blues Dimensions

Walking through the residential heart of Portland's Mississippi district you'll find a charming wooden house under the overcast Oregon sky. This local landmark is the home of soul legend Ural Thomas, built by hand with found materials decades ago. The basement is overflowing with musical equipment. When you walk down into the room you may see Portland’s Soul Brother Number One at the table chuckling, telling stories and jokes, and espousing his personal humanist philosophy obtained from 82 years of unfathomable experiences. He's often joined by either his generations of biological posterity or the adopted family that is his band, The Pain. You may also find this infinitely magnetic personality ripping through a cover song at full volume or working out a new original with his loved ones.

British Blues: From Skiffle to Rock, a Various Artists Compilation. Released 3 March 2023.

There are two videos of Niecy Blues performing in Charleston, South Carolina, way back in March 2018: one is a luxuriantly soulful song called “Christine”, and the other is a guitar-forward R&B track called “Ways”. In the first shot of the latter video, the entire setlist has been written on a whiteboard: the best part of an album that the artist, at some point, outgrew with not one of those titles appearing anywhere in her – until now – sparse discography. It’s been a long road traveled to Exit Simulation, her debut LP, and a breathtaking and immaculate creative statement. In a just world, this record will lay down fire and love in innumerable hearts and minds.

Blues to the Bone is a 2004 album by Etta James. The album contains a selection of twelve blues standards which are among her favourites. The album was given a Grammy Award in 2005 for Best Traditional Blues Album.

In the summer of 1965 – in the midst of an era of great rock guitar hooks – Jeff Beck made his entrance (and what an entrance) with the bitingly unforgettable riff backbone to the Yardbirds’ biggest hit ‘Heart Full Of Soul’. It announced the debut of a guitar genius that posterity would soon rank with Clapton, Page and Hendrix in the pantheon of rock guitar gods – not only for the 60s, but for the ages. The word “legend” doesn’t do Jeff Beck justice. In his long and fascinatingly erratic career, he covered many musical bases, his art ranging from viciously hard and heavy to transcendentally beautiful, everything perfectly played and straight from the heart. He was beyond amazing: “Jeff’s got notes on his guitar no one else has,” said Eric Clapton. Jeff Beck’s first and biggest successes are here on this album: blues-based precursors to the musical dimensions he would explore so satisfyingly for the following fifty years, yet still astounding, still thrilling.

Four-hour, 3CD anthology of hard-edged British R&B from the genre's pivotal year. Featuring hit singles, key album tracks, cult classics and some fabulous previously unreleased recordings. While 1963 belonged to the Merseyside-led beat boom, the following year saw the emergence of homegrown R&B as market leaders The Rolling Stones were joined on the Thames Delta by a host of equally young, raw and enthusiastic British blues-hounds. The Pretty Things, The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann would all come to national prominence, but many other putative king bees - The Artwoods, Downliners Sect, early Ronnie Wood outfit The Birds - would have to settle for a more localised audience. Other hard-up heroes trying to pay the rent included The Who (as The High Numbers), Steve Marriott (as leader of The Moments) and Rod 'The Mod' Stewart (with The Hoochie Coochie Men), who all gave early notice of their developing talent to an indifferent world.

Miles Dewey Davis III (* May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois; † September 28, 1991 in Santa Monica, California) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player, composer and bandleader and one of the most influential jazz musicians of the 20th century. After participating in the so-called Bebop revolution, Davis significantly influenced the development of different jazz styles such as cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz and jazz rock. Both as an instrumentalist and as a creative spirit, Miles Davis managed to realize his own artistic ideas and at the same time be commercially successful.

Mostly underground for years as a secret songwriter. Kaz Hawkins is now established as one the biggest female singers ever to come out of Northern Ireland, called “A Vocal Force” on stage, she envelops the fighting spirit of a true powerhouse singer. With comparisons to her idol Etta James, Mavis Staples, Janis Joplin. Kaz is loved for her down to earth attitude; she brings fun to every performance & is loved not only by her fans but anyone who meets her. She has lived and sang “The Blues” but has much more to offer across different genres in her song writing and has now embarked on an exciting mix of genres she has written for her debut album ‘Get Ready‘ which she self released in August 2014 to exciting reviews. This unique songstress wowed fans across the UK on her Get Ready Tour in September 2014 with fans & critics comparing her to the old female blues greats. This formidable lady is rising and rising fast. Kaz is a singer songwriter with a difference, she captivates an audience with her vocal range & emotional portrayal of her life. She is one of Belfast’s true characters.

"New City Blues" is the debut full-length album of Aubrie Sellers, the daughter of Lee Ann Womack. While her voice is the stuff of classic country dreams, her taste in composition often favors riffs and distortion more commonly heard in subterranean rock clubs than Nashville honky-tonks. Heavy twang and fuzzy feedback might seem like strange bedfellows, but Sellers shows how sweet it sounds to break the rules.