Charlie

Music Club has done it again with this amazing retrospective of blues guitarist and harmonicat Charlie Musselwhite. The Mississippi-born, Memphis-raised, and Chicago-trained bluesman has issued so many strong recordings it's a wonder that this isn't a box set. But if you have to boil it down to a single disc for a budget price, this is the one to have without question. Contained within its 20 selections are tracks from his two 1970s Arhoolie albums, Takin' My Time and Goin' Back Down South, from 1971 and 1974, respectively; The Harmonica According to Charlie Musselwhite, issued first on Kicking Mule and later on Blind Pig in 1978 and 1994, respectively; and finally from his Alligator albums, Ace of Harps (1990 and a Grammy winner), Signature (1992 and Grammy nominated), and In My Time (1994, also Grammy nominated).

Charlie Watts “Anthology” is an affectionate retrospective and a reflection of just how frequently Watts was able to exercise his jazz muscles between Rolling Stones commitments to create a bespoke discography of his own. Including 3 unreleased tracks. The names of Charlie's jazz heroes fell from his lips like a superfan turning the pages of a personal scrapbook. Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, Chico Hamilton, Dave Green, Stan Tracey, Peter King, Courtney Pine, Gail Thompson, Brian Lemon, Gerard Presencer, the Red Rodney group and collaborator Jim Keltner. He knew every player, every session, every album, every outfit they wore on the cover, and he spoke about them with a deep and genuine reverence. He may have been a globally loved hero in the biggest band in the word, but he swatted away any compliment or comparison with his musical favourites. He counted himself their admirer, never their equal. The Anthology includes an extended essay by Paul Sexton which documents Charlie Watt’s jazz career and the essential albums covered in the collection.

On this, Charlie Daniels' second release, there are obvious signs of a bright future for the guitar- and fiddle-playing hillbilly rocker. Along for the ride is Joel "Taz" DiGregoria, Charlie's longtime bandmate and keyboard wizard. Taz even takes lead vocal duties on one song, "Billy Joe Young," and his ivory tickling is a highlight of this historical Southern rock document. Daniels rocks with the intensity of a downbound train on "Great Big Bunches of Love," and on his cover of the Jerry Lee Lewis chestnut "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee." A true Southern poet, Charlie Daniels is seen here in the infancy of his artistic development, but even at this early stage, the poet is alive and well.

Avid Jazz here presents four classic Charlie Shavers albums plus including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Tribute To Andy Razaf featuring Maxine Sullivan”; “Horn O’ Plenty; The Most Intimate; Blue Stompin’ Plus Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm Excluding Commentary.
Our first album “Tribute to Andy Razaf” features singer Maxine Sullivan accompanied by amongst others, our featured artist Charlie Shavers on trumpet alongside Jerome Richardson, Dick Hayman and Milt Hinton. Andy Razaf was best known as Fats Waller’s collaborator and appropriately enough this set by Ms.Sullivan is both a tribute to Razaf and Fats! “Flow Gently Sweet Rhythm” again features Maxine Sullivan with Charlie Shavers leading the original John Kirby Band…

Originally titled HONEY IN THE ROCK and later renamed for its hit song (Daniels's first chart entry), UNEASY RIDER is the third Charlie Daniels album, but the first to put his name on the map. In addition to his previous southern-rock-meets-Western-swing sound, the album includes a significant R&B influence, making for an intriguing country-funk style. The title track's talking blues is particularly significant for espousing a hippie/counterculture perspective on the part of a man who'd later become known for championing more conservative values.

Whiskey is a 1977 LP re-issue of the 1974 album Way Down Yonder. Presumably, the album was re-named and marketed in 1977 to capitalize on the popularity of the country rock and outlaw country genres. Whiskey, however, quickly disappeared into obscurity only to re-surface as a long overdue CD reissue on the outstanding Wounded Bird Records in 2008. Because of these circumstances and its long absence from print, Whiskey is somewhat of a "lost" Charle Daniels Band album.

Avid Jazz presents four classic Charlie Byrd albums including original LP liner notes on a finely re-mastered and low priced double CD. “Jazz Recital”; “Blues For Night People”; “Byrd’s Word” and “The Guitar Artistry of Charlie Byrd”.
You might say Charlie Byrd was on a mission on his first album as a solo artist “Jazz Recital”, recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey in February 1957. A passionate believer in the guitar as an affective lead instrument in jazz, five of the ten cuts here are solo guitar pieces. With a background in classical guitar technique and having studied in Italy with the guitar maestro Segovia, Byrd lays out his ambition in the original liner notes “I’d like to see the guitarists of today using more of the vast store of knowledge…