This double album is devoted to the exceptional match between African-American musicians and boxers who all packed a punch in carrying the hopes of their people. Selected by Monique Pouget and Jean Buzelin from material that has all the passion of the ring, these emblematic pieces evoke a people’s admiration for its champions… with some unexpected bouts with fighters who were heroes. A bonus is the tribute paid to the exboxers who shelved their gloves before going on to vibrate, body and soul, and with great talent, in the arena of blues and jazz.
The last truly indispensable disc of the great guitar hero's career, and perhaps the most innately satisfying of all, these mid-'50s recordings boast magnificent presence, with T-Bone Walker's axe so crisp and clear it seems as though he's sitting right next to you as he delivers a luxurious remake of "Call It Stormy Monday." Atlantic took some chances with Walker, dispatching him to Chicago for a 1955 date with Junior Wells and Jimmy Rogers that produced "Why Not" and "Papa Ain't Salty." Even better were the 1956-1957 L.A. dates that produced the scalding instrumental "Two Bones and a Pick" (which finds Walker dueling it out with nephew R.S. Rankin and jazzman Barney Kessel).
Groundbreaking guitar work of dazzling complexity that never fails to amaze - and this stuff was cut in the 1920s! Lonnie Johnson's astonishingly fluid guitar work was massively influential (Robert Johnson, for one, was greatly swayed by his waxings), and his no-nonsense vocals (frequently laced with threats of violence - "Got the Blues for Murder Only" and "She's Making Whoopee in Hell Tonight" are prime examples on this 19-cut collection) are scarcely less impressive. Johnson's torrid guitar duets with jazzman Eddie Lang retain their sense of legend over nine decades after they were cut.
2011 three CD collection from the Blues legend. Without T-Bone's innovatory approach to playing the guitar there would have been no B.B. King, no Buddy Guy, no Freddie King, no Eric Clapton, nor any of the plank-spankers who strut the stage at Blues festivals and club gigs. The line began with T-Bone, who, along with his friend Charlie Christian, invented the vocabulary for the amplified guitar. Throughout the late 1940s, T-Bone cut a sequence of singles for labels like Black & White and Capitol that laid the groundwork for what became the prevailing style of Blues recording. T-Bone transferred to the Imperial label in 1950 but the music continued in an unbroken line of creative superiority, heard in 'The Hustle Is On', 'Strollin' With Bone', 'I Get So Weary' and 'Here In The Dark'. 75 tracks.
Until it was swept aside by the pop explosion of the 1960s, jazz was the most popular modern sound on earth. From the New World and the Caribbean to Africa, across the Soviet Bloc and the British Empire to the Far East, jazz music was embraced, adopted, played and enjoyed.