Jazzman Blues

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).

Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz, Vol. 5: Around The World 1961-1979 (2014) {Jazzman ‎JMANCD 067}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 444 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 188 Mb
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© 1961-79, 2014 Jazzman Records | ‎JMANCD 067
Jazz / Spiritual Jazz / Modal Jazz / Progressive Jazz

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.

Hilton Felton - The Best Of Hilton Felton 1970-1974 (2012) {Jazzman JMANCD 049}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 218 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 85 Mb
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© 1970-74, 2012 Hilton's Concept / Jazzman Records | JMANCD 049
Jazz / Funk Jazz / Soul Jazz / Rare Groove / Keyboards

Washington, D.C.-based jazz keyboardist Hilton Felton put out a few privately pressed LPs and singles on his Hilton's Concept label in the 1970s and early '80s. This compilation has five tracks from those releases from the first half of the 1970s, all running between four and nine minutes. Even within its relatively brief number of selections, it spans a pretty wide range of soul-jazz, almost to the point that it wouldn't be surprising if each cut was taken from a different disc – which, alas, is impossible to ascertain, since the annotation doesn't specify the source of each cut.

Modern electric blues guitar can be traced directly back to this Texas-born pioneer, who began amplifying his sumptuous lead lines for public consumption circa 1940 and thus initiated a revolution so total that its tremors are still being felt today. Few major postwar blues guitarists come to mind that don't owe T-Bone Walker an unpayable debt of gratitude. B.B. King has long cited him as a primary influence, marveling at Walker's penchant for holding the body of his guitar outward while he played it. Gatemouth Brown, Pee Wee Crayton, Goree Carter, Pete Mayes, and a wealth of other prominent Texas-bred axemen came stylistically right out of Walker during the late '40s and early '50s.

March 2013, Stanstead Qc – Just in time for the 2013 Blues & Jazz Festival season, Mike Goudreau is launching his 15th album, “Time For Messin’ Around”, comprising 11 songs with 8 new compositions and 3 covers from the Eastern Townships blues and jazzman. Says Goudreau: “We’ve got something here that might surprise blues fans old and new!” For the occasion, Goudreau is accompanied by long-time cronies Jonathan-Guillaume Boudreau on bass, Jean-François Bégin on drums, and the saxophonist David Élias on one song. Also appearing as special guest is Pascal “Per’’ Veillette, a very unique and talented harmonicist who brings a particular exotic flair with his participation on two songs. For “Time For Messin’ Around”, Goudreau goes back to the “roots’’ approach as he did on his 2006 album “The Grass Ain’t Greener”.

Many improvisers would agree that having the feeling of the blues is a crucial part of jazz expression; however, the jazz and blues worlds don't interact nearly as often as they should. There are jazz musicians who will play Miles Davis' "All Blues" or Charlie Parker's "Parker's Mood" on a regular basis but wouldn't know John Lee Hooker from Little Milton; there are blues artists who are much more likely to work with a rock musician than a jazz musician. So it is a rare treat to hear a blues-oriented guitarist and a jazz-oriented guitarist co-leading a session, which is exactly what happens on More Conversations in Swing Guitar. This 2003 release is a sequel to bluesman Duke Robillard and jazzman Herb Ellis' 1999 encounter Conversations in Swing Guitar, and the CD proves that good things can happen when jazz and blues players interact. More Conversations in Swing Guitar is an album of very blues-minded instrumental jazz – it's hardly a carbon copy of Robillard's work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, but the bluesman has no problem appearing in a jazz-oriented setting.