Vigon Bamy Jay

If there is just the slightest occasional hesitation in Jay McShann's singing on these tracks, which were recorded live at Toronto's Montreal Bistro on February 2, 2001 for CBC Radio One's Saturday Night Blues show, and if he occasionally doesn't really lock into the groove until the rest of the band (Jim Galloway on saxophones, Rosemary Galloway on bass, and Don Vickery on drums) jumps in, the real miracle is that McShann, at 90-years-old, can do this at all. But do it he does, and he delivers a wonderfully charming set of jazzy blues pieces that brim with an unsaid joy…

Jay Stapley started his musical career playing with local bands in Kent and Sussex in the UK. In 1978 he became involved in the London music scene and became a session player and gigging guitarist. He worked alongside various artists and producers on international tours with Roger Waters and Mike Oldfield, the film Withnail and I, and on the albums of Suede, Toyah and Scott Walker. In 1983 while performing live work with Julian Dawson in Germany, he met producer René Tinner and began working in Tinner's Cologne studio to record guitar tracks for various projects. During the 1990s Stapley recorded four instrumental CDs for WEA.

Two-time Grammy winner/arranger/producer/songwriter/guitarist Jay Graydon's credits include hits by Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire ("After the Love Is Gone," co-written with David Foster and Bill Champlin), Steely Dan, Dionne Warwick, Air Supply, Chaka Khan, Al Jarreau ("Mornin'"), Breakin' Away, Heart's Horizon, High Crime, Jarreau, This Time, the Manhattan Transfer ("Twilight Zone"), George Benson ("Turn Your Love Around"), Cher, Christopher Cross, DeBarge ("Who's Holding Donna Now"), Barry Manilow (Even Now), and El Debarge, among many others. He also was involved with the soundtracks to Ghostbusters, Miami Vice, and St. Elmo's Fire. Graydon co-wrote "She's in Love," a track on Brenda Russell's Hidden Beach/Epicdebut album Paris Rain issued on July 18, 2000.

Never heard of Jay Owens? Doesn't matter. Owens' obscurity is something the somewhat laborious liner notes go to great lengths to establish, as if it were a badge of honor. The key, however, is the music's timeless soulfulness; after a couple of listens, you'll swear you've been listening to it all your life. For the record, Owens has made noise previously as a touring sideman for such greats as Stevie Wonder, Al Green, Aaron Neville, Etta James and Bobby Womack. But on his debut recording, he moves to center stage with the grace and poise of a veteran. What's more, the dude writes all his own songs. A generous thirteen of them are included on this album, originally released in 1993…

This unassuming and delightful little album visits a time when jazz and blues were still directly entwined, drawing on the ghosts of guitarists like Charlie Christian, Eddie Durham, Bill Jennings, Tiny Grimes, Barney Kessel, and Kenny Burrell, guitarists who used the blues to enrich the jazz pieces they played on, a kind of ensemble contribution that is all too frequently missing on the contemporary blues scene. Duke Robillard, Jay Geils, and Gerry Beaudoin are all gifted guitar players, each with his own career, but as a trio working three-part harmony lines around each other, they bring a stately ensemble grace to the tracks on New Guitar Summit (the trio also appears under that name when they do live shows).