Ayo Nature Boy

Originally released 1969 on Verve this is a truly lost jewel, released for the first time on CD. Joe Beck, one of the most famous jazz guitar players, recorded this album with fellow Donald McDonald on drums and among guest musicians is Danny Whitten, guitar player of Crazy Horse before they worked together with Neil Young. On this album Beck, influenced by Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, created a song-oriented psychedelic rock style with slightly jazz influences showing his remarkable guitar skills, including some fine Wah-Wah treatments. Really great stuff. CD comes with informative booklet.

The year 2000 saw the release of a Blue Note CD featuring Jackie McLean that presented the alto saxophone master in a new perspective. Normally a firebrand, McLean banks the embers on this one to create a sound more mellow than his fans have heard in the past. But something is gained in the slow burn, and beautiful music is the beneficiary on this collection of jazz standards. McLean is joined in his endeavor by three of the top musicians in his trade: Cedar Walton on piano, David Williams on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. This impeccable aggregation is definitely up to the task of reining in the edgy side of McLean's playing, as they engage in a musical dialogue and trade off solo riffs…

Rice Miller (or Alec or Aleck Miller – everything about this blues great is somewhat of a mystery) probably didn't need to take the name of the original Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee Williamson) to get noticed, since in many ways he was the better musician, but Miller seemed to revel in confusion, at least when it came to biographical facts, so for whatever reason, blues history has two Sonny Boy Williamsons. Like the first Williamson, Miller was a harmonica player, but he really sounded nothing like his adopted namesake, favoring a light, soaring, almost horn-like sound on the instrument…

Billy Boy Arnold is one of the last of the legendary Chicago Blues harmonica players. In addition to his solo releases, he recorded with Bo Diddley in the Fifties and has been covered by David Bowie, The Yardbirds and The Blasters. Produced by Duke Robillard and backed by stellar musicians, including the Roomful Of Blues Horns, this release showcases a brilliant artist still in his prime. Billy Boy was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013. "Billy Boy Arnold's talent as a songwriter, singer, harp master and blues historian is still in full swing and here, on this album, he demonstrates his flair and love for many different facets of the blues. This recording is surely a remarkable achievement."

At this point in his career, harmonica legend Billy Boy Arnold could just coast on his Chicago blues laurels, rehashing his old tunes and tricks whenever he decides to cut a new album. But fortunately, Arnold doesn't buy into shortcuts, and neither does his producer for this session, Duke Robillard. On Boogie 'n' Shuffle, Arnold really lets it rip – not only in the John Lee Williamson tradition he's well-known for, but also in the R&B traditions of Ray Charles and Jimmy McCracklin. Robillard's band is certainly up to the task, seamlessly switching from flashy soul grooves ("Home in Your Heart") to lazy Jimmy Reed-styled boogies ("Come Here Baby") to Delta blues barrelhouse ("Greenville").

In his younger days, Billy Boy Arnold was captivated by the recordings of Big Bill Broonzy. He even met the pre-war generation bluesmaster and asked him if he would play on his recording session (what Big Bill denied).
The 15 songs that Billy Boy selected for this CD, in collaboration with producer and guitarist Eric Noden, were ones that Big Bill recorded between the late 1930s and the early 1950s. Even though they represent only a small fraction of the several hundred songs Big Bill wrote over his thirty-year career, they showcase his versatility as a songwriter.
The talented musicians who have chosen to pay tribute to Big Bill have accomplished this successfully by playing in the spirit of his work rather than trying to reproduce it precisely as it was recorded…