Gitanes

Joe Louis Walker is a powerful blues guitarist and singer whose versatility and musical courage are showcased throughout this frequently rousing set. Walker collaborates (and sometimes battles it out) with Bonnie Raitt, Ike Turner, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, Taj Mahal, Robert Lockwood Jr. and the Johnny Nocturne Horns on one song apiece, in addition to having three features of his own. Of the many highlights, "Low Down Dirty Blues" (which features Walker and Raitt jamming on slide guitars), the 1940s jump band feel of "Mile-Hi Club," the Walker-Guy guitar explosions on "Every Girl I See," the joyful encounter with Matt Murphy on "Nighttime" and Lockwood's appearance on "High Blood Pressure" are all quite memorable. This all-star gathering works quite well and is consistently memorable; all 11 selections are well worth hearing.

Catch Up With The Blues is an album by Johnny Copeland released in 1994 on Verve Records. It was recorded April 27–30 and May 1–3, 1993 at Kiva Recording Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. The album was produced by John Snyder (Producer), and Jay Newland (Associate Producer). The album features Copeland on Rhythm and Lead Guitar and Vocals, along with Richard Ford (Steel Guitar), "Sonny Boy" Terry (Harmonica), Floyd Phillips (Piano), Bobby Kyle (Rhythm and Lead Guitar), Mabon "Teenie" Hodges (Rhythm Guitar), Randy Lee Lippincott (Bass), Barry Harrison (Drums), Robert Hall (Tambourine), Jaqueline Johnson and Jacquelyn Reddick (Background Vocals), and The Memphis Horns (Wayne Jackson on Trumpet and Trombone, and Andrew Love on Tenor Saxophone).

San Francisco blues pilgrim Joe Louis Walker documents an eclectic career with a landmark album, assembling elements from his productive stabs at Delta and Chicago blues, slide acoustic and funk-rock, motor jazz and gospel. He even throws a taste of social commentary into the mix with the title cut of The Preacher and the President, which is mostly a tribute to (and graduation from) his preferred (and stricter) urban-pulpit forms of late. Sure to be criticized by some as lacking in depth, Walker makes up for it in range, with viable demonstrations of influence by Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and old roommate Mike Bloomfield. Those in the need of a smidge of convincing should cut directly to the way-down "Uhhh!" and the reassuringly lustful "Yveline," since "Repay My Love" wouldn't offend a fan of easy listening, and the oddly colorless "I Ain't Messin' Around" speaks accurately of itself: it ain't.

Charlie Haden Quartet West - Haunted Heart (1991) {Verve 314 513 078-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 393 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 269 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1991 Verve Records / Gitanes Jazz Productions | 314 513 078-2
Jazz / Neo-Bop / Bass

Charlie Haden loves film as much as music, combining both loves on the critically acclaimed Haunted Heart. Haden led his tremendous group Quartet West through 12 numbers, several, like Cole Porter's "Every Time We Say Goodbye," and Alan Broadbent's "Lady In The Lake," Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "Haunted Heart," and even the short introduction, with film ties and/or links. Haden transferred vocals on some numbers from Jeri Southern, Billie Holiday and Jo Stafford into the mix without disrupting or disturbing the group framework. Quartet West has emerged as a premier small combo, and Haden nicely paid tribute to the past without being held hostage to it.

Insatiable showman, blues singer, and ace harp man kept his high-energy act alive for over a half century. At his high-energy, 1970s peak as a bandleader, James Cotton was a bouncing, sweaty, whirling dervish of a bluesman, roaring his vocals and all but sucking the reeds right out of his defenseless little harmonicas with his prodigious lung power. Due to throat problems during his latter years, Cotton's vocals were no longer what they used to be, but he remained a masterful instrumentalist for decades. Cotton had some gargantuan shoes to fill when he stepped into Little Walter's slot as Muddy Waters' harp ace in 1954, but for the next dozen years, the young Mississippian filled the integral role beside Chicago's blues king with power and precision. Of course, Cotton had been preparing for such a career move for a long time, having learned how to wail on harp from none other than Sonny Boy Williamson himself.

A witty, imaginative songwriter, crisply concise guitarist, and convincing singer, Baton Rouge Larry Garner is the proverbial triple threat - and a good bet to rise to blues stardom in the immediate future. His major-label debut is a wondrous collection filled with songs that don't embrace simple cliches ("Four Cars Running," "Another Bad Day," and "Shak Bully" are anything but routine). "Miracles of Time" is almost pop-soul in its structure, while "Rats and Roaches in My Kitchen," Garner's lowdown tribute to swamp blues pioneer Silas Hogan, benefits from Sonny Landreth's burrowing slide guitar.

Paco de Lucia, one of the greatest living guitarist in the world, was born Francisco Sanchez Gomez in Algeciras, a city in the province of Cadiz, in the Southernmost tip of Spain on December 21st, 1947. His stage name is an homage to his mother Lucia Gomez.

His father, Antonio Sanchez, a day laborer, played guitar at night as a way to supplement his income. He, Paco's elder brother Ramon de Algeciras and flamenco master Ni–o Ricardo were de Lucia's main influences. His first performance was on Radio Algeciras in 1958. The brothers Ramon, Pepe (a singer) and Paco now compromise half of the Paco de Lucia sextet.

The training ground for a flamenco guitarist, de Lucia once said, "is the music around you, made by people you see, the people you make music with. You learn it from your family, from your friends, in la juerga (the party) drinking. And then you work on technique. Guitarists do not need to study. And, as it is with any music, the great ones will spend some time working with the young players who show special talent. You must understand that a Gypsy's life is a life of anarchy. That is a reason why the way of flamenco music is a way without discipline as you know it. We don't try to organize things with our minds, we don't go to school to find out. We just live…….. music is everywhere in our lives."

The origins of the word flamenco are somewhat in dispute. Some argue that the word refers to the Flemish people who arrived in Spain in the 16th Century and once meant simply foreigner or non-Spanish. Others suggest that the word derives from the Arabic phrase "felah mengu," meaning pleasant in flight.

What is indisputable is that flamenco is a blend of the many cultures - Gypsy, Muslim, Jewish - that at one time settled in Andalucia, in the South of Spain. Their influences can be heard distinctively in the melisma of the singer, the rhythms, the slowly curling harmonic lines of the guitars.