Mel Brown

This remastered two-fer combines guitarist Mel Brown's second Impulse release from 1968, The Wizard, with Blues for We released the following year. The Wizard is a straight-ahead soul-jazz date picking up where Chicken Fat left off with a few originals alongside funky renditions of “Ode to Billie Joe” and Pee Wee Crayton’s R&B hit of the late '40s “Blues After Hours.” Blues for We relies more on an interesting selection of cover versions ranging from “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Son of a Preacher Man” to the bubblegum staple by the 1910 Fruitgum Company “Indian Giver” and Acker Bilk’s “Stranger on the Shore,” which was the theme of a BBC television drama. Brown’s guitar work on both sessions is fluid and greasy, as are the funky drum licks, but occasionally, the arrangements drift into superior background music. New liner notes are absent, but the original packaging - front and back cover art and liner notes - remain intact.

Mel Brown - The Wizard / Blues For We (1968) {Impulse! 2-on-1 Series Remaster rel 2011}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 413 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 148 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1968-69, 2011 Impulse! / Verve / Universal Music | 06025 2780945
Jazz / Soul Jazz / Jazz Blues / Jazz Funk / Blues / Guitar

This remastered two-fer combines guitarist Mel Brown's second Impulse release from 1968, The Wizard, with Blues for We released the following year. The Wizard is a straight-ahead soul-jazz date picking up where Chicken Fat left off with a few originals alongside funky renditions of “Ode to Billie Joe” and Pee Wee Crayton’s R&B hit of the late '40s “Blues After Hours.” Blues for We relies more on an interesting selection of cover versions ranging from “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” and “Son of a Preacher Man” to the bubblegum staple by the 1910 Fruitgum Company “Indian Giver” and Acker Bilk’s “Stranger on the Shore,” which was the theme of a BBC television drama. Brown’s guitar work on both sessions is fluid and greasy, as are the funky drum licks, but occasionally, the arrangements drift into superior background music. New liner notes are absent, but the original packaging – front and back cover art and liner notes – remain intact.

The final album from the late blues guitar legend and W.C. Handy Award winner Mel Brown. Features previously unreleased tracks of Mel at his very best with his close friend the Chicago harp legend Snooky Pryor, fellow Mississippi mojo master Sam Myers (Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets), Miss Angel and his protege emerging guitar star Enrico Crivellaro. Also includes unreleased vintage tracks from his Bluesway/Impulse era heyday in the early 1970's with additional guitar solos recorded by Mel in 2009. The haunting and achingly beautiful original instrumental title track Love, Lost and Found on which Mel played guitar, piano and B-3 organ may be the pinnacle of his incredible career.

Mel Brown. A blues legend was born in Jackson, Mississippi, how could it be otherwise. At age 14 he received his first guitar, a Gibson Les Paul with which seriously started studying music and that shapes the career path that leads him to Los Angeles in 1958, where a member of the Otis' Band to tour and work studied for two years. In 1960 and is located in the world of blues. Change the Les Paul by Gibson ES-175 and found integrating various bands, including accompanying Etta James and Sam Cooke.