Tommy Johnson

An amazing collection of classic Blues standbys, along with little know songs that served as the basis of the music that we listen to today. Again, an outstanding collection of three CDs worth of history, an essential Collector's item…

This 3 CD set includes some of the greatest, innovative and influential musicians of the 20th century, they are all here, Robert Johnson, Elmore James, B.B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker et al - performing some of their best known songs.

J.J. Johnson - Blue Trombone (1957) {2009 AJC Remaster}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 384 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 164 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 18 Mb
© 2009 American Jazz Classics / Columbia | 99002
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trombone

Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1957 release from the Jazz trombonist, Johnson's second complete album ever in a quartet format. The sessions, with master accompaniment by Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers and Max Roach, went so well that material for two albums was gathered (the other album being First Class). As an added bonus, there are two quartet tracks taken from Johnson's previous quintet sessions, as well as five quintet tracks that complete all of the master takes from the latter of those sessions.

When it came to the compiling of this country blues album, the towering influence of a dozen or so of the giants of pre-war blues made them totally un-droppable. Therefore, with so many familiar names, the challenge lay with creating the best possible cross section of this most diverse of genres within the time constraints of a CD.

This wonderful set includes four discs, 100 tracks in all, of vintage blues 78s released between 1924 and 1942 compiled by collector and archivist Neil Slaven. Each of the four discs has a theme, with the first disc presenting songs about gambling (including Peg Leg Howell's harrowing and kinetic "Skin Game Blues"), the second covering alcohol and drugs (including Tommy Johnson's immortal "Canned Heat Blues"), the third playlisting songs about jail and prison (including Bukka White's powerful "Parchman Farm Blues"), and the fourth winds things up with songs about death (including Blind Lemon Jefferson's "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean"). Several of the sides here will be familiar to serious fans of prewar country blues, but there are enough rare sides here, too, to make this set an archival treasure, and the themed discs help sketch out the imagined (and sometimes very real) arc of many of these players' lives and times.

Various Artists - Let Me Tell You About The Blues - Memphis: The Evolution Of Memphis Blues 1927-1958 (2009) {3 CD Box Set}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 687 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 467 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 153 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1927-58, 2009 Fantastic Voyage / Future Noise Music Ltd. | FVTD022
Blues / Regional Blues

Memphis was the town blues musicians passed through on their way to Chicago. But some of them stayed and the record companies sent their mobile units to record them. Over a three-year period from 1927, an astonishing amount of talent was recorded: local stars like the Memphis Jug Band, Frank Stokes, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Jim Jackson, Furry Lewis, Robert Wilkins, Bukka White, Memphis Minnie, Joe Callicott and Sleepy John Estes.

Very few musical artists achieve a true signature style one that makes comparisons to other musicians impossible. But Texas guitarist Eric Johnson arguably comes as close to this echelon as any musician from the past quarter-century. Like fellow Lone Star State guitarists Johnny Winter, Billy Gibbons, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnson blends the rock style of Jimi Hendrix and the blues power of Albert King.

The Budd Johnson Quintet - Let's Swing! (1960) {Prestige / OJC}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 274 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 102 Mb
Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 5 Mb
© 1992 Prestige / SwingVille / OJC | OJCCD-1720-2
Jazz / Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

This CD reissue brings back one of tenor saxophonist Budd Johnson's best showcases. Featured in a quintet with his brother Keg Johnson on trombone, pianist Tommy Flanagan, bassist George Duvivier, and drummer Charlie Persip, Budd starts off with a ballad feature ("Serenade in Blue") and performs three originals (including "Downtown Manhattan" and "Uptown Manhattan") as well as three other veteran standards. Throughout, Johnson sounds both modern, as if he had come of age as one of the "cool school," and timeless, since he was a major player by the mid-'30s. A fine set.