Deltachord

What is it about the blues that can make a person happy? That’s a contradiction, isn’t it? Actually, not to everyone, many people say the blues are a positive inspiration that lifts you up. They say sharing the feeling with others is the key. You know you’re not alone and you feel connected to other people that relate to your mood, which makes you feel better.

Another reason the blues can make you happy is because of the versatility of the blues. Say what? Well, blues are akin to jazz, gospel, and rock. You see, there’s a concrete link between jazz and blues in the 12 bar blues pattern in songs like “The Sidewinder,” by Lee Morgan, “Blackjack,” by Donald Byrd, or “Cantaloupe Island,” and “Watermelon Man,” by Herbie Hancock.

Many jazz songs have incorporate blues riffs and a blues overtone. Okay, what about the happy thing? Here goes, jazz sounds happy. The rhythms are snappy. There’s a joyful feeling to many jazz tunes, and it was birthed from the blues.

The whole 12 bar blues pattern is also inherent in rock. Rock had the same mother that jazz had. You think of Buddy Holly and bingo, a lot of happy songs in his discography. The bright, cheerful music and lyrics of The Beach Boys comes to mind. Weird Al Yancovich turned many songs inside out with his funny innovations of familiar rock tunes.

Okay. Okay. What next you ask? Gospel, that direct link thing is hot here because the blues came from gospel music. They go hand in hand. Gospel music is inspiring spiritually and that is a great way to feel happiness. It puts a smile on your face.

In defense of a direct attack of the idea that is posited in this article—a look at some blues songs that are comical or have a happy subject is required.

A case-in-point is “Oreo Cookie Blues” by Lonnie Mack and Stevie Ray Vaughn. This is a funny song about where the songs persona keeps Oreo cookies to have them on hand at all times and the glove compartment of his car holds his emergency stash of Oreos.

Another funny blues song is “There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens.” This song is about how someone is making a lot of noise and the chickens are trying to sleep because they have a lot of work to do the next day. It also talks about the chicken farmers comical point of view—talking about which basket to put your eggs in.

We’ll look further into this subject another time. Until then, Happy Trails…

Listen to Oreo Cookie Blues at: http://www.mystrands.com/

Watch Patti LuPone performing There Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens

At YouTube

Hello Dear Reader,

You’ll remember that one of my first posts was about Mojo Myles. You will find it under blues/Funk/Jazz/Swing, in case you missed it.

Well, Mojo Myles fans here’s a gig update on this multi-instrumentalist. He’s been busy this year and has two gigs coming up soon at Keegan Ales in Kingston, NY.

Friday, 11/30/07, 8:30-11:30pm

Location: 20 Saint James St., Kingston, N.Y.

Phone: 845-331-BREW

Friday, 12/08/07, 8;30-11:30
Location: 20 Saint James St., Kingston, N.Y.
Phone: 845-331-BREW

Mojo

guitar-leads

Contemporary Artists Playing Historical American Music

I heard some great songs on Acoustic Cafe on 92zew last Sunday and I thought I’d share the music, so to speak. The ones that were most interesting from a 50-song, 3-CD set called Song of America.

This project was the brainchild of Janet Reno, which surprised me, but hey, the music is good and the historical songs are done by contemporary artists. It is a wonderful thing that these artists were interested in this music.

In the words of Janet Reno:

“The historical detail of the songs fascinated me and I suggested that Ed Pettersen record a whole album of songs focusing on key periods in American history, in order to tell our story to young people who might find joy in learning history through music.”

The Artists and Songs

Earl Bullhead - “Lakota Dream Song”
Julie Lee - “Once More Our God Vouchesafe To Shine”
Blind Boys of Alabama - “Let Us Break Bread Together”
John Wesley Harding - “God Save the King”
Elizabeth Foster - “Young Ladies in Town”
Malcolm Holcombe - “The Old Woman Taught Wisdom”
Ed Pettersen - “The Liberty Song”
Harper Simon - “Yankee Doodle”
The Wilders - “Jefferson & Liberty”
Steven Kowalczyk-Santoro - “Hail Columbia”
Take 6 - “Star Spangled Banner”
Beth Nielsen Chapman - “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child”
Freedy Johnston - “Peg and Awl”
BR549 - “Sweet Betsy From Pike”
Will Hill and Jehnean Day Washington - “Trail of Tears”
Minton Sparks and Pat Flynn - “Declaration of Sentiments”
Fisk Jubilee Singers - “Go Down Moses”
Mavericks [ft. Thad Cockrell] - “Dixie’s Land”
Marah - “John Brown’s Body”
Joanna Smith - “Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Janis Ian - “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye”
Tim O’Brien - “Thousands Are Sailing to Amerikay”
Otis Gibbs - “The Farmer Is the Man”
Joni Harms - “Home on the Range”
Jake Shimabukuro - “Stars & Stripes Forever”
Jen Chapin - “Over There”
Andrew Bird - “How You Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm”
Karen Parks - “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
Danielson - “Happy Days Are Here Again”
Andy Bey - “Brother Can You Spare a Dime?”
Jim Lauderdale - “Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat”
Old Crow Medicine Show - “Deportee”
Suzy Bogguss - “Rosie the Riveter”
Folk Family Robinson (Black Crowes with Stan Robinson) - “Reuben James”
Scott Kempner - “Apache Tears”
Elizabeth Cook and the Grascals - “The Great Atomic Power”
Devendra Banhart - “Little Boxes”
The Del McCoury Band - “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
Kim Richey - “Get Together”
The Dynamites / Charles Walker - “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud”
Ben Taylor - “Ohio”
Anthony David - “What’s Going On”
Martha Wainwright - “I Am Woman”
Matthew Ryan - “Youngstown”
Bettye LaVette - “Streets of Philadelphia”
Gary Heffern / Chris Eckman - “Wave”
Shortee - “The Message”
Judith Edelman / Neilson Hubbard - “Sleep, My Child (Schlof Mayn Kind)”
The Wrights - “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning”
John Mellencamp - “This Land Is Your Land”

Song of America at MySpace

At Amazon

References:
http://www.myspace.com/songofamerica
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/
92zew

John “JB” Bigham, the front man for The Soul Of John Black, has amassed an array of credits already. He wrote tunes for Miles Davis and played with Davis at the 10th annual Paris Jazz Festival and appears on Live In Paris, the DVD recorded there.

Bigham played guitar and keyboards for Fishbone, an innovative rock-funk-ska band; he also wrote songs, aided in production, and sang background vocals. Two of the albums he worked on with Fishbone were The Reality Of My Surroundings and Give A Monkey A Brain. He was in the group for eight years.

As a sessions musician he has worked with Eminem, Dr. Dré, Rosey, Joi, Nikka Costa, Bruce Hornsby and Everlast.

Though The Soul Of John Back is basically a duo, bassist Chris Thomas, being the second member, you can find a long list of the other members at:

http://www.myspace.com/thesoulofjohnblack

Thomas has an exciting resume too including working with Harry Connick, Jr, Daniel Lanois, Joshua Redman, Betty Carter, Ellis Marsalis and Macy Gray.

The CD The Good Girl Blues highlights Bigham’s talent as a blues/funk artist. It exhibits his virtuoso abilities on guitar in the blues genre, as he plays all of the guitar parts and this includes acoustic, electric, and slide guitar, plus he plays various styles of blues….from Memphis funk to delta blues to urban blues. You can hear his influences in the songs…Lead Belly, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blind Boy Fuller, Al Green, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix…and they are a list of great artists.

In Good Girl Bigham plays a hard rocking guitar with call and response backup vocals. Feelin’s has a cool funk sound and slide guitar, even wah-wah. Fire Blues is a slower blues song with spooky electronic sounds and cool tambourine playing. You need to go listen and hear this for yourself. Hey, you’ll also want to listen to the self-titled CD The Soul of John Black, which you can hear at CD Baby.

On the self-titled CD you’ll hear soul, pop-rock, funk, and folk music. This is a Band/Duo that you don’t want to miss!

You can hear The Soul of John Black’s CD The Good Girl Blues at:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/soulofjohnblack2
http://www.myspace.com/thesoulofjohnblack

Website:

http://www.thesoulofjohnblack.com/

The first time I heard Lil Greenwoods voice, I knew it was the very best singing voice, I had heard in ages. Wow! You can hear the class and experience of a giant artist in her performance. She first sang publicly at her father’s Baptist Church.

This fantastic singer is from Prichard, AL in Mobile county. She has recently released a new album entitled Back to My Roots, with David Amram who is a legend in his own right.

She says she learned to dance at a Holiness church in Prichard, according to her interview with Ravi Howard in the June 2007 issue of Zalea. She goes on to say that the first club she sang at was a local club owned by Mr. Crouch.

In 1948, she made her way to San Fransico and some friends took her to a club, where she was hired at a substantial rate for that time. So Duke Ellington saw her at The Purple Onion and his ears were agog with delight.

Here is the quote by Ellington in the April 1960 issue of Ebony:

“This girl has a voice that’s a mixture of Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Mahalia Jackson; and I don’t know but what she’s better on spirituals than when she’s walking and singing the blues.”

Ellington invited her to sit in at a recording session and nicknamed her “One Take Lil.” After this, she toured with the Ellington Orchestra in Boston and at the Newport Jazz Festival and beyond. She and Ellington performed their last concerts in cathedrals around the world. She is featured on Ellington’s album My People.

As an aspiring jazz diva, Lil quickly learned many more secular songs because unfortunately the hymns and spirituals she knew weren’t popular with the San Fransico jazz fans. She also started writing her own songs such as Walkin’ and Singin’ the Blues included on her new CD Back to My Roots, which features Jazz, spiritual/gospel, and blues tunes.

During her long career she performed and socialized with Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, and others. She never smoked, drank, or did drugs because of respect and love for her father. She sang on the album Cryin Time by Ray Charles.

Lil recorded many R&B sides for Modern and Federal in the early 1950’s. Richie Unterberger of All Music Guide reports that “Greenwood was one of many California-based singers in these years recording in a style intersecting jazz with blues and a bit of gospel, forming a dominant part of post-war R&B before that gave way to doo wop and rock’n'roll.”

She also recorded for NRC, Reprise, and Tangerine. She appeared on The Tonight Show, Good Times, and The Jeffersons continues Unterberger.

When asked by Ravi Howard of her opinion of younger artist today she said:

“I notice that they are getting into so much trouble. They’re making more money than I had made in those years. Yet their lifestyle is just unbecoming to what their artistic values are, and that bothers me quite a bit. The thing I detest most is the lyrics most people put in their songs. This talking about women is nothing that has anything to do with the culture of our life.”

I couldn’t agree more with Lil Greenwood’s assessment of some of the song lyrics written today and for quite a few years passed. That is why when I review an artist I don’t write about the songs with objectionable lyrics, if I review that artist at all.

The song Cry As Children Do, has a wonderful fifties ballad sound, Hello Little Boy is a jazzy tune with bopping piano, jumpin’ sax, shimmering cymbals, and great organ sounds… of course Lil is hoppin’ on the tune too. You’ve Changed is classic piano bar music with nice lead guitar licks softly played.

For a great bossa nova sound listen to Keep a Light Showering Down. A classic spiritual theme and sound is heard in God Is My Candle…it runs chills through the body. The organ, and the hi-hat dominate the music is a fine way, but Lil’s voice is powerful throughout…and the sax blows like the notes of soul…while the piano rings out New Orleans flavor.

With That’s the Truth Daddy, Lil gets sassy and the sound is pure jazz greatness. The call and response back up vocals have a jivin’ swing thing happening.

Her rendition of Summertime recalls the “American Folk Opera” Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin, from which the song originated. Her performance is rich with drama and emotion..she strongly belts the song out. Lil is accompanied by moving piano work that is perfect for the mood her voice sets.

I Laughed At Love is opened with groovin’ flute work that reminds me of where Jethro Tull and The Marshall Tucker Band got their flute playing inspiration from, that being in jazz.

The drums and flute rock–I mean really roll in I’m Blessed and I’m Proud. It starts with a commanding statement by Lil Greenwood, then the flute and drums kick in and the cowbell jams. This a song to make your soul sing. Lil does this howl, howl, howl routine that you just have to hear to know what I’m talking about.

She sounds wonderful singing I’m In A Holiday Mood… a good Christmas song.

Last, but still good is Going Down to Mobile sung by David Amram and is a grand tribute to Lil Greenwood and her ability to inspire with postive feelings, thoughts, and actions.

Do yourself a favor and listen to Back to My Roots and buy it for future listening pleasure.

References:

Zalea, Mood Music, Ravi Howard, June 2007
http://www.lilgreenwoodmusic.com/
About The Album, Harold (Buz) Rummel, January 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porgy_and_Bess
http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/
All Music Guide, Biography, Richie Unterberger

Hear Lil Greenwood at:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/greenwoodamram1

Burn Lil Greenwood MP3’s at:

http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com

Hello out there, Dear Reader,

Last night, the thrill lived…as B. B. King and The B. B. King Blues Band rocked and wooed the house at the Saenger Threatre in Mobile, AL. USA. Baby! Oh yeah.

My fourth shot of the blues king’s humor, master single note guitar playing, showmanship, personality plus, enthralled and entertained to the maximum effect.

Let’s not short change his most incredible band..the horn section, drummer, keyboard player, bass guitarist, rhythm guitarist–they are all excellent.

I first went to one of his concerts when I was about 15 or 16 years old, with my mother, a friend of hers, and my best friend. If you haven’t seen him and his fantastic band, do it.

Hey, and if you are in Mobile, AL, check out the Saenger Threatre. It’s a wonderful historical building.

O.K. Merseybeat Fans, I’m behind on the Mersey, forgive me, it will happen soon.

Deltachord

Dear Readers,

A reader had commented asking questions about the 1999 film by Woody Allen entitled Sweet and Lowdown. I hadn’t seen the flick, so I watched it.

I liked it and particularly the performance of Samantha Morton as Hattie who is mute. Through facial expressions and body language she portrays her character’s emotions perfectly. Emmet Ray played by Sean Penn is an egocentric jazz guitarist, though fictional. He treats Hattie and all women he is involved with badly to say the least.

Allen creates a realistic portrait of a 1930’s jazz musician in that some of them, such as Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton were known to be “managers” that is pimps, as Ray is in the film according to Ira Gitler in the article Sweet and Lowdown: A Jazz History Perspective. Also, during that time period jazz artists traveled the U.S. basically introducing people to jazz music because there were fewer means of communication then.

Howard Alden and Bucky Pizzarelli beautifully play the guitar parts. Also, old recordingas are used. Several classic jazz songs are represented. Penn skillfully draws a picture of the anti-hero, talented musician, that leads a quirky life.

For More Information:

http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/sweetandlowdown/perspective.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_and_Lowdown
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE2D9113FF936A35751C1A96F958260

Blog Directory

Shane! Shane! Shane! is a jazz, blues, ballad, and swing band located in Fairhope, AL that wails with horns and full percussion and varies from 4 to 8 pieces. Shane is the founder and plays guitar and belts out great vocals.

Two other musicians involved are Dr. Joseph Mitchell on flute and Randy Hoffman trumpet and flugelhorn. The lineup varies somewhat. I recently heard them and enjoyed their music very much.

The band was formed in 2002 and quickly became popular in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. Shane! Shane! Shane! plays their own renditions of bossanovas, delta blues, pop favorites, fox trots, and standards…always with gusto and creative interpretation.

The range of influences is enormous including Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughn, Patsy Cline, Janis Joplin, Ray Charles, Garth Brooks, Bonnie Raitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Norah Jones to name a few.

The band has played at music concerts, festivals, and venues on the West Coast, in Atlanta, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Shane has appeared on tv in different venues such as a Country Western variety show, National telethons, and a regional cable talk show pilot, though the band Shane! Shane! Shane! hasn’t appeared in that media yet.

The web site shane.shane.shane.com will be up and running in the near future. Until then, you can get a demo CD by sending your request to shanex3@bellsouth.net.

Shane was born in Connecticutt and raised in New England, lived in Atlanta, and has resided in the Alabama Gulf Coast for a number of years. Shane will be teaching a workshop at the Gulf Coast Ethnic and Heritage Jazz Festival in August. (See post about the festival under jazz)

Swing PublicationsThe Mississippi Rag

Go to: http://www.mississippirag.com/index.html

I have a new article at guitarnoise .com, the title is listed below.

Jean Baptiste Django Reinhardt: Gypsy Genius

My Other Articles

• A Giant Guitarist To Note
• Legendary House
• Judy Collins: Biography of a Child Prodigy

Reinhardt played swing, jazz, bebop, and more. Enjoy the articles.

guitarnoise

Videos

http://www.about-django.com/news/videos/minorswing.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD6ZD1Igxr0

Don’t touch that control, Swing ’s Jumpin’ Up Next.

http://swingguitar.blogspot.com/

50% OFF or More!

Hey, for you guitar buffs out there in cyberspace… a kid named Mojo Myles may tickle your musical fancy. You can see two videos of him playing at Yahoo. He also plays bass, sax, and keyboards.

Yes, we’ll be hearing more of his music in the future. What genres will he explore? It ‘ll be fun to see where his creativity takes him.

Note: The “blue” note in jazz and blues is played at a lower pitch than the major scale.