What would you get if you crossed blues harmonica and piano, a classical string quartet, African percussion, and folk vocals? No, not the newest show on WEVL (although that's probably a good guess), but rather the latest venture from pioneer white-boy-bluesman Corky Siegel.
Blues/rock veterans will recognize Siegel's name from the mid-to-late 1960s, when the Siegel-Schwall band was one of a handful of bands to repeat Elvis's crowning achievement: take black popular music to young white audiences. Although their early efforts seem crude and overstated compared to the classic Chess sides, the Siegel-Schwall band carried enough Chicago blues umph to still warrant a turn on the platter every once in a while.
At any rate, Corky Siegel's Chamber Blues is Siegel's effort to combine what he calls "two of the most important and influential music forms in the world," and strangely enough it succeeds. Although it takes a bit of getting used to, the combination of classically influenced strings with blues piano and harmonica clicks. While I could do without the folky vocals and the tabla percussion, this CD has proven surprisingly resilient, long overstaying the usual novelty CD's half life in my "frequently played" pile. A bit reminiscent of The Greene String Quartet's jazz influenced The String Machine, or the Turtle Island Quartet, Chamber Blues falls into an as-yet-undefined genre, although there's plenty here for open-minded jazz and blues fans. Fair warning is issued to classical bluebloods, however-far too soulful for purists.
Ronnie Earl also visits the jazz fringe at times on Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters: Language of The Soul. Liner notes describe his approach to the instrumental (mostly) album as layering jazz on blues on "something indescribable," but a more accurate description would be that Earl has recorded a fine album of laid back blues guitar, and obviously spent a lot of time listening to jazz guitar while he did it. No barroom crooners here, and few pyrotechnics. The album mainly strives to create a late-night FM radio mood, and succeeds wholeheartedly.
Last month I ranted and raved about Michelle Wilson's horn section (Evil Gal Blues), but hinted that perhaps her band was a step or two further down the road than she was. Well, Bullseye was apparently using the Evil Gal as a warm up act for the Johnny Nocturne Band. Like Evil Gal, Johnny Nocturne features full horn section, stand-up bass, blues guitar, and a repertoire of influence pulled from late 40s jump blues and boogie-woogie. That alone is enough to rank them right up there on the "I need this CD" scale, but vocalist Brenda Boykin and tenor saxman John Firmin push this CD a full step above the "hey, lets do a jump blues CD!" releases that are appearing on shelves at a store near you.
I never met a New Orleans brass band CD I didn't like, so my recommendation of the ReBirth [sic] Brass Band's latest may seem a bit empty, but what's not to like about Rollin'? Syncopation, energy, funk, soul, its all here. 'nuff said.
Similarly, given that Charlie Musselwhite is arguably the greatest living blues harmonica player, you'd expect an album entitled The Harmonica According To Charlie Musselwhite to be great, right? Well big surprise, it lives up to and exceeds its promise. Marketed as a master class for blues harp players, the CD showcases Musselwhite in a variety of blues genres ranging from 12 bar Chicago to Delta to Piedmont blues. Perhaps most impressive, however is Charlie's venture into Latin folk, with an original piece played in fourth position. The CD's one shortcoming, surprisingly, is Musselwhite's use of an overblown tube amp for most of the session. Musselwhite typically plays and records sans amp, and while the ragged tone is a nice touch at times, Musselwhite's un-amped tone is far superior. Blues fans in general will enjoy the CD (no narrative "how-to" or anything like that), but this really is a must-have for harp players and budding harpists.
Although I hate to broach the subject, Bullseye and Daring Records have released Christmas albums of note. Christmas wouldn't count without Elvis and Charles Brown, so Bullseye has obligingly released Charles Brown's Cool Christmas Blues. If you're not already familiar with the smoothest crooner on record, you'll owe it to yourself to track this one down just to hear Brown's piano and vocals. Daring's Butch Thompson: Yulestride, features Thompson's solo piano versions of 17 traditional carols done straight enough to satisfy your overly proper great aunt Gertrude, but with enough jazz and rag soul injected to make you pull this out next spring and give it another listen. Both very highly recommended.
I owe an apology to the Blues Foundation for identifying their event October 8 & 9 as the National Amateur Blues Talent Competition. The event should properly be referred to as the National Blues Talent Competition. This year's winners, The Hardway Connection from Washington, DC, were impressive enough to be invited into the studio immediately following the competition, and landed at least one festival booking in addition to the prizes offered by the Blues Foundation. An 8 piece R&B/blues group, the Hardway Connection is the first band in memory to incorporate the synchronized pelvic thrust into their repertoire, breaking new ground for the event.
Kudos to a devoted production staff that once again pulled off a class event despite a series of financial and organizational hurdles.