Various Artists - Blues Piano-Rama

Styles : Piano Blues
Released : 2010

01 - Boogie Woogie Showdown
02 - 24 Hours A Day
03 - All Night Long
04 - Blues For Mel Brown
05 - I Took The Wrong Road
06 - The Blues Ain't Nothing

07 - Rock Me Baby

08 - Sorry Don't Cut No Ice

09 - You're The One

10 - Loved And Lost

11 - Something's Going On In My Room

Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne - Piano & Vocals

Julian Fauth - Piano & Vocals

Curley Bridges - Piano & Vocals

Bobby Dean Blackburn - Piano & Vocals

Chris Whiteley - Guitar, Harmonica & Trumpet

Victor Bateman - Upright Bass

Bucky Berger - Drums

October 29th, 2009 was a memorable night at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, a chance to let a quartet of piano maestros, with over 175 years of collective keyboard mojo between them, truly shine before an appreciative audience. What transpired was neither a showdown or a throwdown, but instead a spectacular piano confabulation from a true brotherhood of the blues.

*from zivoin

Eddie Martin - Folk And Blues

Styles : Acoustic Blues

Released : 2010

1 - Flowers To The Desert

2 - Kind Lady Moon

3 - Let It Slide

4 - Clouds Across The Sun

5 - Butterflies

6 - Underwater Woman
7 - I'll Find My Way
8 - Month Of Mondays (Help Me Through)
9 - Still Chasing That Fox
10 - Canada
11 - Like A River
12 - Old London Blues

Three decades of songwriting craft and instrumental skillbuilding come together on Eddie Martin’s latest collection, “Folk and Blues” - a rootsy mix of original songs and instrumentals with pure acoustic arrangements. This set adds a new exclamation mark on a career that shows no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, this creative powerhouse continues to push his musical boundaries, emerging here as both a tender folk artist alongside the tough blues artist we know. His 11th album features a slew of tunes stripped down to their essence, shining the spotlight on a Londoner’s transatlantic touring experiences and musical development, which combines Delta-hardened slide with pretty finger-picking dexterity in the Jansch-Graham tradition.

Alone in the studio with his engineer son, the album was recorded live with no overdubs in just three days. This, not-to-mention the fact that Martin wrote and played everything, produced and even did the artwork, begins to account for the honest, personal nature of the album. All this combines to draw the listener in to a simple, yet emotionally powerful musical landscape, upon which his blues and folk-fuelled narratives and tunes are painted. The album also captures the engaging vitality and humour of his one-man-band live shows, especially in the whooping solo harmonica piece. It features 12 original compositions including 3 instrumentals which spotlight the master musicianship that saw him nominated in both the Best Guitarist and Best Harmonica Player categories in this year’s British Blues Awards. Martin’s signature strong song-writing, slide/ finger-picking, rack-harmonica and expressive vocal style add a welcome new strand to the rich transatlantic dialogue dating from British musician’s first encounters with US folk blues in the 1960s

*from muddy

Professor Longhair - House Of The Blues

Styles : New Orleans Blues, Piano Blues

Released : 2010

1 - Junco Partner

2 - Meet Me Tomorrow

3 - Doin' It
4 - How Long Has That Train Been Gone
5 - Tipitina
6 - Rockin' Pneumonia
7 - Jambalaya
8 - Mean Ol' World
9 - Stag-O-Lee
10 - Mess Around
11 - Hey Now Baby
12 - (They Call Me) Doctor Professor Longhair

Pianist, composer, and singer, Professor Longhair, is one of the most important musical figures in New Orleans' rich musical legacy. Born Henry Roeland Byrd (also known as Fess) in Bogalusa, Louisiana on December 19, 1918, he became the embodiment of New Orleans rhythm and blues at his peak in the late '70s. Fess influenced countless musicians, such as Fats Domino, Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Henry Butler, Huey "Piano" Smith, Marcia Ball, Champion Jack Dupree, Jon Cleary, the Meters, and the Neville Brothers. His unique style fused diverse elements including blues, barrelhouse boogie-woogie, rock, and gospel, which he combined with calypso, rhumba, and second-line street parade rhythms. His hybrid "rhumba-boogie" piano style, with a heavy, percussive left hand, forever changed the sound of rhythm and blues piano. Fess had a charismatic presence and unflinching soulful quality which pervades his recordings and performances. Few artists embodied his singular quality or have equaled the span of his influence on modern music.

*from azzul

CeDell Davis & Herman Alexander - Highway 61

Styles : Delta Blues
Released : 1990

1 - Herman Alexander - You Got To Move
2 - Herman Alexander - Red Dressed Baby
3 - Herman Alexander - Highway 61
4 - Herman Alexander - Boogie All Night Long
5 - Herman Alexander - Gamblin' Blues
6 - Herman Alexander - Down Home Blues
7 - Herman Alexander - Baby Please Don't Go

8 - Herman Alexander - Poor Boy Blues

9 - Herman Alexander - Catfish Blues

10 - Herman Alexander - Dog Chasing The Fox

11 - Herman Alexander - It's All Right

12 - CeDell Davis - Blues For Big Town

13 - CeDell Davis - When I Woke Up This Morning

14 - CeDell Davis - Chicken And A Hawk

15 - CeDell Davis - Sugar Mama

16 - CeDell Davis - Got To Move Down The Road

17 - CeDell Davis - Room 701

18 - CeDell Davis - 74 Is a Freight Train

19 - CeDell Davis - Hard Luck Blues

This Wolf release features field recordings made in 1990 showcasing the unique styles of bluesmen Herman Alexander and CeDell Davis. Even though he was musically active in the '50s and '60s, CeDell Davis gained national exposure in the mid-'90s through his amazing recordings on Fat Possum Records. His left-handed bottleneck style was developed after his right hand became crippled at a young age. Herman Alexander is a street singer in Memphis. His guitar and harp playing were modeled after Mississippi Fred McDowell. While he has often been heard on Beale Street, he was rarely recorded. Both of these bluesmen play highly compelling, gritty music.

Personnel:
Herman Alexander - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
CeDell Davis - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals

*from muddy

Sven Zetterberg - Grounded In Reality

Styles : Contemporary Blues

Released : 2010

1 - It Slipped Right Through My Hands

2 - A Memory From My Happier Years
3 - Your Love Is Contagious
4 - Slow Suicide
5 - Between So Long And Goodbye
6 - Your Heart Is Just A Frigidaire
7 - Heartaches And Strifes
8 - A Darker Side Of Me
9 - The World I Live In
10 - This Is Better
11 - A Risky Lifestyle

Album Review
Talking about blues players outside America it´s hard to leave out Sven Zetterberg, Sweden´s most versatile artist in this field. Being both an excellent singer,guitarist,songwriter and harmonica player extraordinary, he has become a house-hold name all over Scandinavia. Born in Skärblacka on the 28th of March in 1952,Sven took music seriously enough to perform in school at the age of seven. "I didn´t know any real english words and couldn´t actually play any instrument but my grandmother had bought me an acoustic guitar that I fooled around with trying to mimic Elvis Presley. The first black performer I heard was Little Richard and he almost drove me crazy with his wild, frantic singing. "In 1964 he first heard Mick Jagger play harmonica and later that year heard Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and that got him started. "The Blues activated something in me and it still moves me". "Harmonica was my main instrument to begin with. I didn´t start playing guitar seriously until I was 24. The first bluesband , Telge Blues, was formed in 1972 and lasted long enough to make the Phillips record company interested enough to release an album in 1976. Today, many albums later, Sven hasn´t lost interest in performing or recording and two of his albums, "Blues from within" and "Let me get over it" were both nominated for a Grammy in Sweden. "Today Sven works mostly with the Rockarounds: Micke Finell: Tenor sax & Vocals, Calle Brickman: Keyboards, Tommy Cassemar: Bass, Ingemar Dunker: Drums

from azzul

Sabrina Weeks & Swing Cat Bounce - Tales From Lenny's Diner

Styles : West Coast Blues

Released : 2010

1 - Boogie Downtown

2 - Fingers In My Pocket

3 - Something's Got A Hold On Me

4 - Thinking Of You

5 - Bad Boys
6 - Detour
7 - Ain't My Time To Sing The Blues
8 - All That Love
9 - Wrath Of Mom
10 - Spend A Little Time
11 - Independent Woman

Album Review
Offering up a generous helping of the Swinging Bouncing Boogie Blues is what Sabrina Weeks & Swing Cat Bounce are all about and now with their ground breaking Debut release "Tales From Lenny's Diner", we all get to hear why this band gets such rave reviews at all their shows.

Sabrina Weeks & Swing Cat Bounce is a little city band with a big city sound and I do mean BIG. These cats can stand up against any Swinging Boogie Blues band out there today and not only hold their own, but blow the competition away.

When it comes to music leaving you with a good time feeling, "Tales From Lenny's Diner", really is the Cats Meow.

from azzul