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November 17, 2011, 06:21:15 PM by Slack
Views: 3764 | Comments: 8 Ari Eisinger - That Will Never Happen No More - Guitar Blues and Ragtime from the 1920s and 1930s Written by Andrew Mullins Ari Eisinger - That Will Never Happen No More - Guitar Blues and Ragtime from the 1920s and 1930s, Independent For the uninitiated, hearing Ari Eisinger the first time can be a shock. The authenticity with which he recreates some of the best and instrumentally complex country blues is downright spooky. It can be fun to watch professionals? reaction as well. A little jaded by years of experience and road-weariness, they might smirk when this small, thin man who looks more like an accountant than a blues musician walks out on stage with his Gibson guitar. Those faces change quickly when he starts to play. It?s a look that says, ?I?ve never heard anyone do that.? And it?s true. There is no one I?ve encountered who plays Blind Blake with such authority and who remains so faithful to the spirit and style of the original music. Hearing the Philadelphia-based guitarist is a rare event though -- he performs infrequently and records even less often, with this, his second CD, coming far too many years after his first release, You Don?t Understand. As with his first record, there are a number of Blake tunes on this collection, and this time round Eisinger adds the blues of another one of his heroes to the mix, with three tracks from Texas legend Blind Lemon Jefferson. ?One Dime Blues? opens the record, and while it?s not an exact recreation of Lemon?s recording -- Ari weaves his own touches throughout -- it?s as close as you are likely to hear and sets the tone for the rest of the CD: astonishing guitar blues played with all the prewar style intact. Little if anything is modernized for the contemporary palate. Eisinger?s stance is that the music of the 1920s and ?30s blues men and women succeeds gloriously on its own merits and doesn?t need smoothing out or updating. Mississippi John Hurt?s ?Frankie? follows, based on Hurt?s 1928 version for OKeh, although, again, this performance is not a slavish cover. The guitar breaks interspersed between verses of the classic murder ballad alternate between Hurt?s original instrumental part and new breaks that are deep in the groove, with fluid treble slides and variations on the song?s melodic guitar form. The whole thing is so beautifully performed that if you?re a player you?ll be sorely tempted to hand your guitar over to the pawn shop man (these days, that pawn shop would be eBay, I guess). Two perfect examples of the detailed attention Eisinger has paid to music of past blues artists are his original instrumentals, ?To Do This It Would Help to Know How? and ?Guitar Crimes.? The first is inspired by Lonnie Johnson?s ?To Do This You Got to Know How,? the latter by Blind Blake?s ?Guitar Chimes.? Listening to these new pieces, you run smack into the time-travel effect of hearing Ari Eisinger play guitar: you?d swear you were listening to Lonnie Johnson, to Blind Blake -- the touch, the phrasing, the melodic elements and riffs are all there -- but the characteristic hiss and pop of the original 78s is gone, and these aren?t songs Johnson or Blake released. This is no exaggeration, and for those of us on the receiving end, it provides a rare and special thrill. The skill and musicality involved in this feat goes far beyond mimicry or anachronism -- it?s more like he?s channeling the best blues guitarists of the era and creating an exquisite, self-contained musical environment. The oddly titled ?Oozin? You Off My Mind? was originally a Blind Boy Fuller duet with Floyd Council recorded in 1937. Eisinger?s is a driving adaptation of Fuller?s familiar ragtime blues style in C, with some fast-fingered soloing played on a resonator guitar. He takes another duet and turns it into a solo guitar piece in Spanish (open G) tuning with Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe?s ?When the Levee Breaks.? On ?Church Bells,? he revives an obscure gospel number by Kid Prince Moore, actually using the original as a stepping stone to creating a much richer arrangement than Moore himself pulled off in the mid-1930s. The treble lines, full of expressive bends, play effectively off the repeating bass runs -- it?s a beautiful guitar part played under a charming vocal melody and simple, moving lyrics. A great song to revive and make known again, if it was ever known to start. (Weenie Campbell Forum veterans will recognize the tune as well from Frankie?s very fine version on the Back Porch.) The Blind Blake songs, to no surprise, are played to perfection. ?Chump Man Blues? (out of dropped D tuning) with its half-time groove and the slow ?Rope Stretchin? Blues - Part I? with its melodramatic minor chords both feature inventive guitar solos, rhythmically and melodically elegant and taking full advantage of the space freed up by slower tempos. It?s also entertaining to hear the mild-mannered and dry-witted Eisinger singing the boastful ?Hard Pushing Papa? -- ?I take my liquor standin? up and my women sittin? down? -- a bouncy Blake tune out of G. ?That Will Never Happen No More? was the first song I ever saw Ari play in person, and I remember thinking, ?so that?s what Blake was doing.? All performances have been measured against his since then and none have really come close. Ari?s singing throughout is well-suited to this material, with a strong echo of Blake?s nasal and sly delivery. The two remaining Lemon Jefferson cuts covered on the record are ?Piney Woods Money Mama? and ?Match Box Blues.? ?Piney Woods? is one of Lemon?s great slow tunes in E, with an accompaniment he used in songs like ??Lectric Chair Blues,? ?Yo Yo Blues? and ?Oil Well Blues.? For aficionados who are paying attention, there?s a moment here where Eisinger seems to make a fleeting reference to ?DB Blues? as well, with a low, rumbling E-string tremolo that Lemon used to imitate a car engine (?Oh, here comes Lemon in that new Ford sedan! Oh, listen to the motor roll...?). ?Match Box? is a recreation of one of the quirkiest guitar parts around and for which Ari has done a detailed breakdown on his Blind Lemon Jefferson instructional video. I think I?ve heard him do it live with more energy in the vocal delivery but even this studio version will leave you shaking your head. The record closes with Josh White?s ?Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed,? played out of a C Vestapol tuning, and it?s a show-stopper with ghostly double-string bends, funky bass runs and a growling response from the low-tuned guitar. It was recorded in 2003 as were a couple other tracks, but the bulk of the material on the collection was actually recorded in 1996-97, quite some time ago. Eisinger has only gotten better since then. One of the more impressive things about him, aside from sheer virtuosity, is he doesn?t just master individual songs but takes on the entire stylistic vocabulary as well, allowing him to interject his own musical ideas into a tune without breaking the spell of painstaking authenticity and a real ?20s vibe. His additions to Lemon Jefferson sound right at home, his liberties with Blake are things Blake himself would likely have played. Some contemporary players of country blues dismiss such an approach as too curatorial and insist the music needs a modern or personal imprint to stay vibrant and keep moving forward. But That Will Never Happen No More proves Eisinger?s method is completely viable as well: the music is very much alive in his hands, bringing new insight into the guitar styles of the ?20s and ?30s and the original masters of the music in a way that is just as exciting, if not moreso, for the listener. What he calls ?the golden age of the blues? comes streaming back for the all-too-brief 45 minutes you?ll spend with this CD in the player. Hopefully we?ll have have a far shorter wait for the next record. Tracklist: 1. One Dime Blues (Blind Lemon Jefferson) 2. Frankie (Mississippi John Hurt) 3. Piney Woods Money Mama (Blind Lemon Jefferson) 4. Hard Pushing Papa (Blind Blake) 5. Chump Man Blues (Blind Blake) 6. Oozin' You Off My Mind (Blind Boy Fuller) 7. When The Levee Breaks (Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy) 8. To Do This It Would Help To Know How (Eisinger) 9. Church Bells (Kid Prince Moore) 10. Rope Stretchin' Blues - Part I (Blind Blake) 11. That Will Never Happen No More (Blind Blake) 12. Match Box Blues (Blind Lemon Jefferson) 13. Guitar Crimes (Eisinger) 14. Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed (Josh White) November 17, 2011, 06:20:11 PM by Slack
Views: 2509 | Comments: 2 Roy Book Binder - LIVE at the Fur Peace Station Written by Andrew Mullins Roy Book Binder - LIVE at the Fur Peace Station, PL CD 7005-5 Roy Book Binder has been on the road and playing country blues for audiences since the blues revival of the 60s, when he was a student of Rev. Gary Davis. With all of that traveling and performing, he's had a lot of time to perfect his stage routine. Listeners to Live at Fur Peace Station, his latest release, are the beneficiaries of this long experience and polish. Recorded in performances from 2002 to 2004 at the concert hall of Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Book Binder is in fine form, playing his brand of raggy, east coast country blues and deadpanning his way hilariously through the stories and one-liners for which he's become well-known. "The Book" is a modern country blues character if ever there was one, and for those not yet familiar with his style, this record is probably as good an introduction as you can get, short of catching him live. Book Binder's last live album was the 1994 Rounder release, Don't Start Me Talkin'. That's a good record, but this one is even better, with a more interesting set of songs, in my opinion -- and Book Binder seems very much at home at the Fur Peace Ranch. There are actually a few echoes of the earlier CD in the stage repartee here, working essentially as in-jokes. It's worth noting that the talk on this record is given its own tracks, allowing you to skip straight to the music -- Roy can certainly spin a yarn and some introductions are longer than the songs -- or go straight to the talk as you prefer. He's one of the few players out there who could do a record without touching his guitar and still come up with an entertaining piece of work, and it's telling that he has appeared at the National Storytelling Festival. The two original songs on the CD include the opening track, "What You Gonna Do," a lightly picked number played out of C -- a position Book Binder favors heavily on this set and that's well-suited to his style, which leans mostly towards the Piedmont -- with a lyrical guitar melody that wouldn't be out of place in the hands of Bo Carter. He follows up with a brief version of "Baby Let Me Lay It On You" (which he'd been teaching in the Fur Peace Ranch workshop but rarely performs). The song sets him up for a story of being on the road with Rev. Davis and leads hilariously, and circuitously, into a performance of the murder ballad "Delia." Roy's approach to "Delia" is rooted in Davis's version -- itself never actually released on record -- a style that Davis called "old-fashioned pickin'," played in C with the fifth in the bass on the I chord, a simple change that somehow makes for a gorgeous guitar part. It's one of the most effective versions I've heard. (Fellow Rev. Davis alumnus Ernie Hawkins plays a real nice version as well.) The spoken introduction is over five minutes long, with Book Binder riffing comically about everyone who's covered the song having won a Grammy but him, and it is classic Book. "Delia" is followed by a short version of "Jelly Roll" that features licks similar to Roy's version of "Hesitation Blues" in C (for those who are familiar with his teaching videos). "Three Times Seven" (in G) is a Merle Travis tune from the 40s, in the bragging style of songs like "Ragged But Right" or William Moore's "Ragtime Millionaire," which is also included here and is one of the most fun cuts on the CD. Playing in C, Book Binder weaves in bits from his version of Rev. Davis's "Cincinnati Flow Rag" throughout and sails through this performance. There's much on the album that acts as a kind of tribute to the late Dave Van Ronk. Book Binder explains how the writing of the second original tune, "Full Go Around", comes out of the loss of several great musicians in recent years, including Van Ronk and John Jackson. It's played out of dropped D, a tuning my ear associates a lot with Van Ronk, and has much of his style to it. Two other tracks, "Cocaine Blues" and "Yas, Yas, Yas," have the Van Ronk touch as well. The former is the well-known Van Ronk adaptation of Rev. Davis's take on the song, while the latter is Van Ronk's fingerstyle arrangement of the song Tampa Red did as "The Duck Yas Yas Yas." "CC & O Blues" is the song recorded in 1928 by Pink Anderson and Simmie Dooley, played here in D. Along with Rev. Gary Davis, Pink was one of Book Binder's mentors, and as is the case with Rev. Davis, Roy can be counted on for lots of stories about hanging out with Pink. We learn here that the first time Pink heard his 1928 recordings was when Roy, having taped the four songs from Nick Perls' 78 collection, called him up late one night and played the recordings over the phone. Another highlight is "Travelin' Man", which Book Binder did originally on his album of the same title in 1971. That means he's had over 30 years to practice it, and it's one of the best versions I've heard, be it Luke Jordan, Coley Jones, Jim Jackson or Pink Anderson. There's more ragtime-style playing on Larry Johnson's version of "Charlie Stone," played out of G. This is one I hadn't heard before (it appears on Larry Johnson's "Fast and Funky" album, which, sadly, I am lacking) and has a great vocal melody and a catchy I - III - VI - II - V - I - V progression. "Won't You Be Kind" is the Luke Jordan song about the importance of good housekeeping ("Won't you be kind to your kitchen, I mean your dining room, sweep out your pantry, girl, won't you be kind, keep your backyard clean") which Roy plays out of an A position. "Chunk of Coal" is a spiffy country blues arrangement of a song by cowboy poet and country songwriter Billy Joe Shaver. The record finishes up with two more covers: the first, Jimmy Murphy's 1949 "Electricity," played out of Vestapol tuning (or open D). The closing track is in the same tuning -- Jesse 'Babyface' Thomas's "Another Friend Like Me." I've listened to Live at the Fur Peace Station a lot and have enjoyed it tremendously. It's laid back and appealing in so many ways. Book Binder's guitar style is deceptively simple-sounding at first but has lots of fine, subtle picking with quick-moving riffs, chord partials, and embellishing bends, snapped strings and hammer-ons. It's a great trick to be playing that much and sound so relaxed. Roy is I think at heart a songster, and he seems like he'd be right at home in a modern day medicine show, perhaps a lingering result of his friendship with Pink Anderson. This CD is on Roy's own Peg Leg label (he takes several good shots at his former label, Rounder, on the disc), and it's important to note that it is available only at his shows and at the Book Store on his website at www.roybookbinder.com. And it's now available on Weenie Juke. Tracklist: 1 - What You Gonna Do 2 - Baby Let Me Lay It On You 3 - Delia 4 - Jelly Roll Blues 5 - Three Times Seven 6 - Full Go Round 7 - Ragtime Millionaire 9 - Yas,Yas,Yas 10 - Cocaine Blues 10 - CC&O Blues 11 - Travelin' Man 12 - Mermaids Flirt With Me 13 - Charlie Stone 14 - Won't You Be Kind 15 - Old Chunk Of Coal 16 - Electricity 17 - Another Friend Like Me released April 15,2005 72 minutes November 17, 2011, 06:19:11 PM by Slack
Views: 1605 | Comments: 0 Love, Murder and Mosquitos - Red House Written by Andrew Mullins Love, Murder and Mosquitos - Red House RHR CD 172 It's hard to believe it's been five years since Paul Geremia's last record, The Devil's Music. That's too long for a musician of this calibre to go without a release. Finally we have Love, Murder and Mosquitos. There's quite a bit of 12-string guitar on this album, with a good eight tracks - almost half the CD - played on that great-sounding twelve he restored. The record is probably more strictly country blues than his previous release - no Ray Charles or Percy Mayfield - although aside from John Hurt's 'Frankie' and Patton's 'Pony Blues' there aren't many songs from the country blues Top 40 (which is just fine with me). Even 'Frankie' is given a rather unusual treatment on 12-string, and 'Pony Blues' features Martin Grosswendt on fiddle to distinguish it from the usual take on this Patton classic, while at the same time recalling Patton's work with Henry Sims. Participants from the Port Townsend Workshop when Geremia was in attendance a couple years back may remember his take on some of the tunes that appear here. Pink Anderson showed him 'Meet Me in the Bottom,' which opens the record, played on 12-string, and which Paul played at Port Townsend in the 12-string concert he did with Ernie Hawkins. Blind Blake's 'Tootie Blues,' is slightly different from Paul's version that appeared on the Shanachie "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues" compilation, and it features a nice little break using diminished arpeggios up the neck. George Carter's 'Rising River Blues' is done on twelve again and also features Paul on rack harmonica (which I believe he plays backwards). It's a pretty stunning version of an unusual tune, sounding very fresh. Patton's 'When Your Way Gets Dark,' which he performed at the introductory session at Port Townsend and blew people away with, is one of the highlights of the record here as well, with great slide work way up the neck. Jesse Thomas's 'Another Friend Like Me' is a lesser known tune from the country blues repertoire that gets a much deserved revival, and this version features string bass from Rory McLeod, as does Paul's take Blind Willie McTell's 'Don't Forget It'. There are only a few original tunes on the record. One is really an update of 'Bully of the Town' ('New Bully of the Town') and is an angry dig at current US anti-terrorist legislation and foreign policy. 'Evil World Blues' is another sort of protest song, this time about homelessness, with some Robert Johnson-like licks. 'Loners' Blues' is more of an old-style folk tune and features clawhammer banjo from Grosswendt. 'This Morning She Was Gone' is a Jim Jackson tune and includes Jim Bennett on mandolin and McLeod on string bass - it's good time music, with nice mandolin playing, and outshines the original Jackson version. 'Slow Mama Slow' is the Sam Collins song, another underappreciated early bluesman. Played on 12-string with slide here, I find it's a somehow darker take than the slow and steamy original. 'Bad Dream Blues' is the Dave Van Ronk tune in Statesboro Blues style, and Paul's notes to the CD say of the late Van Ronk, "He was my closest friend whose passing leaves a forever void in the world of music and truth." 'Mosquito Moan' is Paul digging into his Blind Lemon Jefferson bag once again and provides the mosquito reference in the odd album title. It's sort of a reprise of Paul's version of 'Booger Rooger Blues' from The Devil's Music, featuring a similar progression in C and similar Blind Lemon licks. It's of one my favorite Lemon themes so I'm happy to hear more interpretations, and Lemon himself recorded dozens of variations on it. 'Scrapper Scraps' is Scrapper Blackwell material in D played brilliantly - he's really all over this, tossing in parts from 'Kokomo Blues,' 'Back Door Blues' and others. 'I Feel So Good' is the Big Bill Broonzy piece that sometimes goes by 'Ballin' the Jack', an up-tempo tune to close the album. Geremia is in top form as usual on this record, perhaps a bit more sombre than in the past, but these are more sombre times. He's really exploring the 12-string more than on previous recordings and, along with Alvin Youngblood Hart, pretty much defines the art of 12-string country blues playing. His 6-string playing will make your jaw drop as well, and vocally he's matched the great singing on Devil's Music. You can't really go wrong picking up a new CD from one of the premier interpreters of country blues and this one is highly recommended. Tracklist: 1. Meet Me in the Bottom 2. Pony Blues 3. Tootie Blues 4. Rising River Blues 5. This Morning She Was Gone 6. New Bully of the Town 7. Slow Mama Slow 8. Another Friend Like Me 9. Evil World Blues 10. Mosquito Moan 11. Loners' Blues 12. Don't Forget It 13. Bad Dream Blues 14. When Your Way Gets Dark 15. Frankie 16. Scrapper Scraps 17. Keep a Love Light 18. I Feel So Good January 27, 2010, 04:45:52 PM by Michael Kuehn
Views: 4167 | Comments: 6 Craig Ventresco Plays the Guitar Craig Ventresco Plays the Guitar - Independent Craig Ventresco Plays the Guitar is the latest CD by, you guessed it, Craig Ventresco. Craig is a San Francisco-based guitarist who came to real prominence when he was lifted off the street corner by filmmaker Terry Zwigoff to record the soundtrack for the film "Crumb." He is known for his encyclopedic knowledge of late 19th and early 20th Century rags, pop and vaudeville tunes, jazz and blues. He manages to rediscover long lost music from old 78s, piano rolls, cylinders and manuscripts. I think most Weenies are familiar with Craig's unique style of playing with a flatpick and ring finger, so I won't go into that. There are a fair number of Craig's videos on YouTube where you can experience his amazing playing. As one would expect, the songs on this CD are an eclectic collection, many, if not most, were new to me. After some digging on the internet, I found a bit of the history behind some of these tunes. Where Craig got them is anybody's guess. Here?s a brief sample of what's on the CD: "The Blues Have Got Me", by Roy Turk and Abner Silver, was first recorded in 1924. I found a brief clip of Warner?s Seven Aces doing it for an album called Jazz From Atlanta, 1923-1929. "Take 'Em To The Door" is a tune written by Henderson-Rose-Davis, performed in 1925 by Gus Van and Joe Schenck. Apparently they were a comedy duo, and the song has piano accompaniment. "Downhearted Blues" was recorded by Bessie Smith in 1923. "Low Down Blues" is a Eubie Blake-Noble Sissle tune from 1923. I found a version of it by Eddie Heywood and the Blues Singers on a Document CD. I credit Todd Cambio of Fraulini Guitars for introducing me to the artistry of Craig Ventresco. While sitting in Todd's workshop, discussing music, he asked me if I'd heard of Craig. I hadn't, and I'm now grateful we had that talk. Listening to this CD is how I imagine it must have been for those folks lucky enough to have heard Blind Blake or Broonzy playing live for a party or dance. Craig plays this music the way it was meant to be played ? rough, raucous, aggressive. There's a rawness, a liveliness, to it that you just don't hear in a lot of folks who play this music. His playing is not genteel. It's real. I got my CD directly from Craig, which, as far as I know, is the only place it can be purchased. And it?s a Fraulini Guitar that Craig is playing on this CD. So we got that going for us. www.craigventresco.com Tracklist: 1. Take 'Em to the Door 2. Take Me to the Land of Jazz 3.Sugar Blues 4. Big City Blues 5. Broken Blues 6. Downhearted Blues 7. Step it Up and Go 8. Ukulele Blues part 1 9. Terrible Murder Blues* 10. Low Down Blues 11. Wang Wang Blues 12. Hesitation Blues 13. The Blues Have Got Me 14. The New Lonesome Crave 15. Ukulele Blues part 2 * Vocal by Meredith Axelrod May 13, 2009, 07:20:15 PM by uncle bud
Views: 2743 | Comments: 1 Fetch It! - Steve Cheseborough Written by Andrew Mullins Fetch It! - Steve Cheseborough Independent Portland-based musician and author Steve Cheseborough has put together a strong set of country blues for his latest CD, Fetch It!, which was released in January. The author of the guidebook Blues Traveling: the Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Cheseborough is a part-time blues historian, but never comes across sounding like one on this CD. He takes a laid back approach to the music that is very appealing - it's always a pleasure for the listener when the performer sounds so relaxed and sure of their material. Just sit back and enjoy. The record opens with "Hear Me Talking to You", an arrangement of a Ma Rainey song with a beautiful melody that provides the title for the CD in its lyric, "you got to fetch it with you when you come." The pace sets the tone for much of the rest of the disc. Cheseborough adapts the song - originally played by a jug band - for solo guitar in Vestapol tuning to great success. His arranging talents are in evidence throughout the record, but particularly on Little Brother Montgomery's "Vicksburg Blues", a slow blues that transfers surprisingly effectively from piano to guitar, and the wonderful Georgia Tom Dorsey song "Been Mistreated", which sounds a little like it's gone through a Bo Carter machine. Cheseborough is in fact an expert on Carter, and so it's only fitting that he tackles several of his tunes for the CD, including the classic "Arrangement for Me Blues", and the guitar workout "Who's Been Here" - slightly toned down here from the original acrobatic version, but still rendered with style and Bo-itude. But the most enjoyable take on Carter here is surely the less common "Who Broke the Latch?", a raggy medicine show or vaudeville-style blues that is hard to resist. If you've seen Cheseborough perform, you may have seen him put away the guitar and convincingly lay down a tune with simple harmonica, percussion and vocal. This time round it's Polly Wolly Doodle, perfectly executed comedy featuring melodic harp playing, hambone and vocal responses in the bass register. His harp playing in general should not go unmentioned: always understated, he resists wailing harmonica stylings, and has more in common with Noah Lewis or Will Shade. Other tracks on the record include a funky, John Lee Hooker-ish take on Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips", Blind Lemon Jefferson's "One Dime Blues", Tampa Red's "Love With a Feeling", and even a nice cover of a Dean Martin tune, "Little Ole Wine Drinker Me" - complete with yodel. The CD also features percussion on every track - Stacy Adams shoes on an old box lid - though I think a few tracks should probably have stood shoeless on their own. Geeshie Wiley's "Last Kind Words" in particular is one where I could have done without the percussive tapping. Cheseborough's vocals are strong throughout. He picks great singing songs, not just guitar parts, and he's got his own style (though an occasional tendency to exaggerate vowel sounds may alarm some listeners at first). With a playlist that avoids blues clich?s and Cheseborough's easy-going style, Fetch It! is a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining CD. Featuring cover art by 15-year-old cartoonist Christopher Livingstone. Available at CD Baby and www.stevecheseborough.com |
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