Alabama Train - Louisiana Red with Bill Dicey

Born in Annapolis, Maryland, BILL DICEY began playing harmonica at age 8 when his father handed down his first Hohner Marine Band harp. Harmonicas were scarce at that time, so Bill learned to play his one harp in five different keys. Learning from the street musicians, young Bill used his talent to attract customers for his shoe shine business. Early influences on his technique included saxmen David “Fathead” Newman and Clifford Scott, and blues harp greats Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and later on Little Walter. Associations with Sonny Boy and Buddy Moss helped him in developing a style uniquely his own. Bill teamed up with Buddy Moss in the late 60’s for many sessions which included engagements at colleges and clubs throughout the South, when Buddy turned over the reins of command, Bill brought the “Atlanta Blues Band” to New York City. Widely know and respected in the Blues world, Bill has performed with, opened for or recorded with a breathtaking array of talent including Sonny Boy Williamson, T-Bone Walker, Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt, John Hammond, Phoebe Snow, Otis Spann, Slim Harps, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Louisiana Red, Roosevelt Sykes, Arthur Crudup, Big Mama Thornton, Charles Walker, Howling Wolf, Lightning Hopkins, the Coasters, Elvis Presley and Victoria Spivey. Bill died at his home in 1993 of cancer.  

If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Ella Hums The Blues - Don Abney And His Quartet

Don Abney (John Donald Abney; March 10, 1923 in Baltimore, Maryland – January 20, 2000 in Los Angeles, California) was an American jazz pianist. Abney studied piano and french horn at the Manhattan School of Music, and he played the latter in an Army band during military service. After returning he played in ensembles with Wilbur de Paris, Bill Harris, Kai Winding, Chuck Wayne, Sy Oliver, and Louis Bellson.[1] He had a sustained career as a session musician, playing on recordings for Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Oscar Pettiford, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Eartha Kitt, and Pearl Bailey. He also played on a large number of recordings for more minor musicians and on R&B, pop, rock, and doo wop releases. After moving to Hollywood, he worked as musical director for Universal Studios/MCA. He appeared as a pianist in the film Peter Kelly's Blues behind Ella Fitzgerald. Additional credits include recording and arrangements for the film "Lady Sings The Blues." He toured with Anita O'Day in the 1980s. Early in the 1990s he moved to Japan and toured there with considerable success, playing weekly at the Sanno Hotel in Tokyo. Upon his return to the United States in 2000, he died of complications from kidney dialysis. He was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Burbank, CA. He is survived by 5 children.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Shifty Blues - Eubie Blake

James Hubert Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as, "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find A Way", "Memories of You", and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The musical Eubie! featured the works of Blake and opened on Broadway in 1978. Blake was born at 319 Forrest Street in Baltimore, Maryland to former slaves John Sumner Blake (1838–1917) and Emily "Emma" Johnstone (1861–1917). He was the only surviving child of eight, all the rest of whom died in infancy. In 1894 the family moved to 414 North Eden Street, and later to 1510 Jefferson Street. John Blake worked earning US$9.00 weekly as a stevedore on the Baltimore docks. In later years Blake claimed to have been born in 1883, but his Social Security application and all other official documents issued in the first half of his life list his year of birth as 1887. Many otherwise reliable sources mistakenly give his year of birth as the earlier year, reprinting the false information that had been printed before these official documents and census records came to light. Blake's musical training began when he was just four or five years old. While out shopping with his mother, he wandered into a music store, climbed on the bench of an organ, and started "foolin’" around. When his mother found him, the store manager said to her: "The child is a genius! It would be criminal to deprive him of the chance to make use of such a sublime, God-given talent." The Blakes purchased a pump organ for US$75.00 making payments of 25 cents a week. When Blake was seven, he received music lessons from their neighbor, Margaret Marshall, an organist from the Methodist church. At age fifteen, without knowledge of his parents, he played piano at Aggie Shelton’s Baltimore bordello. Blake got his first big break in the music business when world champion boxer Joe Gans hired him to play the piano at Gans' Goldfield Hotel, the first "black and tan club" in Baltimore in 1907. According to Blake he also worked the medicine show circuit and was employed by a Quaker (Quakers) Doctor. He played a Melodeon (organ) strapped to the back of the medicine wagon. Blake stayed with the show only 2 weeks because the Doctors' religion didn't allow the serving of Sunday dinner. Blake said he first composed the melody to the "Charleston Rag" in 1899, which would have made him 12 years old, but he did not commit it to paper until 1915, when he learned to write in musical notation. In 1912, Blake began playing in vaudeville with James Reese Europe's "Society Orchestra" which accompanied Vernon and Irene Castle's ballroom dance act. The band played ragtime music which was still quite popular at the time. Shortly after World War I, Blake joined forces with performer Noble Sissle to form a vaudeville music duo, the "Dixie Duo." After vaudeville, the pair began work on a musical revue, Shuffle Along, which incorporated many songs they had written, and had a book written by F. E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles. When it premiered in June 1921, Shuffle Along became the first hit musical on Broadway written by and about African-Americans. The musicals also introduced hit songs such as "I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Love Will Find a Way." In 1923, Blake made three films for Lee DeForest in DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process. They were Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake featuring their song "Affectionate Dan", Sissle and Blake Sing Snappy Songs featuring "Sons of Old Black Joe" and "My Swanee Home", and Eubie Blake Plays His Fantasy on Swanee River featuring Blake performing his "Fantasy on Swanee River". These films are preserved in the Maurice Zouary film collection in the Library of Congress collection. In 1938 Avis was diagnosed with tuberculosis and died later that year at 58. Of his loss, Blake is on record saying, "In my life I never knew what it was to be alone. At first when Avis got sick, I thought she just had a cold, but when time passed and she didn’t get better, I made her go to a doctor and we found out she had TB … I suppose I knew from when we found out she had the TB, I understood that it was just a matter of time." While serving as bandleader with the United Service Organizations (USO) during World War II, Blake met and married Marion Grant Tyler, widow of violinist Willy Tyler, in 1945. Tyler, also a performer and a businesswoman, became his valued business manager until her death in 1982. In 1946, as Blake's career was winding down, he enrolled in New York University, graduating in two and a half years. Later his career revived again culminating in the hit Broadway musical, Eubie!. In the 1950s, interest in ragtime revived and Blake, one of its last surviving artists, found himself launching yet another career as ragtime artist, music historian, and educator. Blake signed recording deals with 20th Century Records and Columbia Records, lectured and gave interviews at major colleges and universities all over the world, and appeared as guest performer and clinician at top jazz and rag festivals. He was a frequent guest of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin. Blake was featured by leading conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Arthur Fiedler. By 1975 Blake had been awarded honorary doctorates from Rutgers, the New England Conservatory, the University of Maryland, Morgan State University, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn College, and Dartmouth. On October 9, 1981, Blake received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, awarded by President Ronald Reagan. On March 10, 1979 Blake performed with Gregory Hines on Saturday Night Live. Blake claimed that he started smoking cigarettes when he was 10 years old, and continued to smoke all his life. The fact that he smoked for 85 years was used by some politicians in tobacco-growing states to build support against anti-tobacco legislation. Blake continued to play and record into late life, until his death. Eubie Blake died February 12, 1983 in Brooklyn, just five days after celebrating his (claimed) 100th birthday (actually his 96th—see below). He was interred in the Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. His head stone,engraved with the musical notation for I'm Just Wild About Harry, was commissioned by the African Atlantic Genealogical Society (AAGS). The bronze sculpture of Eubie's bespectacled face was created by David Byer-Tyre, Curator/Director of the African American Museum and Center for Education and Applied Arts, Hempstead NY. The original inscription indicated his correct year of birth, but individuals close to him insisted that Eubie be indulged; and paid to have the inscription changed. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Washboard Serenaders / Jerome Darr

For a player who rates only three lines of biographical information in one major jazz reference book, Jerome Darr had an incredibly versatile and prolific career, showing up on sessions from blues to bebop and even strumming a few arpeggios behind Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers. He was one of many fine players to hail from Baltimore and his first major professional affiliation was in sort of a jug band, the Washboard Serenaders. The guitarist was a member of this group from 1933 through 1936, a tenure that included a well-received European tour. Jazz researchers find great, glaring holes in Darr's activities from this point, either picking back up on him in the classic jazz context of Buddy Johnson's band in the early '50s, or wondering about his involvement with the much more modernistic Charlie Parker during roughly the same period. The guitarist was not hiding in a closet during the '40s, however: he simply focused on work as a studio musician during an era when the efforts of such players went largely uncredited. Discographer Tom Lord, for example, lists less than 20 recording sessions in total for this artist between 1935 and 1973. Such a thin statistic indicates that the hefty, complete list of recordings Darr appears on include many other styles besides jazz. Simply fitting in may have been the main requirement in these contexts, and it is indeed difficult to pinpoint whether it is Darr or someone else such as Skeeter Best playing on some of the Lymon tracks, as studio bandleader Jimmy Wright made use of several different players. In his final years, Darr was mostly swinging in the busy band of trumpeter Jonah Jones, in a sense coming full circle with the type of playing he had started out with. collapse If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Blues in a A - Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American composer, singer-songwriter, guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. Zappa produced almost all of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classical composers such as Edgard Varèse, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern along with 1950s rhythm and blues music. He began writing classical music in high school, while at the same time playing drums in rhythm and blues bands; he later switched to electric guitar. If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorite band!

Joe "Stride" Turner and Champion Jack Dupree

Joe Turner (November 3, 1907 – July 21, 1990) was an American jazz pianist. Joseph H. Turner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. One of the masters of the stride piano style associated with Harlem, New York City, Turner got his first big musical break in 1928 with his hiring by the Benny Carter Orchestra. He also played with Louis Armstrong. After World War II, he settled in Europe, living in Paris from 1962. He played at La Calavados, a nightclub situated on the Champs Elysees until his death from a heart attack in 1990, at the age of 82 A rare French TV gem from the Sixties featuring two greats: Joe Turner born in Baltimore, 3 Nov 1907 died in Montreuil, France, 21 July 1990 (not to be confused with his great blues singer namesake "Big" Joe Turner), a dazzling stride pianist who played with all the greats in Harlem during the Twenties, Louis Armstrong amongst them, and the great "Champion" Jack Dupree (1910 - 1992), the embodiment of of the New Orleans blues and boogie woogie pianist, a true barrelhouse "professor" and a great showman to boot as is amply evident. One can only marvel at the level of mass culture back then compared to now.


 Joe Turner plays: Keeping out of the Grass Cloud Fifteen Carolina Shout St. Louis Blues

Champion Jack Dupree plays: The Woman I Love Diggin' my potatoes Chicken Baby Pinetop's Boogie Woogie

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, -  ”LIKE” ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band!

Black Night - Charles Brown w/ Danny Caron

Originally out of Silver Spring, Maryland, Danny moved to Austin, Texas and cut his teeth on the Crawfish circuit playing with singer-pianist Marcia Ball. He then worked with Zydeco king Clifton Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band with whom he recorded the Grammy Award winning Album, "I'm Here" in 1980. Relocating to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1981 he continued to freelance and eventually teamed up with the legendary singer and pianist Charles Brown. Danny served as guitarist and musical director for Charles Brown from 1987 until Brown's death in 1999. He has played on numerous CD's and sessions with Charles Brown, Clifton Chenier, Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker, Van Morrison, Ruth Brown, Etta Jones, John Clayton, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wilson, Donald Fagen, Dr. John, Little Milton Campbell, John Hammond Jr. and many others. Danny is the featured guitarist on the Van Morrison produced John Lee Hooker album, "Don't Look Back" which won two Grammy Awards - one for Best Traditional Blues Recording, and the other for Best Collaboration, Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker. He keeps up a busy schedule touring and performing most recently with Robben Ford, Barbara Morrison, Maria Muldaur and others. He continues working with Just Say Jazz, a group of Bay Area musicians dedicated to preserving and promoting jazz and blues awareness in primary schools. He is presently teaching courses at The Jazzschool in Berkeley California. Recent projects include the release of “Good Hands,” the first solo Danny Caron CD, and producing as well as playing guitar on the new CD from Pamela Rose entitled “Just For A Thrill” and Phil Berkowitz’s homage to Louis Jordan entitled “Louis’ Blues.” Danny wrote the film score to the motion picture 'johns' for which he and Mr. Brown composed music, and for which he composed the title song, "The Promised Land." The movie stars David Arquette and Lukas Haas. Recent tours include Maria Muldaur and Barbara Morrison If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE” Video

Bobby Radcliff

When BOBBY RADCLIFF’s first album on the revered Black Top label hit record stores all over the world, critics declared him the next in a long line of guitar heroes. Jazz-lovers awarded him a coveted five-star review in downbeat, New York rockers took him to heart for his edgy energy, and blues fans everywhere knew their favorite music was alive and well. Long before all that, it was the time he spent in the sixties with “Magic Sam” Maghett that bound him forever to the raucous mixture of deep blues and flashy funk that defined the sound of Chicago’s West Side. After running away from a suburban childhood in Chevy Chase, Maryland, at the tender age of seventeen Bobby sought out the guitar master who had changed his life on record. With the help of Bob Koester, Bruce Iglauer, and Jim O’Neal (the blues trinity at Chicago’s legendary Record Mart), he found his idol in Cook County Hospital recovering from a minor stroke. Although he was a little shocked that anyone would come so far simply to meet him, Sam took Bobby under his wing and introduced him to the Chicago blues scene at the peak of the blues renaissance. “Seeing Sam perform was like watching Elvis. He had that total kind of style and magnetism… beyond musical genre and beyond race,” Radcliff remembers. “He showed me the way to sing in a clear concise way, with a crisp and clean sound on the guitar. And then there’s the freedom of working in a trio, but also the risks. Don’t forget, these were the days of Cream and Hendrix, with tons of distortion alternating with lavish studio production. I wanted something different!” By the release of “Dresses Too Short” in 1989, Bobby was already a twenty-year veteran of the club circuits in Washington, DC and New York City. He had shared the stage with the likes of Otis Rush, Roy Buchanan, James Cotton, Danny Gatton, Lowell Fulsom, and Dr.John. In the nineties, three more brilliant albums followed on Black Top Records: “Universal Blues” (1991), “There’s A Cold Grave In Your Way” (1994), and “Live At The Rynborn” (1997). With the label based in New Orleans, Bobby also had the further pleasure of touring with more of his idols, label-mates like Snooks Eaglin, Earl King, and George Porter, Jr. Unhappily, Black Top founder Nauman Scott passed on in 2002, and the label never really recovered. As the rest of the record industry was racked with corporate consolidations, format-wars, and the hi-tech upheaval of the Internet, many artists have found themselves out in the cold. Bobby Radcliff made a choice: make your own records your own way on your own label, with no one to please but the fans. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Gone After Hours - Frank Floorshow Culley

Born 7 August 1917 or 1918, Salisbury, Maryland
Died 15 April 1991, Newark, New Jersey Born in Maryland, but raised in Norfolk, Virginia, Frank Culley was a pioneer of the R&B tenor saxophone in the post-WW II period. He demonstrated how the instrument could be an exciting component in the emerging R&B sound. Culley began learning the tenor sax at the age of 10 and made his first professional mark playing with Johnson's Happy Pals around Richmond, Virginia. He formed his own R&B group in the mid-40s, recording for the Lenox label in NYC and backing Wynonie Harris on King. In 1948, he was signed by the fledgling Atlantic label and led its first house band, backing the early stars of R&B as well as recording some thirty tracks under his own name, always featuring his band's superb pianist, Harry Van Walls. Culley's first release on Atlantic, "Coleslaw", was a # 11 R&B hit in 1949, coupled with a wild version of the Lionel Hampton number "Central Avenue Breakdown" (Atlantic 874). The follow-up was "Floorshow" (Atlantic 880), from the same January 1949 session. This song gave him his nickname, known as he was for being a histrionic showman. The next single, "After Hour Session" (Atlantic 888), went to # 10 on the R&B charts ; the flip, "Rhumboogie Jive" is available on the CD "Let The Boogie Woogie Rock and Roll" (Ace 718). After leaving Atlantic in 1951, Culley recorded for RCA Victor, Parrot, Chess and Baton without success. He retired from music in 1975 and moved to Newark, NJ, where he died in 1991.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Saint Louis Blues - Joe "Stride" Turner

Joe Turner (November 3, 1907 – July 21, 1990) was an American jazz pianist.

Joseph H. Turner was born in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. One of the masters of the stride piano style associated with Harlem, New York City, Turner got his first big musical break in 1928 with his hiring by the Benny Carter Orchestra. He also played with Louis Armstrong. After World War II, he settled in Europe, living in Paris from 1962. He played at La Calavados, a nightclub situated on the Champs Elysees until his death from a heart attack in 1990, at the age of 82
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Live at the Temecula Theater DVD - Dennis Jones Band - New Recording Review

I just received Live at the Temecula Theater featuring the Dennis Jones Band. Dennis is a young axe slinger with a tight backing made up of Michael Turner on Drums and Sam Correa on Bass (both on vocals). The band opens with Kill The Pain, a blues rock track with the underlying rhythm of a Jeff Beck like track (solid) and featuring Jones out front with his honey burst Les Paul. Jones has a very versatile voice and has mastered the guitar quite well. His vocal styling is definitely influenced by Jimi and certainly not a bad choice. His riffs, played in a modern style have their roots in the delta. Next up is Him Or Me, which actually has the construction of a Hendrix track but of course is totally original. Jones seems to prefer Bogner amplification for his dirty sound and Fender Blonde Vibrolux Custom for his clean channel. This is a cool song with again a blues rock feel there are definitely some Jimi influenced riffs on this track. Jones, now on a sunburst Stratocaster with a rosewood board, plays I'm Good, built around Hookers One Bourbon concept, takes on a new life and sounds very fresh. Brand New Day, a fast boogie track finds the band driving quite hard. This is a pretty cool track with limited guitar work but really solid. Passion For Blues, title track of Jones' second release, is laid over a solid bass/drum riff and gives Jones the opportunity to play some more fingered chord style rhythm and hold the volume back for the clean solos which follow. A Strat and a Vibrolux belong together. The Best That I Can brings the tempo up a little and exhibits a more modern approach to the blues with rock riffs. Jones demonstrates once again his clean mastery of the fretboard and I'm watching. Big Black Cat has a great classic driving bass line and Jones fires up the fretboard like he's from Texas. Riffs are red hot and driving but with a little jazz in the mix. Very cool track! The second set starts off with Don't Worry About Me, a strong blues infused rocker. When I Die again demonstrates how important a bottom end is to a trio with the drums and bass setting the table for Jones to lay out his pallet if musical colors. Home Tonight has a modern R&B style feel but doesn't inhibit Jones from demonstrating a short burst of pyrotechnics. Back on Les Paul, Jones plays Try Not To Lie, a straight up boogie giving the band a chance to break loose and even finds Jones with a Chuck Berry riff in there. Back on his Strat, Jones leads the way with some beautiful clean guitar riffs on Fresh Out Of Love. Although this concert is filled with terrific guitar playing, this particular track really shows Jones mastery of sensitivity and articulation on his axe. Super Deluxe is back on the boogie train with the walking bass line and Jones raking the chords in rhythm. Hot Sauce see's Jones stripped down to a "wife beater" and cowboy hat and playing a butterscotch black guard Tele demonstrating that he can cross the lines and play a hot country based blues rocker to finish up the set.
There are 4 Bonus Tracks included on this DVD, Something Good, a slow blues track which may be one of the best tracks on the recording; Falling Up, a more airplay oriented track; the hard driving You're Wrong based on Jimmy Reed riff and pushed into a modern rocker and Stray Bullet, a soul style ballad with strong guitar work.
The people who attended this show got their money's worth and when you check this DVD out, you will too!!
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

I Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town - Barry Baughn Blues Band

Barry Baughn - Guitar Vocals
Bob Gross - Bass Vocals
John "Mad Dog" Ruiz - Hammond B3 and Piano
Larry Mitchell - Drums
Paul Carman - Sax
Stan Watkins - Trumpet
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Alabama Train - Louisiana Red/ Bill Dicey

Born in Annapolis, Maryland, BILL DICEY began playing harmonica at age 8 when his father handed down his first Hohner Band Harp. Harmonicas were scarce at that time, so Bill learned to play his one harp in five different keys. Learning from the street musicians, young Bill used his talent to attract customers for his shoe shine business. Early influences on his technique included saxmen David "Fathead" Newman and clifford Scott, and Blues harp greats Jimmy Reed, Sonny Boy Williamson ( Rice Miller), and later on Little Walter. Associations with Sonny Boy and Buddy Moss helped him in developing a style uniquely his own. Bill teamed up with Buddy Moss in the late 60's for many sessions which included engagements at colleges and clubs throughout the South, when Buddy turned over the reins of command, Bill brought the "Atlanta Blues Band" to New York City. Widely know and respected in the Blues world, Bill has performed with, opened for or recorded with a breathtaking array of talent including Sonny Boy Williamson, T-Bone Walker, Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt, John Hammond, Phoebe Snow, Otis Spann, Slim Harps, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Louisiana Red, Roosevelt Sykes, Arthur Crudup, Big Mama Thornton, Charles Walker, Howling Wolf, Lightning Hopkins, the Coasters, Elvis Presley and Victoria Spivey. Bill died at his home in 1993 of Cancer.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

See See Rider Blues - BEATRICE "WEE BEA" BOOZE,

Bea Booze (May 23, 1920 – 1975), often credited as Wee Bea Booze, was an American R&B and jazz singer most popular in the 1940s.

She was born Muriel Nicholls in Baltimore, and made her name as a singer in Harlem. She was signed by Decca Records to cover the songs and emulate the style of Lil Green, and, under the guidance of Sammy Price, first recorded in 1942. Her version of "See See Rider Blues", first recorded by Ma Rainey, reached # 1 on the R&B chart, after which she was billed as 'The See See Rider Blues Girl'. As well as singing, she played guitar in performance and on many of her recordings.

Later in the 1940s, Booze recorded as a jazz vocalist with the Andy Kirk band, which featured trumpeter Fats Navarro, and also with a jazz quartet that included saxophonist George Kelly and organist Larry Johnson. She retired from the music business in the early 1950s to settle first in Baltimore and later in Scottsville, New York, although she recorded with Sammy Price in 1962.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

Severn Records artist: The Nighthawks - Damn Good Time - New Release Review

I just got the new Nighthawks release called Damn Good Time and that's exactly what it is. This recording will be released on May 15 by Severn Records fresh off of their first ever Blues Music Award from the Blues Foundation as Acoustic Blues Album of the Year in 2011. The recording opens with Too Much, a classic loping blues tune which demonstrates why the Nighthawks have been around for such a long time with their tight band, vocal harmonies and cool harp work. Who You're Working For is a rockin' tune with straight crankin' solos from Paul Bell on Guitar and Mark Wenner on Harp. Bring Your Sister is a real rocker with great harp tones and and the vocal harmonies that you have come to expect from the band. Minimum Wage, a thought provoking song, turns into a pretty cool swing jam with laid back soloing from Bell and Wenner. Georgia Slop is sure to get everyone bopping around. Night Work, another loping blues slinger has a cool feel to it and the ever present punch from Wenner on harp as well as a few cool riffs from Bell. Let's Work Together, covered by a lot of bands in the past gets the solid vocal harmony treatment here with a pretty cool slide solo to punch up the track. Smack Dab In The Middle is particularly harmonic vocally but also has a bursting harp solo. The recording finishes up with Heartbreak Shake, a rocker with The Nighthawks giving it everything that they have. It's got the strong lead vocals, it's got the tight rhythm, it's got the slide ... it's a good wrap up to this set.
If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! - ”LIKE”

Baltimore Buzz- Eubie Blake

James Hubert Blake (February 7, 1887 – February 12, 1983) was an American composer, lyricist, and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music. In 1921, Blake and long-time collaborator Noble Sissle wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, one of the first Broadway musicals to be written and directed by African Americans. Blake's compositions included such hits as, "Bandana Days", "Charleston Rag", "Love Will Find A Way", "Memories of You", and "I'm Just Wild About Harry". The musical Eubie! featured the works of Blake and opened on Broadway in 1978.
Blake was born at 319 Forrest Street in Baltimore, Maryland to former slaves John Sumner Blake (1838–1917) and Emily "Emma" Johnstone (1861–1917).
He was the only surviving child of eight, all the rest of whom died in infancy. In 1894 the family moved to 414 North Eden Street, and later to 1510 Jefferson Street. John Blake worked earning US$9.00 weekly as a stevedore on the Baltimore docks.

In later years Blake claimed to have been born in 1883, but his Social Security application and all other official documents list his year of birth as 1887.
Write on our Facebook Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! -  Here

Sweet Home Chicago / Bye Bye Baby - Johnny and Shuggie Otis with Roy Buchanan

Johnny Otis was born December 28, 1921 in Vallejo, California. He grew up in a predominantly black neighborhood in Berkeley, California, where his father owned and operated a neighborhood grocery store. He began his musical career in 1939 as a drummer with Count Otis Matthew's West Oakland House Rockers. In 1943, at the recommendation of Nat "King" Cole and Jimmy Witherspoon, he moved to Los Angeles to join Harlan Leonard's Kansas City Rockets at the Club Alabam. By 1945 he was leading his own band, and had his first big hit that year with "Harlem Nocturne". In 1948 he joined with Bardu and Tila Ali, and Johnny Miller to open The Barrelhouse in Los Angeles, which was the first nightclub to feature Rhythm & Blues exclusively. In 1950 he had ten songs that made the Top 10 on Billboard Magazine's Best Selling Retail Rhythm & Blues Records list. With this success, he went on the road with his California Rhythm & Blues Caravan, and became the hottest musical attraction in black America. In the early 1950's, remaining active as a writer, performer, and producer, Johnny began a radio career and became one of the most popular disc jockeys in southern California. His career in radio has now spanned almost 50 years. His early radio broadcast success led to a weekly variety show on television. "The Johnny Otis Show" was on TV in Los Angeles for eight years.

Johnny Otis discovered many legendary Rhythm and Blues singers such as Esther Phillips, Willie Mae "Big Momma" Thornton, Etta James, and the Robins (who later evolved into the Coasters), all of whom were at one time featured vocalists in his band. He also discovered Sugar Pie DeSanto, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, Jackie Wilson, and Little Willie John. He produced, and with his band played on the original recording of "Hound Dog" with "Big Momma" Thornton. He produced and played on Johnny Ace's "Pledging My Love", and produced some of Little Richard's earliest recordings. On his own Blues Spectrum lable, Johnny has recorded and played with Rhythm & Blues pioneers such as Big Joe Turner, Gatemouth Moore, Amos Milburne, Richard Berry, Joe Liggins, Roy Milton, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Charles Brown, and Louis Jordan. Johnny played the drums on Charles Brown's first major hit "Driftin' Blues" in 1946. He also recorded with Illinois Jacquet, and Lester Young. One of the many highlights of his long career was when he performed as a drummer with the great Count Basie Orchestra.

In the 1960's Johnny served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Mervin Dymally, whose career he followed from the State Assembly, State Senate, Lieutenant Governorship of California, to the U.S. Congress. His first book "Listen To The Lambs", which addressed the 1965 race riots was published in 1968. His next book, "Upside Your Head! Rhythm & Blues on Central Avenue" was published in 1993. Many of his paintings, sculptures, and wood carvings are displayed in "Colors and Chords - The Art of Johnny Otis" which was published in 1995. His most recent book, "Johnny Otis - Red Beans & Rice and Other Rock 'n' Roll Recipes" was published in 1997.

Johnny Otis's song writing credits include "Every Beat of My Heart", (a song he wrote originally for Jackie Wilson, but was made a hit by Gladys Knight and the Pips), "Roll With Me Henry", (also known as "The Wallflower"), "So Fine", "Willie znd the Hand Jive" (which sold over 1.5 million copies), and many, many others.

Johnny has been inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, into the Blues Hall of Fame and into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Archives of African American Music and Culture at the University of Indiana has cataloged hundreds of hours of his past radio shows for his interviews, comments, insights, and historical significance.

He has remained active in his recording studio and has put out 6 CD's on his label since the mid-nineties.
Write on our Facebook Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! -  Here

Eller Soul Records artist: Andy Poxon - Red Roots - New Release Review

I just received a copy of Andy Poxon's recording Red Roots. Clever title for a kid playing blues roots music with a large red "natural". The recording is comprised of 13 original tunes with a number of different flavors. There are tastes of Boogie, Funk, Country, Soul, Pop, and a good dose of Blues. Being from Maryland, Andy likely gets exposed to everything as it is a melding pot of music in that musical hub. Andy is actually a pretty good singer in the style of young Jimmy Hall and shows real potential as a guitar slinger. The recording overall is a great first effort and I'm anxious to see how he does as he matures. His playing shows real depth in melodic understanding and I feel that once given the opportunity to explore a bit more, he could be a real powerhouse. There were a few standout tracks on the recording, Hottest Thing in Town, a Boogie played on guitar a 'la Gatemouth Brown, No Love a funkier tune sung over a blues base and Is There Anything I Can Do which resembles a Don Robey song but plays out very nicely. Definitely worth the listen and catch him live and see what he can do!
Write on our Facebook Wall or post your Photos of great blues events! -  Here

Marcel Marsupial Records artist: Boy Wells - Blue Skies Calling - New Release Review

I just received the new recording from Boy Wells called "Blue Skies Calling". I have to admit I was unaware of Wells until he was called to my attention only a few months ago. The recording starts out with a horn driven song that you'd never expect.... I mean if you like that jam groove with sax and trumpet with guitar overlay...you'll love this. The recording continues with a more southern rock tune with the slide guitar and harp blazing. The third track, "Bring it Back" is a stand out track with great horns, vocals and guitar. The recording progresses into a jazzy blues on the fourth track but then makes an abrupt turn on the title track for more of a southern country ballad (a'la Dickey Betts). On the 6th track, Love in Vain" which we previewed in our previous post for the announcement of this cd, Wells conjures up the environment of a smokey 50's blues ballad with the screaming horns, and screaming guitars that is likely to please anyone who listens. The recording then returns to more of a ballad driven tune that could easily have been penned by JJ Cale again with strong guitar support.A continuation of the southern rock sound with the twin guitar leads and solid vocals. Tova, an acoustic instrumental is a nice break near the end of the cd folowed by Devils Backbone Blues which is pretty much a raw blues tune with voice, tambourine and resonator (possibly one of the best tunes on the cd. "Tin Winter" is pure bluegrass and a lot of fun. The recording is concluded with "Traveller" which is another bluegrass type tune. Overall this recording takes you on a pretty nice audible journey through America. Enjoy the ride. I do have to say as a separate comment, he can really play. This cd touches on most every genre a man would likely hear growing up in southern Maryland. Wells like many others boys his age at the time were drawn to the guitar by the likes of Duane Allman. He met guitar legend Danny Gatton when he was in his teens and they became friends ... Wells taking guitar lessons and learning about hot rods...another of Gatton's passions. Wells is joined on this recording by John Prevetti on bass (Danny Gatton), Bruce Crump on drums (Molly Hatchett), Rickie Simkins on violin and mandolin (Emmylou Harris) among others. Also included on this recording is an unbelievable extra... a recording of a 1 hour guitar lesson between Wells and Gatton. This is worth half the price of admission itself. If you don't know Gatton...check my library. That man was a terrific showman and guitar player!
“Like” Bman’s Facebook page (available in over 50 languages). I will not relay senseless nonsense. In this way I can get out the word on new talent, venues and blues happenings! - click Here
Sorry but i am not able to find a video to accompany this review
03 - Boy Wells - Bring It Back.mp3

Boy Wells Audio clip - Love In Vain

One of our viewers volunteered this audio clip of Boy Wells to supliment the video posted earlier. I am still working on getting a video!

Enjoy

Bman
Support Bman and your favorite band or venue - click Here
06 - Boy Wells - Love In Vain.mp3