Music » Traditional Blues Music

Release Date: 1992-09-15, Audio CD, Arista

This package combines blues giant Howlin' Wolf's first two albums, themselves compilations of his singles released between 1951 and 1962. Apart from two tracks cut in Memphis with Ike Turner, these Chess Studios recordings are landmarks in the development of electric Chicago blues. The Mississippi Delta native's gruff persona towers over "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Red Rooster," "Spoonful," "Evil," "Wang Dang Doodle," "Back Door Man," and others that have become standards since being "discovered" by the Rolling Stones, Clapton, The Doors, et al. Almost as influential as Wolf's bottomless growl are the guitar playing of Hubert Sumlin and the writing and direction of Willie Dixon. An exceptional twofer value for such a weighty slice of American musical history. --Ben Edmonds

Chester Burnett's ferocious growl was a staple of Chicago's electric-blues heyday. This 20-song compilation ranges from his 1951 debut "Moanin' at Midnight" with Willie Johnson on guitar to 1964's "Killing Floor" with Buddy Guy on guitar. His scratchy, sawed-off vocal approach and his energetic harmonica grace original classics such as "How Many More Years" and "Smokestack Lightnin'." By 1960, he became, along with Muddy Waters, the foremost interpreter of Willie Dixon's songs, lending his coarse voice to legendary Dixon cuts such as "Wang Dang Doodle," "Back Door Man," "Spoonful," "The Red Rooster," and "I Ain't Superstitious." Wolf's style was based on primal raw power, and he ranks among the genre's most distinctive performers. --Marc Greilsamer

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: WATERS,MUDDY
Title: FATHERS & SONS
Street Release Date: 10/30/2001
Domestic
Genre: BLUES TRADITIONAL

Odetta, Absolutely the Best

Release Date: 2003-04-08, Audio CD, Sugarhill [Country]

Cole Porter's songs have long enjoyed a special place in Bobby Short's repertoire, but this set gives additional luster with fine fresh arrangements by Short, guitarist Howard Alden, and tenor saxophonist-conductor Loren Schoenberg, among others. Short is the ideal artist for Porter's songs, and it's more than mere respect for lyrics and his meticulous diction and musicality. He seems to live inside Porter's world, with its archly comic sophistication, its ambiguities, and its suddenly pointed insights. Above all, Short is able to find the subtle emotional tones that these songs require to be fully realized, the celebratory with hints of losses past and to come, the wistful knowledge that experience must be seized to be savored. The accompaniments range from Short's piano through duets with Alden or bassist Frank Tate to a fine small group and a big band, and along the way there are particularly good solo contributions by Alden and trumpeter Virgil Jones. Amid the sentiment there are two of Porter's witty list songs. "You're the Top," with its manic inventory of all things good and beautiful--Mahatma Gandhi, Mickey Mouse, Pepsodent, Jimmy Durante's nose--is spirited, while "Can-Can," another inventive inventory--"If an elm and an oak and an ash can, Baby, you can cancan too"--is delivered with broad humor and sly insinuation. Short is the ultimate cabaret singer; his art is timeless rather than nostalgic. --Stuart Broomer

Release Date: 1994-06-01, Audio CD, Original Sound

This collection of old-time social and instrumental string-band music spotlights instrumental prowess. Old-time music features playing styles that pre-date bluegrass, emerging from the string band tradition stretching back to the early years of United States history. Both African-American and Anglo-American ingredients are at its core, the banjo having African origins, the fiddle European. Some of the most revered sources of old-time roots music-Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Wade Ward, Tommy Jarrell, and more-are heard playing in their original styles. The Grateful Dead's cover of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" and Bob Dylan's rendition of Clarence Ashley's "Little Sadie" clearly attest to the continuing influence of these songs. Compiled and annotated by Jeff Place.

Release Date: 1994-01-25, Audio CD, Sony