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June
2009
Jim
Byrnes
My Walking Stick
Black Hen/Universal
Jim Byrnes has certainly found a groove with Steve Dawson and Black Hen, the combination just gets better and better. He most certainly has not left The Sojourners behind either. From the rocking opener, “Ol’ Rattler”, this one doesn’t quit. “Walk On Boy”, with banjo, a couple of slide guitars and The Sojourners, shows how little difference there can be between blues & gospel. And this genre erasing continues throughout this third disc in the series as well. Irving Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band” conveniently provided Byrnes with a song about his trademark cane: “My Walking Stick” comes out sounding like the Mills Brothers only with a delightful violin solo from Jesse Zubot. The fun next includes “Looking For A Love”, a song made famous by the J. Geils Band but performed here as the Drifters might have done it, updated with a burbling organ, electric slide and a faintly reggae arrangement. Robbie Robertson’s “Ophelia” gets a much slower treatment, with Jeanne Tolmie and the Sojourners combining for their version of those Band harmonies on the chorus. Zubot’s violin part is a treat. “Talk In Circles” is a new Byrnes/Dawson rocking blues with a searing electric slide. “Three Shots” is a Suzie Ungerleider song that adds some old time country to the program and that continues with “Lonely Boy Blue (Danny’s Song)”. “Drown In My Own Tears” gets a magnificent, stripped down, arrangement that sets off the vocal most effectively - a major highlight and followed immediately by another: Little Milton’s 1971 Stax single “Living Off The Love You Give Me”. Washington Phillips’ “What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?” gets a glorious full quartet workout followed by the traditional gospel song “I Want My Crown”. Another Byrnes/Dawson composition, “One Life (Creole Poetry)” concludes this varied program. It’s a stunning, well-crafted love song with Jeanne Tolmie on the harmony vocal, a very satisfying way to end the set. Jim Byrnes is at the top of his game here and I’m sure it’ll be among the year’s best. His web site is www.jimbyrnes.org.
Monkey
Junk
Tiger In Your Tank Beefy
The buzz surrounding this new group derives from its performances: full of energy and excitement. It’s as though these talented players had just heard Muddy Waters for the first time, so enthusiastically do they dive into the songs. The buzz led to their being nominated for a Maple Blues Award with no release in hand, although a promotional EP was ready by the time of their appearance at the Blues Summit. Their third place finish at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis has only served to heighten the anticipation for this, their first full release. If you’re wondering where the band name comes from, the CD opens with the answer: Son House growls “I’m talking about the blues, I ain’t talkin’ about monkey junk” whereupon Steve Marriner, Tony D & Matt Sobb launch into Muddy’s swaggering “I Wanna Put A Tiger In Your Tank” with every bit of the energy of a live performance. Not the easiest thing to do, even for veterans such as these. They have good original tunes too: “Small Time Evil” is up next on the disc and it has by far the most hits on their MySpace site. Magic Sam and Otis Rush are up next before a Marriner original, “When Push Comes To Shove”. It’s a funky workout with Marriner on organ, adding that instrument to his arsenal of harp & guitars. If this is what Son House calls monkey junk, then I’m a fan! “Beefy” is a band instrumental with Tony D on electric slide. “Pay The Cost” is another band original but one that’s firmly based in the Muddy songbook. “Boogie Man” is vintage Freddie King from his Shelter period and strikingly well played. “Leave The Rest To You” would be my choice for the second single, after “Small Time Evil”, of course. This one is a tuneful love song with a catchy chorus, perfect for radio. Tony D’s slide solo is spot on. He’s the featured vocalist on his “Blues For Anna”, an excellent song he’s recorded before but not this well. “Gutsy”, another solid instrumental, concludes the disc. Matt Sobb shouldn’t be overlooked because his work on drums, cymbals, tambourine, shaker & maracas is vital to the sound. Their web site is www.monkeyjunkband.com, it’ll link you to their other sites and it’ll let you know that their only area appearances are at the Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival and the Beaches Jazz Festival in July. Catch them wherever you can. A good band is always more than the sum of its parts, this is very much the story of Monkey Junk.
Terra
Hazelton
Gimme Whatcha Got
Self
Since Anybody’s Baby, with Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards, Terra has continued to work in traditional jazz settings and the new CD shows how much she enjoys it and how good she is at it. Her view as to what this phrase means, though, is refreshingly wide. The songs here are by, or were made famous by, The Boswell Sisters, Una Mae Carlisle, Rodgers & Hart, Jo Stafford, among others and there are three personal highlights I want to bring to your attention: “If I Can’t Sell It (I’ll Keep Sittin’ On It)”, a masterpiece of double entendre, was a show stopper for Ruth Brown in the Broadway musical Black & Blue. She subsequently recorded it on her own and it became a mainstay of her live act. This performance does it up just fine. “Gimme Whatcha Got” was by Kansas City nightclub chanteuse Julia Lee and it similarly gets a rousing treatment, although Terra’s fine vocal is nearly overshadowed by Michael Kaeshammer’s thundering boogie woogie piano solo. It’s truly a pity he doesn’t do that anymore on his own CDs. “Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair”, by Bessie Smith, is easily as good a performance as “On Revival Day” was on Anybody’s Baby and that was a stunner. The enthusiastic performance belies the story line in that the singer is asking the judge for the death penalty for murdering her boyfriend, making the effect quite macabre. Other songs deserve mention too: “Don’t Let Your Love Go Wrong” is a duet with Alex Pangman, her predecessor in the Jazz Wizards and their performance reminds one immediately of The Honolulu Heartbreakers – it’s a real treat. “Smoking My Sad Cigarette”, by Jo Stafford, gets the sultry performance it requires complete with strings, arranged by Drew Jurecka. Producer John Sheard is at the piano, Jesse Barksdale, guitar, Mark Mariash, drums to round out the basic band. They will all be on hand for two shows at the Rex Hotel on May 30, if you read this in time. If you don’t, maybe she’ll do a song or two with Brandi Disterheft’s band at the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival. They are opening for Dave Brubeck. Terra’s web site is www.terrahazelton.com.
Zac
Harmon
From The Root NorthernBlues/Outside
Music
The latest CD from NorthernBlues is by a veteran and eclectic performer. Zachariah Harmon is from Jackson MS and grew up on Farish Street, the one with all the blues bars. He is primarily a guitarist and after apprenticing with Sam Myers and Mel Brown decided to move to Los Angeles in the 1980’s to try his luck. He landed work as a session guitarist and moved up to production and songwriting, working on movie soundtracks such as White Men Can’t Jump. He also worked on the reggae band Black Uhuru’s The Mystical Truth, which won a Grammy nomination in 1994. This is his fourth CD since striking out on his own in 2002 but it’s the first one that is widely available. The generous program here is all original, by either Harmon or written with his producer & keyboard man Christopher Troy and is actually more mainstream than many NorthernBlues releases. “Don’t Give Me Another Reason” is a fine soul-blues opener, followed by “Hattie Mae”, a downhome rocker based on Willie Cobb’s “You Don’t Love Me” tune. More soul blues is up next with a descriptive title: “Back Bitin’ Back Stabbers”. “That’s What A Woman Needs” shows he’s thoroughly absorbed that reggae connection & “The Price Of Lovin’ You” is a gorgeous soul ballad. “Honey Bee” is not the Muddy song but is not all that original either, a criticism that can be made several times here. “Keep The Blues Alive” and “Want Ads” rise above and are very good songs. From The Root concludes with an acoustic blues, “Man Was Not Meant To Be Alone”, that proves he can work with traditional materials to advantage. He has a live CD out in Europe, Shot In The Kill Zone (Isabel), that one reviewer described in much the same way and it only shares one title. Maybe Mr. Harmon is stretching his good material too thinly. He is, however, a very expressive singer, a talented guitarist and a good, if not prolific, songwriter. The key will be his live show - he’ll be at the Ottawa Blues Festival in July. His web site is www.zacharmon.com.
Buckwheat
Zydeco
Lay Your Burden
Down Alligator/Fontana
North/Universal
It’s been 15 years between major label albums for Stanley Dural Jr. Not that he’s been idle, he tours constantly, performing with such luminaries as Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, at Presidential Inaugurations and honing his band as one of the finest touring ensembles in any genre of music - a band, by the way, celebrating its 30th anniversary with this CD. His is the first name that comes up when Zydeco music is mentioned these days and he deserves all the accolades. For his new release, he’s lined up an impressive roster of songs, reminding us of the R&B roots of Zydeco and blending in many styles along the way. He opens with a powerful new version of “When The Levee Breaks”, a Memphis Minnie song originally written about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
This very electric performance has Buckwheat on B3 with fellow Clifton Chenier bandmate Sonny Landreth on his trademark slide guitar. The song will no doubt continue to resonate and this version will be remembered, not least for its theme of survival: Buckwheat picks up his accordion and turns it into a zydeco anthem, a brilliant idea. Buckwheat adds reggae, Captain Beefheart and Bruce Springsteen to this heady brew plus a six-pack of originals. The theme of redemption vanquishing adversity is beautifully expressed in the title song: a new composition by Warren Haynes, who contributes a searing guitar solo.
There is much to listen for and to dance to on this album and I’m looking forward to hearing the songs live at the Toronto Jazz Festival on June 28.
- John Valenteyn, jvalenteyn8724@rogers.com
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