We will have the pleasure of making available new DVD/CDs of two of the most popular and hardest working artists of today's Chicago blues and jazz scenes, Jimmy Burns and Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, along with two fascinating buried treasures from Bob Koester's early St. Louis days, Barrelhouse Buck McFarland and Cowboy Roy Brown. Live electric Chicago blues and soul from the fantastic and diverse Jimmy Burns, a live set of hypnotic, creative ethnic jazz from an all star Chicago band of Kahil, Fareed, Corey, and Ernest, St. Louis piano blues/deep vocals from Barrelhouse Buck from 1961, and folk/blues/cowboy tunes, ala Leadbelly, from the obscure St. Louis street performer Cowboy Roy Brown. That's right, cowboy tunes with kazoo on Delmark!
Delmark New Releases Street Date February 20, 2007
1) Ethnic Heritage Ensemble - Live at the Ascension Loft , Delmark DVD 1574 / CD DE 574 (recorded July 30, 2006)
Kahil El'Zabar, drums, earth drums, kalimba; Corey Wilkes, trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion; Ernest Dawkins, alto and tenor saxophone, percussion; Fareed Haque, electric and acoustic guitar. Heavy Chicago jazz - all band leaders in their own right!
In a Down Beat review of their previous Delmark album, Freedom Jazz Dance (517) Paul de Barros wrote “The forms being advanced here-or at least merged in a creative, new way-are African-American syncopation (funk, jazz) and the vertically integrated multiple parts of African drum ensemble music. With folkish simplicity and beguilingly subdued dynamics, Ethnic heritage Ensemble-drums, guitar and two horns-achieves an effect something like an ad hoc percussion band walking the second line, with a little James Brown thrown in." Contains five original compositions. DVD also contains audio interview special feature. Also available: The Continuum (Delmark 496).
2) Jimmy Burns - Live at B.L.U.E.S. , Delmark DVD 1789 / CD DE 789 (recorded August 13, 2006)
Born in Dublin, Mississippi in 1943, Jimmy Burns derived his earliest inspiration from the records of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and others. After Jimmy moved to Chicago in the mid-'50s he discovered a scene that was perfect for the meld of traditional blues, churchy emotionalism, and forward-looking pop/R&B sophistication that by then comprised his musical aesthetic. When he finally signed with Delmark in the mid-'90s, he was primed and ready to take his place as a leading blues recording artist. Live at B.L.U.E.S. captures perfectly the indelible combination of ebullient good spirits, warm-hearted intimacy, and sharp-witted intelligence that characterizes Jimmy Burns, as both a musician and a man. With special guest vocalist Jesse “Too Many Cooks" Fortune. DVD contains 12 songs, two bonus tracks and an audio interview/commentary special feature. Also available: Leaving Here Walking (Delmark 694), Night Time Again (730) and Back To The Delta (770). Can't wait for a live version of “Leaving Here Walking"- one of the best original blues songs in a long time!
3) Barrelhouse Buck McFarland - Alton Blues, Delmark DE 788 (recorded August 6, 1961)
In February 1957, Bob Koester wrote in his newsletter, The Jazz Report, that recent rediscoveries of legendary artists Big Joe Williams and Rufus “Speckled Red" Perryman gave information on other forgotten musicians from the 1920s. Koester was told that Paramount and Decca recording artist Barrelhouse Buck McFarland was still around St Louis and he passed that info along to Charlie O'Brien, a fellow member of the St Louis Jazz Club and a St Louis policeman. Koester and O'Brien had resurrected many of the early St Louis artists, and Buck, the aged entertainer, rugged barrelhouse pianist and marvelous blues singer enjoyed the new interest in his work. Henry Brown, and especially Speckled Red, created new careers and Buck might have as well, but he passed just 8 months after this 1961 recording.
4) Cowboy Roy Brown - Green Corn, Delmark DE 790 (recorded mid 50's)
Cowboy Roy Brown was born in Arkansas on April 20, 1875, the son of a preacher. He and his sister learned to play guitar from their father who they accompanied when he played violin in church. In his twenties, Roy visited St Louis during the 1904 World's Fair and later moved to Kansas City, then Marion, Illinois and then drifted to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Deadwood, South Dakota. Roy eventually returned to St Louis where he was a street singer performing with his guitar and catalog of blues, folk and cowboy tunes. Roy and his band - a guitar named “Baby"' and a kazoo named “Leon"' - performed cowboy standards and popular tunes. Popular if you lived in the days of the cowboys! Previously unissued mid-'50s recording.
I would love to congratulate Delmark artists, Zora Young and Lurrie Bell, for the 2007 National Blues Music/Handy Awards nominations. Congrats to ZORA YOUNG (Traditional female blues artist) and LURRIE BELL (guitarist) , along with Otis Rush (historical album), Magic Slim (Blues Band), Bob Stroger (bass), Billy Branch (harp), and Eddie Shaw (horn) for Handy/National Blues Music Awards Nominations! (http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/nominees.php4)
Otis and Junior are both up for Historical Album of the Year! OTIS RUSH, Live at Wise Fools Pub, 1976 (DE 781) JUNIOR WELLS, Live at Theresa's, 1975 (DE 787)
Thanks to the wonderful airplay and reviews of our latest, especially Kahil El Zabar's Ritual Trio's Big M (DE 572), Fred Anderson's Timeless, Live at the Velvet (DE 568) and the one and only Junior Wells' Live at Theresa's, 1975 (DE 787) which are all ending up on many critics' best of year lists. “Snatch It Back and Scratch It, Little By Little!"
I hope you have a safe, healthy, and happy holiday season and I thank you for your support of Delmark blues and jazz and your dedicated work on the scene. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Lookin' forward to 2007!!
For more information contact All About Jazz.
