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Nora Jean Bruso:
Sings The Blues (Red Hurricane) 
Look
out, there's a new queen of the blues and her
name is Nora Jean Bruso. After 25 years of paying
her dues on Chicago's West Side, playing with
the city's finest, she's finally cut her debut
and it's an absolute killer.
Bruso
has the classic blues background as the daughter
of a blues singer who was raised in Greenville,
Mississippi and moved to Chicago's West Side
when she was nineteen and began singing the
blues professionally shortly after. A quarter
of a century down the road it's obvious Bruso
has perfected her craft, strongly influenced
by the tough, brash sound of West Side Chicago
blues and firmly in the tradition of great Chicago
blues ladies like Koko Taylor. "Sings The
Blues" is a hell of a debut as Bruso belts
the blues with authority backed by some of Chicago's
best.
Bruso's
brand of blues is classic Chicago blues, tough
and gritty, coming across like a cross between
Shemeika Copeland and Koko Taylor. That's heavy
company but Bruso's that good. "Sings The
Blues" is the perfect vehicle to herald
bruso's talent expertly produced by Billy Flynn
and Jimmy Dawkins who also play on the record
plus Chicago all-stars Willie Kent on bass,
James Wheeler on guitar and Eddie Shaw on sax.
Bruso and cohorts blast through nearly 70 minutes
of vintage Chicago blues as Bruso revitalizes
a number of blues classics plus a few reworkings
of not so familiar numbers. Bruso shows her
West Side influences on the funky Jimmy Dawkins
penned "Can't Shake These Blues" a
great duet with Dawkins himself and an intense,
slinky cover of Magic Sam's "All Your Love."
Other influences include Howlin' Wolf (her father
and uncle used to sing all of Wolf's classics)
tackling four of his tunes including a romping
version of "Howlin' For My Baby" and
a gritty "Who's Been Talking" both
featuring wailing sax from ex-Wolf bandmate
Eddie Shaw. Other highlights include the joyous
gospel stomp of John Lee Hooker's "Doin'
The Shout", a soul drenched "Members
Only" with some fine B-3 paying from Rob
Waters (a standout throughout) and a tour-de-force
workout of Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind"
that's a real show stopper.
Nora Jean Bruso is an awesome blues singer
and is undoubtedly headed for the big time.
Pick up "Sings The Blues" now and
tell everybody you heard her way back when.
Hands down one of the year's finest debuts.
-Check
out these related links:
Nora
Jean Bruso Website
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Various Artists:
Looking For My Baby! (Sundazed)
Rufus Thomas:
Funkiest Man Alive (Stax)
Fans
of vintage soul and funk will find much to like in
a pair of fine collections put out by the Sundazed
and Fantasy labels. Sundazed's "Looking For My
Baby!: Soul Treasures From The Vaults of Amy-Mala
Bell" pulls together 50 tracks, spread across
two CD's, drawn from the New York based Bell label
and it's subsidiaries while Fantasy's "Funkiest
Man Alive" collects some of Rufus Thomas' funkiest
workouts cut for Stax between 1967-1975.
The
Bell label was a small indie label that managed to
issue some stellar soul recordings during the 60's
including well known names such as James & Bobby
Purify, Oscar Toney Jr. and Mighty Sam McClain (Sundazed
has issued single CD collections by all three) but
mostly relied on very good but less established acts.
Head honcho Larry Uttal kept the soul releases flowing
with the talented producer Papa Don Schroeder sending
him recording by the above mentioned southern artists
plus setting up distribution deals with an array of
tiny soul outfits from all over the country like Goldwax,
Twin Stacks, Sport, Elf and others. Because of this
approach there isn't a readily identifiable Bell sound
like Stax but the company did put out a good amount
of sizzling soul platters. Among the more familiar
names are a few pre- Motown Gladys Knight sides, a
pair by mighty soul duo Larry Williams & Johnny
Watson including the scorching funk of "Can't
Find No Substitute for Love" and the bluesy "I
Could Love You Baby" plus a pair of forgotten
1969 gems by Aaron Neville including the fine "She's
on My Mind" every bit as good as his more celebrated
sides. Other memorable soul nuggets include the catchy
"Personal Property" by Jimmy Jones with
his great falsetto, the stomping "My Elusive
Dreams" by Moses & Joshua Dillard, the driving
"Put Out The Fire (Let Me Go)" by former
Otis Redding opener Oscar Mack, the storming "Dang
Me" by Sam Hutchins, and the funky, infectious
"Action" by The Showmen. A thoroughly entertaining
set of vintage soul rounded out with Sundazed's usually
excellent packaging including exhaustive notes by
Bill Dahl, great sound and plenty of period photos.
"Funkiest
Man Alive" collects 18 sweaty funk workouts by
Rufus Thomas cut for Stax between 1967-1975. Rufus
was a Memphis institution having MC'd amateur night
at Memphis' Palace Theater where B.B. King and many
other got their start, as a DJ on WDIA the first all
black radio station, had the first hit on the legendary
Sun label as well as the first hit on Stax. Rufus
was in his 50's when he cut these unrelentingly funky
outings although his first biggest funk hit "Do
the Funky Chicken" is strangely omitted. While
not in the same league as James Brown there's some
fine stuff including 1972's James Brown inspired "Itch
and Scratch (Part 1)" complete with scratchy
guitar, the R&B groove of "Turn Your Damper
Down", the crazed "Funky Hot Grits"
is a blast complete with Rufus' crazy laughs and scatting,
the bluesy feel of "Funky Mississippi" ("we
don't have hippies in down in Mississippi but we funky,
funky just the same") a funky work up of "Let
The Good Times Roll", the soulful "Memphis
Train '75" plus big hits like "(Do The)
Push and Pull (Part 1)" and "The Breakdown
(Part 1)." A solid set of concentrated funk including
two previously unreleased numbers and informative
notes.
(Jeff Harris)
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Juke Boy Bonner:
Ghetto Poet (Arhoolie)
Juke
Boy Bonner was a brilliant blues poet who didn't
have a whole lot of luck in his short life reflected
in achingly personal tales like "Life Gave
Me A Dirty Deal" and "Struggle Here
In Houston." "Ghetto Poet" collects
18 previously unreleased tracks cut for Arhoolie
between 1967-74 and serves as a fine epitaph
for a one of a kind bluesman.
Bonner was born in impoverished conditions
in rural Texas taking up guitar in his teens
and winning a talent contest in the late 40's
that led to a radio spot. Following the path
of many Texas bluesmen he headed to California
to try his luck cutting his debut for Irma in
1956. Bonner next cut sides for Goldband in
1960 again without much success. He cut his
finest work in the late 60's first for the British
Flyright label and then a pair of stellar records
for Arhoolie which led to a few European tours
as part of the American Folk Blues Festival.
Back in Houston there wasn't much work for Bonner's
brand of one-man-band country blues. By the
end of his life he was working for minimum wage
at a chicken processing plant. He passed in
1978.
"Ghetto
Poet" offers a final glimpse of this uniquely
gifted blues troubadour as he sings elegantly
about his hard times and trouble. Bonner was
something of an anarchism performing mainly
as a one man band playing guitar, harmonica
and percussion aided by a drummer on just two
tracks. While Bonner wasn't a virtuoso he could
lay down a stomping, propulsive juke joint beat
sounding like a cross between Jimmy Reed, Slim
Harpo and his idol Lightnin' Hopkins. What set
Bonner apart was his deeply personal lyrics
and emotional directness that marked him as
a true blues poet, a grittier version of the
urbane Percy Mayfield if you will. Label owner
Chris Strachwitz hadn't released this material
because Bonner's two Arhoolie didn't sell and
didn't feel this material was quite on par with
his previous work. A second listen to this material
convinced him that this material was worth issuing
and we can be glad he did. Bonner is at his
peak on hard hitting songs like the supremely
downbeat "If I Sound Lowdown", "What
Will I Tell The Children" ("Looked
all day for a job/And I looked almost everyplace/It's
hard to come home and find hunger on your children's
face"), the chugging "Settin' The
Record Straight" that deals frankly about
racism, "I Don't Go For Games" and
the closer "It's Enough" ("Look
like I'm down in the valley/Surrounded by mountain
side/Everytime I try to pull up, I'm hit by
a mountain slide"). These are deeply personal
tales none more direct than the poignant spoken
autobiography of "Childhood Dreams"
which traces Bonner's life right up to the time
of this recording.
You
hear stories of bluesmen who after years of
dues paying finally break through. Juke Boy
Bonner was a bluesman of remarkable talents
who after years of struggle never made it. "Ghetto
Poet" is a fitting testament to a bluesman
who had few peers when it came to putting across
what the blues were all about.
(Jeff
Harris)
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