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Lee Gates: Black
Lucy's Deuce (Music Maker)
Since
the early 1990's the Music Maker Organization has
made it their mission to help down and out musicians
receive recognition and meet their day to day needs,
whether it be assistance for housing, food, medicine
or whatever it takes. The label has helped countless
musicians and brought to light some remarkably talented
musicians who have been largley overlooked. Along
the way Music Maker has quietly built an incredible
catalog of recordings encompassing all manner of
roots music with a strong emphasis on blues. Music
Maker has struck paydirt again with the sophmore
release of powerhouse guitar slinger Lee Gates.
Lee Gates is an outstanding electric blues
guitarist who made his terrific debut for the label
back in 2003 with "Lee Gates and the Alabama
Cotton Kings." Gates was born in Mississippi
in 1937, where both his parents were guitarists,
and migrated to Milwaukee where he's been a stalwart
on the scene ever since. It wasn't until 1974 that
he met his legendary cousin, Albert Collins. "My
daddy's brother had a lot of kids out there in Texas.
I never met them as a child, but we all knew of
each other. When Albert came to Milwaukee I showed
him around and we did some gigs together."
You can definitely hear Collins' influence in his
stinging, powerful guitar attack. Gates has raw,
stinging style, bending the strings during his ferocious
solos but still playing with plenty of control and
taste. Gates' plays no nonsense blues with an old
school ethic that also shows the strong influence
of guitar giants like Albert King and B.B. King.
Gates has a strained, almost mushed mouthed vocal
style that's very effective. "Black Lucy's
Deuce" was recorded the way a blues record
should be - live, no overdubs and finished in just
a few hours. Gates' is red hot on as he makes his
guitar talk on stompers like "Get Drunk And
Party All Night Long" and "In Deep Up
to My Neck" as he wrings out a mean, dirty
tone on this one. Gates cooks on more low down material
like the passionate "My Wife Left Me A Long
Time Ago" and the moody "Black Lucy Moanin'
The Blues" as Gates' brandishes a vintage B.B.
King sound. Like Collins he throws in a number of
sizzling instrumentals like the aptly titled "Funkin'"
and the mid-tempo "Cool's Groove."
While
Lee Gates may never garner the acclaim of his more
famous cousin, his brand of muscular, gutbucket
blues has much of that raw excitment that Collins
possessed and it's all captured for poserity on
the excellent "Black
Lucy's Deuce."
-Check
out these related links:
Music
Maker Website
(Jeff
Harris)
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Billy Flynn:
Chicago Blues Mandolin (Easy Baby)
Billy Flynn:
Billy's Blues (Easy Baby)
Billy
Flynn is a tireless blues performer who's
played with just about everyone, earning a
stellar reputation along the way. Flynn honed
his chops playing with luminaries like Jimmy
Dawkins, Mighty Joe Young, Luther Alllison,
Snooky Pryor and many others as well as being
a member of well regarded bands like Mississippi
Heat and the Legendary Blues Band. Flynn's
talents can be heard on two fine new discs;
"Chicago Blues Mandolin" finds him
paying tribute to the great mandolin practitioners
Johnny Young and Yank Rachel while "Billy's
Blues" captures him digging deep into
both traditional and contemporary Chicago
blues.
The
mandolin has a rich blues history and makes
a perfect blues instrument with it's nimble
drive and rich texture, although it's rarely
heard anymore. Back in the early days jug
and string bands like the Dallas String Band
and the Memphis Jug Band featured mandolin
players and there were some virtuosos on the
instrument like Charlie McCoy and Yank Rachell.
The instrument fell in decline in the post-war
era although the great Johnny Young was a
notable exception. Flynn shines a light on
that great tradition on his wonderful "Chicago
Blues Mandolin." The record is dedicated
to both Yank and Young as Flynn really captures
their spirit and drive on this disc. The instrumental
"Mandolin Special" kicks off with
a flourish as Flynn plays with tremendous
drive on this swinging number and blows some
mean harp to boot. Flynn has rich, laid back
vocal delivery heard to good effect on mellow
numbers that hark back to to the early days
of blues mandolin like "Blues In My Heart",
"Stealin' My Jelly", "Hi-Way
Blues" and the acoustic "Ain't Gonna'
Worry." "Why Did You Go?" has
a bouncy jump feel featuring sparkling piano
from Aaron Moore while "Billy's Mandolin
Boogie" closes things out in rousing
fashion.
"Billy's
Blues" finds Flynn paying homage to the
classic Chicago Blues. Throughout Flynn pays
tribute to past masters as tastefully emulates
the styles of legends like Elmore James, Muddy
Waters, Big Joe Williams and others. Elmore
is clearly an inspiration on the slide soaked
instrumentals "I Feel It", a rollicking
boogie number that finds Flynn really pouring
it on and the moody closer "Hamhocks."
On the stripped down "Blues Everyday"
there's a strong Delta feel ala muddy Waters
while a similar feel permeates "Jaunita"
which has a Big Joe Williams flavor. Flynn's
influences are varied and deep as he shows
on the funky "Doin' Alright" with
some Earl Hooker wah wah, shows off both his
guitar and harmonica chops on the steamy instrumental
"Blue Chromatic" and lets pianist
Aaron Moore cut loose with some old school
barrelhouse on "Come On Now!"
Too
many modern day bluesman, while proficient
at aping past styles, lack the feel so
important to blues. Billy Flynn easily plays
a variety of styles and more importantly has
the feel that make both these records thoroughly
engaging.
-Check
out these related links:
Billy
Flynn Website
(Jeff
Harris)
|
Howard Tate:
Howard Tate Live (Shout! Factory)
The
blues and soul worlds have witnessed some great
comebacks in recent years with the reemergence
of guys like Jody Williams, Ike Turner, Tommy
Brown and Jimmy "T99" Nelson, and
just a couple of years ago Howard Tate. The
subsequent comeback record, "Rediscovered",
was very well received and now Tate is back
with a superb live recording.
Tate retired from the record business
in the late 1970s and so completely dropped
out of sight that many folks thought he was
dead. Tate is revered among soul fans for a
string of knockout soul classics he cut in the
60's like "Ain't Nobody Home" (1966),
"Stop" (1967), and "Get It While
You Can" (1967), with "Ain't Nobody
Home" and "Stop" charting both
pop and R&B. Tate released an album, "Get
It While You Can", that was regarded as
a classic by aficionados but which failed to
sell well. Tate had less success in the 70's
although still cut some high quality material,
particularly his underrated self titled album
for Atlantic in 1972. A remarkable turn of events
brought Tate out of the shadows some thirty
years later and most importantly that amazing
voice weathered the years exceptionally well.
"Howard
Tate Live" showcases Tate laying it all
on the line for a fiery performance captured
at the 2004 Tunø Island Music Festival
in Denmark. Tate sounds like he stepped out
of a time machine form the late 60's - it's
all there the subtle phrasing, the bluesy aching
feel behind every word and that amazing falsetto
that can stop you in your tracks. Tate get fine
support from a tight, funky band that includes
some tasty guitar work from Mike Schermer and
best of all, a full horn section that really
adds to that classic soul feel. Tate masterfully
runs through his most famous numbers including
the dramatic "Stop" featuring that
spine chilling falsetto, the sly "Look
At Granny Run Run", a storming "Every
Day I Have The Blues, "Ain't Nobody Home"
and a glorious take of his immortal "Get
It While You Can." Other high points include
a funky rendition of his 1972 gem "She's
A Burglar" and a scorching "I Learned
It All The Hard Way" as Tate really testify's.
Howard
Tate is still a force to be reckoned with as
he proves on this outstanding live recording.
Blues and soul fans unfamiliar with Tate should
grab this one and see why soul connoisseurs
have raving about Tate for so long. Also if
you can find it, track down Mercury's "Get
It While You Can: The Legendary Sessions"
to see where it all began.
-Check
out these related links:
Howard
Tate Website
(Jeff
Harris)
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Duke Robillard:
Guitar Groove-A-Rama (Stony Plain)
Since
founding Roomful of Blues back in 1967 Duke Robillard
has cut a wide stylistic swath dipping into electric
blues, swinging jazz, rockabilly and rock and roll.
Duke is at an age where he's considered an elder
statesman and on this new outing he looks back at
his varied influences and serves them up on the
eclectic "Guitar
Groove-A-Rama."
As
Duke explains, "'Guitar
Groove-A-Rama' is my culmination of my life long
love affairs with guitars and roots music, but I
really wanted to make an album for my fans. ...Sometime...I
get complaints that there's not enough of my guitar.
So 'Guitar Groove-A-Rama
is an answer to the people who want to hear more
of my playing." This is Duke's first guitar
trio album in years and contains a wide mix of styles
including blues, Jazz, roots and rock and roll.
Guitar
freaks - and I'm not one of them- will appreciated
the wide variety of guitar styles and all the different
guitars Robillard uses (Gretsch White Falcon, Gibson
LC7, Rickenbacker V381, etc.), which is seemingly
a different guitar on each track. From a listening
experience, and a blues perspective songs like "Danny
Boy", the spacey jazz of "Dawn" and
"Dark Eyes", a tango don't do much for
me. Still there's plenty of dynamite blues guitar
particularly on instrumentals like the swampy "Do
The Memphis Grind", a down and dirty guitar
stomper and the blistering "Cookin" and
"No Way Out" that takes it's inspiration
from Sonny Boy's "One Way Out" if it was
played by Albert Collins. Also quite good is a nice
revival of Lil' Son Jackson's down-home "Gambler
Blues" and the jazzy swing of "Sunday
Mornin'" that brings to mind the Blue Note
records of Grant Green and Kenny Burrell featuring
fine ensemble playing form long time cohorts Doug
James on baritone, Marry Ballou on bass and mark
Texeira on drums. The centerpiece of the record
is the 16 minute "Blues A Rama" as Duke
emulates 10 blues guitar influences, expertly recreating
the style of Jimmy Rogers, Guitar Slim, Johnny "Guitar"
Watson, Buddy Guy and others. The song is very similar
in approach to what Ike Turner did on his classic
"All the Blues All the Time."
"Guitar
Groove-A-Rama" will be a mixed bag to
blues fans, although there are a number of exceptional
moments. Overall the record doesn't hang together
all that well and as a listening experience comes
off as a bit uneven.
(Jeff
Harris)
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