Bessie Smith - Chattanooga Gal [4 CD, 2004]

 

Bessie Smith's big, beautiful voice and emotionally naked interpretation made her into one of the all-time stars of the gramophone record, influencing talents as wide ranging as Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson and Janis Joplin. This 4CD set includes all of her best known songs, whose raw energy and emotion shine out across the decades and show just why she became such a star. Transcending the worlds of blues, gospel and popular song, Bessie is a seminal figure in modern music and this box is the ultimate overview of her career.




Personnel: Bessie Smith (vocals, kazoo); Lincoln Conaway, Bobby Johnson (guitar); Elmer Snowden, Buddy Christian , Charlie Dixon (banjo); Abraham Wheat (clarinet, soprano saxophone); Ernest Elliott (clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Don Redman, George Baquet, Benny Goodman, Buster Bailey (clarinet); Garvin Bushell (alto saxophone); Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins, Greely Walton (tenor saxophone); Frankie Newton (trumpet); Ed Allen, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Ladnier, Shelton Hemphill (cornet); Joe Williams , Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Harrison, Charlie Green (trombone); Cyrus St. Clair, Bob Escudero (tuba); Fred Longshaw (piano, reed organ); Clarence Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Isadore Myers, Irving Johns, James P. Johnson, Jimmy Jones , Steve Stevens , Porter Grainger, Buck Washington (piano).


CD1- Down Hearted Blues {01:15:06}


01. Down Hearted Blues [03:28]
02. Gulf Coast Blues [03:07]
03. Beale Street Mama [03:37]
04. Baby Won't You Please Come Home [02:58]
05. 'Tain't Nobodies Bizness If I Do [03:29]
06. Bleeding Hearted Blues [03:08]
07. Lady Luck Blues [03:09]
08. Midnight Blues [03:20]
09. Whoa, Tillie, Take Your Time [03:12]
10. Any Woman's Blues [03:27]
11. Chicago Bound Blues [03:18]
12. Moonshine Blues [03:19]
13. Work House Blues [03:23]
14. House Rent Blues [03:07]
15. Rainy Weather Blues [03:37]
16. Weeping Willow Blues [03:12]
17. The Bye Bye Blues [03:20]
18. Sinful Blues [03:11]
19. Dying Gambler's Blues [03:00]
20. The St. Louis Blues [03:12]
21. Reckless Blues [03:05]
22. Sobbin' Hearted Blues [03:02]
23. Cold in Hand Blues [03:14]


CD2 - Careless Love Blues {01:16:36}


01. You've Been a Good Ole Wagon [03:31]
02. Cake Walkin' Babies (from Home) [03:11]
03. The Yellow Dog Blues [03:04]
04. Soft Pedal Blues [03:21]
05. Careless Love Blues [03:27]
06. Nashville Woman's Blues [03:45]
07. J.C. Holmes Blues [03:05]
08. I Ain't Goin to Play Second Fiddle [03:23]
09. He's Gone Blues [03:12]
10. I Ain't Got Nobody [03:11]
11. I've Been Mistreated and I Don't Like It [02:57]
12. Red Mountain Blues [03:13]
13. Golden Rule Blues [03:05]
14. Lonesome Desert Blues [03:26]
15. Them 'Has Been' Blues [03:33]
16. Squeeze Me [02:54]
17. What's the Matter Now? [02:46]
18. I Want Every Bit of It [02:38]
19. Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town [03:21]
20. The Gin House Blues [03:14]
21. Money Blues [03:11]
22. Baby Doll [03:01]
23. Hard Driving Papa [02:58]
24. Lost Your Head Blues [02:55]


CD3 - Young Woman Blues {01:15:01}


01. Hard Time Blues [03:15]
02. Honey Man Blues [03:15]
03. One and Two Blues [02:55]
04. Young Woman's Blues [03:09]
05. Preachin' the Blues [02:52]
06. Backwater Blues [03:19]
07. After You've Gone [02:58]
08. Alexander's Ragtime Band [03:00]
09. Muddy Water (a Mississippi Moan) [03:08]
10. There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight [03:20]
11. Trombone Cholly [03:12]
12. Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair [03:23]
13. Sweet Mistreater [03:02]
14. Lock and Key [02:59]
15. A Good Man Is Hard To Find [03:01]
16. Dyin' by the Hour [03:00]
17. Foolish Man Blues [02:55]
18. Thinking Blues [03:10]
19. I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama [02:51]
20. Spider Man Blues [03:24]
21. Empty Bed Blues, Pt 1 [03:03]
22. Empty Bed Blues, Pt 2 [03:22]
23. Put It Right Here (or Keep It Out There) [03:00]
24. Yes Indeed He Do! [03:16]

CD4 - Me & My Gin {01:14:55}


01. Devil's Gonna Git You [03:13]
02. Poor Man's Blues [03:26]
03. Please Help Me Get Him Out of My Mind [02:57]
04. Me and My Gin [02:52]
05. I'm Wild About That Thing [02:49]
06. Kitchen Man [02:58]
07. I've Got What It Takes (but It Breaks My Heart To Give It Away) [03:11]
08. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out [02:59]
09. He's Got Me Goin' [03:14]
10. It Makes My Love Come Down [02:58]
11. Dirty No-Gooders Blues [02:57]
12. Blue Spirit Blues [02:57]
13. You Don't Understand [03:06]
14. Don't Cry Baby [03:11]
15. Baby Have Pity on Me [03:21]
16. On Revival Day [02:57]
17. Hustlin' Dan [03:32]
18. Black Mountain Blues [03:09]
19. Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl [02:49]
20. Safety Mama [03:26]
21. Do Your Duty [03:26]
22. Gimme a Pigfoot [03:30]
23. Take Me for a Buggy Ride [02:37]
24. I'm Down in the Dumps [03:11]

Billy Cobham– The Atlantic Years 1973-1978 [8 CD, 2015]

 

At the dawn of the 1970s, Billy Cobham built his legend with his bandleader debut, Spectrum . Raw, daring and overflowing with adrenalin, the album topped the Billboard Jazz charts. Having played for Miles Davis, Horace Silver and Mose Allison, Billy Cobham had joined the legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971, before signing to Atlantic as a solo artist in 1973. Worshipped today as a titan of drumming, Billy Cobham's career is now in its fifth decade.

Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk [2011]

Hugh Laurie's debut album 'Let Them Talk' is a glorious celebration of New Orleans blues. 'Let Them Talk' unites Laurie's musical talent with a very personal selection of standards and lost blues classics performed with his band of renowned musicians and some very special guest stars. Produced by Joe Henry and recorded at sessions in Los Angeles and New Orleans, 'Let Them Talk' sees Laurie on vocals and piano heading a team of musicians whose previous collective credits include work with artists as varied as Greg Allman, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant, kd lang, T-Bone Burnett, Alison Krause and John Legend. Together, they interpret and revive songs originally recorded by NOLA blues legends such as Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Ray Charles and Memphis Slim. 'Let Them Talk' also features collaborations with the Soul Queen of New Orleans Irma Thomas and Sir Tom Jones on the little known 'Baby, please Make A Change'. Thomas also leads the vocals on 'John Henry', while Laurie's lifelong hero Dr. John provides a momentous collaboration on 'After You've Gone'. Another legend, the producer, musician and songwriter Allen Toussaint, contributes horn arrangements throughout.

01. St James Infirmary (6:25)
02. You Don't Know My Mind (3:39)
03. Six Cold Feet (4:55)
04. Buddy Bolden's Blues (3:12)
05. Battle of Jericho (3:47)
06. After You've Gone (4:09)
07. Swanee River (2:43)
08. The Whale Has Swallowed Me (3:37)
09. John Henry (3:34)
10. Police Dog Blues (3:33)
11. Tipitina (5:06)
12. Winin' Boy Blues (2:59)
13. They're Red Hot (1:11)
14. Baby Please Make a Change (4:57)
15. Let Them Talk (4:10)
16. Ain't Necessarily So (Bonus Track) (3:44)

The Allman Brothers Band – Georgia Peach [4 CD, 1991]

 

Unofficial ABB bootleg release from Italy

VA - The Paramount Masters (4 CD, 2003)

 

Paramount Records didn't know it at the time, but they created one of the most valuable catalogs of early American blues and jazz music ever assembled. Formed by a furniture company called the Wisconsin Chair Company in the mid-teens to facilitate sales for their new phonograph cabinets, Paramount Records (along with its subsidiary labels Broadway, Famous, and Puritan) sent a young man named Art Satherley on the road in the South to explore and exploit the growing "race records" market beginning in 1917. Over the next 15 years, Satherley and the other Paramount Records' representatives recorded well over 100 sides featuring blues and jazz artists as well-known as Charley Patton, Ma Rainey, and Meade Lux Lewis, and an otherwise unknown as Side Wheel Sally Duffie, whose "Bunker Hill Blues" is a piano blues showcase for a high-register, vibrato-heavy vocal of uncertain pitch which sounds almost like a 1920s equivalent to Björk. These 100 sides are presented in chronological order, with as much information is as known about each recording. Sound quality varies widely, and of course is at times atrocious, but the historical import and entertainment value for students of early jazz and blues is immense.



CD A

1. Bobby Grant - Nappy Head Blues (2:45)
2. Lottie Beaman - Red River Blues (2:58)
3. Meade Lux Lewis - Honky Tonk Train Blues (3:15)
4. Bo Weevil Jackson - You Can't Keep No Brown (3:11)
5. Teddy Darby - Lawdy, Lawdy, Worried Blues (3:06)
6. Wesley Wallace - No.29 (3:14)
7. Blind Joe Reynolds - Outside Woman Blues (2:55)
8. William Moore - Old Country Rock (3:03)
9. James 'Boodle It' Wiggins - Keep A-Knockin' (3:09)
10. George 'Bullet' Williams - Touch Me Light, Mama (2:47)
11. Moanin' Bernice Edwards - Jack of All Trades (2:44)
12. Harum Scarums - Come on In (Ain't Nobody Here But Me) (2:45)
13. Sweet Papa Stovepipe - All Birds Look Like Chicken to Me (3:08)
14. Charlie 'Dad' Nelson - Cotton Field Blues (2:41)
15. Ma Rainey - Traveling Blues (2:55)
16. Charlie Spand - Soon This Morning Blues (2:59)
17. Papa Charlie Jackson - Gay Cattin' (2:54)
18. King Solomon Hill - Whoopee Blues (3:09)
19. Geechie Wiley - Eagles on a Half (3:00)
20. Washboard Walter - Wasn't It Sad About Lemon (3:01)
21. George Hannah - Freakish Man Blues (2:49)
22. Bumble Bee Slim - Rough, Rugged Road Blues (3:30)
23. Rube Lacy - Mississippi Jail House Groan (3:22)
24. Marshall Owens - Try Me, One More Time (3:11)
25. Mary Johnson - Barrel House Flat Blues (3:03)



CD B

1. Charley Patton - I Shall Not Be Moved (alt. take) (2:43)
2. Raymond Barrow - Walking Blues (3:07)
3. Blind Roosevelt Graves - Guitar Boogie (2:56)
4. Alice Moore - Black & Evil Blues (3:21)
5. Ben Curry - The New Dirty Dozen (3:08)
6. Freddie Spruell - Low-Down Mississippi Bottom Man (3:25)
7. Little Brother Montgomery - Vicksburg Blues (2:58)
8. Henry Townsend - Jack of Diamonds Georgia Rub (3:18)
9. John Byrd - Billy Goat Blues (3:28)
10. Side Wheel Sally Duffie - Bunker Hill Blues (2:38)
11. Buddy Boy Hawkins - Number Three Blues (2:39)
12. Ed Bell - Mamlish Blues (2:36)
13. Henry Brown - Eastern Chimes Blues (3:28)
14. Charlie Spand - Fetch Your Water (2:30)
15. J.D. Short - Lonesome Swamp Rattlesnake (2:49)
16. Alice Pearson - Water Bound Blues (2:55)
17. Lonnie Clark - Broke Down Engine (2:57)
18. Barrel House Welch - Dying Pickpocket Blues (2:50)
19. Edward Thompson - Seven Sister Blues (2:52)
20. John Byrd - Old Timbrook Blues (3:18)
21. Bob Robinson - The Preacher Must Get Some, Sometime (2:44)
22. Elvie Thomas - Motherless Child Blues (3:19)
23. Jack O'Diamonds - The Duck's Yas Yas (2:55)
24. Ben Curry - Boodle De Bum Bum (3:09)
25. James Wiggins - Gotta Shave 'em Dry (3:04)



CD C

1. Bo Weevil Jackson - Some Scream High Yellow (3:09)
2. Jabo Williams - Jab Blues (3:19)
3. Freddie Brown - Raised In the Alley Blues (3:18)
4. George 'Bullet' Williams - Frisco Leaving Birmingham (2:45)
5. Blind Joe Reynolds - Ninety-Nine Blues (2:39)
6. Roosevelt Sykes - Conjur Man Blues (3:08)
7. Sweet Papa Stovepipe - Mama's Angel Child (2:59)
8. Lottie Beaman - Honey Blues (2:52)
9. Bobby Grant - Lonesome Atlanta Blues (3:00)
10. Robert Peeples - Fat, Greasy Baby (3:12)
11. Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider Blues (2:54)
12. Blind Roosevelt Graves - New York Blues (3:17)
13. Henry Townsend - Doctor, Oh, Doctor (2:45)
14. Bogus Ben Covington - I Heard the Voice of a Pork Chop (3:12)
15. Ruby Paul - Red Letter Blues (2:42)
16. Piano Kid Edwards - Piano Kid Special (2:44)
17. Famous Hokum Boys - Where Did You Stay, Last Nighr (2:57)
18. King Solomon Hill - The Gone Dead Train (3:18)
19. Wesley Wallace - Fanny Lee Blues (3:15)
20. Washboard Walter - Narrow Face Blues (3:16)
21. Geechie Wiley - Pick Poor Robin Clean (3:14)
22. George Hannah - The Boy In the Boat (2:40)
23. Marshall Owens - Texas Blues (3:19)
24. James 'Boodle It' Wiggins - Evil Woman Blues (3:10)
25. Roosevelt Sykes - Three, Six & Nine (2:57)


CD D

1. Freddie Spruell - Tom Cat Blues (3:07)
2. Jack O'Diamonds - Smiling Blues (3:02)
3. Papa Charlie Jackson - Mama, Don't You Think I Know (2:36)
4. Charlie Spand - Back to the Woods Blues (3:23)
5. Alice Moore - Prison Blues (3:18)
6. Henry Brown - Deep Morgan Blues (3:23)
7. Teddy Darby - My Laona Blues (2:42)
8. Bo Weevil Jackson - Pistol Blues (3:01)
9. Jabo Williams - Pratt City Blues (3:15)
10. J.D. Short - Telephone Arguin' Blues (3:13)
11. Elvie Thomas - Over to My House (3:29)
12. Ed Bell - Hambone Blues (2:47)
13. Lonnie Clark - Down In Tennessee (2:37)
14. Rube Lacy - Ham Hound Crave (2:54)
15. Roosevelt Sykes - Fire Detective Blues (3:05)
16. Edward Thompson - Up on the Hill Blues (3:01)
17. Mary Johnson - Key to the Mountain Blues (2:56)
18. King Solomon Hill - Down on My Bended Knee (2:56)
19. Charlie 'Dad' Nelson - Red River Blues (2:49)
20. Piano Kid Edwards - Give Us Another Jug (2:47)
21. Blind Joe Reynolds - Nehi Blues (3:14)
22. Ruby Paul - Last Farewell Blues (2:58)
23. Barrel House Welch - Larceny Woman Blues (2:52)
24. Robert Peeples - Wicked Devil's Blues (3:12)
25. William Moore - Raggin' the Blues (2:59)