Blues for Aficionados

Johnny Nocturne Band

SHAKE 'EM UP

Bullseye Blues    1994

Notes:"The Johnny Nocturne Band offers power-house renditions of instrumental jump Blues and Jazz tunes from the late 40s and early 50s.  Hailing from Northern California, the band, featuring the swinging Brenda Boykin on vocals, are favorites on the club and festival circuits.  SHAKE 'EM UP was recorded live in the studio with no overdubs and features material from Duke Ellington, Little Esther, Big Maybelle, Jimmy Rushing and others."

In support of the DANCE wing of the Dance / Art split in Jazz

Reelin' And Rockin'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjIYwPcYskE

Boogie Woogie Choo-Choo Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ-3uXt2S9I

I Ain't Got Nothin' But The Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw-7fiQLahY

New Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7kv92IL0Ok

Fool's Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puK-JMn7Ses

Cheers

Allen Toussaint

THE BRIGHT MISSISSIPPI

Nonesuch    2009

Real New Orleans Music.  Blues with a little sophistication.
Jay Bellerose (drums and percussion)

West End Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcPsgMa74Lk

Long, Long Journey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkSlStHxyPA

Singin' the Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91HEDiFpiAc

St. James Infirmary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdZcU4SniIc

Bright Mississippi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCHddHp8OAw

Cheers

Ollie Nightingale

I'LL DRINK YOUR BATH WATER, BABY

ECKO    1995

Notes: "Ollie Nightingale began his singing career in the early 1950's as lead singer of the Memphis based gospel group, the Dixie Nightingales.  He was born Ollie Braxton Hoskins in bateville, Mississippi, on Sept 6, 1936.  With some early vocal training by his grandmother and only a little coaxing, Ollie quickly became successful singing in the church choir.  It was the influence of the church that later began to characterize his recordings."

David Ruffin, future lead singer of The Temptations, was a teenage member of the Dixie Nightingales.

Babysitting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_okszAXKM4

Changing for the Better
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG2W626QcRw

I'll Drink Your Bath Water, Baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Mek3CqDXI

That's What You Are to Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXxJvzAebgw

Cheers

Jack Owens & Bud Spires

IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE DEVIL

Testament Records    1971 / 1995

Notes:"The Bentonia style apparently grew up in isolation in this little country town (Bentonia) on the edge of the Delta between Jackson and Yazoo City.  Skip James was the only important Bluesman to bring it to a wider audience.  It is distinctive for its high melismatic singing and complex melodies, its minor-keyed, intricately picked guitar parts, and haunting, brooding lyrics dealing with such themes as loneliness, death and the supernatural, in addition to the usual lyrics about love and its problems.  Altogether it is one of the eeriest, loneliest and deepest blues sounds ever recorded.  Hearing Jack Owens singing out across the fields late at night is one of the most moving experiences I have ever had."


Jack Ain't Had No Water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A8HJYC_R70

Catfish Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HJeTlaZqy4

I Won't Be Bad No More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZSpFoHFY08

It Must Have Been The Devil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnQPXLZ9zeo

Can't See, Baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ZvzKfejz0

Cheers

How about some blues from Poland, from 1972.

Karate, album called ’Breakout’

https://youtu.be/u6BYIgnQnrU

https://youtu.be/UscnXi8mz_U

one more...
https://youtu.be/IJWT68OumVs