CD-Charts Position 81
Average Rating:

These Blues

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Charles Brown

Release Date October 18, 1994
Okay, the title of this review reflects one reason artists like Charles Brown are undervalued as blues artists. This is West Coast lounge piano blues. The West simply wasn't populated by the poor tenant, hard-scabble rural group that formed the creative core of the blues up and down the Mississippi. So blues moved into cabarets and lounges - lost the raw and rough for a bit of bluesy sophistication. Brown's music makes it apparent why this move succeeded - emotional blues, as accessable to the white middle class as the black gone West for a job. Brown's vocals and piano are supported by sax, guitar, bass and drums ... but it is the piano that shines.

Although the improvizational piano styles are different, the smooth texture ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 82
Average Rating:

Homeland

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Henry Butler

Release Date April 20, 2004
I just saw Henry Butler on Austin City Limits and was totally blown away by his playing. His style is absolutely explosive and you cannot keep still if you hear him play. As a fellow keyboard musician, I can't recommend this joyous, upbeat CD enough. This man is a genius and I only hope we hear more from him in the future.

CD-Charts Position 83
Average Rating:

8 Hands On 88 Keys -- Chicago Blues Piano Masters

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Various Artists

Release Date January 28, 2002
You'll always have a great time listening to this cd. I love Detroit's version of Stagger Lee and also the song Ella. Barrelhouse and Erwin are masters. Pine Top makes me feel like I'm hearing a rare blues sound. They are treasures each in their own right, and I recommend all of their solo cd's also. 88 hands deserves to get some national recognition as do these musicians.

CD-Charts Position 84
Average Rating:

Resurrection of the Bayou Maharajah

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: James Booker

Release Date July 22, 1993
One of the best musicians under the radar screen of popular recognition you'll ever find; James Booker is the kind of pianist that someone in the know will say "You have to hear this guy play!" And you do. Hearing him the first time is a revelation. Each additional listen adds to the enjoyment of his own eclectic funky New Orleans boogie-woogie blues style, playing like he means it, jumping from one song to the next without breaking pace, only to dissolve into a heart breaking ballad then right back into beakneck speed.

You have to hear this guy play!

CD-Charts Position 85
Average Rating:

City Lights

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Dr. John

Release Date October 07, 2003
This CD holds a very unique place in music because first, its a complete aborration from Dr. John's usual style of work, and second, its a certain kind of music of which there is not enough of in the world. Its difficult to explain, especially since it's unavailable to sample here, and believe me, I went all over the internet until I located a couple of samples. But this album takes you to a special place in music that was long ago, perhapse in some golden era. Somewhere deep within a bustling downtown city, long ago and late at night you might have expected to find this music. It would be the sound you heard way up high on the 21st story of a tall skyscraper, fully dressed in the tux of the times with cufflinks and all. There is a big band that playes ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 86
Average Rating:

Blind Pig Records: 20th Anniversary Collection

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Various Artists

Release Date July 05, 1997
Like with Alligator, you can't go wrong with the Blind Pig anniversary sets. This 2 cd-set jams all the way through. While some may not agree with every song selection, I think they did a great job of presenting a historical overview of their artists while presenting current songs also. A good set that blues lovers will want to own.

CD-Charts Position 87
Average Rating:

Real Time

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Deanna Bogart

Release Date September 12, 2006
I have seen Deanna live twice now. This album is excellent. Almost as good as seeing her play live. I strongly recommend it.

CD-Charts Position 88
Average Rating:

From Spirituals To Swing

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Various Artists

Release Date August 24, 1999
To me all the gold is in the prewar Count Basie Orchestra and this is the glue that holds together these recordings. Purely from the standpoint of Basieism, this is a crucial and important record.


The way that the sound has been remastered and recorded in this edition of the recordings, gives us the best real view of the Basie Orchestra on any live album I have ever heard that was cut before WWII, and better sound than some postwar live shots. Part of this is because of the superb natural acoustics of Carneige Hall. Part of this is that these concerts were recorded with actual recording equipment, while all the other live prewar Basie I know of are home wire recorder recordings of radio broadcasts.


We get to ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 89
Average Rating:

Blues Masters, Vol. 6: Blues Originals

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Various Artists

Release Date February 16, 1993
Most of the numerous entries in Rhino's "Blues Masters" series are very good, and this one is no exception.

This 1993 volume brings together 18 classic blues songs, all of which have been covered in one form or another by other blues, blues-rock or rock n' roll artists. Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man" is the basis for Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy", Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right" was covered by Elvis Presley (as you may know!), Led Zeppelin have covered (or just stolen) several of these songs (the Muddy Waters-single "You Need Love" became "Whole Lotta Love"), and the Allman Brothers Band did a great rendition of G.L. Crockett's excellent, underexposed "It's a Man Down There".
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CD-Charts Position 90
Average Rating:

Classic Blues from Smithsonian Folkways, Vol. 2

CD-Charts > Music > Piano
by: Various Artists

Release Date September 23, 2003
If you've seen the great PBS/Martin Scorsese Blues series, or read any of the books about the great bluesmen (Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, etc) then this disc gives you the opportunity to hear the old songs that started the blues music revolution recorded by the musicians who were at the start of the movement.

Son House, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin' Hopkins were all part of the original movement -- the folks that brought the blues to light.

Granted there's a number of modern cuts on this disc (I don't think Lucinda Williams was playing the blues in Chicago or the Mississippi Delta in the 1940's) but that doesn't detract from experience of hearing the old songs sung by the originals.