INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Blues CD Reviews • Blues ... - Delmark Records

REACTION REPORT
Willie “The Lion” Smith & Don Ewell • Stride Piano Duets
Delmark DE 249
Smith was one of the “big three” stride-pianists of the 1920s, often playing at rent
parties and jam sessions with his pals James P. Johnson and Fats Waller . . .
Ewell was among the most imporrtant stride pianists to emerge in the mid-40’s. .
. In 1966, Smith and Ewell were teamed together for a television show, resulting
in a studio recording and a few gigs later that year. The music on Stride Piano
Duets, recorded at a Toronto club later in 1966, had never previously been
released. Recording quality is excellent. Smith sounds exuberant in both his
verbal announcements and his playing, and Ewell proves to be a perfectly
complementary match. . . the music is consistently delightful, joyful and swinging.
- Jazziz
Wally Rose • Whippin’ The Keys • Delmark DE 248
Wally Rose will always have his place in jazz history. As part of Lu Watters’ Yerba
Buena jazz Band, the San Franciscan pianist helped launch the New Orleans jazz
revival of the late 40s. . . in the 50s, Rose tinkled the ivories in two groups
evolving from Yerba Buena: Bob Scobey’s Frisco Jazz Band and Turk Murphy’s
and Turk Murphy’s Jazz Band. The rollicking, infectious title track kicks off the
proceedings with a bang. . .Although Rose made over 100 recordings in his
lifetime, very few are available on the market today, which makes this one
extremely special.
- Dirty Linen
Red Holloway • Go Red Go • Delmark DE 585
For disingenuous reasons Go Red Go! is a good companion for Cy Touff and
Sandy Mosse’s Tickle Toe which Delmark reissued in 2008. Both albums offer up
straight-ahead mainstream jazz of the most worthwhile order performed by men
who know the territory inside out. The crucial difference between the two is that
while Touff and Mosse worked a neo-swing seam, Red Holloway and friends offer
up soul-jazz of a kind that doesn’t denigrate the term. Regardless of such
differences both sets put a smile on the face and give even the heaviest heart a
lift.
- All About Jazz
Sleepy John Estes • On 80 Highway • Delmark DE 797
On the verge of their first trip to Japan, country blues pioneer Sleepy John Estes
and his longtime accompanist Hammie Nixon (harmonica, kazoo) joined together
for an intimate session on July 19, 1974. The result, finally released as On 80
Highway, shows two friends comfortable enough with each other that their music
and between-tune playfulness is infectious. . . With Nixon egging him on, the
“Tennessee Blues Poet” delivers a solid reminder of where the blues came from.
- Dirty Linen
On 80 Highway is a gift from the vaults - 15 previously unreleased tracks from a
relaxed 1974 session . . While these songs may not feel like chart material today,
the interplay between Estes’ unique vocal delivery and Nixon’s equally expressive
singing and talking harp/kazoo is a piece of magic a half-century in the making.
- Living Blues
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