Players - Downbeat

BLUES
Gourds and
Platform Shoes
Chuck Bernstein: Delta Berimbau
Blues (CMB 102844; 61:08) AAAA San
Francisco Bay Area jazz drummer
Bernstein wrests musical magic from
an Afro-Brazilian string-and-gourd
berimbau, his delivery honest and purposeful
in solo, duo and trio performances.
He has a dark beauty of style
that is fashioned into new textures
through his communions with several
guitarists, tenorman Robert Kyle,
singer Lisa Kindred, bassist Sam
Bevan, drummer George Marsh, trombonist
Roswell Rudd and two other
berimbau specialists. While all of the
playing on this album is of a high quality,
Bernstein and Good Medicine guitarist
Sister Debbie Sipes stand out for radiating
suspenseful authority all through the
down-home originals “Drop D” and “Kelley
Blues.”
Ordering info: chuckbernstein.com
Various Artists: Broadcasting The Blues!
(Southwest Musical Arts Foundation 04;
68:24) AAA Celebrating 25 years of his
“Those Lowdown Blues” show on KJZZ in
Phoenix, Bob Corritore compiles 19 of his
favorite songs from visiting guests. The
famous (Lowell Fulson, Cedell Davis, Lazy
Lester, more) and the undervalued (to
name two, Phoenician Chief Schabuttie
Gilliame and San Diego’s Tomcat Courtney)
all work through emotional hurt with selfpossession
and moral urgency. Willie Dixon
offers his approval: “Bob, keep on playin’
the blues.”
Ordering info: bobcorritore.com
Guy King: Livin’ It (IBF 1003; 55:07) AAA
Formerly with Willie Kent’s band in
Chicago, King toggles between soul and
blues on an album that runs through good
originals and covers of T-Bone Walker and
Percy Mayfield before his singing kicks in as
a confident, stirring cry on Little Johnny
Taylor’s “If You Love Me Like You Say.”
He’s a good guitarist, somewhere in a style
between B.B. King and Albert Collins, and
his trusty, unpretentious band includes as
soulful an electric pianist–organist as exists
anywhere, Ben Paterson.
Ordering info: guyking.net
Big Shanty: Sold Out … (King Mojo 1008;
45:48) AAA Guitarist Big Shanty’s great
thrill is to fire up blues in a riotous manner
that bolsters old-school Southern bluesrock
with jam-band hell-raising and acidtossed-in-your-face
techno-blues. Sift
68 DOWNBEAT April 2009
William Elliot Whitmore: prolific farmer
by Frank-John Hadley
through the sonic turbulence and Shanty’s
heard singing about age-old blues matters
like loneliness and hittin’ the road. “Uncle
Sam Go To Rehab” is his twisted requiem
for the Bush presidency.
Ordering info: kingmojo.com
William Elliot Whitmore: Animals In The
Dark (Anti- 86974; 37:18) AAA Raised up
and still living on a farm in Iowa,
Whitmore—just 30 years old but six albums
into his career—is a modern bluesman who
finds no contradiction between soaking up
the vibe of his friends the Pogues and
pledging loyalty to the Pete Seeger folk,
Hank Williams country and Gary Davis rural
blues legacies. His filthy, charcoaled baritone
voice and strong banjo and guitar
work are good matches to his rugged, tuneful
songs on hope, human closeness, government
rot and cutting the mortal cord.
Clearly feeling the lyrics, he transmits
meaning with intensity. Whitmore, accustomed
to solo work, doesn’t require the
strings, organ and other accompaniment.
Ordering info: anti.com
Johnny Winter: Live Through The ’70s
(MVD Visual 4755; 111:00) AAA With the
film cameras rolling at shows in the United
States and Europe, Winter shows off excellent
straight blues guitar playing on “Key
To The Highway” (done impromptu during
an interview, backed by his bass player),
and on “Walking Through The Park,” from
a Chicago “Blues Summit” with Junior
Wells, Dr. John and an almost hidden Mike
Bloomfield. Elsewhere, he lets loose with
many nuclear reactions of blues-rock. Eyepopper:
Winter the rock star in top hat and
platform shoes. DB
Ordering info: mvdb2b.com
CHRIS STRONG
Michel Benita
Ramblin’
BLUJAZZ 3368
AAAA
Bassist Michel Benita is something of a sound
stylist. A deft player with an understated, traditionalist
bent, the Algeria-born Benita has
lived in Paris since 1981 and worked with
many jazz notables. On Ramblin’, he has
hooked up with guitarist Manu Codjia for a
smart exploration of contemporary material,
including tunes by Bob Dylan and Gillian
Welch, as well as improvising on some traditional
Irish music.
The dialogue between Benita and Codjia
flows, even when Benita throws programmed
“found” sounds into the mix. Codjia is a fluid
guitarist, and his atmospheric playing makes
this album a listening pleasure. Comparisons
to Bill Frisell are unavoidable in sound and
approach, including the interpretations of
Dylan’s “Farewell Angelina” and “It Ain’t Me
Babe,” but the music still sounds exciting from
beginning to end. Other cover tunes unearth
similar echoes of classic Americana, including
Welch’s “By The Mark.” While the waltzing
melody from Neil Young’s “Round And
Round” works well in this format, Dan
Folgelberg’s “Stars” serves as a surprising
showcase for Benita’s powerful bass work and
Codjia’s tasty electric leads.
The sterling rendition of Bert Jansch’s classic
guitar workout “Blackwaterside” provides
album’s high point (Benita inexplicably
misidentifies it in the liner notes and the song
credits). The duo’s sonic immersion in old
Irish music is also top-notch, particularly their
charging version of the lament “Molly Ban.”
The duo uses nuanced interludes of original
material throughout, and their suave, sharp
sound is consistently engaging. —Mitch Myers
Ramblin’: Farewell Angelina; Round And Round; Blackwaterside;
Atlantic, IA; Where I Belong; It Ain’t Me Babe; One Single
Chord; Stars; As I Roved Out; Como; Dos Arbolitos; By The
Mark; Silent Woman; Molly Ban; Denise And Sledge; Secret
Meeting. (49:13)
Personnel: Michel Benita, bass, acoustic guitar, percussion, programming;
Manu Codjia, acoustic guitar, electric guitar.
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Ordering info: blujazz.com