Jazz Articles

Son House: Delta Blues: The Original Library of Congress Sessions from Field Recordings, 1941-42

by AAJ Staff
February 1, 2000

The ‘Sixties folk boom brought a lot of surprises – while new performers grew famous, old figures (bluesmen, etc.) were “rediscovered" and returned to the stage. The biggest surprise was Son House, in 1964 – it was actually the third time he’d been rediscovered! First recorded in 1930, House found music a hard life and became a laborer; Alan Lomax found him in Mississippi and recorded five titles. Lomax returned the following year ; this time Son is alone and ...

Son House: The Original Library of Congress Sessions From Field Recordings 1941-1942

by Ed Kopp
October 1, 1999

These Son House “field recordings" were made in 1941 and ‘42 by folklorist Alan Lomax, who toured the country with a crude 300-pound machine documenting all sorts of regional music.In the 1930s, Son House served as the main inspiration to fellow Mississippians Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, arguably the two greatest innovators the blues has known. House hadn’t recorded in 11 years when Lomax him tracked down in Robinsonville, Mississippi. The Depression had forced the slide guitarist and ...

Randy Weston: How High the Moon

by Joel Roberts
January 1, 1998

Randy Weston has long been one of the most compelling and original composers and performers in jazz (as well as a personal favorite). Decades before “world music" became a trendy marketing category, Weston was integrating American bebop with the musical traditions of West Africa to make some of the most spirited and spiritual music in all of jazz.

How High the Moon, drawn from a rare 1956 session, gives listeners a chance to explore Weston's bebop roots. As a young ...