Jazz Articles

Magic Slim and the Teardrops: 44 Blues

by Ed Kopp
April 1, 2000

Magic Slim and the Teardrops are one of the best gutbucket blues bands around. Their music is loud, refreshingly unprocessed and it rocks like the devil.

Though the Teardrops' guitar-centric sound has grown edgier and more distinctive in recent years, the band was already a veteran operation in 1992 when this live set was recorded in Vienna, Austria. 44 Blues is a typically rough-hewn collection, and at 73 minutes long, it delivers a lot of music for the money.

Born ...

L.V. Banks: Ruby

by Ed Kopp
April 1, 2000

Thanks to the mid-'90s blues revival, a handful of deserving Chicago blues musicians managed to land recording contracts after years of hard labor in the clubs. A prime example is South Side bluesman L.V. Banks, a fine guitarist and soulful singer who's been plugging away at the blues thang for 40-plus years.

Like so many of his peers, Banks cut his teeth in the Mississippi Delta before relocating to Chicago. Inspired by Little Milton, Howlin' Wolf and B.B. King, Banks ...