Jazz Articles about Various Artists

Various Artists: Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison

by Chris M. Slawecki
October 7, 2003

The mercurial Morrison has consistently honored classic blues, soul, and R&B music in the material favored by The Them, which he co-founded, as well as his own inimitable compositions as a solo artist. Here Morrison is on the receiving end of the tributes from soul and blues legends performing his compositions.

Guitarist/vocalist Little Milton begins with his soulful take on “Tupelo Honey” (sort of payback for Morrison’s cover of Milton’s “Grits Ain’t Groceries”). Other guitarists include Dan ...

Various Artists: 50 Years of Jazz and Blues: Blues

by C. Michael Bailey
October 5, 2003

Delmark 50th Anniversary Collection, Part 2

As part of the label’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, Chicago’s own Delmark has released two double-disc sets highlighting the label’s jazz and blues lines respectively. Presently reviewed is the blues set and rollicking is the key word. The story begins with the discovery and recording of the Monroe, Louisiana cum St. Louis barrelhouse piano player Rufus "Speckled Red" Perryman, who rolled like thunder into the studio and began to redefine the blues piano he had ...

Various Artists: Festival in the Desert

by AAJ Staff
October 5, 2003

The Sahara is not generally known as much more than a massive stretch of hot, dry sand where camels are a primary form of transportation and water is your best friend. However, this year's Festival in the Desert brought a fertile collection of musicians to Essakane, an oasis 65 kilometers northwest of Timbuktu in Mali.

The remoteness of the location was just as much a test as the technical conditions, but more than a handful of artists made ...

Various Artists: Drop the Debt

by AAJ Staff
October 5, 2003

Ostensibly aimed at improving the infrastructure and efficiency of third world economies, international moneylenders directed poor countries toward debt in the '70s. The optimism and theoretical benefit of these money transfers ended up far outweighed by their costs in terms of misdirection, disorganization, and corruption (witness the price personally extracted by Suharto in Indonesia).

At this point, African countries spend a frightening 38% of their budget on debt service. That, of course, comes at the cost of social ...

Various Artists: Straight from the 6th Ward

by Charlie B. Dahan
October 4, 2003

You don’t have to wait until Mardi Gras to have a party. Nope, don’t need to cook up some gumbo or boil some crawfish to let it rip. Don’t sweat getting some hurricane drink mix to have a party. You don’t need any of these things to throw a party New Orleans style. Just pop Straight from the 6th Ward into your CD player and let the good times roll. Appropriately, Straight from the 6th Ward was ...

Various Artists: West Side Chicago Blues

by C. Michael Bailey
October 4, 2003

Delmark’s 50th Anniversary Collection, Part 3

The earliest song in this collection is Magic Sam’s "I Need You So Bad," recorded July 12, 1967, and the most recent is Little Arthur Duncan’s "Singin’ With The Sun," recorded February 16, 1999. Aside from small sonic improvements in the past 30 years, the sound and quality of the recordings have retained that rough honesty of the early years of urban blues recording. The artists that took Muddy Waters to his logical conclusion ...

Various Artists: Deacon John's Jump Blues: Celebrating New Orleans Music

by Tod Smith
September 25, 2003

From the opening salvos of Ray Charles’ “Jumpin’ In the Morning" to the closing notes of Jimmie Cox’ “Nobody Knows You," it is easy to hear that Deacon John’s Jump Blues is an unadulterated celebration of New Orleans’ own brand of rhythm and blues. This blend of gospel, blues, soul and of course jazz, is music by which to celebrate life in all its joys, sorrows, disappointments and accomplishments.

Jeff Hannusch writes of Deacon John Moore, “In a career that ...