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Talkin' Blues

Interviews focusing on jazz's little brother.

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Jimmy Herring: Talkin' Blues, Bluegrass and More

Read "Jimmy Herring: Talkin' Blues, Bluegrass and More" reviewed by Alan Bryson


The spark of bringing together unusual combinations, like a classically trained bluegrass fiddler, a Cameroonian bassist, and a high energy guitarist, could have resulted in a musical culture clash, but for Jimmy Herring the bet paid off. While he might be modest and deferential on a personal level, his latest album is bold and expansive. It reveals a musician and composer comfortable tackling a wide array of styles and moods. “I thought of the studio itself an instrument, ...

40

Talkin' Blues with Barbara Dennerlein

Read "Talkin' Blues with Barbara Dennerlein" reviewed by Alan Bryson


If there were a Guinness World Records prize for jazz artist with the biggest organ, it could very well go to Barbara Dennerlein. No doubt, her Hammond B3 was a disc-crushing bane for countless roadies over the past three decades, but a B3 pales in comparison to what she's been playing lately. Imagine five organs with nearly 18,000 metal pipes, linked to one keyboard with over 200 registers--that's some seriously heavy metal. Welcome to the world of pipe organs.

16

Gregg Allman's Memoir

Read "Gregg Allman's Memoir" reviewed by Alan Bryson


A few years back, Gregg Allman said in an interview that one thing was for sure, the book he was writing wouldn't have a song title. So when the publication of his memoir, My Cross To Bear (William Morrow, 2012) was announced, my initial reaction was somewhere between skepticism and ambivalence. Not only was the book a play on his song, “Not My Cross to Bear," but at least eight of the chapters were directly taken from song titles.

106

Talkin' Blues with Chuck Leavell

Read "Talkin' Blues with Chuck Leavell" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; recording a new CD with guest stars John Mayer and Keith Richards trading guitar solos; successfully launching his Mother Nature Network, with ten million page views per month; publishing his fourth book, Growing a Better America: Smart, Strong and Sustainable (Evergreen Arts, 2011); being named an honorary forest ranger by the U.S. Forest Service, for his commitment to conservation; and working on John Mayer's much-anticipated Born And Raised (Columbia, to be released May 22, ...

245

Talkin' Blues with the Groovemaster, Jerry Jemmott

Read "Talkin' Blues with the Groovemaster, Jerry Jemmott" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Jerry Jemmott's groove is the bedrock of guitarist B.B. King's career defining hit, “The Thrill is Gone." He was in the studio with Duane Allman and singer Wilson Pickett recording “Hey Jude," a track that was instrumental in launching the late Allman Brothers Band guitarist's musical career; and they were together again for flautist Herbie Mann's Push Push (Atlantic, 1971), Allman's first and only jazz sessions, and the last full album he recorded prior to his death on October 29, ...

180

Talkin' Blues with Jaimoe

Read "Talkin' Blues with Jaimoe" reviewed by Alan Bryson


As a 2012 recipient of a Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement, Jaimoe needs no introduction. He has been a beloved figure on the music scene for over four decades, as a veteran of the R&B circuit with Otis Redding, Percy Sledge and Joe Tex, and as a founding member of the legendary Allman Brothers Band and the critically acclaimed band Sea Level.In late 2011 his Jaimoe's Jasssz Band released Renaissance Man (Lil'Johnieboy Records, 2011), an album that is ...

136

Talkin' Blues with John Scofield

Read "Talkin' Blues with John Scofield" reviewed by Alan Bryson


John Scofield is one of the world's most influential and respected guitarists, a musician and composer who has worked with many of the greatest names in jazz: Chet Baker, Gary Burton, Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan and scores of others. His 30 plus solo recordings have taken his fans on a remarkably wide-ranging musical journey--from straight ahead jazz, bebop, and fusion, to funky experimental outings with Medeski, Scofield, Martin, and Wood, and even gospel jazz ...

259

Talkin' Blues with Jimmy Herring

Read "Talkin' Blues with Jimmy Herring" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Jimmy Herring is a musician who blurs lines, both in terms of genres and roles. Over the past two decades his work with the Aquarium Rescue Unit, Gov't Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, Frogwings, Phil Lesh & Friends, Project Z, Jazz is Dead, and Widespread Panic has cemented his position as one of the world's premier progressive rock guitarists. He has the uncanny ability to fuse the visceral power of rock with the ingenuity of jazz harmonics without diminishing the ...

283

Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds Turns 50

Read "Yusef Lateef: Eastern Sounds Turns 50" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Think back fifty years to the days portrayed on the TV series Mad Men. In 1961, John Kennedy and Billboard's Easy Listening Chart were inaugurated, a freedom riders bus was fire-bombed in Alabama, Rock Hudson was on the big screen, and Doris Day was selling albums. As teenagers and their swinging parents were twisting their brains out to Chubby Checker or the “authentic music by the King Curtis Combo," East German communists began construction of the Berlin ...

1,115

Susan Tedeschi: Dreams and Legends

Read "Susan Tedeschi: Dreams and Legends" reviewed by Alan Bryson


A string of Grammy-nominated albums, along with a critically acclaimed and commercially successful DVD of her appearance on the American television program Austin City Limits, have helped to establish Susan Tedeschi as one of today's premiere blues artists. On top of that, she's performed in front of millions of music lovers by headlining numerous festivals and opening for music legends like B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Rolling Stones. Her appeal extends ...


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