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Darrell Nulisch: I Like It That Way
by Ed Kopp
Darrell Nulisch possesses one of the supplest, most heartbreaking male voices in contemporary blues and R&B. His last release The Whole Truth was a breakthrough album that garnered widespread critical acclaim. His new release is every bit its equal. There's a pathos to Nulisch's vocals that only a handful of R&B singers can match. He's an ...
John Hammond: Best of the Vanguard Years
by Ed Kopp
John Hammond Jr. is a steady performer who continues to revive some classic blues material that might otherwise be forgotten. Best of the Vanguard Years provides a nice overview of his early days. Hammond began his recording career on the Vanguard label, generating five albums between 1964 and 1967. After stints with Atlantic and Columbia, Hammond ...
Swingorillas: Dick Suave
by Ed Kopp
No doubt my age influences my thinking, but the state of popular music has seemed pretty sad for some time now. The FM dial is rife with soulless beats, fake cowboys, thug rappers and teenage twits. Under the circumstances, I welcomed the swing craze in the late '90s. Sure, the swing thing was retro, but at ...
Odetta: Blues Everywhere I Go
by Ed Kopp
Odetta's brand of urban folk inspired countless '60s musicians, not to mention thousands of civil rights activists. Though she's best known for reviving old work songs and spirituals, Odetta is no stranger to the blues. Still, her 1962 album And the Blues marked the last time Odetta recorded the blues with a band. Blues Everywhere I ...
Various Artists: Blue Wave 15th Anniversary Collection
by Ed Kopp
With the possible exceptions of Boston and Providence, there aren't many cities in the Northeast as blues crazy as Syracuse, N.Y. Despite being a relatively small outpost of 730,000 residents, the Syracuse area is home to two big-time summer blues festivals and over 50 working blues bands, including several that are nationally acclaimed. The area has ...
Ron Kaplan: Lounging Around
by Ed Kopp
Ron Kaplan is a dulcet-toned singer from Monterey, California, whose second release Lounging Around is a mellow collection of 11 standards done up in a straight-ahead jazz style with guitar, bass, drums, one or two horns (depending on the cut), and B3 organ (on three tracks). It's the kind of dreamy, soothing album that establishes the ...
Monty Alexander: Monty Alexander Meets Sly and Robbie
by Ed Kopp
Hot on the heels of Stir It Up, his popular Bob Marley tribute album, Jamaican pianist Monty Alexander has joined forces with reggae's most famous rhythm section, Sly Dunbar (drums) and Robbie Shakespeare (bass). While Stir It Up offered jazz versions of reggae songs, this follow-up studio release delivers reggae versions of familiar jazz numbers with ...
Stan Getz and Chet Baker: Quintessence, Volume II
by Ed Kopp
Since each man despised the other, it 's surprising Stan Getz (tenor sax) and Chet Baker (trumpet) agreed to tour Europe together in early 1983. In fact, Baker abandoned the tour mid-way through, reportedly because Getz couldn't stand being around him and made no bones about it. Since there was nothing graceful about their relationship, it's ...
Keely Smith: Swing, Swing, Swing
by Ed Kopp
Though Keely Smith appeared in many films and recorded with Count Basie and Frank Sinatra, she's best known as Louis Prima's deadpan sidekick and longtime vocal foil. Smith and Prima were such fixtures on the Las Vegas strip in the '50s and '60s that Smith still claims the title “First Lady of Las Vegas." (She was ...
Magic Slim and the Teardrops: 44 Blues
by Ed Kopp
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 ...
