So Buddy Guy’s latest album Rhythm and Blues has been on various music charts for about a month now, but the official release date of the album was set for today to coincide with Buddy’s 77 birthday! Yes on this date in 1936, Buddy Guy was born. For those of you non-blues fans here some background on Buddy from Wikipedia:
So yesterday would have been the 70th birthday of one of my guitar heroes, the great Michael Bloomfield. From Wikipedia:
Michael Bernard “Mike” Bloomfield (July 28, 1943 – February 15, 1981) was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70. Respected for his fluid guitar playing, Bloomfield knew and played with many of Chicago’s blues legends even before he achieved his own fame, and was one of the primary influences on the mid-to-late 1960s revival of classic Chicago and other styles of blues music. In 2003 he was ranked at number 22 on Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Full Biography
So as someone who enjoys genealogy research, it’s always nice to see the name of your ancestor in a census, on a marriage certificate or a ship’s passenger list. It always makes you think of what their lives must have been like. When I came home from work at Target last night, my wife said “look what I found” She had found among the papers of Louise Marter, who had a massive amount genealogical information she had collected over the last 30 to 40 years. Louise passed away a few months ago and Kathy has been given the task of going through the boxes and boxes of papers to decide the relevancy of each piece of paper Better her than me because Pack-Rat Edward would be tossing nothing!! Anyway back to last night’s find. it was at list of school children in the Beverly schools in 1865 and 1866 and there among children was my great-grandfather John or Johnny Ashton
So this morning I was in beautiful Newark NJ. Last night we went to a fund-raiser for Team Willpower, a night of bowling. It was the first time I bowled in many years. It took several throws to even be respectable, and for me the 110 I bowled was not even that! But it was for a good cause and we had a good time!
One of the artists that I’ve been listening to over the last few days has been Lawson Rollins I listened to his fine guitar playing a while ago as part of the duo Young and Rollins,.and really liked their sound. This week I’ve been listening to Lawson’s latest album Full Circle. On his website, Lawson says this about the album:
So there once was a group of musicians that lived back in the woods, and they played traditional American roots music, with story songs about, hangings, murder, and moonshine running, with titles like “Hillbilly Hick”, and Sons O’Dixie. After the release of their début album, they will be touring throughout the country playing dates in Rougham Suffolk, Cambridge, Wisbech, Cambs and in October they will be playing sets both days at the Prickwillow ploughing festival and country fair near Ely, Cambs. Not sure what part of the south they’re from – well you should be because this terrific new band is from jolly old England!!
Rattleshack is their name and playing great American roots music is their game!! Their début album is self-titled and great. According to the band they were:
According to About.com/Oldies Music, on this date in 1967, the jazz world lost a legendary figure when John Coltrane died from liver cancer at the age of forty. (The actual date of his death is July 17th) Coltrane was and still is one of the most influential jazz musician, ever. I have never been a big fan of the sax, most of my jazz listening revolves around guitar, organ and vibes, but every time I hear Coltrane’s music I love it. From Wikipedia:
Oh, to be seventeen years old and as talented as Austin Young. The young Colorado Blues musician has a long and stellar career ahead of him if his 2013 release, Blue as Blue Can Be is any kind of indicator!! I’m not exactly sure where I came across his name, hum, it may have been last weeks, New Releases Now newsletter, but wherever I saw it I’m glad I did because the album is flat-out terrific as are Young’s guitar playing and his vocals.
So tonight I turned the sound down on the Phillies game and turned up the stereo and spent a jazzy Saturday night listening to albums from Blue Mitchell, Wynton Kelly, and Hank Mobley. Of the three Hank Mobley is the musician I know the least about, but his album Soul Station was my favorite of the evening. The link between the three albums is the piano artistry of Wynton Kelly.
