BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
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We present for your shopping pleaseure Charlie’s Stocking Stuffers or the Twelve CDs of Christmas whichever you prefer. These are all new reissues of old noise from the Jasmine label out of the U.K. This is music that is curated with care and presented with the dignity that these frequently overlooked artists deserve. Buy a loved one the gift of music this holiday season.
Paul Gayten was a key figure in the early emergence of New Orleans Rhythm & Blues, as it evolved in the years immediately after World War II. He wasn't the only Crescent City bandleader of the period to make his mark on black American music. As both an artist and a local A&R man for the important De Luxe label, Paul was able to get many legendary artists and musicians into a studio and onto a 78 for the first time ever. His own trio and big band records for that imprint included many huge sellers that are part of the foundation on with R&B was built.
The collection contains recordings he made for the New Orleans Minit label between 1959 and 1962 including those on his first and only LP during that time, along with two bonus tracks from 1955 and 1959 respectively that he made for the Specialty and Ember labels. The accompanying booklet includes the story of Ernie K-Doe's career before, during and after his time on the charts and includes label scans and other memorabilia.
Here are 29 examples of hard blues recorded in New York, a city certainly not normally associated with blues. This installment of the “In Session” series sees the spotlight turned on several players as opposed to just one. Great names like Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Bob Gaddy and Larry Dale got the majority of available studio work. Across this compilation you can follow in a chronological order and see the prolific nature of their careers. Amazing guitar, jumping bands and super songs make this set a treat.
Gospel singer Linda Hayes' short secular career got off to a great start with a pair of major R&B hits, Yes! I Know (What You're Putting Down) (the answer-disc to Willie Mabon's I Don't Know), which reached #2 and Take Me Back, which made the Top 10, both in 1953. She was famously the older sister of Tony Williams, the mellifluous lead singer of The Platters, of which Linda was also briefly an early member. This landmark compilation features just about everything that she is believed to have recorded during the 1950s, notably four sides from her impossibly rare 1954 10' acetate LP Disc Jockey Special, dubbed from the only known source, which have never been reissued before in any format.
Roosevelt Sykes was one of the most influential and pioneering urban blues piano players in the genre's history. This collection from Jasmine looks at the recordings he made between 1950 and 1957 and represent the last tracks he made for the blues and R&B market in America and represent the toughest post war R&B ever recorded.
32 rock and soul tracks by Billy Bland who began his career in the vocal group, The Bees, who open this collection with Toy Bell which is the original version of Chuck Berry's biggest hit, My Ding-A-Ling. Billy had one great hit record, Let The Little Girl Dance, which was an American top 10 and British top 20 hit in 1960. Despite never having another hit of that magnitude he did chart on several other occasions.
For a musician as important and indeed prolific as Ernie Freeman, remarkably little of his enormous body of work has been made available during the CD era. This 32-track collection covers everything from the sublime to the ridiculous and includes some of the incredible guitar of Irving Ashby. It also features the sax work of Plas Johnson. As well as a recording artist, Ernie was also an arranger. In fact, during the 1950s and well in to the 60s, he was the most in demand arranger in Hollywood for R&B, rock&roll and pop. Fans of rock and roll instrumentals, loungecore and space age pop will find plenty to get excited in this long overdue CD.
Tommy Ridgely was born, raised and died in New Orleans and was a consistently popular entertainer in the city and its environs without ever achieving a major hit. He was an early vocalist with the Dave Bartholomew Band and had a minor splash with his recording of Jam Up for Atlantic. It was at the city's premier R&B venue, the Dew Drop Inn where he established his band The Untouchables as the most famous house band in the club's history.
Marie Knight started out as a Gospel singer in the early 1940s. She recorded with several renowned groups, before teaming up with the mighty Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with whom she worked extensively until the mid-50s. Under her own steam she cut sides like I'll Let Nothin' Separate Me From The Lord, Gospel Train (which made the R&B Top 10), Satisfied With Jesus and the bluesy I Just Can't Keep From Cryin’ before switching to secular music with releases like Tell Me Why, Grasshopper Baby and Look At Me.
John Greer was a blasting tenor saxophonist and a talented blues shouting vocalist. He enjoyed just one chart hit in his recording career, Got You on My Mind, which is featured on this collection. By all accounts he was a spectacular live performer and was most popular in small venues where he was able to interact with the audience and this certainly comes across throughout this collection of 27 of his greatest recordings.
Robert Nighthawk was one of the most influential blues guitarists of the post war period, a stature he achieved without the benefit of many hit records. His song Sweet Black Angel Blues became a blues standard when B.B. King covered it as Sweet Little Angel and B.B. went on to do the same with Crying Won't Help You. Across the 23 tracks presented here are top blues musicians such as Roosevelt Sykes, Sunnyland Slim, Willie Dixon, Brownie McGhee and Pinetop Perkins.
This is the most comprehensive CD collection to date for Jerry McCain and includes recordings from all the labels he recorded for up until 1962 including Trumpet, Rex, Excello and Okeh. McCain is one of the best harmonica players of the early days. His songs reflect the wild life he led during this period, many with a wry sense of humor and insight into human interactions.
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BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info