updates

Thanks to the generous efforts of friends & readers, we now have the missing tracks and booklet for Sabicas - Grandes Figures du Flamenco, and lots more info on D.W. Griffiths (his name is Dave)

oh, and in case you didn't notice, there are a couple more Black Oil Brothers tracks up now too


keep up the teamwork, everybody! this ain't a one-man ship

Bola Sete - 2 Albums

"Bola Sete is as significant as Jimi Hendrix and Segovia, in the sense of having wisdom, knowledge, soul and passion."
- Carlos Santana

Now that you've heard Sabicas, it's time we introduce yet another nylon-string-playing Fahey-influence. I'll leave the writing to others on this one, since it's getting late and this is my second posting tonight. I've posted 2 albums, one which is more traditional and one which is more exploratory.

The following is a quote from an article John Fahey wrote about Bola Sete in 1976: "Few living people have had such an enormous influence on my life, my music, my soul, my religion -- you name it -- as has Bola Sete. I first saw him playing -- solo -- in early 1972 at David Allen's Boarding House in San Francisco. That night, I was high on drugs as I had been for several years, and -- as also had been the case for years -- I felt that I was one isolated example of an experimental species that God had forgotten about (I was wrong here). I felt I had been -- and was still -- walking and talking among shadows: 'People' who had no depth, who were not related to themselves, did not know anything about themselves -- endless, phony, shadow-people. And I was one of them. Bola played for about 45 minutes and grimaced and grunted through the whole set. Something was wrong. He couldn't 'get it out.' I knew how he felt, and I understood. Something was wrong. I was intrigued by his obvious frustration having felt that way myself almost all my life. The performance had been mediocre so far. However, the audience gave him a long ovation, and he reluctantly got up and started to play an encore, still looking frustrated, impotent, mad, seething. I knew that feeling well. But then suddenly he got hot. He got so cooking, he played song after song for another 45 minutes, forgetting (or not caring) that he was doing an encore, playing many of the same songs he had just played. My first impression that night, as I told a friend at the time, was this: Here is a man who has lived through hell and somehow miraculously got out of it. I went back to the Boarding House several times that week. I found that Bola's sets have an interesting 'plot.' They all begin and end with songs whose emotional contour is pretty, happy, light, peaceful, or ecstatic. But after the first two or three songs, the terrain gets rougher and darker, heavier and weirder. By the middle of his set, Bola is giving you pictures of hell, memories of perdition, demonic music. But then Bola gradually lightens up the spectrum of feeling and leads you out of the cave and into the sunlight, and life is paradise. Only now, one is so changed that one is temporarily aware that life really is paradise after all, the world is an ocean, etc. It is like a breath from the 19th Century or before; a breeze from times when people had passion and significance and were not mere shadows. It is as though something has finally changed. I talked to Bola's wife (I was too shaken to speak to him at the time). 'How does he keep from going crazy,' I asked her, 'when he has so much energy and tension? You can hear it in his music -- a lot of passion and tension. How did he get out of hell?' ('How can I get out of hell?' That's what I really wanted to know.) His music is so good it's eerie -- eerie because it comes from a different time, a different place, when men felt different things that we can no longer love or experience except as an echo or phantom in the best of art works. Most of Bola's music is eclectic and nongeneric. Take a song like 'Black Mommy.' Now, if you didn't know anything about Bola . . . what musical tradition, period, or era would you guess this song came from? Tasmania? Easter Island? Next door? It comes from everywhere and nowhere. The subconscious really is universal. Bola Sete's music is the best reminder of this that I have ever heard. He is a man of great spirit and great depth. Bola plays percussively, vertically, with a very heavy and insistent thumb. His playing is very masculine (the word is an anachronisism). He plays erratically and restlessly like Boll Weavil Jackson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, or Bill Monroe. But he also has inner peace and breadth . . . rhythm and dynamics are constantly changing. Bola's playing gives the impression (and like my playing it is a false impression) of being very improvisatory. His songs, on the other hand, tend to be very short and terse (unlike mine), without undue repetition. But like me, he tries to recreate each song each time he plays it, which is in effect to destroy it. . . . The only elements of a song, which change from one performance to the next, are the number of repetitions of each idea. The order of the ideas stays pretty much the same. But the speed and intensity at which they are played may vary; if Bola doesn't like the room he is playing in, or the people he is playing for, he tends to play lousy. I do the same. We both play the way we feel, but within a rigid structure. We play that way because we have to -- we can't do anything else. God help us."

-- John Fahey, "Bola Sete, The Nature of Infinity, And John Fahey," Guitar Player, February 1976.

Guitarist Djalma De Andrade, better known as Bola Sete (1923-1987) (or "Seven Ball," a reference to Brazilian billiards) was both an early exponent of Brazilian music in the United States, and a pioneer of solo acoustic guitar work. Well before the bossa nova boom hit stateside, Sete was living in California, introducing dynamic Latin styles into the various small jazz combos he sat in with. Later his style became more introspective and expressive, mirroring the shift in the acoustic guitar repertoire brought about by players such as John Fahey and William Ackerman.

Biography by Alvaro Neder

The words Bola Sete are Portuguese for the seventh ball in the billiard game, which is the only black one. He got his nickname after being the only black man in a small group. From an early age, he was habitual at the Bohemian circles of Praça Tiradentes, Rio, where musicians met. At 17, he joined composer Henricão's group, which was going to Marília for an eight-month season. Returning to Rio, he played at every available venue in Campinas SP and Niterói RJ. In 1945, Rio's Rádio Transmissora instituted a violão (acoustic guitar) contest, in which he was the winner. He continued to play through Minas Gerais and Rio. At last, he was hired contractually by Rádio Transmissora and he worked in the famous Trem da Alegria show for three years at the João Caetano Theater with Lamartine Babo, Iara Sales, and Héber de Bôscoli.

At the end of the '40s, he formed his own group, Bola Sete e seu Conjunto. In that time, Dolores Durán, who went on to be a famous singer and composer, was a crooner at the Béguin nightclub and once invited, became the group's singer at the Drink and Vogue nightclubs. In 1952, he went to Italy and played in several clubs and hotels until 1954. In that year, he returned to Brazil and formed an orchestra, with which he toured through Argentina, Uruguay, and Spain. In 1955, he toured again, this time through Lima, Peru, and Santiago do Chile. In 1959, he moved to the U.S. and in 1962, was hired directly by the general manager of Sheraton Hotels to play in the several units of that chain. In 1960, the label Sinter, which had already recorded several cuts with him, released the LP Bola Sete. He had also recorded for Odeon, which released at the same time Bola Sete e Quatro Trombones with his own compositions and Gershwin standards. In 1962, he appeared at the historic Bossa Nova Festival at Carnegie Hall in New York. He also played at the Village Gate and Vanguard. In the same year, Odeon Brasil released O Extraordinário Bola Sete and Fantasy released Bossa Nova. He was then playing at New York's Park Sheraton and later in the same year, he moved to San Francisco to play at the Sheraton Palace. Dizzy Gillespie was staying there and listened to him every night. When Gillespie's pianist, Lalo Schifrin, came to the hotel, he met Sete, with whom he had become acquainted and played with when the Brazilian toured Argentina. Invited by Gillespie, Sete played with him at the Ninth Annual Monterey Jazz Festival with great success. Following tours and a recorded album with Gillespie, Sete moved again to San Francisco and joined Vince Guaraldi's trio. This two-year association, profitable for both artists, consolidated the already expressive popularity of Sete in the U.S. They recorded together 1963's Vince Guaraldi, Bola Sete & Friends (Fantasy). Then he formed his own trio with Brazilian musicians Tião Neto (bass) and Chico Batera (drums), with which he performed at the 1966 Monterey Jazz Festival, again with great success. From November 11 to 13, 1966, Sete was featured at the Fillmore Auditorium. His releases in the U.S. include 1964's Tour de Force and From All Sides (with Vince Guaraldi), 1965's The Solo Guitar of Bola Sete and The Incomparable Bola Sete, 1966's Live at El Matador (with Vince Guaraldi) and Autentico, 1967's At the Monterey Jazz Festival, 1969's Shebaba (all through Fantasy), 1976's Working on a Groovy Thing (Paramount), 1981's Ocean and Ocean II (Lost Lake), and 1985's Jungle Suite (Dancing Cat). In 1969, he appeared at the Mexico Brazilian and American Music Festival, together with Eumir Deodato, Milton Nascimento, and Airto Moreira.

The Bola Sete Trios - Tour De Force

Label: Fantasy
Year: 1962/63 (2001 reissue)

Review by Richie Unterberger
Sete led a trio on this mid-1963 date, backed by Fred Schrieber on bass and John Rae on drums. It tilts a little to the mellower, more sentimental side than more driving sessions such as the one he did the previous year for Bossa Nova. It's still quality by-the-fire jazz bossa nova music, Sete's playing a lesson in both skill and discreet economy. While he wrote three of the ten songs, his repertoire of cover selections is fairly wide ranging, taking in "Moon River," Dizzy Gillespie's "Tour de Force," and, as a special highlight, his version of Isaac Albeinz's "Asturias," the mournful flamenco-influenced song familiar to any student of Spanish-style guitar. There's also a samba that Luiz Bonfa had a hand in writing ("Sambe de Orfeu"), and as one of the niftier detours from the usual, a solo interpretation of J.S. Bach's "Bourree." The 2001 CD reissue on Fantasy also includes the entirety of his late-1962 session Bossa Nova, which is an excellent midpoint between bossa nova and mainstream American jazz.


Recently repackaged on a single CD, these two early albums by guitarist Djalma de Andrade (aka Bola Sete) are nothing short of dazzling. While he clearly shared a rhythmic and melodic affinity with his Brazilian contemporaries, Sete was somewhat miscast as a member of the bossa crowd -- already living and working in California at the time of the Getz-Gilberto breakthrough, Bola Sete had already developed his own style, much bouncier and more overtly aligned with the West Coast jazz scene. In his quieter moments, he could easily touch on the cool reserve of the bossa scene, but he also swung with abandon, and reveled in a good, strong backbeat. Both of these albums are recorded in a trio setting, with compact accompaniment -- bass, drums and percussion -- allowing the sprightly and impressive guitar work to come through loud and clear. Highly recommended.

Tracks
1. Up the Creek
2. My Different World
3. Dilemma
4. Sweet Thing
5. If You Return
6. Samba Do Perroquet
7. Manha de Carnaval
8. Brazilian Bossa Galore
9. You're the Reason
10. Wagging Along
11. Ash Wednesday
12. Without You
13. Baccara
14. Moon River
15. Mambeando
16. Ceu E Mar
17. Asturias
18. Samba de Orfeu
19. Sad Note
20. Tour de Force
21. A Noite Do Meu Bern
22. Bouree

forceful.
mp3 >192kbps vbr | w/ cover | 95mb



Bola Sete - Shambhala Moon

Year: 2001
Label: Samba Moon Records

Bola Sete's solo guitar suite containing the music of hidden and magical places.

When Bola Sete's widow Anne issued "Ocean Memories", a series of solo recordings made in 1972, it marked the first time his sophisticated solo guitar music had been on CD. "Shambhala Moon" was recorded ten years later and issued originally on the Dancing Cat label. This re-issue on CD is the only known recording of Sete playing solo with a steel-string guitar.The two suites that make up this recording are, frankly, on another level entirely than virtually anything else the guitarist issued in his lifetime. His fusion of Brazilian, classical, flamenco, jazz, and numerous folk styles was unprecedented and remains unmatched.Here, while sitting in a full lotus position, Sete moves through an astonishing array of techniques and nuances of expression that make the sound of the guitar literally float, suspended outside the time-space continuum. His aren't seemingly flashy techniques, but most guitarists wouldn't even attempt them. Often utilizing bossa nova and samba chord progressions to initiate an improvisation on a theme, he will slide through cascading minor keys (as on "Morning Rises Through the Mist") to find a place to embellish them by augmentation, suspension, and even diminishment, distilling a pattern to its essence before stretching it back out again, ending in an otherworldly counterpoint to his original premise. No cut offers a greater example of this than the title piece, which Sete begins as a nocturne in E minor in the Spanish style before stretching it to A minor. Once he establishes a rhythmic and syntactic pattern on the sixth, he constructs a bridge to an augmented ninth and folds in everything he's played thus far, before tearing it back down to a skeletal whisper of a theme. For guitar students and fans or not, "Shambhala Moon" is quite simply among the most inspired examples of passionate and technically brilliant guitar playing in the recorded history of the instrument.
- Thom Jurek, All Music Guide

Literally a meditative album, this was recorded as Sete was deeply into yoga and TM... It's similar in style to the Ocean album, though without the more strident, forceful moments. Explorative solo acoustic guitar work, with curlicued variations on flamenco and classical styles -- this was one of the earlier Dancing Cat releases, and is less mellow than than its contemporary albums... Consistently probing and active, Sete's guitar work compels the listener's attention without seeming jarring or overwrought. The Shambhala Moon reissue adds one extra track to the original 1985 release, Jungle Suite. Worth checking out.

Tracks
1 The Sun Pours Through the Darkness Gently, Gently
2 Moonbeams, Moonlight, Midnight Magic
3 Morning Rises Through the Mist
4 Night Shadows
5 Sorcerers, Spirits, Devas, and Delights
6 Shambhala Moon
7 Many Shades of Green
8 Devas' Lament

the land of everlasting life.
mp3 >224kbps vbr | w/ cover | 67mb

oh, and if you want to hear more of this incredible dude, check out albums at Loronix and Annäherungen.

Munir Bashir - 2 Albums

You know, it's no accident that guitar music happened so much in Spain. It evolved from the Lutes/Ouds that were brought by the Moors into the south of Spain. And they didn't just bring the instruments, they brought culture and ideas and an Arabic sort of soul. So now that you've heard Sabicas, take another listen to Munir Bashir and see if you can hear how flamenco evolved from Arabic music. Interestingly Munir & Sabicas occupy very similar positions in their respective musics: masters of tradition and inimitable innovators who have influenced literally everyone to come since them.

Really, if you can just ignore the differences in scales, the musics are very similar. Like, listen to the flamenco handclaps and then listen to the percussion behind Munir's oud. Or the way they'll play a flurry of notes and then just stop dead, leaving their musical cloud to dangle on the brink. And this points to the mystery - the hole! - which is at the heart of these musics, and let me tell you - it sure as hell didn't come out of any European church / court music. It came from people who can never name God, so who must constantly make reference to his unfathomable presence through the patterns of emptiness and splendor that is this mosaic of sound.

Now, some musicological details from the booklet of the album below:

MUNIR BACHIR - OUD SOLOS

The form taken in Iraq by the sawt of hidjaz is the maqam which is the most perfect and noblest form the scholarly music of that country can offer. The maqam is performed by one singer (the qari) and three musicians who play respectively the santur - a cithara derived from the Greek psaltery, the djoza - a vielle resting on a pike and the tabla or dûnbak - a double drum. To constitute the djalghi baghdadi of nawbah another kind of drum is added: a riq - the drumhead of which is stretched on a wooden frame, - The principal part characteristic of the maqam is a poem written in one of the sixteen varieties of classical metres either in literary Arabic or in spoken language. In the latter case the poem is called zûhairi.

The maqam, the tradition of which has lasted in Iraq for nearly four centuries, has been transmitted orally by the Iraqi masters in an uninterrupted chain between past and present. The singer improvises melodic passages making freely use of different rhythms while passing progressively from one part of the chosen mode to another. Displaying all his virtuosity and flexibility of voice he reaches the acme of the maqam; then leaves it imperceptibly and comes to the final note of the mode after having embroidered musical phrases, all of them proofs of his talent and spirit of invention.

The maqam starts with the tahrir often preceded by an instrumental introduction called badûa and composed on a well-defined rhythm; the singer accompanies the badûa passing alternately from high-pitched notes to low-pitched ones. The tahrir is made of one or more songs, the texts of which may be extended by one or two Arabic, Persian or Turkish interjections added by the singer when the texts of the songs prove too short with regard to the improvised melody. The maqam ends with the taslim or taslom which is a text set to a falling melodic passage ending with the final note of the scale of that maqam. Between the tahrir and the taslim there is a series of melodic passages of variable length which are performed alternately by the singer and the musicians and which develop in turn the different parts of the scale.

The artists who interpret the maqam-s are considered to be authorities on the matter of repertory; they know all about it and are famous for the specific way everyone renders such a maqam. Some of them are famous for the passages they have added to certain maqam-s, others for the composing of whole maqam-s with a view of enriching the already rich repertory.

A concert made up of maqam-s only is called a fasl. In such a fasl the maqam-s are always played in the same order and the fasl is named after the first maqam of the series. The Iraqi repertory offers five fasl-s: bayati - hidjaz - rast - naûa and hûsseïni. At the end of every maqam the orchestra plays a pesté which is a piece of music composed in the same mode as the maqam. This device allows the singer to rest before the beginning of the next maqam. In former times it was usual to play several fasl-s in a musical evening.

Among the masters of the maqam who have carried on its musical tradition, generation after generation, and whose names are still known nowadays, we will mention: Mûlla Hassan Babûdidji (1782-1840) and his pupil Rahmallah Shiltag who taught a whole generation of artists, the most famous of whom were Ahmed Zaidan and Mûlla Osman Almûssili. Many artists of the following generation have Ahmed Zaidan to thank for their musical talent and their fame, for instance Rachid Kandardji (deceased in 1963) and Abbas Chaikhali. Among the artists of the next generation we will quote the great master Mohamed Elkabbandji who was born in 1901 and considered as the greatest of his time for the register of his voice as well as for the precision of his interpretation of the traditional maqam. Endowed with a very good memory, he had memorized a great number of poems, which allowed him to sing what was fit in all circumstances. He was the one who was sent to Cairo in 1932 as an Iraqi representative to the Congress of Arab Music.

Is the text of the maqam secular, it belongs to the classical repertory but if the text is religious the maqam belongs to the Sufi music which has also its famous performers among whom are Elhadj Jalal Elhafnaûi and Charif Mohieddine Haidar. The latter was the dean of the Baghdad Art Academy and taught a great number of lutanists his method. Among these we will quote: the names of Jamil Bachir (deceased in 1977) and his brother Munir Bachir presently secretary-general of the Arabic Academy of Music. Simon Jargy, a professor at the University of Geneva, considers Munir Bachir as one of the greatest soloists of ud and one of the greatest musicians of the Arab world. Born in the northern Iraq, Munir Bachir belongs to a family of very gifted musicians who have passed on from father to son the noble art of playing the lute.

"He was but five years old, S. Jargy writes, when (together with his brother who also became a well-known lutanist) he was taught the first rudiments of lute playing by his father who had become impregnated with the purest oriental and Arab musical traditions of Baghdad, the old capital of the Abbassid Caliphs. Knowing all the subtleties of Arab music and mastering all the secrets of ud playing, Munir Bachir has rapidly become a great artist and an unrivalled virtuoso, giving back to this instrument the importance it had at the time of the Thousand and One Nights. After World War II, he founded an academy of music in Baghdad with a view of teaching ud playing to talented young people. Then he was appointed as a professor at the Art Academy where he succeeded his master Mohieddine Haïdar. He became also head of the musical programme for the Iraqi broadcasting Co. Wanting to widen his knowledge, Munir Bachir went to Budapest where he studied traditional folk song and music. In 1965 he obtained a doctor's degree in Budapest and was appointed there as an assistant lecturer at the Academy of Science in the department of folk art. At the same time he gave a series of recitals in Hungary patronized by the famous composer Zoltan Kodaly who was one of his admirers and who encouraged him to acquaint people with the authentic Arabic music. Subsequently he gave concerts in the Near and Far Eastern countries". Touring Europe he first came to Geneva where this concert was recorded, parts of which are presented here.

To complete the timing of this compact disc we have resorted to the most prestigious lutanist of the thirties, Mohammed Elkassabgi, who was also one of the first composers of the great singer Um Kalsum. Mohammed Elkassabgi's improvisations: a taksim bayati, a taksim saba, a taksim hidjaz kar and a rhythmic piece, dalaa elhawanem (Ladies' coquetry) have been chosen to let music lovers compare the individual skills of each of these two talented artists separated by more than a quarter of a century. It will also enable us to stress on the one hand the mastery and the inventiveness of the classical school which Mohammed Elkassabgi belongs to, and on the other hand the virtuosity of the younger generation of artists, one of whom is Munir Bachir.

- A. Hachlef, Translated by M.Stoffel. September 1988

Mohamed el-Qasabgi (محمد القصبجي; pronounced [in the Egyptian dialect] el-Asabgi) (1892 - March, 1966) as an Egyptian musician and composer, and is regarded as one of the five leading composers of Egypt in the 20th century. Most of his credits went to Umm Kulthum, Asmahan, and Layla Murad who sang most of his great works and scores. Until today, most critics classify Mohamed El Qasabgi as the master of the oud due to his great abilities and skills which he had during his time.

In most of his tunes, there is a real sensation of the pure Oriental spirit, mixed with European musical techniques and taste. This was mostly seen in songs like Ya Toyour, Raa' El Habeeb, Ana Albi Daleeli.

In the above mentioned songs and many others, he was widely recognized by most musicians and critics at that time as the leader of development of Oriental music and mixing it with newest musical techniques, such as influenced brought in from Western classical traditions of his time.


Munir Bashir - Solo de Luth-Oud: Recital [Oud Solos Live]

Year: 1988
Label: Club du Disque Arabe - AAA03

Tracks:
1 Mounir Bachir - Maqam Nahawend
2 Mounir Bachir - Maqam Rast
3 Mounir Bachir - Maqam Kourdi
4 Mounir Bachir - La Voix de L'Orient
5 Mounir Bachir - Le Oud Fou
6 Mounir Bachir - Hayra
7 Mounir Bachir - Hayra (2)
8 Mounir Bachir - L'Orient En Andalousie
9 Mohamed Elkassabg - Taqsim Bayati
10 Mohamed Elkassabg - Taqsim Saba
11 Mohamed Elkassabg - Taqsim Hidjaz
12 Mohamed Elkassabg - Dalaâ ElHawanem

taqsim vs. maqam.
m4a 128kbps | w/ scans | 55mb

thanks to the unbeatable Lemmy Caution!

Munir Bashir - Dialogue Between Oud & Rhythms

Year: 2001
Label: Voix del l'Orient

This one builds to a pretty amazing percussive climax in the second half of track 1. Also, you get to hear very Sandy Bull-ish oud-delay, which for some reason is less cheesey than most kinds of delay/echo effects.

Tracks:
1 Dialogue Between Oud & Rhythms 22:45
2 Layal (Arabic Dance) 11:18
3 Babylonian Nights 11:45

Munir Bashir, oud
Sami Abdel Ahad, percussion

layala?
mp3 256kbps | w/ cover | 83mb

Sabicas

More death music! More Fahey-influences. More guitar-magic. More mystery. Real mysteries. Not just like, how in Yahweh's chthonic name did he do that!?! But also insights into the mysteries that lay beyond death and the multifarious bardos. This is endarkenment music. But it's fun... Seriously though, Sabicas blows the pants off any other flamenco guitarist I've heard. Hey may not be as fast as Carlos Montoya or as crystalline as Paco de Lucia, but he has that special folly that comes through his music as borderline insanity, where you get the feeling that he's leaning as far over the cliff as he can, just because he knows he can't fly. He is bound to this harsh mortal samsara, and he carries death with him in his guitar case. But by Jove, you listen to this man and fly you will. Land you may never...

"The music Sabicas plays creates a world of love, rhythm, and death. It is not a world in which the intellect is of much use, for the music seeks to communicate deep emotions, the darkest feelings one tries to avoid. Flamenco in the hands of the great gypsies is a constant striving to express this duality. No guitarist of the 20th century has expressed this better or more profoundly than Sabicas."

- Cynthia Gooding, from her liner notes to Sabicas - The Greatest Flamenco Guitarist (Rhino Handmade)

Sabicas is known the world over as one of the premier guitarists of the 20th Century, admired by flamenco and classical players alike. His pitch is said to be perfect, his dexterity approaching light speed. He lived the fascinating life of a true Spanish gypsy. According to their tradition, the gypsy has but two sides to his nature: the pleasure he must seek in this life balanced with a constant awareness of death. Love is central -- without it, death is preferable to life. These simple yet profound aspects of gypsy life are the bedrock of this most intense and visceral musical form.

Spaniards believe that all forms of flamenco derive from seguiriyas, the "deepest" songs; and soleares, the "lesser" songs. The former ponder the endless sorrow of humankind, while the latter tap into its joys and fleeting pleasures. Many of the selections on this CD are identified accordingly ("Soleares," "Seguiriya," "Solera Gitana," "Solea Por Bulerias"). As for the rest, Spanish speakers will discern by their titles the balance between these primary emotions. But perhaps the most fun will be had by non-Spanish-speaking aficionados, their clues coming solely from the music itself.


He represented a breaking point for the flamenco guitar and he revealed flamenco to the whole world, via America. He was absolutely innovative, and revolutionised guitar playing with his speed and polished execution with a right hand technique that is unmistakeable and unrepeatable. His influence has been unquestionable for the new generations of guitarists, passing through the work of Paco de Lucía and Serranito.

He was born between Sanfermines (Pamplona's world-famous feast) and gypsies, in the city that Hemingway made popular with his pen, and his parents bought him his first guitar when he was four years old, when he was just strong enough to lift it. Two years later, he was already making his debut on a stage. In his beginnings, he was a fanatic follower of Ramón Montoya. Nonetheless, his work accompanying the most important cantaores of the time helped him to conceive a far more personal style of playing.

During the Civil War (1936) he went into exile to South America with Carmen Amaya and, together, they embarked on several tours. Sabicas grew fond of those lands, and settled in New York, where he played concerts as a solo artist. He became open minded, to the point where he made the first attempt at fusion with Joe Beck, Rock encounter (1966). He also struck up an important relationship with jazz masters like Charles Mingus, Ben E. King, Gill Evans, Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis. He even played for President Roosevelt in the White House and was treated as just another artist by the record labels, which distributed his records all over the world.

He did not return to Spain until 1967. Twenty years later, his country of birth gave him a national tribute for the first time, in the Teatro Real in Madrid. Earlier, in 1982, Pamplona had dedicated its feast, the Sanfermines, to him. He recorded with Enrique Morente a year before he died.
- from http://www.esflamenco.com/bio/en10036.html


He was already a legend in life. He was proud of having done for the guitar what nobody had done before: to tour the whole world with it, make it fashionable and get a bit of classical from it. "The flamenco guitar had never been played outside Spain - the author explained in 1984 - and not everyone, a very little. Then, since my records came out in the last thirty years, people became fond of the flamenco guitar anywhere in the world". He did not consider himself a follower of any guitar school, of any influence. "I have never had teachers. A proof of this is that I have a brother for whom I have never been able to set a single variation. I do not know how to teach, so I do not give lessons, because I was never taught by anyone. I do not know where to start. I do not know music". He acted in films. The mastery of Sabicas has brought the greatest praise. Thus, Howard Klein: "His art has no superfluous attitudes. It does not make one feel he is playing, but rather the music just flows spontaneously". Or Brook Zern: "Sabicas has everything necessary: a mysterious technical precision, astonishing speed, a perfect tone and absolute understanding of flamenco, of its structure and if its intonation. Moreover, he has a great ability to invent".

Grandes Figures du Flamenco, Vol. 14 - Sabicas

Year: 1992/1998
Label: Le Chant du Monde

"The mundillo, critics and recording companies, have always used the term virtuoso when speaking of him. And it is true that the first thing that strikes one on hearing him is his prodigious technique, which is truly unprecedented, and of which the analysts said that before Sabicas there were things that seemed impossible to do on the guitar, after him there is no longer anything ! It is unnecessary to emphasise what the present generation of Paco de Lucia, Habichuela, Serranito and the young Tomatito owes to Sabicas. But in addition to his incredible agility he possessed a musical creativity that was admirable. Sabicas was not only a guitarist, he was a composer - a rare thing in a Gypsy. He could neither read nor write music : one day he said that the notes on a stave looked like "little birds on electric wires", but thanks to his mastery of the instrument and to his prodigious memory, he was capable of playing his compositions, pieces lasting several minutes, practically note for note over and over again, like his Castillo moro and his Noches de Malaga. Moreover, on listening to his Garrotin or his six Sevillanas one will be struck by the superb inventiveness - variations, ornaments, modulations and traditional flamenco forms, endow his creative imagination with an entirely personal quality."
- Mario Bois

Tracks
1 - Bronce gitano
2 - Ecos de la mina
3 - Taconeo gitano
4 - Campina andaluza
5 - Por los olivares
6 - Fragua gitana
7 - Ecos jerezanos
8 - De los Laureles
9 - Mi garrotin
10 - Joyas de la alhambra
11 - El castillo moro
12 - Seis sevillanas
13 - Punta y tacon
14 - Ay, mis ducas
15 - Brisas de la caleta
16 - Noches de Cadiz
17 - Y tus labios

*note* tracks 12 & 16 are missing. stupidly, there are files which claim to be them but are in fact just copies of other tracks on the disc. so i didn't notice before uploading. *sigh*

edit: here is the correct track 12 & 16, generously provided by bolingo

what a great figure.
mp3 vbr | w/ cover | 79mb

and the booklet scans, generously provided by miguel

Sabicas - Ole! La Guitarra de Sabicas

Year: 1999

Re-issue. Two albums recorded in 1972, now on one CD. With collaborations by brother/guitarist Diego Castellon, singer Adela la Chaqueta, and dancer Rosarito La Mejorana.

Every track list I've seen for this is different, but this is the tracks in the order of the upload:

1. -- Guadalquivir (Danza)
2. -- Alma Gaditana (Solea)
3. -- Compases Flamencos (Alegrias)
4. -- Zapateado Danza (Zapateado)
5. -- Pena la Plateria (Granainas)
6. -- Ensueno Arabe (Danza Arabe)
7. -- De Los Rizos de Tu Pelo (Colombiana)
8. -- Taconeo Gitano (Seguiriyas)
9. -- Torremolinos (Malaguena)
10. -- El Conquero (Fandangos de Huelva)
11. -- Variaciones de Alegrias (Alegrias)
12. -- Embrujo Sevillano (Bulerias)
13. -- Mi Solea (Soleares)
14. -- Campanitas (Farruca)
15. -- Piropo A Galicia (Gallegada)
16. -- Malaguena (Malaguena)
17. -- Ecos de Linares (Taranta)
18. -- Duquelas de Triana (Seguiriyas)
19. -- Viniendo Del Alba (Rondena)
20. -- Villancicos de Jerez (Villancico)

get it and find out.
mp3 192kbps | w/ cover | 99mb

VA - Flamenco Highlights from Spain

Year: 2002
Label: Laserlight

This is (or was) one of those bargain* albums that record companies throw together without any idea of what they're doing, and as you might expect, the outcome is some good news and some bad news.

First the bad news: eight of the tracks here -- the even-numbered ones -- are totally dispensable, seven of them being Sevillanas (which is only considered a flamenco style by courtesy) performed by two different but equally undistinguished ensembles; and the eighth a Fandango by a third. It's hard to know which is worse: the flute, the clatter of castanets, or the gooey harmonies.

The good news is that the other eight are guitar solos by Sabicas (1912-90), one of the greatest flamenco guitarists of all time. I say solos, but Track 3 is triple-tracked, with a beautiful stereo image; and (laughably considering the album title) it's a version of the old Trio Los Paraguayos harp favourite, "Bell Bird" ("Pájaro campano"). The others include a Guajira, Verdiales, Carcelera, Castellana, Farruca, Sevillanas, and an arrangement of Oyanguren's "Fantasía Inca", with an introduction that's not in the version he recorded for Elektra on Sabicas Vol. 2 (reissued on La Guitarra Flamenca).

Since all the Sabicas tracks were recorded in the USA then, and since none of the others could possibly be a flamenco highlight to any but a depraved perception, the number of Flamenco Highlights from Spain here is actually zero.

But buy this anyway, for the Sabicas tracks -- just program the others out.

- an amazon reviewer

Tracks:
1. Guajira/Cana de Azucar
2. No lo Beses en LA Boca
3. Ritmos del Paraguay
4. Luna por el Rocio
5. Verdiales/Puerto de Mala
6. Fandangos de Huelva
7. Carcelera/Reflejo Andalu
8. Carretas del Rocio
9. Castellana
10. Sevillanas de LA Loteria
11. Farruca/Con Salero y Gar
12. Junto a una Rosa Llonaba
13. Sevillanas
14. Gitanos Canasteros
15. Fantasia Inca
16. Sevilla Visite de Gala

ritmos y fantasias.
mp3 160kbps | w/ cover | 33mb

*note* I have saved you all the trouble deleting the schlocky flamenco and left uploaded just the Sabicas tracks, which are great. consider them bonus tracks to the other two albums.

and for more Sabicas gems, check out Flamenco Palo Seco

Jack Owens

Bentonia Blues. Bentonia, MS 1993

A black cat stares out from the front porch of blues singer Jack Owens as he plays his dark and haunting blues with harmonica accompanist Bud Spires. Owens, whose canon of songs comes from the minor-keyed Bentonia tradition made famous by the delta legend Skip James, sings in his signature song, "It must have been the devil, changed that woman's mind/ I'd rather be the devil than to be that woman's friend." Songs in the Bentonia tradition are suffused with brooding images of the supernatural. Robert Johnson drew from this tradition in composing his most haunting blues, "Hellhound on my trail."
- photo from www.billsteber.com

Jack Owens (November 17, 1904 (?) - Yazoo City, Mississippi February 9, 1997) (born L. F. Nelson) was a Delta blues singer and guitarist from Bentonia, Mississippi, USA.

Never a professional recording artist, Owens farmed, bootlegged and ran a weekend juke joint in Bentonia for most of his life. He wasn't recorded until the blues revival of the sixties, being rediscovered by David Evans in 1966, who was led to him by either Skip James or Cornelius Bright. Evans recorded Owen's first LP Goin' Up the Country that same year and It Must Have Been the Devil (with Bud Spires) in 1970. He made other registrations (some by Alan Lomax) in the 1960s and '70s, and performed at several music festivals in the United States and Europe until his death in 1997.

Owens shared many elements of his guitar style and repertoire with fellow Bentonian Skip James, utilizing open D-minor tuning (DADFAD). He was often accompanied on harmonica by his friend Bud Spires.

-From: Wikipedia



Biography by Richie Unterberger

Like Skip James, Owens hails from Bentonia, MS. Owens is much less famous than James, but he's often compared to Skip due to his high, rich vocals and intricate guitar styles, which finds him using several tunings and occasional minor keys. His material, it must be noted, is not nearly as strong or tightly constructed as James', although it draws from some of the same sources. Noted folklorist and blues scholar David Evans made several recordings with Owens in the late '60s and early '70s.

Jack Owens On muddy Sava riverbank

from The Black Oil Brothers

Greetings-

As fans of your site we wanted to send you an MP3 of the opening track off of our new album entitled Long Way From The Delta for you to enjoy, post, send to friends, etc. I'd love to send more, but I don't want to jam up your Inbox. If you would like more MP3s, please feel free to contact me and I'll send more.

If you'd like a hard copy of the entire album, possibly for a review/feature/mention on your site, I'd be happy to send that as well! We want to spread the music far and wide to those that appreciate what we're doing.

The Black Oil Brothers are a 3-piece acoustic delta country/blues/folk band out of Chicago, IL. We just returned from our first tour of the UK, and it was quite successful. So much so that we already have shows and radio interviews set up for our next tour (for twice as long) in 2010. We're regulars in Austin (during and not during SXSW), NYC, and this summer we'll also be hitting Nashville and LA in addition to regular shows in Chicago and throughout the Midwest.

Our official CD Release Show is Friday, June 26th @ Quenchers in Chicago. We'll be promoting the release in the next month with some radio spots, etc.

Thanks and enjoy.


Sincerely,

Tony Manno

THE BLACK OIL BROTHERS
www.theblackoilbrothers.com
www.myspace.com/theblackoilbrothers
www.sonicbids.com/theblackoilbrothers
www.reverbnation.com/theblackoilbrothers


It sounds great! Really, very superbly awesome! If you'd like to send more pieces (particularly if they display other facets/styles that you do), i'll happily add them to this post. Or upload them directly to a host like mediafire.com or divshare.com and send me the link, and I'll post it directly. Or send the cd if you'd like to, you guys sound quite promising.

Here is track 1, Going For Broke:


download [fixed]

and track 7, Not the Blues:


download

and track 8, Indeed, Sir:


download


also, on their website you can download their first EP - Steal from Thieves for free, and several other bonus tracks! Click here to get more of their music


Readers, take a listen and leave comments! Let these guys know what you think of their music! Do you want to hear more?

Skip James

Well it's past due I filled a gaping hole in the Grapevine. That hole's name is Skip James. And boy, is he ever a hole. You lilsten to his music and it takes you down. Down where there is no light. Down to doomy Nehemaia land where people die and get buried and there's no second thoughts or looking back. No remorse, only bitter spite and scotch. And from this hole he sang and lived and into this hole he was laid down one day and now all we have are these cold plastic discs to remember him by. And we play them, back to from and discover the secret codes like DADFAD and Illinois, trying in vain to find the center of the labyrinth that is Skip James. But the center is a hole, and it will not hold. What's this music like? It's like all the suffering and pain and hatred and self-pity and unsolved mysteries of life in the world have gotten together and fallen down into the hole, and some crazy genius man put that hole in his guitar and started pushing strings around to coax all the suffering and mystery the hole. And he sent it into these bits of vinyl and tape and wheels that rolled around in place, orbiting around a hole. And then people shelled out their holy nickels to get these things back to their homey dwellings, so they could stick these bits of plastic and vinyl on their whory record players and listen to this cheap mysterious holy painful music, and try to feel the holes in themselves. You want to know about Skip James? He was a criminal and a genius and a crazy man and a sphinx and a church choir director and a pimp and a cyper and a jerk, but mostly he was a hole. And he's probably got hismself a nice hole in Hell or Valhalla or a pyramid somewhere in Gondwanaland, still cursing the doctors who cut off his Cherry Balls and the women he laid in the ground. Still sad and bitter and arrogant and everybody else in Hellvalla probably leaves him the hell alone because frankly I don't think even the devil understands him, and it's the unknown which is the root of fear. And what is more unknown than a big, gaping black hole in the form of some weird black man from Bentonia Mississippi who happened to be a genius guitar- and piano--player and left this world with some of the greatest unsolved mysteries ever committed to groove. I'm sorry, you cannot know Skip James, any more than you can divide by zero. Skip is the great zero in the blues. The beginning and the end. And if you listen to him, you will fall in the zero hole and you'll never come out. That will be the end of you, and the beginning of some hollow shell of a record-collector who's eyes drip blues and ooze with cancerous puss like James' mistreated manhood and your dreams will be filled with countertenor laments which make the green grass grow pale. But don't say I didn't warn you. This isn't music. This is a curse that laughs at 4/4 time and other marks of sanity. And this hole will eat your soul. And I'm giving it to you because I want you to suffer from leprosy of the ears and festering insanity of the heart and testicular cancer and open-D-Minor nightmares. HAR HAR HAR. Jerk.


The official wikistory (for those who can't handle the holes in mine):

Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James (June 9, 1902 – October 3, 1969) was an American delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter.

Biography:

Early years
James was born near Bentonia, Mississippi. His father was a converted bootlegger turned preacher. As a youth, James heard local musicians such as Henry Stuckey and brothers Charlie and Jesse Sims and began playing the organ in his teens. He worked on road construction and levee-building crews in his native Mississippi in the early 1920s, and wrote what is perhaps his earliest song, "Illinois Blues", about his experiences as a laborer. Later in the '20s he sharecropped and made bootleg whiskey in the Bentonia area. He began playing guitar in open D-minor tuning and developed a three-finger picking technique that he would use to great effect on his recordings. In addition, he began to practice piano-playing, drawing inspiration from the Mississippi blues pianist Little Brother Montgomery.

1920s and 1930s
In early 1931, James auditioned for Jackson, Mississippi record shop owner and talent scout H. C. Speir, who placed blues performers with a variety of record labels including Paramount Records. On the strength of this audition, James traveled to Grafton, Wisconsin to record for Paramount. James's 1931 work is considered idiosyncratic among pre-war blues recordings, and formed the basis of his reputation as a musician.

As is typical of his era, James recorded a variety of material — blues and spirituals, cover versions and original compositions — frequently blurring the lines between genres and sources. For example, "I'm So Glad" was derived from a 1927 song by Art Sizemore and George A. Little entitled "So Tired", which had been recorded in 1928 by both Gene Austin and Lonnie Johnson (the latter under the title "I'm So Tired of Livin' All Alone"). James changed the song's lyrics, transforming it with his virtuoso technique, moaning delivery, and keen sense of tone. Biographer Stephen Calt, echoing the opinion of several critics, considered the finished product totally original, "one of the most extraordinary examples of fingerpicking found in guitar music."

Several of the Grafton recordings, such as "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Devil Got My Woman", "Jesus Is A Mighty Good Leader", and "22-20 Blues" (the basis for Robert Johnson's better-known "32-20 Blues"), have proven similarly influential. Very few original copies of James's Paramount 78s have survived.

The Great Depression struck just as James' recordings were hitting the market. Sales were poor as a result, and James gave up performing the blues to become the choir director in his father's church. James himself was later ordained as a minister in both the Baptist and Methodist denominations, but his involvement in religious activities was sketchy.

Disappearance, rediscovery, and legacy
For the next thirty years, James recorded nothing and drifted in and out of music. He was virtually unknown to listeners until about 1960. In 1964 blues enthusiasts John Fahey, Bill Barth and Henry Vestine found him in a hospital in Tunica, Mississippi. According to Calt, the "rediscovery" of both James and of Son House at virtually the same moment was the start of the "blues revival" in America. In July 1964 James, along with other rediscovered performers, appeared at the Newport Folk Festival. Several photographs by Dick Waterman captured this first performance in over 30 years. Throughout the remainder of the decade, he recorded for the Takoma, Melodeon, and Vanguard labels and played various engagements until his death in 1969.

Although James was not initially covered as frequently as other rediscovered musicians, the British rock band, Cream, recorded two versions of "I'm So Glad" (a studio version and a live version), providing James the only windfall of his career. Despite the band's well-known musicianship, Cream based their version on James's simplified 1960s recording, instead of the faster, more intricate 1931 original. Deep Purple covered "I'm So Glad" on their first album, Shades of Deep Purple. Singer Dion DiMucci released an album in November 2007 entitled Son of Skip James.

Since his death, James's music has become more available and prevalent than during his lifetime — his 1931 recordings, along with several rediscovery recordings and concerts, have found their way on to numerous compact discs, drifting in and out of print. His influence is still felt among contemporary bluesmen. James also left a mark on 21st-century Hollywood, as well, with Chris Thomas King's cover of "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues" on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the 1931 "Devil Got My Woman" featured prominently in the plot and soundtrack of Ghost World. In recent times, British post-rock band Hope of the States released a song partially focused on the life of Skip James entitled "Nehemiah", which charted at number 30 in the UK Singles Chart. "He's a Mighty Good Leader" was also covered by Beck on his 1994 album One Foot in the Grave.

Personality
James was known to be an aloof and idiosyncratic artist. He seldom socialized with other bluesmen and fans. Like John Fahey, James loathed the so-called "folkie" scene of the 1960s. He held a high regard for his own work and was reluctant to share musical ideas with other performers. James epitomized the complicated personality typical of many bluesmen, living a hard and sometimes reckless life while holding austere religious beliefs. Though the lyrical content of some of his songs led to the characterization of James as a misogynist, he remained with his wife Lorenzo (niece of Mississippi John Hurt) until his death. He is buried with his wife at a private cemetery (Merion Memorial Park) just outside of Philadelphia in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

Musical style
James' sound was unique to the blues genre and although he influenced other blues musicians, such as Robert Johnson, few have been able to recreate his style. His high pitched voice seems otherworldly and frail, even in his early recordings. He is said to have had a 'preaching' style of singing and was known to also sing spirituals. James is regarded as a gifted and distinctive guitarist. He often used an open D-minor tuning (DADFAD) which gave his instrument a dark and desolate tone. James reportedly learned this tuning from his musical mentor, the unrecorded bluesman Henry Stuckey. Stuckey in turn was said to have acquired it from Bahamanian soldiers during the First World War. Robert Johnson also recorded in this "Bentonia" tuning (see below), his "Hell Hound On My Trail" being based on the James opus "Devil Got My Woman." James' classically-informed, finger-picking style was fast and clean, using the entire register of the guitar with heavy, hypnotic bass lines. James' style of playing had more in common with the Piedmont blues of the East Coast than with the Delta blues of his native Mississippi.

James' signature lick in open D-minor involves a fingered slide of the third string from the second to the fourth fret; a slide on the same string from the fourth back to the second fret; striking the fourth string open; then hammering the third string in the first fret. James used this simple but effective lick in many of his songs, especially "Devil Got My Woman."

"Bentonia School"
James has often been called one of the exponents of the Bentonia School of blues playing, which was later carried on by guitarist and singer Jack Owens. Calt, in his 1994 biography of James, I'd Rather Be the Devil: Skip James and the Blues, maintains that there was indeed no style of blues that originated in Bentonia, and that this is simply a notion of later blues writers who overestimated the provinciality of Mississippi during the early 20th century, when railways linked small towns, and who failed to see that in the case of Owens, "the 'tradition' he bore primarily consisted of musical scraps from James' table." Whatever the truth is regarding the origins of James' style, or of the "Bentonia School," he certainly stands as one of the most original of all blues performers.


Biography by Cub Koda:
Among the earliest and most influential Delta bluesmen to record, Skip James was the best known proponent of the so-called Bentonia school of blues players, a genre strain invested with as much fanciful scholarly "research" as any. Coupling an oddball guitar tuning set against eerie, falsetto vocals, James's early recordings could make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Even more surprising was when blues scholars rediscovered him in the '60s and found his singing and playing skills intact. Influencing everyone from a young Robert Johnson (Skip's "Devil Got My Woman" became the basis of Johnson's "Hellhound on My Trail") to Eric Clapton (who recorded James's "I'm So Glad" on the first Cream album), Skip James's music, while from a commonly shared regional tradition, remains infused with his own unique personal spirit.


John Fahey's take:
"I didn't like him, and he didn't like me," Fahey said flatly, adding that he had footed the bill that enabled the destitute 62-year-old to check out of the hospital: "I bought Skip James for $200."

As I was to learn, this response was classic Fahey—contentious, cantankerous, and straight to the heart of the matter. No mincing of words, no romanticizing, and no apologies: The rage and tormented melancholy that made James so compelling on record wasn't so charming in person. "I expected to find something interesting and enlightening," Fahey later wrote. "But instead, all I found was this obnoxious, bitter, hateful old creep." Others would call this a harsh judgment, but most would agree that James was a major head case—just like Fahey. "They both had big egos," recalled an acquaintance of both James and Fahey. "Skippy pretty much expected hero worship, which he pretty much got from most everybody, but Fahey was a pretty arrogant person."
(excerpted from In Memoriam of Blind Thomas of Old Takoma)

Note: John Fahey devotes an entire chapter of his book How Bluegrass Music Destroyed My Life to the story of how he discovered Skip James. It is replete with mythological overtones and Fahey's inimitable style. I wanted to paraphrase it here, but it would be an injustice to leave out any part of the chapter. Needless to say, I highly reccommend it.


Skip James - Rare and Unreleased

Year: 2003
Label: Vanguard

Review by Richie Unterberger

All of these 19 songs, not released until 2003, come from a 1967 recording session. That might make it the last studio work Skip James did before his death in 1969, although the liner notes, frustratingly, offer virtually no specific details about the session and why it wasn't released for 35 years. This wouldn't rate among James' better recordings, as his voice, material, and instrumental skills weren't as sharp here as they were on some of his other releases (from both the 1930s and 1960s). It's OK, however, if not that exciting. James stuck to traditional songs for this set, and some listeners might be surprised or disappointed to find that much of the material is spiritual/gospel in nature. Too, he played guitar only about half the time, moving to piano for the remainder of the tracks. His trademark high, haunting voice was still intact; in fact, on songs like "Oh, Mary Don't You Weep" and "One Dime Was All I Had" it's so high as to almost sound like it's a cloud of smoke dissipating into space. That high voice is the factor that elevates this above routine traditional blues, since the songs aren't James' best and aren't all that diverse. An unidentified woman sings faint duet vocals with James on "Walking the Sea," her name being another detail that escapes the annotation on this disc.

Tracks
1 Backwater Blues - Traditional - 3:06
2 Everybody Ought to Live Right - Traditional - 3:16
3 I Want to Be More Like Jesus - Traditional - 3:52
4 Jack O'Diamonds (Is a Hard Card to Play) - Traditional - 2:44
5 My Last Boogie - Traditional - 3:42
6 Lazy Bones - Traditional - 3:09
7 Let My Jesus Lead You - Traditional - 3:01
8 My Own Blues - Traditional - 4:23
9 Oh, Mary Don't You Weep - Traditional - 1:53
10 Omaha Blues - Traditional - 2:06
11 Bumble Bee - Traditional - 4:43
12 One Dime Was All I Had - Traditional - 2:24
13 Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning - Traditional - 2:48
14 Somebody Gonna Wish They Had Religion - Traditional - 2:34
15 Somebody Loves You - Traditional - 2:46
16 Sorry for to Leave You - Traditional - 2:21
17 Sporting Life Blues - Traditional - 2:25
18 They Are Waiting for Me - Traditional - 4:49
19 Walking the Sea - Traditional - 3:43

holy hole
mp3 >256kbps vbr | w/ full scans | 110mb


Skip James - Live: Boston, 1964 & Philadelphia 1966

Year: 1994
Label: Document

Review by Tim Sheridan

These recordings, made in coffee houses during the folk boom and James' comeback after 30 years of obscurity, find him still in remarkable control of his talents. His guitar and piano playing are agile and sensitive and his high tenor still sends a shiver down the spine. The sound is very good (save for the occasional drop out), but more importantly the performances are first rate, and with a little imagination you can put yourself right there in the room with this enormous talent.

Tracks
1 Illinois Blues - James - 3:36
2 How Long Blues - Carr, Williams - 3:12
3 Drunken Spree - James - 3:31
4 4 O'Clock Blues - Durham - 3:13
5 Hard Luck Child - James - :59
6 I Don't Want a Woman to Stay Out All Night Long - James - 4:40
7 Lorenzo Blues - James - 4:26
8 Special Rider Blues - James - 2:58
9 Cherry Ball Blues - James - 4:50
10 Washington D.C. Hospital Center Blues - James - 5:34
11 Hard Luck Child [No. 2] - James - 4:45
12 Look at the People Standing at the Judgement - James - 5:06
13 Mary Don't You Weep - 2:22
14 Someday You Gotta Die - Traditional - 2:23
15 I'm So Glad - James - :36

more songs about death and sorrow.
mp3 224kbps | w/ full scans | 83mb

note: these are not his essential, well-known recordings. for those, see Muddy Sava Riverbank, Merlin in Rags, Un Disco al Día, and probably other blues blogs.

Son House - At Home: The Legendary Rochester 1969 Sessions

Don't worry, blues fanatics! I have not abandoned ye in favor of banjo-plunking cornheads. I still love crazed, semi-intelligible, barely-enunciated, heart-wrenching, soul-aggrivating, gut-churning blues from repentant revenants renewing their contentious creed through full-bodied antiharmonies. I have not forgotten you, though I have detoured.

Now, about this music. I have a contention, a bias if you will. Not all of you may be familiar with Indian Classical Music but to those of you who are, I'll say this: Son House was every bit as great a singer as Pandit Pran Nath, or whomever else you'd like to pull from the roster. He could slide the pants off most Veenaists (and I like veenaists). He lacked instruction, refinement and sophistication of technique, but made up for it all in power and soul. This is a heretical claim, to be sure, but it is true nonetheless. There are not only microtones in Son's notes, there are micro-feelings in his emotional scale. Redemptive and repulsive, reverentially profane - this is a music that draws you in as it kicks you in the face, a story which touches the ancient timeless epic sagas within your own soul, and looks to the world like a filthy drunk staggering under a streetlight, blathering on about some great folly that looms forever in his path. And wake up, because as pitiful and uncomfortable as this music is, it contains a truth that most people will never even dare to think. Something very close to enlightenment, very close to death. So pay attention, but don't listen with your mind, or you'll never get it.

Notes & lies & irrelevent details:
When back in 1964 Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro searched the Mississippi Delta region for clues as to the whereabouts of legendary blues recording artist Son House, they first drew a blank. Finally, in Robinsonville - where Robert Johnson first played blues in a juke joint - they got a lead which eventually took them right back to New York State. In June of that year, they arrived at Son House's home in Rochester's riverfront Corn Hill neighborhood, almost a thousand miles from Mississippi! Son had lived here since 1943, soon after being recorded for the Library of Congress by Alan Lomax. Son had not performed blues for many years and was completely unaware of the international enthusiasm for the 10 sides he recorded for Paramount in 1930 and those he later made for Lomax. Although a little rusty at first, after practicing for some weeks he gradually relearnt his old guitar skills and his voice strengthened to the point where he was able to play concerts again. "When he played, his eyes rolled back in his head and he went somewhere else. Whether it was Robinsonville in the '30's or wherever, he transported himself back without any trickery and became the essence of Delta. He would then finish the song, blink his eyes, and then reaccustom himself to where he was at the time." - Dick Waterman, remembering Son House. By the time John Hammond of Columbia Records decided to record him in April 1965, he was singing and playing with such power and conviction that the years seemed to have rolled away, with some of performances rivalling those for the Library of National Congress twenty years before. The informal recordings of Son and his wife (who plays tambourine and gives a spoken message) on this CD were made by Steve Lobb at their Rochester home, just prior to Son's second European tour. They remind us of the remarkable return to music of one of the very greatest of all the many Mississippi blues singers.


Son House - At Home: The Legendary Rochester 1969 Sessions

Year: 1992
Label: Document

Review by Bruce Eder

Recorded at his home in September of 1969 by blues enthusiast Steve Lobb, Son House turns in one of the most vital and compelling performances available from his late career comeback. While the 1965 Columbia Records sessions require explanations about his age and extended retirement, there is no excuse necessary for the contents of this CD. Opening with the 20-minute long "Son's Blues," he radiates explosive power, his voice surging and his guitar strings snapping against the fretboard in a slow, fiery performance. The tension and sustained strength of this one piece makes this CD far more valuable as a specimen of Son's best work than any of the CBS material -- this is the perfect companion to his inimitable Alan Lomax and Paramount recordings of the 1930s and early 1940s. Nothing else here quite matches the opening track, although Son still seems in far better form than he did on some of his better-known comeback recordings.

Tracks:
01 - Son's blues
02 - Yonder comes my mother
03 - Shetland pony blues
04 - I'm so sorry, baby
05 - Plantation song
06 - Mister Suzie-Q
07 - Evening train
08 - Sundown
09 - Preachin' the blues
10 - Empire State express
11 - Never mind people grinnin' in your face
12 - Sun goin' down
13 - A spoken message

the dark at the end of the tunnel.
mp3 160kbps | w/ cover | 90mb

and thank Al 'Blind Owl' Wilson of Canned Heat fame for re-teaching Son House to play like Son House, and for taking Fahey's Veena and learning to play it.

Fred Geiger - Fred Geiger

Yet another mysterious progressive banjo album from the 70's! I don't know much more about Fred Geiger than I did about D.W. Griffiths or Larry McNeeley. But he sounds something like the two of them, and this is a very worthwhile album. I do know that he's been a regular contributor to Banjo Newsletter for some time, so a great many banjoists have probably learned from him indirectly. There's some great exploratory bluegrass on here, and some fine grassy jazz too. Though Don Parmley's break on The Sheik of Araby owes considerable debt to Clarence White (who among us doesn't?...), Geiger's work on it is a crystalline dance of originality, and it's an outstanding version of the tune.

Hope you're enjoying these interludes of banjoey brilliance. There's more to come!


Fred Geiger - Fred Geiger

Year: 1978
Label: Ridge Runner 0014

Tracks:
01 - Liza
02 - I've found a new Baby
03 - Ain't Misbehavin
04 - Sheik of Araby
05 - Lulaby of Birdland
06 - First Day in Town
07 - Sundance

08 - Nice Work If You Can Get It
09 - Take the 'A' Train
10 - Ambogeneity
11 - Muskrat Ramble
12 - Back Home in Indiana
13 - Send in the Clowns

Fred Geiger, Banjo
Akira Otsuka, Mandolin
Bob Williams, Guitar
Tom Gray, Bass
David Parmley, Rhythm Guitar and lead guitar on first break of Sheik of Araby
Warren Blair, Fiddle

ambogeneity? and alternate link.
from vinyl | mp3 320kbps | w/ cover | 95mb
* out of print