lunedì 20 dicembre 2010

Charlie Musselwhite - The Well

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite è l'emblema di ciò che noi chiamiamo bluesman: nato in Mississippi, cresciuto a Memphis ha fatto la propria gavetta e creato il proprio sound nella Souithside di Chicago. Dal 1967 la sua voce e la sua armonica sono sinonimo di blues. Ha registrato 30 albums in carriera, di cui tre dei più significativi su Alligator tra cui questo affascinante “The Well”, primo album di cui Charlie è autore o co-autore di tutti i brani interpretati che ha il sapore ed il profumo di un “ritorno a casa”. Posisamo quindi considerare The Well una bella produzione Losangelena fortemente autobiografica dove Musselwhite è accompagnato da musicisti importanti quali Dave Gonzalez (Paladins, Hacienda Brothers), chitarra, John Bazz (Blasters), contrabbasso, Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Mavis Staples) batteria. La produzione è di Chris Goldsmith (Ruthie Foster e Blind Boys of Alabama). Imperdibile e nominato ai Grammy

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite’s life reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country blues guitar work flawlessly accompany his often autobiographical and always memorable original songs. Living Blues says, “Musselwhite’s rock-solid vocals creep up and overwhelm you before you know it. He plays magnificent harp with superb dexterity and phrasing. The results are amazing.”


Over the last 43 years Musselwhite has released over 30 albums. Three of those — 1990s Ace Of Harps, 1991’s Signature and 1993’s In My Time — were recorded for Alligator Records and remain among his best-selling titles. Now, Charlie Musselwhite returns to Alligator with The Well. With musical flavors from Mississippi to Memphis to Chicago, The Well is steeped in the music of Charlie’s youth — country and city blues as well as rockabilly and gospel — the music that inspired his signature sound. The fresh, new songs speak from his decades of experience, hard living, and his triumph over adversity.

The Well is the first full-band recording in Musselwhite’s long career for which he wrote or co-wrote every track on the album, and it is the most personal and the emotionally deepest cycle of songs he has ever created. The Well was recorded at Los Angeles’ legendary Sunset Sound with guitarist Dave Gonzales (Paladins, Hacienda Brothers), bassist John Bazz (The Blasters) and drummer Stephen Hodges (Tom Waits, Mavis Staples), and was produced by Chris Goldsmith (Ruthie Foster, Grammy-winning Blind Boys of Alabama). The revealing, autobiographical songs recall specific events and places in Musselwhite’s amazingly colorful life. His conversational vocals and masterful harmonica work are perfectly matched with the stories he tells and the near-telepathic musicianship behind him. Simply put, The Well is Charlie Musselwhite at his very best.

Central to the album are stories looking back at hard times and personal healing. “Dig The Pain” recalls his drinking days, while “The Well” tells of his recovery. In “Cook County Blues,” he wryly remembers his short stint behind bars. The most poignant song on the album, “Sad And Beautiful World” — a duet with Charlie’s close friend, legendary vocalist Mavis Staples — is his response to the tragic murder of his 93-year-old mother in her own home (and the house Charlie grew up in) during a burglary. Each track on The Well is a chapter from Charlie’s life, and in the liner notes to the CD he offers some very personal insights into the meaning behind the songs.

Musselwhite’s personal history is the kind of story a novelist would sell his soul for, but his indomitable spirit is crafted by him alone. Tough times have been a huge part of his life, and have shaped him into a true working-class hero. His fans include young hipsters, Vietnam veterans, convicts, bikers, jazz aficionados, aging hippies and hard-core blues fans. He is a larger-than-life musical legend, writing and singing what he calls, “music from the heart.” According to Musselwhite, “It’s about the feeling, and about connecting with people. And blues, if it’s real blues, is loaded with feeling. And it ain’t about technique, either. It’s about truth, connecting to the truth and communicating with the people.”

Born into a blue collar family in Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 31, 1944 and raised by a single mother, Musselwhite grew up surrounded by blues, hillbilly and gospel music on the radio and outside his front door. His family moved to Memphis, where, as a teenager, he worked as a ditch digger, concrete layer and moonshine runner. Fascinated by the blues, Musselwhite began playing guitar and harmonica. It wasn’t easy growing up a poor, white boy in Memphis, even among the rich musical influences the city offered. He felt like an outcast and a stranger (themes that have informed, inspired and haunted his music to this day). As a teen, Musselwhite attended parties hosted by Elvis Presley and hobnobbed with many of the local musicians, including Johnny Cash and Johnny Burnette, but the celebrities young Charlie sought out were Memphis’ veteran bluesmen like Furry Lewis, Will Shade and Gus Cannon.

Following the path of so many, Musselwhite moved to Chicago looking for better paying work. While driving an exterminator truck as a day job, Charlie lived on the South Side and hung out in blues clubs at night, developing close friendships with blues icons Little Walter, Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Big Joe Williams, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Before long, he was sitting in at clubs with Muddy and others, building an impressive word-of-mouth reputation. Soon after, Charlie was being paid to play in the same South Side neighborhood. Noted blues journalist Dick Shurman says, “The black Chicago blues artists all liked Charlie as a person. They felt that he was one of them — a southern country boy with a deep affinity for the blues.”

His first recording, under the name Memphis Charlie, was with Big Walter Horton on the famous Vanguard Records series, Chicago/The Blues/Today!. Signing with Vanguard, Musselwhite (along with Paul Butterfield who was as urban as Charlie was rural) brought the amplified harmonica blues to a new audience of young, white rock and rollers, who discovered that Charlie personified the cool and hip counter-culture icons they admired.

After the release of his first full-length LP — Stand Back! Here Comes Charlie Musselwhite’s South Side Band — he was embraced by the growing youth counter-culture and the newly emerging progressive rock FM radio stations, especially on the West Coast. His iconic status established, he relocated to San Francisco, often playing the famed Fillmore Auditorium. Over the years, he has released albums on a variety of labels, ranging from straight blues to music mixing elements of jazz, gospel, Tex-Mex, Cuban and other world music, winning new fans at every turn. He has been touring nationally and internationally for four decades and is among the best-known and best-loved blues musicians in the world.

Musselwhite has guested on numerous recordings, as a featured player with Tom Waits, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, INXS and most recently Cyndi Lauper. He has shared stages with countless blues and rock musicians. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall Of Fame in 2010, has been nominated for six Grammy Awards and has won 24 Blues Music Awards. The San Francisco Chronicle says, “Charlie Musselwhite’s harmonica playing shows taste, bite, restraint and power. He’s one of the best, and as a bluesman, he’s as real as they come.”

Charlie Musselwhite today is as vital and creative as at any point in his long career. DownBeat calls him, “the undisputed champion of the blues harmonica.” In addition to his always-busy schedule, he hosts a weekly radio show, “Charlie’s Backroom,” on KRSH-FM in Santa Rosa, California (streamed at KRSH.com Sundays at 10:00am PST). He considers himself a lifelong learner and is constantly perfecting his craft. With The Well, Charlie Musselwhite returns with the strongest, most intimate album of his career — a powerful, personal collection of songs. Musselwhite’s blues, imparting his hard-won knowledge and working class wisdom, are a window into the deep well of his Mississippi soul.

lunedì 6 settembre 2010

Smokin Joe Kubek And Bnois King - Have Blues Will Travel




Of all the blues legends the great state of Texas has produced, none sounds quite like Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King. The two Lone Star guitarists—one a hard-edged, hard rocking blues player and the other a jazzy, elegant rhythm player who delivers raw, spontaneous solos-—have taken their dual guitar attack from the heart of Texas to fans around the globe. Kubek and King’s twin-frontman lineup is unparalleled on the blues scene. Backed by their rock-solid rhythm section, Kubek’s fiery fretwork is perfectly matched by King’s sophisticated rhythm playing and rough-edged, down-home soloing and his soulfully conversational vocals. For more than 20 years and thousands of live shows, the duo’s scorching blues and telepathic interplay has been thrilling fans all around the world. Their new CD (their second for Alligator and the 14th of their careers), Have Blues, Will Travel, is a collection of fresh original songs played with passion, taste and a white-hot intensity. Billboard said the band plays “hard-hitting, original blues. Kubek is one of the fiercest Texas blues guitarists…his fiery leads are complemented by King’s adroit rhythm guitar and classic vocals.”
The band’s Alligator Records debut, 2008’s Blood Brothers, brought the long-time musicians to their largest audience yet and earned the band accolades all across the country. The Chicago Sun-Times declared, “Genuine houserockin’ blues…they boogie till the break of day.” Allmusic described the album as “tough, robust, soul-blues that is as hot as they’ve ever gotten in the studio. Impressive.”


With Have Blues, Will Travel, they take another giant step forward. Kubek and King wrote or co-wrote all twelve songs, and, along with their road-tested rhythm section, they ignite a blues fire with enough heat to fuel an all-night party. The chemistry between Kubek’s blistering fretwork and King’s savvy vocals and unpredictable, multifaceted guitar work creates a roadhouse blend of muscular blues-rock, hip-shaking shuffles and slow-burning blues that is simply impossible to resist. Each song is infused with deep, from-the-heart musicianship, carefully crafted, true-to-life lyrics and delivered with the occasional wry smile. King calls Have Blues, Will Travel the best record the band has ever made. “I’ve been listening to this album over and over again,” he says, “and I don’t get tired of it. In fact, I’ve become a big fan of it, and I start thinking, ‘man, I wish we had made this record.’ And then I remember we did.” Kubek agrees. “We challenged ourselves, went into new territory both musically and lyrically, and came out the other end with something we’re extremely proud of.”

On the surface, it would seem hard to imagine two of the most stylistically disparate guitarists joining forces and creating such a signature sound. Joe Kubek was born in Pennsylvania in 1956 but grew up just outside of Dallas. He was leading his own bands and gigging in clubs all around Dallas when he was only 14. Bowled over by the blues a short time after first hearing Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, Kubek soon discovered the music of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and other early blues masters including Freddie King, Johnny Copeland and Lightnin’ Hopkins. By the time he was 19, he was backing many famous blues players in the area, including legend Freddie King. In 1976, Kubek was about to head out on tour with King when King died suddenly of a heart attack. “I was in awe any time I was around him,” Kubek recalls. “I learned a lot about feeling and execution. He always came onto the stage hot. You have to entertain people from the second you start.”


Kubek next worked with R&B singer Al “TNT” Braggs and made a host of new friends, including Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan (with whom Kubek became close), B.B. King and many other blues icons. He often found himself jamming with these larger-than-life blues stars, while playing constantly around the Dallas area. He not only learned tips and techniques, but also soaked up stories and the lessons of being a professional touring musician. One night, he even had the chance to play B.B.’s guitar, Lucille. “B.B. admired my enthusiasm and he encouraged me, which really meant a lot. When times got hard, I always remembered how B.B. King had given me some encouragement.”


In 1989, Kubek met guitarist/vocalist Bnois King at a Monday night Dallas jam session. The two became fast friends, and melded their seemingly divergent styles—Kubek a rocking and fierce picker and slider, King a subtle, fat-chord rhythm player whose solos are spontaneous and unpredictable—into one of the most potent guitar combinations the Southwest had ever produced. Kubek explains the relationship succinctly: “Bnois fires me up. We are constantly pushing each other higher, complimenting each other’s solos. But it’s not planned. We never know what we’re going to do until it’s done. I pull the blues out of him, and he pulls the jazz out of me. Bnois knows so much about jazz it’s amazing.”


Bnois (pronounced Buh-noice) King was born in Delhi, LA in 1943. He was inspired to play guitar by his high school music teacher. Before long, Bnois was playing blues cover songs with a local band. On his own, he traveled through Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado, finding local bands to gig with and also performing with carnival tent show groups. King made his way to Dallas in 1979, gigging with jazz combos until he hooked up with Kubek ten years later. A master storyteller, King didn’t start writing and singing until he joined forces with Joe, when both duties fell on him. “We needed a singer so I sang,” King recalls, “and every time I did the crowds went wild. We needed songs so I wrote about things that happened to me, to people I knew. That’s what I still do today.” As for his guitar work, King is similarly modest. “Joe inspires me a lot,” King says. “When I solo, it’s a spur of the moment thing. I don’t have a plan. I react to what I hear on the bandstand.”


On the strength of their huge local following, Kubek and King signed to Bullseye Blues and released their debut CD, Stepping Out Texas Style, in 1991. After conquering the Dallas scene, the band began touring clubs, concert halls and festivals nationally and internationally. Following a successful series of eight Bullseye releases, they signed to Blind Pig Records in 2003. As their popularity continued to build on the strength of their recordings and the energy of their live shows, the band’s touring schedule grew to over 150 dates per year all across the United States, Canada and Europe (where they have toured more than a dozen times), solidifying their place in the blues world with one jaw-dropping show after another.


Kubek and King signed with Alligator in 2008 and released Blood Brothers. The fresh approach, the smoking hot playing and the original, lover’s slice-of-life lyrics all added up to a blues delight. The Dallas Observer said, “An electric blast of twelve-bar heaven…they blow the roof off.”
More than anything else, Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King love to perform live. With Have Blues, Will Travel and another massive tour planned, the band will hit the ground running as they gig from coast to coast, bringing their no-holds-barred brand of soul-charged, rockin’ Texas blues to old fans and newcomers night after night. Have Blues, Will Travel is not just the name of the new album. For Smokin’ Joe Kubek and Bnois King, it’s a way of life.

mercoledì 23 giugno 2010

Watermelon Slim - Ringers




“A blues hero goes country....the country of the seventies, before the homogenization of the Garth ages, the sound owes as much to Lynyrd Skynyrd as to Merle, Hank, and Waylon.”
-Blues Revue

"Slim's vocals - grittier than a country dirt road, tender when they need to be - are framed by excellent Nashville musicians"
- MOJO Magazine

Watermelon Slim is Back ans He is back with another incredible batch of country blues as only Watermelon Slim can do. Recorded in Nashville with some of the best musicians alive this cd is an amazing experience. Great songs, incredible musicians an the teffific sound coming from Slim's harmonica, dobro and face made this cd something our of the ordinary.

A blues artist singing some of the best country around is something special. This time around, Slim is a bit more bluesy and a bit more rocky. What riches for everybody.

We are sure that we are holding in our hand a terrific package, great music, great songs , great artwork and we are sure that this cd will be listening to for decads to come.

Visit Also : Watermelon Slim - Escape From The Chicken coop

Musicians :

Watermelon Slim - Lead vocals & lead slide guitar.
Studio Electric Band
Gary Nicholson - Acoustic guitar.
Kenny Greenberg - Electric guitar.
Steven Mackey - Electric bass.
Lynn Williams - Drums.
Kevin McKendree – Grand piano & Hammond B-3 organ.
Paul Franklin - Steel guitar.

Studio Acoustic Band
Darrell Scott - Acoustic guitar & mandolin.
Kevin Malone - Drums.
Charlie Chadwick - Upright bass.

On Selected Cuts
Stuart Duncan - Twin fiddles.
Kristin Wilkinson - String arrangement & viola.
Pam Sixfin - Violin.
Lucas Leigh - Organ.

Additional Vocals
Rebecca Homans
Verlon Thompson
Jonell Mosser
Suzi Ragsdale
Vivkie Carrico
Miles Wilkinson

Track List

1. Good Old Boys Never Change 2:45 - William Homans, aka Watermelon Slim
2. Tight Fittin' Jeans 3:10 - Huffman
3. Truck Drivin Buddy 2:47 - Mary Wolfe & Brownie Wilder
4. He Went To Paris 3:54 - Jimmy Buffett
5. If There Is Any Heaven 3:54 - William Homans
6. Please Take This Cup 4:32 - William Homans
7. No Way To Reach Nirvana 5:45 - William Homans
8. End Of The Line 2:37 – William Homans
9. Cowboys Are Common As Sin 5:19 - Max Barnes
10. Soft Lights And Hard Country Music 2:50 – Shafer
11. I Appreciate That 3:58 - William Homans & Gary Nicholson
12. And So Our Song Ends 4:19 – William Homans
13. Living With A Lie 4:07 - William Homans & Gary Nicholson
14. Letter To Stoney 4:18 - William Homans

giovedì 17 giugno 2010

Moonlight News : Thorbjorn Risager - Magic Slim - Fred Chappelier with Billy Price

THORBJORN RISAGER - TRACK RECORD


The time has come for Thorbjorn Risager’s fifth CD. Ever since the debut, this great Danish vocalist and his equally outstanding band is delivering new albums with about a year’s interval, full of new compositions. How they find time for this – especially the composing – in spite of their intense touring, is a bit of a mystery. But life on the road is definitely a source of inspiration, which some of the songs, and even the cover photos, are reflecting – even though they don’t do so much of their travelling by train…

So far they have played live in 15 countries and their CD’s have been played and reviewed in 20 and they are getting enthusiastic reactions everywhere which proves that their music is truly convincing!


But the 38-year-old Dane had other plans for his life. He studied to be a school teacher, and worked in this profession for some years, before he decided to let the music take over. He studied at the Rhythmic Conservatory in Copenhagen, a quite unique education where many of the teachers are jazz or rock musicians, and where the emphasis is on Rhythmic music of all genres.
In 2003 he started his band, selected musicians he liked both musically and personally, and the fact that up until today only one of them left and was replaced, at an early stage of the band’s career, proves that the choice was excellent. But of course Thorbjørn’s musical interest started long before this. He played the saxophone from the age of 12, then guitar – but the singing was more of a coincidence at first. He was exposed to the blues through a neighbour, a middle-aged gentleman who was friends with his parents, and who started playing blues records to the young Thorbjørn. That’s how his life-long love story with the blues started, with B B King as his biggest hero. Ray Charles is one of his other obvious influences, but today, with almost 40 recorded songs from his own pen, he has definitely defined his own sound and style. His mixture of genres (blues, soul, gospel, rock, R&B and funk) is something that is sometimes mentioned by critics, who are looking for something of more homogenity. But this is Thorbjørn’s deliberate choice.


Track Record was recorded in Medley Studios in Copenhagen, which has an excellent reputation. And so does the producer, Lars Skjærbæk (and you thought that Thorbjørn had a strange name…? By the way, after having received many inquiries about the pronounciation of Thorbjørn’s name, we added a link on www.risager.info to an audio file where he pronounces his own name…)

As usual, nearly all the songs are written by Thorbjorn and/or the band. The only exception is a brilliant version of the classical « Baby Please Don’t Go ». As usual, Thorbjorn displays a wide range of blues styles, but the opening track, « Rock And Roll Ride », brings him into a heavier, more rootsy sound, which can also be found on « Let’s Go Down ». The soul influences are, as always, obvious, especially on the ballad « Stand Beside Me ». And the energetic « scorcher » type of songs are always present, here represented by tracks like « Eyes That Turned Away ».

Influences from many great blues, R&B and soul artists can be detected, but with each new CD, Thorbjorn is taking several steps towards defining a genre that’s completely his own. Well, many listeners would agree that he is already there, together with his fabulous band!



MAGIC SLIM - RAISING THE BAR



Magic Slim is the greatest living proponent of the intense, electrified, Mississippi-to-Chicago blues style that spawned much of the music played by modern blues artists and rockers. It’s no wonder that Magic Slim and the Teardrops, considered by many "the last real Chicago blues band," have become one of the busiest and best-loved blues bands around. As Blues Revue wrote, "Whoever the house band in blues heaven may be, even money says they’re wearing out Magic Slim albums trying to get that Teardrops sound down cold."

Magic Slim was born Morris Holt in Torrence, Mississippi, on August 7, 1937. He took an early interest in music, singing in the church choir, and fashioning a guitar for himself with baling wire from a broom, which he nailed to the wall. "Mama whooped me for that," recalls Slim. His first love was the piano, but having lost the little finger on his right hand in a cotton gin accident he found it difficult to play properly. Undaunted, he simply switched to guitar, working in the cotton fields during the week and playing the blues at house parties on weekends.

When he was 11, Holt moved to Grenada, Mississippi, where he met and became friends with Magic Sam, who gave him a few pointers on guitar. Slim recalls, "We used to sit up under the tree Sunday afternoons and play our little acoustic guitars. Magic Sam told me don’t try to play like him, don’t try to play like nobody. Get a sound of your own." And that he did - a trademark guitar tone, featuring the meanest vibrato in blues, coupled with the raw, earthy power in his vocals.

Years later the two would hook up again in Chicago, where Sam would have a major influence on Slim’s career. When Slim made his first trip to Chicago in 1955, Sam offered his friend encouragement, letting Slim play bass in his band and even giving the then lanky Magic Slim his nickname. But Slim found it rough going on the highly competitive blues scene and returned, discouraged, to Mississippi to perfect his craft. Demonstrating his characteristic determination, Slim spent the next five years practicing guitar and teaching his younger brothers, Nick and Douglas (Lee Baby) to play bass and drums respectively.

Confident in his abilities, Slim returned to Chicago and established himself as a formidable player on the scene. In 1967, Slim put his own band together called the Teardrops, which included his younger brothers. In 1972, he began playing regularly at a tiny South Side club called Florence’s, initially filling in for Hound Dog Taylor on occasion, and eventually taking over the gig when Hound Dog left the club for a safer and more lucrative career on the road. Slim’s aggressive, boisterous style was the perfect compliment to the often rowdy atmosphere at Florence’s.

In the mid-70’s Slim began to hit his stride as a guitarist, performer, bandleader, and recording artist, launching a career that has taken him across the country and overseas to national and international recognition and acclaim. He began touring Europe, where his rough and tumble authenticity was well appreciated. Today he’s one of the most sought-after headliners for festivals in the U.K., Poland, Scandinavia, France, Holland, Belgium, and Greece. By the late 80’s he was also touring Japan and South America. On his first trip to Brazil in 1989, he became an instant hero, appearing on television, in a dozen magazine articles and every major newspaper in the country. The press said he stole the show from the likes of Buddy Guy, Etta James, and Albert Collins. He’s returned several times to Brazil, easily selling out all venues. Slim’s live shows are so electrifying that Eddie Vetter invited Slim to open Pearl Jam’s concert in Chicago after catching the Teardrops’ performance at a local nightclub.

Slim’s recording career began with the 1966 recording of the song "Scufflin’," followed by a number of singles in the mid-70’s. He recorded his first album in 1977, Born Under A Bad Sign, for the French MCM label. During the 80’s, Slim released titles on Alligator, Rooster Blues and Wolf Records and won the first of his five W.C. Handy Awards. Critics often remark on the consistency of Slim’s performances, reflected in his band’s yearly nominations for W.C. Handy Award as "Blues Band of the Year."

Slim’s first album on Blind Pig Records, Gravel Road, was released in 1990. Its title track was one of the first tunes he learned to play on his baling wire guitar in Mississippi. The album was well received by the press, garnering a passel of glowing reviews and landing on several year-end Top 10 lists. Billboard magazine said, "The well-traveled Chicago blues singer/guitarist is near the top of his form on this delightful album, which comes close to capturing the late-night ambience of Slim’s live set."

In 1996, Slim’s career came full-circle with the release of Scufflin’ on Blind Pig, the title track being a remake of the song which began his recording career thirty years earlier. Living Blues said the album "should bring a smile to the face of even the most jaded listener." 1998’s Black Tornado was released to similar accolades in both the blues and mainstream press. An Associated Press review noted that "Magic Slim has never been better than on Black Tornado and that is a lot to say." Downbeat called Slim "a true all star; a guitarist of considerable authority whose lines snap like a crocodile’s mighty jaw and a singer with a persuasive capacity for wrenching every bit of emotion out of his lyrics."

Snakebite, Slim’s fourth album for Blind Pig Records, was released in 2000. Critical reaction was typified by this quote in Jazz & Blues Report: "Slim sings and plays at a level that makes this among the best albums in a career spanning over three decades" Perhaps Living Blues said it best: "A Magic Slim disc is the next best thing to a Saturday night in a backstreet juke along with a half-pint of whiskey, a pig-ear sandwich, and a sexy companion. It’s best if you can gather together as many of these accessories as possible - but the only indispensable one is the music, and this disc delivers it in force."

With the release of his newest CD, Raising The Bar, Magic Slim and his label Blind Pig (often represented by Dixiefrog in Europe) are celebrating their twenty year collaboration. The album proposes an outstanding collection of older and newer songs culled from Slim’s vast repertoire. From R&B gems like "Breaking Up Somebody’s Home" and Little Milton’s "4:59 A.M." to Roosevelt Sykes’ "Sunny Road Blues" and J.B. Lenoir’s "Mama Talk To Your Daughter" to his own perennial crowd favorites, "Shame", "Do You Mean It" and "Treat Me The Way You Do", Slim once again proves that when it comes to complete mastery of the blues in all its aspects and truly genre defining power of performance, he has few if any equals on the scene today. The title’smeaning is double-edged; over the last two decades, Slim and the Teardrops have been constantly raising the bar for other blues bands with their consistently incendiary performances, and whether it’s a college town tavern, out of the way roadhouse or international blues festival, patrons go home feeling like the joint was razed - Slim and the boys give their all every night.

FRED CHAPPELIER - BILLY PRICE - LIVE ON STAGE ( CD +DVD )



Billy Price was the featured vocalist with the Roy Buchanan band for many years, winning over audiences everywhere with his soul-drenched blues tenor. A studio album recently chronicled his encounter with Fred Chapellier, one of the top French guitarists today. Their music has now been captured live on this high-octane energy set. For the same price, you also get to see them in action on the free DVD!

Blue-eyed soul man Billy Price has been a high-profile singer on the Pittsburgh PA scene for the past three decades. Billy was the lead singer with the Roy Buchanan band for three years, appearing on the late Buchanan’s legendary Livestock set (recorded in New York City in 1975) and That’s What I’m Here For album. Price then went on to record several blues/soul sets under his own name, pocketing a handful of awards on the way.

Fred Chapellier is hardly an unknown in blues circles. One of the best guitar players on the French scene today, he was awarded the “Electric Guitar Player” Prize at the French Blues Trophies in 2004, and he has shared the stage with major stars at various festivals in the past. Many considered his recently published Tribute to Roy Buchanan CD the best French blues recording of 2007. In addition to a long list of celebrated guests (Tom Principato, Neal Black, Gib Wharton…), Fred insisted on the presence of Billy Price for this project.

This encounter led Fred and Billy to program concerts together in Europe and the US, especially after Billy toured France with Fred’s band following the release of Tribute to Roy Buchanan.

After the tour Billy and Fred decided to record an album together. After several months of writing for this new project, Fred Chapellier joined Billy Price and his band in June of 2008 at the Mojo Boneyard studio in Pittsburgh. Fred was back in Pennsylvania for the mixing sessions three months later, just before making the rounds of East Coast clubs with Billy. In the meantime, soul legend Otis Clay and Mark Wenner of the Nighthawks had made their own imprint on the record.

The resulting was Night Work. Now, here is “Live on stage” the live version of this fruitful collaboration and true friendship including the Night Work songs plus a lot of other little gems…!



mercoledì 9 giugno 2010

Johnny Moeller - Bloogaloo

Johnny Moeller’s guitar playing is full of voodoo and lighting. The floating bent notes, delicately singing phrases, bursts of staccato picking, and ringing piano-like chords that he sculpts into vibrant solos bring all the beauty, power, and mystery of the blues to life. Yet he’s impossible to pigeonhole. Although Moeller’s the latest in a long line of six-string wizards to hail from Austin, he upholds the Texas music tradition not by imitating the licks of legendary Lone Star State players who’ve influenced him — like Albert Collins, Lightnin’ Hopkins, the Vaughan Brothers — but by being a maverick. “The truth of the matter is I’ve never really tried to emulate anybody else,” explains Moeller, who’s wrapping up a daring new solo album. “There are lots of great guitar players who inspired me, and singers and saxophone players, too. But I don’t like to limit myself to purely one style of music. I have my own thing, which is blues based, and then I like to mix in everything else I love: soul, jazz, funk and rock ‘n’ roll.” That amalgamation comes naturally to the Fort Worth native who grew up on his father’s blues and soul record collection, the classic rock he heard on radio and the albums by everybody from elegant jazz guitarist Grant Green to down ‘n’ dirty boogie architect John Lee Hooker that he bought in high school with his paychecks from the local Piggly Wiggly. But the blues is always Moeller’s compass. It’s been that way since he stumbled on an old Lightnin’ Hopkins album while he flipped through the bins at Record Town. “When I got that album home, the minute I played it I knew that was what I wanted to do,” he recounts. “It was so raw and wild and original that it totally blew my mind.” Since then Moeller’s developed into one of the genre’s most stunning and soulful six-string stylists with an uncanny ability to support heavy hitters. Although his most visible gig is backing Kim Wilson in the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Moeller’s also the Severn Records house guitarist. In that role, he’s lent artful licks to albums by stellar vocalists Darrell Nulisch and Lou Pride, harmonica ace Steve Guyger and others. He’s also been a long-time member of fellow Texan Nulisch’s band and has toured with the Severn Soul Revue backing singers Nulisch, Pride, and Tad Robinson. Moeller says the essential elements of his style — a blend of cool relaxed phrasing and greasy grooves balanced by razor-wire runs and howling tones — have been in place since the days when he landed his first professional gig backing Denton, Texas bluesman Pop Carter with a group that included his brother Jay, who is also in the Thunderbirds, and their lifelong pal Paul Size, another Austin-based guitar legend in the making. “My brother and I were visiting my father in Austin one summer and we went to Antone’s to see Little Charlie and the Nightcats, who we love. My brother told Clifford I played guitar, and before I knew it he was telling the band, ‘Hey, let’s get this kid up there.’ It was surreal, but Clifford was big-hearted. He helped so many musicians in Austin, from giving them gigs to flat-out paying their rent.” Moeller says his upcoming album represents an important step in his evolution. “It’s really an outgrowth of my learning how to be a better frontman,” he explains. “I’m blossoming as a singer, songwriter, and leader. Part of that’s just what I feel I need to do as an artist, and part of that’s inspired by working with the bandleaders I’ve worked with — especially Kim, who really knows how to run a show on stage.” The new Johnny Moeller Band album he’s been recording in bursts for the past four years is more fine-tuned than his previous two releases, 1996’s The Return of the Funky Worm and 2001’s Johnny Blues Aggregation. Those discs were off-the-cuff affairs, built around in-studio jams and produced by the Dallas Blues Society. “This album’s come together at a slower pace because I’ve really been concentrating on the songwriting and arranging, and not just rushing into the studio when I’m off the road,” says Moeller. “I also sing lead on four numbers, which is a whole ’nother world for me, but one I’m becoming more and more comfortable with. The CD’s got boogaloos and dirty blues, and half is originals including some funky instrumentals. The vibe of some of the songs is ‘James Brown meets Frankie Lee Sims’.”Funky Worm and Aggregation alums Jay Moeller and Paul Size appear, plus their fellow Texas bluesman Sean Pittman and the legendary Austin blues siren Lou Ann Barton. Miss Lou Ann’s lush voice pilots a version of Earl King’s “Everybody’s Got to Cry Sometime.” Moeller also leads a swampy boogaloo stomp through King’s classic “Trick Bag.” “On this album and in my live sets these days it feels like I’m really finding myself,” Moeller says. “So even I’m curious about what I’m going to do next.”

MUSICIANS:
Johnny Moeller: Vocals & Guitars
Steve Gomes: Bass & Guidance
Matt Farrell: Piano & Organ
Rob Stupka: Drums & Smiles
Kim Wilson: Vocals/Harmonica (4,9)
Louann Barton: Vocals (5,7)
Shawn Pittman: Vocals (2)
Gary Clark Jr: Background Vocals & horns (8)
James Bullard: Background Vocals (8)
Dave Finnell: Trumpet
Frank Mitchell: Saxophone
Mike Barfield: Maracas & Hollerin
J. Moeller: Bangin & Hollerin


TRACK LISTING
1. Bloogaloo
2. I'm Movin' On Up
3. Trick Bag
4. Got A Feelin'
5. I'm Stuck On You
6. Theme From The One Armed Swordsman
7. Everybody's Got To Cry Sometime
8. Raise Your Hands
9. Well Goodbye Baby
10. Shufflin' Around
11. Tease Me Baby

mercoledì 12 maggio 2010

Janiva Magness - The Devil Is An Angel Too




Just in case you are someone who actually reads the liner notes…I am writing this for you. Turns out this is a collection of stories that deals in the duality of the human condition. Darkness and Light. Turns out we all have some of each—light and dark on the inside. I know I do.

I have been told that “Anyone who doesn’t believe in miracles is not a realist.” Well, you are looking at and listening to one of those very things—a Miracle. In part because of my love of this music and how it has lifted me up, and in part because someone was brave enough to stand for me when I was much younger, and a Foster Child at risk.

This CD is dedicated to all Foster Youth and Alumni. Kids who know far too much about the dark side of human beings and, in spite of that, are learning to do the right things and make that journey...from darkness into the light. Becoming Miracles.

To find out what you can do to change the lifetime of a child at risk, go to fostercaremonth.org and fostercarealumni.org. Support a Miracle.Thanks for tuning in and hopefully turning on…

Love, Janiva


“A superb, powerhouse R&B singer who delivers blues and soul with show-stopping authority” –Los Angeles Daily News



“Janiva Magness slow-burns and romps heart-first...she never injects contrived emotion, never puts a tear in her voice where one doesn’t belong. She simply sings heartbreak, hunger and humor—sings ‘em with equally great chops and feeling—and lets that speak for itself.” –No Depression

"Stunningly sung...Magness is a blues star" –USA Today

Award-winning vocalist Janiva Magness is among the premier blues and R&B singers in the world today. Her voice possesses an earthy, raw honesty and beauty born from her life experience. A charismatic performer known for her electrifying live shows, Magness is a gutsy and dynamic musical powerhouse. She received the coveted 2009 Blues Music Awards for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year (she is only the second woman to ever win this award, Koko Taylor being the first) and for Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The Year, an honor she also received in 2006 and 2007. She has received eleven previous Blues Music Award nominations. USA Today declared, “Magness is a blues star,” and The Philadelphia Inquirer said, “Magness sings superb, potent soul-blues with a scorching intensity."

Magness has been performing for almost three decades, logging thousands of miles on the road and appearing 150 nights a year at clubs, theatres and festivals all over the world. Her longest road trip yet was to Iraq and Kuwait in April 2008, as a co-headliner of Bluzapalooza, the first-ever blues concert tour to perform for American troops. The tour was an incredibly profound experience for Magness. “My job is a gift. It’s about human connection, to remind people they are not alone. I can’t think of anyone in greater need of a break than these soldiers. Those kids came up to me and said, ‘You made me forget where I was for two hours. Thank you!’ That was beyond priceless.”

Magness released a series of independent albums, including two on the Northern Blues label, prior to her extraordinary 2008 Alligator Records debut, What Love Will Do. Her new CD, The Devil Is An Angel Too, co-produced by Magness and Dave Darling (Brian Setzer, Meredith Brooks, Dan Hicks), is a hard-hitting collection of material that explores the depths of good and evil, with Magness’ glorious, soul-baring vocals burning their way through twelve powerful songs. “All of us have a light and a dark side. Human beings are capable of the most incredible acts of kindness and absolute wretchedness. This record explores both sides,” Magness explains. She wraps her huge, soulful voice around original material written especially for her, and songs from Julie Miller, Graham Parker, Nick Lowe, Joe Tex, Gladys Knight, Nina Simone, Ann Peebles and James Carr. From the haunting, seductive title track that explores evil masquerading as good to the spiritual awakening of “Walkin’ In The Sun” to the revenge tale of “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down” and the joyful proclamation of “I Want To Do Everything For You,” Magness cuts to the heart and soul of each song with grit, heart and fierce passion, making The Devil Is An Angel Too her most compelling release yet.

Although Magness is now a bona fide blues star, her rise to the top was far from easy. Born in Detroit, Magness was inspired by the blues and country she heard listening to her father’s record collection, and by the vibrant music of the city’s classic Motown sound. By her teenage years, though, her life was in chaos. She lost both parents to suicide by the age of 16 and lived on the streets, bouncing from one foster home to another. At 17, she became a teenage mother who gave up her baby daughter for adoption. One night in Minneapolis, an underage Magness sneaked into a club to see blues great Otis Rush, and it was there that she found her salvation and decided that the blues were her calling. Magness recalls, “Otis played as if his life depended on it. There was a completely desperate, absolute intensity. I knew, whatever it was, I needed more of it.” She began going to as many blues shows as possible, soaking up the sounds of her favorite artists, including Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins. She immersed herself in records by James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Etta James, and all the other R&B greats.

Listening to these blues and soul artists, and watching them live, sparked Janiva and gave her life direction. Her first break came several years later, while working as an intern at a recording studio. She was approached by her boss to sing some supporting vocals on a track. Finding her voice, she soon began working regularly as a background singer. By the early 1980s, Magness made her way to Phoenix and befriended Bob Tate, the musical director for the great Sam Cooke. With Tate’s mentoring, she formed her first band, Janiva Magness And The Mojomatics, in 1985 and before long the influential Phoenix New Times named her group the city’s Best Blues Band. She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and slowly began finding work. She married musician and songwriter Jeff Turmes, with whom she recorded her second studio album, It Takes One To Know One, in 1997 (her debut was the cassette-only release, More Than Live). After three more independent releases, Janiva signed with Northern Blues and recorded Bury Him At The Crossroads in 2004 and Do I Move You? in 2006. Both CDs were co-produced by Magness along with Canadian roots star Colin Linden, and both garnered Magness a tremendous amount of critical and popular attention. Magness and Linden won the prestigious Canadian Maple Blues Award for Producers Of The Year for Bury Him At The Crossroads in 2004. Do I Move You? debuted at #8 on the Billboard Blues Chart and was the #1 Blues CD Of The Year in 2006 on Living Blues magazine’s radio chart. Blues Revue said, “Magness is a bold and potent artist with a powerful, soulful voice… impossible to forget.”


Magness signed with Alligator in 2008 and released her stunning label debut, What Love Will Do, to massive critical acclaim. The Chicago Sun-Times raved, “Her songs run the gamut of emotions from sorrow to joy. A master of the lowdown blues who is equally at ease surrounded by funk or soul sounds, Magness invigorates every song with a brutal honesty,” while Blues Revue called her “a blues interpreter of the highest rank…punchy and tough…swaggering, incendiary vocal performances.” Allmusic declared, “rollicking blues, swampy soul and R&B…stark, gritty, emotional material…terrific, magnificent voice. She rips into ballads with moving and riveting tenacity…she burns through these songs like she’s got everything to prove.” Fueled by all the positive press, Magness was profiled on National Public Radio’s Weekend Edition, putting her in front of an audience of millions and expanding her ever-growing fan base.

In addition to her musical accomplishments, Magness is reaching out to help others. She is a National Spokesperson for Casey Family Programs (her fourth consecutive year), promoting National Foster Care Month. “It is a huge honor and a daunting responsibility. But I am very excited to be a part of it, and I look forward to carrying the message of hope for youth in the foster care system,” says Magness. “Casey Family Programs does groundbreaking work, and I am deeply honored to work with them again.” Magness has also reconnected with her daughter, and is now the proud grandmother of an eight-year-old boy. “Our fate doesn’t have to be our destiny,” she says. “I’m living proof of that. And I’m so very grateful.”

Magness is also incredibly grateful for her Blues Music Award for B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year. “Winning Entertainer Of The Year is overwhelming to me,” she says. “Being the only woman besides Koko Taylor to win this award is just staggering. I adored and worshipped Koko for so long that it’s really hard for me to wrap myself around it, but I couldn’t be prouder of that award. It’s very humbling, because I still can’t believe that people find me worthy to stand in her company.”



Janiva Magness’ deeply emotional music, sung with passion, conviction and soul, and her telepathic ability to connect with an audience, assures her place among the blues elite. “We need real music now more than ever because it gives us strength to pull through tough times,” says Magness. “We need it in a real bad way. Blues is a ray of hope. It articulates what’s lacking in people’s lives.” With The Devil Is An Angel Too and her explosive live shows hitting cities across North America and Europe, Janiva Magness continues to spread her empowering message of hope through music.

giovedì 6 maggio 2010

Fabrizio Poggi & Chicken Mambo - Spirit & Free





Spirit and Freedom are not only two distinct words. If you put them together they are a place of soul. Indeed, there is no spirituality without freedom and there is no freedom without spirituality. Many are the songs that have these two words in their essence; I chose to sing those which, for reasons not easily explained in a few lines, have mostly affected my sensibilities. Songs that have marked the evolution of my musical journey from early experiences to these days, songs by the increasingly significant, songs in their simplicity essential to address fundamental issues such as free spirits could only sing. Images, feelings, memories, hopes and dreams. I also wanted to remind people who are no longer with us but whose message of spirituality and freedom continues, and will always continue to cherish our souls, to witness a more genuine, more sincere, a better way of living life. Spirit & Freedom is something that we really need, more than we know. A REAL freedom. Freedom in our mind, hearts, souls and relationship. Free like the Angels that help us in the darkest hours of our lives. My wife Angelina, my band Mambo Chicken and the special guests and friends who wanted to share in this experience are with us on the way to Spirit & Freedom. Welcome aboard. We're leaving.

Accompanying Fabrizio and his band on the amazing Spirit & Freedom are a large number of great, even legendary, musicians: The Blind Boys Of Alabama, Flaco Jimenez, Garth Hudson (The Band), Charlie Musselwhite, Augie Meyers (Texas Tornados, Sir Douglas Quintet, John Hammond, Bob Dylan), Eric Bibb, Guy Davis, Billy Joe Shaver, Tish Hinojosa, Maud Hudson, Mickey Raphael (Willie Nelson band), Kevin Welch, Debbi Walton, Nora Guthrie (Woody’s daughter), Mike Blakely, Donnie Price, Stefano Intelisano, Marco “Python” Fecchio, Erica Opizzi, Betti Verri, Ron Knuth, Brian Standefer, Melissa Weatherly, Mike Cross, Jimmy Davis, Bill Small, John M. Greenburg, Bryan Maldonado, BB Morse, Cindy Jon, Sally Brantley, Julie Sckittone, Tammy McPeters, Shawna "Bock" Riley, Kelley Mickwee, Annie Acton, Shan Kowert, Lavita Kerley Williams and Areasa Quinton.

Discography

”Mississippi Moon”
“Under The Southern Sky”
“Heroes & Friends”
“Nuther World” (recorded in USA)
“Song for Angelina: ten years on the road” (partially recorded in USA)
“Armonisiana” (partially recorded in USA)
“Still alive”
“The breath of soul”
“Mercy” (partially recorded in USA) BEST ITALIAN ALBUM OF THE YEAR (Buscadero magazine, Italy)

Essential Bio

Many years ago a young man from Voghera, Italy, decided it was time to bring to life a dream that he had carried safely in his heart for most of his life. With that decision, his band FABRIZIO POGGI & CHICKEN MAMBO was born.
FABRIZIO POGGI singer, Hohner Award harmonica player, traveller, musicologist, writer, journalist and amazing performer began to give birth, with music and words, to his musical inspiration: the blues and the amazing folk music of the Southern United States. From the delta blues of Mississippi to gospel and spirituals, to american folk ballads, his musical future was easily decided. Today that dream is not only still alive and well but is being loved by audiences in Italy, Europe and America. His wife Angelina is not only his companion, best friend, his mom, his sister, his daughter and his personal manager but she is also his “dream catcher”. She helped Fabrizio through the tuff times of his life.
FABRIZIO POGGI during his long career has played at the most prestigious clubs and festivals in Italy, Europe and USA (Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana) performing on stage or on his own recordings with legendary artists as: Garth Hudson of THE BAND and Bob Dylan (who appears on “Mercy” cd), Eric Bibb, Zachary Richard, Eamon McLoughlin (of The Greencards) (who appears on “Heroes & Friends” cd), Guy Davis, Jerry Jeff Walker (who appears on “Nuther World” cd), Otis Taylor, Ponty Bone of Joe Ely Band (who appears on “Mercy” and “Nuther World” cds), Bob Brozman, Mitch Woods, Eric Andersen, Richard Thompson, Merel Bregante of Loggins & Messina (who appears on “Nuther World” cd), Tom Russell, Jimmy LaFave (who appears on “Nuther World” cd), John Inmon of Omar & The Howlers (who appears on “Nuther World” cd), The Original Blues Brothers Band, Steve Cropper, Eddie Floyd, Lou Marini, Alan Rubin, Rob Paparozzi of Blood, Sweat & Tears (who appears on “Mercy” cd), Seth Walker (who appears on “Mercy” cd), Bill “Howl ‘n’ Madd” Perry, Johnny Drummer, James Wheeler, Sonny “Sunshine” Payne of King Biscuit Time (who appears on “The breath of soul” cd), Tony McPhee of The Groundogs, Bill Abel, Lightnin’ Malcom, Robert Belfour and many others.
FABRIZIO POGGI has recorded twelve albums and has written two great books about blues and folk harmonica history. His latest works, a cd titled “Mercy” and a book titled “Il soffio dell’anima: armoniche e armonicisti blues” (The breath of soul: harmonica and blues harmonica players) have enjoyed tremendous critical acclaim all around the world.

martedì 4 maggio 2010

Anders Osborne - American Patchwork




I’m in the promised land,” says proud American immigrant and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/guitarist Anders Osborne. The Swedish-born, longtime New Orleans resident is among the most original and visionary musicians performing today. In a city overflowing with stellar artists, bands and performers, Osborne is one of the Big Easy’s favorite musical heroes. His Alligator Records debut, American Patchwork, is a moving collection of soul-baring rock, blues and ballads. Many of the songs on American Patchwork deal with healing and redemption, spirituality and acceptance. It is about rebuilding what has been destroyed, not only a ravaged city, but also a hollow man. Often compared to Townes Van Zandt, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison, Osborne is an exceptional and singular talent. Paste Magazine says, “Osborne has an impossibly great, soulful voice and the songs to match.” Living Blues adds, “Osborne is a songwriter of enormous depth and an incredibly passionate musician.”

Osborne and friend Stanton Moore (Galactic) produced American Patchwork, with co-production by Pepper Keenan (of Down and Corrosion Of Conformity). Osborne wrote all ten songs, all imbued with serious lyrical depth, unforgettable melodies and performed with soul muscle. The guitar work is simply spectacular. His vocals soar with natural, emotional power. With musical assistance from Moore on drums, Keenan on percussion and guitar, and Robert Walter on keyboards, American Patchwork is nothing short of a career-defining release for Osborne, and a bright new chapter in his remarkable journey. As far as Osborne is concerned, American Patchwork is a triumphant achievement. “Every note has a purpose, a serious focus. As I was writing it and recording it, everything fell right into place.”


Live, Osborne is a force to behold. His wildly energetic, physical live performances find him ripping notes out of his guitar, forcing out riveting steel-on-steel slide solos, pouring his entire soul into his vocals. His ability to ignite an audience is legendary. Past gigs include repeated appearances at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, stops at Bonnaroo, The High Sierra Festival, The Telluride Blues Festival, The Hollowbaloo Music & Arts Festival in Honolulu, The Voice Of The Wetlands and even an appearance at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He has toured North America and Europe extensively, and has performed with The Meters, Randy Newman, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and Little Feat among many others.

As a songwriter and singer, Osborne stands tall. Since his recording debut in 1989, he has written virtually all of his own material and contributed memorable songs to a wide variety of artists. Two tunes co-written by Osborne appear on blues great Keb Mo’s Grammy-winning 1999 release, Slow Down. Country superstar Tim McGraw scored a #1 hit with Anders’ song Watch The Wind Blow By. Osborne’s compositions have been covered by artists as diverse as Brad Paisley, Tab Benoit, Jonny Lang and Kim Carnes. His song What’s Going On Here appeared in the 1996 feature film Fled, and Osborne, along with Ivan Neville, wrote and recorded the title track for the 2010 Kate Hudson film Earthbound.

But it is not just his live performances and songwriting that make Osborne such a success. He is also revered for his jaw-dropping guitar playing. His piercing slide-work and fluid finger picking (oftentimes happening simultaneously) are simply unmatched. His use of Open D tuning (a rare choice for a guitar virtuoso) gives his fretwork a signature sound and feel. “I first heard Open D on Joni Mitchell’s Blue,” he says, “and my fingers just fit the tuning.” His influences range from Ry Cooder and Robert Johnson to the great horn players like Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Always an in-demand guitarist, Osborne has appeared on a host of recordings by Keb Mo, Tab Benoit, Mike Zito and others. Most recently, Anders lent his guitar talents to Dark Water, Galactic’s first single from their new Ya-Ka-May CD.

Osborne was born in Uddevalla, Sweden in 1966. His father was a professional touring jazz drummer who played all over Europe and was exposed to a lot of popular American styles of music. He brought home reel-to-reel recordings of jazz, R&B and early rock ‘n’ roll from artists as diverse as Little Richard, Fats Domino, Bill Haley, Art Pepper and Miles Davis. As a teen, Anders started playing guitar and listening to Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and Joni Mitchell records. He fell in love with the vocal styles of Ray Charles, Van Morrison and Lowell George. Then he heard the blues of Robert Johnson and recordings of African drumming, and suddenly, everything clicked. “Blues connected everything together for me,” Osborne recalls. “The early rock, the R&B, the jazz, the singer-songwriters. Blues was like a thread running through everything.”

With a serious case of wanderlust, Anders began traveling on his own at 16. For the next four years he hitchhiked across Europe, North Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, earning money by doing odd jobs and performing on the street or in bars at every opportunity. He worked assembly lines in Israel and dug ditches in Greece. He picked fruits and vegetables in many locales, following the harvest seasons across Europe. He wrote constantly, soaking up the life experience and honing his craft.

In 1985 he landed in New Orleans, a place his grandfather, a sailor, had often told him vivid stories about. When he arrived, he instantly felt right at home. “My grandfather had a lot to do with me settling here,” recalls Osborne. “He would send me postcards and photographs of him in New Orleans. I just felt connected to his memories. Once I got here, everything I heard in my head—the music, the way people treated each other—was happening. I knew I was home.” He effortlessly incorporated the sounds of the Crescent City into his own music, and the city quickly became a large part of his soul.

Anders spent his first few years in New Orleans writing and developing his sound and style, all the while continuing to soak up the music of the city. He cut his first two albums for the independent New Orleans-based Rabadash Records in 1989 and 1993. The excitement surrounding those releases led to a major label deal with Sony’s Okeh imprint in 1995. Since then, Osborne has released a series of successful albums for Shanachie and MC Records, all to wide critical and popular acclaim.

With the release of American Patchwork, Osborne will hit the road hard. In April 2010, he will play three times at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (and make many more area appearances during the festival period). He will then start a six-week tour of the U.S. on a double bill with The Stanton Moore Trio, followed by further touring with his own band.

Blues Revue describes Osborne’s music as “an articulate and spellbinding tapestry of sorrow and joy.” New Orleans’ Times-Picayune says Osborne’s music is “genuine, focused and uplifting...guitar fireworks and a well-traveled voice.” The Newark Star-Ledger simply says, “This guy is in his own universe. Comparisons are meaningless.” Now, with a new label, a new recording, and a new appreciation of life itself, Anders Osborne is ready to fulfill his huge potential. As a youth he traveled the globe before settling in New Orleans. Now, he’ll travel from New Orleans, bringing his powerful original songs and soulful, blues-inspired, rock-fueled music to destinations all over the world.

anders osborne vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, piano, percussion
robert walter hammond b3, piano, moog, clavinet, keyboard bass
pepper keenan guitars, background vocals, percussion
stanton moore drums



DISCOGRAPHY

2010 American Patchwork (Alligator Records)
2007 Coming Down (MC Records)
2006 Tipitina’s Live 2006 (Shanachie)
2002 Bury the Hatchet with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux (Shanachie)
2001 Ash Wednesday Blues (Shanachie)
1999 Living Room (Shanachie)
1998 Live at Tipitina’s (Shanachie)
1995 Which Way to Here (Okeh)
1993 Break The Chain (Rabadash)
1989 Doin’ Fine (Rabadash)

martedì 30 marzo 2010

John Hiatt - The Open Road




Indiana-born John Hiatt is an unlikely but enthusiastic champion of the Midwestern work ethic -- he's been making records since 1974, but 2010's The Open Road is his sixth studio effort since the dawn of the new millennium, and it sounds like the work of a man who isn't about to stop doing this work anytime soon.. The legendary songwriter's 19th studio album is classic Hiatt, picking up the tempo and returning to rock following his previous critically acclaimed Same Old Man. Backed by his touring band, (Kenny Blevins on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Doug Lancio on guitars), the songs are inspired by life on the road, without looking back. "All the other years, my songs are about coming home," Hiatt says. But within these 11 new songs, home is never the destination.

Time keeps adding a little more grit to Hiatt's voice with each passing year, and he's smart enough to use it in his favor, with the sandy texture of his instrument adding weight and gravity to tunes like "Like a Freight Train" (in which he's bad enough to steal his mom's morphine), "Haulin'" (a road tune that plays like a Dixie-fried Chuck Berry variant), and "What Kind of Man" (another tale of a morally dubious character with shady habits), though the vocals are also a bit lower in the mix than usual this time out. Hiatt's voice and sneaky but literate lyrical style are also a fine match for Lancio's guitar work, full of sliding figures and well-punctuated string bends, and the steady, rock-solid roll of the rhythm section pushes the songs along without forcing them to move faster or harder then they want. And as a songwriter, Hiatt remains one of the best craftsmen in his field; if he doesn't sound inspired as often as he once did on albums like Bring the Family and Slow Turning, the tunes remain slinky and evocative and his stories of men either succumbing to or trying to overcome their lesser instincts still bear the ring of truth and never sound rote. John Hiatt's muse hasn't stopped keeping him on task, and the work he's doing remains satisfying, and anyone who can crank out an album as good as The Open Road every 18 months or so would be well advised to keep up the good work.

Hiatt has written songs covered by a multitude of artists in a wide variety of genres including Bob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, Willie Nelson, Jewel and Bonnie Raitt, who most famously recorded "Thing Called Love." On The Open Road he showcases both his lyrical and musical talent with his blues driven, rock songs including the title track and "Haulin'." Hiatt produced The Open Road himself after recording with his band in his garage-turned-studio.

( Info tratte dal sito New West Rec. e AllMuisc Guide )

giovedì 18 marzo 2010

Ali Farta Toure - Toumani Diabate " Ali e Toumani"




Questa è la seconda collaborazione tra Touré and Diabaté dopo l’incredibile “In The Heart Of The Moon”, datato 2005 e può essere considerato a tutti gli effetti una sorta di testamento musicale del grande artista africano visto che si tratta delle sue ultime registrazioni fortemente volute nonostante la il notevole sofferenza causata dalla malattia. Il seguito del Grammy Award winner sopra citato ripropone le stesse magiche atmosfere di incontaminata bellezza dove ancora una volta si rinnova l’ispirata collaborazione tra i due più importanti artisti del Mali. Nonostante inizialmente la loro collaborazione fosse pianificata solo per un brano, la creatività di questi artisti non è di quelle che si possono contenere e dalle session è scaturito per nostra fortuna questo nuovo materiale che ha permesso la realizzazione di un intero album. Non ci sono state prove e le performance sono state improvvisate sulla base di un repertorio familiare ad entrambi gli artisti con un' atmosfera familiare quasi palpabile.

This self-titled album is a fitting tribute to Toure's and Diabate's genius and friendship and is a beautiful farewell.

All Music Guide

It's a simply formula but it works brillanty. One reason why it is that Diabate adds more than the dazzling cascades of notes that first catch the ear...an album of spellbinging

Uncut

So just what makes Ali & Toumani stronger and wiser than its predecessor ? Perhaps it's simply the diversity and intensity of the musical fantasia the two men create

Songlines

This is a deep, darkly beautiful work. The interplay between these two men is exceedingly rare in any type of music. Ali and Toumani is profound and powerful, with a soft

Pop Matters

"Ali and Toumani" is the seminal meeting of musical greats and the exquisite marriage of varying genres spenning continents and generations

Blues And Soul

Ali and Toumani is a document of friendship and a deeply personal statement that's intemational in scope. It's also effortlessly soulful.

Metro

It's as easy to get lost in telepathic interplay between Toure and Diabate as to let the songs wash over you in shimmering transcendent waves.

Philadelphia Inquirer.

Intoxicating and seductive tracks that we all should consider a privilege to add to our record collections

Vanity Fair

A lovely monument

Independent on Sunday

5 stars

Financial Times

This is a magnificent and poignant farewell

Guardian

It represents the last, precious testament of a hugely influential musician who helped reassert the African roots of blues guitar, captured here alongside his country leading

Independent

To quote The Small Faces, the music on this album really is "all too beautiful"

Daily Mirror

To their admirers, the union of Malian superstars Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate is comparade to Jimi Hendrix jamming with Eric Clapton

The Sun

Ali's vocals a reminder of an African great no longer with us

Evening Standard

Throughout, there is a light as a breeze quality to the music-making but also a timeless depth, a gentle profundity, it's irresistible.

New Jersey Star Ledger

To put it simply, Ali and Toumani is a quite, intimate, timeless record; a trascendent expression of cultural pride, deep friendship, and above all, breath-taking musical

Dusted Magazine

Buy without fear, then , and figure it out for yourself

The Times

When you're listening to this album it's like you're reading a book about Ali

AOL Shoutcast

These brillant, beautiful albums are the very opposite of musicianly duets; anachronous in the best possible way.

Observer

Beaufitully recorded, Ali & Toumani lives up to and perhaps exceeds expectations.

BBC Music Online

You get the feel of two of the world's greatest musicians in a room togegher, having a conversation and crating a document that will carry their legacy into the future.

Pitchfork

Catch it in the night mood and you'll fall blissfully in love

Dazed and Confused.

The pair's obvious.communication produces some of the richest music in Mali in these albums.

Arts Desk

Another mesmeric tribute to Ali's legacy

Observer Music Monthly

The 11 tracks weave a binding spell

Q Magazine

While the younger man's kora solos still dazzle, what Toure is doing in the other speakers is never less than mesmeric, his riffs and curlicues suggesting a wide smile across his...

Mojo

Discografia Ali Farka Toure

WC 007 ALI FARKA TOURE Same
WC 017 ALI FARKA TOURE The River
WC 030 ALI FARKA TOURE The Source
WC 040 RY COODER WITH ALI FARKA TOURE Talking Timbuktu
WC 044 ALI FARKA TOURE Radio Mali
WC 053 AFEL BOCOUM & ALI FARKA TOURE Alkibar
WC 054 ALI FARKA TOURE Niafunke
WC 070 ALI FARKA TOURE Red & Green
WC 075 ALI FARKA TOURE Savane

Discografia Ali Farka Toure e Toumani Diabate

WC 072 ALI FARKA TOURE & TOUMANI DIABATE' In The Heart Of The Moon
WC 083 ALI FARKA TOURE & TOUMANI DIABATE Ali And Toumani

Discografia Toumani Diabate

WC 074 TOUMANI DIABATE'S SYMMETRIC ORCHES. Boulevard De Indipendence
WC 079 TOUMANI DIABATE The Mandè Variations




ALI FARKA TOURE: 1939 - 2006

Ali Farka Touré was born in 1939 in the village of Kanau on the banks of the River Niger in the north west of Mali. He was his mother's tenth son but the first to survive infancy. '' I lost nine brothers of the same mother and father. The name I was given was Ali Ibrahim, but it's a custom in Africa to give a child a strange nickname if you have had other children that have died.'' The nickname they chose for Ali was 'Farka' meaning donkey, an animal admired for its strength and tenacity. ''But let me make one thing clear'' he said, ''I'm the donkey that nobody climbs on!''

When Ali was still an infant his father died while serving in the French army, and the family moved south along the river to Niafunké, the village Ali called home for the rest of his life.

With a population of over twenty thousand, Niafunké is one of the larger villages which scatter this sparse, arid semi-desert region. The fact that they have only recently installed telephone lines and electricity contributes to the tranquil atmosphere and there is always the cooling breeze from the river. People make their living by farming, cattle herding and fishing.

Ali was Niafunké's most famous citizen. Although internationally known as a musician he regarded himself as a farmer. In Mali, music is largely the monopoly of castes of hereditary musicians, but Ali came from a noble background. There is no tradition of music in his family, but he had a calling early on in life, becoming he said "drawn to music by its power". He was a 'child of the river'.

In Niafunké, as in the most of Mali, the dominant religion is Islam and Ali was a devout Muslim. But in this part of the world Islam co-exists with a much older indigenous belief system connected with the mysterious power of the Niger. It is believed that under the water there is a world of spirits called Ghimbala - male and female djinns with their own character, history, symbolic colours and ritual objects, all vividly portrayed in the local mythology. These djinns control both the spiritual and temporal world. Those who have the gift to communicate with the spirits are called 'children of the river'.

Ali had no formal schooling and his childhood was taken up by farming, followed by an apprenticeship as a tailor. But he was also mesmerised by the music played at Ghimbala spirit ceremonies in the villages along the banks of the Niger. He would sit and listen in awe as musicians sang and played the favoured instruments of the spirits; djerkel single string guitar, njarka single string violin and ngoni four string lute. His family did not regard music as a worthy occupation and the boy's interest was not encouraged. He was, however, a fiercely independent and self-determined youth and at the age of twelve he fashioned his first instrument, a djerkel guitar.

Ali found it very easy and natural to learn to play. Early on however he suffered attacks caused by his contact with the spirit world. He was sent away to a neighbouring village to be cured, and when he returned a year later he quickly became recognised for his power to communicate with the spirits. Ali was greatly influenced by his grandmother Kounandi Samba who was famous in the area as a priestess of the Ghimbala. But after her death, he was dissuaded from becoming a priest. ''Because of Islam, I don't want to practise this type of thing too much.....these spirits can be good to you or bad, so I just sing about them, but it's our culture, we can't pass it by.'' Many of his songs are about the spirits and he always travelled with his njarka violin as well as recordings of spirit music which he listened to whenever possible.

As a teenager Ali found work as a taxi driver and car mechanic and he also spent some time as a river ambulance pilot. He travelled widely in these jobs and continued to play music in ceremonies and for pleasure, with small groups and as accompanist to singers. By his early twenties he had learnt seven Malian languages fluently and had mastered the ngoni (traditional four string lute), njarka vioin and Peul bamboo flute. He was also well on his way to absorbing a vast repertoire of music and legend from the various masters he encountered on his travels.

'' I got to know music and to love it through so many heroes who passed on and who continue to live on the earth, because history remains. So it gave me the opportunity to get to know the culture of this music, its biography, legends and history.''

Ali was Sonraï, a people who form the majority of the population of Niafunké, but there are also many other peoples in the region speaking numerous languages - Peul, Bambara, Dogon, Songoy, Zarma, Bobo, Bozo and Tamascheq, the language of the Touareg. Touré sang in all these languages but the majority of his repertoire was in Sonraï and Peul.

In 1956 during his travels Ali saw a performance by the National Ballet of Guinea featuring the great Malinke guitarist Keita Fodeba. ''That's when I swore I would become a guitarist, I didn't know his guitar but I liked it a lot. I felt I had as much music as him and that I could translate it.'' He began to play using borrowed guitars and found it easy to translate his traditional guitar technique to the Western instrument. He said that his only problem was in keeping all six strings happy by touching them as he was used to only playing the monochord. At about the same time, he added percussion, drums (he made his own kit complete with cymbals and bass drum) and accordion to his musical skills (even making a few appearances performing Charles Aznavour repertoire!).

Upon Mali gaining independence from the French in 1960 the new government under President Modibo Keita initiated a policy to promote the arts and cultural troupes were formed to represent each of Mali's six administrative regions. From 1962 Ali worked with the Niafunké district troupe, which he co-led with Harbarie Labéré. He composed, sang, played guitar and rehearsed singers and dancers in a troupe numbering a hundred and seventeen people. He was extremely proud of the troupe which was successful in the biannual competitions held in Mopti throughout the 1960's. Ali also won numerous athletic prizes. ''I did this so my village wouldn't win zero. I'm very patriotic!'' In the sixties he also accompanied various singers and he had his own small group, a recording of which from the late 1960s includes a song sung in Sonraï to a Cuban salsa rhythm.

In 1968 (the year Modibo Keita was ousted in a coup by Moussa Traore) Ali made his first trip outside Africa when he was selected (along with the revered musicians Kelitigui Diabaté and Djelimady Tounkara) to represent Mali at an international festival of the arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. They performed arrangements of traditional music with Ali on guitar, flute, djerkel and njarka. It was in Sofia on 21st April 1968 that he bought his first guitar.

Also in 1968 a student friend in Bamako played him records by James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Jimmy Smith and Albert King. Ali remained a great fan of all these, partly he said because he heard so much of his own traditions in them. Of all this music, the one which struck him as most similar to his own, was the blues especially as performed by John Lee Hooker. He was immediately struck by the thought that "this music has been taken from here" and was surprised to hear singing in English.

In 1970 Ali's work took him from Niafunké to Mopti and later in the year to the capital Bamako. Here he began a decade working for National Radio Mali as a sound engineer. He also played as part of Radio Mali's orchestra until it was disbanded in 1973. Throughout the 1970's he brought his unique guitar style to the attention of the country via many radio broadcasts. On the advice of a journalist friend he sent a number of recordings of these broadcasts to the Son Afric record company in Paris.

In a matter of months the first Ali Farka Touré album (amongst the very first commercial records of Malian music) featuring Ali on guitar and vocals and Nassourou Sarre on ngoni was released. He continued to record in Bamako and send the tapes to Paris and a total of seven albums were released. Selections from the first five of these albums have been released by World Circuit as the CD 'Radio Mali'.

Throughout the 1970's Ali established a formidable reputation in Mali as a unique solo artist. He pioneered and perfected the adaptation of Sonraï, Peul and Tamascheq styles to the guitar. He remained uncompromisingly wedded to his traditional music, refusing to ''go commercial''. His songs celebrate love, friendship, peace, the land, the spirits, the river and Malian unity; all expressed in dense metaphors.

In 1986 one of his Radio Mali recorded albums (re-released on World Circuit as part of Red and Green in 2004), started to generate great interest amongst radio d.j.'s in London including Andy Kershaw and Charlie Gillett. It also came to the attention of Folk Roots magazine; with no information on the record sleeve the journal puzzled over this African musician who played the blues in such an individual way.

Anne Hunt from World Circuit travelled to Bamako to seek out this mysterious man. With the help of Toumani Diabate a broadcast was made on Radio Mali asking Ali to present himself. Ali had moved back to Niafunké four years earlier but at the time of the broadcast was visiting the capital. An invitation was made for Ali to perform in the U.K. and in 1987 for the first time since the Sofia Festival in 1968, Touré he played his first concerts outside Africa. Showing no signs of nerves or unfamiliarity with his surroundings, and with absolute and supreme confidence in his music, he played a masterful series of shows winning audiences everywhere. In the same year his first recording outside Africa was an instant success for the World Circuit label.

Since then he has undertaken extensive tours of Europe, U.S.A, Canada, Brazil and Japan and has recorded a further five albums for the label, including 'The River', 'The Source', and the GRAMMY Award winning 'Talking Timbuktu', a collaboration with Ry Cooder which served to confirm Ali's status as an artist of international repute.

Despite his amazing international success, Ali became increasingly reluctant to leave his farm in Niafunké. World Circuit's Nick Gold decided that the only way the make another record with him was to bring the studio to Niafunké. The studio was set up in an abandoned agricultural school, and the recording had to be fitted in between tending the land, with the crops always coming first. The resulting album 'Niafunké' was released in 1999.

After that, Ali returned to what he saw as his main role in life, looking after his farm and being with his family. Ali was actively involved with ongoing irrigation projects to better the agricultural situation in the Niafunké region and this culminated in his election in 2004 as Mayor of Niafunké.

Although choosing to retire from music as his full time career, and rarely playing live, Ali stated that should he feel suitably inspired, or have an issue that needs to be addressed he would record again. In 2003, he participated in the documentary 'Feel Like Going Home'. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the film traces the history of the blues from the banks of the Niger to the Mississippi Delta, and would bring Ali to an even wider audience. Ali had also been researching his local music and culture, with the aim of preserving it for future generations, and this had inspired him to play and record again. In 2004 after turning down endless lucrative offers to perform, Ali accepted an invitation to play at the tiny Privas festival in France for no fee. Ali began 2005 with his first major concert in Europe for five years, his show at the BOZAR in Brussels, which featured a guest appearance from Toumani Diabaté, was greeted with frenzied excitement from fans and press alike.

In 2005 the first of a trilogy of albums recorded at Bamako's Hotel Mandé was released. 'In the Heart of the Moon' a duet album with Toumani Diabaté won a GRAMMY award making Ali the only African to have received two such prestigious honours. Shortly following the album's release Ali played a series of brilliant European concerts with his unique down-home ngoni band featured on his new album, 'Savane' the third in the Hotel Mandé series. Toumani accompanied Ali on those live dates, prior to which they spent 3 days in a London studio recording the follow up to 'In the Heart of the Moon'. Featuring contributions from Orlando 'Cachaíto' López on bass, the album 'Ali and Toumani' is released in February 2010.

Sadly, Ali would not see the release of 'Savane'. Just a few weeks after winning his second GRAMMY and approving the album's final master, Ali succumbed to the bone cancer with which he had suffered from for the preceding two years. He died in Bamako on March 7th 2006 and was buried in Niafunké.

In Mali, Ali was accorded a posthumous Commandeur de l'Ordre National du Mali (the country's highest honour) and a state funeral attended by all the country's senior politicians and major music stars as well as thousands of ordinary people. The worldwide media coverage of his death was unprecedented for an African musician and messages poured in from fans around the world. All this for a musician who considered himself first and foremost a farmer.

Ali Farka Touré was a true original. An exceptional musician, he transposed the traditional music of his native north Mali and single-handedly brought the style known as desert blues to an international audience. He was a giant of African music and will be missed by fans throughout the world.


Original text by Lucy Duran
(updated by Nick Gold & Dave McGuire)




TOUMANI DIABATE


Toumani Diabaté is one of the most important musicians in Africa. Toumani plays the kora, a harp unique to West Africa with 21 strings; and more than any other kora player it is Toumani who is responsible for bringing this instrument to audiences around the world. He is a performer of truly exceptional virtuosity and creativity - someone who shows that the kora can rival the world's greatest instruments.

Toumani was born in Bamako, the capital of Mali, in 1965 into a family of exceptional griots (hereditary musician/historian caste); his research shows 71 generations of kora players from father to son. The most notable was his father, Sidiki Diabaté (c. 1922-96), a kora player of legendary fame in West Africa - dubbed King of the Kora at the prestigious international Black Arts Festival Festac in 1977, and a continuing inspiration to all kora players to this day. Sidiki was born in the Gambia of Malian parents. He settled in Mali after the second world war, where he became famous for his virtuoso "hot" and idiosyncratic style of playing (echoes of which can be heard in Toumani's style). After Mali became independent in 1960, Sidiki was invited to join the Ensemble National Instrumental - a government sponsored group formed to celebrate the richness of Malian culture - along with his first wife, Toumani's mother, the singer Nene Koita. Sidiki and Nene were much favoured by the first president, Modibo Keita - who gave them the land on which the family house now stands, underneath the presidential palace in Bamako.

This was the musical environment in which Toumani was raised - though in fact, he was self-taught, never learning directly from his father except by listening. In the 1960s, and more so the 70s, the Bamako music scene was being influenced by sounds from further afield, especially black American music: soul music was particularly popular as was Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Smith, and British rock acts such as Led Zeppelin. Exposure to these sounds, and Bamako's modern ensembles, would both be important to Toumani's musical development.

A child prodigy, Toumani began playing the kora at the age of five, and at that time, the Malian Government was engaged in an active programme of encouraging regional ensembles to represent local traditions. Toumani was recruited to the ensemble from Koulikoro (some 60 kms east of Bamako) with whom he made his public debut at the age of 13 to great local acclaim. In 1984 Toumani joined the group of brilliant young musicians who accompanied the great diva Kandia Kouyate, the best known and most powerful female griot singer in Mali, with whom he toured Africa extensively, still only 19 years old.

Although not learning directly from his father Toumani took from him the idea of developing the kora as a solo instrument, and then took it to another level. Toumani discovered a way to play bass, rhythm and solo all at the same time on the kora, a method which would take him to the world stage. Toumani first came to the Europe in 1986 to accompany another Malian singer, Ousmane Sacko, and ended up staying in London for seven months. During this period, at the age of 21, he recorded his first solo album 'Kaira'. This was a groundbreaking album - it was the first ever solo kora album and it still remains a best seller and one of the finest albums of kora music to date. In 1986 Toumani also made his first appearance at a WOMAD festival at which he made a significant impact.

During this period in the UK he met and worked informally with musicians from many different fields of music and encountered traditions that he had not previously known, such as Indian classical music, from which he derived the "jugalbandi" idea (musical dialogue between two instruments) that has since become one of his trademarks.

His first major recorded collaboration was with the Spanish flamenco group Ketama. When he first met them they immediately began doing "palmas" (interlocked flamenco clapping) to his music. Toumani couldn't believe that that they could have such an understanding of the rhythmic complexities of his music; it was as if they had always been listening to each other's traditions. The resulting album 'Songhai', with pieces like Jarabi, was a perfect synthesis of kora and flamenco.

For Toumani experimentation is simply part of the job of a modern griot, "The griot's role is making communication between people, but not just historical communication. In Mali I can work in the traditional way, elsewhere I can work in a different way. Why not?" In 1990 Toumani formed the Symmetric Orchestra. For Toumani the name evokes a perfect balance - a symmetry - between tradition and modernity, and between the contributions of musicians from a number of closely related countries. Senegal, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Mali itself, were all part of the medieval Mandé Empire. Toumani had the idea of recreating the cultural equilibrium of the Mandé Empire in a modern musical context - offsetting traditional and electric guitars with hard-edged sabar drumming; praise-singing and lute-riffing alongside pounding kit drums, with Toumani's own rippling kora phrases through it all. The orchestra name was first used on CD with the elaborate 1992 project, 'Shake The Whole World', released only in Japan and Mali. Maintaining a weekly residence at the Hogon in Bamako throughout Toumani's career, the group continued to evolve and grow over the years culminating in the release of the acclaimed album 'Boulevard de l'Indépendance' in 2005, and the extensive international touring that followed.

In the early-mid 1990s, in Bamako, Toumani began to gather around him a number of exceptionally talented musicians such as the brilliant Bassekou Kouyate on the ngoni, and Keletigui Diabaté on balafon, cultivating a certain sound and approach to his music -with a type of jazz-jugalbandi-griot instrumental ensemble which can be heard on his album 'Djelika' (as in the piece Kandjoura) released in 1995. In the same year Toumani travelled to Madrid to record 'Songhai 2'.

In 1998 he recorded a kora duet album with Ballake Sissoko; their two fathers released the 1970s classic Cordes Anciennes (Ancient Strings), so the new album was called 'New Ancient Strings', it was their tribute to the original record and an attempt at bringing such material to a modern audience.

The connections between the blues and West African music are well known. Taj Mahal had listened to, and played with, many great kora players, and what most struck him as bearing an uncanny resemblance with the blues was the plucking techniques of the kora and other Malian string instruments. "They say that blues and jazz came from Africa" says Toumani." "The kora and ngoni, they're very old, many centuries old. So maybe the blues were once being played on these instruments. Making the album with Taj is like bringing the old and new together." The album 'Kulanjan' was released in 1999.

Constantly looking to evolve and innovate, Toumani's next album 'MALIcool' with American free jazz trombonist Roswell Rudd saw him take another step out on the edge. The arrangements on this album are sparse, leaving everybody room to improvise, and there are a few unexpected pieces such as an interpretation of Thelonius Monk's 'Hank', a swinging version of a Welsh folk song, and a leftfield take on Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy'.

Toumani has participated in many other recording projects both at home and abroad: he appears on Ali Farka Touré's eponymous debut album for World Circuit; he toured with Salif Keita and appears on both his acclaimed album "Papa" and his latest release 'Mbemba'; he was part of Damon Albarn's 'Mali Music' project; he is featured on Kasse Mady Diabaté's 2004 Grammy nominated album "Kassi Kasse", and in 2007 he featured on the track 'Hope' on Björk's album 'Volta' leading to an inspired guest appearance on her set at the Glastonbury Festival.

In recent years Toumani has been enjoying recognition for his contribution to the development of the kora, and as a key figure in African music. In 2004 he received the Zyriab des Virtuoses, a UNESCO prize awarded at the Mawazine Festival organised by King Mohammed 6th of Morocco. He is the first black African ever to be given the prize. Toumani is an active and dynamic member of the Malian musical community, and influential to the new generation. He has been taking steps to help preserve the legacy of traditional kora music in Mali, and to educate future generations of their rich musical heritage, whilst encouraging them to also explore the creative possibilities within music. He is President/Director of Mandinka Kora Productions, who actively promote the kora through workshops, festivals, and various cultural events. Toumani is also a teacher of the kora and of modern and traditional music at the Balla Fasseke Conservatoire of Arts, Culture and Multimedia, which opened in Bamako at the end of 2004.

2004 also saw Toumani begin working with World Circuit for a trilogy of albums recorded at sessions in the Mandé Hotel in Bamako. The first release from these sessions was the duets album 'In the Heart of the Moon' recorded with the great Ali Farka Touré, which won the Best Traditional World Music Album GRAMMY Award. Second in the trilogy was 'Boulevard de l'Indépendance' by Toumani Diabaté's Symmetric Orchestra, packing the fruit of ten years of experimentation into some of the densest, punchiest, most richly textured music to have come out Africa (the third part being Ali's final solo album 'Savane'). Toumani accompanied Ali on his last concert tour in the summer of 2005 during which they spent 3 days in a London studio recording the follow up to 'In the Heart of the Moon'. Featuring contributions from Orlando 'Cachaíto' López on bass, 'Ali and Toumani' further demonstrates the magic bond between the two masters, the album sees its long awaited release in February 2010.

The Symmetric Orchestra proved to be a revelation on the international touring scene. Taking time out from their weekly residency at Bamako's Hogon club (recently moved to Le Diplomat), the band have been building a reputation for themselves at their own headline concerts at venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall, and festival appearances such as Glastonbury, Nice Jazz Festival, and Montreal Jazz Festival.

In addition to this hive of activity, Toumani was also busy working on his new album 'The Mandé Variations', released in February 2008. Having spent years refining and perfecting his technique to an unparalleled level Toumani's career comes full circle. 'The Mandé Variations' is all-acoustic, Toumani's first album of solo kora since his groundbreaking debut album 'Kaira' released over twenty years ago.

Both the album and subsequent solo recitals were met with universal critical acclaim, with the return to a more intimate setting also proving extremely popular with the listening public. Toumani would also go on to perform a special concert with the London Symphony Orchestra which may prompt further explorations in classical music; and the year came to an exciting end with Toumani being nominated for another GRAMMY Award and an NAACP Image Award for 'The Mandé Variations'. Toumani was appointed UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador in December 2008, using his music to spread awareness on HIV and AIDS, and he has already participated in various outreach projects in Mali.

Following the release of the album 'Ali and Toumani', Toumani Diabaté and his band will play his interpretations of the music of Ali Farka Touré in a series of special concerts starting in April 2010.

Throughout Toumani's career, each of the albums he has released are distinctly unique and highlight his diversity as a musician. This is indeed what Toumani is so good at - bringing together the old and new in timeless beautiful music, the very best that Africa has.

Based on original text by Lucy Duran;
adaptation and additional text by Dave McGuire