Bluescats Feat. Brenda Boykin & Tommie Harris - Bring It On Home: The Willie Dixon Project

Album: Bring It On Home
Size: 99,9 MB
Time: 43:08
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2023
Styles: Blues, Chicago blues
Art: Front

1. Bring It On Home (4:31)
2. I'm Ready (3:40)
3. Help Me (6:20)
4. 29 Ways (3:47)
5. Spoonful (3:57)
6. The Little Red Rooster (4:34)
7. You Can't Judge A Book By Looking At The Cover (3:45)
8. My Babe (5:29)
9. The Seventh Son (4:03)
10. Help Me Reprise (3:00)

It had always been a dream of the Bluescats to bring them all together: Brenda Boykin, Tommie Harris, Ralf Grottian, and saxophonist Bernd Winterschladen. Together with organist Dirk Schaadt, with whom Jens Filser plays in his Organic Blues project, they wanted to return to the origins of the blues. This led to the idea of recording a CD consisting exclusively of Willie Dixon's compositions.

Willie Dixon decisively shaped the development of the blues in the 1950s and 60s. He was not only the house bassist at Chess Records in Chicago but also a veritable song factory for the artists signed to the label, such as Muddy Waters and Sonny Boy Williamson, to name just a few. However, it was bands like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and Eric Clapton who truly made his songs famous in the 1960s and 70s.

The Bluescats belong to the generation that thought "Bring It On Home" was a Led Zeppelin song, Jim Morrison was the Backdoor Man, and Mick Jagger was the Little Red Rooster. It took them a while to get to the roots and explore Willie Dixon and the many other blues greats of his generation. Brenda and Tommie inspired them in this search and shared their experience with them. The CD was recorded in a single day at Rockcity Studio in Solingen. The song selection, the arrangements – everything happened spontaneously, guided by a single principle: the sheer joy of playing the blues together.

Personnel: Brenda Boykin, Tommie Harris (vocals); Jens Filser (vocals, guitar); Till Brandt (bass); Bernd Oppel (drums); Ralf Grottian (harmonica); Bernd Winterschladen (saxophone); Dirk Schaadt (organ).

Bring It On Home: The Willie Dixon Project mc
Bring It On Home: The Willie Dixon Project gofile

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The Johnny Nocturne Band Feat. Brenda Boykin - Wailin' Daddy

Year: 1992
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 39:50
Size: 92,1 MB
Styles: Jump blues, swing
Scans: Full

1. Wailin' (3:56)
2. Just A Dream (4:51)
3. Let's Ball (2:47)
4. Baby, I'm Doin' It (3:15)
5. Howling At Midnight (3:29)
6. The Blues Has Got Me (3:30)
7. Candy (4:16)
8. I've Got A Feeling (3:56)
9. I'm A Fool To Want You (3:58)
10. No, I Ain't Gonna Let You Go (2:57)
11. Rebop Jump (2:52)

The past decade has seen the emergence of a number of young jump-swing groups. Few have come close to measuring up to the standard of The Johnny Nocturne Band. The release of the band's first album, Wailin' Daddy (Rounder/Bullseye 1992) solidified it's position as the West Coast's jumpin' & jivin' "little big band." Tenor Sax man John Firmin, and his finely honed, nine-piece jump, blues and swing group propel you into the inner-beating sanctums of some seriously ferocious swing, Theirs is sophisticated roots music which perpetuates a sound that has been lost in the shuffle of "progress."

The second release, Shake 'Em Up (Rounder/Bullseye 1994) secured this reputation. The Johnny Nocturne Band recordings run the gamut from whiskey-drenched rave-tips and brass), mambos to somber after-midnight ballads, and are letter perfect in form. The third album Wild & Cool (Rounder/Bullseye 1998) was on the Gavin jazz charts for over ten weeks and was awarded the prestigious Pres de Deutschen Schallparten Kritik award (the German Critics Award) in September of 1998.

John Firmin was surrounded by jazz music from the beginning while growing up the son of a tenor player in Anchorage, Alaska, and got his earliest experiences performing tenor sax in soul bands and small combos, backing up “exotic” dancers. He learned tunes by Stanley Turrentine, King Curtis, Hank Crawford and Fathead Newman, and, jumping ahead twenty-five years, he built an eight-piece band to play many of these same arrangements - using most often the lineup of four horns and four rhythm players. In 1975, Firmin was asked to join the legendary David Bromberg band which led him to relocate to San Francisco. Eventually Firmin's desire to be more than a sideman, to be a band leader, led him to create a group that crosses the juncture between jazz and R&B - the Johnny Nocturne Band.

Wailin' & honkin' that harkens back to the 40's & -50's jump blues & swing era, The Johnny Nocturne band is equally adept at raw rock & roll, moody film noir-ish instrumentals and hopping bop. The Johnny Nocturne Band is comprised of some of the best musicians on the scene today and is acclaimed as one of the hottest live acts around. The Johnny Nocturne Band has received much critical and public acclaim while performing at festivals throughout Europe and North America.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Wailin' Daddy mc
Wailin' Daddy zippy

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