Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 52:42
Size: 120.7 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2001
Art: Front
[3:10] 1. Feelin' Good
[6:05] 2. So Glad You're Gone
[4:16] 3. What Are You Waiting For
[3:31] 4. Table For One
[3:10] 5. Young Man With The Blues
[3:48] 6. Everybody Has Someone But Me
[4:53] 7. These Lonely Blues
[4:28] 8. Precious Time
[5:11] 9. Lost And Found
[3:30] 10. Shake It And Swing
[6:17] 11. Lost Love
[4:18] 12. Drawers
Gary Sellers wasn't born with a guitar in his hand, but you'd never know it. His smooth riffs and heartfelt licks drip with emotion that pours straight from his soul to his fingers.
While he always loved music, it wasn't until Gary turned 17 that he picked up a guitar. Soon after, he discovered the Long Island blues scene. Gary frequented local clubs with his black-and-white marble notebook in hand, always jotting down song ideas and things he'd learned from watching the different bands play. The "boy with the book" caught the eye of Long Island Blues legend Sam Taylor, who would eventually become his mentor.
He followed the Sam Taylor Band closely before signing on as its regular guitarist and adding his soulful voice on background vocals. Taylor guided his growth as a musician and even helped him to craft a few of the tunes on his debut album, "Young Man with the Blues."
While he always loved music, it wasn't until Gary turned 17 that he picked up a guitar. Soon after, he discovered the Long Island blues scene. Gary frequented local clubs with his black-and-white marble notebook in hand, always jotting down song ideas and things he'd learned from watching the different bands play. The "boy with the book" caught the eye of Long Island Blues legend Sam Taylor, who would eventually become his mentor.
He followed the Sam Taylor Band closely before signing on as its regular guitarist and adding his soulful voice on background vocals. Taylor guided his growth as a musician and even helped him to craft a few of the tunes on his debut album, "Young Man with the Blues."
Young Man With The Blues
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 50:23
Size: 115.4 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 2010
Art: Front
[4:11] 1. Chewin' Ice
[4:05] 2. Living For The City
[4:08] 3. Done Sold Everything
[5:26] 4. Sideshow Blues
[6:03] 5. It Don't Hurt No More
[3:57] 6. Slow And Steady
[5:40] 7. Beer Drinking Woman
[6:51] 8. Let's Straighten It Out
[5:42] 9. That Did It
[4:16] 10. Dark End Of The Street
Blues artists on today’s scene often walk a fine line with their music between keeping things traditional, satisfying long-time fans of the genre, and spicing things up with some new and inventive playing, giving fans from other genres something to grab onto and enjoy. While some artists may attempt to stretch beyond the traditional blues forms, harmonies and melodic material and fail, others are able to find just the right mix of new and old to take their music to the next level, while appealing to a much broader audience at the same time. The blues artists who can do this, and play at a level that impresses their fellow bluesmen and instrumentalists are truly rare in today’s day and age, but they do exist. Guitarist Gary Sellers is one such musician who can mix classic blues sounds with influences from other genres, while keeping his playing at the highest level and his album Soul Apparatus is a showcase for his high level of musicianship and ability to fully engage an audience with his music.
One can hear Sellers’ fresh approach to the Blues right from the intro solo on the album’s first track, “Chewin’”. Here, the guitarist kicks off the tune with some tasty minor blues licks, pretty standard fare for a song of this style, but, right at the end of the solo he kicks in a sweet major blues lick, taking advantage of mixing the minor blues scale with the major triad, causing the line to jump out of the speakers and grab the listener by the ears, then holding them firmly until the song is over. The track “Living for the City” also showcases the guitarist’s penchant for finding the right “outside” notes, raising the intensity of solos while providing ear candy for his audience at the same time. In this instance, Sellers again begins his solo in the blues vein, though he mixes in some tasty jazz-like phrases as well. Then, just when the audience thinks they now what’s coming next, he breaks out an ascending lick featuring double-chromatic approach tones, borrowing a page from the bebop jazz book and showcasing his musical versatility at the same time. It is moments like these that raise the album above the crowded modern Blues scene and allow it to stand on its own, while maintaining one foot firmly planted in the tradition at the same time.
Sellers also stretches beyond the traditional Blues vocabulary with the grooves and feels that he chooses for some of his songs. Tracks such as “Dark End of the Street” feature a killer reggae feel that not only fits perfectly with on a Blues album, but it also begs the question, “Why don’t other Blues players experiment with this type of groove more often?” Other songs such as “Don’t Say No” are presented in a more traditional Blues vibe, but with Sellers there is always a twist and his use of jazz harmonies and melodic movement during the song again act as creative catalysts, raising the band’s performance to new and exciting levels of interest. By exploring new harmonic, melodic and rhythmic territory in his playing, while keeping enough classic Blues to satisfy veteran listeners, Sellers successfully walks the line between old and new, providing an engaging and satisfying listening experience to listener’s from all walks of life and musical tastes. At the same time, his playing is absolutely first rate, giving guitarists and Blues aficionados plenty of tasty licks and chord work to enjoy. Soul Apparatus is a great album by a great musician, definitely one of the most interesting Blues records in recent memory. ~Matthew Warnock
One can hear Sellers’ fresh approach to the Blues right from the intro solo on the album’s first track, “Chewin’”. Here, the guitarist kicks off the tune with some tasty minor blues licks, pretty standard fare for a song of this style, but, right at the end of the solo he kicks in a sweet major blues lick, taking advantage of mixing the minor blues scale with the major triad, causing the line to jump out of the speakers and grab the listener by the ears, then holding them firmly until the song is over. The track “Living for the City” also showcases the guitarist’s penchant for finding the right “outside” notes, raising the intensity of solos while providing ear candy for his audience at the same time. In this instance, Sellers again begins his solo in the blues vein, though he mixes in some tasty jazz-like phrases as well. Then, just when the audience thinks they now what’s coming next, he breaks out an ascending lick featuring double-chromatic approach tones, borrowing a page from the bebop jazz book and showcasing his musical versatility at the same time. It is moments like these that raise the album above the crowded modern Blues scene and allow it to stand on its own, while maintaining one foot firmly planted in the tradition at the same time.
Sellers also stretches beyond the traditional Blues vocabulary with the grooves and feels that he chooses for some of his songs. Tracks such as “Dark End of the Street” feature a killer reggae feel that not only fits perfectly with on a Blues album, but it also begs the question, “Why don’t other Blues players experiment with this type of groove more often?” Other songs such as “Don’t Say No” are presented in a more traditional Blues vibe, but with Sellers there is always a twist and his use of jazz harmonies and melodic movement during the song again act as creative catalysts, raising the band’s performance to new and exciting levels of interest. By exploring new harmonic, melodic and rhythmic territory in his playing, while keeping enough classic Blues to satisfy veteran listeners, Sellers successfully walks the line between old and new, providing an engaging and satisfying listening experience to listener’s from all walks of life and musical tastes. At the same time, his playing is absolutely first rate, giving guitarists and Blues aficionados plenty of tasty licks and chord work to enjoy. Soul Apparatus is a great album by a great musician, definitely one of the most interesting Blues records in recent memory. ~Matthew Warnock
Soul Apparatus