Elliott Sharp's Terraplane - Blue Edge

Size: 296.8 MB
Time: 127:10
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2023
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Oily Blues (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) ( 5:56)
02. Skrambled ( 4:52)
03. Soul Perdu ( 7:34)
04. Know Nobody No ( 5:51)
05. Down Up ( 1:15)
06. Exit Blues ( 4:29)
07. Stop Stop Stop (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) ( 5:38)
08. Train Again ( 2:51)
09. Edifice Wrecks ( 6:40)
10. Crackerbox Life ( 5:59)
11. Minor Steel ( 3:10)
12. Taking Leave (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) ( 6:13)
13. Falling Off The Edge Of The World ( 3:59)
14. Just Don't ( 6:17)
15. Clandestination ( 4:31)
16. Null Path ( 1:37)
17. Kings Three ( 2:47)
18. Eviction Notice ( 9:46)
19. Canis Major ( 2:53)
20. Crime Prime ( 3:23)
21. Crackerville Double ( 4:48)
22. Quandary ( 5:28)
23. Drift ( 4:50)
24. L8R Babe ( 5:28)
25. State Of Blue (10:41)

Personnel:
Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone – Sam Furnace
Drums – Sim Cain (1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 14, 17, 19, 22, 24)
Drums - Lance Carter (2, 4, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 21, 23, 25)
Electric Basses, Acoustic Basses – David Hofstra
Electric Guitar – Hubert Sumlin (1, 7, 12, 23)
Electric Guitars, Lap Steel Guitar, Twelve-String Guitar, Baritone
Guitar, Tenor Saxophone, Harmonica, Electronics – Elliott Sharp
Piano – Anthony Coleman (6)
Trombone - Curtis Fowlkes
Vocals – Dean Bowman, Eric Mingus, Tracie Morris

Blue Edge collects 25 remastered and remixed versions of Terraplane tracks from 2004-2006 that appeared on the albums Do The Don't and Secret Life as well as in scores for theatrical works. Legendary iconic guitarist Hubert Sumlin is featured on a number of songs and vocalists include Tracie Morris, Eric Mingus, and Dean Bowman.

Elliott Sharp's Terraplane is back to follow up their fantastic Blues for Next, switching from the now defunct Knitting Factory to Gaff Music. While Blues for Next had them really expanding on the sound offered up on Terraplane, their fairly straight blues debut, Do the Don't has them distilling all the elements that made Blues for Next such a success into a sharply focused (pun intended) future blues that actually has stronger ties to the raw eclectic blues of the '50s and '60s than just about any other blues album recorded in the last 20 years. While the last album had one disc devoted to the guest artists and one disc more devoted to expanding the blues tradition in new ways, Do the Don't succeeds in integrating the two approaches in a remarkably organic way. There's no doubt that these are deep blues tunes that are fully imbued with everything that would mean to even a casual blues listener; it's a feeling you can't deny. On the other hand, there are sounds on this album that have probably never been heard on a blues album before, and the band pulls it all off without a hitch. Sam Furnace, mostly on baritone sax, sounds fantastic here, in what were among his final recording sessions. As a rhythm section, Dave Hofstra and Sim Cain are right in the pocket, and while Cain comes on like Drumbo on "Oil Blues," he also knows when to lay behind the beat for a real blues feel. Eric Mingus and Dean Bowman are both excellent vocalists, and along with Sharp, supply bluesy lyrics that never rely on standard blues clichés. Of course, the real star is Sharp's guitar playing. He's got a range of the nastiest guitar tones imaginable, and his guitar cries, screams, and growls with abandon. His solos are reckless and dizzying at times, but never lose the feeling of the blues, which is quite an accomplishment considering some folks will be scratching their heads trying to figure out how he's doing what he's doing. There are also some tasty production details in the mix: the swirl of tremolo guitars in the background of "Lost Souls" and "Stop That Thing," the judiciously used triggers in Cain's hybrid kit on "Life in a Crackerbox," and the programmed rhythm of "In the Drift." "Lost Souls" is also notable for its work-song like chorus and wailing lap steel from Sharp. In fact, just about every track has a jaw dropping guitar solo, whether it's electric, acoustic, or lap steel. Do the Don't is modern, contemporary electric blues that never forgets the grit and grease of the men who pioneered it, and that totally eschews the sheen and safe blues licks of so many contemporary blues albums. This is the real deal, played by men who really understand what real blues is all about. Maybe that's why a blues guitar god like Hubert Sumlin has been sitting in with these guys for years, and not with blues posers like Jonny Lang or Keb' Mo'. Highly Recommended. ~Sean Westergaard

Blue Edge MP3
Blue Edge FLAC

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Elliott Sharp's Terraplane - Century

Size: 123.7 MB
Time: 52:56
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2021
Styles: Electric Blues, Psychedelic Blues
Art: Front

01. Tol' Mah Capn (3:31)
02. Toppling Statues (4:43)
03. Stan' Boys Stan' (4:12)
04. Exit Strategy (Feat. Hubert Sumlin) (5:19)
05. Went To Atlanta (4:21)
06. Whip And Trigger (4:08)
07. Tulsa '21 (6:57)
08. How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live? (3:51)
09. The Murder Of Elijah Mcclain (5:31)
10. Money Man (4:59)
11. Whatcha Gonna Do (5:20)

At the root of these songs and the anthology that compiled them among others, are the twins of joy and despair, resolute hope and the depths of epigenetic loss. They are aesthetic meditations on individual and collective despair as well as the indomitable spirit of humanity. The results of this alchemy of profound feeling are poetry and sounds that shake the world and right it. It is this extraordinary sense of being, this legacy that we honor with these creative offerings. — Tracie Morris

The songs are a century old,but the sentiment,ideas and content are surprisingly (unfortunately) contemporary. Albeit spoken in antique language style.... the songs put on glaring display.... just how little we have advanced in race relations. A century ago the authors of these words were speaking their truths about the tribulations they faced, although those tribulations have mutated with time and new technology.... they are present as ever! The relevance of these tunes... including the use of the N word...are on point as ever! Sharply descriptive, poetic and timeless, these words still cut deep in the souls of American culture to this very moment in time. –– Mikel Banks

At the heart of Terraplane is the blues. A music in itself that is political. Created by folks whose mere existence is a political statement. Elliott takes that tradition and runs with it head on and we the band members march side by side with him. It's heartwarming how our audiences have responded to our grooves and political statements, it is terrifying that we still have to sing them as it seems America has a hard time shaking free from it's checkered past. We play on until the change comes. – Eric Mingus

This latest Terraplane album, "Century", found its genesis in a 2020 radio-play for the Bavarian Radio in Munich commemorating the 100th anniversary of the book Negro, a collection of African-American writings, poems, and song lyrics edited by shipping heiress Nancy Cunard. The book is a collection of African-American writings, poems, and song lyrics. This volume, controversial as it was at its inception, introduced African-American literature and culture from the likes of Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, and Zora Neale Hurston to the unknowing white world. Beginning with a commission to write five songs based on the uncompromising and blistering texts found in the book, the project expanded. These texts took an unflinching look at life in post-Reconstruction post-WWI America with lynchings, beatings, and blatant racist discrimination the norm, and displayed courageous defiance and clear-headed analysis, often in guttural and graphic terms. The "n-word" was in common usage and is indeed found in some of these lyrics. A century later, how much has changed?

As a son of a Holocaust survivor raised on the necessity of confronting racism in all its forms, I was unsure of how to proceed. With the encouragement, discussion, and collaboration of Tracie Morris and Mikel Banks, songs were written and recorded based on the old texts with new music to bring them to date. "Tol' Mah Capn", "Whip & Trigger", "Stan Boys Stan", "Goin To Atlanta" all frame their anger in a world-weary and slyly humorous stance. New songs as well were composed with Eric Mingus that comment on the state of things, pointed, but without falling into polemic: "Toppling Statues" is as direct as can be. The album continues with the instrumental memorials "Tulsa '21" and "The Murder of Elijah McClain" - grim reminders of a terrible past that is still very much present. Elijah McClain was a musician and his story resonated deeply with me but his is not the only one: there are far too many of late: their names, their names. The set is rounded out with a century-old song of continual relevance, Blind Alfred Reed's classic, "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?" and a new song, "Exit Strategy", that came out of a deep dive into an old hard drive. Lost guitar parts by the legendary Hubert Sumlin surfaced: obbligati to a track never completed for Terraplane's 2011 album "Sky Road Songs", now ready to go. –– Elliott Sharp, NYC June 2021

Century MP3
Century FLAC

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Elliott Sharp’s Terraplane - Kick It Six

Size: 103,8 MB
Time: 44:55
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Styles: Electric Blues, Blues Rock
Art: Front

01. Freq Wave (4:18)
02. Enceladus Wobble (5:55)
03. Zebedee (5:12)
04. Slant Six (4:50)
05. Denali (5:15)
06. Katabasis (5:39)
07. Launch Code Blues (4:30)
08. A Conspiracy Of Ravens (9:12)

Kick It Six is a guitar album. While this might not be surprising given that Terraplane is Elliott Sharp's contemporary blues band, what might be unexpected is the range of guitar sounds that may be heard here, all in the service of deep emotional commitment to the music. Known for pushing the limits of guitar with an approach that encompasses both a unique vision and ferocious technique, in Kick It Six, E# puts into practice his adage: "If you keep one foot in the future and one in the past, it puts your ass right in the present". "Kick It Six" takes its' title from Blind Willie McTell's exhortations to himself when featuring his own guitar solos. It's an apt turn for putting the guitar in the spotlight. The track "Zebedee" is a tribute to another guitar legend, Earl Zebedee Hooker, a Chicago blues session guitarist of great virtuosity whose licks enlivened the music of Muddy Waters and so many more (not to mention being stolen by Led Zeppelin!) Sharp also tips his hat to many other greats, whether explicitly or in passing: both Albert and BB King, Jimi Hendrix, Hubert Sumlin, Albert Collins, Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Sharrock, and John McLaughlin. The grooves on "Kick It Six" range from traditional shuffles to glitch-processed hyperfunk but the music is always rooted in the blues.

Kick It Six

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Floyd Lee - Blues On 30th Street (Feat. Elliott Sharp & Kenny Aaronson)

Size: 101,6 MB
Time: 43:42
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2016
Styles: Blues
Art: Front

01. She Got The Nerve (4:02)
02. Going Up (3:39)
03. Bright Lights Big City (3:24)
04. Crack Alley Blues (4:07)
05. Bullfrog Blues (3:00)
06. Blues In New York City (6:22)
07. Insurance Blues (1:33)
08. Come Back Baby (5:21)
09. I'll Be There (2:30)
10. Nobody Nobody (5:23)
11. Better Luck (4:16)

Born in August 1933 and given away by his mother when only a few months old, Floyd spent the first 10 years of his life growing up in Lamar Mississippi near Holly Springs. During the summer, he would often hear his adopted father sing blues songs while working in the cotton fields. Going to school in Memphis during the winter months living in a house located in Webbs Alley, Floyd would sneak out at night to watch his father, who was known in the local blues scene as Guitar Floyd, perform with other bluesmen such as young Guitar Slim.

Inspired by his father he would play his guitar when he wasn't looking. He remembers the guitar neck being too big for his hands. "Back in Mississippi, I remember a bluesman that would go from house to house, selling his 78 and would let you listen to it on a wind-up victrola, which he would carry with him. You'd hold up a tin can to your ear that he had hooked up to it and you could hear what he recorded. I don't remember his name." Floyd also recalls, "In Memphis my school was right on Beale Street. There was a park close to the school with a piano in it and there would always be this guy playing it. I would go watch him as much as I could. Then I'd also go down to the New Daisy (movie theatre) and me and my cousins would sneak in the side door."

Floyd left the South early on, put on a bus at the age of ten and sent on his own, with a sign around his neck that simply read "Chicago". Staying with relatives briefly, "right up there under the L train", he earned a living by shining shoes on 43rd and Indiana. "I was always a working man." He spent some time in Flint Michigan before moving on to Cleveland Ohio in 1947.

One of his early memories of living in Cleveland was winning a contest by selling the most newspapers (Cleveland Plain Dealer) to be a batboy for the Cleveland Indians for two weeks. "They won the world series that year. That was 1948. I still remember the lineup."

Floyd sang in the church choir where his talents as a singer were recognized. The preacher thought so highly of him that he gave Floyd his first guitar (a Gibson T125 electric with one pick up in the middle). Floyd converted the pulpit's PA system into a portable amplifier by hooking it up to a battery. This allowed him to play anywhere outdoors where electricity wasn't available. This was quite a novelty in the 1950's.

Cutting his teeth on Nat King Cole songs and later moving into Jimmy Reed material, Floyd made a name for himself around town as a singer and a guitar player at various gigs and rent parties using his portable system. Word got around, eventually landing him some regular gigs with Jimmy Reed, sitting in for Eddie Taylor when he couldn't make it (Eddie was Jimmy's main sideman). One of the more prestigious gigs was a show that included Stevie Wonder, The Supremes along with Jimmy Reed on the bill. "Jimmy would swing by the house and pick me up." While living in Columbus one memorable gig was opening for Wilson Pickett at the Club Regal.

Floyd moved to New York in the early seventies finding work in Spring Valley, eventually settling down in Harlem. Working for twenty-seven years as a doorman at the Normandy Apartments (86th & Riverside Dr.), Floyd continued to play the blues whenever he could and has made himself known around New York City as a true blues original. Floyd Lee has been there and done that. Retiring a few years back, he has been pushing himself harder than ever in keeping the blues alive. He is a self-driven bluesman who follows his own path. He has a distinct style all his own. Known locally as the "King of Harlem" or "Mississippi Delta Blues" or simply "Bluesman", Floyd has played constantly in NYC for the past 30 some years. He was a founding member of the Music Under New York program in the mid 1980's and has performed at such events as NYC Mayor Dinkins Inauguration and entertained visiting dignitaries such as Nelson Mandela. Yet for all these years keeping a low profile... until now when Floyd is ready to take on the world.

MC
Ziddu

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Elliott Sharp's Terraplane - Yellowman: A Play By Dael Orlandersmith (Original Score)

Size: 108,8 MB
Time: 46:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Soundtrack, Blues
Art: Front

01. Alma Speaks (2:59)
02. Odelia's Blues (2:35)
03. Lightskin Man (1:19)
04. Jungle Kids (2:17)
05. She's Changing (0:54)
06. High Yaller Party (2:53)
07. Really Touch Her (2:24)
08. Workin' At The Mill (1:46)
09. Blood Kin (2:56)
10. Alma's Train (3:26)
11. Drinkin' (3:52)
12. Country To City (2:06)
13. Things Lookin' Up (0:58)
14. Eugene's Train (2:52)
15. A Death (3:02)
16. Vicious (5:24)
17. Fight (1:47)
18. Listen And Watch (2:52)

For "Yellowman", the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by Dael Orlandersmith, Elliott Sharp composed an evocative score that resonates with the play's Southern locale in the 1960's and '70's, drawing both on country and urban blues. The music is performed by E# on solo acoustic guitar and on electric guitar with his band Terraplane (Sim Cain on drums and Dave Hofstra on acoustic and electric bass.) Ranging from introspective acoustic abstractions based on the stylings of Robert Pete Williams, Skip James, and Bukka White to raging electric blues inspired by Elmore James, Muddy Waters, and Albert King, Music For Yellowman is both rootsy traditional and completely contemporary.

Yellowman

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Elliott Sharp's Terraplane - Do The Don't / Secret Life

Album: Do The Don't (Feat. Hubert Sumlin)
Size: 130,7 MB
Time: 56:44
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2004
Styles: Modern Electric Blues, Contemporary Blues
Art: Front & Back

01. Life In A Crackerbox (6:01)
02. Lost Souls (7:30)
03. Stop That Thing (5:44)
04. Skramble (4:54)
05. Oil Blues (5:59)
06. Blues In The Middle (5:31)
07. Please Don't (6:21)
08. L8R On (5:30)
09. In The Drift (5:09)
10. Falling (4:00)

Elliott Sharp's Terraplane is back to follow up their fantastic Blues for Next, switching from the now defunct Knitting Factory to Gaff Music. While Blues for Next had them really expanding on the sound offered up on Terraplane, their fairly straight blues debut, Do the Don't has them distilling all the elements that made Blues for Next such a success into a sharply focused (pun intended) future blues that actually has stronger ties to the raw eclectic blues of the '50s and '60s than just about any other blues album recorded in the last 20 years. While the last album had one disc devoted to the guest artists and one disc more devoted to expanding the blues tradition in new ways, Do the Don't succeeds in integrating the two approaches in a remarkably organic way. There's no doubt that these are deep blues tunes that are fully imbued with everything that would mean to even a casual blues listener; it's a feeling you can't deny. On the other hand, there are sounds on this album that have probably never been heard on a blues album before, and the band pulls it all off without a hitch. Sam Furnace, mostly on baritone sax, sounds fantastic here, in what were among his final recording sessions. As a rhythm section, Dave Hofstra and Sim Cain are right in the pocket, and while Cain comes on like Drumbo on "Oil Blues," he also knows when to lay behind the beat for a real blues feel. Eric Mingus and Dean Bowman are both excellent vocalists, and along with Sharp, supply bluesy lyrics that never rely on standard blues clichés. Of course, the real star is Sharp's guitar playing. He's got a range of the nastiest guitar tones imaginable, and his guitar cries, screams, and growls with abandon. His solos are reckless and dizzying at times, but never lose the feeling of the blues, which is quite an accomplishment considering some folks will be scratching their heads trying to figure out how he's doing what he's doing. There are also some tasty production details in the mix: the swirl of tremolo guitars in the background of "Lost Souls" and "Stop That Thing," the judiciously used triggers in Cain's hybrid kit on "Life in a Crackerbox," and the programmed rhythm of "In the Drift." "Lost Souls" is also notable for its work-song like chorus and wailing lap steel from Sharp. In fact, just about every track has a jaw dropping guitar solo, whether it's electric, acoustic, or lap steel. Do the Don't is modern, contemporary electric blues that never forgets the grit and grease of the men who pioneered it, and that totally eschews the sheen and safe blues licks of so many contemporary blues albums. This is the real deal, played by men who really understand what real blues is all about. Maybe that's why a blues guitar god like Hubert Sumlin has been sitting in with these guys for years, and not with blues posers like Jonny Lang or Keb' Mo'. Highly Recommended. ~Review by Sean Westergaard

Thanks to Marc.
Do The Don't

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Album: Secret Life (Feat. Hubert Sumlin)
Size: 146,3 MB
Time: 63:36
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2005
Styles: Modern Electric Blues, Contemporary Blues
Art: Front & Back

01. Highway Null ( 1:38)
02. Clandestiny ( 4:33)
03. Take My Leave ( 6:15)
04. Nobody Know ( 5:52)
05. Blue State (10:42)
06. USA Out Of NYC! ( 9:48)
07. Prime Crime ( 3:26)
08. Crackertown Two-Step ( 4:51)
09. They Say We Is ( 8:26)
10. Edifice Wrecked ( 6:44)
11. On Down ( 1:16)

Few others besides avant-garde composer/instrumentalist Elliott Sharp could record a collection of blues songs and make them sound like a new genre altogether, a sort of blues/folk/jazz/new age sound with droning keyboards, slinky reverbed vocals, sinuous guitar parts, and angstful horns. The album is by turns haunting, sexy, volatile, and soothing.

Thanks to Marc.
Secret Life

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