King Louie, Baby James - Live At The Waterfront Park Blues Festival

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 36:20
Size: 83.2 MB
Styles: Blues-Funk
Year: 2005
Art: Front

[2:06] 1. Big Kira
[6:11] 2. Jack Rabbit
[5:25] 3. Georgia On My Mind
[4:30] 4. I Don't Want No Woman
[5:32] 5. All I Want To Do
[4:37] 6. Sister Sanctified
[4:12] 7. Help Me Make It Through The Night
[3:45] 8. I Want A Little Girl

Sweet Baby James has been called, "A human landmark of Portland jazz," by Willamette Week, and organist Louis Pain has been dubbed, "Portland's boss of the B-3" by The Oregonian. So it's not surprising that ever since these two joined forces as King Louie & Baby James, there's been plenty of buzz--particularly considering the musicians they chose to fill out the group. Those include NW standouts Renato Caranto on sax, Micah Kassell on drums, and guitarist Peter Dammann. Following their third gig together--an incendiary set at the 2005 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival captured on their first CD--The Oregonian's Marty Hughley called King Louie & Baby James, "stellar...top shelf...exemplary." And Cascade Blues Association president Greg Johnson said that performance, "definitely falls in with the best of the festival's celebrated history."

Since that gig, the band has brought the house down year after year at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, as well as at the other top events and venues in the area, including the Mt Hood Jazz Festival, the PDX Jazz Festival, the Bite Of Oregon, and the region's top jazz/blues club, Jimmy Mak's. A performance at the latter venue was captured on the band's second CD, "Around the World," which again received critical raves.

The members of King Louie & Baby James play in other bands, but all of them, including Sweet Baby James, rate KL & BJ as their favorite group. When they get together, it's simply magic!

Live At The Waterfront Park Blues Festival mc
Live At The Waterfront Park Blues Festival zippy

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King Louie & Baby James - Around The World: Live At Jimmy Mak's

Size: 133,8 MB
Time: 57:11
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2008
Styles: Blues Jazz
Art: Front

01. Introduction (Live) ( 0:14)
02. Mood Indigo (Live) ( 5:28)
03. Lou's Blues (Live) ( 4:24)
04. Slow Blues In G (Live) (10:49)
05. The Body (Live) ( 3:15)
06. Big Fat Mama (Live) ( 2:51)
07. Around The World (Live) ( 3:38)
08. Cissy Strut (Live) ( 4:27)
09. Until The Real Thing Comes Along (Live) ( 6:08)
10. Straighten Up And Fly Right (Live) ( 3:58)
11. It Had To Be You (Live) ( 4:35)
12. You Are So Beautiful/Big Fat Mama (Reprise) (Live) ( 7:18)

The live recording of “King Louie & Baby James” (organist Louis Pain and singer Sweet Baby James Benton) is a rollicking good time.

Benton is one of the last links—and surely the most visible—to Portland's jazz heritage. He was also the “proprietor” of a garage-turned-jazz-salon in his backyard, where the top players in town and those coming through town would meet. “The music went all day, every day,” he said with a chuckle, “and you could always eat.”

That is precisely the spirit captured on this recording.

Pain—part of Mel Brown's B-3 Organ Group, and for years Paul deLay's keyboardist/arranger—has one foot in jazz and one in the blues, exactly the tradition from which Benton springs. Add guitarist Eddie Martinez and tenor saxophonist Renato Caranto, plus drummer Micah Kassell, and you've got a delightful mix of virtuosity and deep soul.

In his 78th year, Benton is the star. He might not have the vocal chops he had 30 years ago, but the delight he takes at still being in front of an audience is obvious, as is the freedom to say pretty much what he wants.

The tunes are warhorses, old shoes the band wears comfortably. On the instrumentals, Caranto, Pain and Martinez have never sounded better.

It's hard to leave this album without a smile on your face.

Around The World

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King Louie & LaRhonda Steele - Rock Me Baby

Size: 113,1 MB
Time: 48:12
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Blues, Jazz, Soul
Art: Front

01. Twenty Nine Ways (3:47)
02. It's Your Thing (3:48)
03. Rock Me Baby (4:30)
04. Phenomenal Woman (4:46)
05. I Love You More Today Than Yesterday (5:13)
06. What A Difference A Day Makes (4:22)
07. For You My Love (4:20)
08. Walking The Dog (3:16)
09. You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman (6:22)
10. I Wish (4:46)
11. Blue Moon (2:56)

Louis "King Louie" Pain and LaRhonda Steele are popular and critically acclaimed Northwest artists who have worked together numerous times over the years, but this is the first time they've teamed up for a recording. The result is something very special: a deeply funky and soulful CD, dedicated to two phenomenal women: the late great Linda Hornbuckle and Janice Scroggins. The CD is already receiving regular airplay in Portland, San Francisco, and NYC, and rave reviews are beginning to appear in prestigious music magazines world-wide.

"Rock Me Baby" features a fresh, stripped down, spontaneous sound that sets it apart from other contemporary blues, jazz, and soul CDs. What makes the approach work is the talent & soul of the performers. Pain has been dubbed, “Portland’s boss of the B-3” by The Oregonian. He toured & recorded with the late Evidence Records bluesman Paul deLay for a decade, and he’s worked with such internationally known artists as Solomon Burke, Howard Tate, Bo Diddley, Bernard Purdie, and Martha Reeves, as well as with a “who’s who” of Portland-based blues, jazz, & soul artists. Pain has performed innumerable times at Portland’s top blues & jazz club, Jimmy Mak’s, including 17 years and counting with legendary drummer Mel Brown on Thursday nights.

Steele began her musical journey in Jones, Oklahoma, singing her first solo in church at age 13. Since moving to Portland, she’s worked with most of the top local artists, including the late Obo Addy, with whom LaRhonda performed at Lincoln Center. LaRhonda is a cancer survivor who has emerged from her successful battle with the disease a remarkably powerful and joyous performer. As she puts it, “I’ve been through the fire.”

Guest saxophonist Renato Caranto is arguably the best in the NW. He’s worked with many of the same local artists as Pain and Steele, toured in 2014 with Grammy-winning Esperanza Spalding, and is currently touring with country legend Merle Haggard.

Original Blues Brothers frontman Rob Paparozzi flipped when he heard "Rock Me Baby," and he, Pain, and Steele are tentatively planning a series of European gigs together in the summer of 2016.

Rock Me Baby

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