Johnny Heartsman - Sacramento

Year: 1987
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 43:13
Size: 99,6 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Scans: Front, sleeve, tray

1. It Takes One To Know One (4:04)
2. Garbage Can Woman (3:46)
3. Poor Me (3:51)
4. Silky Pete (4:28)
5. Train, Train Blues (4:05)
6. Sweet Frisco Blues (4:12)
7. Worried About My Baby (4:15)
8. Crying Guitar Blues (5:15)
9. Put The Finger In It (3:21)
10. It Must Be Love (2:44)
11. Griff (3:09)

Shaven-headed Johnny Heartsman did so many musical things so well that he's impossible to pigeonhole. His low-moaning lead guitar work greatly distinguished a myriad of Bay Area blues recordings during the '50s and '60s, and still played his axe with delicious dexterity and dynamics into the '90s. But Heartsman was just as likely to cut loose on organ or blow a titillating solo on flute (perhaps the unlikeliest blues instrument imaginable). He possessed a mellow, richly burnished voice to boot.

Through one of his principal influences, guitarist Lafayette "Thing" Thomas, a teenaged Heartsman hooked up with Bay Area producer Bob Geddins. Heartsman played bass on Jimmy Wilson's 1953 rendition of "Tin Pan Alley," handling guitar or piano at other Geddins-supervised dates. He cut his own two-part instrumental, the "Honky Tonk"-inspired "Johnny's House Party," for Ray Dobard's Music City imprint and watched it become a national R&B hit in 1957.

The early '60s brought a lot more session work - Heartsman played on Tiny Powell's "My Time After Awhile" (soon covered by Buddy Guy) and Al King's remake of Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby." By then, Heartsman's imaginative twiddling of the volume knob with his finger to produce an eerie moan had become his guitaristic trademark.

Stints in show bands, jazzy cocktail lounge gigs, and a stand as soul singer Joe Simon's trusty organist came prior to the inauguration of Heartsman's edifying back-to-the-blues campaign. In 1991, Dick Shurman produced Heartsman's most satisfying set to date for Alligator, The Touch. He remained a versatile performer until is death in December of 1996. /Biography by Bill Dahl, AllMusic

Sacramento mc
Sacramento gofile

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Various - Rare West Coast Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:45
Size: 171.1 MB
Styles: West Coast blues
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:33] 1. Janiva Magness - You Got What You Wanted
[2:42] 2. Johnny Otis - Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee
[3:57] 3. Joe Louis Walker - Too Drunk To Drive Drunk
[5:25] 4. Johnny Heartsman -Tongue
[2:53] 5. Chuck E. Weiss - Goodbye, So Long
[5:26] 6. The Robert Cray Band - Back Door Slam
[4:19] 7. Curtis Salgado - A Woman Or The Blues
[4:59] 8. Floyd Dixon - Livin' A Lie (Weak For A Woman)
[4:07] 9. Little Charlie & The Nightcats - Clothes Line
[3:19] 10. Rusty Zinn - Meet Me Halfway
[2:47] 11. Little Charlie & The Nightcats - Back From The Dead
[2:25] 12. Roomful Of Blues - I Can't Stand You No More
[3:48] 13. Norton Buffalo And Roy Rogers - Don't Throw Your Changes On Me
[7:01] 14. William Clarke - Must Be Jelly
[4:13] 15. Johnny Otis - Half Steppin' Woman
[2:50] 16. Janiva Magness - Your Love Made A U-Turn
[5:22] 17. Joe Louis Walker - Black Girls
[5:29] 18. The Robert Cray Band - That's What Keeps Me Rockin'

More piano-based and jazz-influenced than anything else, West Coast Blues is -- in actuality -- the California style, with all of the genre's main practitioners coming to prominence there, if not actual natives of the state in particular. In fact, the state and the style played host to a great many post-war Texas guitar expatriates, and their jazzy, T-Bone Walker style of soloing would become an earmark of the genre. West Coast blues also features smooth, honey-toned vocals, frequently crossing into urban blues territory. The West Coast style was also home to numerous jump-blues practitioners, as many traveling bands of the 1940s ended up taking permanent residence there. Its current practitioners work almost exclusively in the standard small-combo format.

Rare West Coast Blues mc
Rare West Coast Blues zippy

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Various - Horn Band Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 98:38
Size: 225.8 MB
Styles: Assorted styles
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[1:39] 1. Corey Harris - Congo Square Rag
[3:12] 2. Big Twist & The Mellow Fellows - Pouring Water On A Drowning Man
[3:17] 3. Buddy Guy - I Can't Quit The Blues
[3:07] 4. Clarence Gatemouth Brown - She Walks Right In
[3:18] 5. Fenton Robinson - You Say You're Leaving
[3:43] 6. Lucky Peterson - Jammin' In The Jungle
[4:29] 7. Roomful Of Blues - You're Driving Me Crazy
[3:22] 8. Rufus Thomas - I Just Got To Know
[3:34] 9. Albert Collins - Snatchin' It Back
[4:52] 10. Bob Margolin - Lonesome Bedroom Blues
[4:32] 11. Clarence Gatemouth Brown - - Never Unpack Your Suitcase
[5:31] 12. Curtis Salgado - Gettin' To Know You
[2:24] 13. Nappy Brown With The Heartfixers - Hidden Charms
[8:12] 14. Big Twist & The Mellow Fellows - Steamroller Blues
[3:56] 15. Elvin Bishop - I'm Gone
[5:39] 16. Johnny Heartsman - Please Don't Be Scared Of My Love
[4:42] 17. Kenny Neal - Outside Looking In
[3:10] 18. Lucky Peterson - - Heart Attack
[2:55] 19. W.C. Clark - I've Been Searching
[5:18] 20. Lonnie Brooks - Alligators Around My Door
[4:25] 21. The Mellow Fellows - I've Got To Find A Way
[4:14] 22. Albert Collins - A Good Fool Is Hard To Find
[3:07] 23. Roomful Of Blues - Ain't Nothin' Happenin'
[5:47] 24. Rufus Thomas - Big Fine Hunk Of Woman

In the argot of American popular music, the word "horn" is used for any wind instrument, most often the saxophone, but it is also applied to all woodwinds and brasses, especially those played by soloists. In this context "horn section" refers to a group of wind and brass instrumentalists — usually comprising saxophone, trumpet and trombone players; sometime singularly, and sometimes in pairs or more of each instrument. The horn section usually has written parts which are prepared by an arranger using orchestration to provide a harmonic and melodic accompaniment to a song or musical group. In some cases, the horn section may improvise a simple backing part using well-known "stock" lines.

Horn sections are an integral part of musical genres such as jazz, R&B, blues, funk, calypso, ska, soul music and gospel music. Most of these horn sections feature some combination of saxophones, trumpets and trombones. More rarely, other wind or brass instruments such as flute, clarinet or tuba may be added. Other popular musical genres, such as rock and pop, also use horn sections.

Horn Band Blues mc
Horn Band Blues zippy

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Johnny Heartsman - The Touch

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 56:39
Size: 129.7 MB
Styles: Modern electric blues
Year: 1991
Art: Front

[3:58] 1. Serpent's Touch
[3:45] 2. Paint My Mailbox Blue
[4:24] 3. You're So Fine
[5:24] 4. Tongue
[2:51] 5. Attitude
[3:05] 6. Got To Find My Baby
[3:05] 7. The Butler Did It
[5:36] 8. Please Don't Be Scared Of My Love
[2:44] 9. Oops
[3:45] 10. Walkin' Blues
[4:50] 11. Let Me Love You, Baby
[3:53] 12. Heartburn
[3:48] 13. Endless
[5:24] 14. Tongue (Unexpurgated Version)

Few electric bluesman have been more versatile than Johnny Heartsman, and that versatility is impossible miss on The Touch. Recorded when Heartsman was 54, this unpredictable CD finds the singer incorporating soul and funk as well as rock and jazz and playing guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, and flute. Heartsman (who shouldn't be confused with the late jazz singer Johnny Hartman) gets into a soul-minded groove on "Got to Find My Baby" and "You're so Fine," while "Attitude," "Walkin' Blues," and "Paint My Mailbox Blue" favor a hard-swinging blues/jazz approach à la Jimmy Witherspoon. Those jazz-influenced selections make it sound like Heartsman is backed by a soul-jazz organ combo, but in fact, there is no organist on this CD--rather, Heartsman uses his keyboards to emulate a Jimmy Smith/Jack McDuff type of Hammond B-3 sound. Meanwhile, instrumentals like the moody "Tongue" and the funk-drenched "Oops" illustrate his mastery of the flute; an unlikely instrument for a bluesman, to be sure. But then, certain jazz improvisers have demonstrated how funky the flute can sound -- most notably, Herbie Mann, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Hubert Laws -- and similarly, the flute sounds like a very natural, logical blues instrument in Heartsman's risk-taking hands. Superb from start to finish, The Touch makes one wish that the late Californian had done a lot more recording as a leader. ~Alex Henderson

The Touch

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Johnny Heartsman & The Blues Company - Made In Germany

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:20
Size: 145.0 MB
Styles: Electric blues
Year: 1995/2009
Art: Front

[ 1:17] 1. Intro
[ 8:23] 2. That's Allright
[ 7:12] 3. Flute Juice
[ 7:25] 4. Cold Cold Feeling
[ 6:47] 5. I Don't Want No Woman
[ 7:37] 6. Let Me Love You
[ 5:54] 7. Ain't No Sunshine
[ 7:26] 8. Sweet Frisco Blues
[11:14] 9. Flip Flop & Fly

It would be wrong to say that Johnny Heartsman died young, although he died at a relatively young age -- Heartsman was 59 when the blues world lost him on December 27, 1996. You can certainly call his death premature, and you can say that he was at the height of his creative powers during the last years of his life. Recorded live at Vitischanze -- a club in Osnabrück, Germany -- in 1993, this album is a thoroughly rewarding document of the bluesman's late period. Heartsman's voice is in fine shape throughout his diverse set, and he is as confident on the guitar as he is on organ and flute. Although Made in Germany is a blues CD first and foremost, it's a blues CD that underscores his appreciation of jazz and soul. Heartsman's inspired performances of Junior Parker's "I Don't Want No Woman" and Albert Collins' "Cold Cold Feeling" are pure electric urban blues, but on the standard "Flip, Flop & Fly," the Californian reminds listeners how nicely he could handle jazz-influenced jump blues. Meanwhile, elements of soul, jazz, and blues come together on an instrumental version of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine," which gives Heartsman a chance to stretch out on flute. Very few bluesmen have been known for their flute playing, but in Heartsman's funky hands, the flute sounded perfectly logical as a blues instrument. Made in Germany makes one wish that he had recorded a lot more live albums during his career. ~Alex Henderson

Made In Germany

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Johnny Heartsman - Still Shinin'

Size: 157,7 MB
Time: 68:22
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1993
Styles: Modern Electric Blues, Blues Soul
Art: Full

01. Why Do You Treat Me So Bad (6:38)
02. In The Evening (When The Sun Goes Down) (8:32)
03. Amour Cherie (6:09)
04. Move On Down The Line (8:37)
05. In The Groove (2:54)
06. Driftin' Blues (9:21)
07. Give James Some (0:44)
08. I Don't Want No Woman (4:57)
09. Give Steve Some (1:00)
10. Bitter With The Sweet (8:30)
11. Talk To Your Daughter (8:40)
12. Let Johnny Have It (2:15)

Shaven-headed Johnny Heartsman did so many musical things so well that he's impossible to pigeonhole. His low-moaning lead guitar work greatly distinguished a myriad of Bay Area blues recordings during the '50s and '60s, and still played his axe with delicious dexterity and dynamics into the '90s. But Heartsman was just as likely to cut loose on organ or blow a titillating solo on flute (perhaps the unlikeliest blues instrument imaginable). He possessed a mellow, richly burnished voice to boot.
Through one of his principal influences, guitarist Lafayette "Thing" Thomas, a teenaged Heartsman hooked up with Bay Area producer Bob Geddins. Heartsman played bass on Jimmy Wilson's 1953 rendition of "Tin Pan Alley," handling guitar or piano at other Geddins-supervised dates. He cut his own two-part instrumental, the "Honky Tonk"-inspired "Johnny's House Party," for Ray Dobard's Music City imprint and watched it become a national R&B hit in 1957.
The early '60s brought a lot more session work -- Heartsman played on Tiny Powell's "My Time After Awhile" (soon covered by Buddy Guy) and Al King's remake of Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby." By then, Heartsman's imaginative twiddling of the volume knob with his finger to produce an eerie moan had become his guitaristic trademark.

Stints in show bands, jazzy cocktail lounge gigs, and a stand as soul singer Joe Simon's trusty organist came prior to the inauguration of Heartsman's edifying back-to-the-blues campaign. In 1991, Dick Shurman produced Heartsman's most satisfying set to date for Alligator, The Touch. He remained a versatile performer until is death in December of 1996. ~Bio by Bill Dahl

Still Shinin'

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