Jewel Brown - Thanks For Good Ole' Music And Memories

Size: 87.3 MB
Time: 37:13
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2023
Styles: Blues Jazz
Art: Full

01. Jerry (Feat. Rads Krusaders & Live! In The Clutch) (3:54)
02. Pain And Glory (1:29)
03. Why Did You Do That (3:29)
04. Which Way Is Up (3:52)
05. Nitches And Glitches (4:29)
06. Flatitude (2:14)
07. I Love Sunshine And Rainy Nights (4:51)
08. Song Of The Dreamer (4:10)
09. On The Road (5:04)
10. How Did It Go (3:38)

The music industry is full of stories. Some good. Some not so good. But it must be said, it’s not every day that a magical storyline like Jewel Brown’s comes around.

Her journey started back before her teen years. Like most musical talents at the time, Jewel began singing in the church. But it didn’t take her long to start a commercial singing career. In fact, she played her first show when she was just 12, and she was cutting records by the time she was a teenager. Brown recorded a handful of hit songs with Clyde Otis in the mid-’50s for Liberty Records and by the early ’60s she was playing jazz clubs nationally, many of which happened to be owned by Jack Ruby. Yep, that Jack Ruby.

But Jewel Brown was and still is, best known for her work with Louis Armstrong and His All-Star Band. She sang with Satchmo from 1961 until 1968, until Armstrong fell ill. She continued singing for a while after her stint with Armstrong, headlining shows, mainly in Vegas. She stepped out of the limelight in the early ’70s, not because there wasn’t a demand for her talent, but because it was time for her to care for her aging parents.

But her success didn’t end with show biz. Jewel started up numerous businesses and enjoyed a successful career as, of all things, an insurance agent, a career she nurtured until retiring from the business in 2000. Jewel still receives calls from people looking to buy insurance from someone “they can trust.”

Though retired, her generations of fans didn’t allow her musical legacy to be forgotten. In 2007 she was inducted into the Blues Smithsonian and in 2015 she received a congressional acknowledgment for her contribution to the arts. And, in 2020, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner set aside December 12, 2020, as Jewel Brown Day.

But the story’s not over, not by a longshot. Today, Jewel Brown is back, this time, for the first time, with songs of her own. Thanks for Good Ole’ Music and Memories is Brown’s long-awaited new recording, done in collaboration with Nic Allen (better known as Joe Sample’s longtime musical director). “Over the years,” she notes in her bio, “I had the opportunity to work with various songwriters, but I never put my name on anything. I feel like the Lord has given back to me what was taken, and I’ve enjoyed doing a lot of writing lately with Nic.”

The ten jazz and blues tracks on the album reflect that collaboration. While it nods to Brown’s legacy, revisiting two songs that form important chapters in her musical history (the brilliantly updated opener “Did You Hear About Jerry” and the lush “Song of the Dreamer,” written by her ex-husband Eddie Curtis.) But there’s so much more, including the rockin’ cover “Which Way Is Up,” the a cappella “Pain and Glory,” the jazzy “Why Did You Do That,” and the boppin’, bluesy closer “How Did It Go.” The recording is rich and full, showcasing great playing and Brown’s elegant, sage-like vocals.

So, no, it’s not your typical throwaway comeback recording. Thanks for Good Ole’ Music and Memories is an inspired reintroduction of an impressive talent, an important musical figure, and, best of all, an incredible voice.

Thanks For Good Ole' Music And Memories MP3
Thanks For Good Ole' Music And Memories FLAC

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Jewel Brown Feat. Bloodest Saxophone - Roller Coaster Boogie

Album: Roller Coaster Boogie
Size: 111,8 MB
Time: 48:04
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: R&B, jazzy blues, swing
Art: Full

1. That's A Pretty Good Love (2:50)
2. One Monkey Don't Stop No Show (2:56)
3. Afrodesia (4:30)
4. Dark Shadows (4:35)
5. Goody Goody (2:35)
6. Crazy Mambo (4:07)
7. Kalmono Boogie (2:42)
8. The More You Hurt Me (5:17)
9. Don't Go To Strangers (4:59)
10. Bewitched (2:49)
11. Walk That Walk Daddy-O (2:48)
12. Twilight Time (3:51)
13. Ain't Nobody's Business (3:59)

Vocalist Jewel Brown has had a career spanning over 65 years that has included stints with the likes of Lionel Hampton, Earl Grant, Louis Armstrong, Arnett Cobb and Dizzy Gillespie and veteran guitarist Milton Hopkins. This set, recorded in Japan last year, shows that her voice has lost none of its range or suppleness, and her spirit remains strong she attacks everything with the gusto of a hot-blooded chanteuse in her prime, and she has the chops to pull it off. As she told Living Blues' Roger Wood, "I don't do gimmicks ... I give it all my soul".

Not many 78-year-olds could tackle material like the antic torch song That's a Pretty Good Love; the hot-to-trot soul sister's anthem One Monkey Don't Stop No Show; the jubilant wronged-woman's declaration of triumph Goody Goody or the lushly romantic Don't Go to Strangers and sound convincing, but Ms. Brown does. Her timbre is supple, clear and astonishingly youthful; her melodic and rhythmic sense are unerring yet loose enough to allow her to embellish her lines with subtle but eloquent improvisational colorations. This is no retro-chic 'swing-revivalist' outing but an in-the-moment celebration of timeless music, delivered with the self-confident brio of a veteran both savvy and ebullient, life-toughened yet exuding the kind of soul nourishing joy that cannot be faked.

The band comport themselves with a balanced combination of hard-swinging earnestness and gonzo-fueled R&B anarchy, most notably tenor man Koda 'Young Corn' Shintaro's bar-walking sax honks and trombonist Coh's joyfully irreverent tailgate blats. And speaking of irreverence, Jewel Brown has the last word with her remake of Ain't Nobody's Business, in which she finally redeems the song's notorious references to domestic violence by changing the protagonist into the singer herself. It's a perfect sign-off by Ms. Brown, for whom the blues remains a celebration of strength, dignity and survival which is to say, life. /David Whiteis, Living Blues Magazine

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

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Roller Coaster Boogie gofile

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Milton Hopkins & Jewel Brown - Milton Hopkins & Jewel Brown

Album: Milton Hopkins & Jewel Brown
Size: 96,4 MB
Time: 41:39
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2012
Styles: Blues/R&B
Art: Full

1. Jerry (4:19)
2. Can't Get Enough Of You (2:55)
3. Daddy Daddy (3:23)
4. The Whale Has Swallowed Me (2:14)
5. Evening Breeze (6:28)
6. There's A Light (1:55)
7. Cry Me A River (5:21)
8. I'm Shakin' (3:02)
9. Back To The Shimmy (2:43)
10. I'm Leaving You Now (3:57)
11. How Can I Lose (2:21)
12. Tater Tots (2:54)

Hip gospel, laid-back soul, and cool grooves! This sound reaches back to major tours with Louis Armstrong and BB King, back to Houston's old Fifth Ward and Third Ward, back to the golden era of the blues. Jewel Brown and Milton Hopkins bring all this together on their new release on Dialtone Records.

Fifth Ward native Milton Hopkins is a cousin of Lightnin' Hopkins, the epitome of old-style Houston blues. In 1950, along with the great saxophonist Grady Gaines and others, the young guitarist joined a band called the Tempo Toppers backing the early R&B sensation Little Richard. By 1953, the Duke-Peacock Records impresario Don Robey had also recruited Milton to do session work with some gospel groups. Soon after that, he went on the road with the late, great Johnny Ace and Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton.

In 1956, Milton got the opportunity to play with his musical hero, Gatemouth Brown. Things were on the upswing as he reunited with Grady Gaines in The Upsetters, which soon became one of the premier R&B/Rock & Roll groups in the country - the band of choice for performers such as Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and the Drifters. Milton left the Upsetters in 1963 and moved to San Francisco where he worked briefly with Marvin Gaye and Lou Rawls and also had the chance to play with his famous cousin. In 1971, B.B. King, who remembered him from his days with the Upsetters, asked Milton to join the band. For the next nine years Milton Hopkins was B.B.'s rhythm guitar player, playing gigs all over the world.

While vocalist Jewel Brown was still in high school in Third Ward, Lionel Hampton invited her to tour Europe, but she chose to stay in school while singing locally with her brother¹s group. In 1955 she recorded a single for Don Robey's Duke label and began to perform beyond Houston. In Los Angeles in 1957, Jewel sat in with organist Earl Grant at the Club Pigalle and was hired on the spot. From there she went on to Dallas to work in a nightclub owned by the infamous Jack Ruby. Based on the strength of her performances there, the legendary talent manager Joe Glaser gave Jewel the opportunity to join either of two jazz greats: Louis Armstrong or Duke Ellington. She chose the former, and from 1961 to 1969 she was the featured vocalist with the Louis Armstrong band.

Jewel's subsequent career includes affiliations with Carrol Garner, Earl Grant, and Arnett Cobb, among others. In 1971, after twenty-three years of singing professionally, she took leave from the stage and returned to Houston to care for her ailing parents--and later to pursue a successful business career outside of music. Since then she has only occasionally displayed her considerable talents for live audiences, mainly at special events in Houston and New Orleans or on European tours with The Heritage Hall Jazz Band.

Now, Milton Hopkins and Jewel Brown come together on record for the first time. Backed by a band of first-rate players, these two musical veterans deliver a classic blues statement for the twenty-first century. The quality of the vintage testifies to the rich depths of the roots.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Milton Hopkins & Jewel Brown mc
Milton Hopkins & Jewel Brown zippy

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