Rob Stone & The C-Notes - No Worries

Album: No Worries
Size: 139,0 MB
Time: 60:15
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2000
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues
Art: Full

1. I Just Keep Loving Her (3:26)
2. I've Got To Find My Baby (4:19)
3. Lost And Lonely (6:11)
4. Why Can't You Learn To Love Me (6:09)
5. Smokin' In The Gully (4:52)
6. Back Off Baby (4:24)
7. Don't Drive Me Away (6:16)
8. I've Been Loving You In My Mind (4:15)
9. You're Sweet (6:51)
10. Money's Getting Cheaper (4:32)
11. Hot Water (3:19)
12. Too Many Drivers (5:35)

Although they're solidly rooted in postwar Chicago blues tradition (spiced with a serious tendency to swing), labeling Rob Stone & The C-Notes a traditional blues band would be an injustice to their imagination. This young Windy City combo is charting its own direction. The band has paid plenty of dues in its short life, as an integral member of the touring band of Sam Lay - the blues shuffle master drummer (of Paul Butterfield and Siegal-Schwall fame) - from 1994 to 1998. Prior to that, Rob played harmonica in various bands in his home town of Boston, after picking up the instrument at age eighteen, inspired by seeing Charlie Musselwhite in concert.

Chris James, lead guitarist of the C-Notes, at age thirteen started playing harmonica with San Diego's Tomcat Courtney. After ten years with Tomcat, Chris took up guitar, eventually moving to Chicago and hooking up with Sam Lay in 1991. He and bassist Patrick Rynn currently also tour with Jody Williams. Patrick came up early in blues too, playing bass for Griswold Brothers and Big Jack Reynolds - the mainstays of the Toledo blues scene for many years. Chris and Pat formed a musical unit in 1990, and have played together since.

On this Earwig debut album, this dynamic trio is joined by Sam Lay on seven cuts, and by Dave Myers on guitar on three numbers. These are the last recordings of Dave Myers, who along with his guitarist brother Louis Myers and drummer Fred Below were instumental in modernizing the Chicago blues sound in the 1950s. Since 1998, Rob, Chris and Patrick have been working as the C-Notes, forging a fresh sound with solid songwriting by Rob and Chris, while remaining true to a Chicago blues tradition.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

No Worries mc
No Worries gofile

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Rob Stone - Gotta Keep Rollin'

Album: Gotta Keep Rollin'
Size: 112,1 MB
Time: 48:15
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2014
Styles: Blues, harmonica blues
Art: Full

1. Wait Baby (4:05)
2. Wonderful Time (3:12)
3. Lucky 13 (4:25)
4. Anything Can Happen (3:50)
5. She Belongs To Me (3:21)
6. Move Baby Move (4:11)
7. Strollin' With Sasquatch (4:34)
8. Wired And Tired (4:53)
9. Cold Winter Day (5:28)
10. It's Easy When You Know How (3:38)
11. Blues Keep Rollin' On (2:49)
12. Not No Mo' (3:43)

Deeply rooted in traditional Chicago blues, yet delivering high-energy house-rocking performances with a thoroughly contemporary impact, Rob Stone is one of the busiest young bandleaders on the blues scene today, with blasting harmonica and cool, streetwise vocals.

Stone started his career in Boston and Colorado, before moving to Chicago in 1993 to join the band of legendary blues drummer Sam Lay. Touring internationally with Lay’s band for four years introduced Stone to blues fans worldwide. Rob and Sam continued to perform and record together over the years. “I have worked with many harmonica players, and he turned out to be the best. That cat is a monster harmonica player and musician!” said Sam (high praise from the drummer for Paul Butterfield’s vaunted mid-‘60s band, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter.)

Gotta Keep Rollin’, Stone’s fourth album as bandleader and first with the VizzTone label group, features longtime band mates guitarist Chris James, bassist Patrick Rynn, and drummer Willie “The Touch” Hayes, as well as some highly acclaimed Chicago blues masters: sax blaster and recent Blues Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Shaw, guitarist John Primer, piano player David Maxwell, and a special appearance by former Howlin’ Wolf piano man Henry Gray.

Rob’s previous albums have been well received by fans and critics. His 2010 Earwig CD, Back Around Here, soared high on the blues charts for months and was named by Living Blues magazine as one of the year’s top CDs. It was preceded by 1998’s No Worries and 2003’s Just My Luck, which was nominated for a Chicago Music Award in the Best Blues Album category. Stone was also featured prominently in the Martin Scorsese-produced “Godfathers and Sons” episode of The Blues series that aired on PBS stations nationwide in 2003. Rob has opened for headliners as varied as B.B. King, Sheryl Crow, Robert Cray, James Cotton, Los Lobos and the late Etta James, and performed and/or recorded with a dazzling array of blues giants. Stone has done his mentors proud, tirelessly leading his crew across the U.S. and around the world. Rob frequently tours Japan, where he’s built quite a devoted following, and he has also barnstormed Europe.

But no matter who he stands beside on the bandstand, Stone’s hard-hitting, honest, highly danceable blues never fails to delight everyone from aficionados to neophytes. He remains strongly committed to blues tradition, but Rob is clearly his own man, a vibrant singer and instrumentalist boasting his own very distinctive sound and a repertoire loaded with terrific original songs. From start to finish, Gotta Keep Rollin’ dishes up hard-driving electric ensemble blues that’s a nod to the genre’s glory days as well as a contemporary breath of fresh air - genuine blues unsurpassed in energy, feeling, and authenticity.

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Gotta Keep Rollin' mc
Gotta Keep Rollin' gofile

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Rob Stone & The C-Notes - Just My Luck

Album: Just My Luck
Size: 122,9 MB
Time: 53:06
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2003
Styles: Blues, jump blues, harmonica blues
Art: Full

1. Never Come Back (3:46)
2. Your Move (4:34)
3. I Had A Dream Last Night (3:23)
4. Cut The Heat On (3:40)
5. Empty Room (5:43)
6. Too Late Honey (3:30)
7. Playing Games (3:30)
8. My Side Of The Story (4:17)
9. Just Out Of Reach (5:15)
10. Pickin' The Blues (4:15)
11. You Got Me Restless (2:57)
12. Stranger Blues (4:16)
13. Rocket 88 (3:54)

Rob Stone & the C-Notes play enthusiastic jump music and jazz-oriented blues. Stone is an excellent harmonica player and singer. His vocals are easy to understand and quite personable, the lyrics are intelligent, and his harmonica playing is powerful. Stone also wisely features his sidemen generously, so there are many guitar, piano, and tenor solos throughout this set, and not just on the instrumentals. This is a rare blues project in that it succeeds as both party music and for close listening. Highly recommended. /Scott Yanow, AllMusic

(For personnel details, see artwork included.)

Just My Luck mc
Just My Luck gofile

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Rob Stone - Trio In Tokyo (Feat. Elena Kato & Hiroshi Eguchi)

Size: 96.7 MB
Time: 41:14
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2021
Styles: Piano Blues, Harmonica Blues
Art: Full

01. No Money (3:54)
02. Got To Get You Off My Mind (3:07)
03. Come Back Baby (4:35)
04. Poison Ivy (4:10)
05. There Is Something On Your Mind (5:22)
06. Money Hustlin' Woman (4:11)
07. Jack You're Dead (2:25)
08. What Am I Living For? (3:20)
09. Blow Fish Blow! (4:20)
10. Goodnight Irene (5:45)

The harmonica is one of the few instruments you can literally put in your pocket and carry with you wherever you go. This portability has allowed Rob Stone to travel the world playing the music he grew up with in Boston and to learn from the masters of Chicago Blues like Jerry Portnoy, Sleepy LaBeef and the legendary Sam Lay, before forming his own band and eventually relocating to Los Angeles. His globetrotting led him to Japan many times where he found an eager audiencefor his style of post-war electric blues and a community of like-minded musicians. Encouraged by his mentor,the late great Big JayMcNeely, Stone recorded his first all acoustic album with pianist Elena Kato and bassist Hiroshi Eguchi, tagging the record with the title, Trio In Tokyo, as a reflection of the project’s intimacy with an international flair and universal appeal. The unplugged sound is a departure from his five previous albums with The C Notes and other big electric collaborations including those with Joe Bonamassa, Benny Turner, Bob Margolin and Slash.

The ten tracks are a throwback to the 1930’s and 40’s sound of vocal stylists like Big Joe Turner, Nat King Cole, and Fats Waller, who blended comedy and innovation in their music and laid the groundwork for modern jazz and blues. The small combo setting leaves room for these three talented musicians to easily communicate and interact with one another and flush out the nuances of each composition. Finding new avenues of expression and common inspiration in songs made famous generations ago by Louis Jordan, Solomon Burke, LeadBelly,and other heroes of The Great American Songbook.

From the opening salvo of the swinging, “No Money,”the trio easily gets into sync with Stone’s harmonica falling in with Kato’s piano on the T-Bone styled riff,while Eguchi confidently lays down the walking baseline for the classic 12-bar blues. You quickly realize they bring musical pedigree to the project, as Katoleads her own Tokyo-based band, and Eguchi spent years playing bass on the Chicago scene, backing Mavis Staples, Sugar Blue, and Carlos Johnson. Solomon Burke’s 1965 soul single “Got To Get You Off My Mind,“includeda full horn section and background vocals from The Sweet Inspirations. Here Stone focuses on the lyrics giving their sad tale more weight without the big production trappings.

Stone digs deep into his dramatic side on “ Come Back Baby,” while Kato pays tribute to Ray Charles,who first made this slow blues piano ballad famous in 1954. She continues to stretch out on”Poison Ivy,” another fabulous jump blues from legendary Memphis crooner and piano man, Johnny Ace. The gospel fueled “There Is Something On Your Mind”was originally planned as a duet with Big Jay McNeely, who sadly passed before its completion. Stone finished recording this classic and the mournful blues “What Am I Living For?“ dedicating them to Big Jayleaving us only to imagine how splendid his vocals and saxophone would have sounded on the tracks. “Money Hustlin’ Woman” is another long-lost gem from Texas boogie woogie piano man, Amos Milburn, given a new shine by the trio. Stone shows off his lung power, both singing the tongue twisting lyrics and playing the horn lines,on Louis Jordan’s jivey classic “Jack You’reDead.”He draws inspirationfrom all his harmonica heroes with the original instrumental “Blow Fish Blow!” Stone and Kato close the set with a sentimental reading of the transcendent folk standard “Goodnight Irene,” imbibing the tome of love and loss, first recorded by LeadBelly in 1933at Angola prison, with the care and sensitivity it is due.

This fine inaugural recording from Stone, Kato & Eguchi should prove to be a gateway to discover treasures from the past and new friendshipsfor the future. ~Rick J Bowen

Trio In Tokyo (Feat. Elena Kato & Hiroshi Eguchi) MP3
Trio In Tokyo (Feat. Elena Kato & Hiroshi Eguchi) FLAC

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Leon Levy - United We Stand

Size: 165,5 MB
Time: 70:49
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Blues, R&B, Jazz
Art: Front

01. Oh, Suwanna Fuma La Mota (Feat. Carolyn Gaines, Rob Stone & Big Jay McNeely) ( 3:40)
02. Baby Please (Feat. Carolyn Gaines, Rob Stone & Big Jay McNeely) ( 7:46)
03. I Don't Believe It (Feat. Carolyn Gaines, Rob Stone & Big Jay McNeely) (10:27)
04. Just A Little Bit Of Love (Feat. Wanda Ray-Willis & Carolyn Gaines) ( 6:52)
05. United We Stand (Feat. Carolyn Gaines, Rob Stone & Big Jay McNeely) ( 7:59)
06. Unconditional Love ( 3:36)
07. Smile ( 3:01)
08. Heart Breaker (Feat. Big Jay McNeely) ( 6:38)
09. Is It Love ( 4:51)
10. Open The Door To Your Heart ( 3:40)
11. Everyday I Need Your Love (Feat. Big Jay McNeely) ( 5:17)
12. Mustafa ( 6:58)

R/B..Blues...Jazz..Latin Jazz.. Carolyn Gaines sang deep, raw- Blues on 'UNITED WE STAND' so solid...bringing back Billie Holiday, Big Jay McNeely Tenor Sax Legend. Leon Levy various instruments played : Guitar, Piano, Organ, Clarinet SOLO on Mustafa.

The music is entertaining and enjoyable to listen to and dance to especially Carolyn Gaines blasting the blues whom is daughter of legendary blues, jazz great guitarist Roy Gaines child. The music has the feeling and tempo that makes you want to move and dance the night away. Listen to Big McNeely brings back the bebop days and rock n roll days.

United We Stand

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Rob Stone - Back Around Here

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 49:54
Size: 114.2 MB
Styles: Chicago blues, Harmonica blues
Year: 2010
Art: Front

[3:59] 1. You're No Good For Me
[3:49] 2. Back Around Here
[5:28] 3. Love You For Myself
[4:27] 4. Give Me Time
[3:38] 5. I Need To Plant A Money Tree
[5:07] 6. Chicago All Night
[3:13] 7. Lot To Love About You
[4:21] 8. Sloppy Drunk Blues
[3:26] 9. It's Hard But It's Fair
[4:15] 10. Dragon Killers
[4:02] 11. Can't Turn Back The Clock
[4:04] 12. No Strings Attached

Seven years in between recordings, vocalist and harmonica player Rob Stone sure has all his ducks in a row with this first-class recording of blues straight from the heart of Chicago. As talented as anyone on the scene, Stone's trimmed and burning harp complements his soulful vocals, the Midwestern equivalent to an East Coaster like Darrell Nulisch, or collectively, Roomful of Blues. With instrumental help from the vaunted team of Chris James and Patrick Rynn, who also co-write the tunes, legendary drummers Sam Lay or Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Aaron Moore, and David Maxwell, Stone can do no wrong on this set of his originals and select urban blues classics. He's either typically old-school rockin', shufflin', or chooglin' along on these tunes steady as a freight train. Stone's personalized harp in the style of Little Walter rises to the top on the instrumental "Dragon Killers," digs into classic boogie during "Can't Turn Back the Clock," and even does a calypso thing for the autobiographical "Chicago All Night." Maxwell's timeless barrelhouse style is always welcome for any band to utilize, and he's doing it all-out, as "Sloppy Drunk Blues" is very similar to the Ray Charles evergreen "Mess Around." While some might find this child's play and simplistic for this excellent band, the deconstruction and reconstruction of standard Chi-Town blues heard here, with fine attention to detail, are precisely the elements that make Back Around Here a thoroughly enjoyable effort, far from garden variety, and one you'll want in your collection. ~Michael G. Nastos

Back Around Here mc
Back Around Here zippy

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