Blue Notes
Latest Stories
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Peter Guralnick didn’t set out to be a music journalist. The occupation didn’t really exist at the time when a combination of luck and bluster led the obsessive blues fan to interview a “rediscovered” Skip James in 1965 for a non-existent magazine assignment. His piece was eventually published, and it...
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Today, their names are among the highest of jazz titans, familiar even generations after they laid down their most famous work: Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Max Roach, and Charlie Parker. But it’s easy to forget that when these jazz men first started playing the new strain of bebop...
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Memphis Mayhem: A Story of the Music That Shook the World By David A. Less 232 pp. $16.95 ECW Press While the first part of its title is more reminiscent of a true crime book, it’s actually a lightning-quick, fast-paced, tour through a city that at one time in the...
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One of the tenets of blues music – especially that of the ‘50s/‘60s Chicago-based strain – is raw honesty. But it seems more than a bit dishonest that the title of Elvin Bishop and Charlie Musselwhite’s new record is 100 Years of Blues (Alligator). It’s supposed to represent how long...
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One could be forgiven for thinking that the man namechecked in the title of the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ new record Lost Songs of Doc Souchon is some mythical character out of legend from the misty streets of old (very old) New Orleans. Or a fantastical creation from the vivid imagination...
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When English singer/guitarist Peter Green passed away last month at the age of 73, the obits, of course, led with his role as the founder of Fleetwood Mac. This no doubt came as a surprise to general fans who either assumed that title belong to Mick Fleetwood, or the group...
