Leon Russell…. And when my life is over.

 

When I listened to this song today I literally cried.

And when my life is over
Remember when we were together
We were alone and I was singing this song for you

Another gem from the Woodstock Generation lost.

God what a grand time it was, so much overflowing talent from every aspect of the world. From Ravi Shankar’s India, UK, USA and in-between. Leon was an instrumental part and force of that musical equation, his song writing impeccable.

When George Benson’s rendition of his very first charted single “This Masquerade” came out, how many knew that Leon wrote it outside of us old hippies. Ironically as written it fit in with Sinatra, not rock. That was Leon’s magic.

The 1970 self titled album that gave us “A Song For You”, “Tight Rope” and “Delta Lady” would put Leon on the map and he never looked back. When he hooked up with Joe Cocker for Mad Dogs and Englishmen a blistering masterpiece of rock, soul and blues was accomplished. No one ever heard a better rendition of “Cry Me A River” done rock and blues style.

Leon Russell’s stage presence went along with the era when the music that came out of it was razor blade sharp precision of lyrical and musical magic. Not only could he write, play and sing he presented it with class until the end.

We lost two legends of the music world this last week. Leonard Cohen was another song writing genius, but I only have so much in me to write the obits. It gets beyond depressing and the fact that an actor of one of my favorites shows growing up “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” also passed, Robert Vaughan I hope this completes this entertainment saying they go in three’s.

My first crush at 9 years old in 1966 was in-fact David McCallum who played Illya Kuryakin. So, so much of my youth and adolescence was lost this week. Thank God the musical legacy will always live on.

Thank You Leon and Leonard C. even though we are sad feeling your loss, I know Heaven is having a grand jam tonight.

 

 

Charleston Church Shooting Victims.

No words need be spoken, the expression depicted in this song is self-explanatory for this sad event that has taken place.

 

Top row: Cynthia Hurd 54, Rev. Clementa Pinckney 41, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton 45.
Middle row: Daniel Simmons 74, Rev. Depayne Middleton-Doctor 49, Tywanza Sanders 26.
Bottom row: Myra Thompson 59, Ethel Lee Lance 7-, Susie Jackson 87.

 

 

Dark was the night, cold was the ground.

Written by Blind Willie Johnson.
Recorded December 3, 1927 in Dallas, Texas.
Blind Willie Johnson, vocals & guitar.

The Greatest Blues Man That Ever Graced The Earth Has Now Left It. ~ Mr. BB King.

Your Soul will live on in Heaven forever, your music with us.

 

 

I am literally broken-hearted right now, my blues hero has passed.

Where do you even start, the words, expression, gratitude, song, the life long joy this man brought to the world of music and the genre of the Blues. All I know is this is going to be one long blog.

He played it straight out of his soul, his heart guiding his hands and he made that guitar absolutely bleed. There will never ever be another like him.

My God this hurts.

Blues Boy Tune

Sunday Eve Sermon ~ “Brothers Keeper” ~ Walter Trout Band.

This master blues guitarist will be back on tour starting in June after almost losing his life. Trout underwent a liver transplant in Sept. 2014 and a post-transplant surgery biopsy ended up giving him a very serious sepsis infection.

Thank God now he is doing well although a dramatic weight loss. Wish Detroit was on the tour list but the closest is Chicago in Aug.
He kicks it off June 15 at Royal Albert Hall, London UK then the USA through Sept. and on to Europe.

Whole tour list here.

Welcome back Walter, what a career you’ve had and hopefully will continue to have for another couple of decades.

 

Rock Pillar of Woodstock Joe Cocker dies.

 

Another sad day when such an iconic artist that showcased the most historical concert of all time dies. Yes all of us are getting older but it still stings and stuns us when one from our own tribe, the boomer generation leaves us.

Sunday Sleep In ~ “Queen Of Hearts” ~ Gregg Allman

Happy Birthday Gregg Allman!

Longshot's Blog

Once I was glad
Always happy, never sad
And everyday
Seemed like Sunday…………

I always felt sorry for Gregg, with the loss of Duane then a year later Barry it seemed the whole world was ripped out from under him. How he managed to forge through life at that point let alone music it still astounds me. But with his talent how could it have been kept down.

There’s a sadness in his first solo album “Laid Back” yet the songs come out like a fire from a broken still mending heart. Through thick and thin this man has blessed and given all of us the best part of that heart and that’s why the music within him will always carry on.

Queen of Hearts was just another expression of it.

Thank You Gregg.

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Friday Freak Flag Flying ~ “Live With Me” ~ Humble Pie.

Third album self band entitled with vocals of Steve Marriott, Greg Ridley & Peter Frampton. All complementing each other yet nobody in rock will ever top Marriott’s, he was in a league and world of his own.

Live with Me was just a mere taste of Rock Blue’s best, with the natural-born soul within Steve’s. I’ve also added the Live Rendition that the band did in Sept. of 1970 for John Peel’s Soundboard/BBC, although mono even more seductive and raw.

God were those the days.

 

 

Sunday Sleep In ~ “Sleepy Time Time” ~ Cream.

 

In memory to this prolific singer, bass player, song writer/composer and figure that came out of the 1960s psychedelic scene. Jack Bruce.

Saturday Night Seduction ~ “Jeeps Blues” ~ Duke Ellington

Recorded July 7, 1956 at the Newport Jazz Festival.

Composed by Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges aka Jeep.

The song originally recorded in 1938 and first released by Johnny Hodges and His Orchestra but it wouldn’t even be recognized fully until Ellington At Newport released in 1957.

It would be the highlight of this concert and never ever again forgotten through jazz history.

 

Johnny Winters Gig In Heaven, Jamming Forever.

 

Again it is with great sadness that another great gigantic talent of the Woodstock era has left us. More than that Johnny was among the Blue’s best guitarists.

The song playing just has some great memories attached to it. It was on the juke box of my tribe of freak friends favorite coney island hangout in the early 70s. It seemed every single group that walked in played it thus we got to hear it over & over. We never got sick of hearing that ripping intro Johnny was famous for…Rock and Roll!!!

Over the years he never slowed down, he just kept turning one generation after the next on to the blues. A passionate flame that would never go out. Not even now or until the end of time, the blues that blistered out of him like lightning from Woodstock on will burn bright.

Got to know brother Edgar is hurting real bad right now but he has plenty of company. My heart goes out to him and the rest of his family, friends and fans. He was a very instrumental part of one of the best era’s for R&R and a blues revival ever witnessed & heard.

Johnny Winters has left the earth but not our minds, ears or hearts. He will be remembered forever.

God Speed

 

Good Friday

Thursday Throwdown ~ “Lonely Avenue” ~ Kurt Elling

Kurt Elling takes this Doc Pomus gem and absolutely smokes it. With the help of bassist Clark Sommers and the whole band singing the chorus, to me he blew away Ray Charles who had a hit with the song in 1956.

Sadly the song didn’t end up on his 2012 album “1619 Broadway – The Brill Building Project” that was dedicated to The Brill Building songwriters. What an elite group.

But as you can see from this 2012 New York Lincoln Center performance he has been blazing it in concerts.

1619 Broadway gained him his 11th Grammy nomination, for Best Jazz Vocal Album. He won one for 2009 “Dedicated to You” Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Sleep In Sunday ~ “Midnight Sugar” ~ Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio

This was Tsuyoshi Yamamoto’s debut album, since, he has produced another 14 with the last his quartet being released in 2012. He is still performing today.

 

 

 

Motown Monday Snow Storm/Freeze Madness!

I Hate Winter.

 

2014 A New Year…Will it be Happy?

 

Where I sit personally right now I can’t foresee it being one.

Friday Fire ~ “Zalazak Sunca (Sunset)” ~ Fish In Oil.

 

Talk about “Tone” this Serbian guitarist Bratislav Radovanović and band excels in the sound. What an absolutely refreshing tantalizing mix of melodies within the whole album of Fish in Oil, but knowing the appetite I possess with the flavors of both Jazz & Blues this particular song filled my soul to the gills (No pun intended).

Tuesday Traffic Jam ~ “Come and Go Blues” ~ Gregg Allman

Damn does it get any better…

One of the best singer-songwriters of the Blues….

Period.

Wednesday “Night Life” ~ BB KING

 

Best Blues Man that ever graced this earth.

Saturday Psychedelics ~ “Where Is My Answer” ~ Tear Gas

This was the second album from this Glasgow group formerly known as Mustard (with a few different members). Never knew with their sound why they never took off until Alex Harvey came aboard after its release. Sounded damn good to me.

Sunday Sleep In ~ “Weary Blues” ~ Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges

Sunday Sleep In ~ “The Dream” ~ Albert Collins & Robert Cray

This song was off the 1985 album “Showdown!” which also featured Johnny Copeland.

Motown Monday ~ “Live” Full House” ~ The J. Geils Band

The Motor City & this Boston band just seemed to adopt each other, they thought we were home and we thought they were ours.

Their first live album recorded at The Cinderella Ballroom in 72′, The J. Geils Band officially became a Detroit Band, period!

Friday Fried Out ~ “Same Old Blues” ~ Clarence Gatemouth Brown

 

Monday Motown ~ “Looking Back” ~ Mary Wells.

Mary could Blues it, Soul it, Sass it and Seduce it, but most of all her pipes could sell it. She set the standard and the tone for the rest of the females who followed her.

From the beginning Mary Wells stood in a league of her own with hit after hit after hit. An individual still missed, a legacy that will never fade away.

 

Sunday Sleep In ~ ” Driftin’ and Driftin’ ” ~ The Butterfield Blues Band

Sunday Sleep In ~ “Queen Of Hearts” ~ Gregg Allman

Once I was glad
Always happy, never sad
And everyday
Seemed like Sunday…………

I always felt sorry for Gregg, with the loss of Duane then a year later Barry it seemed the whole world was ripped out from under him. How he managed to forge through life at that point let alone music it still astounds me. But with his talent how could it have been kept down.

There’s a sadness in his first solo album “Laid Back” yet the songs come out like a fire from a broken still mending heart. Through thick and thin this man has blessed and given all of us the best part of that heart and that’s why the music within him will always carry on.

Queen of Hearts was just another expression of it.

Thank You Gregg.

 

Wednesday “Whiskey Store” ~ Tab Benoit & Jimmy Thackery

Brilliant performance by two blues greats.

Motown Monday ~ “As The Years Go Passing By” ~ Jim McCarty and Mystery Train

The Blues is Alive & Well in Detroit.

This is an outstanding rendition of Albert King’s song by McCarty & Mystery Train and in my opinion this band deserves more recognition nationally as major blues players outside of the Motor City. McCarty who has been grinding out the rock and these blues since the late sixties doesn’t ever seem for me to get enough mention as being among the best guitarists ever and he is.

 

Thursday “Storming and Raining” ~ Sam Baker

A befitting song for our weather here in Detroit, where it’s been raining for 3 days with 2-3 inches more on the way and more in the forecast through the next 7 days. Cold rain warmed up with a cup of Hot Blues.

 

This artist seemed to have fallen through the cracks of the music business for whatever sad reason because he had one powerful voice.

Born in Jackson, MS on June 14, 1941 he started his career in the late 50s and shared the stage with the likes of Jimmy Reed and Clyde McPhatter. He put out his first 45 in 1960 on a local label, Copa. This tenor who also exploded into bursts of a fabulous falsetto as you can hear recorded a lot of singles for a few more labels but even though he had the talent just never could land a major one.

Wednesday “Deep Winter Blues” ~ Chris Rea

Last year at this time in Detroit over a week of 70s & mid 80s.

This year it seems winter just doesn’t want to end and it feels like a strangling grip. Go already, I’m fed up with cold.

~

Chris Rea is a gifted musician and artist who has been writing and composing his own music since the latter 70s. His realm reaches the depths and his tone always scores. Cheating death in 2001 with pancreatic cancer, he returned to the studio to compose a 11 CD Blues series called Blue Guitars that also features his artwork. It took a year and a half to produce the 137 songs and I haven’t found a bad one yet.

22 prior albums to this 2005 release of a blues bliss, 3 more past this one. For some strange unknown reason this British guitarist/multi instrument, singer, song writer & composer struck millions of a fan base with the exception of the states and I’m left bewildered. He can take a depressing winter day and turn it into something completely mystical.

The arrangements never miss and his muse just keeps getting wider & better with age like fine wine.

Deep Winter Blues is off Album Number Seven – Blues Ballads. It came with a jazz touch and a different flare.

Tantalizing Beautiful.