Street Date: July 29, 2003
Retail price: $7.98
The past half-century of jazz and blues, from the Chicago perspective of
Delmark Records, is more fun, stranger, grittier and more intimate than the
music typically purveyed by major companies. The Delmark guarantee is
genuine jazz and blues, played without compromise. These 40-minute
samplers are terrific introductions into the genres, artists, and catalogue
of Delmark Records.
"West Side Chicago Blues" Delmark (DX-906)
(Otis Rush, Willie Kent, Magic Sam, Syl Johnson, Jimmy Dawkins, Tail
Dragger, Luther Allison, Little Arthur Duncan, Johnny B. Moore)
The driving, high energy sound of west side Chicago blues is
internationally renowned and has influenced many guitarists including Eric
Clapton and Jimmy Page. Featured here are many of the masters including the
"west side triumvirate" - Magic Sam, Otis Rush and Luther Allison.
"Blues From Up The Country" Delmark (DX-907)
(Big Joe Williams, Robert Nighthawk, Arthur Crudup, Sleepy John Estes,
Jimmy Burns, Curtis Jones, Yank Rachell, Champion Jack Dupree, J.D. Short,
Jimmy Rogers, Blind Willie McTell)
The blues are colloquial. They are sung in sometimes unintelligible
accents, because they are the naked, unpolished expression of unpretentious
people. But great poetry is uttered in blues lyrics. Metaphors loaded with
layers of meaning. Humorous double-entendre. Beautiful imagery. Powers of
description and phrasing worthy of study in anybody's literature class.
-Bob Koester
"Masters Of Boogie Piano" Delmark (DX-908)
(With Speckled Red, Meade Lux Lewis, Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt
Sykes, Pete Johnson, Ken Saydak, Albert Ammons, Robert McCoy, Sir Charles
Thompson, Steve Behr, Curtis Jones, Ammons/Lewis/Johnson)
In the beginning there were three: Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis and Pete
Johnson. They created the great boogie woogie rage of the '30s and '40s and
stood at the peak of the boogie woogie pyramid. Their blend of traditional
blues and boogie with a good dose of swing created an impeccable drive.
Here's boogie woogie on the loose played by the masters.
"For Jumpers Only!" Delmark (DX-909)
(Panama Francis, Illinois Jacquet, Willis Jackson, Fred Jackson, Erline
Harris, Cat Anderson, Morris Lane, Tab Smith, Paul Bascomb, Arnett Cobb,
Sir Charles Thompson, Cab Calloway)
A party album for swing dancers, jazz fans and rhythm and blues lovers.
"Bop Lives!" Delmark (DX-910)
(Coleman Hawkins w/ Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Forrest, Sir Charles Thompson w/
Charlie Parker, Francine Griffin, Bud Powell, Cecil Payne, Donald Byrd,
Babs Gonzales)
Bop has now been around for more than 50 years and it's still going strong.
"Bop Lives!" covers it all from the very first bebop recording - Coleman
Hawkins' 1944 "Woody'n You" - right through to recent recordings by Cecil
Payne and the wonderful jazz vocalist Francine Griffin.
"Chicago's Avant Today!" Delmark (DX-911)
(Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble, NRG Ensemble, Robert Mazurek &
Chicago Underground, Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio, Malachi Thompson, Jeff
Parker, Ken Vandermark's Sound In Action Trio)
Chicago has been a hotbed of avant garde jazz since the mid '60s, reflected
in the earliest Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
(AACM) recordings. Delmark was the first label to document this movement
and today, almost 40 years later, the fire is still burning.
DELMARK RECORDS
4121 N. Rockwell
Chicago, IL 60618 USA
http://www.delmark.com
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