Best of 2011- the long anticipated music edition

Old And In The Way, the year in music.

Another banner year here on the music front. Total new tracks added to the library this year; 2000. Of the 2000, 350 were Jazz, 300 Blues, another 150 or so Rock tracks and an assortment of other stuff.

As opposed to other “best of” lists, mine is not date sensitive, it’s not just stuff that came out this year, I’m including everything I added this year and giving you a view of the best of what I listened too. Some of it’s new, some innovative and there are probably a few things you may not have heard before.. but here ya go.. Sanks’ best tunes of 2011.

I’m going to do this by Genre just to make it easier.

Blues

As regulars know I love the blues, my catalogue runs pretty deep here, and this year I found a few real gems in this genre. Here ya go.

1)    Ice Pick’n, Albert Collins, 1978- Texas Bluesman Albert Collins really lays it down on this one. This is a text book electric blues album, it’s twangy thanks to Collin’s classic telecaster leads, the vocals are traditional blues motifs, broken hearts, financial stress, personal issues.. great stuff.. The band sounds dirty, like a good blues band should. This is one my favorite albums I found this year.

2)    Mississippi Delta Blues, Mississippi Fred McDowell- This is some very traditional hill country blues, all acoustic on this set. McDowell learned to play slide guitar with a pocketknife, and later an old beef rib. This set really shows off McDowell’s country style of slow chord progressions, alternative tunings and the use of a drone technique that allows him to get miles of material out of one or two chords, and makes the guitar almost more of a rhythm/percussion instrument. McDowell was a tutor for the great Bonnie Rait, R.L. Burnsides, and an influence on John Lee Hooker. (you have to be pretty ancient and pretty good to be a Hooker influence.)
Check out Frisco Blues to for some really driving rhythm blues with a great drone on the high E string. And.. check out the slide, he might be using a screwdriver… it’s good stuff for the serious blues fan.

3)    All Your Love I Miss Loving- Live At The Wise Fools Pub- Otis Rush.
This recording from 1976 is a fantastic example of live Chicago blues. When you listen to it the house lights go down and the living room fills up with smoke and the licks.. the licks slice through the music like a hot knife. I love “Woke Up This Morning”, the vocals and guitar work is, as my kids say, filthy. Only here, they really do sound filthy.

4)    Slim’s Shout, Sunnyland Slim- Switching from guitar to piano, Albert “Sunnyland Slim” Luandrew was another Mississippi bluesman who made his mark in Chicago. Sunnyland was a studio guy who played with many of the greats of “race music” coming out of Chicago in the 50’s; Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter. This set finds Slim at the piano singing and playing some very traditional blues, call and answer stuff, 7 bar piano banging.. it’s pretty awesome.

5)    If I Had My Way, Reverend Gary Davis- Love me some time with the good Reverend. His finger pick’n style evokes ragtime and is exactly the stuff that I like to play. Davis is a little different from the other bluesmen here as much if his stuff is traditional blues with Gospel themes. But remember just because I’m Jewish doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate some good old country religion, especially when it’s laid down against a Davis riff. Gold.

 

Jazz

1)    To Swing or Not To Swing, Barney Kessel- Lets transition easy from Blues to Jazz shall we? And why not, since they come from the same source and are as close as siblings.. Barney.. Barney Kessel is one of those “where have you been all my life” sort of musicians. I don’t even remember how I came across this album, but the first cut, “Begin the Blues” I was hooked 10 seconds into the track. Kessel is flat out one of the top two or three guitar players I’ve ever heard. He’s that good. Precise, clean as a whistle (as opposed to dirty sounding bluesmen) and lighting fast.. Kessel is able to maintain his connection to the blues while killing the jazz leads. Very few recordings reach out and grab me like this one.. not a bad cut on the album. If you play the guitar you have to check this one out.. awesome.

2)    This Side of Strayhorn, Terell Stafford- Just when I thought Jazz was dead and buried, with nothing new except the free jazz which I really can’t relate too, along comes Terell Stafford. More than and accomplished musician, looking at his resume he’s an educator and really champion of his art, which makes me even more excited about.
This album actually is a real a 2011 release, and I think it’s my favorite Jazz this year. Terell channels the greats from the 40’s and 50’s with outstanding tone, exceptional use of the mute, flowing solo’s that draw you in seductively, like a warm fire and glass of scotch. This is an outstanding album to listen to in the evening with the lights turned down and fire going.. it’s warm, accessible and very enjoyable.

3)    Elements of Truth, Empirical- Just when I rip on free jazz I tout Empirical.. can you even keep up with my confused mind? Hah.. These are the lads from the UK who have been trying to resurrect Eric Dolphy’s work. These guys are, as they say in England, brilliant. This is less Free Jazz than it is sort of a modern take on Bebop and I really like it. It’s not for the faint of heart mind you as they tend towards abstract in their solo’s and chord structure.. makes it hard to follow sometimes, but they always bring it together at the end.. and I like that. On this album they’ve introduced more vibes and a little more experimental sounds.. If I didn’t know better some loops in the studio.. but it works. They’re maturing and not standing still, which is a critical in Jazz. They’re starting sound like Modern Jazz Quartet a bit on some tracks.. this is great headphone music, but you have really listen, it’s not background stuff.

4)    Lady In Satin, Billie Holiday- Billie was the anti-Ella, very limited range, not the greatest timbre to her voice.. but her inflection, phrasing, I’m sure partially a result of her having the most troubled upbringing in music.. this album is just a little past peak for Holiday, her drug use has robbed her of some of her depth, but the phrasing and rhythm are still there. Put in time and place, this one of the last great performances by a woman who was literally and figuratively beaten down by circumstance her entire life and I think it comes out in this moving wrencher of an album.

5)    Live At the 1963 Monterrey Jazz Festival, Miles Davis Quintet- Calling Miles Davis a genius is like calling Leonardo D’Vinci visionary. No Shit Sherlock. This album finds Miles playing with Wayne Shorter, one of Jazz’s great composers, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. All of who would go on to their own fame and accolades. This album was released 44 years after it was recorded and it was worth the wait. Check out the version of Autumn Leaves, 11 minutes if improve brilliance.

6)    The Art Of The Modern Jazz Quartet, the Atlantic Years, Modern Jazz Quartet- Another one I got around too finally in 2011. TMJQ is a hard band to pin down. Sometimes traditional bluesy jazz, sometimes almost classical they’re sound is very unusual as their main focus is often the vibes.. This album is a nice intro the group and very easy to listen too.

 

Other Stuff

1)    Bruch & Mendelssohn Violin Concertos, Midori- Best classical album I’ve heard in a long time. Midori Goto is a Japanese- American virtuoso who is your basic overachiever… she started humming Bach tunes at 2, Julliard, NYU Masters in Psychology, she currently chairs the strings department at USC. I love this album for it’s virtuosity and it’s great compositions. This is my goto album for late night reading.

2)    Trampled by Turtles, I liked Palomino so much I went out and go Duluth 20 minutes later. Both of these albums rock.. speed bluegrass or country punk.. take your pick. The musicianship is amazing… getting LOTS of playing time at my house.

3)    Working in Tennessee, Merle Haggard- The Hag has never been on to commercialize and sell out.. and this collection from this year is perfect. Blue-collar themes, easy traditional country that tugs at the heartstrings in the way only a good well-crafted country song could. Check out “Under the Bridge” and “Workin Man Blues” a duet with Willie Nelson.. awesome.

4)    Live at the Apollo II, James Brown- this 1968 recording for the Godfather of Soul finds James at the top of his game.  I ask you, who put the “funk” in funky? James and I might argue his band did it here in 1968. This is one of the very best live albums I’ve ever listened too.. James smokes the place, the band is perfect and the energy comes through even 45 years later. If didn’t see James in his prime you missed something, but you can always listen to this gem and recreate magic.

5)    Stained Class, Judas Priest- yeah.. Sank listens to metal sometimes. This is one that escaped me when I was in high school somehow. This is good clean metal that rocks. Now this is also the album that I do remember from the infamous suicide lawsuit in California. Kid’s family claimed this album caused their kids to commit and attempt to commit suicide. Ironically, Mrs. S was a young nurse at Stanford when the kid who survived came through for reconstructive surgery. Listening to this now, this stuff is about as a tame as a Bread song.. shows how far we’ve come, or how immune we’ve become, not sure which.

 

There  you go.. lots of music to think about for you.. some honorable mentions for you-

-       BBQ Bob- 1920’s Georgia blues.

-       Blind Blake- More awesome fingerpicking from an artist who is only known by 20 something recording he left.. we don’t even know his real name or what ever happened to him after he recorded these songs.

-       Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods, Dizzy Gillespie- A nice set from one of the greats.

-       Brown and Roach, Clifford Brown and Max Roach-This an impressive set from a great bebop trumpet player, and one of jazz’s great drummers. Unfortunately Clifford Brown was killed in a car wreck at 25 years old. This is a very strong album.

-       Clear Spot, Captain Beefheart- The Captain has one of rock music’s most distinctive voices. The music is a relaxed cross between blues and jam/funk rock ala Little Feet.

Keep listening folks and keep playing!