WTJU Best of 2018: Professor Bebop (Blues & Soul)
By Folk Department
Dave Rogers, aka Professor Bebop, has been hosting a program on WTJU for over four decades. He is also the Jazz, Blues, and Soul reviewer.
Professor Bebop’s Blues & Soul Top Ten of 2018
Fiona Boyes – Voodoo In The Shadows (Blue Empress): Singer/songwriter/guitarist Fiona Boyes has been performing for over 25 years and sounds better now than ever! Her guitar playing, like her singing, is solid and smooth when she wants it to be and just rough enough when she’s ready to shake the windows. Boyes wrote nine of the eleven songs in this set. Her backing musicians are Tim Neal (organ, piano, bass, bars sax), Mark Grunden (drums, percussion and chains and horseshoes) and Johnny Sansone (harmonica, accordion). Boyes is a true blues fan and terrific blues musician! This is a certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid Of Cracks”!
Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Cedric Burnside – Benton County Relic (Single Lock): Veteran North Mississippi bluesman Cedric Burnside offers the hard core North Mississippi blues, a merger between the Hill Country blues as created by his grandfather R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Jessie May Hemphill and Otha Turner and more recently mixed with elements of rock as by North Mississippi Allstars. Burnside (guitar, drums, vocals) is playing as part of a duo with Brian Jay (drums, guitar, vocal). Solid blues from top to bottom! A certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks”.
Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Ry Cooder – The Prodigal Son (Fantasy): Ry Cooder is back with one of the most haunting discs of his career. He vocals are perhaps the best of his entire career and what would appear as extremely bare instrumentation creates just terrific enhancement for each song. Cooder plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, bass, and keys weaving things together in a fashion reminiscent of his earlier recordings but with shifting mixes that makes each song fresh. The disc is also enriched by Joachim Cooder (drums, percussion), backing vocals by Arnold McCuller and long-term accompanists Bobby King and the late Terry Evans. There is a distinctly religious theme, perhaps triggered by the loss of Evans and perhaps as a personal reflection on the loss of friends and life itself. On the larger scale, Cooder explained the disc is “…”a deft commentary on our ailing moral state… I do connect the political/economic dimensions with the inner life of people, since people are at risk and oppressed on all sides in our world today….” (https:// www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ry-cooder-details-new-lp-the-prodigal-son-w517235) Four of the eleven songs here are new Cooder originals and the remainder are traditional songs composed by Blind Willie Johnson, Alfred Reed, Blind Roosevelt Graves, Carter Stanley and William Dawson. The program is compelling and mesmerizing. A certified “Professor Bebop Wax Devoid of Cracks”!
Click here and scroll down to listen to the songs on this disc.
Shemekia Copeland – America’s Child (Alligator): Shemekia Copeland offers her ninth release and it is certainly one of her best, both in terms of performances and the messages it conveys. First of all, the topics cover respect for others and their differences, the diversity and division in the US, and self respect among others. Her backup players include Will Kimbrough (guitar, organ), Al Perkins (pedal steel), Kenny Sears (fiddle), Lex Price (bass), Pete Abbott (drums) with special guests JD Wilkes (harmonica), John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Mary Gauthier and Katie Pruit (backing vocals), Rhiannon Giddens (African banjo), and Steve Cropper (guitar).
The themes are mostly uplifting and challenge each listener to respect others but to also demand respect for themselves. A certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid Of Cracks”!
Click here and scroll down to listen to the songs on this disc.
Sue Foley – The Ice Queen (Stony Plain): Veteran blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Sue Foley offers her 15th release and it may well be her best ever. She wrote nine of the songs and co-wrote one with organist Mike Flanigin who plays on half of the songs on this multi-styled release. In fact, there is a terrific amount of variety on the disc: three acoustic songs, including Foley’s original Latin styled “The Dance”; “Death Of A Dream” with acoustic guitar, drums and bass; a remake of AP Carter’s “Cannonball Blues”; a fully electric remake George Brooks’ “Send Me To The ‘Lectric Chair”; and a full slate of original blues. Special guests include Charlie Sexton (guitar, vocals), Chris Layton (drums), Jimmie Vaughan (vocal, guitar), and Billy Gibbons (vocal, guitar, harmonica). Two songs also include horns. Foley may be the ice queen, but she can and does burn up some fine blues as well. A certified “Professor Bebop Wax Devoid Of Cracks”!
Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Willie Hightower – Out Of The Blue (Ace Soul Trax): Soul fans, THIS IS A TREASURE! Directly from the Muscle Shoals studio, Quinton Claunch produces a brand new recording SOUL GIANT Willie Hightower!!!!! Ten brand new recordings of songs ranging from “I Found You”, “Raining All The Time”, “You Can’t Love Me (Better Than You’re Lovin’ Me Now)”, “No Gettin’ Over Me” and even Freddie Hart’s country classic “Easy Lovin’”! Hightower is supported by Milton Sledge (drums), Bob Wray or Billy Lawson (bass), Clayton Ivey or Mark Narmore (Wurlitzer, B3), Bad Brad Guin (sax), Ken Watters (trumpet), Travis Wammock, Will McFarland and Billy Lawson (guitars), and Mike Curtis, Kenyata White, Charles Stewart, Chris Goodloe and Shelton Cotner (backing vocals). Got Soul? You’re already looking for it! No? Start looking and listening! A certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks”!!
Click here to listen to the opening song.
Marcus King Band – Carolina Confessions (Fantasy): Singer/songwriter/guitarist Marcus King offers his second release and it is fully intense and expressive. King wrote all but one song on the disc and he co-wrote the outlier with Dan Auerbach and Pat McLaughlin. Backing musicians in the band are Jack Ryan (drums), Stephen Campbell (bass), Justin Johnson (trumpet, trombone), Dean Mitchell (sax) and DeShawn “D-Vibes” Alexander (keys) and they are totally supportive and expressive. The sound is mostly quite full, Southern rock a la Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, both of whom have played with and nurtured his career. “Every tune on this record is based around a central theme, which is that none of us are blameless at the end of a relationship,” King points out. “Basically, Carolina Confessions is about me leaving my home town, explaining why I would do that, and why I felt like it was taken from me—just sharing in some of the blame of why a relationship didn’t work.” This release ranks with the best Southern rock discs I’ve ever heard. It is a certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks”!
Click here and activate the left disc cover to listen to samples from the songs on this disc.
Nick Moss – The High Cost Of Low Living (Alligator): Nick Moss (guitar, vocals) began his blues career as a bass player for Jimmy Dawkins and the Legendary Blues Band. He shifted from bass to lead guitar at the suggestion of Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. Moss eventually formed his own band, Nick Moss & The Flip Tops and has been a lead singer/guitarist/songwriter since. This is his first release for Alligator. He wrote eight of the songs on this disc. The band includes Dennis Gruenling (harmonica, vocals) who contributed two songs himself, Taylor Streiff (piano), Nick Fane (bass), Patrick Seals (drums), Eric Spaulding (tenor sax) and Jack Sanford (bari sax) with special guests Jim Pugh (organ, piano) and Kid Andersen (guitar) on a couple of songs each. There’s a good variety of sounds, but the disc is a BLUES disc in the finest CHICAGO tradition. There’s only one more thing to say: A certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks”!
Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Candi Staton – Unstoppable (Thirty Tigers): Candi Staton has just delivered the best recording of her career! Her vocals are as strong as any time in her career and she composed or co-wrote six of the ten songs on the disc! It is, in fact, an anthem for rebuilding or perhaps more honestly, completing the work that could make the slogan “with liberty and justice for all” true. The song titles tell it all: questioning if “The Prize Is Not Worth The Pain” and calling for a “Revolution of Change” and reminding us to have “Confidence” because “It Ain’t Over Yet” while calling for us to “Stand Up” because “People Have The Power”. This release stands with the Staples’ “Bealtitude: Respect Yourself”! A certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid of Cracks!”
Click here to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
Vaneese Thomas – Blues For My Father (Segue): Vaneese Thomas is back with a dazzling soul disc that will “flat domino you lame act”! It sure did mine!!! This time around, she brings out the funky Memphis soul blues that her father created during his career. She even does a duet with her funky daddy, recalling one of his old performances for Stax – “Can’t Ever Let You Go” – thanks to the magic of current day technology. She also duets with sister Carla on “Wrong Turn”. She wrote or co-wrote ten of the twelve songs on offer. Backing musicians include Marvell Thomas, Paul Shaffer, Shelton Beckton, Robbie Kondor, Darryl Clayton or Ricky Peterson (organ), Jon Cobert, Paul Mariconda or Robb Kondor (piano); Buddy Williams, Joe Bonadio, Perry Gartner or Shawn Pelton (drums), Will Lee, Ernest Poccia or Paul Adamy (bass), Robbie Kandor (piano, organ), Tash Neal, Donnie Baer, Bruce McDaniel, Nick Moroch, Rob Mathes, Al Orlo or Jeff Mironov (guitar), Wayne Warnecke (percussion), and Tim Quimette (trumpet), Kirk Whalum, Bill Harris (tenor, bari sax). To the point, this is a certified Professor Bebop “Wax Devoid Of Cracks!”
Click here and scroll down to listen to samples of the songs on this disc.
