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Carlo Lo Raso
I have been fortunate enough to experience blues legend Buddy Guy live in concert three separate occasions in my life. Each and every time, he demonstrated what a force of nature he is to see in person. He balances a blend of Chicago Blues, Soul, and Funk with a healthy dose of sheer wild abandon, and with that you have something completely unique among Blues artists. His scorching guitar work has influenced generations of modern electric axe wielders since the mid-’60 at the age of 88, he is still making his music.
Buddy Guy’s record output has been a bit of a mixed bag. It’s definitely been more consistent since his 1991 release “Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues,” but before that it was a bit of a different story. For those looking to get a good introduction to what Buddy Guy is like at his best, I’d humbly recommend folks check out 1981’s “Stone Crazy” album on Alligator for a great studio primer and 1996’s “The Real Deal” for a dynamic live set. I’d also suggest “Live in Montreux, 1978” as another great live example with longtime collaborator, Junior Wells.
For this review, it was my first time listening to “This is Buddy Guy,” and I wish I would have discovered it sooner. As a live album, it is a stellar example of Buddy Guy as both a musician and a showman. Originally released on the Vanguard label in 1968 from a live concert at New Orleans House in Berkeley, California, it also shows his versatility as he isn’t just doing straight ahead Blues. Backed by a proper horn section, his take on Peggy Lee’s “You Give Me Fever” is a wild, bluesy turn on the song where he literally screams “Fever” every refrain in an almost James Brown kind of execution. He quickly segues into a highly charged, soulful version of “Knock on Wood,” that could have easily been the inspiration for everything the Blues Brothers ever tried to do. Neither of these two songs is overly guitar-heavy and is more of a vocal performance with the rest of the band. The more traditional Blues tune “You Were Wrong” features plenty of Buddy Guy’s tasty chops on guitar with som extended solo work to match up with his soulful wailing. The album ends with a fiery version of “I’m Not the Best” that could have totally been cribbed from some of James Brown’s best performances, but it was juiced and spun in a whole different way. This album is a perfect little snapshot of one of those musical moments in time that you just wish you could have been right in the middle of when it was happening.
On a technical level, the original recording quality is very good, if not up to the quality of the best live Jazz recordings of the time. Still, this is a bit of a different beast and compared to live rock recordings of the era, it is considerably better. The lacquers for this new Craft Recordings release are said to be cut from a full analog remastering of the original master tapes. These were cut by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab at Blue Heaven Studios. The album is pressed on 180-gram vinyl at QRP in conjunction with Acoustic Sounds. Being a fan of the quality of some original Vanguard Classical albums, this reissue is a nice homage to those, being exceptionally clean and noise-free. No undue pops or extraneous surface noise observed in my listening. Craft Recording did another fine job with this one, and if you are a lover of Buddy Guy, I think you will be most pleased with this reissue.
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Well-regarded Jazz organist Larry Goldings has put together a very tight and expressive little trio for this live album recorded at Sam First’s L.A. club/venue. The personell consists of Goldings on piano with bassist Karl McComas-Reich, and Christian Euman on drums.
The material is executed not so much in a free-form manner, but it definitely ventures into the exploratory realm. Each member gets a chance to stretch, and they do push and guide each other into some interesting and fun territory, but never at the expense of the underlying melody of each piece. I particularly like what these gents cook up on “Mambo Inn” and “Embracable You.” Christian Euman is an elegant beast on drums, skillfully firing off complex rhythms simultaneously on the cymbals and skins that at the same time boggle the mind but don’t seem out of place either. Karl McComas-Reich is equally brilliant on the bass with an almost Jack Bruce kind of flair as he weaves and bobs with Euman’s drum kit. Larry Goldings himself demonstrates the same level of technique and taste on the piano, getting a bit more avant-garde in his interpretation on the track “Roach” and then dialing it back to a beautifully melodic take on “Jesus Was a Cross Maker.”
The overall recording quality is typically excellent for a Sam First show. The recording staff there definitely have their game down and they seem to know how to get the best sound out of their venue space. The sound was nicely warm and spacious, and the engineers succeeded in capturing a very good sense of the venue space in the recording, along with the natural tonality of the instruments. The LP itself was nicely pressed on heavyweight vinyl and had no hint of surface noise or SKP (snap, krackle, or pop). This is the sort of record turntables were made for. Its music you put on and then sit back and let it take you on a bit of a journey. Very lovely stuff!
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For the third in our trio of live album reviews, we have this latest example of fine never-before-released Bill Evans concert recordings that have been coming out over the last couple of years. This particular 2 LP set features excerpts of 3 different Bill Evans live events recorded in Finland, with different personnel, in 1964, 1965, and 1969.
While some mght say this is just more classic Bill Evans material, that’s exactly what makes it great! Wonderfully melodic and moving stuff to listen to for sure, but it’s also neat to experience Bill Evans’ evolution as documented over the three show dates.
The full 5 tracks on Side A are from the 1964 Helsinki show that features Evans in a trio with Chuck Isreals on Bass and Larry Bunker on drums. Their take on “Autumn Leaves” positively smokes on this side. They are a tight badass little jazz trio in the perfect sense, and they play like they own it!
The 3 tracks on Side B are from the following year, also in Helsinki. This time Evans is joined by Niels- Henning Ørsted Pedersen on bass, Alan Dawson on drums, and Lee Konitz on alto sax on only one of the tracks. “My Melancholy Baby” that features Konitz on it, has a really nice groovy swing and a certain level of exploration to it that makes for a nice little diversion from the norm. Everyone gets a chance to stretch and go for a little cruise on it. Of course, they all successfully make it to their destination.
All of Side C and D are devoted to the 1969 show at the University of Tampere. For this set, Evans is joined by Eddie Gomez on bass and Marty Morell on drums. One finds and another level of refinement and a bigger exploratory push in this last concert set. Compare “Autumn Leaves” on Side D with the 1964 version on Side A. Same tune, very different animals. It all makes for a very enjoyable and instructive listen with the crowd being notably appreciative, no matter the show.
These were originally taped by the Finnish Broadcasting Company and the recording quality overall in each of the 3 shows is consistently good for the time period. It captures a nice sense of the live event and there is good separation and body captured from each of the instruments. Older live recordings can come off sounding thin, but this thankfully doesn’t have that issue, the bass in particular sounds well balanced and daled in. The LPs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl and were most likely mastered from a high-resolution digital copy of the original session tapes. Mastering was also courtesy of Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab. Both LPs were respectably quiet with barely any surface noise and no pops or skips to speak of. Another NOS (new-old-stock) Bill Evans chestnut to add to your collection!