One of America's best known, most beloved roots artists, releases a career-defining album produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. Marcia is simply on fire throughout 'Shine Bright', with a rollicking array of piano-fueled roadhouse romps seasoned by her incomparably soulful balladry. Tracks include nine new Marcia originals, plus brilliant takes on the music of Ray Charles, Ernie K-Doe and Jesse Winchester. Producer/saxophonist Berlin guests on five tracks. "Rollicking, playful, good-time blues and intimate, reflective balladry…her songs ring with emotional depth."

The Robert Shaw recordings on this Document Records CD features a selection of Mac McCormick recordings, live concert recordings, radio sessions and the recording by Ben Conroy, on a reel-to-reel recorder at a house party of his making, in 1971. The party went on for at least 4 hours, capturing a whole evening with Robert Shaw, his music and many personal recollections of his earlier performing years.
By the time he was a teenager, Robert Shaw would slip away from the farm to hear Jazz musicians play in the clubs and roadhouses in and around Houston. As soon as he was able Robert sought out a piano teacher and paid for the lessons out of his own earnings…

Stunning solo Texas blues and barrelhouse piano by the late pianist. The most amazing material, produced by Mack McCormick in Austin, dates from 1963 - the rhythmically and technically complex "The Cows" is a tour de force, and "The Ma Grinder" and "The Clinton" aren't far behind. Later numbers from 1973 and 1977 prove that Shaw's skills didn't degenerate with time.

This is a good collection of piano-accompanied vocals sporting bluesmen who worked the lumber camps and oil fields of rural Texas, as well as the red-light districts of cities like Galveston and Houston. Big Boy Knox shows a strong city influence in his decorative right-hand work, as does Robert Cooper, whose playing points to the influence of Fats Waller. Joe Pullem is on board with his hit, "Black Gal," which is perhaps overstated by three takes and a variation. The vocals are good, however, and the piano playing is uniformly excellent. Stylistically, this music falls somewhere between ragtime, blues, and vaudeville.

Fine set presenting vintage barrelhouse piano and stomping blues by Big Joe Duskin, one of the last true stylists in both genres. Duskin's album was released with no fanfare and didn't attract the widespread notice it deserved.

Pianist Otis Spann played in Muddy Waters' band from 1953 to 1970, and was instrumental in creating the electric Chicago blues sound. These 11 tracks were recorded in the mid-'60s by Down Beat magazine editor Pete Welding, and were previously released as Otis Spann's Chicago Blues on Testament Records. This reissue omits the solo Spann material from the original disc and highlights the group recordings featuring S.P. Leary, Johnny Young, James Cotton, Willie Dixon, and Muddy Waters. While not as revolutionary as the records Spann played on with Muddy in the late '50s, you can't deny this lineup of seminal Chicago bluesmen doing what they did best.

The Genius Sings the Blues began as a simple compilation. Comprised of a dozen songs Ray Charles made between 1952 and 1960, the collection was released in 1961 by Atlantic Records to counter the singer’s migration to rival ABC Paramount. What Atlantic originally underestimated is that the album contained many of Charles’ greatest works, all unified by their bluesy emotions and stirring arrangements. A classic of the soul and R&B canon, The Genius Sings the Blues is a snapshot of the evolution of timeless American music captured by the pianist’s indelible rhythmic pace, gospel roots, jazz backgrounds, and Southern-styled accents.
From the iconic cover art to the distinguished music within, everything about the thematic record is iconic…

Twenty-five tracks from her prime, recorded for Modern in the 1940s and '50s, including her hits "That's My Desire" and "Out of the Blue," as well as "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere." While Brooks was an important figure of the L.A. 1940s R&B scene, latter-day listeners may find this rather tame. Vocally she owed much more to pop-jazz stylings than gritty R&B influences. Her most durable and influential performances were her instrumental ones at the piano bench, especially on the pounding "Swingin' the Boogie," which leads off this collection.

This Charles Brown session from early 1992 finds the singer sounding just as natural as he did in the early '50s. Brown is in a typically soulful mood, crooning like a gritty modern day Nat "King" Cole. Backing up the piano and vocals of Brown are soul-groove saxophonist Houston Person, whose smokey tenor chops were an excellent match for Brown's blues. Danny Caron on guitar, Ruth Davies on bass, and Gaylord Birch round out the rhythm section. These ten tracks consist of five originals and five covers featuring a brief version of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight," showing off Brown's ability to play straight jazz.

Chicago native John Henry Davis spent most of his later years recording in Europe, where he was much better known than he was in the U.S. This release, recorded in the mid-'80s, spotlights Davis solo at the piano (except for the final bonus track, which features a vocal by Jeanne-Marie Carroll), and his warm, unhurried playing and singing is as comfortable as an old easy chair. Although he helped format the Chicago blues sound through his work in the 1930s and 1940s with artists like Tampa Red, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Big Bill Broonzy, Davis seems most at home doing a kind of lounge blues, an approach that plays to his strengths. The opening track on this collection, "I Had a Dream," sets the pace here, and it is a likeable tune that contains the line "I dreamed I won the Brooklyn Bridge on my knees shooting dice" before turning into a song of amused resignation…

Katie Webster plays barrelhouse boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B, Gulf Coast swamp pop, deep bayou blues and Southern gospel-flavored soul like nobody's business; her 35 years of professional piano work has appeared on at least 500 singles, including the original version of "Sea of Love," and countless albums. Music critics and fans around the world acknowledge her as the premier female blues piano player anywhere. Alligator Records' Deluxe Edition collects 15 of her very best tracks from her three albums since 1988, and there isn't a filler track to be found. Webster never once failed to deliver on her sassy and sensuous blend of barrelhouse boogie-woogie. Some of the high points of Deluxe Edition include several duets - "Love Deluxe" with Vasti Jackson and the classic "Who's Making Love," which finds Kim Wilson (the Fabulous Thunderbirds) and bluesman Robert Cray jamming with the Boogie Queen…

This album includes recordings from two sessions, one with solo piano, the other with the 1983 Chicago Blues Festival. Throught a beautiful series of instrumental or vocal boogie-woogies and slow blues, Memphis Slim pays homage to some of his models and peers: Roosevelt Sykes, Pinetop Smith (or Perkins!), Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Sammy Price, Jay McShann, Lloyd Glenn, Willie Mabon, Eddie Boyd, Otis Spann.

This choice chapter in the Memphis Slim story delivers an exciting taste of what a modern electric blues band sounded like in live performance during the early '70s. This reissue includes a bonus track featuring Hammond B-3 organist Deacon Jones and formidable electric guitar wizard Freddie King. The year 1973 was particularly exciting as blues, soul, funk, and rock & roll began to blend in ways that had only been hinted at during the 1960s. This cultural explosion was inevitable as music festivals were expanded to include a wide range of styles and genres. The 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, for example, featured One String Sam, Victoria Spivey, Roosevelt Sykes, John Lee Hooker, and Ray Charles on the same weekend as Yusef Lateef, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and the Sun Ra Arkestra…