Tip of the Day: Gift Ideas #2
Adam Gussow just released his new CD today... it should fit nicely in the stocking! P.S., I'm editing his interview right now... it's damn good and will be up before the end of the month.
"Dear Blues Harmonica Player:
I’m pleased to announce the release of Southbound, my second solo album. Southbound isn’t just the album’s title: it’s the opening track—an Allman Brothers remake—and the story of this particular harp player’s life over the past decade.
In 2002, after 22 years as an active member of the New York City blues scene and an extended apprenticeship with Harlem guitar-wizard Sterling "Mr. Satan" Magee, I relocated to Oxford, Mississippi. It took a while for the hill country vibe to seep in, but that finally happened with my debut solo release, a clanking, driving collection of one-man rhythm & blues harp tracks entitled Kick and Stomp (2010). “[R]ooted deep in the blues,” wrote the reviewer for Living Blues, “Kick And Stomp adds…a unique and captivating new chapter to Gussow’s 35-year professional musical career.”
Now, with Southbound, I’ve upped the ante. Nine of the album’s eleven cuts were tracked in one-man band mode, but all of them have been hot-rodded with the help of Mississippi’s best session men—including another New York outmigrant, Bronx-born bassist Jerry Jemmott, “the groovemaster” celebrated for his work with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, B. B. King, King Curtis, and the Allman Brothers.
Those who know me for my harmonica work will be surprised to find out that I play guitar on half the tracks as well. The truth is, I worked my way through college in a jazz/funk sextet and studied jazz guitar at the Berklee College of Music. My heroes back then were Larry Carlton, Eric Clapton, Joe Pass, Dickey Betts, and B. B. King, along with the familiar harp gods.
All the music I've loved comes together in Southbound; the mix ranges from urban and country blues (“Tore Down,” “C. C. Rider,” “You Don’t Have to Go”) through a pair of contemporary smooth-jazz instrumentals by trumpeters Chris Botti (“Why Not”) and Rick Braun (“Green Tomatoes”) that I've roughed up. With Jemmott’s help, I turn trumpeter Hugh Masekela’s 1968 pop-jazz perennial, “Grazing in the Grass” into a foot-drum-driven disco groove with some bump-in-the-trunk. There’s also a funky wailing remake of the “Sanford and Son” theme (with Mississippi jazz man Bill Perry, Jr. on keyboards) and an overblow workout on “Alley Cat,” an early 1960s lounge hit by Danish pianist Bent Fabric.
Southbound is anchored by a couple of original compositions. “Home to Mississippi” evokes the life of a traveling musician with a rockabilly vibe and some juke-joint harp. “Old McDonald in Mississippi” is—well, let’s just call it a double-entendre, adults-only meditation on "frolicking rural farmlife" in the Deep South.
For the holiday season, Southbound is available ONLY as a zip file download (big fat WAVs or mp3s) from Modern Blues Harmonica by way of Tradebit. Complete ready-to-print liner notes included! The harp keys are listed, to facilitate jamming along. 11 tracks, 42 minutes, $10. Click either link below and you'll be taken to a page at Tradebit where you can listen to a nine-song preview reel:
Southbound WAVs
http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/157349995-southbound-wav-masters-zip
Southbound mp3s
http://www.tradebit.com/filedetail.php/157344643-southbound-mp3-masters-zip
This is the album I've been wanting to make since I was a teenager. I hope you enjoy it. Best wishes for the holidays to you and yours.
--Adam
