Miles Davis – “Honky Tonk” 1973 from In Concert. When I was first discovering jazz back in the mid-80s, it was de rigueur to dismiss pretty much all of his 70s work as rambling, disjointed, and empty. I was so much older then, but I’m younger than that now, so I realize this stuff is actually deep, sensuous, and beautiful. “Honky Tonk” had been a tune Davis played for a couple years with a variety of different bandmates before this recording. I happen to really like the slow, sinuous, seductive groove here layed down by bassist Michael Henderson and drummer Al Foster along with percussion by James Mtume and tablas by Badal Roy. The performance slides out of the previous cut on the record (and will directly slip into the next cut at the end), and begins with some seductive soloing by guitarist Reggie Lucas. Once Miles takes over (about three minutes in), it becomes a bluesy wail, a serene siren’s call, a mesmerizing example of how he could use wah wah trumpet to convey emotional nuance he couldn’t get with just the horn. And then there’s a very nice soprano sax solo by Carlos Garnett. The track is an island of calm in a sea of unruly funk.
Albert King – “I’ll Play the Blues For You (Parts 1 & 2)” 1972 from I’ll Play the Blues For You. Albert King was 49 years old when this record released, and you’d think that his use of hip lingo such as “Let’s rap a while” or “groovy” or “blow minds” would come off as corny. But even now, 52 years later, I still feel connected to King’s attempt to console the young woman who has the blues. I mean, the spoken word verse isn’t as powerful as the ones he sings and even less so than the long guitar passages on the back half. But it’s an integral part of the full 7 minutes plus of this cut. This was the golden age of minor key blues – just a couple years after B.B. King did “The Thrill Is Gone” – and Albert King’s band is perfect here. The horns, the swirling organ, the lithe electric piano, the liquid bass line, the solidly syncopated drums, the occasional wah wah guitar parts – it all sets a solid bedrock for King’s luscious vocals and especially his stinging guitar playing. The best blues players – and Albert King was one of the very best ever – have such full control of the way they touch the strings. The notes can stab, they can slide, they can bend, they can sustain, they can get louder or softer at will. It’s really like a particularly great massage. King made a lot of great records in his lifetime, but most days, I think this was the best.
Lankum – “Netta Perseus” 2023 from False Lankum. This Irish foursome takes traditional folk music from the British isles and makes it sound darker, more magical, more elusive than ever before. That said, “Netta Perseus” itself is only an incredible simulation of a traditional song. Despite lyrics about “The woman with eyes like the ocean” who “slept on a cloud,” this song was written by the members of the band. It takes several listens before you understand those words anyway – the deep bass vocals of the man singing in unaffected unison with the woman member of the band are mixed evenly with intertwined acoustic guitar lines and oddly unidentifiable sounds before a cello (I think) and eventually rumbling saxophones and a pump organ (again I think), then an eerie violin. Halfway through the song, there’s an abrupt stop and Lankum goes to work with an industrial folk sound throbbing away as strings hint at the melodic content of the song. It’s all very eerie, all very mysterious. I love it!
Howlin’ Wolf – “Worried All the Time” 1952 available on Smokestack Lightning: The Complete Chess Masters. Chester Burnett was already 42 years old by the time he recorded this early masterpiece in the Memphis studio of Sam Phillips. Wolf made a lot of brilliant records over his career, but the overdriven sound of these early ones simply cannot be beaten. Wolf on vocals and harmonica, Willie Johnson on guitar, L.C. Hubert on piano, and Willie Steele on drums drove hard and loud, pushing the country blues into the amplified big city. Wolf is worried because his woman has found another man, and he knows he has to leave her. The power of the record is in the way he tells her. Of course, there’s that gruff snarl of a voice pushing out the words in a way that can’t help but sound harsh. And there’s his aggressive harmonica playing at the end of lines and between verses, sometimes in tandem with Johnson’s alternately insistent and liquid guitar parts. Hubert’s piano provides a lighter contrast throughout the song, and Steele’s drums, lay down a solid backbeat. There was nobody else like Howlin’ Wolf, and these early records set the template for his genius to get out.
Bob Neuwirth – “Great Spirit” 1991 from 99 Monkeys. Bob Neuwirth was best known for being a close friend of Bob Dylan, showing up in the background of multiple Dylan films and tours. But he was a heck of a songwriter himself, though he only released 6 albums, all between 1974 and 1999, in his 82 years of life. This song, co-written by Native American Robby Romero, is an invocation, an opening prayer to the Great Spirit to allow life to carry on as it has, and to allow the singer to be a better person. It’s a somber and beautiful song sung by Neuwirth in an intimate, sincere, and hopeful manner. Neuwirth was never a great singer, but he could carry a tune, and he could make you believe what he was singing. I hadn’t heard him in a long time, but it was like revisiting an old friend to play this again.