Reggie Boyd RIP

From Bob Corritore




RIP Reggie Boyd - Birthdate information unavailable - October 17th, 2010. Sad news via Dave Specter and Dick Shurman from David Bloom of the Bloom School of Jazz and a former student of the man. Bloom writes:
"Reggie Boyd Sr., an icon Chicago Jazz guitarist-teacher died Sunday October 17. He taught three generations of great jazz musicians on all instruments. Reggie did some recording on his own, including his Age 45 "Nothing But Good"/"Nothing But Poison" which also featured Earl Hooker, bass on the Vibrations' hit "Watusi" and guitar on Fenton Robinson (I Hear Some Blues Downstairs) and Milt BucknerLPs, plus other sessions with Syl Johnson, Jimmy Rogers, Etta James, etc. He did the horn charts on Fenton's Blues In Progress/Nightflight LP which I co-produced in '84; seeing those two old friends work together was quite a treat. But he may have been best known for being THE teacher other Chicago guitarists turned to, including many blues legends. Otis Rush, Howlin' Wolf, James Wheeler, Louis Myers,Willie Johnson, Jimmy Johnson, Dave Specter, Syl and Fenton were just a few who took lessons from Reggie. Not long before he died, Robert Jr. Lockwood wanted to record Reggie and tried to discuss it with him, but it was too late for various reasons. Some purists criticized Reggie for "ruining" Chicago blues guitarists by teaching them too much sophistication; there's a well known story of Wolf waving a $1,000 bill at Reggie while telling him that he (Wolf) couldn't make that kind of money playing the "progressive sh*t" Reggie was trying to teach him. But he obviously had something a lot of his peers wanted, and his knowledge of theory and technique were truly formidable. Hopefully he's in a better place today, surrounded by his former students." Dick Shurman adds "Reggie was from Jackson, Tennessee, and Billy Boy Arnold also took lessons from him." Reggie's blues guitar work is most prominently exemplified with his fleet fretwork on Jimmy Rogers' "Rock This House" and "My Last Meal" cut in 1959 for Chess Records. Unfortunately, Reggie Boyd was a "behind the scenes" giant of a musician, so not much information is available. His work will live on through the recordings he made and by the many musicians that he influenced.

Taylor Hicks: White Christmas

I have gotten a lot of requests for this video. I thought I had posted it before, but it was a studio version of the song. This is the live version, it starts slow, then turns into a hot funky jazz number. After all it is the Christmas season so why not see it again:-)

George Shearing: Please Give Me Someone To Love

I love this old Percy Mayfield song. George Shearing is proof positive that Blues and Jazz players only get better with age! Rock on George:-)

George Shearing - Please Give Me Someone To Love
Uploaded by Delta_Mike

January Madness, Or Why I Haven't Posted Much This Month!

We started out on NYE playing at the Gathering place. We had a small crowd but they had a great time.
Here is me and Don sharing a laugh at the Cherokee Jazz and Blues festival
The great Erick Hovey tuning up before he played at BVU as part of the January Blues Series
Here are a couple of nice pics taken by Dolores Cullen of the Storm Lake Times.
The second pic from Dolores.


If it wasn't a gig then it was class, and I still have two more gigs and a week more of classes before I get my nights back!!! It has been a wild couple of weeks and looks to be at least one more great week. Monday night I play piano for Bob Dorr at Buena Vista University, then on Friday after, my class ends at BV, I will rush over to Cherokee and the Gathering Place for our first Third Friday Live! show.

I also wanted to thank the Chronicle Times of Cherokee, the Sioux City Journal, and the Pilot Tribune, and Storm Lake Times, of Storm Lake for there great stories on our band and my blues class.

Hopefully I can return to full time blogging after next week!

Cherokee Jazz And Blues Festival

KMEG, the local NBC affliate in Sioux City Iowa, has a very very very short blurb about the festival. it is sooooooooooooooooooo short that I will just paste and copy it here:-)

Cherokee, Iowa was the home of the Jazz and Blues Festival for the eighth time this weekend. The three day event is Northwest Iowa's premier winter music festival.

The festival brings people, students, and musicians together through performances, clinics, and lots of fun times. Jim Adamson said, "I've seen a lot of smiles and people just raving about the quality of the music and variety of styles of music."

"It's moving to be a musician when you've got this many people out here rocking out with you," added Jimmy Davis, one of the musicians who performed during the festival.

I highlighted in Blues the qoute from Jimmy Davis since he plays guitar for my band:-) Way to go Jimmy!!!!

I also highlighted Jim Adamson's quote since he is the guy that put the band together. Thanks Jim!!!!

Oscar Peterson And Nat King Cole

Oscar with Nat AND Coleman Hawkins on Sax.

Judi Silvano

From the good people at Ariel Publicity, I received some information about Judi Silvano. She is definitely Jazz, or at least most of what I have heard is jazz, but it is nice to mix it up some times:-)

Webpage Click HERE

Myspace: Click HERE

Buy here cd HERE


Upcoming dates for Judi!

Nov 30, 2007	Temple Israel	Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Dec 01, 2007	The Flynn Theatre	Burlington, VT
Dec 28, 2007	Orvieto Jazz Festival	Orvieto, ITALY
Feb 12, 2008	Tel Aviv Jazz Festival	Tel Aviv, ISRAEL
Feb 16, 2008	Hassadna Conservatory	Jerusalem, ISRAEL
Mar 07, 2008	Enzo's	New York, NY
Mar 08, 2008	Ann Street Gallery	Newburgh, NY

BB King And Miles Davis!!!!!!!!!

I would have never expected this, but I stumbled upon it on Daily Motion! A very cool jam between Jazz giant Miles Davis, and the king of the Blues, BB King!!! Very cool!!!

Bb King & Miles Davis
Uploaded by madafonka2

Louis Armstrong: Basin Street Blues

Satchmo playing one of the great New Orleans style blues songs. If I read the credits right this was filmed in Stuttgart Germany. One of the reasons African Americans loved playing in Europe was they were treated the same as whites. In America, even as late as the late 50s when this film was shot, most black performers had to stay in black hotels in America. Louie had broken the color barrier for himself by that time, but this wasn't true for most African American performers. I once talked to a reporter for the old Tribune, which was printed in Des Moines. He recalled interviewing Little Richard in an old boarding house on Center Street since he couldnt stay in the white hotel while performing in Des Moines. It didnt matter that Little Richard had a ton of hits records, and was famous world wide. He had to stay in the black neighborhood. So when these artists went to Europe and found out you could stay where you wanted, eat where you wanted, and not have to worry about going into a white only restroom, then they stayed. Even Louie stayed in Europe off and on during his career. So one can see why these great jazz and blues performers stayed in Europe once they got there.

Basin Street Blues - Armstrong 1959
Uploaded by boberwig

Rhoda Scott: Moanin

You want to hear some great organ blues, and jazz, then this is the video! The Hammond B3 is a great instrument. You really don't need much of a band, if you can play like that:-)

Louis Armstrong: The Saints

This classic song from New Orleans was one of Jimmy Pryor's favorite songs to sing. It was always fun to play this song with him, because he would always try to sneak it in on us. Of course Jimmy's version was more blues then the Great Satchmo, but hey, its a great song no matter how you play it:-)

Billie Holiday and Count Basie: God Bless The Child, and Now Baby

Billie Holiday sings perhaps one of her best known tunes, God Bless The Child, with the
Count Basie orchestra.

Barbara Dane Interview

The San Fransico Chronicle has an interview with Barbara Dane. Dane was one of those artists who seemed on the cusp of fame, but never made it. Perhaps the reason why was her politics, and her brief involvement with the Communist party. Yet, at 80, she is still performing, so people in San Fran need to check her out. Click here for more.

Cool Photo Of Center Street, Des Moines Iowa

This is a photo of 3rd and Center about 11 blocks east of the black business district of Des Moines. These look like pretty nice brownstones, but they are long, long, gone now. Right now it would be the far south west corner of the new arena. These buildings were probably torn down not long after the photo was taken by Charles Cushman in 1958. That was about the time of the River Hills urban renewal effort. many of the people who lived in the River Hills area ended up living in the Center Street area to the west of where this photo was taken. This caused the area to get overcrowded, and to many people who used to live on the street helped lead to its decline. If you wonder what this has to do with the blues, it is because Center Street was a hot spot of blues and jazz in Des Moines. Without a doubt the streets decline began in 1958 for two reasons. The influx of people from River Hills, and plans for Interstate 235, which in 1958 was supposed to run right down Center Street. However, that plan eventually was scrapped in favor of moving the freeway north of Center. Yet, most of Des Moines still thinks that Center Street was demolished by the interstate, when in reality it was the urban renewal movement in the 60s that destroyed the street. To see more of Charles Cushman's photos click here.

Happy Fourth Of July

It is the birthday of America! Fun, parades, picnics, and baseball games. Of course the blues goes good with the fourth as well. Today is the biggest day of the year for little old Storm Lake. The population doubles or triples on this one day. fireworks, music in the bandshell, and lots of fun and games. Hope everyone has a safe 4th!

BTW, for the rest of the week the artist of the week is John Phillip Sousa. Sousa was one of the great marching band composers of the end of the 1800s. Sousa and marching music incredibly enough plays apart of Jazz History. Marching music was a huge fad in the early 1900s. Many musicians in New Orleans played march music. Especially among the creole (mixed race) musicians who could read music. After Plessy vs Ferguson, segregation forced mixed race creoles musician into the black area of town. in particular Storyville, which was the African American red light district. Creole musicians brought syncopation from marching music and mixed it with the blues, and Jazz was born. So enjoy some marching music on the 4th of July!

Must Have Game For Blues And Jazz Lovers

This comes from PC World. UC Berkley students are creating a kind of second life type environment that you can go back in time and experience the great music scene of Oakland California in the 40s and 50s. The photo on the right shows the actual street and the digital street below! The article doesn't say when this game will be available. However, it sounds like it is going to be an online environment. This sounds cool. For more info Click HERE.

Chattanooga's The Big Nine

Much like Center Street in Des Moines, Beale Street in Memphis, and Vine Street in Kansas City, Chattanooga's Ninth Street was the African American business and entertainment district of the city. The Chattanooga Pulse has an excellent article about the history of the Big Nine, and the progress going on around the district. Unfortunately, progress has away of destroying past gems of our history, and the reality is that very few African American business districts remain in the US. On one level that is good news, that we no longer have the segregation that existed in the past the created the need for a black business district. Yet, on the other hand, it is sad to see something that created so much great art, and music go away. I suppose that Beale Street is one answer, and yet, it is just a facade of what really existed in Memphis. Also the Vine district in KC is just a shell of what it was in the glory days. While the Jazz and the Negro league museums are wonderful additions, most of the great clubs and old buildings are long gone. However, at least KC and Memphis have something of their past. Des Moines has nothing left of Center Street. Lets hope that Chattanooga takes a good long look at the Big Nine and does what is best for both culture and commence.

Louie Armstrong: Up A Lazy River

This is Louie Armstrong film live at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. This is an old Hoagey Carmichael song Called Up A Lazy River. This is a nice bluesy/ragtime type song.

Django Reinhardt: Swing 1939

Django Reinhardt could do more with two fingers than most guitarist today can do with all five. All I can say is Wow!

Django Reinhardt - Swing 1939
Uploaded by madafonka2

The Great Spoon!

The smooth vocals of Jimmy Witherspoon Singing Ain't Nobodies Business. Witherspoon sang with Jay McShane, and while not from Kansas City, he certainly carried on the KC Blues tradition.