Thursday, October 15, 2009
Ventresco
You're going to be seeing more posts from me about this amazing guitarist, Craig Ventresco. In this clip he is merely a supporting player, but where he does his old time vaudeville and ragtime tunes he will astound.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Hotshots at the HarvestFest
Good times were had by all with blues, ragtime and some hokum and jug music provided by Michael Ammons and the Water Street Hot Shots at the Sheboygan Harvest Fest last weekend. Lil' Rev was a special guest blowing that harmonica and picking that uke! If you missed it -- well, you missed it!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Austin Music Historian Discovers Blind Willie Johnson’s Grave
From the Texas Psychedelic Rock website:
AUSTIN, TX - July 27, 2009 – Since his death in 1945, the grave of Blind Willie Johnson, one of the greatest bottleneck-slide guitarists of all time, has been unmarked. Now, thanks to 18 months of research and a dozen visits to the Blanchette Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas by Austinite Jack Ortman, the final resting place of this influential Texas musician will get the recognition it deserves.
Johnson’s music has always been revered by his fellow musicians. His songs have been covered by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, White Stripes, Bruce Springsteen, Hot Tuna, the Grateful Dead and countless other artists. More than 30 years after his death, Johnson’s recording of “Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)” was included on a Sounds of Earth record launched into space onboard NASA’s Voyager One. Nearly 60 years after Johnson’s death, Texas guitar legend Johnny Winter called that song one of his 10 favorite songs in a Guitar World interview.
Johnson’s childhood, like his untimely death, was heartbreaking. His mother died when he was a baby; his step-mother blinded him with lye when he was seven years old. (His song “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time” was covered by Clapton on 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974.) One of Columbia’s biggest selling race recording stars during the Great Depression, Johnson recorded 30 songs between 1927 and 1930. When the economy ended his recording career, he became a Baptist minister. He operated a “House of Prayer” in Beaumont with his wife and continued to perform on street corners. In 1945, a fire ravaged their home. With nowhere to go and little funds, they slept on newspapers on their water-damaged bed. Johnson caught pneumonia but was turned away at a local hospital because he was blind (or black, depending upon the source). He died within a week: his final resting place unknown; his grave unmarked.
Determined to uncover that page of Texas history, Ortman began making the 230 mile trek from Austin to Beaumont every two or three weeks. “I’m into the history of music and musicians of the Golden Triangle − Beaumont, Orange and Port Arthur, Texas” he explained. “During my research, I kept coming across information that Blind Willie had lived in Beaumont during the 30s and 40s. The sources also revealed that he died in Beaumont. My natural curiosity made me search further and I started finding information that no one was sure where he was buried. That was it, my moment of realization, and I thought, ‘What a perfect project for me’.”
Ortman began researching Johnson’s life, collecting books, articles, and CD liner notes. After reading an article in the Austin American Statesman by Michael Corcoran, and a chapter about Johnson in Corcoran’s book All Over the Map, he learned that Corcoran had found a copy of the Johnson’s death certificate that noted he was buried in Blanchette Cemetery.
Ortman headed for that cemetery and met Estraleta Sonnier, the new director of Community Cemeteries, an umbrella organization for several Beaumont cemeteries. He then hooked up with the Tyrrell Historical Library and the Jefferson County Historical Commission and was told Johnson was buried at Community Cemeteries, which had him searching two additional burial grounds. After a couple of dead ends at those cemeteries, he once again focused on Blanchette.
Johnson was buried in a pauper’s grave in the “colored section” of the Blanchette Cemetery, which has a chain link fence separating the white and black sections. When Ortman discovered his final resting place in July, Johnson had been dead for almost 65 years. Sam Charters, music historian, record producer, and author of The Country Blues, The Legacy of the Blues, and several other books on blues and jazz, searched for his grave in the mid 1950s. Corcoran abandoned his search in 2003. Ortman believed the time was right to try again and credits his success to a number of factors.
“Right from the beginning, I felt if I were to have any success, I needed the involvement of all the players,” he said. “My objective was getting to know the people at the cemetery and all the historical commissions on a personal basis. Discovering the location took combining the “Industrial Maps” of Beaumont from the 1920s to the 1960s; having a new director of the Blanchette Cemetery; utilizing overhead aerial photos from satellites in space; timing; and a lot of luck.”
“I think other researchers had been looking for a gravestone with Blind Willie’s name chiseled on it,” he added. “When I found out he was buried in a paupers grave, it changed the focus of my search. After I eliminated all the ‘marked’ and ‘paid for’ tombs and narrowed what was left as the paupers graves, I had found the last of the missing ‘Blues Founding Fathers’.”
Requirements for an Official Texas Historical Marker from the Texas Historical Commission (THC) are stringent and require applications to be submitted by a county historical commission. The Jefferson County Historical Commission is submitting Ortman’s application this fall. When approved, the THC writes the inscription, requires payment for the marker (approximately $1500, already pledged by an anonymous donor), and has a foundry cast the marker. Ortman plans to host an unveiling ceremony with the Jefferson County Historical Commission when the wait is finally over.
“Well deserved and 65 years overdue, Blind Willie Johnson will finally get the recognition he deserves as a seminal Texas musician,” Ortman added.
By Mary Lou Sullivan
AUSTIN, TX - July 27, 2009 – Since his death in 1945, the grave of Blind Willie Johnson, one of the greatest bottleneck-slide guitarists of all time, has been unmarked. Now, thanks to 18 months of research and a dozen visits to the Blanchette Cemetery in Beaumont, Texas by Austinite Jack Ortman, the final resting place of this influential Texas musician will get the recognition it deserves.
Johnson’s music has always been revered by his fellow musicians. His songs have been covered by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, White Stripes, Bruce Springsteen, Hot Tuna, the Grateful Dead and countless other artists. More than 30 years after his death, Johnson’s recording of “Dark was the Night (Cold was the Ground)” was included on a Sounds of Earth record launched into space onboard NASA’s Voyager One. Nearly 60 years after Johnson’s death, Texas guitar legend Johnny Winter called that song one of his 10 favorite songs in a Guitar World interview.
Johnson’s childhood, like his untimely death, was heartbreaking. His mother died when he was a baby; his step-mother blinded him with lye when he was seven years old. (His song “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time” was covered by Clapton on 461 Ocean Boulevard in 1974.) One of Columbia’s biggest selling race recording stars during the Great Depression, Johnson recorded 30 songs between 1927 and 1930. When the economy ended his recording career, he became a Baptist minister. He operated a “House of Prayer” in Beaumont with his wife and continued to perform on street corners. In 1945, a fire ravaged their home. With nowhere to go and little funds, they slept on newspapers on their water-damaged bed. Johnson caught pneumonia but was turned away at a local hospital because he was blind (or black, depending upon the source). He died within a week: his final resting place unknown; his grave unmarked.
Determined to uncover that page of Texas history, Ortman began making the 230 mile trek from Austin to Beaumont every two or three weeks. “I’m into the history of music and musicians of the Golden Triangle − Beaumont, Orange and Port Arthur, Texas” he explained. “During my research, I kept coming across information that Blind Willie had lived in Beaumont during the 30s and 40s. The sources also revealed that he died in Beaumont. My natural curiosity made me search further and I started finding information that no one was sure where he was buried. That was it, my moment of realization, and I thought, ‘What a perfect project for me’.”
Ortman began researching Johnson’s life, collecting books, articles, and CD liner notes. After reading an article in the Austin American Statesman by Michael Corcoran, and a chapter about Johnson in Corcoran’s book All Over the Map, he learned that Corcoran had found a copy of the Johnson’s death certificate that noted he was buried in Blanchette Cemetery.
Ortman headed for that cemetery and met Estraleta Sonnier, the new director of Community Cemeteries, an umbrella organization for several Beaumont cemeteries. He then hooked up with the Tyrrell Historical Library and the Jefferson County Historical Commission and was told Johnson was buried at Community Cemeteries, which had him searching two additional burial grounds. After a couple of dead ends at those cemeteries, he once again focused on Blanchette.
Johnson was buried in a pauper’s grave in the “colored section” of the Blanchette Cemetery, which has a chain link fence separating the white and black sections. When Ortman discovered his final resting place in July, Johnson had been dead for almost 65 years. Sam Charters, music historian, record producer, and author of The Country Blues, The Legacy of the Blues, and several other books on blues and jazz, searched for his grave in the mid 1950s. Corcoran abandoned his search in 2003. Ortman believed the time was right to try again and credits his success to a number of factors.
“Right from the beginning, I felt if I were to have any success, I needed the involvement of all the players,” he said. “My objective was getting to know the people at the cemetery and all the historical commissions on a personal basis. Discovering the location took combining the “Industrial Maps” of Beaumont from the 1920s to the 1960s; having a new director of the Blanchette Cemetery; utilizing overhead aerial photos from satellites in space; timing; and a lot of luck.”
“I think other researchers had been looking for a gravestone with Blind Willie’s name chiseled on it,” he added. “When I found out he was buried in a paupers grave, it changed the focus of my search. After I eliminated all the ‘marked’ and ‘paid for’ tombs and narrowed what was left as the paupers graves, I had found the last of the missing ‘Blues Founding Fathers’.”
Requirements for an Official Texas Historical Marker from the Texas Historical Commission (THC) are stringent and require applications to be submitted by a county historical commission. The Jefferson County Historical Commission is submitting Ortman’s application this fall. When approved, the THC writes the inscription, requires payment for the marker (approximately $1500, already pledged by an anonymous donor), and has a foundry cast the marker. Ortman plans to host an unveiling ceremony with the Jefferson County Historical Commission when the wait is finally over.
“Well deserved and 65 years overdue, Blind Willie Johnson will finally get the recognition he deserves as a seminal Texas musician,” Ortman added.
By Mary Lou Sullivan
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Stardust -- a reinterpretation
Enjoy this video. What cool stylings of this great 1927 jazz-pop song by Hoagy Carmichael.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Congratulations to Michael Ammons and the Hotshots!
Congratulations to Michael Ammons and the Water Street Hotshots for winning this year's Grafton Blues Challenge last weekend. They were the only acoustic group on the bill and took away top honors. Now it's on to Memphis for the International Blues Challenge.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Tonewoods
I've never thought too much about the wood my guitars are constructed of, except from a visual aspect. I have a beautiful flamed maple parlor from Larrivee, for example. It's fun to play, and great to look at. So I hadn't thought about guitar materials outside of the woods we're all familiar with: rosewood, spruce, mahogany, maple. But if you start looking into the guitars of the 20s and 30s, you see guitars constructed from other woods, like oak and birch.
Recently I began the early steps into having a 1920-30s Stella-style guitar built for me by a Wisconsin luthier. One of the choices I had to make was the wood from which the back and sides of the guitar will be constructed. I could have gone with the old standard, mahogany. I have several "hog" guitars now, so I'm quite familiar with the sonic qualities of that tonewood.
But I discovered a few things during my research on the internet concerning tonewoods for guitar.
(1) Guitar players, and perhaps to a lesser extent, luthiers themselves, have a very narrow idea of what makes a good tonewood.
(2) Oak, despite the fact that it was commonly used decades ago, is held in low regard, primarily, I believe, out of ignorance.
(3) There do exist tonewood "heretics" out there who are all to happy to experiment with alternative woods.
One such heretic is luthier John Calkin. I discovered his article "The Heretic's Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods" in which he claims that the whole concept of a tonewood is a hoax.
Then I came across a site by Neil Harpe, Stella Guitars. Neil is helping to save and revive many old guitars, including the old Stellas which I am interested in. On his site, he shows us the reconstruction of an oak-spruce Stella. Well, that pretty much sealed the deal for me -- my Stella repro is going to be oak and spruce, with reproduction fingerboard inlays like the Stella in Neil's restoration. Here is a photo of the finished restoration -- visit Neil's site for some great info, Stella shirts, reproductions of classic guitar catalogs, much more.
Recently I began the early steps into having a 1920-30s Stella-style guitar built for me by a Wisconsin luthier. One of the choices I had to make was the wood from which the back and sides of the guitar will be constructed. I could have gone with the old standard, mahogany. I have several "hog" guitars now, so I'm quite familiar with the sonic qualities of that tonewood.
But I discovered a few things during my research on the internet concerning tonewoods for guitar.
(1) Guitar players, and perhaps to a lesser extent, luthiers themselves, have a very narrow idea of what makes a good tonewood.
(2) Oak, despite the fact that it was commonly used decades ago, is held in low regard, primarily, I believe, out of ignorance.
(3) There do exist tonewood "heretics" out there who are all to happy to experiment with alternative woods.
One such heretic is luthier John Calkin. I discovered his article "The Heretic's Guide to Alternative Lutherie Woods" in which he claims that the whole concept of a tonewood is a hoax.
"First of all (and speaking from a steel string guitar perspective), let's discard the notion that some species of wood makeIt is a thought-provoking article for those interested in this sort of thing, and I recommend reading the entire article via the link provided.good instruments and that others don't. The concept of a tonewood is a hoax. Of the few things that we can do to a guitar and still call it a guitar, changing the wood it is made of will have the least impact upon the quality of the sound that it produces."
Then I came across a site by Neil Harpe, Stella Guitars. Neil is helping to save and revive many old guitars, including the old Stellas which I am interested in. On his site, he shows us the reconstruction of an oak-spruce Stella. Well, that pretty much sealed the deal for me -- my Stella repro is going to be oak and spruce, with reproduction fingerboard inlays like the Stella in Neil's restoration. Here is a photo of the finished restoration -- visit Neil's site for some great info, Stella shirts, reproductions of classic guitar catalogs, much more.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Slow Season
I haven't been very active on this blog lately -- just not much going on.
There have been some notable blues deaths: John Cephas (shown at left) just passed away, and a few weeks ago Snooks Eaglin died at age 73.
I haven't made it to any local concerts -- I just can't take the smoke any more (damn smokers!) -- though I do have tickets for the Blue Note 70th Anniversary concert at Lakeland College later this month:
To mark the 70th anniversary of Blue Note Records, the premier label in jazz, an all-star band featuring some of the finest musicians today is traveling the world celebrating this rich catalog of music. Led by Blue Note Records artist and pianist Bill Charlap, the group will explore classic tunes by Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Herbie Hancock, Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and many others. Joining Charlap in this talented ensemble will be Ravi Coltrane on tenor and soprano saxophone, Pat Martino on guitar, Lewis Nash on drums, Nicholas Payton on trumpet, Peter Washington on bass and Steve Wilson on alto saxophone.I've been playing my guitar, working out Reverend Gary Davis' version of "I'll Fly Away," a challenging version in the key of G. That's about it.
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