Alligator Records recordings from Professor Longhair, Corey Harris and Anders Osborne have and continue to appear on network television programs. Professor Longhair’s Whole Lotta Lovin’ (from his Crawfish Fiesta album) is the opening theme song for My Big Redneck Family, airing weekly on the CMT network. Corey Harris’ Moosemilk Blues (from his Fish Ain’t Bitin’ CD) and Anders Osborne’s On The Road To Charlie Parker (from his American Patchwork CD) both appeared in the April 1 episode of CBS Television’s NCIS.
Archive for April, 2014Songs from Alligator Artists Appear on National TelevisionMonday, April 21st, 2014Joe Louis Walker to Participate in Monk Institute’s International Jazz Day in OsakaFriday, April 18th, 2014Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker will take part in the Thelonious Monk Institute Of Jazz’s International Jazz Day in Osaka, Japan on April 30, 2014. Many other artists will also perform, including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and John Scofield. According to the Monk Institute, “The designation of International Jazz Day is intended to bring together communities, schools and other groups the world over to celebrate and learn more about the art of jazz, its roots and its impact. Ultimately, it seeks to foster intercultural dialogue and raise public awareness about the role of jazz music. As a language of freedom across the board, jazz promotes social inclusion, enhancing understanding, tolerance and nurturing creativity.” From its base in Washington, DC, the Thelonious Monk Institute Of Jazz identifies jazz music’s new voices, honoring its present and past masters, making the jazz aesthetic available and comprehensible in concert halls and classrooms around the world. The Institute is the lead nonprofit organization charged with planning, promoting and producing International Jazz Day. Walker’s latest album, Hornet’s Nest, has been hailed as a true blues tour-de-force. USA Today says it is “tough and resilient.” Living Blues added, “Few contemporary blues artists blend aggression, deep feeling and eclecticism with the panache and ferocity of Joe Louis Walker.” James Cotton Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from Mississippi Arts CommissionThursday, April 17th, 2014The Mississippi Arts Commission presented blues music icon (and Tunica, Mississippi native) James Cotton with the coveted Governor’s Award For Excellence In The Arts in a ceremony held February 20, 2014 at Belhaven University in Clarion, Mississippi. The Governor’s Arts Awards are presented annually to outstanding writers, artists, performers, craftsmen and educators who have made significant and lasting contributions through their work as well as to corporations or organizations on the basis of their dedication to arts advancement. Previous winners include B.B. King, Little Milton Campbell, and Bo Diddley. Video of the presentation and live performance is here: http://www.alligator.com/artists/James-Cotton/. Cotton is currently celebrating his 70th year as a professional entertainer. His Grammy-nominated 2013 CD, Cotton Mouth Man, is an upbeat, warm blues album boasting fine musicianship and Cotton’s undeniable spirit. Living Blues says, “James Cotton is one of the great harmonica innovators of his generation. Cotton Mouth Man is a star-studded affair that makes James Cotton’s best recording for Alligator. It is an autobiographical narrative of Cotton’s eventful life and soul-deep relationship with the blues. He plays with an authority and energy that belies his age.” Kenny BurrellTuesday, April 1st, 2014One of the leading exponents of straight-ahead jazz guitar, Kenny Burrell is a highly influential artist whose understated and melodic style, grounded in bebop and blues, made him in an in-demand sideman from the mid-’50s onward and a standard by which many jazz guitarists gauge themselves to this day. Born in Detroit in 1931, Burrell grew up in a musical family in which his mother played piano and sang in the Second Baptist Church choir and his father favored the banjo and ukulele. Burrell began playing guitar at age 12 and quickly fell under the influence of such artists as Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Oscar Moore, T-Bone Walker, and Muddy Waters. Surrounded by the vibrant jazz and blues scene of Detroit, Burrell began to play gigs around town and counted among his friends and bandmates pianist Tommy Flanagan, saxophonists Pepper Adams and Yusef Lateef, drummer Elvin Jones, and others. Introducing Kenny Burrell In 1951, Burrell made his recording debut on a combo session that featured trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie as well as saxophonist John Coltrane, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, and bassist Percy Heath. Although his talent ranked among the best of the professional jazz players at the time, Burrell continued to study privately with renowned classical guitarist Joe Fava and enrolled in the music program at Wayne State University. Upon graduating in 1955 with a B.A. in music composition and theory, Burrell was hired for a six-month stint touring with pianist Oscar Peterson’s trio. Then, in 1956, Burrell and Flanagan moved to New York City and immediately became two of the most sought-after sidemen in town, performing on gigs with such luminaries as singers Tony Bennett and Lena Horne, playing in Broadway pit orchestras, as well as recording with an array of legendary musicians including Coltrane, trumpeter Kenny Dorham, organist Jimmy Smith, vocalist Billie Holiday, and many others. Burrell made his recorded debut as a leader on the 1956 Blue Note session Introducing Kenny Burrell — technically his second session for the label, but the first to see release. From the late ’50s onward, Burrell continued to record by himself and with others, and has appeared on countless albums over the years including such notable albums as 1957’s The Cats featuring Coltrane, 1963’s Midnight Blue featuring saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, 1965’s Guitar Forms with arrangements by Gil Evans, and 1968’s Blues — The Common Ground.
Originally published at allmusic.com by Matt Collar Photo credits:
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