New album: Get Up!
Artist: Ben Harper and Charlie Musselwhite
Label: Concord/Stax
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Charlie Musselwhite and Ben Harper have spent their careers perfecting all types of American music while still etching their own DNA into the proceedings. Squeezing something original out of the blues in 2013 is no easy feat, but “Get Up!” proves it can be done.
Both artists’ muses have more frequent flyer miles than an astronaut, but “Get Up!” seems to be vibing off the classic Chicago blues sound. Few if any blues/rock configurations have surpassed or matched the inventive authenticity of the first two Paul Butterfield Blues Band albums of the late 1960s — both of which were drenched in the lean, aggressive Chicago style. Harper and Musselwhite seemingly have tapped into whatever reservoir of mojo the Butterfield Band drank from and have updated the recipe for the 21st century.
Album opener “Don’t Look Twice” is an acoustic duet in the fine Buddy Guy/Junior Wells tradition. Harper’s almost-falsetto vocals and spiky slide guitar work are sweetened by Musselwhite’s lyrical harmonica work.
Another 45 minutes of this type of material would have been fine, but “I’m In I’m Out I’m Gone” crashes in with a full-blown band stomping, along like a group of Delta storm troopers. Whether wailing away or dropping in juicy asides, Musselwhite’s playing is ghostly and transcendent.
On “I Don’t Believe a Word You Say,” Harper’s vocals are eerily reminiscent of Jack Bruce’s work with Cream. The song is given a pummeling, but the bombast never outweighs the emotion of the performances.
“Blood Side Out” and “I Ride at Dawn” both exchange ancient blues clichés for modern twists on anxiety and anger. With lyrics such as “his father before watched the soil burn with fire/did things I didn’t know I could for the common good,” “I Ride at Dawn” probably will end up being added to the once-thought-finished list of classic blues songs.
Hopefully “Get Up!” will not be a one-shot collaboration. There isn’t a more important form of American music than the blues, and work such as this will keep the genre alive.
Classic album: Count Basie at Newport
Artist: Count Basie
Label: Verve
Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Comedian/actor/musician Martin Mull is credited with the saying “writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” That phrase is certainly appropriate for the “Basie at Newport” album.
When this live set was recorded in 1957, rock and roll was on the ascent, but jazz/swing/big band music still held a decent chunk of the pop market. Count Basie and his colleagues would soon turn to European audiences for career resuscitation, but everyone at the Newport Festival had enough sense to appreciate what they were witnessing.
In addition to Basie’s sublime piano work, this show also featured the trumpet work of Roy Eldridge, vocalists Joe Williams and Jimmy Rushing, and legendary tenor sax player Lester Young. The band was tight, but in the capable hands of Sonny Payne on drums, the music had more swing than a thousand playgrounds.
The crowd-pleasers (“One O’clock Jump,” “Polka Dots and Moonbeams”) do just that, while more esoteric material (“Sent for You Yesterday,” “Blee Blop Blues”) gives the set an eclectic sheen. The CD edition features several bonus tracks featuring lead vocals by Williams, most notably on the Big Joe Turner/Pete Johnson classic “Roll ’Em Pete” and the swaggering post-blues “Smack Dab in the Middle.”
There are dozens of great Basie albums on the market, but “At Newport” arguably is the best.
Jon Dawson’s album reviews appear every Thursday in The Free Press. Contact Jon at 252-559-1092 or jon.dawson@kinston.com. For books, music and motivational seminars, visit jondawson.com.