Showing posts with label Henry Butler. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Henry Butler. Show all posts

Sunday, July 29, 2018

Henry Butler - Blues After Sunset

Year: 1998
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 54:55
Size: 126,5 MB
Styles: Blues, piano blues
Scans: Full

1. I've Got My Eyes On You (3:16)
2. Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand (3:19)
3. I Really Love You (4:14)
4. Butler's Boogie (4:40)
5. Relaxing Blues (5:10)
6. Blue Moments (5:06)
7. The Marriage Song (3:37)
8. Tee Na Na (3:49)
9. Bourbon Street Blues (5:09)
10. Death Has No Mercy (6:23)
11. Tetherball (5:19)
12. C.C. Rider (4:47)

The line of innovative New Orleans piano players who serve as conduits for fusing genres is continued with this release by Henry Butler. Here he approaches his music for the first time primarily as a blues performer, rather than as a jazz musician playing blues. He is an extraordinary performer who has put together all the years of growing up in the Crescent City, with its diverse musical heritage, his training in piano and voice from the Louisiana State School for the Blind, his continued musical education at Southern University, and the post-graduate work in voice (singing German lieder) at Michigan State, and fused it into one cohesive whole.

All the flavors are there and distinct when you look for them, but put together they form a cohesive whole that provokes more thought than the individual parts would. Listen to his terrifying vocals and the support his piano provides for them on his version of "Death Has No Mercy." The tune has always had a chill, but he puts it into another realm that brings up vivid images of the Angels of Death swooping on down. He is joined on several cuts by Snooks Eaglin on guitar and Mark Kazanoff on harmonica, who provide an empathetic support that enhances and helps carry these tunes to further reaches.

On "Tetherball," he and Kazanoff play off each other, whirl around each other in an orbit that at times stretches way out there before coming back to this plane at the end of the song, just as the ball rolls up tight against the pole. Henry Butler does it all on this superlative disc - he co-produced it, wrote eight of the 12 songs, did all of the arranging, and provided vocals and piano. This is a disc that should not be missed at any cost. /Bob Gottlieb, AllMusic

Blues After Sunset mc
Blues After Sunset zippy

Monday, May 25, 2015

Henry Butler - 2 albums: Homeland / The Game Has Just Begun

Album: Homeland
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:14
Size: 126.5 MB
Styles: Piano blues, New Orleans R&B
Year: 2004
Art: Front

[3:40] 1. Jump To The Music
[5:24] 2. Henry's Boogie
[5:22] 3. The Way We Loved
[4:22] 4. Homeland
[4:06] 5. Hey Little Girl
[5:13] 6. Casino
[5:07] 7. Some Iko
[4:21] 8. The Game Band Strut
[4:55] 9. I Stand Accused
[4:57] 10. OS7.0
[3:50] 11. You Can't Beat My Love
[3:51] 12. Ode To Fess

You kids may not be aware of this, but there was a time when the term R&B stood for rhythm and blues, and described a style of music that was readily distinguishable from the pop music mainstream.

Today it seems as if R&B has become a term that describes the race of the performer more than it does the music itself. (A Britney Spears album gets filed under rock and pop, whereas if Beyoncé were to make the same album it would be filed under R&B or soul/hip hop.) Henry Butler comes from a different time and place, and his music is R&B in the old sense -- it rocks, it rolls, it struts, it features the piano prominently, and it's very much based in the blues and the Creole musical traditions of his native New Orleans. Despite one or two minor missteps, Homeland is a hoot and a joy all the way through, from the touchingly sentimental "Way We Loved" through the slightly hokey "Hey Little Girl" right up to the sweet ode to Professor Longhair that ends the program. The album's highlight is a fantastic adaptation of the New Orleans classic "Iko Iko," and its nadir is the overlong one-chord workout "Casino." Highly recommended overall. ~Rick Anderson

Homeland mc
Homeland zippy

Album: The Game Has Just Begun
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 71:15
Size: 163.1 MB
Styles: Piano blues, New Orleans R&B
Year: 2002
Art: Front

[ 5:47] 1. The Game Has Just Begun
[ 5:09] 2. This Is Where I Live
[ 5:09] 3. Mac Daddy Henry
[ 3:48] 4. Tie Me Down
[ 4:39] 5. You Are My Sunshine
[ 3:38] 6. Regeneration
[ 3:34] 7. Great Balls Of Fire
[ 5:04] 8. High Heeled Sneakers
[ 5:46] 9. Fall Blues
[ 3:42] 10. When You Listen With Your Eyes
[ 5:55] 11. Riders On The Storm
[ 4:01] 12. Liberty Street Blues
[14:58] 13. Qanda With Henry Butler (Interview)

Henry Butler goes all-out electric on his first Basin Street release, outfitting his rootsy brand of blues-rock with synth textures, keyboard bass, even drum machine on a few tracks. Raymond Weber lays down real drums most of the time; the guitar solos by June Yamagishi and Shane Theriot are often blistering. Artistically, however, the results are mixed. The disc gets off to a strong start with four hard-hitting originals, then loses its way until track eight, a grooving rendition of "High-Heeled Sneakers" featuring Butler's superb piano. But the rock covers ("Great Balls of Fire," "Riders on the Storm") are listless, the pop arrangements ("You Are My Sunshine," "When You Listen With Your Eyes") are middle of the road, and the three electronic mood instrumentals are interesting only up to a point. (A 15-minute question-and-answer session with Butler ends the disc.) This is definitely not the best starting point for anyone new to Butler's music. ~David R. Adler

The Game Has Just Begun mc
The Game Has Just Begun zippy

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Corey Harris & Henry Butler - Vu Du Menz

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 54:00
Size: 123.6 MB
Styles: Acoustic blues, Country blues
Year: 2000
Art: Front

[4:15] 1. Let 'em Roll
[4:38] 2. If I Was Your Man
[2:38] 3. Sugar Daddy
[4:12] 4. There's No Substitute For Love
[4:03] 5. King Cotton
[3:33] 6. Mulberry Row
[3:43] 7. Down Home Livin'
[3:55] 8. Voodoo Man
[3:32] 9. Song Of The Pipelayer
[4:12] 10. If You Let A Man Kick You Once
[3:12] 11. L'espirit De James
[3:21] 12. Shake What Your Mama Gave You
[2:30] 13. Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel
[3:59] 14. What Man Have Done
[2:11] 15. Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You

This collaboration is the first full-length release from like-minded bluesmen guitarist Corey Harris and pianist Henry Butler. Although they had previously played together on live dates, the only other time they appear on CD is on Harris' Greens From the Garden. These 15 tracks cover more ground than the mere term "blues" implies. The duo recalls not only the best of traditional piano/guitar music of the '20s and '30s, but also New Orleans soul, barrelhouse, ragtime, and Delta blues. To their credit, Harris and Butler have the ability to bring these traditions into a modern context while retaining the soul that some modern blues recordings lack. Not only are duet settings heard but a few solo spots are featured. The playing is phenomenal, which shouldn't overshadow the emotional vocal performances, including the a cappella gospel on "Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You?" that closes out this highly recommended disc. ~Al Campbell

Vu Du Menz mc
Vu Du Menz zippy