Diunna Greenleaf @ The Rhythm Room

I snatched this from Bob Corritore's weekly newsletter. This is for those who aren't familiar with Diunna Greenleaf's talent, or for that matter, Bob Corritore's harp blowing. 'Course, everyone should be familiar with Bob Margolin and he's smokin' on the guitar here. Corritore's Rhythm Room is one of the premier blues clubs on the planet, situated way out yonder in Phoenix. He's been keeping the blues alive for many years in that neck of the woods and has showcased the finest blues musicians on his stage.

For The Harp Players In Us

Here's a few goodies beginning from the top with Bob Corritore's Harmonica Blues. Blogger has made it a PITA (for me anyway) to get pictures to format where I'd like them to land, so I'm making do with where they ended up. Corritore's release has been out on Delta Groove Productions since last year and features him backing a slew of heavyweights at his famous Rhythm Room club in Phoenix. Feature tunes from Little Milton, Louisiana Red, Koko Taylor, Robert Lockwood Jr., Pinetop Perkins and many more.

Chicago Downhome Harmonica Vol. 1 features a great collection from a variety of Chi-town blowers from back in the day. Big Walter, Little Walter, Big John Wrencher, Little Mack Simmons, Little Sonny, and several others display their talents at blowing the nasty ol' blues the way it's supposed to be be blown, either in support of other Chicago stalwarts like John Brim or showcasing their own stuff.

Ditto for Juicy Harmonica Vol. 2, except the range is not Chi-town centric. Big and Little Walter are present (mainly in supporting roles, which sometimes represents them at their best), along with a couple of nice '60s era James Cotton, and some folks you may not know as well, such as Birmingham Junior, Little Willie Foster, Papa Lightfoot, Little Sam Davis, and others.

Last, but certainly not least is a June release from one of the current bosses of the blues, Rod Piazza and his Mighty Flyers. Delta Groove Productions has scheduled a release of Almighty Dollar on 6/21/11, so I haven't much of a clue as to what to say about it. Well, that's wrong. I do have a clue. This is Piazza, and he rarely puts out anything that doesn't represent the best of what bluesharp blues is all about.

That's it. Just wanted to share what I think will turn your crank if your looking for something to satisfy your bluesharp habit. The two collections can be had at http://www.bluebeatmusic.com/

Blues Harp Stuff For Ya!

Just had to pass on this harp centric stuff from Bob Corritore's newsletter to whom it may concern:

Harmonica Summit DVD filming planned! Amanda Taylor (Kim Wilson's wife) is producing a spectacular gathering of some of her favorite harmonica players. Included in this lineup are James Cotton, Lazy Lester, Kim Wilson, Paul Oscher, Johnny Dyer, Bharath Rajakumar, Johnny Sansone, Jerry Portnoy, Dave Waldman, Bob Corritore, RJ Mischo, Steve Marriner, Billy Flynn, Vincent Bury and a few suprise guests. The excellent backing band for this event consists of Larry Taylor, Richard Innes, Billy Flynn, and Barrelhouse Chuck. The event will happen on Friday and Saturday, October 1st, and 2nd, at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix. It will be filmed and recorded with Clarke Rigsby at the technical helm, and will be released in 2011 on CD and DVD on MC Records. This is a once in a lifetime gathering of some of the greatest living players of the blues harmonica traditions. There is a multi generational "fathers and sons" sub-theme running through this event with ages 22 through 76 represented. There be limited tickets sold. A hotel deal will be made available and we expect tickets to go on sale via Ticketmaster in 2 to 3 weeks. More information forthcoming.

And This:

Rick Estrin to co-host Bob's radio show tomorrow! Rick Estrin is best known for his great harmonica playing and singing with the Nightcats(Formerly Little Charlie & The Nightcats and now Rick Estrin & The Nightcats). Rick & the Nightcats will have a late afternoon performance on Sunday, April 18th, at the Glendale Jazz & Blues Festival. After that Rick will be coming to KJZZ to join Bob Corritore for a 2 hour guest appearance. Rick will be sharing some of his favorite vintage blues songs, complete with stories and explanations. In addition, he promises some live on air performances. Bob looks forward to the honor of this guest appearance. Bob's show is called Those Lowdown Blues and it airs each Sunday from 6pm to 11pm on 91.5FM. in the Phoenix area. TLB can also be heard anywhere in the world via the internet at www.KJZZ.org.

Big Walter's Blues News

Here's a link to some home recordings of Big Walter Horton that I've never heard. Each of them exemplifies the genius of the man and his extraordinary tone. This site is from the Swedish blue publication Jefferson Magazine. Just scroll down until you get to the eight downloadable music tracks. Click Here.

Bob Corritore turned me on to this through his excellent blues newsletter, which is a chocked full of blues we all can use. Go over to Bob's website and sign up. He always includes some great links to blue videos and audios. Instead of butchering the Big Walter information, I'll just let you read what he wrote:

More Big Walter information. In the last newsletter, we reported that a new Big Walter Horton reissue had come out called King Of The Harmonica Players. Since then, we have been notified by Clas Ahlstrand of the Scandinavian Blues Association, who recorded some of these wonderful sides on a portable recorder while visiting Chicago, that this is not a licenced release. Clas also reports that eight of these sides are available as free downloads on the Jefferson Magazine site. Along with the downloads are the story and photos of the journey to Chicago and the home recording sessions with Big Walter. Thank you Clas for this additional information, and for recording these great sides for the world to enjoy.

I really enjoyed hearing these recordings, so I just had to share.