Axel Zwingenberger, Dave Green & Charlie Watts – The Magic Of Boogie Woogie (2010)

Axel Zwingenberger (born May 7, 1955) is a blues and boogie-woogie pianist, and songwriter. He is considered one of the finest boogie-woogie music masters in the world.

Zwingenberger was born in Hamburg, Germany, and enjoyed eleven years of conventional piano training. In 1973 he listened to recordings of boogie-woogie pianists Albert Ammons, Meade “Lux” Lewis, and Pete Johnson. He soon joined piano playing partners Hans-Georg Moeller, Vince Weber and Martin Pyrker, and word about the four friends began to spread. In 1974, he played at the First International Blues-and-Boogie Woogie Festival of the West German Radio Station in Cologne which was followed by Hans Maitner’s annual festival Stars of Boogie Woogie in Vienna.

By 1975, Zwingenberger received his first recording contract, issuing such solo recordings as Boogie Woogie Breakdown, Power House Boogie, and Boogie Woogie Live, as well as lending his talents to recordings by such artists as Lionel Hampton, Jay McShann, Big Joe Turner, Lloyd Glenn, Joe Newman, Sippie Wallace, Mama Yancey, Champion Jack Dupree, Sammy Price, Ray Bryant, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Vince Weber, and the Mojo Blues Band, among others.

In addition to issuing other solo recordings, Zwingenberger continues to tour all over the world. He has also authored several publications about blues/boogie-woogie music and musicians as well as Boogie Woogie: Piano Solo, a book of 12 of his compositions, exactly transcribed.

Being a railfan since early childhood, he is also known for his photographs of steam locomotives, including some taken from within the machinery itself. Zwingenberger established a non-profit foundation within the German Foundation for the Protection of Historical Monuments which donates for the preservation of monuments on rails, including the world’s fastest operational steam locomotive, the German DR 18 201.

In spring 2009, coordinated by young pianist Ben Waters from the UK, Zwingenberger renewed his relationship with Charlie Watts, drummer of The Rolling Stones. Together with bassist Dave Green, they played joint concerts billed as The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie. In June 2012 they released their first joint album The ABC&D of Boogie Woogie – live in Paris and presented it in New York by playing concerts at Lincoln Center and The Iridium Jazz Club. (by wikipedia)

He’s the leading boogie woogie player, worldwide. To record his latest album he went to London where he was joined by two stellar players from the UK. A perfect set of recordings. Comes with a 32page booklet with liner notes in German and English. Great.

The magic of boogie woogie keeps on fascinating the audiences by its youthful freshness since more than 100 years, as well as exciting ever new generations of enthusiastic pianists. But it is more to it than just that: the boogie woogie is one of the most important roots of modern popular music, starting off with rock’n’roll. Charlie Watts, drummer of The Rolling Stones, has mentioned boogie woogie as a foundation of the Stones’ music.

Axel Zwingenberger, together with Charlie Watts at the drums and Dave Green, the stellar double bass player, let shine the swinging magic of blues and boogie woogie in full glory. This is the pure joy of trio playing! Spontaneously created numbers alternate with boogie classics, and for the first time, Charlie’s drums’ artistry is featured in such an intimate setting.

Personnel:
Dave Green (bass)
Charlie Watts (drums)
Axel Zwingenberger (piano)

Tracklist:
01. Shepperton Strut (Zwingenberger) 2.51
02. Lagonda Ride (Zwingenberger) 4.03
03. Heathrow Jet (Zwingenberger) 3.39
04. Windsor Park Walk (Zwingenberger) 4.51
05. High Barn Stampede (Zwingenberger) 2.48
06. Blues, Indeed (Zwingenberger) 4.31
07. Honky Tonky Train Blues (Lewis) 4.46
08. V-Disc Stomp (Lewis) 3.04
09. Smashingly Blue (Zwingenberger) 5.49
10. Second Line Bounce (Zwingenberger) 2.47
11. Bass Goin’ Crazy (Ammons) 3.17
12. Careless Love Swing (Traditional) 3.37
13. Boogie Train Mystique (Zwingenberger) 4.21
14. Lady Be Good (Gershwin) 4.20
15. Boogie Asado (Zwingenberger) 3.24
16. How Long Blues (Traditional) 4.32
17. Boogie Woogie Rhythm Shop (Zwingenberger) 4.42
18. Sympathy For The Drummer (Zwingenberger) 4.26
19. Farewell Smile (Zwingenberger) 4.50

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Dana Gillespie & Joachim Palden – Boogie Woogie Nights (1991)

“I believe the blues should be sung by an older person because it’s about emotions and experience. I couldn’t do”I believe the blues should be sung by an older person because it’s about emotions and experience. I couldn’t dojustice to it when I was younger because my voice didn’t have the edge it needed to convey the emotion, nor did Ihave the first hand experience to sing about blue themes convincingly.”

But after 45 years in music and over 60 albums Dana Gillespie is well qualified to sing the blues. A career that combined radio, theatre, film and sport (she was once British junior water-skiing champion) with music, Dana has been in the public eye since recording her first album at the age of 15. Her music has evolved from folk in the 60s through 70s Bowie-esque glam-rock to the raunchy in-your-face blues she performs today.

Dana Gillespie has been dedicated to the blues from an early age: “I discovered the blues when I went to the American Folk Blues Festival in 1962 and also to see the Yardbirds at the Marquee Club. I was in my early teens and hadn’t heard anything like it before – blues wasn’t easily available in the UK back then”. Bessie Smith especially inspired her because of her combination of sly, funny and bawdy lyrics. “Blues was my first musical love because it’s earthy, spiritual and honest.”

In 1964 she recorded for Pye, with Donovan on guitar and became a regular on the folk circuit. She recalls: “[at that age] I was doing folk because I couldn’t afford a band and I hadn’t found my musical niche”.In those early years Dana got to know many of the top bands and people in the music business. Most shared her love of blues, and played their own version of it. Bob Dylan who was an old friend of Dana from the 60s  showed interest in her music in 1997, when he invited her to support him on his UK tour, which included a   sell-out show at Wembley. After a swathe of singles on Pye and two LPs for Decca, she moved to RCA and   made WEREN’T BORN A MAN in 1973, some titles being produced by David Bowie, whose management,   Mainman, also took care of her career.

While her career in music was simmering away, she became better known for her appearances in London’s   West End theatres, in shows such as the first run of Jesus Christ Superstar (playing Mary Magdalene), The   Who’s “Tommy” (playing the Acid Queen) and the rock Othello, “Catch My Soul”. She also appeared with   Dudley Moore in the film version of “The Hound Of The Baskervilles” and starred in Ken Russell’s “Mahler”   among other movies. Her second RCA LP, AIN’T GONNA PLAY NO SECOND FIDDLE was just beginning to take off when her management company decided she should move to the USA, where she played and toured extensively for two years. Dana hosted a radio blues show in New York at the same time, which gave her the opportunity to learn more about the roots of the music.

She has continued her interest in radio in Austria where she recently completed a 11-year stint hosting a weekly, international world music show on Blue Danube Radio called”Globe Trotting With Gillespie”. In the 80s, Dana toured Europe several times with the “Stars Of Boogie Woogie” tour,  singing either with the Mojo Blues Band or with Axel Zwingenberger. Her time with the  Mojo Blues Band, a purist outfit that backed all the American blues musicians visiting  Europe, lasted three years. “I lived, slept and breathed blues, because that was all they did.  It was a great experience.” She also developed her interest in Indian and Arabic music,  recording the single “Move Your Body Close To Me”, an Indian-influenced song with  synthesiser backing. It shot to #1 in Europe. (from the DG website)

But here you can hear Dana Gillespie as one of the finest female blues singers (like Maggie Bell) together with the Austrian musician Joachim Palden and his group Mojo Blues Band.

This is a live recording … the show was recorded at the legendary Jazz-Land Club (December 1990) in Vienna.

If you like Blues & Boogie Woogie … then you should listen …

Personnel:
Dana Gillespie (vocals)
Helmut Mejda (drums)
Joachim Palden (piano)
Christian Plattner (saxophone)
Martin Wichtl (saxophone)

Tracklist:
01. My Man Stands Out (Yates) 3.43
02. Boogie Woogie For Spann (Instrumental) (Palden) 4.19
03. St. Louis Blues (Handy) 7.27
04. Blues Train (Instrumental) (Wichtl) 3.56
05. One Track Mind (Gillespie/Palden) 3.23
06. Empty Bed Blues (Smith) 6.21
07. I Want You To Be My Baby (Jordan) 3.59
08. Cry To Me (Russel) 5.17
09. No One (Gillespie/Palden) 5.43
10. You’re Moving Me (Benton/Otis) 3.11

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Rob Hoeke Boogie Woogie Quartet – Robby´s Saloon (1968)

Rob Hoeke (9 January 1939 – 6 November 1999) was a Dutch singer, pianist, composer and songwriter most famous for his renditions in the field of Boogie-woogie releasing over 20 albums. Besides that he played and recorded in a musical variety of styles ranging from Blues, Soul, Rock and Rhythm & Blues.

Rob Hoeke’s most successful period was in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with his Rob Hoeke’s Rhythm & Blues Group. He scored hits with “Margio” (number 12 on the Dutch Top 40 in 1966), “Drinking on My Bed” (number 11 in 1966) and “Down South” which would become Hoeke’s signature tune and biggest hit reaching number 6 in 1970. His sole charting album was Four Hands Up, a collaboration with fellow Boogie-woogie artist Hein van der Gaag which charted at number 7 in 1971.

In 1974, Rob Hoeke lost two fingers in a gardening accident and his career all but seemed to be over. After a few years, he started playing and performing for audiences again but his heyday was over. He recorded many more albums, one with Alan Price from the Animals. Hoeke made a solo performance at the first Amsterdam Blues Festival in 1983 where his solo performance received a standing ovation from the audience of 1,100. Subsequently, he made his first solo album Jumpin’ on the “88” for the Oldie Blues label in 1983.

Rob Hoeke died in 1999 after a short illness.(by wikipedia)

And here´s a fine example of this great boogie woogie Player … it´s an instrumentla Album and the musicians celebrate the “Wild West” (including the Comic stars Rantanplant and Lucky Luke !)

Enjoy it as I did  … it´s boogie time !

Personnel:
Rob Hoeke (keyboards, harmonica)
Will de Meijer (guitar)
Martin Rudelsheim (drums)
Willem Schoone (bass)

Tracklist:

01. Calamity Jane (Hoeke/de Meijer) 3.08
02. Robby’s Saloon (Hoeke/de Meijer) 3.46
03. Marsupilami (Hoeke/de Meijer) 3.13
04. For My Little Gringo (Hoeke/de Meijer) 2.08
05. A Bone For Rataplan (Hoeke/de Meijer) 3.52
06. Deep In The Heart Of Texas (Swander/Hershey) 2.23
07. San Antonio Rose (Wills) 2.25
08. Coyote Will (Hoeke/de Meijer) 2.53
09. Lotus 268 (Hoeke/de Meijer) 3.33
10. Swinging Clock Boogie (Hoeke/de Meijer) 3.09
11. Ode To Lucky Luke (Hoeke/de Meijer) 4.24
12. Red River Valley (Traditional) 2.04

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Albert Ammons – Boogie Woogie Classics (1951)

Albert Ammons (September 23, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid-1940s.

Born Albert C. Ammons in Chicago, Illinois, his parents were pianists, and he had learned to play by the age of ten. His interest in boogie-woogie is attributed to his close friendship with Meade Lux Lewis and also his father’s interest in the style. Both Albert and Meade would practice together on the piano in the Ammons household. From the age of ten, Ammons learned about chords by marking the depressed keys on the family pianola (player piano) with a pencil and repeated the process until he had mastered it.[3] He also played percussion in the drum and bugle corps as a teenager and was soon performing with bands on the Chicago club scene. After World War I he became interested in the blues, learning by listening to Chicago pianists Hersal Thomas and the brothers Alonzo and Jimmy Yancey.

In the early to mid-1920s Ammons worked as a cab driver for the Silver Taxicab Company. In 1924 he met back up with boyhood friend and fellow taxi driver Meade Lux Lewis. Soon the two players began working as a team, performing at club parties. Ammons started his own band at the Club DeLisa in 1934 and remained at the club for the next two years. During that time he played with a five piece unit that included Guy Kelly, Dalbert Bright, Jimmy Hoskins, and Israel Crosby. Ammons also recorded as Albert Ammons’s Rhythm Kings for Decca Records in 1936. The Rhythm Kings’ version of “Swanee River Boogie” sold a million copies.

Ammons moved from Chicago to New York City, where he teamed up with another pianist, Pete Johnson. The two performed regularly at the Café Society,[5] occasionally joined by Lewis, and performed with other jazz musicians such as Benny Goodman and Harry James.

In 1938 Ammons appeared at Carnegie Hall with Johnson and Lewis at From Spirituals to Swing, an event that helped launch the boogie-woogie craze. Two weeks later, record producer Alfred Lion, who had attended John H. Hammond’s From Spirituals to Swing concert on December 23, 1938, which had introduced Ammons and Lewis, started Blue Note Records, recording nine Ammons solos including “The Blues” and “Boogie Woogie Stomp”, eight by Lewis and a pair of duets in a one-day session in a rented recording studio.

In 1941, Ammons’ boogie music was accompanied by drawn-on-film animation in the short film Boogie-Doodle by Norman McLaren. Ammons played himself in the movie Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), with Lena Horne and Johnson. As a sideman with Sippie Wallace in the 1940s Ammons recorded a session with his son, the tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons. Although the boogie-woogie fad began to die down in 1945, Ammons had no difficulty securing work. He continued to tour as a solo artist, and between 1946 and 1949 recorded his last sides for Mercury Records, with bassist Israel Crosby, and took on the position of staff pianist with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra. In 1949 he played at President Harry S. Truman’s inauguration. During the last few years of his life Ammons played mainly in Chicago’s Beehive Club and the Tailspin Club, and just four days before he died he had been at the Yancey apartment listening to Don Ewell and Jimmy Yancey play. Albert himself could only play one song, having just regained the use of his hands after a temporary paralysis. Albert Ammons died on December 2, 1949, in Chicago and was interred at the Lincoln Cemetery, at Kedzie Avenue in Blue Island, Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois.

Ammons has had wide influence on countless pianists, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Dave Alexander, Dr. John, Hadda Brooks, Johnnie Johnson, Ray Bryant, Erroll Garner, Katie Webster, Axel Zwingenberger, Henri Herbert, and the German pianist Joerg Hegemann. The last honoured Ammons, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Ammons’s birth in 2007, with his album A Tribute to Albert Ammons.

And this a sampler released two years after his death with recordings from the 30´s …. Boogie Woogie all night long ! The EP was a part for the “Boogie Woogie Classics” series from Blue Note records.

Personnel:
Albert Ammons (piano)
+
Meade “Lux” Lewis (piano on 04.)

Tracklist:
01. Boogie Woogie Stomp (Ammons) 3.38
02. Boogie Woogie Blues (Ammons) 3.42
03. Bass Goin’ Crazy (Ammons) 3.21
04. Twos And Fews (Ammons/Lewis) 4.32
05. Chicago In Mind (Ammons) 4.00
06. Suitcase Blues (Thomas) 3.51

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Bob Hall, Ian Stewart, Jack Bruce & Charly Antolini – It´s Boogie Time (1982)

Robert ‘Bob’ Hall (born 13 June 1942, West Byfleet, Surrey, England), is an English boogie-woogie pianist. A long-time collaborator of Alexis Korner, he also performed regularly with bottleneck bluesman Dave Kelly and his sister, Jo Ann Kelly.

Founder member of several British blues bands including The Groundhogs, Tramp, The Sunflower Blues Band and The De Luxe Blues Band, Hall has worked and recorded with artists such as Peter Green, Danny Kirwan and Mick Fleetwood, of Fleetwood Mac, and is also a long serving member of Savoy Brown, and guests with The Blues Band, featuring Paul Jones, Dave Kelly and Tom McGuinness.

Hall was also a founder-member, with Ian Stewart, of the Boogie Woogie Big Band which later became Rocket 88, and which included Hal Singer, Don Weller and Dick Morrissey among many leading jazzmen, together with Charlie Watts, Alexis Korner, and Jack Bruce.

As a sideman, he has accompanied such blues names as John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Jimmy Witherspoon, Chuck Berry, Homesick James, Lightnin’ Slim, Lowell Fulsom, Charlie Musselwhite, Snooky Pryor, J. B. Hutto, Lazy Lester, Dave Peabody, Baby Boy Warren, Eddie “Guitar” Burns, Eddie Taylor, Big John Wrencher, Mickey Baker, and Eddy Clearwater.

An acknowledged authority on blues and boogie woogie piano, Hall has contributed to a number of magazines and books and is the sleeve-note writer for the Yazoo Records piano blues series. He is also currently working on the piano sections of The Routledge Encyclopaedia of the Blues. (by wikipedia)

This is a very fine boogie & blues session and look at the line-up of this record (produced for the German record market) … ! This album include a rare Jack Bruce composition and on “The Rainmaker” you can hear a very good bass-solo by Jack.

And now it´s up to you … Enjoy this boogie time !

Paul Jones + Bob Hall

Personnel:
Danny Adler (guitar, vocals)
Charly Antolini (drums)
Jack Bruce (bass)
Willie Garnett (saxophone)
George Green (piano)
Bob Hall (piano)
Ian Stewart (piano)

Tracklist:
01. Chicken Shack Boogie (Milburn) 3.48
02. KC Jump (Jackson) 3.37
03. The Spider (Hall) 4.30
04. The Fish (Thompson/Davis) 4.37
05. Old Bill (Hall) 3.57
06. The Rainmaker (Hall/Singer/Bruce) 3.12
07. Margie (Traditional) 3.07
08. I Need You (James) 3.25
09. Left Hand Roller (Hall) 3.55
10. Back To The Chicken Shack (Hall) 4.03

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Rob Hoeke & Hein van der Gaag – Four Hands Up (1971)

Rob Hoeke (9 January 1939 — 6 November 1999) was a Dutch singer, pianist, composer and songwriter most famous for his renditions in the field of Boogie-woogie releasing over 20 albums. Besides that he played and recorded in a musical variety of styles ranging from Blues, Soul, Rock and Rhythm & Blues.

Rob Hoeke’s most successful period was in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s with his Rob Hoeke’s Rhythm & Blues Group. He scored hits with “Margio” (number 12 on the Dutch Top 40 in 1966), “Drinking On My Bed” (number 11 in 1966) and “Down South” which would become Hoeke’s signature tune and biggest hit reaching number 6 in 1970. His sole charting album was Four Hands Up, a collaboration with fellow Boogie-woogie artist Hein van der Gaag which charted at number 7 in 1971.[6]

In 1974, Rob Hoeke lost two fingers in an accident and his career all but seemed to be over. After a few years, he started playing and performing for audiences again but his heyday was over. He recorded many more albums, one with Alan Price from the Animals. Hoeke made a solo performance at the first Amsterdam Blues Festival in 1983 where his solo performance received a standing ovation from the audience of 1,100. Subsequently, he made his first solo album Jumpin’ on the “88” for the Oldie Blues label in 1983.

Rob Hoeke died in 1999 after a short illness. (by wikipedia)

Hein van der Gaag is another boogie piano player from the Netherlands … today ist is still active as a very fine jazz musician … and if you ever be in Amsterdam … visit one of his concerts … it´s more than a pleasure !

This is their first album … and … you should listen to this music … and you can hear a great boogie-woogie piano battle … and much more !!!

Personnel:
Ben de Bruijn (guitar)
Hein van der Gaag (piano)
Rob Hoeke (piano)
Paul Lagaay (drums)
Wil de Meijer (bass)

Alternate frontcover

Tracklist:
01. Milkmen Blues (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 2.10
02, Small Talk To My Son (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 6.40
03. Answer Boogie (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 1.47
04. Try To Think It Over (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 3.35
05. Berry’s Hounddog (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 1.50
06. Hersal Boogie (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 1.47
07. Harry Lime Theme (Karas) 2.30
08. Ain’t Tellin’ Lies (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 4.53
09. Blues On The Down Beat (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 1.56
10. Dedicated To Weromeri (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 2.17
11. Blues For Stella (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 2.53
12. Cuban Boogie (Hoeke/v.d.Gaag) 2.45

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