Latest posts

It's 62 today for Roomful's daddy, bluesman Duke Robillard
posted 10-4-2010 - 10:00 pm

Mercy me, it's Duke Robillard's birthday. How did I almost miss that?? For those of you not in the know, Robillard is one of our most accomplished living blues guitarists and the co-founder of one of my favorites, the four-decade-old Roomful Of Blues. Along the way, he's stretched out into jump jive, jazz, swing, rockabilly, and rock 'n' roll, playing with the likes of Jimmy Witherspoon, Earl King, Pinetop Perkins, Ronnie Earl, John Hammond, Snooks Eaglin, Dr. John, Big Joe Turner, and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson as well as jazz guitarist Herbie Ellis, pianist Jay McShann, saxophonist Scott Hamilton, and that other eclectic, hard to pin down guy, Bob Dylan. All of which makes Robillard an elder statesman of American roots music. ...

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Happy Mel Tormé's birthday!
posted 9-13-2010 - 11:25 pm

It's Velvet Fog Day. Were he still here with us, Mel Tormé would be a venerable 85 years old today. As it is, Tormé died in 1999 at the age of 73, but his music lives on. And he was a Chicagoan, born and bred, so I'm happy to write a few words about my jazz homeboy. ...

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The top 40 songs I want to hear on True Blood
posted 9-13-2010 - 2:53 pm

Now don’t get your vampy black lace panties in a twist: this is not going to be a list of top-40 rock, hip-hop or other popular songs aimed at your favorite vampire drama on HBO. Far from it (I’m a responsible deejay, okay?). But when I decided to put together a top-10 list of tunes I’d like to hear on True Blood, well, there were just so many good blues and R&B songs to choose from that the list got out of hand. ...

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Happy Count Basie's birthday!
posted 8-21-2010 - 10:00 pm

The Kid from Red Bank, NJ, William James 'Count' Basie, was born 106 years ago today. Oscar Peterson's birthday was last Sunday, the 15th. Both are long gone now, Basie having died in 1984 and Peterson in 2007, but they left behind a wealth of wonderful recordings. But as good as those recordings are, Basie and Peterson were two swingin' piano players who were best heard live, and BBC television caught them together, playing this take of Jumpin' At The Woodside with the Basie band. ...

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Missing Dick Buckley
posted 7-27-2010 - 5:52 am

Dick Buckley died last Thursday in Oak Park. He’ll be buried today. His death prompts reflection on the unobtrusive but pervasive influence his broadcasts have had on my life. Strange, considering we never met, but you have to really love jazz to understand. He’s been off the air for two years, yet I still can’t listen to Duke Ellington’s “Skin Deep” (Dick’s usual sign-on song) or Benny Goodman’s “Goodbye” (with which he often ended his broadcasts) without thinking of him. ...

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