Showing posts with label Vassar Clements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vassar Clements. Show all posts

Monday, September 23, 2019

Vassar Clements - Dead Grass

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 47:01
Size: 109,6 MB
Art: Front

(4:17)  1. Brown-eyed Women
(3:49)  2. Casey Jones
(4:22)  3. Attics Of My Life
(4:01)  4. Broke-down Palace
(3:40)  5. Alabama Getaway
(4:19)  6. Ripple
(4:38)  7. U.s. Blues
(2:53)  8. Dire Wolf
(5:07)  9. Friend Of The Devil
(4:50) 10. It Must Have Been The Roses
(5:00) 11. Mexicali Blues

Combining jazz with country, Vassar Clements became one of the most distinctive, inventive, and popular fiddlers in bluegrass music. Clements first came to prominence as a member of Bill Monroe's band in the early '50s, but he never limited himself to traditional bluegrass. Over the next four decades, he distinguished himself by incorporating a number of different genres into his style. In the process, he became not only one of the most respected fiddlers in bluegrass, he also became a sought-after session musician, playing with artists as diverse as the Monkees, Hank Williams, Paul McCartney, Michelle Shocked, Vince Gill, and Bonnie Raitt. Clements taught himself to play fiddle at the age of seven. Soon afterward, he formed a band with two of his cousins. By the time he was 21, Clements' skills were impressive enough to attract the attention of Bill Monroe. Monroe hired the young fiddler and Clements appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with the mandolinist in 1949. The following year, the fiddler recorded his first session with Monroe. For the next six years, Clements stayed with Monroe's band, occasionally leaving for brief periods of time. In 1957 he joined Jim & Jesse's Virginia Boys, and stayed with the band for the next four years. In the early '60s Clements was sidelined for a while as he suffered from alcoholism. By the end of the '60s he had rehabilitated, and he returned to playing in 1967. That year he moved to Nashville and began playing the tenor banjo at a residency at the Dixieland Landing Club. In 1969 he toured with Faron Young and joined John Hartford's Dobrolic Plectorial Society. The band only lasted ten months, and after its breakup Clements joined the Earl Scruggs Revue; he stayed with that band for a year. Clements began playing sessions in 1971, appearing on albums by Steve Goodman, Gordon Lightfoot, David Bromberg, J.J. Cale, and Mike Audridge over the next two years. In 1972 he was featured on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's hit album Will the Circle Be Unbroken, which helped establish him as a country and bluegrass star. Clements capitalized on the record's popularity in 1973, when he released his first solo album, Crossing the Catskills, on Rounder Records and began touring the festival and college circuits. That same year, he appeared on a number of albums, including the Grateful Dead's Wake of the Flood, Jimmy Buffett's A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, and Mickey Newbury's Heaven Help the Child. 

In 1974, Clements signed a record contract with Mercury Records, releasing two albums for the label Vassar Clements and Superbow the following year. That same year, he appeared in the bluegrass supergroup Old & in the Way, which also featured Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan, and John Kahn. He also had a cameo role in Robert Altman's film Nashville in 1975. In 1977, Clements released two albums for two different labels The Vassar Clements Band on MCA Records and The Bluegrass Session on Flying Fish. It would be four years before he released another solo album. During that time, he toured constantly and appeared on numerous albums. Clements reappeared in 1981 with Hillbilly Rides Again and Vassar, which were both released on Flying Fish. During the '80s and '90s, Clements continued to record sporadically, but he cut numerous sessions for other artists and played numerous concerts every year. In 1995, Clements reunited with Old & in the Way, which released That High Lonesome Sound in 1996. The solo Back Porch Swing followed three years later; Full Circle appeared in spring 2001. In 2004 he released Livin' With the Blues, his first blues-based album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine  https://www.allmusic.com/artist/vassar-clements-mn0000245039/biography

Personnel: Fiddle – Vassar Clements; Backing Vocals – Jeff White;  Bass, Vocals – Ryan Harris ; Guitar, Banjo – Reggie Harris; Mandolin – Butch Baldassari; Pedal Steel Guitar – Doug Jernigan; Vocals – Gwen Vaughn

Dead Grass

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Vassar Clements - Hillbilly Jazz

Styles: Viola, Vocal, Jazz
Year: 1978
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 74:00
Size: 172,5 MB
Art: Front

(2:43)  1. San Antonio Rose
(4:27)  2. Texas Blues
(2:35)  3. Take Me Back To Tulsa
(4:36)  4. Delta Blues
(2:23)  5. Fais Do Do
(3:50)  6. Breakfast Feud
(2:42)  7. Browns Ferry Blues
(2:41)  8. It's Dark Outside
(2:59)  9. Panhandle Rag
(2:54) 10. Blues For Dixie
(3:33) 11. Sentimental Journey
(3:23) 12. Back Home In Indiana
(3:02) 13. Sitting On Top Of The World
(2:36) 14. Crazy Cause I Love You
(3:47) 15. Hang Your Head In Shame
(4:08) 16. Vassar's Boogie
(2:16) 17. Little Rock Getaway
(2:37) 18. Yellow Sun
(2:58) 19. Gravy Waltz
(2:09) 20. C Jam Blues
(3:57) 21. Tippin In
(2:26) 22. You All Come
(5:06) 23. Last Song For Shelby Jean

The name Hillbilly Jazz might sound like an oxymoron to some, but when you think about it, jazz and "hillbilly music" have made for a healthy combination from time to time. The seminal country singer Jimmie Rodgers featured Louis Armstrong as a vocalist on some of his classic 1920s recordings, and Western swing came about when, in the 1930s, Bob Wills and others combined jazz with country and bluegrass. 

Then, in the 1950s and early '60s, jazz and pre-rock pop influenced country-pop stars like Patsy Cline and Willie Nelson. Hillbilly Jazz was a project that, in 1991, drew on jazz, bluegrass, Western swing, blues, and country. With such talented players as fiddle great Vassar Clements, guitarist David Bromberg, drummer D.J. Fontana, and singer Gordon Terry on board, Hillbilly Jazz successfully turns its attention to everything from Wills' "San Antonio Rose" (a natural choice) to Duke Ellington's "'C' Jam Blues," Benny Goodman's "Breakfast Feud," and Les Brown's "Sentimental Journey." Improvisation is a high priority on Hillbilly Jazz, and a love of improvisation is one thing that jazz, bluegrass, and Western swing players have in common. This rewarding but little-known CD reminds listeners that jazz and "hillbilly music" can fit together quite nicely. ~ Alex Henderson https://www.allmusic.com/album/hillbilly-jazz-mw0000270449
 
Personnel:  Fiddle, Viola, Vocals – Vassar Clements; Bass – Ellis Padgett; Drums – D.J. Fontana; Electric Bass – Kenneth Smith; Guitar - David Bromberg, Sam Pruett; Guitar, Mandolin, Piano – Michael Melford; Piano – Benny Kennerson; Steel Guitar, Resonator Guitar – Doug Jernigan; Vocals – Gordan Terry

Hillbilly Jazz

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Vassar Clements - Back Porch Swing

Styles: Jazz, Swing
Year: 1999
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 44:46
Size: 103,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:12)  1. King Porter's Stomp
(3:40)  2. Hillbilly Jazz
(4:02)  3. If That's Love
(3:16)  4. String Of Pearls
(3:26)  5. Four Brothers
(4:30)  6. Ezra's Holler
(4:17)  7. Bad Is Bad
(5:19)  8. Nur Shab Da
(2:56)  9. Old Black Magic
(4:38) 10. Clemency
(5:26) 11. Take It Easy On My Heart

Vassar Clements has always been one of the most recognizable fiddlers in bluegrass. When he steps to the mic to take a solo, the most foursquare traditional breakdown or reel takes on a jazzy, swinging flavor one that generally disappears as soon as his solo ends. On this album, he moves well away from the whole bluegrass genre, opting instead for the accompaniment of a jazz band and a program of undiluted swing, jazz, and R&B. Opening with a burning rendition of Jelly Roll Morton's "King Porter Stomp," Clements delivers one original (the thoroughly charming "Hillbilly Jazz"), several standards ("That Old Black Magic," "String of Pearls"), and a handful of numbers by his pianist, Fred Bogert. Bogert's "If That's Love" sounds like it came straight out of Muscle Shoals, with Clements' slinky fiddle weaving in, out, and around the sturdy drumming and funky bass. "Ezra's Holler" is a sort of modified bossa nova on which Clements plays the head in unison with sax player Paul Martin Zonn, to very fine effect. Just about everything on this album is both musically interesting and lots of fun. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson https://www.allmusic.com/album/back-porch-swing-mw0000672609

Back Porch Swing