Thursday, September 08, 2005

This is not about jazz

Except, of course, that the blues is a key part of the foundation on which jazz is built. From reading the instructive book "Stagolee Shot Billy" by Cecil Brown this summer I got interested in the recordings made by Alan Lomax and his father John, which preserved, among other things, traditional work songs sung by prisoners, mostly black, in the Jim Crow South.

"Prison Songs Volume One: Murderous Home" from Rounder is an excellent sampler of recordings made at the notorious Parchman Farm in 1947-48. It's visceral music with nary an instrument other than the human voice but as gripping and emotive as anything I've ever heard. Won't be everybody's bottle of gin, but if you have a desire to probe the roots of the blues and of jazz, and to get a great version of "Stackerlee" as well, this disk is a winner.

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