Got a Case of the Monday Blues?

Got a case of the Monday blues? Spend today with us as we play the best in blues all day long! 

When you pledge $7+ per month today, October 5, you can choose to receive a Blues CD hand-picked by our Music Director and Lunchtime at the Oasis host Arturo Gomez in return! 

                                               PLEDGE HERE

Jimmy McGriff-Hank Crawford Quartet: Blues Groove 

Organist Jimmy McGriff and altoist Hank Crawford always make for a potent team. With guitarist Wayne Boyd and drummer Vance James completing the quartet, McGriff and Crawford explore an appealing mixture of blues, soulful ballads and riff tunes.

Few surprises occur, but many of the songs (particularly “Movin’ Upside the Blues,” “The Sermon,” “When I Fall in Love” and “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy”) are memorable. Fans of these fine players will be far from disappointed.

  

Duke Ellington: Blues in Orbit, featuring 5 bonus tracks

A spectacular, well-rounded assembly of early and latter-day Ellington material, most of these recordings were made in 1959.

While Ellington is known for his “extended works,” most of the tracks here resemble the style of the musician’s early catalog. Spacious, conversational pieces (such as the title track) and the slinky exotica of “Smada” fit nicely alongside such favorites and standards as “C Jam Blues,” “Sentimental Lady,” and “In A Mellotone.” 

Pacing and tone vary according to the standard Ellington program scheme. Wailing up-tempo blues (“Pie Eye’s Blues,” “Three J’s Blues,” in which instrumentalists Jimmy Hamilton and Ray Nance get to stretch a bit) alternate with tracks such as the meltingly beautiful “Brown Penny,” this last number featuring an incomparable solo by Johnny Hodges. Throughout Blues in Orbit, Ellington delivers with grace, prowess, and supreme creativity. 

  Gene Harris Quartet: Black and Blue

Although there are few actual blues on Black and Blue, pianist Gene Harris gives all of the songs – whether complex standards, ballads or near-blues – a bluesy feel, adding soul and a church feeling to each of the melodies. With the assistance of guitarist Ron Eschete, bassist Luther Hughes and drummer Harold Jones, Harris delivers melodies to remember. 

  Count Basie Swings: Joe Williams Sings, featuring 3 bonus tracks

The 1955 album that revived the careers of both Basie and Williams is reissued here with three bonus tracks. Williams’s elegant style on blues and ballads is a perfect complement to the band’s brashness.

One highlight, of course, is “Every Day I Have the Blues,” the Memphis Slim song that became a Williams signature. The team also clicks on material as diverse as “Teach Me Tonight” and Percy Mayfield’s proto-protest “Please Send Me Someone to Love.”