(Part 2) Best blues music according to redditors

This breaks my heart. 20s jazz is SO GOOD. It took me years to truly get into it, but one night in a highly intoxicated state it just suddenly clicked. Over the past few years I probably listen to more 20s jazz than any other era.

You have to just embrace the hiss -- think of it like a picture frame. It's not the art, but it's a necessary component which you can ignore. Don't trust any recordings which have removed all the hiss --- that means they are also removing parts of the music.

And actually, recording technology improved after 1925, so most of say Louis Armstrong's Hot Fives & Hot Sevens actually sound pretty good. They couldn't have a drummer, though, because he'd knock the needle off the groove.

Also, you need to know what recordings to listen to --- it's really important who's doing the remaster.

The releases below are all top-notch.

[King Oliver] (http://www.amazon.com/Off-Record-Complete-1923-Recordings/dp/B000K2VK8Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410051369&sr=8-1&keywords=off+the+record+king+oliver)

[Louis Armstrong] (http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Fives-Sevens-Louis-Armstrong/dp/B00001ZWLP/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410051403&sr=8-1&keywords=louis+armstrong+hot+fives)

[Sidney Bechet] (http://www.amazon.com/Young-Sidney-Bechet-1923-1925/dp/B001CKYVNO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=sidney+bechet+young)

[Duke Ellington] (http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Clinkscales-Cotton-Club-Vol/dp/B0007GFFZM/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410051511&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=duke+ellington+clinksales)

Song highlights:
King Oliver -- Canal St Blues, Dippermouth Blues, Riverside Blues, Chimes Blues

Louis Armstrong -- West End Blues, Muggles, Tight Like This, Gutbucket Blues, St James Infirmary

Sidney Bechet -- Kansas City Man Blues, New Orleans Hop Scop Blues, Texas Moaner Blues

Johnny Dodds -- Perdido St Blues

Jimmie Noone -- Blues My Naught Sweetie Gives to Me

For a beginner, the best choices are

1. B. B. King - The Ultimate Collection
   http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Collection-B-B-King/dp/B0007QJ1PM/
   It's a recent release, notes are VERY easy to pick out, aren't frustratingly hard, but just challenging enough (especially his vibrato) to keep you coming back
   
   
2. Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign
   http://www.amazon.com/Born-Under-Sign-Albert-King/dp/B00BCMT4RA/
   Everything I said about BB, I can say about Albert. The difference is that he "worries" every note in a way that will teach you how to "feel" a solo.
   
   
3. Howlin Wolf - The definitive Collection
   http://www.amazon.com/Definitive-Collection-Howlin-Wolf/dp/B000O5905M
   Jimi Hendrix said that Hubert Sumlin was his favourite guitar player. Indeed, I'd say his rhythm guitar playing is unmatched especially in how he works in fills.
   
   These should give you an excellent foundation in blues licks. After that, move on to
   
   
4. Freddie King - Ultimate Collection
   http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Collection-Freddie-King/dp/B00005B2XZ
   
   
5. Magic Sam - West Side Soul and Black Magic
   http://www.amazon.com/West-Side-Soul-Special-Magic/dp/B004B3PBEC
   http://www.amazon.com/Black-Magic-Sam/dp/B000004BIP
   
   
   When you can play all of that, note for note, you will likely be my favorite guitarist :)

Paul Allen on the role of music in his life:

• "For someone like me who tilts toward the analytical, jamming taps into my creative, intuitive, more emotional side."
  
• "I've rarely gone a week without picking up a guitar. It's more than a hobby; it gives me balance and keeps me in the moment, which can be a challenge with all the projects I'm pursuing at any one time… I take music with me wherever I go."
  
  
• ”I’m still moved by the power of live music, and I seek it out every chance I get."
  
• Fun fact: Paul received his first guitar at age 16, and saw Jimi Hendrix for the first time later that same year.
  
  
  His band was called Paul Allen and The Underthinkers. His website describes it blues-based guitar rock. They released one album, titled Everywhere at Once. I checked it out and my favorite song on it is “Six Strings from Hell.” :)
  
  
  Streaming links:
  
  Spotify (currently only at 133 monthly listeners)
  
  
  Apple Music/iTunes
  
  
  
  Amazon Music
  
  
  
  Sources on quotes:
  
  
  Idea Man (his memoir)
  
  
  Quincy Jones interview
  
  
  
  Note: Quincy sometimes exaggerates a tiny bit here and there, also referring to the Beatles as “the worst musicians in the world”, and called Paul McCartney “the worst bass player I ever heard.” :P That being said, I still think the video is pretty cool.
  
  
  
  

Also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcWTSgpTTyI (part 1 of 5)

Chester and Lester

And their album

edit

Oh, and here's Les at 90 years old

Old, new, or doesn't matter?

Edit: Start with these:

Cafe R&B

Buddy Guy

Pinetop Perkins

Muddy Waters

Howlin Wolf

B.B. King

Jonny Lang

In my opinion, the tracks he recorded in 1930 are what makes him special. There's a night-and-day difference between the urgency and grit of those few songs and his "rediscovery" stuff. They're all available on Spotify. If you want a hard copy or want to ensure that you get the best sound quality, this Yazoo release of Skip James tracks weirdly enough has four of those Son House tracks tacked on and Yazoo is known for doing a good job of transferring from old 78s. Also, Skip James is life-changingly good. Listen to Cypress Blues or Hard Time Killing Floor.

Yazoo has another cool compilation that includes the very recently discovered Clarksdale Moan. It's pretty lucky that that one random record survived for 80 years!

Speaking of which, if anyone is interested in early recorded American music, Goodbye Babylon is a wonderful package to pick up.

I want to strongly recommend the "Psychedelic Soul" album that this appears on if you dig this more socially conscious late sixties early seventies vibe.

https://www.amazon.com/Psychedelic-Soul-2-CD-Temptations/dp/B00009V7U8

Also, Undisputed Truth did a slightly grittier version around the same time that's definitely worth listening to.

https://youtu.be/sunSBaRCcq8

Yep Bonamassa is a great starting point - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdZFk7l05w0

From this fully acoustic set - http://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Evening-Vienna-Opera-House/dp/B00B6QXN56

Not even a musician? I've heard he keeps a band at ready: http://www.amazon.com/Everywhere-Once-Paul-Allen-Underthinkers/dp/B00CWHJSTS

The concert version has a DVD available, and a CD recording (both are of the original cast including Josh Groban, Idina Menzel, Kerry Ellis, and Adam Pascal)

Ornette - Art Of The Improvisers (or Shape Of Jazz To Come...or Dancing In Your Head)

Mingus - Oh Yeah

Miles - Live-Evil

Sonny Rollins - Our Man In Jazz

Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity

and, some bonus box sets that won't cost much (if any) more than a cd:

Charlie Parker - Chasin' The Bird

Cecil Taylor - 2 T's For A Lovely T (mp3)

Duke - Mrs. Clinkscales To The Cotton Club

I have so many gay friends, Broadway soundtracks are the norm. I forget it is something that many consider to be a dirty secret. Check out the Chess soundtrack and Next to Normal. Those are my favorites right now.

1. You are obviously an intelligent, free thinking individual. It also appears you are selflessly sacrificing yourself for your family and your future. That takes a lot of will power and I commend you for that.
   
2. It sounds to me like you have a lot of opportunity at hand. You are at a point in life where any action can have a long term effect for you. Take advantage of this situation and make the best of it.
   
3. Not knowing what kind of freedom you have in your job, there are small tasks you can use to make the day go by. Try to have meaningful conversations with people, learn to write with your opposite hand, read up on a particular country's literature (Russian, Japanese, etc).
   
4. this
   or this or maybe this

First thing to do is research the Music Corner forums at stevehoffman.com. Discogs won't tell you the best pressing. The database isn't structured to do that there are too many noobs there. People outside of a few people that have large record collections aren't going to through all the effort to catalog their entire collection on discogs. I have about 2000 records and it took me a couple of months to get mine complete. Another source is analogplanet.com. Fremer reviews records and he compares them to older pressings.

If you want to know a few re-issues that worth the money that are still in print I'll give you my list.

Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, Moondance and His Band and Street Choir from 2008. These are as good as the original green labels. Cut by Kevin Gray (with Steve Hoffman on Moondance).
https://www.amazon.com/Moondance-Vinyl-Van-Morrison/dp/B001DPC4S2/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1527202765&sr=1-1&keywords=van+morrison+vinyl
https://www.amazon.com/Astral-Weeks-Van-Morrison/dp/B001DPC4RS/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1527202765&sr=1-3&keywords=van+morrison+vinyl
https://www.amazon.com/His-Band-Street-Choir-Vinyl/dp/B001DPC4SC/ref=sr_1_6?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1527202765&sr=1-6&keywords=van+morrison+vinyl

Metallica's Kill 'em All, Master of Puppets, and Ride The Lightning cut by Chris Bellman from 2016 on Blackened.
https://www.amazon.com/Master-Puppets-Remastered-Explicit-Metallica/dp/B07558DQJL/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb?ie=UTF8&qid=1527202504&sr=8-3&keywords=metallica+vinyl
https://www.amazon.com/Kill-All-180-Gram-Vinyl/dp/B01BUX7YY0/ref=sr_1_7?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1527202602&sr=1-7&keywords=metallica+vinyl
https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lightning-180-Gram-Vinyl/dp/B01BUX7Z7Q/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1527202705&sr=1-1&keywords=ride+the+lightning+vinyl

T-Rex Electric Warrior 2017 Roctober release cut by Kevin Gray
https://www.amazon.com/T-Rex-Electric-Warrior-Vinyl/dp/B076QW4S66

Red Hot Chili Peppers Californication cut by Chris Bellman
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JQ0E/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Big Brother and Holding Company Cheap Thrills (mono) cut by Kevin Gray https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009VTAETI/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Love Forever Changes cut by Chris Bellman https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0096PS4Y4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Paul Simon Graceland 25th Anniversary Edition cut by Ryan Smith

The only expensive one is Californication, all the rest are under $30 and you can probably find Electric Warrior for less money than Amazon.

If you notice the list is almost entire Chris Bellman and Kevin Gray. You can look them up on discogs. It will list records that they have cut. This won't tell you which to buy, but it will give you a starting point.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/359447-Chris-Bellman
https://www.discogs.com/artist/312098-Kevin-Gray

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Black Joe Lewis|
|about artist|Black Joe Lewis is a soul, blues group from Austin TX, until 2013 known as Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Band members are: Joseph Lewis, Bill Stevenson, Eduardo Torres, Jason Frey, Derek Phelps and Joe Woullard. They have just published an album Electric Slave ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Black Joe Lewis))|
|album|Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, released Jan 2009|
|track|Cousin Randy|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|mp3 on amazon, album on amazon|
|tags|blues|
|similar|J Roddy Walston And The Business, Stuffy Shmitt, JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, North Mississippi Allstars|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 13,957, lastfm plays: 105,423, youtube plays: 736, radd.it score: 5.25|


Please downvote this comment if this data is incorrect!
I am a bot by radd.it data services. I have been requested to post these reports.

As an alternative to purchasing a box set, Blue Note is reissuing 5 of their albums on vinyl a month, with the first 5 being released this month. These five include two albums by your listed favourites, Art Blakey & John Coltrane. All five albums is about $95 before tax.

These are the 5 albums being released on March 25:

Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Free for All

John Coltrane - Blue Train

Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch

Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil

Larry Young - Unity

Me as well, If you haven't heard this album yet, it's an amazing listen.

You can get it on CD/DVD. http://www.amazon.com/In-Session-Deluxe-Edition-DVD/dp/B00377V6J2

Or, if you'd rather get it from PBS as just the DVD. http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=11278706

EDIT: Honestly, my favorite parts of this are where they're just shooting the shit between songs. You don't really get to see that sort of stuff anymore and it's cool to see their personalities kind of feel each other out a bit and not be jerks or anything.

Weird. What happens when you try this link?

I lied, I paid a little over $20: Astral Weeks https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001DPC4RS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_O.5Yzb22RCA90

I got it in person at Music Direct and they price matched the Amazon.

Still worth it- so much depth in the soundstage.

Price History Graph

Price history - hasn't been below $22 in more than a year

I LOVE YOU!!

You got me the greatest most well-packaged gift I have ever received in my life in the history of christmas. Okay, slightly exaggerating. But seriously. Nothing feels better than coming home from a long day of work and realizing you have a secret admirer (of sorts).

Some pictures to prove it:
http://imgur.com/pnhyK

And a little video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PJyR7koREQ

The record was "Chester and Lester".
http://www.amazon.com/Chester-Lester-Chet-Atkins/dp/B000ROAL8A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291865928&sr=1-1
Two of my favorite players and clearly an amazing record.

thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!!! :-D

It's not from a concert, but from an instructional video: https://www.amazon.com/Blues-Master-Complete-B-King/dp/B000062VXE

A is optimal because it is not too deep or too high, and it's cross position (blues position) is E, which is very natural for the guitar to play blues from.

Edit: this book is good stuff and it is in the key of A https://www.amazon.com/Jerry-Portnoys-Blues-Harmonica-Masterclass/dp/B00005KJ36

Edit: also check out this site http://www.angelfire.com/tx/myquill/

Something a little different today, this is from DCI Blues Masters Vol 3, here is a link to the DVD and here's the full session. I stumbled across this and thought someone else might enjoy the king of the blues breaking down some of his magic in this laid back lesson.

If you're not familiar with BB King this documentary is a good place to start, as well as his autobiography, Blues All Around Me.

Look up 'American Folkways', which was a decent collection of Lomax's stuff.
The collection 'Goodbye, Babylon' might have what you're looking for.
https://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Babylon-Various-Artists/dp/B0000DBOCB

Looks like new pressings from Amazon are around $28 but you can find cheaper ones on eBay. This appears to be the stereo version of the album.

I love Psychadelic Soul a compilation of the best Funk tracks the Tempations recorded with Norman Whitfield and the Funk brothers. Papa was a rolling stone, ball of confusion, Psychadelic shack, War, It's outstanding stuff with not a dud track.

Check out You See Me Laughin' if you haven't all of fat possum records is fantastic!

El-P is always a favorite of mine, can't go wrong with Run the Jewels and Cancer 4 Cure is excellent, too. DJ Shadow's first album would also go well with your drug theme.
Outside the modern hip hop universe, I'd also recommend Funkadelic's Maggot Brain and Parliament's Mothership Connection.

I love that Stack O'lee track. I had no idea Bussard had a copy but I can't say I'm surprised. I got The Stuff Dreams are Made of a few years ago and that song really stood out for me. It's a great compilation of the worlds rarest 78's.

The new Hendrix remasters are amazing: http://www.amazon.com/Are-Experienced-Vinyl-Jimi-Hendrix/dp/B0033AGPEY/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1312926782&sr=1-2

I'll just leave this here...