Recently, Jon Cleary has reconnected to New Orleans R&B in a major way. At Jazz Fest, he announced that he was recording an album of classic compositions and played a killer set that rolled back the clock. His Philthy Phew plays that repertoire, and they’ll open for the Dirty Dozen Brass Band at Lafayette Square [...]
Tag Archives: Earl King
Paul McCartney, Earl King, and Benny Spellman
July 1, 2011 – 12:11 am
Photographer: Sidney Smith February 1975: Benny Spellman, Linda McCartney, Paul McCartney, Wings guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and Earl King pose for a classic picture at New Orleans’ Sea-Saint Studios during a break in recording Wings’ Venus and Mars.
Earl King
January 1, 2011 – 12:09 am
Photographer: Skip Bolen Date: April 30, 2003 I was in New Orleans for a photography opening and Antoinette K-Doe asked what I was doing the following Wednesday and if I could photograph her friend, Earl King. I said “Sure thing!” and she told me to be at Gallier Hall at 7 a.m. I [...]
Various Artists, Rhythm & Blues (Putumayo)
April 1, 2010 – 12:01 am
Unlike most compilations that serve as record label promotion, Putumayo has always favored themed releases with tracks licensed from other labels. Rhythm & Blues documents R&B’s mid-period between its jump blues origins and today’s polished, quieter urban variety, and it emphasizes the newer cats who carry on the retro tradition. No theme is ever perfect, [...]
Earl King and Roomful of Blues, Glazed (Hep Cat)
February 1, 2010 – 12:01 am
This is the return of a very good old friend as Hep Cat has reissued one of the earliest albums from the catalog of New Orleans’ Black Top label. Earl King and Roomful of Blues fit like a hand inside a glove and this is the proof. The New England-based band frequently played Tipitina’s in [...]
Lifetime Achievement in Music: Deacon John
January 1, 2010 – 12:01 am
At some point this year, Deacon John Moore will celebrate his 50th anniversary as the bandleader of Deacon John and the Ivories. Over the years, Deacon John established himself as the most sought-after performer for private parties in the city; built a shadow career as a session guitarist on a series of recordings that reads [...]
Ace Honored
September 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Although its head office was located 185 miles away in Jackson, Mississippi, Ace Records was in effect New Orleans’ first independent record label. It was owned by the gregarious Johnny Vincent, who once worked in Specialty Records’ A&R department, where he signed Guitar Slim and Earl King. He saw the success that Specialty and other [...]
Snooks Eaglin, Baby, You Can Get Your Gun (Hep Cat)
August 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Very much a politically incorrect album title, this is a reissue of the album that marked the beginning of Eaglin’s long and fruitful association with Camp Street’s Black Top label. Recorded in 1986, our man is on fire here for sure, and in good company, with a posse of New Orleans veterans—Smokey Johnson, Erving Charles [...]
Paula and the Pontiacs, Louisiana Bride (Independent)
June 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
When Paula and the Pontiacs get it right, they get it very right. “Everything I Need” plays to all the band’s strengths—its ability to nail a barroom R&B groove, and Paula Rangell’s personable voice. When she sings a ballad, you believe her, and “Quiet Country Night” and her cover of Earl King’s “Your Love Means [...]
