Hugh Laurie - Saint James Infirmary

If you gotta go to the hospital, this is pretty sweet to have on your playlist.

And props to Hugh Laurie for performing a great old classic that everyone - and I mean everyone, like Satchmo and Cab Calloway - has covered.  And crushing it. 

Buddy Guy - Mustang Sally

I don't know if this is on everyone's Top Ten list of great blues songs.  I suspect it is on everyone's list of Top Ten Blues Songs to Sing at Karaoke. 

The Blues Brothers - Soul Man

The 1980 film assembled an all-star cast of musicians.  This was perhaps the weakest song in the movie. 

Joe Bonamassa & Beth Hart - I'll Take Care of You

It's been a while since I posted Blues on Thursday.  Mea maxima culpa.

So here's what may be the Platonic Ideal of a Blues Ballad.  If you don't like the Blues but you do like Pink Floyd* then you'll like this.

 

* A band with deep roots in the Blues. 

Joe Bonamassa - Christmas Boogie

Here's some Christmas music to make you tap your toes during Black Friday. 

George Gershwin and DuBose Hayward - "Summertime" from Porgy & Bess (sung by Ella Fitzgerald)

Porgy & Bess was first performed in 1935 and sadly has peaked.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was popular in the Soviet Union during the Cold War as a display of American repression - the 1980s film White Nights showcased this..  It seems that the Usual Suspects who control popular culture are not subtle enough to line this into their repertoire of  anti-American art, but whatever.

This is without doubt the most famous song from that opera, and has been recorded by pretty much everybody - Janis Joplin & The Holding Company may have been the most unexpected of these.  Here's Ella Fitzgerald with what approaches the Platonic Ideal performance of the song. 

Lightnin' Hopkins - Santa

 

Joe Bonamassa - Christmas Boogie

Now that it's after Thanksgiving, it's officially Christmas music season.  Well, here at least.

Joe Bonamassa - Christmas Boogie

It's been almost a month since I posted any Blues.  Fixing that now.

Lightnin' Hopkins - Santa

He considered this one of his greatest hits.

Hugh Laurie - Louisiana Blues

You may remember him from the TV show "House", but he's got some decent musical chops.

Eric Clapton & Johnny Depp tribute to Jeff Beck

Who knew that Captain Jack Sparrow played the axe?  He's the one in the blue hat.

Full line up:
Eric Clapton
Doyle Bramhall II
Gary Clark Jr
Kirk Hammett (with Greeny)
Susan Tedeschi
Derek Trucks
Ronnie Wood
Johnny Depp
Billy Gibbons
John McLaughlin
Robert Randolph
Olivia Safe
Rod Stewart
Imelda May
Joss Stone

Joe Bonamassa & Eric Clapton - Further On Up the Road

 Because it's Clapton and Joe B - which means it's awesome.

George "Harmonica" Smith - Blowin' The Blues

Smoking' Joe Kubek & Bnois King - Armadillo Blues

Smokin' Joe died far too young (as did my younger brother).  You wonder what other music he would have recorded had he had his full three score and ten.

 

Joe Bonamassa - Drive

It's been a while since I've posted Joe B.  This is an interesting, sort of acoustic offering.

Elmore James - The Sky Is Crying

James died far too young at 45.  He wrote this song, which is one of the Blues classics.  You wonder what else he would have written if he had gotten his full three score and ten.

 

roy buchanan - peter gunn theme

You wonder what other music he would have made if he hadn't been found hanged in a jail cell in the '80s.  He's "the best guitarist most people have never heard of".

 

Rest in peace, Jeff Beck

When I think of Jeff Beck, I think of The Yardbirds, perhaps the greatest failed rock band ever.  Their lead guitarists included (in order) Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page.  These three are in pretty much everyone's list of top 10 guitarists, and they all played for the same band.

Thus, the greatest rock band.  And also the greatest failed rock band.

But he was never an easy member of any band.  Maybe that was part of the special mix that made The Yardbirds the greatest failed rock band.  But the music was great, and his guitar playing was spectacular.

Tonight The Choir Invisible has finer accompaniment. 

Joe Bonamassa - Christmas Boogie

Blues and Christmas, baby!