Jeff Healey – The Best of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz, Swing and Blues

JEFF HEALEY

The Best of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz Swing and Blues

Stony Plain

stonyplainrecords.com

As I noted five years ago in my review of Jeff Healey’s Last Call, “The late Jeff Healey (1966-2008) was – with great reason – one of Canada’s most popular blues-rock guitarists and an exciting bandleader. He was also an expert on the hot jazz and swing of the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s – I remember some great radio shows he hosted on the CBC playing old 78s – and, in the last decade or so before cancer took his life, went public as a traditional jazz singer, trumpet player and guitarist, touring and recording a series of fine albums with the Jazz Wizards, a group distinct from his blues-rock band. As much as I enjoyed hearing Jeff play blues-rock, I much preferred hearing him in the jazz context.”

The Best of the Stony Plain Years: Vintage Jazz Swing and Blues compiles 11 terrific tracks from Healey’s traditional jazz albums – including Last Call – and adds “Sweet Georgia Brown,” a previously unreleased track included on a Stony Plain sampler in 2006.

I’ve got Healey’s jazz albums (and the Stony Plain sampler) on my shelves so there was nothing new for me on this CD. Still, it’s a terrific reminder of the real joy Healey had playing the music he loved.

Among my favorites – I do really like the whole CD – are “The Wild Cat,” an instrumental featuring Healey on guitar and Drew Jurecka on violin sounding like Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in their prime (with modern day sound quality); “Sing You Sinners,” a swinging gospel spoof recorded live at Hugh’s Room in Toronto with British trombone legend Chris Barber sitting in with the Jazz Wizards; a version of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Hong Kong Blues,” that’s all Jeff on vocals and two guitars; and the rousing finale of “Sweet Georgia Brown,” another tune with Barber from the same Hugh’s Room show as “Sing You Sinners.”

This collection clocks in at 53 minutes but leaves me wanting more. I think I’ll go pull out the original albums.

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--Mike Regenstreif

Holger Petersen – Talking Music: Blues Radio and Roots Music

Talking Music: Blues Radio and Roots Music

By Holger Petersen

Insomniac Press

326 pages

insomniacpress.com/

Holger Petersen’s primary gig for the past 35 years has been running Edmonton-based Stony Plain Records, which he’s built into one of the world’s premiere roots music labels. He is also a veteran and much-respected host of two weekly blues radio programs, Natch’l Blues on the Alberta-wide public station CKUA (for more than 40 years), and Saturday Night Blues on CBC (for 25).

Holger’s an excellent interviewer – I wouldn’t hazard a guess as to how many he’s done in his combined 65 years of weekly broadcasts – and he’s taken transcriptions from 19 of what must be the among the best and turned them into a page-turner for anyone who’s fascinated with great blues and roots artists, producers and musicologists.

As it happens, I’m familiar with the work of all of Holger’s subjects in Talking Music: Blues Radio and Roots Music. I know a couple of them, have met a few others, and have interviewed some of them myself. Despite that familiarity, I was drawn into these interviews and could hear the voices – and Holger’s – in my head as I read their words.

There are lots of fascinating stories here: David “Honeyboy” Edwards on the death of Robert Johnson; legendary musicologist Alan Lomax talking about the discovery of Lead Belly and decrying the state of contemporary blues; Jay McShann on his early days in Kansas City and having a kid sax player named Charlie Parker in his band; Ian Tyson on both his early folk days and the renaissance of cowboy culture; Chris Barber talking about the first British blues tours he organized for legends like Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee; Jeff Healey on his love for traditional jazz; Lucinda Williams on her early Folkways records; Sam Phillips on recording artists like B.B. King and Elvis Presley early in their careers; Eric Bibb and his dad, Leon Bibb, talking about their relationships with Paul Robeson; and, so many, many more.

All the people in this book – famous or not – are important figures in the history of music and the insights in these interviews serves to enhance appreciation for them and their work.

--Mike Regenstreif