__ __________ ______________________________________________________
\\ \\________//------------------\\___________________________________________________//
..
:: Release Info:
::
:: Artist......> Eddie Tigner
:: Title.......> Slippin in
:: Label.......> n/a
:: Genre.......> Blues
:: Rip.Date....> 03.25.2008
:: Street.Date.> 00.00.2008
:: Source......> CDDA
:: Quality.....> VBR / avg. 131kbps / 44.1kHz / Joint-Stereo
:: Encoder.....> LAME 3.97/V2/VBRNEW
:: URL.........> n/a
__ __________ _______________________________________________________
\\ \\________//------------------\\____________________________________________________//
..
:: Track Listing:
::
:: 01. Heartbreak 04:34
:: 02. I Dare You Baby 02:49
:: 03. Slippin in 05:46
:: 04. All Around the World 03:21
:: 05. Need Your Love So Bad 03:22
:: 06. Knock Me A Kiss 03:16
:: 07. River's Invitation 03:29
:: 08. Home at Last 04:09
:: 09. Brunswick Stew 03:34
:: 10. Did You Ever See A Monkey Play A Fiddle 03:20
:: 11. Please Send Me Someone to Love 05:41
::
::
:: Total Playtime: 43:21 min
:: Total Size: 43,3 MB
__ __________ _______________________________________________________
\\ \\________//------------------\\____________________________________________________//
..
:: Release Notes:
::
:: There's something about Barrelhouse Blues music that gets
:: under your skin and won't leave you alone. Perhaps it's the
:: beat, the inflection of the singer's voice, or maybe it's
:: just the easy swing that sets your hips to moving and your
:: toes to tapping. Yet, a real good Barrelhouse player can also
:: take you down a sentimental road full of tears and heartbreak
:: without once making it taste like too much sugar in your
:: coffee.
::
::
:: It's a real trick, and not one that many people can manage;
:: Dr. John is probably the best-known player, and I've heard
:: one or two others who can carry it off. One of the guys I
:: knew is no longer with us -- Ron Hedland -- and you probably
:: never heard of him. I knew him in the early 80's when he was
:: calling strippers at the Brass Rail in Toronto Ontario as his
:: day job, and playing a Fender Rhodes Electric when he got the
:: chance. He could sing an old chestnut and make it sweet, or
:: he could reach down and play barrelhouse like he was sitting
:: in with the whorehouse band back home in Virginia where he
:: was born.
:: The other man you may not have heard of either, but he's
:: still around and kicking. At 81-years-old, Eddie Tigner
:: doesn't sound like he's going anywhere in a hurry. His voice
:: is strong, and fingers fast on the keys of either his piano
:: or the organ that he plays - kicking out some of the best,
:: lowest, and fattest Barrelhouse blues I've heard in a long
:: time.
:: If you haven't heard of Eddie Tigner, I guess you can be
:: excused because it's been a while since he was in the public
:: eye. According to his biography over at the Music Maker
:: Relief Foundation's web site, he's been spending his days
:: recently serving lunches in a school cafeteria. Eddie started
:: his piano playing career back in the 40's when he was in the
:: Army (he figures he has played gigs at every military
:: installation in the United States) and was actually playing
:: Vibes in his first band.
:: Living in Atlanta during the 1950's, he played with Elmore
:: James during the early years of the decade, which is probably
:: where he picked up his fine Boogie Woogie/Barrelhouse
:: technique. Eddie's band, the Maroon Notes, played vaudeville
:: shows in theatres in Atlanta and toured through small towns
:: throughout the South down through the west coast of Florida.
:: In 1959, the Ink Spots rolled into town and needed a keyboard
:: player for the night and hired Eddie. That night lasted for
:: nearly 30 years as he toured with them until 1987. Since 1991
:: he's been playing clubs in around Atlanta as well as "feeding
:: the children," as he calls his day job.
:: Slippin In is Eddie Tigner's second release on the Music
:: Makers label, and shows once again what a valuable service
:: the folks who run that label are doing for American music.
:: Not only are they making sure deserving artists are able to
:: record and make a living from doing what they do best --
:: playing music -- they are ensuring the rest of us get to hear
:: some of the best music around. Mainly through word of mouth,
:: they find the musicians who have slipped through the cracks
:: and are barely surviving on minimum wage jobs or social
:: security, and give them the opportunity to regain their pride
:: and earn some money by booking them for shows and recording
:: their music.
:: As I said, Eddie is one of the best Barrelhouse style players
:: I've heard. It's not just that he's a hot keyboard player --
:: because I'm sure there are hotter ones -- or that he's got
:: the greatest voice in the world; it's the way he uses his
:: talents that make him so good. He doesn't just play the
:: piano; he teases and coaxes notes from it so it sings in the
:: way that's specific to honky-tonks and old juke joints.
:: Listen to him playing "Please Send Me Someone To Love" on
:: Slippin In and you'll hear what I'm talking about. In the
:: wrong person's hands this would be the biggest piece of
:: shalmtz this side of Las Vegas, but under his care this song
:: sounds like the plea it should be. His fingers gently pull
:: notes from the piano that are redolent with the sadness of a
:: lonely man, while his voice, down in the lower register,
:: states his case in an almost matter of fact manner. There's
:: something that much more poignant about a song like this when
:: it's delivered as a simple plea for compassion instead of the
:: melodramatic howl that so many people seem to believe is what
:: constitutes emotion.
:: The musicians he plays with are taking their cues from Eddie
:: and you can feel it in the way they have all caught the
:: less-is-more attitude his playing exemplifies. Listening to
:: his composition, the instrumental "Slippin In", primarily a
:: Hammond Organ and guitar duet, makes this really clear.
:: Instead of either Eddie or his guitar player, Felix Reyes,
:: playing speed of light solos with millions of notes that you
:: never hear, they make each note they play tell a story. I'm
:: not a big fan of organ music normally, but the way Eddie uses
:: his Hammond made a convert out of me on this occasion. There
:: was something about the way he was able to nurse the notes
:: out of that instrument that made it sing beautiful harmony
:: with the guitar unlike anything I've heard in along time.
:: Eddie Tigner is a great all around Blues piano player who can
:: handle everything from a straight-ahead Blues number like
:: "Need Your Love So Bad", to the rollicking swing of "Knock Me
:: A Kiss". He can sing it slow and sweet, or fast and loose,
:: and sound equally comfortable and always sound like he means
:: every word he sings. There aren't many people left who can do
:: justice to Barrelhouse Blues/honky-tonk music anymore, but
:: Eddie Tigner's Slippin In is proof that there are still some
:: who have what it takes to make your spine get loose and
:: remind you that you have hips.Richard Marcus is a long-haired
:: Canadian iconoclast who writes reviews and opines on the
:: world as he sees it at Leap In The Dark and Epic India
:: Magazine.
::
__ __________ _________________________________________________________________
\\ \\________//--------\\______________________________________________________________//
..
:: Group Notes:
::
:: We are currently looking for dedicated rippers, if you are interested you'll know how to reach us
::
::
::
::
::....................................................................................................