JAY MCSHANN: 2003 Goin' to Kansas City Live Recording (Sony Plain Records SPCD 1286)

GOIN' TO KANSAS CITY was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Jay "Hootie" McShann is best known by aficionados as a lynchpin of the blues, swing, and jazz scene in Kansas City during its 1940s heyday. Home to the likes of Count Basie and Charlie Parker (who began his career playing in McShann's band), Kansas City refined the heavily blues-based swing music that eventually gave birth to bop, R&B, and rock & roll.

In a series of sessions between 2001 and 2003, McShann is joined here by the great Johnnie Johnson for a two-piano duet, and by Maria Muldaur for a spirited rendition of "Confessin' the Blues." But it is McShann's solo vocal and piano performances that really stand out. While his voice shows signs of age (as on his moving, understated treatment of "When I Grow Too Old Too Dream"), his fingers still blaze across the keys, as the stride showcase "The Fish Fry Boogie" amply proves. The bonus track, a 20 minute interview with McShann--not to mention the back cover photo of McShann standing before Jones Barber Shop and Billiard Parlor)--are added incentive to pick up this fine collection.

Principally recorded at Soundtrek, University Of Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri; Duke's Mood Room, Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Synergy Sound, Chimacum, Washington. Includes liner notes by Holger Petersen.

Personnel: Jay McShann (vocals, piano); Maria Muldaur (vocals); Johnnie Johnson (piano); Duke Robillard (acoustic & electric guitars); Milt Able (bass); Tommy Ruskin (drums).

RIP "Hootie"...

Tracks:

1. Kansas City
2. Trouble in Mind
3. When I Grow Too Old to Dream
4. Nasty Attitude
5. My Chile
6. Wrong Neighborhood
7. Just For You
8. Confessin' the Blues - (with Maria Muldaur)
9. Kansas City (Revisited)
10. Jay and Johnnie Conversation
11. Some Kinda Crazy
12. One Woman's Man
13. Doo Wah Doo
14. 'Fore Day Rider
15. Ain't Nobody's Business
16. The Fish Fry Boogie
17. Crying Won't Make Me Stay
18. Interview: Jay at Home and at This Piano - (bonus track)

Details
.. Year: 2003
.. Label: Sony Plain Records SPCD 1286
.. Bitrate: 320kbps
.. Home-Page: http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzprofiles/archive/mcshann.html
.. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_McShann
.. Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Goin-Kansas-City-Jay-McShann/dp/B0000ARLGG

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