Johnny Sansone
STORE
"Poor Man's Paradise" was recorded nearly entirely in Johnny Sansone's New Orleans Mid-City living room. In fact if you listen closely, you might hear a dog barking or a nail gun or saw in the background. While the session was indeed spontaneous, Sansone's been wanting to cut a session like this for some time. The idea was to have some (friends) get together and take an organic acoustic approach to keep the session's down home feel. All the cuts were recorded live using all but one first take. The centerpiece of this CD is certainly the title track obviously referes to New Orleans and the overriding malaise which grips the city, that care once forgot. It also deals with person's personal struggle in the wake of the worst natural/manmade disaster in the history of the United States. "There's alot of anger in that song," admits Sansone. "At first I didn't want to record it, but other people convinced me I should. They told me, This is what people need to hear."
ROUNDER RECORDS ....... WATERMELON PATCH .........Johnny Sansone is a bit of a jack of all trades: writing, singing, and playing masterful accordion, harmonica, and guitar. All of these tunes are originals, a similarly wide-ranging mix of Louisiana roots-rock, zydeco, and traditional blues. He enlisted some top-drawer New Orleans musicians for Watermelon Patch, including saxophonists from the Iguanas, organist Joe Krown (Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown), and pianist Jon Cleary (B.B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal); meanwhile, the rhythm section of bassist Dave Ranson and drummer Kenneth Blevins drove John Hiatt's Slow Turning album. Most of this release was cut live, in only one day. "Think of Me" is a rapid-fire, accordion-fueled zydeco tune with a nice guitar solo from Rick Olivarez. The title cut features some bluesy harp. "Look at Us Now" and "Loveline" showcase some nice horn playing, especially the accents from trumpet man Duke Heitger. Sansone pulls out the chromatic harp on "Pig's Feet & Tailmeat," "Stinkbait" and "Quagmire," the latter centered on a Latin-flavored jungle drum beat. "Stink Bait" is a tough, slow instrumental. "Civilized City" is pure twelve-bar Chicago blues, and "Comin' for Sure" is another zydeco-flavored track, but this time Olivarez takes to the slide guitar. Sansone is originally from New Jersey and didn't settle in New Orleans until 1989, but you'd never know it from listening to Watermelon Patch. He clearly has found his geographical and musical home. ~ Ann Wickstrom
JUMPIN JOHNNY and the BLUES PARTY
on cassette only
Releases:
Jumpin Johnny and the Blues Party - King Snake Records
Crescent City Moon – Rounder
Watermelon Patch - Rounder
Poor Man's Paradise - Independent
Jumpin Johnny and the Blues Party - King Snake Records
Crescent City Moon – Rounder
Watermelon Patch - Rounder
Poor Man's Paradise - Independent
The Lord Is waiting and the Devil Is Too feat. Anders Osborne on guitar and Stanton Moore on drums. Produced by Anders Osborne
Crescent City Moon - Rounder Records Debut
Jumpin' Johnny Sansone released Crescent City Moon on his own Shortstack label in 1996, but it inspired such a positive buzz on the blues circuit that Rounder's Bullseye Blues label decided to pick it up and give it the national distribution it deserves. Like the better known John Mooney, Sansone takes the Mississippi-Chicago tradition of the blues and infuses it with New Orleans second-line rhythms that transform the genre completely. Sansone plays harmonica and accordion and sings in a gruff, authoritative baritone, but everything he does is locked into the syncopated beats that get the party going in his native Louisiana. The album features guest appearances by such local stars as slide guitarist Sonny Landreth, pianist Jon Cleary, and the Iguanas, but Sansone dominates the proceedings. He wrote 11 of the dozen tunes and he produced them all. He pays tribute to fellow Louisianan Slim Harpo with the fat harmonica tone and swamp-boogie beat of "Crawfish Walk." Fats Domino meets Buckwheat Zydeco when Sansone's squeezebox and the Iguanas' horns hook up on the well-greased New Orleans R&B of "Your Kind of Love." The push-and-pull, Professor Longhair shuffle of "Give Me a Dollar" perfectly evokes the hustlers who tapdance for dollars in New Orleans' Jackson Square. For all his Gulf Coast influences, however, Sansone can still turn in a good impersonation of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter as he does on "The Talkin' Is Over (The Walkin' Has Begun)." --Geoffrey Himes
Jumpin' Johnny Sansone released Crescent City Moon on his own Shortstack label in 1996, but it inspired such a positive buzz on the blues circuit that Rounder's Bullseye Blues label decided to pick it up and give it the national distribution it deserves. Like the better known John Mooney, Sansone takes the Mississippi-Chicago tradition of the blues and infuses it with New Orleans second-line rhythms that transform the genre completely. Sansone plays harmonica and accordion and sings in a gruff, authoritative baritone, but everything he does is locked into the syncopated beats that get the party going in his native Louisiana. The album features guest appearances by such local stars as slide guitarist Sonny Landreth, pianist Jon Cleary, and the Iguanas, but Sansone dominates the proceedings. He wrote 11 of the dozen tunes and he produced them all. He pays tribute to fellow Louisianan Slim Harpo with the fat harmonica tone and swamp-boogie beat of "Crawfish Walk." Fats Domino meets Buckwheat Zydeco when Sansone's squeezebox and the Iguanas' horns hook up on the well-greased New Orleans R&B of "Your Kind of Love." The push-and-pull, Professor Longhair shuffle of "Give Me a Dollar" perfectly evokes the hustlers who tapdance for dollars in New Orleans' Jackson Square. For all his Gulf Coast influences, however, Sansone can still turn in a good impersonation of Sonny Boy Williamson and Little Walter as he does on "The Talkin' Is Over (The Walkin' Has Begun)." --Geoffrey Himes
US Europe & Abroad
US Europe & Abroad
US Europe & Abroad
US Europe & Abroad