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Blues Rock trio from Sweden. Traci's love for the blues began at an early age when he heard one of the Led Zeppelin albums on the radio, he persuaded his uncle to give him his old guitar and give him some lessons, since then he and his guitar have been inseparable. He was a participant in some projects, and after meeting Anna Skoglund and creating a group, the debut album was not long in coming.
Lazy Lester To Be Inducted Into The Blues Hall of Fame
Have a look here at the 2012 inductees, as announced by the Blues Foundation in Memphis, the governing body of the Blues Hall of Fame. Other inductees include Billy Boy Arnold - another legend who's played our annual Blues Masters at the Crossroads at Blue Heaven Studios - Mike Bloomfield, Buddy and Ella Johnson, Furry Lewis, Frank Stokes, Matt "Guitar" Murphy and Allen Toussaint. The induction ceremony will be May 9 in Memphis.
Back when blues was king and South Louisiana was the breeding ground for a blast of some of the most memorable American music ever recorded, at the heart of it was Lazy Lester. Those days are gone, and so too are most of its luminaries. And yet Lester carries the tradition almost single-handedly around the world several times over each year. As a true living legend, his talents are as much in demand as ever. After all, there aren’t many living bluesmen who’ve had major hits, as Lester did on Excello Records in the 1950s and ‘60s, and are still performing with the gusto and precision of their youth.
Leslie Johnson was born June 20, 1933 in the small town of Torras, Louisiana, near the Mississippi state border to Robert Johnson and Maggie Hartford. He was raised mostly in Scotlandville, a suburb of Baton Rouge. As a boy, he worked as a gas station attendant, woodcutter and at a grocery story, where he purchased a harmonica and Little Walter’s famous “Juke” record. Lester began to blow harp, and in a relatively short time became somewhat proficient. One of his brothers had a guitar, which Lester also had learned to strum. He credits Jimmy Reed and Little Walter as his main blues influences, and you can easily hear Reed’s vocal style in Lester’s singing. But Lester isn’t shy about telling anyone that his first love was and still is country – the real, traditional kind. He got hooked early on Jimmie Rogers.
In his late teens, Lester joined his first ever band, a group called the Rhythm Rockers that included Big John Jackson on guitar, Sonny Martin on piano and Eddie Hudson as singer. Lester blew harp. The group played primarily high school dances, and Lester also began to sit in with Guitar Gable’s band on club gigs.
It was in the mid-1950s, on a bus, that fate turned Lester’s way, and the roots to what would become classic music began to grow. As Lester tells it, he was living in Rayne, Louisiana, at the time and was on the bus riding home. Lightnin’ Slim, who was already an established recording artist, was also on the bus and was headed to Crowley to cut a record at Jay Miller’s Studio, where so much of the material for the Nashville-based Excello Records was being recorded. Since Crowley was just seven miles further than Rayne and because Lester had a serious itch to be around big-time music making, Lester decided to stay on the bus and accompany Slim to the studio. When they got there, the scheduled harp player, Wild Bill Phillips, didn’t show for the session. Lester told Slim that he had actually played with Slim’s band and thought he could handle the harp parts for the session. Remarkably, Slim and Miller gave Lester that chance, and he did not disappoint. A classic pairing was born, and Lester became a mainstay on Slim’s Excello recordings and his gigs. He’d follow Slim’s guitar licks with short, stabbing solos after Slim’s trademark prodding of, “Blow your harmonica, son.”
Producer Jay Miller was impressed by Lester’s work with Lightnin’ Slim, and in 1957 Lester debuted as a lead artist on Excello, recording “I’m Gonna Leave You Baby” backed with the instrumental “Lester’s Stomp” with accompaniment from Guitar Gable’s band, which included Gable’s brother Yank on bass and Clarence “Jockey” Etienne on drums. Before the record’s release, Miller had decided that “Lazy Lester” had more of a ring to it than “Lester Johnson.” Miller is said to have come up the nickname based on Lester’s slow, lazy style of talking. And as Lester’s said, “I was never in a hurry to do nothing.” In any case, the name’s stuck for almost 50 years now.
Lester’s first legitimate hits came in 1958 with the release of “I’m A Lover Not A Fighter” backed with “Sugar Coated Love.” Those two songs established Lester as a star. Record buyers went gaga when they heard that nasal-pitched voice and the harp work that imitated the voice note for note. The arrangements were tight yet still sounded homemade or organic. There was a rhythmic edge to the sound – something that we now know as the “Excello Sound.” These songs went as far as any others in establishing that association.
Jay Miller, who wrote the songs along with much of the Excello output, realized quickly that Lazy Lester was a perfect vehicle for his budding vision, and the two collaborated on many great songs and arrangements to come.
Lester hit again with the follow-up record, “I Hear You Knockin’”/“Through The Goodness of My Heart,” which featured a young Warren Storm on drums. Storm would go on to become a major Excello artist himself.
For almost a decade, Lester remained as a regular Excello artist. Other notable songs from his 15 records for the company include “You Got Me Where You Want Me,” “Patrol Blues,” “Whoa Now,” “If You Think I’ve Lost You,” “The Same Thing Could Happen To You” and “Pondarosa Stomp.”
Lester was a constant in Miller’s studio, serving in the role of accompanying musician and arranger when he wasn’t the lead artist himself. Lester did everything. He sang. He played the harp. He played the guitar. And he provided every conceivable kind of percussion from actual drums to whacking on cardboard boxes, wood blocks or saddles, tapping newspapers in his lap, or even banging on walls. All told, he played on sessions for Lightnin’ Slim, Slim Harpo, Katie Webster, Lonesome Sundown, Whispering Smith, Silas Hogan, Henry Gray, Tabby Thomas, Nathan Abshire, Johnny Jano and many, many others.
Excello was more than just a blues label, and Lester’s innate talents served every type of session Miller produced, including Cajun, country, swamp pop, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and blues. As Lester tells it, he knew the country music better than the guys who showed up to play it. But initially Miller wouldn’t allow Lester to perform on those sessions, believing that country was “white” music and having a black man on the record would hurt its sales. “That’s when I was ‘Colored,’” Lester likes to joke, poking fun at the changing labels for minorities through the years. Lester would teach the white country artists how to play the songs before they rolled tape. Finally, it got to the point where some of the country artists said to Miller, “Why don’t you just let Lester play on the song? He knows it better than any of us.” Lester still loves country and includes in all of his performances beautiful renditions of standards by Jimmie Rogers and Hank Williams.
Through all of his influences and associations, Lester’s crafted a style as unique as his nickname. He calls it “swamp blues,” and it’s a mixture of blues, swamp pop and classic country. Lester says it’s a “down home” music without the additions and subtractions that other more urban-styled blues has included.
Lester called it quits with Excello and Miller around 1966 and worked various day jobs including road construction, trucking and lumberjacking. Around 1969, he moved to Chicago for a very brief stint.
In 1971, he reunited with his old buddy Lightnin’ Slim for a concert in Slim’s new hometown of Pontiac, Michigan. On the trip, Lester met Slim Harpo’s sister who also lived in Pontiac, and in 1975, he moved to Pontiac to be with her. After he moved, he retired from music. Like so many musicians, he’d tired of the garbage that can go with making your living as a performer. After a few years, he resumed some occasional playing with a few of the Detroit blues artists. Finally, in the late ‘80s, he began performing regularly and realized he was in significant demand. In 1987, he recorded Lazy Lester Rides Again for the Blue Horizon label in England. The record was released on Kingsnake in the U.S. and won a W.C. Handy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In 1988, Alligator Records released Harp & Soul, further alerting the world that Lazy Lester was done resting. Since, he’s recorded two records for Antone’s, one direct-to-disc for APO Records and a 2011 release for Bluestown. All of his Excello material has been reissued by various labels, primarily in the United States and England.
Through the popularity of these recordings and as the Excello story has become the stuff of legend, Lazy Lester has enjoyed tremendous popularity worldwide. In 1998, he was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame. In 2004, he played at Radio City Music Hall in New York as part of Martin Scorsese’s Year of the Blues super concert that resulted in his Lightning In A Bottle documentary. The concert included what was perhaps the most impressive lineup of blues stars ever assembled.
Lester several years ago moved to Paradise, California, to be with his girlfriend, Pike. He regularly performs both as a solo artist (with acoustic guitar, rack harmonica and foot percussion) and as the front man with a band, playing either harmonica or guitar. He knows more jokes than many comedians, and he’ll almost always include a few in his performances. Talk to him off stage, and he’ll tell you quite a few more. He’s just one of the guys and goes about his business without any pretense or ego, always accessible to his fans. You’d be well advised to see him when he hits your town.
01 - Lazy Lester - I'm A Lover, Not A Fighter.flac
02 - Lazy Lester - Lester's Stomp.flac
03 - Lazy Lester - Go Ahead.flac
04 - Lazy Lester - I'm Gonna Leave You Baby.flac
05 - Lazy Lester - They Call Me Lazy.flac
06 - Lazy Lester - I Told My Little Woman.flac
07 - Lazy Lester - Tell Me Pretty Baby.flac
08 - Lazy Lester - Sugar Coated Love.flac
09 - Lazy Lester - I Hear You Knockin'.flac
10 - Lazy Lester - Through The Goodness Of My Heart.flac
11 - Lazy Lester - I Love You, I Need You.flac
12 - Lazy Lester - Late In The Evening.flac
13 - Lazy Lester - A Real Combination For Love.flac
14 - Lazy Lester - By Bye Baby, Gonna Call It Gone.flac
15 - Lazy Lester - You Got Me Where You Want Me.flac
16 - Lazy Lester - Patrol Blues.flac
17 - Lazy Lester - I'm So Glad.flac
18 - Lazy Lester - Whoa Now.flac
19 - Lazy Lester - If You Think I've Lost You.flac
Ethan Askey is an emerging singer-songwriter in the roots, blues and soul music landscape. Having served a long apprenticeship as sideman and studio session player, he’s performed from coast to coast to coast in Canada and is best known (as Shorty) in the RocknRoll Mountains. His harmonica-driven, original modern blues has roots, rockabilly, psychedelic, soul and Latin grooves.
This is an exciting project for me because I was finally able to assemble my dream team. Besides the recognizable and prolific talents of saxists Ernie Watts and Cory Weeds, I was able to gather my longtime friends and world-class musicians Miles Black (piano), Laurence Mollerup (bass), and Joel Fountain (drums). Adding to the proceedings are Mike Taylor (vocal) and Olaf deShield (guitar) on a couple of tunes.
Jazz is in my blood, and I am sure I will die clutching my horn to my chest. I've been on this path for most of my life, which really started in 3rd-grade summer band. That year we recorded a vinyl record as a fundraiser, and there the die was cast.
My music teachers were all working jazz musicians and somehow I absorbed the Jazz Spirit, and fueled the fire in my belly that stuck with me all these years. I didn’t choose jazz, it chose me.
As a preteen and teen I'd listen under the bedsheets to late night jazz broadcasts from New York, Chicago, and St Louis. By age 14 I was emulating what I had been hearing, playing semi-professionally in restaurants, lounges, and Battle of the Band competitions. After high school, I hit the road, performing throughout the Midwest playing mostly R&B, and getting my schooling from older musicians who were kind enough to take me under their collective wing. I started playing the flute around that time, searching for another sound to add to my creative toolbag, and I put in some serious time on both horns.
I had a good five year run as a seminal member of the award-winning Powder Blues, received gold and platinum album awards, and toured Europe, the US, and every nook and cranny of Canada.
Trumpeters are often one of the last to get hired, so I took matters into my own hands and began to develop bandleader and promotional skills to create what is now called a 'brand'.
My interest in audio, graphics and video developed alongside my musical skills, so recording projects became sort of a one-stop cottage industry for me to express myself without having to rely on major record labels and music managers. In the end, I developed a large catalog and I own all my master recordings, unlike many major label artists, whose product is unavailable or can't be promoted for contractual reasons. My discography includes two mainstream JazzWeek charting albums, but most have been contemporary jazz projects that have garnered quite a few Billboard hits. I always strive for strong, lyrical and succinct jazz content in whatever styles I pursue, and I choose sidemen that feel that way, too.
That brings me to the present. Although I spend most of my time in Vancouver, I also work out of Phoenix and New Orleans where I have residences. Arizona has a few pockets of jazz activity (and some great internet jazz station gurus), but the influence of the French Quarter in NOLA unleashed a previously untapped creative flow in my jazz vision, which is evident here.
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