Tag: Chris Strachwitz Collection
Chris Strachwitz 1962 Article
[feather_share] International Blues Record Club Bulletin Vol. 2 No. 1 December 1962 Searching for music in 1962 with Chris Strachwitz Now, that the commercials...
Read MoreLightning Hopkins & the Zydeco Uprising
In 1962 Chris Strachwitz was writing a blues column for Jazz Report magazine. Here is part one of three articles about his travels in the south,...
Read MorePiano Red Interview
“I started wandering about then, from town to town, after I found out I could make a buck playing. We would go from towns like… through South Carolina, North Carolina, and the lower parts of Georgia, all around. We would play, and the guys would be glad for musicians to come in town. They would give us what they could take in the door just for us to stop over and play…”
Read MoreDon Santiago Jiménez Interview
Santiago Jiménez, Sr. learned to play accordion watching his father, Patricio Jiménez, who was the only accordion player Santiago recalls playing at dances around town in San Antonio, where he grew up. He talks to Chris Strachwitz about learning to play at age 10, and buying his first two-row accordion from a pawn shop in 1935. He would later become known for his consistent use of the two-row button accordion.
Read MoreNathan Beauregard Interview
Singer-guitarist Nathan Beauregard is one of the most interesting of the newly discovered veteran performers of blues and Negro folksong. The vigor and charm of his playing belie his advanced age (though he does not know his birthdate, he claims to be more than 100 years old!) and provide occasional glimpses of some of the oldest styles of music from the Deep South.
Read MoreJohn Delafose Interview – Zydeco
John Delafose and his band, the Eunice Playboys, represent both a return to old time zydeco as well as a unique modern sound. He plays the old time button accordion in a staccato style that emphasizes syncopated rhythm over melody; at the same time he plays the more melodic modern soul/blues sound often on the piano accordion.
Read MoreSmiley Winters Interview
Smiley Winters talks with Chris Strachwitz about his life as a jazz drummer. “I just studied. For awhile, I did to advance my studies. But after a while I did nothing but to learn theory and everything. And then I got a group, a bebop group in 1948 and we made the downbeat Ralph Gleason wrote about us.”
Read MoreJoe Pullum Interview
Blues singer Joe Pullum talks with Chris Strachwitz about the music scene in Houston, TX in the 1930’s and later in Los Angeles.
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