July 23, 2019


Key to the Highway   KSCU 103.3FM 
2019-07-24    2-5PM          
Luther Allison
Cannonball Adderley
The Four Blazes
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I tell ya, this University atmosphere is having an effect on me.  I seem to think I’ll be able to defy the basic tenets of Quantum Physics by stretching the boundaries of time itself.  As I was several months ago assembling this playlist, which will be my first new show at KSCU, I was also considering it as a podcast with extended time beyond the normal three hours.  Podcasting is still in the back of my mind, although grabbing onto new technology is not my strongest point.  I think I have the software sufficient for the task and I purchased a headset for the voice recording, but learning how to put it all together is, for some reason, not a top priority.  However, the summer situation here at KSCU might allow the extra air time.  There is no one scheduled after 1PM so I might stop in early for an extra hour or so (might being the operative word) and, if nobody shows up at 5PM as occurred last show, there might be time to stick around for maybe another half hour.  I just might be exhausted after that (d’ya think?), but today’s show features a couple of favorite artists worthy of the extended airplay.
The Jakester, head of KSCU’s Blues Department and a great help in my acceptance at the station, gave me these suggestions for online listening: For listening to KSCU on a computer, you need to use iTunes or WinAmp for the media player.
To listen to KSCU on a smafon use either the NextRadio or TuneIn apps.
The studio phone number is (408) 554-KSCU or, for the digitally inclined 554-5728 but, as always, make sure no one is speaking on the air before you dial.
All my writings going back to 2014 are still available at key2highway.blogspot.  I do have an emailing list and, for those of you who are not yet on it, I would be happy to add you to it if you email me at coyledon@yahoo.com (my computer’s autocorrect adds a letter t, so if that shows up here please remove it before trying to contact me; apparently, cotyledon is some kind of botanical term).
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On last show’s posting, I mentioned the passing of Blues DJ par excellence Curtis Jay and it evoked responses from a few friends telling fond memories, but a while back I had to divide my email list in two because it was too large so they reached only half of you.  I would like to post them here for everyone to see and, hopefully, add your own new ones to the mix.  I’ll likely send a separate email for these rather than including them on the show emails.
From Jim Dandy and his son Dan, DJ Toast, both at KKUP:
Two fine times come to mind...
The three of us (CJ, Don and Me) going to an afternoon Giant Game at the Stick against the Cincinnati Reds. We sure enjoyed that day and talk for years about doing it again but never got around to it. Wish we had.
CJ and I drove to Seattle via camping on Mount Rainier for The  Bumper-shoot Music Festival. Such a great time and we camped near Seattle at place recommended by Mike Meyers who joined us from Eugene. Also my son Dan (DJ Toast) flew up and joined us.
There was a memorable performance by Luther Alison who put out so much that he could not do an encore. I think he passed a few months later unfortunately. Coming back, we drove into the night and remember throwing our sleeping bags on the grass at a nice Oregon park. Yes, at about 0530, the sprinklers came on and we made a mad dash to the car and got the hell out of Oregon making good time that day. 
He was a great guy to travel with and sure remember some of his blues interviews. One in particular was at KFJC and Jimmy McCracklin of the old Blues Blasters and how Jimmy boxed against Archie Moore back in the day.
Ron was a great guy...
And Dan added,
I was remembering the Bumbershoot trip too, camping with my Dad and CJ. Was so enjoyable. Camping then hitting the music. Sitting around the fire. Relaxing after a day of music. Mapping out what we wanted to see. Good memories!
Thanks guys.  Ron Butler was CJ’s real name and, with all the radio people having air names, I still have always called them by their real names except for Curtis; that was how he introduced himself to me and somehow nothing else ever seemed appropriate, just Curtis Jay or CJ the DJ.  I sure remember that day at Candlestick even though it was way back in the early 90s.  Aside from a couple of trips with Johnnie Cozmik to see my Reds play his A’s, I don’t believe I have done anything non-music related with any of my radio cohorts.
Obviously, we’re on the same thought wave, Jim; Jimmy McCracklin is on my short list of ready to go shows likely to air over summer and I’ll be speaking more of Luther Allison today as well as playing much of a concert from the fourth of July just before his passing.
And from George Byrd, also at KKUP:
Ron and his girlfriend lived a couple blocks from me in Menlo Park for a few years in the early 2000s. She was a ham radio operator, and an 
engineer by profession. I chatted with them both around the neighborhood many times during those years.
They knew I was a ham operator in the 1950s, so as a joke one day they gave me an exquisite little Japanese FM band to American FM band frequency converter.  I still have it. I'll always treasure their joke gift because it reminds me of Ron's offbeat sense of humor.
Ron's girlfriend died young, of cancer I think. He left Menlo Park and moved back to Los Altos.
I last saw Ron a few years ago at the Koll Circle studio early one Sunday morning. He had just done an overnight shift. He had a helper who 
drove his car for him and helped him get around. He still had his sense of humor.
Gotta agree with ya about his sense of humor, George.  It was common knowledge that Blinky had been a longtime friend of mine when I got him to host KKUP’s 1993 Blues marathon live performance in his bar.  Some time later, maybe a coupla years, a Blinky’s tee shirt appeared in my mail slot with a note attached saying, “Thanks for the support.   Blinky”.  I knew it wasn’t real because he would have signed his true name, Dick.  Apparently, CJ had seen the shirt at a yard sale or something and figured he could prank me.  It did have me wondering for quite a while, though, what scallywag had done it!
When I heard about CJ’s passing, I tried to set up a going away party at the Fourth Street Bowl, a place most of CJ’s friends would know, but was warned there would be a parking problem since bowling season was in full swing and could not in good conscience ask folks to come from all parts of the area and not be able to find parking.  That was in April, I believe, and I had a particularly full list of things to do in May (including getting on here at KSCU) so I could not follow it further.  Perhaps this will reignite the momentum and someone will suggest an appropriate venue and get it all back on track, appropriate being somewhat close to KKUP because if one could travel there for a show it wouldn’t be too distant for such a tribute among friends.  CJ must have set some indelible and timeless memories sufficient for this to still work.  Please reply back with suggestions and memories.
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Okay, now it is time to get down to the business at hand.  For the longest time, since the late 60s, I have said that the triumvirate of my favorites was Freddie King, Howlin’ Wolf and Magic Sam and it took almost a half century before realizing I had another name to add, Luther Allison, and I believe he jumped right to the top of the list.
Indeed, it was when I was just getting into Magic Sam that Delmark put out an LP, Sweet Home Chicago, featuring four tracks by Magic Sam and his sax player Eddie Shaw, that I was first exposed to Luther from his included two songs.  But before I get engrossed in his albums, a biography would seem appropriate.  I am always fearful of writing bios of artists I admire so much because my personal expectations are so high that it must be the unattainable perfect, but here we go.  Luther was born in Arkansas in 1939, one of at least twelve children.  His earliest string instrument was a diddley bow where a wire, usually taken from a screen door, was nailed to the wall, then plucked as the pitch was changed by running a bottle up and down the string.
The Allison clan had been a farming family until they moved to Chicago 1951, and Luther was singing with the family’s Gospel group, The Southern Travelers, well before picking up the guitar in his teens.  One of Luther’s schoolmates was Muddy Waters’ son and meeting the man must have had an effect on the young Allison.  Luther’s brother Ollie had a Blues band, the Rolling Stones, who played the West Side from 1954 to 1957.  “By the time I got home from school they were into their practice.  It sounded good to me.  One day, I said, ‘Hey, please show me how to play boogie woogie on the guitar.’  He said, ‘Sit down on my lap and let’s go.’  Two years later, I said, ‘Hey, this is what I want to do.’” 
After a preacher taught Luther how to do shoe repair, learning the cost of setting up in that business brought about his decision to go fulltime into music, starting out on bass in his friend Jimmy Dawkins’ group.  By 1957, Luther had his own band going, playing a year at the Bungalow on Chicago’s West 15th Street, then on to Argo, Illinois where he first met Freddie King.
“Freddie King, Magic Sam, Hubert Sumlin and I used to hang out at backyard barbecues together on the West Side.  We’d get out our guitars and play together.  We’d show each other little riffs and grooves, so we could all play together at the same time and not get in each other’s way.”
A 1958 studio session was found by Luther’s son Bernard stashed away in his mother’s belongings and posthumously released in 2007 under the title Underground.  Luther was playing in bass player Bobby Rush’s band at the time (Robert Plunkett on drums, Bobby King playing rhythm guitar and a guy named Mule provided much of the bass while Rush was occupied in the producer’s role) and Rush had accrued some recording time and shared it with the 18 year old Allison.
As Bernard says, “I look at this as discovering something like Robert Johnson’s lost songs. I think a lot of Luther’s fans are going to be so amazed at what he was playing at 18.”
Rush, himself only 25 at the time, recalled almost a half century later, “He was playing in my band.  I think it was probably the first band he’d ever played in.  We got together and went down to Wonderful Records and just started fooling around with some songs . . . We’re just going in there to do what we would do on the bandstand at night. . . At that time, you just turned on the tape.  If it was wrong, you didn’t stop the tape. . . We cut the thing in one take because we didn’t have the money to do things better.”
Bernard, again: “You definitely know its Luther when you hear this.  I hear a lot of where he was headed.  Once I got to Europe and got into the band, I always told him to go back and listen because what he was playing at 18 was amazing.  Musically, his guitar playing didn’t change much.  Over the years, it improved in that it’s more consistent and he worked on his tone, but I hear where he was going.”
Four of the eight tracks on the disc were staples of what you’d hear in any typical barroom at the time and a fifth was Hide Away, two years before Freddie King would release the instrumental which has become a Blues band anthem ever since.  This tells us Freddie must have been performing it around Chicago before getting the opportunity to take it into the studio.
Once Freddie’s popularity made him road-ready, Luther took over King’s band of T.J. McNulty and Big Mojo Elem and their long-standing gig at Walton’s Corner where they stayed for five years before the Blues clubs around Chicago began closing; then Luther moved to Peoria in 1967, playing Birdland in front of a Soul-based organ trio.
On March 8th 1967, Bill Lindemann recorded four tracks of the Allison / Elem / McNulty trio with additional guitar work provided by Freddie Roulette (later to become a fixture in the East Bay), Allison and Elem each singing a pair of tunes.  Lindemann had previously taped four numbers with Magic Sam (two with saxophonist supreme Eddie Shaw) and later added two tracks by guitarist / singer / harmonica man Louis Myers along with one more by Leo Evans (listed on the LP cover as Lucky Lopez) and the Jazz Prophets.  When the label Lindemann had hoped to start never came to fruition, he provided the masters to Bob Koester’s fledgling Delmark Records, who already had Magic Sam under contract, and the eleven tracks were released in 1968 as the LP Sweet Home Chicago.
After hearing Lindemann’s masters, Koester went to see the band at the Alex and immediately made the decision to add Luther to their growing roster, but before a deal could be made Allison moved to Los Angeles and was doing studio work for the short lived World Pacific’s Blues subsidiary.  While on the West Coast, Luther got opportunities to play with Blues artists like Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Shines, Big Walter Horton and Big Mama Thornton and meet Blues rockers Carlos Santana, Mick Taylor and Johnny Winter. 
Delmark was strapped for cash as it was just beginning to grow and become established and the cost of recording in L.A. was prohibitive so it wasn’t until Allison eventually returned to the Midwest, playing around Madison, Wisconsin, that he signed with the label, bringing out the first album of his own, Love Me Mama in 1969.  The album was the best seller Delmark had by any artist without the help of a previous R&B single.  Luther was making quite a name for himself in the Chicago vicinity and the college circuit, including a widely acclaimed headlining appearance at the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, his first of three times in a row at the annual event, so I find it surprising that there was not a follow-up album.
Luther then made the unlikely move to Motown’s Gordy branch, indeed one of the few Blues artists ever to sign on with the powerhouse Detroit Soul label, and between 1972 and 1976 they put out three albums.  The first two, 1972’s Bad News Is Coming and Luther’s Blues from 1974, solidified my opinion that this was a man I wanted to follow further.  I must have heard the third LP, Night Life, because I opted not to purchase the disappointing 1976 release.  Something about the raw timbre of his voice caught my attention and it only mellowed with age without compromise.
“I was very happy with the Motown trip.  But let’s face it: Motown didn’t know what they had.  The Blues weren’t in.  I think it was a miracle for them to choose me.  When they moved from Detroit to Los Angeles, I just got lost in the shuffle.”  My opinion is that no one looking for Blues would look for a Motown artist and vice versa.  But for whatever reason, Luther did not reach the status he deserved and by 1980 he had moved to Europe, eventually settling in Paris in 1983, and was only heard stateside on some of his dozen European albums.
Luther made his first European appearance at the 1976 Montreux Jazz Festival.  The reason he was so well accepted can be heard on Ruf’s CD Live in Montreux – Where Have You Been (1976-1994), which features the introduction and four tracks, over 34 minutes of live Luther.
He impressed enough that the next year the Black and Blue label sponsored a full European tour, culminating in a December 13th 1977 session producing Luther’s first European LP, Love Me Papa, the CD version released on Evidence.  He adds harmonica to his musical arsenal on one song, Blues with a Feeling.  The original liner notes quote manager Didier Tricard: “Luther is a musician who gives the best of himself in every concert.  Once you have seen him exhausted in his dressing room after a concert, you realize that he could not possibly lie to his public; he lives the Blues intensely, almost to the point of tearing himself apart, completely losing track of time.”
 “I played the same stuff in France as I did in Chicago, but it was much more accepted there.  I got to play in bigger places, and I’ve been on the most popular television stations in Germany, France and Switzerland.  That’s the kind of real good play a Blues player doesn’t get in the States.”  At one point, before relocating to Paris, Luther made an appearance on the French national television’s rock show, Chorus.  A 1979 pair of LPs, Live in Paris and Live (Part 2), appear to be combined on one CD, Live in Paris on Ruf Records, Luther’s primary European distributor.
Either before he left or possibly on a return trip to the States, Luther recorded a couple of LPs for Peoria’s Rumble label, Gonna Be a Live One in Here Tonight and Power Wire Blues (Part 2), only the latter of which I have in my collection as Sweet Home Chicago, part of Charly’s Blues Masterworks series.  My CD says it was recorded in Chicago in 1976 but Luther’s web site lists the Rumble albums as 1979, likely the release date.
I should mention here that almost all of my discs were purchased in the 90s and may be hard to find, and there are a half dozen albums from the 1980s which I don’t have, all but one likely because they are no longer available: Time (1980); Life is a Bitch (1984) which is available on Blind Pig as Serious; Here I Come (1985); and three on Ruf, Rich Man (1987) and both Let’s Try it Again and More from Berlin (1989). 
Also in my collection is the 1992 acoustic album Hand Me Down My Moonshine, which I’ll have to check again because my first instinct was that a non-electric Luther was not something I was interested in, although I still bought the disc.  Luther also made a cameo appearance on Otis Rush & Friends, Live at Montreux 1986, where he joins Otis and his band with Eric Clapton, who had stepped on stage three songs earlier, for a nine minute version of Every Day I Have the Blues.  This is my favorite release by Otis so check out the whole thing.
So, when I first got involved doing radio in 1988 I often asked my colleagues if they knew what was going on with Luther Allison and, invariably, I would hear the response, “Who?”  All that changed when Luther signed with Alligator records and came out with his first recording done in the U.S. in almost two decades, culminating in the 1994 release of Soul Fixin’ Man, released in Europe on Ruf (as would be all the Alligator CDs) as Bad Love.  Guitar Player’s review of the album was, "Fever and chills performances, ferocious solos combine the wisdom of a master storyteller with the elegance of B.B. King, the elasticity of Buddy Guy, and the big sting of Albert King."  Luther himself said, “This is the album that I always wanted to make. . .  I hope it will open up the eyes and ears of people who know my music but may not have heard me in a while. . .  I want people to know that I’m the same Luther Allison that I was when I left for Paris – only better.  I have the same musical menu: I’m just looking for some more people who will let me cook up my Blues and serve it to them”
Luther played in front of 150,000 people at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival as well as for those listening to the National Public Radio broadcast.  That was the year Alligator released their follow-up Blue Streak album, and regarding their third Allison release (1997’s Reckless) Guitar World said, "Reckless in the best sense of the word, dancing on a razor's edge, remaining just this side of out-of-control. Hard-driving, piercing West Side Chicago single-note leads with a soul base and a rock edge."  Luther played both standard and bottleneck guitar and his musical choices were not only straight ahead Blues but also from Soul and Gospel roots.  The three studio albums for Alligator won him a dozen highly coveted W.C. Handy Awards, including for Blues Musician of the Year in 1997 and again posthumously in 1998.
In 1999, some time after Luther’s passing, Alligator gathered together three concerts from the time he was with the label and came out with the double CD Live in Chicago.  All but one track of disc one came from that June 3rd 1995 Chicago Blues Festival, including the festival’s closing number where Allison returned to the stage to join his old friend Otis Rush for a ten minute medley of Gambler’s Blues and Sweet Little Angel.  Also included were forty-some minutes from a November 4th 1995 session at Buddy Guy’s Legends club and a May 7th 1997 date at the Zoo Bar in Lincoln for the Nebraska ETV Network, represented by about 27 minutes.
I actually saw a concert from the Zoo Bar, enjoyed it tremendously, and figure this is likely that show although I kinda thought what I saw was earlier.  There is also a seven CD and four DVD limited edition box set that sounds very interesting except for the fact that I already have the three Alligator studio CDs plus Hand Me Down My Moonshine and all but three numbers on their full Live in Montreux 1976 disc; the two CDs I don’t have are Let’s Try it Again and Life is a Bitch (Serious).  What entices me are the four DVDs, two from Germany (1987 & 1991, Live from East Berlin & Ohne Filter), and two 1997 concerts, one from the Indian Ocean (Live in Paradise) and supposedly one from the Zoo Bar (Memories), although the playlist doesn’t match the Alligator CD at all.  The Paradise CD is the only one I could find currently available online for about $50 new or $35 used.
So, at about $160 the collection A Legend Never Dies: Essential Recordings 1976-1997 is way too pricey for me, and anyone willing to spend that much on Luther probably also has a lot of it already, but one CD/DVD combo I can recommend is Songs from the Road, ten CD tracks and two other songs included among the eight DVD tracks.  Judge for yourself by our second Luther set.  Recorded on the 4th of July 1997 in Montreal, six days before receiving a diagnosis of inoperable lung cancer that ended his playing days and would ultimately take his life a month later in August, it is both a visual and aural presentation of why Luther is my absolute favorite artist.  I see the pair now for about $16 new or under $10 used.
I remember early in his time with Alligator Luther played the San Francisco Blues Festival and, although I usually went at least one of the two days, I was frustrated that for some reason I could not get there, but I did finally get to see him at Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz in 1997, certainly my last chance.  I was unaware that Luther was noted for his long shows and indeed, this time, instead of the 45 minutes onstage / 15 off over four hours I think of as normal, it was two one and a half hour sets with maybe twenty to thirty minutes in between.  Moe’s had a back patio with picnic tables and Mr. Allison filled most of his down time kinda holding court, telling tales to a rapt group of fans (myself included), not only a genuine master musician but an interesting story teller so generous with his time for those who wished to listen.  Truly a gentleman whom I am so grateful to have heard on and off stage and I can only wish he had more time in the 80s to make himself better known in North America.  I’m not much for getting autographs but my girlfriend at the time had the good sense to grab a local newspaper with a short article and photo of Luther that she had him autograph for me.  Even though I’m not sure exactly where it’s stashed away, it is something I cherish.
I did see Luther’s son, Bernard Allison, at the San Jose State Fountain Blues Festival in 2003 and he put on an exciting show, still true to the Blues of his father but a little more Rock influenced as should be expected from the next generation.  If memory serves me correctly, he even had the keyboard player, Mike Vlahakis, I had seen behind Luther.  I think Luther used his old friend, guitarist James Solberg’s band on most if not all of his American tours and recording sessions.  I got to speak to Bernard briefly backstage and he was a nice man, although he probably gets tired of people wanting to talk about his dad.  Anyway, I guess the best way to sign off on this essay, since it was quoted in a few of the liner notes, would be with Luther’s motto: “Leave your ego, play the music, love the people.”  So, as they say in Luther’s chosen European home, fait accompli.  Although a bit lengthy, this is an essay I can be proud of!
About the music: What I will be presenting to you today is kinda the extremes for the Luther Allison timeline with selections from the first two Motown albums (I actually had them before the prior Delmark release) to the Songs from the Road concert, his final recording.  If I do get the opportunity for some bonus time, sandwiched in between two Cannonball sets will be three outtakes from the Bad News is Coming CD followed by two more included on the Luther’s Blues disc.  That’s almost four hours of music today, not counting the time I bore you with my chatter!
Source material for this essay was almost entirely taken from my many CD liner notes.
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That Luther write-up took most of my available time so there is insufficient time to do justice to alto saxophone player Julian “Cannonball” Adderley today, but I have plenty of good music of his to come back another day.  I became familiar with Adderley through Paul Butterfield’s version of his Work Song, so that is our opening number from his 1960 album Them Dirty Blues presented in this first set.  If I get the opportunity to put in more than three hours, we then move backwards to his 1955 release Presenting Cannonball Adderley and, time permitting, we wind everything up with some stuff from 1955’s Julian “Cannonball” Adderley.  These were the first two albums by Adderley as a band leader and all are taken from the first two (of three) four CD boxes titled The Complete Albums Collection
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Every time I play something from the CD box set ABC of the Blues I feel compelled to encourage you to buy it.  With 52 CDs and twenty tracks on each one, it is a bargain at around $60.  All but a handful have two artists per disc and, sure, there are a number of them that duplicate what I already have in my library (actually, I feel that speaks well for their similarity of taste), but the variety of the rest range from what I call the front porch singers (just a guy and his guitar) to early R&B, to some of the bedrock Bluesmen of the 50s and into early stuff by the 60s rockin’ Blues guys I love so much.  For the price you shouldn’t pass it up if you are serious about the Blues.  Definitely, at least check it out!
So, obviously the ten tracks by the Four Blazes came from that set, an excellent example of what I otherwise would never have heard.  Drummer Paul Lindsley “Jelly” Holt assembled the group in 1940.  Holt had been a member of the Five Rhythm Rocketeers who joined Earl “Fatha” Hines for a European tour in 1939, but upon returning that group broke apart and a new Chicago ensemble was formed with guitarists Jimmy Bennett and William “Shorty” Hill and bassist Prentice Butler.  Floyd McDaniel replaced Bennett in 1941 and his electric guitar gave the band a new sound. They added pianist Ernie Harper in 1945, then signed up with Aristocrat Records in 1947 as the Five Blazes, becoming the second act signed by the label which would soon become Chess Records.
Harper left to go solo in 1948 and, when Butler died in 1951, Tommy Braden took over bass duties and became the lead vocalist.  The band moved to United Records in 1952 and often employed saxophonist Eddie Chamblee in the studio.  They hit #1 on the R&B charts in August with Mary Jo, their first single for the label, and follow-ups Please Send Her Back to Me and Perfect Woman also made it into the top ten.  Since two of these are included in today’s set, I presume this is the ensemble we hear throughout.
Braden left to try going solo in 1954, then returned for the studio sessions, but the Blazes’ last session was in 1955.  Holt put together another group, the Four Whims, and McDaniel was with the Ink Spots for a few years before he also went solo.
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Little Red Rooster
Evil is Going On
Raggedy and Dirty
Bad News is Coming
Cut You a-Loose
Dust My Broom
Luther’s Blues
Someday Pretty Baby
Driving Wheel
Into My Life
Now You Got It
   Luther Allison   50mins
Work Song
Jeanine
Them Dirty Blues
Dat Dere
Del Sasser
   Cannonball Adderly   29mins
Stop Boogie Woogie
Snag the Britches
Raggedy Ride
Perfect Woman
Night Train
Never Start Living
Women Women
Drunken Blues
My Hat’s on the Side of My Head
Mary Jo
   The Four Blazes   26mins
Cancel My Check
What Have I Done Wrong
Living in the House of the Blues
That Ain’t the Way Things Supposed to Be
You Can, You Can
Take My Love (I Want to Give It All to You)
It Hurts Me Too
Serious
Low Down and Dirty
   Luther Allison   53mins
Bonus material:
A Little Taste
Caribbean Cutie
Flamingo
   Cannonball Adderly   19mins
The Stumble
Sweet Home Chicago
It’s Been a Long Time
San Ho-Zay
Bloomington Closing
   Luther Allison   28mins
Cannonball
Willows
The Song is You
Fallen Feathers
Hurricane Connie
   Cannonball Adderly   21mins

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