More dreaded spam from Nessa!

[relyles]

I received mine on Saturday. Thank you.

[paul secor]

Around the end of the month I will have 2 new releases. The official release date (Amazon and others) is in February.

First is Charles Tyler’s Saga of the Outlaws. Members of the ensemble are Earl Cross on trumpet, Ronnie Boykins & John Ore on bass and Steve Reid on drums. This cd is only 37 minutes long but I ultimately decided adding material might distract from (what I consider) his masterpiece. I earlier tried to buy/license another title and talks broke down. We betta’ off as Lenny Bruce used to say. To compensate consumers I included some previously unpublished color pics in the 12 page booklet. If it wasn’t “one of mine”, it would still be my favorite Tyler recording. YMMV.

Second is a new remastering (24 bit) of Wadada Leo Smith’s Procession of the Great Ancestry. This is the first “nessa” issue since the earlier cd was by my English licensee, Chief. The players include Bobby Naughton on vibes, Joe Fonda on bass, Kahil El Zabar on percussion with bluesman Louis Myers, bass player Mchaka Uba and tenorist John Powell added on a couple of pieces. By my listening standards if you have a Chief copy don’t replace it unless you have a great ear for upper overtones. I felt it was worth doing but it is a small upgrade.

Contact me if interested and forgive the intrusion. Emails can be sent to nessarecords@charter.net .

Have to disagree about the new remastering of Procession of the Great Ancestry. To my ears, the new version is a great improvement over the Chief version. Not only is there an improvement to the upper frequencies - the Chief sounds somewhat muffled in comparison - but the new version sounds more open and clearer. I never enjoyed listening to the Chief version as much as I enjoyed listening to the Nessa version today.

Just one person's opinion, but I feel it should be out there.

[Bright Moments]

Procession of the Great Ancestry arrived speedy quick! much thanks Uncle Chuck!!

[Chuck Nessa]

Thanks. Now if Rod finally receives his copy of Saga I'll be a happy camper.

[alocispepraluger102]

thank you for financially championing such astonishing music.

my copies are well-worn already.

[sal]

Saga of the Outlaws is GREAT!!! My cousins and I really enjoyed listening to it this evening.

[Head Man]

Thanks Chuck, my order arrived safely yesterday.

Lovely to hear the Charles Tyler again after all these years. I still can't get used to not having to turn it over half-way through, though !

I'm really enjoying the Wadada Leo Smith as well.

I'd like to add my thanks to you for keeping this wonderful music in circulation.

[AllenLowe]

hadn't realized that Louis Myers was on the Leo Smith - same guy, I think, who worked with Little Walter -

[Clunky]

Thanks Chuck, my order arrived safely yesterday.

Lovely to hear the Charles Tyler again after all these years. I still can't get used to not having to turn it over half-way through, though !

I'm really enjoying the Wadada Leo Smith as well.

I'd like to add my thanks to you for keeping this wonderful music in circulation.

Another safe landing on this side of the pond , for Mitchell, Tyler and Smith.

[Chuck Nessa]

hadn't realized that Louis Myers was on the Leo Smith - same guy, I think, who worked with Little Walter -

Same fellow. Louis, his brother Dave and the great Freddy Below were the Aces. They were the backbone of a ton of Chicago blues sessions. Little Walter is the tip of the iceberg. In the late '60s Freddie was always after me to record his "jazz band", an organ trio. No money was the story then, regret now.

Getting Louis on this date was interesting. Maybe someday when I have the time I'll tell it. From my point of view, he was a sweet guy.

Edited February 8, 2009 by Chuck Nessa

[AllenLowe]

there's a lot of stuff about them in some of the blues bios that have come out in recent years - the Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter's bio, also the Muddy Waters book.

[J.A.W.]

hadn't realized that Louis Myers was on the Leo Smith - same guy, I think, who worked with Little Walter -

Same fellow. Louis, his brother Dave and the great Freddy Below were the Aces. They were the backbone of a ton of Chicago blues sessions. Little Walter is the tip of the iceberg. In the late '60s Freddie was always after me to record his "jazz band", an organ trio. No money was the story then, regret now.

Saw the Aces here many years ago. Great band.

[Chuck Nessa]

THE ACES

[JSngry]

hadn't realized that Louis Myers was on the Leo Smith - same guy, I think, who worked with Little Walter -

Same fellow. Louis, his brother Dave and the great Freddy Below were the Aces. They were the backbone of a ton of Chicago blues sessions. Little Walter is the tip of the iceberg. In the late '60s Freddie was always after me to record his "jazz band", an organ trio. No money was the story then, regret now.

Getting Louis on this date was interesting. Maybe someday when I have the time I'll tell it. From my point of view, he was a sweet guy.

Who was the organist in that trio, Chuck?

I was doing a road gig, hotel/lounge/showband/etc back in 1981-82, and we got booked into Greenville, Mississippi for a weekend. (there were two clubs in town, one white, one not. The white club had hotel showbands, the other didn't). Well, at first we thought that this was going to be a dreadful week, because we got there on a Tuesday & didn't work until Friday. Oh, that and that the first place we got rooms at, the Kazar Motel, on the outskirts of town, was one of the most roach-infested joints I've ever seen in my life, and that's saying a lot. The bandleader's wife (also the band's female vocalist, took him outside and gave him a loud earful about no way was she staying in this dump, so if he wanted to sleep alone all week that was going to be his prerogative, but don't he dare come to visit her at her room trying to get some, etc etc etc...

Anyway...

We got rooms in town, roach-free, and started hanging out around town. Pretty soon we noticed that there were always a lot of black people carrying instrument cases around, so of course we eventually struck up a conversation to see if there was some jamming or something going on during the week. come to find out, Greenville, Mississippi was about 50% black (back then anyway), and from all appearances, about 75% of the male African-American population was working blues musicians, either locally or with road bands, some name, some semi-name, and some...not (yeah, about 75%, by all appearances. I am not exaggerating, or if I am, not by much...). There was a little jamming going on, and we hit one or two sessions, but most everybody was too busy gigging. Heaven on earth!

One older (or so it seemed when I was 26, he was probably just 52 or so...) guy we were conversing with told us about his nephew who had gone "up North to be a jazz trumpet player. He sends me all his records. I don't understand them, but I like 'em well enough". Ok, I was thinking Olu Dara maybe, but the guy said no, his name was Leo Smith, and you probably never heard of him. Yeah, I have heard of him, I told the guy, know his work pretty well actually, and he seemed genuinely pleased that a family member had "made a name" for themselves outside of the Greenville blues circuit. It was down-home like none other, it was.

So Leo Smith & Louis Myers together, hey.....

Edited February 8, 2009 by JSngry

[Chuck Nessa]

Don't know if I ever knew who the organist was. I never got to hear the band.

Yeah, Leo's step-dad was Alex "Little Bill" Wallace. When we were planning the date Leo called me and asked me to find "a young blues guitarist with ears enough to adapt". Bruce Iglauer at Alligator said all the young guys able to fit the bill would be a pain in the ass to work with and suggested Louis. I called Louis and he was cool to make a couple of rehearsals and see if it worked. When it was all done Leo said his step-dad couldn't believe he's played with the great Louis Myers.

Quoting from the liner notes for Spirit Catcher - "I used to play for hours and hours, just blues, with guitar and bass and drums and a singer, and during those times I realized some of the happiest musical moments of my life".

Edited February 8, 2009 by Chuck Nessa

[Jim Alfredson]

Stella approves. She says, "Mmmmm.... taste like free jazz."

[Chuck Nessa]

If you don't enjoy listening, eat the succa'!