Martin, Billy / Wil Blades

Vinyl Records and Rare LPs:

Shimmy
Used - LP - RPF 1124
Beautiful 2012 Original In Glossy, Unplayed Condition. Includes Custom Insert. “By All Accounts From Those Who Were There, The Initial On-Stage Meeting Between Drummer Billy Martin And Hammond B-3 Organist Wil Blades At The 2011 New Orleans Jazz And Heritage Festival Was A Barn Burner Of Deep, In-The-Pocket Funk, Spiraling Soul-Jazz, And Kinetic Grooves. Apparently, The Two Participants Thought So, Too; They Arranged A Late-Year West Coast Tour, And Found Time To Cut Shimmy In Berkley In The Middle Of It. Shimmy Is Greasy; It's Full Of Breakbeat Funk, Stellar Jazz Improvisation, And Instinctive Syncopation. Of These Ten Tunes -- Which Range From Just Over A Minute To A Tad Over Seven -- Eight Were Either Co-Authored By The Pair Or Were Written By Blades. The Two Covers Are A Fat, Nasty Reading Of Eddie Harris' "Mean Greens" And A Straight-Up, New Orleans-Style Take On "Down By The Riverside," With Gorgeous, Skittering, Military-Snare Breaks From Martin. While There Isn't A Dud In The Bunch, There Are Some Standouts Among The Originals. "Deep In A Fried Pickle" Begins Slowly As A Rolling, Deep Funk Noir Tune, With Some Great Wah-Wah Effects On B-3 And Martin's Backbeat-Heavy Approach To The Vamp Allows Blades To Get His Big Batch Of Chord Voicings Out And Put Them On Display.” – Thom Jurek, AMG more