Post 580: THE REMARKABLE 'LOVESICK DUO'

In my Post Number 542, I tried to answer the question 'How many musicians does it take to form a jazz band?'. You can read that post BY CLICKING HERE.

Today a reader of my blog, Graham Beech, would like to draw to your attention a wonderful little 'band' that consists of only two musicians. Graham writes:

They are based in Italy and their names are Paolo Roberto Pianezza and Francesca Alinovi. They perform as The Lovesick Duo.

I knew nothing about these musicians until recently, when I came across their videos on YouTube and was greatly impressed by their energy, musicianship, teamwork and their appeal to both young and old.

Paolo is brilliant on the resonator guitar and is also a very good singer, so his voice adds a third 'instrument' to their performance.

Francesca is also to be heard singing occasionally, putting in a perfect harmony. We have noticed in recent years that there has been a conspicuous rise in the number of ladies playing string bass in our kind of music. I would rate Francesca right up there with the very best of them.

They play a wide variety of music and I suppose they would not describe themselves as a traditional jazz band. But they play exactly as traditional jazz musicians aspire to do. For example, try their version of 'I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate': CLICK HERE. Great playing. Great entertaining. They are an example to us all.

And what about this 2017 video as an illustration of their talent and virtuosity? CLICK HERE.

Another good introduction to them is this video (CLICK ON HERE): you get to meet the couple at Lake Garda and can then enjoy an energetic performance of 'No Particular Place to Go'. Finally, CLICK HERE to see them busking very pleasantly in Venice.

Post 261: WHO DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF?

Which of today's singer-guitarists - who divides her time between Texas and New Orleans - do you think of when you look at this picture?

When I saw this, my reaction was: Ah! Albanie Falletta at the age of six, with her first chord book!

I was wrong. It's actually an oil painting from 1772. The artist was Nicolas Lépicié. But here - for comparison - is the great Albanie with me when I had the pleasure of meeting her in April 2015.

And for a super example of Albanie singing and playing, CLICK HERE.

One of my correspondents recently told me he has become addicted to Albanie and her music. I'm not surprised.

Post 71: PEG LEG HOWELL

I have been led to Peg Leg Howell by the YouTube videos of young musicians in the streets of New Orleans. I had not previously heard of him. Many of today's performers have been inspired by Early American Black Country Music and they have revived the 90-year-old tunes of such guitarists as Peg Leg Howell, Frank Stokes and Blind Blake.

PEG LEG HOWELL (1888 - 1966) lived in Georgia and really did have a peg leg (a leg having been amputated after he was shot in a fight). His real name was Joshua Barnes Howell. He was a farm labourer and a self-taught busking guitarist. 

Howell's Trio
He is on the right; Williams on the left; Anthony centre.

As required by the mythology that often surrounds such characters, he served time in prison for alcohol offences. But in the 1920s he also made over twenty influential recordings of songs with Columbia Records. The two I must mention as having been particularly taken up again recently in New Orleans are: Banjo Blues and Too Tight Blues. Too Tight is an unusual blues in having several 8-bar three-chord vocals, interspersed with standard 12-bar instrumental improvisations. To see a jazz band playing it recently (though eschewing the 12-bar option),
CLICK HERE.
For a great foot-tapping version of Banjo Blues by fifteen of today's New Orleans buskers,
CLICK HERE.
And to hear the original 1928 recording by Peg Leg himself (with Eddie Anthony on violin),
CLICK HERE.

You can find a full Peg Leg Howell discography   BY CLICKING ON HERE.