In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, we'll hear from Big Jack Johnson, a vibrant Mississippi blues man who died last March 14th at age seventy. Big Jack was the last surviving member of the famed Jelly Roll Kings, a trio based in Clarksdale, and he made many fine albums as a solo artist too. Johnson played both guitar and mandolin, and his music ranged from traditional to modern. He offered social commentary on a number of topics in some of his songs as well. Also, some exciting new jazz releases: an album from guitarist and jazz educator Wayne Goins and his guitar Carmela, from the album Chronicles Of Carmela - - like B. B. King, Wayne Goins has named his guitar. Trumpeter John Vanore and his band Abstract Truth have a strong new release called "Contagious Words," and we'll hear a piece named after one of those words, and we have a track from expansive sax player Ernest Dawkins with his New Horizons Ensemble, from their new album "The Prairie Prophet" from Delmark Records in Chicago, proving again that the jazz scene there is robust.

promo included: promo248

In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, we'll hear from Big Jack Johnson, a vibrant Mississippi blues man who died last March 14th at age seventy. Big Jack was the last surviving member of the famed Jelly Roll Kings, a trio based in Clarksdale, and he made many fine albums as a solo artist too. Johnson played both guitar and mandolin, and his music ranged from traditional to modern. He offered social commentary on a number of topics in some of his songs as well. Also, some exciting new jazz releases: an album from guitarist and jazz educator Wayne Goins and his guitar Carmela, from the album Chronicles Of Carmela - - like B. B. King, Wayne Goins has named his guitar. Trumpeter John Vanore and his band Abstract Truth have a strong new release called "Contagious Words," and we'll hear a piece named after one of those words, and we have a track from expansive sax player Ernest Dawkins with his New Horizons Ensemble, from their new album "The Prairie Prophet" from Delmark Records in Chicago, proving again that the jazz scene there is robust.

promo included: promo248