A Little Louis

Here is one of Louis Armstrong's versions of St. James Infirmary.  The YouTube video, which sadly has only 11,000 views, is captioned, "A haunting performance from Satchmo."  This version of St. James is dark and slow, it's eerie.  I wonder who Louis had in mind when he sang this, it sounds so real.

If that depressed you too much, here's La Vie En Rose to cheer you up.

Summer Nights: Vol. 3

Download: Summer Nights: Vol. 3

1. Cam'ron-What Means the World to You
2. Joe Budden-Classic
3. Eddy Grant-Electric Avenue
4. Shawn Anthony-Beautiful Life
5. Dr. Dre feat. T.I.-Shit Popped Off
6. Passafire-Submersible
7. The Roots-The Seed (2.0)
8. UGK-Diamonds and Wood
9. Dilated Peoples feat. Kanye West-This Way
10. KiD CuDi-cudderisback
11. Tribal Seeds-Come Around
12. Lil Wayne-PMW
13. Ricky Blaze-Just You and I
14. Asher Roth-Blunt Cruisin
15. Lupe Fiasco-Make Sure U Getta Shirt!!!
16. KiD CuDi feat. Wale-Is There Any Love?
17. The Notorious B.I.G.-Hyponotize
18. Scarface-Dopeman Music
19. Jedi Mind Tricks-Trail of Lies
20. Collie Buddz-Let Me Know
21. Voicedude-420
22. Slim Thug feat. Ludacris-I Rep
23. Warren G feat. Nate Dogg-Regulate
24. K-OS feat. Saukrates-I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman

Bluestone's Track of the Day: Blue Guitar

The Chicago bluesman Earl Hooker, born in 1929, was a master of the slide.  He played a lot of open tunings and mixed finger soloing in with his slide.  B.B. King said, "To me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period."  That's a fine compliment coming from a man like B.B. 
The instrumental, Blue Guitar, has a fine piano and brass section, but Hooker's lead guitar takes the cake.  He plays mostly a classic blues solo and he plays it so well, throwing in a couple wild slides to make it his own.  Hooker was born in Mississippi, but came to Chicago and picked up his style at the age of one.  He didn't move because of a record signing, it was his parents' choice, but he was clearly destined to be great.  Hooker grew up with Bo Diddley and was greatly influenced by T-bone Walker.  Hooker began his career in 1946 by touring through the South with Robert Nighthawk and his band.  Here's a version of Blue Guitar with Junior Wells.

Earl was a real showman, watch him live here, playing with his teeth!

Jimi Hendrix: Blues (Tracks 8 and 9 of 11)

The next two tracks from Jimi Hendrix's Blues are Jam 292 and Once I Had a Woman.  Jam 292 is a fast-paced jam, an unconventional blues.  There is just a lot going on in this song, including a lot of distortion, and it is somewhat hard to distinguish Jimi's real talent.  The version I have here is called Jelly 292, which is apparently the second take of Jam 292.  Once I had a Woman, on the other hand, is a slow, crying blues, that I associate with Jimi's full bend and simultaneous vibrato.  He gets a lot out of simple licks in this song.  It also has a harmonica part and vocals.  Lord I had a woman, lord knows she was good to me in every way.  Jimi definitely has a lot of fun on both of these tracks, check them out.

Summer Nights Vol: 2

Here's the second edition of my Summer Nights mixtape series. Check it out and enjoy the good weather. Tracklist and Download Link below.
Download: Summer Nights: Vol 2














1. Outta Control-Rebelution
2. I'm On It-French Montana feat. Big Sean, Wiz Khalifa and Nipsey Hussle
3. L.A.-Murs
4. Vices-Tomorrow's Bad Seeds
5. Kush-Lil Wayne
6. Outty 5000-Lupe Fiasco
7. Shove It-Santogold
8. Cruise Control-Mac Miller feat. Wiz Khalifa
9. Buggin Out 2009-KiD CuDi feat. Consequence
10. Proud to be a Stoner-Kottonmouth Kings
11. Strangers-Reflection Eternal feat. Bun B
12. Drive Slow-Kanye West feat. Paul Wall and GLC
13. Worst Comes to Worst-Dilated Peoples
14. What A Job-Devin The Dude feat. Snoop Dogg and Andre 3000
15. This Joint-Slightly Stoopid
16. Wild Wild Horses-Atmosphere
17. Xxplosive-Dr. Dre feat. Hittman, Six-Two and Nate Dogg
18. Back Like That (Remix)-Ghostface Killah feat. Kanye West and Ne-Yo
19. Acid Raindrops-People Under the Stairs
20. Loud Pipes-Ratatat
21. Sunshine-Atmosphere
22. Paradise-Young Chris feat. Lil Wayne
23. Hot Wangs-Asher Roth
24. Gangsta's Life-Nipsey Hussle feat. Snoop Dogg

Bluestone's Track of the Day: All Blues

All Blues first appeared on Miles Davis' album Kind of Blue in 1959.  This is a jazzier tune but it is a blues.  It's a regular progression excluding the bVI chord which replaces the normal V.  Kenny Burrell is my favorite jazz guitarist to date.  He does a great guitar arrangement here of All Blues.


My other favorite tunes by Kenny Burrell include Soul Lament and his take on Girl Talk.

Summer Nights: Vol. 1

In the absence of any good new music as of late and in celebration of the upcoming summer, I've been spending the last week or so putting together a playlist to kick back and relax to. Given that it's about 100 songs, I'll be putting out a 24-track CD every couple of days to give you the full collection. Much thanks to Will Kaupilla and Aje Julien for sending me some dope tracks to add to the mix. Lemme know in the comments section if there's anything you'd like to see make the list for the next edition.

Download: Summer Nights: Vol. 1




1. Daydreaming-Lupe Fiasco
2. My World Is...-Blu
3. The Garden-Tribal Seeds
4. More Than Ever-Rebelution
5. Iron Lion Zion-Bob Marley
6. Truth Is-Brother Ali
7. Generation Lost-B.o.B.
8. A Bathing Harry-Lupe Fiasco
9. Dirty Girl-Felt
10. Sunshine-Mos Def
11. Ballad of the Black Gold-Reflection Eternal
12. Libertad-Tribal Seeds
13. Still Blazin-Wiz Khalifa
14. Good Times-Styles P
15. Cab Fare-Hieroglyphics
16. Come Around-Collie Buddz
17. Good Times-The Holdup
18. Moment of Truth-Gang Starr
19. Over the Building-Wiz Khalifa feat. Curren$y
20. Santeria-Sublime
21. She Won't Let Me...-Afroman
22. Something About Us-Daft Punk
23. Summer Nights-Lil Rob
24. Wake-Up Show Anthem '94-Nas