UNCLE JESSIE WHITE & THE 29TH STREET BAND

Been a long time since i featured a true blue and definitive american blues album on here, one from a black american, who without being racist to me still have some sort of a spiritual patent on the blues genre, as much as some white fellas have tried and sometimes succeeded in replicating them. White blues artists generally tend to be more entertaining and influenced by rock and pop, while black blues artists tend to be much more serious and introspective, with notable exceptions like BB KING and BUDDY GUY, two ageing african americans who always played electric blues to entertain people, not depress them. One black blues artist who you may well not have heard of is UNCLE JESSIE WHITE, and his 1991 album UNCLE JESSIE WHITE & THE 29TH STREET BAND is one of my very favorite blues albums in the modern era, one which stands out because of it's sophisticated production and healthy flirtation with boogie woogie and the Kansas City shouting style of blues from yesteryear. JESSIE WHITE passed away in early 2008 at the ripe old age of 87, he was a musical institution in his native Detroit, like so many more blues legends have been in Chicago, and was a much underated harmonica and blues pianist as well as being more than a decent singer. He revered both Sonny Boy Williamson 1 and 2 as well as my favourite blues harp player, BROWNIE MCGHEE. Certainly THE 29TH STREET BAND is worth a mention, in many respects so much like TAJ MAHAL's backing band PHANTOM BLUES BAND, who have recorded a few great stand alone albums, especially their debut effort. JEFF GRAND was in vintage form on acoustic, electric and slide guitar, almost eclipsing and overshadowing the gritty performance by Jessie himself.