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OK, there is plenty of jazz on this one, but it comes from a singer well-qualified to

tackle blues and jazz convincingly. Well worth checking out.

Norman Darwen

The Zydeco Playboys—Women’s Only—Download

(www.zydeco-playboys.com)

This is the debut album from this south German outfit,
originally issued on CD back in 1996 and long since out of
print – hence this download reissue. It is certainly well

worthy of this treatment.

What this release does reveal very strongly is that the
band, led by singer and accordionist Oliver Kraus, was

already fully steeped in the Louisiana sound. This is a
joyful set, with a wide range of bayou sounds – plus the zydeco and reggae amalgam

of ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, that really works just so well.

The remaining songs fall into such categories as good rocking zydeco (‘Hey Papa Joe’,
the supercharged ‘What You Gonna Do’, and ‘Bucks Hot Rod’ for example), blues like

‘Someone Else Is Steppin’ In’ (originally written by Denise LaSalle), Cajun music per
se with ‘Olis’s Hot Waltz’ and ‘I’ll Be Coming Back’, and the R’n’B approach of ‘I
Wanna Know’. The set’s only slow song is a fine, doomy blues performance entitled

‘Lead Me On’.

Note that the songs are sung (convincingly) in English, and that besides Oliver, there

is some fine blues guitar, with only the faintest suggestion of rock, and a driving
rhythm section – including rub-board, of course. Laissez les bon temps rouler, meine
Damen und Herren!

Norman Darwen

Various Artists—Down Home Blues – Chicago Volume
3: The Special Stuff—Weinerworld

This is the sixth box set in Wienerworld’s award-winning
Down Home Blues series, which explores the rich herit-

age and regional identities in the black American blues
scene.

“The Special Stuff” highlights 36 artists who were preva-
lent in the Chicago blues scene during its golden age, from
the early 40s to early 60s. Consisting of 108 tracks, featuring 36 artist including
Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, just before they became famous and established enter-
tainers like Robert Lockwood Jr and Sonny Boy Williamson. The CD continues the