Erwin
Helfer
"I'm Not Hungry But I Like to Eat - Blues"
Downbeat
"The
esteemed boogie woogie and blues veteran, who hasn't been captured on
record nearly enough, delivers a glowing collection of solo performances
and duets with saxophonist John Brumbach. Ranging far and wide - the classics
include Percy Mayfield's Please Send Me Someone To Love and Duke
Ellington's In A Sentimental Mood, the Helfer originals Homage
to Pete Johnson and the memorably titled Pooch Piddle - the album
luxuriates in tradition without giving an inch to it."
- Lloyd Sachs, Chicago Suntimes January 6, 2002
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50012-4
|
|
Heavy
Timbre
"Chicago Boogie Piano"
Downbeat
"In
1976, Chicago piano blues aficionados Steven Dolins, Barry Dolins, and
David Golberg produced this session on three acknowledged keyboard masters
(Mabon, Sunnyland, and Davis), a veteran who deserved to be better known
(Walker), and an already-seasoned but still-youthful prodigy (Helfer).
Its reissue is both an important historial document and a listeners' delight
... Rollicking fun, soulful intimacy, celebration of life - it doesn't
get any more real than this." - David Whiteis, Living Blues
May/June 2002
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50022-3
|
|
8
Hands on 88 Keys
"Chicago Blues Piano Masters"
"It
isn't often that four Chicago piano virtuosos convene for a marathon recording
session, but this one must have been a riot, judging by the sheer fervor
of the performances. Each artist sounds utterly unlike the rest, with Barrelhouse
Chuck laying down relentless boogie rhythms, Detroit Junior accompanying
his fat chords with moans and cries, Pinetop Perkins luxuriating in the
unbelievably slow and sultry tempos and Erwin Helfer ripping through blues
boogie, and jazz numbers at a breakneck pace. Together, these great Chicago
originals play down-home music that's about as unvarnished as it gets."
- Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune March 3, 2002
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50032-2
|
|
Barrelhouse
Chuck
"Prescription for the Blues"
1/2
Downbeat
"Classic
jazz, blues and boogie from the South Side of Chicago will flourish so
long as Barrelhouse Chuck is at work. In his newest release, a welcome
solo outing, the singer-pianist asserts himself as a veritable one-man-band.
Listen to his exquisitely ornamented piano lines on Leroy Carr's My
Own Lonesome Blues, rolling boogie rhythms on Carr's Mean Mistreater
Mama and all-over-the-keys virtuosity on Sunnyland Slim's Johnson
Machine Gun, and it's clear that Barrelhouse Chuck has become an
importatnt advocate for historic repertoire. At the same time, he builds
on theachievements of giants with the beauty of his keyboard touch and
melancholy tone of his voice." - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune
August 4, 2002
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50042-1
|
|
Primitive
Piano
"…
one of the most exhililarating discs of 50s blues piano you’ll ever
hear.” Kenneth Bays Blues Revue November 2003
“First
released in 1957 on Tone Records, this small trove of St. Louis and Chicago
boogie-woogie and blues piano stomped by house rent party favorites Speckled
Red, James “The Bat” Robinson and Doug Suggs is now supplemented
with rescued-from-cold storage performances highlighting the gifted 10
fingers of New Orleans eclectic Billie Pierce and Suggs again. Suggs also
talks about comrades Jimmy Yancey and Albert Ammons on the interview track.”
Frank-John Hadley DownBeat January 2004
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50052-0
|
|
Skinny
Williams & Erwin Helfer
"St. James Infirmary"
This
disc introduces Skinny Williams, a brilliant Chicago tenor saxophonist.
Helfer is following his 2003 Handy Award nomination for "I'm Not Hungry
But I Like To Eat _ Blues!." with a tasteful accompaniment on this
CD. Together, Skinny and Erwin play slow tempo blues, standards, and stride
classics.
This release will delight both blues and jazz fans.
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50062-9
|
|
Reverend
Dwayne R. Mason
"Glory! Glory!"
with
Sydne Evans and Kendrick M. Jackson
“This
42-year-old pastor of Body Soul and Spirit Ministries, on the South Side
of Chicago, has a great piano sound: heavy, even and exact, everything
grounded in blues and boogie-woogie. "Glory! Glory!," an album
just released on The Sirens, a small Chicago label, presents gospel standards
in a low-pressure atmosphere, most of them with only the drummer Kendrick
Jackson and, here and there, the singer Sydne Evans. You don't find many
gospel albums like this; it's like a contemplative recital, with funk
rhythm.”
Ben Ratliff, Jazz Critic, The New York Times, Nov. 23, 2003
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Gospel |
UPC:
8-20718-50072-8 |
|
Earma
Thompson
"Just in Time"
with
John Whitfield & John Brumbach
For
over fifty years Earma Thompson has played jazz piano in
Chicago. She is a modest woman who is recognized by fellow jazz musicians
as the reigning Queen of Chicago Jazz. With bassist John Whitfield,
she swings on the standards Just in Time, Softly As In The Morning Sunrise,
and Witchcraft. Her blues playing on After Hours and Back
at the Chicken Shack is low down and evokes memories of what it was
like to listen to music on the south side in a bygone era. Saxophonist John
Brumbach joins Earma on "hot and spicy" versions of Ger-ru
and Vierd Blues.
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Jazz |
UPC:
8-20718-50082-7
|
|
Kimberly
Gordon Trio
"Melancholy Serenade"
with
John Whitfield & John Brumbach
Chicago
native Kimberly Gordon makes a huge impression with her debut recording
as a leader. It's not just the singer's rich alto voice that wins over the
listener, but her ability to communicate. Joined by pianist Chris Foreman
and bassist Joe Policastro, Gordon's selection of songs is adventurous,
mixing standards, classic jazz compositions, and even pop of the 1950s and
'60s. … She makes her voice sound like it has the wear and tear of
a jazz veteran in her swinging treatment of "As Long as I Live,"
while playfully switching to a childlike chant for effect, then scatting
to Foreman's Erroll Garner-like piano. … Rarely does an artist sound
so seasoned on a debut recording, this is yet another laudable CD issued
by the tiny Chicago-based label The Sirens.” Ken Dryden, All
Music Guide
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Jazz |
|
|
Chicago
Gospel Keyboard Pioneers
"In The Right Hands"
with
Jessy Dixon, Geraldine Gay & Nash Shaffer Jr.
“…
a lovingly assembled disc that comes from The Sirens Records, a small, Chicago-based
label renowned for issuing gems of jazz and blues. On this release, the
label brings together some of the finest Gospel piano players that the Windy
City has to offer, throws in some legendary vocalists, and comes out with
gold. Fronting the project is the legendary Jessy Dixon, who brings his
decades of prominence to the fore with his strident, victory-filled solo
piano on "The Wicked Shall Cease From Their Troubling". …
Geraldine Gay tears the album apart with her fantastically jazzed piano
styling on "God Shall Wipe All Tears Away” … this cut is
worth the price of admission. … Both ["I've Done My Work"
and "I Have A Friend"] continue the Geraldine Gay and Pastor Donald
Gay showcase, providing further evidence of the value of the hidden treasure
that Chicago holds.” Stan North, gospelflava
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Gospel |
UPC:
8-20718-50102-2
|
|
Erwin
Helfer Trio
"Careless Love"
with
John Whitfield & Avreeayl Ra
“The
Crescent City may have Dr. John, but for a considerably longer time, the
Windy City has had Erwin Helfer, a blues and boogie master whose obscurity
masks the great esteem which he is held by his fans and fellow musicians.
With a series of fine albums for suburban Chicago label The Sirens, Helfer
is chipping away at his cult status as he approaches his 70th birthday.
Careless Love is the best of them in terms of its stylistic breadth and
the easy elegance with which he connects those dots; among “two-fisted”
pianists, he is the most genial as well as the most crafty. The music
is lifted by a large-spirited sense of now, ranging from a reading of
Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya” on which second-line rhythm
meets Caribbean tinge, to a jaunty, staggering “Just A Closer Walk
With Thee”, to a languorous, time-lagging treatment of Thelonious
Monk’s “Blue Monk”…”
- Lloyd Sachs, No Depression March-April 2006
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50112-1
|
|
Katherine
Davis
"Rock This House – Live! "
Katherine
Davis and the Chicago Boogie Ensemble will rock your house with this high-voltage
captivating performance recorded live in Chicago on January 29th, 2006.
Blues diva Katherine Davis is joined by legendary musicians Erwin Helfer,
John Brumbach and John Whitfield and three special guest artists: soul master
and baritone saxophonist Willie Henderson, and two second generation Chicago
blues artists - guitarist Lurrie Bell and drummer Kenny Smith. You’ll
get up and dance while listening to this energetic and magical performance!
!
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50132-9
|
|
Barrelhouse
Chuck
"Got My Eyes On You "
Barrelhouse
Chuck leads an all-star blues band which includes premier harp
player and Fabulous Thunderbird’s member Kim Wilson;
long-time Muddy Waters rhythm section members Willie “Big
Eyes” Smith on drums and Calvin “Fuzz”
Jones on bass; and talented guitarists Joel Foy
and Eddie Taylor, Jr. This band smokes as Chuck pays tribute
to his mentors and heroes Sunnyland Slim, Little Brother Montgomery, Floyd
Jones, Detroit Jr., Memphis Slim, Big Moose Walker, Smokey Smothers, Eddie
Taylor, and Muddy Waters. Barrelhouse Chuck’s music continues the
Chicago blues piano tradition!
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50142-8
|
|
Heavenly
Keys
"Gospel Keyboard Trio"
"The
kickoff tune, written by Leonard Maddox, grabs you from the very start and
won’t let go. With it’s one-two punch of sanctified piano and
churchy organ, ‘Church House Rock’ will have true believers
saying “Yes indeed!” The following track, ‘Pray for Me’
pulls one deeper with the feeling that Brother ray and others brought from
the pews, remembering that the church gives but also takes from Blues &
Jazz. It has always been a two way street. Selections on this ever engaging
program are self-penned by the artists, traditional Gospel material, or
writings from greats of the genre like Cleophus Robinson, Brother Joe may,
the Clark Sisters and Edwin Hawkins. Not being a regular churchgoer won’t
diminish the enjoyment of this “churchifyin” music to any listener
with blood in their veins. … An authentic slice of music ministry.”
Larry Hollis, Cadence, June 2006
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Blues |
UPC:
8-20718-50122-0
|
|
Earma
Thompson + Ari Brown + John Brumbach
"Madam Queen"
Two
of Chicago’s best tenor saxophonists, Ari Brown and John Brumbach,
team up to honor piano great, Earma Thompson, on this swinging recording.
Brown and Brumbach, blow hard, straight-ahead bebop with strong doses of
blues. Thompson follows up her solo disc “Just in Time” (featured
on Marian McPartland’s Piano Jazz program) with sensitive and intelligent
ensemble playing. They are accompanied by all-star jazz players Yosef Ben
Israel (bass) and William “Bugs” Cochran (drums). All of the
musicians play with soulful eloquence and swing from start to finish.
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Jazz |
UPC:
8-20718-50152-7
|
|
Geraldine
and Donald Gay
"Soulful Sounds"
Soulful
Sounds presents traditional gospel music by legends Geraldine and Donald
Gay. Geraldine, often called the Errol Garner of gospel piano, is a virtuoso
who has her own original style. Donald’s vocals are rich, powerful,
and bluesy. They recorded for Savoy in the 1950’s, Chess in the 1960’s,
and now for The Sirens Records in 2007. Their gospel music will move you
to new levels of spirituality!
“While it’s irrefutable that American music can only be
fully understood after understanding gospel, it’s just as true that
gospel can be fully appreciated only after hearing the Gay family.”
- Aaron Cohen, Associate Editor, DownBeat
| The
Sirens Records |
CD |
Gospel |
UPC:
8-20718-50162-6
|
|
