Katie Webster - I'm Bad

This is a live performance by blues legend Katie Webster performing her song "I'm Bad" live in the 90's, the performance is from Tromsø in Norway.
Katie Webster is known as a prominent artist within the boogie-woogie and swamp blues genres.
I actually only recently discovered who Katie was. She is not one of the most well known people and by that I mean that if you're just getting into blues you'll discover her, but not at first. I discovered her from the SRV album "Solos, Sessions & Encores" where Stevie plays guitar on one of Katie's songs at a live show. It's a great album and I highly recommend it. And if you're a fan of blues it'll probably introduce you to a couple of new artists.
The studio version of this song appears on Webster's 1991 album "No Foolin'!". There's no doubt that the song's lyrics borrow heavily from other blues songs, such as: Mannish Boy, I'm in the Mood and I'm Bad Like Jesse James. It's sort of Katie's own take on all of these classics showing them appreciation and doing her own thing with it.
It's a great performance. The only thing that sort of spoil it a little is the fact that an announcer speaks over the last part of the song. It's a TV recording, but still it's a shame. A great performance though!

Enjoy ; )

Thelonius Monk - Blue Monk

This is a live performance by jazz legend and jazz composer Thelonius Monk playing his classic jazz standard "Blue Monk". The performance was shot in Norway in 1966. The musicians joining Monk are: Charlie Rouse on tenor saxophone, Larry Gales on bass and Ben Riley on drums.
As mentioned earlier "Blue Monk" is an instrumental jazz standard composed by Thelonius Monk. It is a B♭ blues based on the jazz tune "Pastel Blue".
Thelonius Monk is considered one of the great contributors of American music and he has written several jazz standards, "Blue Monk" included. He was known for his very distinctive and unique approach to the piano, for his clothing style and for standing up in the middle of songs and taking breaks to then return to the piano. He also does this in this performance. In fact all musicians but the drummer do this and then at the end they all join in again.
It's a great performance and you can really tell that the musicians are in sync with each other and leave space and respect to one another. This is a great laid back performance of a great jazz standard.

Enjoy ;-)