Search - Philip Aaberg :: Blue West

Philip Aaberg
Blue West
Genres: Blues, New Age

Track Listings (14) - Disc #1
1. Keep Walkin?
2. Sea Level Shuffle (part 1)
3. Yellowstone Paddlewheel
4. That Train
5. Rocky Boy Blues
6. Double Back At ?Ya
7. Take Your Time
8. Blue West
9. The Dream of Montana Taylor
10. Little Brother
11. Fourteen Dollars
12. Wumper?s Old Man
13. Sea Level Shuffle (part 2)
14. Coyote Midnight Blues

CD Details

All Artists: Philip Aaberg
Title: Blue West
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Sweetgrass Music
Original Release Date: 7/1/2005
Release Date: 7/1/2005
Genres: Blues, New Age
Style:
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 820558000426

Synopsis

Product Description

Piano Blues - Blue West is the first release out of the new Sweetgrass Music recording studio ?The Bin? in Chester, Montana. From the liner notes of Blue West: The Blues is simple soul music ? you can?t just try to sound like somebody else. My biggest lesson on that was hearing Little Brother Montgomery in Chicago. I?ll never forget it. He was politely received by the crowd, but he knocked me out playing his music his own way... and taking his time. A road doesn?t always just take us around the block. Occasionally, I?ll abandon tradition and use what Zawinul calls ?crystal structure?...organic form. You can hear it on ?Yellowstone Paddlewheel? where, when the slow funky gospel feel comes back, it?s like traveling on a river... you?re on the same boat, but there?s something new around every bend. Music has always been a big old adventure to me. I was never inclined to play ?pure? blues or ?pure? anything. There is no such thing in the historical art of music. We?re all in this soup together...DNA will tell you that. This is a blues record...maybe not a ?pure? blues record by some definitions or store labels, but it?s MY blues record...a Montana blues record. I hope you smell sagebrush, see the Big Sky, hear the train, and feel the river... before you sit down in your nearest friendly roadhouse to listen to the piano picker. ?Philip Aaberg, June 2005 Chester, Montana

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CD Reviews

From MainlyPiano.com

Kathy Parsons | Florence, OR United States | 07/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A new album from Philip Aaberg is a musical event, and this one is major! After a flurry of releases in 2000, things were a little quiet, so when I heard "Blue West" was on its way, I was really excited! I've been listening to it for a week now, and absolutely love it! I'm a big fan of piano blues, and the occasional blues tracks that have been included on past releases from Aaberg have been among my favorites. A whole album of his original blues is a joy to behold! One of the best pianists on the planet, Aaberg has always been true to his muse no matter what everyone else is doing, earning him the highest respect as an artist.

The fourteen tracks on "Blue West" range from rollicking barrelhouse to slinky blues to pieces that really aren't blues at all, but fit right in anyway. "Keep Walkin'" opens the CD with a big blues piece that is both contemporary and traditional, as well as soulful and fun. My first reaction to it was "Oh goody - it really is a blues album!" "Sea Level Shuffle (part 1)" cranks it up a notch, showcasing Aaberg's breathtaking chops. Aaberg obviously loves trains, and "That Train" expresses the rhythmic joy of this form of travel as well as its power. "Rocky Boy Blues" is dark, sensual, and spellbinding. Love it! "Double Back At `Ya" begins as a quiet ballad, becomes a boogie woogie piece, and then continues to alternate between the two styles - it's amazing how Aaberg makes this work, tying the passages together with improvisations. "Take Your Time" is a bluesy ballad of a more introspective nature. "The Dream of Montana Taylor" begins with an old recording of Mr. Taylor singing his own "I Can't Sleep," segueing to the sound of footsteps and then of a piano bench being moved. The music that follows is a slow, dreamy piece that reminds me a little of Aaberg's earlier "Slow Dance." "Fourteen Dollars" brings us back to full-tilt energetic blues - I'd love to know the story behind the title! "Wumper's Old Man" inspires a big grin - what a fun piece with the walking bass and joyful right hand. As much as I love this whole album, Aaberg saved my favorite for last. "Coyote Midnight Blues" is slow, dark, and very earthy. What a great album!!!!

Bravo to Philip Aaberg for another great album, and one that is truly unique! Very highly recommended!"

Gorgeous Melodies & Foot Tappin' Rhythms

Glee Murray | Washington, D.C. | 07/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I will confess up front that I am a native of Phil's hometown, Chester, Montana and have listened to his music all my life. Every album he does invites hours of listening and discovering new sounds, forms, rhythms, and melodies while imagining what he "sees" or what inspired a particular song. As well as I know his music, I wasn't prepared for the beauty and the gorgeous sound of Blue West. The music takes me back to Saturday night dances of my girlhood in the community hall in Whitlash, Montana (north,up the road from Chester) where the local piano player, a couple of guitarists, a drummer, and maybe a saxophonist sang and played their hearts out -- boogies, blues, folk, country, every imaginable genre. Blue West weaves that Saturday night dance music into spellbinding music that struts, slinks, ripples, curls, unwinds, whispers, and rocks. Oh, and dances.

Blue West's songs are beautiful. The melodies and rhythms of these blues melt from one song to another (and within songs, too). Your toes start tappin' (Sea Level Shuffle) and your fingers start drummin'(Double Back At 'Ya), but then you're swaying gently to Take Your Time while imagining slow dancing with your head on someone special's shoulder all through The Dream of Montana Taylor (the most beautiful song I think Phil has ever composed, but wait -- I love Take Your Time, too). Just about the time you've danced the ultimate slow dance to The Dream of Montana Taylor, the "last set" of the album from Little Brother through Sea Level Shuffle, Part 2 rocks you wide awake. I actually laughed out loud when I first heard Wumper's Old Man; that song is so happy and unrestrained. Finally, the last dance, Coyote Midnight Blues, lets you catch a breath before you start the album all over again!

One note about Coyote Midnight Blues: the Coyotes were Chester's school mascot until a couple of months ago. Chester schools were forced to consolidate with nearby Joplin and Inverness schools. There will be no more Chester Coyotes; the people in my (and Phil's) struggling little hometown are well acquainted with the blues. Maybe Blue West is partly a witness to their blues; it will certainly make them a little easier to abide.

"