Chinua Goes To Europe For Christmas!
For the 5th time Chinua Hawk will be traveling to Switzerland to perform at Phil Dankner's Seat Music Sessions. This years shows will be at Millers Studio in Zürich December 18th - 30th and at Das Zelt in Bern December 30th - January 3rd.
Here's a video of Chinua and Swiss stars Seven and Patrik Zihlmann from a Music Sessions performance of Chinua's song "Hey Girl" a few years ago:
The Soul Of John Black USA Today Pick Of The Week
Ever-Changin' Emotions, a bluesy, electric funk jam, is just one of many gems from eclectic band The Soul of John Black's new Black John album. Frontman/guitarist John Bigham has played with Fishbone and has collaborated with everybody from Miles Davis to Dr. Dre. It's no wonder the soul is so tasty with that kind of marinade.
The Soul Of John Black w/ Tavis Smiley
Listen to Tavis Smiley's interview with JB from The Soul Of John Black. Click the logo on the right to link to the site.
The Washington Post on "Black John"
John Bigham describes the music on his band's new album as "country funk," and from its roiling grooves to his moaning vocals and vamping fretwork, the claim certainly qualifies as truth in advertising. The overriding sensibility here, though, at least as far as storytelling and attitude go, is all blues.
The title track, for example, has roots in the classic outlaw ballad "Stagger Lee." "Last Forever" is old-school, down-home blues, featuring Bigham on bottleneck slide guitar. Leaving very little to the imagination, "White Dress" is a juking toast to a sexy woman in the spirit of those that Muddy Waters and Son House used to sing.
"Betty Jean," the album's first single, also extols the virtues of an unforgettable woman -- in this case, Betty Davis, the fiery soul singer and second wife of the great Miles Davis. Bigham played guitar in the latter's band for a while. He also worked sessions with Fishbone, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Nikka Costa, far-reaching associations that are evident in much of the music on "Black John."
Incantatory funk choruses abound, while "I Knew a Lady" gets a lift from a propulsive go-go beat, and mid-tempo workouts like "Better Babe" and "Push Into the Night" veer in the direction of rock. For all its grit and groove, though -- the arrangements on a couple of tracks here hint at the freakadelic soul of Gnarls Barkley -- the record ends with a pair of sublime ballads, the second of them, "Thinking About You," graced with lilting filigrees of West African-style guitar.
The title track, for example, has roots in the classic outlaw ballad "Stagger Lee." "Last Forever" is old-school, down-home blues, featuring Bigham on bottleneck slide guitar. Leaving very little to the imagination, "White Dress" is a juking toast to a sexy woman in the spirit of those that Muddy Waters and Son House used to sing.
"Betty Jean," the album's first single, also extols the virtues of an unforgettable woman -- in this case, Betty Davis, the fiery soul singer and second wife of the great Miles Davis. Bigham played guitar in the latter's band for a while. He also worked sessions with Fishbone, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Nikka Costa, far-reaching associations that are evident in much of the music on "Black John."
Incantatory funk choruses abound, while "I Knew a Lady" gets a lift from a propulsive go-go beat, and mid-tempo workouts like "Better Babe" and "Push Into the Night" veer in the direction of rock. For all its grit and groove, though -- the arrangements on a couple of tracks here hint at the freakadelic soul of Gnarls Barkley -- the record ends with a pair of sublime ballads, the second of them, "Thinking About You," graced with lilting filigrees of West African-style guitar.
Black John Review - New Yorker Magazine
“Black John” (Eclecto Groove) is the third record from the Soul of John Black, which is the sole proprietorship of the singer and songwriter John Bigham. Bigham, who played guitar and percussion for Miles Davis in the jazz great’s final years, went on to join the ska-funk outfit Fishbone and has served as a sideman and arranger for artists as diverse as Dr. Dre and Bruce Hornsby. The John Black project has careered from wildly eclectic funk (on its self-titled 2003 début) to more straightforward blues (on its sophomore album, “The Good Girl Blues”). Here, Bigham delivers a dozen mash notes to sixties and seventies soul music, sometimes going heavy (“Betty Jean,” a tribute to the gonzo funk legend Betty Davis), sometimes going light (the arcadian, acoustic “Thinking About You”).
