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lil' jimmy reed
with
ben levin
together for the first time in
lil' johnny reed & ben levin
life just gets better with time
"back
to
(Click on cover)
baton rouge"
nola blue records nb-23 / 2023
release date : may 19, 2023
(usa)
Musicians:
Lil’ Jimmy Reed (leon atkins)- guitar,harmonica,vocals
Ben Levin - piano
Aron Levin - guitar
Walter Cash Jr. - bass
Ricky Nye - drums (Tracks 1,2,3,5,6,7,8,9)
Shorty Star- drums (Tracks 4,10)
Tracklist:
01 Down in Virginia 02:48
02 They Call Me Lil' Jimmy 04:07
03 Wish You Wouldn't 03:47
04 Cincinnati's the Place to Be 03:20
05 Back to Baton Rouge 03:04
06 In the Wee Wee Hours 03:11
07 Engine Light 04:05
08 I'm the Man Down There 03:17
09 A String to Your Heart
Listen to sampes - Ging Back To Baton Rouge
00:00 / 07:30lil' jimmy reed
Leon Atkins was born in 1937 in a town called Hardwood in the state of Louisiana. Steeped in the music he heard from genuine sides of Baton Rouge, he never had any ambition other than to play the blues. He learned to play guitar and harmonica and started singing to empty clubs in exchange for a couple of drinks. Luck smiled on him when he successfully substituted Jimmy Reed in a performance and people started calling him Little Jimmy Reed. Atkins has toured throughout Europe and has been a cult bluesman in the United States. Over the past few years he has performed to audiences across Europe as Lil' Jimmy Reed Blues Band alongside legendary English pianist Bob Hall. With only four albums released there has been enough to develop his own style from the laid back Louisiana blues and to be admired as possibly the oldest bluesman still on the road alongside Bob Stroger (93) and Buddy Guy (85).
discography
2019
2015
1996
ben levin
Ben Levin is at 23, the most established blues pianist on the blues circuit today. His youth has not been a drag to discover his great talent and his amazing empathy with audiences. Initiated by his father, guitarist Aron Levin - musician and musical director in Ben's band -, the young pianist took a step forward with the album release "Carry out or Delivery" in 2020, his third album, being acclaimed by all those fans who listened to it. Since then, Ben has grown steadily and has developed an upward career, his presence on the circuit has been consolidated and he has released the albums "Still There" (2021) and "Take Your Time" (2022) in which he has shown an overcoming as an unstoppable pianist. There is no doubt that Ben Levin is ready to play the piano for many, many years.
discography
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
(ljr main site)
(bl main site)
the magic of new and old
Lil' Jimmy Reed & Ben Levin together. It could be the paradigm, or maybe the metaphor, that would best illustrate blues music as the legitimate heir to the Afro-American musical traditions that changed the meaning of popular music more than a century ago. The generational transfer that for decades has been perpetuating a cultural legacy that has been able to reach our days without practically modifying either the form or the substance of its original conception. Lil' Jimmy Reed at 84 and Ben Levin at 23 have joined forces and recorded this album "Back To Baton Rouge". Reed's voice, guitar and harmonica backed by Levin's piano, display an exquisite palette of colors that blues can offer today, the deep classicism of Reed in contrast to the freshness of Levin make this album the crossroads between two generations of blues musicians willing to make their personal contribution so that this music follows a path of acclimatization to the new times in constant cultural and technological transformation
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