The Big Sleep (feat. Nguyên Lê)

#111 in The Need To Know Badass Blues Instrumentals Series, The Big Sleep, features the no net, high wire guitar playing of Nguyên Lê. Born in Paris in the late 1950's, Nguyên is of Vietnamese descent and has maintained a deep connection to that ancestry. All About Jazz magazine eloquently and accurately states: "few musicians embody the word "fusion" more than Parisian-born guitarist Nguyên Lê. For the past 25 years he's been mining a combination of fusion by the more conventional definition—the infusion of rock energy into the jazz sphere—with fusion in a broader sense, the seamless integration of music from cultures around the world." Nguyên has made seventeen albums as a leader and as even more as a sideman or producer. The list of his collaborators is incredibly diverse and impressive, including; Quincy Jones, Ray Charles, Johnny  Griffin, Toots Thielemans, Gil Evans, Me'shell Ndegeocello, John McLaughlin, and Ornette Coleman. Enjoy!

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Alvino Bennett (Dave Mason, Stevie Wonder) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA with additional tracking at Big Rock Studio, Lyon, France. Mixing and Mastering duties were handled by the infamous F-Bomb.

Blues In The Key Of Dog (feat. Harpdog Brown)

We lost two great Need To Know artists recently. The great Sonny Rhodes left us on December 14th at the age of 81 and the Canadian bluesman Harpdog Brown departed this plain on January 7th at only 59 years old. We are sending our deepest condolences to both of their families. They will be missed but certainly not forgotten. Sonny was our first Need To Know release with his career retrospective; The Essential Sonny Rhodes - Songs and Stories and what an honor and pleasure it was to get to make that record with him.

We tracked this Harpdog track back in December of 2019 while he was touring through the Bay Area. I'm not a whiskey drinker but, when Harpdog brought his own and insisted I join him, I of course obliged. We had a lot of laughs hanging out recording this number and had already decided we would call it Blues in the Key of Dog, I only wish we had gotten around to releasing it while Harpdog was still with us. I had come up with an idea for the cover art and sent it to Harpdog, but in true Harpdog fashion, he wanted to use a dog he knew so, he sent me a picture of his friend Alex Golota owner of Ottawa's Irene's Pub's dog, aptly named Blue. We were waiting for the "right time" to release the track, coinciding with a tour perhaps, but COVID wasn't having it. And so, this now becomes a loving tribute and farewell to a great musician and human being, Harpdog Brown.

Thank you Sonny, thank you Harpdog, we'll see you again on the great gig in the sky.

The backing band on this track is Rich Kirch (John Lee Hooker 1984-2001) on rhythm guitar, Willy Jordan (Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio) on drums and myself on bass. The track was recorded at Skunkworks in Capitola CA and wickedly mixed and mastered by the Supreme Ruler of Greaseland, Christoffer "Kid" Andersen.