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An
album of jazz and blues songs It's late but the bar is still open. Bartender Joe is
asking "What will it be, sir?" Chris singing his
jazz and blues at the piano and keyboard. Recorded in 1995
- remastered and enhanced for CD for the first time.
Chris
Conway -
vocals, piano, keyboards, shakers
background
After
several albums of quite impressionistic jazz and world music
jazz fusion, around 1995 I was getting a lot more work singing
jazz and playing piano in bars and restaurants. This tended
to be jazz of a more mainstream blues influenced kind. Kind
of Ray Charles influenced plus songs from the 30s movies I loved.
I had written quite a few jazz songs by then so it seemed a
good idea to record them.
The
TRG Studios I was using then had a bar, so for the ambience
I set up there and, on my own, recorded my songs - no overdubs
then - using different kayboard sounds to vary the feel.
15
years later when I decided to remaster the album for CD I
decided to add harmonies, and light percussion on a couple
of tracks - I've always heard the harmonies in my head on
those songs - I just hadn't the means to record them back
then.
I've
written more jazz songs since, but this album captures my
bar room set of songs nicely - so pull up a stool, let Joe
the bartender pour you a drink and listen to songs of depression,
madness, celebration, and love gone wrong.
influences
Ray
Charles, Al Bowlly, Fred Astaire, Screamin Jay Hawkins, 1930s
movies
technical
Recorded
digitally at TRG Studios, Leicester, UK 1995. Harmonies light
percussion added on Wonderful Time and The Devil's In Grey in
2010. Mastered at Oblong Studios.
CC's
fave track
The
Devil's In Grey
trivia
I dropped a couple of songs which were on the album that i played
on guitar as they have been so much better recorded on other
albums since (Forget About You and Green Clothes)
The cover photo was taken at the Belmont Hotel - a piano residency
I held for 12 years.
The End of The World & Get Yourself A Life can
be heard instrumentally with jazz quartet on the Who
Cares? album.
Deja Blues is probably one of my most recorded songs
- still this is the earliest recording of it.
