Customer Reviews

Idle Hours

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I was introduced to Lonnie Johnson's clean, spare guitar style on a compilation of blues legends and immediately went looking for more. This album, recorded in 1961 after he was rediscovered by the '60s blues boom, reveals an older artist with plenty of fire left in his belly. His vocal delivery is virtuosic and seemingly effortless. The songs are pretty standard blues fare lyrically but are delivered with the restrained elegance that separates authentic Bluesmen from guys who happen to play the blues. Victoria Spivey's voice is in fine form on the few cuts where she appears and blends well with the relaxed cool this album exudes. The piano on this record has a haunting quality that transports you back in time to the days before drums and synthesizers became the measure of musical excellence. If Albert King was right (and he usually was) when he said that the purpose of the blues is to soothe, this is one of the finer blues albums I've ever heard. I can't wait to hear more from the often-overlooked but nonetheless magnificent Lonnie Johnson.

I had never heard of Lonnie Johnson until a week ago, when KJAZZ posted a link to a performance on YouTube on their FaceBook page. I liked how "clean" his singing and playing style is (was), real easy to listen to, and I wanted to add him to my play list, so I bought this cd ... mainly because of the price, but it is lovely.

The liner notes from the CD said that Lonnie played with greats like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong ... and in the lean years, he was a janitor at a Philadelphia hotel .... and then he would get another gig ... and then back to the hotel as a janitor ... and then back on the road... then back as a janitor ... wow!