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Rating: 
Summary: Tipaldi does NOT know his blues!
Review: Art Tipaldi is a senior writer for Blues Revue magazine and has held a position on the Blues Foundation's Board of Directors for six consecutive terms. He also serves as chairman of the Foundation's Education Constituency. With these credentials, readers should have been able to expect a fact-filled journey through the tradition of blues. The opposite is in fact the case. There are countless glaring errors throughout; a lack of knowledge on the history of blues that speaks loudly when he tells us that Elmore James was related to Boyd Gimball. Research documents available to many, indeed Tipaldi, show no evidence of a Boyd Gimball in the first place. The person in question is Boyd Gilmore, and he and Elmore were NOT related. Tipaldi also shows a disrespect for the fathers of this tradition by misspelling the names of Jimmy Yancey (Yancy?) who was a leading piano stylist decades ago who influenced many followers, and Walter Roland (Rolands?) isn't safe either. Nor is Isidore Tuts Washington (Toots?) from New Orleans, a master who influenced Professor Longhair and many more piano grinders. For the more modern artists who are disrespected by Tipaldi, I could point to Charlie Musselwhite... his song "Christo Redemptor," a wonderful harmonica track from years ago is now titled Christo Redentor. Might I also point to Richard Innes (Innis?) and Rich Lataille (Latille?) who incur the autor's disregard? Or, perhaps Tipaldi writing about Big Jack Johnson and stating the following... "Johnson's music reaches back beyond today's electric imitators of the blues..." which begs the question; if one is writing about how the traditions are passed on and considers followers as worthy purveyors of the genre, where is the sincerity when this author makes a broadsweeping comment such as this? Are the followers merely imitators as pointed out here, or does Tipaldi actually see the tradition being passed on in a productive manner? In his acknowledgements, Tipaldi thanks Peter Guralnick, Bill Ferris, Dick Waterman, and Bruce Iglauer for teaching him "how to move with integrity, sincerity, and respect." These three qualities are sadly missing at many points in these pages. It is also worth pointing out that while 49 musucians are profiled, key figures are curiously absent; Snooky Pryor and his son Earl, Carey Bell and his son Lurrie (not to mention Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, a cousin of Carey), Muddy Waters' son Big Bill Morganfield, a fine example of how the torch is passed, or Othar Turner and his entire family, who play traditional Mississippi fife and drum music, a style closely related to blues. To pass over genuine tradition such as these examples in favor of Delbert McClinton, Tommy Shannon, Coco Montoya, Robert Cray and others, seems ludicrous. This is hardly worthwhile reading, and although there are a few strong points of interest here and there, the mistakes will leave those who truly know, love, and respect this music, shocked. Correct information in a written manuscript is the responsibility of the author and Tipaldi missed the target, while competent editing and proofreading by a professional also missed the target. Sadly, while a book of this sort has been needed, this poor excuse is not what was hoped for.
Rating: 
Summary: Bridging the generation gap
Review: At last, a book on the blues that features contemporary artists, let's them tell their story (and doesn't simply repeat the same old biographical details), and bridges the gap to the blues artists of the past. There's something here for all blues fans, whether they prefer the bluesmen and women of previous generations (like Muddy Waters and Walter Horton) or those of today. If you want to learn every single detail about the life of the featured artists (the 49 contemporary artists chosen or those that they talk about) then this probably isn't the book for you. If however you want to find out more about their personalities then this is a must buy. Blues is about feeling and is based on experience and this book gives a great insight into the events that have shaped the music of some of today's foremost artists.
Rating:
Summary: Well done, Art!
Review: FANTASTIC book. Art does a great job in selecting artists possessing various interpretations of the blues idiom, from the traditional to the contemporary and presenting their stories, making for both a captivating and entertaining read. If someone is looking to read about musicians based on his/her perception of their relative "impact" or "importance", an encyclopedia or some similar exhaustive tome should suffice; If you want the low down, honest , warts-n-all story from a handful of artists covering the whole, current state - of- the blues map, grab this book.
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Summary: A Guide To The Musicians Making the Music
Review: I caught an interview with Art Tipaldi and Dan Ackroyd on Elwood's Blues radio program about this book and put it on my "must buy" list. One month later I was able to get it(and have it signed by the author) at the North Atlantic Blues Festival at the Blues Revue Booth where Art works as one of the best blues columnists and writers in the country. If you love blues music you need to buy this book. Fourty nine of todays best blues musicians are profiled in four sections - Real fathers,Real Children,Chicago and the South, Texas,East Coast and West Coast. The book starts with this sentence: You dont choose the blues - it chooses you.Amen! As someone who was raised on rock and roll I discovered the blues when Robert Cray came on the scene with Strong Persuader - so taken with the music I had to find more - the same way Art writes that he discovered this music.I must confess - I travel to several blues festivals a year, have over 1000 CDs -80-85% are blues, catch live blues bands whenever I can- so I am a big blues fan. This book introduces you to the men and women playing the music today - people like Lucky Peterson who stole this years North Atlantic Blues Festival, Carl Weathersbee who killed this years Poconno Blues Festival, Shemika Copeland who continues to get better and better with performances like the Chesepeak Blues festival this past year and her dad Johnnie "Clyde" Copeland,Keb Mo, Robert Cray,Jimmy Vaughan,Coco Montoya,Kelly Joe Phelps and many others.Included bonus is a Discology in the back with all the music these musicians have recorded. Music is best when listened to but this book tells you the story about the people making the music. I know Art couldnt include everyone making Blues Music today but I hope Art's next book includes Little Charlie Baty and Rick Estrin,Tab Benoit, Magic Slim and many others. I see this book and others like it is an important part in the effort to keep the blues alive. Buy it- you will not be disappointed if you love Blues Music!
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Summary: Additional Information
Review: I'm giving Art Tipaldi five stars. He has successfully done what he set out to do: elegantly and eloquently conveyed the uniqueness and individuality of each of the players he profiles.It's tough to condense a whole person into a space of five to ten pages. It's tough to resist the impulse to correct an interviewee's grammar or syntax, before or after the fact. It's tough, as an interviewer, to ignore the information you think is important, in favor of what the interviewee thinks is important. Say you have only five pages and you are fascinated by your subject's proficency on the oboe and the orchestras he's played with, but your subject feels his life is defined by the work he does with the Suburban Housewive's Relief Fund. What do you do? Many writers would, intentionally or not, focus on the oboe. This author has chosen to focus on the Relief Fund. By doing so, he has, as much as is possible, removed both his preferences and prejudices from the body of this book and allowed the musicians, in their own varied voices, to shine through. Those voices are so much more fascinating than bare facts. For example:
Charlie Musselwhite(p62): "I call it following the will of the music"
Coco Montoya(p278): "I've apologized to Mayall a million times for what I put him through-drunk on my [bum], screamin' at him"
Gordon Beadle(p210): "You could almost draw a line in the shape of the notes"
Delbert McClinton(p134):"The thing that's most important about how things have gotten better is that I wouldn't quit, I wouldn't stay out of the way of it, everytime you turned around, there I was, pushin'".
These quotes, in both style as well as content, say so much more about the artists than an endless string of facts ever could.
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Summary: TIPALDI KNOWS HIS BLUES!
Review: THE BLUES WORLD WILL UNDBOUTEDLY BE CAPTIVATED BY THIS BOOK...TO MANY IT WILL BE A SORT OF BIBLE; A GLIMPSE INTO HOW THE YOUNG ARE TAUGHT BY THE OLD AND HOW THE MASTER-APPRENTICE RELATIONSHIP HAS KEPT AND WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP THE BLUES TRADITION ALIVE FOR ETERNITY!
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