Blues

Lazy Lester - All Over You (1999)

2019-07-04T15:16:46Z

Lazy Lester - All Over You (1999)


1 	I Need Money (Keep Your Alibis)	4:05
2 	The Sun Is Shining	5:19
3 	Strange Things Happen	3:34
4 	If You Think I've Lost You (Secret Weapon)	3:45
5 	I'm A Lover Not A Fighter	3:09
6 	Irene	3:44
7 	You're Gonna Ruin Me Baby	3:36
8 	Nothing But The Devil	3:10
9 	I Made Up My Mind	3:56
10 	Hello Mary Lee		3:57
11 	Tell Me Pretty Baby		2:40
12 	My Home Is A Prison		3:01

Bass – Sarah Brown (tracks: 1 to 6, 7, 9, 10)
Drums – Mike Bucks (tracks: 1 to 7, 9 to 11)
Guitar – Derek O'Brien (tracks: 1 to 7, 9 to 11), Sue Foley (tracks: 1, 2, 5, 10)
Harmonica, Guitar, Vocals – Lazy Lester
Piano – Gene Taylor (tracks: 6)

The last time Lester released an album was 1988's Harp & Soul on Alligator, an uneven affair. This 1999 effort for Antone's is a vast improvement with producer Derek O'Brien providing linchpin guitar support and fronting a band that includes stellar contributions from Mike Buck on drums and Sarah Brown on bass. Although the intervening years have added a bit of rust to Lester's vocal chops, the added graininess just enhances the performances of old chestnuts like "Strange Things Happening," "If You Think I've Lost You," "Irene," "I'm a Lover, Not a Fighter," "I Need Money," and "The Sun Is Shining." The classic Excello is called on for most of the album but the big surprise comes with two solo performances by Lester, singing and playing guitar on Lightnin' Slim's "Nothing but the Devil" and Lonesome Sundown's "My Home Is a Prison." His most cohesive album since his first for Excello. --Cub Koda, AllMusic Review

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Lazy Lester – One More Once (2010)

2014-11-15T16:55:26Z

Lazy Lester – One More Once (2010)


01 – Sugar Coated Love [05:53]
02 – I’m A Lover Not A Fighter [03:57]
03 – They Call Me Lazy [06:48]
04 – I Hear You Knockin’ [03:36]
05 – Five Long Years [06:14]
06 – The Sun Is Shining [06:29]
07 – Port Allen Jail [07:38]
08 – Cambayб Stomp [05:14]
09 – Irene [04:48]
10 – Been Walking By Myself [05:35]
11 – Dream Club [03:06]
12 – That’s Alright [06:25]
13 – Jail House Wall [04:13]

Lazy Lester – harmonica
Orlando Shearer – upright bass
Paul Garner – guitar
West Weston – piano
Mike Throne – drums

Lazy Lester (aka Leslie Johnson) has been called a "National Treasure," the "High Sheriff of Louisiana" and "a nut." As one of the key creators of the South Louisiana swamp blues sound in the 1950s, Lester has been often imitated but never duplicated. Blues fans worldwide prize his early singles on the Excello label that were recorded in Lake Charles, Louisiana. From town to town, his fans are always bringing up his old Excello albums, 45s, and on occasion, a 78 for him to sign. Lester's high-pitched harmonica and 'lazy' vocals are blues archetypes.

Born in 1933 and raised outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Lester was initially influenced by Jimmy Reed and Little Walter. But his entree into playing professionally came when he met Excello star Lightnin' Slim while riding on a bus sometime in the mid-1950s. The two became close friends, with Slim taking Lester under his wing. Lester emerged on the blues scene playing harmonica with Lightnin' Slim, who would introduce Lester's solos with his trademark, "Play your harmonica, son." Soon legendary Excello producer Jay Miller found that Lester was equally talented on guitar and drums, and he became a stalwart of Miller's session bands. Lester appeared on Miller-produced songs by Lightnin' Slim, Slim Harpo, Katie Webster, Lonesome Sundown and others. Lester's carefree personality prompted Miller to dub him "Lazy Lester."

As a harp player and vocalist, Lester was heavily influenced by Jimmy Reed and Little Walter. His harmonica riffs were crisp and articulate, his vocals a bit 'mushmouthed.' When Miller gave him a chance to record as a leader, Lester produced a series of swamp blues classics that were hits on Southern R&B radio. His tunes have been covered time and time again. Lester's first hit single, I'm A Lover Not A Fighter, was later covered by The Kinks. Talk To You By Hand was cut by Anson Funderburgh, Sugar Coated Love was recorded by the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and dozens of other bands have cut his tunes.

When blues tastes changed in the 1960s, Lester's style of swamp blues became a bit old fashioned for younger R&B audiences. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s Lester lived in obscurity, first in Louisiana and later relocating to Pontiac, Michigan to be closer to his friend Lightnin' Slim. In 1987 Lester emerged from musical retirement and toured England. --- alligator.com

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Lazy Lester - You Better Listen (2011)

2012-10-11T16:48:51Z

Lazy Lester - You Better Listen (2011)


1 Rooster Blues 	3:00 	
2 Yoy Better Listen 	2:59 	
3 Ethel Mae 	3:31 	
4 If You Don't Want Me Baybe 	3:36 	
5 Scratch My Back 	3:11 	
6 Courtroom Blues 	4:03 	
7 Think It Over One More Time 	3:36 	
8 O.J.Shuffle 	3:06 	
9 Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain 	2:35 	
10 Bright Lights Big City 	3:29 	
11 The Same Thing Will Happen To You 	2:46 	
12 When My First Wife Left Me 	3:57 	
13 Paradise Stomp 	3:01

Lazy Lester – guitar, harmonica, vocals
Morten Omlid – guitar
Jens Olav Haugen – bass
Eskil Aasland – drums
+
Espen Fjelle – keyboards

Lazy Lester’s late work was recorded in Notodden, Norway (Europe’s secret blues capitol) with local guys. The band really knows how to play behind Lester, how to keep pace with his way of singing and playing. Furthermore, the recordings are containing this certain Southern flair and smell one would only expect in an old studio in Crowley, Louisiana. And, last not least, Lester is in good shape. A great, great album. Highly recommended to all fans of the real deal, Southern style. --- itsonlyrockandroll.info

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Lazy Lester - Harp & Soul (1988)

2012-10-04T18:25:01Z

Lazy Lester - Harp & Soul (1988)


1 I Done Gone Over It 	2:25 	
2 Take Me In Your Arms 	3:32 	
3 I'm Your Man 	3:59 	
4 Patrol Wagon Blues 	4:44 	
5 Dark End Of The Street 	2:54 	
6 Raining In My Heart 	4:08 	
7 Bye Bye Baby 	2:42 	
8 Bloodstains On The Wall 	4:23 	
9 Alligator Shuffle 	2:45 	
10 Five Long Years 	3:52 	

Lazy Lester – harmonica, vocals,
Ernie Lancaster, Kenny Neal, Pete Carr, Robert "Town Crier" Thomas – guitar
Bob Greenlee – bass
Lucky Peterson, Teo Leyasmeyer – piano
Fred Reif – washboard
Denny Best, Floyd Miles – drums

In the late 1950s and the first six years of the 1960s, multiinstrumentalist Leslie "Lazy Lester" Johnson helped define the Louisiana "swamp blues" sound of Jay Miller's Excello label. Lester recorded again in the late 1980s, and this set of originals and cover material (hooray for Slim Harpo and James Carr, nix on Bo Diddley and Eddie Boyd) captures all of his distinctiveness: an indolently swinging voice whose tonality belongs to country and western and Cajun music rather than blues, and a plaintive-happy harmonica that suggests Jimmy Reed's without any mimicry. Lester's King Snake sessionsmen are ham-handed in their attempts at conjuring peat bog ambience. (35:24/1988) -- - Frank John Hadley 1993, Editorial Reviews

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Lazy Lester – Rides Again (1987)

2011-08-16T11:35:13Z

Lazy Lester – Rides Again (1987)


1 I Hear You Knockin' 		
2 Irene 		
3 St. Louis Blues 		
4 Blowin' a Rhumba 		
5 Nothin' But the Devil 			play		
6 Hey Mattie 		
7 Sugar Coated Love 		
8 Travelling Days 				play		
9 The Same Thing Could Happen to You 		
10 Can't Stand to See You Go 		
11 Out on the Road
12.  Hey Mattie
13.  Travelling Days - unreleased
14.  Travelling Days
15.  The Same Thing Could Happen To You
16.  The Same Thing Could Happen To You - Remake
17.  Lester's Shuffle
18.  I Hear You Knockin'
19.  Blowin' A Rhumba
20.  Hey Mattie - unreleased
21.  Hey Mattie - unreleased
22.  I Ain't Glad
23.   Rockin' With Lester

Lazy Lester - Leslie Johnson - vocal, harmonica, guitar #5
Tim Elliott - harmonica
Julian Piper/John Bruce/Telecaster Dave Neill - guitar
Bob Hall - piano
Steve Ewart/Alan Scott/Dave Bronze - bass
Dave Eustace/Sean Scott/John "The Big Figure" Martin - drums
Mike Vernon – percussion

The prime of Lazy Lester's recording career was his stint for Excello Records in the 1950s and '60s, and he hadn't recorded in the studio for quite some time when the Rides Again album was cut in England over the course of four days in late May 1987. You wouldn't say this is a peak of his work by any means, but if you accept that he couldn't be reasonably expected to replicate the magic of his vintage swamp blues with producer J.D. Miller, it's fairly decent. Lester himself is in good voice and blows the harmonica well on a set mixing remakes of Miller-era material with newer songs. While the backup band (including members of the Junkyard Angels and Blues 'N'Trouble) were journeymen without high name recognition, they play in a suitably loose and energetic style. Esteemed British producer Mike Vernon's liner notes for the expanded edition has the curious effect of lowering your hopes for the session in its studied detailing of various imperfections, but it's not an effort to be ashamed of. ---Richie Unterberger, allmusic.com

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Lazy Lester - True Blues (1967)

2010-05-22T15:26:25Z

Lazy Lester - True Blues (1967)


1. I'm a lover, not a fighter 
2. I hear you knockin' 
3. Sugar-coated love 
4. I'm so glad 
5. If you think I've lost you 
6. Bye, bye, baby 
7. Lonesome highway blue 
8. I made up my mind 
9. Because she's gone 
10. Pondarosa stomp 
11. The same thing could happen to you 
12. Lester's stomp

Lazy Lester  - Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Vocals, Washboard

Contrary to his colorful sobriquet, (supplied by prolific south Louisiana producer J.D. Miller), harpist Lazy Lester swears he never was all that lethargic. But he seldom was in much of a hurry either, although the relentless pace of his Excello Records swamp blues classics "I'm a Lover Not a Fighter" and "I Hear You Knockin'" might contradict that statement, too.

While growing up outside of Baton Rouge, Leslie Johnson was influenced by Jimmy Reed and Little Walter. But his entree into playing professionally arrived quite by accident: while riding on a bus sometime in the mid-'50s, he met guitarist Lightnin' Slim, who was searching fruitlessly for an AWOL harpist. The two's styles meshed seamlessly, and Lester became Slim's harpist of choice.

In 1956, Lester stepped out front at Miller's Crowley, Louisiana studios for the first time. During an extended stint at Excello that stretched into 1965, he waxed such gems as "Sugar Coated Love," "If You Think I've Lost You," and "The Same Thing Could Happen to You." Lester proved invaluable as an imaginative sideman for Miller, utilizing everything from cardboard boxes and claves to whacking on newspapers in order to locate the correct percussive sound for the producer's output. Lester gave up playing for almost two decades (and didn't particularly miss it, either), settling in Pontiac MI in 1975. But Fred Reif (Lester's manager, booking agent, and rub board player) convinced the harpist that a return to action was in order, inaugurating a comeback that included a nice 1988 album for Alligator, Harp & Soul. His swamp blues sound remained as atmospheric (and, dare one say, energetic) as ever on subsequent releases including 1998's All Over You and 2001's Blues Stop Knockin', featuring Jimmie Vaughan. ---Bill Dahl, allmusic.com

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