Friday, April 24, 2009

Eddie Bo 1930 - 2009

The New Orleans Jazz Fest begins today, and Eddie Bo’s name will be spoken often in these two weeks to come. At last year’s Jazz Fest, Bo had a joyous evening with Marcia Ball and others at the WWOZ Piano Night, and a return was planned for this year. Sadly, Eddie Bo died of heart failure on March 18, at 79. But it's New Orleans, of course, and any sad talk of Bo’s passing will quickly turn to happy celebration of a good man who left a great legacy.

Eddie Bo was one of those “most influential/least known” artist types. He grew up in NOLA’s Ninth Ward, with Fats Domino and Professor Longhair as neighbors, and eventually performed and recorded for some fifty years, working with at least a dozen labels. His musical interests crossed genres, and he was a master at weaving all those interests into a music that was always textured, colorful and grooving. His late sixties and early seventies funk was some of the best ever to come out of New Orleans.

For an excellent two-part blog on Eddie Bo's music, with sound files, check out Dan Phillip's very cool Home of the Groove: http://homeofthegroove.blogspot.com/2009/03/in-pursuit-of-bo-consiousness.html


AND, we thank Chas Lewis for beginning his March 27 tribute to Eddie Bo with our version of Bo’s “Hook and Sling.” We’re honored.

Check out The South Side with Chas Lewis, Fridays 7-10pm PST, on KHUM 104.3 FM and 104.7 FM, In Humboldt County, CA. Find Chas on MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com/chaslewis

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