Kathleen Loves Music

Bulldogs photograph by iDream_in_Infrared’s

Mississippi Fred McDowell & Honest Tom Pomposello > Bulldog Blues [Dance Remix]

This track is cool. Very cool. It’s the electro blues, yawl. It’s never been released anywhere, so heads up.

It sure is nothing like you’ve ever heard before. Try it, you’ll see. A holy alliance of the legendary country blues musician Mississippi Fred McDowell and his student, mentor, and friend (and my friend) Tom Pomposello, the tracks were recorded in the winter of 1971 (they were, in fact, Fred’s last recordings before he passed away in 1972), and overdubbed/remixed in 1998 by Tom (also his last project before he passed away in 1999) and Lenny Kravitz’s partner, composer/producer/mixer Dave Baron.  The 26 years between sessions is the secret sauce.

After recording Fred’s last album, Tom asked Fred for some coaching at a demo session. Fred wanted to sing along with Tom’s guitar, and Tom, nervous about his still forming skills thought [Read more…]

Tom Pomposello > Honest Tom Pomposello

Produced by Fred Seibert

Original LP. Click the titles to play.
1. Tommy’s Jump
2. Old Joe Clark
3. Jesus Died on the Cross (To Save the World)
4. Movin’ Too Fast
5. Supreme Court Breakdown
6. Amazing Grace
7. Meeting You
8. St. Louis Blues
9. (I’m) Watchin’ The T.V.
10. Hey Little Girl (Who Made Your Dress?)

Oblivion Records OD-6

Click here to read some of the stories behind this album.

And click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.

CREDITS, from the original LP cover:

1. TOMMY’S JUMP Array
(By H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. electric mandolin
Michael Altshuler. Guitar
Bruce Kapler. tenor saxophone
Michael “Kid” Avanzini. Bass
David Longworth. Drums
Recorded 9.3.75

2. OLD JOE CLARK Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P.)
Tom. Dulcimer
Kid Avanzini. Bass
Nicholas “Nick” K. Moy. pitch pipe
Recorded 10.6.73

3. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS [TO SAVE THE WORLD] Array
(Traditional; arranged by H.T.P./Special thanks to John Fahey)
Tom. bottleneck-dobro
Michael Altshuler. Guitar
Kid Avanzini. Bass
David Longworth. drums
Recorded 7.4.74

4. MOVIN’ TOO FAST Array
(By Roosevelt Sykes / H.T. Pomposello)
Tom. vocal & electric [Read more…]

Friends > Marc Cohen, John Abercrombie, Clint Houston, Jeff Williams

Produced by Marc Cohen & Fred Seibert

[Note: Marc Cohen now performs on piano as Marc Copeland]

Original LP. Click the titles to play.
1. 5/8 Tune †
2. Black Vibrations *
3. Nursery Rhyme
4. Loose Tune ††
…:::UPDATE, Feb 08: These MP3s are CD quality, 320kpbs:::…

Marc Cohen: electric alto sax, ††add tenor sax
Jeff Williams: drums
Clint Houston: fretted bass, †acoustic bass
John Abercrombie: 6 string guitar, *12 string guitar, ††no guitar

Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
…..
Friends
Oblivion Records
OD-3 (1973)

Click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.

CREDITS, from the original LP cover:

Recorded December 1972, by successful exploitation of Columbia University’s WKCR. To everyone who has ever been there, thanks folks.

Produced by Marc Cohen and Fred Seibert
Engineering: Fred Seibert
Brains behind the engineering: Don Zimmerman
Microphones behind the brains: Marc Seiden
Pal: David Reitman
Graphics: the Oblivionettes co-starring Sue DeLaney
Photography: Trebor Trepla, Fred Seibert, and Robert Alpert (Mark Focus Jr.)
Advice: Don [Read more…]

Johnny Woods
Mississippi Harmonica

Produced by Tom Pomposello and Fred Seibert

Original 45rpm single. Click the titles to play.

1. Long Haired Doney
2. Three O’Clock in the Morning
…..
Oblivion Records
O#2 (1972) [45 rpm single]

Click here to read some of the stories behind this record.

And click here for covers, photographs, and other printed ephemera.
……
Original credits

Johnny Woods: harmonica

Recorded Thursday, April 27, 1972, Olive Branch, Mississippi, by Tom Pomposello

Remastered by Fred Seibert

Graphics by the Oblivionettes featuring Susan DeLaney

Cover photo by Tom Pomposello

This recording was made possible by a special grant from the Dick Pennington Blues Foundation

Addition copies of this disc can be had by sending $1.00 (plus 25 cents for postage and handling) to:

Oblivion Records
P.O. Box X
Roslyn Heights, New York 11577

©(P) 1972
……
Original liner notes

During the spring of 1972, I spent some time in Mississippi visiting with my friend and teacher Fred McDowell. Now Fred had promised to show me around and introduce me to a few of his musical [Read more…]

Charles Walker & The New York City Blues Band
Blues From The Apple

Produced by Tom Pomposello with Fred Seibert
Engineering. Fred Seibert

Click the title to play.
1. Scratch My Back
2. Black Cat Bone
3. Gladly
4. Decoration Day
5. I’m A Good Man But A Poor Man
6. Juice Head Woman
7. Bluebird’s Blues
8. Fast, Fast, Women and A Slow Race Horse
9. It’s Changin’ Time
10. Meeting You

……
CHARLES WALKER & THE NEW YORK CITY BLUES BAND
Blues From The Apple
Oblivion Records
OD-4
1974

Click here for covers, photographs, lyrics, and other printed ephemera.

LINER NOTES:

New York City blues has been one of the Big Apple’s best kept secrets for the past decade and a half. While many local bluesmen have remained “active” at house parties with an occaisional gig at a small club, many others, veterans of a by-gone R&B era, have pawned their instruments and abandoned hopes of continuing a career that long ago abandoned them. In short the New York City blues scene [Read more…]

Mississippi Fred McDowell
Live In New York

Produced by Tom Pomposello, Dick Pennington, and Fred Seibert
Engineered* by Fred Seibert

Click the titles to play.
2nd edition, Spring 1972

1. Shake ‘Em On Down
2. I’m Crazy About You Baby
3. John Henry
4. You Got To Move
5. Someday
6. Mercy
7. The Lovin’ Blues
8. White Lightnin’
9. Baby Please Don’t Go
These MP3s are CD quality, 320kpbs

1999 edition; released as “Live at the Gaslight.”
Disc 1
1. Shake ‘Em On Down
2. Fred’s Worried Blues *
3. Mercy
4. Jesus is on the Mainline *
5. When The Saints Come Marchin’ In *
6. Someday Baby
7. The Lovin’ Blues
8. White Lightnin’
9. You Got To Move
10. Louise *
11. Baby Please Don’t Go
Disc 2
1. Goin’ To The River (Carry My Rocking Chair) **
2. Shake ‘Em On Down **
3. 61 Highway *
4. John Henry
5. My Babe *
6. I’m Crazy ‘Bout You Baby **
7. Red Cross Store *
8. Levee Camp Blues*
9. Good Mornin’ Little Schoolgirl *
10. Don’t Mistreat Nobody (Cause You Got A [Read more…]

Mississippi Fred McDowell > My Babe

In late 1971 I was 20 years old and visiting my hippie friend Tom Pomposello at his “liberation” record store in our home town of Huntington, Long Island. He asked if my college radio staion had any recording equipment, and would I please come to the (Greenwich) Village Gaslight and record him playing bass with bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell. The only blues I knew about was what I’d seen during the rock blues revival at the Fillmore East like B.B. and Albert Kings, but I figured that anyone with “Mississippi” in their name playing the very cool Gaslight must be famous. How Tom came to be playing with anyone famous is a question unanswered to this day. I dragged my friend Roy down with me and the mono tape recorder; we recorded the show and played it on my radio show.

A couple of years later Tom and I got the bright [Read more…]