Great Jimmy video interview

Here's a great interview from YouTube put together by Gibson Guitar. Jimmy talks about Mike Bloomfield, finding his own sound, the Fab Faux and his role on the Conan show(Posted 1/22/2012)

Jimmy and his Fender

Here's another great interview from YouTube with Jimmy talking about his Fender guitar (Posted 1/22/2012)

The Prisoners of 2nd Avenue at the HIRO Ballroom

The Prisoners of 2nd Avenue (Jimmy, Rich Pagano and John Conte) played an absolutely fabulous show tonight at the HIRO Ballroom. The fantastic Catherine Russell contributed guest vocals. Photos and more soon. But in the meantime, here's a YouTube video poste4d by Marc Millman of the band with guest vocalist Catherine Russell singing "Gimmie Shelter". (Posted 1/20/2012, video added 1/22/2012)

Etta James: 1938 - 2012

Etta James, whose story was told in the film "Cadillac Records", died this morning, January 20th.

Even though she was best known as one of the primary Chess Records blues singers, she was best known for her 1961 recording of a Glenn Miller tune, "At Last". She was first known for such records as "Good Rockin' Daddy". She won four Grammy awards was one for best jazz vocal performance which she won in 1995 for the "Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie holiday" album.

James had a complex, troubled life. She was born to a 14-year-old mother and she always maintained that her biological father was Minnesota Fats (who was portrayed by Jackie Gleason in the 1961 movie, "The Hustler".) She had many substance abuse problems, especially in the 1960s and 70s.

In 1954, she recorded a variation on the Hank Ballard tune "Work With Me Annie", called "Roll With Me Henry". DJs complained about the title and it was changed to "The Wallflower", which rose to #2 on the R&B charts in 1954. Another variation on the tune was recorded by Georgia Gibbs and was an even bigger hit. She was signed by Chess Records in 1960 and had a big hit with "All I Could Do Was Cry", later covered by Ike & Tina Turner.

In the 1970s, she had a hit with "Tell Mama" (also covered by Martha Velez) and she opened for the Rolling Stones. She was the last of the original Chess blues artists. (Posted 1/20/2012)

Johnny Otis: 1921 - 2012

Bandleader and talent finder Johnny Otis died January 17th at the age of 90.

In the 1940s he lead a jazz band that had the drive of a great R&B band. In the early 1950s, he produced Big Mama Thorton's version of "Hound Dog," later famously recorded by Elvis Presley. He also was at least partially responsible for discovering Ether Phillips, Jackie Wilson and Etta James.

Although most people considered Otis to be black, he was actually Greek, but he always said he related more to black culture. He was also a DJ and TV personality, having hosted an L.A. TV show from 1954 to 1961 that featured many black artsts.

Form 1950 to 1952, he had 15 singles on the R&B charts, music that is largely forgotten today because it's post the big band era and before the rock & roll era, which most historians consider to have started in 1954 with the advent of Elvis Presley. But this was great music.

Otis also served as a minister, a political aide and he became an organic farmer. His son, Shuggie Otis, recorded several albums, including a late 60s album with Al Kooper.

He was married for over 70 years.

Johnny was one of the great founders of American music. He cannot be replaced. (Posted 1/18/2012)

Hubert Sumlin: 1931-2011

We lost the great Chicago Blues guitarist Humbert Sumlin today, December 5th. Sumlin was the last of the original Chess Records musicians. He played primarily for Howlin' Wolf, beginning in 1954, but also played with Muddy Waters, Pinetop Perkins and many others.

Sumlin has been nominated for four Grammy awards, most recently for his contributions to the Kenny Wayne Shepard Band's recording, "Life! In Chicago".

Rolling Stone Magazine rated Sumlin as #43 of the top 100 guitarists of all time.

Just this past August, Sumlin played with Jimmy and John Sebastian (see the box below). When he first came out on stage, he was accompanied by an oxygen tank and he seemed weak. But once he began to play, it was 1955 again. And he sang with an incredibly strong voice.

While photos alone can't tell the story of a great performance, check out the photos linked below to get an idea of what a great night that was. He will be missed.

Update 12/9: Mick Jagger and Keith Richard announced yesterday that they are going to pay for the cost of Hubert's funeral. A public service will be held on December 12th at the Festa Memorial Funeral Home in Totowa, NJ. Mick Jagger released a statement calling Hubert "an incisive yet delicate blues player (with) a really distinctive and original tone and was a wonderful foil for Howlin' Wolf's growling vocal style."

Here's some more of Sumlin:
Howlin' For Hubert: March 5th, 2005 at B.B. King's with Jimmy Vivino, David Johansen, Levon Helm, Mike Merritt and special guests
Three Guitars: August 19th, 2011 at MexiCali with Jimmy Vivino, John Sebastian & guests.

Jimmy & Felix

Jimmy played with Felix Cabrera at the Port Washington Polish Hall on Friday, December 2, 2011.
We were back in the 1950s and early 1960s and the joint was jumpin'! Great place if only because there's a dance floor.

Father & Sons

Jimmy played at MexiCali Blues in Teaneck, on Friday, August 19th with John Sebastian, the legendary Hubert Sumlin and a great cast of other musicians.
Terrific club and an amazing show.

Update: Just added Kay Cordtz's great review of the show.

The Prisoners of 2nd Avenue at B.B. King's (NYC) on August 5, 2011

Jimmy, Rich Pagano and John Conte got together again on August 5 at B.B. King's NYC. Click on the photo for lots more.

Is Jimmy going into Retail?

Seen in Forest Hills, NY

Jimmy Vivino with the Les Paul Trio at Iridium on April 25th

Photographer Salvatore Corso contributed these photos of Jimmy playing with the Les Paul Trio featuring guest Gene Cornish (of The Rascals) and other guests.

Click on the image to see more

The Prisoners of 2nd Avenue

Jimmy, Rich Pagano and John Conte got together on April 1 and 2 at the Bowery Electric. Here's photos from the April 1 gig. Click on the photo for lots more.

...and here's one from our friend Tony Ferrari:

Jimmy and Felix

The frequent-flyer miles king Jimmy Vivino came to New York on March 25th to play a killer set with Felix Cabrera at the beautiful Port Washington Public Library.

Click on the photo to see more great images from this reference show in how to play the blues.

Jimmy with Felix Cabrera on Nov. 19, 2010

Jimmy played with Felix Cabrera at The Turning Point.

Thanks to photographer Bernard Ente for this great moody shot of Jimmy from that show.

Jimmy with the Fab Faux at Queens College on Nov. 6 2010

After playing at Radio City Music Hall in September, the Faux returned to NYC to play their annual stint at Colden Auditorium at Queens College.

For more photos of the show and a setlist, click here for the Fab Faux at Queens College page.

Conan's Twitter Feed

Jimmy interview!!

Here's a great interview with Jimmy written by Christian Schaeffer of the (St. Louis) Riverfront Times.

Jimmy talks about Johnnie Johnson, Chuck Berry and the band for the new Conan show.

And here's a review of the September 19th benefit for Johnnie Be Good: the Movie.

A Twitter experiment...

Here's an experiment to see which Twitter feeds we can pick up about Jimmy. So far, it's mainly about Conan. Obviously, the Twitter audience is not exactly Jimmy's audience, but let's see what happens.
Note that there's a separate feed for the Fab Faux on the Fab Faux page.

Jimmy with Hubert Sumlin

Jimmy played with Hubert Sumlin on a "Rockin' the River" cruise during a beautiful New York summer night on August 19th. Thanks to photographer Frank Beacham for the photo.

Jimmy returns to New York again to play with Felix Cabrera

Jimmy played with Felix Cabrera on June 25th at the Turning Point in Piedmont, New York. Here's another fine photo taken by pro Bernard Ente, a frequent contributor to this site. We see Jimmy in a comtemplative mood.

Click the image for a larger version.

Jimmy and the Fab Faux performing Abbey Road live!

This is a really high-quality video of the Fab Faux performing most of side 2 (of the LP) of Abbey Road for the Howard Stern show at Sirius studios.

There are no overdubs whatsoever in this incredible performance. Each song was recorded in one to three takes. Only three minor guitar fixes were made. The videography and the sound mix is quite intimate and really gets you "in close" with the Faux.

Credits: Mix: Joe Chinnici; Video Director/Editor: Robert Noonan; Ass't Videographer: Luke Noonan.

The Fab Faux - Abbey Road Side 2 (mostly) from The Fab Faux on Vimeo.