Take a picture of this :
A young boy trying to overcome the sadness of his family life in the '60s, who comes across a bunch of rock'n'roll records at his cousin's house and suddenly, instantly, finds his way ...
That was me more than 40 years ago and I still remember how music helped me shape my feelings : to make a long story short, everything I've ever done is music-oriented and music-driven.
Thus, I began buying records in the mid-60s and haven't stopped since then !! Being part of that odd but exciting international community known as The Collectors' Circle is both a blessing and a curse : you find good stuff every week, your collection grows by leaps and bounds, the cassette-tapes & CDs you use in the car are all the better for that and the many hours you spend in your music room are kinda like going to church, both in terms of rituals and communion with the Artists. But at times one tends to worship those pieces of vinyl just a little too much ; I mean, we gotta stay clear of any kind of fetishism (as the late Frank Zappa used to say) which could only spoil the fun and joy of collecting the work of Artists -- well-known as well as obscure -- in a real dedicated way.
My point is, they may be Artists, they're people first and foremost ; that's why I've always wanted to meet as many of them as I could in order to write about both their music and their lives -- which I've done in various publications over the years. However, with the advent of the Internet, I thought I'd be able to resume my writing and do it properly -- while reaching more readers at the same time.
We'll not only discuss the Artists
and their music (sometimes including full or selected discographies), but
also the formats on which it's available, the books and magazines dealing
with those topics, and to make a full roundup, we'll list our favorite Websites
(check out our 'Web
Faves'
page for that matter).
Eclecticism is
a key word in my book --
but never to the detriment of discernment ; I need to feel energy, soul and
commitment in what I hear. Likewise, although being a longtime Rock'n'Roll
fan, I've always liked Jazz, Soul, Harmony Groups and Country and I've always
been fascinated by the interaction between all these musical styles (a case
in point would be Western Swing -- one of my favorite musical areas -- which
is a terrific blend of Hillbilly, Jazz, Oldtime and pure Pop).
Almost all my pieces on music are written in English because it's my favorite
language, but I will devote a few pages to other topics of major interest
(war, politics, religion, humanitarian causes) which will be mostly written
in French, my mother tongue.
The navigation is easy
: simply click the 'Big V Jamboree' logo at the top of each page to go to
the 'Contents' of the site, or click the 'Contents' link located at the bottom
of each page ; from there, you can access any Artist's page.
Flash animations have been added over the past few years as well as much original
music in mp3 format. Of course, these are only short musical samples ! You
can hear them either when a particular page is loading or by clicking the
phono pictured below when it appears (here, you'll hear 20 seconds of the
excellent version of 'Moanin' The Blues' that Bobby Barnett cut on his Sims
LP, 'At The World Famous Crystal Palace').
Sometimes, a specially designed jukebox will be the link to more exciting
music.
Guess
you have a true synthesis of my approach to the Art form I love the best
; so sit down, relax and take a trip through the century to discover (or rediscover) some great music, courtesy of timeless Artists who helped save the life of a young kid along the way ...
Any publisher out there (European or US) interested in making my works available as a bonafide book or an interactive CD-Rom ? Any record company willing to release quality reissues featuring informative liner notes and rare photos ? PLEASE contact me (I'm now available and not losing any more time working in a useless accountancy office for a living !!!).
Thanks to the following
people, including family members, dear friends, fellow collectors, bio/discographers,
record producers and a host of great Artists I've been lucky enough to meet
and interview over the years :
Marie, Nellie,
Agnès, Léonta, Louisa, Aimé, Jean-Louis, Pierrette, Jean-François
Audouard, Jewel Akens,
the late Glenn Barber, Tony Barrett, Lee Bell, Bud Chowning, Alan Clark, Eddie
Cletro, the late Eddie Dean,
David Dennard, Tommy 'Bubba' Facenda, Georgie Fame, Tony Freer, Bruno Gay-Vidal,
Bobby Gibson,
Cary Ginell, Derek Glenister, Glen Glenn, the late Ernie Hagar, Dickie 'Be-Bop'
Harrell, Derek Henderson,
the late Harold Hensley, Larry Hosford, the late Rome Johnson, Boppin' Bob
Jones,
Big John Koenig, Jean & Gary Lambert, the late Roy Lanham, Gérard
Lautrey, Albert Lee,
Billy Liebert, Greg Loescher, Alain Mallaret, Carl Mann, Rose Lee Maphis,
Eddie Marshall,
Sammy Masters, Johnny Meeks, the late Jerry Lee Merritt, Jean-Guy Meunier,
Danny Michaels, Pierre Monnery, the late Merrill Moore, Red Moore, Ray Stanley
Nussbaum,
the late Doye O'Dell, the late Paul Peek, the late Hank Penny, Shari &
Sydney Penny,
the late Carl Perkins, Mike Pitts, Jeff Porterfield, Jean-Yves Raymond, the
late Sharon Sheeley,
Serge Schlawick, the late Harry Shields, Tom Sims, Connie 'Guybo' Smith, Tom
Tall, Brian Taylor,
Sue Thompson, Lou & Heroldine Ukelson, Piper Vincent, Derry Weaver,
Richard Weize, the late Wesley 'Speedy' West, Steve Wisner, Rusty York ...