Mark Schlack

Album Reviews
Blues Classic Better Than Ever
Mark Schlack  |  Sep 01, 2010  |  1 comments

It was 1965 and Junior Wells was no longer the precocious teenager who had gotten the likes of Muddy Waters, Elmore James and Otis Spann to back him up on his 1953 and 1954 hit singles. Now 30, he was a fixture of that generation of electric Chicago bluesmen. He toured, and worked regularly at Theresa’s on the South Side. And he was about to make an album that has long been a staple of any modern blues collection.

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Album Reviews
Aretha's Homage to Dinah Has Strings Attached
Mark Schlack  |  Aug 01, 2010  |  0 comments
Aretha Franklin’s escape from the squares at Columbia Records to become the Queen of Soul on groovy Atlantic is one of the great legends of popular music.

Think about it: Aretha Franklin, John Hammond and Jerry Wexler —three giants of music— all converge in one story. But do the facts support the legend? This album certainly gives pause.

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Album Reviews
Another Reviewer's Take on Odd Blue Note Reissue
Mark Schlack  |  Jul 01, 2009  |  0 comments

This is not your typical Blue Note album. Sure, Oscar Pettiford and Ed Thigpen swing impeccably on bass and drums, but fronting baritone sax, trombone and guitar? Sounds more like a description of an oompah band than jazz, but honest, jazz it is.

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