Air Mail Special [#] - Jimmie Rivers, Christian, Charlie
How High the Moon [#] - Jimmie Rivers, Hamilton, Nancy
Surf Ride [#]
Rose Room [#] - Jimmie Rivers, Hickman, Art
It's a Sin to Tell a Lie [#] - Jimmie Rivers, Mayhew, Billy
Twin Guitar Special [#]
Jimmie Rivers was the leader of a late-'50s/early-'60s eight-man house band at a Brisbane, California, nightclub called DeMarco's 23 Club. There, when they weren't backing the likes of Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb, River... more »s and the boys indulged their own Western swing whims. Brisbane Bop captures those flights of fancy, and it's a revelation. Rivers was a sophisticated, fleet-fingered player with a love for Charlie Christian and Barney Kessel, and eclectic taste in material that encompassed everything from pop standards to the odd Art Pepper cover. Brisbane Bop is culled from informal recordings made by steel guitarist Vance Terry. While they're not clean by today's standards, the CD is eminently listenable and has its own kind of honky-tonk charm. The whoops from the crowd and on-stage announcements ("Every Sunday we'll start at 7 ... so you can get drunk and go home early") gives the 19-song collection a kind of roadhouse Live at the Regal ambiance. --Steven Stolder« less
Jimmie Rivers was the leader of a late-'50s/early-'60s eight-man house band at a Brisbane, California, nightclub called DeMarco's 23 Club. There, when they weren't backing the likes of Lefty Frizzell and Ernest Tubb, Rivers and the boys indulged their own Western swing whims. Brisbane Bop captures those flights of fancy, and it's a revelation. Rivers was a sophisticated, fleet-fingered player with a love for Charlie Christian and Barney Kessel, and eclectic taste in material that encompassed everything from pop standards to the odd Art Pepper cover. Brisbane Bop is culled from informal recordings made by steel guitarist Vance Terry. While they're not clean by today's standards, the CD is eminently listenable and has its own kind of honky-tonk charm. The whoops from the crowd and on-stage announcements ("Every Sunday we'll start at 7 ... so you can get drunk and go home early") gives the 19-song collection a kind of roadhouse Live at the Regal ambiance. --Steven Stolder
"Brisbane Bop, which is a compilation of live recordings made at the 23 Club in Brisbane, CA in the early 60s, is the best example of the Western Swing genre. The album features the smoking guitar work of Western Swing Hall of Fame inductees Jimmy Rivers (lead) and Gene Duncan (rhythm) and the steel guitar of Vance Terry. While the bulk of the album is instrumental, the track "It's All Your Fault" features a stellar vocal performance by Gene Duncan. If you're at all interested in Country Western, Swing or Blues, this is a "must-have" album."
"The music starts at nine and the fighting starts at ten."
06/03/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Hot, bluesy Western swing from pre-Beatles Bay Area rednecks. Rivers was a transplanted Okie whose amazing, Charlie-Christian-inspired twin-neck guitar playing was the feature attraction of the early-60s house band at the legendary DeMarco's 23 Club in Brisbane, Calif. The other hot player was Sacramento steel guitarist Vance Terry, giving the unfortunately named Cherokees a seductive, switchblades-in-the-alley sound that drew equally from blues and country, while its rawness and backbeat are suggestive of the sweaty rock 'n' roll waiting just around the corner. Sometime between 1961 and 1964, Terry snuck a tape recorder on stage and captured these tracks. Look, Jimmie Rivers is one of Merle Haggard's idols. Who are you to argue?"
Grade "A" West Coast Swing
11/11/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This fine compilation of live reel-to-reel recordings capture Rivers as leader of the best bay-area western swing group of the 1960's. The chugging, honky-tonk rhythm playing and singing of Gene Duncan was a perfect compliment to the magnificient jazz-influenced double-picking of Rivers. Of particular interest are the breathtaking duets featuring Rivers and teen-aged steel guitar innovator Vance Terry, formerly with Billy Jack Wills' Western Swing Band. (Fortunately, this CD is packed full of those brilliant, uptempo dutes.) After a few notes from Rivers' custom-made Gibson double-neck 6 & 12-string guitar you realize that live club playing simply doesn't get much better than this. Rivers' astonishing ability didn't go unnoticed. He received (and turned down) an employment offer from Bob Wills himself ("...sir, I just can't do that. You're offering me $85 a week. I have a family. I'm making $300-$1000 a week now...") and is highly respected by most west-coast musicians today. Thankfully, these live recordings have been reissued with 6 additional tracks (featuring Rivers' hilarious microphone antics) which prove the case convincingly."
Overwhelming Unknown Genius!
Donald B. Payjack | Calgary, AB Canada | 05/10/2002
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It blows my mind to think that a guitarist of such high caliber could toil away nightly in total obscurity at such a rough&tumble blue collar dive bar. From start to finish this CD is jammed with endless bebop runs in the style of Jimmy Bryant, Charlie Christian, etc. impeccably executed to the absolute disinterest of the assembled patrons and the world at large. Thank god someone was running a tape recorder so that we can now appreciate this immense talent and these fantastic performances."
Track Listings (19) - Disc #1
