''Sidewalk Blues'' (subtitled ''Blues, Rags, Jazz & Spirituals'') is an album by American guitarist

Tim Sparks Tim Sparks (born October 31, 1954) is an American acoustic guitar player, singer, arranger and composer. Life Raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he was given his first guitar when a bout of encephalitis kept him out of school for a year. T ...

, released in 2009. It marks a return to '

roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

' music for Sparks after three albums of

klezmer Klezmer ( yi, קלעזמער or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for l ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

recordings on the

Tzadik Records Tzadik Records is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a n ...

label.

History

After three releases on the

label, Sparks decided to return to his musical roots of North Carolina. In a quote from a story in ''

High Plains Reader The ''High Plains Reader'' is an alternative newspaper serving the Fargo metropolitan area, with an estimated readership of 20,000 to 30,000 weekly between print and online readers. The tabloid was founded in 1994 by Ian Swanson, Peter Ryan, and ...

'', Sparks said “After '' Masada Guitars'' I wanted to revisit roots music. This record is something I’ve always wanted to make, but I needed the hindsight of thirty years to work on guitar to complete it... I reached a point where I realized I had a record here and that I had good arrangements of these songs.” Sparks used a variety of guitars for the recording, including Collings, a custom-made Hoffman, Lakewood, 1954

Martin Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...

00-17, and a 1917

Gibson Gibson may refer to: People * Gibson (surname) Businesses * Gibson Brands, Inc., an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and audio equipment * Gibson Technology, and English automotive and motorsport company based * Gi ...

L-3.

Reception

'' Guitar Player'' noted the wonderful sound of the various guitars used and the "great arrangements and virtuoso performances" wrote "If you think you might go for swinging fingerstyle arrangements of blues tunes... you should take this disc for a spin." Music critic Chip O'Brien praised the variety of the album, writing Sparks "plows, punctuates, and pulses his way through a well-chosen batch of ragtime, jazz, country blues, and gospel with an individual flair and spirit to burn... a master of the instrument. His arrangements and performances of Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, and Bix Beiderbecke compositions are flawless, at times playful, and always soulful... A must have for fans of Tim Sparks and for anyone who loves fingerstyle guitar playing."

Track listing

#"Mississippi Blues" ( Willie Brown) – 3:08 #"Sidewalk Blues" ( Jelly Roll Morton) – 2:44 #"Oriental Blues" ( Eubie Blake) – 3:58 #"

Potato Head Blues "Potato Head Blues" is a Louis Armstrong composition regarded as one of his finest recordings. It was made by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Seven for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois on May 10, 1927. It was recorded during a remarkably productive ...

" (

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

) – 2:43 #"In a Mist" (

Bix Beiderbecke Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 – August 6, 1931) was an American jazz cornetist, pianist and composer. Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s, a cornet player noted for an inventive lyrical app ...

) – 3:06 #"The Alligator Crawl" (

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

) – 2:46 #" How Great Thou Art" (Traditional) – 3:49 #"There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt O' My Tears" (

Fred Fisher Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach, September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher. Biography Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenba ...

) – 3:10 #"The Pearls" (Morton) – 3:09 #"

Maple Leaf Rag The "Maple Leaf Rag" (copyright registered on September 18, 1899) is an early ragtime musical composition for piano composed by Scott Joplin. It was one of Joplin's early works, and became the model for ragtime compositions by subsequent compos ...

" (

Scott Joplin Scott Joplin ( 1868 – April 1, 1917) was an American composer and pianist. Because of the fame achieved for his ragtime compositions, he was dubbed the "King of Ragtime." During his career, he wrote over 40 original ragtime pieces, one ra ...

) – 2:28 #"This Great Caravan Keeps On Rolling Along" (Vep Ellis) – 4:21 #"Goin' Back to Mississippi Blues" (Brown, Arrangement by Tim Sparks) – 2:52 #"Carolina Shout" (

James P. Johnson James Price Johnson (February 1, 1894 – November 17, 1955) was an American pianist and composer. A pioneer of stride piano, he was one of the most important pianists in the early era of recording, and like Jelly Roll Morton, one of the key ...

) – 2:57 #"

I'll Fly Away "I'll Fly Away" is a hymn written in 1929 by Albert E. Brumley and published in 1932 by the Hartford Music company in a collection titled ''Wonderful Message''.Richard Matteson, Jr.''The Bluegrass Picker's Tune Book'' Mel Bay Publications, 2006 ...

" ( Albert Brumley) – 2:57 #"Victory Rag" ( Maybelle Carter) – 2:16 #" Jelly Roll Blues" (Morton) – 3:42 #" Amazing Grace" (Traditional) – :33

Personnel

*Tim Sparks – acoustic guitar

Production notes

*Produced by Tim Sparks *Recorded by Rod Volker, Steve Elliot, Bob Pierce, Bruce Muckala, Phil Kerr *Design by Lacey Koby *Photography by Gale Kass

References

External links

Guitar Player Magazine interviewTwin Cities Daily Planet interview
{{Authority control 2009 albums Tim Sparks albums