Little Axe will be performing at Plan B in Brixton for his album launch on 21st May, 2010
Skip 'Little Axe' McDonald, the legendary blues guitarist, will be performing at Plan B in Brixton 21st May to launch his new album 'Bought For A Dollar, Sold For A Dime' which will be released on 7 June 2010 on Real World Records.
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An old school bluesman in the tradition of everyone from Howling Wolf and Leadbelly to Blind Willie Johnson, McDonald channels the past into the future through his internationally regarded project, Little Axe. Founded in the early 1990s, with five acclaimed albums to their credit (three for Real World), Little Axe are redefining the blues for the current generation.
The Little Axe melting pot is large, and bubbling. Here are addictive rhythms. Soulful vocals. Pinches of dub and funk, reggae and gospel. Oh-so-subtle samples and innovative electronics. And underpinning it all, McDonald's shimmering blues guitar licks, conjuring a space where the dirt roads of the Deep South meet the shiny lanes of the Information Superhighway.
After a series of studio-based, effects-laden albums, they have returned to their roots on Bought For a Dollar, Sold For a Dime. For the first time in seventeen years the original crew met, pressed flesh and played live. A host of musical heavyweights assembled in the Big Room at Real World for this rare and privileged session, with all but the London-based McDonald and his co-producer, British dub maestro Adrian Sherwood, flying in from across the USA.
Titans such as soul singer Bernard Fowler, whose voice has graced sets from The Rolling Stones, Sly and Robbie to Ryuchi Sakamoto. Drummer Keith LeBlanc, a percussionist with a similarly impressive solo CV. Bassist Doug Wimbish, erstwhile axeman for rock outfit Living Colour and session player extraordinaire. All of whom made up the seminal British outfit, Tackhead (1987 - 1991 CK), a band whose futuristic beat was once likened to a thousand iron doors shutting at once - and whose pioneering devices are now integral aspects of rap and pop. LeBlanc, Wimbish and McDonald had previously blazed a trail as The Sugarhill Gang, house band of the famed early '80s rap label Sugar Hill Records; they were, quite probably, the most important rhythm section on the planet.
Real World's state-of-the-art facilities opened its arms to other collective regulars: impassioned vocalists Saranella Bell and Kevin Gibbs, harmonica player Alan Glen and brass ensemble, The Crispy Horns. Deep-throated guest vocalist Ken Booth recorded his parts - for the affecting Can't Sleep At Night and the measured, spacious Temptation - in Jamaica.
Guest drummer, the Paris-based Cyril Atef, uploaded his contributions to the mixing studio, where McDonald and Sherwood put their final touches to tracks both new and reworked. The result is a live album, Little Axe-style.
"I understand the blues better now that I'm older," says Skip. "But doing this album..." He flashes a grin. "This album has made me feel young again."
Live Dates:
May 21st 2010 - Plan B, London - ALBUM Launch
Little Axe Official Website
Little Axe MySpace
Little Axe on Real World Records
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