Monday, August 24, 2009

New cuts from Jef Lee Johnson

If you’re not yet into Jef Lee Johnson, the fault is mine. I should be blogging about this cat every week.

A virtuoso guitarist and idiosyncratic singer-songwriter, he has been one of my favorite recording artists for the past dozen years.

Jef Lee’s one-man-band albums offer up delights for blues and jazz heads, funkateers, black rockers, guitar fags and indie-music omnivores. Yet he’s one of America’s best-kept secrets.

Jef Lee Johnson has a new double-CD out called “Longing Belonging Ongoing.” We’re talking 30 tracks here. A lot of those tracks feel like sketches from a sketchbook, but that’s how he tends to do.

For some reason, Jef Lee released this project under the name “aka rainbow crow.” (Dude does have his quirks.) The fastest way to get your hands on “Longing Belonging” is to order directly from the Philly-based distributor Dreambox Media.

I’m streaming three cuts on my Vox blog. Click below to listen.

1. “TV people”

2. “BONE (Ghettos of the Mind)”

3. “gods gone by”
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9 comments:

  1. D W JazzLoverAugust 24, 2009 at 1:13 PM

    Thanks for the introduction, great stuff.

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  2. DeAngelo StarnesAugust 24, 2009 at 6:48 PM

    Hell yeah, Dave. Dude is prolific.

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  3. junebugAugust 24, 2009 at 7:29 PM

    Picked up Hype Factory awhile ago...oddly enough, just to get the song "You Walk, You Crawl", which I heard on the last episode of Kingpin. Brother's worked with the Roots and I believe George Clinton. Dope shiznit.

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  4. guzmánAugust 27, 2009 at 11:43 PM

    Damn this was some tasty shit. Spacefunk is alive and well. Thanks!

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  5. Undercover Black ManAugust 28, 2009 at 3:21 AM

    ^ Glad you liked. And thanks for tweeting it forward.

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  6. valerienAugust 31, 2009 at 2:48 PM

    Wow, I am so happy that Jef Lee is still in the game. We used to hang out back in the day when he played with Rachelle Ferrell and he even made a mix tape for me of his songs and wrote one for me. To say this dude to amazing is an an understatement.... I hope he gets his due on a grand scale one day soon....
    Lovin' me some Jef Lee.....
    V :-D

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  7. Undercover Black ManAugust 31, 2009 at 4:24 PM

    ^ Thanks for that, Valerie.

    What's the name of the tune he wrote for you?

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  8. valerienSeptember 1, 2009 at 2:07 PM

    I thought I misplaced the tape but I still have it with the tape jacket reading: jef lee johnson: tunes; all songs and sounds by jef 1994. The name of the tune was 'Hair by Valerie' quite a tribute, I must say.... :-)

    V

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  9. Undercover Black ManSeptember 1, 2009 at 2:08 PM

    ^ Cool!

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