#ingrid berry

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

Chuck Berry Jr. on being raised by the father of rock 'n' roll

Chuck Berry passed away in March at 90, leaving behind a body of work that shaped the very foundations of modern music. But the father of rock 'n' roll wasn't done: Chuck, available June 9 and streaming on CBC Music now, is Berry's first album of new material since 1979's Rockit, and a poignant reminder of the musician's legacy and influence.

The album almost didn't happen. The songs on Chuck were in the works immediately following Rockit, and he worked on them for the better part of a decade. Then, in 1989, his studio/former amusement park, Berry Park, where his recordings were held, burnt to the ground and with it, all of his unreleased work.

"He was going through the process of getting his music together and then the fire hit, and he freaked out, man," says his son, Chuck Berry Jr., who plays guitar on Chuck and toured with his dad for 14 years. "It was like, man, I'm steam rollin', I'm doing plenty of concerts, and he had a very creative period through that point, probably 30 or 40 songs in that 10-year period. That's a lot of stuff ... he had close to four albums worth of music, potentially." [Read More]

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Chuck Berry - “Big Boys”

The ghost of “Johnny B. Goode” will rise June 16.

That’s the day Chuck, the first album from Chuck Berry since 1979’s Rock It, will be released. It includes 10 tracks written and recorded between the 1980s and 2015, at least two of which are infused with the spirit of the mythical Mr. J.B. Goode.

Yet to be unveiled is “Lady B. Goode,” described in a news release as “a spiritual sequel” to Berry’s best-known song. But the just-released “Big Boys,” which reprises the song’s iconic opening riff and features Tom Morello and Nathaniel Rateliff, also has the aura of “Johnny B. Goode" inside it.

“Big Boys” is exactly what you’d expect from a new, sadly posthumous, Berry song. It breaks no ground, but instead recalls Berry’s classic period as honky-tonk piano spars with stinging, single-note runs while Berry sings about being in school and trying - and failing - to be cool by partying with the big boys and girls.

Yes, yes/I didn’t cry/yes, yes/and you know why/yes, yes/I knew when and what/yes, yes/no ifs, ands or butts/I was lookin’ for joy/yes, yes, yes, yes/when I was a little, bitty boy

Berry announced Chuck’s impending arrival on the occasion of his 90th birthday back in October but didn’t live to see it released.

Gary Clark Jr. and Berry’s grandson, Charles Berry III, join Morello and Rateliff as the special guests who augment the core band of bassist Jimmy Marsala, pianist Robert Lohr, drummer Keith Robinson along with Berry’s son Charles Berry Jr. on guitar and daughter Ingrid Berry, who sings a duet with Dad on “Darlin’” and also plays harmonica.

Chuck is “truly … a family affair,” they said in a statement on Facebook.

“Working on my dad’s record has been one of the best experiences of my life,” Charles Jr. said. “I will forever treasure the musical conversations we had and the time we spent together completing it.”

Berry died March 18 at age 90 and the family said the guitarist “spent his last days at home surrounded by the love of his family and friends.”

Grade card: Chuck Berry - “Big Boys” - C

3/22/17

[longliverockback]

Chuck Berry Chuck 2017 Dualtone ——————————————————————— Tracks: 01. Wonderful Woman 02. Big Boys 03. You Go to My Head 04. 3/4 Time (Enchiladas) 05. Darlin’ 06. Lady B. Goode 07. She Still Loves You 08. Jamaica Moon 09. Dutchman 10. Eyes of Man ———————————————————————

Charles Berry

Chuck Berry

Ingrid Berry

Robert Lohr

Jimmy Marsala

Keith Robinson

* Long Live Rock Archive

[krispyweiss]

Album Review: Chuck Berry - CHUCK

Chuck Berry’s eponymous, posthumous album is like a gift from the great beyond.

And as with any gift that’s sweet, but not necessarily useful over the long term, it’s the thought that counts with CHUCK.

Berry, who died at 90 in March, announced the release of his first album in nearly four decades on the occasion of his momentous birthday in late 2016. Featuring appearances from friends Tom Morello, Gary Clark Jr. and Nathaniel Rateliff and family, daughter Ingrid Berry, son Charles Jr. and grandson Charles III, CHUCK rolls by like a celebration of Berry’s life.

There’re peans to past glories (“Lady B. Goode” and the spoken-word “Dutchman”); a live homage to Berry’s late-career residency at St. Louis’ Blueberry Hill in the form of the novelty “¾ Time (Enchiladas);” and even an canonical track, “Wonderful Woman,” which features the octogenarian Berry, as he does throughout the album, playing and singing like a much-younger man.

The 35-minute album also has its share of lovable duds, notably “Jamaica Moon,” which finds Berry effecting a corny accent and the sweet but silly “You Go to My Head,” a father-daughter duet.

Ultimately, CHUCK, much like the Doors’ post-Jim Morrison Other Voices, Little Feat’s post-Lowell George Let it Roll and the Eagles’ post-20th century Long Road out of Eden, will stand as a end-of-career curiosity and not an album future music lovers will turn to when discussing the gospel of the great, foundational Chuck Berry.

Grade card: Chuck Berry - CHUCK - C+

6/9/17

[apollowati]

rock n’ roll legend Chuck Berry has died Read More: rock n’ roll legend Chuck Berry has died | http://www.brooklynvegan.com/rock-n-roll-pioneer-chuck-berry-has-died/?trackback=tsmclip

[krispyweiss]

Chuck Berry Announces Surprise Album, Hints at Retirement, on His 90th Birthday

Surprise!

Chuck Berry, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s founders and a charter member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, unveiled his first album in nearly 40 years on Tuesday, which also happens to be Berry’s 90th birthday.

He also hinted at retirement in the statement that dedicated Chuck to Themetta Berry, his wife of 68 years.

“My darlin’ I’m growing old!,” Berry said. “I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”

Chuck is Berry’s first album since 1979’s Rock It and reportedly consists of new, original songs penned, produced and performed by the guitarist and his backing band, which includes guitarist/son Charles Jr. and daughter/harmonica player Ingrid.

Berry’s son issued a statement calling it an honor to be part of the new record.

“These songs cover the spectrum from hard-driving rockers to soulful, thought-provoking time capsules of a life’s work,” he said.

Chuck is slated for release in 2017.

10/18/16

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

Chuck Berry Doesn't Play for You: At 85, the inventor of rock 'n' roll is still making music. Great music. Only now it's just for him.

Chuck Berry invented rock 'n' roll.

Okay, nobody invented rock 'n' roll.

It's not a single-stemmed thing. It came from a lot of different places and people. It's a patchwork of blues and country and folk, and it's more than that, too. Some musicologists say that the first rock 'n' roll record was actually recorded by a different guy, Ike Turner, who came up playing in the same club scene as Chuck Berry. "Rocket '88,' " the song's called. Ask Berry about that theory, though, and he'll shake his head.

"He was totally Afro-American," he'll say, by way of explanation, about Ike Turner and Ike Turner's music.

Chuck Berry's music wasn't totally anything.

His first single, "Maybellene," was built out of an old white hillbilly country song, then fed through the blender of Berry's guitar and Willie Dixon's bass until something entirely new poured out.

And whatever that was, that new sound, that white-black hybrid, Berry ran with it, and the rest of the world did, too.

And though you could argue that some sort of proto-rock might have existed prior, there's no arguing that the songs that Berry wrote in the mid-1950s — songs like "Johnny B. Goode," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Roll Over Beethoven" — are the bedrock substrates underlying pretty much everything we now call rock 'n' roll.

But the origins of rock 'n' roll, and Chuck Berry's part in it, are subjects you could parse and bicker about forever. Or you could just let John Lennon have the last word.

"If you tried to give rock 'n' roll another name," he said, "you might call it Chuck Berry." [Read More]

[blackrockandrollmusic-blog]

Chuck Berry & Ingrid Berry - Baby What You Want Me To Do (1975)