1 	News All Over Town 	7:09
2 	I Cried Last Night 	4:27
3 	When Did You Leave Heaven 	5:12
4 	There Is No Greater Love 	3:23
5 	If I Had You	3:52
6 	Gee 	3:13
7 	The Very Thought Of You 	5:05
8 	You Won't Let Me Go 	4:54
9 	The Honey Dripper 	4:27
10 	They All Say I'm The Biggest Fool	4:21
11 	At Your Beck And Call 	5:58
12 	Everyday I Have The Blues 	4:02
13 	Precious Lord 	3:32
14 	Charles Brown's Thank You 	0:28

Bass – Ruth Davies
Design – CB Graphic
Drums – Gaylord Birch
Guitar, Music Director – Danny Caron
Piano, Vocals – Charles Brown
Producer – John Snyder
Tenor Saxophone – Clifford Solomon
Vocals - Etta James (track 5)
Vocals - Irene Reid (track 10)

"Soothing" is not a word normally associated with blues, but its the word that best captures the experience of listening to Charles Brown, and Honey Dripper is no exception. Listening to it is like sipping a fine bottle of cognac. Seventy-two years old at the time of this recording session, Brown sounds agile, almost ageless. Indeed, time seems to stand still when he plays and sings in that same understated, urbane manner he popularized with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers back in the 1940s. Like his other recordings this decade, Honey Dripper features Brown's regular working combo, led by guitarist Danny Caron and including saxophonist Clifford Solomon. The songs range from straight-ahead blues to jazz ballads, with some straddling the line. ---Steve Hoffman, AllMusic Review

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A1 	I Cried Last Night 	4:12
A2 	Save Your Love For Me 	4:50
A3 	Who Will The Next Fool Be 	4:06
A4 	Cottage For Sale 	4:33
A5 	Travelin' Blues 	2:46
B1 	(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66 	4:58
B2 	One For My Baby 	5:38
B3 	My Heart Is Mended 	2:12
B4 	He's Got You 	2:45
B5 	I Miss You So 	4:05
B6 	Get Yourself Another Fool 	4:01

Acoustic Bass – Earl May
Drums – Kenny Washington
Guitar – Billy Butler
Piano, Vocals, Arranged By – Charles Brown
Tenor Saxophone – Harold Ousley 

One of the first comeback salvos that the veteran pianist fired after suffering the slings and arrows of anonymity for much too long. Typically delectable in a subtle, understated manner, Brown eases through a very attractive program. ---Bill Dahl, AllMusic Review

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1	These Blues 	6:32
2	Honey	3:46
3	May I Never Love Again	5:05
4	I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good	5:24
5	Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)	5:51
6	A Hundred Years From Today	5:23
7	Save Your Love For Me	5:25
8	I Did My Best For You	7:21
9	Sunday Kind Of Love	4:44
10	Tomorrow	5:11
11	Amazing Grace	4:15

Bass – Ruth Davies
Drums – Gaylord Birch
Guitar – Danny Caron
Tenor Saxophone – Clifford Solomon
Vocals, Piano – Charles Brown

Between 1956 and 1986, pianist Charles Brown was basically cast aside by the blues world. Despite the widespread influence of his pioneering, jazz-oriented West Coast blues, Brown bounced from label to label with scarcely any success or notoriety. In 1986, guitarist Danny Caron urged him to make a comeback, a move that resulted in remarkable success. This 1994 release, produced when Brown was 72 years old, marks a highlight of his unbelievable comeback. With Caron and saxophonist Clifford Solomon offering solid support, Brown proves he's still got talent to spare. His solo reading of Ellington's "I Got It Bad" combines his smoky vocals with wonderfully vibrant piano while Louis Jordan's "Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't" offers jump blues at its most tasteful. ---Marc Greilsamer, amazon.com

Brown was enjoying the peak of an astounding career resurgence when he recorded THESE BLUES in 1994. Amazingly, his powers were in no way diminished. It has been said before that Brown sounds here almost exactly like he did on his breakthough hits of the late '40s, when his urbane brand of post-Nat King Cole blues provided a blueprint for such artists as Ray Charles and Chuck Berry.

Backed by an excellent small combo, Brown tears into a set of blues and bluesy pop songs. He even goes solo on Duke Ellington's "I Got it Bad (And that ain't Good"). While his vocals are as insinuating as ever, it's Brown's piano playing that astonishes-an amazing mix of traditional blues licks, Erroll Garner-ish block chords, and quicksilver octave passages that seem to appear out of nowhere. ---AllMusic Review

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1.Merry Christmas, Baby (04:49)
2.Santa's Blues (03:26)
3.Blue Holiday (04:36)
4.Silent Night (04:56)
5.Christmas Comes But Once a Year (04:20)
6.Please Come Home for Christmas (03:19)
7.A Song for Christmas (06:20)
8.Stay With Me (04:47)
9.To Someone That I Love (04:51)
10.Christmas in Heaven (04:00)
11.Bringing in a Brand New Year (05:31)

Personnel:
Charles Brown (vocals, cello, piano); 
Danny Caron (guitar); 
Clifford Solomon, Bobby Forte (tenor saxophone);
Johnny Otis (vibraphone); 
Gaylord Birch (drums).

Charles Brown is responsible for one of the bluesiest Christmas tunes ever, "Please Come Home for Christmas." Countless individuals and groups have covered this heartbreak classic because it so readily embraces the theme of being home for the holidays with loved ones. Brown's golden hit is just one of the highlights on his 1994 Christmas album, along with "Merry Christmas, Baby," a blues tune almost as popular as "Please Come Home for Christmas." Some of the newer tunes he's written for this record are almost as savory, including "Christmas Comes but Once a Year," a rockin' little number featuring the legendary Johnny Otis on vibes; the jazzy, six-minute-plus meditation on the holiday "A Song for Christmas"; and a couple of forthright love songs, not to mention "Christmas in Heaven" and "Bringing In a Brand New Year." --Martin Keller, amazon.com

Long recognized as the perennial top contender when it comes to Yuletide R&B, Brown salutes the holiday season in his own inimitable manner. Naturally, there's the umpteenth remake of his seminal "Merry Christmas Baby," along with several more that he's been crooning every December since before most of us were born. But nobody does 'em better. –Bill Dahl, Rovi

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01. I Won't Cry Anymore (5:27)
02. I'm Just a Lucky So and So (3:44)   play
03. Black Night (5:02)
04. One Never Knows, Does One? (4:04)   play
05. Driftin' Blues (5:22)
06. Gloomy Sunday (5:57)
07. I Stepped in Quicksand (5:26)
08. The Danger Isn't Over (4:45)
09. A Song for Christmas (5:07)
10. So Long (5:21)


Charles Brown - Piano & Vocals
Clifford Solomon - Tenor Sax
Danny Caron - Guitar
Ruth Davies - Bass
Gaylord Birch - Drums
and
The New Orleans Strings
Wardell & The Crescent City Horns
Chuck Carbo & The Band (Bckgr Vocals)

Recorded in New Orleans, 1994.

“Driftin' Blues,” “Black Night,” “Merry Christmas Baby” - these are but a few of Charles Brown's recordings that topped the R&B charts in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Charles Brown's mellow, sophisticated brand of blues was tailor-made for postwar Los Angeles nightclub audiences, who found it a refreshing contrast to the aggressive blues shouters and acoustic guitar pickers who had dominated the blues scene. And the national audience caught on, too; in the course of just a couple of years Charles Brown became a national R&B superstar. His new, urbane approach to the blues was tremendously popular and extremely influential. Brown's style left a lasting impression on other legendary performers. He was a crucial influence on three of the greats of R&B: Ray Charles (whose early piano trios were attempts to imitate the Brown sound); Bobby "Blue" Bland (who had a huge hit with his version of “Driftin' Blues”) and Sam Cooke (whose “Bring It On Home To Me” is based on a Brown composition, “I Want To Go Home”).

Charles Brown was born in Texas City, Texas in 1922 and began studying classical piano at the age of ten. After hearing jazz great Art Tatum, Charles committed himself to jazz and blues. Tatum, Brown explained, was the was the first piano player he had heard combine the breadth and dynamics of classical music with the blues and jazz that were part of Brown's childhood in Texas. Most importantly, Tatum brought sophistication to the blues that Charles could relate to his own musical and personal sensibilities. After graduating from college with a degree in chemistry, Brown worked as a chemist and high school teacher.

Moving to Los Angeles in 1944, he was hired by guitarist Johnny Moore, whose brother Oscar Moore was the innovative guitarist in the Nat "King" Cole Trio. Johnny was forming his own trio, The Three Blazers. The group, like the "King" Cole Trio, epitomized the cool, relaxed West Coast piano trio style but brought to the sound a melancholy blues quality that was distant from Cole's swinging arrangements. The Three Blazers' hit recording of Brown's “Driftin' Blues” was the first record in years to knock Louis Jordan from the top of the R&B charts. The Three Blazers with Charles Brown became one of the most recorded R&B groups in the country, scoring hits with “Merry Christmas Baby” and “Sunny Road,” classics of the West Coast club blues style. The dapper, soft-spoken and handsome Charles Brown became an R&B star. But fame in the R&B world was a double-edged sword for Charles; he scored hit after hit but rarely had the opportunity to display the full range of his musical abilities.

In 1948, Charles left the Blazers. He immediately began recording under his own name, cutting another series of hits including “Please Come Home For Christmas,” “Find Yourself Another Fool,” “Trouble Blues,” “Black Night,” “My Baby's Gone,” “I'll Always Be In Love With You” and “Hard Times.” All told, he recorded nine top ten R&B hits in a period of six years. During the 1950s, Charles continued to be a top attraction on the R&B circuit, headlining national tours with artists like Fats Domino, Bill Doggett, Roy Brown and Amos Milburn.

The decline of traditional R&B during the early years of rock'n'roll brought Charles' tenure as a popular artist to an end. Even though his talents were much broader than those of the majority of R&B artists, Charles never crossed over like his peers Ray Charles or Nat "King" Cole, and he continued to perform as a club artist for his loyal fans. The 1960s and '70s saw several major blues revivals, but none of them quite caught up with Charles. The harder electric sounds of Chicago and Texas caught on with the rock fans, while rough-edged Delta sounds caught the attention of the folk music market. While the jazz crowd found Charles too bluesy, the blues fans thought he was too urbane and not "authentic" enough. He continued to record until the mid '70s, but his sales were small. The 1980s finally brought Charles a new generation of listeners, awakened to his music by the appearance of several reissues on the Swedish Route 66 label and most notably by Charles' appearances at Tramps, a New York nightclub. The gigs, with Billy Butler (of “Honky Tonk” fame) on guitar, earned a new round of press attention for Charles, including a feature in THE NEW YORK TIMES.

In 1986, Charles into the studio with a handpicked New York band featuring Butler. In two sessions, they cut an album for the Blue Side label entitled ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD that won overwhelming critical response and revitalized Charles Brown's career. He played the San Francisco Blues Festival, the Chicago Blues Festival, the Long Beach Blues festival and a series of club dates, and began to find a whole new audience. Unfortunately, Blue Side and its sister label Up Side didn't survive the struggle that independent labels face, and they folded in mid-1988.

Ironically, in December of 1988, Charles Brown received his biggest media exposure in years. He was featured, along with Ruth Brown (no relation) on the nationally aired PBS special THAT RHYTHM…THOSE BLUES. The show featured Charles in a recent club performance, plus loads of interview footage, still photos from his younger years, and a duet with Ruth. Alligator reissued ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD in 1989 with two new cuts rescued from "the can," created new packaging and re-mastered the album. It was a departure for Alligator, best known for its "Genuine Houserockin' Music," but label president Bruce Iglauer thought it was "time that our fans got turned on to a slightly different kind of blues." Brown spent much of his time touring and recording. His career received a boost in the early 1990s when his management was assumed by guitarist Danny Caron, and Bonnie Raitt started singing his praises. He began touring as Bonnie's opening act, and that brought him to a new market. In 1997 he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame. Charles Brown passed away January 21, 1999, at the age of 76.

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01. Driftin' Blues 3:15                play
02. Homesick Blues 3:11
03. Get Yourself Another Fool 3:03
04. In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down 2:56
05. A Long Time 3:35
06. It's Nothing 2:51
07. Trouble Blues 2:23
08. My Baby's Gone 3:08
09. Black Night 2:56
10. I'll Always Be in Love With You 3:02
11. Seven Long Days 3:10
12. Hard Times 2:46
13. Evening Shadows 2:58
14. I Lost Everything 2:56
15. Lonesome Feeling 2:43
16. Cryin' Mercy 1:58                  play
17. I've Been Savin' My Love for You 2:47
18. Fool's Paradise 2:22
19. Please Don't Drive Me Away 2:19
20. Merry Christmas, Baby 2:53

Charles Brown (vocals, piano).

DRIFTIN' BLUES contains 20 tracks originally released in the late 40s and early 50s by the Imperial and Aladdin labels. Digitally remastered by Ron Furmancek (1991, Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California).

With Charles Brown's career resurgence in the last decade of his life, he was discovered by an entirely new audience. What many of his new fans didn't know--and what this set clearly delineates--is what a huge commercial success he was in the late '40s and early '50s. Furthermore, his style emerged more or less fully formed on his first recordings, where Brown sang and played piano with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers. At the age of 25, Brown's "Driftin' Blues" went to number two on the R&B charts, but Brown was soon to leave Moore's trio. Most of these 20 songs were recorded for the Aladdin label, where Brown enjoyed a successful run for several years before departing in 1956 for other labels. This collection of timeless music makes clear why Charles Brown was a model of style and grace.

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01. Travelin' Blues 2:55
02. I'll Get Along Somehow 3:14
03. What Do You Know About Love? 3:13
04. It's the Talk of the Town 3:16
05. Nutmeg 2:56
06. How Deep Is the Ocean? 3:05
07. You Left Me Forsaken 3:04
08. Warsaw Concerto, Pt.1 4:06
09. Warsaw Concerto, Pt.2 0:58
10. So Long 3:21
11. Make Believe Land 2:32             play
12. You Won't Let Me Go 3:10
13. You Are My First Love 3:22
14. It Had to Be You 2:49
15. You Showed Me the Way 3:17
16. More Than You Know 2:52
17. Sail on Blues 2:56
18. Blue Because of You 3:01
19. When Your Lover Has Gone 2:45      play
20. If You Should Ever Leave 2:51
21. Copyright on Your Love 2:45

Charles Brown – Piano & Vocals
Johnny Moore – Guitar
Eddie Williams – Bass

Recorded between 1945 – 1946 in Los Angeles
Realeased in 1996

Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers were a successful and influential rhythm & blues vocal and instrumental group in the 1940s and 1950s. The original members were: Johnny Moore (1906-1969), Charles Brown (1920-1999) and Eddie Williams (1912-1995).

England’s exemplary Ace Records label does its usual brilliant job of bringing the truly essential recordings of the late swing bluesman Charles Brown to a single CD. Driftin’ & Dreamin’ captures Brown with Johnny Moore’s under-celebrated but no less influential Three Blazers. “Travelin’ Blues” (later released as “Driftin’ Blues, Pt.2″) is here, as are both parts of the “Warsaw Concerto,” “So Long,” and a gorgeous reading of Irving Berlin’s “How Deep Is the Ocean.” This is one packed-to-the-gills, laid-back treat. --- Thom Jurek, allmusic.com

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