Little Charlie & The Nightcats - Deluxe Edition

Little Charlie & The Nightcats

Little Charlie & The Nightcats - Deluxe Edition


Over 60 minutes of classics from the undisputed champs of West Coast jump blues. Includes "Can't Keep It Up," "Dump That Chump" and "My Next Ex-Wife." Remastered in 20-bit audio. With never-before-seen photos and mini-poster.


Available On CD
Price: $16.98
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1. Can't Keep It Up 4:33
2. Right Around The Corner 2:42
3. I Beg Your Pardon 4:49
4. Don't Do It 4:26
5. Sure Seems Strange 3:57
6. Run Me Down 4:21
7. Too Close Together 3:08
8. I Feel So Sorry 2:48
9. My Next Ex-Wife 4:29
10. Clothes Line 4:07
11. Dump That Chump 3:48
12. I'll Take You Back 5:39
13. The Booty Song 3:10
14. Gerontology 3:42
15. Crying Won't Help You 5:23

Little Charlie and the Nightcats
Little Charlie Baty, guitar
Rick Estrin, Harmonica and vocals
Dobie Strange, Drums
Jay Peterson, Bass (2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 13)
Brad Lee Sexton, Bass (1, 5, 6, 9, 11)
Ronnie James Weber, Bass (7, 14)

with
Guitar: Joe Louis Walker (9, 15)
Keyboards: Jimmy Pugh (4, 5, 14)
Trumpet: Jeff Lewis (9)
Tenor Sax: Tim Devine (9), John Firman (14)
Baritone Sax: Tim Devine (9)
Background Vocals: Donnie Woodruff (1, 5, 9)

Tracks 1, 5, 9 & 15 produced by Joe Louis Walker at Bay View Studios, Richmond, CA, 1992
Tracks 2, 10, & 12 produced by Bruce Iglauer at Music Annex, Menlo Park, CA, 1986
Tracks 3 & 4 produced by Bruce Iglauer, Charles Baty & Rick Estrin at Starlight Studios, Richmond, CA, 1989
Tracks 6 & 11 produced by Bruce Iglauer, Charles Baty & Rick Estrin, live at Slim's, San Franciso, CA, 1990
Tracks 7 & 14 produced by Charles Baty & Rick Estrin at Bay View Studios, Richmond, CA, 1995
Tracks 8 & 13 produced by Bruce Iglauer at Studio D, Sausalito, CA & Streeterville Studios, Chicago, IL, 1988

Engineers: Tom Anderson (1, 5, 7, 9, 14, 15), Justin Niebank (2, 8, 10, 12, 13), Bill Thompson (3, 4), Jim Hibbard (6, 11), Rick Sanchez (8, 13)
Mixers: Tom Anderson (1, 5, 7, 9, 14, 15), Justin Niebank (2, 8, 10, 12, 13), David Axelbaum (3, 4), Bill Thompson (6, 11)

Assistants: Matt Flynn, Kat Coffey Hiberd, Lynn Levy & Sean McMahon (6, 11)
Deluxe Edition Series produced by Bob DePugh, Bruce Iglauer and David Forte
Design by David Forte
Cover photo by Art Tipaldi
Back of booklet photo by Kent Lacin
Inlay photo by Dave Leucinger
Inside of inlay photo by John De Leon

 

CALIFORNIA JUMPING BLUES

…the extraordinary synthesis of swinging, 1940s style, jazzy R&B and driving Chicago blues harmonica.  Nobody does it better than Little Charlie and the Nightcats.  When Little Charlie Baty, hair flopping over his forehead, unleashes his wild, totally unpredictable and always swinging (John Lee Hooker calls him “dangerous”) guitar licks and Rick Estrin, perfectly dressed (who else has argyle socks that match his shoes?) and coiffed, delivers his slice-of-life lyrics before jumping into a gritty-harp solo, it sounds like what might have happened if Louis Jordan and Little Walter had jammed with Charlie Christian in front of The Five Royales’ rhythm section. 

Baty and Estrin have been a team for over 20 years, beginning in tiny clubs in San Francisco and Sacramento.  An excellent harp player himself, Charlie only took up guitar after meeting Rick, who had been perfecting his vocal and harmonica skills and his sartorial style in the ghetto clubs of Oakland since he was a teenager.  Relocating to Sacramento in the '70s, they worked with a series of drummers before finding Dobie Strange, whose twelve-year stint with the Nightcats playing with a succession of excellent bass players allowed them to experiment far beyond the standard range of blues grooves.

Baty quickly evolved into one of the most eccentric guitar players on the scene, effortlessly blending swing, jazz, rockabilly and blues into single solos that set the standard for the entire jump blues/swing revival.  Estrin grew into a monster songwriter (with recent tunes recorded by Robert Cray, John Hammond, Koko Taylor and Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women) and won a W.C. Handy Award for Song of the Year for My Next Ex-Wife.

Once Sacramento’s best kept secret as the house band at Melarkey’s, an unsolicited audition tape won the Nightcats a longstanding home at Alligator Records.  Since then, they’ve been crossing geographical and musical boundaries for ecstatic fans all around the world.