Sewell, music.

 

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Sleepwalking 1986

This review appeared in Rolling Rock, October 1986     

SLEEPWALKING 
Jacob and the Denizens 
Boz-Line Records 

Review by Hank Toupein 

Sleepwalking, the latest offering from the interminably prolific Jacob Sewell, sees him team up again with atmospheric Missouri acid jazz ensemble the Denizens. The almost universal criticism levelled at their last release, 1985’s By Night, was the under-utilisation of saxophonist Manny Blonheim. This cannot be said of Sleepwalking though as Manny’s soprano sax weaves a constant web around Jacob’s falsetto exhortations. Add to that the production of jazz rock maestro Boz Scaggs, and this album was always going to outstrip its predecessor. 

Although there are several poppier cuts here like Circling the Block, Cool Poison and The Night Arrived, this album’s strength lies in its sprawling sax-driven instrumentals. Taxi Driver which opens the record, takes you on a tour of the city’s seedy underbelly, your guide - the soprano saxophone, while Leave Me Where You Found Me has Jacob’s silky Stratocaster playing counterpoint to Blonheim’s unbearably smooth alto, set against a soundscape of mellow funk and inner city street atmos. 

However, as silly as this may sound, the real high point of the record is the only track without saxophone! Title track Sleepwalking recalls the slick minimal funk of Boz Scaggs’s Lowdown, and manages to impress despite its complete lack of woodwind. It has a high-hat heavy rhythm, scantily clad with intermittent guitar and electric piano and Jacob’s sparse falsetto telling the tale of a city in moral decline. Could this instant classic be a harbinger of an approaching saxless pop epoch? This reviewer seriously doubts it, but the glorious aberration that is this title track serves as testament to Jacob and his Denizens’ pop funk acid jazz acumen. 



7.5 Stars

See more of Jacob's back catalogue HERE

Low Down Pickin' Man

A cut from Jacob's 1964 Texas Ranger L.P.

Low Down Pickin' Man by Jacob Sewell

Sewell ALIVE!

Jacob's seventeenth live album, 1989's Sewell ALIVE! Live in Rotterdam. His electric blues rock period was embraced whole heartedly by sections of Europe, but none more so than Holland. Highlights from this concert include a blistering back-and-forth with special guest Slash, the entire seven part, 48 minute Yakattack odyssey and a reprise of Oh! Melissa sung entirely in Dutch.

 

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briscoe guitarist jacob sewell: a long history

Jacob's 1964 album Texas Ranger hailed by critics as "A study in unintended atonality"

Jacob Sewell was born into a life of privilege- it was 1939 in a little town south of the Mississippi called Young. At the age of 16 he eschewed the good life and ran away to the big smoke with nothing but his great grandpappy's acoustic guitar and the harmonica he stole from old man McCutchin. And a suitcase full of old money.

He purchased a modest seven bedroom chateau on the harbour and made his way to the centre of town to begin his new life as a meager troubador. The cityfolk, however, didn't yet have a taste for country and western music, a fact he deduced from the many kicks to the groin he received from irritable passers-by.

After a particularly disappointing and painful afternoon in the summer of 1956, Jacob was on his way back to the Manor when he was stopped by a swarthy stranger.

"I have been watching you young Jacob"
"How do you know my name?" Jacob asked
"I know all for I am the Devil"
"Oh, I see"
"You have been having little success young Jacob"
"It hasn't been too bad" he replied, trying not to think about his throbbing nether region "they just don't like country music."
"No, they just don't like horrible guitar playing"
"Oh, I see"

The Devil accompanied young Jacob home and they ruminated on Jacob's problem late into the night. Once Jacob and Beelzebub had imbibed an appropriate amount of 30 year old scotch and had their fill of roast pheasant and tubers, the Devil made his proposition.

"I don't really know if thisssh is appropriate to shhay thiss but I really love you Jacob"
"YES YES, i was jussht going to say that to you jussht then!" slurred young Jacob
"I want to help you, i rooooeally do" said the Devil
"I want to help you tooo!" The Devil paused
"Um, anyway... how attachshhhhed are you to your soul?!"
"Oh, yeah! I can sell you my ssshhoul to you, and you'll make me great at playing the guitar like you did with Robert Johnston right?"
"Johnson" corrected the Devil
"Yeah, Johnston!"
"Well, i used all my wolfsbane and newt faeces on Robert so i can't do that ssshpell anymore..."
"Oh, I see."
"But maybe there'sssh something else I can do..."

The Devil explained that for the bargain price of one soul, he could grant Jacob everlasting life. In other words: the opportunity to hone his craft until the Universe's end, by which time he would surely have attained a level that no longer invited casual physical abuse. Jacob accepted and they celebrated with ramekins of candied sturgeon caviar and warm buttermilk.

Over the course of the next six decades, Jacob recorded 432 albums. His first forays into the world of recording artistry were disastrous. After his second and third albums, the venerable Daily Bugle ran with the headline: "Music is F *%@king Dead", and review after review delivered metaphoric kicks to his metaphoric groin.

Since those early attempts though, Jacob has had half a century to bud and blossom into the player he is today. Now widely regarded as the greatest guitarist of his generation(?), briscoe's members feel very honoured to count him among their number. I will post any album covers or songs i can dig up from his formidable back catalogue.

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