Joe Krown Trio + 1 featuring Papa Mali – Qualified
Sledgehammer Blues
11 Tracks – 51 minutes
Louisiana musician Joe Krown has long demonstrated his mastery on the piano and organ. A mainstay in the New Orleans night clubs and music festivals, he also has an international reputation touring in Europe after making his European debut in 2001 at the Ingolstadt Jazztage in Germany. He performs regularly with many of the New Orleans artists but also expands to a wide range of other artists expanding from Mavis Staples to North Mississippi Allstars and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. He was a regular player with Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and teamed with Jason Ricci for the Ricci Krown trio for a 2021 album, City Country City. Joe has nine albums released under his own name to date.
Joining Joe on keyboards in the Trio is Casandra Falconer on bass and backing vocals and Eric Bolivar on drums and backing vocals. The “+1” cited in the group name is featured guitarist and vocalist Papa Mali. Malcolm “Papa Mali” Welbourne was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, was raised in Shreveport, Louisiana and now lives in New Orleans. he started playing guitar at age 4. At age 12, he saw The Meters play at the Madis Gras, which influenced his turn to the blues. By age 17, he was hitchhiking around the south joining various short-lived bands and busking in the streets. At age 20, he went to Jamaica and was exposed to reggae music. He performed as a member of The Killer Bees which became the first American band to play in The Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica. They toured with Burning Spear where he was given his nickname, Papa Mali. Following a concert with Grateful Dead Drummer Bill Kreutzmann, the twosome joined together in a new band, 7 Walkers, which released a self-titled album in 2010. The songs were co-written by Papa Mali and the Dead’s composer, Robert Hunter and featured a song, “King Cotton Blues” featuring a duet with Willie Nelson. He has released albums under his own name and has produced albums by Ruthie Foster and Omar and The Howlers, among others.
The album features eight covers and three original songs. The title song was written by Mac “Dr. John” Rebennack and Jessie Hill in 1973. Joe provides a funky roll on the piano as Papa Mali declares “Your Cadillac ain’t no hipper than my bus stop”. “You might find me in the project slums, hanging out with all the skid row bums. I may seem sick and I may seem dumb. That don’t mean you know where I’m coming from.” ” I tell you now, I’m qualified”. “Juncopartner” was written by Robert Shad in 1951 and later covered by Professor Longhair. The song lets Joe have a lengthy piano solo with Papa Mali noting “the poor mans knocked out loaded, and he’s wobbling down the street”. Joe gets his boogie-woogie jumping on the classic dance song “Mess Around” first recorded by Ray Charles in 1953 and written by Ahmet Ertugan.
Cyril Neville guests on vocals on “Fortune Teller”, which was written by Allen Toussaint using the pseudonym, Naomi Neville, and first recorded by Benny Spellman in 1962. She read from her crystal ball that he “Had the fever. You are in love.” “I left there in a hurry, looking for my big surprise. But the next day, I found she had told me a lie”. He returned to the fortune teller “where I found I was in love with the fortune teller. Now I get my fortunes told for free”. Allen Toussaint’s soulful 1972 song “Going Down” features Joe’s organ with Papa Mali who tells stories of individuals “Losing his freedom and losing his soul. Now all he can is wait for the others.” “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” and alternately known as “Go to the Mardi Gras” was first recorded by Professor Longhair in 1949 but became more famous following Fats Domino’s recording of it in 1953. Krown drives the song with his piano with lyrics advising” If you go to New Orleans, you ought to go see the Mardi Gras. When you see the Mardi Gras, somebody’ll tell you what’s carnival for.”
Papa Mali provides the first original song, “Neckbone”, again featuring Joe’s organ in an instrumental also allowing Papa Mali to show some jazzy guitar solos. “Cry To Me” was a 1962 hit song for Solomon Burke written by Bert Russell. Papa Mali asks, When Your baby leaves you all alone, and nobody calls you on the phone, don’t you feel like crying?” A second Mali original, “Honey Bee” is next with Mark Mullins guesting on trombone in a slow stroll as he tells her, “You are always in my mind” ” People will come and people will go, but everything will pass. ”
Joe provides the original instrumental “Under the Influence” highlighting his keyboard work with Jason MIngledorff guesting on sax. The album concludes with a cover of Allen Toussaint’s 1975 “Last Train” noting “This world is getting so much faster. It’s too sad – poor train are rolling down slow.” but in a more personal side he says, “You got me huffing and puffing and chugging like a choo choo train.”
Joe again proves he is certainly a master of the piano and organ and a sound representative of the sounds of New Orleans, although a few songs step away from that locale and shift into the soul and funk realms. Papa Mali blends into the band easily with his soulful vocals and easy guitar work.
