Whats on your turntable tonight?

bdp, also check out exotic birds and fruit, which despite being post-matthew fisher and robin trower, is surprisingly great, with at least 3-4 classic tunes. keith reid's lyrics are more straightforward and less surreal than usual and gary brooker (a hugely underrated singer imo) sounds excellent.

Thanks fellas, I'll look for both. I agree loomis, Brooker is one of the better UK singers. He, Van Morrison, little Stevie Winwood, Steve Marriott, Paul Jones (Manfred Mann), and Paul Rodgers come to mind. All obviously indebted first and foremost to Ray Charles, as too are so many US singers. Brooker is sort of the British Richard Manuel (The Band, of course), not only singing similarly (though Manuel is very, very special to me, as he is to Eric Clapton), but playing piano in the same style---block chords, rather than laced with gratuitous arpeggios ala Elton John and Billy Joel (blech). 

richard manuel's a real good analogy--i hear him as somewhat sweeter-sounding than ray charles, but he had in any event a great, soulful voice. i like all your other picks, too, but steve marriott was my main man--he's the great white soul shouter.

Ray Charles sets a standard white men can aspire to, unlike Howlin' Wolf, who is unreachable. The middle ground is Big Joe Turner, the greatest male singer I ever saw and heard live. Backed by The Blasters!

@bdp24

I would add Joe Cocker. Totally influenced by Ray Charles.

I agree about gratuitous arpeggios. I guess it comes from playing piano alone in cocktail bars at hotels. I prefer Benmont Tench style - playing for the song rather than overplaying. Oscar Petersen was great too.

Pee Wee Ellis once said (and I am sure he is not the first by far), "in music it is often more important what you dont play! It can be frightening to leave space.

This is very true in drumming - judicious placement of space is really important. The rhythm or groove is as much about the space as it is about what is played. Space creates feel. Space can also be thought of as dynamics - softer notes create space and contrast - great grooves have different layers of dynamics.

I think you could start a thread about leaving notes out and musicians that excel at it. Like great art - the blank spaces on the canvas are actually part of the overall composition - but amateurs dont understand that and try to fill it all in.