Nat Dove: Press & Reviews

Nat Dove at the Navasota Blues Fest 2007

Bryan’s own Nat Dove, a seasoned world traveler now based in California, brought his special affinity for Brazos Valley and all its blues heritage. He sat down like a majestic loin looking over his domain. And, after technical troubles, he played Ms Cottons’s piano as a trained master, leaving no one in doubt about his claim to be the Texas Boogie King. The impeccable skill and class of his performance was a music history moment.

Nat Dove & The Devils -- Petey Wheatstraw (original pressing) . . . LP . . . $39.99 (Item: 17730)
Magic Disc, 1977 Condition: Very Good+
Original copy of this monster funky soundtrack!!! Nat Dove and his funky combo The Devils lay down a monster set of grooves that virtually define the Blacksploitation sound. Most of the tracks on here are instrumentals, and a few of the cuts have vocals by Mary Love. This original copy is super super rare, and is still well worth having, even if you've got the reissue! Funky instrumentals include "Junkie Chase", "Zombie March", "Ghetto Street U.S.A", and "Petey Wheatstraw". Cool cover, and very very funky! (PLEASE NOTE: this copy is pretty heavily warped, but it played fine for us. It is otherwise in Very Good+ shape.)

Don’t Mess With Texas/ Rockin’ And Moanin’ At Midnight/ If Your Ship Don’t Come In/ Has The World Gone Mad?/ Dressin’ Trashy/ Lie To Me/ Welfare System/ Wad Of Money/ Leave It Where It’s At/ Play Them Blues/ I’m Coming Home/ The Song A Bluesman Sings Neo-Classic? Wasn’t Nat involved with free jazz in France? How come he describes the opening number as ‘rock-blues’? And just what is he doing quoting Ernest Hemingway? OK, OK, don’t worry – this is the Nat Dove who was the subject of an absolutely fascinating interview in ‘Blues Unlimited’ around 30 years ago, who played piano on Little Johnny Taylor’s ‘Part Time Love’ and has in the intervening years worked with the likes of Big Mama Thornton, Freddy King, George Smith, Lowell Fulson, Pee Wee Crayton, Big Joe Turner, Robert Cray, Lonesome Sundown and many, many others, including Phillip Walker with whom he has toured the UK. The Neo-Classic Blues Ensemble comprises Johnny Dyer on harp, guitarist Charlie Tichenor, bassist Tim Jones (replaced by Ernie Tichenor on one number) and Johnny Tucker on drums – so no complaints on that score. The aforementioned ‘rock-blues’ opener starts with some loud guitar but quickly evolves into a joyously rocking, breezily boastful bluesy theme song with some lovely piano work and a strong vocal performance from Nat himself. Hemingway is the inspiration for a line in the second number, not that anyone would know if Nat himself hadn’t told us; this is a powerful down-home blues that could have been recorded at any time in the last 55 years or so. As the CD progresses, it continues to produce the goods in fine fashion. Try ‘Has The World Gone Mad?’, the kind of slow, doomy number that George Smith would have tackled to wonderful effect, and the lyric content is certainly ecologically sound. ‘Dressin’ Trashy’ is a jaunty Texas shuffle with plenty of real blues guitar and lyrics that were inspired by seeing Dolly Parton interviewed on television, ‘Lie To Me’ is a mid-tempo, piano and rhythm blues with another strong vocal and some excellent rolling playing from Nat, ‘Welfare System’ is a short, punchy blues detailing how bureaucracy is breaking up Nat’s family, and ‘Wad Of Money’ reminds me strongly of Memphis Slim in down-home mode, even down to the spoken introduction. ‘Leave It Where It’s At’ is a jaunty shuffle based around the traditional ‘the blacker the berry…’ couplet, whereas ‘Play Them Blues’ is really an excuse for Charlie and Johnny Dyer to show off their licks, ‘I’m Coming Home’ is a mid tempo ‘on the road’ blues and then this excellent CD draws to a close with a fine, tough slab of down home sounds. This may not be the ‘real Texas blues piano’ of say, a Buster Pickens, but as there is so little newly-recorded piano blues material around these days, this is worthy of your attention. The fact that this is such an accomplished and enjoyable CD as well makes it even more so.

Nat Dove is known world wide as a Blues singer, pianist, music arranger, songwriter, record producer, music educator-lecturer and founder of the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society.

Dove has been playing blues, boogie-woogie and barrelhouse music for over four decades.
He has been featured on many of the recordings of: Robert Cray, George “Harmonica” Smith, Freddie King, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton, Louis Meyers and Big Joe Turner... just to name a few.

On the 1977 movie sound track recording of Petey Wheatstraw, Nat Dove and his funky combo the Devils lay down a monster set of grooves that virtually define the Blaxploitation sound for a generation of fans and Includes the highly sought after funk classics “Junkie Chase”, “Zombie March”, “Ghetto Street U.S.A” All composed by Dove, and has been sampled by the rappers world wide. The film's soundtrack really shines. It the funk and r&b that really kicks. It's not as slick as some of the other soundtracks of the time like Superfly or Black Caesar but that's part of its charm. It just funk music at its best.
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I’ve got a funny relationship with funk music – while I lack the necessities to truly ‘feel’ the funk, it occasionally creeps up on me, shaking me a little and making me look up to the sky for a second before retiring to my joyless hole. It’s the music of sunshine, effortless cool and good footwear, things which I have difficulty connecting with in all honesty – but darn I just can’t resist a quick listen behind the bike sheds every so often. Apparently this particular sliver of funky cake is as rare as hen’s nostril hair and features some quite important folk in the funk scene (Nat Dove himself being a very respectable blues musician and Rudy Ray Moore being otherwise known as the great Dolemite), more interesting than that though it’s actually quite good. It’s a cliché now to go digging for gems in the soundtrack bin – most record shops will only be left with battered copies of the Graduate and Zorba the Greek – but this one’s actually as good as any hype might have you believe. The breaks here are of course killer, there’s enough instrumental material for any hip-hopper worth his salt to pillage, and the vocal tracks too I must say really tickle me in the right intimate places. This is soulful, funky and ridiculously cool – I’d think if you were trying to impress a lady, this is the album to put on. Unless she’s into extreme noise that is, then she’d probably leave, but you get what I’m saying. Soundtrack collectors and funky folk take note – here’s a devil of a disc for ya!

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Score! This blaxploitation soundtrack has been out of print for decades (released in '77), but now it's back, pressed nice and loud on wax with a reproduction pic sleeve to boot. Nat Dove - who recorded with T-Bone Walker and Freddie King,...   expand review among others - provides a perfect audio complement to Rudy Ray Moore's Petey Wheatstraw, turning out seven dirty / jazzy / funky instrumentals with his band, The Doves, and four with guest vocalist Mary Love. "Ghetto St. U.S.A.(1)" is the best of the vocal cuts, alternately swingin' and soulful with Dove taking the lead and Love providing the wailing backups. The sappy sweetness of "Loving You(2)" and the hyper-funk of "Petey Wheatstraw(3)" aren't too shabby either, but "Zombie March(4)" is the real burner here, a tight slab of hard funk with nasty rumbling bass and unflagging horns. Check the flip for more funk/blues instrumentals, as well as instrumental versions of "Ghetto St.," "Loving You" and "Petey Wheatstraw." -Chris Lemon-Red

Wednesday.
While the Harlem Renaissance began primarily as a literary and social movement, it quickly expanded to the arts, including music. Duke Ellington and his orchestra figured heavily on the music scene, serving as the house band for Harlem’s Cotton Club from 1927 to 1931. During his tenure at the world-famous nightclub, Ellington earned an international name for himself via weekly radio broadcasts.
Ellington’s innovative music — his daring (for the times) harmonies, sophisticated melodies — elevated not only his career, but the status of jazz to a serious art form. And yet, Dove is quick to point out, it was also entertainment.
“(My lecture) is primarily depicting the music that he did during the Harlem Renaissance for what it was,” Dove said. “It was dance music.”
Dove said his multimedia presentation, which is tailored for a general audience regardless of musical knowledge, will include examples of Ellington’s technique of composing around the unique qualities of his players. He will also show how Ellington’s music captured an era.
“Basically what he was doing was documenting the ambience of Harlem and New York City,” Dove said, citing compositions such as “Harlem Airshaft,” which was inspired by the sounds heard in the streets and alleys of of the city.
Dove said his career as a music lecturer was inspired by Ellington, whom he heard at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival.
“As a 10th grader, I was asked to do a presentation on a famous American. I chose Ellington. It was my first presentation.”
Dove, the founder of the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society, has divided his career between performing and lecturing.
The Ellington lecture is part of the museum’s ongoing “First Wednesday” series that reaches out to seniors, though all are welcome.

What Blues Means to Nat Dove
Irony and Descending Scales


Texan blues master Nat Dove graced the campus of UCSB on Wednesday, August 19, with a lecture on the origins of blues music in the United States. He came at the request of Black Studies Department professor Clyde Woods. The lecture lasted for roughly an hour, which Dove spent showing film, photos, and other images from the early days of blues music, and demonstrating the musical differences between his craft and the music of the time. Dove was also greeted in Woods’ classroom by some prominent members of the Santa Barbara Blues Society, which has deep roots in the community and much recognition abroad. “I think the Santa Barbara Blues Society is the oldest blues society in the world,” Dove said. The Texan blues master explained that he has had a relationship with the society for 35 years, and that they have allowed for the blues to have a significant presence in the community.

Dove spoke on the emergence of the blues in America. “Blues started off as an expression, rather than a music,” Dove said. “The blues started from looking at the situation that these people were in, and addressing the irony of it.” Dove described the situation at the turn of the century, when African Americans had been emancipated from slavery, but were still fully constrained by the society in which they lived. According to Dove, there were areas in the South where the population was 80 percent African American, yet none of them were able to vote. “The best way to deal with it was to internalize it and manifest it,” Dove said.

Dove went on to describe the musical aspects of the blues, and how it developed such a unique sound by embracing a West African descending musical scale, rather than relying on the ascending sound of the European scale that was used in other types of music. Dove brought along a melodica, which resembles some type of cross between a keyboard and a flute, to play the music that he was describing and give an example of how different blues music was from the traditional tunes of the time. “Many people think it’s the notes that give this music its character,” Dove said. “It isn’t; it’s the rhythm.”

The bluesman also spoke about his relationships with some of the greatest blues musicians of the 20th century, such as the late Beauford Delaney, and how they paved the way for musicians to follow. “Many of the blues people were travelers, travelers without portfolio, if you will. Just jumping trains,” Dove said. “These guys were basically geniuses.” Although the time where travelers could get away with jumping trains has come to an end, the blues legacy is still alive and well in bluesmen like Nat Dove, and he plans to continue playing music and teaching students about its cultural significance for the foreseeable future.