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Stony Plain Records: Canada's Roots, Rock, Country, Folk & Blues Label
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 Index of Artists
 3-B |  C-E |  F-H |  J-L |  M-O |  P-S |  T-W Y to Y
 3
 Stony Plain Records 30th Anniversary
 A
 Arthur Adams
 Luther Allison
 Dave Alvin
 Billy Boy Arnold
 Asleep At The Wheel
 The Asylum Street Spankers
 Renee Austin
 The Austin Lounge Lizards
 B
 Mr. B
 Long John Baldry
 Carey Bell & Tough Luck
 Eric Bibb & Leon Bibb
 Big James & The Chicago Playboys
 Elvin Bishop
 Rory Block
 Deanna Bogart
 Ray Bonneville
 Brave Combo
 Kevin Breit & Harry Manx
 Sarah Brown
 Nappy Brown
 Norton Buffalo
 Jim Byrnes
 C
 Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band
 Tommy Castro
 Bobby Charles
 Rita Chiarelli
 Chicago Rhythm And Blues Kings
 Christmas Blues
 Popa Chubby
 Cindy Church
 Otis Clay
 David Clayton-Thomas
 Deborah Coleman
 Commander Cody
 Joanna Connor
 James Cotton
 Pee Wee Crayton
 Crowbar
 Rodney Crowell
 Albert Cummings
 Nick Curran & The Nitelifes
 D
 Debbie Davies
 Jesse Dayton
 Downchild
 E
 Ronnie Earl
 Steve Earle
 Herb Ellis
 F
 Gary Fjellgaard
 Gary Fjellgaard & Valdy
 Rosie Flores & Ray Campi
 Chris Flory
 Sue Foley & Peter Karp
 Damon Fowler
 Lowell Fulson W/ Powder Blues Band
 G
 Amos Garrett
 Amos Garrett, Doug Sahm, Gene Taylor
 Jay Geils
 Rosco Gordon
 Great Speckled Bird
 Grievous Angels
 Buddy Guy W/ Jr. Wells
 H
 Harper
 Emmylou Harris
 Jeff Healey
 Jeff Healey And The Jazz Wizards
 Jimi Hendrix
 High Noon
 Tish Hinojosa
 Dave Hole
 Holmes Brothers
 Walter Horton
 Tim Hus
 J
 Pj Jackson
 Doug James
 Waylon Jennings
 Santiago Jimenez, Jr.
 Kristi Johnston
 Lloyd Jones
 Jr. Gone Wild
 K
 Peter Karp
 Chris Thomas King
 King Biscuit Boy
 Smokin Joe Kubek & B'nois King
 L
 Frankie Lee
 Little Mike & The Tornadoes
 Professor Longhair
 Hamilton Loomis
 Charlie Louvin
 Corb Lund
 M
 Magic Slim & The Teardrops
 Charlie Major
 Harry Manx and Kevin Breit
 Bob Margolin
 Iain Matthews
 Ellen Mcilwaine
 Big Dave McLean
 Linda Mcrae
 Jay Mcshann
 Katy Moffatt
 Hugh Moffatt
 Coco Montoya
 John Mooney
 Big Bill Morganfield
 Maria Muldaur
 Charlie Musselwhite
 Shirley Myers
 N
 Kenny Neal
 Willie Nelson
 John Németh (John Nemeth)
 Bob Neuwirth
 Aaron Neville
 Neville Brothers
 New Guitar Summit
 O
 Carla Olson
 Omar & The Howlers
 P
 The Paperboys
 Pine Top Perkins
 Bill Perry
 Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers
 George Porter
 Preacher Boy
 Snooky Pryor
 R
 Sonny Rhodes
 Duke Robillard
 The Rockin' Highliners
 Robin Rogers
 Roy Rogers
 Jimmy Rogers
 Roy Rogers & Norton Buffalo
 The Rounders
 Otis Rush
 Tom Russell
 S
 Walter Salas-Humara
 Savoy Brown
 E.C. Scott
 Johnny Shines & Snooky Prior
 George Smith
 Jo-El Sonnier
 South Mountain
 Jeremy Spencer
 Spirit Of The West
 Studebaker John & Nighthawks
 Sunny And Her Joy Boys
 T
 Eric Taylor
 Jimmy Thackery
 Jimmy Thackery & John Mooney
 Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers
 Rosetta Tharpe
 Dr. Duke Tumatoe & The Power Trio
 Sylvia Tyson
 Ian Tyson
 V
 Valdy & Gary Fjellgaard
 Various
 W
 Joe Louis Walker
 Monte Warden
 Muddy Waters
 Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
 Barrence Whitfield With Tom Russell
 David Wilcox
 Webb Wilder
 Willie & The Poor Boys
 Reverend Billy C. Wirtz
 Jimmy Witherspoon
 Carolyn Wonderland
 Mitch Woods & His Rocket 88's
 Y
 Mighty Joe Young
 
Jeff Healey And The Jazz Wizards
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gallery Jeff Healey And The Jazz Wizards

SPDVD 1348
Genre: Jazz
Released: 6 April 2010
$ 25 CDN

Release Sheet

Beautiful Noise DVD
  1. I Would Do Anything For You
  2. Bugle Call Rag
  3. If I Had You
  4. Darktown Strutter's Ball
  5. Wild Cat
  6. I'm Gonna Lock My Heart And Throw Away The Key
  7. Sugar Blues
  8. Sing You Sinners
  9. Sweet Georgia Brown
  10. You Go To My Head
  11. Long John Blues

Reviews:

Elmore
By Cliff Preis
...seeing [Healey] pick up a trumpet and blowing Louis Armstrong-inspired choruses only added to my amazement. (more)

In September of 2006, I attended a concert honoring jazz historian Richard Sudhalter with Jeff Healey on the bill, only vaguely aware of Healey's pop music history and ignorant of his lifelong fascination with jazz performers of the 1920s and 1930s. His remarkable laptop guitar playing (strongly influenced by Eddie Lang and other early jazz masters) and heartfelt singing of Tin Pan Alley hits made me an instant Jeff Healey fan; seeing him pick up a trumpet and blowing Louis Armstrong-inspired choruses only added to my amazement.

Beautiful Noise was taped earlier that year for a Canadian TV program, and captures a live set by Healey and his working octet of jazz players. Reeman Christopher Plock's booming bass saxophone recalls the sound of '20s jazz ensembles; he has a striking Roland Kirk-esque moment on "Sugar Blues," simutaneously playing soprano and alto sax. Other highlights include violinist Drew Jurecka recalling Joe Venuti on "Wild Cat," performed in duo with the leader; Terra Hazelton, the band's blues diva, lays the double entendres thick on "Long John;" and, ofcourse, Healey demonstrating his multiple talents. He excels as a vocal balladeer on "If I Had You," which also contains an inspired trumpet solo. Healey's premature death, barely two years after this performance, was a tragedy for all lovers of swing.

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SPCD 1335
Genre: Traditional Jazz
Released: 6 April 2010
$ 20 CDN

Last Call
  1. Holding My Honey's Hand (2:56)
  2. Time On My Hands (5:01)
  3. The Wildcat (Listen to mp3 clip) (2:34)
  4. You Can't Pull The Wool Over My Eyes (3:00)
  5. Deep Purple (4:50)
  6. Hong Kong Blues (Listen to mp3 clip) (3:10)
  7. Pennies From Heaven (3:57)
  8. Autumn In New York (4:47)
  9. I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter (3:06)
  10. Black And Blue Bottom (2:51)
  11. Guitar Duet Stomp (Listen to mp3 clip) (3:35)
    * free full length download *
  12. Laura (4:53)
  13. Keeping Myself For You (3:55)
  14. Some Of These Days (2:44)
  15. BONUS VIDEO: "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter

Reviews:

Globe and Mail
By J.D. Considine
As if we needed another reason to miss him, Jeff Healey’s final studio recording shows how well he could illuminate the hot jazz he adored. (more)
Where his albums with the Jazz Wizards were sometimes more enthusiastic than authentic, this disc – recorded mostly with Healey overdubbing himself on guitars, trumpet and voice – gets the details precisely right, from his perfectly shaded crooning in Time on My Hands to the exquisitely swinging rhythm guitar underpinning I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter. And while Ross Wooldridge’s piano cameos are occasionally too florid for my taste, the contributions of the album’s other guest, violinist Drew Jurecka, are time-machine perfect. (less)





SPCD 1343
Genre: Blues
Released: 28 July 2009
$ 20 CDN

Songs From The Road
  1. I Think I Love You Too Much (5:36)
  2. I'm Ready (5:21)
  3. Stop Breaking Down (5:57)
  4. Angel Eyes (5:54)
  5. Come Together (5:22)
  6. Hoochie Coochie Man (7:09)
  7. White Room (5:35)
  8. While My Guitar Gently Weeps (5:13)
  9. Whipping Post (5:59)
  10. Teach Your Children Well (2:48)
  11. Santa, Bring My Baby Back (To Me) (2:09)

Reviews:

Toronto Blues Music Examiner
By Dennis Smith
Songs from the Road (Stony Plain Records) captures Healey's gift for energizing rock and blues tunes with powerful, sometimes blistering guitar work. (more)

CD review: Jeff Healey's guitar legacy shines through in Songs From The Road

Jeff Healey wore many musical hats during his brief life - band leader, singer, radio DJ, nightclub owner, trumpeter and clarinetist.

But the blind musician will be remembered best for playing searing guitar on his lap, looking like a pedal steel guitar man gone mad. 

Songs from the Road (Stony Plain Records) captures Healey's gift for energizing rock and blues tunes with powerful, sometimes blistering guitar work.

It's a talent that occasionally sneaks up on the listener.

Songs like his cover of the Beatles' Come Together and his own hit Angel Eyes start off sounding a little staid. Then the songs build, with the payoff of strong guitar solos.

Also deceptive are Healey's vocals, which occasionally sound a little tame. However, his voice booms out nicely on blues classics like (view Muddy Waters version) Hoochie Coochie Man  and  (view Rolling Stones/Robert Cray version) Stop Breaking Down.

There's also great harmonica work from Dave Murphy and fine guitar interplay with Dan Noordemeer and Healey on the latter song.

The two extra musicians also chip in vocals, with Murphy being particularly strong on Come Together. Adding to Healey's original trio format definitely helps throughout the CD. Guest guitarist Randy Bachman gives some extra jolt to Hoochie Coochie Man.

Other highlights are a powerful version of the Allman Brothers' Whipping Post and some great 'wah-wah' guitar on their take of Cream's White Room.

Drummer Al Webster and bassist Alec Fraser, who deserves credit for producing a fine array of songs. They were from concerts in Norway, London, England and Toronto.

Material somewhat resembles Healey's early career successes, which incuded millions in sales, two Grammy nominations and performing with stars like B.B. King and George Harrison.

The ex-Beatle sang backing vocals and played acoustic guitar when Healey covered his hit While My Guitar Gently Weeps.

Healey even appeared in the Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse. Four of his band's tunes made the soundtrack, including a cover of the Doors' Roadhouse Blues. He later had a Toronto night spot named Jeff Healey's Roadhouse.

He eventually changed direction, recording three albums with Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards. Instead of guitar, Healey played trumpet and clarinet.

Healey owned between 25,000 and 35,000 78-rpm jazz records, using them for his program on JAZZ-FM.91.

Unfortunately, the cancer that blinded him (retinoblastoma) took Healey's life in March, 2008. He was 41.

Fans might find a little consolation in two albums released posthumously. Besides Songs from the Road, Mess of Blues was released last year.

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SPCD 1333
Genre: Blues
Released: 15 April 2008
$ 20 CDN

Release Sheet

Mess Of Blues
  1. I'm Torn Down (5:23)
  2. How Blue Can You Get (Listen to mp3 clip) (8:54)
  3. Sugar Sweet (3:46)
  4. Jambalaya (4:00)
  5. The Weight (Listen to mp3 clip) (4:26)
  6. Mess O' Blues (3:24)
  7. It's Only Money (Listen to mp3 clip) (3:10)
  8. Like A Hurricane (6:39)
  9. Sittin' On Top Of The World (7:07)
  10. Shake, Ratte And Roll (4:29)

Reviews:

Telegraph-Journal - April 30, 2008
By Bob Mersereau
This last album will no doubt be my favourite blues album by Healey. (more)

Jeff Healey's recent passing caused great sadness in the blues world and around the world. We were, perhaps, too used to having him around to appreciate his talents.

I saw him first in Toronto in 1985, when he was still unknown outside his home city. They brought him up on stage to play for a flabbergasted Albert Collins. It wasn't just his unique style, playing the guitar on his lap with a combination of pulling and plucking the strings, that surprised so many. It was also the fact that he was so good at it. My last encounter with Jeff was as the emcee for his show at the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, leading his greatest love, his pre-Second World War era jazz band. He made it look so easy, and was so unassuming, you had to remind yourself of how good he was.

Recent years saw Healey move away from the blues for lengthy stretches of jazz, but he never stayed away for long. It remained his bread and butter, as concert requests continued to come in overseas and at home.

Plus, he had his Toronto namesake bar, which thrived when its famous owner was onstage. Healey put together a crack bar band for those gigs and figured he should document it on disc, as well. The result, planned long before his lost battle to cancer, is Mess Of Blues (Stony Plain).

Part live, mostly studio, it's made up of tracks Healey's group would wow the crowds with, playing for the fun of it and showing off a little, too. Much of the disc is party-trick material, familiar songs that make a bar crowd happy, especially with the new and exciting takes the group brings to them. You get a little Elvis, with Mess O' Blues, an old classic in Sittin' On Top Of The World, foot-stompin' fun with Jambalaya and Shake, Rattle & Roll, and curveball Canadian covers with Neil Young's Like a Hurricane and The Band's The Weight.

The album is what it was meant to be, a great night at the best roadhouse around. But Healey is gone. And what stands out for me is that I won't see this group, which was scheduled to play the Harvest this September, do these songs. Hearing them now, hearing him, I realize what I always took for granted: He is that good. Here are some of the most soaring live electric guitar solos you will ever need. They match the best players working today or in the past. His signature style may have been how he played the guitar, but what he played was amazing, too.

This last album will no doubt be my favourite blues album by Healey. Not bad, considering blues wasn't even his favourite music.

Bob Mersereau is a music writer and the arts reporter for CBC in New Brunswick.

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SPCD 1313
Genre: Jazz
Released: 19 September 2006
$ 15 CDN

Adventures In Jazzland
  1. Bugle Call Rag (5:22)
  2. My Honey's Lovin Arms (5:02)
  3. Emaline (4:03)
  4. I Never Knew What A Gal Could Do (4:08)
  5. If I Had You (4:09)
  6. Three Little Words (4:24)
  7. My Blackbirds Are Bluebirds Now (2:52)
  8. Someday Sweetheart (5:01)
  9. Keep Smiling At Rouble (3:38)
  10. Mine-All Mine (3:33)
  11. You're Driving Me Crazy (5:34)
  12. Poor Butterfly (3:23)
  13. You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me (5:02)
  14. Indiana (6:40)
  15. Little Buttercup (3:04)


SPCD 1312
Genre: Jazz
Released: 19 September 2006
$ 15 CDN

Among Friends
  1. I Would Do Anything For You (4:27)
  2. Bright Eyes (3:18)
  3. Pardon My Southern Accent (3:44)
  4. Out Of Nowhere (3:55)
  5. Lost (4:41)
  6. Star Dust (4:52)
  7. Where Are You (4:15)
  8. A Cup Of Coffee, A Sandwich, And You (4:34)
  9. Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams (5:37)
  10. I Wish I Were Twins (3:09)
  11. My Buddy (6:55)
  12. Save Your Sorrow For Tomorrow (3:22)
  13. Midnight Blue (3:38)
  14. Limehouse Blues (3:32)
  15. I'll See You In My Dreams (1:01)
  16. Blues In Thirds (4:29)


SPCD 1314
Genre: Jazz
Released: 28 March 2006
$ 20 CDN

Release Sheet

It's Tight Like That
  1. Bugle Call Rag (6:20)
  2. Sing You Sinners (Listen to mp3 clip) (4:55)
  3. Basin Street Blues (6:08)
  4. Little Girl (5:08)
  5. Someday Sweetheart (6:38)
  6. Darktown Strutters Ball (4:38)
  7. Confessin' (7:50)
  8. Keep It To Yourself (4:41)
  9. Sheik of Araby (5:00)
  10. Goin' Up The River (7:40)
  11. It's Tight Like That / Wipe Em Off (7:08)

 

Biography

 

March 2, 2008

Guitarist and Bandleader Jeff Healey Dies in Toronto Hospital
Jeff Healey with Domenic Troiano and Long John Baldry
Jeff Healey with Domenic Troiano and Long John Baldry

Following a lengthy struggle with cancer, Healey passes away on the eve of the release of a new blues rock album (His First Blues Album in 8 Years)

Jeff Healey, arguably one of the most distinctive guitar players of our time, died today (Sunday March 2, 2008) in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Toronto. He was 41, and leaves his wife, Cristie, daughter Rachel (13) and son Derek (three), as well as his father and step-mother, Bud and Rose Healey, and sisters Laura and Linda.

Funeral and memorial arrangements are pending.

Robbed of his sight as a baby due to a rare form of cancer, retino blastoma, and he started to play guitar when he was three, holding the instrument unconventionally across his lap. He formed his first band at 17, but soon formed a trio which was named the Jeff Healey Band.

After his appearance in the movie Road House, he was signed to Arista records, and in 1988 released the Grammy-nominated album See the Light, which included a major hit single, Angel Eyes. He earned a Juno Award in 1990 as Entertainer of the Year.

Two more albums emerged on Arista, with lessening success as the ’90s passed. Various “best-of” and live packages were released, and he recorded two more rock albums, before turning to his real love, classic American jazz from the ’20s, ’30s and ’40s.

By then, however, Healey was an internationally-known star who had played with dozens of musicians, including B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and recorded with George Harrison. Mark Knopfler and the late blues legend, Jimmy Rogers.

A family man with a three-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter he preferred to stay close to home. “I’ve traveled widely before - been there and done that,” he told friends, determined to avoid the lengthy, exhausting tours that marked his life in his twenties and early thirties.

A long-running CBC Radio series saw him in the role of disc jockey - My Kinda Jazz was a staple for a while, but in recent years he had hosted a programme with a similar name on Jazz-FM in Toronto. A highlight of his broadcasts was always the use of rare — and rarely heard — music from his 30,000-plus collection of 78-rpm records.

Jeff Healey playing live
Jeff Healey playing live
© Rob Hamill

As his rock career wound down as the millennium came, he recorded a series of three album of early jazz, playing trumpet as well as acoustic guitar in a band he called Jeff Healey’s Jazz Wizards. The most recent was It’s Tight Like That, recorded live at Hugh’s Room in Toronto in 2005, with British jazz legend Chris Barber as guest star.

At the time of his death he was about to see the release of his first rock/blues album in eight years, Mess of Blues, which is being released in Europe on March 20, 2008 and in Canada and the U.S. on April 22. The album was the result of a joint agreement between the German label, Ruf Records, and Stony Plain, the independent Edmonton-based label that has released his three jazz CDs.

Mess of Blues was recorded in studios in Toronto, with two cuts recorded at the Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse in Toronto and two at a concert in London England. The backup group on the upcoming CD - the Healey’s House Band - played with him regularly at the downtown Roadhouse, and at a previous club bearing his name in the Queen-Bathurst area.

Early last year, Healey underwent surgery to remove cancerous tissue from his legs, and later from both lungs; aggressive radiation treatments and chemotherapy, however, failed to halt the spread of the disease.

Despite his battle with cancer, he undertook frequent tours across Canada with both his blues-based band and his jazz group; he was set for a major tour in Germany and the U.K. and was to be a guest on the BBC’s famed Jools Holland Show in April.

Remembered by his musicians - and his audiences - for his wry sense of humour as well as his musical playfulness, Healey was a unique musician who bridged different genres with ease and assurance.