Don't Walk Away From The Stove reviewed by Scott Yanow for L.A. Jazz Scene magazine, November, 2019
Back in the 1910s, string bands were popular. These units often played ragtime, folk songs, bluesy material, and pop songs. However due to the rise of jazz, the strings were mostly replaced by horns by the early 1920s. But what if that development did not happen and 1920s jazz used mandolins, banjos and guitars as lead instruments instead of cornet/trumpet, trombone and clarinet?
It might have sounded a bit like the music on John Hasbrouck’s Lp. Hasbrouck, who is mostly heard on mandolin but also occasionally plays guitar and banjo, utilizes several different units throughout the 15 songs on this album. Ranging from duets to a sextet but mostly using a trio or quartet, Hasbrouck is joined by other Chicago-based players on guitars, bass, banjo, and/or percussive instruments. They perform vintage standards (including “Angry,” “Limehouse Blues,” “Mean To Me” and “If I Could Be With You”) along with a few lesser-known songs (“Cold Mornin’ Shout,’ “Chicago Tangle,” “Chinese Break Down” and “Harrisburg Itch”).
The quiet performances are gentle (even when taken up-tempo) and swing while often sounding unusual. How often does one hear a mandolin in jazz when it is not Gypsy Swing or touched by bluegrass?
One can look at the enjoyable music on Don’t Walk Away From The Stove (a title that is not explained) as hints of a future that never arrived in jazz.
Don't Walk Away From The Stove reviewed by Joe Bebco for The Syncopated Times, August, 2019 (excerpt)
"...This isn’t the formal pre jazz sound of a ragtime string orchestra, it isn’t gypsy jazz or cafe jazz, nor is it the hokum heat of a jug band on a New Orleans street corner. The talented musicians create a direct transposition of hot mid-20s Chicago jazz for strings. It’s refreshing, palate cleansing, and joyful. Much of the album has a soft feel resulting from the instrumentation but the rhythmic drive can match any band with horns. All comers will want to claim this foot-tapping cross style sound for their genre but it is certainly jazz and nothing but American..."
For the full review, including studio notes from John Hasbrouck, click here.
Dream Lucky reviewed by Bill Meyer for still-single.tumblr.com, 2015
John Hasbrouck mostly plays in Chicago-based combos that revive bluegrass, hot jazz, and old-time country. In his two most visible bands, The Northside Southpaws and The Pilsen Hot Five, he doesn’t even play guitar, sticking to conventional and resonator mandolins. But he is no newcomer to solo acoustic guitar. He also has a CD from 2001 available at cdbaby.com that includes a few tips of the hat to John Fahey. Dream Lucky is Hasbrouck’s first vinyl release, and his first solo record in ten years. He has a thing for brevity; the eleven pieces on this ten-inch, 33 RPM record add up to less than 20 minutes of music. Alongside brevity comes an estimable clarity; each tune sets a mood, expresses a melody, and says goodbye. This is not your post-Basho lunge towards the unbounded beyond, but a cogent expression of well-formed ideas. The content ranges from lazy blues and rustic reveries to tiny, jewel-like arrangements of a handful of suspended harmonics. The recording, which was accomplished half at home and half at Electrical Audio, does an excellent job of capturing and transmitting the resonance of Hasbrouck’s instrument. Hefty, nicely cut black vinyl (500 pressed, includes a download code) finishes the job.
No Bread reviewed by Tom Druckenmiller for Sing Out! Spring, 2011
The Northside Southpaws describe themselves as "an all-left-handed , all-resophonic mandolin/guitar duo based in Chicago who perform obsolete ragtime, archaic country, proto-grass, turn-of-the-century waltzes and other obscure stringband music on lefty resonator instruments." That about says it all. John Hasbrouck plays resonator mandolin; Matt Gandurski plays resophonic guitar, and No Bread is their second CD.
The CD leads off with "Toots," a tune written by Felix Arndt who is perhaps best known for the classic "Nola." Their arrangement comes from a 1914 recording by Dr. Clarence Penny of the Victor label. The lively tune includes a few cheap tricks in the accompaniment and is just wonderful. Let me mention from the outset that although the notes to the individual selections are scant, they ascribe the label, performer, composer and date of each source recording.
"Carolina Glide" from the playing of the Scottdale String Band follows. It is a sweet waltz with an early bluegrass sound reminiscent of Bill and Charlie Monroe in one of their quieter moments. The classic "Sourwood Mountain" is up next. The Southpaws arrangement is from The Two Poor Boys who recorded it in 1931. This short tune is taken at a furious pace.
One of the more curious selections is the classic "Waves of the Danube" better known as "The Blue Danube Waltz" recorded by the duo of Lefman and Rosemarin and released on the Starr label in 1929. No Bread concludes with another all-time classic, the lovely "Belive Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms" by Thomas Moore.
In the old days if you wanted to be a professional musician, you needed variety in your repertoire. The Northside Southpaws would have been very successful.