Mojo

© -  Steven A. Cerra - copyright protected; all rights reserved.

Mojo is one of those fun words that always seems to strike a responsive chord whether you are saying it to yourself, about yourself or to someone else.

Either explicitly or by allusion, it’s also a word that means different things to different people.

In a musical context, according to Wikipedia, it got it start in euphonious lexicons this way:

"Got My Mojo Working is a blues song written by Preston Foster and first recorded by Ann Cole in 1956. Muddy Waters popularized it in 1957 and the song was a feature of his performances throughout his career. A mojo is an amulet or talisman associated with hoodoo, an early African-American folk-magic belief system. Rolling Stone magazine included Waters' rendition of the song is on its list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at number 359. In 1999, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave it a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and it is identified on the list of "Songs of the Century.”

Jazz sophisticate or a downhome blues fan, it seems as though everyone loves the tune.  It’s fun to play on and for a drummer, it’s back-beat heaven.

Sometimes, the editorial staff at JazzProfiles likes to put down its collective pen [turn off the word processor?] and just listen to the music as it accompanies imagery related to the title of a tune.

The following video is a case in point.

The music is provided by Hammond B-3 organist Joey DeFrancesco who along with Jake Langley on guitar and Byron Landam appeared in concert  at The Bimhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on April 30, 2006.