I'm beginning to think this is the best release of the year so far for me. Allen Lowe is a denizen of a jazz bulletin board that I haunt and quite a goofball in posts. He's an excellent pop culture historian, having written an excellent history of jazz and one of blues and one of rock, and he's a jazz alto player and guitarist who has released some offbeat recordings in the past.
This one is a blues three cd set that has him in great company with blues and jazz players, and they approach the blues in many open-ended ways, adding a sort of Ornette Coleman "harmelodic" approach to much of it. It's wild and whacky and very enjoyable and challenging as well. My one gripe with the proceeds is that he seems to use a drummer who is playing drums off a low-fi drum machine. That doesn't quite work for me, though it does make the sound and feel of the recordings different, which was the intent I'm sure. I have an electronic (Roland) and an acoustic (Sonor) drum kit, and I just wish either type of kit was used as the clarity of the drumming would be so much better, not to mention the swing. (But I think Allen Lowe was particularly going for an entirely different texture, he sure got one).
Anyway, anyone who loves the blues and is feeling adventurous, check this out, it's not that expensive. I got mine directly from Allen Lowe for 25 bucks including shipping.