Neglected Blues Gems From Al King and Arthur Adams Are Together

The late Al King was one of those singular West Coast blues singers who never received the general acclaim his small body of recordings merited. In the later part of the last Century, Forevermore Records had the first reissue of King’s recordings for the Shirley and Sahara labels and followed by new recordings. Unfortunately, despite the excellence of his blues, both old and new, he passed away before he could capitalize on their release. King, real name was Al K. Smith, is best known for a couple of recordings with guitarist Johnny Heartsman. One was a terrific version of Lowell Fulson’s Reconsider Baby, while the other was the memorable Think Twice Before Your Speak, which Fulson is among those who subsequently recorded.

King was a veteran of the California music scene when he made these and other recordings, having recorded for such legendary record men as John Dolphin, Johnny Otis and Bob Geddins. He initially issued Think Twice on his own Flag label, and when a Buffalo Sahara Records wanted to order 2000 copies, he leased it to them and had a brief association with that label after the urban blues charted at a time when few blues entered the record charts. After his Sahara deal ended, he moved to Los Angeles where he signed with Kent-Modern records for sessions that were produced by the legendary Maxwell Davis. These recordings have been reissued by the English Ace label along with contemporaneous recordings by Arthur K Adams, Together: The Complete Kent and Modern Recordings.

The pairing of the two on a reissue makes sense, insofar as Adams was session guitarist for many of the blues productions Davis did in the late sixties for Kent-Modern records including sessions for B.B. King as well as Al King. Saxophonist Big Jay McNeely is mentioned in the liner notes as being on many sessions for Davis and the late Clifford Solomon remembered playing on sessions as well. The music tight with brassy horns and Adams throwing in sizzling guitar breaks. Al King himself was an outstanding singer as well as songwriter. A couple of lyrical fragments illustrate this. The opening My Name Is Misery, has this powerful verse,

“I don't have no money
And I can't even pay my rent
If you put a money dog on my trail
He wouldn't even scratch a scent.”

While his The Thrill Is Gone (set to the melody of “The Things I Used To Do”) has these lyrics,

“The thrill is gone
The thrill I used to have for you
The thrill is gone
The thrill I used to have for you
Now you're beggin' me to take you back
Lord, but ain't a darn thing I can do.”

He is stark about relationships on Aint Givin’ Up Nothin’, a hot shuffle where he sings about when one has friends one has plenty of friends but when one runs out of money, friendship ends, and things are a give or take situation, what do you have to offer to me with a booting tenor sax solo. Then with Adams playing hard chords against an insistent beat he sings that married life is all right, but sometimes it is Better To Be By Yourself, with Adams taking a relentless solo. It’s Getting Late, is a solid blues in a vein similar to contemporaneous Kent recordings by Lowell Fulson. Then there is “Get Lost” a diatribe against an ex-lover which incorporates the titles and lyrical fragments from his prior 45s as hAdams puts everything into his solo. The body of Al King’s Kent recordings is on the same level as his Shirley-Sahara recordings and thankfully these are now currently available from Ace as opposed to a hard-to-fine, expensive Japanese reissue.

While Al King was a veteran, guitarist Adams was a relative newcomer to the LA scene and his rhythm guitar helped beef up B.B. King’s recording of The Jungle. In fact, Arthur’s picture of him with a guitar was used for the cover of Kent’s album “The Jungle,” a fact I was unaware of until I read Tony Rounce’s notes in the accompanying booklet. He is represented by sessions from late 1966 or early 1967. She Drives Me Out Of My Mind, is a slow B.B. King style blues with a high tenor vocal that is not far removed from Ted Taylor with a touch of sixties Buddy Guy along with some real strong guitar playing. On the other hand, I’m Lonely For You, is more in the vein of the recordings of Impressions with a fine vocal and some nice guitar. A couple of duets with female singers are again more in a sixties soul than blues vein, but nicely done with Adams displaying a strong soulful singing style.

As Tony Rounce writes in the accompanying booklet, both King and Adams “deserved far better fame than these records bought them 40-odd years ago … .” While in some case, 45 rpm singles had to be used as opposed to the original tapes, sound is generally quite good and Ace’s packing and production is of its typical high level. The result is an important reissue of two powerful, if neglected blues artists (although thankfully Adams is still with us and continuing to make strong, original music).

This was a purchase. Here is Al King's recording of Ain't Givin' Up Nothin.

Here is a little bit of Arthur Adams in performance.

Lazy Lester Rides Again

Leslie Johnson, better known as Lazy Lester, is the remaining member of the four giants of Louisiana Swamp Blues that recorded for Jay Miller at his Crowley, Louisiana studios and which were issued on, and distributed by, the Nashville based Excello label. The others were Lightning Slim, Lonesome Sundown and Slim Harpo.; Lester who sang “They call my lazy, but I am just tired,” played on numerous sessions including his own recordings such as Sugar Coated Love, I’m a Lover Not a Fighter, and recordings Miller produced, including many accompanying Lightning Slim.

Ace Records (of England) has just reissued Mike Vernon’s Blue Horizon issued Lazy Lester Rides Again. It was originally released in 1987 and were I believe Lester’s first post-Excello recordings. He was touring England at the time and Vernon used members of several English bands to back him and they provide understated, effective backing. This release fortunately was the first by him over the past couple decades and he remains a vigorous performer who is still rooted in the distinctive style he gained fame for.

Swamp blues is a style rooted in Jimmy Reed’s style and employs very simple walking blues boogies and slow moody blues with the use of echo and treble as well as crying harmonica to add an evocative moody atmosphere, especially on slower tempo numbers. For this recording, Vernon allowed Lester to remake three of his recordings as well as take his turn on other swamp blues and classic blues themes. So we get a remake of his Sugar Coated Love, as well as Nothin’ But the Devil. He played behind Lightnin’ Slim on the original recording.

Outstanding is the remake of the philosophically tinged “The Same Thing Could Happen To You,” while Bob Hall adds some rollicking piano to I Hear You Knockin’. Other standout tracks include the remake of King Karl’s swamp pop classic Irene, and Jimmy Rogers’ Out On The Road. On the latter tune he plays guitar while Tim Elliott plays harmonica, emulating Lester’s style.An unexpected delight is the swamp blues reworking of WC Handy’s St. Louis Blues, as well as the instrumental Blowin’ a Rumba.

The present reissue contains a number of bonus tracks which are mostly alternate takes of the originally issued recordings. Some of these have mistakes and Vernon discusses how this recording was made at length in the copious notes provided in the accompanying booklet. I Ain’t Glad, was an original by Lester and Vernon with a lyric that was a bit of a tongue twister which was not issued at the time. Lester’s harp was added after the original recording, but it was some more recent digital repair that enabled it to be issued for the first time here. The closing tune is an instrumental Rockin’ With Lester, an extended two harmonica instrumental with Tim Elliott’s chromatic harp added to Lester’s harp. Still unissued from these sessions is a rendition of the deep soul classic The Dark End of the Street, that still, after 24 years, is deemed unusable.

The original release of Lazy Lester Rides Again was a WC Handy Award winner in 1988 and the additional takes and tunes are a bonus for listeners today. Lazy Lester still is with us, and still delights blues audiences at festivals and concerts. His music has been immortalized by the remarkable roots concert series, The Ponderosa Stomp, which takes its name from one of Lester’s Excello recordings (the recording was titled Pondarosa), and at which Lester is one of the regular performers. Long may Lazy Lester Ride.

I purchased this CD.

Roy Hawkins May Be Gone But The Thrill Lingers On

Roy Hawkins’ name is not one that may be familiar to many who call themselves blues enthusiasts, but this Texas born, West Coast blues singer and piano man had some records on the R&B charts and one of his recordings has become a blues standard when redone by B.B. King. Like Charles Brown, Little Willie Littlefield, Pee Wee Crayton, and others he was among those who traveled to California from Texas and the Southwest and played music and made records. Despite waxing the original recording of The Thrill Is Gone, as Tony Rounce observes in the liner notes to the English Ace CD reissue, Bad Luck Is Falling, an obscure figure and even when B.B. King had a major hit with Hawkins’ song, nothing was found out about him. Still as Rounce says, he “was one of the last unsung heroes of the post-world War II West Coast blues.”

We know that in 1948 he was in Richmond, California in the San Francisco Bay area where he led a combo that played in clubs that included a fine guitarist named Ulysses James. They came to the attention of Bob Geddins who recorded them for his Cava-town and Down Town labels. At some point the Bihari Brothers acquired his contract and four of the sides Geddins issued on Down Town. Rounce speculates that they have seen him as a replacement for Charles Brown who had jumped to Aladdin Records.

In any event, Modern issued the four Down Town sides which were pressed from acetates made from 78s and not from the actual the acetate masters. While the sound is not optimal, the music was excellent. Strange Land, was a doomy Bay Area blues that Johnny Fuller also recorded for Geddins. Hawkins displays his ability as a singer on Strange Land, while the instrumentals issued at this session showcase guitarist James. There was a session in 1949 that produced a terrific blues Sleepless Nights, and a tough instrumental Royal Hawk.

But after this session, Hawkins was in a car crash that resulted in a paralysis that affected his ability to play piano. While he was convalescing, Geddins wrote Why Do Things Happen To Me for him, which Hawkins poignantly sang. It was his biggest hit, reaching #3 on the charts and staying there for almost 5 full months. It is not included on this reissue, but is on the earlier Ace Roy Hawkins reissue, The Thrill is Gone. There are takes from this session that was led by tenor saxophonist Buddy Floyd and included guitarist Chuck Norris with Williard McDaniel on piano. Included on Bad Luck Is Falling is a charming (to quote Rounce) rendition of a non-blues, the standard many know from Jimmy Durante and Frank Sinatra, September Song. An alternate take of the previously reissued Wine Drinkin’ Woman, is also included.

In April 1951, the tenor saxophonist Maxwell Davis replaced Floyd as senior A&R for Modern, a position he would hold for many years. I remember Joe Bihari being interviewed at the Ponderosa Stomp conference referring to Davis as a genius and Clifford Solomon recalled working on sessions that Maxwell Davis ran over decade later. At this first session, The Thrill is Gone was recorded. The issued take (take 4) was reissued on the earlier CD. Reissued here is take 2 which initially was the preferred take, and to these ears is as good as the issued version. This is a classic West Coast piano blues with Hawkins’ strong, moody vocal that has a terrific sax solo from Maxwell Davis.

The Thrill is Gone charted and while not on the charts as long as Why Do Things Happen To Me, it continued to sell for a long time which led to a sequel, The Thrill Hunt, that was one of four sides recoded at his next session which included the instantly recognizable guitar of T-Bone Walker. These sides were recorded right after a Walker session and include the jumping Highway 59 and the moody Doin’ All Right, that wonderfully feature superb backing and strong singing. Then there is a strong Maxwell Davis solo with Walker’s single note runs and chords under the searing sax playing. One problem here was that the original tapes were lost, so they mastered from 45s to which some echo was applied. Still the performance is superb and thee cho is a minor issue. Sound issues also mar the coupling of Bad Luck is Falling, and The Condition I’m In, which is unfortunate as they are real good performances.

One other session at the time produced an attempt to crack the emerging rock and roll market. He would do one session for Don Barkdale’s Rhythm label in 1958 and then a swan song for the Biharis again on their Kent label. This 1960-1961 session produced four sides, the most notable was a terrific new version of Strange Land with some blistering playing from an uncredited guitarist.

I definitely agree with the characterization of Hawkins as an unsung master of post-World War II, West Coast blues. Anyone who loves the rocking work of Little Willie Littlefield, Amos Milburn and Floyd Dixon, will enjoy Hawkins. The earlier reissue, The Thrill is Gone, is the essential Roy Hawkins reissue. While some of the music may be (relatively) substandard, most of what is on Bad Luck Is Falling is exceptional. I believe this is still in print, and bluebeatmusic.com shows this is available and it may be available from amazon or from third-party sellers at amazon.


This blog entry is about CDs I purchased.

Earl King's Hard River To Cross

Earl King was a significant member of the New Orleans music scene from the 1950s until his death in 2003. Born Earl Silas Johnson IV in 1934, he started playing guitar as a teen and was initially a follower of Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones, even filling in as Jones after Jones was injured in an automobile accident. He first recorded as Earl Johnson in 1953 for Savoy, Specialty issued “A Mother’s Love,” as Earl King, and in 1955 he was signed to Ace Records, where he recorded “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights,” among other recordings. “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights,” was a hit despite Huey “Piano’ Smith’s out of tune piano and was covered pretty closely by Johnny “Guitar’ Watson whose version siphoned off some sales for King. While on Ace, King emerged as a songwriter as well as performer, penning songs for teen heart throb, Jimmy Clanton as well as Roland Stone.

In 1960, Dave Bartholomew signed him to Imperial where he made a number of recordings backed by musicians including Bob and George French, James Booker, and Wardell Quezergue. Here he made some signature recordings such as “Come On,” and “Trick Bag,” The former tune has been interpreted by Jimi Hendrix, Dr. John and Stevie Ray Vaughan while the latter has been reworked by The Meters, Dr. John. His contract with Imperial expired in 1963 but he continued to write songs. His compositions from this era included Professor Longhair's "Big Chief", Willie Tee's "Teasin' You", and Lee Dorsey's "Do-Re-Mi". Recordings for Motown and Atlantic when unissued at the time, while Sam Charters produced “That Good Old New Orleans Rock 'n Roll” for Sonet in 1977 (subsequently it has been issued on CD). King started recording for Black Top in the 1980s and made three CDs for them, the last being “Hard River To Cross” in 1993. King continued to perform before passing in 2003 of diabetes related complications. This writer had the opportunity to see him several times in the DC area. (Much of this bio info is adapted from Wikipedia. The Wikipedia bio does have the suggestion that Earl may have co-written some songs with Dave Bartholomew including Smiley Lewis’ “I Hear You Knockin’” as Pearl King, but has there is no citation for this. I have never heard this claim prior to seeing this nor why would Earl need to do this.

The following review of Earl’s Black Top CD, “Hard River To Cross,” appeared in the July/August 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 183). I likely received a review copy from Black Top at the time. It is available as a download if not available as a new CD.

Earl King certainly remains one of New Orleans' more distinctive artists, having evolved from a disciple of Guitar Slim to one of the Crescent City’s most important songwriters, and a distinctive performer. Hard River to Cross, his new Black Top release, is another welcome helping of his unique, often quirky, but always intriguing music. King’s recent songs show a maturity in themes and lyrics that provide for tasty, funk-laden blues and soul, and still retain a distinct “New Orleans” flavor. Most of the songs here are new, like the title track, Seduction Lady and Big Foot, although he does a few remakes of such older gems as Medieval Days, You Better Know, and You’re Love Means More to Me Than Gold, as well as Guitar Slim’s It Hurts To Love Someone. King has never been a flamboyant guitarist in the manner of Guitar Slim, rather his carefully crafted, thoughtful solos serve to enhance his lyrics and vocals rather than dominate them. 

 For those wanting a bit more info on Earl King, I suggest reading Larry Benicewicz's obituary.