Earl Hooker Play Your Guitar Mr. Hooker

Earl Hooker
Play Your Guitar Mr. Hooker
Blacktop

Buddy Guy has cited Earl Hooker as the greatest blues guitarist he ever saw, and many of his contemporaries remember his mastery of the guitar, both straight and his use of a slide. Possessing an awesome technique, timing and musical imagination, he was a favorite of many of his contemporaries, although he died of tuberculosis within a couple weeks of Otis Spann in April, 1970. What a loss, Chicago’s best blues players cut down within weeks of each other.
 
He was known as a guitarist, being an inadequate vocalist who usually let others handle the vocals. He recorded for King and Rockin’ Records and later recorded for Sam Phillips, although these sides remained unissued for years. The early sixties found him on Age and Chief, before he connected with Jim Kirchstein’s Cuca label out of Sauk City, Wisconsin. After Cuca, Hooker recorded albums for Arhoolie, Bluesway, Blue Thumb (with Ike Turner on piano) and Blues on Blues, and played on Bluesway albums by cousin John Lee (Hooker), Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Big Moose Walker, leaving a substantial legacy for those years.

Cuca actually issued an album titled The Genius of Earl Hooker, which suffered from the programming of all instrumentals. In the mid-eighties the Dutch Black Magic label issued Play Your Guitar, Mr. Hooker, which made available unissued Cuca recordings and alternate takes, along with two instrumentals, Earl Hooker Blues, and Dust My Broom, that pioneering European blues researcher George Adins recorded in 1968 at the Alex Club on Chicago’s West Side.

This is probably my favorite Earl Hooker album, with his vocal and guitar on the opening Swear to Tear the Truth being particularly urgent sounding. Most of this is comprised of instrumentals or accompaniments to assorted singers. A.C. Reed emulates the vocal style of namesake Jimmy Reed on She’s Fine, while Frank ‘Crying Shame’ Clark ably handles You Took My Love, and The Misfit (Got to Keep Movin’), and the gruff Muddy Waters Jr. sings Everything Gonna Be Alright.

There’s plenty of hot guitar as Earl shows his mastery of a variety of styles while A.C. Reed or Bobby Fields adds some hot tenor sax. Particularly impressive are his renditions of Albert Collins’ classic Frosty, and Otis Rush’s All Your Love. The two live recordings give Earl a chance to stretch out, and also contain a bit of Fred Roulette’s pedal steel guitar which increases their interest despite the sound quality of the location recording.

While this is a musical feast, an instrumental rendition of James Brown’s I Got You (I Feel Good) is omitted in this 13 track, 37-odd minute compact disc. Also the original vinyl album came with a detailed booklet with plenty of information on Earl Hooker, Cuca and its head, Mr. Kirstein. While it would have taken an extensive booklet to reprint all of the original notes, certainly some liner notes should have been included. While this is recommended, Black Top could have done better with this reissue.

I likely received a review copy from the record label. This review originally appeared in the September 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 184). This may be available on the used market but as a collector's item. Here is Earl Hooker, likely in Europe.

Chicago Blues Buddies Strong Friendship Commemorated

It was in 1960 that Elvin Bishop, then a newcomer to Chicago, met and was mentored by Smokey Smothers (oft referred as Little Smokey to distinguish him from his older brother Big Smokey). Smokey at the time was at the Blue Flame and also working with Howlin’ Wolf at the time. Later Smokey would also encourage Paul Butterfield and helped inspire that band. Elvin and Smokey have remained close friends through the years, even while Elvin’s career took off with Butterfield and later as a blues-rooted rock act with several smash hits. With his career in rebound at the time, Elvin instigated and participated in the 1993 award-winning album, Bossman!  and later recorded at live album with his old friend for Alligator. Later at the 2006 Chicago Blues Festival they reprised their collaborations.

More recently, Smokey’s health has been in decline and as Dick Shurman has noted, Elvin seized the moment to compile a new CD, Little Smokey Smothers & Elvin Bishop “Chicago Blues Buddies” (Brown Derby), with the proceeds going to Smokey. The CD is a nice retrospective that opens with a couple tracks from “Bossman!“ including ”Remembering,“ where the two trade licks and recall their younger days. Next up are five performances from the 1993 Chicago Blues Festival which are the musical core of this disc and strong performances including ”Smokey’s Shuffle,“ ”Crack Head Woman,“ and ”Mother-in-Law Blues,“ marked with strong vocals from Smokey and playing from both. It is followed by an interview of the two by Chris Heim and Steve Cushing. The next two selections are from the live Alligator recording from San Francisco’s Biscuits & Blues, ”Thats My Partner,“ and then the last two selections are from a 2006 Ground Zero appearance shortly after their Chicago Blues Festival appearance.

This serves as a solid retrospective of a wonderful partnership with the release of the first-rate 1993 Chicago Blues Festival performances particularly welcome as are the tracks that Alligator and Black Magic graciously lent to this project which can be obtained from BlueBeat Music (www.bluebeatmusic.com) from whom I purchased this. I am not sure if this set is available from other sources, but it is well worth seeking out not simply for the music but for the good cause that it was compiled for.

Updated November 21, 2010. Word was received today that Little Smokey passed away. RIP. Bluebeat Music shows this still in stock as of today.

Big Brown's Blues

There have been so many examples of blues artists who produced a small number of recordings whose recordings were highly prized by those who heard them but never reach the more general acclaim that their music deserves. Its been over twenty years since singer-guitarist Andrew Brown passed away after recording some excellent 45s, several tracks for Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues series and two superb albums for Dutch Labels that I do not believe have been issued on CD. The Dutch Black Magic label has made almost all of Brown’s recordings available (the issued Alligator tracks excluded) on a wonderful limited edition reissue, Big Brown Blues. Packed in a book sized package, the contents of the two discs include his issued 4s for the U.S.A, 4 Brothers and Brave label and a pair of unissued titled from Brave; two unissued songs from the sessions used for the Living Chicago Blues series; the contents of his Black Magic and Double Trouble CDs and three demos recorded at Andrew’s basement. The booklet contains a bio from Bill Dahl and producer Dick Shurman’s recollections of Andrew and his music. As Shurman observes, “Musically, Andrew was accomplished, powerful, soulful and versatile.”
Influences on Brown include B.B. King, Lowell Fulson and T-Bone Walker, but in listening to these, his music struck me as very similar to that of the late Little Milton, which is evident in the wonderful treatment of Milton’s Losing Hand that is the first track on the second disc. It is more a matter of similarities in the voices and common influences. Like Milton, Brown was not only a fleet guitarist, but also a wonderful songwriter. Magic Sam covered Brown’s USA 45, You Better Stop, but there are any number of strong modern urban blues with sophisticated lyrics, sung with heart, while his guitar playing embellished, not overwhelmed, his vocals. He moves from a rocking shuffle like No More Talking to the blues ballad Your Love is Important to Me, then taking up a funk groove on Mary Jane. Dick Shurman had him cover some songs on the two albums with Tin Pan Alley, perhaps the best known song that he makes his own, but other songs covered include his terrific take on James ‘Thunderbird’ Davis’ Blue Monday, Joe Tex’s I Want to Do (Everything For You), and a Bobby Bland classic, Lead Me On. A few numbers are a bit more directed towards the straight soul market, but are also delivered so convincingly.
Having Brown’s two albums and even a 4 Brothers 45, I am delighted to have this wonderful reissue available by a person who should be much better known among a broader range of blues fans. His ‘mellow’ blues styling is akin to such other neglected past blues masters Mighty Joe Young and Fenton Robinson and is better than a lot of what is purported to be blues today. This is a limited edition and I recommend checking the better mail order specialists like BlueBeat Music to get this gem while you can. It is also available directly from Black Magic Records.