Tommy Ridgely Since The Blues Began

Tommy Ridgely 
Since The Blues Began 
Black Top

While attending the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for the first time at the end of April, I caught plenty of great blues, zydeco and R&B. While he did not play the festival during the first weekend, Tommy Ridgely was at Howlin’ Wolf, a New Orleans Club, as part of a New Orleans Rhythm & Blues revue that also included Oliver Morgan, pianist Eddie Bo and Earl King. 

Ridgely, who first recorded with Dave Bartholomew’s band in 1949, made such memorable sides as Shrewsbury Blues, Looped, Jam Up and Gonna Meet My Girl. At the Howlin’ Wolf he stuck to the songs from his new album, Since the Blues Began and his vocals were exquisite. I also saw him the next afternoon at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville where he played piano, and sang a wide range of blues, backed by acoustic guitar and harp. 

Since the Blues Began is a superb album, and shows Ridgely to be as vital today as his first recordings with Dave Bartholomew’s band. He is heard with a crack band that includes Sammy Berfect and Edward Frank on keyboards, the incredible Snooks Eaglin on guitar, George Porter on bass and Kaz Kazanoff and Tony Dagradi on saxophones. Ridgely may be close to 70, but he still sings with great vigor and flexibility in his delivery. He doesn’t sound his age. 

He is obviously happy with the album and there is no filler among the songs. There are some new recordings of songs he waxed years ago, including I Heard That Story Before, and Let’s Try to Talk It Over. The latter number may suggest why he was once known as the “New King of the Stroll”. He contributed a number of new songs, like the opening Pretty Lady ( many guys will be able to identify with the sentiment of its lyrics), Running After You, and The World Is Our Stage. Jody Siegel contributed the title song. 

Ridgely’s lyrics explore the varying aspects of male-female relationships from a sophisticated, adult perspective. And, for someone whose early recordings are classic jump blues in a Roy Brown vein, Tommy Ridgely seems completely at home with the nineties Crescent City R&B groove. To reiterate, Tommy Ridgely’s Since the Blues Began is a terrific disc. 

I likely received my review copy from Black Top Records. This review appeared originally in the July-August 1995 Jazz and Blues Report (Issue 203). This is available used or as a download.  Here is the original recording of I Heard That Story Before, that he remade for this album.

Snooks Eaglin Soul’s Edge

Snooks Eaglin
Soul’s Edge

Blacktop



A recent Offbeat article analogized that Snooks Eaglin is to guitarists what Professor Longhair was to pianists. Further evidence of his distinctive musical styling is presented by his fourth album for Black Top, a set which may be the label’s most significant body of music. 



His percussive, chicken-scratching guitar playing is immediately recognizable. His slightly sand-papered, but unmannered vocals deliver lyrics with wit or earnestness as required. His low-key approach certainly helps boost such trivial lyrics as Ling Ting Tong, and Skinny Minnie. At the same time, the simplicity of his vocal makes I’m Not Ashamed so believable. 

There are a couple of great second line grooves, with Fats Domino’s Josephine, and the equally terrific, I Went to the Mardi Gras. 

Not everything works, as Snooks’ vocal lacks the vitality of Hank Ballard as he fails to pull off the Midnighters’ Let’s Go, Let’s Go (here titled Thrill on the Hill). The instrumental Answer Now, sports too much musical noodling, but the late night blues You and Me has more terrific playing, though its impact is somewhat diffused by its length. 



This album does not reach the level of Out of Nowhere, my favorite of his earlier Black Top albums, but, given Snooks imagination, the variety of material, and his startling guitar playing, one can hardly go wrong with Soul’s Edge. 



I likely received a review copy from Black Top. This review originally appeared in the May 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 201). This may be found used. Here is Snooks in performance.

 

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.

Bobby Parker Watched His Step

While I have posted this review before, here is my 20 year old review of Bobby Parker's first Black Top album, Bent Out of Shape from 1993. It originally appeared in the March 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (and undoubtedly in the Dc Blues Society's newsletter at around that time. The album currently is out-of-print on CD but one may be able to locate it on ebay or from blues music vendors. Downloads of the album are available on itunes and amazon. To these ears, Bobby's two Black Top albums are as good as any blues albums of the past two decades. It is unfortunate he never had another CD issued but there is a DVD of him live at Montreux that is part of the DVD set from 2003 that is representative of his live performances. I mention that Santana not only cited Bobby as an influence but had him on the bill with Carlos as well as have Bobby share the stage with him. As a friend of Bobby, I thank you Carlos for your love of the music and your acknowledgement of those who helped shaped your own music. I know you are going our sorrow with the passing of someone who meant so much to you as us.

Bobby Parker has been tearing up Washington D.C. area clubs for the past three decades. This Louisiana native was raised in Los Angeles, but the musical bug hit him, and by the mid-fifties he was playing with Paul Williams' band, backing up numerous R&B legends at the Apollo and on tour. Later he moved to DC, where he was a mainstay in the 14th Street clubs. In more recent years he has played a variety of Washington area venues. Bobby recorded a fine 45 for Vee-Jay which included a superb minor-key blues, Blues Get Off My Shoulder, with the first recording of You Got What It Takes (later a hit for Marv Johnson). A year later, he recorded for the Philadelphia V-Tone label, Watch Your Step, which was based on Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca (with a bit of Ray Charles influence) that was by Spencer Davis. This record led him to be invited to Europe in the late sixties where Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was one of his fans, and tried to sign him up to that label. He did record for Blue Horizon, cutting the great It’s Hard But It’s Fair.

The release of Bent Out of Shape by Parker on Black Top will certainly open a lot of ears that haven’t heard these rare records, or seen Bobby in performance. Bobby Radcliff told this writer that twenty years ago, Parker was as good as the better known Chicago stars like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, and I understand from others, that this recording is not different from what Parker was doing twenty years ago. Having watched Bobby for several years one could sense here was someone special, and this recording captures it. The album is comprised of Bobby’s originals with the exception of the Carey Bell song, Break It Up, that Bobby often opens his live dates with. The remakes of his early recordings are all strong performances. Watch Your Step is a particularly hard-hitting reworking of his V-Tone recording, although without a vocal chorus. The title track is evocative of some of the late Z.Z. Hill’s recordings, but the band here plays with more of an edge, and Parker’s fiery guitar matches his deep soul singing. Bobby’s A-Go-Go actually a mistitled Go-Go Blues),his tribute to the Go-Go music scene, is perhaps the weakest track here, but that aside, the music here is first rate and almost worth the wait for it to come out. This is simply one of the best blues releases on Black Top of the past few years, set apart not only by Bobby’s strong guitar playing, but by his fervent, soulful blues preaching.

Here is a little clip of Bobby, Carlos Santana, Buddy Guy and vocalist Barbara Morrison that is on the Buddy Guy DVD that is part of the Carlos Santana Blues at Montreux DVD package I mentioned above.

Snooks Eaglin JazzFest 07 Day 2-289

JazzFest 07 Day 2-289, a photo by NoVARon on Flickr.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the great Snooks Eaglin. I remember standing next to the poet, radio announcer and activist John Sinclair at what is now the Gentilly Stage and kidding John about Snooks, on a live recording that was on a wwoz CD, calling him out and saying I want to see you dance. Well at this performance the first thing Snooks says before he launches into his set is "Sinclair, you out there? I want to see you dance." Snooks was one of a kind.

My recommendation for a Snooks album is the Black Top release Out of Nowhere that was reissued by Shout Factory and which is available from amazon as a cd-r. You may be able to find vendors selling the original CD as used or a collectable. It is well worth trying to locate. I previously posted reviews of several of his albums including Snooks Live in Japan.

Almost Guitar Shorty's Best

The review below was part of a review of several Black Top Records compilations issued by Shout Factory in 2006 and appeared in the September-October Jazz & Blues Report (issue 286). I may have received this directly from Shout Factory or from the publication. Reviews of the Anson Funderburgh compilation has already run and another will run in the next few days. I have made some stylistic changes. I should point out that a  number of the Black Top recordings are available in reissue or mp3 and you might want to check collector's choice music as well as Amazon and other websites for the Black Top recordings.

David Kearney, best known as Guitar Shorty, was among the three major rediscoveries that Black top made (Robert Ward and Bobby Parker are the other two). The Florida born singer- guitarist was heavily influenced by Guitar Slim who made some choice recordings for Cobra Records and the LA based Pull label. For a period he was married to Jimi Hendrix’ stepsister and would swap ideas with the future leg-end. 

Kearney had recorded a wonderful My Way or the Highway for the English JSP label before joining Black Top where he recorded three albums, Topsy Turvy, Get Wise To Yourself, and Roll Over, Baby. After leaving Black Top, there were live albums on Collectibles followed by Evidence’s I Go Wild and more recently he signed to Alligator. Shout Factory’s The Best of Guitar Shorty: The Long and Short of It, is taken from the JSP album, the three Black Top CD and the Evidence. The highlights include a stunning remake of Hard Life, You Better Get Wise to Yourself, Swamp Dogg’s I Want to Report a Crime and a duet with Carol Fran, I’m So Glad I Met You. 

The two cuts from the JSP disc, No Educated Woman and Red Hot Mama, are almost equal to the Black Top discs which employed such first-rate players like Lee Allen Zeno on bass, Herman Ernest III, Shannon Powell or Raymond Weber on drums, David Torkanowsky on keyboards, Kaz Kazanoff on sax. Oddly the only number from Black Top that had South Central, his working band of the nineties, was a credible rendition of Hey Joe, a tribute to Hendrix which is ok, but there are some other selections that are missing, especially his rendition of Al Kooper’s (I Love You) More Than You’ll Ever Know, derived from Donny Hathaway’s recording. Hathaway was a major influence on Shorty as a singer, but you would never know it from most of which has been written about him that focuses on his guitar playing and Hendrix connection. 

With the more rock-oriented production of his recent recordings, his vocals also suffer. But if this gem had replaced a track from the Evidence album, then the title would be more accurate as opposed to really being Almost The Best of Guitar Shorty. Still this will have to do until Topsy Turvy and Get Wise To Yourself are reissued. The JSP is in print. 

Here is Guitar Shorty doing one of his signature songs, It's A Hard Life.

Anson Funderburgh & The Rocket's Best!

The review below was part of a review of several Black Top Records compilations issued by Shout Factory in 2006 and appeared in the September-October Jazz & Blues Report (issue 286). I may have received this directly from Shout Factory or from the publication. Reviews of the other two compilations will run in the next couple weeks. I have made some stylistic changes. I should point out that a  number of the Black Top recordings are available in reissue and you might want to check collector's choice music as well as other websites.

Shout Factory has been reissuing product from the catalog of the Black Top label, arguably the label that from the mid-eighties through its demise in the nineties, had the strongest catalog of blues releases in that period. Earlier releases included the discs of Solomon Burke, and a Hubert Sumlin one. Three new releases are “Best of” collections centered on three of the label’s artists that do include recordings these performers made for other labels.

It was ironic that I received, Blast Off -- The Best Of Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets, the day word that Sam Myers, the great Mississippi vocalist had passed away. It is odd that this reissue does not mention featuring Sam Myers who appeared on most of the Rockets discs after Myers joined Anson and his varying line-up over the years, especially since the band took off as one of the preeminent blues bands after Myers became featured. 

The above is not to say that the band was shabby with the original vocalist Darrell Nulisch who certainly turns in an amiable performance on Earl King’s Come On, but a younger Nulisch simply had not developed the authority that Myers brought with his singing and harp as evident on A Man Needs His Loving, Moose John Walker’s Ramblin’ Woman or Buddy Guy’s reworking of Barrett Strong’s Money, $100 Bill. Additionally Myers brought his considerable harp talent to the recordings and live dates. Anson himself displays his sizzling playing as well as his impeccable taste, and is featured on Down at JJ’s. While the backing personnel changed over the years, they remained a tight, swinging outfit. 

There are numerous pleasures to be heard on all 17 selections which is compiled from all nine Rockets recordings, including selections from the two Bullseye Blues albums and the two with Nulisch and one certainly hopes that at least a few of the Rockets CDs featuring Sam Myers including Sins, Rack ‘Em Up, and Tell Me What I Want to Hear, are issued in their entirety. 

Here is a video clip of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets featuring the late legend, Sam Myers.

Vintage West Side Lonnie Brooks

Below is an older review of Lonnie Brooks that originally appeared in the June 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 212). I likely received a review copy from the label at time.

While Lonnie Brooks is quite popular with his fusion of blues and swamp rock evidenced on his Alligator albums, a Black Top release, Live At Pepper’s 1968, showcases the Brooks who was holding forth for the predominantly black audience at Pepper’s Lounge on Chicago’s West Side at the time. Recorded by George Adins, the pioneering Belgium blues researcher on a relatively simple reel-to-reel deck, this may not be digital sound, but the music’s power and the audience response is clearly evident. 

Despite his previous regional success in Louisiana as Guitar Junior with The Crawl, the music here is mostly directed to the black audience with Brooks’ impassioned singing standing out on his intense covers of Sweet Little Angel on which he talks about his woman wrapping her legs (“oh I mean wings”) around him, along with Little Walter’s Can’t Hold Out Much Longer, where his guitar solo alludes at different times to Muddy, T-Bone and B.B. King. He occasionally ribs Earl Hooker, whose band he is using, as well as turns in some funky renditions of hits including Johnny Taylor’s monster hit, Who’s Making Love. An original, Shakin’ Little Mama is in a Chuck Berry Groove, and The Train and the Horse (with more ribbing of Earl Hooker) finds his guitar creating train and horse sounds before he launches the band into a heavy rocking groove. 

With retention of his audience raps, plenty of hot guitar including a nice Hideaway with Brooks providing his own twists to what was then a standard Chicago set opener, this has been a favorite of mine since I purchased it on vinyl as an import many years ago. Finally issued in the US, despite its less-than-ideal sound this serves as a document of how powerful Lonnie Brooks was before his evolution in the bayou blues rocker of today.

Magic Sam Had The Magic Touch

One of the blues artists I discovered when I first started listening to blues was Samuel Maghett, better known as Magic Sam. The release of West Side Soul on Delmark was quite an important album and highly acclaimed. Alas Sam died only a few years after despite the promise of a career that might have taken off. The following review of some club recordings appeared in the April, 1993 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 180) and I have made minor stylistic revisions. I likely received a review copy from the label. It is out-of-print but is available used. It should be noted that this was released originally on vinyl on the Dutch Black Magic label around 1984 and they likely issued it on CD as well. Black Top’s release of Magic Touch makes available a live club recording by the legendary Magic Sam that was originally on the Black Magic label. Recorded at Sylvio’s (Howlin’ Wolf’s home base and it is Wolf that introduces Sam and Shakey Jake) by the Belgium blues and jazz collector George Adins, it complements the recordings from the Alex Club that Delmark issued on Magic Sam Live and is valuable as additional documentation of him. Magic Sam was joined by Shakey Jake Harris on harp and vocals on six of the fourteen selections, the bass of Mack Thompson, and the drums of Odie Payne. These are location recordings, and not hi-fi. The sound on this is better than on the Delmark, Adins source recordings likely being better. However, the editing is not as clean as the Delmark, so instead of the banter with the audience between songs on the Delmark, tracks get cut off abruptly as the song ends and the applause begins. The music is extraordinary, and there are some songs that Sam didn’t record elsewhere including Just Like a Fish, Dirty Work Going On, and I Just Can’t Please You. Shakey Jake sounds as good as he ever did on record on She’s Nineteen Years Old, and Juke. Thompson and Payne would play on Sam’s Delmark studio recordings, and add a tight, bottom to the music. Sam’s studio albums, West Side Soul, and Black Magic, are the logical places for persons unfamiliar with Magic Sam. Those hooked on his music will certainly want this and the Delmark live recordings. This is great stuff that shows why forty odd years later he is still revered by the musicians he worked with and blues enthusiasts everywhere. Here is the cover of the original Black Magic release of this material.

Gary Primich is a Company Man

Austin’s Gary Primich brings his formidable harp technique and appealing singing to Company Man, another new release from the revived Black Top label. He’s joined here by guitarists Shorty Lenoir and Mark Korpi, with one acoustic track that has Steve James adding his formidable playing. This is a mix of good original material with catchy lines and some less familiar covers. A couple of covers are from the Smiley Lewis canon including Hook, Line and Slinker, with some rollicking tinker toy piano and an acoustic version of Jailbird. There’s some nice harp workouts, The Briar Patch (with some fine chromatic harp) and Varmint, as Primich’s tasty playing is showcased. What is particularly appealing besides his technique, tone and fluency, is that he knows when to lay back, and he exhibits finesse as well as power. Similarly, his vocals are richly and convincingly delivered without any artifice. The overall flavor, with string bass and tasty drums, is not too far removed from a number of similar efforts, including several from the West Coast by James Harman, Rod Piazza and the late William Clarke. This is a fine album, although Cub Koda’s liner notes are a bit hyperbolic. Furthermore, as someone whose relatives died in gas chambers, I find his use of blues “nazis” to describe those who don’t share his views as offensive in trivializing the term. It is a word tossed around too freely and perhaps reflects a certain intellectual laziness. This review of one of Gary Primich’s recordings appeared originally in the June 1997 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 222), although a few minor stylistic changes have been made. I likely received a review copy directly from Black Top at the time. Primich died in September 2007 and Old Pal Records has just issued a double CD of Primich recordings (many with Omar Dykes) Just a Little Bit More … which I will be reviewing and hope to post in a few days. Company Man is available from bluebeatmusic.com along with other vendors as well as valuable as a download.

Mike Morgan & The Crawl - Texas Men

Mike Morgan & the Crawl is one of the acts that emerged on the late lamented Black Top label with a rootsy tinge blues attack that was especially rooted in the traditions of Texas and the Gulf Coast. Starting in 2002, Severn Records started issuing new recordings by this band. Later they issued a CD of Morgan with fellow Texan Randy McAllister. Here are two reviews from a few years back of the Mike Morgan and The Crawl releases with some minor editing to reflect the republication. Severn Records provided me with the review copies.

First up is a review from 2002 of Texas Man, that originally appeared in the September/October 2002 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 259).

Veteran Texas bluesman Mike Morgan’s new album Texas Man (Severn), brings together Gulf Coast gumbo and guitar shuffles with a healthy dose of Hound Dog Taylor inspired Chicago slide boogies.

Originally issued in Holland, Texas Man opens with the title track, a shuffle that celebrates Morgan’s Texas origins and Texas blues. Renditions of Guitar Gable’s swamp blues instrumental Guitar Rhumbo and Morgan’s original Whoa My Darlin’, show how comfortable he is working within the Louisiana Swamp Blues vein. The latter number almost sounds like a new Lazy Lester number while Wild About You Baby, Gimme Back My Wig, Taylor’s Rock and See Me in the Evening, are Hound Dog Taylor-styled slide guitar romps. Five Thousand Miles From Home is a terrific slow blues with Riley Orborne’s organ contributing nice atmosphere.

Among the others who can be heard backing Morgan’s earnest singing and strong fretwork are guitarists Jon Moeller and Anson Funderburgh, and harmonica player Gary Primich. Perhaps nothing musically original here, but everything is done so well and with enthusiasm and spirit. One will have a hard time not tapping one’s foot listening to this.

The following review of Live in Dallas appeared in the April 2004 DC Blues Calendar.

Severn has just issued the latest cd by them,, Live in Dallas. Paired with second guitarist Chris Zalez, bassist Rhandy Simmons and drummer Kevin Schermerhorn, Morgan treats the Dallas club crowd to some rocking music.

Much of this is originals, although Morgan and (Lee) McBee did not write the classic Earl King number Those Lonely, Lonely Nights. Nothing profound here, just hard rocking blues for an enthusiastic Texas crowd as he tells his lady he loves her too much on One of a Kind, while on Frankie Lee Sims’ Frankie’s Blues, he slows down the groove and delivers the vocal in a straightforward, effective manner. Mother--in-Law Blues benefits from the nice easy groove that Morgan & the Crawl hit.

Perhaps some of the lengthier performances might have benefited from some editing, but that is a minor quibble. Morgan is a steady singer and a guitarist who really works the groove while spinning out his lines and the Crawl is rock solid behind him, resulting some entertaining blues.

Here is Mike Morgan & the Crawl in performance.

Almost the Best of Guitar Shorty

David Kearney, best known as Guitar Shorty, was among the three major rediscoveries that Black top made (Robert Ward and Bobby Parker are the other two. The Florida born singer-guitarist was heavily influenced by Guitar Slim who made some choice recordings for Cobra Records and the LA based Pull label. For a period he was married to Jimi Hendrix’s stepsister and would swap ideas with the future legend. Kearney had recorded a wonderful My Way or the Highway for the English JSP label before joining Black Top where he recorded three albums, Topsy Turvy, Get Wise To Yourself, and Roll Over, Baby. After leaving Black Top, there were live albums on Collectables followed by Evidence’s I Go Wild and more recently he signed to Alligator.

Shout Factory’s The Best of Guitar Shorty: The Long and Short of It, is taken from the JSP album, the three Black top CD and the Evidence. It is not as consistent as the Black Top albums because Shorty’s latter albums (Especially the Evidence and Alligator are a bit too tailored for rock audiences and lack some of the subtle touches and superior bands used by Black Top). Even if Go Wild! is forgettable, the stunning remake of Hard Life, You Better Get Wise to Yourself, Swamp Dogg’s I Want to Report a Crime and a duet with Carol Fran, I’m So Glad I Met You. The two selections from the JSP disc, No Educated Woman and Red Hot Mama, are almost equal to the Black Top discs but using such first-rate players like Lee Allen Zeno on bass, Herman Ernest III, Shannon Powell or Raymond Weber on drums, David Torkanowsky on keyboards, Kaz Kazanoff on sax..

Oddly the only number from Black Top that had South Central, his working band of the nineties was a credible rendition of Hey Joe, a tribute to Hendrix which is ok, but there are some other selections that are missing, especially his rendition of Al Kooper’s I Love You More Than You Know, derived from Donny Hathaway’s recording. Hathaway was a major influence on Shorty as a singer, but you would never know it from most written about him that focus on his guitar playing and Hendrix connection. Given the more rock-oriented production of his recent recordings, his vocals also suffer.

But if this gem had replaced the tracks from the Evidence album, then the title would be more accurate as opposed to really being Almost The Best of Guitar Shorty. Still this will have to do until Topsy Turvy and Get Wise To Yourself are reissued. The JSP may still be in print.

This review originally appeared in the September-October 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 286). I likely received a review copy from a publicist. 

Freddie King Was Electrifying Live Performer

Freddie King was one of the greatest of the post-war Chicago bluesmen. A formidable singer and a highly important guitarist, he had a number of records on the charts and was a major influence on many blues and rock guitarists including Luther Allison (who took over King’s Chicago band and gigs when King toured), Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. While Bear Family has issued all of King’s commercial recordings on two box sets containing twelve CDs of music, King also had some significant live recordings. The following review appeared originally in the March 2006 DC Blues Calendar and the March-April 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (issue (280). I made minor stylistic changes in this review.


Its been three decades since the great Freddie King passed away, and the late blues guitar’s reputation has perhaps been lessened with the passing of time, which is unfortunate because few of the guitarists today play with his mix of passion and imagination.


Shout Factory has just issued Live at the Electric Ballroom, 1974, part of the label’s reconstruction of the Black Top label catalog. Recorded two years before his death, King rips through Women Across the River, which he recorded with Leon Russell; as well as blues chestnuts like Key to the Highway, Earl King’s Let the Good Times Roll, Ain’t Nobody’s Business, which he cut for Atlantic’s Cotillion subsidiary, Sweet Home Chicago and Dust My , before ending this set with Hide Away Medley.


This disc also includes an interview with him and two acoustic performances, perhaps his only acoustic recordings. King probably had the most immediate impact on rock guitar (Eric Clapton among others was heavily influenced by King’s muscular playing), and he was also a first rate singer who brought plenty of soul to his music. This is so nice to have available again.

I likely received this from a publicist for Shout Factory’s releases. This is still in print and should be readily available.

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.

Snooks Eaglin Live

Has it been Ten Years since Black Top issued Snnoks Eaglin's Live in Japan. A poorly distributed studio album of Snooks had been issued after this, but its amazing that such a striking talent as Mr. Eaglin has not been in the studio in about a decade to present his highly idiosyncratic music.

Here is a review of this album that appeared in Jazz & Blues Report when it was issued.

A new Snooks Eaglin album is cause for celebration enough, but Eaglin’s new Black Top album also marks the return of the Black Top label that had been in hiatus since severing ties with its previous distributor. Live in Japan was recorded during Eaglin’s first Japanese tour, and he is backed by bassist George Porter’s trio (John Autin on keyboards and Jeffrey ‘Jellybean’ Alexander on drums). He gets to reprise songs he has recorded over the years with a few new surprises in terms of material. Eaglin is an exceptional guitarist, often referred to as the Professor Longhair of the guitar with a very individualistic, highly rhythmic instrumental chicken scratching attack, as well as being a fountainhead of material that lead some to call him a human jukebox. Whatever. The man is a dazzling and very effective guitarist. After opening with a Bill Doggett instrumental, Eaglin gets the second line groove going with I Went to the Mardi Gras, that he co-authored with Tommy Ridgely, followed by Earl King’s Soul Train, a superb soul dance number with a solo that is deceptively simple. Then there’s Don’t Take It So Hard, a swamp pop flavored blues ballad. Classic New Orleans is reprised in renditions of Fats Domino’s Josephine and Smiley Lewis’ Down Yonder (We Go Ballin’) and Lillie Mae. It’s interesting to hear Eaglin introduce Down Yonder, telling the Japanese audience he played on Smiley’s original recording. Eaglin is most effective as a singer on laments like Nine Pound Steel, while his guitar’s vocalizations during the solos serves to remind us of why the blues guitar is often referred to as the singer’s other voice. Covers of the Isley Brother’s It’s Your Thing, and Stevie Wonder’s (Boogie On) Reggae Woman get a nice funky groove going. A strong vocal is also given Jessie Mae Robinson’s Black Night.

This serves as a splendid sampler of Eaglin’s music, illustrating his depth as a performer and guitarist, although his skills as a bop guitarist is only hinted at. Snooks Eaglin is an American original, but one probably has a better chance of seeing Snooks in Japan than in the US outside of New Orleans. Well, at least you don’t have to go to Japan to get this album.