Tribute: Delmark's 65th Anniversary

Various artists
Tribute: Delmark's 65th Anniversary
Delmark Records

As Delmark celebrates 65 years since founded in St. Louis by Bob Koester, new has come out that the label has been sold which hopefully will keep this historic and visionary blues and jazz label healthy for years to come. This "Tribute" recording has eleven newly recorded blues to help in the celebration. It should be noted that these are new recordings of prior recordings by various blues artists on Delmark. There is a house band with either Mike Wheeler and/or Billy Flynn on guitar on several tracks, Roosevelt Purify on keyboards, Melvin Smith on bass and Willie Hayes on drums.

Omar Coleman sings strongly and plays nice harp on his tribute to Junior Wells, "Train I Ride," with guitar from Wheeler and booting sax by Hank Ford. Lurrie Bell & the Bell Dynasty with Eddie Taylor Jr do Carey Bell's "One Day You're Gonna Get Lucky," likely recorded at the same session that produced their Tribute to Carey Bell album. Steve Bell's harmonica shines on this. Billy Flynn emulates the late Jimmy Dawkins' distinctive guitar style behind Linsey Alexander's fervent vocal on Dawkins' "All For Business." Demetria Taylor effectively growls performing Big Time Sarah's "Riverboat." Jimmy Burns performs his amiable take on Big Joe Williams' "She Left Me A Mule To Ride," without band accompaniment. His performance is not as percussive as that of Williams but he sings quite ably.

Lil Ed Williams and Dave Weld cover "Speak My Mind," by his uncle J.B. Hutto and it is a solid rendition if Ed does not quite match J.B.'s vocal here. Jimmy Johnson with Dave Spector do a strong Magic Sam's "Out of Bad Luck," with Sumito 'Ariyo' Ariyoshi adding some fine piano behind Johnson's marvelous vocal and fine guitar from him and Spector. Corey Dennison and Gerry Hundt provide a lively acoustic duet on Sleepy John Estes' "Broke and Hungry" with tight mandolin runs against the rhythmic guitar, with a strong crying vocal. Mike Wheeler evokes Jimmy Johnson on a fine cover of an Otis Rush classic, "So Many Roads," which is followed by Shirley Johnson's fine singing on the Little Willie John classic "Need Your Love So Bad," that Bonnie Lee previously waxed for Delmark.

Ken Saydak's solo piano and vocal barrelhouses Roosevelt Sykes' rollicking "Boot That Thang," closing this most entertaining collection of fresh blues cover recordings.

I received my review copy from Delmark Records. This review appeared in the July-August Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 379).  Here is Bob Koester interviewed about Delmark about 5 years ago.

Celebrating Father’s Day - Some Fatherly Influences on Today’s Blues Performers

Shemekia Copeland at 2005 Hot August Blues

The first time I saw Shemekia Copeland sing the blues, she was with her father, the late Johnny Copeland. Even as a teenager opening for her very proud father, Shemekia had a presence, poise and maturity as a singer and as Bill Wax commented that evening at Tornado Alley in Wheaton, MD, that Shemekia reminded him of a young Irma Thomas. After her father’s untimely passing, Shemekia emerged on her own as a major blues talent. She is among the most prominent women blues performers of today and the late Koko Taylor’s family were among those who anointed her as successor to Koko, a Queen of the Blues. Being a woman and solely a vocalist, Shemekia perhaps benefited from not being in her father’s musical shadow. Yet, her father was an important part of her personal and music development, and Johnny Copeland’s Ghetto Child remains a signature part of her live performances. Shemekia (who will be at the Tinner Hill Blues Festival on Friday, June 13 at the State Theatre) now records for Telarc. However, her first four recordings were for Alligator, and the compilation Deluxe Edition is a fine retrospective of the music Shemekia Copeland recorded for Alligator and serves as a welcome starting point to her powerful blues. 

 
Two sons of the legendary Muddy Waters, Big Bill Morganfield and Mud Morganfield, have established themselves as blues artists. In contrast to Shemekia, their musical performances reflect the music of their father, Muddy Waters. Also in contrast to Shemekia’s father, Muddy played a less significant role as they were growing up. In an interview with Ben Lazarus of the British newspaper The Telegraph (May 7, 2014 issue), Waters’ oldest son, Larry ‘Mud’ Morganfield noted that Muddy Waters was on the road often when he was growing up, and after his parents split up, his mother’s brothers played a great role in Mud’s upbringing. As Lazarus observed, Mud initially ran from the blues “go[ing] to business school and driv[ing] trucks to make a living, but he realized he wanted to leave his own legacy and not just live in the shadow of his father.” He has established himself as a strong performer of blues in the manner of his famous dad. The relationship was reflected in the title of his 2011 Severn Records release, Son of the Seventh Son. 

About Son of the Seventh Son, I wrote (in my review), “Mud does a strong job of conjuring up his late father’s blues and the backing band certainly contributes to the overall feel of this band. Certainly if there can be “Blues Brothers” tribute bands, the eldest son of one of the greatest blues artists can do his part in keeping his father’s sound alive, especially when he contributes a number of strong originals that he ably performs. While he may not be an original performer, Mud Morganfield certain- ly is keeping his legendary father’s sound alive, supported by an excellent band.” 

Eddie Taylor Jr at 2006 Pocono Blues Fest

Shemekia Copeland and Mud Morganfield provide two different examples of children of blues artists today playing the blues. Not all children front bands. Kenny ‘Beedy Eyes’ Smith is the son of the late Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith, who anchored the drum chair for Muddy Waters for a couple decades and then anchored the Legendary Blues Band. In his later years, Willie took up harmonica, with his son Kenny taking up his father’s drum chair. Kenny is among the most in demand drummers for straight Chicago blues recordings, having recorded with his father, Lurrie Bell, the Heritage Blues Orchestra (scheduled for the Pennsylvania Blues Festival), bassist Bob Stroger, Chris Harper, and Mississippi Heat (with whom he regularly plays and who will be at the Tinner Hill Blues Festival). 

Kenny Smith is not the only blues drummer son of a famous blues artist. Tim Taylor is another drummer who has made his mark in the blues world. Tim is the son of legendary blues singer and guitarist Eddie Taylor (best known for playing with Jimmy Reed) and along with his brother Eddie Jr, half-brother Larry, and sister Demetria, Tim has carried on the tradition of the Chicago blues. Tim has recorded with brother Eddie Jr., who plays the Delta-rooted Chicago blues style for which his father was known. Of one of Eddie Taylor, Jr.’s albums I opined, “This is a solid, traditionally oriented blues recording. He sings from the heart and plays the old school style of Chicago blues guitar that fewer and fewer still play.” Eddie Jr. brings his solid approach while playing behind Demetria on her Delmark album Bad Girl, which has a nice mix of blues songs that indicates a bit of the influence of the unrelated Koko Taylor. 

Teeny Tucker at 2009 DC Blues Festival

Like Shemekia Copeland, Teeny Tucker is the daughter of a blues legend. Her father was Tommy Tucker of Hi-Heel Sneakers fame, although he passed away in 1982, long before Teeny started singing professionally. While growing up singing in church choirs, in the past two decades she has become one of the finest vocalists in the blues world, possessing a forceful and expressive voice that exhibits not simply her power as a singer, but her phrasing, vocal dynamics and controlled pitch. Listening to her, one hears a wide range of influences including such legendary figures as Koko Taylor, Christine Kittrell, Lavern Baker and Big Maybelle, but like them she has developed into her own compelling sound. Her most recent album, Voodoo to Do You, is a strong collection of performances that includes her renditions of songs associated with Koko Taylor - Voodoo Woman, Howlin’ Wolf - Commit a Crime, and Christine Kittrell -a marvelous rendition of Lieber & Stoller’s I’m a Woman (many know this from Peggy Lee, but Kittrell first recorded this). In addition to Voodoo Woman, several songs (but not all) have a voodoo theme, including Love Spell, and Is Your Voodoo Workin’. The album also includes strong acoustic performances of Skip James’ Hard Time Killing Floor Blues and Rev. Gary Davis’ Death Have No Mercy. Both are wonderfully sung and enhanced by the playing of guitarist Robert Hughes. Teeny headlines the Saturday afternoon performances at the Tinner Hill Blues Festival in Falls Church. 
 

Billy Branch and Lurrie Bell at 2012 Pennsylvania Blues Festival

Lurrie Bell, son of harmonica legend Carey Bell, first emerged in a group, Sons of the Blues, that also included Willie Dixon’s son Freddie Dixon and harmonica wizard Billy Branch. Playing a different instrument from his father enabled Lurrie to develop his own musical persona, which has been exhibited on a number of excellent blues albums that included collaborations with his late father.
Bernard Allison also had some collaborations with his father, Luther. Since Luther passed away, Bernard plays and sings in the same high energy, rocking style of his father and has incorporated several of his father’s songs in his performances. Ronnie Baker Brooks and Wayne Baker Brooks both spent time playing with their father, Lonnie Brooks (Baker is Lonnie’s real last name).

While they continue to perform with their father (who has limited his performances in recent years), they both have started their own careers with their own approaches rooted in their father’s music. One also cannot forget Eddie ‘Vaan’ Shaw, son of saxophonist Eddie Shaw. Magic Sam and Hubert Sumlin, Vaan’s guitar became a mainstay of his father’s band and has been for many years.  Vaan has recorded two albums on hisown for the Austrian Wolf label and can be heard on the recordings of his Blues Hall of Fame father. 

Vann and Eddie Shaw at 2013 Pennsylvania Blues Festival

There are, of course, more sons and daughters of the blues. In Chicago, Elmore James, Jr., plays a mix of straight Chicago blues and some of his father’s slide guitar blues, although his slide playing and vocals owes a bit to Elmore's cousin, Homesick James. In New Orleans, one can hear, Guitar Slim Jr. who also brings a personal approach to his legendary father’s songs as well as other blues tunes. Shawn Holt, son of the late Magic Slim, recently won the Blues Music Award for Best Debut album, Daddy Told Me. This is a strong recording, very much in the vein of his father, with driving medium tempo shuffles and slow-drag, bump and grind blues. On this CD, Shawn is perpetuating Magic Slim’s legacy and also shows he is, himself, a significant voice for today’s blues. In the Northern Mississippi hill country, Shardé Turner leads the fife and drum band her grandfather Otha Turner led for many years, while the children and grandchildren of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside continue playing music extending this deep blues tradition.

One other blues child to mention is harmonica player Rip Lee Pryor. Rip Lee is the son of Snooky Pryor, who was amongst the first post-war Chicago blues artists to record. Rip played guitar with his father, but has become a harmonica player whose style is similar to his father’s. Oddly, Rip Lee’s interest in blues started in a period when Snooky had withdrawn from the music business. Rip Lee’s recent debut recording Nobody But Me, on Electro-Fi, displays a pretty straight-forward approach to the blues as he plays harmonica on a rack and lays down simple guitar backing. Significant influences on his music include his father and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson. As Scott Bock observes in his liner notes to the release, Rip Lee has a pretty stripped down sound resulting in a straight dose of classic Chicago blues. (Rip Lee Pryor and Shawn Holt will be appearing at the Pennsylvania Blues Festival at Pennsylvania’s Blue Mountain Ski Resort in late July.)


This post has appeared in the June 2014 Capital Blues Messenger, the DC Blues Society's newsletter.

Eddie Taylor Jr's So Called Friends

One of several blues playing and singing children of the late Chicago blues guitarist legend Eddie Taylor, Eddie Taylor Jr. has followed in his father’s footsteps in playing the Delta rooted Chicago blues style that his father was known for. Taylor senior was best known as Jimmy Reed’s guitarist and worked/recorded with others including John Lee Hooker (on Bluesway), Harmonica Hinds and Carey Bell along with a number of fine recordings for Vee-Jay, Advent and other labels. Eddie Junior picked up much from his father and has been prominent amongst those old school Chicago blues musicians of today. He has recorded five albums for the Austrian Wolf label which has issued So Called Friends: His Best 15 Songs, compiled from those earlier releases along with five newly issued recordings. The selections derive from 5 different record dates with Eddie Jr. backed by brother Tim Taylor on drums along with Harmonica Hinds, Roosevelt Purifoy, Detroit Jr., Ken Barker, Johnny B Moore, and others. 

The first five selections are from a recent session with Purifoy and guitarist Anthony Palmer opening with Hound Dog Taylor’s Wild About You Baby, and includes the topical Welfare Blues, as well as a cover of Jimmy Rogers’ You Sweet. This latter number best suits Taylor Jr.’s introverted vocal approach as opposed to the rocking slide guitar Wild About You Baby, which misses the fervor of an Elmore James or the exuberance of Hound Dog Taylor. They are not bad performances, just that Taylor is strongest on certain material. If his vocals are on occasion bland, the music is wonderfully played classic Chicago blues. The title track is an original that borrows the music of Willie Mabon’s Poison Ivy, with Taylor singing that nobody can hurt one but one’s so-called friends with a nice guitar break.

From his prior sessions comes a number of nice performances including his reworking of a Sugar Pie DeSanto recording Use What You Got, as he sings how he keeps his woman satisfied. His father played on Jimmy Reed’s original of Upside Your Your Head, and Eddie Jr. does his father proud on a relaxed cover, as well as a rendition of Magic Sam’s Easy Baby. There is a relaxed shuffle version of Stop Breakin’ Down, on which his playing and singing evokes his father. His brother Larry contributed a nice philosophical slow blues Blues In Your Life, that suits his introverted vocal. Also nice is his rendition of Sonny Boy Williamson I’s My Little Machine, modeled after Jimmy Rogers’ recording. It sports nice slide guitar and strong playing from Harmonica Hinds. More slide is heard on a Shake Your Money Maker variant, Gotta Make This Money, as he tells us about playing his Gibson all around town.

If not always a compelling vocalist, Eddie Taylor Jr. is always engaging and his playing is terrific. So Called Friends is a welcome introduction to a Chicago blues singer and guitarist that does deserve to be better known amongst the general community of blues enthusiasts.

I purchased this CD. Here is Eddie Taylor Jr. in performance.

Barrelhouse Chuck Got His Eyes On You

I have been a fan of Barrelhouse Chuck Goering ever since he came to Washington DC area to do some recording and do a show at the Childe Harold with the late Ben Andrews and Mark Wenner. He is one of the most accomplished traditionally oriented blues pianists having been mentored by Little Brother Montgomery and Sunnyland Slim, amongst others.

While apparently from 2006, I just became aware of The Sirens release by Chuck, Got My Eyes On You. It has a terrific band backing him of Kim Wilson on harmonica; Joel Foy and Eddie Taylor, Jr, on guitars; Calvin 'Fuzz' Jones on bass; and Willie 'Big Eyes; Smith on drums. Chuck on piano and Farfisa organ handles a variety of songs, most of which are associated with a number of blues legends that influenced and/or mentored him including Floyd Jones, Detroit Junior, Little Brother Montgomery, Memphis Slim, Smokey Smothers, Big Moose Walker, Sunnyland Slim and Muddy Waters.

With Kim Wilson's harp channelling Snooky Pryor, the album opens with a solid instrumental Floyd's Blues, followed by Chuck's rendition of Detroit Jr.'s Call My Job, introduced by Ella Evans, Junior's companion, with a nice groove and some solid singing as he notes he had "too much weekend." Chuck plays piano and Farfisa and piano on the title selection (from Smokey Smothers which evokes Help Me), with strong singing and a tight ensemble behind him. This should not be surprising sing Jones and Smith were with Muddy Waters and then the Legendary Blues Band for so many years.

The instrumental Cleo's Mood is a feature for Wilson on which Chuck sits out and then followed by a first-rate take on Sunnyland Slim's It's You Baby, Chuck captures the flavor of Sunnyland's piano style here. After a nice rendition of Floyd Jones' "School Days (with convincing vocal, tough sounding piano and great Wilson harp), there is an instrumental rendition of The Bright Sounds of Big Moose, a cross between John Lee Hooker's "Dimples," and "Help Me," with Chuck on organ and nice guitar on a Big Moose John Walker number. On Big Town Playboy, Eddie Taylor, Jr., evokes his legendary father (who recorded this for Vee-Jay) on an excellent performance. Red River Rumba is a nice medium tempoed instrumental, followed by Chuck ably singing Little Brother Montgomery's Mama You Don't Mean Me No Good. On this, pianist Eiko Izumi-Gallwas recreates Little Brother's piano style.

The closing original by Chuck, Iza Mae with guitarist Foy and mandolinist-fiddler Gregg Rodriguez, is a brief, acoustic, ragtime-tinged instrumental. While its approach contrasts to the classic Chicago blues of most of this marvelous recording, it is similarly a performance that is wonderfully paced and rendered. If like me, you missed this when it first came out, it is not too late to enjoy this marvelous album.

I purchased this CD from bluebeatmusic.com although it is available from other sources. Here is a video of Barrelhouse Chuck at Phoenix's Rhythm Room.

With Eddie Taylor Jr, Blues Runs In The Family

A second generation bluesman of note is Eddie Taylor, Jr. One of several children of the late Eddie Taylor, best known as Jimmy Reed’s guitarist, but also an unheralded and under appreciated Chicago blues artist on his own whose music never lost its delta roots. Eddie Jr. has a new CD on the Austrian Wolf label, I Got To Make This Money, Baby. On this his brother Tim handles the drums and sister Demetria (who recently released a well received album on Delmark) sings one song while Harmonica Hinds is present with Greg McDaniel on bass and Anthony Palmer on second guitar.

Its a pretty straight Chicago blues album with Taylor performing several songs in homage of his father, other classic Chicago blues numbers and others in this style. On the opening title track, there is an opening quote of Lester Leaps In, before Taylor and the band launch into a Shake Your Moneymaker groove and sings about playing his guitar and playing the blues. This selection has him playing some nice controlled slide in the vein of Elmore James mixed with Homesick James. Hinds wails in support in support on harmonica here. Echoes of his father’s “Bad Boy,” as well as the lazy Jimmy Reed shuffle groove, are heard in his loving Salute to Eddie Taylor. Hinds is particularly outstanding on this track. 

There is a nice mix of songs including his father’s Train Fare Home, John Lee Williamson’s My Little Machine (from Jimmy Rogers rendition), and a slowed down rendition of Tommy McClennan’s Whisky Headed Woman. There are also a few other originals like his salute to the late bass player and vocalist, Goodbye Willie Kent,” where he notes Willie was a blues solider, a blues soldier going home.” Sister Demetria handles Ruth Brown’s big fifties smash, Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean, with the band providing solid support and an arrangement that does not slavishly copy the original. Similarly the interpretation of Rosco Gordon’s Just a Little Bit, makes that number a walking Chicago shuffle.

This isn’t the first record by Eddie Taylor, Jr. I heard. His earlier recordings had me wanting more and I purchased this. This is a solid, traditionally oriented blues recording. He sings from the heart and plays the old school style of Chicago blues guitar that fewer and fewer still play.

Here is a video of Eddie Taylor Jr, performing Jimmy Rogers' "You're the One."

Demetria Taylor's Bad Girl Entertaining Debut

Delmark brings us another new CD by a Chicago blues woman, this time one whose family has deep blues roots. Demetria Taylor is the daughter of the late Eddie Taylor and her brothers Eddie Jr., Larry and Tim have previously established themselves in the blues world. With the release of her “Bad Girl,” Demetria is set to make her mark on this world as well. She is joined by her brother Eddie Jr. and Shun Kibuta on guitars; Roosevelt Purifoy on keyboards; Greg McDaniel on bass and Pookie Styx (great name) on drums with guest appearances from Big Time Sarah, Billy Branch and Eddie Shaw.

For her first album there is a pretty diverse set of tunes but is in part a homage to the folks she was raised on. In certain cases like her medley of I’m a Woman w/ “Hootchie Coochie Woman, and Voodoo Woman (with Eddie Shaw adding his growling sax), her indebtedness to Koko Taylor is clear although she doesn’t project as strongly as the late Chicago blues queen did. Her raspy voice really suits Magic Sam’s All Your Love, with her brother adding some nice guitar, while both Shaw’s sax and Branch’s harmonica (terrific solo in the Walter Horton vein) contribute to the title track, a nice swinging shuffle remake of her father’s Bad Boy, with once Eddie Jr. shining in his solo.


When You Leave, Don’t Take Nothing, taken from an Artie ‘Blues Boy” White recording, is a solid slow blues where she tells her man who has his suitcase and about to leave because not a damn thing belongs to him with terrific sax and Shaw adding some atmosphere with his sax. Its followed by a terrific rendition of Nora Jean Bruso’s shuffle Goin’ Back To Mississippi, with more strong playing from Eddie Jr., Shaw and Purifoy on piano. The band really cooks on this track.

Billy Branch returns to add his harp to Big Boss Man, with the tempo taken a bit too fast, but with Shaw back she turns a superb vocal on Luther Allison’s Cherry Red Wine, as she worries about her baby, caressing the lyric. I dare say her vocal may top Allison’s original while her brother is stellar. Eddie Jr. contributed I Can’t Take It No More, a derivation of Messin’ With the Kid, followed by a remake of Trying To Make a Living. While these are well played, Demetria Taylor doesn’t have as much vocal presence on these songs. The album closes with two Willie Dixon songs, Little Red Rooster and Wang Dang Doodle, which she shares with Big Time Sarah. These are enjoyable, although not remarkable, performances, with Billy Branch contributing some nice harmonica and Eddie doing a nice Hubert Sumlin imitation on the latter number.

Demetria Taylor’s Bad Girl has excellent performances along with some that show her potential. She states she intends to do originals on her next album and display a bit more versatility on her next recording, and after this promising debut will have many waiting to see how it turns out.

I received my review copy from Delmark.

Nick Moss's Invigorating Chicago Blues

Writing about Nick Moss & the Flip Tops, Bill Dahl notes that they simultaneously preserve and advance the Chicago blues tradition. “Yet youthful vitality and imagination thunders from their sound, boding well for their future and that of the idiom itself.” Listening to the double CD by this group, Play It ‘Til Tomorrow (Blue Bella) one quickly realizes that this isn’t faint praise. There are two discs. One is an electric recording while the other disc is an acoustically oriented unplugged one. What is most striking is how strong the ensemble playing is throughout. The Flip Tops are a band whose whole is much more than the sum of the individual parts. At work listening to this, this writer first thought this was a Magic Slim disc I had purchased. Then I looked and realized it was Moss & the Flip Tops. Like Magic Slim & the Teardrops, Nick Moss & the Flip Tops have a tight sound and get a similar chugging rhythmic groove going. Also Moss’ stinging guitar evokes the playing of Jimmy Dawkins. Eddie Taylor Jr. guests on several tracks, while Moss handles the vocals. He also plays some harp in addition to guitar, with the Flip Tops backing him throughout. The Flip Tops are: Willie Oshany (ex-Legendary Blues Band) on keyboards (bass for a few tracks), Gary Hundt on bass (guitar for several tracks) and Bob Carter on drums. Moss is heard mostly on originals that sound like they are covers of unissued Chess or Vee-Jay recordings as well as interpretations of Luther ‘Georgia Snake Boy’ Johnson’s Woman Don’t Lie, Lefty Dizz’s Bad Avenue (sounding like Magic Slim on an uptempo reworking of this) and Floyd Jones’ Rising Wind. Its refreshing to hear a band handle this material so well and so-idiomatically and without any showboat guitar gymnastics. The acoustic disc is equally good as Hundt adds harp and mandolin and the original material suggests Muddy, Jimmy Rogers and Tampa Red. Barrelhouse Chuck guests on one of these tracks as well. This is among the best new releases I have heard in 2007 and most highly recommended.