Floyd Dixon Wake Up And Live!

Floyd Dixon
Wake Up And Live!
Alligator

Rhythm and Blues pioneer Floyd Dixon has been alive and well on the West Coast these years, and with the release of Wake Up and Live! on Alligator, he may start to reap some of the rewards that fellow pioneers Charles Brown and Ruth Brown have garnered in recent years.

The Marshall, Texas native gained fame for his recordings in the late forties and fifties. While he has been compared to Charles Brown, a substantial portion of his repertoire was rockers that were somewhat in the vein of those with which Amos Milburn scored. In fact one of Dixon’s Specialty recordings, Hole in the Wall is a takeoff on Milburn’s Chicken Shack Boogie. Dixon is perhaps known as the composer of Hey Bartender, But that is a somewhat trivial song compared to the other fine rocking blues and blues ballads he waxed in the forties and fifties.

While opening with a remake of Hey Bartender, Wake Up and Live! sports a whole range of material from the menacing slow Mean And Jealous Man, to Rockin’ At Home, another song reminiscent of Milburn’s Chicken Shack Boogie. Unlike Brown, Dixon’s voice shows a hint of wear, but he is also a more overtly expressive vocalist. His playing shows absolutely no deterioration and his producer Port Barlow plays strong idiomatic guitar. While Eddie Synigal is a new name to this writer, he is a booting saxophonist.

While I’ve heard a self-produced album by Dixon that was enjoyable, it did not suggest how powerful a performer he remained. A recipient of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award several years ago, this album shows that Floyd Dixon is more than capable of recalling past glories, and that the best may even be yet to come. Great stuff.


I likely received a review copy from Alligator Records, and I believe is still available. This review originally appeared in the June 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 212). Here is Floyd (who passed away in 2006) performing.

Celebrating the great blues piano of Floyd Dixon

It must have been quite a night at Phoenix’s The Rhythm Room, June 1 and 2, 2006, when they recorded three of the then greatest living blues pianists, Henry Gray, Pinetop Perkins and Floyd Dixon, with Dixon dying a few days after this summit meeting. The resulting CD has just been issued, Time Brings About a Change … , A Floyd Dixon Celebration (Highjohn) and is a very nice musical celebration that is perhaps a bit bittersweet knowing that Dixon would not be able to enjoy the resulting acclaim.


A solid backing band led by Kid Ramos is joined by Kim Wilson for the performances by Gray and Pinetop and the horns, especially trumpeter Joe Banks, gets space for Dixon’s performances. Ramos kicks things with a hot tribute to Albert Collins, Don’t Lose Your Cool which is followed by Johnny Tucker handling the vocal on Do You Wanna Dance. Gray is heard on a nice instrumental, Henry’s House Rocker, Sweet Home Chicago and Dust My Broom, while Pinetop performs his own Down in Mississippi as well as Walter Davis’ Come Back Baby and Ivory Joe Hunter’s Since I Lost My Baby. Both Gray and Pinetop are in typical form but these are hardly earth shattering performances of unfamiliar material.


The bulk of this album is given to Dixon with a few of his classics including Hole in The Wall, Call Operator 210, Rita and the title track mixed with solid renditions of Cold Cold Feeling, I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town and Caledonia. Ramos adds some lovely T-Bone Walker-ish guitar for Cold Cold Feeling, where Banks adds some bluesy brass on several tracks while Dixon rocks as well as takes us down in the alley. Those familiar with Dixon’s fine Alligator album will undoubtedly enjoy this fine last performances from a major figure in the post-war R&B world.

I likely received a review copy from the record label. This review appeared originally in slightly different form in the December 2006-January 2007 DC Blues Calendar, newsletter of the DC Blues Society. It is still available.

Congrats to 15 years of The Rhythm Room

Phoenix’s The Rhythm Room as developed a reputation as a blues room in part due to the efforts of Bob Corritore. Blue Witch Records has issued a lively celebration of its 15 years, House Rockin’ and Blues Shoutin’!, with 14 strong live performances for the Rhythm Room’s stage. This is scheduled to be released in September, 2007. Its a nice range of performances that give an indication of the breadth and eclecticism of real deal blues that play there including performances by the Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Manish Boys, Long John Hunter, Floyd Dixon, Big Pete Pearson, Henry Gray, Sonny Rhodes, Paul Oscher, Chief Shabuttie Gilliame w Johnny Dyer and Henry Gray, Robert Lockwood, Jr, Louisiana Red and Billy Boy Arnold. There are any number of highlights here and no poor tracks. The three Thunderbirds tracks are each with different personnel supporting Kim Wilson including Troy Gonyea’s guitar backing him on Jimmy Rogers’ Goin’ Away Baby, and the Little Walter styled harp romp, Horsin’ Around, while Kid Ramos, Kirk Fletcher and horns provide support for the New Orleans groove of Rich Woman. Finis Tasby gravelly vocals graces The Manish Boys fine Lonesome Bedroom, while Long John Hunter is heard solo on Long John’s Country Blues. Piano blues will enjoy Floyd Dixon’s jumping Please Don’t Go while Henry Gray’s Henry’s Houserocker is a solid shuffle with Kid Ramos’ guitar helping propel the boogie woogie feature. Sonny Rhodes playing lap steel guitar interprets one of the lesser known Elmore James numbers, My Bleeding Heart, while Paul Oscher is marvelous on guitar, harp and vocals on That’s It. The delightful performances come to a close with Billy Boy Arnold’s take on an old Sonny Boy Williamson recording (which actually dates back to pianist Charlie Spand) which is retitled and credited to Arnold, Two Drinks of Wine. It is the same song junior Wells did as Early in the Morning. One can’t think of a better salute to this blues room than the compilation of fine recordings here and Blue Witch is to be thanked for this collection. May the Rhythm Room celebrate another 15 years.