Trix Blues From Muse Records

Trix Blues Reissues

Here are four more releases from the reactivated Trix label. The albums by Big Chief Ellis, Honeyboy Edwards and Willie Trice are reissues of the original albums with producer Pete Lowry adding an update to the original liner notes. While these are straight reissues of the vinyl albums, the Trix albums were generous with their playing times. The Big Chief Ellis is close to an hour while Willie Trice’s album is about 53 minutes. Trix has also issued a splendid new Homesick James recording. ( I had reviewed several other Trix reissues in prior issues of Jazz & Blues Report. One might need to check eBay or sellers of out-of-print recordings for availability).

It was releases like the Big Chief Ellis (Trix 3316) album that made Trix such a singular label back in the seventies. Ellis, a strong pianist, played and sang introspectively, so his blues often are reminiscent of Walter Davis. His performances here are all at slow or moderate tempos and marked by a firm, rumbling left-hand bass that creates a somber cast to the performances. Often playing simple accompaniments he sometimes throws in hesitating sounding right-hand runs and fills while delivering the lyrics with a smoky, gritty voice. He eschews playing any showcase boogies here. Playing it as a minor-key slow blues, Chief transforms the well-known Sweet Home Chicago into what sounds like a totally different song. While all the songs are credited to Ellis, several are piano blues classics that suit his pensive approach, including Leroy Carr’s Prison Bound and How Long Blues, and Walter Davis’ Come Back, Baby, (here titled Let’s Talk It Over). Brownie McGhee, who shares the vocal on Come Back, Baby, makes his presence felt on the terrific gambling blues, Dices # 2, a remake of one of Ellis’ few fifties’ recordings. In addition to McGhee, the late Tarheel Slim is heard on guitar on a couple tracks, as is John Cephas (on what may be his first issued recordings) who is present on four selections. Some may be put off by the lack of fast-tempoed piano romps and might find difficulty listening to this in one sitting. However, all of these performances are tasty gems of blues piano, and for discerning listeners make a refreshing change from some of the hyper-kinetic recordings that pass for blues today.  (I discovered this blog post from Peter Lowry on this recording, https://peterblowry.com/2015/06/11/trix-3316-big-chief-ellis/).

Blue and Rag’d (Trix 3305) features Willie Trice, a Carolina bluesman who lived all his life near Durham and was associated with such legendary figures as Gary Davis, Floyd Council and Blind Boy Fuller. Like his brother Richard, Willie Trice recorded for Decca in 1937, but whereas Richard moved north and recorded in 1949 as Little Fuller, Willie Trice remained in Durham holding a variety of day jobs
and only playing outside the tobacco warehouses occasionally - unlike Fuller and the rest. While he stopped playing by the mid- sixties, after losing his legs to diabetes, he started playing again and Pete Lowry recorded him several times between 1971 and 1973 for the recordings issued here. He also recorded later for Lowry and others. Trice’s music is in the classic mode of Fuller and others. His National steel guitar provides a slightly clipped sound to his playing, but (despite his serious illness) his playing only occasionally sounds rusty. His vocals are also generally robust, although his range is obviously not what it once must have been. Included are original adaptations of songs associated with Blind Blake (New Diddey Wah Diddey) and Blind Boy Fuller (New Careless Love), along with his adaptations of traditional themes. For example, Shine On is a bouncy performance using the Crow Jane/ Red River Blues melody. Fuller’s music is also suggested by a number of other tracks, including the slow Fuller styled blues, You Have Treated Me and I’ve Had Troubled, with moving vocals. I Love You, Sweet Baby sports a bouncy accompaniment, while he adds a recitation behind his good-time fingerpicking on Good Time Boogie. It is too bad that we don’t have more recordings of Willie Trice in his prime. However, even though it was recorded while he was recuperating from a serious hospital illness, Blue and Rag’d provides a generous set of classic Piedmont blues performances and there are few recordings in this vein as good as these being made any more.

David “Honeyboy” Edwards’ disc, I’ve Been Around (Trix 3319), was the first American album by the Mississippi born blues artist who will have turned 80 by the time this review appears. One of the last links to such Mississippi blues greats as Charlie Patton, Big Joe Williams, Tommy Johnson and Robert Johnson, Edwards has been of interest to blues fans as much for his recollections of these artists as his music. In the company of Walter Horton (on four tracks) and guitarist Eddie El (on three), Honeyboy sings songs associated with Patton - Pony Blues, and Banty Rooster, Howlin’ Wolf - Ride With Me Tonight, and Tommy Johnson - Big Fat Mama, and Big Road Blues. Also, he renders his own songs Sad & Lonesome and I Feel Good So Today. Playing a rhythmic guitar style reminiscent of his main mentor, Big Joe Williams, Honeyboy displays a unique sense of time. While he sings in a sometimes hesitant, brittle voice, Edwards provides a distinct tint on these musical indigos, although his performances may lack the charisma of those by his mentors. I’ve Been Around stands well up compared his other recent recordings. When featured, Walter Horton adds some strong harp that sympathetically supports Edwards without overpowering him. It is valuable to have this available again, and stacks up against most of Honeyboy’s other albums, although | would recommend the Earwig album containing Honeyboy’s Library of Congress recordings first.

Like Honeyboy Edwards, Homesick James Williamson is noted for an unusual sense of time, but on his fourth new recording in the past few years, he shows that his music possesses plenty of vitality. On Got to Move (Trix 3320) he is given steadfast support by a band that includes guitarist Ron Thompson (formerly with John Lee Hooker and part of Mick Fleetwood’s Blue Whale). Homesick James renders solid versions of songs by his famous cousin, Elmore James (Baby Please Set a Date, Hawaiian Boogie and Got to Move), and by Arthur Crudup (That's All Right), and Bob Geddins’ Tin Pan Alley, along with several originals. His broomdusting and his gravelly vocals are crisply delivered, if not as upfront as the recordings by his famous cousin. There are three solo tracks, including a fresh sounding Dust My Broom, in addition to the solid band performances. While several songs are ones Homesick James has recorded before, he does not give any of them a run of the mill performance making for a collection of particularly vital performances.

This review originally appeared in 1995 in Issue 201 of Jazz & Blues Report. I received review copies from the record label or a distributor. I note that this review appeared in a slightly different form in the May 1995 DC Blues Calendar. In that review I note about the four selections in the Big Chief Ellis album with John Cephas, that they were produced by Joe Wilson and Dick Spottswood and were the best recorded sides on the album. "The interplay between Ellis and Cephas on the closing Blues For Moot is worth noting.

Windy City Blues

Various Artists
Windy City Blues 
Stax

This new compilation on Stax brings together selections from various Prestige blues discs featuring Chicago blues acts with a previously unissued Albert King session that Willie Dixon produced in Chicago. This 1970 session is simply stunning as he plays some very hot guitar and sings strongly while backed by a band with a full horn section that complements his performances. The opening track, The Lovin’est Woman in Town, is an original he would record later. Here he just tears into the song with his guitar blasting away on his solo as the horns riff behind him. Equally as good is King’s rendition of Dixon’s Put It All In There and Love Me To Death. One wonders why these songs were not issued until now, as they are first-rate Albert King. 

In addition to King, James Cotton handles Dust My Broom, while Otis Spann recreates his It Must Have Been the Devil. Willie Dixon handles a couple songs in an uptown vein with saxophonist Harold Ashby among those backing him. Billy Boy Arnold shows the influence of John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson on Two Drinks of Wine, derived from Sonny Boy’s Early in the Morning. Sunnyland Slim advises us that The Devil is a Busy Man, one of three tracks backed by a combo that included King Curtis and an organist. Finally, three alternate takes by slide guitarist Homesick James close this disc out. 
 

Most of this is solid, if not exceptional, and it is well worth getting for the Albert King sides. They are that good. 

I likely received my review copy from Fantasy Records. This review appeared previously in the March--June 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 268). You may have to check online for the current availability of this CD or its availability as a download.

Cadillac Baby's Bea & Baby Records; The Definitive Collection

Various Artists
Cadillac Baby's Bea & Baby Records; The Definitive Collection
Earwig Records

This deluxe box set, which contains the recording legacy of Narvel Eatmon (better known as Cadillac Baby), is a labor of love that Michael Frank of Earwig Records spent years producing. The box set contains 4 CDs of blues, doo-wop, gospel, comedy, and even rap along with substantial interview segments with Cadillac Baby with Steve Cushing from a 1983 Blues Before Sunrise radio program. The 4 CDs are housed in a hardback book which reproduces Jim O'Neal's interview with Cadillac Baby from an early issue of "Living Blues" and has O'Neal's update that corrects and updates the information there. Bill Dahl provides biographies, and concise analysis of the blues and other secular music Robert M. Marovich does the same for the gospel recordings. Michael Frank provides an overview of how this box set came about.

There are nearly 5 hours of music and interviews to provide anything other than an overview of some highlights. The interview segments and the printed interview in the book will give you an idea of Cadillac Baby's personality. He was a character. One of the interview segments discusses how he got into music and how he started presenting shows in the south, including one with the Mississippi Sheiks before he came to Chicago and opened a club. He began making records to hopefully make some money from musicians who owed him money and hopefully make some money as well.

A sense of Cadillac Baby's personality can be heard on the opening track, "Welcome to Cadillac Baby's Show Lounge." It originally was on a vinyl LP "Colossal Blues" that reissued some of his 45s on the Bea & Baby and associated labels. Set against the piano of Sunnyland Slim's piano and Willie Williams drums, Cadillac Baby introduces us to a who's who of Chicago radio and blues personalities. There is overdubbed audience noise and clapping. It is followed by two excellent songs by Eddie Boyd with a band that included Robert Lockwood's distinctive guitar. There are ten tracks by Boyd, eight with Lockwood, and two with another group. Boyd is superb as he sings, "The Blues Are Here To Stay." Two songs are remastered with an overdubbed vocal chorus. There are also two songs by L.C. McKinley, whose guitar style is indebted to T-Bone Walker. His band included tenor saxophonist Red Holloway and also backed a vocal group on two selections.

Arguably the biggest record that Cadillac Baby produced was Bobby Saxton's "Try To Make A Living" that was backed by an Earl Hooker instrumental, "Dynamite." These sides also were leased to Chess, who issued them on a Checker Records single. Mac Simmons, as Little Mac and St. Louis Mac, is heard on the most selections. These include "Times Are Getting Tougher," reminiscent of some of Little Milton's recordings of the time, and on fine covers of songs from Junior Parker, Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters. Backing Mac Simmons are such players as pianist Detroit Junior and guitarist Eddie King Milton. Detroit Junior's first recording is present, along with an interview segment where Cadillac Baby tells how he gave the pianist-singer his name.

Detroit Junior was not the only artist whose first recording is heard. Hound Dog Taylor was very much under the influence of Elmore James when he recorded "My Baby Is Coming Home." Sunnyland Slim was another artist who recorded for Bea & Baby, while James Cotton waxed a couple of blues. Lee Jackson's "Juanita" is a powerful modern blues, and he is also heard on a Christmas blues. Other significant Chicago blues artists heard include Homesick James, Andre 'Blueblood' McMahon, Arlean Brown, and Willie Williams. Eddie Taylor and Hubert Sumlin are among the sidemen on these sessions. Also, a tape was found with previously unissued selections by the legendary Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, four of which are reproduced here. Clyde Lasley, best known as a comedian, talks-sings "Santa Came Home Drunk" backed by Lee Jackson and band. He possibly may be on three comedy selections that sound like Amos'n'Andy outtakes. There are some more teen singers, and a rap single produced by Cadillac Baby and Michael Frank before the box set closes with stirring gospel music.

As stated, there is quite a variety of solid blues and other music here. The interview segments with Cadillac Baby are fascinating to listen to, although one suspects some listeners will skip them after hearing them once or a few times. The packaging is superb, and the accompanying book wonderfully illustrated. Michale Frank sought to honor the memory of Cadillac Baby, and this box set certainly accomplishes that. It will also undoubtedly make a wonderful holiday gift for a Blues Lover.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the November-December 2019 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 367). Here is Bobby Saxton's "Trying to Make a Living."

The Amazing Secret History of Elmore James

Among the greatest of all Blues artists, Elmore James’ influence is heard in the music of countless musicians today, whether his cousin Homesick James Williamson, Chicago slide guitar boogie master, Lil Ed Williams, New Orleans slide master Deacon John, Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green or George Thorogood’s blues-rock. James’ recording of Dust My Broom is among the seminal blues recordings and covered or adapted by countless artists. Even forty years after his death, the passion and urgency in his music is evident to anyone who spends anytime listening to his recordings. Elmore’s music was so powerful that Steve Franz did his Masters research on Elmore. Several years ago, Franz published a discography of Elmore’s music.Adding additional research, he has completed the first full-length biography of James, The Amazing Secret History of Elmore James (BlueSource Publishing).

James died of a heart attack in 1963 right around the time interest in Chicago blues was growing outside the African-American community. He was only subject to cursory interviews by several Europeans, such as photographer George Adins who saw him performing in various Chicago night clubs. As a result, much of what we know about his life derives from interviews from those who played with him or knew him including his cousin, “Homesick” James Williamson, harmonica player and vocalist Sam Myers, the late drummer Odie Payne, James’ Atlanta manager Otis Ealey, and record producer Bobby Robinson.

There is also an account of Elmore in performance in a southern juke joint excerpted from civil rights pioneer James Meredith’s autobiography. Other information is gathered from various public and quasi-public records including those of the Chicago Musicians Union local. Included also are brief discussions of some of the myths about Elmore, his influence and biographies of the musicians who played with Elmore and some of the artists who were directly affected by Elmore including Homesick James, J.B. Hutto, Joe Carter and Hound Dog Taylor.

There is also an extensive discography of Elmore’s recordings including listings of various album reissues. This is copiously illustrated with pictures of Elmore and his musical associates. There are a few minor typos but this is an impressive contribution to the literature on the blues. This can be obtained from amazon or bluebeatmusic.com.

This review was written after I purchased this book. The review originally appeared in the April 2003 DC Blues Calendar, then the newsletter of the DC Blues Society. I have made minor stylistic revisions and updated the purchase information from the original review.

Homesick James Could Still Shake His Moneymaker In His Eighties

Cousin of the late Elmore James, the late Homesick James Williamson was perhaps described among the second-tier of slide guitarists performing in the manner of his more famous broomdusting cousin. SRV Blue has just issued Shake Your Money Maker, some 1999 live recordings in Switzerland produced by Fred James who is on guitar on these tracks.

James was one of the artists who recorded for small Chicago labels like Chance for whom he waxed Lonesome Old Train and his signature song, Homesick Blues. Later he recorded an album for Prestige which I find hardly memorable although Fred James, in the liner booklet, calls it Homesick’s ‘high water mark.’ He also was recorded by Sam Charters for the classic anthology, Chicago The Blues Today, which this writer feels is his most impressive work. In the ensuing years until his December 2006, he recorded a number of albums for a variety of labels including Trix, Ice House, Appaloosa. European recordings he made with the late harp player Snooky Pryor are the ones most worth seeking.

With respect to Shake Your Money Maker, it shows that in his 80’s Homesick James had lost little in terms of his playing and husky vocals. As Fred James observes, Homesick had an erratic sense of timing, but also his slide playing seems a bit off the beat compared to his contemporaries. Certainly his slide attack lacks the forcefulness of his contemporaries such as Hound Dog Taylor and J.B. Hutto. There is little surprising of the performances here in terms of material. Gotta Move and Set a Date had mainstays of Homesick James repertoire as was Elmore’s The Sky is Crying. There are some interesting songs included like, Crosscut Saw, that sort of meanders along as opposed to being played with the crisp rhythms of Albert King’s recording, and a rendition of Arthur Crudup’s That’s Alright Mama.

These are mostly lengthy performances that would have benefited from being a tad bit more focused and briefer, but generally are engaging.

I received my review copy from Jazz & Blues Report and this review originally appeared in that publication’s January 2008 issue (issue 300), and I have made some stylistic changes.

Elmore James Jr's Daddy Provided A Strong Blues Legacy

Children of famous performers sometimes follow in the parents footsteps and others take a fresh turn. In the blues, sons of Muddy waters have performed blues definitely inspired by their legendary father as has singer-guitarist Eddie Taylor, Jr. In contrast, Lurrie Bell took up guitar and daughter Shemekia did not have to worry about be Johnny Copeland Jr. Another son of a blues legend, Elmore James Jr. (real name is Earnest Johnson) put out a recording several years ago, Daddy Gave Me The Blues (JSP) that doesn't simply clone his father's music. On this, his band includes saxophonists Jeff Turmes and Ron Dzuibla, bassist Oakland Red, guitarists Rick Reed and Cadillac Zack and Stephen Mugalian on drums.

The music on Daddy Gave Me The Blues is far more than simply hard slide guitar blues and shuffles. The opening Don't Get Mad is a solid contemporary Chicago blues that suggests John Primer and the late Willie Kent. As a singer, Elmore Jr. sounds more like Homesick James than his father, as can be heard on Going Back Home, a nice slide guitar blues in his father's style. "Tore Down is a fresh reworking of the Freddie King recording built upon a funky groove and bass riff. The reworking of Jimmy Reed's You Don't Have To Go (titled here Oh Baby) finds him back with the slide and an arrangement and sound reminiscent of Homesick James' Baby Please Set a Date. In addition to some strong slide guitar, their is a strutting tenor sax solo.

The title track is a scuffling sounding shuffle with an autobiographical lyric as he talks about about how daddy gave his family a Cadillac in a 1951 and helped him become a musician. Cummins Prison Farm is another song with some slide (again in the Homesick James vein) as Elmore Jr gives a forceful delivery of Calvin Leavy's blues classic about the notorious prison farm with a solid solo likely from Reed or Cadillac Zack in addition to the leader's slide which serves primarily as instrumental foil to his vocals. A highpoint is Electric Man where he sings when I plug into your socket, I can charge you like no man." The song is a strong reworking of Memphis Slim's Grinder Man Blues, with a nice old school solo from him as well. Steppin' With Elmore is a slide guitar instrumental in the fashion of Elmore's Bobby's Rock.

The album closes with an acoustic rendition of Going Back Home, with a nice accompaniment and solid vocal. In fact his vocals have a definite appeal to me. He sings in a straight-forward manner and the performances have a natural soulfulness. While his performances may not have all of the intensity of his father, Daddy Gave Me The Blues is a nicely performed recording worth the consideration of Chicago blues lovers.

I purchased this CD. I should note that I have misplaced my hard copy of this recording so hopefully I did not screw up the personnel listing.