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.

D'Mar and Gill Are Real Good Friends

The combination of acoustic guitarist and vocalist Chris Gill and Derrick "D'Mar" Martin on drums and congas is heard on Real Good Friend (Airtight). While at first sight one might wonder if this duo is another in the vein of North Mississippi Hill Country groups, they are not as rhythmically heavy in their style. Martin embellishes Gill's vocals and guitar playing as opposed to the the no holds bar approach on some North Mississippi Hill Country styled recordings.

Gill wrote most of the songs (the one cover is My Babe) and sings with a definite warmth and plays very adeptly whether finger-picking or adding slide runs while Martin's percussion adds a swinging feel. The songs suggest, without copying, the classic country blues. One example is the title song where Gill opens with a spoken reference to Honeyboy Edwards and Robert Johnson before his delta-flavored, slide accompaniment to a lyric about riding the rails and jump off and get to the hobo jungle. Maybe Baby is built upon a delta groove and features nice slide. Martin's drumming and percussion helps this performance percolate. He never is flashy but it always sounds like he has added just the right amount of syncopation.

Crawfish Boogie is an infectious medium tempo salute to the mudbugs with a catchy vocal chorus (with D’Mar adding a vocal response) and a kazoo solo before some nice finger-picked guitar. It is followed by the jazzy sophistication of Harmony Street as Gill whistles and displays a different side of his guitar playing. The contrast in these two performances shows how the two are able to paint a varied musical palette here. The rest of the album is as engaging with Tore Down, a focused blues with a strong vocal, standing out. This concludes with an instrumental, International Blues Stomp, that matches Gill’s adroit slide playing and the duo’s refreshingly understated approach.

D'Mar & Gill have provided here solid performances of interesting and original songs. The performances of Real Good Friend are rooted in the blues tradition but provide their own slant on acoustic blues and will delight folk-blues lovers. Recommended.

My review copy was provided by a publicist.

Remembering Honeyboy, Wardell and Big Eyes

September has seen some blues and rhythm masters leave us with memories and plenty of reason to celebrate their legacy.

Honeyboy Edwards at Western Maryland Blues Festival in Hagerstown, MD.  Photo © Ron Weinstock

David' Honeyboy' Edwards passing was the last link to the pre-war generation of Delta bluesmen. Edwards literally grew up and played with all of the masters of the style including Charlie Patton, Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Tommy McLennan and most famously Robert Johnson. It was his association that led Pete Welding to Edwards after Welding had asked Big Joe of any bluesmen who knew the legendary Delta artist. Welding recorded Edwards as well as interviewed him which led to an extensive article back in the sixties.


Big Joe Williams took first Edwards out on the road as a youngster and arguably Williams highly rhythmic style is the most obvious influence on Edwards. Edwards became at times a very capable blues performer in the Delta style. Certainly the recordings Edwards made for Alan Lomax were fine examples of the Delta style. In the post-war era he had a few commercial recording sessions leading to one issued 78 and sessions for Chess and Sun that went unissued at the time, although issued later. Even most of Pete Welding's recordings of Honeyboy were unissued until the CD era, although Honeyboy was among the artists brought to play with Fleetwood Mac in the late sixties. 


Honeyboy may not have had the powerful guitar style or passionate, charismatic singing style that might have appealed to commercial record labels, but his warm personality and his personnel connections to the giants of the pre-war blues made him a popular performer for the past few decades was was capable of reaching across cultural and generational lines so well.

Wardell Quezergue and Jean Knight at the Ponderosa Stomp.  Photo © Ron Weinstock

Wardell Quezergue earned the moniker "The Creole Beethoven" as a reflection of his ability to arrange for large groups. This New Orleans native was famed as a composer, producer and arranger. He put together the charts for "Big Chief," the legendary Professor Longhair-Earl King Mardi Gras classic. As a producer he have us chart-topping soul classics like King Floyd's "Groove Me," and Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff." These two recordings were actually produced on the same day.


In more recent years his arranging touch was utilized for big band albums by Charles Brown and Gatemouth Brown; several acclaimed Dr. John albums (including the Grammy® Award Winning "Goin' Back to New Orleans"); and the wonderful "Deacon John's Jump Blues." Listening to the renditions on this CD and DVD, and comparing them with the original recordings, one appreciates how Quezergue translated small combo recordings into a big band language with considerable grace and elegance. He was spotlighted at a couple of Ponderosa Stomps in New Orleans as well as a special Stomp at Lincoln Center in new York City. When Dr. Ike asked Dr. John if he would consider doing some of his older songs on which he played guitar originally, he agreed when he learned Quezergue would be doing the arrangements and conducting. This gives a sense of the contributions of this marvelous person.

Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith at the 2010 Pocono Blues Festival, Lake Harmony PA. Photo © Ron Weinstock

Finally, we just received word that Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith passed away. Smith was honored with a Grammy® this past year alongside his friend and long-time band-mate, Pinetop Perkins, with whom he spent many years playing together with the legendary Muddy waters and later the Legendary Blues Band. Smith remained active until the stroke that recently felled him, and in more recent years was featured on harmonica and vocals and not simply handling the shuffle rhythms on drums. His presence with Muddy was in part responsible for the rock-solid swing of that band.


The quality of his music as a leader was also noteworthy. I said of his Hightone release Way Back, that it "showcases Smith’s harp as well as his amiable vocals on some choice covers as well as idiomatic originals." His son Kenny has become one of the best drummers in the blues today (and played on Way Back). What I will remember most about Willie was his infectious smile and the sparkle in his eyes. 


RIP Honeyboy, Wardell and Big Eyes.

Big Joe Williams Got Wild

With a career that spanned decades and one whose music was robust and vital until his passing, Big Joe Williams is one of the significant blues figures whose music perhaps has unjustly forgotten. In addition to the wonderful Delmark album referenced in this review, he made wonderful recordings for Arhoolie, Folkways and other labels, in addition to his wonderful recordings prior to World War II. This review originally appeared in the January-February 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 266).

Big Joe Williams, whose recording career spanned the the thirties to the eighties, was among the greatest Delta bluesmen who played and traveled with many legends and contributed one of the blues most enduring classics, Baby Please Don’t Go. The selections on this latest release, I Got Wild (Delmark) include alternate takes to previously issued selections, unissued tracks and some studio talk.


From the opening Coffeehouse Blues to the closing remake of Washboard’s Sam Back Door (familiar to some from Little Walter’s recording, Tell Me Mama), these recordings offer Williams’ fierce, rhythmic nine-string guitar playing and his fervent vocals. Its amusing listening to the studio chat before his rendition of Charlie Patton’s Peavine Blues, where a couple of strings are broken so the engineer announces, Big Joe Williams and his six and half string blues, where he is accompanied by bassist Ransom Knowling.


Big Joe was probably the single biggest influence on David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards and in all fairness to Edwards who is highly revered, Edwards’ music only occasionally reached the level of Williams. Bob Koester’s recollections of Williams in the liner notes are also very informative. Big Joe Williams belongs in every blues collection, and if perhaps I would first recommend Piney Wood Blues on Delmark, this disc is full of strong delta blues and recommended on its own.

This is still available and I received a review copy from Delmark.

Big Head Todd's Well Considered Robert Johnson tribute

Big Head Blues Club is an offshoot of Big Head Todd and The Monsters created by Todd Park Mohr, to help celebrate the Robert Johnson Birthday centenary, 100 Years of Robert Johnson (Ryko/ Big Records). Guitarist and vocalist, Mohr and his band mates, bassist Rob Squires, drummer Brian Nevin and keyboardist Jeremy Lawton are joined by B.B. King, Charlie Musselwhite, Ruthie Foster, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm for renditions of ten of Johnson’s songs. Robert Johnson was a brilliant performer who died way too young so he has become a mythical figure which has led some to make the incredulous assertion that Robert Johnson was most influential blues artist of all time. This unsupported assertion has more to do with myth than reality or blues history. Call Robert Johnson the greatest blues artist of all time. That opinion can be debated but can't be faulted. But calling him the most influential exposes one’s ignorance of the music’s history (and the impact of others) and ignores the fact that if there was no Robert Johnson, blues as we know it would probably have evolved in pretty much the manner it sounds like today.

I have no idea what is included in the physical CD as I received a download promotional copy, but the music on this is not without its pleasures. For one thing, the renditions of Johnson’s songs are not overly reverential as say the tribute albums by Rory Block or Eric Clapton. As a vocalist Mohr may lack the depth of feeling that a Johnny Shines, Elmore James or Big Joe Williams brought to their interpretations of Johnson’s music, but does bring an amiable, gravelly approach and sings with plenty of heart.

The disc opens with Come On In My Kitchen features a funk groove that is more Hill Country flavored than Johnson’s original with a harp break from Charlie Musselwhite. Rambling on My Mind, follows with an emphatic groove that is slowed down from the original. Cedric Burnside is on acoustic guitar and Lightning Malcolm on slide guitar on an accompaniment not wedded to the broom-dusting riff employed on many versions of this. It is followed by a frenzied Preachin’ Blues, on which Burnside is on drums and Malcolm adding the acoustic slide. The frenzied character of the performance does a credible job of evoking Johnson’s original which struck me as one of Johnson’s most fervent recordings.


Crossroads Blues, with B.B. King, has an imaginative arrangement owing little to Johnson or Elmore James and Mohr credibly shares the vocal with King as Johnny Lawton’s funky organ helps set the mood. When You Got a Good Friend is another tine with more of a hill country fill that traditional delta-styled blues of Johnson with Foster adding backing vocals and Sumlin some guitar embellishments along with Lightnin’ Malcolm. Kind Hearted Woman is a nice piano-guitar duet between Malcolm on acoustic guitar and pianist Lawton as Foster and Mohr trade lines in the shared vocal. One jarring note is Mohr singing “Mr. Johnson” when he could have personalized it as to Big Todd. Honeyboy Edwards may be the last living link to Robert Johnson, but of those associated with Johnson, he is musically the least able and his weak vocal at the beginning of If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day, is salvaged by Mohr’s strong singing and the driving, rhythmic backing of Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm. Musselwhite contributes moody harmonica behind a smoldering, smokey treatment of Last Fair Deal Gone Down.

After Mohr’s capable solo acoustic rendition of All My Love’s In Vain, the album concludes with a somewhat inept Sweet Home Chicago, by Honeyboy Edwards which does have some nice harmonica by Musselwhite on it to make this track listenable. It perhaps ends this disc on a bum note, which is unfortunate as with this exception on this. 100 Years of Robert Johnson may not be an essential recording, but it certainly is an entertaining release that blues traditionalists like myself and those with a more casual interest in blues, should be able to enjoy.

This review originally appeared in the May 1 - June 15, 2011 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 335). A download of this was provided by a publicist for the release.

What Lifetime Achievement by Honeyboy Edwards

The announcement that David 'Honeyboy' Edwards is receiving a Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award is startling. According to the NARAS website,

"This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers* who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artist significance to the field of recording."

Maybe someone can explain what creative contribution as a performer of blues Honeyboy made. He made some enjoyable recordings (Notably his Library of Congress Recordings) but can someone explain how he receives such an honor when such clearly more important associates as Charlie Patton, Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Tommy McLennan, Son House, Bukka White, Robert Lockwood, Johnny Shines, Skip James, and Fred McDowell have not been honored to name a few.

Is survival until one is in one's 90s a criteria for a relatively minor artist being heralded as a major creative artist, when that was simply not the case.

I look forward to getting some brickbats on this but Ma Rainey, Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy have not been so honored, but Honeyboy Edwards has.

Remembering Robert Johnson

In 1991, the Smithsonian Institution's annual Folklife Festival presented, as one of the featured presentations of the Festival, The Roots of Rhythm and Blues: A Tribute to the Robert Johnson Era. I was fortunate enough to attend and had the pleasure to see a number of captivating workshops and performances. I still recall folklorist and scholar Worth Long asking Robert Lockwood and Johnny Shines about songs Robert Johnson performed but never recorded. That was the first time I heard of Hacksaw Harney who Robert Lockwood Jr said was one of the few guitarists other than his step-father who impressed Lockwood. There was marvelous music whether Ruth Brown on the first day singing accompanied by Robert Lockwood, or Vernell Townsend (accompanied by husband Henry) singing Stormy Monday as if Walter Davis had recorded that number. Of the artists I had not heard previously, Eddie Cusic stood out with his straight-ahead Delta style blues. Some music from that festival was issued on a Sony-Legacy album which only hinted at the music performed and collected. I reviewed it back in 1992 and here is my review as printed in Jazz and Blues Report out of Cleveland. (www.jazz-blues.org)

Roots Of Rhythm And Blues A Tribute To The Robert Johnson Era

Sony - Columbia

This release from Sony/Columbia, in conjunction with Smithsonian/Folkways, documents the program that was part of the 1991 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Those fortunate enough to attend the festival will remember some of these performances and the workshops, oral history and performers not represented here. In addition to associates of Robert Johnson, like the late Johnny “Ned” Shines, Robert Jr. Lockwood, David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards and Henry Townsend, a variety of delta blues and traditional African American performers were presented including Lonnie Pitchford, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and others. In addition to festival performers, there are ringers here. While Phil Wiggins appeared at the Festival, John Cephas did not. While I originally thought Cephas and Wiggins’ fine Brownsville Blues was from an earlier festival, I have been told this is a studio performance with dubbed-in applause. Toshi Reagon is heard on another studio recording, albeit without dubbed crowd noise. The centerpiece of the performances are several loose jams credited to Johnny “Ned” Shines (with these being his last “official recordings”) and ensemble. The ensemble includes Townsend on piano, Lockwood on guitar, Shines’ young associate Kent DuChaine on guitar, Lonnie Pitchford on bass guitar and Phil Wiggins on harmonica. There was another jam session with Honeyboy and Larry Wise replacing Lockwood and Wiggins, but nothing from that jam is represented here. Certainly the jam recordings are historic, although the music has some rough edges, with Pitchfords’s bass, Townsend’s piano and Lockwood’s strong authoritative playing keep things from getting too chaotic. The album opens with a very ragged Sweet Home Chicago, on which Shines’ singing sounded tired. The other songs, including his B.B. King influenced Loved and Lost (a retitled version of Have to Pay the Cost) are better performances. Also interesting are Shines’ three short acappella performances including a street vendor’s cry, Watermelons, and the traditional Tell Me How You Want Your Rolling Done. Documentation of these archaic song forms is invaluable whether by Shines, former Parchman Farm inmate David Savage, heard on two field hollers, or some retired railroad workers singing while demonstrating lining tracks. Lockwood and Edwards turn in workmanlike solo performances, Lonnie Pitchford’s three Robert Johnson numbers are adeptly performed, but solo performances by Henry Townsend (sounding like Walter Davis on the superb All My Money’s Gone on piano), and Jessie Mae Hemphill (a very strong Train, Train) stand out. Also included is a solo harmonica feature by Phil Wiggins, and several religious performances from the Moving Star Hall Singers. There were a number of strongly delivered performances not included, ostensively because of technical problems attributable to the hot, humid weather that made keeping in tune a real adventure. Barry Lee Pearson and Bernice Reagon places the performances in their social and historic context. While not indispensable, this makes available a variety of performances and performers not otherwise likely to be found on a major label, and has value beyond that of a festival souvenir.