Capital Blues Reissues

The second group of Capitol Blues Reissues from EMI continues the high standard of the first set. Five new releases along with a sampler compilation are in the same distinctive packaging with solid annotation and illustration andfirst-rate music. These reissues serve as a final testament to blues scholar, writer and producer, Pete Welding, who was the executive producer of this series. Welding, a former Down Beat, Blues Unlimited, Rolling Stone and Living Blues contributor, also headed Testament Records, was A&R for Playboy Records (responsible for that label's releases by Phillips Walker and Leadbelly), and was involved in numerous reissue projects over the years. The quality of the Capitol Blues series, including his own liner notes for several volumes, is not surprising to those of us who relied on his Down Beat reviews of twenty five years ago in building blues collections. According to the monthly publication ICE, Billy Vera is taking over the as the series executive producer.

The musical level of these five new releases may be higher than the initial reissues in the series. Texas  Guitar Killers (Capitol CDP 33915) is the only compilation among the present releases, and brings together a diverse group of performers. Included are several superb recordings by T-Bone Walker from the Old Swingmaster label that Walker recorded in December 1945, along with several alternate takes of Walker's Imperial work. These supplement the available reissues of Walker's Black & White and Imperial
recordings. They are exceptional sides with tasty small group backings (with particularly interesting hom voicings on the 1945 recordings). Another electric guitar R&B pioneer, Lowell Fulson is heard on two different sessions. The earlier 1948 session is comprised of Texas country blues duets with brother Martin, while a 1953 big band session provides a completely different, jump-band flavor. Other recordings include Gatemouth Brown's first recordings, a couple of strong tracks from Pee Wee Crayton, country blues sung by LC. Wilams backed by Lightnin' Hopkins, and thirteen (sometimes chaotic) selections from Smokey Hogg (some with Hadda Brooks on piano) that display his down-home Texas roots along with his idiosyncratic sense of time. Mark Humphrey's notes place this diverse and lively music in its musical and historical context.

Some will remember Mississippi Fred McDowell's double album, I Do Not Play No Rock'N'Roll. A two-disc release includes that long out-of-print album, along with the same title (Capitol CDP 33919) with selections issued on an obscure album, Just Sunshine, and unissued takes and tunes, all from the same sessions, produced by Malaco Records Tommy Couch. McDowell, perhaps the last great traditional Mississippi blues musician, is the foremost of the bluesmen discovered by folklorist Alan Lomax in the late fifties, playing an intense slide guitar style marked by his keen cutting tone and his percussive, mantra-like rhythms. Echoes can be heard in R.L Burnside and (to a lesser extent) Junior Kimbrough, but neither reaches the level of McDowell. The recordings here are among the first McDowell made using an electric guitar, and Couch backed him with a couple of rock musicians on bass and drums who provide firm, sympathetic accompaniment on many numbers. Many of these tunes were recorded by McDowell on several occasions, but his renditions of Kokomo Me Baby, Red Cross Store, 61 Highway, and Write Me a Few of Your Lines, as well as his interpretations of Baby Please Don't Go, Good Moming Little School Girl and Drop Down Mama, stand up with his best recordings of these items. With the simple rhythm backing added to his highly charged hesitating guitar riffs on Drop Down Mama, it makes for a high voltage performance that one will have trouble sitting still to. While a few tunes may come off as not as tightly executed, the overall level is quite high, and it is certainly one of the more valuable additions to the Capitol Blues series.

John Lee Hooker may be the most prolific blues recording artist of all time. Particularly around the late forties and early fifties, he made numerous recordings for a variety of labels, most done for either Bernie Besman or Joe Van Battle, operators of small Detroit labels as well as lessors of material to national labels.Such recordings as Boogie Chillum, Crawling King Snake, Hobo Blues, and I'm in the Mood, established Hooker as a National act. Ace Records' has collected Hooker's most commercially important sides from this period on The Legendary Modern Recordings (available on Flair in the US), while Hooker albums on Charly, Specialty and Krazy Kat collect other Hooker recordings from this time. Newly issued is Alternative Boogie (Capitol CDP 33912), a three disc album that brings together two vinyl albums, Coast to Coast Blues Band, and the three record set, John Lee Hooker's Detroit, that United Artists issued in the early seventies after the success of Hooker 'N' Heat (the collaboration with the blues-rock band, Canned Heat). These albums (reissued on this set) made available alternative takes and other songs by Hooker from the stockpile of producer Besman. Hooker's guitar boogies and moody. slow high intensity blues formed a distinctive and powerful body of blues, and the level of these and other performances of the time are remarkably high, such as the takes of John Lee's Original Boogie (an altemative of Boogie Chillum), I Rule My Den (a variant of Crawling King Snake), three versions of I'm in the Mood and other strong cuts. Some of these sides include either Andrew Durham or Eddie Kirkland on second guitar, James Watkins on piano and Eddie Burns on harmonica. And while many of these are alternatives to issued recordings, Hooker's performances from this time have a particularly improvisatory feel to them. Those who are into John Lee Hooker's early recordings know what to expect and will have to consider whether they want this material or not, while those more familiar with his band boogie recordings may want to first check out the Ace-Flair or Specialty discs of Hooker's early music first. However those, like this writer, who are into Hooker's early recordings will find plenty of musical treasures here.

After Freddie King signed with the independent Shelter label, he was able to get his friend Jimmy Rogers onto the label as well. Chicago Blues Masters: Volume Two: Jimmy Rogers (Capitol CDP 33916) makes available Rogers Shelter album along with four unissued tracks. Included are sessions with pianist Bob Riedy, the Aces, and Riedy's own band with Freddie King guesting. Rogers was a member of Muddy Waters greatest band (and later Howlin' Wolf's band), leaving Waters after his success with That's All Right. He made recordings for Chess that are amongst the finest examples of Chicago band blues. His Shelter recordings were among the first he made after resuming music. The earliest sides include remakes of such classic Chess tunes like Act Like You Love Me and Broken Hearted Blues along with the fine new blues, Gold Tailed Bird, still a staple of his performances today. While Rogers is in good voice, the backing provided by the Aces is surprisingly more functional than the spectacular accompaniment they often provided. Better are the selections with Riedy's band (the band Rogers was then regularly associated with). The best of these also sports some tremendous guitar by Freddie King with spirited new renditions of such classic Chess recordings as That's All Right, You're Sweet, Sloppy Drunk and You're the One. The final four songs (without King) include a tasty remake of Blues (Follow Me All Day Long) and a reworking of Sonny Boy Williamson I's Decoration Day Blues titled I Lost a Good Woman, with added horns. These sound better than I remember, although they are overshadowed by the best of Rogers' Chess recordings (look for the Chicago Bound album on cd).

The last new album is devoted to Snooks Eaglin, The Complete Imperial Recordings (Capitol CDP 33918). Eaglin, one of New Orleans' most celebrated contemporary performers was known to many as a street performer before his compelling recent recordings for Black Top. These early 1960 sides were produced by Dave Bartholomew and include the legendary James Booker on piano. There is a mix of classic blues like C.C.Rider and J.B. Lenoir's Mama Talk to Your Daughter, Bartholomew's own songs like That Certain Door and Goin' to The River, along with efforts obviously inspired by the contemporary pop music of the time. Those familiar with Eaglin's singular guitar style with its quirky twists and unusual rhythmic emphases will hear it in these 26 short tunes, though with a less fiery, chicken scratching tone than his recent recordings, while his heart-felt and earnest singing might explain why he never enjoyed great commercial success at the time. There are seven previously unissued tunes and one can hear occasional minor glitches in the performances or the ensemble work, but otherwise these wide-spanning performances have substantial entertainment value in addition to their historical nature.

In addition to these releases,Capitol also has issued a sampler collection Livin' With the Blues (Capitol CDP 31747) with tracks from these and the initial seven releases in the series. The packaging,  annotation and the material on all the Capitol Blues releases is first rate, and one could hardly go wrong from an entertainment point of view with any of these. I look forward to future releases under Billy Vera's direction.

This review originally appeared in the March 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 209). I believe I received review copies from EMI. I am not sure of the availability of these reissues today, but one might to check used CD stores.

Jimmy Rogers With Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters

Jimmy Rogers
Jimmy Rogers With Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters
Bullseye Blues

In Spring 1978, this reviewer went to see J.B. Hutto at a New York club where he was accompanied by a Boston area band, Sugar Ray and the Bluetones which featured an excellent guitarist, Ronnie Earl Horvath. They did a splendid job of backing Hutto’s Chicago slide guitar blues, and Horvath even then showed his considerable guitar prowess. I bought an EP by the band which included a Horvath homage to Earl Hooker and several other blues done handsomely by Sugar Ray Norcia, Horvath and the band.

Over a decade later, Ronnie Earl, and Sugar Ray are caught live in Europe backing yet another Chicago blues legend, Jimmy Rogers, at a German concert. Joined by stellar pianist Dave Maxwell and a first rate rhythm section, Earl opens with hot tributes to Gatemouth Brown and Earl Hooker before letting Sugar Ray handle the vocal on The Same Old Blues. From then on, Jimmy Rogers, sounding remarkably youthful, reprises a number of his more celebrated songs including Rock This House, Gold Tailed Bird, Walking By Myself, and Left Me With a Broken Heart, with plenty of solo space for Earl, Sugar Ray and Maxwell, along with some nicely done breaks by Rogers himself.

There can be little fault with the playing, but compared with Rogers’ Chess singles, the focus of the songs becomes slightly diffused with the jamming. This is a matter of observation and taste, because this is what one will hear live if one sees Rogers with his own band. This might even have an edge over the fine Antone’s album by Rogers on which Kim Wilson’s harp dominates at certain places, and certainly an indication of how vital Rogers can still be.

I likely received my review copy from a publicist. This review originally appeared in the Septeember 1994 Jazz and Blues Report (Issue 194). Here is Jimmy Rogers performing in 1994.

Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers Were Genuine Blues Legends

Nothing fancy about the music on "Genuine Blues Legends" (Elrob Records), a release by Chicago blues legends Pinetop Perkins and Jimmy Rogers with Little Mike and the Tornadoes. Harmonica player and leader, (Little) Mike Markowitz and his band of guitarist Tony O. Mello; bassist Brad Vickers and Michael Anderson did yeoman service backing the likes of tours by Perkins and Rogers up and down the East Coast in the late eighties through the mid-nineties. As Pat Morgan, the former manager of Perkins, recalls, Perkins started playing regularly with Little Mike after he left the Legendary Blues Band. Thid in fact resulted in Pinetop's first solo album "After Hours." Rogers and others including Hubert Sumlin, were featured regularly with the Tornadoes, who this writer saw numerous times at the legendary Bethesda, Maryland club, "Twist & Shout."

This is a typical evening of Pinetop and Rogers as they were heard on tour one night in Maine from 1988. Pinetop was never a very demonstrative singer. Rather, he could be very appealing with an easy going, comfortable delivery shown on a number of blues classics that would remain part of his repertoire for over three decades. These include Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson's "Kidney Stew," St. Louis Jimmy's "Going Down Slow" (titled here "Had My Fun"), the Larry Darnell hit "For You My Love," Ivory Joe Hunter's "I Almost Lost My Mind" (titled here "When I Lost My Baby"), and Clarence 'Pinetop' Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie." That number became a staple of Perkins repertoire decades before and led to his stage name. There is  plenty of Pinetop's fine, reliable piano and these performances are solid, even if he might have made equally fine performances of these songs  in his other recordings.

One wishes there was more of Jimmy Rogers' vocals than the three songs heard here. Rogers was one of the finest singers of Chicago blues with his relaxed, distinctive delivery lending appeal to a cover of "Big Boss Man" along with his own "The Last Time." Pinetop's playing is exceptional on this, and Little Mike and the Tornadoes add lively backing. Rogers addis his own distinctive guitar lines producing some gems of Chicago blues. Rogers adds his guitar into the backing for the rendition of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie," that is a feverish and exhilarating a performance as Perkins ever produced of this number.

My main complaint about this release is the attribution of composer credit to Pinetop Perkins for "For You My Love" composed by Paul Gayten, and the aforementioned Ivory Joe Hunter and Pinetop Smith songs. Otherwise this is an entertaining reminder of the delightful, sometimes exciting, Chicago blues on tours like the one captured on this release. Perhaps not essential, but certainly a release fans of the two, and Chicago blues, will be interested in.

I received my review copy from a publicist.  Here is Jimmy Rogers with James Cotton.

And here is Pinetop Perkins as part of Mitch Woods' Boogie Woogie Blow-Out.

Buddy Scott & Big Daddy Kinsey Sang Real Deal Blues

Here is a vintage review of albums by Bid Daddy Kinsey and Buddy Scott, who may not be household names, but produced some solid work. I note my comments in the review about Verve issuing this material which was not stuff that would have been the most commercial type of recording to market as ‘blues.’ Scott died not long after his CD was released, while Kinsey (who died in 2001) had a subsequent album on Verve. Thankfully they viewed things in other than strictly commercial terms. My review originally appeared in the August 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 190) when it was still a print publication in Cleveland. Amazon shows the releases below available from other sellers.

Two releases, Buddy Scott’s Bad Avenue and Big Daddy Kinsey’s I Am the Blues, are companions on Verve to Joe Louis Walker’s Blues Survivor. They are both more traditionally oriented than Walker’s album, and Verve’s release of these albums indicates that Verve is not intending to market rock records as contemporary blues. Neither Buddy Scott or Big Daddy Kinsey are household names, nor are they guitar heroes. These are both solid Chicago blues artists who were reared on the music of Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters, and deliver renditions of the classic blues in a classic Chicago blues fashion.

Verve’s release of Buddy Scott’s Bad Avenue is particularly interesting since Scott is a Chicago club singer who has made few recordings, the most notable ones being as Scotty and the Rib Tips as part of Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues series. The music here is a bit less soul-influenced here than the Alligator recordings. Renditions of Merle Haggard’s Today I Started Loving You Again and Sam Cooke’s Bring It On Home To Me (using the same melody as Charles Brown’s I Want to Go Home), involve a fair amount of testifying. The songs associated with Little Walter, My Babe and Blues With a Feeling, both feature some very fine harp from Billy Branch, and while neither Rock Me or Big Boss Man are particularly novel numbers, the choice of Wake Up Old Lady from the second Sonny Boy Williamson ( going back to an old English ballad), is a refreshing change of pace with the song rearranged as if Howlin’ Wolf was going to sing it, while the traditional Big Fat Woman incorporates B.B. King’s Please Love Me arrangement. In addition to a couple of originals from Scott, the album closes with the fine title track that was penned by the recently deceased Lefty Dizz. Scott is a strong, straightforward singer and effective guitarist although his rhythm guitarist Joe Moss takes the lead on Big Boss Man. In all, a very solid date.


Lester ‘Big Daddy’ Kinsey may be familiar from albums on Rooster Blues and Blind Pig, and as the father of most of the members of the Kinsey Report. I Am the Blues is dedicated to Muddy Waters who is an obvious influence on Kinsey as a singer and as a guitarist. He is backed here by Buddy Guy on the title track and an all star cast including son Donald, Jimmy Rogers, James Cotton, Billy Branch, Pinetop Perkins, Lucky Peterson, Rico McFarland, Ray ‘Killer’ Allison, Calvin Jones and Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith. Included are several titles Waters had axed years ago including Walking Thru the Park (with an explosive Sugar Blue harmonica solo) , Mannish Boy and Got My Mojo Workin’, while renditions of Little Red Rooster, Don’t You Lie To Me and Nine Below Zero are done in similar form. Big Daddy Kinsey contributed three songs, the anti-drug song, Somebody’s Gonna Get Hooked Tonight, Good Mornin’ Mississippi, where he plays slide in a manner that recalls Muddy, and his tribute to the late Albert King, The Queen Without a King, with guitarists Donald Kinsey and Rico McFarland playing in an Albert King style. There is no great surprises here, just a strong session of Chicago blues. Incidentally, Kinsey has toured Europe with Pinetop, Jimmy Rogers, Calvin Jones, Willie Smith, Jerry Portnoy and Luther Johnson, Jr., as part of a Tribute to Muddy Waters, and there is a possibility that this group of artists will tour the US in the spring, 1994.


I do not recall my source of the review copies back in 1993-1994, as to whether it was from Jazz & Blues Report or from Verve directly.

Mark Hummel's Rocking Blues Parties

Mark Hummel has been playing the blues for decades and with his Blues Survivors, has shared the stages as well as backed numerous blues legends. In more recent years, he has been known for his tours of Blues Harmonica Blowouts, with recent tours being documented on disc on compilations on the Mountain top label. Now we have the good fortune to have new new compilations that go back to the vaults that help celebrate the blues. Electro-Fi, Hummel's current label has just issued Mark Hummel's Blues Harmonica Blowouts, subtitled "'Still Here and Gone' 1993-2007," while Mountain Top has released Mark Hummel's Chicago Blues Party subtitled "Recorded Live! 1980-1992."

For those who are fans of the Blues Harmonica Blowouts, the new double disc collects recordings by a variety of highly regarded players, some who are no longer with us. The focus on harp allows the presence of Magic Dick whose vocal talents nowhere approach his instrumental skills, as well as the brilliant Lee Oskar, who turns in a stunning instrumental rendition of Duke Ellington's In a Sentimental Mood. Hummel turns in his usual solid playing, rooted in the classic playing of Little Walter and Big Walter (a nice rendition of Hard Hearted Woman, along with the set's closing Summertime). There are nice representative performances from Lazy Lester, Sugar Coated Love; Carey Bell, I Got to Go; Billy Boy Arnold, Sugar Gal; Johnny Dyer, and Rick Estrin. Of special note are performances by several not with us: two by Paul deLay, Can't Stand Your Evil Ways; two by Sam Myers with Anson Funderburgh on guitar, especially I Done Quit Getting Sloppy Drunk; and three brilliant performances by William Clarke, including Stretch My Money and the instrumental Chrome Jumpin'. Rusty Zinn are on these selections while Junior Watson graces the James Harman and Paul deLay selections. The harp playing is high and most of the vocals are strong on a set with broad appeal.

Chicago Blues Party is even better with previously unissued performances spotlightling a number of now deceased blues legends: Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor, Mississippi Johnny Waters, and Luther Tucker. The disc opens with five 1992 performances by the great Jimmy rogers backed by Hummel and a band that included Rusty Zinn on guitar from Slim's in San Francisco. Over a decade and a half later it is a delight listening to Rogers redo You're the One and Ludella with Hummel's harp embellishing the vocals so well. Less familiar Rogers songs like Tricky Woman, standout along with a rendition of Jimmy Reed's Big Boss Man. The late Eddie's set lacks reworkings of some of his better known recordings like Bad Boy and Big Town Playboy. Instead he focuses on reworkings of Wolf's Smokestack Lightning, Muddy Waters' Trouble No More, and Charles Brown's Sunny Road. Despite the familiarity of the material, Taylor is in good form. On Taylor's set, Mississippi Johnny Waters is on rhythm guitar and takes the lead vocal as well as plays some strong slide guitar for Dust My Broom. Waters, real name Johnny Sandifer, was a strong traditionally oriented Mississippi bluesman who Hummel played with for several years from 1977 on and there are two performances by Waters with guitarist Sonny Lane from the 1980 San Francisco Blues Festival including solid renditions of Wolf's Shake For Me and J.B. Lenoir's How Much More Long. These performances display strong vocals backed by a tight rocking band playing classic Chicago blues. The fact Waters recorded so little makes these especially valuable. Another 1985 Waters performance, a rendition of Long Distance Call, has Luther Tucker on guitar. Tucker himself is featured on two 1994 performances with Hummel handling the vocal with Tucker's solo on "Blue & Lonesome," based on his solo on Little Walter's original recording, arguably being the highpoint of a terrific disc of Chicago blues. Hummel is to be thanked for making these superb performances by some departed blues masters accessible.

As I write this, the “Chicago Blues Party” set may be hard to find. Bluebeat Music, www.bluebeatmusic.com has both of these.

Jimmy Rogers at Best on CD "Blue Bird"

1994 saw Analogue Productions Original issue a marvelous album by the legendary Jimmy Rogers with an all star band. These are arguably his best recordings since the best of his Chess recordings, and are still available. This is my review from 1994.

Jimmy Rogers has a great new album, Blue Bird, on Analogue Productions Originals (APO 2001), an audiophile label that issues releases on high quality vinyl in addition to compact disc. Producer John Koenig has assembled a terrific backing band with Dave Myers on bass, Roger’s son Jimmy D. Lane on lead guitar, Ted Harvey on drums, Carey Bell on harmonica and Johnnie Johnson on piano. Rogers reworks several of his classic recordings (Walking By Myself Again, That Ain’t It, and Blues Falling), along with renditions of Howlin’ Wolf’s Howlin’ For My Darling, and Muddy Waters’ rendition of Smokestack Lightning. Rogers was always was a fan of the first Sonny Boy Williamson, and the title track, credited to Rogers, is a reworking of one of John Lee Williamson’s recordings, while the opening I’m Tired of Crying Over You is a retitled version of Little Walter’s Oh Baby. Rogers sounds in good voice and the relaxed, but tight, backing fits like a glove. Johnnie Johnson is a terrific accompanist and is much better in this role than as a leader or singer. Carey Bell’s harp playing here is up to his usual high level and Jimmy Lane’s guitar playing hits all the right bases, without any gimmicks, tricks or flash. He has certainly absorbed a lot of influences from the old school (to use former Muddy Waters guitarist Bob Margolin’s phrase) in his playing including those from his dad and the late Eddie Taylor, along with more rock oriented players. Everything is sung and played at such a high level, and this is one of the best recent albums of traditional Chicago blues. The better stores should have this one - but Analogue Productions Originals is distributed by Acoustic Sounds, P.O. Box 2043, Salina, Kansas 67402-2043 or telephone them at (913) 825-8609. They also have gold disc and 180 gram vinyl audiophile reissues of several albums from the Contemporary Records jazz catalog.