Larry Davis - Jeffrey Scott reviews

Larry Davis - Funny Stuff - Rooster Blues

Best known for the original recording of "Texas Flood," which was popularized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Larry Davis had a relatively short but distinguished career, which included at one time being signed to B.B. King's Virgo label. Originally a bass player, he started playing guitar while touring with Albert King. 

In 1982 Rooster Blues issued his album, Funny Stuff, which won the 1982 Handy Award for Best New Album and contained the two tracks that won for Best Single. Davis sang with plenty of gospel-based soul while playing his Flying V Gibson in a hard-edged style that clearly reflected Albert King's influence. He produced one of the strongest recordings of the Eighties. This is a welcome reissue of that album.

From the title track, a terrific song about a lady who has hoodoo'ed him to the closing rendition of Albert King's "Got to Be Some Changes Made," Davis pours his heart into the vocals while turning out some high-energy solos. Other high points include his funky renditions of "That Will Never Do" and George Jackson's "Find' Em, Fool 'Em & Forget 'Em." There are also the searing, slow blues "Teardrops" and "Worried Dream." 

Legendary saxophonist and producer Oliver Sain produced this as well as played sax and keyboards. Billy Gayles, of Kings of Rhythm fame, played drums on half of this while Johnny Johnson played piano on five of the ten tracks. The album holds up wonderfully and one would be hard-pressed to find any better modern blues recordings since this came out. There may be some as good, but not better.

Jeffrey Scott - Rattlesnake Daddy

With John Jackson as his uncle, and friends with the likes of John Cephas and Doc Watson, one

should not be surprised that the debut album of Jeffrey Scott, the self-produced "Rattlesnake Daddy" is firmly in the East Coast fingerstyle guitar tradition. 

This disc contains a selection of songs from Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, Arthur Crudup, and Big Bill Broonzy among others, Scott displays a crisp, fluid guitar style while his tenor is a bit brighter sounding than John Jackson's straightforward delivery of a lyric. Perhaps he is not yet as deft a guitarist as his uncle or John Cephas, but he does maintain a nice relaxed groove on "Step It Up and Go" as well as "That's All Right Mama." 

This is a very enjoyable disc and indicates Scott is a talent with more than simply promise here.

These reviews originally appeared in the 2001 November DC Blues Calendar, then the DC Blues Society's newsletter. I have made minor edits for readability. I likely received the Larry Davis from a publicist. I do not remember whether I bought the Jeffrey Scott or not. The Jeffrey Scott is currently available at Amazon. The Larry Davis may be hard to find. Here Jeffrey Scott performs "Red River Blues."

McCracklin's Well Seasoned Taste of the Blues

Jimmy McCracklin’s career still goes strong almost five decades after his first recordings. His second Bullseye Blues album joins him with Johnny Otis, Lowell Fulson, Smokey Wilson, Barbara Lynn, saxophonist Bobby Forte and the late Larry Davis for what is billed a West Coast Blues Reunion. McCracklin certainly has grown from the early recordings that showed a strong influence of Walter Davis’ bittersweet blues. By the mid-fifties, his Blues Blasters with the late Lafayette ‘Thing’ Thomas, were blasting out shuffles and minor key blues with rocking boogie piano, Thomas’ cutting, twisting guitar lines and honking saxes ripping through shuffles and mid-tempo blues. A Taste of Blues (Blueseye Blues) finds him in a funky mood reminiscent of his later Minit and Stax recordings as he performs some new songs, and new versions of older songs like My Answer or Yesterday is Gone. McCracklin’s best songs reflect Walter Davis’ influence is his dealing with adult human relationships, while his vocals are delivered with a low key that suggests a certain hesitancy and vulnerability. While Lowell Fulson, Barbara Lynn and Smokey Wilson each contribute guitar, McCracklin’s own guitarist Pee Wee Thomas is the most effective, adding tasteful, scratchy solos that complement McCracklin’s reflective lyrics and tempos. In contrast, Smokey Wilson’s overstated, buzzsaw solos don’t work and suggest his limitations as a guitarist. Former B.B. King saxophonist Bobby Forte adds several fine tenor saxophone solos including a really fine, moody break on My Answer. The duet with Lynn (whose guitar solo is nicely constructed), Yesterday Is Gone, is nice rendering of the lyrics dealing with the two recognizing the break down in their relationship and a hope for reconciliation, as they jointly sing “Let’s talk about our future and let bygones be gone…” The slightly jerky rhythms are those that would be echoed by Magic Sam and other sixties admirers of McCracklin. There is little on this of the hard rocking boogies McCracklin recorded of Peacock, Irma and various West Coast labels. The opening number Boogie On Down, relates not to hot boogie woogie numbers, but the let’s get down and boogie funk dancing. It may be the nature of McCracklin’s songs, vocal approach, or the lazy tempo, but his music has aged very well. With Ron Levy adding organ, and the use of a vocal chorus on several songs, one cannot accuse Bullseye of underproducing this, although there are places like Put Up Or Shut Up, where a lighter touch and a shorter performance would have made for a more focused blues. Jimmy McCracklin at 2008 Pocono Blues Festival Photo © Ron Weinstock Another solid recording from McCracklin, although when his best recordings from the forties, fifties and sixties get reissued on cd, this may be viewed as a minor recording. I have made a few minor changes to the review that originally appeared in the October 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (issue 195), and I believe is still in print. I likely received a review copy from Rounder Records. I previously reviewed on this blog an English Ace reissue of classic McCracklin recordings from the Modern label, Blues Blastin’.

Larry Davis' Handy Award Winner Stands Up 25 years later

The following review of Larry Davis' Funny Stuff appeared in late 2001 but I would not change it today. It is still in print (I just checked amazon.com).

Best known for the original recording of Texas Flood, which was popularized by Stevie Ray Vaughan, Larry Davis had a relatively short but distinguished career, which included at one time being signed to B.B. King’s Virgo label. Originally a bass player, he started playing guitar while touring with Albert King. In 1982 Rooster Blues issued his album, Funny Stuff, which won the 1982 Handy Award for Best New Album and contained the two tracks that won for Best Single. Davis sang with plenty of gospel-based soul while playing his Flying V Gibson in a hardedged style that clearly reflected Albert King’s influence. He produced one of the strongest recordings of the Eighties. From the title track, a terrific song about a lady who has hoodoo’ed him to the closing rendition of Albert King’s Got to Be Some Changes Made, Davis pours his heart into the vocals while turning out some high energy solos. Other highpoints include his funky renditions of That Will Never Do and George Jackson’s Find’ Em, Fool ‘Em & Forget ‘Em, and the searing, slow blues Teardrops and Worried Dream. Legendary saxophonist and producer Oliver Sain produced this as well as played sax and keyboards. Billy Gayles, of Kings of Rhythm fame, played drums on half of this while Johnny Johnson played piano on five of the ten tracks. The album holds up wonderfully and one would be hard-pressed to find any better modern blues recordings since this came out. There may be some as good, but not better.