This is a review that I wrote in Fall 2006 and published in the November-December 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 288). I will be posting other reviews from this every few days in next couple weeks.
Universal Music on the Verve label has released the second batch of CDs in its series, The Sonet Blues Story.
These sides make available albums from the 1970s that were issued in
Europe on the Sonet label although some were imported in the United
States and some were even issued in the US, as GNP-Crescendo issued The
Legacy of the Blues recordings stateside. This latest batch includes
more from that series along with other albums that Samuel Charters had
produced for Sonet. I will be posting these reviews every few days.
Otis Rush’s volume, subtitled Troubles, Troubles, is being released for the first time in its original form. Alligator had leased it, but Bruce Iglauer edited the solos and added “noisy keyboard” (quoting Sam Charters in his notes here), was retitled as Lost in the Blues, but there was a very critical reaction including from Rush (I seem to recall).
This 1977 Swedish session was with Rush’s band at the time with Bob Levis on second guitar, Bob Strokes on bass and Jesse Green on drums tackling a diverse repertoire including Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me to Do, You’ve Been an Angel, and You Don’t Have to Go; Willie Dixon’s Little Red Rooster; B.B. King’s Whole Lotta Lovin’ (actually Please Love Me) and Troubles, Troubles; Albert King’s Got to Be Some Changes Made; and Little Milton’s Same Old Blues (on which drummer sings). Alternate takes of You Been an Angel and Same Old Blues are included.
The song selection is mostly covers of some well known songs with Rush sounding relaxed and soulful (Little Red Rooster suggests more of Sam Cooke’s influence than Howlin’ Wolf) with plenty of solid guitar. Rush’s admiration for Albert King is evident from the opening notes of a strong rendition of Albert King’s Got to Be Some Changes Made, and he throws quite a bit of passion into Hold That Train.
This may not be an essential Rush album, but it is a very good ‘un and the release in this untampered form is most welcome.
I likely received a review copy from Jazz & Blues Report. This may be available used or as a download. Here is Otis Rush in performance.
Various Artists Ann Arbor Blues Festival 1969 Third Man Records
To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the legendary Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, Third Man Records has issued a both LP and CD releases. They collect 24 songs by such blues legends as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, B.B. King, James Cotton, Son House, Magic Sam, T-Bone Walker, Junior Wells, Big Mama Thornton, Clifton Chenier, Son House, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, Big Joe Williams, Charlie Musselwhite and more. This release is the first-ever release of music recorded live at this landmark event, except the Magic Sam track that was issued on Delmark.
John Fishel recorded the Festival except for Son House's performance which Jeff Todd Titon did. In the accompanying book to the deluxe LP edition (I am not sure what is included with the CDs), it is stated "These recordings were stored in Jim Fishel's basement and have remained largely unheard for 50 years. In preparing this compilation, we treated the original tapes to an all-analog restoration process – including speed correction and equalization – prior to digitization. However, these are field recordings in the literal sense of the term: audience chatter is audible and there are some technical problems that proved difficult to fix. Every effort has been made to improve the sound without sacrificing the integrity of the performances." In other words, these may not be the highest fidelity, but as good as one is likely to be able to get. Listening through headphones may be the best way to enjoy this music.
The two Ann Arbor Blues Festivals (the second one held in 1970) were signature events. All the succeeding blues festivals pale in comparison to these line-ups full of artists who are in the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis. There is a broad range of blues performances presented although there is a strong Chicago blues focus. The Chicago blues focus includes Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Magic Sam, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, J. B. Hutto & His Hawks, Roosevelt Sykes, Luther Allison, Otis Rush, and Charlie Musselwhite. Freddie King is not included at the request of the estate. At the request of the family, the Otis Rush performance is from a preview of the 1970 Festival. There are down-home performances from Roosevelt Sykes, Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, Arthur Crudup, Big Joe Williams, and Shirley Griffith. Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell performed, but the tape for it was lost. Clifton Chenier is accompanied solely by his accordion.
Despite any audio blemishes, the music here is often spectacular starting with Roosevelt Sykes opening with "Dirty Mother For You." He humorously wondered how he got by the censors when Decca issued the original 78. Sykes was in great form here. Arthur Crudup sounded fine singing "So Glad You're Mine," It was followed by the blistering slide guitar of J.B. Hutto on "Too Much Alcohol," and then Jimmy Dawkins' driving rendition "I Wonder Why." With Lefty Dizz on guitar, Junior Wells does a rousing "Help Me (A Tribute To Sonny Boy Williamson)." B.B. King (with Onzy Matthews on organ and Sonny Freeman on drums) is terrific on "I've Got A Mind To Give Up Living." B.B. King requested Mississippi Fred McDowell play "John Henry," resulting in a terrific performance in McDowell's rhythmically charged style.
Pinetop Perkins had recently joined Muddy Waters' band when he performed a rousing rendition of "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie." Members of Muddy's band backed him. Luther Allison may have been the most significant discovery of Ann Arbor, and his medley of "Everybody Must Suffer/Stone Crazy," is outstanding. I had a chance to see Luther at an Ann Arbor Blues Festival benefit concert a few months later, and it was a revelation. On "Tu m' as promis l'amour (You Promised Me Love)," Clifton Chenier shows he does not need backing musician in delivering a superb blues in French. Howlin' Wolf's rendition of "Hard Luck Blues," is an extended performance with Hubert Sumlin playing brilliant guitar. Wolf's band included Lucky Lopez on guitar, Bobby Fields on sax, and Calvin' Fuzz' Jones on bass. Otis Rush tears through "So Many Roads, So Many Trains," with Ernest Gatewood on bass and Sam Lay on drums. These performances are on Vol. 1, which is also split into two LPs.
Muddy Waters was impressive with "Long Distance Call" with its fattening frogs for snakes ending. This was a typical set opener for him at the time and opens Vol. 2 (also on 2 LPs). His band included Paul Oscher on harmonica, Pinetop Perkins on piano, Sammy Lawhown and Pee Wee Madison on guitars, Sonny Wimberly on bass and Willie' Big Eyes' Smith on drums. Charlie Musselwhite follows with a terrific instrumental, "Movin' and Groovin'," which also includes some spectacular lap steel guitar from Freddie Roulette, and piano from Skip Rose on piano. His band also included Louis Myers on guitar, Dave Myers on bass and Fred Below on drums. It is followed by Magic Sam's "I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie)." Shirley Griffith reworked the Billy Eckstine-Earl Hines classic "Jelly Jelly Blues" into a solo blues.
Mojo Elem may be best known as Luther Allison's bass player. Here he delivers a rollicking rendition of J.B. Lenoir's "Mojo Boogie," with Luther Allison playing some boogie chords while Elem sings in a high tenor. T-Bone Walker, with Luther Allison's band, follows with a terrific lengthy, "Call It Stormy Monday." Allison trades guitar licks with Walker plus sings a line or two as well. Walker also plays guitar on Big Mama Thornton's terrific "Ball and Chain." After Big Joe Williams' propulsive delta blues "Juanita," Sam Lay does a solid "Key To The Highway," with Luther Tucker on guitar and Jeff Carp on harmonica.
Lay's band also backs Lightnin' Hopkins who complains about folks at the Festival messing around with mojos before launching into a rollicking "Mojo Hand." While titled "Off the Wall," James Cotton's energizing instrumental is the same song he recorded as "The Creeper," It displays his fabulous harmonica and showmanship. Son House's "Death Letter" is the closing performance. I believe Freddie King may have closed the Festival, but one wonders how anyone (even King) could follow the baring of the soul in Son's riveting performance.
John Fishel recollects in the book, "Shortly after the Festival, I started college at the University of Miami. As luck would have it, James Cotton came to town a few months later for a performance, and I was assigned to interview him for the local underground newspaper. I asked him what he thought about what had happened in Ann Arbor: 'Oh man, I think that's the best festival I ever went to in my life! Everybody was just ready for it." After 50 years, I can still say that's the case for me. I hope you're ready for it too and that these performances prove as revelatory today, inspiring a new generation of blues listeners, musicians, scholars, and fans. That's the legacy of the 1969 Ann Arbor Blues Festival." That legacy is handsomely documented here.
I mentioned there is an accompanying book and the packaging includes many photos, an appreciation of the Festival and the story of the Festival, performer biographies with suggested further listening, and information on the artists and their accompanying musicians. One would be hard-pressed to think of a more significant historical blues release than this one. Get a copy for yourself and then get another as a gift for the blues lover in your holiday gift list.
I received a download to review from a publicist. This historic package is being released today, the 50th Anniversary of the Ann Arbor Blues Festival. For more information visit https://thirdmanstore.com/records. Here is a promo video for this package.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Otis Rush
Double Trouble Live Cambridge 1973
Rock Beat
Joe’s Place in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the seventies must have been quite a place as Joe mentions Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry along with Lowell Fulson as upcoming acts before he introduced Otis Rush for a night of blues. Rush that night was backed by Little Bo on tenor sax, Ernest Gatewood on bass and Bob Richey (not Richards as mistakenly spelled on the back cover) on drums.
Rush, until a severe stroke in 2004 curtailed his career, was one of the most revered blues artists bringing some of the strongest modern blues guitar playing which was matched by his angushed singing. This recording has some uneven sound quality (Little Bo is somehwat muffled on the opening "Watermelon Man"), but the brilliance of Rush's playing doesn't suffer in the mix. The program here includes several renditions of Rush's Cobra recordings including "It Takes Time," "I Can't Quit You Baby," Keep On Loving Me," and "Double Trouble," along with several numbers associated with B.B. King, including "Gambler's Blues" (which became identified with Otis), and "Why I Sing the Blues." In addition to the instrumental warm-up of "Watermelon Man," there are a couple James Brown numbers, an instrumental workout on "Popcorn" (as much a feature for Little Bo who is more audible here), and the closing "Please, Please, Please," and inspired playing on Rush's instrumental treatment of Ike and Tina Turner's "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine." This latter number has more saxophone from Little Bo, demonstrating why Rush described him as the little man with the big sound..
Frank Scott provides an overview of Rush's career and a brief description of the performance in the accompanying booklet.
I purchased this. Here is Otis' rendition of "Gambler's Blues" from this performance.
This is my blues column from the March 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which
had Benny Goodman on the cover. My column was relatively lengthy, and included a Blues On EP segment which I will post next week. There would be no column for February
issue as the Blizzard of 1977 that paralyzed the city around the time
the issue would have come out. I have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report)
have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of
Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz.
Note that Southern Record sales from which I obtained some releases no longer exists. The albums I reviewed (with the exception of the Gabriel Brown and the Albert King) are available as CDs (although they may be on different labels) with the exception of the Gabriel Brown. The Otis Rush Japanese live album is available on Delmark as So Many Roads. Lot of live blues in the Buffalo are in March. Muddy Waters will be joined by James Cotton and Johnny Winter at Shea's Buffalo on Saturday, March 12. Saturday, March 19 finds Bobby Bland and B.B. King at the Shea's Buffalo. Robert Jr. Lockwood, who was supposed to have been at UB Feb. 4 will be a featured act at the UB Folk Festival the weekend of April 15 and 16. Lockwood will most likely be playing Friday night April 15. More details next month. Gabriel Brown is a country blues artist, who, during the forties and early fifties, was based in New York. An English reissue of his music Gabriel Brown and his Guitar (Policy Wheel PW 4592) reveals him to be a talented performer. Brown's singing reminds me of Kokomo Arnold, a one-time Buffalo resident (60 years ago) whose music influenced many blues artists including Robert Johnson. Brown's guitar work is interesting and the selection of material is varied. Highlights include "I'm Gonna Take It Easy with slashing bottleneck guitar, Cold Love and the mildly pornographic "It's Getting Soft. While external packaging is somewhat skimpy, a booklet with all known biographical information and lyric transcriptions is included. There is some surface noise but these are on the originals and the sound is overall pretty clear. There are 18 selections including two 1930s recordings by one Poor Bill on which Gabriel may have played 2nd guitar. A very worthwhile reissue which, like the Otis Rush live album, Southern Record Sales can supply. Albert King's new Utopia album Albert Live (CYL2-2205) was recorded at Montreux. It is a double record with generous playing time (almost 90 minutes) as Albert tackles a wide variety of material from Watermelon Man to Stormy Monday, with the typical intensity and featuring his pinched note guitar playing. On one long number, Jam in A Flat he is joined by rocker Rory Gallagher (who is on other tracks). and bluesmen Louisiana Red and Lowell Fulson. The packaging is nice, though Robert Palmer's notes are media-hype.
Hard Again- Muddy Waters -(Blue Sky PZ 34449) is Muddy Waters first album since leaving Chess. Musically this is a pleasant set with support from Johnny Winter, James Cotton and Joe Willie 'Pinetop' Perkins. The presence of Winter and Cotton should help sell this though others could have replaced them without hurting the music. 'Pinetop' proves to be a worthy successor to the late Otis Spann and does play some brilliant blues piano. Tunes include reworkings of Muddy's Mannish Boy and I Can't Be Satisfied, Willie Dixon's I Wanna Be Loved and several new tunes that are in the same mould. Muddy seems to sing strongly but the recording mix I find grating. Johnny Winter should be thanked for helping Muddy get more recognition, and also some financial rewards, which is a nice way to show his appreciation for Muddy. Muddy has made many of the classic recordings in the Chicago band blues idiom and in comparison to them this album suffers. With such recent blues albums as those by Otis Rush and Son Seals out I can't give this anything but a qualified recommendation. Otis Rush's very first record, I Can't Quit You Baby was a top ten record on the r'n'b charts in the mid-fifties. Otis, despite being one of the finest and most individualistic performers in the post- B.B. King guitar dominated blues, has never been able to achieve, much less maintain, a position of popularity and recognition as one of the blues' premiere performers. As both a singer and guitarist Rush bows to no one and has been compared favorably to the legendary country bluesman Robert Johnson. Rush on record has been hard to find until recently. Last year Delmark released Cold Day in Hell a fine album that was Otis' first American recording issued in 7 years. Bullfrog Records has just issued Right Place, Wrong Time (301) which Otis recorded for Capitol Records in 1971, but which Capitol chose not to release. I refer you to the liner notes for speculation why this excellent set wasn't issued as this is probably the finest set of Otis Rush out and one if issued a few years back might have established Otis as a publicly recognized master of the blues. The album is tightly produced with horn arrangements recalling many of Albert King's fine Stax recordings of the time. Rush's guitar work also suggests King, though Otis is a more fluid guitarist and a stronger, more intense vocalist than King (which is high praise indeed.) The material on this set is varied and the recording mix provides for Otis' guitar work to be properly framed. Material includes rave-ups like Tore Up and Natural Ball, cooking instrumentals Easy Go and I Wonder Why and the slow blues on which Otis lets his soul out. The title track and Take a Look Behind are bound to become blues classics and are masterpieces of the modern blues idiom as Otis' anguished singing is couple with blistering guitar. This album is a must for blues enthusiasts. Also Trio Records of Japan has issued Blues Live (PA-3086) featuring Otis live in concert with just a rhythm section doing cooking renditions of I Can't Quit You Baby, All Your Love, and So Many Roads before an enthusiastic Japanese audience. This is available from Southern Record Sales, 42 North Lake Avenue, Pasadena, California 91101 though its price as an import may deter some buyers it is a most impressive workout. Delmark Records owns the American rights to this, though it may be some time before they issue it. They can supply the Bullfrog release which hopefully wiII be in local stores. Bullfrog Records is tied to Advent so stores carrying Advent should be able to get this. (If you write to Southern Record Sales, mention you read about them here). {{As noted this is available as So Many Roads}} on Delmark}}
Alligator is a small label that has excellent distribution locally and an impressive small catalog of modern blues. Son Seals' new set Midnight Son (AL 4708) is an excellent set of hard, intense blues sung with guts and played with Son's stinging Chicago guitar. Tight horn arrangements along with Son's cooking band has produced a varied set from the funky No, No Baby, the driving Don't Fool With My Baby to the slow Going Back Home, which should win Son new fans. This is even better than Son's first album, (Alligator AL 4703). Alligator also has excellent albums by Hound Dog Taylor, Big Walter Horton, Fenton Robinson and Koko Taylor out and they show concern for preparation and programming which sometimes small and major labels don't provide.
This is my blues column from the January 1977 Buffalo Jazz Report which
had Lee Konitz on the cover. The column had my review of the best blues releases of 1976, and there were not nearly as many back then as today so it was a bit more manageable as well as hoping for more live blues to actually be brought to Buffalo. There would be no column for February issue as the Blizzard of 1977 would paralyze the city around the time the issue came out. I have noted the first 58 issues of Buffalo Jazz Report (now Jazz & Blues Report)
have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of
Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. Note that the Living Blues mailing address has not been valid for many years, and the vinyl LPS I mention are no longer in print (with the exception of Sweet Blood Call as an expanded CD). For this column I'd like to first go over what I consider the best blues albums of 1976. The best was perhaps Robert Jr. Lockwood and the Aces, Blues Live in Japan (Advent 2807) featuring Lockwood's stunning jazz-blues guitar and enthusiastic readings of blues standards. Mr. Johnson's Blues (Mamlish 3807) is the first American lp devoted to reissuing the classic and innovating work of Lonnie Johnson whose place in blues and jazz history is underappreciated. The best album by a previously unrecorded artist is Good Rockin' Charles (Mr. Blues MB 7601). This a fine set of Chicago blues with relaxed yet gritty singing and harp from Charles. Honorable mentions for outstanding albums go to the two Joe Turner albums Nobody in Mind and In the Evenin' (Pablo). Otis Rush Cold Day in Hell (Delmark), When Women Sang the Blues (Blues Classics), Windy City Blues:The Transition and Detroit Ghetto Blues (Nighthawk), and Louisiana Red Sweet Blood Call (Blue Labor). As can be seen most of the finest al-bums were on small collectors labels (the major exception being the Joe Turners on Pablo). The big names in blues turned out either disco blues, Albert King with a pleasant album on Utopia, empty endless boogie, the Iive James Cotton album, or a Iive jam which never really ignited (B.B. King and Bqbby Bland). The small labels can turn out more interesting music perhaps because they don't expect to sell a gold album and don't compromise the music for sales. And the blues can progress as Jimmy Dawkins' has proved without losing its identity in a disco or funk setting. 1977 could be a year of some very fine recordings. Alligator records promises a Son Seals album, Delmark has re-issues of early Junior Wells among others ready, RCA's Utopia subsidiary has a Clifton Chenier in the can, Trix has Robert Jr.· Lockwood playing twelve-string coming soon and hopefully much more. Of course I will let you know what is available, and what it sounds like. Other items of interest. Living Blues continues to be a source of interesting informative articles, reviews and interviews. The Record Runner carries current issues and a years subscription (6 issues) costs $4.00 sent to Living Blues Publications, 2615 N. Wilton Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60614. It is possible that live blues may soon be coming to Buffalo in a format similar to the Tralfjazz series with perhaps comparable prices (depending on the act). for the entire night, etc. I would be curious about reader response.as any indication of support for this before it is undertaken is important. Artists being contemplated include Robert Jr. Lockwood, Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, Otis Rush, JohnnyShinesand others. Please write me in care of the BJR with your comments and suggestions. There has been Iittle Iive blues brought to Buffalo in the past few years and such places where blues was typically booked, an example being the Coffeenouse series at UB, haven't had blues in a year and a half. Imagine a series on American folk music which ignored the most basic American folk music. Blues can be brought and brought in an imaginative fashion. WBFO's David Benders, when head of the Coffeehouse, brought in not only folk blues but also a working Chicago Band, Son Seals, who played in the Rathskellar. It is to be hoped that the Coffeehouse committee at UB shows more imagination this year (1977) than in the past year and a half and brings blues both as pari of the Coffeehouse Circuit and as more than token representatives at the folk festival. I am willing to assist any organization that brings live blues to Buffalo and can be reached at either WBFO or the BJR. (David Benders incidentally hosts. Codfish Every Friday on WBFO at 10 PM to 11 PM which has blues featured about once a month.
The Jazz & Blues Report is celebrating its 40th Anniversary with the March-April 2014 issue. I started writing for it in 1976 and here is my first column Blues that I wrote for it. before I started writing reviews. I wish I was still so pithy instead of long-winded. :) It was originally the Buffalo Jazz Report and the first 58 issues have been digitized and can be downloaded from the University of Buffalo Library system. The website for these archived issues is: http://digital.lib.buffalo.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/BuffJazz. I believe the only recordings mentioned in the column that are still available is Otis Rush's Cold Day in Hell and Hound Dog Taylor's Beware of the Dog.
This is the first of a series of columns which will include
both live blues in the area, and recent recordings. WBFO-FM
provides the Buffalo area with the only regular blues pro-
gramming. Shades of Blue with Babe Barlow is heard Saturdays
from 10 PM to Midnight. I do both Bon Ton Roulet as part of
This is Radio on Wednesdays (3 PM) and Ramblin' with the
Blues on Thursday evenings from 10 to 11. Other folk pro-
grams on WBFO do have feature blues (though not exclusively).
Listed in this column will be any regular blues programs in any city the BJR services.
The Belle Starris the only place in the Buffalo area that isbringing in blues bands from out of town. The Buddy Guy-Junior
Wells band appeared in May, and Muddy Waters was there in
early July. Both groups played well and were well received.
Hopefully some Buffalo bars may follow the Belle Starr and
bring in some Chicago bands. Locally Shakin' Smith continues
at the Buena Vista Wednesday and Saturday evenings.
1976 has seen the release of a number of very fine albums.
Robert Jr. Lockwood and the Aces, BluesLive in Japan (Advent
2807) is the finest of the three albums that Lockwood headIines.
Formerly a guitarist with Sonny Boy Williamson and Little
Walter, as well as being Robert Johnson's stepson, Lockwood
is a brilliant blues guitarist, playing in a jazz-flavored style,
and sings in a straight forward fashion that brings new life to
such standards as 'Stormy Monday' and 'Worried Life Blues'.
An added treat is Louis Myers vocals, slide guitar on Anna Lee
and his harp playing on Little and Low behind Lockwood's
vocal.
Mr. Johnson's Blues (Mamlish S-3807) is the only American
release of Lonnie Johnson's recordings from the 20s and 30s. A
well-programmed album, it provides variety in material and
setting. Lonnie Johnson is featured both as a singer and accompanist and plays not only guitar,but piano and violin. Also heard
are Eddie Lang, Texas Alexander, Clara Smith and Victoria
Spivey. An extremely important release which should make
many familiar with one of the pioneers in jazz and blues.
Among other albums, Otis Rush's 1st album in 8 years
Cold Day in Hell (Delmark DS-638) is one of the finest blues
albums in recent years. Rush sings and plays with incredible
intensity. Highly recommended to fans of B.B. King-styled
blues. Hound Dog Taylor's posthumously released live album
Beware of the Dog (Alligator 4707) captures the infectious
quality of his rocking blues and boogie. He will be missed. The
James Cotton Band's Live and on the Move(Buddah BDS 5661-2)
also is an album of boogie which also should have wide appeal.
I find the album a Iittle too frantic and the music too hurried
though many of you will probably find it to your liking.
A new reissue of Otis Rush s classic Cobra recordings has been released by Fuel 2000 who licensed the material fromJewel/Paula. The Essential Otis Rush, The Classic Cobra Recordings 1956-1958 includes all eight singles that Rush recorded (and all produced Willie Dixon) along with eight alternate takes. Not every Cobra recording was memorable and little that even Rush’s fervent singing could salvage such as Violent Love, but on smoldering slow blues like I Can’t Quit You Baby, My Love Will Never Die, Groaning the Blues and Double Trouble, as well as uptempo numbers Three Times a Fool and All My Loving (I Miss Loving) (the Mayall version with Clapton on guitar pales in comparison).
Rush sang here with an intensity matched by few in blues history and complemented that with some stinging guitar (although Ike Turner may be the lead guitarist on Double Trouble). In addition to Willie Dixon, others on the original sessions included guitarists Turner, Wayne Bennett and Louis Myers, Little Walter and Walter Horton on harp; saxophonists Harold Ashby, Red Holloway and Jackie Brenston, pianists Lafayette Leake and Little Brother Montgomery, and drummers Odie Payne and Al Duncan.
Rush's Cobra recordings produced some of the most intense examples of the West Side Chicago Blues style that developed in the fifties and remain classic almost 60 years later. This review was written in late 2000 and this review likely originally appeared in the DC Blues Calendar around that time, although I have made some stylistic changes from what I originally wrote for clarity purposes. This particular reissue is out-of-print but might be found used. There are other CDs that also reissue Rush's Cobra recordings if not all of the alternate takes.
Eddy ‘The Chief’ Clearwater is a favorite among blues fans. The following review appeared in the DC Blues Calendar in 2001 at the time Rooster Blues reissued one of his 1980’s albums on compact disc. I likely received my review copy from the label.
A reissue on Rooster Blue is Eddy Clearwater’s Flimdoozie, a mid 1980’s session with Sugar Blue on harmonica, Abb Locke on saxophone and Otis Rush sharing guitar leads with Clearwater. Its not a bad album, particularly with the all-star sidemen, and some of the tracks like the rocking Sugar Baby with a great Sugar Blue harp solo and Clearwater belting out the vocal like Carey Bell are pretty good. Some of the material is pretty lightweight including the title track and Do This Town Tonight, but played well.
Clearwater’s mushy diction undercuts the long slow blues, a medley of Black Night with Clearwater’s Fallin’ Down Heavy. Rush is in terrific form on the five tracks on which he is heard, but despite his presence, this is a secondary work in Clearwater’s discography.
Here is Eddy performing at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1991.
Otis Rush has long been one of this writer’s favorite artists. Few artists could be as compelling as Rush when he was on his game. Unfortunately a stroke suffered during the last decade ended his musical career, but a good portion of his recordings are in print. Rush, as he matured, showed a strong Albert King influence in his playing to complement his anguished sounding vocals, a point I do not highlight in the following review but should have. The following review appeared in the June 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 283)
News of a previously unissued live recording of Otis Rush from the mid-seventies created much excitement among blues enthusiasts. Rush, a Mississippi native, moved to Chicago and became part of the West Side Chicago blues scene playing some blistering guitar and singing with great fervor.
One of many blues artists in the post-B.B. King style, Rush's first recording for the Cobra label, I Cant Quit You Baby, charted on the R&B charts, and was followed by early recordings including All Your Love (I Miss Loving), My Love Will Never Die, and Three Times a Fool. After the Cobra label folded, he briefly was on Chess and then Don Robey signed him but only issued one single, Homework. Many of these songs have become part of the modern blues repertoire and covered by such blues-rock acts as John Mayall, Led Zeppelin and J. Geils. He was one of the artists featured on the legendary Chicago, The Blues Today series and has had a number of albums issued over the past three decades.
Delmark issued Cold Day in Hell in the mid-1970s and it had received a fair amount of airplay on rock station WXRT which led to WXRT recording and broadcasting Rush in performance from Chicago's Wise Fools Pub in January 1976. Now about three decades later, this performance is available for all blues lovers on a new Delmark CD, All Your Love I Miss Loving. Featuring his superb band of the time with Bob Levis on second guitar, Bob Stroger on bass, Jesse Green on drums and Alberto Gianquinto (ex-James Cotton, ex-Santana) on piano, Rush is in superb form opening with B.B. Kings Please Love Me and redoing his All Your Love and It Takes Time as well other songs from King, T-Bone Walker and Chuck Willis. To hear Rush, one of the most intense guitarists in the blues laying out his soul singing You're Breaking My Heart, or rearranging T-Bone Walkers Mean Old World to the melody of I Cant Quit You Baby, one is treated to a performance that will reaffirm for many of us why we love the blues, to paraphrase Steve Tomashefsky’s liner notes.
Few blues artists put as much soul into their performances and reach the level that Rush at his best achieved, and he was at his best that January 1976 night at the Wise Fools Pub.
Yesterday I posted an older Byther Smith review. The following review is of what I believe was his last release, a live performance issued on CD and DVD by Delmark.
Chicago blues guitarist-vocalist Byther Smith has not had an easy life, but he certainly has overcome a lot and produced plenty of solid West Side Chicago blues. This writer first became aware of him from some tough 45 rpm singles, including a strong, insistent rendition of Detroit Junior’s Money Tree. He had albums for small labels like Grits and Razor, and the latter was picked up by Bullseye Blues, with whom he also recorded a new disc. In more recent years he has recorded for Delmark and the European Black and Tan and his music has remained pretty constant. Impassioned vocals, stinging, driving guitar and tight bands that kick the groove along.
Delmark’s latest live recording is Smith’s Blues on the Moon: Live at the Natural Rhythm Social Club. It is available on CD and DVD, with the DVD including one track not on the CD. Over a hour of straight blues with no filler. Smith’s propulsive attack and soulful vocals is ably supported by the band of Anthony Palmer, guitar; Daryl Coutts, keyboards; Greg McDaniel, bass; and James Carter on drums. Coutts piano is especially noteworthy backing Smith who tackles a variety of material including the driving title track, Your Mama’s Crazy, inspired by Mama Talk To Your Daughter, by his cousin, J.B. Lenoir, with a different lyrical cast and some stinging guitar instead of Lenoir’s boogie riffing.
Smith’s staccato single note playing has a drive to it and enhances his pleading vocals. And he has a few distinctive riffs that enliven his rendition of the well worn Rock Me Baby. A highlight is the autobiographical Monticello, set to the melody of Let’s Straighten It Out, and the performances closes with an marvelous original recasting Don’t Start Me Talkin.
Sound on the recording is excellent and the DVD continues Delmark’s straight-forward approach in its video production. Focus is on Byther and musicians with some crowd shots added, but not to any distraction. The performances, and Byther’s intense focus in his performances commands our attention. As a bonus, there is a fascinating interview and commentary by Steve Wagner and Byther Smith discussing his career and the performances, along with Wagner discussing the actual production of the CD/DVD.
This is another excellent addition to Delmark’s CD/DVD pairs and I would be hard-pressed to name another blues label that is producing such new live blues CDs at such a high level of artists that frankly should be documented. Jimmy Johnson next please Delmark.
One of the frustrations of blues is discovering a terrific talent, yet being frustrated by the artist’s failure to be able to take a step to insure success as more than a fine recording artist. The one time I saw Byther Smith at the Poconos, he was with a pick-up band, which was a shame because it did not do justice to his strong West Side Blues guitar and vocals that are almost on the level of an Otis Rush. He has recorded other strong albums for Delmark, JSP and Black & Tan. This review appeared in the July-August 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 269). Tomorrow, I will run my review of his 2008 CD/DVD on Delmark, Man on the Moon.
With an efficient backing trio laying down steady, funk-tinged grooves, Byther Smith blasts out some stinging blues guitar and pleads his blues with plenty of heart on his third Delmark album Hold That Train. While he does cover some overdone songs like The Thrill is Gone, Willie Dixon’s 300 Pounds of Joy and Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor, most of the material handled here is not nearly as familiar, as he opens with the late A.C. Reed’s This Little Voice, Dixon’s Close To You, Andrew Brown’s You Ought to Be Ashamed, Junior Wells’ Come On In This House, and Detroit Junior’s So Unhappy. Other tracks include Mississippi Kid, set to the melody of Junior Wells’ Messin’ With the Kid.
More so than his prior discs, Smith’s performances here suggest recent recordings by Magic Slim with the simple grooves, punched out stinging guitar lines and solid singing, although Smith’s vocals are a bit higher pitched than those of Magic Slim. So Unhappy is a stirring slow blues where Smith pours his soul in while he evokes Slim Harpo’s Scratch My Back melody for his adaptation of What My Momma Told Me. I Don’t Like to Travel is a strong performance suggestive of Otis Rush’s classic I Can’t Quit You Baby.
The only complaint would be that the tracks start to sound the same if one listens to this in one setting. Use of horns and/or keyboards on some songs would have provided more varied listening.
Otis Rush is one of the legends of modern Chicago blues. The following review of a then previously unissued live performance by Rush from 1976 that Delmark issued 30 years later. The review originally appeared (I have made some edits) in the February 2006 issue of Jazz & Blues Report (issue 279) and was part of a longer review of Delmark reissues. This performance is a year or two prior to when I first had the opportunity to see him live at the Village Gate and wills ay that I have never seen anybody put on a more powerful live performance than Otis at his best. Rush who suffered a stroke several years ago will likely never perform again which is the music world’s loss, so recordings such as this which showcase him at the height of his powers should be treasured. This should be relatively easy to find from blues retailers.
News of a previously unissued live recording of Otis Rush from the mid-seventies created much excitement among blues enthusiasts. Rush, a Mississippi native, moved to Chicago and became part of the West Side Chicago blues scene playing some blistering guitar and singing with great fervor. One of many blues artists in the post-B.B. King style, Rush’s first recording for the Cobra label, I Cant Quit You Baby, charted on the R&B charts, and was followed by early recordings including All Your Love (I Miss Loving), My Love Will Never Die, and Three Times a Fool. After the Cobra label folded, he briefly was on Chess and then Don Robey signed him but only issued one single, Homework.
Many of Rush’s recordings have become part of the modern blues repertoire and covered by such blues-rock acts as John Mayall, Led Zeppelin and J. Geils. Rush was one of the artists featured on the legendary Chicago, The Blues Today series and has had a number of albums issued over the past three decades. Delmark issued Cold Day in Hell in the mid-1970s and it had received a fair amount of airplay on rock station WXRT which led to WXRT recording and broadcasting Rush in performance from Chicago’s Wise Fools Pub in January 1976.
Now about three decades later, this performance is available for all blues lovers on a new Delmark CD, All Your Love I Miss Loving. Featuring his superb band of the time with Bob Levis on second guitar, Bob Stroger on bass, Jesse Green on drums and Alberto Gianquinto (ex-James Cotton, ex-Santana) on piano, Rush is in superb form opening with B.B. King’s Please Love Me and redoing his All Your Love and It Takes Time as well other songs from King, T-Bone Walker and Chuck Willis. To hear Rush, one of the most intense guitarists in the blues, laying out his soul singing You’re Breaking My Heart, or rearranging T-Bone Walkers Mean Old World to the melody of I Cant Quit You Baby, one is treated to a performance that will reaffirm for many of us why we love the blues, to paraphrase Steve Tomashefsky’s liner notes.
Few blues artists put as much soul into their performances and reach the level that Rush at his best achieved, and he was at his best that January 1976 night at the Wise Fools Pub.
Bobby Parker has been tearing up Washington D.C. area clubs for the past three decades. This Louisiana native was raised in Los Angeles, but the musical bug hit him, and by the mid-fifties he was playing with Paul Williams' band, backing up numerous R&B legends at the Apollo and on tour. Later he moved to DC, where he was a mainstay in the 14th Street clubs. In more recent years he has played a variety of Washington area venues. Bobby recorded a fine 45 for Vee-Jay which included a superb minor-key blues, Blues Get Off My Shoulder, with the first recording of You Got What It Takes (later a hit for Marv Johnson). A year later, he recorded for the Philadelphia V-Tone label, Watch Your Step, which was based on Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca (with a bit of Ray Charles influence) that was by Spencer Davis. This record led him to be invited to Europe in the late sixties where Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was one of his fans, and tried to sign him up to that label. He did record for Blue Horizon, cutting the great It’s Hard But It’s Fair.
The release of Bent Out of Shape by Parker on Black Top will certainly open a lot of ears that haven’t heard these rare records, or seen Bobby in performance. Bobby Radcliff told this writer that twenty years ago, Parker was as good as the better known Chicago stars like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, and I understand from others, that this recording is not different from what Parker was doing twenty years ago. Having watched Bobby for several years one could sense here was someone special, and this recording captures it. The album is comprised of Bobby’s originals with the exception of the Carey Bell song, Break It Up, that Bobby often opens his live dates with. The remakes of his early recordings are all strong performances. Watch Your Step is a particularly hard-hitting reworking of his V-Tone recording, although without a vocal chorus. The title track is evocative of some of the late Z.Z. Hill’s recordings, but the band here plays with more of an edge, and Parker’s fiery guitar matches his deep soul singing. Bobby’s A-Go-Go actually a mistitled Go-Go Blues),his tribute to the Go-Go music scene, is perhaps the weakest track here, but that aside, the music here is first rate and almost worth the wait for it to come out. This is simply one of the best blues releases on Black Top of the past few years, set apart not only by Bobby’s strong guitar playing, but by his fervent, soulful blues preaching.
This review appeared in the March 1993 (issue 179) of Jazz & Blues Report. “Bent Out of Shape,” is currently out-of-print on CD but one may be able to locate it on ebay or from blues music vendors. Downloads of the album are available on itunes and amazon. I likely received a review copy of this. In my review I did not note that John lennon took Bobby’s riff for a couple of Beatles songs.
There was Ann Arbor Blues Festival. Musically, it was an event the likes of which we will never see again. Here is a story from an Ann Arbor paper recalling this event, the likes of which we will never see today. This is the one festival I wish I had been at. Make sure you read the comments because that is where the line-up is given. And one can think of other great acts that were not at this festival that could have been there as well. The two Ann Arbor Blues Festivals was the high point of blues festivals. A decade later and some of these pioneers were no longer with us. A few that played in Ann Arbor are still alive, but alas we will never see such great blues again.
Albert King was one of the most important and influential blues artists from the sixties until his death, and had a number of great recordings including two highly influential albums. One was the Stax release, Born Under a Bad Sign that Fantasy reissued in 2002. This record is still currently available. Here is a review that appeared in the October-November 2002 issue of Jazz & Blues Report.
Fantasy Records which acquired Stax Records sometime ago has reissued the classic Albert King album, Born Under a Bad Sign. This 1967 album was the first album by King for the Memphis label and matched King with a studio band centered around Booker T & the MGs. This was a highly influential recording which, along with Kings mid-seventies album I’ll Play the Blues For You, included a number of songs that became part of the core blues repertoire and shaped how so many artists played the music. Songs include the title track with its great line, “If it wasn’t for bad luck I would not have any luck at all,” the remake of the delta blues Crosscut Saw, with a hot rhythm section and blasting horns, the jaunty The Hunter, with stinging guitar and the bravado line about pretty women being King’s game, the classic blue ballad As the Years Go Passing By, and Personal Manager, where he tells his lady how he would love to manage her affairs. King delivers the vocals and plays some classic guitar mixing long sustained notes with short staccato runs. His sense of phrasing and use of silence is something setting him apart from his many imitators and those influenced by him. The liner notes focus a bit too much on King’s influence on Stevie Ray Vaughan, but the fact is that even as spectacular a guitarist as Otis Rush, who had already made some classic recordings a decade earlier, incorporated elements of King’s style into his own approach. This is an essential disc although much of it might have been previously issued on CD on Atlantic as King of Blues Guitar.
Tim Niland, who has a fascinating blog of jazz and blues reviews just has put forth a new podcast of jazz and blues with a diverse playlist that includes Otis Rush, Sunnyland Slim, Big Joe Turner, Earl Hooker and James Hunter with Williams Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Shirley Scott and Clifford Thornton amongst others. Click on podcast on his entry on the podcast and you can download it to listen to on your computer. A lot of fresh musical surprises are ins tore for those who give it a listen.
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