Otis Spann Someday

Otis Spann

Someday

Silk City

An album of previously unissued Otis Spann performances, “Someday” (Silk City), is welcome, but alas the cheap packaging does not match the quality of the music. This is a collection of band and solo performances by the piano blues legend. Unfortunately the sparse packaging lacks any discographical information and the biography of Spann appears like it was copied from a second rate on-line website and incompletely discusses his recording career (the notes totally omit his Bluesway and BluesTime albums as well the terrific “Super Black Blues” recording with T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner). The cover graphics are simple and hardly stand out.

Compensating for the mediocrity of the packaging is the music which is very good. It opens with Spann leading an unidentified band through “Chicken Shack,” followed by terrific solo renditions of “Country Boy,” and “Worried Life Blues,” mis-titled as “Someday.” I find it hard to believe the producer of this disc did not know the correct song title. Also appealing is the solo rendition of Walter Davis’ classic “Come Back, Baby,” and a nice slow blues “Blind Man.”

In addition to “Chicken Shack,” band selections include the congenially rocking “Meet Me In The Bottom,” a solid rendition of “Worried Life Blues,” and a cover of T-Bone walker’s “Cold, Cold Feeling.” These also have nice harmonica and guitar in addition to Spann’s piano. There is also a rollicking instrumental, “Back Bay Shuffle.” “Spann Blues,” with sparse rhythmic backing is a lively boogie based track, while the closing vocal sounds a bit muffled.

There is some very fine music on “Someday,” and many fans of Otis Spann will likely want the music here, which is represented as previously unissued. There is only about 37 minutes of music on this and as stated, the presentation of the material is pretty shoddy. This is not an essential release, but the music here deserved better packaging than it received.

This was a purchase.This review originally appeared in the September-October 2012 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 344). Here is Otis Spann from 1964.

Muddy Waters Blues Band Mud In Your Ear

Muddy Waters Blues Band

Mud In Your Ear

Douglas

Douglas Records has made available on compact disc, “Mud In Your Ear”, 15 selections by the Muddy Waters Blues Band originally issued on two vinyl albums issued back over forty years ago on what was then Alan Douglas’ new label. Muddy Waters is on the session, but limited to backing guitar although taking a few recognizable slide solos. His band at that time included Luther ‘Snake Boy’ Johnson on vocals and guitar; George ‘Mojo’ Buford on harmonica and vocals; Otis Spann on piano; Sammy lawhorn on guitar; Lawrence ‘Sonny’ Wimberly on bass and Francis Clay on drums. 

Johnson and Mojo, along with Spann, would have been featured on the Band’s opening selections before Muddy would be brought up. This recording allows Johnson and Buford to have more of the spotlight then they would live as well as allows us to hear this edition of Waters Band upfront. Johnson takes the bulk of the vocals including a nice rendition of Washboard Sam’s “Diggin’ My Potatoes,” and Muddy’s “Long Distance Call,” with his take on the “another mule kicking in my stall” climax. The title track, heard in a lengthy version and a brief reprise, is an rocking instrumental rendition of “Got My Mojo Working.” There are also solid renditions of “Coming Home Baby” and Jimmy Smith’s “Chicken Shack,” songs that were typical opening numbers. 

Johnson’s “I’m So Glad” is a pretty strong original with Muddy adding some stinging slide. Also nice are his interpretations of a couple lesser known Waters numbers, the brooding “Remember Me,” and Waters’ “Evil,” where he sings that when you see him coming better run and hide. Spann is particularly superb on these and Buford adds some nice harp. Buford comes across well on the first-rate “I’m So Glad,” and “Watch Dog.” The latter number is a slow blues with a clever lyric about needing a watch dog to look after things when he goes away on business. 

This was a tight band and these are solid performances. Johnson did record overseas after leaving Muddy Waters but died much too young while Buford made several albums until his passing a few years back. This is a good document of the Muddy Waters band of the time before Spann left, and while this is not an essential reissue, it is a welcome one.

This was a purchase. This review originally appeared in the September-October 2012 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 344). Here is a performance from Luther ‘Snake Boy’ Johnson.

Windy City Blues

Various Artists
Windy City Blues 
Stax

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

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

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

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

Junior Wells Southside Blues Jam

Junior Wells
Southside Blues Jam
Delmark

I purchased the vinyl version of Junior Wells' Delmark album “Southside Blues Jam” upon its original release in 1970. The release was an effort to capture what a listener might hear at the baled Chicago blues club, Theresa’s, on a Monday night when Junior Wells and others including Buddy Guy would be featured. Wells and Guy were joined by Louis Myers on guitar, Ernest Johnson on bass, Fred Below on drums and Otis Spann on piano for what was his last studio appearance on record. Delmark has reissued an expanded “Southside Blues Jam” with the original eight selections supplemented by 7 bonus tracks, one of which is an alternate take, another is a warm-up fragment and another is some studio patter.

It was a recording that was quite easy to enjoy. There was a loose spontaneous feel to the performances that Junior and company put their stamp on starting with a easy driving rendition of “Stop Breaking Down” that Junior learned from the first Sonny Boy Williamson’s recording (adapted from Robert Johnson) to a cover of Guitar Slim’s “Trouble Don’t Last” where Buddy takes the lead vocal with Junior adding a rap to the performance. Topicality was heard in the issued take of “I Could Have Had Religion” where Junior dwells on Muddy Waters being out of action at the time and “Blues For Mayor Daley.” There are covers of songs from Muddy as well as a nice rendition of the second Sonny Boy Williamson’s “In My Younger Days.” Wells mixes his blues harp (very much in the spirit of the second Sonny Boy) with his mix of vocals and James Brown funk while Guy and Spann are in strong form.

The unissued performances have their appeal, although listening to them one can understand why the selections on the original CD were chosen. There is a decent cover of Little Walter’s “It’s Too Late Brother,” with Well’s exhorting Spann to rumble on the bass keys as he talks about the blues being funky. “Love My Baby,” a reworking of Arthur Crud-up’s “So Glad Your Mine,” and set to the “Hootchie Kootchie Man” groove with blistering string bending from Guy and Spann’s rumbling piano behind Wells’ vocal. The alternate of “I Could Have Had Religion” is a more traditional performance about a mistreating woman without the reference to Muddy Waters’ health. It has solid Louis Myers’ guitar, while “Rock Me” is done as a dedication to Muddy Waters. The closing “Got to Play the Blues” is an amusing original set to the groove of B.B. King’s (then contemporary recording), “Why I Sing the Blues” with Wells singing about singing the blues and throwing in impersonations of other singers.

This expanded “Southside Blues Jam” is handsomely packaged (credit Kate Moss) with a booklet that contains Bob Koester’s recollections of the session and Michael Cuscuna’s Rolling Stone review of the original LP release and the sound is quite good. This reissue, with its additional tracks, will be welcome to a wide range of blues lovers including those having the original LP.

I received my review copy from Delmark. This review originally appeared in the January-February 2015 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 358). Here is Junior with Buddy Guy doing "Little By Little" on a PBS show in 1971.

Otis Spann Sweet Giant of the Blues

Ace Records in the UK recently reissued a number of recordings that came out on Bob Thiele's Flying Dutchman and related labels. Included in these are albums that came out on the BluesTime subsidiary that included albums by T-Bone Walker, Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson and Big Joe Turner, along with otis Spann. Thiele had recorded Spann when he was at ABC-Paramount, producing for both Impulse and Bluesway. Both of the Bluesway albums had Spann backed by the Muddy Waters band. For BluesTime, Spann recorded "Sweet Giant of the Blues," which had Spann backed by Max Bennett on bass, Tom Scott on sax, Paul Humphrey on drums and Louie Shelton on guitar.

With this backing group, Thiele took Spann outside the straight Chicago blues setting of his previous recordings and tried to mix in some Latin and funk grooves of the time in an attempt perhaps to reach different audiences. Spann is in fine form, both on piano and singing. Bennett and Humphrey are solid  backing him. Scott plays well, although at times his playing comes across as  busy. Shelton is a good guitarist and his crisp playing on "Sellin' My Thing," a song in the hokum tradition, stands out but at other places his use of fuzz-tone, (perhaps a production decision ) is misplaced and is a distraction on otherwise fine performances like "Moon Blues." This latter title refers to the moon landing but Spann sings about having all that bread to send folks into space, but the cupboard is bare for us and baby we ain't going anyplace. Scott has a terrific flute solo on this with Spann adding splendid accompaniment under it.

"I Wonder Why" and the instrumental "Bird In a Cage" are other songs on which one wishes Shelton had put the fuzzbox away. Spann is terrific, and if not totally enamored with Scott's sax on the former number, I wish Shelton was absent on both. Thankfully he plays without effects on the slow blues "Hey Baby," and on Spann's gospel number "Make a Way," that closes this album. It is unfortunate that these flaws detract from an otherwise fine recording. Spann would have one other recording on BluesTime, the super-session, "Super Black Blues" with T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner and a terrific band that included George 'Harmonica Smith that Ace has also reissued and which I unequivocally recommend.

I purchased this.

Previously Unissued Otis Spann Someday - Great Music & Poor Packaging

An album of previously unissued Otis Spann performances, Someday (Silk City), is welcome, but alas the cheap packaging does not match the quality of the music. This is a collection of band and solo performances by the piano blues legend. Unfortunately the sparse packaging lacks any discographical information and the biography of Spann appears like it was copied from a second rate on-line website and incompletely discusses his recording career (the notes totally omit his Bluesway and BluesTime albums as well the terrific Super Black Blues recording with T-Bone Walker and Big Joe Turner). The cover graphics are simple and hardly stand out.

Compensating for the mediocrity of the packaging is the music which is very good. It opens with Spann leading an unidentified band through Chicken Shack, followed by terrific solo renditions of Country Boy, and Worried Life Blues, mis-titled as Someday. I find it hard to believe the producer of this disc did not know the correct song title. Also appealing is the solo rendition of Walter Davis’ classic Come Back, Baby, and a nice slow blues Blind Man.

In addition to Chicken Shack, band selections include the congenially rocking Meet Me In The Bottom; a solid rendition of Worried Life Blues; and a cover of T-Bone Walker’s Cold, Cold Feeling. These also have nice harmonica and guitar in addition to Spann’s piano. There is also a rollicking instrumental, Back Bay Shuffle. Spann Blues, with sparse rhythmic backing is a lively boogie based track, while the closing Blues Don’t Love Nobody, is a medium tempo-ed blues with the recording makes Spann’s vocal sound a bit muffled.

There is some very fine music on Someday, and many fans of Otis Spann will likely want the music here, which is represented as previously unissued. There is only about 37 minutes of music on this and as stated, the presentation of the material is pretty shoddy. This is not an essential release, but the music here deserved better packaging than it received.

I purchased this CD.

Otis Spann Lived The Bluesman's Life

Otis Spann is among my favorites as a blues performer, not simply as a blues pianist. I had the pleasure of doing this review which appeared in the October 1997 (Issue 225) Jazz & Blues Report. I likely received the review copy from the record label or a publicist. It is most available used or as mp3 downloads.  Otis Spann’s star shined all too briefly in the blues world and the release of previously unissued recordings by one of the greatest of all blues pianists (with Muddy Waters and band), Live the Life (Testament/Hightone) is something for longtime blues enthusiasts to take notice of. This collection of 16 mostly live performances includes five with Muddy Waters on acoustic guitar (and possibly Willie Dixon on bass) which offer a wonderful rendition of his Tribute to Martin Luther King as well as a stunning rendition of Big Maceo’s Worried Life Blues. These are followed by seven concert performances by Muddy Waters. After Spann opens up with Kansas City and a very impassioned vocal on Tin Pan Alley, he steps back to an accompanist role behind Waters’ four vocals, including a fine 5 Long Years, Willie Dixon’s Live the Life I Love, and Waters’ own Can’t Lose What You Never Had. One would not characterize any of these twelve recordings as high fidelity, but all the vocals are quite audible, and Spann’s piano accompaniments and solos are quite prominent in the mix. These performances with the Waters band are particularly interesting in that Muddy’s vocals are not as mannered as some of his later vocals, and Spann’s playing is marvelous. In his brief liner notes, Dick Shurman notes one aspect of Spann’s brilliance may be an outgrowth of his low-key approach. In this day of over amplified in-your-face guitarists, the subtlety and pacing of Spann’s piano stands out even more so. Furthermore, his own smokey vocals are perhaps more ingratiating today when few can sing this material with Spann’s natural authority. With the uneven quality of the sound, one cannot recommend this without reservations for the casual listener, although it is a very important addition to his discography. Here is Spann performing with the Muddy Waters Band

George 'Harmonica' Smith's Tribute To Little Walter Is Blues With a Feeling

An import reissue of the late George ‘Harmonica’ Smith’s first album, Blues With A Feeling - A Tribute To Little Walter (BGO) is welcome both for lovers of blues harmonica and the late blues giant. Smith was at the time in one of his stints with the Muddy Waters Band who back him as “The Chicago Blues Band” on a collection of performances that mostly derived from the recordings of the great little Walter Jacobs. The Muddy Waters Band of this time included Otis Spann on piano, Muddy Waters and Luther Johnson on guitar, Little Sonny Wimberly on bass and S.P. Leary on drums. On most of this recording they were also joined by Marshall Hooks, a guitarist who gigged with Smith and recorded with him on Smith’s singles for various Los Angeles based labels.

Of the original eleven selections, only West Helena Woman was not associated with Little Walter, who had died months prior to this recording. It had been a song Smith had recorded several times prior, but like the other performances here was a stunning sample of the classic Chicago blues sound. From the opening moments of Mellow Down Easy, this is classic Chicago blues as represented by the Waters Band. Spann is brilliant in support (listen to his accompaniment on Can’t Hold Out Much Longer while Smith sings and plays in a robust manner. His full-bodied tone on this perhaps is not as clean as Walter was on his best recordings, but had a sharpness to it. Another outstanding selection is the reworking of Last Night, which is a stunning slow blues performance that stands up well to Walter’s original.

Not included on the original vinyl album release (which I purchased when it was originally issued) is a terrific rendition of Goin’ Down Slow, with some stinging guitar fills and a brief break by Muddy Waters. Another bonus selection is Little Walter’s Just a Feelin’. The album closes with an excellent vocal by Lucille Spann, Love With a Feelin’. Smith sits out on this selection which like the music on the Smith recording has some of the feel of Otis Spann’s Bluesway album The Bottom of the Blues that the Muddy Waters Band played on and which Lucille sang on some selections.

The original Pete Welding album notes are included along with new notes by Tony Russell which includes an interview from Steve LaVere who produced the LP with Welding about how the session came about. Russell adds perspective on how this release was received at the time and Smith’s subsequent recording career. Sound is quite good and this reissue of some classic Chicago blues is overdue and quite welcome.

I purchased this CD. Here is a little video of George 'Harmonica' Smith performing.

Chris Barber's Blues Legacy Lost and Found

Trombonist Chris Barber has been a mainstay of the British trad jazz scene for over five decades. With Lonnie Donegan he helped lunch the skittle music scene with ‘Rock Island Line,’ while his own band backed numerous legends including some from the world of blues and gospel. Not long ago he came across some old 1/4 inch magnetic tapes of some of the legendary blues artists he brought over to England in the 50 and 60s. The result are three volumes, Chris Barber Presents The Blues Legacy: Lost and Found Series (MVD Audio).

Volume 1 opens with Barber introducing Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the legendary gospel singer and guitarist. When she arrived in England with her arrangements from her days with Lucky Millender’s Big Band, Barber and his combo was flustered, but were able to back her on a variety of her classic sacred repertoire including Every Time I Feel the Spirit, Didn’t It Rain, Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air, and Old Time Religion, with the backing provided by barber and his band matching the exuberance of her performance if the overall sound of the performances occasionally sounds messy and chaotic. This Train, is performed solo with some fine guitar featured and her effectively dramatic vocal. Vocalist Ottilie Patterson joins her for one of two renditions of Old Time Religion, and When the Saints Go Marching In. The rest of this volume is devoted to performances by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee who mostly perform without a band and are in typical form for the two opening with Midnight Special, Climbin’ on Top of the Hill (a reworking of Sitting on Top of the World), the remarkable harmonica feature Fox Chase, How Long How Long Blues, another harp solo Callin’ Mama Blues, and Betty and Dupree. While the repertoire will be familiar, these concert performances are strong ones. Also included is an joyous duo version of When the Saints Go Marching In, followed by Little Light of Mine, on which Barber and band and accompaniment although playing somewhat more restrained here. Chris Barber and Band close with another gospel number with Ottilie Patterson taking the front stage.

Volume 2 opens with Chris Barber’s contemporary recollections of the 1958 recordings by Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry that open this volume. There is a nice duo of Poor Man Blues, while Ottilie Patterson takes lead on the vocal backed by Barber and the duo on When Things Go Wrong, and How Long Blues. Barber provides another spoken introduction to the performances by Muddy Waters with Otis Spann presented here, which he noted was an amazing experience. Muddy and Spann were terrific and Barber’s band does a credible job in support although the drummer on several tracks is a bit stiff and tad heavy handed. Repertoire played included Hootchie Kootchie Man, Blow Wind Blow, Baby Please Don’t Go, Long Distance Call, I Can’t Be Satisfied,Blues Before Sunrise (an interesting to hear Muddy refer to this as originally made by a friend of his before he died), and Walking Through the Park. Muddy goes solo on ‘Rolling Stone,’ and revisits ‘Feel Like Going Home.’ Spann is exceptional while Barber and the band try to be unobtrusive in supporting Muddy, who certainly sounds fine here. Perhaps not indispensable, these tracks are a nice addition to Muddy’s discography in any event Next up are fine three tracks by Champion Jack Dupree including a nice Christmas blues, a humorous lament about his mother-in-law, and his own very distinctive rendition of Tampa Red’s When Things Go Wrong. The disc closes with a 1962 performance by the great Louis Jordan with whom Barber’s traditional jazz band provides nice support for a nice duet between the saxophonist-vocalist Jordan and Ottilie Patterson on T’aint Nobody’s Business. There is a nice mix of performers and some genuinely good performances on this volume.

Sonny Boy Williamson opens the final volume, Volume 3, with some performances from 1964. Barber mentions the great shows presented by Lippman and Rau which led to his performance that opens with United Blues/ Help Me as the band plays the melody before Williamson enters with his harp and launches into the song. Then Barber recalls some of the performances of him including some jazz songs like ‘C-Jam Blues,’ as well as staples of his repertoire as So Sad to Be Lonesome, his reworking of Robert Lockwood’s Take a Little Walk With Me, Bye Bye Bird, Your Funeral, My Trial, and Pontiac Blues. Like Brownie and Sonny, he closes his set with some gospel songs, Saints, and This Little Light of Mine, with Ottilie Patterson sharing the vocal.’ The music does get a bit chaotic but still remains fun with the joyful sound and Sonny Boy’s harp blends well with the trad jazz backing. Jimmy Witherspoon came over in 1964 and played at a festival Barber helped organize, and Spoon sounds terrific on his first trio of tunes, although the backing remains a bit rough on Times Getting Tougher Than Tough, and Roll ‘Em Pete. The backing behind Howlin’ Wolf with Hubert Sumlin seems a bit tighter as Wolf howls through Howlin’ For My Darling, Dust My Broom, and May I have a Talk With You. Sumlin sounds really good if a bit underamplified while Wolf’s vocals are ferocious, and the backing band almost sounds like a urban blues band as opposed to a Dixieland group. Jimmy Witherspoon has five more vocals to close this set, and the backing is a bit more together here as he reprised Everyday I Have the Blues, and When I’ve Been Drinkin’.

There are some very good performances on all three volumes although I give the nod to those on the latter two volumes. One would be hard-pressed to call any of these essential but fans of Muddy, Sonny Boy, Wolf and Spoon will especially find performances that may merit their consideration.

I recently received a double CD in commemoration of Chris Barber’s 80th Birthday which I hope to write-up shortly. I noticed that I had never posted this review of three blues-related CDs by this important English musician and music evangelist. This review originally appeared in the July 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 306). I likely received my review copy from a publicist.

Super Black Blues Was True Super Session

As the review in Blues Unlimited noted about the original vinyl release of SuperBlack Blues, the recording of Otis Spann, Big Joe Turner and T-Bone Walker was a true super session that lived up to this label. Recorded in October 1969 and released on (Bob Thiele’s) BluesTime label in 1969-1970, it has finally appeared on compact disc on BMG France.


There are three long tracks on which Turner, Walker and Spann (on two tracks) each take some of the vocal spotlight with a little bit of kidding between Turner and Walker, and one ballad, Here I am Broken Hearted, which is sung by Turner. In between the vocals, Walker, Spann, tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts and George "Harmonica" Smith take solos, all of which are nicely delivered and lack the self-indulgent mediocrity found on many more highly publicized supersessions.


Despite the informal feel of these performances, this album is a gem with a wonderful rhythm section of guitarist Arthur Wright, bassist Ron Brown and drummer Paul Humphrey that push the groove while still swinging. Its hard to believe that Spann was dead half a year after this was recorded as his playing and vocals here sound so vital while everybody else is also at the top of the game. As Joe Turner sings on the aptly titled Blues Jam, it was a lovely party and everybody had a ball and that good time comes across with great vitality nearly three and a half decades later.

This review appeared in the September 2003 DC Blues Calendar, then the DC Blues Society’s newsletter. There was a second volume with Leon Thomas and Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson and Leon Thomas replacing Spann and Smith, which I have not listened to, but it would be a completely different feel than the mix of down home blues and uptown blues on the earlier album. Unfortunately this may be hard to find as a CD or vinyl album, but it is worth the search, and hopefully it will get reissued again. Jams this good are rare.

Pinetop Perkins Led A Rich Life & Enriched Us With His Music

Joe Willie ‘Pinetop’ Perkins led a full and rewarding life. The iconic blues pianist passed away on March 21 at the age of 97. An important part of the post-war Delta blues scene of the forties through the sixties, he may have been best known as the pianist who succeeded Otis Spann in Muddy Waters Band. Later a member of the Legendary Blues Band, Pinetop, went on as a solo artist for the last 30 odd years of his life, receiving numerous awards and becoming one of the most beloved performers in the blues, always with a twinkle in his eye. With his passing one of the last links to the classic period of the Delta Blues has passed.

Pinetop started as a guitarist but after his arm was cut by a knife in a barroom fight, he took to the piano and became one of the top players in the post-war Delta scene. The name Pinetop derived from the fact that the Clarence ‘Pinetop’ Smith tune, “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie,” became a signature number for Perkins. He was a King Biscuit Boy, one of the members of Sonny Boy Williamson’s Band that played daily on KFKA from Helena, Arkansas and toured Mississippi, Tennessee and Arkansas. He taught a young Ike Turner how to play piano and later did sessions for Sam Phillips backing up Earl Hooker, Walter Horton and others as well as made his first recordings under his name (although these would not be issued until a  couple decades later).

He was associated with guitarist Earl Hooker for a substantial time, and Bobby Bland on a Blues Cruise, called out to Pinetop, after seeing him on his scooter in front of the stage, if he remembered playing east St. Louis with bobby and Earl Hooker. PInetop’s music became known to blues fans when he was on Earl Hooker’s Arhoolie album, “Two Bugs and a Roach.” It was within a couple years after that that Pinetop joined Muddy Waters Band with whom he stayed until not that long before Muddy’s death. Lovie Lee was Muddy’s pianist when Muddy passed away.  During this period he did a fair amount of recording sessions with Muddy and others. For example he appeared on Carey Bell’s excellent “Last Night” album on ABC-Bluesway. 

Over the next three decades Pinetop started releasing albums under his own name. He was an affable singer, but his piano playing was consistently strong. He perhaps had a limited repertoire as reflected by his recording some songs repeatedly, but he had a delightful personality. He mentored countless other musicians (not simply pianists) and charmed fans worldwide with his music. 

Johnny Young's Big Fat Chicago Mandolin Blues

There have been few blues mandolin players recorded. One of them was Johnny Young, a traditionally rooted Chicago based bluesman who passed away over thirty-five years. Rich DelGrosso celebrated the music of Young and other blues mandolin players on “Mandolin Man” from the recent album he did with John Del Toro Richardson, “Time Slips By”.

Young was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, learned from an uncle who was part of a string band in Rolling Fork, and later was associated with the Mississippi Sheiks as well as with blues legends Houston Stackhouse and Robert Nighthawk. He moved permanently to Chicago in 1940 and played in clubs with John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson as well as engaged in a number of day jobs. In 1947 he was playing on the Maxwell Street Market and with a cousin, Johnny Williams recorded Money Taking Woman, for the Ora Nelle label on which he played mandolin and sang. He accompanied his cousin on the flip side on what was one of the earliest post-war Chicago blues recordings.

He made a few more 78s and in the fifties backed Snooky Pryor on a Vee-Jay recording session. Blues and jazz writer Pete Welding extensively recorded Young on his Testament label with selections appearing on anthologies and eventually a full album of recordings with sidemen including harmonica players Big Walter and Little Walter; guitarists John Lee Granderson and Robert Nighthawk, and pianists Jimmy Walker and Otis Spann. Approximately half of these recordings featured him on mandolin. Young was recorded as part of Vanguard’s Chicago the Blues Today! series although only one of the tracks had him on mandolin. Two albums were recorded on Arhoolie, one of which included members of Muddy Waters band and some selections included his mandolin playing.

In June 1969, Young recorded with pianist Otis Spann, and guitarist/bass guitarist Sammy Lawhorn, harmonica player Paul Oscher and drummer S.P. Leary, who all were then members of Muddy Waters Band for an album that was issued in England on the Blue Horizon label as Fat Mandolin. Mike Vernon, founder of Blue Horizon, estimated the initial release only sold in the hundreds, which says more about marketing and popular tastes than the quality of the music. Sony/Blue Horizon issued a few years back Johnny Young’s The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions with some alternate takes, false starts and unissued songs. As Vernon observes in his liner notes, this is the first digital reissue of this material.

The album provides a healthy dose of Young’s mandolin starting with the opening Moaning and Groaning. where the clipped mandolin sound is complemented by Spann’s typically strong piano accompaniment as well as solos to take it out. Taken a lively, but unhurried tempo, Young’s robust vocal here is straightforward and heartfelt. There is nothing innovative here; simple strong Chicago blues sung and played with authority few today can deliver. One can hear the influence of the pioneering Leroy Carr in such Young originals as Heard My Doorbell Ring, as well as the remake of Carr’s Prison Bound, a staple of the Chicago blues scene of the time. On My Trainfare Out of Town, where Young plays guitar, Oscher evokes Walter Horton with his harmonica, while Spann pounds out another solo. 

Lula Mae is a marvelous duet of Young on mandolin backed by Lawhorn on bass guitar, while John Lee Williamson’s Shotgun Blues is titled here as Jackson Bound, and we are provided the incomplete first take as the master take as he sings the terrific line Lake Michigan Ain’t No River, Chicago Ain’t No Hilly Town. Walking Slow opens with some classic slow blues piano from Spann before Young starts his vocal and Vernon suggests Lawhorn is the guitarist here. Mandolin returns for the two, somewhat different takes of Deal the Cards, with a philosophical delivery of the lyric about always being dealt the losing hand. Lend Me You Love has some incomplete takes before a memorable rendition of a Memphis Slim inspired song that fans of the late Junior Wells should recognize. Other highlights include the wonderful rendition of Prison Bound, with just Young on mandolin and Lawhorn on bass guitar and Victoria Spivey’s Mean Old Black Snake. Also included are previously unissued recordings including a lively version of the old Memphis Jug Band’s Stealin’ that he had recorded at least twice before.

It is an important and valuable reissue that should be available from better retailers. I purchased this.

A personal list of Ten Great Blues Pianists

I will not claim this is an exhaustive list but any collection of blues piano (and blues) should have something by all these acts.

Cow Cow Davenport - One could have selected his contemporaries like that tragic Pinetop Smith or the pioneering brothers of Sippie Wallace, George Washington Thomas and Hersal Thomas, but Charles Davenport came out of vaudeville (like Smith) and fortunately recorded extensively including his signature piece, “Cow Cow Blues” as well as such other gems as “Texas Shout” and “Atlanta Rag.” Document issued his complete recordings which included some strong accompaniments.

Eurreal ‘Little Brother’ Montgomery’s career spanned several decades and included his definitive reading of the “Forty Four Blues Theme, “Vicksburg Blues” along with “No Special Rider Blues, that in 1930 started a lengthy recording career that included him playing in territory bands and continuing his distinctive style that included elements of ragtime and stride. Other early classics he recorded include the virtuoso “Farish Street Jive.”

Roosevelt Sykes gets my nod as the greatest of all blues pianists. Lee Green taught Sykes a lot and he began a lengthy recording career that continued until his passing while holding down a regular gig in New Orleans. With his boisterous vocal style one can imagine how he jumped the crowds at the barrelhouses, juke joints and other clubs. He is associated with “Honey Dripper Blues,” “Mistake in Life,” Driving Wheel,” “Sunny Road,” and his “Sweet Old Chicago,” derived as much from “Original Kokomo Blues” as “Sweet Home Chicago,” inspired Junior Parker and Magic Sam to revive “Sweet Home Chicago.” Of course he did his own definitive rendition of “Forty Four Blues.” He was equally superb solo and in small jump blues combos. One of my favorite Delmark albums is his “Feel Like Blowing My Horn,” with his friend Robert Lockwood Junior and others.

Charlie Spand. I select him in lieu of Leroy Carr because Spand is less well known but such a marvelous pianist. Francis Smith in his definitive series on Piano Blues on Magpie devoted an entire volume to Spand whose “Soon This Morning,” is every bit a blues standard (Junior Wells and Sonny Boy do it as “Early in the Morning”). Other classics include some stomping piano with Blind Blake on guitar for “Hastings St,” while “Mississippi Blues" displays his fluent style.

Pete Johnson. I limit myself to only one of the Boogie Woogie Trio. I won’t argue that Johnson is better than Meade Lux Lewis or Albert Ammons. Perhaps it is his association with Joe Turner (who did record with the other two). Johnson can be heard on many of Turner’s tracks including his early “Roll ‘Em Pete,” and the Atlantic “Boss of the Blues” album.

Jimmy Yancey - In a review of the superb Mosaic Select box set, “Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano,” that appeared in the March 2008 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 301) I wrote the following about him, "A former baseball player in the Negro Leagues, he was a groundskeeper at Comiskey Park as well as a pianist of great emotional depth and rhythmic vitality. His music eschewed flash for a lyrical, almost poetic quality with what Morganstern notes idiosyncratic harmonies although every of his numbers ends in the key of E. His boogies are not played at quite a breakneck as Ammons, Johnson or Lewis were capable of but his treble lines are perhaps more interesting and while his bass work is varied and propulsive if not as powerful as the others as can be heard on ‘Yancey’s Stomp.’ Slow blues like ‘Five O'clock Blues’ were his forte as his subtle touch and treble embellishments lend a melancholy flavor to his performances. His poetic piano perhaps is stronger than his unmannered vocals, but his earnest delivery compensates for any vocal limitations, and one will not find any better examples of blues piano than his work here.” I see no reason to change anything I wrote there. I do note that his slow blues “Yancey Shuffle,” was adopted by countless other pianists including Lloyd Glenn who retitled it “Old Time Shuffle.”

Amos Milburn. If one wants a bridge from the great boogie woogie pianists like Pete Johnson to the rock and roll giants like Archibald, Fats Domino one could do no better than this Texas born blues and boogie master who dominated the charts during the late forties and early fifties. The original “Chicken Shack Boogie,” a take on “Down a Road a Piece,” “Walking Blues,” and such drinking blues as “Bad Bad Whiskey,” “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer,” and “Let Me Go Home Whiskey.” He inspired Floyd Dixon and there are his contemporaries like Ivory Joe Hunter, Charles Brown, and Little Willie Littlefield (still with us) that made many wonderful recordings, but Milburn’s piano had more impact at the time.

Whistling Alex Moore. Texas spawned too many great pianists from Texas Bill Day, Joe Pullum, Rob Cooper, Andy Boy and others so picking Moore because of his stately playing as well as his folk poetry. He did benefit from the blues revival in the sixties which allowed him to show he was still a marvelous blues pianist, lyricist and singer.

Camille Howard. There are other great piano playing blues women such as Georgia While, Julia Lee, Devonia Williams, but Howard’s piano with Roy Milton was as seminal as Mary Lou Williams with Andy Kirk’s Clouds of Joy a decade earlier. She was also a really solid singer and there was a fine reissue featuring her as a leader that was issued as part of the Specialty reissues that is worth seeking out.

Otis Spann. Its hard to leave out Memphis Slim, Little Johnny Jones, Sunnyland Slim, Black Bob, Henry Gray, and especially Big Maceo when one thinks of other great Chicago blues pianists, but Spann had something magical about his playing when heard at his best. It is unfortunate that production spoiled some of his recordings as a leader with a band (the Bluesway albums were marred by how the harmonica was recorded) but his solo and duo recordings for Candid and Storyville are classic as was his backing behind Buddy Guy on Guy's classic album,“A Man & the Blues.”

Paul Oscher's Strong Blues Roots

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Originally uploaded by NoVARon

Paul Oscher (seen at this past 2009 Pocono Blues Festival) returned to the Pocono Blues Festival as part of the Friday Night Festival opener. The following is a review of his Electro-Fi CD,Alone With the Blues, that appeared in the July-August 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (www.jazz-blues.com). The review (written a couple years of his Pocono Blues Fest appearance) captures a bit of the avriety that Oscher brings to a live performance as he recalls some stories from his time in Muddy's Band as well as recollections of some folks he admires. His story about playing 3 card Monty with Junior Wells is priceless. He is someone that you really should endeavor to try to catch live. And his CDs are outstanding. This CD should still be readily available.

This writer remembers catching Paul Oscher’s impressive performance at the Pocono Blues Festival in 2002. Oscher, was the harmonica player in the Muddy Waters Band between 1967 and 1971 and the first white to be a regular member of the blues legends band. He lived in Muddy’s house and shared the basement with the great Otis Spann, from whom he learned blues piano just like Muddy was his model for his slide guitar playing. Not nearly as known as other Muddy Waters’ alumni, it is a reflection of the fact that fame is often elusive. With the release of his new Electro-Fi album, Alone With the Blues, one can hope that Oscher’s time has finally arrived. This is a varied album with a number of solo performances mixed in with some small group sides. The mood ranges from his chromatic explorations on Richard Carpenter’s Walkin’ (yes the tune known from Miles Davis’ recording), a telling reworking of Jimmy Rogers’ That’s Alright, the zydeco groove of My Sweet Suzanne with his chromatic harp replacing the accordion, his recasting of the Standing at the Crossroads theme into how John Lee Hooker might have reworked the song back in 1950, Blues and Trouble, a slow Muddy Waters-styled blues with some strong slide playing, Chuck Willis’ You’re Still My Baby (on which he plays guitar and rather full-bodied rack harp), and the title track, an instrumental tour de force based on the instrumental After Hours, on which Oscher plays assorted harmonicas and the melodica. David Maxwell and ex-Muddy sidemen, Calvin Jones and Willie Smith, back his rendition of Robert Nighthawk’s Anna Lee, while he plays the accordion on Mississippi John Hurt’s Louis Collins. The versatility does not obscure the fact that Paul Oscher’s playing is of the highest level and his vocals ring true on this superb disc that is obviously highly recommended.

Storyville's Nicely Varied "The Blues Box"

“The Blues Box” is a 7CD compilation of a variety of mostly downhome blues that has appeared on the Scandinavian Storyville label over the decades. The recordings were made by touring blues artists and mostly date from the sixties and early seventies and include some of the most important artists alive at the time. The overwhelming majority of these recordings are solo or duo, or in a few cases there are small groups. the overall flavor is intimate recordings although using the word intimate with a rambunctious barrelhouse performer like the great pianist Speckled Red seems like an oxymoron.

One complaint in a written review I have seen is that they should have included the complete Storyville Recordings of the artists presented (they may have done so with respect to Lonnie Johnson). I do not disagree with that assessment, but can also appreciate the sense of bringing together a wide group of performers as they have done here. I should point out that some of the recordings by Lonnie Johnson, Otis Spann, Roosevelt Sykes, Sippie Wallace and Sleepy John Estes have been issued in the United States after being licensed from Storyville. I am not sure what may be currently readily available stateside although I believe Roosevelt Sykes and John Estes sides may be on CD reissues on Delmark.

Here is a brief summary of what you get here. CD One provides 13 sides by Lonnie Johnson, accompanied by Otis Spann on all but one with a remake of “Tomorrow Night,” and a mix of blues and ballads. there are also 8 excellent performances by Spann including a terrific “Trouble in Mind,” where Johnson backs him as well as a nice rendition of Johnson’s “Jelly Roll Baker. CD Two features 13 terrific piano blues by Speckled Red with his barrelhouse renditions of “The Dirty Dozen,” and “St. Louis Stomp,” along with Sunnyland Slim’s eight strong tracks including moving renditions of his Aristocrat single “Johnson Machine Gun,” and Leroy Carr’s “Prison Bound Blues.” Both pianists often provide brief spoken introductions that enliven the superb performances. CD Three brings together recordings by two of the greatest blues pianists Roosevelt Sykes (9 selections including a remake of “44 Blues”), and 5 tracks by Little Brother Montgomery and the two of them provide accompaniments to 8 of the nine excellent Sippie Wallace vocals. Sippie accompanies herself on “Up the Country Blues.”

CD Four shifts the focus to blues guitarists with 10 energetic and exuberant Delta blues by Big Joe Williams whose “El Paso Blues,” is clearly inspired from “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Kokomo Blues.” Sleepy John Estes and his long-time associate Hammie Nixon are heard on 7 songs with Estes crying vocals and Nixon’s sympathetic harmonica with “Diving Duck Blues,” being a highlight. the final 7 selections are by Robert Pete Williams in his mesmerizing style. CD Five has the earliest selections here, live 1956performances from Copenhagen’s legendary Club Montmartre by Big Bill Broonzy as well as 6 1964 recordings by John Henry Barbee, a solid if unspectacular bluesman influenced by Broonzy among others turning in a rendition of “Dust My Broom.”

More piano is featured on CD 6 which opens up with 11 selections by Memphis Slim including a nice “Fattening frogs For Snakes.” Champion Jack Dupree performs seven selections, some solo and some with a small group including Leroy Carr’s “Blues Before Sunrise.” Eddie Boyd and Jay McShann each have three selections. Boyd reprises “Five Long Years,” while McShann performs “Kansas City Blues,” which is credited here to Little Willie Littlefield and not Lieber & Stoller. Littlefield has long claimed to have written the song (originally issued as “K.C. Lovin’” on Federal) and sold it to the more famous duo. CD Seven shifts the focus to harmonica (well not entirely) and 9 recordings by the second Sonny Boy Williamson, some with Matt Murphy’s guitar and Memphis Slim’s piano of which the quasi-autobiographical “The Story of Sonny boy Williamson perhaps demonstrates his surreal blues poetic lyricism. The remaining 10 selections are by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and are strong performances by the pair.

There is also a bonus DVD which open with some excellent vintage and intimate performances by Champion Jack Dupree and Sonny Boy Williamson. Then there are performances by Robert Lockwood, Jr., James Booker, Henry Gray, Boogie Bill Webb & Harmonica Slim, and Cousin Joe that are excerpted from a series of videos recorded at the Maple Leaf in New Orleans that I believe were filmed around the time of the ill-fated New Orleans World Fair.

There is a generous amount of music in the box with the bonus DVD. The performances are never less than good and many are exceptional and provide a wide variety of musical performances and styles.