Capital Blues Reissues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.