One of my friends, who may be on the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame Committee, inquired about my suggestions of folks to be considered for the Hall. I provided him with a number of names. The names I submitted included Roy and Grady Gaines (who are both still with us), the Boogie Woogie Trio of Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis and their mentor Jimmy Yancey, the great Esther Phillips and Duke Robillard. I also suggested as Classics of Blues Recordings the compilations that accompanied Sam Charters "The Country Blues," Paul Oliver's "Blues Fell This Morning and the Origin Jazz Library "Really the Country Blues," and a number of the early Yazoo vinyl albums.
Albert Ammons & Pete Johnson
The artists selected for induction were announced Sunday by the Foundation and include: Mavis Staples, Magic Slim, Johnny Copeland, Henry Gray, Latimore and Willie Johnson. For Classics of Blues Recordings albums they choose John Lee Hooker, The Real Folk Blues (Chess). I do find these artists deserving although I do not believe any of these artists are more deserving than the ones I had suggested.
I am pleased for the Texas Twister, Johnny Copeland, a singular performer that was always adding new elements to his music. Magic Slim was one of the biggest and most reliable acts on the blues circuit of the past forty odd years. I was surprised of the selection of Latimore, although pleased that someone in the soul-blues world was honored. Henry Gray has been a solid pianist and vocalist in the over forty years since he moved back to Louisiana, not to mention his tenure with Howling Wolf. Willie Johnson was a major player on Wolf's early recordings (but how can you pick him and also not pick Roy Gaines, who did session work for Duke (with Bobby Bland I believe); Chuck Willis (he was also Willis' band leader); Jimmy Rushing and many more, as well as numerous outstanding recordings on his own, several of which were award-winning ones).
Johnny Copeland doing "Devil's Hand" in 1984
To my mind, the only questionable selection of a performer is that of Mavis Staples, whose iconic status as a performer is well acknowledged, but one whose performances and recordings are outside the blues.The press-release announcing the selections acknowledges this, stating that she "one of America’s premier singers of gospel and soul music, has expanded her musical mastery with her performances in more blues-based settings in recent years." Performances being in a blues-based setting is not, to me, a strong rationale to induct a non-blues artist, as wonderful as she is, to a Blues Hall of Fame. I understand the rationale, I do not agree with it.
A few other observations about this year's selections. Once again, with the exception of Son House's "Preaching the Blues" as a classic single, pre-war blues artists and recordings were generally ignored. Also the one album selected, John Lee Hooker, The Real Folk Blues, is not, in my estimation, one of the more important albums of Hooker's music. Of course this represents my opinion, but one resulting from following and listening to blues for a half century.
I’ve Been Out There: On the Road with Legends of Rock’n’Roll
Grady Gaines with Rod Evans
2015: Texas A&M Press (188 pages)
When the Blues Foundation announced only three selections for the Blues Hall of Fame for 2015, to accompany the opening of the actual Hall, this writer was upset (pun intended) that Little Richard was selected in part because his contributions were primarily as a rhythm and blues-rock’n’roll performer, and not as a blues man. It also struck me that they missed the opportunity to include the leader of Richard’s band the Upsetters, Grady Gaines, at the same time (Grady’s brother guitarist Roy also clearly deserves induction). Hopefully this will be rectified soon. In any event, with the assistance of Rod Evans, we have a chance to let Grady tell us his own story in this 2015 volume that is part of Texas A&M Press’ John and Robin Dickson Series In Texas Music.
Evans has put together Gaines’ recollections and life story intermixed with comments from those associated with Grady, including members of his family (brothers L.C. and Roy and son Grady Jr., among them), musicians and others who played significant roles in his band or life (like the Upsetters’ drummer Charles ‘Chuck’ Connor, guitarist Milton Hopkins, guitarist John Andrews, trombonist-vocalist Paul David Roberts, Hammond Scott of Black Top Records and Susan Criner his current booking agent). There are also inserts giving background on other persons and events such as Sam Cooke’s passing and Little Willie John’s murder conviction and death in prison. While Little Richard had been contacted and willing to talk about Grady’s contributions to his early career, his declining health prevented it. Also not able to contribute for health reasons was Grady’s lifelong friend, and bandmate, Clifford Burks.
Grady’s story starts while he was in his first band, The Blues Ramblers. Little Richard, who just had a smash hit with “Tutti Frutti,” called Grady to recruit him and fellow saxophonist Clifford Burks to join him. Grady recalled they had played with Richard in Houston and described how the Upsetters (which Richard started calling his band) added other musicians and toured heavily. Then the story backtracks to his beginning. Grady recollects how he and Roy, inspired by a grandfather, got into music. Grady grew up in a small Texas town, although experienced little of the Jim Crow issues of other communities, The family moved to Houston after his father got a job in a lumberyard. In Houston, Grady, inspired by an uncle, started working doing a paper route and playing music, describing the process in which he learned to play saxophone. A significant influence was Calvin Owens, a student teacher at his school who taught him a variety of things including the importance of professionalism.
While in High School, Grady started his first band, eventually creating the Blues Ramblers, which became one of Houston’s biggest bands. At the same time he was able to see so many legends like T-Bone Walker and B.B. King. The band got to be one of Don Robey’s studio bands and recorded behind Earl Forrest, Gatemouth Brown, Big Walter Price and even the Mighty Clouds of Joy. Mixing his recollections of playing, recording and developing his saxophone style, he recalls the vibrant nightlife in the Bayou City, and discusses when he was first playing with Little Richard before he became the sensation he was.
He spent three years with Little Richard, observing the incessant touring, with a few days off here and there. There would be mishaps like a driver dozing off and running off into a cotton field. Besides describing life on the road, he offers an overview of what a typical show was. Then there were the films including “The Girl Can’t Help It” with the famous scene of Grady jumping and soloing on the piano while Richard was pumping away. There were side benefits too, including, as described by Connors, women throwing their panties on stage, and Grady, being handsome and prominent as saxophonist and the band’s leader, had his share of after show encounters.
It was in 1957 in Australia that Little Richard told the band he was quitting the business to become a preacher. He had hinted at doing this previously, but Down Under he actually made the decision during a tour. Richard allowed Grady to continue using the name the Upsetters, and when back in the US they toured California with Dee Clark. The band next hooked up with Little Willie John who had a smash hit with “Fever.” Grady recalls that Little Willie John was a wonderful little guy, but kind of wild. They continued to tour with him until a California tour that included Sam Cooke. Cooke wanted the band as his own, so it became Sam Cooke’s band and it toured with him until his early death. Included among the many pictures illustrating Grady’s story is a poster from their early 60s tour of Jamaica.
After Cooke’s death in 1964, Grady Gaines and the Upsetters became the main backing band for Universal Attractions, playing behind the likes of Etta James, Ruth Brown, Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Crystals, the Supremes and “anybody that was somebody.” And the Upsetters worked hard at being entertaining. Grady himself would put a mic down the barrel of his horn, honk and walk the floor with a 150 foot cable including sometimes going outside and playing on the sidewalk. While Grady noted that he drank moderately, he stayed away from drugs and the Upsetters had few problems with alcohol or drugs.
Grady talks about disco coming in as among the things that led to decline of the Upsetters touring. The remainder of the book details him returning to Houston, playing primarily locally as well as taking employment outside of music. Grady’s Texas Upsetters became a versatile band, doing a revue type of show and playing not simply nightclubs but also private parties and other functions with their considerable versatility. It was at this time that Hammond Scott, and his late brother Nauman, heard Grady and recorded him for Black Top, and this led to some European travel. He also recorded an album "Jump Start,’ that unlike the mostly original material of the Black Top releases, had mostly older material reshaped by Grady and the Upsetters, and they continue to still perform. One thing that comes across throughout this book is the professionalism he conducted throughout his career, still seen today by the fact that he picks up all the band members up for their gigs in the Houston area.
Over his career Grady has backed 71 artists who are in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, likely more than anyone else. Evans is making a case for him being selected as a sideman. Certainly it would be worthy, as would be his induction into the Blues Foundation’ Blues Hall of Fame, as among those 71 artists are more than a handful of Blues Hall of Fame inductees. Additionally his own playing, and his recordings deserve recognition.
There are a couple of minor typos (Amos Milburn called Wilburn), and it might have suited Evans to have looked at the excellent biographies of Sam Cooke, Little Willie John and John Ace, as well as Preston Lauterbach’s book on “The Chitlin Circuit.” The authors do rely on Roger Wood’s marvelous “Down In Houston: Bayou City Blues,” and Charles White’s “The Life and Times of Little Richard” by Charles White. It is surprising that for a University Press book, a number of cites to allmusic.com (not completely reliable although I found no errors here), although most of the material is from Evans’ interviews. In any event, Grady certainly has been out there and this well illustrated volume tells his story in a highly readable and concise manner.
I purchased this. Here is one of Grady's recordings when leading the Upsetters.
Another of my reviews from late 1998 that I wrote for the DC Blues Calendar, the DC Blues Society I then edited. Roy Gaines’ Bluesman For Life certainly played a part in reestablishing the veteran performer’s career and has been followed by a number of impressive recordings that I have previously posted. I do not recall if I received this for review or purchased it.
One of the best recent JSP releases is by guitarist Roy Gaines. Gaines, who as a teenager was battling T-Bone Walker and Gatemouth Brown in Houston clubs has been playing on the R&B circuit with all of the legends, including stints with Bobby Bland, Roy Milton, and the Crusaders. JSP has just issued his latest album, Bluesman For Life, and it is the best album of the blues guitar superman (to quote Real Blues editor and publisher Andy Grigg) this writer has heard.
T-Bone Walker is probably the strongest influence on Gaines, but his attack also owes as much to Gatemouth Brown and Brown’s musical disciples. His guitar playing sizzles and is full of imaginative twists and turns, while on a number of tracks his vocals suggest Long John Hunter. Whether singing about his devotion to blues on the title track (I’m not going to sell out, I’ll be a bluesman for life), or reworking Guitar Slim Something to Remember You By on You Went Back on Your Word, Gaines delivers his vocals with almost as much gusto as his fretwork here. He can go down in the alley on It’s Midnight Baby, while Roy Jumps the Gator is a hot guitar showcase modeled after one of T-Bone’s instrumentals.
This is another stunning release on an ever increasing important British label.
In the House on Crosscut adds to the growing number of recent CDs by Roy Gaines. This is one of a series of discs taken from performances at Switzerland’s Lucerne Blues Festival. Gaines put on a stunning performance to close the 2001 D.C. Blues Festival, and this performance was recorded a couple months after that performance.
There are fervent renditions of Hind Ends and Elbows and W.C. Handy Sang the Blues from Gaines excellent New Frontier Lover Severn album, along with Southern Women (“I just love southern Women” he sings here)” and Lucille Works For Me (where he playfully sings about becoming the master of B.B. King’s guitar.” Other songs are less familiar like the oddly-titled Standing Up For Women’s Rights, where Gaines sings that there ought to be a law about a woman giving away her love to someone new.
The opening of Wolfman suggests the guitar accompaniment to the Bobby Bland’s hit Further On the Road, before Gaines sings about being a wolf sniffing his woman’s trail and howling for the woman to let him in. There are places where Gaines plays in the vein of his mentor, T-BoneWalker, although his dirty guitar tone here is far removed from Walker’s classic sound. Gaines’ driving playing and shouted vocals are complemented by a punchy horns section and strong solos from saxophonist Troy Jennings and Johnny Viau and trumpeter George Pandis. Pandis provided the brassy arrangements.
Petrol For Your Tank employs the same melody as Blueman For Life, the title track of Gaines’ comeback JSP album, with the band really gets a nice groove going. Pandis tears off a blistering solo here in addition to searing guitar from Gaines. For a complete change of pace, the album closes with an engaging rendition of Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans, which few other blues groups would try, much less handle as ably as Gaines. Few sing and play with the authority of Roy Gaines.
This review originally appeared in the May 2003DC Blues Calendar. I do not recall if I received a review copy or purchased this. It is still available as an import or also as mp3s. I previously posted about Gaines excellent big band Blues album, Tuxedo Blues, and the Severn release, New Frontier Lover. Here is Roy in a T-Bone Walker-ish mood.
Candye Kane certainly has established herself as a significant and powerful presence on the blues and roots music scene. Back in the October 1994 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 195) I wrote the fopllowing review of her Antone’s album, “Home Cookin’. You may have to look for this for sellers specializing in out-of-print recordings (on amazon or through ebay), but I suspect her fans may want to seek this out. I certainly enjoyed it greatly at the time. Her website is http://www.candyekane.com/.
Given her background, many will approach Candye Kane’s debut album on Antone’s with curiosity and skepticism. After all when she sings on Dance Hall Girls - about strippers with their g-strings hoping for a “Mr. Right to save a girl tonight,” it is something she knows about. But- when you hear her sing, you’ll be stunned.
She is fabulous singer, and this is a fabulous recording. Mostly jump blues based, she shows she can belt out the blues with the force of a Koko Taylor on the opening It Won’t be Long, and she also can tear into a slow blues groove with Big Mama Candyes’ Blues - where she boasts that”bigger is better,” and “I know the reason why. I’m soft and full of lovin’, guaranteed to satisfy,” with legendary guitarist Roy Gaines adding his singular touch to the track.
She’s not simply a blues belter. She is at home in a country vein on Dance Hall Girls, and the Tex-Mex flavored She Wore a Red Carnation with Los Lobos’ Cesar Rojos on bajo sexto and Chris Gaffney adding some accordion. And the boppish Why Did You Have to Say That “L Word?”, is a swinging number where she doesn’t overpower the lyric. Roy Gaines is also present on this selection playing some nice Grant Green flavored lines, as well as on the rocking Seven Men a Week. Kim Wilson does a duet with her on Don’t Blame It On Me. Her own band, The Swingin’ Armadillos, certainly do more than yeoman service in backing her, and horns, arranged by saxophonist Johhny Viau, are fresh and imaginative, with plenty of nice touches such as April West’s imaginative trombone smears on Why Did You have to Say That “L Word?”
Candye Kane wrote most of the songs here, and they are generally not typical hackneyed blues lyrics. Perhaps it is because she is such a good singer that the lyrics stand out. Given her voice, the power, subtlety and range of her singing, strong original material and the excellent backing she receives, it has resulted in a terrific album, and for that reason, one should be very curious about how she sounds live.
Candye is such a wonderful person as well as singer and I will post my review of White Trash Woman from 2006 in a few days.
The “Bluesman For Life,” Roy Gaines, has his first recording in nearly a decade with “Tuxedo Blues” issued on Gaines own Black Gold label. Gaines last US disc was the excellent 2000 Severn release “New Frontier Lover.” Also in 2000, Gaines recorded a CD in Japan on the P-Vine label, “Guitar Clashers from Gainesville, Tokyo,” with Japanese guitarist, Mitsuyoshi Azuma. Gaines, who took up guitar inspired by t-Bone Walker, has toured, played and recorded since the fifties including studio work with the likes of Bobby Bland, Junior Parker, Big Mama Thornton, and Jimmy Rushing, as well as played with such legendary musicians as Roy Milton (at the age of 16), Ray Charles, Chuck Willis, Billie Holiday and Harry Belafonte. His recording career started with albums for the RCA Groove subsidiary and then albums for a variety of independent blues labels producing highly acclaimed recordings like “Bluesmen For Life,” “Lucille Work For Me,” and “New Frontier Lover,” that displayed his marvelous guitar playing and virile vocals.
“Tuxedo Blues” is a big band album which the spotlight focused on Roy Gaines vocal and guitar. In the booklet accompanying this, Gaines talks about what was involved in putting this recording together as well as inspiration. The music harkens back with the relationship between the blues and jazz spheres were much closer such as with the Territory bands, such as the Blue Devils, Bennie Moten, Count Basie and Jay McShann, as well as the bands of Lionel Hampton and Budd Johnson. After all T-Bone Walker fronted big bands and Gatemouth Brown led a big orchestra in his early days. This is the tradition Gaines pays homage to here which isn’t far removed from some of his recordings such as “New Frontier Lover,” with their substantial horn players and arrangers, although the big bands here produce an even richer, fuller sound. The music may be dressed up to be at home at the most elegant ballroom yet Gaines’ performances never lacks grit.
While Gaines acknowledges the great Jimmy Rushing as a major vocal influence, his sound reminds me of the classic B.B. King of the late fifties and early sixties. The opening “Send For Me,” which was a hit for Nat King Cole has a nice full horn section before Gaines adds a nice solo. Gaines wrote the civil rights themed “Blues From Hell,” with his brother Grady, recalling 400 years and how long must he wait to be free from hate with a hard swinging George Pandis arrangement. Roy’s old friend, Joe Sample, is at the keyboard on the lively “Gold Old Days,” with Gaines relaxed vocal phrasing surrounded by Leslie Drayton’s rich arrangement, with Sample laying down a lively piano solo followed by some jazzy fretwork from Gaines.
Roy previously recorded “Thang Shaker” on the P-Vine “Guitar Guitar Clashers from Gainesville, Tokyo,”and against John Stevens’ arrangement lays down some scintillating guitar on a lyric where Gaines boasts I’m your thang shaker, i’m your lover shaker … so let your belly button roll, let it roll, all night long,” with another sophisticated piano solo from Sample. Leslie Drayton’s arrangement of an old Louis Jordan classic “Inflation Blues,” helps frame a strong rendition of this number than in this writer’s opinion bests B.B. King’s similar big band recording of several years back. Quincy Jones wrote “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister),” for the movie “The Color Purple,” and Grady is playing guitar in the club scene when this is performed in the film. Here Gaines comes across almost as a crooner in delivering this lyric which features an New Orleans inspired instrumental section with Jackie Kelso is on clarinet, Mike Daigeau adds gutbucket trombone and George Pandis lays down some hot trumpet. Gaines collaborated with New Orleans legend Edward Frank on a lovely blues ballad “Come Home,” with a generally restrained vocal and a nice vibraphone solo from Onaje Murray.
“Reggae Woman,” originally “Calypso Blues” by Nat King Cole, opens like a jumping blues stomp to which are added some Jamaican ska rhythmic touches with a lively John Stevens arrangement with a nice guitar break with a jazzy tone and nice mix of single note runs and chords. Joe Sample’s fellow Crusader Wilton Felder adds some Texas tenor for the sole instrumental on this, a slowed down, midnight slow drag reworking of the Michael Jackson hit, “Rock With You.” “Route 66” opens with just the rhythm with Sample and Gaines each taking a chorus or two before the horns kick in and Felder and Jackie Kelso get to strut on tenor and alto sax retrospectively. Gaines’ off the beat vocal adds to the appeal of the interpretation here.
“Tuxedo Blues,” is yet another impressive addition to Roy Gaines highly underrated discography. He is in fertile form throughout this and the superb big band settings would make almost anybody fronting them sound good. The result is a superb disc that should have wide appeal to fans of blues and jazz.
For FTC regulations purposes, a publicist sent me the review copy of this CD
Influenced by T-Bone Walker, Roy Gaines has a six-decade career as a blues guitarist and singer. He has done countless sessions with the likes of Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and Jimmy Rushing and recored a number of albums over the years. Roy just issued on his Black Gold label Tuxedo Blues which I will be addressing in the next few weeks. In 2000, Severn records issued New Frontier Lover. It was his last US issued recording until Tuxedo Blues. Gaines did subsequently have a CD issued on the Japanese P-Vine label, “Guitar Clashers from Gainesville, Tokyo,” with Japanese guitarist, Mitsuyoshi Azuma. The following review of New Frontier Lover appeared in the January-February 2001, Jazz & Blues Report (issue 249).
Roy Gaines’ latest, New Frontier Lover (Severn), is among the best of 2000. David Earl has put together a terrific band behind him including Steve Gomes on bass and Benji Porecki on keyboards and there are some nice horn parts on most tracks. Its a collection of new material, although one can hear echoes of some of the greats Gaines was a contemporary with and played with.
Many of the songs have memorable hooks and some of the catchphrases from the tunes will be lingering in your mind after you listen to this The title track is funky number where Gaines gets to boast about his prowess. It is followed up by my favorite track, The World’s Biggest Fool, a terrific slow blues suggestive of Guitar Slim’s Something to Remember You By, with the band sounding like Slim’s band on his Atlantic sessions. What’s the Reason is a nice shuffle with a latin tinge to it while Roy is in a T-Bone Walker vein on You Can’t Make Nobody Love You, although Gaines plays with a somewhat dirtier tone here than Walker.
Roy’s Theme is an instrumental evoking classic instrumental shuffles like Gatemouth Brown’s Okie Dokie Stomp, and Roy’s driving attack here compares favorably to the best of them. Hinds Ends & Elbows is another hook-laden song, with Gaines’ hot vocal and guitar evoking the memory of the late Johnny Copeland. Gaines also handles a medium tempo Chicago blues shuffle, My Woman, My Blacksnake and Me, with Steve Guyger adding his harp to the blues stew. Guyger is also present on the rollicking closing number, Roll Your Own Biscuits.
This release has been one I have been listening to constantly since I got the advance of it. I am not sure if it will be in the stores when you read this, but it is one that is sure to be on my best of 2000 list. Look for it.
This was on my Best of 2000 Blues list and the music holds up well a decade later. This should still be readily available. I received a review copy from Severn Records for the review.
Posts
