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.

A few Blues thoughts for the day

Thoughts for the day.

Not one member of the Boogie Woogie Trio (Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis or Pete Johnson) is in the Blues Hall of Fame. The greatest boogie woogie pianists of all time. Here is Boogie Woogie Prayer.

I also add their mentor Jimmy Yancey is also not in nor is the great Cow Cow Davenport. Look at who has been recently inducted but these folk are not in.  Here is Davenport, not doing the eponymously named boogie, but Texas Shout.

And here is Jimmy Yancey's almost poetical rendition of How Long Blues.

 More on acts that should be in the Blues Hall of Fame in future posts. Look up these folks on google and give their music a listen on the net.

Willie Dixon's cliche "The Blues is the roots and everything else is the fruits" may have had some truth when he made it, but today so much of what is marketed as blues is the fruits as much as anything. When Dixon made the comment so many musical acts were redoing blues songs (country acts covered Jimmy Reed) and even the genius that was Gil Evans would rework a Dixon song like he does with Spoonful.

Or Jimmy Smith cover Muddy Waters' hit Got My Mojo Workin'.

Otis Rush's Classic Cobra Recordings.

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. 

Wild Child Butler Knew These Mean Old Blues

These Mean Old Blues by George ‘Wild Child’ Butler appeared on Bullseye Blues in the early 1990s. The following review appeared in the June 1992 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 171), although I have made slight stylistic revisions. This release is still available as a CD or as digital downloads. I received my review copy from Rounder Records, Bullseye’s parent company. A fine set for harmonica blues fans, George ‘Wild Child’ Butler’s These Mean Old Blues (Bullseye Blues, are his first recordings since Funky Butt Lover in 1976 (now available on Rooster Blues). This London session captures some of the flavor of a Willie Dixon session. Some of these songs, The Devil Made Me Do It, and No One Woman’s Man, sound like songs Dixon wrote for Howlin’ Wolf. Butler is a capable, harmonica player who best suggests Sonny Boy Williamson, and he is a solid, ebullient, vocalist. He is particularly effective in a solo, country-blues mode (where he recalls the second Sonny Boy) such as on Walkin’ the Little Girl Home, where the mix of harp and narrative is very effective. Wild Child’s It’s a Pity is a nice Dixon-like topical minor-key blues. Wild Child Butler may not be among the first-rank of post-war blues singers or harp-players, but he puts on a good show, and makes a good record. Overall, this is a tasty blues morsel. Here is a video of the Wild Child performing.

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 Winter Was Careful Around Fools

Back in 2004 I did a review of Sony/Legacy reissues of Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter albums. The review originally appeared in the November/December 2004 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 271). I have made minor stylistic edits. The review of the Muddy Waters reissues was posted on Friday, April 13.

Sony/Legacy also reissued Johnny Winter’s Columbia debut album – Johnny Winter. There is a nice choice of material including Mean Mistreater, Be Careful With a Fool, When You Got a Good Friend, I’ll Drown in My Tears, Dallas and Good Morning Little Schoolgirl. Winter sometimes was a bit too frantic to me, particularly in his vocals, and I must confess I find his vocals most appealing when he doesn’t try to belt them out but rather sings in a more relaxed manner. So his vocal on Be Careful With a Fool doesn’t appeal to these ears as much as does his fret work, but I know others differ from me on this point.

Dallas is a splendid acoustic slide performance in which Winter engrafts his lyric upon a slide accompaniment evoking Robert Johnson’s Terraplane Blues. Mean Mistreater goes back to Leroy Carr and the accompaniment here (based on a Muddy Waters recording) includes Willie Dixon’s bass and Walter Horton’s majestic harp, with Winter giving one of his best vocals on this date. I am not sure if it was included in the original release, but there is also a terrific rendition of Texas Johnny Brown’s Two Steps From the Blues, that was made famous by Bobby Bland and Winter does a more than credible rendition of the vocal with a full backing group with horns. There is also an alternate of Dallas.

Although I have not heard Winter’s most recent album, I really enjoyed listening to his last two Point Blank discs over a decade ago. This reissue of one of his earliest albums is most welcome, and, stands up today as when first recorded.

Here is Johnny performing Be Careful With a Fool. 

Big Walter Horton-Blues Harmonica Giant Part 1

If there is a Mount Rushmore of Blues Harmonica, than the four gentlemen who would be represented would be John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson; Rice Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson II); Little Walter Jacobs; and Walter Horton. Horton was known by a variety of names including “Mumbles,” “Shakey Walter,” and most notably “Big Walter,” the latter to distinguish him from Little Walter Jacobs who may have had a more successful career but could hardly be called a more creative or expressive master of the blues harmonica that Big Walter. Walter was tall, lean and gaunt, had a delicate aspect to himself and to quote Neil Slaven, in the notes to the recently issued 3-CD set on JSP, Blues Harmonic Giant, “dedicated to the music rather than a career.” This collection contains two CDs of material from the 1950s along with a live recording from the 70s or 80s where he is joined by his most prominent disciple, Carey Bell. Today is the first look at this compilation, focusing on the recordings issued under Horton’s name or sessions for which he was a leader.

Walter Horton was born in Mississippi in 1918, but shortly thereafter moved to Memphis where his father bought Walter his first harmonica. The family later moved to Arkansas where Johnny Shines first came across him blowing into a tin can. With the family moving back to Arkansas, where he started hanging out around Handy Park with the likes of Frank Stokes, Will Shade, Buddy Doyle, Dewey Corley, Jack Kelly and Floyd Jones. It was there that he got the nickname, Shakey Walter. Walter, it is said, made his first recordings backing Little Buddy Doyle in 1939 along with Jack Kelly while playing with the members of the Memphis Jug band and others. According to Neil Slaven’s notes to, Blues Harmonic Giant, Walter could not make ends meet playing music, so he worked hauling ice, and later was a chef at the Peabody Hotel. He even traveled to Chicago and played on Maxwell Street, but never stayed there long.

The importance of Sam Phillips opening the Memphis Recording Service in 1950 cannot be overstated as far as the recording of blues in the Memphis and Delta area. In addition to recording weddings and other events, Phillips began recording performers for out-of-town labels like RPM and Chess before starting his own Sun Records. Horton was among the earliest artists he recorded, when in February 1951 a session was held that would be sent to the Biharis in Los Angeles and issued on RPM. The very first track in this collection is, “Cotton Patch Hotfoot,” original unissued but a remarkable instrumental with simple echoey guitar from an unknown source and Willie Nix’s light drumming behind Horton.  Horton sounds here like Rice Miller, the second Sonny Boy Williamson, but dispalying a bit more swooping attack. Sonny Boy’s Trumpet records sounds like a model for the shuffle “What’s a Matter With You,” which has a pretty good vocal and superb harp. “Little Boy Blues,” recorded originally by Robert Lockwood a decade earlier, was actually released and coupled with “Now Tell Me Baby,” that Walter sings forcefully, but his rough voice led RPM to issue this as by Mumbles. Walter’s harp was at least every bit as good here as that of the second Sonny Boy, then holding forth on King Biscuit Time, with Walter’s  vocalized crying tone and irresistible swing.

For his second session in June, Walter was backed by the Newborn family; Phineas, Jr. on piano, Calvin on guitar and Phineas, Sr., on drums. On this session, Horton reworked a 1937 John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson’s recording as “Black Gal.” His harp playing on this is styled after that of the first Sonny Boy Williamson. It is interesting to hear the stronger accompaniment than present on the earlier session. “Hard Hearted Woman” is a song he redo later in Chicago. This earlier take is done as a shuffle, with a peppy tempo, and  terrific guitar from Calvin Newborn behind Horton’s harp. On this track, Horton’s playing is more in a Rice Miller vein. “Jumping Blues” is another shuffle with his harp playing not fazed by the breakneck tempo. “So Long Baby,” takes the tempo down a bit as he hoarsely delivers the lyric to a blues adapted from Tampa Red’s “When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too).”

Walter returned to the Sun studios as a leader a year later. September 1952 found him with Jack Kelly on piano, Joe Hill Louis on guitar and Willie Nix on drums for a reworking of Big Bill’s “I Feel So Good,” as “We All Gotta Go.” Also at this session he recorded “Little Walter’s Boogie,” (obviously modeled after Little Walter’s “Juke”). This recording displays Walter's long saxophone-like lines mixed with fluttering, warbling cries. The three different takes of this are totally different with the spectacular second take being an instrumental that he would later return to as “Walter’s Boogie,” and record several with Memphis Charlie Musselwhite on Volume 3 of “Chicago The Blues Today,” and later with Johnny young on Arhoolie. “West Winds Are Blowing,” is a slow blues with a decent vocal, but displaying Walter’s lack of suppleness as a singer. In December 1952 with Albert Williams on piano, Joe Hill Louis on guitar and likely Willie Nix on drums for two takes of “Grandmother Got Grandfather Told.” where his harp has a bit more amplified sound as he negotiates the moderate tempo. In July, 1953, Walter covered Little Walter’s “Off the Wall,” with a band that included Pinetop Perkins on piano and Earl Hooker and two takes provided show his full tone, although not as quite as sharply controlled as Little Walter, and the backing doesn’t swing as hard as the Myers brothers and Fred Below.  Later, after doing a Muddy Waters session in Chicago, and some Johnny Shine sessions for J.O.B., Horton was back in Memphis recording “Easy,” one of the great harmonica blues instrumental recordings.  This is a stunning reworking of Ivory Joe Hunter’s “I Almost Lose My Mind,” with simple accompaniment from Jimmy DeBerry, that showcases his haunting tone, and judicious use of hand effects.

Within the next year, Horton would be established in Chicago and made his first recording as a leader there for the States label on a Willie Dixon produced session. “Hard Hearted Woman,” is transformed into a slow blues with one of his most expressive vocals and some of his most potent harp with the tenor sax riffing of Red Holloway and John Cameron part of the backing for Horton’s soaring solo. It and its backing side “Back Home to Mama,” are presented in issued and alternate takes. Along with the shuffle “Have a Good Time,” and “Need My Baby,” recorded for Cobra, this completes the issuance of Horton’s fifties recordings as a leader that take up the entire first disc and beginning of the second disc of this set.

For Part 2 of this tomorrow, I will examine some of Horton’s accompaniments. I purchased this collection.

Jimmy Witherspoon Singin' the Blues

Much has been written about the late blues shouter, Jimmy Witherspoon. The Arkansas native who first attracted notice singing with with Teddy Weatherford’s Band in Calcutta which regularly broadcast over Armed Forces Radio Service, he made his first recordings with Jay McShann in 1945, recording “T'ain’t Nobody’s Business,” which became one of the biggest records of the times. With changing times, and the new rock and roll turning Witherspoon’s brand of jumping blues out of style, it was an appearance at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1959 that returned Witherspoon to the spotlight, although now viewed in a context as a performer at jazz venues. He made a number of recordings in the contexts of jazz masters like Ben Webster, Roy Eldridge, Gerry Mulligan, and T-Bone Walker, along with a set of Kansas City jazz with Jay McShann (last reissued as a Mosaic single). Recordings with Webster were particularly wonderful but I dare say that none of his influences or contemporaries could belt out a boogie woogie as well as caress a ballad as consistently strongly as Spoon could. Then in the seventies he began an equally fruitful association with Robbin Ford that was equally fruitful, a terrific session with Panama Francis and the Savoy Sultans for Black & Blue (I downloaded this session online), and a solid JSP album with Hal “Cornbread’ Singer on sax if memory serves me right, and he made some sides with sympathetic backing from Duke Robillard and friends at the end of his career.

A few months ago I purchased “Singin’ the Blues” (JazzBeat), an augmented version of a 1959 World Pacific album that included Teddy Edwards on tenor saxophone, Hampton Hawes on piano, Harry ‘Sweets’ Edison or Gerald Wilson on trumpet and others. It was a terrific pair of sessions with Spoon in great voice from the opening “S.K. Blues,” that was a smash for Big Joe Turner, but which Witherspoon makes his own, or “Then the Lights Go Out” a Willie Dixon penned tune (for some reason credited to Spoon) that was originally on Chess or Checker, with Edwards taking a terrific booting solo here, and “All That’s Good,” a derivative of “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business,” with Hawes featured as Herman Mitchell strums on guitar during the solo while blasts off on the break on “Jimmy’s Blues,” with Edward’s’ adding some tasty obligatos behind Spoon’s vocal. On “It Ain’t What You Thinking’,” Gerald Wilson (Best known today as an arranger) contributes very nice muted trumpet, while Sweets’ muted trumpet weaves around Spoon’s strong vocal on “T’ain’t Nobody’s Business,” while Edwards takes a terrific solo that gets down into the nitty gritty during Spoon’s authoritative take on “Wee Baby Blues.” Another highpoint is “Sweet’s Blues,” opening with Edison playing muted trumpet, with Edwards taking the solo in the middle. This album concluded with an Edwards original, “Midnight blues, a tasty mid-tempo romp with Edwards playing quite strongly and I would not be surprised if Wilson contributed the arrangement here.

In addition to the original twelve recordings, seven tunes are included from a 1960 session with Edwards but a smaller band (no other horns). “Goin’ to Chicago” features strong tenor from Edwards and a nice guitar solo from Mitchell, but Spoon’s vocal is a bit more muffled in the mix. Spoon’s vocal is stronger on “Gee Baby, Ain’t I Good To You,” followed by the easy rocking “Loser Blues.” “Life’s Highway,” is a slowed down “Key to Highway,” with a bit R&B feel. The last of the seven tracks from this session is “Wee baby Baby,” taken at a quicker tempo, as pianist Paul Moer quoting Ray Charles on his intro to the number. From a 1958 session that likely has Edwards as tenor saxophonist is “Coming Home” (a retitled “Going Down Slow”), that opens with some guitar that suggests some of Chuck Berry’s blues recordings before Spoon delivers his vocal. Some hots guitar runs along with some more great tenor from Spoon contribute to a strong performance. The last two tracks come from a 1970 album, “Handbags and Gladrags,” on whom can be heard Sweets Edison along with Plas Johnson on electric sax. Mel Brown and Arthur Adams are credited on guitar. On “Spoon’s Beep Beep Blues,” a censors beep overrides him as he sings ‘shit.’ The backing is a bit too rocked out, including the guitar solo and unlike the recordings from a decade earlier, these sound the most dated even if Spoon sounds good. Even with a couple of throw away tracks, this remains a good listen and over 70 minutes of music, much of it first-rate.

I purchased from JazzLoft, and Amazon lists this as available as well, so you might check your favorite jazz and blues retailer for this CD reissue. It is not available as a download I believe.

Last Century's Blues Dream

Has it been 40 years since Mike Vernon had traveled to Chicago and recorded Sunnyland Slim and Johnny Shines for the Blues Horizon label. With Willie Dixon on bass and organizing the sessions, and a band that also included Walter Horton on harmonica and Clifton James on drums, two albums were produced, Slim's Midnight Jump, and Shine's Last Night Dream. The two albums along with a few alternates from Slim's session are now available on the just issued CD, Sunnyland Slim & Johnny Shines, The Complete Blue Horizon Session.

Mike Vernon's notes in the booklet gives a pretty thorough account of the lives of both of these legends as well as what went on the June, 1968 day when these were recorded. Sunnyland Slim today is remembered by those lucky enough to have seen him perform. He could band that piano out exhibiting an occasional stutter step in his phrasing matched by his booming voice that delivered the songs with an authority that is missing among the living blues pianists with the possible exception of David 'Omar Sharif' Alexander. Equally impressive solo or fronting the band that would be Willie Dixon's Chicago Blues All Stars here, Slim does not disappoint with a few staples of his repertoire, Get to My Baby, one of the songs heard in alternate takes, the fine Stella Mae with some exquisite harp from Shakey Horton, as well as Slim's topical Depression Blues.

Slim sets out the ten performances by Shines, although Otis Spann sits in for Pipeline Blues. The Shines performances include somewhat more intimate performances with piano or harp, and all feature Shines, certainly one of the most adept slide guitarists and one of the great blues singers of all time (with echoes of Howling Wolf, Lonnie Johnson and Robert Johnson). Certainly there are echoes of Johnson on several songs such as Baby Don't You Think I Know (a reworking of Sweet Home Chicago), Solid Gold and Last Night's Dream (both echoing Walking Blues), as well his rendition of Sonny Boy Williamson I's Black Panther (although I prefer the version of Otis Spann he recorded for Testament). Vernon talks about some issues of Shines and Dixon being in tune and Clifton James' timing occasionally drifting, but Shines' voice simply cuts through any shortcomings.

Slim died in 1995, a few years after Shines had. Listening to these recordings by the Delta natives today one simply must recognize that the what is called Mississippi blues today simply pales in comparison to what these two produced four decades ago. Highly recommended and available from various online sources.

Lurrie Bell Talks About Love

Son of the legendary Carey Bell, its somewhat astonishing to realize that Lurrie Bell has been playing the blues for thirty odd years since being a founding member of the Sons of the Blues with Billy Branch and Freddie Dixon. The years have seen him work with the likes of his father, Eddie Clearwater, Koko Taylor and others while starting with the aptly titled Mercurial Son for Delmark which developed a following by astute blues enthusiasts and jazz-blues critics. Fighting personal demons, his partner Susan Greenberg, an artist, photographer and mother of their daughter, helped him find his way, but this year has been a hard one with her death followed shortly by his father’s passing, ironically around the time of the Delmark CD/DVD Getting Up Live, by Carey & Lurrie. Other recent work by him, including on the Delmark CD/DVDs by Tail Dragger and Mississippi Heat displayed his strong, distinctive playing, able to mix some of Hubert Sumlin’s quirky unpredictable style with some classic West Side guitar evoking Otis Rush, he has a wonderful disc on Aria B.G. Records, Let’s Talk About Love.

Produced by Matthew Skoller, Lurrie is backed by a band that includes Anthony Palmer on rhythm guitar, Felton Crews on bass, and Kenny smith on drums, joined on tracks by Sidney James Wingfield or Johnny Iguana on piano or organ; and Billy Branch of Matt Skoller on harp. Its a solid band that provides a solid foundation for Lurrie to deliver a varied and highly entertaining set. Mostly comprised of covers, I would be hard pressed to name a single song that will be familiar to many. The disc opens with a title track a West Coast swinger by singer-composer Al King, followed by Willie Dixon’s Earthquake and Hurricanes (on which Billy Branch adds his harp. The former is a solid modern urban blues, while the latter comes off as a solid Chicago blues performance. Andrew Brown’s pleading West Side Chicago Blues You Ought to Be Ashamed is winningly delivered with typically strong guitar before Lurrie takes on Pops Staples Why (Am I Treated So Bad), contributing some atmospheric guitar. He acoustically tackles J.B. Lenoir’s Feeling Good, with Jimmy Johnson adds a backing vocal. Little Richard’s slow blues Directly From My Heart to You, is most evocative of Otis Rush with strong guitar and soulful singing. Producer Skoller adds strong harp to the rendition of Willie Dixon’s Chicago is Loaded With the Blues. Adding in songs from Hip Linkchain, Smokey Smothers, and Willie Williams, Bell shows just how soulful a singer he has become as well as an strong guitarist with a lean, distinctive sound that lets the music breathe as opposed to attacking a solo with a sledgehammer style. The band is marvelously unobtrusive in backing him, providing wonderful grooves that never sound hurried or rushed. I would be hard-pressed to name an album by Lurrie Bell not worth hearing, but the strength of his playing and natural, heartfelt singing here makes Let’s Talk About Love, highly recommended.