Memphis Slim

This is a review that I wrote in Fall 2006 and published in the November-December 2006 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 288). I will be posting other reviews from this every few days in next couple weeks.

Universal Music on the Verve label has released the second batch of CDs in its series, The Sonet Blues Story. These sides make available albums from the 1970s that were issued in Europe on the Sonet label although some were imported in the United States and some were even issued in the US, as GNP-Crescendo issued The Legacy of the Blues recordings stateside. This latest batch includes more from that series along with other albums that Samuel Charters had produced for Sonet. I will be posting these reviews every few days.

Memphis Slim, real name Peter Chapman, was another Chicago blues giant who became an expatriate, moving to Paris in 1962. Clyde Otis recorded him in New York in 1967 during a US tour with a band that included the great Billy Butler on guitar and Eddie Chamblee on tenor saxophone for a session that would not have been out of place on the Prestige-Bluesville catalog and was in The Legacy of the Blues series.

The set opens with a nice reworking of Everyday I Have the Blues and closes with Sassy Mae, completely reworked from his original which was built upon the Dust My Broom riff. Highlights include the peppy A Long Time Gone, where he sings about it being a long time since his baby called with Chamblee soaring with his solo as Slim plays his rock solid piano under him. I Feel Like Ballin’ the Jack is a retitled version of Big Bill’s Feel So Good, confidently sung. Slim’s considerable prowess on the piano is evident on Broadway Boogie, a storming instrumental with Chamblee and Butler taking crisp solos while Gambler’s Blues has him lament that “Last night I lost the best friend I ever had; I lost all my money, too bad, people how sad.” Sassy Mae which sports a larger (uncredited) horn section completes this welcome reissue.

I likely received my review copy from Jazz & Blues Report. Here is Memphis Slim performing "Slim's Boogie."