Paul Oscher Cool Cat

Paul Oscher
Cool Cat
Blues Fidelity

In his liner notes to "Cool Cat," Paul Oscher notes his long friendship with the late James Cotton including unexpectedly moving three doors down from him when Oscher moved to Austin from Los Angeles in 2012. After mainly doing out of town gigs, he tells how he started playing with his neck rack, guitar, and mic at a BBQ place, but after several months the property the place was on was sold to a developer. Then he started playing at another club, and after trying his solo gig, he started playing with a five-piece band that included Mike Keller on guitar, Corey Keller on drums, Sarah Brown on bass, and Tommy Robinson on sax. They are heard behind Oscher, except for Corey Keller, on this new release. Others heard include bassist Johnny Ace, drummer Russell Lee, guitarist Mike Schermer, Tomas Ramirez on tenor sax, Russell Lee and Lavelle White on vocals, Kid Andersen on bass and June Core on drums.

Oscher is mostly heard playing piano but also heard on guitar and harmonica in addition to his singing and contributed an intriguing set of originals except for a cover of "Rollin' and Tumblin'" credited to Muddy Waters. It is a well-played mixed set of performances opening with a bit of New Orleans flavor, "Money Makin' Woman," where he displays his piano chops and ability as a singer. "Blues and Trouble" is a strong, slow blues that displays the influence of Otis Spann on his piano (and vocal) with Mike Schermer contributing solid guitar fills, while "Hide Out Baby," is a rocking shuffle with him playing guitar and neck rack harmonica with interplay between his guitar and that of Schermer and then a strong harmonica solo. "Work That Stuff" finds his harmonica in a Sonny Boy Williamson II mode with a spare, effective backing.

He does a monologue (some amusing storytelling) that is a prologue to the title track that leads into a jazz quartet performance of the title track with saxophonist Ramirez standing out on a diverting performance. This group is also present for the brief "On the Edge," where Ramirez again stands out. Russell Lee recites Oscher's poem "Mississippi Poem," before Lee's spoken vocal "Ain't That a Man," Oscher's tribute to James Cotton backed by Oscher's guitar and Keller's bass line. Lee also sings strongly on "Poor Man Blues." Miss Lavelle White is featured on "Dirty Dealin' Mama," set to a "Hootchie Kootchie Man" groove, authoritatively belting out the lyric.

A more extended, R&B rendition of the title track showcases Robinson's gritty sax closes an entertaining recording by a very cool blues cat.

I received my review copy from a publicist. This review appeared in the January-February 2018 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 382). Here is Paul on slide guitar performing Muddy Waters' "Honey Bee."

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.

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.