Take 5 with Ruth Brown

Ruth Brown was an amazing, pioneering woman. 'Discovered' at Washington D.C.'s Crystal Caverns (alter the Bohemian Caverns) she was a major rhythm and blues star with Atlantic Records which became known in part as The House That Ruth Built. While she had many hots for Atlantic, after her hit-making days were over she revived her career on Broadway as well as a big band vocalist with the Thad Jones-Mel Louis Orchestra (now The Vanguard Orchestra. She was never strictly a blues singer as that was too narrow to describe her artistry, although the focus of her later day recordings was the blues.

We start this short playlist with one of Ruth's big hits for Atlantic, "Hey Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean," this was a live recording with the Paul Williams Band.

Next up is a performance from the musical "Black and Brown Revue," "If I Can't Sell It, I'll Sit On It."

Often overlooked is Ruth's recording with the great Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra. Here she sings with them in 1969, "I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts of Town."

Here is Ruth with the title track of her album, "A Good Day For The Blues."

We close with a duet with B.B. King, "Ain't Nobody's Business."

Take 5 With Amos MIlburn

I was a senior in college when I went to Cleveland's VA Hospital to see the legendary Amos Milburn who was being treated for a stroke. A few years after this he was able to use one hand in playing and recorded for Johnny Otis. Milburn was one of the biggest rhythm and blues artists of the late 40s and early 50s with his suave singing style and his superb boogie-woogie piano.

One of his early recordings was a cover of "Down the Road a Piece." Here is a version he recorded for the "Showtime at the Apollo" TV show with the Paul Williams Band backing him.

His music was often simply good time music as heard here on "Let's Have a Party."

The great Maxwell Davis arranged and played on many of his recordings including a vocal version of "Flying Home," best known from Lionel Hampton's recording with Illinois Jacquet. Lieber and Stroller wrote the lyrics for this stomping boogie.

Milburn was known for drinking blues as well as hot rocking boogie jump tunes. His hits included "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer," 'Bad bad whiskey," Thinking and Drinking," and "Let Me Go Home Whiskey." Here is "Thinking and Drinking."

 Finally, one of his biggest hits was "Chicken Shack Boogie,' which has been reworked by the likes of Floyd Dixon, Jimmy McCracklin and jump blues revivalists Big Joe and the Dynaflows. The original was a major #1 hit on the R&B charts. Here is Milburn's remake of the song for Imperial backed by Dave Bartholomew's Band with Lee Allen and Earl Palmer. It is hotter than a NASA rocket at lift-off.

Bobby Parker Is Watching His Step

Bobby Parker has been tearing up Washington D.C. area clubs for the past three decades. This Louisiana native was raised in Los Angeles, but the musical bug hit him, and by the mid-fifties he was playing with Paul Williams' band, backing up numerous R&B legends at the Apollo and on tour. Later he moved to DC, where he was a mainstay in the 14th Street clubs. In more recent years he has played a variety of Washington area venues. Bobby recorded a fine 45 for Vee-Jay which included a superb minor-key blues, Blues Get Off My Shoulder, with the first recording of You Got What It Takes (later a hit for Marv Johnson). A year later, he recorded for the Philadelphia V-Tone label, Watch Your Step, which was based on Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca (with a bit of Ray Charles influence) that was by Spencer Davis. This record led him to be invited to Europe in the late sixties where Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page was one of his fans, and tried to sign him up to that label. He did record for Blue Horizon, cutting the great It’s Hard But It’s Fair.

The release of Bent Out of Shape by Parker on Black Top will certainly open a lot of ears that haven’t heard these rare records, or seen Bobby in performance. Bobby Radcliff told this writer that twenty years ago, Parker was as good as the better known Chicago stars like Otis Rush and Buddy Guy, and I understand from others, that this recording is not different from what Parker was doing twenty years ago. Having watched Bobby for several years one could sense here was someone special, and this recording captures it. The album is comprised of Bobby’s originals with the exception of the Carey Bell song, Break It Up, that Bobby often opens his live dates with. The remakes of his early recordings are all strong performances. Watch Your Step is a particularly hard-hitting reworking of his V-Tone recording, although without a vocal chorus. The title track is evocative of some of the late Z.Z. Hill’s recordings, but the band here plays with more of an edge, and Parker’s fiery guitar matches his deep soul singing. Bobby’s A-Go-Go actually a mistitled Go-Go Blues),his tribute to the Go-Go music scene, is perhaps the weakest track here, but that aside, the music here is first rate and almost worth the wait for it to come out. This is simply one of the best blues releases on Black Top of the past few years, set apart not only by Bobby’s strong guitar playing, but by his fervent, soulful blues preaching.

This review appeared in the March 1993 (issue 179) of Jazz & Blues Report. “Bent Out of Shape,” is currently out-of-print on CD but one may be able to locate it on ebay or from blues music vendors. Downloads of the album are available on itunes and amazon. I likely received a review copy of this. In my review I did not note that John lennon took Bobby’s riff for a couple of Beatles songs.