Goodnight To Memphis Slim-

Memphis Slim Passes February 24th 1988



Born John Len Chatman Sept 3rd 1915 in Memphis,
Mr. Chatman started at the age of 7, playing
the keyboards. Once you listen to Slim's
carefully calibrated piano solos, it makes sense
that Jerry Lee Lewis over in nearby Ferriday
would have heard Slim, as well as Ian Stewart
over in the UK.


Back to Memphis Slim- His mentor was that
old Honeydripper, Roosevelt Sykes. It was
upon moving to Chicago that Slim hooked up
with Big Bill Broonzy. In later years, he
would team up with Willie Dixon for the Newport
Folk Festival, and perform on the same stage
as Muddy Waters at Carnegie Hall.


In the late 60's he made a permanent move to
Paris, where he was, like most blues musicians,
rock'n'roll musicians, (and actors like Jerry Lewis,
and Mickey Rourke), treated as an in-demand artist.



As a pianist, his trademark sound was what
would be the hallmark of rock'n'roll-
a steady rhythm pumped out by the left
hand, and the rolls and flourishes on the
right, in between the vocals. The riffs
were melodic, and masculine, but short,
and he certainly had a long inventory, as
very few of these would be repeated.

"Born With The Blues" is a great album to start off with!

HISTORY OF THE BLUES- THE DELTA BLUES

Sometimes the history of the blues

is a bit overwhelming,

and where do you start?

How about in the Delta. A great book

is Ted Gioia's "Delta Blues- The Life

and Times of the Mississippi Masters

Who Revolutionized American Music"

I'll admit, I get a little nervous

reading about the blues by someone

who is a jazz-cat,has lots

of college degrees, and at one point

in his book, he asks...

why a Juilliard-trained musician

couldn't be considered for the

Blues Hall Of Fame...(cough, cough)

that's kind of like Robert Johnson's

proverbial fork in the road. Hmmm....

alright college boy- do you wanna

be book smart, or street-smart?

Anyway, Mr. Gioia's book is a great

starting point for a very

rich and tangled history

of America's roots music.

In this post, I thought I'd

start off with the first

part of his book.

He begins with a brief history of

the many slaves brought over

from Africa, and how they

in turn, brought their own

various religious practices,

ways of life, communication, and

social activities.

The Griots of West Africa,

Yoruban priests, and even

islamic calls to prayer.

Praising, begging, pleading, pining,

...this is all a reminder

that music originally started

out as a channel to communicate with

the almighty- whatever his/her name.

It's all a wonderful picture of the

cross-section of African religious

practices and Christianity.

There's plenty of other books

on this whole subject available

out there.

Mr Gioia says, "Although the blues

has been called

"the devil's music, it has

always remained on speaking

terms with the ministers of the

lord". Maybe that's

why alot of our great blues

and even country performers have

either been, or wanted to be some

kind of ministers

- Little Richard, Johnny Cash,

that hellion- Jerry Lee Lewis.

Even Jerry Lee's cousin

Jimmy Swaggart who was a real

minister exuded a little too

much rock'n'roll sweat, as opposed

to his other evangelical brethern who

only had a slight "moist" fervor.

Tomorrow, I'll continue my review

of the "Delta Blues"

TAJ MAHAL AND THE THIRD ERA OF BLUES

I like to seperate the history of the blues into 3

different eras-

-the rural Delta blues of Robert Johnson

-the urban Chicago Blues of Muddy Waters

-the hippies blues revival of the 60's and 70's

I know it may be oversimplified, but the biggest

artists arrived during those eras. Alot of the

artists, who never received enough recognition

during the second era, actually were "rediscovered"

during the last era. If anyone wonders why I

haven't mentioned anything after the 70's,

there just wasn't enough kids out there picking

up guitars, or any instruments for that matter.

The late 70's was the birth of hiphop and rap music,

and most kids in the urban community

weren't learning how to play instruments. As for

the rock community, they went towards synthesizers

for most of the 80's.

In my quest to slowly work my way backward,

I wanted to look at someone who was part of

this last wave. Taj Mahal, born Henry

Saint Clair Fredericks May 17, 1942, in

Harlem, NY. He's actually one of the few

contemporaries of the Beatles and the Stones,

age-wise. Unlike most of his elders from the

second wave, he grew up with parents who

were educators as well as musicans. Perhaps

that's why he approached his music with an

adventurous spirit, combining different genres

into his blues- Hawaiian, Latin, Carribbean.

Taj would not let himself be defined.

His first album, "TAJ MAHAL"

(which had Ry Cooder on it) had a

more down-home feel. Slide, harmonica,

but a distinctly rock vibe. After all, this was

1968, and young people were all hip to this

blues revival, being explored by bands like

the Stones, and Clapton. This wasn't the buttoned

up old blues by men like Muddy, and John Lee

Hooker.

The place I discovered Taj was the Rolling Stones

movie, Rolling Stones present the Rock and Roll

Circus. I remember thinking, HOLY SHIT! This guy
almost blew Mick off the stage. Who is he?

Taj had complete control as a performer.

I was amazed after seeing Rock and Roll Circus, that

Taj didn't pursue a more show-y position in rock'n'roll

He certainly had the charisma, looks, voice.

He definately chose to stay somewhat

behind the songs, and let them do the talking.

This first album, is a bit restrained, I guess he was

still starting from a place that felt safe, and familiar.

Taj showed everybody he could cover the

classics- "Dust My Broom", "Statesboro Blues"

I think what Taj would later understand, on his

journey was, for him to survive

creatively, he would have to look outside of blues

to build up whatever musical vocabulary he could.

That may be the biggest thing for most blues artists

today. How do you keep something alive, that is

close to being a dead language like latin.

Of course, artists like Taj, Buddy Guy

Lucky Peterson manage to make it breathe.

If you make anything too precious, you risk

turning it into a museum piece.

I can personally testify, after having seen him

perform numerous times, how amazing he is live....

far from being a museum piece.

Check out his new grammy-nominated album

Maestro

THE WILLIE NIX ENIGMA

Ever since I heard "Just Can't Stay"

by Willie Nix, on my copy of
BIG TOWN PLAYBOYS Chicago Blues 1949-1954

(which I highly recommend purchasing),

I was struck by his rock'n'roll vocals.

He basically raps over a fairly repetitive

track, and the lyrics are pretty familiar. He

sings about "standing on the corner...

having a conversation with a little girl".

His singing is nasal, more high pitched than

most of his contemporaries. Not the deep

voice of other singers like Muddy or Wolf.

Willie's voice is more urban, ready

for business. "...sho 'nuff"

Willie's history is fairly minimal, as he

never recorded enough

for a whole album, but at some point he

recorded a few tracks for Sun

Records, which makes me wonder if some

rock'n'roll dudes might

have heard him back in the day, and thought,

"hmmm....this is interesting".

From what I've put together, Willie Nix

was born August 6, 1922 in Memphis.

He started out as a tap dancer

at a fairly young age, moved up to some

kind of a dancing comedian in a

traveling group. As a musician, he was

a drummer, and singer. His recordings

appeared on Checker Records, and he was

the "Memphis Blues Boy" for Sun.

The artists on "Just Can't Stay" which

was recorded on Oct 14th,

1953 were Eddy Taylor on guitar,

Sunnyland Slim on piano, Snooky Pryor on

harmonica, and Willie playing drums.

I think the background in tap,

obviously gave him

a great sense of rhythm vocally,

as well as the comedic timing.

This track is definately worth checking out,

as I think you'll hear alot of current

singers in Willie.

The site for Clemson had the great shots of the Chance and

Sabre labels, as well as tons of

artist info. The shot of Willie Nix came from Last FM.

AL KOOPER

I missed mentioning the birthday of one of the great
keyboard (and french horn) players in rock music.
The reason I mention Al Kooper was his unique
blues sound on many of his recordings, and just the
fact that he's worked with every major artist out there.

Al was born February 5th, 1944 in Brooklyn, NY.
Most people might know him as the organ player
for Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and playing
keyboard and french horn on the Rolling Stones'
"You Can't Always Get What You Want"

What you might not know is, he was the
music director for my favorite 1980's TV show "Crime
Story" produced by Michael Mann. It took place
during the 1960's in Chicago and Las Vegas, and
had some actual scenes in jazz clubs with guest
appearances by Miles Davis. (Yes- crazy 1980's-era
Miles Davis, with his "new wave" look)
The show managed to get the essence of
60's Chicago and Vegas viewed
thru the greasy eye-lens of quiffed-mobsters.

Back to Al...
I think my first memory of Al Kooper is picking
up his autobiography when I was a kid, and
being grossed out after
reading about how he and his friends dropped
a load on their manager's desk (or was it the guy
at the music label).
Al called it a "Texas Twister" Anyone know if
this is still in the new edition? I should have
known he was a Brooklyn Boy! Maybe you
can ask him, if you're in NYC February 7th-
he'll be at B.B King's celebratin' his B-day

http://alkooper.com/
http://www.bbkingblues.com/

BO DIDDLEY

I didn't think this would end up being
my first post, but I just heard a
Bo Diddley song "YOU CAN'T JUDGE A BOOK
BY IT'S COVER" on a commercial. I forgot
how great it is.

"Oh can't you see, oh you misjudge me
I look like a farmer, but I'm a lover
You can't judge a book by looking at the cover

Oh come on in closer baby,
hear what else I gotta say!
You got your radio turned down too low
Turn it up!" -composed by Willie Dixon

Some great lyrics.
I think the reason it caught my
attention was the anniversary of
Buddy Holly's passing yesterday
and certainly most people would
know what a huge influence Bo was
on Buddy. Also, check out Bo's
wiki page to see all the other
songs (some very recent) that
you can hear his signature guitar sound on.
It was simple, yet hypnotic. A
recurrent theme in blues music.
Most artists didn't always have full
bands, so they were left to make
up the rhythm on whatever instrument
they were able to get ahold of.
I think my favorite things about
Bo was his great sense of humor-
when asked about his financial
situation he replied "I am owed. A
dude with a pencil is worse than a
cat with machine gun" I was
going to look for a picture of a
cat with a machine gun, but I was
too tired. Also, nothing beats his
ad with Nike that he did years ago.
How many artists have the balls
to name a song after themselves?

The other thing I love about him
was his self-reliance. He made
box shaped guitars, with their
own reverb and tremolo effects.
Another thing you'll notice with
many blues artists- they often
made their own stringed instruments
sometimes using a knife for slide
effects. Cool!

Bo left us just last year- June 2, 2008