Happy Birthday Muddy Waters! Part 3

It's part 3 of our journey to the roots of Muddy
Waters, so let go back to the days before Chicago.
Muddy had grown up with his grandmother after
his own mother had died. He remained pretty
loyal to her, staying in Mississippi longer than
he should have. Alan Lomax had discovered
Waters in 1941 at the Stovall Plantation, and
recorded a couple of tracks for the Library
Of Congress. Although it was a big money
making opportunity, nothing could stoke the
fire that was lit.
When Muddy moved to Chicago in 1943, it
wasn't an instant success. The audience there
was looking for sophistication, not the rough
Delta sound. It would take years before those
historic sessions with the Chess brothers. In
that time, Muddy worked several jobs- driving
delivery trucks, etc. He made alot of connections
and honed his playing at bars and parties.
As the war ended, the city folk were starting to
get interested in the familiar rural sounds
of their home towns. Sunnyland Slim,
like Muddy had grown up in the Delta, so
they had a good connection. Slim had the
opportunity to record, so he called Muddy in
to join him on "Johnson Machine Gun" and
Fly Right Little Girl". Muddy would then
go on to record "Little Anna Mae" and
Gypsy Woman". His playing was more polished,
with no bottleneck, but he had that thick Delta
accent. It was more sax and piano with
a fairly restrained Waters. Chess wasn't thrilled
and held back releasing them for a while.

It wouldn't be till 1948 when he was asked
back to record for Chess. He came back with
"I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home".

Happy Birthday Muddy Waters! Part 2

Understanding Muddy can be difficult at times.
Like most of the great blues artists, he often
felt he didn't get his due, financially or
professionally. There are 2 books that
have some first-hand interviews with the
great man, among others. "Deep Blues"
by Robert Palmer, and "Feel Like Going
Home" by Peter Guralnick, which was

written some time ago. Guralnick had
gone on a road trip, interviewing Howlin'
Wolf and Jerry Lee Lewis as well. The
portrait that emerges is of a man
that is cautious of the current music
business and at the same token
restless, feeling unfulfilled. The same
could be said of Wolf and Lewis.
They are like wild animals, that were
caught and caged, unsure of what to make
of enforced domesticity. The parts
with Jerry Lee were striking. He

was still married to the infamously

young Myra Gale, and she had

obviously placed restrictions on his

drinking.

Back to Muddy- I think it was Peter Guralnick
that had the opinion that Muddy's music
remained simpler as compared to Robert
Johnson, because unlike Waters, Johnson
had traveled more widely and was for the
most part a one-man band, often playing more
than just the blues. Show tunes, hillbilly music,
anything that would get the money
flowing. Muddy followed a simpler
trail, when he got to Chicago, when he wasn't
working as a delivery man, he was played
parties and bars. Waters also had built a
connection with alot of the artists that
were already there, like Sunnyland Slim
who would be pivotal in getting the Chess
Brothers to hear him.

The Chess Box set is a great collection
if you're not familiar with Muddy.

Happy Birthday Muddy Waters! Part 1 Rollin' Stone

In the run up to celebrating this true legend of
Rock'n'Roll, whose birthday is on April 4th,
I wanted to start off with a tidbit about how
the Rolling Stones got their name.

According to the book "Keith Richards Satisfaction"
by Christopher Sanford, Brian Jones, while registering
the band in a musican's union, decided to take
the name from the Water's song "Rollin' Stone".

You have to hand it to Brian's genius...
to come up
with such an incredible
name. Keith "had later
thought it made them sound
like a bunch of
irish acrobats".
Gotta love Keith's thinking.

Here's Muddy Waters performing at the
Newport Jazz Festival in 1960. The whole
band plays such few notes, but
what they do play is so powerful. Muddy's
own playing is amazing! You can just
feel the Delta in each of those notes.
One can only wonder what the
beatniks made of the "Hootchie-
Cootchie" man singing about his
Mojo!

"Rollin' Stone" was one of McKinley Morganfield,
aka Muddy Water's own compositions, a derivative
of "Catfish Blues" by Robert Petway.

Happy Birthday Pete Johnson! Part 2

The Robert Johnson Pete Johnson connection
is a brief but sad one. John Hammond
had wanted Robert Johnson to perform
at Carnegie Hall for his Spirituals to Swing
Concert in 1938. Unfortunately, Robert
Johnson had passed away a few months
earlier, so Big Bill Broonzy performed in
his place.

Pete Johnson and his trio had also
performed that night, helping to
create a Boogie-Woogie craze. I
just caught this funny short created
in the early 40's on TCM.
It's a little parody of
instructional dance movies
with people dancing the jitterbug
to boogie-woogie music.
As one might expect, it's
pretty square!

Happy Birthday Pete Johnson

More exhaustive research yields these

conclusive results-

drummers make excellent boogie-woogie

piano players!

Pete Johnson was one of those rare guys

that could swing with a piano trio-

"The Boogie Woogie Trio" with Albert Ammons

and Meade Lux Lewis. Johnson would

go on to work often with Big Joe Turner.

Born March 25th 1904 in Kansas City,

Johnson switched to piano and found his

calling. One can only imagine how great

his drumming must have been.

I hate that AllMusic.com lists him as a

"Jazz" artist, but here's his song page

and Amazon has plenty of downloads

available.

Here's a link to a performance on

Youtube

Supposedly, his "Rocket 88 Boogie"

influenced Ike Turner on his

"Rocket 88". When these cats play

boogie-woogie, they make a commitment

to the rhythm. It's fierce.

Happy Birthday Otis Spann!

One of the reasons Muddy Waters is just so amazing,
is his insistance on having a great backing band, and among
those that went thru Muddy's school was Otis Spann, his
pianist during the early years.

Otis was born March 21, 1930 in Jackson, Mississippi. Coming
from a music family made it easy for Otis to start playing
the piano at the age of 8. Spann moved to Chicago in the late 40's
where he had the help of Big Maceo Merriweather.

Otis provided the steady engine for Muddy's playing on tracks
like "Hoochie Coochie Man," "I'm Ready," and "Just Make Love
To Me."

Although he was to go on to a solo career, his parting with Muddy
was friendly enough that Muddy would produce and perform on
several of his albums.

One of my favorites is "The Blues Never Die!" Maybe not as
dynamic a performer as his bandleader, Otis had that relaxed
playing style where he could provide a smooth melody, and
just as quickly bite back. It was an effortless style that provided
just the right backbone for the blues. Muddy and most of his
band played on this great cd.

Otis passed away at the very young age of forty April 24, 1970.

J.B. Lenoir

J.B. Lenoir- A Unique Voice in Blues

Born in 1929 in Monticello, Mississippi,

March 5th would have been J.B.'s birthday.

Spurred on by a love of Blind Lemon Jefferson,

he moved to Chicago, and hooked up with Big

Bill Broonzy where he met alot of other

blues artists. Lenoir would go on

to record for Chess and other local labels.

Willie Dixon rediscovered Lenoir, and

produced two of his albums,

where Lenoir became quite political.

Although Lenoir might not have made it as

big as Muddy Waters, he could count many

musicians such as John Mayall as a fan.

Unlike most of the gruff, deep-voiced blues

singers, he had a unique high-pitched voice.

Very rock'n'roll. Somehow I could hear

somebody like Johnny Thunders

enjoying his singing style, not to mention

his zebra jackets. J.B. Lenoir had a great

guitar style as well, with occasional support

by one of my favorite keyboard players,

Sunnyland Slim, 2 saxes and really basic

percussion, that backed up his boogie-woogie

guitar. There's definitely a modern sound to Lenoir's

vocals that doesn't date him. With less emphasis

on guitar solos than usual for

a blues song, it makes his singing

sound urbane and the sax along with piano give

the recordings a cosmopolitan city feel.

He passed away at the age of 47, April 29th 19767

after not fully recuperating after a car accident.