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.

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.