September/October 2004 Issue 270 Free 30th Anniversary Year www.jazz-blues.com Ninth Annual American Music Masters Shine A Light On Me, the Life and Legacy of Lead Belly November 1-7, 2004 Lead Belly September/October 2004 • Issue 270 Ninth Annual American Music Masters Shine A Light On Me, the Life and Legacy of Lead Belly November 1-7, 2004 Presented by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Case Published by Martin Wahl Communications ead Belly was inducted into the feur (for John Lomax) and occasional per- Editor & Founder Bill Wahl Rock and Roll Hall of Fame former. During the last 15 years of his life, Land Museum in 1988. The he found an appreciative new audience in Layout & Design Bill Wahl Rock Hall will celebrate Lead Belly’s the leftist folk community, befriending the legacy in their Ninth Annual American likes of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. Operations Jim Martin Music Masters, this November. Lead Much like Guthrie, he performed for politi- Pilar Martin Belly was one of the most influential art- cal rallies and labor unions in his later ists of the twentieth century. An emblem years. His keening, high-pitched vocals and Contributors of American Folk music, Lead Belly had powerful, percussive guitar playing com- Michael Braxton, Mark Cole, Chris a profound influence on artists such as manded attention, and he became known Hovan, Nancy Ann Lee, David Muddy Waters, Pete Seeger, Neil Young, as “the King of the Twelve-String Guitar.” McPherson, Peanuts, Mark Bob Dylan, George Harrison and Kurt Lead Belly recorded for a variety of labels, Smith, Duane Verh and Ron Cobain. including Folkways, and performed tire- Weinstock. Huddie Ledbetter, better known to lessly, though still subsisting in relative the world as “Lead Belly,” survived a life poverty, until his death in 1949 of Lou that included brutalizing poverty and long Gehrig’s disease. Check out our new, updated web stretches in prison to become an em- Ironically, the Weavers sold 2 million page. Now you can search for CD blematic folk singer and musician. He is copies of their recording of Lead Belly’s Reviews by artists, Titles, Record renowned for his songs - the best known “Goodnight, Irene” shortly after his death. Labels or JBR Writers. Twelve years of which include “Rock Island Line,” “It’s one more case of black music being of reviews are up and we’ll be going “Goodnight, Irene,” “The Midnight Spe- made famous by white people,” Pete all the way back to 1974! cial” and “Cotton Fields” - as well as his Seeger, one of the Weavers, said in 1988, Address all Correspondence to.... prowess on the 12-string guitar. In his the year of Lead Belly’s induction into the Jazz & Blues Report sixty-plus years, he essentially lived two Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “It’s a pure 19885 Detroit Road # 320 distinctly different lives: first, as a field tragedy he didn’t live another six months, Rocky River, Ohio 44116 worker, blues singer, rambling man and because all his dreams as a performer would have come true.” Main Office ...... 216.651.0626 prisoner in the rural South; second, as a Editor's Desk ... 440.331.1930 city-dwelling folksinger, performer and recording artist in the urban North. It was, TIMELINE [email protected] however, not until shortly after Lead January 20, 1889 Web .................. www.jazz-blues.com Belly’s death that a broader public came Lead Belly was born in Mooringsport, LA. Copyright © 2004 Martin-Wahl Communications Inc. to know his songs and the mythic outline 1930-34 of his life. Folklorist John Lomax travels the South, No portion of this publication may be Born circa 1885 in rural northwest recording and collecting blues, records reproduced without written permission Louisiana, Lead Belly rambled across the Lead Belly. from the publisher. All rights Reserved. Deep South from the age of 16. While 1932 Jazz Report was founded in Buffalo New working in the fields, he absorbed a vast The Lomaxes record Lead Belly. York in March of 1974 and began in Cleve- repertoire of songs and styles. He mas- June 15, 1949 tered primordial blues, spirituals, reels, land in April of 1978. We are subsidized Lead Belly performs his last concert. cowboy songs, folk ballads and prison December 6, 1949 solely through advertisement and ask that hollers. In 1917, Lead Belly served as Lead Belly dies in New York, NY. you support our advertisers. Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “lead boy” - i.e., 1950 a W division of artin-Wahl his guide, companion and protégé - on The Weavers score a double-sided hit with c o m m u n i c a t i o n s the streets of Dallas. A man possessed “Tzena, Tzena, Tzena” (#2) b/w Lead with a hot temper and enormous strength, Belly’s “Goodnight Irene” (#1 for 13 weeks). Lead Belly spent his share of time in May 26, 1950 Southern prisons. Convicted on charges The Weavers record Lead Belly’s "Buffalonious" of murder (1917) and attempted murder “Goodnight, Irene,” which becomes a popu- (1930), Lead Belly literally sang his way lar hit for them. Original mascot from to freedom, receiving pardons from the 1988 the governors of Texas and Louisiana. The Lead Belly is inducted into the Rock and Buffalo Jazz Report second of his releases was largely ob- Roll Hall of Fame. tained through the intervention of John days – mid '70s and Alan Lomax, who first heard Lead SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Belly at Angola State Prison while record- Created by Monday, November 1 Christine Engla Eber ing indigenous Southern musicians for the Library of Congress. Movie Screening of Gordon Park’s “Leadbelly” Cleveland Cinematheque Watch for new t-shirts bearing his image–coming soon! Lead Belly subsequently moved to New York, where he worked as a chauf- Continued on page 14 PAGE TWO September/October 2004 • Issue 270 Jazz on the Circle 2004-05 season schedule The tenth season of the award-win- ning Jazz on the Circle concert series will kick off in October. A collaboration between Severance Hall, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Northeast Ohio Jazz By Mark Smith Society and Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland, the four-concert season features inter- s September really here al- nationally-acclaimed guest artists. Jazz ready? What happened to all on the Circle concerts are presented in I the BBQ and beer I promised the Concert Hall at Severance Hall and myself this summer? While you’re in Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland reading this in September, deadlines Museum of Art. required that it be written in August The 2004-05 season begins on Oc- when there was still a chance at a few tober 16 with the Yellowjackets and more runs at the grill so please excuse Kevyn Lettau in Gartner Auditorium at the the brevity this month… Back to Cleveland Museum of Art. The Grammy- School Blues…. Hey kids, here’s a nominated ensemble Yellowjackets is Jazz vocalist Jane Monheit will be appear- few new blues releases to tuck into one of today’s most original quartets, and ing at Night Town on Friday and Satur- your back to school back pack: Kevyn Lettau is an international jazz day, October 8 and 9. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown- singer who first developed her unique Timeless; Duffy Bishop- Ooh Wee!; style performing with Sergio Mendes. Crossroads Blues Band- Live; New On December 4 Paquito D’Rivera Cleveland Jazz Orchestra Guitar Summit (Gerry Beaudion, J. and New York Voices will present “Bra- begins its 21st season Geils and Duke Robillard)- New Gui- zilian Dreams” in Gartner Auditorium at tar Summit; RL Burnside- A Bothered the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cuban- Ed Partyka, a composer, arranger, Mind; Mavis Staples- Have a Little born Paquito D’Rivera brings his unique bandleader and trombonist who has Faith; Junior Brown- Down Home; blend of American vocal quartets and been living and working in Germany Albert Cummings- Ture to Yourself; Brazilian music to Cleveland, with help since 1990, will be the special guest Guy Davis- Legacy; Amos Garret- from the vocal stylings of New York artist when the Cleveland Jazz Orches- The Acoustic Album; Ian Moore- Voices. tra kicks off its 21st season Saturday Luminaria; Pinetop Perkins- Ladies On February 13, 2005, legendary night, September 18, at 8 p.m. The Man (featuring Marcia Ball, Ann pianist Ahmad Jamal performs in Sever- concert will be at a new location, the Rabson, Ruth Brown, Susan Tedeschi, ance Hall’s Concert Hall. Mr. Jamal is Cuyahoga Community College Eastern Angela Strehli, Odetta and Deborah one of the most popular artists in jazz Campus Performing Arts Center at Coleman) ; Bill Perry- Raw Deal; Ray history, with a hit single, Poinciana, on Richmond and Harvard Roads in High- Charles- Genius Loves Company; the the charts for an unprecedented 108 land Hills. Kingsnakes- Live at Copperfields; weeks. Ahmad Jamal performs with Partyka, who studied with former Ivory Joe Hunter- the Kings Sides- bassist James Cammack and drummer Clevelanders Jiggs Whigham and Bill volume 1; Jackie Greene- Sweet Idris Muhammed. Dobbins and played bass trombone Somewhere Bound; Janiva Magness- The tenth season of Jazz on the with Bob Brookmeyer’s big band and Bury Him at the Crossroads; Eric Circle concludes on April 24, 2005, as the Woody Herman Orchestra, will lead Bibb- Friends (with guests Taj Mahal, Tri-C JazzFest Cleveland presents the CJO in a concert of his creative new Charlie Musselwhite, Odetta, Guy Sergio Mendes Brasil 2005 in Severance Davis, Ruthie Foster, Harry Manx and Hall’s Concert Hall.