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Tlie Other Cuks on Side One Feilture Solos on Mandolin, Drunis

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Tlie other cuks on side one feilture solos on mandolin, drunis, ~~'~xo~~~one,and j, +c? a saxoi,hone en,emble, all of ~~ilichhave a novelty,appeal ~iliichquickly weiirs tliip on repeti- tion. iluch the same nay be skid of tiAe selectioils on tile second side of the recordilig uliich is"devotetl to illilitary b~ndragtime. khough the organizations represented here are first rate, the elan of ragtime is l~rgelylost ~rlleninterpeted tllrough so much, musical firepower. Tile little know1 "Bantam btep" by Larry Jentes emerges as a higlily original rhg in'tilis'perfo,rmance by Conway's" bznd, but iii~stof the pieces consist of a few 'rudimen- tary and brittle syncopations superimposed on roltine tonic-dom- I. inant harmonies. ~veniienry ~odgeb"Pastir..e ;lagtt undergoes ri-gor iJLortiswhen transferred to the band idion. The sound on the discs is 1.Il;:t one ~rould'exi~ect from' old and uell-loved, often-played recordilias. The reproduction is ac- ce,)table, althougli occitsionslly marreu by obtrusive surface , noise, especially during sorl,e of tLe piano selections. The producers have sensibly decided agaiest electronically tin- , ker-ing with the output of tiie old discs. J, rAibjor flav in these productions is the inadequacy of the an- notation. The situation is \lorst in ilagtinle iaiio Lriginals. ..e are not giveu recording locstions or dates, release dates, nor 'even a ge~~er;:liCea of tl,e tiiie i!erio spit~i:.i~iby thc selec- tion of discs. The notes for ibaktime untertainment are some- 'urllat better, recording dates being given for several, bu't not all, o'f tile performances. But the recordiilg cornpany which issued the original record numbers are never given. Such omis- sions ~louldbe hard to forgive in any historical collection, but are especially so in one corrii)iled by Savid Jasen who has vri%ten the definitive ragtime discography. Ileviews by i.ichae1 Taft: bonny Boy ',.illiamson (Volume 3 j . John Lee "bonny Lioy" i.illiawson. 16 selections, vocal and instrumental, mbno. Blues Classics bC-24, Iiox 9195, Uerkkley, California, 94709, 1974. lJackinl & & Blues. Stick Iiorse iiarnrnond, Tornrny Lee, L;aviC "i?etel' iiclCinley, Levi Geabury, Sunny glair, The Confiners, Drifting Llim. 1'6 sele'ctions, vocal and instrumental, mono. iiuskadine ii-102, 1974. L>.C.. ox 635, i.anhattan Leach, Galif'oruia, 93266. 55.98. i:ound Taylor: iJatural boogie. ;.otiud L;og Taylor and tile iLouserockers: brewer ~41illips, TecT iiarvey. 11 selec'tions, vocal - and, instkurnentel , stereo. ~illigator47d4, 1974'. A .c; . Box 1 1741 , Pt . ljearborn Station,' Ch'icago , Illinois. b5 .'9b. blues Classics has once again produced an album of songs by the Victor Bluebird recording artist, John Lee "bonny boy" ..iClliarnson. 'This bluesman wus an important figure in the ~ilica~oblues scene for about ten years from the late 1930's until his violent death in 19hR. His music represents blues in a transitional state, having evolved from the style of southern country bluesmen to a more sophisticated urban style, but, not 'yet acquiring the slickness of later postwar rhythm and blues. His style of harmonica playing is certainly reminiscent of earlier country blues harmonica and his lyrics are mostly the same traditional lines and verses found throughout the corpus of recorded blues, but the tempo and the accompaniment of his music definitely places him among the Chicago , urban blues artists. On this album can be heard some of the other urban bluesmen as accompanists to Williamsonfs singing and harmonica playing-- .Big Rill Broonzy, Walter Davis, Robert Lee McCoy, Blind John Davis., Charlie McCoy, Washboard Sam, Big Maceo, Tampa Red, and Ransom Knowling. In fact, the accompanists to 1:Jilliamson define fairly well the Chicago "circle" of bluesmen who constantly appeared on each other's recordings from the mid 1930's through the 19h0's. Although not represented on this LP, lrlilliamson also recorded with Big Joe Wllliarns, Yank Fachell, Speckled Red, and Joshua Altheimer. One cannot study early urban blues without studying Williamson, and thus the importance of albums such as this one. I The selections vary from swinging boogie pieces like "My Little Baby" to slow-paced country-style songs like "Up the Country Blues;" lyrically non-innovat ive songs like "Sonnv Boy s Jump" ( "When my L 3 baby left me, she left me a mule to ride" ) , to commentaries on World War 11, "1 Have Got to Go" and "Win the War Blues" ("Keep the dirty Japanese from slipping in through my baby's back door" ) . Some of the tunes are taken from other well-known urban blues, For example, "Springtime Blues" is sung to the same basic tune as Leroy Carr's "IIow Long--How Long Bluest1 which was recorded thirteen years before. Here, Williamson is following others in using Carr's material. (peetie Wheatstraw, a Decca artist whose singing style influenced ~~illiamson's,used Carr's "How Long" for his "Ice and Snow Blues.") The accompaniment varies from washboard, often associated with earlier jug band music, to drums, piano, and electric guitar. The quality of the LP is quite good, with only a little fuzziness on some of the cuts. The record notes are short, but much has alreadg been written on iz[illiamson elsewhere. The notes do ~oint out that thiscartist should not be confused with the other, later, Sonny Boy Williamson (really Rice ~iller),and good discographical information is given for all songs except "Sonny Boyr s Jump" (Williamson, vocal and harmonica; Eddie Boyd, piano; Bill Sid ' Cox, guitar; Ransom Knowling, bass. Chicago, July 2, 1945. Bluebird 34-0744, matrix Ds-AB-341). Williamson can also be heard on Rlues Classics 3 and 20 and ~C~/CamdenInternational IMT-1088. -. Tlie Laskadine 'LP helps to fill an ir.l;jortant g,lp ir~tlie reis- suing of blues. T1.e 192.3's,iirltL 1931.)'~~rritl toa lesser extent, , the 1940's have well represented c;h iiloc~ernreissue labels, but tile shal.1, cbscure blues labels ~f tLe 195.)'s--J. f . .:. ,!~elta, Gotilam, etc .--r%rely f int! their way onto LL' 2 Ib~ims. Tlli s record preseuts the wcrk of six blues artists and one prison group, originally re.corded between 1953 and 1961. The first side of tLe albuw is entitled "in The Couiltry" 2nd fea- tures btick ilorse l.amril~nd, Tomrny Lee, and iJa.vid "~'ete" ~~ciiinley. ilarnrr~ond has a deep, ro,ugh voice, and altliougll he plays an ele.ctri .: guitalt, his style anil lyrics [ire tr~~iticnnl("Go get r1;y. ,black horse ; saddle my old grzy mare. " j . As "~$~,ibl.i~i'i,an", harkens back to ..asliingtorl . Iiitefs 1937 ttdllaiLe 'hh bn Lo~~li,"and his "Too Late Gttby ," lilie b. illiarnso~l's "~;,riiigtirneblues, " . is pat- terned after Leroy Carr 's 192b "iiow Long--,low Long L.lues .-" i~lsolilie ..illiansoil, l.ari~~ioi~c!uses va.r (perhaps the iioreqn lvar) as a theme in "Truck '.,m i,or.rli." Le'e' s sillgii~gstyle is reriiiri- iscent of other ~~ississip~~i' sil.gers ill its i~~teiisi-tyand is, if , a~lytl~ing,even les~relaxed than iiis 'predecessors ' . i.iciLinley is quite traditional aild could easily pass for a siliger of the 1939' s . *;is unaccgnpanied voc,..l breaks are not u~llilre';hose of Tonmy i,c(Jlenuan, but his guitar playing is definite1.y Texas and resembles the 'guitar of i,i~l,tuing;;o;jl~ins. The seconc side is elltitled "Iii The Jook Joiiitsfr aid has pie,ces by Levi Seabury, hunliy dlair, the prison group The, Confiners., and Lrifting dim.' In the liner notes, Leabury's ilasn~onica\style is lilieiled to i.illiari~son's,but, to ti is revie:rerts ear, it also has $lAe rilore couutry qualities of iroali ~e~qisor i.obert Coolisey.' Llairfs style is closer to rliytilm arid blues or - early rock and roll', wliile tlie LoLifinerts1.1usic woulcl riot be out of place at a 1950's soci,-hop. ;~riftiugdim's lyrics are quite . tr~ditionalarid tlie beat lid styie of liis r,lusic would not be ur~far~liliarto big Bill, tell yesrs earlier in Cllicago. Iliiieed all tire artists on this album w,ere influenced by i.iliism- son a.iid t!.e cllictt&o "circle, 'I but at.no time (10 t.hey aproach the virtuosity, the t~getllerness,of those earlier ur.bcn blues-. men. This sllo~rstlirtt tlle blues did. not uiidergo any sr=iooth cliroiiolog~cali;e~elo.~~er,,ent, but, at v..riuus times*, displayed v:).rious levels of botll roi.q<illlcss cllc? urbnn sopl~istica-Lion. ., Tile notes 'by, Frsnk ~cottare quite good, .and especially. nece.s- sary, since the arti'sts are ratlier ,. e ./i~co.~ra;ihici~1, notes cculd llave been improve6 rritir ti-e c,d( ition of infurmatixm 011 tile original record lnbels. Considering that these ore re- isst is, the sound ~~uaiityis good. A~OUI~R,,og Tay-lorts s1101is tllclt nlot all blues artists are OAL reissues. -iltllougll borl; i~~.lis;issi~~)i ancl rougiily the same nge as I~obertJolmsoii, Taylor is just begilliiiny liis recording career. Like some artists on the tfJook Jointv side of the Muskadine LP, Taylor is a blend of urban and rural styles. His use of lyrics is speae, but when he does sing, his blues fit traditional linguistic patterns. The song "Sitting at Home AloneIt was improvised in the. recording studio, according to the record notes, and clearly shows Taylorls country blues roots. However h5s electric guitar is played in a style quite different from the 1940's playing of Broonzy of Memphis Minnie.
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  • Memphis Slim in Paris

    Memphis Slim in Paris

    MEMPHIS SLIM IN PARIS By Alan Swyer in person, these annual events featured some intriguing onstage pairings, among them Slim with T-Bone Walker, plus Muddy Waters together with Sonny Boy Williamson. But whereas artists like John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Koko Taylor came to Europe to play the festivals, then took their cash and headed back home, Memphis Slim chose not to get back on a plane. Instead, liking the life he found in Europe - and especially in France - he set up residence in Paris. According to lore, American musicians who became expatriates in France over the years did so to escape the racism they had been subjected to at home. While that may have been true in various degrees for Josephine Baker, Sidney Bechet and others, such was hardly the case with Memphis Slim. His decision, he told me, was based on the realisation that the passage of time, coupled with the emergence of rock’n’roll, had made life tough for blues musicians, even giants like Muddy and Wolf. Instead of being forced to scuffle through the fall and winter in the States while waiting to pack his bags for summer festivals, he had discovered that rarest of combinations for an artist: continuity and respect. “Back home I’d either be sitting around or hustling,” he said with a shrug one evening. “But here I work all I want, eat tons of great food, and keep on having Memphis Slim. From the B&R Archive. fun.” “You’re a living legend,” I said playfully.