Biografia

Discografia

GOIN' BACK TO DAYTONA (1994)

NEW ORLEANS PIANO

ROYAL BLUE

 Al Smith

URBAN BLUES (1967)

b. Coleman Pettis Jnr., c.1935, Alabama, USA, d. April 1988. Pettis worked under a variety of pseudonyms including Daddy Rabbit, Alabama Junior, and Junior Pettis. He learned to play guitar at the age of eight and moved to Chicago in 1952. He was strongly influenced by Lee Jackson, with whom he worked as rhythm guitarist, and is best known for his year spell working with Magic Slim from 1973-83. He can be heard on several of Slim's records, supplying excellent complementary work to the leader's tough playing, and he also provides occasional lead vocals and compositions. In 1987 he made his only album under his own name for the Wolf label, and he died of cancer at the beginning of April 1988.

ESSENCE OF CHRISTMAS (1991)

One of the last of the old-time Texas barrelhouse pianists, Alex Moore was an institution in Dallas, his lifelong home. A colorful entertainer with a poetic gift for rambling improvisations, Moore had one of the longest recording careers in blues history (his first sides for Columbia were made in 1929; his final session was in 1988). Yet it was hardly one of the most prolific, as there were usually lengthy gaps between sessions. The spontaneous, autobiographical nature of his latter-day recordings imbue his albums with a special charm. - Jim O'Neal

THE PIANO BLUES - DALLAS 1927-29

ONE MAN DOG (1972)

SINGS DOC POMUS/THE REAL ME

 Andrew (Blueblood) McMahon

b. 25 February 1937, Jackson, Mississippi, USA, d. 11 December 1985. A very versatile musician, Brown began playing guitar as a youngster and after moving with his mother to Chicago in 1946, was influenced by Earl Hooker. In the '50s he was associated with Freddie King and Magic Sam, but he also played jazz. He was drafted into the armed services in 1956, and on his discharge settled just outside Chicago. In the mid-'60s he recorded for the Four Brothers label; his singles usually coupled an excellent blues with a more commercial side, and he also wrote material for G.L. Crockett. He released a single on Brave in the early '70s, and despite health problems recorded for Alligator, Black Magic and Double Trouble in the years preceding his death from lung cancer.

LIVING CHICAGO BLUES, VOL. 4 (1980)

 Andy Forest

 Andy Wilkinson

A strong-voiced blues singer from Austin, TX. A former mainstay of that city's Antone's Blues Mafia, Strehli sounds great on both blues and uptempo soul material. - Cub Koda

WAY DOWN SOUTH (1990)

 Annie Mae Mcdowell

MY HOME IS IN THE DELTA

b. 15 November 1954, Dallas, Texas, USA. Funderburgh played blues guitar with local bands and in 1981 recorded with the Fabulous Thunderbirds. He later formed his own band, the Rockets and signed to blues revivalist label Black Top in 1984. Funderburgh's guitar pyrotechnics made the group a favourite at blues festivals, where they often performed with veteran harmonica player Sam Myers (b. 1936, Mississippi, USA). Myers is also featured on MY LOVE IS HERE TO STAY and SINS. In 1990, the group recorded with Snooks Eaglin.

TELL ME WHAT I WANT TO HEAR

b. 9 February 1917, Devalls Bluff, Arkansas, USA. Following a highly musical childhood, during which he learnt to play harmonica, clarinet and alto saxophone and formed his own band, Arbee Stidham moved to Chicago and met Lester Melrose who signed the young blues singer to RCA-Victor in 1947. His biggest hit, My Heart Belongs to You, was recorded at the first session in September of that year, and Stidham spent the rest of his career trying to emulate its success. After Victor (1947-50), he recorded for Sittin' In With (1951), Checker (1953), Abco (1956) and States (1957) as a vocalist, but took up the guitar in the '50s under the tutelage of Big Bill Broonzy. In 1960-61, Stidham recorded one album for Bluesville (which included a remake of his big hit) and two for Folkways, in which his singing was accompanied by his guitar. He also accompanied Memphis Slim on one of the pianist's Folkways sessions. In 1965 Stidham again recut My Heart Belongs To You for Sam Phillips. In the '70s he saw the release of a single on Blues City and a brace of albums on Mainstream and Folkways.

b. 1918, Rocky Mount, Virginia, USA. From a musical family Edwards, desire to be a guitar player developed out of the Saturday night gatherings his father held at their home during his childhood. As a teenager he learned to sing and play by mimicking the 78s of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurtand hillbilly artist, Frank Hutchinson. Most of his life he has held down day jobs, only performing at weekends or evenings at clubs in Washington, D.C. Recently, Edwards has become a great favourite on the festival circuit having visited Europe in the '80s and recorded for the German L&R label. Together with John Jacksonand John Cephas, Archie Edwards is the continuation of the east coast blues tradition begun in the '30s by Blind Boy Fuller.

 Arlen Roth

LONELY STREET

 Art Madison

IT'S TIME (1995)

WHERE IT'S AT

 Bessie Tucker

THE PIANO BLUES - DALLAS 1927-29

 Beto Villa

FATHER OF ORQUESTA TEJANA (1992)

Tough, straight-ahead blues from St. Louis, with a sound that recalls Magic Slim and the Teardrops. Big Bad Smitty and band will definitely grab you with Muddy Waters' "Still a Fool," with the great Arthur "Oscar Lee" Williams blowing snake-like harp accompaniment. Smitty's covers of Little Milton's "Walk the Back Streets Cryin'" and "Lonely Man" are especially appealing, and Smitty's own compositions are superb lyrically (especially "Feel Like Love). No hot-dogging solos here, just solid playing all around. Recommended. ~ Jeff Story, Roundup Newsletter

ST. LOUIS BLUES TODAY, VOL.2

 Big Chief Ellis

BIG CHIEF ELLIS

b. 30 July 1940, Lambert, Mississippi, USA. Johnson's father led a local band and at the age of 13 Jack was sitting in on acoustic guitar. He was inspired by B.B. King's records to switch to electric guitar five years later, and in 1962 he sat in with Frank Frost and Sam Carr, with whom he continues to work sporadically. This group recorded an album for Sam Phillips in 1963 (credited to Frank Frost And The Nighthawks) and another for Jewel in 1966, again under Frost's name. In 1979 they made an album as The Jelly Roll Kings, featuring Johnson's first vocals on record, and his first album under his own name, released in 1987, confirmed that he had very strong traditional Mississippi blues roots. His follow-up album in 1989 was more experimental and musically less successful, but a single for Rooster in 1990 found him back on form.

VOLUME 4 (1946-1949)

b. Mabel Louise Smith, 1 May c.1920, Jackson, Tennessee, USA, d. 23 January 1972. Maybelle was discovered singing in church by Memphis bandleader Dave Clark in 1935. When Clark disbanded his orchestra to concentrate on record promotion, Smith moved to Christine Chatman's orchestra with whom she first recorded for Decca in 1944. Three years later, Smith made solo records for King and in 1952 she recorded as Big Maybelle when producer Fred Mendelsohn signed her to OKeh, a subsidiary of CBS. Her blues shouting style (a female counterpart to Big Joe Turner) brought an R&B hit the next year with Gabbin Blues� (a cleaned-up version of the �dirty dozens� on which she was partnered by songwriter Rose Marie McCoy). Way Back Home and My Country Man were also best sellers. In 1955, she made the first recording of Whole Lotta Shakin Goin� On�, which later became a major hit for Jerry Lee Lewis. Big Maybelle was also a star attraction on the chitlin� circuit of black clubs, with an act that included risque comedy as well as emotive ballads and brisk boogies. Leaving OKeh, she next recorded for Savoy where Candy (1956) brought more success and in 1958, she appeared in JAZZ ON A SUMMER'S DAY, the film of that year's Newport Jazz Festival. Despite her acknowledged influence on the soul styles of the '60s, later records for Brunswick, Scepter and Chess made little impact until she signed to the Rojac label in 1966. There she was persuaded to cut some recent pop hits by the Beatles and Donovan and had some minor chart success of her own with versions of Don't Pass Me By and 96 Tears. The latter was composed by Rudy Martinez who also recorded it with his band ? & the Mysterians. Maybelle's career was marred by frequent drug problems which contributed to her early death in Cleveland Ohio in January 1972.

Performer

A classic album with horton in great form -- sort of a musical tour of the wide variety of musical styles that Horton has mastered. Includes a fine verion of "Hard Hearted Woman". The all-star band includes Buddy Guy (g), Jack Myers (b), Willie Dixon (v), and Willie Smith (d). ~ Michael Erlewine

MASTERS OF THE MODERN BLUES

 Bill Neely

b. 21 May 1932, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 28 October 1991, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. A promising gospel singer as a child, he would often sneak into Atlanta's famous 81 Theater to watch the secular shows and eventually turned to performing the blues. His soulful voice came to the attention of Savoy Records, who secured a US R&B Top 5 hit with his debut record Blues For My Baby in 1949. Other less successful releases followed, but Wright's strength was in his live performances, earning him the nickname�Prince Of The Blues. After his Savoy tenure, Wright recorded for Peacock in 1955 and then passed on the baton to his devoted admirers Little Richard, James Brown and Otis Redding. In the late '50s he made his final recordings for Bobby Robinson's Fire Records and tiny local labels, Carrollton and Chris, before settling down in Atlanta, where he continued to perform and introduces acts as a compere until his death in 1991.

b. Babe Kyro Lemon Turner, 21 December 1907, Hughes Springs, Texas, USA, d. 7 November 1972, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. Black Ace was a blues guitarist from childhood, but his mature style developed after he moved to Shreveport in the mid-30s and met Oscar Woods. In 1937 he recorded six superb blues for Decca, singing in his deep voice and playing fluent, complex slide guitar, his steel bodied instrument held across his lap and fretted with a small bottle. Ace was a frequent broadcaster on local radio, and made an appearance in the 1941 film BLOOD OF JESUS, but after Army service from 1943, he largely abandoned music; when found in 1960, however, he had retained all his abilities, and recorded a splendid album.

 Black Slate

b. Arthur Blake (or possibly Phelps), 1890s, Jacksonville Florida, USA d. c.1933. One of the very finest of pre-war blues guitarists, Blind Blake is nevertheless a very obscure figure. Almost nothing is known of his early years, but it is reputed that he moved around the east coast states of the USA, as various musicians have recalled meeting him in a number of different locations. It seems likely, however, that he settled in Chicago sometime in the '20s, and it was there that he first recorded for Paramount Records in 1926. Along with Blind Lemon Jefferson he was one of the first black guitarist to make a commercially successful record. Following his first hit, the ragtime guitar solo West Coast Blues he recorded regularly, producing about 80 issued tracks. It has been argued that Blake should not be described as a blues artist, and indeed his songs range from straight blues, through older traditional-style items like Georgia Bound to vaudeville numbers like He's In The Jailhouse Now. Whatever the idiom, his accompaniment was always a model of taste, skill and creative imagination�his notes cleanly picked and ringing: his rhythms steady. His musical talents are perhaps given fullest rein on the stunningly dextrous ragtime solos such as Southern Rag and Blind Arthur's Breakdown. Further superb Blake accompaniments can be heard on the records of other artists such as Ma Rainey and Irene Scruggs, and there is one very memorable duet with Charlie Spand, Hastings Street. As well as his many solo records, he occasionally appeared with a small band. It is likely that he died soon after the demise of Paramount Records in the early '30s, but his influence lived on in the work of eastern artists such as Blind Boy Fullerand others.

RAGTIME BLUES GUITAR 1927-30

 Blind James Campbell

BLIND JAMES CAMPBELL & HIS NASHVILLE STREET BAND (1963)

 Blind Joe Hill

b. 7 December 1913, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA, d. 12 October 1985, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Davis taught himself piano after being blinded in 1923, and led his own six-piece band for 15 years from 1938. He professed not to care for blues, but his fame rests on the hundreds of blues accompaniments he recorded during the late '30s and early '40s. Among those who used him were �Big� Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red and �Doctor� Peter Clayton. Usually he worked in a small band setting where his generally unspectacular playing would sometimes show a quiet inventiveness. His self-accompanied 1938 vocal recordings are mediocre, but his backup work, with its rolling right hand figures, was both immediately recognizable and creatively varied. In the postwar years, Davis was an early visitor to Europe, recording two albums in Paris in 1952, revealing a personal taste for song such as O Sole Mio and Lady Be Good. Despite his declared preferences they, and subsequent, albums emphasized blues and boogie, with a smattering of jazz and popular music. Seldom profound (although his song No Mail Today is a beautiful piece of controlled melancholy), Davis was always proficient and professional.

 Blind Roosevelt Graves

COMPLETE RECORDED WORKS (1929-1936)

 Blues Boy Willie

STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING

b. Armenter Chatmon, 21 March 1893, Bolton, Mississippi, USA, d. 21 September 1964, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. One of Henderson Chatmon's many musical sons, Bo Carter was a performing, and occasionally a recording, member of the family band, the Mississippi Sheiks.He played on guitar and violin, but it was as a solo singer and guitarist that he was best known on record. A talented and original player whose steel guitar provided him with an instantly recognizable sound, he was the first to record Corrine Corrina, and could compose sensitive, introspective songs like Sorry Feeling Blues. However, both his guitar talents and his sensitivity were under-employed on record, where he recorded many tracks with titles like Banana In Your Fruit Basket and Please Warm My Weiner with stereotyped accompaniments. Blindness and changing fashions ended his career in the early '40s, and he died in poverty.

UPTOWN BLUES - A DECADE OF GUITAR-PIANO DUETS 1927-1937

 Bob Kirkpatrick

 Bob Margolin

JACKS & KINGS & FULL HOUSE VOL 1 & 2

 Bob Riedy

 Bobby Emmons

R&B singer Parker is best recalled for Watch Your Step, a frantic, exciting performance released in 1961. This self-penned single was a minor US hit, peaking at number 51, but nonetheless secured a British release on the renowned London label. Although never a chart entry, the song proved highly popular and was a staple part of many groups' repertoires. Tony Jackson and the Spencer Davis Group were among those recording sympathetic interpretations and such interest inspired Sue Records to reissue the original version. Another Parker composition, Steal Your Heart Away, completed the coupling, and this impassioned ballad, based on Ray Charles' I Believe To My Soul, was also the subject of several interpretations, notably by the Moody Blues and Cliff Bennett And The Rebel Rousers. In 1969, the singer recorded a single, It's Hard But It's Fair/I Couldn't Quit My Baby, for the UK specialist outlet Blue Horizon. Parker's debut album was released on the Black Top label in 1993

b. 22 September 1951, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. Radcliff started to play guitar at 12 years old. In the '60s and '70s he worked on the Washington DC blues scene, associating with veterans such as Thomas �TNT� Tribble and Bobby Parker. By the end of the '60s he spent some time in Chicago, meeting and absorbing the music of bluesmen such as Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and Jimmy Dawkins. Radcliff moved to New York in 1977 and in the early '80s he recorded a little edition album for the A-OK label. Towards the end of the decade he was recommended to his present label, Black Top Records, by Ronnie Earl, and his first album for them was highly acclaimed. Radcliff is a strong singer and a powerful, rhythmic guitarist who utilizes elements of soul and funk in his playing.

BLACK TOP BLUES-A-RAMA: A BUDGET SAMPLER

This woman heralds the next generation of Swamp Queens -- lighter on the boogie, heavier on the funk -- with a joyous, amphibious splash! This 1992 debut features 6 Crocko-Rocker originals, plus 2 covers, all guaranteed to move you in a variety of directions! Bobi plays keyboards, electric guitar and bass, plus wails/croons/belts it out -- you get the picture! Includes the sweet "Would You Be Here," for Janis Jopiln, plus "Hard Rockin' Woman," "Born Under a Bad Sign," "Merida," which introduces Venetia Phillips on trumpet. ~ Ladyslipper

 Bonnie Lee

I'M GOOD: CHICAGO BLUES SESSION, V.7

Although he lived in New Orleans most of his life, and none other than Fats Domino brought him to Imperial Records for his recording debut in 1953, Boogie Bill Webb was never much a part of the New Orleans R&B scene. Webb's music grew out of the Jackson area country-blues tradition of Tommy Johnson and others, and he retained a down-home, idiosyncratic approach to a wide range of material from C&W to R&B and traditional jazz. Beginning in 1966, Webb recorded occasionally for folklorists and field researchers, finally recording his first full album in 1986 with funding from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Album producer Ben Sandmel, who also played drums with Webb for five years, described Boogie Bill's approach as "quirky, often anarchic," but it is appealing in its very unpredictability, humor, and warmth. - Jim O'Neal

DRINKIN' AND STINKIN' (1989)

 Brown Gal

WHOOPIN' THE BLUES: THE CAPITOL RECORDINGS, 1947-1950

 Buddy B Hawkins

GEORGIA GUITAR WIZARD, (1928-1935) (1987)

b. Arley Benton, 19 July 1932, Texarkana, Arkansas, USA. Benton sang in a gospel choir as a youngster, before moving in 1952 to Toledo, Ohio, where he began playing guitar and turned to the blues, influenced by Sam Cooke and B.B. King. Around the end of the '50s he settled in Chicago, where he led his own band and recorded for the Melloway, Twinight and Alteen labels. He owned the Stardust Lounge for some time in the early '70s but spent several years as guitarist with Willie Dixon. Benton had a hit for Jewel Records with Spider In My Stew in the mid-'70s, and recordings he made later for Ralph Bass were issued on several labels worldwide. In the '80s he recorded for Blue Phoenix, and despite some serious health problems he continues to perform, with his latest recordings available on Ichiban.

b. 15 August 1911, Cordele Georgia, USA, d. 31 January 1976. Brown played harmonica at local clubs and made a few recordings including I'm Gonna Make You Happy in 1943. Brown moved to New York in 1956 where he was discovered by Fire Records owner Bobby Robinson while working in a chicken and barbecue joint. In 1959, he recorded the archaic sounding blues Fannie Mae, whose tough harmonica riffs took it into the US Top 40. His similar-sounding Sugar Babe (1961) was covered in the UK by Jimmy Powell. In later years he recorded for Checker and for numerous small labels including Serock, Gwenn and Astroscope. Brown died in Brooklyn, New York City in January 1976.

 Buster Smith

b. 17 April 1933, Monticello, Mississippi, USA. Smith began playing guitar in church, but after settling in Chicago in 1958 he started singing blues and was tutored on guitar by Herbert Sumlin and Freddie Robinson. He recorded for several local labels (including, reputedly, Cobra and VeeJay), and worked with numerous gospel and blues groups, occasionally sitting in with his cousin J.B. LenoirIn the late '60s he left music, returning in the early '70s as house guitarist at the famed Theresa's Lounge in Chicago, and enjoying a minor hit for CJ Records with Give Me My White Robe. In 1983, Smith recorded an acclaimed album for Grits, with the follow-up two years later being reissued in 1991; Byther has also recorded for JSP. Smith is a modern, though traditionally-rooted Chicago bluesman with a very large repertoire.

 Cal Green

SCRATCHIN'

 Carey Bell Harrington

b. 15 April 1906, Big Stone Gap, Virginia, USA, d. 1978. Like his father, the multi-instrumentalist Martin played in a string band, although he is also known for his work in the blues field. In his teens he met Howard Armstrong and, in 1930, the two musicians, along with Martin's brother Roland, recorded under the name of the Tennessee Chocolate Drops. It gives some indication of their sound that the record was also issued in the company's country music series (under a different credit). A couple of years later, Martin moved to Chicago and joined the blues circuit, recording under his own name as well as accompanying diverse artists such as Tampa Red and Freddie Spruell. In the '60s, Martin and Armstrong, with guitarist Ted Bogan, brought the old string band sound to a new audience.

This sounds like two pros having fun, with good reason. Fran's voice is on the light side, but with 40-odd years of singing everywhere from Guitar Slim tours to piano bars, she uses everything she has to the fullest. The depth of Hollimon's past parallels Fran's. As a session player in Houston, he played on classic hits by Bobby Bland and Little Junior Parker. He also worked with Charles Brown, Dionne Warwick, Nancy Wilson, and even Kenny Rogers. The experience shows, not just in chops, but in taste, ideas, and a command of the instrument that's liable to make the hands of lesser players ache. Lots of blues here, as well as some flirting with soul, zydeco, Latin jazz, and gospel. ~ Tom Smith, Roundup Newsletter

SOUL SENSATION! (1992)

b. Edward P. Harris, 22 August 1923, Leasburg, North Carolina, USA, d. 22 October 1953, Newark, New Jersey, USA. Little is known about Harris, but it seems that he started his musical career in North Carolina and moved to Newark about the time of his first recordings in 1950. Records followed on three different labels, under four different pseudonyms; Carolina Slim, Jammin' Jim, Country Paul and Lazy Slim Jim. These records are unusual for their time in that many of them feature solo country blues, either in the Carolina style of Blind Boy Fuller, or blatant copies of Lightnin' Hopkins, although all are skilful and convincing performances. At his best, Slim could synthesize his influences to produce a satisfyingly distinctive sound, but unfortunately he did not live long enough to develop a real style of his own.

b. 25 August 1941, Fort Gaines, Georgia, USA. Smith appeared at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival as a member of a New Jersey church choir, but her solo professional career did not take off until the early '70s. An appearance with Dick Hyman and the New York Jazz Repertory Orchestraat Carnegie Hall in 1974 should have alerted audiences to her exceptional qualities, but for the rest of the decade she was much better received in Europe than in the USA. Her tours of festivals and concert halls were sometimes as a single, but also in company with NYJRO, Tyree Glenn, the World's Greatest Jazz Band and others. Smith's style is rooted in the blues and gospel but her repertoire is wide, encompassing many areas of 20th-century popular music. Her voice is deep and powerful and she is especially effective in live performances. Although her reputation has grown throughout the '80s, she still remains far less well-known than her considerable talent warrants.

Jones is one of Chicago's most solid and swinging drummers, his work on numerous sessions (particularly behind Albert Collins) showing him off to good effect. - Cub Koda

b. Maurice Dollison, 28 January 1941, New Madrid, Missouri, USA. McCall was a songwriter, session musician and vocalist in the R&B and gospel fields. Best known for his 1966 R&B hit When You Wake Up, McCall began singing with the gospel Belmont Singers at the age of 12. Moving to Chicago in the '60s, he played guitar for the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, Pilgrim Jubilee Singers and Gospel Songbirds. His secular recording career began in 1963 for One-derful Records. He next signed to the small Thomas label, for which he recorded his only R&B chart hit. Subsequent releases for labels such as Checker, Ronn, Paula, and Columbia Records did not fare as well. In 1967, McCall wrote That's How Love Is, a hit for Otis Clay, and also penned songs for artists including Etta James and Tyrone Davis.

GINGER ALE AFTERNOON (SDTK)

 Catfish Hodge

THIS TIME

VOL. 2, 1929-45

 Charles Band Ford

CHARLES FORD BAND (1972)

 Charles Wilson

SAMMY KAYE

b. c.1890, Mabelvale, Arkansas, USA, d. 15 November 1954, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Jordan arrived in St. Louis in 1925, and became a major figure on the city's blues scene, being closely associated with Peetie Wheatstraw, and acting as a talent scout for record companies. In 1928, he was crippled by a shooting incident connected with his bootlegging activities. Jordan recorded extensively from 1930-37, playing light, clean, but often very complex, ragtime-influenced guitar, and singing his wittily original lyrics in a high, taut voice. He accompanied many of his St. Louis contemporaries on disc, notably �Hi� Henry Brown, for whom his second guitar work is a dazzling display of improvising skills.

WILLOW IN THE WIND

Details on Spand's early history and later life is scant. What is known is that he recorded in excess of 20 tracks for the Paramount label between 1929 and 1931 and a further eight for OKeh Records in 1940. He was a friend and working partner of Blind Blake, with whom he recorded the classic Hastings Street and appeared on the Paramount sampler disc Home Town Skiffle. Spand's piano work was in the powerful Detroit style and his writing skills were considerable. His first recording Soon This Morning became something of a staple for blues pianists. Working mainly in Chicago he was known to artists such as Little Brother Montgomeryand Jimmy Yancey but after the war he disappeared. It is speculated, by Francis Wilford Smith, that Spand was born around the turn of the century in Ellijay, Georgia and retired to Los Angeles

 Chicago Bob

I GOT A BIG FAT WOMAN (1994)

 Chicago Slim

b. Robert L. Willis, 24 September 1934, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Willis primary influence was Eddie �Guitar Slim� Jones, who he saw numerous times in Atlanta. As a guitarist he toured with many R&B acts in the '50s, including Nappy Brown, Ray Charles, and Big Joe Turner, and for several years he was on tour with his cousin Chuck Willis. In the '60s he began fronting his own band. He had made his recording debut around 1956, but for many years he was confined to working for small singles� companies. In 1972, he had a huge hit with the risqué Stoop Down Baby achieved without any airplay, and he is still often billed as �the Stoop Down Man�. He can still produce pure '50s style blues and R&B from time to time.

STOOP DOWN BABY, LET YOUR DADDY SEE/GOLDEN CLASSIC

The latest release from the Chris Cain Band emphasizes originals that swing hard. The west coast guitarist/vocalist, who also plays piano on two cuts here, is backed by bass, drums, keyboards, and two saxophones. This is blues with a twist, as on the gospel-laced "My Life Is Getting Sweeter" and jazzy instrumental, "Gin 'n' Soda." Blues giant Albert King had this to say: "Chris Cain is a hard worker. I love him. I saw him when he was here in Memphis. I don't usually listen to a band long, but I listened through two shows 'cause I really enjoy him. I mean, the whole band is working hard, and I like that!" ~ Roundup newsletter

 Christian Willisohn

LIPSTICK TRACES (1992)

b. 25 March 1933, Linsey, Louisiana, USA, d. 20 May 1993. Edwards began playing blues guitar at around the age of 12, when he moved into Baton Rouge. In the '50s and '60s, he was working the same local blues circuit as men like Lightnin' Slim, in bands with names such as the Boogie Beats and the Bluebird Kings. His first experience of recording was in a traditional setting, in sessions for folklorist Harry Oster between 1959 and 1961, with his brother Cornelius and violinist James �Butch� Cage. Nine years later, he recorded again, this time with a more contemporary sound, and since the mid-80s, when the blues scene revived with the help of Tabby Thomas's Blues Box club, he has been playing regularly again. In 1990, he made his first album, a powerful mixture of acoustic and electric sounds in the swamp blues style.

LOUISIANA SWAMP BLUES, VOL 4

b. 15 March 1929, Galveston, Texas, USA. A self-taught blues piano player, Clarence �Candy� Green performed on radio and in the numerous clubs of Galveston, a naval town known as the �Playground Of the South�. His first record was Green's Bounce, made in Houston for Eddie's in 1948. His brother Cal Green was a guitarist who also recorded. Candy recorded Hard Headed Woman (Peacock) before starting army service in 1951. Returning to Texas two years later, he remained a familiar figure in local clubs throughout the '50s, sometimes recording as Galveston Green and working with Clarence �Gatemouth� Brown. In 1966 he cut the soulful I Saw You Last Night (Duke).

TEXAS GUITAR GREATS, VOL 1

b. 28 March 1887, Kingsport, Tennessee, USA, d. 9 January 1957. Living and playing in Chicago from the age of 20, pianist and vocalist Lofton became a popular accompanist to visiting blues singers, in many instances appearing in this role on record. He worked steadily through the '30s, proving very popular in the Windy City, and enjoyed the fleeting benefits of the boogie-woogie craze. Influenced by Charles Cow Cow Davenport and Jimmy Yancey, he in turn influenced a number of other pianists, notably Meade Lux Lewis.

UPTOWN BLUES - A DECADE OF GUITAR-PIANO DUETS 1927-1937

b. 17 April 1901, Louisville, Kentucky, USA, d. 21 December 1963, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. The bulk of Gibson's recordings (20 titles) were made in 1929, by which time Gibson was one of the most respected blues guitarists in St. Louis. Influenced by Lonnie Johnson, Gibson had a similar clear diction and a penchant for original, moralizing lyrics. His guitar work, characterized by extended treble runs, was outstanding: clean, precise, inventive, and at times astonishingly fast. Away from the studios, he worked as a street musician, assisted by a performing dog. He recorded (in a small band format) as Grandpappy Gibsonfor Bobbin in 1960.

GUITAR-PIANO DUETS 1929-1937

 Clifford Hayes

CLIFFORD HAYES & DIXIELAND JUG BAND

 Crazy Cavan

b. 15 November 1927, Mattson, Mississippi, USA. Raised from the age of 12 in Clarksdale, Love studied trombone and band theory in high school, and learned to play the piano while in the army. Returning to Vicksburg, he formed his band, The Shufflers, with schoolfriends Jesse Flowers and Henry Reed, and played the area's nightspots. His first cousin, Earl Reed, had recorded for Trumpet, and recommended Love's group to owner Lillian McMurry. The band first recorded in Jackson, Mississippi. on 3 May 1951, but the titles, Susie and Shufflin With Love�, were re-recorded on 10 June and released on Trumpet 138. The following year, in Chicago, he recorded a single for Aladdin. Back in Clarksdale, Love joined up with Ike Turner with whom he recorded for Modern in 1954, and, as a member of Turner's Kings Of Rhythm, for Federal in April 1957 and reissued in 1991. Despite the band's full gig sheet, Love quit to become a teacher in the St. Louis public school system. After retiring at the end of the '80s, in April 1990 he recorded, in company with Johnnie Johnson and Jimmy Vaughan, ROCKIN� EIGHTY-EIGHTS, his four songs including a remake of The Big Question, first recorded for Federal.

UPTOWN BLUES - A DECADE OF GUITAR-PIANO DUETS 1927-1937

b. 25 March 1906, Covington, Georgia, USA, d. 20 September 1960, Almon, Georgia, USA. Weaver's mother taught him his first lessons on guitar, and he moved to Atlanta in the '20s, where he played with musicians such as Charlie and Robert Hicks (aka Charley Lincolnand Barbecue Bob). He made his first records in 1928, and recorded frequently up to 1935 as a solo artist, and also as an accompanist to other artists including Eugene �Buddy� Moss and Blind Willie McTell. He also appeared in the groups the Georgia Cotton Pickers and the Georgia Browns. These show him as a versatile and skilled musician, whose work encompassed a range of styles from ragtime-flavoured numbers to tough bottleneck blues. In the '40s and early '50s, Weaver continued to be musically active and made a few more records, which rank among the best country blues recordings of the period.

PLAY MY JUKE BOX - EAST COAST BLUES (1943-1954)

b. 18 August 1906, Naples, Texas USA, d. 11 September 1971, Munich, Germany. One of a coterie of bluesman who were to make Europe their home, pianist Jones began his recording career in 1947 and his first release, Lonesome Bedroom Blues, was a major hit. The song remained in Columbia's catalogue until the demise of the 78, eventually becoming a blues standard in the repertoire of others. On the strength of that success, Jones enjoyed a voluminous recording career until 1941 whereupon he worked outside of music. In 1958 blues enthusiasts located him living in run down conditions in Chicago. In the '60s Jones recorded albums for Bluesville, Delmark, Deccaand Blue Horizon. He died in penury, his grave in Germany being sold in 1979 because no one paid for its upkeep.

Performer

b. 1932, Buckinghamshire, England, d. 7 January 1964. Along with Alexis Korner and Graham Bond, the uncompromising Davies was a seminal influence in the development of British R&B during the beat boom of the early '60s. His superb wailing and distorted harmonica shook the walls of many clubs up and down Britain. Initially he played with Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and then formed his own band, the All-Stars, featuring Long John Baldry, renowned session pianist Nicky Hopkins and drummer Mickey Waller. Their Chicago-based blues was raw, loud and exciting. Like Bond he died at a tragically young age, after losing his battle with leukaemia.

As a soul singer from the heart of zydeco country, Dalton Reed's chosen musical path makes his life a little tougher on his home turf. It obviously hasn't shaken him. This debut shows off the voice, authority, humor, and warmth of a first-class southern soul talent. Plaintive ballads like "I'm Only Guilty of Loving You" are especially good. Happier tunes like "Keep the Faith" are right in the pocket, but the deeper stuff like Doc Pomus and Mac Rebennack's moody "Full Moon" and Reed's version of Otis Redding's "Chained and Bound" are the ones that make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Especially recommended to southern soul lovers. ~ Tom Smith, Roundup Newsletter

Performer

 Dan Burley

SOUTH SIDE SHAKE 1945-1951

b. James Founty. Pickett was a singer and guitarist, whose August 1949 recordings prompted years of speculation. Many noted his stylistic links with the blues of the east coast, and it was through company files that critics discovered his real name. Pickett's repertoire was derived almost exclusively from '30s recordings, and his virtuosity went into the delivery, rather than the composition, of his songs, which sound as if they could have been recorded a decade or so earlier. However, the transformations to which he subjected many songs are the work of a true original. His guitar playing, influenced by Tampa Red is complex but effortlessly fluent, and perfectly integrated with his intense but extrovert singing, which is often remarkable for the number of words crammed into a single line.

BUSINESS AS USUAL (1991)

b. 10 March 1938, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. Alexander began to play piano after hearing a record by Albert Ammons on the radio around 1945. His first professional appearance was in 1954; however, he joined the navy at the age of 17, was discharged in 1958 and moved to Oakland, California. He played all over the west coast, but in 1968 was badly wounded in a domestic quarrel and during his hospitalization he started writing his own material. In 1969 he recorded for World Pacific (featuring Albert Collins) and later made two albums for Arhoolie Records. He also recorded with L.C. Robinson. In 1976 he changed his name to Omar Hakim Khayyam and is now known as Omar The Magnificent. A versatile pianist and singer who mixes elements of jazz with his strong blues and boogie-woogie playing, his live show is a capsule of blues piano.

b. 30 March 1948, Heswall, Cheshire, England. Dave Hole's family moved to Perth, Western Australia when Dave was four years old. The music of the Rolling Stones inspired him to pick up the guitar, and through them he discovered Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. He had been playing for some 10 years before he took up slide guitar. A broken little finger caused him to play over the fretboard with the slide on his index finger, an unconventional method also adopted by Stan Webb. With various musicians, Hole led bands for some 20 years, playing the �booze barns� around the Western Territory. A self-produced cassette which he sold at gigs found its way to Europe and America, where a Guitar Player article resulted in a deal with Alligator. The same album, SHORT FUSE BLUES, prompted Gary Moore to add Hole to his 1992 European tour. Like many of his American counterparts, Hole is happy to play rousing, bar-band blues rock that is best heard live but which is still entertaining on the albums that have followed.

 Dave Jasen

26 HAPPY HONKY TONK MEMORIES (1987)

b. David Eckford, c.1942, Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. Dee's family moved to East St. Louis when he was a baby. He sang gospel music when he was 12-years-old and after a spell in the services he formed the short-lived vocal group David And The Temptations. In 1968 he began playing bass guitar in his own band, switching to guitar in 1972� influenced by Little Milton Albert King, B.B. King, and Eddie �Guitar Slim� Jones. In 1982 he enjoyed a big local hit with the uptempo blues Going Fishing on Oliver Sain's Venessa label, which established him as a major figure on the St. Louis blues scene, and Edge Records and Ichiban have also issued Dee's material.

 Deacon Jones

Bogart's second album is even more potent than her debut, chock full of great songs and tons of great playing from her on piano and saxophone. Her originals "Tell Me," "My Blue Mood," and "Don't Know A Thing (About Love)" are just some of the highlights. ~ Cub Koda

OUT TO GET YOU

 Dicky Williams

b. 13 October 1947, Jackson, Mississippi, USA. Moore was one of the last great southern soul singers finding success in the late '70s when disco and funk were making deep soul increasingly a marginalized form limited to the south. She began her career at Jackson State University where she formed an all-female group called the Poppies. The group recorded for Columbia Records� Date subsidiary but never reached the national charts. She established a solo career in 1976 with a series of remarkable ballads for Malaco Records, hitting with Misty Blue (number 2 R&B, number 3 pop) and Funny How Time Slips Away (number 7 R&B, number 58 pop) in 1976 (the latter the Willie Nelson song); and I Believe You (number 5 R&B, number 27 pop) in 1977. Moore's recordings in the next few years were not nearly as successful as she succumbed increasingly to the disco trend. She left the business for several years, but in 1986 recorded a fine gospel album in Nashville, GIVING IT STRAIGHT TO YOU for the Rejoice label. It yielded a masterful remake of Brother Joe May's What Is This that became a Top 10 gospel hit. Moore returned to secular music in 1988 recording, in the deep soul-style, two albums for the Volt subsidiary of Fantasy. In 1990 she began recording for her original label, Malaco.

Background Vocals

 Dorothy Washington

 Doug Macleod

AIN'T THE BLUES EVIL

A triple-threat guitarist, harp blower, and vocalist, Dr. Ross decided to fire his sidemen over thirty years ago and carry on as a one-man band, a tradition that also includes Joe Hill Louis, Daddy Stovepipe, and Jesse Fuller. Ross's music does not depend on novelty effect, yet it has a distinctly recognizable sound, in part because he learned to play his own way and essentially plays everything backwards. His guitar is tuned to open "G" (like John Lee Hooker and other Delta artists), but Ross plays it left-handed and upside-down. He also plays harmonica in a rack, but it is turned around with the low notes to the right. As an instrumentalist, Ross has perfected the interplay between guitar and harmonica. Unlike other Delta artists who tune in "G", Ross doesn't use slide, preferring a series of banjo-like strummed riffs, a percussive approach reminiscent of Atlanta twelve-string guitarist Barbecue Bob. A strong vocalist and excellent songwriter, Ross gained early experience playing Delta jukes and eventually landed radio shows in Clarksdale and Memphis, where he also recorded for Sam Phillips's Sun label. At the peak of Ross's career, he quit Sun, concerned that his royalties were being used to promote Elvis Presley's recordings. Relocating in Michigan, he recorded for his own label and for several Detroit labels, while working for General Motors. Returning to music as a recording artist, he recently worked the festival circuit. To the present day, Ross's music retains the spirit of his live radio and juke-joint work. I feel the sides he recorded with a band for Sun produced his best material, including classics like "Chicago Breakdown" and "Boogie Disease." As Dr. Ross put it in an interview ten years ago, "I'm kind of like the little boy from the West; I'm different from the rest." Different, yes, but very good. - Barry Lee Pearson

CALL THE DOCTOR (1965)

I WANT ALL MY FRIENDS TO KNOW - LIVE AT THE BURNLEY BLUES FESTIVAL 1991

 Driftin' Slim

Drink's own special blend of Delta, Chicago, and Carolina blues. Some band stuff, some solo stuff. Particularly wonderful is Drink's rich, gospel-influenced bass voice. A truly unique artist sharing his unique point of view. Includes a couple of saucy items ("Tittie Man" and "Baby, Leave Your Panties Home") along with covers of "Little Red Rooster" and "Stormy Monday Blues." ~ Niles J. Frantz

Primary Artist

 Duke Tumatoe & Power Trio

I LIKE MY JOB

Dutch is a blues singer from Nova Scotia. - Chip Renner

YOU CAN'T HAVE EVERYTHING

Debut by San Diego, California-based blues/R&B singer noted for his impassioned delivery. Includes "Nothing Left to Lose," "I Sing the Blues," "The Way She Shakes That Thang," and seven more. ~ Roundup Newsletter

THE BLUES DON'T CHANGE

b. May 1905, Forest Deposit, Alabama, USA, d. 1965. A guitarist who, it has recently been confirmed, also recorded as 'Barefoot Bill' and 'Sluefoot Joe' between 1927 and 1930. Bell stands as the most influential Alabama artist in pre-war blues recordings. With well over three-quarters of his material issued, Bell's Mamlish Blues and Hambone Blues were to define the style of the region and his contemporaries. His influences could still be detected in the '70s' recordings of fellow Alabamian, John Lee. The circumstances of Bell's death are shrouded in mystery but it is thought he died in the '60s during a civil right's march.

FROM RATS TO RICHES (1978)

With Williams� Orchestra, Vinson also recorded for Hit Records (1944), Capitol Records (1945) and appeared in a short film, FILM VODVIL, before leaving to form his own big band in late 1945 and recording for Mercury Records. At Mercury he recorded small group bop and blasting band instrumentals, but his main output was the fine body of suggestive jump-blues sung in his unique wheezy Texas style. Hits such as Juice Head Baby, Kidney Stew Blues and Old Maid Boogie were the exceptions, however, as most of Vinson's no-holds-barred songs, including Some Women Do, Oil Man Blues and Ever-Ready Blues, were simply too raunchy for airplay. After the 1948 union ban, Vinson began recording for King Records in a largely unchanged style (I'm Gonna Wind Your Clock, I'm Weak But Willing, Somebody Done Stole My Cherry Red), often with all-star jazz units. However, his records were not promoted as well as King's biggest R&B stars, like Wynonie Harris and Roy Brown, and he left to return to Mercury in the early '50s, rejoining Cootie Williams� small band briefly in the mid-50s. In 1957 he toured with Count Basie's Orchestra and made some recordings with a small Basie unit for King's jazz subsidiary, Bethlehem Records, after which he retired to Houston. In 1961 he was rediscovered by fellow alto saxophonist, Cannonball Adderley, and a fine album resulted on Riverside Records with the Adderley brothers� small band. From then until his death in 1988, Vinson found full-time employment at worldwide jazz and blues festivals, a steady international touring schedule and dozens of credible albums on such jazz and blues labels as Black & Blue, Bluesway, Pablo, Muse and JSP.

STORMY MONDAY

 Eddie Burks

VAMPIRE WOMAN (1991)

b. 6 May 1939, Duncan, Mississippi, USA. Campbell began playing music on a one-string guitar, and later moved to Chicago with his family at the age of seven. He was inspired by Muddy Waters to learn to play seriously, and in the late '50s he was part of the coterie of young, exciting blues guitarists on the city's west side (acquaintances included Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Luther Allison and Willie James Lyons). He made a few recordings for small, local labels but his debut album in the '70s suffered from poor distribution. He did, however, gain international acclaim in 1979 as a member of the American Blues Legends tour. He returned to Chicago, but settled in Europe in 1984 and has since acquired a large following for his style of blues.

MIND TROUBLE

 Eddie Guitar Burns

b. 20 March 1937, Benoit, Mississippi, USA. Shaw grew up in neighbouring Greenville and learned to play clarinet and trombone before choosing the saxophone. He played with local jump-blues bands (including one led by Ike Turner) and sat in with Muddy Watersin 1957. Muddy hired him immediately and he moved to Chicago. Once there he associated with Howlin' Wolf and Magic Sam, and recorded with both. He also fronted his own band on vocals and saxophone. Eddie also ran the 1815 Club in Chicago, wrote and arranged songs for other artists, learned to play blues harmonica, and has recorded as bandleader for Mac Simmons� label, for Alligator's LIVING CHICAGO BLUES project, and for the Isabel and Rooster companies.

PORTRAIT

TOGETHER AGAIN ONE MORE TIME/STILL NOT READY FOR..

b. Eddy Harrington, 10 January 1935, Macon, Mississippi, USA. Clearwater grew up hearing C&W records and began playing guitar in church after moving to Birmingham, Alabama when he was 13 years old. He settled in Chicago in 1950 and was playing blues within a few years. Although primarily a powerful west-side Chicago-style blues singer and guitarist, he has also displayed, both on record and stage, a penchant for Chuck Berry-influenced rock �n� roll, soul, and country. He is a popular performer, both in the USA and Europe, and has made numerous recordings for a variety of labels, although versatility often means that he fails to satisfy any listener completely despite the fact that he can perform in almost any musical genre.

CHICAGO BLUES SESSION, VOL. 23

Pioneering R&B vocalist Ernestine Allen recorded prolifically between 1945-61, yet this, her final session, was the only one to have been issued under her real name. Early on, bandleader Lucky Millinder had dubbed her "Annisteen" and the name stuck. On this 1961 date for the Tru-Sound label, she was ably assisted by saxophonist King Curtis and guitarist Al Casey, among others. Tunes include "Love for Sale" and "Baubles, Bangles, and Beads." ~ Roundup Newsletter

JUGGERNAUT

 Ernie Lancaster

NEVER TOO LATE

b. Esther Mae Jones, 23 December 1935, Galveston, Texas, USA, d. 7 August 1984, Carson, California, USA. This distinctive vocalist was discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis. She joined his revue in 1949 where, as Little Esther, the teenage singer recorded two number 1 R&B singles, Double Crossing Blues and Mistrustin' Blues. She then worked solo following the band's collapse, but by the middle of the decade Phillips was chronically addicted to drugs. In 1954 she retired to Houston to recuperate and did not fully resume recording until 1962. Esther's version of Release Me, a country standard which was later a hit for Engelbert Humperdinck, mirrored the blend of black and white music found, contemporaneously, in Ray Charles and Solomon Burke. An album, RELEASE ME!�REFLECTIONS OF COUNTRY AND WESTERN GREATS, consolidated this style, but when Phillips moved to the Atlantic label, her recordings assumed a broader aspect. Polished interpretations of show tunes and standards contrasted a soul-based perspective shown in her retitled version of the John Lennon/ Paul McCartney song, And I Love Him, a performance showcased on the syndicated television show, AROUND THE BEATLES. Her unique, nasal intonation was perfect for her 1966 hit, When A Woman Loves A Man, while her several collaborations with the Dixie Flyers, the highly respected Criteria studio houseband, were artistically successful. The singer moved to Kudu Records in 1972 where she recorded the distinctly biographical Home Is Where The Hatred Is, an uncompromising Gil Scott-Heron composition. The same label provided What A Diff'rence A Day Makes (1975), which reached the US Top 20 and the UK Top 10. She also completed two exceptional albums at this time, FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM and ALONE AGAIN NATURALLY, but was increasingly pushed towards a specialist rather than popular audience. Ill health sadly undermined this artist's undoubted potential, and in August 1984, Esther died of liver and kidney failure.

b. 31 March 1915, Caldwell County, North Carolina, USA. From a black family that was proficient in blues, pop, hymns, rags, ballads, dance music and, through intermarriage, white country music, Etta Reid learned guitar, banjo, fiddle and piano, playing alongside her father, Boone Reid, and her elder sister Cora. She married 1936, when her husband, though himself a pianist, discouraged public performance. She was recorded in 1956, and her fluent, raggy guitar became something of a cult among urban folk revivalists, particularly on One Dime Blues. (Her father and Cora's husband Lacey Phillips were also recorded, on banjo, in 1956.) Etta took up her career only after her husband had died. Baker resumed public performances and showed that she was still a magnificent guitarist and banjo player.

b. 8 February 1929, Marshall, Texas, USA. Aka J Riggins Jnr., Dixon began playing piano and singing as a child, absorbing every influence from gospel and blues, to jazz, and even hillbilly. In 1942 his family moved to Los Angeles and he came into contact with fellow ex-Texan Charles Brown who took a shine to young Floyd and turned the boy on to his brand of cool, jazzy night club blues as singer and pianist with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers. When the Blazers split up, Dixon was a natural choice for a substitute Charles Brown, and he made early recordings in the Brown style with both Eddie Williams (the Blazers� bassist) for Supreme and with Johnny Moore's new Blazers for Aladdin and Combo. His own trio recorded extensively for Modern, Peacock and Aladdin labels between 1947 and 1952; then later, in a harder R&B style, for Specialty, Cat and Checker; and in the late '50s and '60s for a host of tiny west coast and Texas independent labels. In 1975 Dixon made a comeback, beginning with a tour of Sweden and became the first artist to be featured on Jonas Bernholm's celebrated Route 66 reissue label. Dixon was commissioned to write a blues, Olympic Blues for the 1984 Los Angeles games.

 Floyd Miles

 GOIN' BACK TO DAYTONA (1994)

 Frank Hovington

b. 1 January 1888, Whitehaven, Tennessee, USA, d. 12 September 1955, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Stokes was raised in Mississippi, taking up the guitar early. He worked on medicine shows, and in the streets of Memphis in the bands of Will Batts and Jack Kelly. By 1927, when Stokes and his fellow guitarist Dan Sane made their first records as the Beale Street Sheiks, they were one of the tightest guitar duos in blues, much influenced by ragtime, and also performing medicine show and minstrel songs. Stokes was the vocalist, and played second guitar. They recorded together until 1929. However, Stokes also recorded solo, and with Will Batts on fiddle. Stokes' recorded personality is that of the promiscuous rounder, by turns macho and pleading for another chance. His singing is forthright, with impressive breath control. Stokes and Sane worked together until illness forced Stokes to retire from music in 1952.

Performer

 Frank Tannehill

 FRANK TANNEHILL (1932-1941) (1993)

 FRANKIE "HALF PINT" JAXON (1927-1940)

b. 29 April 1941, Mart, Texas, USA. Lee began singing as a child, encouraged by his grandmother and, after leaving school, he sang blues around the clubs in Houston, Texas, turning professional at the age of 22. He began recording in 1963 and had singles released on the Houston labels, Great Scott and Peacock. After settling in the San Francisco bay area in 1973, he made singles for Elka and California Gold. Lee had tracks on several anthologies but had to wait until 1984 for the first complete album under his own name, recorded for the Hightone label. Lee admits to varied influences, including Reverend Claude Jeter, Sam Cooke, Roy Acuff and the The Everly Brothers, though he has infused these elements into a strong southern soul/blues style

b. 30 April 1917, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 10 May 1970. Despite his birthplace, Sims� music is very much in the blues vein of Texas, where he moved in childhood. On his earliest records, for the Blue Bonnet label, in 1947-48, he played a traditional fingerstyle guitar, but later developed an electric style of his own, riffing behind the vocals, filling the breaks with exciting, often distorted flashes of lead. His best known song was Lucy Mae, which he recorded several times, most successfully with Specialty in 1953. Later recordings on Ace and Vin developed his rocking style still further with a small band, but they marked the end of his brief period of success. A New York session in 1960 remained unissued until well after his death.

Fine guitar-based Texas country blues by an artist completely unlike the later Howlin' Wolf. ~ Mark A. Humphrey

 Garth Webber

b. l January 1947, Paris, Texas, USA, d. 14 February 1994. Coleman remembers hearing blues on record and radio as a child, and recalls his favourites as Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Chuck Berry and Freddie King. He taught himself to play guitar around the age of 11; it remains his main instrument, although he is now a multi-instrumentalist. He has always worked as a professional musician; in 1986 he recorded an album for his own Mr B.'s Records label, which was leased to Ichiban Records who made it a very successful seller. Coleman has since become a major figure at Ichiban, not only with his own contemporary blues records, but also for his work as producer and musician with such artists as Barbara Lynn, Blues Boy Willie, Little Johnny Taylor, and Chick Willis.

WRONG SIDE OUT

Harmonica

THREADGILL'S SUPPER SESSION (1993)

b. 22 April 1924, Helena, Arkansas, USA, d. 2 October 1983, Los Angeles, USA. A master of amplified and chromatic blues harmonica, Smith made a stunning debut in 1954 with Telephone Blues/Blues In The Dark, but failed to capture the audience which elevated Little Walter to stardom. This may have been because his west coast record label tended to back him with saxophones rather than the guitar-based sound of Chicago. Smith had worked in Chicago and Kansas City, but resided in Los Angeles from 1955, where he worked as a name act and accompanied Big Mama Thornton for many years. He continued to make recordings of variable quality, and was briefly a member of the Muddy Waters band. He toured Europe, during the '70s and was a member with J.D. Nicholson of the mainly white blues band Bacon Fat.

THE ARTISTRY OF BARNEY KESSEL

b. 1 October 1936, Autaugville, Alabama, USA. Butler was one of the last of the wandering bluesmen. He suffered from the general lack of interest in older musical forms shown by the black record-buying public, yet still managed to make his most prized recordings, during the mid to late '60s. His introduction to the blues came via his elder brother Edward (he was one of twelve children) but his imagination was really sparked by the recordings of Sonny Boy Williamson, and with a harmonica in his pocket he took to the road. He recorded a single for Shaw Records in Montgomery, Alabama in 1964 but his real break came when Willie Dixon introduced him to Stan Lewis's Jewel label which, operating out of Shreveport, Louisiana, was the only label of any size still producing records for the southern juke-box trade. Since that time his output on record has remained limited although his tough harmonic style has continued to earn him a living.

LICKIN' GRAVY

Though he started out firmly entrenched in the vaudeville and hokum blues traditions of the 20s and 30s, Dorsey found his true calling as the composer of several enduring gospel classics. - Cub Koda

COME ON MAMA DO THAT DANCE 1931-1940

 Gerhard Engbarth

v. Ma Rainey

v. Ma Rainey

A masterful harmonica player in the rich Chicago tradition, Good Rockin' Charles Edwards has been very much an elusive mystery man for much of his career. If all the legendary sessions that Edwards supposedly bailed out on were strung together (for example, Jimmy Rogers's "Walkin' By Myself"), his discography would probably be the most voluminous in Chicago blues history. - Cub Koda

 Goree Carter

SHOUTING THE BLUES (1992)

b. Roosevelt Thomas Williams, 7 December 1903, Bastrop, Texas, USA. For blues researchers, Williams lived up to his nickname for most of his life, known only as a reported influence on Mercy Dee. Williams hoboed around the southwest performing from the '20s to the late '40s, until he settled in Austin. He was recorded by a folklorist in 1940 (Hitler Blues) and was also recorded after his retirement in 1965. None of these recordings was issued until 1987. Despite an out-of-tune piano, he was clearly a major player in the tradition of the Santa Fe group that included Robert Shaw, Buster Pickens and Pinetop Burks. Grey also had a working pianist's repertoire of ballads and pop songs. Recorded again in 1988, he played a remarkably strident version of Somebody Stole My Gal, which, though slower, was still very impressive .

 Guitar Jr.

 Guitar Roberts

IN PITTSBURGH

v. Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones

 v. Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones

Despite the fact that his first and only album to date earned a Grammy nomination, Guitar Slim Jr remains a somewhat shadowy figure to the blues public. The son of Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones, his real name is Rodney Armstrong. According to New Orleans historian Jeff Hannusch's notes on Slim's 1988 album, he "has been a fixture on the Black New Orleans club circuit for the better part of 20 years ... [but] doesn't get to play the posher uptown clubs." His Orleans album featured mostly covers of his father's inspirational blues, which he was loath to play earlier in life, but Slim is also known for his extensive soul repertoire. - Jim O'Neal

 Hambone Willie Newbern

Theessink (pronounced "Tay-sink") is a Netherlands-born, Vienna-based folk/blues interpreter billed as the "Euro Bluesman." He plays a variety of string instruments (primarily guitar) along with harmonica and jew's harp. Often performs in a duo with tuba player Jon Sass. Hans has recorded eight albums, two of which are available in the US. - Niles J. Frantz

JOHNNY & THE DEVIL

 Harvey Ellington

 Henry Clement & Gumbo

 BIG CHIEF TAKAWAKA (1986-1991) (1992)

TEXAS BLUES 1927-1937

b. 27 October 1909, Shelby, Mississippi, USA. Townsend was raised in Cairo, Illinois, then moved to St. Louis in the late '20s. He took up guitar at about the age of 15, and was a forceful and accomplished player by the time of his recording debut in 1929. He was closely associated with Walter Davis, touring with him and providing accompaniment on his recordings. In the early '30s, Townsend added piano to his skills. He worked and recorded with Robert Lee McCoy, John Lee �Sonny Boy� Williamson and Big Joe Williams, as well as making further records under his own name. After World War II, he appeared on Davis's last sessions (playing imaginative electric guitar), and teamed with Roosevelt Sykes for a time. Following his retirement Townsend was discovered by a new, white audience and recorded intermittently. He continued to develop his music and compose new songs, concentrating now on piano, and sometimes duetting with his wife, Vernell.

(Henry Spaulding, Henry Townsend, J.D. Short)

 Herb Lance

 Herman E Johnson

b. 26 March 1946, San Francisco, California, USA, d. 1990, Japan. His real name was reportedly Willie Boyd or Willie Gitry. He was brought up in Richmond, California, and sang in vocal groups as a youngster; he also learned to play guitar in the early '60s, going on to play with Big Mama Thornton, Jimmy McCracklin, and others (he also recorded with McCracklin). Following a spell in Los Angeles (1969-71), he formed his own band around 1972. In 1973 he joined Charlie Musselwhite's band, and the following year he toured and recorded with John Mayall. Harris was also involved in film work: he wrote the theme song for Mandingo (sung by Muddy Waters) and sang on the soundtrack of Leadbelly Harris was �an excellent guitarist in both the slide and regular fingerstyles� (Blues Unlimited).

b. Willie Richard, 10 November 1936, near Jackson, Mississippi, USA, d. 13 February 1989, Chicago, Illinois, USA. As a baby, Linkchain was known as Long Linkchain. Hip heard the blues at home and learned to play acoustic guitar, switching to electric after settling in Chicago in the early '50s. He formed his first band in 1959 and recorded singles in the '60s for the Lola and Sann labels, under the name Hip Lanchan. In the '70s he had a single issued by Blues King, and on the JSP label, an album featuring further titles from this session plus earlier tracks. Albums also appeared on MCM, Rumble (with Jimmy Dawkins), Teardrop (including a collaboration with Jimmy Rogers) and a highly-acclaimed set for Black Magic. Hip died of cancer in 1989. Linkchain's guitar style was unique in the west-side Chicago tradition, and he was a talented songwriter and singer.

b. James Williamson 3 May 1914, Somerville, Tennessee, USA. Williamson's father was a drummer and by the age of 14, he was playing guitar at local dances and taverns. Williamson developed a �bottle-neck� style by sliding a pocket-knife up and down the strings. In 1932 he moved north to Chicago and by the end of the decade had formed a small band which toured the southern states during the '40s. Among its members were Snooky Pryor and Baby Face Leroy Foster. His first recording was Lonesome Ole Train (Chance 1952). From the mid-50s, Williamson worked regularly with his cousin Elmore James, playing second guitar on many of Elmore's most famous records. Now known as Homesick James, he recorded his own most famous track for USA in 1962. An updated version of Robert Johnson's Crossroads, its pounding rhythms and heavily amplified bottleneck made it a landmark in city blues. After the death of Elmore James in 1963, Homesick James saw himself as the standard-bearer of his cousin's powerful guitar style. He recorded for Prestige and toured Europe in 1973, where he made an album with Pryor for Jim Simpson's Birmingham, England label, Big Bear.

THE WAY I FEEL - CHICAGO BLUES OF THE 1960S

b. 28 June 1915, Shaw, Mississippi, USA. Born and raised in the Mississippi Delta country, Edwards played with and learned from such important blues figures as Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Big Joe Williams. His first recordings were made for the Library of Congress in 1941, a set of typical Mississippi country blues, demonstrating a tense, emotional vocal delivery and considerable skills on harmonica and, particularly, guitar. Ten years later, his first commercial recording appeared on the obscure Texas label ARC, and in the next couple of years he also recorded for Sun Records in Memphis and Chess in Chicago, although nothing was issued at the time. Rediscovered in the '60s in Chicago, Edwards has made several fine albums, encompassing traditional country blues as well as more urban stylings. He has also toured widely, playing in Europe several times in recent years.

Slide guitar blues with an Elmore James flavor, played on an eight-string table (non-pedal) steel guitar, was the trademark sound of Houston blues legend Hop Wilson. Strictly a local phenomenon, Wilson recorded fitfully and hated touring. Though he played fine down-home blues on conventional electric guitar, and was a powerful singer as well, it is Wilson's unique slide stylings that remain a signature influence on Johnny Winter and Jimmie Vaughan, to name a few. - Cub Koda

SLIDIN' SOME SLIDE (1993)

 Howard Armstrong

SELF PORTRAIT IN BLUES (1995)

b. 16 November 1931, Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. Renowned for his guitar work, particularly in support of his mentor Howlin' Wolf, Hubert Sumlin began his career in the Mississippi juke joints. He joined Jimmy Cottonand met Wolf in Memphis where he worked with him briefly before following him to Chicago in 1954. His occasional stormy relationship with Wolf lasted until the latter's death although on Wolf's obsequies he is listed as a son. He was in Europe with Wolf on the AFBF of 1964 and later worked with other bluesmen including Eddie Taylorand Muddy Waters. Since Wolf's death Hubert has pursued his career under his own name, often working with alumni of Wolf's band. Never a strong singer, he has relied on his guitar playing prowess to see him through, but his work has been patchy and some feel that he has yet to regain his original stature.

THE REAL FOLK BLUES

 Hurricane Sam

b. Ida Prather, 25 February 1896, Toccoa, Georgia, USA, d. 10 November 1967. Like many early blues vocalists, Cox's origins are clouded and declarations of the date and place of her birth vary widely. One of the classic blues singers, Cox began her career whilst as a child, appearing on stage when barely in her teens. She made her first recordings in 1923 and for the rest of the decade recorded extensively for Paramount, often accompanied by Lovie Austin. Cox's singing style, a brooding, slightly nasal monotone, was less attractive than that of some of her contemporaries, but there was no denying the heartfelt-passion with which she imbued the lyrics of her songs, many of which took death as their text. Among her greatest performances were Bone Orchard Blues, Death Letter Blues, Black Crepe Blues, Worn Down Daddy and Coffin Blues (on which she was accompanied by her husband, organist Jesse Crump). Her accompanying musicians were usually of the highest calibre; in particular she worked with Tommy Ladnier, whose intense trumpet-playing beautifully counterpointed her threatening drone. Cox toured extensively during the '30s but was absent from the recording studios. In 1939 she was invited by John Hammond to appear at the Carnegie Hall Spirituals To Swing concert, after which she made more records, this time accompanied by several top-flight jazzmen who included Oran �Hot Lips� Page, Edmond Hall, Charlie Christian, Lionel Hampton, Red Allen and J.C. Higginbotham. In the early '40s Cox again toured with her own shows, but in 1945 she suffered a stroke and thereafter worked only sporadically. She did, however, make a welcome return to the recording studios in 1961. While these final performances showed the signs of her advancing years, she was still recognizably Ida Cox, "The Blues Queen".

 Ida May Mack

 Isaac Scott

One of the early giants of the Delta blues, Bracey's best work is marked by a tremulous vibrato to his largely nasal voice and simple but effective guitar work. - Cub Koda

 J Willis

b. Joseph Benjamin Hutto, 26 April 1926, Elko, near Blackville, South Carolina, USA, d. 12 June 1983, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hutto's family moved to Augusta, Georgia when he was three years old, and he later sang in the Golden Crowns Gospel Singers, before moving to Chicago in 1949. While in Chicago he began to play drums and sing blues with Johnny Ferguson's Twisters, and during the intervals he taught himself to play Ferguson's guitar. In 1954 he recorded for the Chance label and these tracks are now considered to be classics of post-war blues. Hutto's slide guitar demonstrated that he was influenced by Elmore James but had utilized his style to create a unique, personal sound; however, at the time of release, the records met with little success. In 1965 J.B. and his unit the Hawks were the resident band at Turner's Blue Lounge (he worked there for over 10 years), when they recorded for the influential Vanguard seriesCHICAGO/THE BLUES/TODAY. Following this, Hutto recorded for many collector labels including Testament, Delmark, JSP, Amigo, Wolf, Baron, Black And Blue, and Varrick, with much of the later material, in particular, being licensed to different companies, and appearing on numerous anthologies. Hutto's music was raunchy, electric slide guitar blues that found great favour among young white blues enthusiasts. During live sets he would walk out into the audience and climb over tables in clubs, while continuing to play; �party blues� was how one critic so aptly described it. Hutto died of cancer in June 1983. He was a major influence on his nephew Lil' Ed Williams who continued to perform some of Hutto's songs.

 J. T. Brown

 J.T. "Funny Paper" Smith

THE HOWLING WOLF

 J.D. Short

ST. LOUIS COUNTRY BLUES

b. c.1905, Mississippi, USA. d. c.1960, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Kelly's first jug band, formed in 1925, included Frank Stokes, Dan Sane and Will Batts. Kelly, Batts, Sane and juggist D.M. Higgs were the South Memphis Jug Band on record in 1933. (Kelly, Batts and a guitarist, possibly Ernest Lawlars, recorded again in 1939.) Their sound was characterized by Kelly's vibrant singing, the broad, bluesy tones of Batts� fiddle and the complex interplay of twin guitars. Kelly's penchant for re-recording the tune of Highway No. 61 Blues is offset by a talent for striking lyrics. After the band broke up in 1934, Kelly worked either solo, with Stokes, or in ad hocbands. In 1953, he recorded for Sun, playing piano with Walter �Shakey� Horton and Joe Hill Louis. A 78 rpm record was scheduled, but never released; part of one side was issued many years later.

REJOICE (1981)

 James "Son" Thomas

James "Thunderbird" Davis was an inspiring vocalist whose records were far better known than he himself was until he reappeared on the blues scene in 1988. The handful of Davis recordings in 1963-1964 for Houston's Duke Records produced such gems as "Bad Dream," "Your Turn to Cry," and the oft-covered "Blue Monday." He was presumed dead by many blues fans and fellow musicians until Black Top Records turned him up in Gray, LA, and brought him back to blues life via new recording sessions and personal appearances. Davis was on tour at the Blues Saloon in St. Paul when he collapsed and died as he ended the song "What Else Is There to Do?" - Jim O'Neal

HEALING FEELING

TOO MANY KNOTS

 Jan Harrington

 Jay Owens

THE BLUES SOUL OF JAY OWENS (1992)

b. 23 November 1960, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Raised in Chicago, Bourelly's parents were first generation Haitians�he learned about Yoruba music from his grandmother while imbibing the electrified blues of Muddy Waters. It was a musical family. His brother Carl became house keyboardist with Def Jam (the rap and heavy metal label). When he was 10 years old he sang Rossini at the Lyric Opera House in whiteface (�to make us look like little Italian boys�). He had piano and drum lessons with Von Freemanbut took up guitar in 1974 after hearing Jimi Hendrix. In 1979 he moved to New York, sharing an apartment with Steve Coleman. Chico Hamilton was the first bandleader to hire him: gigs with Muhal Richard Abrams, Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones quickly followed. The latter particularly impressed him with his understanding of the African polyrhythms at the heart of jazz. He was also welcomed by the new generation avant garde�trumpeter Olu Dara and alto saxophonist Henry Threadgill�and acted in Francis Ford Coppola's COTTON CLUB. In 1989, Miles Davis had him play on AMANDLA. Bourelly calls his music Blue Wave: �a natural progression from growing up in the '60s, going through the '70s and putting up with the '80s�. Without perhaps the harmolodic detachment of James Blood Ulmer, he is a better popularizer, and his blues-drenched, stinging guitar fuses jazz outreach with gutter groove more convincingly than '70s fusion ever did. Hope You Find Your Way on JUNGLE COWBOY shows why: Bourelly's voice and guitar are a genuine extension of the expressionist intensity of southern blues.

SAINTS & SINNERS

b. 19 June 1930, Gadsden, Alabama, USA. From a musical family, McCain learned harmonica as a child, and played with local group the Upstarts in the early '50s. He first recorded in Jackson, Mississippi for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet label in 1954 (Wine-O-Wine, Stay Out Of Automobiles, East Of The Sun). A competent singer and fiery harmonica player, McCain next signed to Excello where he recorded a number of songs from 1956-59. After other tracks for Cosimo Mattasa's Rex label and for OKeh, McCain left music in the early '60s. He returned to the studio in 1965, cutting 728 Texas for Stan Lewis's Jewel label. In the '70s and '80s he worked as a private investigator while continuing to make occasional records and perform at blues festivals. The Atlanta Rhythm Section provided the backing for McCain's cover versions of Slim Harpo's hits, while LOVE DESPERADO contained some of his best work including an anti-drug piece, Burn The Crackhouse Down.

Ex-Muddy Waters side man turns in a high energy set with a more progressive sound. ~ Blues Access

POISON KISSES (1991)

b. 12 March 1896, Jonesboro, Georgia, USA, d. 29 January 1976, Oakland, California, USA. A veteran of the tent shows, Fuller fashioned himself a unique one-man-band of six-string bass (played with his right foot), a combination of kazoo, harmonica, microphone fixed to a harness around his neck, a hi-hat cymbal (played with the left foot) and a 12-string guitar. His success came in the late '50s as a result of appearances on USA television follow ing Ramblin� Jack Elliot's lionization via his recording of San Francisco Bay Blues. In the '50s he made three albums of original and traditional material and by the mid-60s became the darling of the �coffee house circuit� after Bob Dylan cited him as one of his influences. Similar success was to follow in Britain resulting from Donovan's performance of San Francisco Bay Blues on UK Independent Television's READY STEADY GO music programme in 1965.

LEGENDS OF BOTTLENECK BLUES GUITAR-VIDEO

b. 18 October 1937, Mississippi, USA. From a family whose musical activities can be traced back a number of generations (her grandfather Sid Hemphill and aunt Rosa Lee Hill both made recordings), Hemphill has been playing and singing since she was a young girl in the '50s. She sings blues, most of which she writes herself, based on her own experiences and plays guitar in a local style, using droning chords and beating time on a tambourine with her foot. She also plays drums in a fife and drum band, one of the last active examples of an old Mississippi tradition. She has made a number of recordings, including a couple of singles issued by a venture owned by Memphis State University, and has frequently played at concerts and festivals as far afield as Europe.

Performer

 Jim Colegrove

b. c.1890, Hernando, Mississippi, USA, d. 1937, Hernando, Mississippi, USA. Emerging from the minstrel and medicine show circuit, Jackson was a well-known figure around the Memphis area where he worked with artists such as Robert Wilkins, Furry Lewis and Gus Cannon. His first record, Jim Jackson's Kansas City Blues, Parts 1 & 2 recorded for Vocalion in October 1927, became one of the first, and biggest, �race� hits. He later recorded Parts 3 & 4 and many variations on its basic theme. He continued to record for various labels up until 1930, and some 40 tracks of his work are extant. Jackson was never an outstanding guitarist and his success was based on his humour; although it has not dated well, occasional numbers such as I Heard The Voice Of A Pork Chop can still raise a smile.

 Jim Salestrom

Blues artist Gordon was St. Louis, USA-based, and billed on one record as � Peetie Wheatstraw�s brother; on another, Black Gal, he appeared as Joe Bullum, an attempt by Deccato pass him off as Joe Pullum. Like Black Gal, many of his recordings were covers of then-popular blues. Gordon was a slightly anonymous figure, and has excited little attention from researchers. Nevertheless, his records are often worthwhile, for he combines the ingratiating approach of Bumble Bee Slimwith some of Wheatstraw's forcefulness, and was often backed by enjoyable small jazz bands. He was also a more than competent pianist, although he seldom played on his own records.

 Jimmy Arnold

SOUTHERN SOUL

MIDNIGHT BABY

WILSON PICKETT'S GREATEST HITS 

b. 14 October 1922, Newby, Oklahoma, USA, d. 18 July 1983, Durham, North Carolina, USA. Starting out as a disc jockey and boxer before becoming the driver for his brother Joe's band, the Honeydrippers, Jimmy Liggins taught himself guitar and formed his own band in 1947. Signing for Art Rupe's Specialty label, he immediately had big hits with I Can't Stop It, Cadillac Boogie and notably Teardrop Blues. Following a serious accident in 1948, when he was shot in the mouth, he continued with big sellers for Specialty Records, including his biggest, 1953's Drunk. Like Joe, he left Specialty in 1954, and recorded for Aladdin, before becoming a record distributor and forming his own Duplex Records which survived on few releases from 1958-78, financed from a diverse musical business, ranging from teach-yourself-piano charts to artist management.

Performer

The piano-playing Oden contributed one certifiable classic, the much-recorded "Goin' Down Slow." - Cub Koda

 ST. LOUIS JIMMY ODEN (1932-1948)

b. 20 February 1898, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 17 September 1951. While still a small child Yancey appeared in vaudeville as a tap dancer and singer. After touring the USA and Europe he abandoned this career and, just turned 20, settled in Chicago where he taught himself to play piano. He began to appear at rent parties and informal club sessions, gradually building a reputation. Nevertheless, in 1925, he decided that music was an uncertain way to earn a living and took a job as groundsman with the city's White Sox baseball team. He continued to play piano and was one of the prime movers in establishing the brief popularity of boogie-woogie. He made many records and played clubs and concerts, often accompanying his wife, singer Estella Mama Yancey, but retained his job as groundsman until shortly before his death in 1951. Although Yancey's playing style was elementary, he played with verve and dash, and if he fell behind such contemporaries as Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson in technique, he made up most of the deficiencies through sheer enthusiasm.

Piano

 Jody Williams

 Joe Beard

Guitar

b. Lester Hill, 23 September 1921, Whitehaven Tennessee, USA, d. 5 August 1957. He learned blues harmonica from Will Shade as a teenager and was given the name Joe Hill Louis after victory in a boxing match. He performed in Memphis in the late '40s, where he became known as The Be-Bop Boy and developed a one-man band act, with guitar, foot-drum and harmonica. Louis's first recordings were made for Columbia in 1949 before he took over B.B. King's radio spot as the Pepticon Boy on WDIA in Memphis. This led to 'Boogie in the Park', a single produced by Sam Phillips for his short-lived Phillips label in 1950. Next, Phillips signed Louis to the Bihari Brothers' Modern label, for which I Feel Like A Million was a local hit. By 1952, Phillips was recording him with a backing group on tracks like We All Gotta Go Sometime and using Louis to accompany such artists as the Prisonaires and Rufus Thomas for whose Tiger Man (1953), he supplied a scintillating guitar solo. There were other tracks for Checker, Meteor and Ace. His final records were made for House Of Sound shortly before his death from tetanus in Memphis in August 1957.

b. 29 September 1937, Houston, Texas, USA. A product of Houston's third ward, Joe 'Guitar' Hughes turned to music at an early age under the influence of the work of T-Bone Walker. He claims to have used money earned washing dishes to buy his first electric guitar at the age of 14 and to have been appearing professionally by the time he was 16. His first band was the Dukes Of Rhythm which included in its line-up Hughes' neighbour and friend Johnny Copeland. When this group disbanded in 1964 Hughes joined Grady Gaines working for Little Richard's old group the Upsetters. His next job was working as a member of Bobby 'Blue' Bland's band which he left in the wake of Bland's supporting star Al 'TNT' Braggs. After three years with Braggs, Joe 'Guitar' ; Hughes moved on to playing lead with Julius Jones and the Rivieras and from there to various groups operating around the Houston area. An upsurge of interest in the post-war Texas blues brought Joe to some prominence during the early '80s since which he has toured in Europe and recorded for Double Trouble Records of Holland.

 Joe Jumpin' Whiting

RHYTHM `N` GROOVE

b. 9 July 1916, Guthrie, Oklahoma, USA, d. 26 July 1987, Los Angeles, California, USA. After attempting various brass instruments, Joe Liggins settled down to study musical composition and piano arrangement. After moving to California, he began writing for and playing with local bands, graduating in the '40s to the respected units of Cee Pee Johnson and Sammy Franklin, the latter of whom he was with when, in 1945 he left to form his own group, the Honeydrippers. He first recorded for Exclusive, with whom Joe Liggins And His Honeydrippers had 10 hits between 1945-49�including the huge crossover hits The Honeydripper and I've Got A Right To Cry�he followed his brother Jimmy to Specialty in 1950 where the hits continued with Rag Mop and the hugely successful Pink Champagne ( Billboard's number 1 blues record of the year). Leaving Specialty in 1954, Liggins went briefly to Mercury(1954) and Aladdin (1956) before returning to Mercury to record an album in 1962. Later singles appeared on tiny independents like his own Honeydripper label and Jimmy Liggins' Duplex Records, and he was enjoying something of a renaissance at the time of his death in 1987.

 John Byrd

JOHN BYRD & WALTER TAYLOR 1929-31

b. 1952, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, d. 13 June 1993, New York. Campbell, a white man, became an authentic sounding blues singer/guitarist after a serious drag racing accident in 1967, which left him without one of his eyes and a mass of stitches in his face, which became permantly scarred. Prior to this crash, he had been curious about music � his grandmother played lap steel guitar � but he was more interested in becoming a tearaway. During his lengthy period of recuperation, much of it spent in solitude, he taught himself to play guitar and became devoted to the work of the black bluesmen who had recorded for the local Jewel label in Shreveport; in particular John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins, who became his major influence. Leaving school in the late '60s, he became a travelling troubadour, working as the opening act for 'Gatemouth' Brown and Hubert Smith, ultimately relocating to New York where he played local clubs for many years. His recording debut came in 1988, when guitarist Ronnie Earl sent a tape of Campbell to the specialist Crosscut label in Germany. Earl produced his first album A MAN AND HIS BLUES, but it was hardly distributed in the USA, and he remained an obscure cult figure until he began working with guitarist Alexander Kennedy. He and Kennedy were opening for Albert King in New York when he was signed by Elektra, and in 1991 released ONE BELIEVER, produced by Dennis Walker (also Robert Gray's producer) backed by members of both Gray's band and Joe Ely's group. Campbell played solely amplified acoustic guitar, and his songwriting partnership with Walker and Kennedy produced several modern blues classics like Devil In My Closet, Tiny Coffin and Take Me Down. HOWLIN' MERCY consolidated his standing as an important (although cult) figure in the recent blues boom. He died on June 13 1993 prior to undertaking a European tour.

NIGHT AT THE CONCORD PAVILION

Bowling Green John Cephas,b. 4 September 1930, Washington, DC, USA. Cephas was raised in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and learned guitar from local musicians and from records. His music is indebted to Blind Boy Fuller and Eugene 'Buddy' Moss, and his dexterous, slightly anonymous playing shares with them a ragtime-influenced complexity. His singing voice is deep and rather unvaried, and his repertoire eclectic, drawing on both tradition and recordings (including, surprisingly, those of Skip James). Cephas has led a settled life as a civil service carpenter, with music a sideline; only in the '70s did his talent come to wider notice, when he began to play festivals and to record, at first with Wilbert 'Big Chief' Ellis and, since Ellis's death, with the young harmonica player Phil Wiggins.

Guitar

b. 14 November 1905, Henning, Tenessee, USA. d. 3 November 1964, Chicago Illinios. Born William George Tucker, Barbee worked with John Lee 'Sonny Boy' Williamson and Sunnyland Slimbefore assuming his new name when he left the south after a shooting incident. Barbee moved to Chicago, where he recorded a session for Vocalion Records on 8 September 1938. Only one coupling was released and made no impact on the record-buying public. Barbee continued to work on the streets in the company of such men as Moody Jones until drafted into the army in the early '40s. Rediscovered, he recorded for Victoria Spiveyin 1964 before joining the American Folk Blues Festival for its tour of Europe. This jaunt was cut short by illness and he returned to the USA only to be involved in a car crash. He was in jail as a result of this accident when he died of a heart attack.

b. 25 February 1924, Woodville, Virginia, USA. Born into a musical family, Jackson began to play guitar at around five years old, learning also from a convict who worked on a chain gang. Jackson's music, at least some of which was learned from records, covers a wide range of traditional southern material, including blues, rags, country dance tunes and ballads (which have earned him the description of songster rather than blues singer), and he plays in a style related to other black guitarists from the eastern states, such as Blind Blakeand Blind Boy Fuller. Since the '60s Jackson has made many records, including one where he played second guitar to Buddy Moss, as well as concert and festival appearances, both in the USA and overseas.

OUTSIDE LOOKING INSIDE (1991)

b. 31 August 1938, Rochester, New York. USA. A contemporary of Bob Dylan at the University of Minnesota, Koerner subsequently formed an influential country-blues trio with Dave Ray and Tony Glover. Koerner, Ray & Glover completed two albums for Elektra before John recorded his first solo collection, SPIDER'S BLUES. The three musicians were then reunited at different intervals, although each has pursued an independent path. RUNNING, JUMPING, STANDING STILL, Koerner's refreshing collaboration with singer Willie Murphy, was released in 1968, and the artist has since completed two further solo albums.

This album features acoustic guitar and arresting vocals on high-energy blues. ~ All-Music Guide

SIDEWAYS IN PARADISE

Rural and urban blues, played with the assistance of Walter Horton and Johnny Shines. ~ All-Music Guide

If you know what's good in the blues world, you ought to be well acquainted with Magic Slim and the Teardrops. John Primer is the man on second guitar next to Slim. This release shows his keen abilities as a front man with solid vocals, blistering leads, and a slide guitar style which will satisfy any Muddy Waters devotee. "I'm a Blues Man" and "If I Could Hold You in My Arms" are strongly influenced by Waters, who gave Primer his start. This is modern blues from the Windy City, tangible evidence that the blues will never die. Highly recommended. ~ Jeff Story, Roundup Newsletter

WHEN THE BLUES HIT YOU

 John Wicks

Johnnie Temple is one of the great unsung heroes of the blues. A contemporary of Skip James, Son House, and other Delta legends, Temple was one of the very first to develop the now-standard bottom-string boogie bass figure, generally credited to Robert Johnson. - Cub Koda

ROCKIN' AT THE HOPS

b. 9 February 1937, San Fernando, California, USA. Heartsman grew up in Oakland and is now renowned as 'one of the blues' most accomplished instrumentalists (Dick Shurman). As a youngster he was inspired to play guitar by the music of T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton, and Lafayette Thomas. He quickly developed into a sought-after bandleader and studio musician. He has recorded on guitar, bass, organ, and flute, (he made his own first recordings in 1957 for the Music City label) and has played with a long list of west coast blues, R&B, and soul artists including Jimmy McCracklin, Joe Simon, Johnny Fuller, Jimmy Wilson, and Tiny Powell. Buddy Guy borrowed much of Heartsman's playing on his version of My Time After Awhile. In 1976 Heartman settled in Sacramento, California, and has recorded only infrequently since then.

b. John Wesley Funchess, 16 April 1931, Learned, Mississippi, USA, d. 1 February 1994, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Littlejohn taught himself to play guitar, and was inspired by Henry Martin, a blues guitarist friend of his father. In 1946, he left home and was an itinerant worker before settling in Gary, Indiana, in 1951 and taking up the guitar seriously. He quickly became a popular attraction and later relocated to Chicago. A chronically underrated slide guitarist/singer, Littlejohn has recorded for numerous labels, including Ace, Margaret, Bluesway, and Wolf, but his best work is to be found on Arhoolieand Rooster. Although often categorized as an Elmore James influenced player, he can also recall the smooth approach of B.B. King with his picking and singing.

Performer

 Johnny Maddox

b. 7 December 1942, Laurens, South Carolina, USA. During his youth, his family moved around the southeast, and Mars began playing harmonica before he was in his teens, influenced by older, local players and his sister's collection of blues records. He moved to New Paltz, New York, in 1958 and joined a high school band. In 1961, he was in the Train Riders and a few years later in Burning Bush (as bass guitarist and occasional harmonica player). In 1967, Mars settled in San Francisco, where he led his own band, then moved to England in 1972, working as a singer/harmonica player. He has subsequently recorded for the Big Bear, JSP, Ace, Sundance, President, and Lamborghine labels, sometimes with guitarist Ray Fenwick. Mars is a fine vocalist and a modern, adventurous, blues harmonica player.

 Johnny Nocturne Band

SHAKE 'EM UP (1994)

b. 28 December 1921, Vallejo, California, USA. Born into a family of Greek immigrants, was raised in a largely black neighbourhood where he thoroughly absorbed the prevailing culture and lifestyle. He began playing drums in his mid-teens and worked for a while with some of the locally-based jazz bands, including, in 1941, Lloyd Hunter's orchestra. In 1943 he gained his first name-band experience when he joined Harlan Leonard for a short spell. Some sources suggest that, during the difficult days when the draft was pulling musicians out of bands all across the USA, Otis then replaced another ex-Leonard drummer Jesse Price in the Stan Kenton band. In the mid-40s Otis also recorded with several jazz groups including, Illinois Jacquet's all-star band and a septet led by Lester Young, which also featured Howard McGhee and Willie Smith. In 1945 Otis formed his own big band in Los Angeles. In an early edition assembled for a recording session, he leaned strongly towards a blues-based jazz repertoire and hired such musicians as Eli Robinson, Paul Quinichette, Teddy Buckner, Bill Doggett, Curtis Counce and singer Jimmy Rushing. This particular date produced a major success in Harlem Nocturne. He also led a small band, including McGhee and Teddy Edwards, on a record date backing Wynonie Harris. However, Otis was aware of audience interest in R&B and began to angle his repertoire accordingly. Alert to the possibilities of the music and with a keen ear for new talent, he quickly became one of the leading figures in the R&B boom of the late '40s and early '50s. Otis also enjoyed credit for writing several songs, although, in some cases, this was an area fraught with confusion and litigation. Amongst his songs was Every Beat Of My Heart, which was recorded by Jackie Wilson in 1951 and became a minor hit followed, a decade later, by a massive hit version from Gladys Knight. Otis was instrumental in the discovery of Etta James and Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton. A highly complex case of song co-authorship came to light with Hound Dog, which was recorded by Thornton. Otis, who had set up the date, was listed first as composer, then as co-composer with its originators, Leiber And Stoller. After the song was turned into a multi-million dollar hit by Elvis Presley other names appeared on the credits and the lawyers stepped in. Otis had a hit record in the UK with an updated version of Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me in 1957. During the '50s Otis broadcast daily in the USA as a radio disc jockey, and had a weekly television show with his band and also formed several recording companies; all of which helped to make him a widely recognized force in west coast R&B. During the '60s and '70s, Otis continued to appear on radio and television, touring with his well-packaged R&B-based show. His son, Johnny Shuggie Otis Jnr., appeared with the show and at the age of 13 had a hit with Country Girl. In addition to his busy musical career, Otis also found time to write a book, LISTEN TO THE LAMBS, written in the aftermath of the Watts riots of the late '60s.

 Johnny Reno

SAN FRANCISCO DAYS (1993)

 Johnny Sansone

Jumpin' Johnny Sansone & The Blues Party

 JOHNNY SPARROW AND HIS BOWS AND ARROWS

 Johnny Wicks' Swinging Ozarks

 Jones Lloyd Struggle

 Jubirt Sisters

 Judy Roderick

WOMAN BLUE (1965)

b. 2 March 1932, Bellville, Texas, USA, d. 29 June 1978, Houston, Texas, USA. Like many blues singers, Bonner's first musical experiences were in singing spirituals as a child. He took up guitar when he was about 13-years-old and began to build up his experience following a move to Houston a few years later. In the mid-50s he was based on the west coast and made his first record for Bob Geddin's Irma label (issued as Juke Boy Barner), playing a driving rhythm guitar and punctuating the vocals with harmonica phrases, a combination that was to become his trademark. On his second record, for Goldband in 1960, he was billed as the One Man Trio. Following this, his musical activity was based entirely around Houston for a few years, until other titles from the Goldband sessions were issued on an album on the Storyville label in Europe. The interest this generated led to further recordings and albums on Flyright in the UK and Arhoolie in the USA consolidated his reputation. In 1969 Bonner visited Europe. His ability to compose topical blues with thoughtful and imaginative lyrics, coupled with an expressive vocal style and self-contained instrumental accompaniments, made him highly popular with his new audience, and many tours and new recordings resulted. Unfortunately, his success was to be short-lived, and he died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1978.

 Jumpin' Johnny Sansone...

Music critic Robert Palmer produced =All Night Long,= Junior Kimbrough's first full-length album after more than 40 years of music-making... Kimbrough is starkly original. He's backed by just a drummer and bassist who have learned, after years of weekend dance parties at Kimbrough's juke joint, how to anticipate his constant subtle shifts of rhythmic emphasis. The results resemble John Lee Hooker's boogie but sound less fussy, more ancient, more elemental.~Geoffrey Himes, Request

Primary Artist

b. 21 November 1913, Sharon, Mississippi, USA, d. 18 October 1975, Berkeley, California, USA. Baptised with initials only, Douglas came from a strict Baptist family, father John a minister who disapproved of blues. Though interested in the guitar, he didn't get one until 1936, taking instruction from uncle Scott Douglas and cousin Isadore Scott. Moving to Jackson, Mississippi in 1940, he met Tommy Johnson, having previously copied his style from records. In 1945, he moved to Vallejo, California as a government recruit to work in the Kaiser shipyard. He then moved north to Richmond and met harmonica player Sidney Maiden. The pair recorded for Bob Geddins' Down Town label in 1948, Douglas singing Mercury Boogie using a guitar loaned by Lowell Fulson and Maiden, Eclipse Of The Sun, songs for which each man was subsequently lauded. In 1954, Douglas moved to Oakland and recorded K.C. Boogie for Rhythm, another Geddins label. Two years later, he was recorded at a house party, the resulting performance released as an album on Cook, a New York label. In 1960-1 he was recorded several times by Arhoolie owner Chris Strachwitz, who leased two albums to Bluesville. He also backed Maiden and Mercy Dee on albums recorded at the same time and released on both labels. In the late '60s, he made singles for Galaxy and Blues Connoisseur. His last album featured him with a band that included harmonica player Richard Riggins.

COMPLETE RECORDED WORKS, VOL. 4 (1933-1934)

 Kathy Hart

TONIGHT I WANT IT ALL (1991)

Performer

 Kay Reed

WE ARE ONE

 Kellye Gray

STANDARDS (1990)

Harmonica

 Kenny Wayne

There's nothing terribly original about this disc -- eight of the 11 songs are covers and the female-blues-belter-with-hotshot-male-guitarist setup has been beaten into the ground for decades. But the sheer verve of the performances and sincerity of feeling that comes through help Keri Leigh and the Blue Devils rise above the circumstances and earn some well-deserved recognition. Vocalist/percussionist Leigh and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mark Lyon form the core of the band, which is based in Austin, Texas. They give John Lee Hooker's "In the Mood" a grinding, slow-burn treatment, with Leigh's husky vocals developing from a purr into a growl. She sings with a glowing, fireside warmth on the original, "On My Way (Goin' Home)" and mixes honey with grit on Muddy Waters' "I Be's Troubled." The tunes featuring just Leigh and Lyon work wonders; along with the previous two songs mentioned, Son House's "Preachin' Blues" crackles with energy as Leigh's testifying vocals rub up against Lyon's acoustic slide whiplashes. And if you're going to dip into the songbags of blues artists, covering material by Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, and Slim Harpo shows that you've got taste. ~ Mark J. Cadigan, Roundup Newsletter

b. Louis Thomas Watts, 20 June 1934, Sturgis, Mississippi, USA, d. 13 April 1970, Beverly Hills, California, USA. Watts was also known as Tommy Lewis/Louis. Chicago based from 1941, he played harmonica and sang blues from the end of the '40s, recording for Federal in 1955, and seeing occasional releases on small labels until the end of his life. This came shortly after his location by a music researcher in California, where Thomas had settled in 1960. He had killed a child in a road accident and was shot by the boy's father after manslaughter charges were dismissed. The strong feelings this aroused among blues enthusiasts should not be allowed to mask the fact that Thomas was a minor and derivative performer, albeit an impressively energetic one, especially when imitating Little Richard.

Performer

One of several UK groups devoted to reviving the jump-jive music pioneered in the '40s by Louis Jordan, they gathered a strong following across Europe in the late '80s. The group was formed in the Birmingham area in 1986 by ex-rockabilly bassist King Pleasure (b. 13 March 1966, Wednesbury, West Midlands, England; vocals/saxophone) and Bullmoose K. Shirley (b. 6 December 1967, Bilston, West Midlands, England; guitar). Other founder members were P. Popps Martin (b. 23 February 1968, Wednesfield, West Midlands, England; saxophone), Piano-Man Skan (b. 22 March 1962, Birmingham, West Midlands, England; keyboards), Slap Happy (b. 5 November 1970, Rugby, Warwickshire, England; double bass), Bam Bam Beresford (b. 25 March 1968; drums) and Lisa Sugar Lee (vocals). They signed to local label Big Bear in 1988, following their debut album with a single of Jordan's Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens. The band played support gigs to B.B. King and Cab Calloway as well as appearing in 10 European countries. In 1991, Lee and Skan left to be replaced by Ivory Dan McCormack (b. 1974, Norton, Cleveland, England; piano), ex-Big Town Playboy Big Al Nichols (b. 1964, Wrexham, North Wales; tenor saxophone) and Cootie Alexander (b. 6 September 1969, Birmingham, West Midlands, England; trumpet).

 Kip Anderson

A KNIFE AND A FORK (1993)

b. 15 February 1901, Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, USA. d. 8 November 1968, Chicago, Illinois, USA. 'Kokomo' Arnold was a left-handed slide blues guitarist who learned the basics of his style from his cousin, James Wigges. After working in steel mills in Illinois and Pennsylvania he became a dedicated fisherman and moonshiner who looked upon his musical success as an adjunct to 'real life.' Arnold developed an unorthodox method of playing guitar, based on a style that had originally been popular in a few states in the deep south. He held the instrument flat, using a slide to create an eerie, ringing sound. Unlike the relaxed and often casual approach of many of his contemporaries, Arnold's was an urgent, aggressive style, and he achieved remarkable results with his unusual method of guitar playing and the curiously high-pitched, often unintelligible singing that went with it. Interspersed in these wailings would be sudden bursts of vocal clarity that gave his statements great authority. He gained a reputation which followed him in his travels throughout the northern states in the years after the end of World War I. Arnold did not record until 1930 when he released Paddlin' Blues (a breakneck blues personalization of Paddling Madeline Home) and Rainy Night Blues under the sobriquet Gitfiddle Jim for Victor in Memphis. He continued to record throughout the '30s, all his further work appearing on the Decca label. His biggest hit was the double-a-side Old Original Kokomo Blues (named after a brand of coffee) and Milk Cow Blues the latter of which he recorded in no less than five numbered versions. It was picked up by other bluesmen and enjoyed a second vogue when it was recorded by rock 'n' rollers such as Elvis Presley and Eddie Cochran in the '50s. With notable exceptions, Arnold's work tended to follow a pattern, but was always enlivened by his powerful slide work and original lyrics. He also added his guitarist talents to recordings by Roosevelt Sykes, Mary Johnson and Peetie Wheatstraw. Arnold ceased recording in 1938 following disagreements with Mayo Williams of Decca Records In the early '60s he made a few appearances in Chicago, during the revival of interest in his brand of folk blues. For all his rather fleeting moments in the limelight, Arnold was an influence on Robert Johnson, who was, in his turn, one of the most seminal of the second-generation blues singers whose legacy helped to shape rock music. Arnold died in Chicago in November 1968.

 L.V. Johnson

 Larry Garner

DOUBLE DUES

 Larry Johnson

 Lasse Johansson

b. Leslie Johnson, 20 June 1933 (or 1923), Torras, Louisiana, USA. Blues harmonica player/vocalist Lazy Lester recorded numerous singles for Excello Records in the late '50s and early '60s. Forming his first band in 1952, the musician's first significant job was as sideman for bluesman Lightnin' Slim. Owing to his slow-moving, laid-back ways, Johnson received his performing name during this period, from record producer J.D. Miller, who was known for his 'swamp pop' sound. Miller recorded Lester and placed him with the Nashville-based Excello in 1958. Lester's first solo single was Go Ahead (1956) and his first local hit Sugar Coated Love/I'm A Lover Not A Fighter. The latter was covered in the UK by the Kinks. Lester continued to record as a leader until 1965. He also played harmonica for such artists as the blues-rock guitarist Johnny Winter (an early recording in 1961) and Lonesome Sundown. At the end of the '60s, Lester moved around the country and did not record again until 1987, for the UK Blues N Trouble label. The following year he recorded, HARP & SOUL, for Alligator Records, and was back touring the USA in the late '80s and early '90s, enjoying new-found acclaim.

Performer

b. Frank Craig, 5 October 1935, Greenville, Mississippi, USA. Frank had a rocking good-time approach to the traditional sound of '50s Chicago blues, although his distinctive guitar and vocals were only captured on record for the first time in 1978. At the end of the '70s he enjoyed some international acclaim, but remains one of the blues' lesser-known figures. He received his first guitar for his fourth birthday and quickly learned to play blues and country. He moved to Chicago at the age of 14 and was inspired to play blues by listening to the sounds he could hear coming out of the doors of the clubs. He played behind many of the city's blues musicians, including Junior Wells, Theodore 'Hound Dog' Taylor and Willie Cobbs, and recorded a few times as a bass player. He is now based in California.

LIVE AT THE KNICKERBOCKER CAFE

 Leon Blues Thomas

LEON THOMAS BLUES BAND

 Leroy Jodie Pierson

Liner Notes Author

Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport just turned 60. He had to wait a long time to make his first date as a leader. He replaced Billy Boy Arnold on four Bo Diddley sides back in 1955, and spent the past few years with Big Daddy Kinsey and the Kinsey Report. In between he scuffled at various Chicago clubs without getting a whole bit of attention (although Junior Wells did hire away his whole rhythm section on one occasion). The Mad Dog is such a powerful soloist in the Little Walter Jacobs vein (the Big Walter Horton vein, too, before that worthy turrned so introspective) that you wish he'd just keep on going (check out the chordal stuff on "King of the Jungle," for instance). But he's also a serviceable vocalist and a remarkably assured band leader. For a change of pace, there's the furious instrumental "Mad Dog on the Loose." The concluding number, with some surprising vocal harmonies, is a heartfelt rendition of "You Goota Move." As for backup, we've got John Primer, guitarist in Muddy Waters' last band and a student of Sammy Lawhorn. Add pianist Sunnyland Slim, still motoring in his eighties, his accomplies bassist Robert Stroger aannd drummer Robert Covington, and the right amount of chugging and scratching from guitarist Willie Davis, and you get a band that ought to tour.~Robert L. Campbell, Cadence

b. Otis Hicks, 13 March 1913, St. Louis, Missouri, USA, d. 27 July 1974, Detroit, Michigan, USA. It is as a Louisiana blues stylist that Hicks is best known, having moved to that state in his early teens. He learnt guitar from his father and his brother and made a name for himself on the Baton Rouge blues circuit during the '40s. In 1954, he recorded for J.D. 'Jay' Miller's Feature label, and began that producer's long and fruitful relationship with the blues. These early recordings had a tough, spare sound that helps to place them with the finest downhome blues of the '50s, and the quality was largely maintained over much of the next decade, with many singles leased to Excello Records. His partnership with harmonica player Lazy Lesterwas particularly effective and releases such as Mean Old Lonesome Train, Hoodoo Blues and especially Rooster Blues provided him with commercial success and kept him in demand for tours both locally and farther afield. Many of these demonstrate his particular facility for taking raw material from the work of other popular bluesmen, such as Muddy Waters and Lightnin' Hopkins, and turning it into something entirely his own. The relationship with Miller finally came to an end in 1965, but within a few years, Slim had found a wider forum for his music as he became a regular visitor to Europe.

 Lil Hardin Armstrong

Piano

 Lil Johnson

Performer

b. Melvin Jackson, 16 (or 17) August 1915, Barry, Texas, USA, d. 30 May 1976, Dallas, Texas, USA. Friends persuaded Melvin Jackson to send in a fairground recording to Bill Quinn, the owner of Gold Star Records, in the hope that it might lead to a recording contract. It did, and between 1948 and 1954 Jackson, who had moved on to the more prestigious Imperial label, made records in a style that combined his rural roots with currently acceptable R&B sounds. These sold well, particularly in his home state, Texas, and on the west coast, where many black Texans had emigrated. He toured extensively, but after a road accident retired from music to work in an automobile scrap yard. Having been raised in a sharecropping environment and taught to play guitar by his father, Johnny Jackson, Jackson ran away from home during the '30s. He has been described as a sincere man and religion seems to have played an important part in his life. He worked with the Blue Eagle Four Spiritual group before being drafted into the army. He served in the UK, France and Germany before returning to take up a career as a blues singer. After leaving the music scene he worked as a mechanic and was also employed by his local church. Fortunately Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records traced and recorded him again, in 1960, in a more simple setting. Jackson died of cancer in 1976.

 Little Boy Blues

b. Eurreal Wilford Montgomery, 18 April 1906, Kentwood, Louisiana, USA, d. 6 September 1985, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Impressed by the piano players who visited his parents' house, including Jelly Roll Morton and Cooney Vaughan, Little Brother began playing at the age of five. At the age of 11 he ran away, and worked as a musician for the rest of his life. He played the southern jukes and lumber camps as a solo blues pianist, singing in his unmistakable voice, nasal and with a strong vibrato, yet somehow pleading and wistful. With Friday Ford and Dehlco Robert he developed The Forty-Fours into one of the most complex themes in the repertoire, calling his own version Vicksburg Blues. In the '20s Montgomery played jazz in New Orleans with Clarence Desdune and toured Mississippi with Danny Barker; he also worked briefly with Buddy Petit, and on the blues side toured with Big Joe Williams. In 1928 Brother headed for Chicago, playing blues at rent parties with Blind Blake among others, and recording as an accompanist in 1930, under his own name in 1931. During the '30s he returned south to Jackson, Mississippi, from where he travelled as leader of the jazz-playing Southland Troubadours until 1939. He continued to play blues, and on a single day in 1935 recorded no fewer than 18 titles and five accompaniments to other singers for Bluebird, including his instrumental masterpieces Shreveport Farewell and Farish Street Jive, the latter a technically daunting blend of boogie and stride. In 1941 Montgomery settled in Chicago. He worked with Kid Ory at Carnegie Hall in 1949, and was for a long while a member of the Franz Jackson Band; he also continued to work solo (including a residency at an Irish tavern in the '60s) and to record, and was on the first releases by Otis Rush and Magic Sam. In 1960 he visited Europe for the first time, and began recording for a white audience. As well as promoting young protegees like Elaine McFarland (later 'Spanky' of Spanky And Our Gang)and Jeanne Carroll, Montgomery recorded himself at home, issuing material on his FM label, named from the initials of himself and his devoted wife Janet Floberg, whom he married in 1967. With her encouragement and support, he had active until not long before his death. Montgomery was a consummate musician, with a huge repertoire and an excellent memory, but his recordings mostly reflect the preferences, first of record companies in the '30s, then of the white audience of the '60s and after; he was a giant of the blues, but it should not be forgotten that he was also a capable pop singer, and an excellent jazz pianist.

Performer

Little Charlie and the Nightcats never stint on personality, and their fifth outing =Night Vision= is an unalloyed delight. Always ready with a dash of humor, Rick Estrin writes little modern vignettes that pit his perplexed self against crafty woman; his singing style is light and easy, his superb harp work puts a fresh twist on Little Walter. A sophisticated, inventive player with undeniable musical integrity, guitarist Charlie Baty suggests by turns Arnett Cobb's melodic saxophone, Tiny Grimes' swinging four-strings, and this and that rockabilly, surf, jazz or blues guitarist. The Nightcats, never static with expert drummer Dobi Strange channeling vairous rhythms, seem totally at ease with producer/guitarist Joe Louis Walker throughout this 13-song set.~Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat

 Little George Smith

HARMONICA ACE (1993)

b. Dennis Jones. Jones was a taut voiced street singer from San Antonio, Texas, where he recorded 10 blues for ARC Records in 1929 and 1930, also accompanying Texas Alexander on one session. His trademark was a fast, rolling guitar introduction, followed by a marked rallentando as he or Alexander began singing. Only on Hurry Blues did he maintain the pace of his introduction throughout, making the record label mistitle (for Worried Blues) inadvertently appropriate. An eclectic guitarist, Jones blended fingerpicking, strumming and boogie basses into a style that, while recognisably within the Texas mainstream, was distinctively his own.

b. 1 November 1924, Jackson, Mississippi, USA, d. 19 November 1964, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Jones was a key figure in the development of post-war blues piano in Chicago. In the late '40s, he succeeded Big Maceo(a major influence on his own playing) as Tampa Red's partner, and helped move Tampa's music towards the amplified ensemble sound. Besides playing on many sessions, Jones made a few splendid recordings under his own name, two with Muddy Watersand six with the Elmore James band, which he adorned from 1952-60. His extrovert personality is apparent on the rocking Sweet Little Woman, but he was also capable of sensitive blues like Doin The Best I Can'. Late in life, he was taped live, solo or with Billy Boy Arnold on harmonica, on titles which admirably display both his ebullient and introspective sides.

b. Herman Parker Jnr., 3 March 1927, West Memphis, Arkansas, USA, d. 18 November 1971, Blue Island, Illinois, USA. Despite his later fame some confusion still exists regarding the parents and date and place of birth of Little Junior Parker. Clarksdale, Mississippi and 1932 are sometimes quoted and his parents names are given in combinations of Herman Snr., Willie, Jeanetta or Jeremeter. It is certain is that they were a farming family situated near enough to West Memphis for Little Junior, (who had started singing in church) to involve himself in the local music scene at an early age. His biggest influence in those early days was Sonny Boy Williamson in whose band Junior worked for a while before moving on to work for Howlin' Wolf, before assuming the leadership of the latter's backing band. He was a member of the ad hoc group, the Beale Streeters, with Bobby 'Blue' Bland and B.B. King, prior to forming his own band, the Blue Flames in 1951, which included the well regarded guitarist Auburn 'Pat' Hare. His first, fairly primitive, recordings were made for Joe Bihari and Ike Turner in 1952 for the Modern label. This brought him to the attention of Sam Phillips and Sun Records where Junior enjoyed some success with his recordings of Feeling Good although the period is better recalled for the doomy Mystery Train, which was later taken up by the young Elvis Presley. His greatest fame on record stemmed from his work on Don Robey's Duke label operating out of Houston, Texas, and it was along with fellow Duke artist Bobby 'Blue' Bland that Little Junior headed the highly successful Blues Consolidated Revue which became a staple part of the southern blues circuit. His tenure with Robey lasted until the mid-'60s with his work moving progressively away from his hard blues base. In his later, days Parker appeared on such labels as Mercury, United Artists and Capitol, enjoying intermittent chart success with Driving Wheel (1961), Annie Get Your Yo-Yo (1962) and Man Or Mouse (1966). His premature death in 1971 occurred while he was undergoing surgery for a brain tumour and robbed R&B of one of its most influential figures.

 Little Sonny Willis

 Little Willie Anderson

SWINGING THE BLUES

b. 16 September 1931, El Campo, Texas, USA. By the age of 16, Littlefield was emulating his hero Amos Milburn, shouting the blues and hammering the pianos of nearby Houston's Dowling Street clubs. He made his recording debut the following year for the local Eddie's Records and for the Freedom label. In August 1949, Littlefield was discovered by the Bihari brothers, who had flown to Houston to find their own version of Aladdin's Amos Milburn, and signed him to their Los Angeles-based Modern label. Littlefield's first Modern session, recorded in Houston, resulted in the huge hit It's Midnight which featured his school friend, Don Wilkerson, on tenor saxophone. From October 1949, Littlefield was recording in Los Angeles, but subsequent releases did not match the promise of the debut single, in spite of bands which included Jimmy 'Maxwell Street' Davis, Chuck Norris and Johnny Moore. In 1952, Littlefield signed with Federal Records and continued to make fine records in his own right and in duets with Lil Greenwood and Little Esther Phillips. His first Federal session resulted in his best-known recording, K.C. Lovin' which was later altered slightly by Leiber And Stoller and recorded by Wilbert Harrison as Kansas City. By 1957, Littlefield had moved to northern California, where he recorded for the Rhythm label. He stayed in San José throughout the '60s and '70s, making the occasional club appearance, but in the early '80s he moved with his family to the Netherlands and has since experienced a minor comeback with new material on various European labels and frequent appearances at jazz and blues festivals.

Little Jimmy King wears his Jimi Hendrix/Albert King/Stevie Ray Vaughan influences proudly. His guitar playing bites with sharp teeth, stretches into anguished wails, surfs on wah-wah waves, and soars skyward. He and the Memphis Soul Survivors cruise through slow blues, shuffles, R&B workouts, and rocking outbursts. In addition to a group of originals, King and his cohorts cover the standard, "Every Night," Albert King's "Wild Woman," and Sly Stone's "Sex Machine" (not the James Brown tune with a similar, albeit longer, title). King can sing, but his forte is righteously rocking blues guitar. Guests include guitarist Teenie Hodges, saxophonist Andrew Love, and organist/producer Ron Levy. ~ Mark J. Cadigan, Roundup Newsletter

Vocals

b. Elizabeth Mary Pajaud, nee Landreaux, 31 March 1895, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 17 March 1963. As a teenager, Miles sang with outstanding early jazzmen from the age of 16, including Joe 'King' Oliver, Freddie Keppard, Kid Ory and Bunk Johnson. By the early '20s, she had established a reputation in Chicago and New York and she toured Europe in the middle of the decade. The late '20s found her resident in New York, singing in clubs and recording with Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. Illness kept her out of the business for a few years, but she returned to work in New York and Chicago in the late '30s and early '40s. Miles then abandoned her career, but she returned to nightclub work in the '50s, made records and re-established her reputation in the wake of the dixieland revival, singing with Bob Scobey, Sharkey Bonano and George Lewis. She retired in 1959, turning her back on music to embrace religion. Often singing in Louisiana Creole patois, Miles had a robust and earthy style which made her a distinctive performer, despite a rather narrow vocal range. Miles was an all-round entertainer, applying her powerful delivery impartially to blues, pop songs, ballads, Creole songs, and improbable Creolized (French language) versions of Bill Bailey and A Good Man Is Hard To Find. She died in March 1963.

 Long Gone Daddy

 Long Man Blues

b. Lee Baker Junior, 18 December 1933, Dubuisson, Louisiana, USA. Brooks took up the electric guitar while living in Port Arthur, Texas, playing as Guitar Junior with Clifton Chenier and Lonesome Sundown. His first solo record was the local hit Family Rules, made for Eddie Shuler's Goldband label in 1957. At this time, he also wrote and recorded Pick Me Up On Your Way Down (with Barbara Lynn on backing vocals) and The Crawl which was revived 30 years later by the Fabulous Thunderbirds. These tracks were reissued on a Charly album in 1984. Guitar Junior moved to Chicago in 1959, recording and touring with Jimmy Reed. He made an unsuccessful single for Mercury (The Horse) before changing his stage name again, to Lonnie Brooks. During the '60s, Brooks performed in the Chicago area, making singles for Midas, Palos, USA and Chess, where Let It All Hang Out was a local hit. In 1969, he made an album for Capitol but his career only began to develop when he toured Europe with Willie Mabon in 1975. There he recorded in France for ?Black And White? and in 1978 he signed to Chicago blues label, Alligator. During the '80s, Lonnie Brooks made five Alligator albums and built up a large following on the Midwest college and club circuit and made several trips to Europe.

Guitar

Vocals

b. 18 September 1929, Byhalis, Mississippi, USA. Growing up in a musical family, Myers began playing harmonica at the age of eight, and guitar about two years later. He moved to Chicago in 1941 and played with Big Boy Spires for three years. With his brother Dave Myers, Junior Wells and later, drummer Fred Below, he formed the Aces and in the '50s became known for his light, jazzy and swinging guitar blues artists (including some years with the re-formed Aces) and his own material has appeared on the Abco, Advent, and JSP labels. Although he is primarily known for his fluent guitar work, he can also be an impressive harmonica player in the modern amplified style.

Harmonica

 Louise Freeman

 Lowdown Memphis

b. Lucille Anderson, 1 April 1897, Amory, Mississippi, USA, d. 10 August 1948. Bogan was one of the toughest female blues singers of the pre-war era. Although not as sophisticated as Bessie Smith, she started to record as early as 1923 and never worked in a true jazz band context. Instead to utilise a string of gifted pianists including Cow Cow Davenport, Will Ezell and, particularly, Walter Roland; or a more 'countrified' group including guitars or even banjos. After a wobbly first session, her voice deepened and by 1927 she was really into her stride singing blues exclusively, often from the point of view of a street-walker. She seemed preoccupied with the life, expressing herself fluently, uncompromisingly and�during one famous session in 1936 �obscenely. Raised as Lucille Anderson in Birmingham, Alabama, she recorded after 1933 as Bessie Jackson, producing some of her best work between then and 1935 in the company of Roland. She was married at least once, to one Nazareth Bogan, and was the mother of two children. After her own career ended she managed Bogan's Birmingham Busters, a group organized by her son. In later life she moved to the west coast where she died of coronary sclerosis in August 1948.

 Lucille Walker

A former child prodigy who recorded his first album and appeared on the "Tonight Show" at the age of five, Lucky Peterson has continued to burn as one of the bright lights on the contemporary blues scene. As a teenager, Lucky toured with Little Milton, followed by a stint with Bobby Bland, and he now performs with his own unit in addition to doing session work with many of the top names in blues. A superb organist who has also become an excellent guitarist, Lucky was raised with the blues, and his musical instincts allow him to play down-home blues, funk, R&B, jazz, and up-to-the-minute original blues with equal ease. - Jim O'Neal

 Lurlean Hunter

b. 13 December 1958, Chicago, Illinois, USA. The second son of Carey Bell, Lurrie's musical interests were encouraged from an early age by his father and guitarist Roy Johnson. By the age of eight Bell was regularly called onstage for guest appearances. In his teens he joined Ko Ko Taylor's band as guitarist. In the '80s he established himself as both a respected bandleader and an in-demand session player, and he toured Europe frequently. He gave up music in 1986, but marked his return three years later with two well-received recordings for the JSP label. Lurrie's soulful, Little Milton-influenced singing and agile guitar playing mark him as a promising prospect.

Performer

b. Lucius Brinson Johnson, 30 August 1934, Davidsboro, Georgia, USA, d. 18 March 1976. Johnson was a guitarist/bassist/vocalist who formed his first band in Chicago at the age of 19. His boyhood ambition was to play with Muddy Waters; he achieved this in the '60s. Johnson played in the raw, urban style of Waters, and was also proficient at older country blues styles. His first recording (as Little Luther) was for Chess and he also recorded with Waters' sideman for the Spivey and Douglas labels. In the '70s he made two albums for the Black And Blue company while touring Europe. Johnson lived in Boston Massachusetts from 1970 until his death from cancer in 1976.

Primary Artist

Johnson was an Atlanta, Georgia, USA-based blues singer and guitarist who learned a few rudiments of music from his father but was largely self-taught. His career began around the mid-'60s when he worked as a backing musician for major blues artists appearing in Altanta's clubs, and in the early '80s he began establishing a reputation with his band the Houserockers. He works regularly at Blind Willie's, Atlanta's best-known blues club, both as a bandleader (his group is now known as the Shadows) in his own right and as backing guitarist for bigger names. He achieved a measure of international prominence in 1990 with the release of a well-received album on Ichiban; the mixture of blues standards and original material revealed a talented modern blues musician with his roots deep in the tradition.

 Luther Johnson Jr.

b. 26 May 1883, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, d. 30 October 1940. Despite beginning her show business career as a dancer, before the outbreak of World War I Smith was established as a singer. Although she was, essentially, a vaudeville singer, in 1920 she recorded Crazy Blues, thus becoming the first black singer to record the blues as a soloist. The enormous success of this and her subsequent recordings established her reputation and thereafter she was always in great demand. Her accompanying musicians, on record and on tour, included Willie The Lion Smith, Joe Smith, Johnny Dunn, Bubber Miley and Coleman Hawkins. She lived extravagantly, squandering the enormous amount of money she earned, and when she died on 30 October 1940 after a long illness, she was bankrupt.

b. 9 April 1895, Navasota, Texas, USA, d. 30 January 1976, Navasota, Texas, USA. The son of a former slave and professional fiddle player, Lipscomb initially learned that instrument and later the guitar. For many years he played on a solely local basis, while working as a farmer, and only made his first recordings at the age of 65, in 1960. Over the following 15 years, he made a series of highly regarded albums, mainly for Chris Strachwitz's Arhoolie label. On the strength of these and his frequent live performances, he built up a very strong reputation for his skills as a singer of a wide range of material. His remarkably extensive repertoire encompassed gospel, rags, ballads and other traditional songs, as well as Texas-style blues. He also appeared in several films, including one bio-pic, entitled, A WELL SPENT LIFE.

LEGENDS OF TRADITIONAL FINGERSTYLE GUITAR-VIDEO

 Marie Queenie Lyons

 Mark "Mr. B" Braun

Performer

 Mark Hummel

Performer

 Mark Jensen

 Mark Wenner

 Mary-Ann Brandon

Background Vocals

b. 27 December 1929, Sunflower, Mississippi, USA. He moved to Memphis as a child and learned guitar in the '40s. He joined Tuff Green's band before becoming lead guitarist with Junior Parker's Blue Flames, playing on recording sessions with Parker and Bobby 'Blue' Bland. Murphy's brother Floyd replaced him with Parker when Matt moved to Chicago in 1952. There he spent seven years in Memphis Slim's band, also recording as the Sparks with Sam Chatman (bass/vocals) and John Calvin (saxophone). He toured Europe in 1963 with the Folk Blues package, recording with Sonny Boy Williamson in Denmark. Murphy found a wider audience through his role in the film The Blues Brothers as Aretha Franklin's husband and his subsequent tours with the Blues Brothers package. Floyd Murphy joined him for his first solo album, recorded for Antone's in 1990.

 Mel Brown

Guitarist Melvin Taylor's fluid, smartly constructed solos and understated yet winning vocals are surprises on this nice 1984 nine-track set recorded for Isabel and recently re-issued by Evidence on CD. Taylor is not a fancy or arresting singer but succeeds through his simple, effective delivery of lyrics, slight inflections and vocal nuances. His guitar work on =Tribute to Wes= and =Groovin' In Paris= is impressive with skittering riffs, shifting runs and dashing solos. Organ and pianist Lucky Peterson is an excellent second soloist, adding cute background phrases at times, then stepping foward and challenging or buttressing Taylor's playing with his own dazzling lines. Bassist Titus Williams and drummer Ray Allison are not given much individual space but adeptly fill in behind the main soloists. Taylor lacks a big name, but this session demonstrates that it is not because of his skills. ~ Ron Wynn

Performer

 Memphis Jamboree

Perhaps the most important and certainly the most popular of the jug bands, the Memphis Jug Band flourished on record, between 1927 and 1934, during which time they recorded some 80 tracks�first for Victor then later for Columbia/ OKeh Records. Once they moonlighted for Champion using the name, the Picaninny Jug Band. Their repertoire covered just about any kind of music that anybody wanted to hear, and their personal appearances ran from fish-frys to bar mitzvahs. Recording for their own people, they restricted themselves to ballads, dance tunes (including waltzes), novelty numbers and blues. Normally a knockabout conglomeration, they could produce blues of feeling and beauty when required. The group had an ever-changing personnel that revolved around the nucleus of Charlie Burse and Will Shade. Other members included some of the stars of the Memphis blues scene such as Memphis Minnie, Casey Bill Weldon, Jab Jones, Milton Robey, Vol Stevens, Ben Ramey, Charlie Polk and Hattie Hart. Basically a string band augmented by such 'semi-legitimate' instruments as harmonicas, kazoos, washboards and jugs blown to supply a bass, the MJB had a constantly shifting line-up featuring violins, pianos, mandolins, banjos and guitars in different combinations. This, coupled with ever-changing vocalists, lent their music a freshness, vitality and variety that enables it to charm, entertain or move the listener as much today as it did during the great days of Beale Street. Although they ceased to record in 1934, this loose aggregation of musicians continued to work around Memphis until well into the '40s; some of its members being recorded again by researchers in the '60s.

 Memphis Willie B.

Performer

 Mercy Dee Walton

Primary Artist

b. c.1912, Mississippi, USA. Information on Johnson's early years is sketchy. She began recording in 1937, and enjoyed a successful recording career for several years, making a large number of records until 1941, accompanied by some of the major blues musicians in Chicago at that time, including Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson and Blind John Davis (sometimes credited as Her Rhythm Rascals). Her vocals were tough and confident, occasionally reminiscent of Memphis Minnie, with an inclination to the sensual as well as the witty. Her nickname, The Yas Yas Girl (a rare American instance of rhyming slang) bears out this image. Some of her records, however, had a jazzier orientation. She recorded again at a single session after the war, in 1947, but nothing further is known of her.

 Michael Osborn

Clarke likes nothing better than laying out stinging guitar solos over Hammond organ-supported rhythms and then playing tag with harmonica player Dave Newman, as he does on songs like Earl Hooker's "Swear to Tell the Truth." Clarke's most recent release, his second in the U.S., also includes covers of Muddy Waters' "Gypsy Woman" and "She Moves Me" as well as a bunch of originals that display his affinity for rocking blues. ~ Roundup newsletter

TELL THE TRUTH (1909)

b. 23 September 1927, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. Blues guitarist 'Mighty' Joe Young grew up in the northern state of Wisconsin but later relocated to Louisiana before settling in Chicago in the '50s. There he briefly joined a group called Joe Little And His Heart Breakers before joining ex-Muddy Waters harmonica player Billy Boy Arnold in his band. He next went to guitarist Jimmy Rogers' blues band in 1959, meanwhile recording several unsuccessful singles on his own. Young played with guitarist Otis Rush from 1960-63, still recording solo with no luck. He built a reputation as a session guitarist in the '60s, recording with artists such as Magic Sam, Willie Dixon and Tyrone Davis. Young recorded several albums in the early '70s and became a popular blues nightclub act in Chicago. Since 1976 he has been absent from the recording scene.

Performer

 Mike Whellans

Primary Artist

 Mississippi Fred McDowell

 Mississippi Gir

 Mississippi Joe Callicott

Bay Area jump-blues singer/keyboardist. Dubbing his swinging approach "rock-a-boogie," Mitch Woods and his Rocket 88's have revived the jump-blues approach of the 40s and 50s on three Blind Pig albums. - Bill Dahl

Primary Artist

b. Arthur Taylor, 1903, Butte, Montana, USA. Nicknamed after his birthplace, Taylor was raised in Indianapolis, where he learned piano in 1919. He played cafes and rent parties there and in Chicago, before recording two 78s for Vocalion in 1929. Although one record was partially spoiled by the vocal antics of the Jazoo Boys, Taylor's percussive, inventive piano playing was of the highest order. Shortly afterwards he stopped playing, discouraged by the absence of royalties. Located by jazz fans in 1946, Taylor made a series of recordings that not only showed he retained all his instrumental abilities, both solo and as accompanist to Bertha Chippie Hill but revealed him to be a moving singer as well, particularly on slow, introspective pieces like I Can't Sleep. Discouraged anew, however, Taylor dropped out of sight again, and his subsequent whereabouts are unknown.

Morgan's songs have nice hooks, lots of energy, and are guaranteed to get you going. Great guitar work and catchy vocals. If you like electric blues, I recommend this one. ~ Chip Renner

A former truck driver turned touring bluesman, Rascoe primarily covers other people's tunes and classic blues themes. There is much Jimmy Reed and "traditional" material. ~ Niles J. Frantz

 Mr. B

Primary Artist

b. Napoleon Brown Culp, 12 October 1929, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Brown began his career as a gospel singer, but moved to R&B when an appearance in Newark, New Jersey led to a recording contract with Savoy in 1954. A deep-voiced, highly individual R&B singer, he had a number of hits during the '50s, including Don't Be Angry (1955), the Rose Marie McCoy/Charlie Singleton song Pitter Patter (a pop hit in Patti Page's cover version), It Don't Hurt No More (1958) and I Cried Like A Baby (1959). He also made two original version of The Night Time Is The Right Time a 1958 hit for Ray Charles. A prison term kept Brown inactive for much of the '60s. He returned to music with an album for Elephant V in 1969 and recorded gospel music in the '70s with the Bell Jubilee Singers for Jewel and as Brother Napoleon Brown for Savoy. In the '80s, Brown was rediscovered by a later generation of blues enthusiasts. He performed at festivals and recorded for Black Top and Alligator, with guitarist Tinsley Ellis accompanying him on TORE UP. Brown also appeared on a live album recorded at Tipitina's in New Orleans in 1988. He recorded in 1990 for Ichiban.

Performer

 Neal Pattman

Primary Artist

 Negro Prison B

 Nick Katzman

 Nick Woodland

Primary Artist

 Noble "Thin Man" Watts

Tenor Saxophone

 Nolan Struck

Primary Artist

 Norton Buffalo

Primary Artist

Andrew Odom died last Christmas and the world has one less hard working, soul stirring bluesman. His was the typical story of never getting enough of his due to keep a working band. So, his recordings from the last 20 years contain mostly standards, albeit well done in his intense style. Generally, they remain hard to find. His work on Jimmy Dawkins' 1971 release =All for Business= (Delmark DE-634) is the only thing that comes to mind as available on CD. He was a shouter in the style of B.B. King, Roy Brown and Wynonie Harris and he sounded remarkably like B.B. During his early years, he took those initials for himself, though later he preferred "Voice" or "Big Voice." This was as much because of his heavy gospel influence as it was for his stylistic debt to Mr. King. Happily, his latest effort is preserved thanks to the folks at Flying Fish, a Chicago-based independent label. It's a hard-hitting program of standards and his originals. Standouts include Jimmy Reed's "You Don't Have To Go," Albert King's "Going To California," and B.B.'s "Woke Up This Morning." Among his own tunes "Bad Feeling," "Why Did You Leave Me?" and "Don't Ever Leave Me" are much better than average and he delivers them in his heartfelt style. Though his voice has aged, it's still powerful, still in tune and he uses it to great effect. Another of the album's strong points is the band. They're with him every step of the way, giving him strong support. Steve Freund on guitar and Jerome Fiztpatrick on drums deserve special attention. Freund is an exciting player whose vocabulary of licks, runs, stops and riffs adds immense satisfaction to the album. Likewise, Fitzpatrick's crisp, solid drumming is always tasteful, never showy. Gene Taylor on piano, Doran Katz on bass and Michael Fonfara on organ are also solid and very much attuned to creating a tight ensemble. Unfortunately, Steve Katz's rhythm guitar is lost in the mix most of the time. This is a varied program of shuffles, rhumbas and down-in-the-alley blues featuring great singing, good songs and a terrific band. ~ Sigmund Finman, Blues Access

 Oscar Benton Blues Band

The prolific Blackwell (who wrote hundreds of songs) also provided hits for Jerry Lee Lewis (Breathless and his most famous recording Great Balls Of Fire, 1958), Dee Clark (Hey Little Girl and Just Keep It Up, 1959), Jimmy Jones (Handy Man, 1960) and Cliff Richard (Nine Times Out Of Ten, 1960). As the tide of rock 'n' roll receded, Blackwell returned to recording R&B material for numerous labels including Atlantic, MGM and Epic. In later years he was in semi-retirement, making only occasional live appearances.

b. Fred Bishti, 14 February 1950, Beirut, Lebanon. Otis spent most of his life in the USA, with a few years in France. He began playing guitar at the age of 13 and names his influences as B.B. King, T-Bone Walker, Otis Rush, and Johnny Otis. He played with many San Francisco Bay area blues artists. Otis Grand And The Dance Kings created a sensation when they burst onto the British blues scene in the late '80s; enhanced on the first album (a W.C. Handy award nomination) by the presence of Joe Louis Walker. The second album includes guests Jimmy Nelson, Pee Wee Ellis, and Walker again. A great live attraction, Grand was voted UK Blues Guitarist Of The Year in 1990.

Guitar

 Otis Smokey Smothers

 Pam Tate

Primary Artist

b. c.1885, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, d. 1938, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Papa Charlie Jackson belonged to the first generation of rural black singers to record. He was a banjo player who had toured the South in medicine shows and worked anywhere else where he thought he might make money. He became popular after his first records were issued by Paramount in 1924, by which time he seems to have already moved to Chicago where he often performed for tips in the Maxwell Street market. Like numerous banjoists from the minstrel tradition, Jackson was something of a humorist and many of his 70 or more recordings were sanitized versions of bawdy songs. He recorded with Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals in 1926, taking the vocal on Salty Dog, a number he had already recorded under his own name with marked success. Despite providing support for artists such as Ma Rainey, Lucille Boganand Ida CoxJackson's recording activities suffered a hiatus between 1930 and 1934 owing to the onset of the Depression and the demise of Paramount. He recorded for Vocalion in 1934 and recorded an unreleased session with Big Bill Broonzyin 1935. He scuffled on Chicago's west side until his death in 1938.

 Papa George Lightfoot

Performer

 Paul Delay

Paul delivers 16 all-acoustic songs. He covers "Who Do You Love," "San Francisco Bay Blues," "Milk Cow's Calf's Blues," "I Can't Be Satisfied," and "I Shall Be Free." Real nice release. ~ Chip Renner

 Paul Orta

Guitarist/vocalist Paul Rishell divides =Blues on a Holiday= into an electric section with a full band and a solo section with National Steel guitar. The band songs are competent, primarily boogie-woogie blues numbers, with the exception of the smokey original title track. Guests include saxophonist Deric Dyer, keyboardist/producer Ron Levy, and harmonica player Jerry Portnoy. But it's on the solo songs that Rishell really shines, wrapping his wide voice around the lyrics and snaking through the rhythms with National Steel guitar flourishes. He takes on tunes by Son House, Tommy Johnson, Willie McTell, and others, tosses in a spry original, "Louise," and emerges with a thoroughly delightful set of back-porch blues. Keep your eyes on this guy. ~ Mark J. Cadigan, Roundup Newsletter

 Paul Ubana Jones

Primary Artist

b 19 September 1940, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. A pop composer, Williams wrote some of the '70s most enduring melodies and had further successes as a singer and soundtrack composer. Short in stature, Williams entered show business as a stunt man and film actor, appearing as a child in THE LOVED ONE (1964) and THE CHASE (1965). He turned to script and songwriting, collaborating with Roger Nichols on two of the Carpenters' biggest hits, We've Only Just Begun and Rainy Days And Mondays. The duo also provided material for Helen Reddy (You And Me Against The World) and Three Dog Night (Just An Old Fashioned Love Song). Williams recorded his first solo album for Reprise in 1970 before moving to A&M Records the following year. None of these albums sold well but Williams developed a highly praised night-club act in the early '70s. His first film score was for PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, Brian de Palma's update of the Phantom Of The Operastory, in which Williams starred. This was followed by songs for A Star Is Born, another modern version of an old movie which featured Kris Kristoffersonand Barbra Streisand, but Williams' most impressive score was the '30s pastiche he provided for Bugsy Malone, the gangster spoof entirely acted by children. His later scores included THE END (1977) and THE MUPPET MOVIE (1979). In 1998, Williams appeared at Michael's Pub in New York, and previewed some numbers intended for a future Broadway musical, as well as detailing his recovery from the ravages of drugs and alcohol. In 1992, he contributed music and lyrics for the songs in the feature film, THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL which starred Michael Caine.

Performer

Talented and interesting vocalist, songwriter, and interpreter of classic blues and jazz. Influences include Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington, Alberta Hunter, and Joe Williams. Paula's recordings generally feature topflight musicians backing her sexy, stylized, understated vocal mannerisms in a variety of settings from solo guitar accompaniment to horn-driven big band in full swing. She continues to perform regularly in and around New York City, along with festival appearances and tours of the US, Canada, and Europe. Paula has performed and recorded with, among others, John Hammond, David Bromberg, and Dr. John. She was nominated for a Handy Blues Award in 1982 and a New York City Music Award in 1986. - Niles J. Frantz

Primary Artist

 Pearly Brown

b. Connie Curtis, 18 December 1914, Liberty Hill, Texas, USA, d. 25 June 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA. After learning to play ukulele and banjo as a child, Crayton took up the guitar in his mid-20s. He was inspired by Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker, the latter of whom taught Crayton the basics of electric guitar playing. His tutelage was completed at the side of another legendary guitarist, John Collins, and he began playing with local bands before graduating to Ivory Joe Hunter's bay area band in 1946. After making his recording debut with Hunter for Pacific Records, he recorded his first efforts under his own name and these were later issued on 4 Star Records after his success with Modern. In 1947 Crayton formed a trio, and after an obscure release on the tiny Gru-V-Tone label, began recording for Modern Records between 1948 and 1951, finding success with Blues After Hours, Texas Hop, and his biggest hit I Love You So, soon after he switched to Aladdin and Recorded In Hollywood for one-off sessions. Imperial Records took Crayton to New Orleans in 1954-55 to record with Dave Bartholomew's band, and the following year he moved to Detroit to record for Fox and VeeJay in nearby Chicago. During this period he was admired by and became the inspiration for a local young guitarist called Kenny Burrell. Moving back to Los Angeles in 1960, he recorded an unissued session for Kent Records (Modern) and subsequently recorded single sessions for the Jamie/Guyden, Smash and Edco labels, before leaving the music business in 1964 for five years, after recording the obscure SUNSET BLUES BAND for Liberty's Sunset subsidiary. Rediscovered in the blues boom of the late '60s, he recommenced his recording career with an unissued session for Blue Horizon, a well-received album for Vanguard entitled THINGS I USED TO DO, and an explosive appearance with Johnny Otis' band at the 1970 MONTEREY FESTIVAL. The five years or so before his death coincided with another resurgence of interest in blues and R&B, and this saw Crayton reaching an even wider audience with albums recorded for his friend Johnny Otis, solo albums and albums with Big Joe Turner on Pablo, new blues projects for the Murray Brothers, and Ace Records initiating a large-scale reissue programme of his Modern Records classics from the late '40s and early '50s.