21-09-2018 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues songs from the BLUES circle 1969-1959

John Hammond Jr July 1964 Newport

21-09-2018 BLUES:MiX # 33 blues songs from the BLUES circle 1969-1959 # John Hammond, Fred McDowell, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Lightnin' Hopkins, Elmore James, Champion Jack Dupree, Big Joe Williams, Curtis Amy & Paul Bryant, Brownie McGhee

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1969-1959

John Hammond, Jr. is one of a handful of white blues musicians who was on the scene at the beginning of the first blues renaissance of the mid-'60s. That revival, brought on by renewed interest in folk music around the U.S., brought about career boosts for many of the great classic blues players, including Mississippi John Hurt, Rev. Gary Davis, and Skip James. Some critics have described Hammond as a white Robert Johnson, and Hammond does justice to classic blues by combining powerful guitar and harmonica playing with expressive vocals and a dignified stage presence.
John Hammond
Mystery Train (Junior Parker) 3:00
I'm Leavin' You (Chester Burnett) 3:21
from Southern Fried 1969
Southern Fried differed little from other early Hammond albums in its repertoire, consisting entirely of covers of blues and R&B songs. As usual, the Chicago sound came in for especially heavy tribute, with versions of songs by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Chuck Berry, as well as a pass at "Mystery Train," though more vocal-oriented R&B got a nod with Chuck Willis' "It's Too Late" and some of the other tunes. Where this might have a leg up on some other early Hammond efforts -- and a leg up on blues cover albums in general -- is in the stellar band, featuring Muscle Shoals stalwarts like Eddie Hinton and Roger Hawkins. Allman Brothers fans, too, will want to keep an eye out for it as it features Duane Allman playing fine lead guitar on four tracks...

...As a stylist and purveyor of the original Delta blues, he was superb, equal parts Charley Patton and Son House coming to the fore through his roughed-up vocals and slashing bottleneck style of guitar playing. McDowell knew he was the real deal, and while others were diluting and updating their sound to keep pace with the changing times and audiences, Mississippi Fred stood out from the rest of the pack simply by not changing his style one iota...
Fred McDowell
Levee Camp Blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell) 3:49
My Baby Don't Treat Me Like Humankind (Mississippi Fred McDowell) 2:21
from Levee Camp Blues / Rec. 1968 (1998)
When Mississippi Fred McDowell recorded these sides in March of 1968, producer Pete Welding encouraged McDowell to recall the earliest material he had learned when he first started playing. The result is a selection of tunes that simply don't show up on his other recordings, both stylistically and because of their previously unreleased status...

A primal, ferocious blues belter with a roster of classics rivaling anyone else, and a sandpaper growl of a voice that has been widely imitated.   In the history of the blues, there has never been anyone quite like the Howlin' Wolf. Six foot three and close to 300 pounds in his salad days, the Wolf was the primal force of the music spun out to its ultimate conclusion. A Robert Johnson may have possessed more lyrical insight, a Muddy Waters more dignity, and a B.B. King certainly more technical expertise, but no one could match him for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.
Howlin' Wolf
Just My Kind (Chester Burnett / Howlin' Wolf) 2:53
I'm the Wolf (Chester Burnett / Howlin' Wolf) 2:54
from More Real Folk Blues 1967
This companion volume to the Real Folk Blues album was issued in 1967 (after the Wolf had appeared on network television with the Rolling Stones, alluded to in the original liner notes) and couldn't be more dissimilar in content to the first one if you had planned it that way. Whereas the previous volume highlighted middle-period Wolf, this one goes all the way back to his earliest Chess sessions, many of which sound like leftover Memphis sides...

The most elemental of the electric blues giants, one of few to both inspire and draw from rock & roll idols.   He was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century.
John Lee Hooker
Shake It Baby (John Lee Hooker) 4:20
Bottle Up and Go (John Lee Hooker) 2:25
It Serves You Right to Suffer (John Lee Hooker / Percy Mayfield) 5:08
from It Serves You Right To Suffer 1966
Given Hooker's unpredictable timing and piss-poor track record recording with bands, this 1965 one-off session for the jazz label Impulse! would be a recipe for disaster. But with Panama Francis on drums, Milt Hinton on bass, and Barry Galbraith on second guitar, the result is some of the best John Lee Hooker material with a band that you're likely to come across. The other musicians stay in the pocket, never overplaying or trying to get Hooker to make chord changes he has no intention of making...

Legendary bluesman and producer helped architect the sound of Chicago blues in the 1940s & '50s.   Willie Dixon's life and work was virtually an embodiment of the progress of the blues, from an accidental creation of the descendants of freed slaves to a recognized and vital part of America's musical heritage. That Dixon was one of the first professional blues songwriters to benefit in a serious, material way -- and that he had to fight to do it -- from his work also made him an important symbol of the injustice that still informs the music industry, even at the end of the 20th century. A producer, songwriter, bassist, and singer, he helped Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, and others find their most commercially successful voices.
Willie Dixon
My Babe feat. Litle Walter (Willie Dixon) 2:40
Third Degree feat. Eddie Boyd (Willie Dixon) 3:13
I'm Ready feat. Muddy Waters (Willie Dixon) 3:01
Bring It on Home feat. Sonny Boy Williamson II (Willie Dixon) 2:33
from The Chess Box / Rec. 1951-1965 (1989)
This was the most unusual, and probably the most difficult to assemble of MCA's Chess Box series, mostly because of the unusual nature of Willie Dixon's contribution to Chess Records. To be sure, Dixon rates a place in the history of the label right alongside that of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter, but his role was more subtle than that of a performer (indeed, two of the half-dozen recordings here that feature Dixon as a singer were previously unreleased). So he is all over this two-CD set, as a songwriter, producer, and bassist, and occasionally as a singer as well, but the unifying element are the Dixon songs, and he is the only blues songwriter to be honored by a major label with a retrospective of this type...

His compulsive guitar playing and harsh, emotive voice made him one of the last great country blues singers. Sam Hopkins was a Texas country bluesman of the highest caliber whose career began in the 1920s and stretched all the way into the 1980s. Along the way, Hopkins watched the genre change remarkably, but he never appreciably altered his mournful Lone Star sound, which translated onto both acoustic and electric guitar. Hopkins' nimble dexterity made intricate boogie riffs seem easy, and his fascinating penchant for improvising lyrics to fit whatever situation might arise made him a beloved blues troubadour.
Lightnin' Hopkins
Let's Go Sit on the Lawn (Lightnin' Hopkins / Sam Hopkins) 4:16
Just a Wristwatch on My Arm (Lightnin' Hopkins / Sam Hopkins) 3:36
I Was Standing on 75 Highway (Lightnin' Hopkins / Sam Hopkins) 5:10
My Babe (Willie Dixon) 3:21
from Double Blues / Rec.: 1964 (1973)
Lightnin' Hopkins' plaintive, soft-rolling blues style is exemplified on "Let's Go Sit on the Lawn," "Just a Wristwatch on My Arm," "I'm a Crawling Black Snake," Willie Dixon's "My Babe," and others. Accompanied only by himself on guitar (and oh what a guitar he plays), Leonard Gaskin (bass), and Herb Lovelle (drums), Hopkins' seductive, intricate guitar picks and strums will dance around in your head long after this CD has played. His voice, which sounds like it's aged in Camels and Jim Beam, conveys his heartfelt sagas to the fullest. A prolific songwriter, Hopkins wrote every song except the Dixon tune.

Revered for his "Dust My Broom" riff, the biggest slide guitarist in postwar blues was a major link between traditional Delta and modern Chicago blues. No two ways about it, the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period was Elmore James, hands down. Although his early demise from heart failure kept him from enjoying the fruits of the '60s blues revival as his contemporaries Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf did, James left a wide influential trail behind him. And that influence continues to the present time -- in approach, attitude and tone -- in just about every guitar player who puts a slide on his finger and wails the blues.
Elmore James
Make My Dreams Come True (Elmore James / Marshall Sehorn) 2:41
Dust My Broom (Elmore James / Robert Johnson) 2:56
Rollin' and Tumblin' (Elmore James) 2:32
from The Complete Fire and Enjoy Recordings
This three-disc set mirrors Capricorn's double box set of the same material. The Collectables set offers more alternate takes and stray vocals from Sammy Myers and an unidentified female vocalist, recorded at the same sessions, with Elmore contributing guitar, many of the tracks in true stereo. But the liner-note information is scant, and the lack of a proper booklet makes this set an also-ran compared to the more sensibly ordered and far better annotated Capricorn set, garish box graphics and all...

Blues musician and New Orleans native who distinguished himself as a champion boxer and a powerful boogie woogie pianist. A formidable contender in the ring before he shifted his focus to pounding the piano instead, Champion Jack Dupree often injected his lyrics with a rowdy sense of down-home humor. But there was nothing lighthearted about his rock-solid way with a boogie; when he shouted "Shake Baby Shake," the entire room had no choice but to acquiesce.
Champion Jack Dupree
You Can Make It, You Can Make It (Champion Jack Dupree) 3:13
Carolina Sunrise (Champion Jack Dupree) 4:14
Kind Hearted Woman (Champion Jack Dupree) 3:08
from Trouble, Trouble1962

Big Joe Williams may have been the most cantankerous human being who ever walked the earth with guitar in hand. At the same time, he was an incredible blues musician: a gifted songwriter, a powerhouse vocalist, and an exceptionally idiosyncratic guitarist.
Big Joe Williams
Highway 49 (Chester Burnett / Big Joe Williams) 3:52
TiaJuana Blues 3:19
Arkansas Woman3:14
from Blues on Highway 49 1961
One of Big Joe Williams's better releases, Blues on Highway 49 is a tense, gritty set of roadhouse blues. Williams's stinging playing and singing brings out the best...  - he shows exactly how Delta blues could be updated.

A good soul-jazz and hard bop tenor and soprano saxophonist, Curtis Amy enjoyed a busy period in the '60s, then dropped out of sight. He had a strong tone and nice, lightly swinging style...
Curtis Amy & Paul Bryant
Paul Bryant - The organist and pianist, whose cool sound was a key component in the burgeoning L.A. sound, appeared on eight albums and performed around the world. 
Searchin' (Paul Bryant) 8:48
The Blues Message 8:43
This Is the Blues 8:25
from The Blues Message 1960
The Blues Message is an album by saxophonist Curtis Amy and organist Paul Bryant recorded in 1960 for the Pacific Jazz label.
Curtis Amy - tenor saxophone   Paul Bryant - organ   Roy Brewster - valve trombone   Clarence Jones - bass   Jimmy Miller - drums

Folk-blues singer-guitarist whose long-running partnership with harp-man Sonny Terry was already legendary by 1950s revival time. Brownie McGhee's death in 1996 was an enormous loss in the blues field. Although he had been semi-retired and suffering from stomach cancer, the guitarist was still the leading Piedmont-style bluesman on the planet, venerated worldwide for his prolific activities both on his own and with his longtime partner, blind harpist Sonny Terry. 
Brownie McGhee
Poor Boy 4:40
Walking Blues 3:42
Brownie's Blues 4:25
How Long 4:04
from Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues 1959
Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Brownie McGhee's voice rings clear over his strumming about love, cheating, and remembering his friend Big Bill Broonzy.