'Roll 'Em Pete' Johnson

Pete Johnson (March 25, 1904 – March 23, 1967) was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.

Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most exciting of all piano music styles, but he was more comfortable than Meade Lux Lewis in a band setting; and as an accompanist, unlike Lewis or Albert Ammons, he could sparkle but not outshine his singing partner"...

Johnson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

He began his musical career in 1922 as a drummer in Kansas City. From 1926 to 1938 he worked as a pianist, often accompanying Big Joe Turner. Record producer John Hammond discovered him in 1936 and got him to play at the Famous Door in New York. In 1938 Johnson and Turner appeared in the From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. This concert started a boogie-woogie craze, and Turner and two other performers at the concert, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons, worked together afterwards at Café Society for a long time; they also toured and recorded together. In 1941 Lewis, Ammons and Johnson were featured in the movie short Boogie-Woogie Dream.

The song, "Roll 'Em Pete" (composed by Johnson and Turner), featuring Turner on vocals and Johnson on piano, was one of the first rock and roll records. Another self-referential title was their "Johnson and Turner Blues". In 1949, he also wrote and recorded "Rocket 88 Boogie", a two-sided instrumental, which influenced the 1951 Ike Turner hit, "Rocket 88".

In the late 1940s, Johnson recorded an early concept album, House Rent Party, in which he starts out playing alone, supposedly in a new empty house, and is joined there by J. C. Higgenbotham, J. C. Heard, and other Kansas City players. Each has a solo single backed by Johnson, and then the whole group plays a jam session together. On this album Johnson shows his considerable command of stride piano and his ability to work with a group.

Johnson used to play at a nightclub in Niagara Falls where he had to climb a long ladder to the piano above the bar. In 1950 he moved to Buffalo, but despite problems with his health, he continued to tour and record, notably with Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, and on a 1958 Jazz at the Philharmonic tour of Europe, despite losing part of a finger some years earlier while changing a tire.

A stroke in 1958 left him partly paralyzed. His last years were troubled by illness and poverty. Johnson made one final appearance at Hammond's January 1967 "Spirituals to Swing" concert, playing the right hand on a version of "Roll 'Em Pete", two months before his death.

He died in Meyer Hospital, Buffalo, New York in March 1967, at the age of 62.

The Soul Stirrers - Heaven Is My Home

A second July rerun this morning...

Just as the Highway Q.C.'s (the minor league club) turned to Johnnie Taylor as their sound alike replacement for Sam Cooke, so The Soul Stirrers (the major league club) were forced to make the same choice when Cooke left for secular music. Taylor later continued to walk the same path when he left the Stirrers for a secular career as a bad boy soul singer.

The first 7 tracks here with just Paul Foster singing leads clearly demonstrate why I used the term 'forced to'; while Foster is a perfectly competent singer, the group lacks the excitement of the Cooke years. Taylor rekindles that feel with an almost eerie imitation of Cooke that restores the two lead feeling of the earlier group.

Albert Ammons & Meade Lux Lewis - The Complete Blue Note Recordings

"Albert Ammons (September 23, 1907 – December 2, 1949) was an American pianist and player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid-1940s.

Born Albert C. Ammons in Chicago, Illinois, his parents were pianists, and he had learned to play by the age of ten. He also played percussion in the drum and bugle corps as a teenager and was soon performing with bands on the Chicago club scene. After World War I he became interested in the blues, learning by listening to Chicago pianists Hersal Thomas and the brothers Alonzo and Jimmy Yancey. In the early to mid-1920s Ammons worked as a cab driver for the Silver Taxicab Company. In 1924 he met a fellow taxi driver who also played piano, Meade Lux Lewis. Soon the two players began working as a team, performing at club parties. Ammons started his own band at the Club DeLisa in 1934 and remained at the club for the next two years.

During that time he played with a five piece unit that included Guy Kelly, Dalbert Bright, Jimmy Hoskins, and Israel Crosby. Ammons also recorded as Albert Ammons's Rhythm Kings for Decca Records in 1936. The Rhythm Kings' version of "Swanee River Boogie" sold a million copies. Ammons moved from Chicago to New York, where he teamed up with another pianist, Pete Johnson. The two performed regularly at the Café Society, occasionally joined by Meade Lux Lewis, and performed with other noted jazz artists such as Benny Goodman and Harry James.

In 1938 Ammons appeared at Carnegie Hall with Johnson and Lewis at From Spirituals to Swing, an event that helped launch the boogie-woogie craze. Two weeks later, record producer Alfred Lion, who had attended John H. Hammond's From Spirituals to Swing concert on December 23, 1938, which had introduced Ammons and Lewis, started Blue Note Records, recording nine Ammons solos including "The Blues" and "Boogie Woogie Stomp", eight by Lewis and a pair of duets in a one-day session in a rented studio.

In 1941, Ammons' boogie music was accompanied by drawn-on-film animation in the short film Boogie-Doodle by Norman McLaren. Ammons played himself in the movie Boogie-Woogie Dream (1944), with Lena Horne and Pete Johnson. As a sideman with Sippie Wallace in the 1940s Ammons recorded a session with his son, the tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons. Although the boogie-woogie fad began to die down in 1945 Ammons had no difficulty securing work. He continued to tour as a solo artist and between 1946 and 1949 recorded his last sides for Mercury Records with bassist Israel Crosby.

During the last few years of his life Ammons played mainly in Chicago's Beehive Club and the Tailspin Club and a few days before he died he played at Mama Yancey's parlor. In 1949, his final year, he was given the honour to play at President Harry S. Truman's inauguration. Albert Ammons died on December 2, 1949 in Chicago and was interred at the Lincoln Cemetery, at Kedzie Avenue in Blue Island, Worth Township, Cook County, Illinois.


Meade 'Lux' Lewis (September 1905 – June 7, 1964) was an American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded by many artists.

Lewis was born Meade Anderson Lewis in Chicago, Illinois, United States, in September 1905. In his youth he was influenced by the pianist Jimmy Yancey.

A 1927 rendition of "Honky Tonk Train Blues" on the Paramount Records label marked his recording debut. He remade it for Parlophone in 1935 and for Victor in 1937 and a recording exists of a Camel Caravan broadcast, including "Honky Tonk Train Blues" from New York City in 1939. His performance at John Hammond's historic From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall in 1938 brought Lewis to public attention. Following the event, Lewis and two other performers from that concert, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson often appeared as a trio and became the leading boogie-woogie pianists of the day.

They performed an extended engagement at Café Society, toured as a trio, and inspired the formation of Blue Note Records in 1939. Their success led to a decade long boogie-woogie craze with big band swing treatments by Tommy Dorsey, Will Bradley, and others; and numerous country boogie and early rock and roll songs.

He became the first jazz pianist to double on celeste (starting in 1936) and was featured on that instrument on a Blue Note quartet date with Edmond Hall and Charlie Christian. Lewis also played harpsichord on a few records in 1941. After the boogie-woogie craze ended, Lewis continued working in Chicago and California.

Lewis appeared in the movies New Orleans (1947) and Nightmare (1956). Uncomfortable typecast as a boogie-woogie and blues pianist, Lewis spent his later years playing rags and old-time pop songs. He also appeared, uncredited, in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, playing piano in the scene where George Bailey gets thrown out of Nick's Bar."
wiki

Roosevelt Sykes - The Honeydripper

  "Roosevelt Sykes (January 31, 1906 – July 17, 1983) was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.

Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on the road playing piano with a barrelhouse style of blues. Like many bluesmen of his time, he travelled around playing to all-male audiences in sawmill, turpentine and levee camps along the Mississippi River, gathering a repertoire of raw, sexually explicit material. His wanderings eventually brought him to St. Louis, Missouri, where he met St. Louis Jimmy Oden.

In 1929 he was spotted by a talent scout and sent to New York to record for Okeh Records. His first release was "'44' Blues" which became a blues standard and his trademark. He quickly began recording for multiple labels under various names including 'Easy Papa Johnson', 'Dobby Bragg' and 'Willie Kelly'. After he and Oden moved to Chicago he found his first period of fame when he signed with Decca Records in 1934. In 1943, he signed with Bluebird Records and recorded with 'The Honeydrippers'.

In Chicago, Sykes began to display an increasing urbanity in his lyric-writing, using an eight-bar blues pop gospel structure instead of the traditional twelve-bar blues. However, despite the growing urbanity of his outlook, he gradually became less competitive in the post-World War II music scene. After his RCA Victor contract expired, he continued to record for smaller labels, such as United, until his opportunities ran out in the mid-1950s.

Roosevelt left Chicago in 1954 for New Orleans as electric blues was taking over the Chicago blues clubs. When he returned to recording in the 1960s it was for labels such as Delmark, Bluesville, Storyville and Folkways that were documenting the quickly passing blues history. He lived out his final years in New Orleans, where he died from a heart attack on July 17, 1983.

Sykes had a long career spanning the pre-war and postwar eras. His pounding piano boogies and risqué lyrics characterize his contributions to the blues. He was responsible for influential blues songs such as "44 Blues", "Driving Wheel", and "Night Time Is the Right Time"." wiki

Leroy Carr - Whiskey Is My Habit, Good Women Is All I Crave

Continuing the new thread on the great piano men of the Blues

"Leroy Carr (March 27, 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles.

He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928. Carr was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Although his recording career was cut short by an early death, Carr left behind a large body of work. He had a long-time partnership with guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. His light bluesy piano combined with Blackwell's melodic jazz guitar to attract a sophisticated black audience. Carr's vocal style moved blues singing toward an urban sophistication, influencing such singers as T-Bone Walker, Charles Brown, Amos Milburn, Jimmy Witherspoon, Ray Charles among others.

Count Basie and Jimmy Rushing used some of Carr's songs and Basie's band shows the influence of Carr's piano style.

His music has been covered by notable artists such as Robert Johnson, Ray Charles, Big Bill Broonzy, Moon Mullican, Champion Jack Dupree, Lonnie Donegan and Memphis Slim.

Carr died of nephritis shortly after his thirtieth birthday." wiki

Stompin', Vol. 2

They certainly dug deep for this set. Only two names here that I know, Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin, maybe Lord Tennyson but you get the picture - obscure stuff!

note: I downloaded these from somewhere a year or two ago but then burned them to disc for storage because my hard drive was nearly full - anyway, given that they are mono files, I made them larger than necessary when I extracted them from the discs, sorry about that - it doesn't seem to have affected how they sound.

Let's Have A Ball Tonight

NOT your average compilation! This one is, instead, composed of  rare Jubilee, Apollo and Birdland radio broadcasts from 1943-53.

 Turn down the lights and imagine one of those old radios where your stereo or computer is and take a trip in the Way Back Machine to 1943....ahhh There's the signal...let's listen...

The Traveling Record Man; Historic Down South Recording Trips

A RERUN REQUEST FOR POPPACUBBY!

A taste of the material gathered during these legendary road trips thru the South that lead to the discovery of many artists and the preservation of many others who would be otherwise lost. There are actually 5 volumes which follow this one if there appears to be any interest.

"The bulky title of this disc was sparked by its documentation of recordings assembled by Joe Bihari of Modern Records on scouting trips through the South for talent between 1948 and 1953. (Starting in 1952, the young Ike Turner also worked for Modern in this capacity.) Just two of the names on this 24-track anthology are famous: Howlin' Wolf, represented by an audition acetate of "Riding in the Moonlight" (first issued in 1991), and Elmore James, whose two cuts appeared on an Ace box set in 1993. Some other names -- like Smokey Hogg, Lil' Son Jackson, and Joe Hill Louis -- will catch the eyes of in-the-know blues experts, but for the most part even those with extensive blues collections will be mostly or totally unfamiliar with most of the artists. This is raw, Southern, just-post-World War II blues, caught in its transition from its rural roots to something more electric and citified. Certainly it's rawer than much commercially released blues of the time, and in fact about half of it was either previously unissued, or not first issued until many years later on other specialist collections. It's not that unhoned, though, and there's decent variety within the genre, from rollicking piano blues and juke-joint harmonica-driven numbers to mournful slow tunes that sound barely off the farm. Actually Arkansas Johnny Todd's "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You" sounds like it's still on the farm. But at the other extreme, Sunny Blair's "Please Send My Baby Back Home" (aka "Step Back Baby") is as well-produced and full-sounding as many a 1953 full-band electric Chicago blues single. This is not for everyone, certainly, but as a reflection of the sounds being unearthed as labels brought musicians from out-of-the-way Southern locales into the commercial world, it has considerable value. And the music is solid, if not as gripping as the best records in these styles. The fidelity is imperfect, as many of the tracks were taken from acetates or 78s, but has been cleaned up considerably by modern technology." AMG

Chicago Blues from C.J. Records

Another July Rerun Request:

Some of you will remember the impossibly rare single LP from Blue Flame magazine that I posted earlier. That one was purchased by Cliff back when it was current but now he has found a 2 disc set of C.J. Records material!

C.J. Records was a small, local Chicago label throughout the 60's. They pressed using C.J., Colt, and Firma as imprints and specialized in recording then unknown Chicago musicians who primarily came from the back up bands of the stars of Chess, Vee Jay and Delmark. These recordings were originally only sold as local 45's in Chicago shops and jukeboxes.

C.J. was Carl Jones, Jones was a singer who had recorded for Mercury with the great Lonnie Johnson in 1945. He appears on disc two as Morris Jones. Most of these artists performed at Cadillac Baby's Lounge. Cadillac Baby was Narvel Eatmon who also recorded some of the same people on his Bea and Baby, Keyhole, and Miss imprints.

While Betty Everette, Hound Dog Taylor and Homesick James went on to some wider recognition, these are likely some of their earliest recordings. There is a nice mix of blues, doo wop and r&b on these two discs; amongst the unknown highlights, I'll single out Big Moose Walker, Eddie Shaw, Lee Jackson, and William Carter.

Chicago Blues: The Chance Era

 Another July Repost request

Chance Records was a Chicago-based label founded in 1950 by Art Sheridan. It specialized in blues, jazz, doo-wop, and gospel. Among the acts who recorded for Chance were The Flamingos, The Moonglows, Homesick James, J. B. Hutto, Brother John Sellers, and Schoolboy Porter. In addition, Chance released three singles by John Lee Hooker and made a coordinated issue of the first singles by Jimmy Reed and The Spaniels with the brand-new and still tiny Vee-Jay Records.

The company closed down at the end of 1954. Sheridan became one of the financial backers of Vee-Jay.

"The opening two or three cuts on this 50-song, 140-minute compilation sound ominously rough and ragged, and I'm not talking about the music, but the sources. But then the quality rights itself, and the rest is above-average quality early Chicago blues. Chance Records was never as big as Chess, though they shared a few artists like John Lee Hooker (as John L. Booker) and Sunnyland Slim (as "Delta Joe") in common, but it managed to get its share of worthwhile blues and R&B records out during its four years of active life. John Lee Hooker opens disc one with a pair of wildly chaotic, raw blues tracks, "Miss Lorraine" and "I Love to Boogie," that were probably recorded in the back of a local record store. A single side by Little Walter dating from 1947, originally cut for Ora Nelle Records and issued by Chance as "Ora Nelle Blues," is another primordial treasure contained on this CD, and the surface noise of these early sides can be forgiven under the circumstances. Arthur "Big Boy Spires" stood to be Chance's answer to Muddy Waters, based on "Some Day Little Darling" and "My Baby Left Me," but the big surprise on these sides is Lazy Bill Lucas, an Arkansas-born bluesman, who attacks his songs (especially "I Had a Dream") with bristling aggressiveness at the piano and the microphone, ably backed by Louis Myers in a searing set of guitar workouts. J.B. Hutto only cut six commercial sides for Chance before vanishing into the relative obscurity of club performances in Chicago, and then re-emerging on the folk-blues revival scene courtesy of Vanguard Records a decade later. The six sides here are worth their weight in gold -- loud, defiant blues that manage to be both raw in sound and smooth in execution, with a crunchy yet dexterous guitar sound and wonderfully expressive vocals -- check out "Lovin' You," maybe the best piece of blues ever cut in Chicago that didn't come from Chess. The 14 cuts by Homesick James (John Williamson Henderson) here represent more of this man's music than almost anyone has heard in 45 years -- he also appears to have been the first artist to actually record for Chance. And lo and behold, Tampa Red also shows up -- sans guitar, alas -- as Jimmy Eager, doing a trio of cuts that outclass much of the rest of his late career output; cut in 1953, they mark the tail end of Red's commercial career as a full-time bluesman, and one only wishes that he, and not Vee Jay Records alumnus L.C. McKinley, were playing the guitar on those cuts, but he was signed to Victor, and they were even less amused than companies like Chess about label-hopping by their artists." AMG

Wynona Carr - Jump Jack Jump!

...Not having too much success on the charts (except for "The Ball Game" (1952), which became one of Specialty's best selling gospel records and most recently featured in the movie 42), Carr grew increasingly unhappy with the straight gospel direction of her career and pleaded with Rupe to let her record "pops, jumps, ballads, and semi-blues". Rupe relented and from 1955 to 1959 Carr recorded two dozen rock & roll and R&B sides for Specialty, which, like her gospel songs, she mostly wrote herself. Despite scoring an R&B hit with "Should I Ever Love Again?" in 1957, overall the change from spiritual to secular music didn't help Carr much in terms of sales or recognition. Unfortunately she also contracted tuberculosis around this time, which kept her from doing the necessary promotional work and touring for two years, effectively ending her tenure with Specialty in the summer of 1959.

In 1961 Carr signed with Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records and released an unsuccessful pop album. She moved back to Cleveland, sinking into obscurity and suffering from declining health and depression; she died there in 1976.

Al Green - Southern Soul Superstar

I have had large issues figuring out what to do with Al since he is so obvious and it feels like you should all already have these. Still...

This is a poppachubby music contribution, and a KC review.

In 1968 Willie Mitchell was the moderately successful leader of a super tight instrumental group that had become the 'House Band' of Memphis based Hi Records. He had begun to really blossom, however, as the 'in-house producer / AR guy / talent scout' role that eventually made him a partner in the label. Ann Peebles was one of his first successes in that role.

While on the road with his band at a club in Midland, Texas, a 22 year old singer from Arkansas opens up for him and immediately Mitchell hears something that convinces him that he has a star in the making. He invites the young man to Memphis, promising to make him a star, but all the young man seems to be interested in is how long it would take to realize actual money from the effort and when told it would be at least a year, the young singer seems ready to walk, citing the need to make immediate money to handle some family crisis in Detroit. (the family had moved there after the war like so many others)

After some further discussion, Mitchell takes a significant gamble and fronts he young man something like $3,000 to go home and handle his business and then return to Memphis. Incredibly, he lets the singer leave without giving him any idea how to find or contact him in Detroit. Mitchell's account seems to indicate that he expected his investment to return to Memphis in a time frame like 2 weeks to a month. A month passes with no word, then two, three, and eventually 11 months pass and Mitchell has written off the bad gamble in his mind when the young man appears at the door of Hi Studio ready to begin. Mitchell never mentions what it was that took so long, it appears he wasn't offered an explanation.

Of course the young singer was Al Green and he would become the 3rd genuine superstar of Southern Soul (I count Ray and Aretha as the first two, but you may have to include James Brown as well, he is something of a unique situation). This first album is fascinating, in part, for what isn't there yet. Al is certainly recognizable here but not at all fully formed yet, his style is still a mish-mash of Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Dave Ruffin and anyone else he admired. Still the elements of what came later are all there, the unique phrasing with the small groans at the start of lines, the effortless and smooth falsetto cries as compared to a Wilson Pickett or a Little Willie John who have more shriek to their falsetto. Green's sound blended the smoothness of Motown and Philly with the rhythms and passions of Southern Soul.

By the second album Mitchell and Green have found the sweet spot, the rest is history.

B.B. King - The Jungle

The RPM and Kent recordings of B.B. King have been comprehensively anthologised on Ace, particularly in the last couple of years with the expanded reissues of B.B.’s Crown albums of the 1950s and early 1960s. However, there are still several B.B. projects on the Ace agenda, and we kick off 2008 with the man’s first entry in the Hip Pocket series – a ‘straight from the original master tape’ reissue of the man’s 1967 Kent album, “The Jungle”.

Of course, B.B. had left the Bihari brothers’ recording empire more than five years before an overdubbed version of the late 50s demo of The Jungle took him to #17 R&B / #94 Pop in the early summer of ’67. Its success merited the release of a full album, assembled from sessions that B.B. had cut mostly towards the end of his Kent tenure, and so it was that “The Jungle” also became the title of his first long player on Kent Records, eventually finding its way onto the various budget labels that were the Biharis’ main financial bread and butter during the late 60s and early 70s.

As well as giving collectors a chance to enjoy the original sleeve, featuring a red-suited Arthur Adams – in profile – masquerading as the Blues Boy, it also gives us a change to hear a original Kent album exactly as it was first released, with alternate stereo mixes and overdubs – some of which are different to those on overdubbed versions released elsewhere – on otherwise familiar tracks. These alternate mixes have never been available on CD before now, making it a must-buy for the B.B. completist

Johnny Guitar Watson - Hot Just Like TNT

And yet more JGW on a July Request Rerun:

More evidence of the genius of Johnny Guitar Watson. Did I mention before that he was a quadruple threat artist? Not just a fine singer and a killer guitar player, but a wailing saxophonist and a boogie woogie style piano player too. Chances are he had even more tricks in his bag but these are the ones I know about. There is very little overlap here, but I notice now that the Keen tracks are also included here.

"...28 track comp includes all of his original singlecuts for RPM/ Modern from the '50s plus six previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'Hot Little Mama', 'Dee's Boogie', 'MyBaby And Me', 'You've Been Gone Too Long' and two versionsof 'Come On Baby' (guitar version & sax version). Other 22:'Hot Little Mama', 'I Love To Love You', 'Don't Touch Me','Too Tired', 'Lonely Girl', 'Ain't Gonna Hush', 'Those Lone-ly, Lonely Nights', 'Oh Baby', 'Someone Cares For Me', 'GiveA Little', 'Ruben' (piano version & guitar version), 'LoveMe Baby', 'She Moves Me', 'Three Hours Past Midnight' + 7..."

Robert Cray Band - Who's Been Talkin'

This is Guitar Gus' first post here as an author -- SHOW SOME LOVE.

Robert Cray (born August 1 1953 Columbus, Georgia,  USA) is an American blues guitarist and singer. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he has led his own band, as well as an acclaimed solo career.

Cray started playing guitar in his early teens. He attended Denbigh High School in Newport News, Viginia and wanted to become an architect, but around the same time that he began to study architectural design he formed the band Steakface, which played covers by Jimi Hendrix, Quicksilver Messenger Service, Fleetwood Mac, and others.
By the age of twenty, Cray had seen his heroes Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters in concert and decided to form his own band; they began playing college towns on the West Coast. In the late 1970s he lived in Eugene, Oregon, where he formed the Robert Cray Band and collaborated with Curtis Salgado in the Cray-Hawks. In the 1978 film National Lampoon's Animal House, Cray was the uncredited bassist in the house party band Otis Day and the Knights.
After several years of regional success, Cray was signed to Mercury Records in 1982. Two albums on HighTone Records in the mid-80's, Bad Influence and False Accusations, were moderately successful in the United States and in Europe, where he was building a reputation as a live artist. His fourth album release, Strong Persuader, produced by Dennis Walker, received a Grammy Award, while the crossover single 'Smokin' Gun' gave him wider appeal and name recognition. (Wikipedia)

I first heard Robert Cray back in 1986 with the release of his 'Bad Influence' album. It was playing in my local record shop (long extinct) and I immediately liked his distinctive voice/guitar mix along with some strong songwriting. Later that year I got to see him (and chat) on his UK mini-tour - And yes I bought the T-shirt too !
It turned out that 'Bad Influence' was not his first recording. He had cut the album, Who's Been Talkin', back in 1979 for the Tomato Records label. Unfortunately after its initial release in 1980, Tomato went out of business and the record got lost in obscurity.
Fortunately Charly Records in the UK managed to get to the masters and released a digital remaster in 1986. It contains more straight-ahead blues material than his later albums.
So here is my CD copy of his first released album (tracks 1 to 10). I have supplemented this with an extra 7 cuts (tracks 11 to 17) that I dubbed from rare 12" vinyl singles and are unavailable anywhere else - 4 live performances and 3 studio recordings - making this unique - Enjoy
   

Brother Joe May - Thunderbolt of the Middle West

Brother Joe May (November 9, 1912 – July 14, 1972) was an American gospel singer. He was sometimes billed as "The Thunderbolt of the Middle West", and has been described as "arguably the greatest male soloist in the history of gospel music.... [with] a voice of unimaginable range and power, moving from a whisper to a scream without the slightest suggestion of effort".

Born Joseph May in Macon, Mississippi, he was raised as a member of the Church of God denomination in which all males are referred to as "Brother". He sang with the Little Church Out on the Hills' senior choir and then the Church of God Quartet, building a reputation on the Southern gospel circuit. He worked as a laborer in Macon, before moving in 1941 with his wife Viola and their children to East St. Louis, Illinois, where he was employed in a chemical plant.

In St. Louis, he met and came under the influence of the singer Willie Mae Ford Smith, and adopted much of her phrasing and performing style. He began singing at Thomas A. Dorsey's National Conventions of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, directed by Smith, and after a performance in Los Angeles in 1949 was signed by talent scout J. W. Alexander to Specialty Records. His first record, "Search Me Lord", became a gospel hit, and was estimated to have sold over one million copies though without reaching any of the published record charts of the day. His follow-up record, "Do You Know Him?" in 1950, was equally successful, and May became a full-time musician, touring nationally with gospel groups such as the Soul Stirrers and the Pilgrim Travelers. He also sang duets with Willie Mae Ford Smith, and usually performed in a distinctive long white robe with a rope cross.

As one of the Specialty label's most successful artists, the company tried to persuade him to record more secular material, but May refused, although he acknowledged blues singer Bessie Smith as a major influence. His records often used an organ-dominated rhythm section as well as a full choir, and he was sometimes described as a male equivalent of Mahalia Jackson, with whom he sometimes performed. He was cited as a musical inspiration by Little Richard.

However, his success in the gospel field was not translated into crossover success in the white record market. He left Specialty in 1958, and began recording his own compositions for the Nashville-based Nashboro label. He also performed and made recordings with his daughter, Annette, and with singer Jackie Verdell. After returning to the South, May's popularity continued to grow in that region. In the early 1960s, he starred with Marion Williams in the musical Black Nativity in New York, and toured the U.S. and Europe with the production.

He continued to perform widely in the Southern states despite health problems, and recorded a series of gospel albums for the Nashboro label through the 1960s and early 1970s. On his way to a performance in Thomasville, Georgia, he suffered a massive stroke, and died in 1972 at the age of 59.

The Meditation Singers - The Singles

Of the great units of the golden era of gospel, it seems that the Meditation Singers have yet to occupy their proper place on this blog.  

The Meditation Singers were formed in 1947 under the leadership of lead singer Earnestine Rundless.  Della Reese was the original second lead, although she was replaced in the early 50s by Earnestine's adopted daughter, Laura Lee Rundless.  Laura Lee, of course, went on to fame as a great secular soul singer in the late 60s and 70s. 








During the CD era, Specialty released a fine disc of the Meditations'1950s recordings for the label, many previously unreleased, under the title, "Good News."   But even greater single releases for other labels went largely unissued.  I have therefore chosen to post a Meditations singles collection from the 50s and 60s here that derives mostly from that assembled by Opal Lee Nations for his CDR release on the Pewburner label.  To that collection, I have added two fine singles that the Meditations cut for Jewel records.  All in all, this collection is a great representation of the art of the Meditation Singers, and gives a much fuller picture than the Good News CD on Specialty.   In my opinion, the Meditations didn't reach their peak until the 1960s, when the dual leads of Earnestine Rundless and Laura Lee really started working off of each other to great effect.

The first two tracks here are a bit unusual.  This is the very first recording of the Meditation Singers for De Lux in 1953.  At that time, they temporarily had a lead male singer, Herbert Carson.   One of the singles from Speciality here, My Soul Looks Back and Wonders, also features the Reverend James Cleveland, who sang with the Meditations a bit in the late 1950s.  

So gear up for your Sunday with the divinely soulful Earnestine Rundless, Laura Lee, and the Meditation Singers: classic golden age hard gospel!

Tracks

1) Jesus is With Me (De Luxe)
2) We're Marching to Zion (De Luxe)
3)  I'm Determined (Specialty)
4) Promise to Meet Me There (Specialty)
5) Ain't That Good News (Specialty)
6) My Soul Looks Back and Wonders (Specialty)
7) His Eye is On the Sparrow (Hob)
8) One More River to Cross (Hob)
9) He Has Done Something to Me (Hob)
10) Jesus Be a Fence Around Me (Hob)
11) I'm Determined (Hob)
12) It Must Be Jesus (Hob)
13) If He Holds Your Hand (SAR)
14) There Must Be Rest (SAR)
15) Every Knee (Gospel)
16) Sanctified Lord (Gospel)
17) Look What the Lord Has Done (Gospel)
18) Mercy Lord (Gospel)
19) I've Been Buked (Gospel)
20) My Soul Looks Back (Gospel)
21) Father Alone (D-Town)
22) My Soul Got Happy (D-Town)
23) The Love of God (D-Town)
24) Your All On the Altar (D-Town)
25) I Feel It (Checker)
26) It's Wrong to Do It (Checker)
27) Don't You Want to Go: Parts 1&2 (Checker)
28) Let Love Fill Your Heart
29) Certainly Lord (Jubilee)
30) Hard to Get Along (Jubilee)
31) Jesus Will Answer Prayer (Jubilee)
32) Amen (Jubilee)

Big Maceo - Chicago Blues Classics

"The thundering 88s of Big Maceo Merriweather helped pave the way for the great Chicago blues pianists of the 1950s -- men like Johnny Jones, Otis Spann, and Henry Gray. Unfortunately, Merriweather wouldn't be around to enjoy their innovations -- he died a few years after suffering a debilitating stroke in 1946. Major Merriweather was already a seasoned pianist when he arrived in Detroit in 1924. After working around the Motor City scene, he ventured to Chicago in 1941 to make his recording debut for producer Lester Melrose and RCA Victor's Bluebird subsidiary. His first day in the studio produced 14 tracks -- six of his own and eight more as accompanist to renowned Chicago guitarist Tampa Red. One of his initial efforts, "Worried Life Blues," has passed into blues standard status (Chuck Berry was hip to it, covering it for Chess).

Merriweather remained Tampa Red's favorite pianistic accompanist after that, gigging extensively with him and Big Bill Broonzy on Chicago's South Side. The pianist cut a series of terrific sessions as a leader for Bluebird in 1941-1942 and 1945 (the latter including his tour de force, "Chicago Breakdown") before the stroke paralyzed his right side. He tried to overcome it, cutting for Victor in 1947 with Eddie Boyd assuming piano duties and again for Specialty in 1949 with Johnny Jones at the stool. His health fading steadily after that, Merriweather died in 1953." Bill Dahl

 "b. Major Meriweather, 31 March 1905, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 26 February 1953, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Big Maceo learned piano while living in a suburb of Atlanta in his early teens. In 1924 he moved to Detroit where he made his name on the local blues scene. In the early 40s, he made a series of classic recordings with the Chicago guitarist Tampa Red. Maceo's piano lends a distinctive toughness and weight to Tampa's records, while the guitarist complements the other's superb sides with his supple and beautifully expressive slide lines. Maceo's "Worried Life" was a big hit, and has become one of the most covered of all blues songs, while most of the other tracks he recorded for the Bluebird/Victor company are of equal quality. These ranged from the plaintive "Poor Kelly Blues" to powerful instrumental pieces such as "Chicago Breakdown". After a stroke in 1946, his later records failed to recapture the glories of his earlier work." Rovi

Don Covay - Mercy, Mercy: The Definitive Don Covay

Don Covay (born Donald Randolph, 24 March 1938, Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States) is an American R&B/rock and roll/soul music singer and songwriter most active in the 1950s and 1960s, who received a Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1994.

His father was a Baptist preacher who died when Don was eight. Covay resettled in Washington D.C. during the early 1950s and initially sang in the Cherry Keys, his family's gospel quartet. He crossed over to secular music with the Rainbows, a formative group which also included Marvin Gaye and Billy Stewart. Covay's solo career began in 1957 as part of the Little Richard Revue.

A single "Bip Bop Bip" was released on Atlantic and produced by Little Richard, on which Covay was billed as "Pretty Boy". It also featured his backing band the Upsetters. Over the next few years Covay drifted from label to label, but a further dance-oriented track called "Popeye Waddle" was a hit in 1962. He also wrote and recorded "Pony Time" which later became a US #1 single for Chubby Checker. Covay meanwhile honed his songwriting skills by penning a hit for Solomon Burke, "I'm Hanging Up My Heart for You", while Gladys Knight & The Pips reached the US Top 20 with "Letter Full of Tears".

Covay's singing career continued to falter until 1964, when he signed to the Rosemart label. His debut single there with the Goodtimers, "Mercy Mercy" (accompanied by a young Jimi Hendrix on guitar), established his earthy bluesy style. Atlantic bought his contract, but, while several R&B hits followed, it was a year before Covay returned to the pop chart. "See Saw", co-written with Steve Cropper and recorded at Stax, paved the way for more hits.

Don Covay's songs still remain successful: Aretha Franklin won a Grammy for her performance of his composition "Chain of Fools". He is a legendary composer and singer, best known for his R&B classic compositions "Mercy Mercy", "Chain of Fools", "See Saw" and "Sookie Sookie". Covay had success as a singer as Don Covay and The Goodtimers, and his compositions have been recorded by such varied artists as Steppenwolf, Bobby Womack, The Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett, The Small Faces, Grant Green, Peter Wolf and many more.

In the mid 1990s Don Covay had a debilitating stroke, but he has recovered well. He is still active. His most recent album Adlib, released in 2000 on the Cannonball label, was his first album in 23 years.

The Complete Chuck Willis 1951-1957

Here we go with another rerun request...

Harold "Chuck" Willis (January 31, 1928 – April 10, 1958)

Born in Atlanta, Georgia. Willis was spotted at a talent contest by Atlanta radio disc jockey Zenas Sears, who became his manager and helped him to sign with Columbia Records in 1951. After one single, Willis began recording on a Columbia subsidiary, Okeh. During his stay at Okeh, he established himself as a popular R&B singer and songwriter. In 1956, he moved to Atlantic Records where he had immediate success with "It's Too Late (She's Gone)", "Juanita" and "Love Me Cherry". His most successful recording was "C.C. Rider", which topped the US Billboard R&B chart in 1957 and also crossed over and sold well in the pop market. "C.C. Rider" was a remake of a twelve-bar blues, performed by Ma Rainey in Atlanta before Willis was born. Its relaxed beat, combined with a mellow vibraphone backing and chorus, inspired the emergence of the popular dance, The Stroll. Willis's follow-up was "Betty and Dupree", another "stroll" song, which also did well. Willis' single "Going to the River", a song by Fats Domino, was a prototype for his "stroll" sound, reaching No.4 on the R&B chart.

Willis, who had suffered from stomach ulcers for many years, died during surgery in Chicago of peritonitis while at the peak of his career, just after the release of his last single, "What Am I Living For?", backed by "Hang Up My Rock & Roll Shoes". "What Am I Living For?" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. It was also the top R&B disc of 1958.

His hit, the blues ballad "It's Too Late (She's Gone)" was covered by other artists, including Otis Redding, Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos and the Jerry Garcia Band. In 2005, it was heavily sampled by Kanye West on Late Registration's "Gone". Elvis Presley covered "I Feel So Bad" and "C. C. Rider" and Ruth Brown and Conway Twitty had hits with "Oh What a Dream".

Willis's cousin is Chick Willis."  (got some of him too)

"There were two distinct sides to Chuck Willis. In addition to being a convincing blues shouter, the Atlanta-born Willis harbored a vulnerable blues balladeer side. In addition, he was a masterful songwriter who penned some of the most distinctive R&B numbers of the 1950s. He can't be granted principal credit for his 1957 smash adaptation of "C.C. Rider," an irresistible update of a classic folk-blues, but Willis did write such gems as "I Feel So Bad" (later covered by Elvis Presley, Little Milton, and Otis Rush), the anguished ballads "Don't Deceive Me (Please Don't Go)" and "It's Too Late" (the latter attracting covers by Buddy Holly, Charlie Rich, and Otis Redding) and his swan song, "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes."

Harold Willis (he adopted Chuck as a stage handle) received his early training singing at YMCA-sponsored "Teenage Canteens" in Atlanta and fronting the combos of local bandleaders Roy Mays and Red McAllister. Powerful DJ Zenas "Daddy" Sears took an interest in the young vocalist's career, hooking him up with Columbia Records in 1951. After a solitary single for the major firm, Willis was shuttled over to its recently reactivated OKeh R&B subsidiary.

In 1952, he crashed the national R&B lists for OKeh with a typically plaintive ballad, "My Story," swiftly encoring on the hit parade with a gentle cover of Fats Domino's "Goin' to the River" and his own "Don't Deceive Me" the next year and "You're Still My Baby" and the surging Latin-beat "I Feel So Bad" in 1954. Willis also penned a heart-tugging chart-topper for Ruth Brown that year, "Oh What a Dream."

Willis moved over to Atlantic Records in 1956 and immediately enjoyed another round of hits with "It's Too Late" and "Juanita." Atlantic strove mightily to cross Willis over into pop territory, inserting an exotic steel guitar at one session and chirpy choirs on several more. The strategy eventually worked when his 1957 revival of the ancient "C.C. Rider" proved the perfect number to do the "Stroll" to; American Bandstand gave the track a big push, and Willis had his first R&B number one hit as well as a huge pop seller (Gene "Daddy G" Barge's magnificent sax solo likely aided its ascent).
Barge returned for Willis's similar follow-up, "Betty and Dupree," which also did well for him. But the turban-wearing crooner's time was growing short -- he had long suffered from ulcers prior to his 1958 death from peritonitis. Much has been made of the ironic title of his last hit, the touching "What Am I Living For," but it was no more a clue to his impending demise than its flip, the joyous "Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes." Both tracks became massive hits upon the singer's death, and his posthumous roll continued with "My Life" and a powerful "Keep A-Driving" later that year." AMG