Pete Johnson - Pete's Lonesome Blues

I had to delete an angry tirade from the front of this post - I just don't want to go there anymore. Just know that I would appreciate it if we had a bit more participation around here. Around 10 good friends seem to carry the entire load and I'd love to know what more of you think.You can't have many other places where your opinions would get any intelligent consideration.

01. Minuet Boogie (2:40)
02. Zero Hours (3:13)
03. Mutiny In The Doghouse (2:29)
04. 1946 Stomp (2:53)
05. Answer To The Boogie (2:25)
06. Hollywood Boogie (2:49)
07. Mr. Freddy Blues (2:58)
08. Backroom Blues (2:49)
09. Central Avenue Drag (2:50)
10. Bottomland Boogie (3:08)
11. Pete Kay Boogie (3:03)
12. Light Out Mood (3:05)
13. Rock It Boogie (3:07)
14. Mr. Drums Meets Mr. Piano (2:46)
15. Wiley's Boogie (2:53)
16. Pete's Lonesome Blues (2:45)
17. 66 Stomp (2:47)
18. Kaycee Feeling (2:52)
19. Dive Bomber (2:59)
20. Yancy Street Boogie (2:41)

Another nice collection of Pete Johnson, this one focuses on the pianist rather than the accompanist and the sound quality is an improvement over the Classics versions. I haven't looked up each and every tune but it appears that most, if not all, of these tracks were recorded between 1946 and 1947. The 1946 material was recorded in N.Y. and the rest in L.A., many tunes feature some tasty guitar work from Jimmy Shirley in NY or Chuck Norris in LA. To my ears Johnson is more varied and interesting than either Albert Ammons or Meade Lux Lewis, the two contemporaries he is most often associated with.

Mahalia Jackson - Let's Pray Together

Brothaz an' Sistaz!!

For our second installment in the Mahalia series, we will be looking at "Let's Pray Together".  The music and arrangements were handled by legend Marty Paich.  Was there any area of music this guy didn't touch??!!??  In any case, I wasn't sure what to expect with his involvement but the result is excellent.  

We must keep in mind that my gospel knowledge is quite limited, but I found that Paich retained that authentic sound on this side.  One thing is for sure, he gave plenty of space for Miss Jackson to do her thing.  As the album plays, the songs get better and better as does her vocal.  My favorite would have to be Guardian Angels.  She is accompanied by Harpo Marx and much like Black Baby on the previous post, the song focuses on her amazing emotive power.

I want to apologize to Uncle Cliff for not producing "The World's Greatest..." this week.  Cliff, you deserve anything you ask for (and as quickly as humanly possible!!).  That said, I didn't want to forsake the quality either.  And with that segway...  this album was ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  I cleaned it up as best as I could, but to go any further would have harmed the music - something I am unwilling to do.  So we have a bit of fried chicken in the mix, but frankly with gospel I find it to be a soothing and comforting anomoly.  I hope this pleases all of you gospel characters out there... enjoy!!!

_____________________________________________

Columbia CL2130
1963

Arranged and Conducted by Marty Paich

A1 Altar Of Peace
A2 One God
A3 Let's Pray Together
A4 Without A Song
A5 Take God By The Hand
A6 Guardian Angels
B1 We Shall Overcome
B2 Song For My Brother
B3 Deep River
B4 No Night There
B5 If I Can Help Somebody

Soul Shots: Volume 1, Dance Party

I know that not everyone is a huge fan of the compilations, but I would like to point out once again that most of the material presented here was released as singles and in a time where the Song rather than the Album was king. Those of you who have been stacking the compilations like Blowing The Fuse and Stompin' in your digital jukeboxes will be thrilled to add these wonderfully made Rhino sets from 1989 to that mix.

Thanks to that Uncle who shares my affliction I have the first 5 LPs for y'all; there are at least 21 volumes as far as I can tell. Some things here are well known old friends, some things are likely completely new to you, others still will be familiar but not in the version heard here. Each volume that I have heard is exceptionally well chosen and sequenced and of course the Rhino engineers did a lovely job on the sound.

btw Stompin' fans need not worry yet on that front, I still have 2 of those left and there are many more out there.

Willie Hutch / Lou Johnson - Soul Warriors of 1969

I don't want anyone to think I'm finished with the blues piano by any means but I'd like to keep the variety up too with a pair of lesser known soul warriors who released these strong, but largely ignored albums in 1969.

"William McKinley Hutchison (December 6, 1944 – September 19, 2005), known professionally as Willie Hutch, was an American singer, songwriter as well as a record producer and recording artist for the Motown record label during the 1970s and 1980s. Born in 1944 in Los Angeles, California, Hutch was raised in Dallas, Texas. He joined a doo-wop group, The Ambassadors, as a teenager. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High, Hutch shortened his last name when he started his music career in 1964 on the Soul City label with the song, "Love Has Put Me Down".

After his move to Los Angeles, his music caught the eye of the mentor for pop/soul quintet The 5th Dimension, and Hutch was soon writing, producing, and arranging songs for the group. In 1969, he signed with RCA Records and put out two albums before he was spotted by Motown producer Hal Davis, who wanted lyrics to his musical composition "I'll Be There", a song he penned for The Jackson 5. The song was recorded by the group the morning after Hutch received the call. Motown CEO Berry Gordy signed Hutch to be a staff writer, arranger, producer, and musician shortly thereafter.

Hutch later co-wrote songs that were recorded by the Jackson 5 and their front man Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, the newly rechristened Miracles, and Marvin Gaye. In 1973, Hutch started recording albums for Motown, releasing the Fully Exposed album that year. That same year, Hutch recorded and produced the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film, The Mack. Hutch had several R&B hits during this period, including "Brother's Gonna Work It Out" and "Slick". He also recorded the soundtrack for Foxy Brown. Hutch recorded at least six albums for Motown, peaking with 1975's single "Love Power", which reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100. He left Motown in 1977 for Norman Whitfield's Whitfield Records.

Hutch returned to Motown in 1982, where he scored the disco hit, "In and Out", that same year and also recorded a song for the film The Last Dragon in 1985 called "The Glow". Hutch left Motown again by the end of the decade and by 1994 had moved back to Dallas.

Hutch continued to record and perform while living comfortably on royalties from old hits and new samples. His manager, Anthony Voyce, said of Hutch: "I've never met a more generous and caring person." He died in 2005.

He is survived by six children, and was the uncle to Cold 187um of the rap group Above the Law." wiki

"Lou Johnson (born 1941, Brooklyn, New York) is an American soul singer and pianist who was active as a recording artist in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Coming from a musical family, he started singing in gospel choirs in his teens, before studying music at Brooklyn College. He learned keyboards and percussion, forming a gospel group, the Zionettes, who recorded for Simpson Records and achieved some local success. Johnson then formed a secular vocal group, the Coanjos, with Tresia Cleveland and Ann Gissendammer, recording "Dance The Boomerang" before Cleveland and Gissendammer left to become The Soul Sisters.

In 1962, Johnson signed as a solo singer with Big Top Records, run by the Hill & Range music publishing company in the Brill Building. There, he met the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David, who wrote Johnson's first single, "If I Never Get To Love You". Neither that song nor his second record, "You Better Let Him Go", were hits, but his third single, "Reach Out For Me", also written by Bacharach and David and this time produced by Bacharach, reached # 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1963. However, as it rose up the charts, the record company collapsed so limiting the record's success.

Johnson signed to its successor label, Big Hill and continued to record Bacharach and David songs. In 1964, his original version of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", with backing vocals by Doris Troy, Dee Dee Warwick, and Cissy Houston, reached # 49 in the US charts. In the UK, a cover version by English singer Sandie Shaw rose to number one on the British singles chart.

Johnson also recorded the original versions of several other Bacharach and David songs that later proved to be bigger hits for other musicians. "Reach Out for Me", "Message to Michael (Kentucky Bluebird)" (originally "A Message To Martha"), and "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" were all American hits, also produced by Bacharach and David, for Dionne Warwick. Several of his records reached the Cashbox R&B Top 20 including "Always" peaking at # 12 and "Reach Out" at # 15. In the UK, Johnson's version of "A Message To Martha" was his biggest hit, reaching # 36 in late 1964, but was outsold by the cover version by Adam Faith.

In 1965, working with the production team of Bill Giant, Bernie Baum and Florence Kaye on the reactivated Big Top label, Johnson recorded a vocal version of Sidney Bechet's instrumental hit of a few years earlier, "Petite Fleur", entitled "A Time To Love, A Time To Cry". He appeared on the British TV programme Ready Steady Go! to promote it, but neither it nor its follow-ups, a version of the jazz standard "Anytime" and then a version of "Walk On By" co-produced by Allen Toussaint, were successful, and the record company's choice of songs distanced him from his earlier audience. An album, also called Anytime, went unreleased as the record company again collapsed.

Johnson recorded two albums in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The first, Sweet Southern Soul, for the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion, was produced by the company's main R&B producer, Jerry Wexler, at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals. Allen Toussaint produced the second, With You in Mind, at his New Orleans studio for Stax's Volt label, but neither proved successful. After moving to Orange County, California, Johnson became a nightclub entertainer. He sometimes performed in a latter-day version of The Ink Spots.

A CD retrospective of his recordings with Big Top/Big Hill Records in the 1960s, was put together by the UK label Ace/Kent Records in 2010. Although released in mono, it contained 'audio-restored' versions of all of his known recordings made at the time, including his work with Bacharach." wiki

Stompin' 3

One word that I would have to say stays in mind listening to these tracks is the word 'raw'. Most of these tracks have some warts or flaws in something, but one thing for sure too, they are all FUN and the good always seems to out weight the weaknesses.

I notice there are more Rock-A-Billy influenced tracks here than I recall on the first two volumes. At least this one has 3 whole names that I know; Billy Wright, LaVern Baker and Carol Fran but the rest....who?....wow, okay.

The Definitive Buddy Guy

"George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936, Lettsworth, Louisiana) is an American blues guitarist and singer. Critically acclaimed, he is a pioneer of the Chicago blues sound and has served as an influence to some of the most notable musicians of his generation, including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In the 1960's Guy was a member of Muddy Waters' band and was a house guitarist at Chess Records. He can be heard on Howlin' Wolf's "Killing Floor"and Koko Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle" as well as on his own Chess sides and the series of records he made with harmonica  player Junior Wells.
Ranked 30th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time", Guy is known for his showmanship on stage: playing his guitar with drumsticks or strolling into the audience while playing solos. His song "Stone Crazy" was ranked 78th in Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time." (Wikipedia)

'Definitive' may be a bit over- the- top in it's claim, but generally this is a good single CD compilation of Buddy Guy's material between 1958 and 2001 even for a seasoned collector ( and 'Stone Crazy' is included here !) . It contains most of his best and better known 60's efforts and is a pleasing mix of new and old, studio and live. Full musician credits etc are shown in the scans provided.
 His later Silvertone recordings like 'Damn Right I Have The Blues' are excellent and are selling well - If there is a demand I shall post one/some...
In the Blues spectrum Buddy is at the extremity, his vocals and particularly his guitar are intense and wailing but always heartfelt and authentic. Once heard or seen - never forgotten- Enjoy   .

James Brown - Live At The Garden Expanded Edition

You have probably already noticed the difference in the artwork posted here.  Like so many "live" albums from back in the day, Live At The Garden was edited to include arena crowd noise and a different tracklist. Why??  Because it wasn't recorded at Madison Square Garden!  Most deceptive was the inclusion of a brand new track, recorded with no audience at all.  The effort was for little reward as shortly after this release, Live At The Apollo was released - overshadowing this album.  

Unlike so many expanded/deluxe reissues, Hip-O-Select have really outdone themselves to create something of real value for Brown fans.  The album was infact recorded at a supper club;  The Latin Casino.  With this album we get two discs.  The original LP on disc one, and the original show in its entirety on disc two, with no trickery.  Also included is the proper recording session of the "Let Yourself Go" single, as it was recorded after hours at the Latin Casino.

All in all this album is a superb treat.  Everything has been remastered and has excellent fidelity, giving this performance a real edge towards the Apollo shows.  I have ripped everything in FLAC with full scans making this a pretty large DL.  So please enjoy and remember to keep it on the one... HHHHaaaaaaaayyyyuh!!!

There’s no shortage of live albums from the Godfather of Soul available, but James Brown’s 1967 release Live at the Garden is a comparative curio that’s only now received the treatment it deserves.
The original album is included here, compressing performances from two nights at New Jersey’s The Latin Casino into a 12-track souvenir. But the record’s cut-and-pasting of numbers between overdubs of excited audience appreciation (and its bizarre omitting of the full version of Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag and It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World entirely) rather lessened its longevity. A poorer cousin of the Live at the Apollo albums, …Garden rather paled into insignificance.
Until now, as modern technology has seen it restored to greatness, even if the scratchy sound contrasts unfavourably to contemporary collections. But that’s part of the appeal – with the mix cleaned up, relatively speaking, the audience’s hollering reduced and Brown’s every interjection present, there’s appealing warmth exuded despite the patchy fidelity. Brown’s thank you mid-set seems sincere; when he tells the crowd that without them there wouldn’t be a James Brown, catching his breath as he does so, there’s an honesty that few several-nights-a-week performers today can match. Truly, the man conveyed a rare charm.
“I’ll always be the same ol’ fella,” Brown remarks, before the evergreen It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World – and such is the boundless reach of the track that you have to pinch yourself that said ol’ fella isn’t with us anymore. Then again, as this performance is

proof positive of, such is Brown’s vocal power, so emotions-stirring are his from-the-heart hymns to love, that the passing of time is determinedly defied. In life he could stop you in your tracks, leave you hanging on his next word; after death, his recordings continue to do so.
Buoyed by a superb band that, just occasionally, found space for Miles Davis’ bassist Ron Carter, …Garden not only catches Brown in typically fine voice, but also marks the moment where Alfred ‘Pee Wee’ Ellis stepped into his musical director role (Nat Jones was apparently displeased with The Latin Casino’s modest backstage facilities). Thrown in at the deep end though he was, Ellis keeps his reins tight – he’d go on to work with Van Morrison.
Wonderfully rollicking from the off, …Garden is a set to cherish in its rebuilt form. Do, please, bring it up and let yourself go.   - Mike Diver/BBC

 Original Album:
King Records 1018
1967

A1 Out Of Sight
A2 Bring It Up
A3 Try Me
A4 Let Yourself Go
A5 Hip Bag 67'
B1 Prisoner Of Love
B2 It May Be The Last Time
B3 I Got You (I Feel Good)
B4 Ain't That A Groove
B5 Please, Please, Please

 Expanded Edition:

Hip-O-Select

2009

Disc one

1. "Out of Sight" James Brown 1:14
2. "Bring It Up" James Brown 4:01
3. "Try Me" James Brown 2:19
4. "Let Yourself Go" James Brown 3:47
5. "Hip Bag '67" James Brown 5:41
6. "Prisoner of Love" Russ Columbo, Clarence Gaskill, Leo Robin 4:59
7. "It May Be the Last Time" James Brown 4:50
8. "I Got You (I Feel Good)" James Brown 2:27
9. "Ain't That a Groove - Part 1" James Brown, Nat Jones 6:03
10. "Ain't That a Groove - Part 2" James Brown, Nat Jones 1:10
11. "Please, Please, Please" James Brown, Johnny Terry 2:45
12. "Bring It Up (Finale)" James Brown 1:25
13. "Introduction - Vonsheliah" James Brown, Nat Jones 0:35
14. "The King" James Brown 1:55
15. "Wade in the Water" Ramsey Lewis 5:42
16. "Devil's Den" James Brown 3:07
17. "Medley: Headache/Get Loose/Jabo" James Brown, Nat Jones 5:45
18. "Night Train" Jimmy Forrest, Oscar Washington 11:15


Disc two

1. "Introduction/Out of Sight" James Brown 1:18
2. "Bring It Up" James Brown 4:35
3. "Try Me" James Brown 2:37
4. "Come Rain or Come Shine" Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer 3:02
5. "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" James Brown 9:27
6. "Prisoner of Love" Russ Columbo, Clarence Gaskill, Leo Robin 5:15
7. "Maybe the Last Time" James Brown 4:44
8. "I Got You (I Feel Good)" James Brown 2:23
9. "James Brown Thank You" 3:09
10. "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" James Brown, Betty Jean Newsome 7:16
11. "Ain't That a Groove" James Brown, Nat Jones 8:34
12. "Please, Please, Please" James Brown, Johnny Terry 2:46
13. "Bring It Up (Finale)" James Brown 1:39
14. "Let Yourself Go (Instrumental Jam)" James Brown 4:11
15. "Let Yourself Go (False Start)" James Brown 1:24
16. "Let Yourself Go (Extended Released Version)" James Brown 4:00

Mahalia Jackson - Come On Children, Let's Sing

Bruthaz an' Sistaz!!!  

Sorry I am late to church.  I am planning a hard look at some of Mahalia Jackson's greatest albums from her tenure at Columbia.  Each Sunday for the next several weeks I will post one.  I decided to start with this side because of its great notes on the back cover.  They are included of course in 300 dpi quality.  

There's no doubt that Black Baby is the real epic track from this set.  The album was clearly recorded inside a church so you really feel like you're in a pew during service.  Ripped from vinyl at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC.  A bit of fried chicken in the mix but otherwise a wonderful rip, centered around Sister Jackson's tremendous pipes.  Enjoy!!!

Columbia CL 1428
1960

A1 Come On Children Let's Sing 1:55
A2 If We Ever Needed The Lord Before 4:20
A3 Because His Nae Is Jesus 2:50
A4 You Must Be Born Again 2:00
A5 Brown Baby 5:30
B1 The Christian's Testimony 2:32
B2 Keep A-Movin' 3:09
B3 A Christian Duty 3:19
B4 One Step 3:22
B5 God Is So Good 3:15

Quite simply, listening to this record is like going to church. Mahalia's voice, one of the strongest gospel voices to be put on record, is made even more powerful by the Falls-Webb ensemble, who chant, harmonize and rejoice in the background throughout the record. Upbeat numbers such as the title track find the choir in rare form, but the centerpiece of the album is Oscar Brown's "Brown Baby," the languid arrangement allowing Mahalia to pull at the song, stretching its melody for greatest emotional effect. - 4.5 / 5.0 : Steve Kurutz / AMG

Little Brother Montgomery - Complete Recorded Works (1930-1954)

"Eurreal Wilford "Little Brother" Montgomery (April 18, 1906 – September 6, 1985 was an American jazz, boogie-woogie and blues pianist and singer. Largely self-taught, Montgomery is often thought of as just a blues pianist, but he was an important blues pianist with an original style. He was also quite versatile, however, and worked in jazz bands including larger ensembles that used written arrangements. Although he did not read music, he learned band routines by ear, once through an arrangement and he had it memorized. He was a singer with an immediately recognizable, rather affecting wobble: an oral historian as full of musical anecdotes as Jelly Roll Morton.

Montgomery was born in the town of Kentwood, Louisiana, a sawmill town near the Mississippi Border, across Lake Pontchartrain from the city of New Orleans, where he spent much of his childhood. (Paul Gayten was his nephew) As a child he looked like his father, Harper Montgomery, and was called Little Brother Harper. The name evolved into Little Brother Montgomery, a nickname which stuck. He started playing piano at the age of 4, and by age 11 he was playing at various barrelhouses in Louisiana. His own musical influences were Jelly Roll Morton who used visit the Montgomery household.

LBM w/ Sunnyland Slim and Little Walter

Early on he played at African American lumber and turpentine camps in Louisiana and Mississippi, then with the bands of Clarence Desdunes and Buddy Petit. He first went to Chicago from 1928 to 1931, where he made his first recordings. From 1931 through 1938 he led a band in Jackson.

In 1942 Montgomery moved back to Chicago, which would be his base for the rest of his life, with various tours to other United States cities and Europe. His repertoire alternated between blues and traditional jazz (he played Carnegie Hall with Kid Ory's Dixieland band in 1949). In the late 1950s he was "discovered" by wider white audiences. He toured briefly with Otis Rush in 1956. His fame grew in the 1960s, and he continued to make many recordings, including on his own record label, FM Records (formed in 1969). FM came from Floberg, his wife Jan's maiden name and Montgomery, his own surname.

LBM w/ Memphis Slim and Earl Garner

These and other recordings added momentum to Montgomery’s career and he became a world traveller, visiting the UK and Europe on several occasions during the 1960s, cutting several of his 20-odd albums there, while remaining based in Chicago. Montgomery appeared at many blues and folk festivals during the following decade and was considered a living legend, a link to the early days of blues and New Orleans.

Among his original compositions are "Shreveport Farewell", "Farrish Street Jive", and "Vicksburg Blues". His instrumental "Crescent City Blues" served as the basis for a song of the same name by Gordon Jenkins, which in turn was adapted by Johnny Cash as "Folsom Prison Blues."

In 1968, Montgomery contributed to two albums by Spanky and Our Gang; Like to Get to Know You and Anything You Choose b/w Without Rhyme Or Reason.

Montgomery died on September 6, 1985, in Champaign, Illinois, and is interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery."
wiki

Detroit Gold Vol 2 - The Very Best Of Motor City Soul

Volume two - more small label jewels from Detroit - it isn't likely that you could have more than one or two of these tracks from any other source than these LPs.

Wax from Unkie Cliff, rips from KC.

Detroit Gold Vol 1 - The Very Best Of Motor City Soul

I am breaking down bit by bit on the question of Northern soul (American definition, not U.K). Certainly a fair amount showed up on the later Blowing the Fuse discs and on The Five Stairsteps post as well, but here is a set of small label Detroit soul that is largely all of the northern style. These recordings come from a family of minor labels run by Ollie McLaughlin, the label names were Karen, Carla and Moira, after his daughters. McLaughlin was also co-manager of Del Shannon; it was Shannon's success that financed Ollie's own labels. Aside from the Bettye LaVette and Barbara Lewis, I didn't have any of these tracks. This is the first of two ripped by moi from the crispy clean LPs courtesy of Unkie Cliff.

'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.