Tampa Red

By the time Johnnie Jones had taken over the piano chair in Tampa Red’s band in March 1949 Tampa had been a recording star for twenty years. Outside of a national hit in 1949 Tampa’s career was on the wane and his recording career essentially ended in 1953 outside of two disappointing albums for Bluesville in 1960. Tampa suffered the fate of famous blues artists who cut some of their most memorable early on and had lengthy careers, which is in effect to have later material overlooked. Certainly Tampa’s partnership with Big Maceo from 1945 to 1947 has been justly praised pairing Maceo’s rolling, thundering piano with Tampa’s ringing slide ranking them in the upper ranks of great piano/guitar duos. Less celebrated is the teaming of Maceo’s protege, Johnnie Jones, with Tampa beginning in 1949 and lasting through 1953. Clearly the infusion of new blood, chiefly Jones’ rolling two fisted piano playing and insinuating, warm vocal plus the addition of drummer Odie Payne added an exciting new charge to Tampa’s music.

Before discussing his later sides it’s worth providing a bit of background. One of the best things written about Tampa was Jim O’Neal’s thoughtful notes to the 1975 2-LP set Guitar Wizard. He neatly sums up Tampa’s significance: “Few figures have been as important in blues history as Tampa Red; yet no bluesman of such stature has been so ignored or misunderstood by today’s blues audience. As a composer, recording artist, musical trendsetter and one of the premiere urban blues guitarists of his day, Tampa Red remained popular with black record buyers for more than 20 years and exerted considerable influence on many post-World War II blues stars who earned greater acclaim for playing Tampa’s songs than Tampa himself often did.” Tampa always adapted to changing musical styles as O’Neal observed about the later records: “His records show he was still on top of things-he was right there swinging with horns when big-band jump blues were in fashion, and he had the boogie numbers down, too; even on his last Victor sessions he had adapted to the mainstream ’50’s Chicago blues sound with featured harmonica from Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) and Walter Horton. He was following trends, but also setting them too with numbers that many bluesmen were to re-record in later years.”

Big Maceo had a stroke in 1946 which left him unable to play piano although he continued to sing and resorted to using Eddie Boyd and then Johnny Jones on piano. With Maceo singing and Tampa on guitar, Boyd handles the piano chores on a February 1947 session with Jones popping up on a April 1949 session. Maceo took Jones under his wing when he arrived in Chicago and helped him hone his piano style. It was Tampa who encouraged Jones to get a union card and then hired him on his first gig at the C&T Lounge in 1947.

By the time of Tampa Red’s session in March 1949 Jones had been permanently installed as Tampa’s piano man. With bassist Ransom Knowling and drummer Odie Payne on board, it was an auspicious start featuring a pair of fine boogie numbers including the bouncy “It’s A Brand New Boogey” and “Come On, If You’re Coming” giving ample room for Jones’ robust two fisted piano. The highlight was the poignant “When Things Go Wrong with You”, with echoes of Tampa’s 1940 classic “It Hurts Me Too”, a perfect combination of fluid slide, rippling piano and wonderful duel vocal that would be one of their hallmarks. Tampa’s next session in July 1949 followed a similar pattern with the romping “That’s Her Own Business” and the sing along vocal of “I’ll Find My Own Way.” If Tampa was cutting some very up to date material during this period he never gave up his fondness for the kazoo, much to some critics lament. To be fair he played the kazoo with as much expressiveness as possible for the instrument. “Without doubt, however,” O’Neal notes, “Tampa became the most popular blues kazooist of all time-for what that’s worth-and he did inspire a number of other musicians to blow their own “jazz horns.”"

It’s A Brand New Boogey (MP3)

When Things Go Wrong With You (MP3)