Big Road Blues

Show Notes:

For more than 50 years Sunnyland Slim rumbled the ivories around the Windy City, playing with virtually every local luminary imaginable and backing the great majority in the studio at one time or another. He was born Albert Luandrew in Mississippi and got his start playing pump organ. After entertaining at juke joints and movie houses in the Delta, he made Memphis his homebase during the late ’20s, playing along Beale Street and hanging out with the likes of Little Brother Montgomery and Ma Rainey. He adopted his name from the title of one of his best-known songs, “Sunnyland Train.” Slim moved to Chicago in 1939 and set up shop as an in-demand piano man, playing for a spell with John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson before making his debut in 1947. If it hadn’t been for the helpful Sunnyland, Muddy Waters may not have found his way onto Chess; it was at the pianist’s 1947 session for Aristocrat that the Chess brothers first met Waters. Aristocrat was but one of the many labels that Sunnyland recorded for between 1948 and 1956: Hytone, Opera, Chance, Tempo-Tone, Mercury, Apollo, JOB, Regal, Vee-Jay (unissued), Blue Lake, Club 51, and Cobra all cut dates on Slim, whose vocals thundered with the same resonant authority as his 88s. In addition, his distinctive playing enlivened hundreds of sessions by other artists during the same time frame, backing artists such as Muddy Waters, Robert Lockwood, Little Walter, Johnny Shines, Memphis Minnie, St. Louis Jimmy, John Brim and many others.

Sunnyland first surfaced on record with Jump Jackson for Specialty on September 26, 1946 singing “Night Life Blues” during a ten title session.  Sunnyland made official his debut for the small Chicago label H-Tone, cutting six sides fro the label backed by Lonnie Johnson. Later in the year he cut two two-song sessions for Aristocrat labeled Sunnyland Slim and Muddy Water and labeled Sunnyland Slim and Muddy Waters Combo. Sunnyland played a large role in launching the career of Muddy Waters. The pianist invited him to provide accompaniment for his 1947 Aristocrat session that would produce “Johnson Machine Gun.” One obstacle remained beforehand: Waters had a day gig delivering Venetian blinds. But he wasn’t about to let such an opportunity slip through his fingers. He informed his boss that a fictitious cousin had been murdered in an alley, so he needed a little time off to take care of business. When Sunnyland had finished that day, Waters sang a pair of numbers, “Little Anna Mae” and “Gypsy Woman,” that would become his own Aristocrat debut 78. Sunnyland  cut one other session in 1947;  In December he eight songs for Victor under the name Doctor Clayton’s Buddy, after the popular and recently deceased Doctor Clayton.

Circa December 1947 Sunnyland backed Muddy Waters again on a four-song session for Aristocrat. In May 1948 Sunnyland backed Little Walter at his second recording date, backing Walter on “Blues Baby b/w I Want My Baby” for the Tempo-Tone label with Muddy Waters featured on the latter track. He backed Memphis Minnie circa 1949/1950 for a four-song session for Regal playing alongside Jimmy Rogers and Ernest “Big” Crawford, both who played with Muddy Waters in the early years. From that session we spin “Kidman Blues.” Sunnyland also worked with St. Louis Jimmy on three session in 1948 and 1949 and we play “Trying To Change My Ways” from that date.

Sunnyland backed Robert Lockwood on several sessions; one for J.O.B. in March 1951, a second session for Mercury in November and again for J.O.B. in 1955. Lockwood in turn backed Sunnyland on sessions for J.O.B.  and Mercury in 1951 and again for J.O.B. in 1954 plus some sessions in 1960. Lockwood and Sunnyland made a potent team and among their collaborations we hear “Down Home Child”, “Low Down Sunnyland Train”, “Glory For Man”, “I’m Gonna Dig Myself a Hole” and “Pearly B.”

In 1951 and 1952 Sunnyland backed Leroy Foster on four songs for J.O.B. with the 1951 date listed as Baby Face and Sunnyland Trio. Sunnyland also backed J.B. Lenoir on two sessions in 1952 and 1953 for the J.O.B. label. Also at that 1953 J.O.B. Sunnyland and J.B. backed Johnny Shines on two numbers including the superb topical blues “Livin’ In The White House.”

We spin several tracks form the 1960’s; In 1960 Sunnyland traveled to Englewood Cliffs, NJ to cut a session that was released on Bluesville as the LP Slim’s Shout. From that album we play his “Devil Is A Busy Man” a song he cut several times including at his 1947 but that record seems to have disappeared. The session features King Curtis on sax. Fuel 2000 released a live date (Live ‘63) with guitarist J.B. Lenoir Sunnyland almost 33 years after the original session took place at Nina’s Lounge, a small club on the near west side of Chicago of which we play another Sunnyland favorite, “It’s You Baby.” Sunnyland played the AFBF in 1964, 1980 and 1981 and we play his seminal “Everytime I Get To Drinking” backed by Hubert Sumlin.

Sunnyland continued to record steadily in the 70’s and 80’s, cutting albums for Bluesway (Plays The Ragtime Blues is an excellent date but unfortunatley out-of-print), Earwig and for his own label, Airway Records (some of this material has been gathered on two fine collections on Earwig: She’s Got A Thing Goin’ On and Be Careful How You Vote). Notable records from the 1970’s include Sad And Lonesome a fine date for Jewel featuring Walter Horton and Hubert Sumlin, the solo date Travelin’ which includes some fascinating monlogues and the 1977 session Smile On My Face sporting excellent guitar work from Lacy Gibson. There are loads of reissues of Sunnyland’s early material with notable ones including Sunnyland And His Pals a 4-CD set on JSP that spans 1947 to 1955 including many seminal sessions backing other artists, Sunnyland Special: The Cobra & J.O.B. Recordings 1949-1956 and three chronological volumes on the classics label (1947-1948, 1949-1951 and 1952-1955)). Sunnyland Slim finally died of kidney failure in 1995.

It was a real honor to have pianist Ernest Lane in the studio the other day. Lane was in town playing a couple of gigs with Joe Beard and Steve Grills & the Roadmasters. Lane was in great form over the weekend when he performed with Joe and Steve and for those in the Rochester area you should check him out this Thursday when he plays at the Dinosaur BBQ. You can hear the entire feature (included below) as Ernest talks about his new recording, playing with Robert Nighthawk and Earl Hooker, doing a stint with the Monkees and his childhood pal Ike Turner. In addition we play several tracks from his recent CD’s as well as some vintage material.

I met Ernest only briefly several years back when he was in town playing with Ike Turner’s band. Prior to that I had talked to him on the phone a couple of times while doing some research on Robert Nighthawk. In 2004 Ernest issued his belated debut, The Blues Is Back!, and I promptly interviewed him on my Bad Dog Blues radio show. Just recently Ernest released Born With The Blues on the Evejim label.

Ernest is in his late seventies now, although you wouldn’t now it by looking at him or hearing him play. Ernest has had his own bands throughout the years although he’s probably best know for his work with folks like Robert Nighthawk, Earl Hooker and his life long pal Ike Turner. Unfortunately Ernest hasn’t gotten in the studio all that often; he cut his first record under his own name for Blues & Rhythm in 1952 (an off shoot of Modern), “What’s Wrong Baby” b/w “Little Girl, Little Girl”, plus a pair of singles in L.A. in the early sixties, “What Kind Of Love” b/w “Sliced Apples” for M.J.C. and “What’s That You Got” b/w “Need My Help” for Sony. Ernest wasn’t even aware that the Blues & Rhythm sides were issued but does recall the session which was setup by Ike Turner who was acting as a talnet scout for Modern. As for his session work, Ernest appears on on the July 1949 Robert Nighhawk session and it was either him or Sunnyland Slim on the September 1948 session. The titles include: “Down The Line”, “Handsome Lover”, “Return Mail Blues”, “My Sweet Lovin’ Mama”, “She Knows How To Love A Man”, “Black Angel Blues ( Sweet Black Angel)”, “Anna Lee Blues (Anna Lee)”, “Return Mail Blues” and “Sugar Papa.” Ernest played for a spell with Jimmy Nolen and appears on the following 1959 session for Fidelity: “Swingin’ Peter Gunn Pt. 1″, Swingin’ Peter Gunn Pt. 2″ and “Blues After Hours.” In 1961 Nolen’s band, with Ernest, backed George “Harmonica” Smith on a session for Sotoplay: “Sometimes You Win When You Lose”, “Come On Home”, “You Can’t Undo What’s Been Done” and “Rope That Twist.” Ernest also recalls playing on the Earl Hooker’s 1969 album Sweet Black Angel even though Ike Turner is listed as the pianist. In 1969 he did some studio work with Canned Heat which can be found on The USA Sessions – Classic Recordings from 1969. 1969 was also the year he toured with the Monkees whom he backed as a member of Sam & The Goodtimers. More recently he’s appeared on records by Eddie Clearwater and Ike Turner. In the early 1980’s he cut a saession for Rooster Records but only one 45 was issued, “Doggin’ No More” b/w “Little Girl.”

Ernest is a terrific piano player and singer who’s looking to be a headliner in his own right. Hopefully with a couple of CD’s now out he can get some gigs. If you’re reading this and are a club owner of festival promoter, Ernest would make a great addition as he remains at the top of his game, playing in classic style that’s rarely heard anymore.

Ernest Lane Feature 9/14/08 (mp3)

Show Notes:

St. Louis was an early center for ragtime around the turn of the century. With its ragtime background St. Louis was a Mecca for blues pianists like Speckled Red and Henry Brown, Sylvester Palmer, Roosevelt Sykes, Peetie Wheatstraw, Barrelhouse Buck McFarland and Wesley Wallace among others. According to Peter J. Silvester, who wrote A Left Hand Like God: A History of Boogie-Woogie: “The St. Louis style of
boogie-woogie s generally economical in its treble phrasing and is played with sparse chorded basses, two distinct features which can be heard in the work of Walter Davis, James “Stump” Johnson, Henry Brown and others.” Many of the St. Louis pianists came from elsewhere and eventually wound up playing piano in the brothels and gambling joints on Morgan Street. Known as “Deep Morgan” it was a rough place populated by gamblers, pimps, prostitutes and bootleggers.

Henry Brown learned to play the piano from the “professors” of the notorious Deep Morgan section of St. Louis. One of them went by the name of “Blackmouth,” another was named Joe (or Tom) Cross. As Brown remembered him, “he was a real old time blues player and he’d stomp ‘em down to the bricks.” “Deep Morgan Blues” was one of his signature pieces. Brown worked clubs such as the Blue Flame Club, the 9-0-5 Club, Jim’s Place and Katy Red’s, from the twenties into the 30’s. He recorded for Brunswick with Ike Rogers and Mary Johnson in 1929, for Paramount in ‘29 and ‘30. He served in the army in the early 40’s, then formed his own quartet to work occasional local gigs in St. Louis area from the 50’s, and worked the Becky Thatcher riverboat in 1965. In addition to his pre-war recordings, he was recorded by Paul Oliver in 1960, by Sam Charters with Edith Johnson in 1961 and by Adelphi in 1969.

Stump Johnson told Paul Oliver in 1960: “I had learned to play the blues by just hangin’ roun’ the pool room where they have an ole piano, just pickin’ it up for myself.” Arthur Satherly, a talent scout for QRS, discovered Stump playing at his brother Jesse’s music store on Market St. In 1929. “The Duck’s Yas Yas” on QRS became a hit, James recorded three more versions of it, and it was covered in ‘29 by Tampa Red, and several others. His last pre-war recordings were made in Chicago in 1933 for Bluebird, in the company of Dorathea Trowbridge, J.D. Short and Aaron Sparks.

Singer/pianist Walter Davis was among the most prolific blues performers to emerge from the pre-war St. Louis scene, cutting over 150 sides between 1930 and 1952. Davis hit big right out of the gate as he related to Paul Oliver: “My first recording was “M and O Blues” and “My Baby’s Gone” and a few months later why it came out and it was a success, it was a great hit. I had my picture put in the Chicago Defender, The Pittsburgh Courier and other local papers and naturally I became pretty famous.” He first attracted attention upon relocating to St. Louis during the mid-1920s, and soon made the first of his many recordings for the Victor label. Despite its abundance, his work – much of it recorded in conjunction with guitarist Henry Townsend – was solid but unspectacular, eclipsed by the likes of associates including Roosevelt Sykes and Peetie Wheatstraw; still, he enjoyed a fair amount of success before a stroke prompted him to move from music to the ministry during the early 1950’s. Davis was still preaching at the time of his death on October 22, 1963.

Aaron and Marion (he changed his name to Milton in 1929) were twins born to Ruth and Sullie Gant in Tupelo, Mississippi. The brothers cut four sessions, the first for Victor and the other three for Bluebird, between 1932 and 1935. Milton cut two songs for Decca in 1934 under the name Flyin’ Lindberg. Aaron backed a number of St. Louis artists at their second session: Elisabeth Washington, Tecumseh McDowell, Dorotha Trowbridge, James “Stump” Johnson and Charlie McFadden. They were the first to record versions of “Everyday I Have The Blues” and “61 Highway.”

Pianist Speckled Red (born Rufus Perryman) was born in Monroe, LA, but he made his reputation as part of the St. Louis and Memphis blues scenes of the ’20s and ’30s. In 1929, he cut his first recording sessions. One song from these sessions, “The Dirty Dozens,” was released on Brunswick and became a hit. After Red’s second set of sessions failed to sell, the pianist spent the next few years without a contract — he simply played local Memphis clubs. In 1938, he cut a few sides for Bluebird. In the early ’40s, Red moved to St. Louis, where he played local clubs and bars for the next decade and a half. In 1954, he was rediscovered by a number of blues aficionados and record label owners. By 1956, he had recorded several songs for the Tone record label and began a tour of America and Europe. In 1956-57 recorded for Delmark and in 1960 made some recordings for Folkways. By this time, Red’s increasing age was causing him to cut back the number of concerts he gave. For the rest of the ’60s, he only performed occasionally. He died in 1973.

Nicknamed “Porkchop”, Green was one of the finest St. Louis stylists, and the admitted greatest single influence on Roosevelt Sykes. “Train No. 44″ recorded with Sykes was a personal variant of the “Vicksburg Blues” theme, Green’s version of “44 Blues” earned him Little Brother Montgomery’s undying bitterness for recording it first. Brother, who helped develop the theme and taught it to Green, speaks of him as “that tailor” (Green’s profession in Vicksburg) rather than as a musician.”

Sykes began playing while growing up in Helena. At age 15, he hit the road, developing his rowdy barrelhouse style around the blues-fertile St. Louis area. Sykes began recording in 1929 for OKeh and was signed to four different labels the next year under four different names (he was variously billed as Dobby Bragg, Willie Kelly, and Easy Papa Johnson)! Sykes joined Decca Records in 1935, where his popularity blossomed.

Paramount Reissue Program 1946

In 1929, Peetie Wheatstraw arrived in East St. Louis. Wheatstraw soon became a popular performer in East St. Louis and his fame quickly spread to Chicago. Wheatstraw began his recording career singing vocal duets with the unknown “Neckbones” (possibly J.D. Short) for ARC on September 13, 1930 and continued recording on his own into the early part of 1931. After an isolated session for Bluebird in September 1931, Wheatstraw returned to ARC, and then moved to Decca in 1934, where the bulk of his best recordings were made. Wheatstraw recorded in every year of the 1930s save 1933, ultimately producing 175 sides in all. He also backed Kokomo Arnold, Bumble Bee Slim and others. He died just short of his 39th birthday in 1941 after a train struck his car. If not for having the good fortune of being “rediscovered” in the late 50’s and subsequently making a few comeback recordings, Barrelhouse Buck McFarland would be just a brief footnote in the vast catalogue of pre-war blues artists. McFarland cut his final session for Smithsonian Folkways and an unissued session that was issued a few years back on Delmark. He died shortly afterwards. McFarland was born in Alton, Illinois in 1903 in the same area as two other exceptional piano players, Wesley Wallace and Jabbo Williams, all three of which made names for themselves on the bustling St. Louis blues scene. McFarland got his shot in the recording studio waxing ten sides; two for Paramount in 1929, two for Decca in 1934 and four more for Decca in 1935, which were not issued.

If not for having the good fortune of being “rediscovered” in the late 50’s and subsequently making a few comeback recordings, Barrelhouse Buck McFarland would be just a brief footnote in the vast catalogue of pre-war blues artists. McFarland cut his final session for Smithsonian Folkways and an unissued session that was issued a few years back on Delmark. He died shortly afterwards. McFarland was born in Alton, Illinois in 1903 in the same area as two other exceptional piano players, Wesley Wallace and Jabbo Williams, all three of which made names for themselves on the bustling St. Louis blues scene. McFarland got his shot in the recording studio waxing ten sides; two for Paramount in 1929, two for Decca in 1934 and four more for Decca in 1935, which were not issued.

James “Bat The Humming-Bird” Robinson moved to Memphis where he was raised, learned piano and drums from his father as a youth, moved to Chicago about 1922, frequently worked with Bertha “Chippie” Hill, Eppie Moan, Elzadie Robinson and others in local club dates. He worked with Louis Armstrong, moving to St. Louis about 1930. He recorded for the Champion label in 1931. He cut a couple of sides before he passed in 1957.

Joe Dean was one of the few artists actually born in St. Louis, born in the city April 25, 1908. He recorded one 78 for Vocalion, “I’m So Glad I’m Twenty-One Years Old Today” b/w “Mexico Bound Blues”, in 1930. He remained musically active on a part-time basis into the 1960’s. He eventually became the Rev. Joe Dean and died on June 24 1981. He was interviewed by Mike Rowe for Blues Unlimited magazine.

Sylvester Palmer was, according to Don Kent, “One of the most eccentric of all St. Louis pianists before his untimely death. He is one of the few pianists whose left-hand work can be directly attributed to the influence of Wesley Wallace…The fluidity of his irregular timing is quite amazing.” (1) On Document 529 it is suggested that Palmer may have been a pseudonym for Wallace himself. He cut 4 sides for Columbia in 1929. Wesley Wallace cut one 78 for Paramount in 1929 and backed St. Louis singer Bessie Mae Smith on record.

Jabo Williams hailed from Birmingham, Al here he was likely discovered by Paramount in 1932. He also spent time in St. Louis. He cut 8 sides during the depths of the depression all of which are exceedingly rare. Little is known about his background.

Eddie Miller cut 5 songs for Brunswick and ARC between 1929 and 1936. He also backed a number of artists including Ma Rainey, Charlie McFadden, Merline Johnson among others.

By the time he succumbed to a heart attack in 1971 Curtis Jones was a sad, embittered man who – rightly I would say – viewed himself as the forgotten man of the blues, watching from the sidelines while others from his era were greeted with far more enthusiasm and fame. His passing was greeted with little fanfare and in a final indignity his grave was unceremoniously sold eight years later because no one had paid for its upkeep.

The intervening years have done nothing to raise to Jones’ profile; his records have not been well represented on the reissue market and mention of his music to fellow blues fans is often greeted with indifference. To put it frankly his records are considered “boring” by most blues fans. The very qualities which made him popular among the black record buying public of the 1930’s and 1940’s were not exactly the qualities white enthusiasts prized. His talents were perhaps too subtle for the new white audience: his deep, unfussy piano playing was very much in the service of the song and decidedly unshowy, he was an expressive singer with a high, tight tenor with a way of putting across a song that really connected with the audience and he was an exceptional, imaginative lyricist. As Tony Russell wrote, somewhat uncharitably, in the Penguin Guide To Blues: “…Over the next four years [1937-1941] Jones turned out dozens of blues-and-trouble compositions, sung in the bleak Texas manner of men like Black Boy Shine to tidy, unexciting piano accompaniments.”Closer to the mark was Paul Oliver who in the notes to In London wrote: “He is the bluesman’s blues singer. All that he plays and sings is blues, but it cannot be lightly asserted that he represents the blues of Texas, where he was born, or of the West where he worked for some years. His is not merely ‘Chicago blues’, though he lived there for a quarter of a century. And how does one type a blues singer who has made Paris, France, his home?”

Courtesy American Folk Music Occasional, 1970

Our story picks up in Europe where Jones settled in the early 1960’s after almost twenty years without stepping into a studio, outside of a couple of 1953 sides for Parrot. Before packing his bags for Europe he waxed a pair of fine stateside comeback records; Trouble Blues (Bluesville, 1960) and Lonesome Bedroom Blues (Delmark, 1962) which found his talents undimmed by the passage of time. Over in Europe he would record two more superb albums; In London (Decca, 1963) and Now Resident In Europe (Blue Horizon, 1968) reissued, remastered and rounded out with unissued sides as Curtis Jones: The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. It was Mike Vernon who we have to thank for both sessions as he writes in the excellent liner notes: “To be totally honest, Curtis Jones represented a bygone era and his particular style and sound was not at one with the current trends and developments in the blues world at the time. …It should be remembered that I, in particular, had been the only producer who had the courage to record him – not once, but twice. Most others might well have not taken the risk, if the truth were to be told.”

I, for one, am glad he took the chance as it paid off handsomely. The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions consists of the original ten songs plus brief interview, a batch of alternate takes and the previously unissued “Blues On The Scene.” Backed by a strong rhythm section of Brian Brocklehurst on upright bass and Dougie Wright on drums, Jones is in superb form stretching out with some gorgeous piano solos and singing marvelously on this well recorded date that features songs he hadn’t recorded before. Jones sounds particularly extroverted on a number of selections including the shuffling “You Don’t Have To Go” stretching out with some sparkling piano work, the insistent drive of “Cherie”, positively cooks on the bouncy, declamatory “Gee, Pretty Baby” and delivers the spirited, inventive instrumental “Dryburgh Drive” (named after the street the studio resided on). Jones is at his plaintive best on the lovely ballad “I Want To Be Your Slave” and displays his skills as a guitarist on several sparse numbers. Guitar was his first instrument and he first revealed his talent on the instrument on his Decca album. His picking is basic but effective on on solo numbers such as “Morocco Blues”, “Jane”, “Blues On The Scene” and the heartfelt, beautifully sung “Soul Brother Blues.” As on all of the Blue Horizon reissues, packaging is excellent with lengthy notes, nice photos and pristine sound.

Listening to The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions prompted me to reacquaint myself with In London which I hadn’t listened to in ages. I’ve been informed that this has made it on to CD on the Deram label which may itself be out of print although copies look to be still available. Despite extremely lean times, Jones sailed into his 1960’s comeback as an artist at the height of his powers as he ably demonstrates on In London backed by sympathetic band featuring bassist Jack Fallon, drummer Eddie Taylor and Alexis Korner on guitar on a few numbers. The program is a mix of old classics like “Lonesome Bedroom Blues”, Alleybound Blues”, “You Got Good Business” plus items he had been playing for his European audiences, numbers like Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone To Love”, the rollicking instrumental, “Young Generation Boogie”, based on the Ray Charles instrumental “Rockhouse” and the charming “Syl-Vous Play Blues.” Jones revives classic piano pieces including an elegant version of “The Honeydripper”, “Curtis Jones Boogie”, his version of the timeless “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie” and the rocking “Shake It Baby.” Of the guitar pieces, “Skid Row” is the standout, the kind of seedy life blues tale Jones so excelled at conjuring up. Paul Oliver provides a fine set of notes for the original LP which have been reprinted in Blues Off The Record.

Both of these records come recommended and one hopes that the reissue of The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions will spark some renewed interest in Curtis Jones although that may be, admittedly, wishful thinking. I’ll be spotlighting the music of Jones in an upcoming radio program so keep an eye out. For a well written piece on Jones I make available, with the author’s permission, an article written in Jefferson magazine no. 124, 2000: Curtis Jones: The Lonesome Bedroom Blues (PDF)

You Don’t Have To Go [Blue Horizon Sessions] (MP3)

Soul Brother Blues [Blue Horizon Sessions] (MP3)

Shake It Baby [In London] (MP3)

Syl-Vous Play Blues [In London] (MP3)

Show Notes:

In my continuing attempt to raise the profile of piano blues here’s a show devoted to some of the best barrelhouse and boogie-woogie piano of the 1920’s and 1930’s. Last year I did several piano based shows including a spotlight on the remarkable group of Texas piano men who who made records 1920’s and 30’s. This show, which takes it’s title from a line in Romeo Nelson’s “Head Rag Hop”, is a much broader look at early piano blues featuring some of the best piano records of the era.

I remember exactly when I became enthralled with the early piano blues. I was was in Tower Records in NYC (still in in high school) browsing through blues records when I stumbled across the LP The Piano Blues Volume Twenty: Barrelhouse Years 1928-1933. I soon realized that this was the tail end of a groundbreaking piano series on Magpie Records. The Magpie series was the first attempt to present the the full breadth of piano blues in a systematic fashion. Each volume was built around a particular theme, featured excellent notes and terrific sound quality with records culled from the vast collection of producer Francis Smith (sadly I’ve heard that Smith is in the end stage of a terminal illness). The series concluded in 1984 after twenty-one volumes and has yet to be surpassed. A number of years ago Yazoo Records launched their own piano blues series also using 78’s from Smith’s collection. As far as I can tell the series has stopped but they issued a number of excellent collections all of which are featured on today’s show. A list of their piano compilations can be found here and they’ve also issued single artist collections: Dreaming the Blues: The Best of Charlie Spand and The Way I Feel which spotlights Lee Green and Roosevelt Sykes.

While the piano blues is something of a declining art form it flourished on record in the 1920’s-30’s and with the boogie-woogie craze of the 1940’s. To quote Peter J. Silvester’s A Left Hand Like God: A History of Boogie-Woogie Piano: “Originating in barrelhouses and entertainment spots that served the black labor force who worked in the lumber and railroad industries throughout the deep south, it could be heard later at rent parties in Chicago, buffet flats in St. Louis and other black urban centers like Birmingham, Al and several towns in Texas among others. When the music evolved into boogie-woogie entering New York nightclubs like Café Society, pianists such as Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons became stars. In the 1940’s the boogie-woogie craze hit big but faded by the 1950’s.”

Today’s show stops just short of the boogie-woogie craze, spanning 1928 to 1939. This was an era before mass media and many of today’s recordings bear a distinct regional style. As Bob Hall wrote: “At the start of the recording era blues piano consisted of a variety of distinctive regional styles, particularly in Southern states such as Texas and Mississippi, and there were ’schools’ of pianists in many of the major cities having significant migrant black populations, for example Birmingham, St. Louis, Detroit and Chicago.” St. Louis, for example, was an extremely fertile piano town boasting piano men like Roosevelt Sykes, Peetie Wheatstraw, Henry Brown, Aaron Sparks, Walter Davis, Stump Johnson, Eddie Miller among many others. It’s not surprising that Chicago had a lively scene including Pinetop Smith, Jimmy Yancey, Romeo Nelson, Cripple Clarence Lofton and others. Birmingham and Detroit were another prime piano towns with Jabbo Williams, Walter Roland and Cow Cow Davenport from the former and Charlie Spand, Will Ezell from the latter. In future shows I plan to do several piano programs with a narrower, regional focus.

Show Notes:

More piano-based and jazz-influenced than anything else, West Coast Blues is really California blues even if most of the main practitioners actually hailed from Texas. There was no pre-war blues activity in California but the the post-war blues era was booming. With the shipyards and aircraft factories desperate for labor during the war years, blacks flocked to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and small towns like Richmond, Fresno, Stockton and Modesto. The non-white population exploded from 80, 000 in 1930 to 462,000 by 1950. Numerous small independent labels popped up in the 40’s to cater to this new market including Aladdin, Swingtime, Modern, Speciality and many smaller outfits who specialized in R&B and blues and would take more chances than the more established labels.

In this week’s feature we spotlight the West Coast piano tradition which was kick started by the inimitable Charles Brown. As Tony Russell wrote: “In the late summer of 1945 Charles Brown recorded “Driftin’ Blues”, a moonlight sonata of rootlessness and uncertainty. It was perhaps the first blues hit of the postwar blues period, and it expanded the language of the blues as dramatically as Leroy Carr’s “How Long – How Long Blues” 17 years earlier.” Brown’s influence was profound, setting the stage for fellow pianists like Amos Milburn, Floyd Dixon, Little Willie Littlefield, Roy Hawkins, Ivory Joe Hunter and Cecil Gant.

Amos Milburn signed with Aladdin in 1946 and had the first of19 Top Ten R&B smashes with 1948′ storming “Chicken Shack Boogie.” In addition to rocking boogies he he could croon in the best Charles Brown manner. In the same mold was Little Willie Littlefield who made his debut in 1948 racking up major R&B hits with “It’s Midnight” and “Farewell.” Floyd Dixon also debuted in 1948 earning many comparisons to his mentor Charles Brown although eventually developing a grittier, more soulful sound than Brown. Dixon hit locally with 1949’s “Dallas Blues.” Aladdin Records acquired Dixon’s contract with Modern in late 1950, immediately pairing him with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers for “Telephone Blues,” his first nationwide hit. Roy Hawkins too made his debut in 1948 although less well remembered than his contemporaries. Hawkins had two major R&B hits: 1950’s “Why Do Things Happen to Me” and “The Thrill Is Gone” the following year.

Due to time constraints we don’t have time to do proper justice to two other fine pianists, Ivory Joe Hunter and Cecil Gant. Gant’s 1944 debut ,”I Wonder,” topped the R&B charts and its flip “Cecil’s Boogie,” was a hit in its own right. Further hits followed and he stayed at the label until switching over to Bullet in 1948. Hunter started his own label, Ivory Records, to press up his “Blues at Sunrise” (with Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers backing him), and it became a national hit when leased to Exclusive in 1945. He followed with hit sides for King where he cut his immortal “I Almost Lost My Mind” (another R&B chart-topper in 1950), Atlantic, Vee-Jay, Smash and Capitol.

Whistlin’ Alex Moore certainly knew intimately about this area as he related to Oliver: “Oh they were tough joints…I’d play them all, from North Dallas to the East Side…Froggy Bottom…Central Tracks…well they had just about everything up and down there from beer joints to saloons.” Moore was a resident of Dallas all his eighty years and had spent most of his working life as a cart driver, and later, hotel porter. Moore had a long career, punctuated by large recording gaps, cutting ten sides in 1929, sessions in 1947, 1951, sessions for Arhoolie and cut an album for Rounder the year before he died in 1988. Oliver describes Moore as a “folk blues poet par excellence” and “one of the most poetic blues singers on record, Alex Moore had developed as a remarkable pianist in the purest boogie and blues tradition with an eccentric inventive flair both in his vocals and his playing.” Moore’s poetic flair is on display on “Heart Wrecked Blues” and particularly his “West Dallas Woman” [MP3]: “Met a woman in West Texas, she had been left out there all alone/Out by the “Hooking Cow” crossing, where I wasn’t even known/She fell for me, a raggedy stranger, standing in the drizzling rain/She said “Daddy I’ll follow you, tho’ I don’t know your name”/We snuggled closely together, muddy water round our feet/No place to call home, wet, hungry and no place to eat/The wolves howl till midnight, wild ox moan till day/The Man in the Moon looked down on us—but had nothing to say.” He displays a sly sense of humour on “They May Not Be My Toes” and “Blue Bloomer Blues” [MP3]: “While standing at the car line, reckon’ what that old girl done/I said she hugged and kissed me and bit me on my tongue/I asked her to give me what mama did, when I was three months old/She said I’ll make you a sugar tit daddy, I can’t stand that to save my soul/She pulled off them bloom bloomers, begin to whine and frown.” Even tough tales like “Ice Pick Mama” and “Bull Con Blues” are laced with plenty of amusing wit.

Moore was perhaps the last of the early Texas piano although a couple of others survived long enough to make some latter day recording. Edwin ‘Buster’ Pickens and Robert Shaw ran around with the pianists who worked the Santa Fe railroad townships. Both Robert Shaw and Buster Pickens didn’t record under their own name until the 1960’s. Pickens did some session work, most notably behind Lightnin’ Hopkins and cut one full-length record in the 1960’s for the Heritage label. Oliver describes him in the 60’s, as “virtually the last of the barrelhouse and saw-mill pianists, for his contemporaries are nearly all dead …Pickens, born in 1915, was younger then many of them though he shared the work, and small, compact and tough, he is still playing. His world has been one of railroad routes and this is reflected in many of his blues.” A prime example is his “Santa Fe Train [MP3].” As Pickens himself noted: “I travelled by freight trains. I rode freight trains practically all over the country. …These other piano players-son Becky, Consih Burks, Black Boy Shine, Andy Boy, and all these men-they went out different routes-hardly ever paired up. Each lookin’ for his own bread.” Robert Shaw cut one 1963 album for Almanac which was reissued on the Arhoolie label, plus some additional sides in the 1970’s. All these sides are collected on the CD “The Ma Grinder” issued by Arhoolie. Like Pickens, Shaw was a member of the Santa Fe pianists and on his 60’s recordings plays dazzling dance tunes, in a relaxed boogie style, with touches of ragtime mixed in, and tough lowdown blues. As Shaw said: “When you listen to what I’m playing you got to see in your mind all them gals out there swinging their butts and getting the mens excited. otherwise you ain’t got the music rightly understood. I could sit there and throw my hands down and make them gals do anything. I told them when to shake it, and when to hold back. That’s what this music is for.” His remarkable technique is in full display on the Texas piano staple, “The Ma Grinder[MP3].”

After World War II the early Texas piano tradition virtually evaporated. Oliver wrote that after “…the War, the juke boxes, and the law had combined to bring an end to both the barrelhouse circuit and the Texas piano player who, in Son Becky’s words had “spread some joy” on the Santa network. …The group dispersed: Andy Boy made his way to Kansas City where he was last heard of in the 1950’s, while Joe Pullum migrated to California. Rob Cooper disappeared after woman trouble, and Cowboy Washington was forgotten. Down on Houston’s McKinney Street they don’t stomp The Cows or The Ma Grinder any more.”

Sources:

-Dixon, Robert M.W., John Godrich, Howard W. Rye. Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943. 4th edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997.

-McCormick, Mack. Notes accompanying The Ma Grinder, 1993, Arhoolie.

-Oliver, Paul and Smith, Francis. Notes accompanying The Piano Blues Vol. 15: Dallas 1927-1929, 1980, Magpie.

-Oliver, Paul. Conversation With The Blues. Horizon Press, New York, 1965.

Show Notes:

Piano blues seems to have gotten overshadowed by the emphasis on the guitar. Today the piano blues tradition is in steep decline. This week’s show harks back to the glory days of barrelhouse piano, in particular a remarkable group of piano men who where based in Texas during the 1920’s and 30’s. As Paul Oliver observed: “Texas was as rich in piano blues as Mississippi was in guitar blues …A cursory glance through the discographies will emphasize the fact that a remarkable number of blues pianists came from Texas.”

All the background for this week’s show can be found in a multi-part article I posted on the Texas piano tradition:

Texas Piano Blues – 1920’s & 1930’s Part 1

Texas Piano Blues – 1920’s & 1930’s Part 2

Texas Piano Blues – 1920’s & 1930’s Part 3

Texas Piano Blues – 1920’s & 1930’s Part 4

After discussing the early Texas piano players and the Santa Fe group we turn to Dallas which was the home of a number of distinctive piano players and singers they accompanied. Among them were Texas Bill Day, Neal Roberts, Willie Tyson, Whistlin’ Alex Moore and singer Billiken Johnson. Oliver notes that “as far as is known, they were more or less contemporaries, being born at the turn of the century (Alex Moore, specifically, in 1899).” He goes on to describe Dallas during this period: “Then there were 9000 blacks in Dallas, a quarter of the population. By 1930 they totalled just short of 50,000 and made up a significant part of the whole population. The hub of the black community was an area known as Central Tracks, where honky-tonks ’saloons, beer-parlours and brothels were wedged between warehouses, furniture stores and places of entertainment like Ella B. Moore’s Park Theatre, or Hattie Burleson’s dance hall. Urban expansion in Dallas was largely due to its importance as a railhead, and many railroads whose names are familiar to blues collectors had termini there. Among them were the “Katy”, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line; the Fort Worth and Denver; the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe; the Rock Island; and the Texas a Pacific, along whose line Central Tracks was situated.”

Despite the brash and nosey environment the “Dallas blues piano style of Dallas is slow or medium-paced and contemplative in its nature …Blues in the Dallas school is about Dallas; in fact no other blues schools, with the exception perhaps, of Chicago, gives us quite such a picture of the urban life which inspired it. ..These are blues that are intended to be listened to, with words that have a strange folk lyricism about them. Here the piano is used as a complementary poetic instrument, setting off the words and the mood of the blues instead of challenging it with pyrotechnic displays.”

It’s not surprising that the railroad figure prominently in the blues of Dallas. Singer Billiken Johnson was obviously well acquainted with the rail lines as they figure in number of his blues. Johnson is a key figure though he did not play piano. His speciality was vocal effects, and he was considered rather a clown by his blues musician friends. On “Frisco Blues” [MP3] (a reference to the St. Louis—San Francisco line) Johnson provides the train sounds over the gently rolling piano of Neal Roberts who also sings. Johnson provides the same role on “Sun Beam Blues” (also known as the “Sunshine Special” that ran on the Missouri— Pacific line to St. Louis) evocatively imitating the lonesome train whistle as the unknown Fred Adams takes the vocals. Johnson also vocalizes on “Interurban Blues” which refers to the short haul trains which brought country people into the city. On these tracks Willie Tyson plays piano. Johnson’s vocal effects are also on display on “Billiken’s Weary Blues” with steady piano support from Texas Bill Day who plays in a similar style as the aforementioned Neal Roberts. Johnson surfaces again on Day’s lustily sung “Elm Street Blues” [MP3] where the pianist sings: “Ellum Street’s paved in brass, Main Street’s paved in gold/I’ve got a good girl lives on East Commerce, I wouldn’t mistreat her to save nobody’s soul/These Ellum Street Women, Billiken, do not mean you no good/If you want to make a good woman, have to get on Haskell Avenue.” The song, as Oliver says, refers “…to the respective success of the black sector of “Deep Ellum”, or Elm Street, which ran by Central Tracks, and the downtown business sector of Main.”

Sources:

-Dixon, Robert M.W., John Godrich, Howard W. Rye. Blues & Gospel Records 1890-1943. 4th edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1997.

-Oliver, Paul and Smith, Francis. Notes accompanying The Piano Blues Vol. 15: Dallas 1927-1929, 1980, Magpie.

-Oliver, Paul. Conversation With The Blues. Horizon Press, New York, 1965.

Harold Holiday, known as Black Boy Shine, was one of the acknowledged leaders among the Santa Fe group of pianists. He recorded more prolifically then the rest; cutting 18 issued sides in 1936 and 1937 as well as leaving a batch of unissued sides in the can. As Oliver relates: “He played in a mellow style, with a subtler release than the sharp snap favoured by several of the piano men, and he sang in a slightly world-weary voice of the days when the “Chophouse” operated on West Dallas Street. It was a haven for pianists down on their luck, where the proprietor would prepare soup and sandwiches for them, and cook any rabbits they’d managed to club on the waste lots that still dotted the black wards of the city.” He describes this vividly in one of his best numbers, “Dog House Blues”: “Well I’m going to the Dog House/Down On West Dallas Street/When I get broke and hungry/I know I can get a feed.” “When times were better”, Oliver wrote, “and the barrelhouses were open again, Shine was to be found at Sugarland, near the sugar refineries and the State Farm Unit, or way out at Richmond. The latter is a run-down, predominately black township still, an unlovely place of old buildings fronting on the railroad tracks close to the Brazos River. Behind the tracks the roads fall back steeply for a couple of blocks to the old haunt of hustlers and whores, Mud Alley. There on Mud Alley was the Brown House, Shine’s base when he wasn’t travelling…” Both places feature in Shine’s songs; In “Sugarland Blues” he sings “I dump sugar all day/Clean until broad daylight/I done everything for that woman/Still she don’t treat me right” and in “Brown House Blues” he sings “Woke up this morning with the muddy alley blues/ I lost all my money and my alley shoes/I was playing boogie-woogie and having my fun” and then goes on describe a raid in detail, obviously a common occurrence in these kind of joints. In general his lyrics vividly reflect the harsher side of black life such as songs like “Hobo Blues” and “Ice Pick and Pistol Woman Blues.”

Both Pinetop Burks and Leon Calhoun known as Son Becky, at least on record, were more boisterous players then Shine. Both shared a single session in October 1937, each cutting six sides apiece. Oliver notes that “Black Boy Shine closely resembled Conish “Pinetop” Burks both in appearance and in piano style, at least in the recollections of their contemporaries. On record “Connie” Burks used more boogie bass figures than Shine and employed more varied approaches to his blues, a matter of some surprise to those who knew them, who considered Shine the better pianist. Burks was born and raised close by Richmond and heard all the good piano men as they passed through” Becky “…had been raised by a relative near Wharton and was known by her surname, as “Son” Becky. Becky played for country suppers and followed the barrelhouse circuit east to the Piney Woods. Here traditions met, with the Louisiana and E Texas pianists running into their Houston and Santa Fe contemporary Dave Alexander, who was known as Black Ivory King, was one of eastern group who worked the ‘Flying Crow’ line between his home to of Shreveport and Port Arthur on the Gulf Coast, where Ivory Joe Hunter knew him.” Burks lays down strong, propulsive boogie piano, displaying his skill on several fine extended solos and has a deep, expressive voice. His boogie piano is heard to good effect on “Fannie Mae Blues” a song addressed too his wife and the rollicking “Shake the Shack” which owes a strong debt to “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie.” His “Mountain Jack Blues” features a thumping bass, ragtime flavour and is a variation of the Texas staple “”The Cows” while his “Jack of All Trades” was a re-working of Bernice Edwards’ blues of the same name. Becky was accompanied by a guitarist and a washboard player on some of his tracks, and the trio make an enjoyable ruckus on the driving “Midnight Trouble Blues” and “Mistreated Washboard Blues.” The more contemplative “Cryin’ Shame Blues” is a fine mid-tempo number featuring some strong rolling piano. King cut four sides in 1937 and had a simpler, less aggressive style than Burks and Becky. He was a fine rough voiced singer, using his limited range to fine effect particularly on the sublime “The Flying Crow” where he enhances the song with moans and piano flourishes that emulate the sound of the train. Trains also figure in “Match Box Blues” and “Gingham Dress (Alexander Blues)” while “Working For The PWA” is a fine topical number.