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Big Road Blues Show 9/17/23: She Run Me Out On The Road – Mix Show

September 17, 2023September 17, 2023 Jeff Leave a comment

Mix Show	SONG	ALBUM
Spider Carter	Dry Spell Blues	St. Louis 1927-1933
Ell-Zee Floyd	Snow Bound and Blue	Down On The Levee
Charles Avery	Dearborn Street Breakdown	Shake Your Wicked Knees
Muddy Waters	Strange Woman	Hollywood Blues Summit 1971
Muddy Waters	Walkin' Through the Park	Hollywood Blues Summit 1971
Memphis Jug Band	Going Back To Memphis	Best Of
Peg Leg Howell	Monkey Man Blues	Peg Leg Howell Vol. 2 1928-1930
Sleepy John Estes	Drop Down Mama	Blues At Newport 1964
Louis Armstrong	Long Long Journey	Satchmo In The Forties
Big Joe Turner & Pete Johnson	Kansas City Blues	Hollywood Rock And Roll Record
Arbee Stidham	Standin' In My Window	A Time For Blues
Ivy Smith & Cow Cow Davenport	Southern High Waters Blues	Ivy Smith & Cow Cow Davenport 1927-1930
Annie Turner & Little Brother Montgomery	Hard on You	Little Bother Montgomery: Vocal Accompaniments & Early Post-War Recordings 1930-1954
Lucille Bogan	My Georgia Grind	Lucille Bogan Vol. 1 1923-1929
Walter Horton	Now Tell me, Baby	Lowdown Memphis Harmonica Jam
Big John Wrencher	I'm A Root Man	American Blues Legends 1974
Easy Baby	Good Morning Mr Blues	Barrelhousin' Around Chicago The Legendary George Paulus 1970s Recordings
Kid Wiggins	Lonesome Road	Playing For The Man At The Door
James Tisdom	Steel Guitar Rag	Playing For The Man At The Door
Lightnin’ Hopkins	Blues Jumped a Rabbit	Playing For The Man At The Door
Frank Evans	Red River Blues	Field Recordings Vol. 13 1933-1943
Josh White	Lazy Black Snake Blues	Blues Singer 1932-1936
Poor Bill	Way Up on the Mountain	East Coast Blues In The Thirties 1934-1939
Robert Petway	Bertha Lee Blues	Catfish Blues
Jealous James Stanchell	Anything from a Foot Race to a Resting Place	Playing For The Man At The Door
Lightnin’ Hopkins	The Foot Race Is On	Autobiography in Blues
Big Moose Walker & Jump Jackson´s Combo	Footrace To A Resting Place	Blues Complete
Tom Bell	Storm in Arkansas	I Can Eagle Rock: Jook Joint Blues Library of Congress Recordings 1940-1941
Sam Chatmon	God Don't Like Ugly	I Have to Paint My Face
Lum Guffin	Johnny Wilson	On The Road Again
Joe Cooper	She Run Me Out On The Road	Living Country Blues USA Vol. 2: Blues On Highway 61
Sippie Wallace	You Gonna Need My Help	Sippie Wallace Vol. 2 1925-1945
Sara Martin	Hole In The Wall	Sara Martin Vol. 4 1925-1928
Billie (Willie Mae) McKenzie	Woke Up With The Rising Sun	Female Chicago Blues 1936-1947
Lizzie Miles	Lizzie's Blues	Jazzin' The Blues 1943-1952

Show Notes:

Dearborn Street Breakdown / Dry Spell Blues We tackle a wide gamut of blues from the 20s through the 70s today. On deck today is a set revolving around superb pianists Charles Avery, two live recordings by Muddy Waters, we hear from some excellent women singers and some blues shouters and crooners. In addition we spin some great field recordings captured by Mack McCormick, John Lomax and others, a strong set of harmonica blues, trace the history of an obscure song and much more.

Active in Chicago in the 20’s and 30’s, Charles Avery worked as a session musician backing artists such as Lil Johnson, Freddie ‘Red” Nicholson, Red Nelson, Victoria Spivey and others. He cut one record under his own name, 1929’s “Dearborn Street Breakdown” (the other side of the 78 was Meade Lux Lewis’ “Honky Tonk Train Blues”). It’s been suggested that Avery plays behind Ell-Zee Floyd and Spider Carter who we hear today. Carter cut three sides in 1930 for Brunswick and Floyd cut two sides on Sept. 19, 1930 at the same session Carter recorded.

The eight-song set Hollywood Blues Summit 1971, was recorded at the legendary Ash Grove club in Los Angeles on the Blue Summit weekend (which also featured Freddie King and Lightnin’ Hopkins) from July 27 to Aug. 1, 1971. The band includes: Calvin Fuzz Jones on bass, Pee Wee Madison & Sammy Lawson on guitars, Paul Oscher & Shakey Horton on harmonica and Pinetop Perkins on piano.

We spotlight several fine blues ladies today including Ivy Smith, Sippie Wallace, Sara Martin, Lizzie Miles and others. Cow Cow Davenport’s early career revolved around carnivals and vaudeville. Davenport didn’t cut a 78 record until 1927 (two 1925 sides for Gennett were unissued) although prior to that he made a number of piano rolls. Davenport briefly teamed up with singer Ivy Smith in 1927, backing her on some two-dozen sides as well as waxing around thirty sides under his own name through 1938. we hear the duo on the fine flood blues “Southern High Waters Blues.”

Sara Martin was singing on the Vaudeville circuit by 1915 and made her debut for Okeh Records in 1922. She cut close to one hundred sides through 1928. She recorded four sides with Clarence Williams that included King Oliver on cornet in 1928 of which we spin “Hole In The Wall.”

Last week we delved into the box set, Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958–1971, produced by the Smithsonian which collects Mack’s, mostly unreleased, field recordings captured between 1958 and 1971. There were several tracks we didn’t get to on that show and today we hear from pianist Kid Wiggins, James Tisdom and Lightnin’ Hopkins who Mack recorded extensively.

Hollywood Blues Summit

In addition we hear a track from Jealous James Stanchell cut in 1959 titled “Anything from a Foot Race to a Resting Place” which always fascinated me for it’s unique title and lyrics. This track first appeared on the album Treasury Of Field Recordings Vol. 2. These albums were compiled by McCormick and issued on the British 77 label in 1960. Regarding the song and it’s performer he wrote: “Evenings he goes from bar to bar along Dowling St. Singing for tips, some songs like “Jambalaya” derive from the jukeboxes, but mostly his own personal observations. The song is Jealous James’ own composition, well known around Houston and Kansas City from his own singing, but not previously recorded or published. The recording came about one afternoon when Lightnin’ Hopkins was scheduled to make some tapes but, as usual, found himself without an acoustical guitar. He went out and found Jealous James inviting him and his guitar to come along. After finishing ‘Corrine, Corrina’ – in Volume I of this set – Lightnin’ turned things over to Jealous James who sang several of his own songs including this. Lightnin’ was so delighted with it that he promptly recorded a boogie which he dubbed ‘The Footrace is On’ which takes its inspiration from Jealous James his song. Lightnin’s song, elaborating on the foot-race idea, is in his Autobiography in Blues, Tradition LP 1040.” In 1960 Big Moose Walker with Jump Jackson’s Combo cut two takes of “Footrace To A Resting Place” for End Records which is essentially the same song. He recorded the song again which appeared on and Elmore James album titled To Know A Man (Blue Horizon, 1969) and credited to an unidentified singer possibly “Bushy Head!” He cut the song several times over the years including a fine version simply titled “Footrace” on the album Rambling Woman for Bluesway in 1969. I wonder where he heard this song? I don’t know of any other versions.

As usual we spin some interesting field recordings, this time out by Tom Bell, Joe Cooper, Lum Guffin, Frank Evans and others. In 1940, recording for the Library of Congress, John Lomax captured some fine recordings in his travels, first in Texas in October then Louisiana, Mississippi, and finally Georgia by November. Many of these tracks can be found on the excellent Travelin’ Man album, I Can Eagle Rock: Jook Joint Blues from Alabama and Louisiana. One of these artists was a fine dance and blues artists named Tom Bell who we hear on his “Storm in Arkansas.” Frank Evans was recorded by Lomax in 1936 in Parchman Farm.

Red River Blues

The title of today’s show is taken from a song by Joe Cooper. Cooper was discovered in the late ‘60s by researcher Bill Ferris and was the uncle of Son Thomas. both are featured in Ferris’s book Blues from The Delta. Cooper played with Henry Stuckey, considered one of the founders of the Bentonia blues style and played at local house parties. He was recorded by Gianni Marcucci in the 70s and by my friends Axel Küstner in 1980 and Michael Hortig in 1981.

We hear some fine blues singing today from Louis Armstrong, Big Joe Turner and Arbee Stidham. Louis Armstrong sings on “Long Long Journey” from 1946 in an all-star band featuring Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges. Next week I’ll be devoting a show to Big Joe Turner and chatting with Derek Coller who is the author of the new book, Feel So Fine, which is a biography and discography. As the blurb states: “Big Joe Turner was the greatest of the blues shouters. For more than five decades, from Kansas City saloons to Carnegie Hall, through the swing era, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and soul music, Joe Turner sang, never wavering. Small bands, big bands, trios, pianists, rock groups, choirs, all styles of accompaniment rocked to his rhythm. Joe Turner was like a force of nature, making everyone feel fine.” Today we feature a live track with Big Joe back by his pal Pete Johnson.

We spin a set of tough post-war harmonica today by Walter Horton, Big John Wrencher and Easy Baby. From his first recording session we hear from Walter Horton going under the name Mumbles on “Now Tell Me Baby” waxed in 1951. I first heard this on the great Nighthawk album Lowdown Memphis Harmonica Jam.

Storm in Arkansas Several years back I found myself in the segregated black section of Shufordville Cemetery (outside of Clarksdale) which contains the graves of blues fiddler Henry “Son” Simms, who recorded with Muddy Waters and Charley Patton and harmonica man Big John Wrencher. A marker was erected in 2014 for Wrencher. We hear a fine live number by him today when he was touring Europe as part of the 1974 American Blues Legends tour.

Fame and fortune never found Easy Baby who worked as a mechanic by day and the Chicago clubs at nights. We play a track from Sweet Home Chicago Blues, a real gem released on the small Barrelhouse imprint (released on CD on the Japanese P-Vine label). A large part of the record’s success goes to the band: Eddie Taylor’s fleet fingered playing is every bit as inventive as his band leader while Kansas City Red’s drumming is so crisp and in-the-pocket it should be used as a clinic for up and coming blues drummers. Easy cut another good one in for Wolf in 2000 titled If It Ain’t One Thing, It’s Another.

Big Road Blues Show 1/16/22: Jazzin’ the Blues Pt. II – Throw Me in The Alley

January 16, 2022January 16, 2022 Jeff 1 Comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Texas Alexander w/ King Oliver	'Frisco Train	Texas Alexander & His Circle 1927-1951
Elizabeth Johnson w/ King Oliver	Empty Bed Blues, Pt. 2	Roots 'n' Blues: the Retrospective 1925-1950
Oliver Cobb	The Duck's Yas Yas Yas	Male Blues of the Twenties Vol. 1
Bessie Smith w/ Louis Armstrong	St. Louis Blues	The Complete
Butterbeans & Susie w/ Louis Armstrong	He Likes It Slow	Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers: 1924-1930
Harlem Hamfats	She's a Mellow Mother for You	Masters Of Jazz & Blues 1936-1944
Albert Wynn w/ Punch Miller & His Gut Bucket Five	Down By The Levee	Punch Miller & Albert Wynn 1925-1930
Jimmy Wade & His Dixielanders w/ Punch Miller	Gates Blues	Punch Miller & Albert Wynn 1925-1930
Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon w/ Punch Miller	Down Home in Kentucky	Punch Miller & Albert Wynn 1925-1930
Ida Cox	Blue Kentucky Blues	The Essential
Victoria Spivey	Telephoning the Blues	When the Sun Goes Down
Elzadie Robinson w/ Johnny Dodds & Blake Blake	Elzadie's Policy Blues	Paramount Jazz
Blind Blake w/ Johnny Dodds	Hot Potatoes	All The Published Sides
Genevieve Davis	Haven't Got A Dollar To Pay Your House Rent Man	When the Sun Goes Down
Hazel Meyers	I'm Every Man's Mama	Hazel Meyers Vol. 1 1923-1924
Martha Copeland	I Ain't Your Hen Mister Fly Rooster	Martha Copeland Vol. 2 & Irene Scruggs 1927-1928
Irene Scruggs w/ King Oliver	Home Town Blues	Vocalion & Brunswick Recordings
Alberta Hunter w/ Louis Armstrong	Texas Moaner Blues	Louis Armstrong and the Blues Singers: 1924-1930
Edith Wilson & Johnny Dunn	He Used To Be Your Man But He's My Man Now	Johnny Dunn Vol. 2 1922-1928
Peetie Wheatstraw	Gangster's Blues	Peetie Wheatstraw Vol. 7 1940-1941
Peetie Wheatstraw & His Blue Blowers	Throw Me In The Alley	Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow! Vintage Fiddle Music 1927-1935
Alberta Hunter	Chirping The Blues	Charlie Shavers & The Blues Singers 1938-1939
Grant & Wilson	Toot It, Brother Armstrong	Charlie Shavers & The Blues Singers 1938-1939
Rosetta Howard & The Harlem Blues Serenaders	My Blues Is Like Whiskey	Charlie Shavers & The Blues Singers 1938-1939
State Street Swingers w/ Washboard Sam	Oh Red!	State Street Swingers 1936-1937
Washboard Sam	Market Street Swing	Washboard Sam Vo. 7 1942-1949
Big Bill Broonzy	Big Bill’s Boogie	Big Bill Broonzy Vol. 12 1945-1947
Bertha "Chippie" Hill w/ Louis Armstrong	Do Dirty Blues	I Can't Be Satisfied Vol. 2
Bertha "Chippie" Hill	How Long Blues	Jazzin' The Blues 1943-1952
Helen Humes	Unlucky Woman Blues	Sammy Price And The Blues Singers
Hot Lips Page	Thirsty Mama Blues	Hot Lips Page : On The Blues Side 1940-1950
Lee Brown with his Washboard Band	My Little Girl	Jazzin' The Blues 1936-1946
Anna Bell w Clarence Williams & His Orchestra	Kitchen Woman Blues	Clarence Williams & The Blues Singers Vol. 1 1923-1928
Rosa Henderson	Papa, If You Can't Do Better	The Essential
Mamie Smith	Goin' Crazy With The Blues	The Essential Mamie Smith

Show Notes:

Throw Me In The Alley Today show is a belated sequel to a show I aired quite some time ago called Jazzin’ The Blues. As the title suggests, we explore the jazzy side of early blues recordings and the bluesy side of jazz. While listeners may know me as the “blues guy”, friends know that I am a massive jazz fan as well. Not surprisingly we play a number of women blues singers of the 1920’s who were often backed by jazz bands. When Mamie Smith cut “Crazy Blues”, the first recorded blues by a black singer, her band was called the Jazz Hounds. Following in that tradition, singers like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Victoria Spivey were often paired with topflight jazz musicians such as King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Johnny Dodds, Coleman Hawkins and others. As the era of the classic woman blues singers faded the men gained the spotlight, first playing and singing solo, then evolving to bigger bands that often included horns and elements of jazz and swing. Many of the jazz outfits of this period incorporated plenty of blues and today we hear the bluesier side of artists such as Louis Armstrong, Hot Lips Page, Charlie Shavers, Punch Miller and others.

Throughout today’s backing band are quite a few jazz luminaries who backed the classic blues ladies of the 1920’s. We spin several sides today featuring King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. King Oliver made his landmark recordings in 1923 with his Creole Jazz Band. Oliver continued to make recordings through 1931 although he seemed to fade from the spotlight not long after his initial recordings. From May to December 1928, Oliver did some 22 sessions with his old friend, Clarence Williams, who had played with him around Louisiana and who had managed clubs like the Big 25 and Pete Lala’s. Williams had become a music publisher, entrepreneur and early A&R man around New York. Seeing Oliver down on his luck, Williams used him as a backup player for several blues singers. Prior to 1928 Oliver had accompanied artists such as Butterbeans & Susie in 1924 (“Kiss Me Sweet b/w Construction Gang”), Sippie Wallace in 1925 (“Morning Dove Blues b/w “Every Dog Has His Day” and “Devil Dance Blues”), Teddy Peters (“Georgia Man”), Irene Scruggs (“Home Town Blues b/w Sorrow Valley blues”), Georgia Taylor in 1926 (“Jackass Blues”) plus several others. His two numbers with Texas Alexander, “Tell Me Woman Blues b/w Frisco Train Blues,” work surprising well with Oliver playing some beautiful, sympathetic fills on both numbers offset by the elegant guitar work of Eddie Lang. Among the best recordings from this period are his backing of the terrific Elizabeth Johnson, an obscure singer who waxed only four sides at two session in 1928. “Empty Bed Blues Part 1 & 2” has Johnson’s expressive vocals finding a marvelous counterpoint in Oliver’s earthy responses.

Empty Bed Blues In the early 1990’s the Affinity label issued Louis Armstrong and The Blues Singers 1924-1930, a six CD set that I believe covers all the sessions Armstrong did backing blues singers. During 1924-26 (and to a lesser extent 1927-30) Armstrong made many recordings other than his own sessions, arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams Those he backed include some of the era’s best woman blues singers like a Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace, Bertha “Chippie” Hill, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith and Victoria Spivey.

Coming at the intersection of jazz and blues are sides featuring Albert Wynn, Punch Miller and singer Frankie ‘Half Pint’ Jaxon. Trombonist Albert Wynn first recorded for OKeh in 1926 and again in 1928 with Punch Miller on Cornet. Miller takes the vocal on today’s track we heard, “Down By The Levee”, “Gates Blues” and Miller turns up again on Frankie ‘Half Pint’ Jaxon & Punches Delegates of Pleasure’s “Down Home In Kentucky.” Jaxon, who also worked as a female impersonator, a pianist-singer, and a saxophonist, was mostly in Chicago during 1927-1941, a period when he made many recordings. In 1930 he formed the Quarts of Joy and he often appeared on the radio in the ’30s. Half Pint Jaxon’s recordings as a leader (which date from 1926-1940) include such sidemen as washboardist Jasper Taylor, pianist Georgia Tom Dorsey, banjoist Ikey Robinson, cornetist Punch Miller, the Harlem Hamfats (1937-1938), clarinetist Barney Bigard, pianist Lil Armstrong, and trumpeter Henry “Red” Allen.

Hot Potatoes

Johnny Dodds was one of the greatest clarinetist of the 1920’s who had a very soulful, bluesy style of playing. He worked with most of the major Hot Jazz bands of the era including the bands of Kid Ory, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. Dodd’s appears on several of today’s recordings including those with Keppard, Armstrong, as a member of Jasper Taylor’s Original Washboard Band, backing Sippie Wallace on the 1929 version of her classic “I’m A Might Tight Women” and backing guitarist Blind Blake. We hear Dodds backing singer Julia Davis who cut one 78 for Paramount in 1924 and one final terrific record in 1928, “Jasper Taylor Blues b/w Geechie River Blues”, backed by the Original Washboard Band featured washboard player Jasper Taylor.

During the spring of 1928 Blind Blake cut some of his most ambitious records. Jimmy Bertrand manned xylophone for “Doggin’ Me Mama Blues” and played slide whistle on our featured track, “C.C. Pill Blues” while the great Johnny Dodds soloed on clarinet. Dodds and Bertrand provided more accompaniment on Blake’s “Hot Potatoes” and “South Bound Rag.” Bertrand, Dodds, and Blake were also teamed on “Elzadie’s Policy Blue b/w Pay Day Daddy Blues” with singer Elzadie Robinson.

We hear from several fine blues ladies backed by fine jazz accompaniment such as Hazel Meyers, Bertha “Chippie” Hill , Rosa Henderson, Martha Copeland among others. Hazel Meyers cut 34 sides between 1923 and 1926often back by major jazz singers such as Fletcher Henderson, Bubber Miley, Don Redman, Fats Waller among others. Martha Copeland also waxed 34 sides for OKeh, Columbia and Victor between 1923 and 1928.

Bertha “Chippie” Hill began her career as a dancer in Harlem and by 1919 was working with Ethel Waters. At age 14, during a stint at Leroy’s, a noted New York nightclub, Hill was nicknamed “Chippie” because of her youth he also performed with Ma Rainey as part of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels. She later established her own song and dance act and toured on the TOBA circuit in the early 1920s. About 1925, she settled in Chicago, where she worked at various venues with King Oliver’s Jazz Band. She first recorded in November 1925 for Okeh Records, backed by the cornet player Louis Armstrong and the pianist Richard M. Jones. Be teween 1925 and 1929 she recorded 23 titles. In the 1930s she retired from singing to raise her seven children. Hill staged a comeback in 1946 with Lovie Austin’s Blues Serenaders, and recorded for Rudi Blesh’s Circle label. She began appearing on radio and in clubs and concerts in New York, including in 1948 the Carnegie Hall concert with Kid Ory, and she sang at the Paris Jazz Festival, and worked with Art Hodes in Chicago. She was back again in 1950, when she was run over by a car and killed in New York at the age of 45.

Rosa Henderson is a favorite of mine and was quite popular in her day, cutting some one hundred sides between 1923 and 1931. She began her career about 1913 in her uncle’s carnival show. She played tent and plantation shows all over the South. Her accompanists included the complete Fletcher Henderson band, and such names as Coleman Hawkins, Charlie Green, Louis Metcalf, James P. Johnson, and countless others.

Big Road Blues Show 2/24/13: Mix Show

February 24, 2013April 10, 2016 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Magic Slim	She Is Mine	45
Magic Slim	Scufflin	Grand Slam
Alberta Brown	How Long	I Can't Be Satisfied Vol 2
Monette Moore	Black Sheep Blues	Monette Moore Vol. 2 1924-1932
Jenny Pope	Bullfrog Blues	Memphis Blues Vol. 4 1929-1953
Louis Armstrong	Blues for Yesterday	C'est Si Bon: Satchmo in the Forties
Louis Armstrong	Back o' Town Blues	C'est Si Bon: Satchmo in the Forties
Frank Tannehill	Rolling Stone Blues	Rare Country Blues Vol. 4 1929-c.1953
Tommy McLennan	Baby, Please Don't Tell On Me	Bluebird Recordings 1939-1942
Washboard Sam	Evil Blues	Rockin' My Blues Away
Fluffy Hunter	Hi Jinks Blues	Tough Mamas
Madonna Martin	Rattlesnakin' Daddy	Tough Mamas
James Russell	I Had Five Long Years	Prison Worksongs
Big Joe Williams	These Are My Blues (Gonna Sing ´Em For Myself)	These Are My Blues
Blind Arvella Gray	Walking Blues	Blues From Maxwell Street
Precious Bryant	Precious Bryant's Staggering Blues	National Downhome Blues Festival Vol. 1
Precious Bryant	That's The Way The Good Thing Go	George Mitchell Collection Box Set
'Talking' Billy Anderson	Lonely Bill Blues	The Great Race Record Labels Vol. 2
Blind Willie McTell	Stole Rider Blues	Best Of
Charley Jordan	Hunkie Tunkie Blues	Charley Jordan Vol.1 1930-1931
Teddy Darby	She Thinks She's Slick	Blind Teddy Darby 1929-1937
Zuzu Bollin	Headlight Blues	R&B Guitars 1950-1954
Jimmy Babyface Lewis	Last Night	Complete Recordings 1947-1955
Big Joe Turner	Wine-O-Baby Boogie	Tell Me Pretty Baby
Al "Cake" Wichard Sextette & Jimmy Witherspoon	Geneva Blues	Cake Walkin’: The Modern Recordings 1947-1948
Lee Roy Little	I''m a Good Man But a Poor Man	Blues From The Apple
Charlie Sayles	Vietnam	The Raw Harmonica Blues Of
Johnny Moment	Keep Our Business To Yourself	I Blueskvarter Vol. 3
Robert Pete Williams	Freight-Train Blues	Louisiana Blues
Hammie Nixon	Viola Lee Blues 2	Way Back Yonder Vol. 1
Eugene Powell	Poor Boy Blues	Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues
Magic Slim	Stranded On The Highway	Living Chicago Blues Vol. II
Magic Slim	Ain't Doing Too BAd	Raw Magic

Show Notes:

Magic Slim

It seems these mix show end up as tributes to an increasing number of blues artists who’ve passed recently. This time out we pay our respects to Magic Slim and Precious Bryant. Along the way we spin a pair of bluesy numbers by Louis Armstrong, play a few sets of pre-war blues, spotlight some interesting field recordings as well as some jump blues from the post-war era.

I was lucky enough to catch Magic Slim on several occasions and he always delivered the goods, which is to say a good dose of gutbucket blues. After battling health problems Slim passed at the age of 75 on Feb. 21st. His mentor was Magic Sam, whom he knew as a child in Mississippi and who offered early encouragement. “Magic Sam told me don’t try to play like him, don’t try to play like nobody,” he once recalled. “Get a sound of your own.” It was also Magic Sam who gave a teenager named Morris Holt the stage name Magic Slim when the two performed together in Chicago in the 1950’s. He recorded his first single, “Scufflin’,” in 1966 and formed the Teardrops with his younger brothers a year later. Magic Slim and the Teardrops eventually became the house band at a local nightclub, Florence’s. They went on to tour and record regularly, headlining blues festivals all over the world, and to win numerous awards, including the 2003 Blues Music Award as band of the year. Magic Slim recorded prolifically, cutting his first album for the French MCM label in 1977 with follow-ups on labels like Blind Pig, Alligator and Wolf. Among my personal favorites of Slim voluminous discography would be Grand Slam (Rooster), Raw Magic (Alligator) and the series on Wolf titled Live At The Zoo Bar (five vols. I think?) which really capture Slim and the Teardrops in prime form.

Unfortunately I never got to see Precious Bryant who passed away on January 12th. She was born in Talbot County, GA and went on to play numerous festivals including the Chattahoochee Folk Festival, the National Down Home Blues Festival in Atlanta (recordings by her appear on the companion albums), the King Biscuit Blues, Newport Folk Festival, Utrecht Blues Festival in Utrecht, Holland and others. She never went on tour and didn’t release an album until Fool Me Good in 2002 although a few scattered sides were recorded in the field by George Mitchell. It was Mitchell, who discovered her in 1969 while documenting the lower Chattahoochee scene. She cut a follow-up album, The Truth, in 2005 and the same year cut an album on the Music Maker label.

Precious Bryant

When not listening to blues I do listen to quite a bit of jazz, particularly the older stuff, and have listened to Louis Armstrong’s hot Fives and Hot Sevens countless times. I suspect, like many, I haven’t really listened to many of his recordings after this period. Some time back I picked up the 4-CD box set C’est Si Bon: Satchmo in the Forties on the Proper label which is where today’s tracks come from. Satchmo set the bar so high on those early recordings they’re pretty much unsurpassable but this set very worthwhile. Lots of good stuf from big band sides, duets with Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and great live recordings from the Town Hall and Symphony Hall with the All Stars. One of the songs, “Back o’ Town Blues”, was first recorded as an instrumental by the Original Memphis Five in 1923 on the Edison label.

From the pre-war era we spin some fine blues ladies including Monette Moore and Jenny Pope plus obscure male artists such as Frank Tannehill and ‘Talking’ Billy Anderson. Moore began her career accompanying silent films in Kansas City and then toured the vaudeville circuit as a pianist and singer. In the early 1920’s she made her way to New York and became active in musical theater. Her recording career began in 1923. In 1927 and 1928 she was singing with Walter Page’s Blue Devils in the mid-West. She returned to New York in 1929 and was very active in musical theater and cabaret work until the late 1930’s. In the early 1940s, she moved to Los Angeles and performed in clubs, recorded with Teddy Bunn and the Harmony Girls and had small parts in a couple of films. From 1951 to 1953 she appeared on the Amos ‘n Andy television program and recorded with George Lewis. Moore passed in 1962. From 1925 we spin her “Black Sheep Blues” (Virginia Liston cut the same song a few months later) which is not the same song as Pigmeat Terry cut in 1935 but offers a similar sentiment:

When you’re thinking of black sheep
Just take a look at me
I’m the blackest of black sheep
That ever left old Tennessee

Lord from the straight and narrow path I’ve strayed
From the straight and narrow path I’ve strayed
With regrets and sorrows I have paid

Just a black sheep roamin’ round the town (2x)
Like a tramp I’m always out and down

While Moore cut some fifty sides during her prime Jenny Pope was much less documented. Pope was married to Will Shade leader of the famous Memphis Jug Band. Pope cut six sides at three sessions in 1929 and 1930. She may have recorded with the Memphis Jug Band under the name Jennie Clayton. Pope delivers a great performance on “Bull Frog Blues”, not to be confused with the William Harris song of the same name, with great piano playing from Judson Brown.

Little is known about Frank Tannehill and Billy Anderson. A pianist from Dallas, Texas Frank Tannehill backed Pere Dickson on his two 1932 recordings made in his hometown. Tannehill began his own recording career with two songs recorded in Chicago in 1937. 1938 found him in a San Antonio studio waxing four more songs. His third and final session was in 1941 in Dallas for a four song session. He was never heard from again. Nothing is known about Billy Anderson, other than the fact that two records were recorded under his name in 1927 and that he may have been from Georgia.

Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues

Read Back Cover

Moving up the 1940’s we spin some fine jump blues from ladies like Fluffy Hunter and Madonna Martin as well as Big Joe Turner and Al Wichard among others. Krazy Kat was a great British label that put out some really interesting anthologies. From the aptly title Tough Mamas we spin rocking tracks from Fluffy Hunter and Madonna Martin. Big Joe Turner’s jumping “Wine-O-Baby Boogie” features the mighty Pete Johnson on piano and comes from the album Tell Me Pretty Baby a fine collection of late 40’s sides issued on Arhoolie. Al Wichard’s “Geneva Blues” features Jimmy Witherspoon on vocals. Wichard was born in Welbourne, Arkansas, on August 15th, 1919 but the steps by which he arrived in Los Angeles as a drummer in 1944 remain shadowy. He managed to record with Jimmy Witherspoon and Jay McShann within weeks of his arrival, and in April 1945 was the drummer on Modern’s first session, accompanying Hadda Brooks. Wichard’s is collected on the reissue on Ace, Cake Walkin’: The Modern Recordings 1947-1948.

Last week I did a whole show devoted to great out-of-print records and today we feature a couple from the Albatros label: Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues and Way Back Yonder Vol. 1. Albatros is an interesting label that has not been all that well served on CD. The label was active from the early 70’s through the early 80’s issuing reissues of pre-war recordings, folk material and most interestingly, to me anyway, is several volumes of field recordings by label owner Gianni Marcucci. Marcucci came to the States in the 70’s and captured some fine field recordings between 1976 and 1978 in Tennessee and Mississippi. Several of these collections have long been out-of-print including all three volumes of the Way Back Yonder series, the collections Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee and I Got The Blues This Morning and single artists albums by Eugene Powell (Police In Mississippi), Carey Tate (Blues From The Heart) and Jack Owens (Bentonia Country Blues). A while back Marcucci formed the Mbirafon imprint which so far has issued collections of field recordings of Sam Chatmon and Van Hunt. I’ve heard through the grapevine there was a Eugene Powell 2-CD planned. The label hasn’t issued anything in awhile and I wouldn’t be surprised if Marcucci got discouraged due to general lack of interest in these kinds of project. I, for one, hope he forges ahead. I should also mention that are three Albatros collections available on CD: Tennessee Blues Vol. 1, 2, and 3 which have very good performances from Laura Dukes, Dewey Corley, Bukka White and others.

Big Road Blues Show 5/20/12: Jazzin’ The Blues

May 20, 2012April 2, 2016 Jeff Leave a comment

ARTIST	SONG	ALBUM
Ida Cox	I Got The Blues For Rampart Street	The Essential
Bertha Chippie Hill	Pratt City Blues	How Low Can You Go?: Anthology of the String Bass
Victoria Spivey	Black Snake Swing	Men Are Like Street Cars: Women Blues Singers 1928-1969
Harlem Hamfats	Oh Red!	Harlem Hamfats Vol. 11936
Brown Bombers of Swing (Casey Bill Weldon)	Walkin' In My Sleep	Casey Bill Weldon Vol. 3 1937-1938
Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon	Down At Jasper's Bar-B-Que	Frankie 'Half-Pint' Jaxon Vol. 1 1926-1929
Laura Smith	Don't Leave Me Here	Laura Smith Vol. 1 1924-1927
Sippie Wallace	I'm A Mighty Tight Woman	First Time I Met the Blues (When the Sun Goes Down series)
Rosetta Howard	Men Are Like Street Cars	Men Are Like Street Cars: Women Blues Singers 1928-1969
Texas Alexander	Tell Me Woman Blues	Texas Alexander Vol. 2 1928-1930
Peetie Wheatstraw	Gangster's Blues	Peetie Wheatstraw Vol. 7 1940-1941
Wingy Carpenter	Preachin' Trumpet Blues	Jazzin' The Blues Vol. 2 1939-1946
Oliver Cobb	Cornet Pleading Blues	Male Blues Of The Twenties
Blind John Davis	Jersey Cow Blues	Blind John Davis 1938-1952
Edna Winston	I Got A Mule To Ride	Leona Williams & Edna Winston 1922-1927
Edith Wilson	He Used To Be Your Man But He's My Man Now	Johnny Dunn Vol. 1 1921-1922
Mamie Smith	Goin' Crazy With The Blues	Jazz The World Forgot Vol. 1
Blind Blake	CC Pill Blues	All The Published Sides
Frenchy's String Band	Texas And Pacific Blues	Sunshine Special: Texas 1927-1929
Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals & Papa Charlie Jackson	Salty Dog	Breaking Out of New Orleans 1922-1929
Louis Armstrong & The Hot Fives	I'm Not Rough	The Complete Hot Five And Hot Seven Recordings
Original Washboard Band & Julie Davis	Jasper Taylor Blues	Johnny Dodds 1927-1928
Oscar "Papa" Celestin & Sam Morgan	Short Dress Gal	Breaking Out of New Orleans 1922-1929
Elizabeth Johnson	Empty Bed Blues Part 1	American Primitive Vol. 1
Sara Martin	Death Sting Me Blues	Sara Martin Vol. 4 1925-1928
Teddy Peters	Georgia Man	King Oliver: Sugar Foot Stomp
Hot Lips Page	Down On The Levee	Hot Lips Page: 1938-1940
Washboard Rhythm Kings	I'm Gonna Play Down by the Ohio	Washboard Rhythm Kings Vol. 2 1932
Ben Norsingle	Rover's Blues	Sunshine Special: Texas 1927-1929
Joe Pullum	Woman Trouble Blues	Joe Pullum Vol. 2 1935-1951
Bessie Smith	Gimmie A Pigfoot	Bessie Smith Volume 8 (Frog)
Trixie Smith	My Daddy Rocks Me	Trixie Smith Vol. 2 1925-1929
Ma Rainey	Yonder Comes The Blues	Mother Of The Blues

Show Notes:

Today show is call Jazzin’ The Blues and as the title suggests, we explore the jazzy side of early blues recordings and the bluesy side of jazz. Not surprisingly we play a number of women blues singers of the 1920’s who were often backed by jazz bands. When Mamie Smith cut “Crazy Blues”, the first recorded blues by a black singer, her band was called the Jazz Hounds. Following in that tradition, singers like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Victoria Spivey were often paired with top flight jazz musicians such as King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Johnny Dodds, Coleman Hawkins and others. As the era of the classic woman blues singers faded the men gained the spotlight, first playing and singing solo, then evolving to bigger bands that often included horns and elements of jazz and swing. Many of the jazz outfits of this period incorporated plenty of blues and today we hear the bluesier side of artists such as Louis Armstrong, Hot Lips Page, Freddie Keppard and others.

Throughout today’s backing band are quite a few jazz luminaries who backed the classic blues ladies of the 1920’s. We spin several sides today featuring King Oliver and Louis Armstrong. King Oliver made his landmark recordings in 1923 with his Creole Jazz Band featuring his protege Louis Armstrong, clarinetist Johnny Dodds, trombonist Honore Dutrey, pianist Lil Harden, and drummer Baby Dodds. Oliver continued to make recordings through 1931 although he seemed to fade from the spotlight not long after his initial recordings. From May to December, 1928, Oliver did some 22 sessions with his old friend, Clarence Williams, who had played with him around Louisiana and who had manged clubs like the Big 25 and Pete Lala’s. Williams had become a music publisher, entrepreneur and early A&R man around New York. Seeing Oliver down on his luck, Williams used him as a backup player for several blues singers. Prior to 1928 Oliver had accompanied artists such as Butterbeans & Susie in 1924 (“Kiss Me Sweet b/w Construction Gang”), Sippie Wallace in 1925 (“Morning Dove Blues b/w “Every Dog Has His Day” and “Devil Dance Blues”), Teddy Peters (“Georgia Man”), Irene Scruggs (“Home Town Blues b/w Sorrow Valley blues”), Georgia Taylor in 1926 (“Jackass Blues”) plus several others.

Among the notable recordings of 1928 included six sides backing Sara Martin including the superb “Death Sting Me Blues” which features a suitably mournful solo from Oliver plus equally fine playing on “Mean Tight Mama” and “Mistreating Man Blues.” His two numbers with Texas Alexander, “Tell Me Woman Blues b/w Frisco Train Blues,” work surprising well with Oliver playing some beautiful, sympathetic fills on both numbers offset by the elegant guitar work of Eddie Lang. Lang and Oliver also back Victoria Spivey on “My Handy Man b/w Organ Grinder Blues” although Oliver is less prominent. Among the best recordings from this period are his backing of the terrific Elizabeth Johnson, an obscure singer who waxed only four sides at two session in 1928. “Empty Bed Blues Part 1 & 2” has Johnson’s expressive vocals finding a marvelous counterpoint in Oliver’s earthy responses.

In the early 1990’s the Affinity label issued the comprehensive Louis Armstrong And The Blues Singers 1924-1930, a six CD set that I believe covers all the sessions Armstrong did backing blues singers. During 1924-26 (and to a lesser extent 1927-30) Armstrong made many recordings other than his own sessions, arranged by an old friend from New Orleans, pianist Clarence Williams Those he backed include some of the era’s best woman blues singers like a Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace, Bertha “Chippie” Hill, Bessie Smith, Clara Smith and Victoria Spivey. We also spin the marvelous “I’m Not Rough” as recorded by Louis Armstrong & The Hot Fives featuring Lonnie Johnson. This is the final recording session with the “classic” Hot Five lineup (plus Lonnie Johnson). Hereafter, the “Hot Five” would be whoever Armstrong happened to be recording with.

Other classic jazz artists who appear more than once on today’s program are Freddie Keppard and Johnny Dodds. After playing with the Olympia Orchestra Keppard joined Frankie Dusen’s Eagle Band, taking the place recently vacated by Buddy Bolden. Soon after Bolden was off the music scene Keppard was proclaimed “King Keppard” as the city’s top horn player. About 1914 Joe “King” Oliver won a musical “cutting contest” and claimed Keppard’s crown. Keppard made recordings in Chicago between 1924 and 1927 including two versions of “Salty Dog”, which we feature today, from 1926 featuring Papa charlie Jackson. Jackson first cut the song in 1924 which made him a recording star. We also hear him back Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon on the rollicking “Down At Jasper’s Bar-B-Que.” Jaxon was a vaudeville singer, comedian and female impersonator. He traveled extensively throughout the United States between 1916 and 1921 and in the early 1920’s he often appeared on the bill with King Oliver and Freddie Keppard in Chicago. Throughout the rest of the 1920’s and 1930’s he continued to tour the vaudeville circuit, and record. On record he was backed by jazz musicians such as Keppard, Punch Miller, Henry “Red” Allen and others.

Johnny Dodds was one of the greatest clarinetist of the 1920’s who had a very soulful, bluesy style of playing.He worked with most of the major Hot Jazz bands of the era including the bands of Kid Ory, King Oliver amd Louis Armstrong. Dodd’s appears on several of today’s recordings including those with Keppard, Armstrong, as a member of Jasper Taylor’s Original Washboard Band, backing Sippie Wallace on the 1929 version of her classic “I’m A Might Tight Women” and backing guitarist Blind Blake. We hear Dodds backing singer Julia Davis who cut one 78 for Paramount in 1924 and one final terrific record in 1928, “Jasper Taylor Blues b/w Geechie River Blues”, backed by the Original Washboard Band featured washboard player Jasper Taylor.

We spin several jazz artists and groups who often worked on the bluesy side of the street including Papa Celestin, Hot Lips Page and the Washboard Rhythm Kings. Papa Celestin was one of the most popular of New Orleans cornet players, and considered a major player in the development of jazz. Most of the great New Orleans players up to 1950 played for him one time or another. In 1910 Celestin started the Original Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra which would become one of the most enduring bands and featured Louis Armstrong among others. elestin began recording with his own groups for Okeh from 1925 until the Depression forced him to give up the group. With singer Sam Morgan we hear him on “Short Dress Gal.”

In his early years, Hot Lips Page played in circuses and minstrel shows and backing such blues singers as Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Ida Cox. Page’s main trumpet influence was Louis Armstrong. He joined the Blue Devils circa 1927, staying until1931, when he joined the Bennie Moten Orchestra, the leading dance band out of Kansas City.Though not a regular member of the band, Page appeared as a vocalist, emcee and hot trumpet soloist with Count Basie’s Reno Club orchestra after the Moten band finally disbanded upon that leader’s sudden death in April, 1935. Page embarked upon a solo career during this period, playing with small pick up bands out of Kansas City. We hear his wonderful “Down On The Levee” cut for Decca in 1938.

The Washboard Rhythm Kings were a loose aggregation of jazz performers, many of high calibre, who recorded as a group for various labels between about 1930 and 1935. The band played good-time swinging music, featuring spirited vocals, horns, a washboard player and occasionally kazoo. Today we feature their swinging “Down by the Ohio” from 1931.