We are now at Part IVd of this portion of the series. I hope you’re learning a lot and enjoying yourself at the same time as we dig our way through the years and cultures that have been affected by the blues and how the blues has adapted to each of these cultures and much more.
Let’s continue with THE POSTWAR BLUES section and see if there are any new artists that we haven’t heard of before.
Part IVd: Postwar Blues:
Name Birth Year Death Year
Amos Milburn (April 1, 1927 – January 3, 1980) was an African American R&B singer and pianist who was born in Houston, Texas and popular during the 1940s and 1950s.
He has been acknowledged by many to be one of the most important figures in Modern Blues and is considered to be a Forefather to Rock 'n' Roll. After a stint in the Navy during World War II, he signed a recording contract with the new Philo Records label in Los Angeles. This label was the later changed to The Aladdin Records Company to avoid confusion with the Philco Corporation. A long association with that label soon began.
By late 1947 Amos Milburn had a release called "Chicken Shack Boogie" and "It Took A Long Long Time". The jump boogie side "Chicken Shack" was a huge success and would be Milburn's signature tune for the rest of his life.
In mid 1948 Amos Milburn was now a top draw on the R&B circuit. His follow up hits were also a huge success, but this time it was a bluesy ballad much in the style of Nat Cole and Charles Brown called "Bewildered" and the other side called "A & M Blues". His two successive hits put the Aladdin label on the map as one of the big four of the post war years on the West Coast (along with Imperial, Modern, and Specialty).
Amos Milburn solidified his stature as a top R & B artist when he is named the number one R&B recording performer of 1949 in a Billboard Magazine poll of jukebox operators in the country. During that year he placed four of the top thirty records in the United States. In March of 1950, Milburn played New York City for the first time at Bop City, which usually had a modern jazz venue. In September, Milburn recorded "Sax Shack Boogie" which hit like a bomb and boasted a first run order of over fifty thousand, which is a huge number for an R&B tune on an independent record label.
In late November 1950, Aladdin issued their first LPs (33rpm records). Up to this point Aladdin had released only 78rpm records. The first of the LPs was called "Boogie Woogie" and featured sides recorded by Milburn. The second LP, "Blues After Hours", featured the music of Milburn along with Wynonie Harris, Calvin Boze, and Helen Humes. In December, Aladdin Records announced that Milburn's recording of "Bad Bad Whiskey" (written by Maxwell Davis) had surpassed the one hundred thousand sales mark in less than four weeks and would be the biggest seller in the history of the label replacing Milburn's "Chicken Shack Boogie".
In August 1951, "One Scotch One Bourbon One Beer" (written by Rudy Toombs) was recorded. This tune has an advance sale of more than fifty thousand, the largest advance in the history of Aladdin. That recording was compared to "Bad Bad Whiskey" which sold upwards of six hundred thousand, and "Let Me Go Home Whiskey" which had sales of more than three hundred thousand.
Over the next several years, Milburn would have varied successes as a group member and a solo artist but none of his hits would eclipse the success of his earlier recordings. His health deteriorated further and in 1970 he suffered the first of a series of strokes. By 1972 he had retired from the business and returned to his hometown of Houston where he died eight years later on January 3, 1980.
One commentator noted, "Milburn excelled at good-natured, upbeat romps about booze and partying, imbued with a vibrant sense of humor and double entendre, as well as vivid, down-home imagery in his lyrics."
Amos Milburn 1927 1980
Dave Peabody (born David Peabody, 20 April 1948, Southall, Middlesex, London, England) is an English singer-songwriter, blues and folk musician, record producer and photographer, active since the late 1960s, who has appeared on more than 60 albums. He is primarily known for his acoustic guitar playing, in both bottleneck and fingerpicking styles.
He first recorded in 1971 as a member of a group, Polly Flosskin, who recorded an album, Sailin' on the Ocean, and then as a member of a successor group, Tight Like That, on the Village Thing label. He also performed with early versions of Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac. His first, self-titled, solo album was released in 1973. In all, he has released nine solo albums, the last being Side by Slide in 2005. He has also performed and recorded with a wide variety of other blues musicians, notably Charlie Musselwhite and Big Joe Duskin, as well as in a duo with Bob Hall, and has appeared at many blues festivals in the US and in Europe.
In 1996, he replaced Paul King in the King Earl Boogie Band. Peabody was voted "Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year" in 1995, 2001 and 2002.
Dave Peabody 1948
Pinetop Perkins was one of the last great Mississippi bluesmen. He began playing blues in the late 1920s, and is widely regarded as one of the best – and certainly most enduring – blues pianists. He has forged a style that has influenced three generations of piano players, and continues to be the yardstick by which great blues pianists are measured.
Born Willie Perkins in Belzoni, Mississippi in 1913, Pinetop started out playing guitar and piano at house parties and honky-tonks, but dropped the guitar in the 1940s after sustaining a serious injury in his left arm. He worked primarily in the Mississippi Delta throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, spending three years with Sonny Boy Williamson on the King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas. Pinetop also toured extensively with slide guitar player Robert Nighthawk and backed him on an early Chess session. After briefly working with B.B. King in Memphis, Perkins barnstormed the South with Earl Hooker during the early ‘50s. The pair completed a session for Sam Phillips’ famous Sun Records in 1953. It was at this session that he recorded his version of “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie,” a song originally written and recorded by pianist Clarence “Pinetop” Smith – the influential blues pianist who had died from a gunshot wound at age 24 in 1929. Although referred to as “Pinetop” when he played on King Biscuit in the 40s, it was his sensational version of this song that secured his lifelong nickname.
Although he has enjoyed success as a solo artist since the 1980s, Pinetop is known for holding down the piano chair in the great Muddy Waters Band for twelve years during the pinnacle of Muddy’s career. Replacing Otis Spann in 1969, Pinetop helped shape the Waters sound and anchored Muddy’s memorable combo throughout the seventies with his brilliant piano solos. In 1980, Pinetop and other members of Muddy’s crew struck out on their own and formed the Legendary Blues Band – a group that recorded two records for Rounder and toured extensively, culling several GRAMMY® nominations.
After being labeled a sideman for most of his career, Pinetop eventually left the Legendary Blues band to concentrate on solo work. Within two years, he had cut his first domestic record as a frontman and pursued an ambitious tour schedule. He was featured on several nationally syndicated news and music programs, and appeared in numerous movie productions and TV and radio ads. He has also headlined nearly every major showcase room in North America and most of the major festivals around the world.
The great irony of Pinetop’s career is that he didn’t blossom as a headliner until his eighth decade – a phenomenon that resulted in the release of 15 solo records in 15 years, beginning in 1992. Born In the Delta (1997) – a multimedia enhanced CD released on Telarc International, a division of Concord Music Group – documented the life and work of an amazing historical figure and offered an abundance of entertainment value for a contemporary audience. On his 1998 release, Legends, Pinetop collaborated with master blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin. Together, they blended the traditional Delta blues sound with modern electric blues rock, showcasing the spirit and energy of the music. Born in the Delta and Legends were both nominated for GRAMMY® Awards – in 1997 and 2000 respectively. This was followed by a 2005 GRAMMY® nomination for Ladies Man, released by MC Records. That same year, he was also presented with a lifetime achievement award at the GRAMMYs®.
Aside from his well-deserved GRAMMY® recognition, Pinetop also received a National Heritage Fellowship in 2000 from the National Endowment of the Arts. He has been featured in the documentary Piano Blues, directed by Clint Eastwood for the Martin Scorsese PBS series, The Blues. In addition, he continued to win the Blues Music Award for best blues piano every year until 2003, when he was retired from the running and the award was renamed the Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year.
In 2007, still on the road in his 94th year, Pinetop Perkins’ unique life was chronicled in Peter Carlson’s biographical documentary DVD, Born In The Honey, which includes a live CD with a rare studio outtake track.
Pinetop Perkins and Friends, released on Telarc in the summer of 2008, positioned Pinetop in the midst of several high-profile guests – all of whom have been influenced by his music in some way or another over the past several decades. Included on Pinetop’s list of Friends were such luminaries as Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Jimmy Vaughan.
His latest recording is Joined at the Hip, a collaborative project with Willie “Big Eyes” Smith released in June 2010. The album features Smith on harp and the majority of vocals, leaving the drummer’s chair open for his son, Kenny Smith. Joined at the Hip includes a mix of material written by Smith along with a few chestnuts from the annals of Delta and Chicago blues.
Most recently, Pinetop received a Grammy in 2010 for his work with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith for Best Traditional Blues CD for Joined at the Hip with Telarc Records.
At the age of 97, he won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album for Joined at the Hip, an album he recorded with Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Perkins thus became the oldest-ever Grammy winner, edging out comedian George Burns who had won in the spoken word category 21 years earlier (he had tied with Burns, at the age of 90, in 2004).
A little more than a month later, Perkins died on 21 March 2011 at his home in Austin, Texas. At the time of his death, the musician had more than 20 performances booked for 2011. Shortly before that, while discussing his late career resurgence with an interviewer, he conceded, "I can't play piano like I used to either. I used to have bass rolling like thunder. I can't do that no more. But I ask the Lord, please forgive me for the stuff I done trying to make a nickel." Along with David "Honeyboy" Edwards, he was one of the last two original Mississippi Delta blues musicians, and also to have a personal knowledge of, and friendship with, Robert Johnson.
Pinetop Perkins 1913 2011
William "Willie" Lee Perryman (October 19, 1911 – July 25, 1985), usually known professionally as Piano Red and later in life as Dr. Feelgood, was an American blues musician, the first to hit the pop music charts. He was a self-taught pianist who played in the barrelhouse blues style (a loud percussive type of blues piano suitable for noisy bars or taverns). His performing and recording careers emerged during the period of transition from completely segregated "race music", to "rhythm & blues", which was marketed to white audiences. Some music historians credit Perryman's 1950 recording "Rocking With Red" for the popularization of the term rock and roll in Atlanta. His simple, hard-pounding left hand and his percussive right hand, coupled with his cheerful shout, brought him considerable success over three decades.
Perryman was diagnosed with cancer that same year and died in July 1985 at Dekalb General Hospital in Decatur, Georgia. Among those who attended his funeral were the Governor of Georgia and the Mayor of Atlanta.
Piano Red 1911 1985
Sherman Robertson (born October 27, 1948, Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, United States) is an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer, who has been described as "one part zydeco, one part swamp blues, one part electric blues and one part classic rhythm & blues."
Robertson was born in Louisiana and raised in Houston, Texas. At the age of 13, he watched a performance on television by Hank Williams. Duly inspired and equipped with a cheap guitar purchased by his father, he started playing the songs previously performed by Freddie King and Floyd London. As he lived close to the Duke/Peacock recording studio, Robertson took the opportunity to acquaint himself with some of the musicians who recorded there. At the same time, in his late teens, Robertson played in a band in various bars of his Fifth Ward, Houston neighborhood.
In 1982, Clifton Chenier heard Robertson's band playing at the Crosstown Blues Festival. Robertson moved back to Louisiana, learned to play slide guitar, and toured for several years in the 1980s with Chenier. Robertson contributed to his Live At The (1982) and San Francisco Blues Festival (1985) albums. After Chenier's death, Robertson played with Rockin' Dopsie, appearing on his Crowned Prince Of Zydeco album (1986), and Terrance Simien & the Mallet Playboys, before going solo.
In addition, Robertson's guitar work appeared on Paul Simon's Graceland album, and he was on the bill at the 1994 Notodden Blues Festival.
Robertson's I'm the Man (1994) was the first release on the Code Blue label. It was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award. Robertson's follow-up, Here & Now (1995), included his cover of the Tracy Nelson song "Here & Now". However the record label folded and Robertson re-appeared in 1998 on the independent label, Audioquest, with his next offering, Going Back Home. In November 2005 he released Guitar Man - Live with his new backing band, BluesMove.
In 2008, Robertson & BluesMove played at the Harvest Time Blues festival in Monaghan, Ireland.
In 2011, Roberston and BluesMove appeared at the Rhythm Festival in Bedfordshire, England.
In 2012, a proposed concert in Gaildorf, Germany, was cancelled after Robertson suffered a stroke.
Sherman Robertson 1948
J.D. Short (February 26, 1902 – October 21, 1962) was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist and harmonicist. He was a multi-instrumentalist, and possessed a distinctive vibrato laden, singing voice. Early in his career, Short recorded under a number of pseudonyms, including Jelly Jaw Short. His more noteworthy works included "Lonesome Swamp Rattlesnake" and "You're Tempting Me."
Born in Port Gibson, Mississippi, Short learned to play both the piano and guitar at a young age. He later mastered the harmonica, saxophone, clarinet and drums. Short performed locally in the Mississippi Delta at house parties, but relocated in 1923 to St. Louis, Missouri.
Short went on to play along with the Neckbones, Henry Spaulding, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Douglas Williams, and Big Joe Williams. In the 1930s, Short recorded for the Vocalion label. Henry Townsend in his autobiography, A Blue Life, told of incidents in St. Louis that affected both his and Short's lives. Seemingly due to jealousy of his musical standing, Short attacked and twice stabbed Townsend. Later, by way of revenge, Townsend shot Short in his genitals, which resulted in Short losing both of his testicles. The account was also mentioned in Townsend's obituary in The Guardian. Short continued performing in St. Louis after World War II, often as a one-man band and sometimes with his cousin, Big Joe Williams.
Nevertheless, Short effectively disappeared from the music industry for over two decades, before re-emerging at the start of the blues revival period. He achieved belated national recognition, and went on to record further tracks for Delmark and Folkways. Some of his recordings were later released on Sonet.
Short was featured in the 1963 documentary film, The Blues, singing "Slidin' Delta". However, he had already died in October 1962 of a heart attack, in St. Louis, at the age of 60.
J.D. Short 1902 1962
Frankie Lee Sims (April 30, 1917, New Orleans, Louisiana – May 10, 1970, Dallas, Texas) was an American singer-songwriter and electric blues guitarist. He released nine singles during his career, one of which, "Lucy Mae Blues" (1953) was a regional hit. Two compilation albums of his work were released posthumously.
Sims was the cousin of another Texas blues musician, Lightnin' Hopkins, and he worked with several other prominent blues musicians, including Texas Alexander, T-Bone Walker, King Curtis and Albert Collins. Sims is regarded as one of the important figures in post-war Texas country blues.
In 1969 blues historian Chris Strachwitz tracked Sims down to record him on his Arhoolie label, but Sims died soon after on May 10, 1970 in Dallas at the age of 53. The cause of death was pneumonia brought on by his poor health. At the time of his death he was reported to have had a drinking problem and was under investigation regarding a "shooting incident". Soon after his death, Specialty Records released a compilation album of Sim's recordings with the label, Lucy Mae Blues. In 1985 Krazy Kat released Walkin' With Frankie, an album of unreleased songs he had recorded for the label in 1960.
Frankie Lee Sims 1917 1970
Memphis Slim (Born: September 3, 1915, Died: 1988) was an American Blues Pianist and composer. He would take the Blues to places it never imagined. He was a prolific author of many enduring classics of the Blues lexicon, including “Mother Earth,” “Everyday I Have the Blues,” and countless others. But as a performer, his everlasting significance was in opening unexpected doors, and letting the music take wing in places where it had never extended. Blues artists had often attained modest levels of popularity, but the bulk of the audience base was essentially derived from the black lower classes. Blues clubs, where common folk let loose at the end of the day, offered music that was ribald and highly suggestive. He was a fabulous keyboard player, an accomplished composer and a soulful vocalist. Like most adept blues pianists, his range goes beyond basic Chicago blues to boogie, jump blues and R&B flavors.
Whether it was the 30’s, 40’s, even the 50’s, Blues tended to be isolated from larger society, Memphis Slim changed all that, especially in the aftermath of settling in Europe in 1963, living in France until his 1988 death. He proceeded to bring a brisk air of sophistication and polish to a rough-hewn art form, developing a presentation that was conducive to concert hall environs. He was a pioneer in this regard, realizing that Blues could only capture the imagination of a mass audience if it was presented with stylishness and refinement. Yet he never compromised the integrity of the music, its core grittiness and honesty was fully maintained. Peter ‘Memphis Slim’ Chatman went on to become the toast of the Continent.
Memphis Slim’s fascinating story begins in Memphis in 1915, and sometime in the 1930’s he settled in Chicago and began displaying his considerable piano skills, landing his first record deal with Okeh in 1939. The first of many labels he recorded for over the next 50 years. Roosevelt Sykes was Slim’s mentor, but Slim never imitated him. He took Bill Broonzy’s advice and developed his own style, characterized by a forceful delivery from burnished vocals while his keyboard work was equally dominating. In 1947, he recorded for the Miracle label backed by his band The House Rockers. Some of the classics included “Lend Me Your Love,” “ Rockin’ The House,” Messin’ Around,” “Blue and Lonesome,” and “Nobody Loves Me” (better known by subsequent covers by Lowell Fulson, BB King, and Joe Williams as Everyday I Have The Blues).
The first of several versions of “Mother Earth,” was heard circa 1950 on the Premium label. He had a very fertile stay on the United label from 1952-54, while also acquiring guitarist in Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy. He did “At the Gate of Horn,” a superb date for Vee Jay in 1959. This session had everything: super piano solos, a strong lineup of horn players, clever, well-written and sung lyrics, and a seamless pace that kept things moving briskly from beginning to end.
Recording prolifically during every period of his career, he had a very strong relation with Folkways, which has been reissued as “The Folkways Years 1959-1973. Then he found time to record five albums for Bluesville and Battle during 1960-1962 that have been reissued in the Original Blues Classics series. “Raining the Blues,” has an extended trio session with guitarist Lafayette Thomas and bassist Wendell Marshall plus a solo set that includes four guest appearances by Buster “Harpie” Brown on harmonica. “All Kinds of Blues,” “Alone with the Blues,” and “Steady Rolling Blues” are each solo outings with Slim showing off his expertise on blues at various tempos, boogie-woogie, and blues ballads. He also makes four rare appearances on organ during “Steady Rollin’ Blues.” In Paris: “Baby Please Come Home,” is a spirited trio outing from 1962 with bassist Willie Dixon and drummer Philippe Combelle. When the combo toured Europe that year, Slim decided to take up permanent residency in Paris.
He was able to capitalize on the Blues Revival of the late ‘60’s and became a superstar in Europe, and that transcended back to the states where he was acknowledged as a master by hordes of aspiring rockers and record buying fans. Among his many European recording sessions, in 1970, Memphis Slim hooked up with fellow Chicago blues great Buddy Guy while the guitarist was touring Europe with the Rolling Stones, and recorded the tracks for “South Side Reunion,” originally released on Warner Bros. in 1972.. He did a lot of solo sessions with just a drummer Michel Denis, for most of the ‘70’s and 80’s. He lived very well in his exile, and would go on touring and recording throughout the rest of his distinguished career
Memphis Slim took his blues piano from Beale Street in Memphis to the Boulevards of Paris, where he died in 1988.
Before his death in 1988, the U.S. Senate honored Memphis Slim with the title of Ambassador-at-Large of Good Will, while the French government bestowed him with the title of Commander of Arts and Letters.
Memphis Slim 1915 1988
SOURCE: 1 / SOURCE: 2 / SOURCE: 3 / SOURCE: 4
Here we are once again; we’ve come to the end of another section of THE POSTWAR BLUESMAN. As you can see, we were full of blues artists or as I said in my last post, should I refer to them as “BLUES LEGENDS”?
I hope your enjoying yourself and learning a little too.
Until next time ~ ~ ~
Musician By Night . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment