R.I.P. Alvin Lee ("The Fastest guitarist in the West")

 

On May 28th, 2012, Alvin Lee played what sadly proved to be his last live show at a festival in Holland. Backed by Pete Pritchard on bass and Richard Newman on drums, Alvin and the band were described by all in attendance as being on fire that night, playing one of the finest shows of his long and impressive career. Luckily, the show was recorded in its entirety and now, thanks to the efforts of his family, we well all get the opportunity to experience the magic of Alvin Lee one more time.

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Alvin Lee (born Graham Anthony Barnes,  December 19th, 1944 – 6 March 2013) was a British guitarist and singer, best known as the lead guitarist and singer with the blues-rock/pop band Ten Years After.

 

He was born in Nottingham and attended the Margaret Glen-Bott School in Wollaton which was a precursor to Comprehensive Schools with grammar and secondary modern streams. He began playing guitar at the age of 13, and with Leo Lyons formed the core of the band Ten Years After in 1960. Influenced by his parents' collection of jazz and blues records, it was the advent of rock and roll that sparked his interest, and guitarists such as Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore provided his inspiration.

Alvin Lee and “the Jaycats” became “The Jaybirds” in 1962

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Lee began to play professionally in 1962, in a band named the Jaybirds, who enjoyed popularity in their native England, but moved on to seek a wider fan-base. They began that year to perform in the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, following closely behind The Beatles. There, with Alvin Lee assuming the permanent role of lead vocalist in addition to that of lead guitarist, they began to build a following. It was not until the band moved to London in 1966 and changed its name, first to Jaybird, dropping 'The' and 's' to make it sound more contemporary; then to Blues Yard (for one gig at the Marquee Club); and finally to Ten Years After, that international success beckoned.

     

The band secured a residency at the Marquee Club, and an invitation to the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival in 1967 led to their first recording contract. The self-titled début album received airplay on San Francisco's underground music radio stations and was embraced by listeners, including concert promoter Bill Graham, who invited the band to tour the United States for the first time in 1968. Ten Years After would ultimately tour the US twenty-eight times in seven years – more than any other UK band.

Lee's performance at the Woodstock Festival was captured on film in the documentary of the event, and his 'lightning-fast' playing helped catapult him to stardom. Soon the band was playing arenas and stadiums around the globe. The film brought Lee's music to a worldwide audience, although he later lamented that he missed the lost freedom and spiritual dedication with his earlier public.

Lee was named "the Fastest guitarist in the West", and considered a precursor to shred-style playing that would develop in the 1980s.

 

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Ten Years After had success, releasing ten albums together, but by 1973, Lee was feeling limited by the band's style. Moving to Columbia Records had resulted in a radio hit song, "I'd Love To Change the World", but Lee preferred blues-rock to the pop to which the label steered them. He left Ten Years After after their second Columbia LP. With American Christian rock singer Mylon LeFevre and George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ronnie Wood and Mick Fleetwood, he recorded and released On the Road to Freedom, an acclaimed album that was at the forefront of country rock.

Also in 1973 he sat in on the Jerry Lee Lewis double album The Session recorded in London featuring many other guest stars including Albert Lee, Peter Frampton and Rory Gallagher. A year later, in response to a dare, Lee formed Alvin Lee & Company to play a show at the Rainbow in London and released it as a double live album, In Flight. Various members of the band continued on with Lee for his next two albums, Pump Iron! and Let It Rock. In late 1975, he played guitar for a couple of tracks on Bo Diddley's The 20th Anniversary of Rock 'n' Roll all-star album.

(Alvin Lee, Andy Pyle, Tim Hinkley, Bryson Graham)

He finished out the 1970s with an outfit called "Ten Years Later" which released two albums, Rocket Fuel (1978) and Ride On (1979), and toured extensively throughout Europe and the United States.

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The 1980s brought another change in Lee's direction, with two albums that were collaborations with Rare Bird's Steve Gould, and a tour with the former John Mayall and Rolling Stones' guitarist Mick Taylor joining his band.

 

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Lee's overall musical output includes more than twenty albums, including 1985's Detroit Diesel, 1989's About Time (Ten Years After album), recorded in Memphis with producer Terry Manning, and the back to back 1990s collections of Zoom and Nineteen Ninety-Four (US title I Hear You Rockin' ). Guest artists on both albums included George Harrison.

 

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In Tennessee, recorded with Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana, was released in 2004. Lee's last album, “Still on the Road to Freedom”, was released in September of 2012.

 

 

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Lee then died on March 6th of 2013 in Spain. According to his website, he died from "unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure". He was 68 years old. His former bandmates lamented his death. Leo Lyons called him "the closest thing I had to a brother", while Ric Lee (no relation) said "I don't think it's even sunk in yet as to the reality of his passing".

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Billboard highlighted such landmark performances as "I'm Going Home" from the Woodstock festival and his 1971 hit single "I'd Love to Change the World".

 

 

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Alvin Lee performing in Breda, Turfschip, the Netherlands, 1978

Alvin Lee’s Discography  

• On the Road to Freedom (with Mylon LeFevre, 1973)
• In Flight (1974)
• Pump Iron! (1975)
• Let It Rock (1978)
• Rocket Fuel (1978)
• Ride On (1979)
• Free Fall (1980)
• RX5 (1981)
• Detroit Diesel (1986)
• Zoom (1992)
• Nineteen Ninety-Four (1994)
• In Tennessee (2004)
• Saguitar (2007)
• Still on the Road to Freedom  (2012)
• The Last Show  (28 May 2012, Raalte Holland)

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  Ten Years After Discography  

Current Members

• Leo Lyons – bass (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present)
• Chick Churchill – keyboards (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present)
• Ric Lee – drums (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–present)
• Joe Gooch – guitar, vocals (2003–present)

Former Members

• Alvin Lee – guitar, vocals, harp (1966–1974, 1983, 1988–2003; died 2013)
• Dave Quickmire – drums (1962-1965) The Jaybirds
• Pete Evans – drums (1960-1962) Ivan Jay and the Jaycats

Ten Years After are an English blues-rock band, most popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1968 and 1973, Ten Years After scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart. In addition they had twelve albums enter the US Billboard 200, and are best known for tracks like "I'm Going Home", "Hear Me Calling", "Rock 'n Roll Music to the World", "I'd Love to Change the World" and "Love Like a Man".

The band's core formed in late 1960 as Ivan Jay and the Jaycats. After several years of local success in the Nottingham/Mansfield, known since 1962 as the Jaybirds and later as Ivan Jay and the Jaymen, Alvin Lee and Leo Lyons founded Ten Years After. Ivan Jay sang lead vocals from late 1960 to 1962 and was joined by Ric Lee in August 1965, replacing drummer Dave Quickmire, who had replaced Pete Evans in 1962.

Albums/CD’s by the band “Ten Years After”

• Ten Years After,  Deram (1967)
• Stonedhenge,  Deram (1969)
• Ssssh,  Deram (1969)
• Cricklewood Green,  Deram (1970)
• Watt,  Deram (1970)
• A Space in Time ,  Columbia (1971)
• Rock & Roll Music to the World,  Columbia (1972)
• Positive Vibrations,  Columbia (1974)
• About Time,  Chrysalis Records (1989)
• Now,  (2004)
• Evolution,  (2008)
• Undead,  Deram (1968)
• BBC Sessions, 1967–1968 (LIVE) Columbia(1973)
• Live at the Fillmore East 1970 (double live album)  (2001)
• One Night Jammed (Live),  (2003)
• Roadworks (double live album),  (2005)
• Live at Fiesta City (live DVD),  (2009)

Compilations

• Double Deluxe (1970)
• Ten Years After (1971)
• Alvin Lee and Company (Deram, 1972)
• Going Home (Deram, 1975)
• Classic Performances of (Columbia, 1976)
• London Collector – Greatest Hits (London, 1977)
• Profile (1979)
• Ten Years After (1980)
• Timewarps (1983)
• The Collection (1985)
• At Their Peak (1987)
• Universal (1987) (Chrysalis Records)
• Portfolio: A History (1988)
• The Collection (1991)
• Essential (1991)
• Pure Blues (1995)
• I'm Going Home (1996)
• Premium Gold Collection (1998)
• The Best of (2000)
• Very Best Ten Years After Album Ever (2001)
• Ten Years After Anthology (2002)

 

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Until next time, remember to help “SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC” . . .

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MUSICIAN by Night

GOD Save “The Blues”

Every Friday and Saturday night we sing “The Blues” . . .

Complete List of Blues Musicians . . . . . . . . . . . Part VI: Chicago/Detroit Blues:

 

Part VIb: Chicago/Detroit Blues:

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Name                               Birth year            Death year

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Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), is known by his stage name Bo Diddley.

Bo was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter (usually as Ellas McDaniel), and rock and roll pioneer. He was also known as “The Originator” because of his key role in the transition from the blues to rock, influencing a host of acts, including Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Velvet Underground, The Who, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and George Michael, among others.

 

 

He introduced more insistent, driving rhythms and a hard-edged electric guitar sound on a wide-ranging catalog of songs, along with African rhythms and a signature beat (a simple, five-accent rhythm) that remains a cornerstone of rock and pop. Accordingly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

He was known in particular for his technical innovations, including his trademark rectangular guitar.

Bo Diddley                          1928                    2008 _______________________________________________________________________

 

William James "Willie" Dixon (July 1, 1915 – January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the upright bass and the guitar and as a vocalist, Dixon is perhaps best known as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. He is recognized as one of the founders of the Chicago Blues Sound. Dixon's songs have been recorded by countless musicians in many genres as well as by various ensembles in which he participated. A short list of the man's most famous compositions includes "Little Red Rooster", "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Evil", "Spoonful", "Back Door Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You", "I Ain't Superstitious", "My Babe", "Wang Dang Doodle", and "Bring It On Home". These tunes were written during the peak of Chess Records, 1950–1965, and performed by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter, influencing a worldwide generation of musicians.

 

Next to Muddy Waters, he was the most influential person in shaping the post World War II sound of the Chicago blues. He also was an important link between the blues and rock and roll, working with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley in the late 1950s. His songs were covered by some of the biggest artists of more recent times, including Styx, Bob Dylan, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Foghat, The Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, Queen, Megadeth, The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, Aerosmith, Grateful Dead, and a posthumous duet with Colin James.

Dixon was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July 1, 1915. His mother Daisy often rhymed the things she said, a habit her son imitated. At the age of seven, young Dixon became an admirer of a band that featured pianist Little Brother Montgomery. Dixon was first introduced to blues when he served time on prison farms in Mississippi as an early teenager. He later learned how to sing harmony from local carpenter Leo Phelps. Dixon sang bass in Phelps' group The Jubilee Singers, a local gospel quartet that regularly appeared on the Vicksburg radio station WQBC. Dixon began adapting poems he was writing as songs, and even sold some tunes to local music groups.

 

Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago in 1936. A man of considerable stature, at 6 and a half feet and weighing over 250 pounds, he took up boxing; he was so successful that he won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937.

Dixon turned professional as a boxer and worked briefly as Joe Louis' sparring partner. After four fights, Dixon left boxing after getting into a fight with his manager over being cheated out of money.

 

Dixon met Leonard Caston at the boxing gym where they would harmonize at times. Dixon performed in several vocal groups in Chicago but it was Caston that got him to pursue music seriously. Caston built him his first bass, made of a tin can and one string. Dixon's experience singing bass made the instrument familiar. He also learned the guitar.

Dixon, whose initial attempts at his vocation as a boxer were now dubious, began performing around Chicago and with Caston, who convinced him to move towards a musical career. In 1939, was a founding member of the Five Breezes, with Caston, Joe Bell, Gene Gilmore and Willie Hawthorne. The group blended blues, jazz, and vocal harmonies, in the mode of the Ink Spots. Dixon's progress as he progressed on the Upright bass came to an abrupt halt during the advent of World War II when he resisted the draft as a conscientious objector and was imprisoned for ten months. After the war, he formed a group named the Four Jumps of Jive and then reunited with Caston, forming the Big Three Trio, who went on to record for Columbia Records.

 

               

Dixon signed with Chess Records as a recording artist, but began performing less, being more involved with administrative tasks for the label. By 1951, he was a full-time employee at Chess, where he acted as producer, talent scout, session musician and staff songwriter. He was also a producer for Chess subsidiary Checker Records. His relationship with Chess was sometimes strained, although he stayed with the label from 1948 to the early 1960s. During this time Dixon's output and influence were prodigious. From late 1956 to early 1959, he worked in a similar capacity for Cobra Records, where he produced early singles for Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and Buddy Guy. He later recorded on Bluesville Records. From the late 1960s until the middle 1970s, Dixon ran his own record label, Yambo Records, along with two subsidiary labels, Supreme and Spoonful. He released his 1971 album Peace? on Yambo, as well as singles by McKinley Mitchell, Lucky Peterson and others.

 

Dixon is considered one of the key figures in the creation of Chicago Blues. He worked with Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Bo Diddley, Joe Louis Walker, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Eddie Boyd, Jimmy Witherspoon, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Memphis Slim, Washboard Sam, Jimmy Rogers, Sam Lay and others. His double bass playing was of a high standard. He appears on many of Chuck Berry's early recordings, further proving his linkage between the blues and the birth of rock and roll.

 

 

Dixon is remembered mainly as a songwriter; his most enduring gift to the blues lay in refurbishing archaic Southern motifs, often of magic and country folkways and often derived from earlier records such as those by Charlie Patton, in contemporary arrangements, to produce songs with both the sinew of the blues, and the agility of pop. British R&B bands of the 1960s constantly drew on the Dixon songbook for inspiration. In December 1964, The Rolling Stones reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover version of Dixon's "Little Red Rooster".

By the late sixties, Dixon's songwriting and production work began to take a back seat to his organizational abilities, which were utilized to assemble all-star, Chicago-based blues ensembles for work in Europe.

 

In his later years, Willie Dixon became a tireless ambassador for the blues and a vocal advocate for its practitioners, founding the Blues Heaven Foundation. The organization works to preserve the blues’ legacy and to secure copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. Speaking with the simple eloquence that was a hallmark of his songs, Dixon claimed, "The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues."

 

The Five Breezes with Willie Dixon on bass

Dixon's health deteriorated increasingly during the seventies and the eighties, primarily due to long-term diabetes. Eventually one of his legs had to be amputated. Dixon was inducted at the inaugural session of the Blues Foundation's ceremony, and into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980. In 1989 he was also the recipient of a Grammy Award for his album, Hidden Charms.

 

         

        Willie and Marie Dixon

Dixon died of heart failure in Burbank, California on January 29, 1992, and was buried in the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. Dixon was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the "early influences" (pre-rock) category in 1994.

Actor and comedian Cedric the Entertainer portrayed Dixon in Cadillac Records, a 2008 film based on the early history of Chess Records.

Willie Dixon's grandson Alex Dixon recorded two Willie Dixon songs, ("Spoonful" and "Down in the Bottom"), on his release ‘Rising from the Bushes’.

Willie Dixon                       1915                     1992

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I’ve been wanting to get back to my series covering blues musicians from around the world and from different venues within the states.  Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon are two of the most prolific Chicago & Detroit Blues artists.  I’ll continue covering Part VI: Chicago/Detroit Blues on my next post so hang in there and follow the series.

Until next time, remember to “Keep Your Boogie On”.

MUSICIAN by Night

 

“Help Keep The Blues Alive”