In a recent NIH-funded study, conducted over a period of six months, individuals suffering from clinical depression who listened to this man’s music for ten minutes a day fared significantly better, as measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), than those who did not.
Fats Waller
“Honeysuckle Rose” (1941)
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“Your Feet’s Too Big” (1940s)
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“Ain’t Misbehavin'” (1941)
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“The Joint Is Jumpin'” (1940s)
Last week we heard the Blues Busters and the Maytals.
Here’s a very young Jimmy Cliff.
Jimmy Cliff, “King of Kings,” live, Jamaica (Kingston [Sombrero Club]), 1962
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lagniappe
The Sound System was and is an integral part of the Jamaican social scene especially the working class who rely on this for their entertainment and social life. The middle and upper class fly to Miami and N.Y while the working class depend on the Sound System, which had an impact on my life from my boyhood days in the countryside of Jamaica where I could listen the Sound System at the big upstairs house that was beside the little house where I lived with my Father and my Brother.
This big upstairs downstairs house had a bar called ” Money Rock Tavern ” where the Sound System called “Pope Pius” would play and this was my me only opportunity to hear different kinds of music especially Latino.
My parents were staunch Christians so I was not permitted to associate with those kinds of music so I had to hide and steel away to go to the fair grounds where dances and fairs were held. I could see and learn the latest Dance moves and hear the latest, Rumba, R’n’B, Calypso, Merengay etc…
A little later in my youth life my Father managed to buy a little battery powered radio so I had another opportunity to tune in to American radio particularity New Orleans and Miami, and of course Cuba which is close to Jamaica only 90 miles away. On the local radio station I learned of local Artists writing and recording their own songs so I decided to write my own while still in school, quite a fete for a little country boy but I had high ambitions. Among the locals that inspired me wave Derrick Morgan, Prince Buster and Monty Morris.
After leaving primary school at Somerton my father took me to the capital of Jamaica Kingston to go to Kingston technical school, with a few songs in my head I had written. Where I was going to live was unknown but I ended up in East Kingston. Miss Gwen a stranger Lady said she would cook and wash my clothes while I slept with my cousin in his one rented room.
I was happy to be in Kingston to fulfil my dreams. I tried many producers while still going to school studing radio and tv trying to get the songs recorded without much luck. I entered talent shows and won some and was cheated on some. One night I was walking past a record store and restaurant as they were closing, I pushed myself in and sang for the Chinese owners of the store and convinced one of them Leslie Kong to go into the recording business starting with me.
My second recording with him Hurricane Hattie became a number one hit in Jamaica. I followed that hit up with Miss Jamaica, One Eyed Jacks, King of Kings and Leslie Kong went on to become King Kong among the producers in Jamaica.
This was the ska era of Jamaican Music.—Jimmy Cliff
William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well:
Short words are better than long words.
Little Richard:
I’m gonna rip it up . . .
Little Richard, “Rip It Up,” live (TV broadcast), c. 1956
Let’s head back to Kingston for more ska.
The Maytals (before becoming “Toots & . . .”), “Treat Me Bad,” “She Will Never Let You Down,” live, Jamaica (Kingston [Sombrero Club]), 1962
No matter what musical language he’s speaking, you’d swear it was his first.
Marc Ribot, guitar
With Los Cubanos Postizos, “Aurora en Pekin,” live, France, 2002
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With Ceramic Dog, “Caravan,” live, Berlin, 2008
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Solo, “Bouncing Around” (Django Reinhardt, c. 1937), live, New York, 2009
Sax player in a ska band—easiest job in music?
The Blues Busters, “I Don’t Know,” live, Jamaica (Kingston [Sombrero Club]), 1962
Watching late night TV, you drift in and out of sleep.
In the morning, you recall a commercial you saw—or dreamed.
And you say to yourself, “Buddhist Country Classics?”
Jimmie Dale Gilmore (with Bill Frisell, guitar; Jerry Douglas, Dobro; Viktor Krauss, bass), “Just a Wave, Not the Water,” live (TV broadcast), 1997
Chicago Blues Festival, part 4
Here, to wrap up this festival, is one of the best performances by Otis Rush I’ve ever heard (which makes it one of the best blues performances I’ve ever heard [which makes it, etc.]).
Otis Rush (with Fred Below, drums), “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” live, Germany, 1966
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lagniappe
I was staying with my sister and messing around with the guitar every day for my own amusement. Then she took me around and introduced me to Muddy Waters, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, and the first time I saw that onstage, it inspired me to play. I thought that was the world.—Otis Rush
Chicago Blues Festival, part 3
Junior Wells
“Ships On The Ocean” (with Buddy Guy, guitar), live, Chicago (Theresa’s Lounge, 48th & Indiana), mid-1970s
*****
“Hoodoo Man Blues” (with Otis Rush, guitar; Fred Below, drums), live, Germany, 1966
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lagniappe
After Buddy [Guy] and Junior [Wells] did their show in Frankfurt [during a 1970 European tour opening for the Rolling Stones], Mick Jagger came into the dressing room and started to talk to Junior about a certain harmonica technique. First, Mick played for Junior, who listened carefully. Then, Junior pointed to his head and told Mick that the blues sound Mick was looking for was something he had to feel in his mind. It wasn’t just a matter of playing the instrument. He had to understand what the blues experience was all about and then bring it forth on his own.—Dick Waterman, Between Midnight And Day (2003).
Chicago Blues Festival, part 2
Howlin’ Wolf (with Hubert Sumlin, guitar), live, Chicago, 1966
“How Many More Years”
*****
“Meet Me In The Bottom”
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lagniappe
When I first heard him [Howlin’ Wolf], I said, ‘This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.’—Sam Phillips
music clip of the day 