sounds of Chicago
Billy Boy Arnold (1935-) & The Aces,* “She Fooled Me,” live, 1978
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lagniappe
art beat
Daido Moriyama (1938-), New York, 1971
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*Louis Myers (1929-1994), guitar; Dave Myers (1926-2001), bass; Fred Below (1926-1988), drums.
Merry Christmas
Bessie Smith (with Joe Smith, cornet; Charlie Green, trombone; Fletcher Henderson, piano), “At the Christmas Ball,” 1925
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Blind Lemon Jefferson, “Christmas Eve Blues,” 1928
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Victoria Spivey (with Lonnie Johnson, guitar), “Christmas Morning Blues,” 1928
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Leroy Carr, “Christmas In Jail—Ain’t That A Pain,” 1929
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Johnny Moore’s Three Blazers (feat. Charles Brown, vocals, keyboards), “Merry Christmas, Baby,” 1947
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Lowell Fulson, “Lonesome Christmas (I & II),” 1950
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Sonny Boy Williamson II, “Sonny Boy’s Christmas Blues,” 1951
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John Lee Hooker, “Blues For Christmas,” 1959
blues festival (day five)
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), Phil Guy (guitar), et al., “Ships on the Ocean,” live, Chicago (Theresa’s Lounge, 4801 S. Indiana), c. 1975
blues festival (day four)
Sonny Boy Williamson II (AKA Alex “Rice” Miller, c. 1912-1965), live, Denmark (Copenhagen), 1964
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lagniappe
art beat
Marc PoKempner (1948-), Xmas Eve, Theresa’s, Chicago (Theresa’s Lounge, 4801 S. Indiana), 1981
blues festival (day three)
J. B. Lenoir, “Slow Down” (J. B. Lenoir), live (at home), Chicago, 1965
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lagniappe
reading table
You need to be crazy to be great. I love crazy.
—Cubs’ new manager Joe Maddon (Chicago Tribune, 11/3/14)
blues festival (day two)
Albert Collins (1932-1993), Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990), Jimmie Vaughan (1951-), “Frosty” (A. Collins), live, Washington, D.C., 1989
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lagniappe
random (birthday) thoughts
Blessed to have lived sixty-two years—thirteen more than my father—in a world so beautiful.
blues festival (day one)
T-Bone Walker (1910-1975), “Don’t Throw Your Love on Me So Strong,” live (TV show), Germany, 1962*
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lagniappe
art beat: yesterday at the Art Institute of Chicago
Claude Monet (1840-1926), The Customs House at Varengeville, 1897
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random thoughts
Every painting was once a blank canvas.
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*With Memphis Slim (piano), Willie Dixon (bass), Jump Jackson (drums).
voices I miss
Albert Collins (1932-1993), “Cold, Cold Feeling,” live, Switzerland (Montreux Jazz Festival), 1979
Nobody sounds like this guy, whose 1978 album Ice Pickin’, recorded at Curtis Mayfield’s studio in Chicago and nominated for a Grammy, I’m happy to say I co-produced.
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), Birmingham, Ala., 1963
sounds of Chicago
Fenton Robinson (1935-1997), “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” (F. Robinson)
Live (The Devil’s Music [BBC], 1979)
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Recording (1967)
And speaking of relying more on feel than plan.
Hound Dog Taylor (1915-1975) & the Houserockers (Brewer Phillips guitar; Ted Harvey, drums), “I Held My Baby,” “Taylor’s Rock,” “Wild About You Baby,” “Roll Your Moneymaker,” “Sadie,” instrumental featuring Brewer, instrumental featuring Ted, live, Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, 1973
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lagniappe
art beat
Bruce Davidson (1933-), The Dwarf, Palisades, New Jersey, 1958
music clip of the day 