sounds of Chicago
Here’s another track I co-produced long ago, in a world without CDs, or MP3s, or Internet.
Pinetop Perkins (1913-2011), “Blues After Hours” (Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 2, Alligator Records, 1978)
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lagniappe
art beat
Helen Levitt (1913-2009), New York, c. 1940
sounds of Chicago
This is a track I coproduced. It was the last thing recorded that night, an afterthought. The lights had just been turned down. The room was nearly dark.
Carey Bell’s Blues Harp Band,* “Woman In Trouble” (Living Chicago Blues, Vol. 1; Grammy Nominee), Alligator, 1978
*CB, vocals, harmonica; Lurrie Bell, guitar; Bob Riedy, piano; Aron Burton, bass; Odie Payne, Jr., drums.
alone
R.L. Burnside (1926-2005), “See My Jumper Hanging on the Line,” live, Independence, Miss., 1978
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lagniappe
reading table
Harvest in progress
a crane stands
in the rice paddy—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694; translated from Japanese by David Young)
old school
Charlie Musselwhite (1944-; vocals, harmonica) with Big Walter Horton (1918-1981; vocals, harmonica), live, Chicago, 1981
Charlie’s playing is wonderful: it both swings and sings. And he’s got great presence. But listen to Walter, whom I had the chance to work with in the ’70s when I was with Alligator Records. He’s not onstage long; this was only months before his death. But there are moments, when Walter’s playing, where time seems to stop (16:11, 18:03, 18:22, 19:57, etc.).
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lagniappe
reading table
You can fall a long way in sunlight.
You can fall a long way in the rain.The ones who don’t take the old white horse
take the morning train.—Robert Hass (1941-), “August Notebook: A Death” (excerpt)
There are all kinds of blues, too.
Joe McPhee Survival Unit 3 (JM, alto saxophone; Fred Lonberg-Holm, cello; Michael Zerang, drums), live, London, 2010
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lagniappe
reading table
Dream Song 40
By John Berryman (1914-1972)I’m scared a lonely. Never see my son,
easy be not to see anyone,
combers out to sea
know they’re goin somewhere but not me.
Got a little poison, got a little gun,
I’m scared a lonely.I’m scared a only one thing, which is me,
from othering I don’t take nothin, see,
for any hound dog’s sake.
But this is where I livin, where I rake
my leaves and cop my promise, this’ where we
cry oursel’s awake.Wishin was dyin but I gotta make
it all this way to that bed on these feet
where peoples said to meet.
Maybe but even if I see my son
forever never, get back on the take,
free, black & forty-one.
Back in the ’70s, when I was in college, I heard John Berryman read his poetry, an experience that opened my ears and mind in all kinds of ways. He moved so swiftly, and gracefully, from one register to another, leaping back and forth between high and low as if nothing could be more natural. Today he joins a select group—tenor saxophonist Von Freeman, trumpeter Lester Bowie, singer Dorothy Love Coates, poets Wislawa Szymborska and William Bronk—in the MCOTD Hall of Fame.
baseball and boogie–woogie
In advance of tonight’s All-Star game, here’s the answer to a baseball trivia question: Who’s the finest musician ever to work between the foul lines? This guy, “the progenitor of boogie-woogie piano,” played for the Chicago All-Americans, a Negro league team, during World War I, then worked for twenty-five years as a groundskeeper for the Chicago White Sox.
Jimmy Yancey (1894 [or 1898]-1951), piano, “Yancey Stomp,” 1939
sounds I miss*
Albert Collins (1932-1993), “Two-Lane Highway” (John Zorn, Spillane, 1987)
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
[A] particular brand of comment showed up enough [on the Alan Lomax Archive recordings on YouTube] that I started a collection. I call them “blues affirmations.” They number in the dozens, posted to an assortment of clips of black vernacular music. These performances don’t necessarily pertain to the song structure or performance style called “blues”—they could be field hollers or minstrel pieces—but the commentary was single-mindedly focused on it.
The notion of a “pure” culture, of any kind, is informed by ignorance and/or ideology and/or romanticism. I feel set upon by a thick, dumb fog just looking at the phrase. But the Blues Affirmations stir something in me; they insist, childlike, on something real, true, forever enduring, constructed of unadulterated and unmediated purity. I look forward to them, and they undo me a bit when they arrive.
They feel authentic, so I’d like to give them the last word:
one word: BLUES…
This is blues
The real blues
Real O.G. Blues. No fancy shit!
This is the real face of the blues right here.
this is how it’s done with real blues!
this that old school real sittin on your porch blues!
That’s REAL old school blues
Oh man….. that’s the Blues baby….. that’s the real, down South, low down, heartfelt blues.
Authentic, real Blues, Love it.
it doesnt get anymore authentic than this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now that is the blues.
THE BLUES
true blues
Pure Blues
Blues is timeless.
there is nothing as hard as the blues
This man over here folks is the blues himself!
Great melody that shows blues music comes from the soul.
The blues is very expressive, and it is the foundation of rock music!
True music, with emotion, feelings.. His soul is speakin
the Blues needs no roaring electric guitars and smashing drums to show all the hard aspects of life without disguise
Clapton who?…THIS IS THE BLUES, R.L. shows you how it smells, looks, taste, sounds, and most importantly how it feels. Clapton never had babies cry in the background of his performances
it’s only perfect because he’s authentic
that look in his eyes at 4:05…. thats the blues right there
The blues is real, that’s why the blues lives on.
That’s from far one of the best blues I never heard… real blues… from the guts… not from the wallets !!!
This is where the blues started – AND THIS IS WHERE THE BLUES ENDS.
—Nathan Salsburg (curator, Alan Lomax Archive), “Part V of Against Authenticity,” Oxford American (6/21/13)
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*As I’ve mentioned, I had the great pleasure of working with Albert, co-producing his 1978 album Ice Pickin’ (Alligator)—singular guitarist, sweet guy.
passings
Bobby “Blue” Bland, singer, January 27, 1930-June 23, 2013
“I’ll Take Care Of You,” 1959
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“I Pity The Fool,” 1961
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“That’s The Way Love Is,” 1963
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“Call On Me,” 1962
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“Ain’t Nothing You Can Do,” 1964
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“Turn On Your Love Light,” 1961
Chicago: 1970s
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), et al., live, Theresa’s, 48th & Indiana, Chicago, 1970s
A friend, forwarding a link to this clip, writes:
If anything, even better than John Lee . . .
Lightnin’ Hopkins (1912-1982), “Lightnin’s Blues,” live, England, 1964
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lagniappe
more Lightnin’
From The Blues Accordin’ to Lightnin’ Hopkins (1967) by Les Blank, who was remembered here last week:
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free music
Another friend, with whom I worked, thirty-some years ago, at Alligator Records, writes:
Hi Richard,
I continue to receive these [notices of new blog posts] and explore them as I can. I wonder if you might share this with your email list?
It’s a free, downloadable sampler from Alligator Records to celebrate Public Radio Music Month! Seventeen soulful free blues, roots rock and R&B performances by some of the stars of Alligator Records’ current artist roster and a few of our beloved heritage artists. From Chicago to Texas, from New Orleans to California, a collection of some of Alligator’s best “Genuine Houserockin’ Music.” Join us in celebrating Public Radio Music Month! Download it here: http://tinyurl.com/AlligSampler.
Thanks. Of course you’ve heard this music yourself, but there might be some good things you had forgotten.
See you down the road.
Bruce [Iglauer]
music clip of the day 