Chicago blues
day two
Junior Wells (1934-1998; vocal, harmonica), Buddy Guy (1936-; guitar), et al., “Cryin’ Shame” (AKA “Country Girl”), live, Chicago, 1970
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lagniappe
reading table
winter wind—
he can’t find his roost
the evening crow—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827), translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue
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
Chicago: 1970s
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), et al., live, Theresa’s, 48th & Indiana, Chicago, 1970s
three takes
“Driving Wheel,” AKA “Driving Wheel Blues” (R. Sykes)
Buddy Guy & Junior Wells (BG, guitar; JW, harmonica and vocals; Jimmy Johnson, guitar; Dave Myers, bass; Odie Payne, drums), live, Portugal (Algarve Jazz Festival), 1978
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Junior Parker, 1961
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Roosevelt Sykes, 1936
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lagniappe
reading table
[I]t is out of adolescents who last a sufficient number of years that life makes old men.
—Marcel Proust, Finding Time Again (translated from French by Ian Patterson)
Today, for our 1,000th post, we revisit a few favorites—more tomorrow.
Junior Wells (vocal and harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), “Cryin’ Shame” (AKA “Country Girl”), live, Chicago, 1970 (Chicago Blues)
(Originally posted 7/8/10.)
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Buddy Guy, “Let Me Love You Baby,” live, 1960s
(Originally posted 3/12/10.)
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Magic Sam, “All Your Love,” “Lookin’ Good”
Live, Germany, 1969
(Originally posted 11/21/09.)
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Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers (Brewer Phillips, guitar; Ted Harvey, drums), “Sadie,” live, Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1973
(Originally posted 4/29/11.)
passings
Jerry Lieber, songwriter, April 25, 1933-August 22, 2011
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, “Hound Dog” (J. Lieber & M. Stoller), live (TV broadcast; Buddy Guy, guitar; Fred Below, drums), Europe, 1965 (originally recorded 1952)
Vodpod videos no longer available.(Originally posted 12/10/10.)
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Nick Ashford, songwriter, singer, May 4, 1941-August 22, 2011
Ashford & Simpson, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” (N. Ashford & V. Simpson), live
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
David “Honeyboy” Edwards, singer, guitar player, June 28, 1915-
August 29, 2011
Live, WBEZ-FM (Chicago), 2008
Vodpod videos no longer available.two voices
Some voices are so distinctive and indelible that, once heard, they occupy rooms all their own in your mind.
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, “Hound Dog,” live (TV broadcast; Buddy Guy, guitar; Fred Below, drums), Europe, 1965 (originally recorded 1952)
Vodpod videos no longer available.*****
Happy (180th) Birthday, Emily!
I’d subscribe to her Twitter feed in a heartbeat.
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
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Escape is such a thankful Word
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Our lives are Swiss –
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I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
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My Life had stood – a Loaded Gun –
—Emily Dickinson (first lines)
You can learn how to play the harmonica. You can learn how to sing. What you can’t learn is the most important thing—presence.
Junior Wells (vocal and harmonica), Buddy Guy (guitar), “Cryin’ Shame” (AKA “Country Girl”), live, Chicago, 1970 (Chicago Blues)
Want more? Here.
looking back
Today, celebrating our 300th post, we revisit a few favorites.
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3/12/10
Both Chicago blues artists. Both guitar players. Both influenced by other kinds of music.
Musical personalities? They could hardly be more different.
Buddy Guy, “Let Me Love You Baby,” live
*****
Fenton Robinson, “Somebody Loan Me A Dime,” live, 1977
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Back in the 1970s, when I was at Alligator Records, I had the pleasure of working with Fenton, co-producing his album I Hear Some Blues Downstairs (a Grammy nominee). He didn’t fit the stereotype of a bluesman. Gentle, soft-spoken, serious, introspective: he was all these things. He died in 1997.
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3/3/10
What other pop star has made such stunning contributions as a guest artist?
Sinead O’Connor
With Willie Nelson, “Don’t Give Up”
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With the Chieftains, “The Foggy Dew”
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With Shane MacGowan, “Haunted”
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5/28/2010
two takes
“La-La Means I Love You”
The Delfonics, live, 2008 (originally recorded 1968)
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Bill Frisell, live, New York (Rochester), 2007
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Music . . . carr[ies] us smoothly across the tumult of experience, like water over rocks.
—Vijay Iyer, liner notes, Historicity (2009)
Both Chicago blues artists. Both guitar players. Both influenced by other kinds of music.
Musical personalities? They could hardly be more different.
Buddy Guy, “Let Me Love You Baby,” live
*****
Fenton Robinson, “Somebody Loan Me A Dime,” live, 1977
***
Back in the 1970s, when I was at Alligator Records, I had the pleasure of working with Fenton, co-producing his album I Hear Some Blues Downstairs (a Grammy nominee). He didn’t fit the stereotype of a bluesman. Gentle, soft-spoken, serious, introspective: he was all these things. He died in 1997.
music clip of the day 