Friday, October 19th
voices I miss
Junior Wells (vocals, harmonica [1934-1998]) with Otis Rush (guitar [1935-2018]), Jack Myers (bass [c. 1937-2011]), Fred Below (drums [1926-1988]), “Hoodoo Man Blues,” live, Berlin, 1966
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Tag: Fred Below
2018
Friday, October 12th
more
Otis Rush (vocals, guitar) with Little Brother Montgomery (piano), Jack Myers (bass), Fred Below (drums), live, Berlin, 1966
“All Your Love (I Miss Loving)”
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“Sweet Little Angel”
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lagniappe
reading table
The silence will be sudden then last.
—Deborah Landau, from “The Silence Will Be Sudden Then Last” (Poetry, 10/18)
2018
Tuesday, June 26th
timeless
Lonnie Johnson (vocals, guitar), “Another Night to Cry” (Sonny Boy Williamson II, introduction; Otis Spann, piano; Willie Dixon, bass; Fred Below, drums), live, Germany, 1963
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lagniappe
art beat
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill. (artist unknown)
2016
Thursday, December 15th
Chicago blues
day three
Otis Rush (1935-; vocal, guitar) with Fred Below (1926-1988; drums), et al., “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” live, East Berlin, 1966
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Here’s the original 1956 recording.
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lagniappe
reading table
On the first page of the course syllabus [for the class, taught at Columbia, on “The American Radical Tradition”], I always included the words of Max Weber, a rebuke to those who believe that critics of society should set their sights only on “practical” measures: “What is possible would never have been achieved if, in this world, people had not repeatedly reached for the impossible.”
—Eric Foner, “American Radicals and the Change We Could Believe In,” The Nation, January 2-9, 2017 issue
2015
Friday, March 6th
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
*****
*Louis Myers (1929-1994), guitar; Dave Myers (1926-2001), bass; Fred Below (1926-1988), drums.
2011
Wednesday, 8/31/11
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.)
*****
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.2010
Friday, 12/10/10
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)
2010
Thursday, 1/21/2010
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
2010
Wednesday, 1/20/2010
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).
music clip of the day 