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)
Chicago: 1974
“Muddy Waters Blues Summit in Chicago,”* Soundstage, 1974
*Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, Koko Taylor, Mike Bloomfield, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, et al.
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.)
Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wach (excerpt)
The Ensemble for Intuitive Music Weimar
Live (rehearsal), Austria (Klosterneuberg), 2009
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Would I want to listen to this every day?
Nah.
But I don’t feel like listening to Junior Wells every day either.
Why shouldn’t our music be as various as our days?
Stick around long enough and images that conjure your own past, going out to clubs on Chicago’s south and west sides, start to turn up as history.
Ricky Allen, “No Better Time Than Now” (One-Way 1974)
Light: On The South Side (Numero 2009)
Yeah, that’s Junior Wells at 1:08.
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.
Chicago Blues Festival, part 3
Junior Wells
“Ships On The Ocean” (with Buddy Guy, guitar), live, Chicago (Theresa’s Lounge, 48th & Indiana), mid-1970s
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“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 