Roundup
Of Notable New Reissues/Historical Releases
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The Sunnyside label
has reissued several 1970's recordings that first appeared
on the French Barclay label. Eddie Barclay was a French
piano player turned record mogul who founded Blue Star Records,
the first of several small labels that he would oversee
in the '50's. In 1960 he consolidated his labels under the
Barclay name. The label cut some notable blues recording
during the 1970's and it's nice to have these back in print,
all spruced up with bonus tracks, great period photos and
thoughtful notes from those who took part in the original
recordings. Memphis Slim was a natural for the label, having
made Paris his home in 1962. Slim had a five year association
with Barclay cutting the recently reissued "The Blue
Memphis Suite" (1970) and "Memphis Heat"
(1974). Southside Reunion is a 1970 date
that finds the pianist hooking up with the great Buddy Guy
and Junior Wells (who appears only on three cuts) while
the duo were in Paris opening for the Rolling Stones. This
was a hastily put together session with the whole thing
recorded in an afternoon and the following day. Essentially
this is jam session, although a very entertaining one. Backing
is provided a veteran Chicago group including Buddy's brother
Phil on rhythm guitar, Ernest Johnson on bass, Roosevelt
Shaw on drums and great sax from A.C. Reed and Jimmy Conley.
Memphis Slim takes most of the vocals with things getting
of to a rousing start with the two exchanging greetings
and trading licks on the rocking "When Buddy Comes
to Town." Slim turns in a sensitive cover of Leroy
Carr's classic "How Long" with sympathetic playing
from Guy and the low down "You Called Me At Last"
with Guy laying some smoldering, tasteful guitar work, light
years away from his current overwrought style. Junior Wells
steps up on the driving "Help Me Some" as all
three men really cut loose plus two takes of the soulful
"You're The One" with Slim taking the lead on
the issued version and Guy on a previously unreleased version.
Certainly not the place to start for either artist this
is still a very enjoyable set with plenty of fireworks.
Slim once famously said that he didn't care much for guitar
players until he hooked up with Matt Murphy but he seems
to have plenty of chemistry with Guy as this set amply demonstrates.
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"American
music, Texas style" - That’s Gatemouth’s succinct description
of his all encompassing musical philosophy (also the title
of his 1999 album). He may have started out playing jumping
big band blues in the tradition of T-Bone Walker but through
the years he's tackled just about every roots genre including
R&B, country, swing, bebop, cajun and more. A virtuoso
on guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin, viola, and even
drums, Gatemouth did it his way for more than fifty years.
"A long time ago, people advised me not to mix blues,
country, jazz and cajun music. ...It took me a long time
to convince the world it could be done. Even now they want
to label me a "blues musician" but I refuse to
be a blues musician. I'm a musician." That eclectic
outlook is evident on Gate's On The Heat
sessions he cut in 1972 and 1973 originally released as
"The Drifter Rides Again" on Barclay in 1973 and
"Gate's On The Heat" on Blue Star in 1974. Time
was limited a factor in the first session with members of
a French band Zoo enlisted to back Gatemouth along with
Mickey Baker who's guitar parts were unfortunately scraped
due to some recording problems, while the latter session
features members of Canned Heat. Strings were later added
to some tracks and the Memphis Horns overdubbed in Memphis.
You might expect slapdash results but Gatemouth rose to
the occasion delivering some funky, sophisticated, up to
date blues that hold up remarkably well. A real surprise
is a trio of terrific topical numbers including the shuffle
blues of "Man And His Environment", the moody
"Please Mr Nixon" and the tough "Dollar's
Got The Blues" (recut on 1981's "Alright Again!"
for Rounder) which gets a bit busy at times but is quite
effective. Also good are the appropriately titled "Funky
Mama" which has a Booker T & The MG's feel, the
vintage blues feel of "Jelly, Jelly", the ominous
"The Drifter" with Gate laying down some fine
electric violin and a strong version of "Traveling
Mood" with Canned Heat.
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American
music in the form of R&B, blues and rock & roll
had swept Europe in the 50's and France was no exception.
How odd it must have been when they encountered Clifton
Chenier who played R&B and blues with abandon, on accordion
no less, and sang it in their own language. Chenier made
his first recordings in1954 then jumped to the Specialty
label in the mid-50's, the same label as Little Richard,
and even produced by Bumps Blackwell who also worked with
Richard. His breakthrough came with his Arhoolie LP's of
the 60's and he finally hit Europe in 1969 as part of the
American Folk Blues Festival. Producer Phillipe Rault, then
living in New Orleans, tracked down Chenier where he cut
1976's Frenchin' The Boogie hot the heels
of the now classic "Bogalusa Boogie" record for
Arhoolie. Some of the band members weren't around but the
core of Chenier's great Red Hot Louisiana Band is on board
including Cleveland Chenier, Paul Senegal and Robert Peter.
Also appearing on record for the first time was Stanley
Dural Jr. later renowned as Buckwheat Zydeco on B-3 and
piano. While not quite on the same level as the aforementioned
"Bogalusa Boogie" session this is a fine, high
spirited outing with a wide ranging mix of blues covers
sung mostly in French, including songs by Louis Jordan,
Memphis Slim, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and others. This
is a mostly up tempo affair as Chenier and band romp through
rousing classics like "Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler
(Let The Good Times Roll)", "Tu Peux Cogner (Keep-A-Knockin'
But You Can't Come In)", and "Shake, Rattle and
Roll." One bonus track, Chuck Berry's "I Want
To Be Your Driver", is also included. The undisputed
"King of Zydeco" reached the peak of his popularity
in the 1980s winning a Grammy for 1983's "I'm Here!"
and performing at the White House the following year. There's
been many contenders' since he passed in 1987 but Chenier
still remains the King.
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T-Bone
Walker's influence on electric guitar is incalculable sending
ripples through just about every guitarist to play blues
in the 40's and 50's and well beyond. His records in the
40's and 50's for Capitol, Black & White, Imperial and
Atlantic were immaculately produced gems that laid the ground
work for modern blues guitar but by the 60's Walker's career
was in decline. Like many aging bluesmen Walker looked overseas
and found a enthusiastic audience; heading over as part
of 1962's inaugural American Folk Blues Festival, again
in 1968, three months in Britain in 1965 on John Mayall's
invitation and back for a residency at the Trois Maillez
club in Paris in 1969. In 1968 he was approached to record
by French Polydor resulting in the recording of Good
Feelin' in November of that year and released in
1969. Backing was provided by some quality local musicians
and produced by an eccentric character named Robin Hemingway.
Hemingway chose to put Walker in a more contemporary setting
tackling some old classics, blues standards and some newer
numbers. I tend to cringe when someone has the idea of putting
a contemporary spin a classic artist and the results here
are decidedly mixed. One idea was to put Walker on piano
for the short opening and closing numbers which, while not
bad, seem a bit of a waste. Walker clearly still has the
chops as he proves on a busy arrangement of "Everyday
I Have The Blues" as he dips into a funky, extended
solo, but better are more traditionally arranged numbers
like "Woman You Must Be Crazy" and "I Wonder
Why" that hark back to Walker's classic sound. Less
convincing are over produced numbers like the funky "Vacation"
and a completely forgettable version of his classic "Sail
On Little Girl." Walker's talents remain undiminished
but this record feels very much like a product of the times.
Ironically the record won a Grammy for "Best Ethnic
or Traditional Recording" in 1970.
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If not for having
the good fortune of being "rediscovered" in the
late 50's and subsequently making a few comeback recordings,
Barrelhouse Buck McFarland would be just a brief footnote
in the vast catalogue of pre-war blues artists. That's not
to say that McFarland's revival records made him well known
but they considerably expanded his meager discography and
showcased a very fine blues singer and pianist. Luck, however,
wasn't in the cards for McFarland who died just 8 months
after the recordings on Alton Blues were
made in 1961 and never released until now. He cut another
session the same year for Smithsonian Folkways which was
issued on LP although that record is long out of print (thankfully
it is available as a digital download from the Smithsonian
Website). McFarland was born in Alton, Illinois
in 1903 in the same area as two other exceptional piano
players, Wesley Wallace and Jabbo Williams, all three of
which made names for themselves on the bustling St. Louis
blues scene. St. Louis was a blues town to be reckoned with
in those days, sporting many famous pianists like Peetie
Wheatstraw, Roosevelt Sykes, Henry Brown and Speckled Red
to name a few. Like those artists, McFarland got his shot
in the recording studio waxing ten sides; two for Paramount
in 1929, two for Decca in 1934 and four more for Decca in
1935 which were not issued. McFarland had a rougher style
than his fellow St. Louis pianists, sang forcefully and
pounded out fine, ragged barrelhouse piano on those early
sides. Almost thirty years later McFarland sounded pretty
much the same albeit noticeably mellower on his vocal style.
Both sessions were high quality but "Alton Blues"
is much better recorded. This is simply a lovely set of
solo piano blues as McFarland stomps out his brand of sparse,
ragged but energetic barrelhouse piano accompanied by his
gritty, plaintive vocals that, while mellower, have lost
none of the emotional power of his early records. McFarland
revisits early records like "Lamp Post Blues",
"Mercy Mercy Blues", "I Got To Go Blues"
plus turns out some fine instrumentals including "Alton
Blues" and the romping "Charlie's Stomp."
A bonus is a fascinating interview where McFarland discusses
his early years working with Peetie Wheatsraw, Alice Moore,
Ike Rodgers, Charlie Jordan among others. Delmark has done
a great service unearthing "Alton Blues", a marvelous
set of piano blues from an era that was virtually lost at
the time it was recorded and is but a distant memory now.
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With
his death on Nov. 12, 2006 the blues world lost a true giant.
Lockwood had a remarkable 60+ year career. He learned his
blues from the immortal Robert Johnson and in fact was the
only one to be taught directly by Johnson as he related:
"I was the only one who Robert taught to play the music.
I sat down with him in our house and we went over the songs
note by note, exactly the way he played them." Lockwood's
never been one to linger in the past for long, continuing
to hone his style and has developed a unique swinging, jazzy
style often played on his 12-string electric guitar. Lockwood
didn't record much under his own name early on but did cut
classic sides for small labels in the 40's and 50's and
recorded extensively as a session guitarist in the 50's
and 60's backing Little Walter, Sunnyland Slim, Sonny Boy
Williamson II, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Boyd and others. suprisingly
Lockwood didn't get an opportunity to cut his first full
length album until 1970 when he cut the now classic Steady
Rollin' Man for Delmark backed by The Aces. Lockwood's
recording career picked up steam soon after cutting terrific
sides for Trix, Advent, Rounder, Verve and others and achieving
worldwide recognition for his matchless talent. You couldn't
ask for a better debut than the crisply recorded "Steady
Rollin' Man" backed sympathetically by The Aces who
also backed Lockwood on the excellent "Live In Japan"
cut a few years later. Lockwood's spare, jazzy and beautifully
clean guitar work and rich vocals are well showcased as
he puts his stamp on numbers he would return to often like
"Take A Little Walk With Me", "Ramblin' On
My Mind" and "Kind-Hearted Woman." Other
highlights include "Blues And Trouble" plus remarkable
instrumentals like "Steady Groove" and the dazzling
"Lockwood's Boogie." The only knock is Guitarist
Louis Myers, certainly a good player, but who occasionally
overcrowds Lockwood's more refined style.
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