CURTIS JONES/ Complete Recordings

 

CURTIS JONES/ Complete Recordings

 

               

Curtis Jones qui est né à Naples, TX. le 18 août 1906, commence à jouer du piano dans les bars du Texas central, notamment autour de Dallas puis fait une tournée avec une compagnie itinérante les Georgia Strollers, rencontre le vétéran Alex Moore à qui son jeu doit beaucoup: ponctuation des basses, arpèges de la main droite. En 1937, c'est à Chicago que Curtis Jones enregistre pour Vocalion son admirable chef d'oeuvre, sombre et introspectif, Lonesome in my bedroom qui deviendra un des grands standards du blues. Cela lui permet d'enregistrer les années suivantes un grand nombre de disques à Chicago, la plupart du temps des compositions personnelles, lourdes et pleines d'émotion: Bad avenue blues deviendra une sorte d'hymne national du blues californien sous le titre Tin pan alley; Highway 51 sera repris par Bob Dylan; Roll me mama qui annonce Rock me baby... Avec le timbre d'apparence détaché de Curtis, son piano solide et des accompagnateurs de premier plan (Joe Mc Coy, Willie B. James, George Barnes, le tout premier solo de guitare électrique du blues, Jazz Gillum), ces disques sont souvent de grande qualité mais tout en demi-teintes et peu spectaculaires. Les ventes sont de plus en plus médiocres et Jones n'enregistre plus que sporadiquement après 1940. Curtis, qui annonce par bien des côtés le style de blues californien de l'après-guerre, végète à Chicago. Il vit dans la misère lorsque le critique français Jacques Demêtre le retrouve en 1959 et le convainc de reprendre une carrière active pour le nouveau public international du blues. Curtis tourne en Angleterre, en France, en Pologne et au Maroc où il s'installe quelques années. Mais l'homme est comme sa musique: sombre et réservé. Il semble plus jouer le blues pour lui que pour un auditoire et, contrairement à un Memphis Slim, showman accompli, il ne saura jamais séduire le public européen et meurt à Munich en Allemagne le 11 septembre 1971, largement méconnu.

                Nous avons regroupé la totalité de ses enregistrements, ceux d'avant guerre comme ses albums. On s'aperçoit que Curtis Jones, aujourd'hui fort négligé mais auteur de blues profonds, mérite largement d'être écouté.

                                                                                              Gérard HERZHAFT

 

Curtis Jones, who was born in Naples, TX, on August 18, 1906, began playing piano in bars in Central Texas, particularly around Dallas. He then toured with a traveling troupe called the Georgia Strollers, where he met the veteran Alex Moore, to whom his playing owes a great deal—particularly his bass accents and right-hand arpeggios. In 1937, Curtis Jones recorded his admirable masterpiece, the dark and introspective Lonesome in My Bedroom, for Vocalion in Chicago; it would go on to become one of the great blues standards. This led him to record a large number of records in Chicago in the following years, mostly his own compositions—heavy and full of emotion: Bad Avenue Blues would become a sort of national anthem of California blues under the title Tin Pan Alley; Highway 51 would be covered by Bob Dylan; and Roll Me Mama, which foreshadowed Rock Me Baby...

With Curtis’s seemingly detached style, his solid piano playing, and top-notch accompanists (Joe McCoy, Willie B. James, George Barnes (the very first electric guitar solo in the blues), and Jazz Gillum), these records are often of high quality but somewhat subdued and unspectacular. Sales were increasingly lackluster, and Jones recorded only sporadically after 1940. Curtis, who in many ways foreshadowed the postwar California blues style, languished in Chicago. He was living in utter poverty when French critic Jacques Demêtre tracked him down in 1959 and convinced him to resume an active career for the new international blues audience. Curtis toured England, France, Poland, and Morocco, where he settled for a few years. But the man was like his music: moody, somber and reserved. He seemed to play the blues more for himself than for an audience, and unlike Memphis Slim—an accomplished showman—he never managed to win over European audiences. He died in Munich, Germany, on September 11, 1971, largely unknown.

                We have compiled all of his recordings, including his pre-war material and his albums. It becomes clear that Curtis Jones—now largely overlooked but a composer of deep blues—is well worth listening to.

 

Gérard HERZHAFT

KOREAN WAR BLUES

 

KOREAN WAR BLUES

 

        

La guerre de Corée qui a duré trois ans et fait – au moins! – entre 2,5 et 3 millions de morts et qui a abouti à une partition du pays (la Corée avait été envahie et annexée par le Japon depuis 1910 avec de terribles souffrances pour les Coréens) a fait l'objet de plusieurs anthologies musicales composées très majoritairement de morceaux de Country Music.

         Par contre, les bluesmen qui ont créé des morceaux à propos de cette guerre et de leurs sentiments durant cette période n'ont pas – à notre connaissance – fait l'objet d'une anthologie.

         C'est l'objet de cet article et anthologie Korean War Blues qui regroupe 21 titres enregistrés essentiellement entre 1950 et 1953, à l'exception de celui de Robert Pete Williams, enregistré en 1960 alors qu'il était enfermé au Pénitencier d'Angola.

         Il s'agit essentiellement de blues, certains bien connus, d'autres rares voire jamais réédités en albums auxquels nous avons ajouté deux airs de Cajun et un très intéressant hommage des Sioux Oglalas à leurs combattants tombés en Corée. Tout cela n'est bien sûr pas exhaustif.

         Sans prétention, nous avons aussi ajouté une version de "Build myself a cave", reprenant un morceau figurant sur notre album de 1995!

         Egalement, une autre version en Video, plus proche de celle de Jimmy Rogers (The World's in a tangle original insurpassable) ornée de photos d'époque, piochées dans différentes archives de centres de documentation ou de magazines comme Life.

                                               Gérard HERZHAFT

 

 

The Korean War, which lasted three years and claimed—at least!—between 2.5 and 3 million lives, and which led to the division of the country (Korea had been invaded and annexed by Japan since 1910 , causing terrible suffering for the Korean people), has been the subject of several musical anthologies consisting almost entirely of Country Music tracks.

However, the blues musicians who created songs about this war and their feelings during that period have not—to our knowledge—been the subject of an anthology.

That is the purpose of this article and the Korean War Blues anthology, which brings together 21 tracks recorded primarily between 1950 and 1953, with the exception of the one by Robert Pete Williams, recorded in 1960 while he was incarcerated at Angola Penitentiary.

These are primarily blues tracks, some well-known, others rare or even never reissued on albums, to which we have added two Cajun tunes and a very interesting tribute by the Oglala Sioux to their soldiers who fell in Korea. Of course, this is by no means an exhaustive collection.

Without any pretensions, we’ve also included a version of Build Myself a Cave, a cover of a track that appeared on our 1995 album!

Also included is another version on Video, closer to that of Jimmy Rogers (the original The World’s in a Tangle, which remains an unsurpassable masterpiece), featuring vintage photos drawn from various archives at documentation centers or from magazines like Life.

                                      Gerard HERZHAFT

KOREAN WAR BLUES

Click on the picture or the title to have the Video

EARL HOOKER/ Complete Studio Recordings

 EARL HOOKER/ Complete Studio Recordings (re-up and new links)

 

          

  Although Earl Hooker was highly praised by his pairs, he never gained the recognition his talents should have brought him.

            Earl Zebedee Hooker was born in Vance, Ms on 15 January 1929 or 1930, from Earl Jake Hooker (an uncle of John Lee Hooker) and Mary Catherine Blare. His family moved to Chicago during the early 1930's and young Earl suffered from a frail health all his life, contracting tuberculosis while a child. He took the guitar at 10 years old and quickly developed a strong proficiency, listening to blues, jazz and Hillbilly greats like Les Paul, a strong inluence on him alongside T-Bone Walker. With his friend and mentor Robert Lee Mc Coy/ Nighthawk, Earl started to play on Chicago street corners while a child and thereafter in clubs and venues.

            After the war, Robert Nighthawk who was constantly going from Chicago to the South brought Earl with him, the two performing on almost all Southern juke joints from Mississippi to Florida. In 1950, Earl formed his own band with Kansas City Red on drums, trying his luck a little bit everywhere, playing in Chicago quite regularly. Able to play all kinds of music with the same technical ability and proficiency, from deep Delta blues a la Nighthawk to Country & Westerns instrumentals unto jazz and swing numbers, Earl Hooker was very often in the studios backing many artists and waxing some numbers under his name for a lot of labels: King, DeLuxe, Rockin', Sun, Chess/Argo, United, States etc... His main drawback was his voice, a little bit light and unexpressive and for which he had no confidence.

            In 1956, Earl suffered a bad attack of tuberculosis and had to be hospitalized for a long time. He had to wait 1959 to be fully back on the scene and on the recording studios, this time pairing with Junior Wells who brought him to Mel London's Chief group of labels. Very impressed by Earl's talents, Mel put Earl as his house guitarist for a lot of sessions and artists like Wells, Lillian Offitt, Magic Sam, A.C. Reed, Ricky Allen, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, Bobby Paxton, Betty Everett and others. Earl also recorded some instrumentals under his name, particularly the soulful Blue guitar which went to be a minor hit in Chicago. In 1961, Hooker also recorded some instrumentals for Chess that Len Chess used later on as the backing track for some Muddy Waters's numbers (You shook me and You need love)!

            During the mid-60's Earl Hooker recorded his first album for the Cuca label (The Genius of Earl Hooker) with a strong Funk appealing mood. But once again in 1967, Hooker had to be hospitalized for almost a year and he thus couldn't capitalize to this LP. In 1968, Earl boldly formed a new and original band with his old friend Pinetop Perkins at the keyboards, Freddie Roulette on steel guitar, Carey Bell and Andrew "Blues Boy" Odom, a powerful singer in the B.B. King's mould. The band impressed enough Arhoolie's Chris Strachwitz who then recorded Earl, issuing the great now classic LP Two bugs and a roach.

           

The album sold quite well among blues buffs around the world, allowing at last Earl to play on major festivals, recording several very nice albums for Blue Thumb (thanks to his old friend Ike Turner) and particularly Bluesway for which Hooker also was the lead guitarist on many albums by blues luminaries like Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, Johnny Walker, Brownie Mc Ghee & Sonny Terry, even pairing with his cousin John Lee Hooker on a memorable session (If you miss' em I got' em).

            In October 1969, Hooker and a lot of Arholie's artists toured Europe with the legendary American Folk Blues Festival (cf the entry on my blog), getting rave reviews. This was the only time I saw Earl Hooker (at the Paris show) and he performed a very great set. But this very tiring European tour damaged even more Earl's health and he came back to Chicago very ill. Hospitalized again in December 1969, Earl this time never fully recovered, had to stay in a Chicago sanatorium a couple of months where he died on 21 April 1970.

            A very accomplished and versatile major guitarist, Earl left us a very rewarding recording legacy. Sebastian Danchin who knew very well Earl wrote a nice biography of the man, from which I have taken most of this article.

            Thanks to Steve W., John "Boston" and some others friends for their help in gathering the complete studio recordings of this major artist.

                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT

HERZHAFT ON THE BLUES

HERZHAFT ON THE BLUES 

 

J'ai eu la chance de travailler à la conception de la série The Blues conçue pour commémorer le soi-disant centenaire du blues (1903 date où W.C. Handy mentionne un "bluesman") pour la chaîne américaine PBS. Cette série a été conçue par Martin Scorsese et a réuni des metteurs en scène aussi prestigieux que WimWenders, Spike Lee, Pearce ou Clint Eastwood et permis aussi d'exhumer des km de suppléments (films, enregistrements, photos) pour la plupart inédits. Lorsque une grande chaîne française cryptée a diffusé l'intégralité de ces 7 films vers 2007, j'ai été interviewé assez longuement (dans un joli magasin de musique parisien) pour les bonus de ces diffusions. Voici l'intégrale de mes interventions.

CLARENCE GREEN/ Blues Guitar Masters Vol. 12

CLARENCE GREEN/ Blues Guitar Masters Vol. 12

 

           

Après Cal Green, ce douzième "Blues Guitar Masters" est consacré à son jeune frère Clarence Green, lui aussi un excellent guitariste texan. Clarence est né à Mont Belvieu (TX) le 1^er janvier 1934 mais a grandi dans le 5^ème arrondissement de Houston, peuplé largement de créoles venus de Louisiane et connu sous le nom de Frenchtown. Contrairement à Cal, Clarence a toujours préféré vivre d'un travail salarié (chez Houston Light Power) mais a néanmoins pratiqué la musique régulièrement, jouant les week ends de façon régulière autour de Houston. Son premier groupe, Blues For Two, formé en 1951 avec le chanteur Zydeco Albert Redeaux, comprenait même à un moment Johnny Copeland et Joe Hughes. Mais c'est surtout d'abord avec les Cobras puis les Rhythmaires que Clarence a enregistré tout au long des années 1960, soit en vedette (en 1958 son premier 45t Mary my darling/ Old Grandpa) soit derrière quantité de chanteurs et chanteuses de Houston comme Iola Broussard, Lavelle White ou Trudy Lynn ainsi que derrière Bobby Bland, Joe Hinton et Junior Parker. Son orchestre régulier comprenait alors Henry Hayes, Teddy Reynolds , Wilbur Mc Farland.

            C'est un peu dans la foulée de Cal Green que Clarence Green a réussi un retour en studio et sur scène, gravant un très bon album en 1987.

            Il avait plusieurs projets de disques et de tournées quand il est décédé à Houston le 13 mars 1997.

            Nous avons regroupé presque la totalité des titres enregistrés sous son nom par Clarence Green sauf 6 qui soit sont introuvables soit uniquement dans des ventes aux enchères à des prix faramineux. Toute copie sous n'importe quelle forme (.mp3) est bien sûr la bienvenue.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

 

Following Cal Green, this twelfth volume of “Blues Guitar Masters” is dedicated to his younger brother Clarence Green, himself an outstanding Texan guitarist. Clarence was born in Mont Belvieu (TX) on January 1, 1934, but grew up in Houston’s 5^th Ward, which was largely populated by Creoles from Louisiana and known as Frenchtown. Unlike Cal, Clarence always preferred to make a living as a salaried employee (at Houston Light Power) but nonetheless played music regularly, performing on weekends around Houston. His first band, Blues For Two, formed in 1951 with the Zydeco Albert Redeaux, even included Johnny Copeland and Joe Hughes at one point. But it was primarily with the Cobras and then the Rhythmaires that Clarence recorded throughout the 1960s, either as the lead artist (in 1958, his first 45, “Mary My Darling/Old Grandpa”) or backing numerous Houston singers such as Iola Broussard, Lavelle White, and Trudy Lynn, as well as Bobby Bland, Joe Hinton, and Junior Parker. His regular band at the time included Henry Hayes, Teddy Reynolds, and Wilbur McFarland.

Following somewhat in the footsteps of Cal Green, Clarence Green made a successful return to the studio and the stage during the 1980's, recording an excellent album in 1987.

He had several recording and touring projects in the works when he passed away in Houston on March 13, 1997.

We have compiled nearly all of the tracks recorded by Clarence Green under his own name, with the exception of six that are either unavailable or can only be found at auctions for astronomical prices. Any copies in any format (.mp3) are, of course, most welcome.

Gérard HERZHAFT

Thanks to our generous friend Hartmut M. here are two rare tracks by Clarence Green that I was missing: Lil Green + Your love (Clarence Green, vcl/g; band. Houston, Tx. 1965)

 

A TRIBUTE TO SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON

 A TRIBUTE TO SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON

(click on the photo to hear the song)

"Help me" est devenu un standard obligé du blues presque par hasard. Nous l'avons joué à presque chacun de nos concerts (cf    • HELP ME Herzhaft blues, Québec 02 1997  ) et enregistré sur le deuxième CD Herzhaft blues. Cette version 2026 est l'occasion d'un hommage en photos au très grand bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), créateur de ce titre. “Help Me” became a blues standard almost by chance. We've played it at nearly every one of our concerts (see    • HELP ME Herzhaft blues, Québec 02 1997  ) and recorded it on our second CD, *Herzhaft Blues*. This 2026 version serves as a photographic tribute to the great bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), who wrote the song. I sing and play the guitar, David on harmonica, Lise on piano and sring bass and drums have been added electronically. Enjoy

Sur ce blog Blue Eye , vous pourrez ecouter la totalité de l'oeuvre de Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) avec deux entréés:

On this blog Blue Eye you will be able to hear the complete recordings by this major bluesman Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) on two posts:

SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON/ The complete studio recordings

Ainsi que sur cet autre post pour lequel j'ai rassemblé tout ce que j'ai pu des enregistrements "live" de ce grand bluesman, une compilation totalement inédite.

SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON/ The Complete Live Recordings