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mardi 8 octobre 2013

CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday Volume 6




CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday

Volume 6

         
   Ce nouveau volume de la série "Chicago/The blues Yesterday" est entièrement consacré aux harmonicistes.
            Birmingham Jones (Wright Jones et non Wright Birmingham comme on le lit trop souvent) est né le 9 janvier 1937 à Saginaw, Michigan et a joué du saxophone et de la guitare avant de se consacrer à l'harmonica sous l'influence de Little Walter. Il joue dans plusieurs orchestres (dont celui de J.B. Lenoir et le Muddy Waters blues band) tout en enregistrant une poignée d'excellents titres sous son nom en 1956 et 1965 (avec Hubert Sumlin à la guitare). Après une séance en 1970 pour Prez Kenneth (malheureusement jamais éditée), Birmingham Jones a largement vécu en dehors de la musique, faisant une brève réapparition dans les studios pour le label autrichien Wolf en 1984.
            Big Walter Horton est bien sûr un des plus grands harmonicistes de l'histoire du blues. Pour répondre à des demandes, j'ai inclus dans cette anthologie la totalité de l'album "Soul of Blues harmonica" qu'il a gravé en 1964 sous la houlette de Willie Dixon (qui chante sur deux titres) et qui a paru sur le label Argo, une filiale de Chess plus spécialisée dans les disques de jazz. Si cet album essentiellement instrumental n'est pas bouleversant, il comprend quand même de bons morceaux, permet d'apprécier un jeune Buddy Guy et Walter est en bonne forme. Cet album était devenu très rare et très recherché.

            Enfin, Harmonica George (George W. Robinson) est né le 12 juin 1934 à Aberdeen (Ms) et a appris l'harmonica avec son frère Jesse qui connaissait bien Howlin' Wolf. Venu s'installer à Chicago en 1952, Harmonica George a vécu de son métier de chauffeur de taxi tout en jouant avec plusieurs orchestres de la ville, notamment ceux de Elmore James et Howlin' Wolf. Il a enregistré sporadiquement une courte discographie dont beaucoup de morceaux sont demeurés inédits (notamment un LP pour Twinight) ou sont extrêmement difficiles à trouver (un 45t pour Shama avec Syl Johnson). Si quelqu'un a d'autres titres de Harmonica George, une copie .mp3 serait, comme d'habitude, fort appréciée.
                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

            Birmingham Jones opens this new volume in our "Chicago/ The blues Yesterday" series. Born Wright Jones (and not Wright Birmingham as it is so often written) January, 9th 1937 in Saginaw (Michigan), our man learned to play the saxophone and the guitar but made a small career as a harp player, largely influenced by Little Walter. In Chicago, he played in several bands (J.B. Lenoir, Muddy Waters) and recorded two excellent sessions in 1956 and 1965 under his name (the latter with Hubert Sumlin!). After another unissued session in 1970 for Prez Kenneth, Birmingham Jones made a living outside music but was recorded again in 1984 by the Austrian Wolf Record.
           
Big Walter Horton is of course the very well known master, one of the most brilliant harmonica player of the whole blues history. Here we have the entire 1964 album "Soul of Blues harmonica", a quite hard to find and much sought after Argo LP, the first album made by Walter. This is certainly not the best of Horton recordings but this mostly instrumental Willie Dixon (who sings on two titles) production has its moments and features also a young Buddy Guy playing excellent solos.
            At last, Harmonica George (George W. Robinson), born June, 12th 1934 in Aberdeen (Ms) learned the harp with his brother Jesse who was a friend of Howlin' Wolf. After he came to Chicago in 1952, George made a living mostly as a cab driver but nevertheless sat in with several blues bands (Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf) while managing to record a string of sessions for small labels. Unfortunately, many of those recordings are either unissued (a whole LP for the Twinight label) or very hard to find (a Shama 45 with Syl Johnson). If anybody holds those recordings and would like to share it, a .mp3 copy through my mail would be appreciated!
                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT



CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday
Volume 6

Birmingham Jones (Wright Jones), vcl/hca; Freddie Robinson, g; Charles Jones, bs; Billy Davenport, dms. Chicago, Ill. 1956
01. Birmingham late hours
02. You're too bad
Birmingham Jones, vcl/hca; Hubert Sumlin, g; Jarrett Gibson, t-sax; Donald Hankins, t-sax; Andrew Mc Mahon, bs; Clifton James, dms. Chicago, Ill. mars 1965
03. I'm glad
04. Drinking again
05. Birmingham bounce
06. Chills and fever
Big Walter Horton, vcl/hca; Buddy Guy, g; Bobby Buster, og; Jack Myers, bs; Willie Smith, dms; Willie Dixon, vcl on *. Chicago, Ill. 13 - 24 janvier 1964
07. Good moanin' blues*
08. Gonna bring it on home*
09. Groove walk
10. La Cucaracha
11. John Henry
12. Hard hearted woman
13. Wee baby blues
14. It's alright
15. Wrinkles
16. Friday night stomp
Harmonica George (George Robinson), vcl/hca; Eddie Clearwater, g; Willie Johnson, g; Jo Jo Williams, bs; Bob Richey, dms. Chicago, Ill. 1959
17. Sad and blues
18. Sputnik
Harmonica George, vcl/hca; Reggie Boyd, g; Syl Johnson, g; og; bs; dms. Chicago, Ill. 1968
19. Got some order
20. Got in the kitchen and burn
Harmonica George, vcl/hca; Detroit Jr, pno; Larry Burton, g; horns; Aron Burton, bs; Pete Williams, dms. Chicago, Ill. 1982
21. Blue by George
22. Buzz me


(The Big Walter Horton tracks herein are the complete Argo LP "Soul of blues harmonica")

18 commentaires:

  1. Chicago/ The Blues Yesterday Vol. 6

    http://www73.zippyshare.com/v/25572864/file.html

    O.K.?

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  2. Merci, Gerard -- and a great photo of Walter to boot! It's the best color shot of him I've ever seen. As anyone knew who knew him well, which I did, he never liked to have his picture taken. I lost count of the times I saw him stop playing because someone in the audience pulled out a camera.

    Best, Marty

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  3. Good harp! Thank you very much Gerard for your efforts.

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  4. Thank you for another great upload.

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  5. Another very welcomed collection, Gerard. As always many thanks for making these great recordings available to us.

    Interesting early session (Birmingham Jones 1956) with Freddie Robinson on guitar. Freddie was the first black blues guitar player I ever saw perform live when he played in Australia with John Mayall's band in 1972.

    Cheers, Bob Mac

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  6. Thank you very much to all of you for your support...

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  7. Excellent ! as always ... Congratulations also for the great sound quality : THANKS !!

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  8. Thanks very much Gerard - a great collection and superb sound.

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  9. What a wonderful collection! Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Herzhaft. The blues gods are smiling tonight!!!!

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  10. Thank you, Gerard. I'm enjoying these very much.

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  11. Merci pour tous ces enregistrements
    andré

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  12. Sound quality, credits details, and of course wonderful cuts...
    THANK YOU for allowing others (specially me ;-)) to find pleasure
    in such treasures. Cheers from Daniel, Madrid, Spain

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  13. Thank you for the good times on your blog. I often post to watch ( again and again ) these wonderful articles you shared . Very interesting. Good luck to you!

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  14. wonderful, many thanks indeed for sharing.

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