TALL
PAUL HANKINS/ Complete Recordings
La présence de Tall Paul Hankins
dans notre dernier Chicago/ The Blues
Today a engendré un certain intérêt parmi les lecteurs de ce blog, ce qui
m'a poussé à faire davantage de recherches sur ce musicien jusqu'ici très peu
documenté. Parallèlement, nos amis Benoit Blue Boy, Lex Jansen et particulièrement Steve
Wisner nous ont fourni des copies des titres encore manquants et même un 45t de
1963 qui n'est pas présent dans l'excellente "Blues Discography".
Paul Vernon Hankins est né le 20
mars 1937 à Fairhope, Alabama, une petite ville côtière non loin de Mobile. Il
apprend la musique et en particulier le piano à la Baldwin County Training
School et commence à jouer très jeune dans différents orchestres locaux. Paul
gagne Chicago dans les années 1950, se marie avec une amie d'enfance Edith
Lillian Parnell (1936-2010) et fonde une maison de disques tout en s'imposant
avec son orchestre composé des frères Hudson comme un excellent pianiste de
organiste aussi à l'aise dans le jazz, le blues que plus tard la Soul et le
Funk. Durant les années 1960, il est fréquemment dans les studios, enregistrant
comme sideman pour différents bluesmen comme Earl Hooker, Bobby Saxton, Freddy
Robinson, Lillian Offit mais sous son nom plutôt comme un organiste dans la
veine d'un Jimmy Smith.
Tous détails supplémentaires sur la
vie et la carrière de cet important musicien seront les bienvenus.
Gérard
HERZHAFT
Keyboardist
Tall Paul Hankins' presence in the last issue of our Chicago/ The Blues Yesterday series has stirred a quick and strong
interest among readers of this blog who are essentially hard blues buffs! As
our friends Benoit Blue Boy, Lex Jansen and particularly Steve Wisner provided the missing
tracks and even an hitherto unknown 45t from 1963 (for the short lived Bill
Tyson's label Ty-Do) it so finished to convince me to search more and deeper
about this great musician who stayed largely undocumented insofar.
Paul
Vernon Hankins was born in Fairhope, Alabama, a small town of 15.000 on the Gulf Coast,
not far from Mobile,
on 20th March 1937. Paul started to learn the music and the piano
while attending the Baldwin
County Training
School. As a teenager, he began to play in
several local bands. To get more opportunities, Hankins came to Chicago during the late
1950's. He soon married Edith Lillian Parnell (1936-2010), a childhood friend.
At ease whether playing blues, jazz, Soul and Funk, Paul Hankins displayed his
great talents as a pianist and organist with many Chicago bands, in clubs and in studios.
Forming his own band composed of good sidemen like the Hudson Brothers, Paul
recorded a lot behind people like Earl Hooker, Bobby Saxton, Freddy Robinson or
Lillian Offit and under his name, mostly as an organist in the Jimmy Smith's
mould with a striking downhome touch.
With
a large family and tired of the hectic and sometimes dangerous Chicago life,
"Tall" Paul Hankins decided to go back to his native Alabama during
the early 70's. A religious man, he dedicated more and more his organ and piano
playing to his Fairhope's Twin
Beech AME
Zion Church.
He died in Fairhope on 18 December 2010.
More
details about the life and the music of this great musician would be most
welcomed.
Gérard
HERZHAFT
Tall
Paul Hankins, pno; Eddie C. Campbell, g; A.C. Reed, t-sax; Jack Myers, bs; Odie
Payne, dms. Chicago, Ill. 1959
01. Teenage hop
02. I am in
love again
Tall
Paul Hankins, vcl/og; prob. Willie Hudson, g; band. Chicago, Ill.
c. juillet 1963
03. The big ape
04. Organ Soul
Tall
Paul Hankins, og; Willie Hudson, g/vcl on *; Bobby Hudson, bs; Joe Hudson, dms.
Chicago, Ill.
1964
05. Joe's House
Party I & II
06. Red Lips
07. It's you
I'm going to miss*
Tall
Paul Hankins, og; The Hot Peppers, band. Chicago,
Ill. 1965
08. The
Turnpike
09. Saint James
Infirmary
10. A touch of the blues
11. Hot Spot
Tall
Paul Hankins, og; band. Chicago,
Ill. 1966
12. My Boogaloo
13. I did it
Tall
Paul Hankins, pno; band. Chicago,
Ill. c. 1967
14. Rock me
baby
15. Soul
searchin'
