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vendredi 5 avril 2019

SHAKEY JAKE


SHAKEY JAKE/ Complete Studio Recordings

           
James D. Harris was born 12 April 1921 (or 1920) at Earle, Arkansas and raised on his parents' small farm. He came to Chicago still a teenager. There he listened to the numerous blues players of the Windy City and saw several times John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson who encouraged him to play the harmonica and sing the blues. He so started a musical career around 1945. With a warm and soft voice, he gained some recognition in Chicago clubs but always found a better way of living in working outside the music. Garage owner, taxi driver, cook, record label owner, strip club owner (and maybe a pimp!)... James earned his Shakey Jake's nickname as a noted gambler, shaking the dice (although some better informed people (?) once told me Jake was named "Shakey" by the numerous women he knew for his bedtime skills). Anyway, he resumed a full blues career during the 1950's in training, promoting, composing blues for and playing with his nephew, Magic Sam (Jake had just married Sam's aunt). Although he is not often credited for that, Shakey Jake played an important part in creating and defining the blues style that would be later on called "West Side Sound" and many of Magic Sam's songs were penned and arranged by his uncle.
            Under his name, Shakey Jake recorded two singles in 1957 and 1958 and two odd full albums for the then fledgling Bluesville label that were very bad received at the time of being issued but that finally are aging rather well. German promoters of the first American Folk Blues Festival wanted another and more famous harp player, also a Shakey, Big Walter Horton on the bill but Willie Dixon who was at the AFBF wheel in Chicago didn't want Walter because of him being not very reliable and instead took Shakey Jake. Jake fared quite well on the very successful tour, befriended with T-Bone Walker (and even won his shoes on cards!) but turned down several offers to record and play more in Europe. In 1968, he toured and recorded in California for the World Pacific label and feeling that the L.A. weather suited him better than windy Chicago's, he settled in Los Angeles where he became a favorite of the local young blues bands like Rod Piazza or William
Clarke. He opened a club (Safara Club), launched a record label (Good Time), recorded with his protégés. But the times were hard for Jake who lived in a very bad and dangerous area and had to sell discarded paper and cardboard to recycling centres for his bread and butter.
            Quite ill during the late 1980's, he finally came back to Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he died on 2 March 1990.
            He leaves us a nice blues heritage. We have gathered here almost all of his studio recordings that thus do not include his AFBF 1962 performances which are easily available elsewhere on CDs.
                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT







 BLUES EN DISQUES





32 commentaires:

  1. SHAKEY JAKE/ Complete Studio Recordings

    CD1: https://mega.nz/#!vIIzmIAD!Q4KwEuPdjCa8EgLzX2awbUBzWMFU4sPsjuH1cZpWjxM

    CD2:
    https://mega.nz/#!KYJVkSSR!RG0QVh5sypOgytehLWPKYdq-dPu92SOrsFbga9813a8

    CD3:
    https://mega.nz/#!CABRnKST!2R6FXzJK3wztsfKPbC93cTDiSotYWR2rp0F_l4V_HCM

    OK? And thanks for any feedback.

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  2. WOWIE!!! Many many thanks for again a great job Gerard. This will be a complete weekend fun. TX!

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  3. By the way GREAT BLOGFOTO. Is that Robinson in the white dress?

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  4. Ce commentaire a été supprimé par un administrateur du blog.

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  5. ... apropos "bedtime skills": Not long ago, a son of SJH (Saul Harris) asked me if I knew anything about any of SJH's German children (which unfortunately I didn't, never even heard/read about any). In case anybody knows anything about those German children, I'd be glad to forward that info to their (half)brother!

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  6. Outstanding Gerard, many thanks.

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  7. Georges Lemaire5 avril 2019 à 15:28

    Thank's a lot, Gerard !!!

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  8. hELLO Gerard, can you explain to me how I can download these?
    Thank you very much. Great Blog!




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    Réponses
    1. I don't understand your question. The links are up here in the comments section (as usual). You just have to copy each link on your browser and click on it. You will then have access to them without problem.

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    2. Thank you Gerard, it did succeed, thank you very much for your uploads, lots of fine music. All the best to you!

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  9. Una excelente recopilación.Un trabajo impagable.Muchas gracias,sr. Herzhaft

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  10. Magistral !! Un grand merci Gérard pour ces superbes galettes.

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  11. Great listening! Many thanks again Gerard!

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  12. Thank You For Yet Another Great Share !

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  13. Muchas gracias Gerard. Espero que te encuntres bien maestro.

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  14. Gerard:

    Thanks for this - great work as usual.

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  15. Not meant as critique in any means as I really enjoy your wonderful posts. Did you leave out Grenade GR-1004 Sister Rose / Turn You On from 1976 for musical reasons? At least "Sister Rose" can be found on "va - Hard to Explain - More Shattered Dreams Funky Blues 1968-1984 BGP-Records compilation (2014) (and on youtube, too)...

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    Réponses
    1. Thanks Greeny. No, I didn't leave Sister Rose/ Turn you on for purpose. I just skipped it although it is well featured in the Shakey Jake's discos (Blues Discography and Stefan Wirtz's). I don't know those titles and I don't have them. If you want to send a .mp3 link, I would certainly put it here as an extra with full credit.

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    2. Gerard let me know if you still need Sister Rose on that BGP disc. I have that somewhere in my library and I'll track it down for you

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    3. Thanks Art S. I don't have the two tracks Sister Rose/ Turn you on for purpose. It would be certainly great if you could send a .mp3 copy of those.

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  16. Hello Gerard,
    Thank you for this extensive collection. Great work and wonderful music.

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  17. Many many thanks, Gerard .. !!
    Great post !

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  18. Merci pour cette superbe collection présentant un grand bluesman.

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  19. Bonjour Gerard, je viens de finir Blues en disques et vous avez seulement utilisé 20% de vos chroniques donc comme disait Freddy Below : "et tu sais ce qu'il faut faire"....

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  20. Bonjour! Wow, this has been quite an eye opener for me! I have some of the more easily available sides and have read how important he was to the West Side sound. This really helps fill in the gaps! Merci Beaucoup!

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  21. Huge thank you for this comprehensive set!

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