CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday Volume 24

CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday/ Volume 24

            

Our most popular Chicago/ The Blues Yesterday Series are here again... for a 24th Volume!

            Jimmy Binkley (born James H. Binkley 1st March 1923 in Chicago) was a popular blues, R&B and jazz pianist and bandleader who was quite active in the studios during the 1950's, playing several times a week in ballrooms and night clubs. He recorded behind many singers and the recordings under his own name are quite interesting, featuring vocalists like Harold Burrage and George Green. He relocated in Peoria (Illinois) during the early 1960's, becoming a local favorite until his death on 26th January 2015.

            Pianist and singer Jesse James (maybe a nickname) remains largely a mysterious artist. He was from Cincinnati, quite active during the 1930's and, according to Pigmeat Jarrett interviewed by Steve Tracy, Jesse was mainly a noted moonshiner who also played piano on the side. He recorded behind Walter Coleman and under his own name only those four very down home tracks at Chicago in 1936. His version of Roosevelt Sykes' Highway 61 is particularly striking.

           

Floyd Smith (1917-1982) is reputedly one of the first jazz and blues guitar player having recorded with an electric guitar (in fact, it was George Barnes in march 1938 and you may go years before if you accept to include Western Swing as a jazz form). Floyd recorded as a sideman in the early 1930's with different bands, particularly Andy Kirk's with his memorable solo Floyd's guitar blues that he would record again several times during his career. He then formed his own trio in Chicago, recording a handful of 78s in the Windy City before joining Bill Doggett and touring and recording until his death.

           

And then here are Bertha Chippe Hill's postwar Chicago recordings. Bertha (born Charleston, SC, 15 March 1905) was a star during the 1920's, in the Vaudeville circuit as well as on theatres and clubs. She was singing, dancing, playing the comedy and started a successful prewar recording career in 1925 for Okeh, waxing a good number of blues backed by stars of the era like Louis Armstrong, Richard M. Jones, Lonnie Johnson, Scrapper Blackwell and Tampa Red. After 1929, she retired from singing to raise her many children. She resumed her musical career in 1946, enjoying quite a following and even appearing at the Carnegie Hall and touring Europe. She died untimely when she was run over by a car in a street of New York on 7 May 1950.

JIMMY BINKLEY, pno; band. Chicago, Ill. 26 mars 1951

01. Nite life

02. Way down boogie (vcl: Harold Burrage)

Hot smoke

Jimmy Binkley, pno; George Green, vcl/dms, band. Chicago, Ill. février 1953

03. Say hey Sugar Ray

04. Finance man (vcl: George Green)

05. Brand new rockin' chair (vcl: George Green)

06. Midnite wail

Jimmy Binkley, pno; band. Chicago, Ill. juillet 1953

07. Blue blue night

08. The judge (vcl: George Green)

Jimmy Binkley, pno; band. Chicago, Ill. 6 janvier 1954

09. Boogie on the hour

10. Wine, wine, wine (vcl: George Green)

Jimmy Binkley, pno; band. Chicago, Ill. 24 janvier 1956

11. You made a boo-boo (vcl: unknown)

Messin' around (Thanks to Apesville for sharing this rare track)

Jimmy Binkley, vcl; band. Chicago, Ill. décembre 1956 (as Boogaloo and his Gallant Crew)

Talk about a party + Big fat lie (Thanks to Apesville for sharing those rare tracks)

JESSE "PIANO" JAMES, vcl/pno. Chicago, Ill. 1936

12. Highway 61 blues

13. Lonesome day blues

14. Southern Casey Jones

15. Sweet Patuni

FLOYD SMITH, g; Andy Kirk, b-sax; horns; Mary Lou Williams, pno; Booker Collins, bs; Ben Thigpen, dms. New York City, 16 mars 1939

16. Floyd's guitar blues

Floyd Smith, g;  Nat Jones, a-sax; Bill Huff, pno; Booker Collins, bs; Curtis Walker, dms. Chicago, Ill. décembre 1948

17. Floyd's guitar blues (Hy Tone)

Floyd Smith, vcl/g; Bill Huff, pno; Booker Collins, bs. Chicago, Ill. 8 juin 1949

18. Blue moods

19. Saturday nite boogie

BERTHA "CHIPPIE" HILL, vcl; Lee Collins, tpt; J.H. Shayne, pno; John Lindsay, bs; Baby Dodds, dms. Chicago, Ill. 4 février 1946

20. Charleston blues

21. How long blues

Bertha "Chippie" Hill, vcl; Lee Collins, tpt; Lovie Austin, pno; John Lindsay, bs; Baby Dodds, dms. Chicago, Ill. 5 février 1946

22. Trouble in mind

23. Careless love

24. Around the clock blues

25. Nobody knows you when you're down and out

Bertha "Chippie" Hill, vcl; Montana Taylor, pno; Almond Leonard, kazoo/wbd. Chicago, Ill. 18 avril 1946

26. Worried jailhouse blues

27. Black market blues

28. Mistreatin' Mr Dupree