LOS ANGELES BLUES/ Volume 5

 

LOS ANGELES BLUES/ Volume 5

 

           

We're going back this time to our Los Angeles Blues series with, for this 5^th Volume, several excellent but very few known blues artists.

            Despite several records under his name, singer and saxophonist Paul Clifton is very poorly documented. We just know he was a member of the Ollie McLollie band and that he was highly praised by his colleagues musicians around Los Angeles during the 1950-60's. He leaves us some very good tracks, some having been fairly reissued, others not.

            I've tried quite hard to find anything about pianist and singer Herb Fisher  who recorded a lot between 1950 and 1953 but in vain. I've been able to gather the most from his recorded works but some are missing and any help would be welcome. Like Paul Clifton, many of his tracks are very good.

            Chance Halladay was a jazz singer, sometimes cornered on the Rockabilly genre perhaps because he was white. His music is very blues oriented and his version of the Dickie Thompson's classic Thirteen women is a treat. Hallady was although known as a talent scout and a producer around the Los Angeles area for awhile.

           

R.S. Rankin (born 22^nd February 1933 in Royse City, Tx) is T-Bone Walker's nephew (as T-Bone himself explained to Living Blues Magazine in an interview) and he recorded a handful of excellent tracks under the name T-Bone Jr. Rankin was also a member of T-Bone's band for awhile. He is the only bluesman from this post who had a short article written on him by Darryl Stolper in Blues Unlimited n°115! Although he is probably dead by now, we don't know nothing of what happened to him after the 1970's.

            Thanks to all who helped me for this post and if anyone have more details, facts and/or music, it would be great.

                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT

LOS ANGELES BLUES/ Volume 5/ Discography