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samedi 31 août 2024

T-BONE WALKER/ The 60's


 T-BONE WALKER/ The 1960's Studio Sessions



           
On ne présente certainement pas aux lecteurs de Blue Eye, l'immense T-Bone Walker (né en 1910 à Linden, Tx), l'un des grands pionniers de la guitare blues électrique et peut-être le principal créateur de ce qu'on appelle aujourd'hui le "West Coast blues".
            Après près de dix ans de succès du disque et de tournées incessantes et harassantes, les années 1950 sont une décennie difficile pour T-Bone. Malgré l'excellence toujours affirmée de sa musique, les succès commerciaux s'espacent. La formule gagnante (arrangements jazzy, tempos alanguis, compositions sentimentales et atmosphère éthérée), sans doute utilisée jusqu'à plus soif, ne fait plus autant mouche. Les goûts du public noir changent vers une musique plus musclée, vers le Rock'n'roll et de plus en plus vers la Soul naissante.
            La vie de T-Bone est essentiellement un tourbillon incessant de femmes, de jeu (il perd des sommes colossales en une nuit), de mauvais placements financiers et peut-être surtout, de whiskey. Il souffre de graves troubles digestifs et en 1955, les chirurgiens lui retirent les 2/3 de l'estomac. Cela ne l'empêche pas de continuer à boire autant mais le force à ralentir ses activités. La mort dans l'âme, T-Bone Walker dissout son orchestre et jouera désormais avec des musiciens locaux, au fur et à mesure des engagements et des apparitions en studio, de plus en plus rares.
            Les années 1960 sont encore plus difficiles. Comme toutes les gloires du Rhythm & Blues des années 40, T-Bone est un has been pour les jeunes Noirs. Et le Blues Revival américain ne recherche guère des musiciens de blues jazzy à l'apparence tirée à quatre épingles comme T-Bone. Mais le showman a de la ressource. Texan pur jus, cavalier émérite, il a toujours réussi à se maintenir en selle. Seul de son genre parmi des bluesmen bien plus rugueux, il va faire partie de la première tournée européenne de l'American Folk Blues Festival 1962. Son jeu de scène spectaculaire - il fait le grand écart, joue de la guitare dans le dos, roule des yeux langoureux - tout autant que le superbe son de sa guitare lui valent encore une fois un grand succès auprès de ce public européen qui ne le connaissait pas beaucoup, hormis les amateurs de jazz.
Il enregistre quelques beaux titres à l'occasion de cette tournée, parraine un groupe britannique de rock blues, les T-Bones qui comprend Stan Webb, le futur fondateur des Chicken Shack. Il reviendra dès lors souvent en Europe où il enregistrera plusieurs microsillons. Aux Etats Unis, grâce au producteur Bob Thiele, T-Bone refait surface en adaptant sa musique aux sonorités funky et boogaloo à la mode durant la fin des 60's. Avec le soutien d'un bel orchestre (le pianiste Lloyd Glenn, le guitariste Mel Brown et une forte ligne de cuivres), Walker enregistre encore deux albums magistraux.
Mais la fatigue, l'abus d'alcool (il vidait un litre de whiskey ou de gin par jour) finissent par miner sa santé. Son jeu s'en ressent, ses concerts aussi où il n'est parfois même plus capable de se tenir sur scène. Toute sa vie, femmes, voitures, guitares et amis, il a dépensé sans compter et n'a pas les moyens de payer ses notes d'hôpital. Pour l'aider et en hommage à sa gigantesque personnalité musicale, les plus grands jazzmen (Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, David Newman, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan) vont l'aider et l'entourer pour un double microsillon, appelé "Very Rare" dans lequel T-Bone lui-même n'apparaît que comme l'ombre de lui-même.
T-Bone décède dans un hôpital de Los Angeles le 16 mars 1975, à peine âgé de 65 ans. Il laisse une œuvre exceptionnelle dont on ne saurait sous-estimer l'impact constant, dès l'origine.
            Nous proposons ici tous les titres enregistrés en studio (et pas ceux en concert) par T-Bone Walker durant les années 1960 dans un ordre chronologique.
            Merci à ceux qui m'ont aidé à compléter cette collection, en particulier Marc Claes et Blues Dude.
                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT

            Everybody reading this blog would certainly know about T-Bone Walker (born in 1910 at Linden, Tx), one of the true originator of the electric blues guitar and of the so-called West Coast blues as well. His influence has been far and wide and can be still strongly heard today.
            After merely 10 years of successful hits and perpetual touring, the mid-50's are lean years for T-Bone. He has left Capitol for Imperial with great expectations but despite the constant excellence of his music, hits are few. His former successful formula (languid tempos, sentimental songs, ethereal jazzy atmosphere) sounds a bit old-fashioned for an African-American record market listening more and more to muscular R'n'R and burgeoning Soul. Like so many 1940's R&B stars T-Bone seems to be a has been for the new generations.
            T-Bone's life is also hectic: a whirl of whiskey, gambling and women that leaves him financially ruined and in a bad health shape altogether. He faces a severe stomach surgery that certainly won't prevent him for hard drinking but that forces him to strongly slow down his activities. In 1955, he must disband his orchestra and has to hire local musicians for gigs and less and less frequent studio sessions.
            While the 1960's begin, his situation seems hopeless. But a true Texan, a skilled horse rider, he will nonetheless be able to saddle again! While the blues revival is more into Delta or Chicago deep bluesmen, T-Bone will be one of the very few jazzy West Coast bluesmen to catch on this new train. He is from the first European AFBF in 1962. A spectacular showman and a great entertainer, he succeeds to win the European audiences. He becomes even the godfather of a British blues-rock group simply called ... The T-Bones (with a young Stan Webb on guitar). He will tour regularly Europe during the 1960's and early 1970's, drawing a faithful audience, recording many sessions as a leader or even as a lead guitarist (for Jay Mc Shann for instance). In the USA, thanks to producer Bob Thiele, he manages to resurface with several excellent records that mix his cool jazzy sound with funk and boogaloo arrangements provided by top-notch backing musicians like Lloyd Glenn or Mel Brown.
            But his hectic life and alcohol abuse take their toll and his last European concerts are painful experiences for even his most staunch fans. All his life he has never been able to keep his dollars in his pocket and to pay his hospital bills an array of great jazzmen (Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Mann, David Newman, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Gerry Mulligan) help him for his difficult last record, a double-album (Very Rare) in which T-Bone appears to be only the shadow of himself. Aaron Walker dies in a Los Angeles hospital on 16 March 1975, at the early age of 65, leaving a huge musical legacy.
            We have here gathered all his 1960's studio recordings (not those live in concert).  Thanks to all who helped me to gather those scattered tracks, particularly Marc Claes and Blues Dude.
                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT



mercredi 21 août 2024

Mr BO / DETROIT BLUES MASTERS Volume 15

 

Mr BO/ Complete Recordings

DETROIT BLUES MASTERS/ Volume 15

 

           


Mr Bo was a true blues master from Detroit, much more than the B.B. King impersonator as he was too often described. And his too short recording works are generally excellent and should have been gathered way before this post. Unfortunately, Mr Bo – as so many Detroit artists – recorded often for tiny ill-distributed companies and, although he was a smash hit when appearing at Ann Arbor's blues & jazz festival, he never got enough attention except for the hardcore blues buffs around the world. And he had to wait his very last year to be finally able to record a whole album!

           


Mr Bo (Louis Collins) was born 7th April 1932 in Indianola, Ms from a poor sharecroppers family. They – like so many – moved to Chicago just after WWII, then Detroit where the young Collins get his first guitar and was hooked to the blues through listening blues records and watching T-Bone Walker and moreover B.B. King, of course the main influence, caught live during local appearances. After a stay with Washboard Willie's band, soon, Mr Bo formed a band (Mr Bo and His Blues Boys) and played at venues and clubs around Detroit, recording for local labels with few airplays and distribution. In 1966, the great 45 I ain't gonna suffer/ If trouble was money enjoyed some local success and was reissued (bootlegged) in UK, drawing at last attention on this first rate singer and guitarist. His appearance at Ann Arbor's Festival in 1973 as well as several other festivals in Detroit and Chicago gave him more exposure. But the 1970's and 80's were very hard times for bluesmen like Mr Bo and he mainly made a living outside music, playing only sporadically.

            At last, he managed to make an European tour in 1993, playing in Utrecht, being interviewed for the Juke Blues Magazine. In 1995, he made a whole album, his only one! And he probably might have toured again overseas and recording more when he died suddenly from a pneumonia on 19th September 1995 at Detroit's Hospital.


            I feel this post is a longtime well deserved tribute to a great underrated artist. It was very hard to gather some of his least known tracks and it couldn't have been done without the great help from Blessup, a true bluesfan and an excellent first rate blues guitarist on his own.

            Most of the details of this article come from the interview of Mr Bo by Jonhatan Varjabadian (published on Juke Blues 30) and article by Jim O'Neal on Living Blues n°15.

            I will add that several tracks doesn't even appear in the standard Blues Discography. So it is a tentative discography with possibly several mistakes. Anyway, enjoy this post and the music.

                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT

 

 

Mr Bo (Louis Collins), vcl/g; Mac Collins, bs; Duke Dawson, dms; band. Detroit, Mi. 1959

01. Times hard

02. Hard times once more

03. Live my life all over

04. Until the day I die

05. I'm leaving this town

Mr Bo, vcl/g; band. Detroit, Mi. 1961

06. Heartache and troubles

07. Calypso blues

Mr Bo, vcl/g; Mac Collins, bs; Duke Dawson, dms; band. Detroit, Mi. 1966

08. I ain't gonna suffer

09. If trouble was money

Mr Bo, vcl/g; band. Detroit, Mi. c. 1967

10. A lost love affair I (II)

Thanks to Ballas: A lost love affair Parts I & II are HERE

Mr Bo, vcl/g; band. Detroit, Mi. 1967

11. Santa's on his way

12. Let's go to the party

13. Cha Bo Cha

14. Thinking about my baby

Mr Bo, vcl/g; band. Detroit, Mi. 1968

15. Baby your hair looks bad

16. Night walkers

17. Early in the morning

18. Never love again

Mr Bo, vcl/g; band. Detroit, Mi. 1972

19. Plenty fire below I & II

Mr Bo, vcl/g; Dave Leonard, hca; Sonny Allen, og; Little Mack Collins, g; Bob Kimball, g; Earl Jones, dms. Ann Arbor, Mi. 8 septembre 1973

20. The train

In fact, "The train" is an alternate take to "I'm leaving this town" and was recorded in 1959. Thanks to Ballas for pointing this mistake.

21. Don't want no woman

Mr Bo, vcl/g; Claude Black, pno; Sabrina La Mar, t-sax; Champ Dogg, bs; Ricky Bones, dms. Napoleon, Oh. février 1995

22. If trouble was money 1995

23. Fire down below

24. I've got the blues

25. The train

26. Detroit, Michigan

27. Lost love affair

28. Born in the country

29. B.B. King Medley

30. Buzz me

31. I'm gonna get even

32. Bo's groove

 

Juke Blues Magazine n°34