FLORIDA COUNTRY BLUES/ Volume 1

 

FLORIDA COUNTRY BLUES Volume 1

               La Floride n'est malheureusement pas une région connue pour son blues. Essentiellement d'ailleurs parce qu'à l'exception du travail de la chercheuse et célèbre écrivain afro-américaine Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) bien peu d'enregistrements de blues ont été faits autant de terrain que commerciaux. Durant deux ans (1935-37) Zora Neale a été le fer de lance de sept expéditions de terrain, certaines en compagnie de John & Alan Lomax qui ont permis de découvrir certains des bluesmen les plus connus de cet Etat dont Gabriel Brown qui enregistrera substantiellement à New York après la guerre.

            En fait, en Floride - comme dans pratiquement tous les Etats du Sud - il y avait une scène du blues assez considérable dans les années 1930-60, certains étant des musiciens professionnels ou semi-professionnels, d'autres qui n'animaient que des soirées privées ou jouaient les week ends pour des pique niques ou des évènements familiaux. Mais ces musiciens ne sont pas connus tout simplement parce qu'aucune compagnie de disques n'est allée les enregistrer durant l'avant et l'immédiate après guerre et que, lors du Blues Revival des années 1960, les producteurs-amateurs de blues se sont essentiellement concentrés sur les régions qu'ils connaissaient par les disques et qu'ils croyaient être les principales (et seules!) régions du blues, en particulier le Delta!

            Mais à partir des années 1960, la State Library &Archives of Florida a fait - sans beaucoup de publicité, aucune revue spécialisée n'en ayant à ma connaissance parlé à l'exception de la parution d'un double album: Drop on down in Florida - un travail considérable de recherches et d'enregistrements de terrain, découvrant de nombreux musiciens folk et blues (et leur permettant de se produire dans des festivals locaux), la plupart étant alors désormais âgés et dont certains avaient fait une très longue carrière dans les juke joints, les medicine shows ou les circuits de Vaudeville. Cela a donné naissance aux considérables archives sonores, photos, interviews rassemblés dans la Florida Memory, à partir de quoi quasiment tous les morceaux ici rassemblés sont issus.

           

Odell Maxwell est un des rares artistes ici présents qui a enregistré deux albums dont nous ne pouvons que recommander l'achat. Né en Floride et fils d'un propriétaire de juke joint Gus Maxwell chez qui ont joué les plus grands bluesmen de passage, Odell partage son temps entre son métier de garde forestier à Orlando et son orchestre, les Maxwells, avec lequel il joue les week ends.

            Richard Williams (1887-1991), un musicien des circuits itinérants qui n'a appris que très tard le blues (avec des ouvriers de passage) a été substantiellement enregistré - blues et Gospel - à la fin de sa vie et en compagnie de sa fille Ella Mae Wilson par les chercheurs de l'Université de Floride qui ont même mis en ligne une excellente sélection de ses meilleurs titres.

           

Albert "Buck" Thompson a longtemps joué dans les juke joints de Floride et Alabama tout en louant ses bras aux différentes fermes et plantations de ces Etats durant les années 1950-60 et son répertoire est extrêmement vaste.

            Blind Johnny Brown (1910-86) et Moses Williams (1919-88) étaient d'excellents musiciens traditionnels, le premier très ancré dans le style Appalachien traditionnel, le second ayant développé une technique particulière au diddley-bow, cet instrument maison primitif, dont il arrivait à tirer des sons très excitants.

            Emmett Murray est né en 1911 à Moultrie (Georgie) et est venu en Floride durant les années 1930 afin de travailler dans les plantations de canne à sucre tout en jouant dans des hôtels et des réunions privées autant pour les Noirs que pour les Blancs.

            L'anthologie est complétée par le pianiste et chanteur Alex Mc Bride (1913-99), un musicien de barrelhouse et la chanteuse Mary Mc Clain (1902-2000) qui a enregistré par ailleurs sous le nom de Diamond Teeth Mary. Ainsi que par l'harmoniciste Samuel Young.

            Tous nos remerciements à Florida Memory pour ce formidable travail.

                                                                                   Gérard HERZHAFT

            Florida is unfortunately not very well known as a blues State for with the exception of the seminal work by famous African American author Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) who did a two year (1935-37) field research work (sometime with the Lomaxes and discovering some future blues artists like Gabriel Brown), no record company never came to this State. But in Florida - like in all Southern States - there were strong local blues scenes during the decades 1930-60 with many bluesmen playing in clubs, juke joints, picnics, medicine shows, who gained a strong local reputation but who never were recorded.

            But from the 1960's the State Library &Archives of Florida has done - without much publicity - a considerable field work, researching blues and folk veterans or younger artists, interviewing them, recording them on hours of tapes and sometimes bringing them to the limelight of local festivals and musical workshops. One box-set of two CD's - Drop down in Florida - was issued commercially and, despite few reviews, is well worth buying.

            This is from those huge archives that most of the following recordings come from.

            Odell Maxwell is one of the very few artists here who has recorded two albums that should be in every country blues fan's collection. Born in Florida and the son of a noted juke joint owner (Gus Maxwell), Odell has learned the blues from all the great names who came to play at his father's place. He shares his time between his day job in Orlando's Park and his band, the Maxwells whose whom he plays the week ends.

            Richard Williams (1887-1991) was a travelling folk musician who learned the blues thanks to itinerant workers coming to the phosphate mines near Richard's place. He has extensively been recorded (often alongside his daughter Ella Mae Wilson) late in his life by Florida Memory which even has put a downloading CD on line.

            Albert "Buck" Thompson has also substantially played in the Florida and Alabama juke joints while being an itinerant field worker during the 1950's-60's and he has a wide repertoire.

           

Blind Johnny Brown (1910-86) and Moses Williams (1919-88) were excellent traditional musicians, the first very rooted in the Piedmont blues tradition, Moses having developed a striking technique at his homemade diddley bow.

            Emmett Murray was born in 1911 at Moultrie (Georgia) and came to Florida during the 1930's to work on the sugarcane fields. He regularly played for parties and picnics for either Black or White folks.

            This homemade comp is rounded by some tracks by barrelhouse pianist Alex McBride (1913-99), singer Mary McClain (1909-2000) who recorded under the name Diamond Teeth Mary and harp player Samuel Young.

            Thanks again to Florida Memory for their huge and so useful work. Go to their websitefor much more material.

  Gérard HERZHAFT

FLORIDA COUNTRY BLUES

ODELL MAXWELL, vcl/g/hca. Orlando, Fl. 2012

01. Black man

02. Whiskey blues

RICHARD WILLIAMS, vcl/g. Newberry, Fl. 27 mai 1978

03. Baby please don't go

04. John Henry

05. Williams' slide blues

ALBERT "BUCK" THOMPSON, vcl/g. Hastings, Fl. 14 février 1985

06. Feel like a bird

07. I am drifting

08. Let's do the Twist

09. Rolling stone

BLIND JOHNNY BROWN, vcl/g. St Petersburg, Fl. 1 octobre 1976

10. Mistreating blues

11. Red Cross store

12. Woke up this morning blues

MOSES WILLIAMS, vcl/g/diddley bow. Waverly, Fl. 27 novembre 1977

13. Catfish blues n°1

14. Catfish blues n°2

15. Highway 13

16. The train

17. Which way did my baby go?

MARY MC CLAIN, vcl; Willie James, pno. White Springs, Fl. 27 mai 1988

18. Backwater blues

ALEX MCBRIDE, vcl/pno. Orange Park, Fl. 16 août 1989

19. In the Evening

EMMETT MURRAY, vcl/g. Pahokee, Fl. 8 avril 1980

20. Dig myself a hole

21. Emmett's blues

22. There is a man taking names

SAMUEL YOUNG, vcl/hca. Homestead, Fl. 14 septembre 1985

23. Decoration day

24. Birdnest on the ground

LAZY BILL LUCAS/ Complete Recordings

 

 

LAZY BILL LUCAS/ Complete Recordings

 

           

Lazy Bill Lucas is one of the too many unsung pioneers of the post-war Chicago blues. He recorded a handful of tracks in 1953 backed by the great Louis Myers that stand as Chicago blues classics, several times reissued on numerous anthologies since the Blues revival years. At that time, Lucas seemed to have disappeared for good and was only a name for blues buffs around the world. But the researcher, guitarist, teacher and future author of several important books and studies, Jeff Todd Titon who lived in Minneapolis (certainly not considered at that time as an important blues city) found there Lazy Bill Lucas, interviewed him in depth (published in Blues Unlimited n°s 6à to 63) and moreover pushed him to record once again for several albums that enabled the bluesman to show the width of his skills and repertoire.

           

Bill Lucas was born in Wynne, Ark on May 29 1918. His father, a poor farmer, was a blues guitarist and, seeing the interest of his young son to the music, he bought him a guitar in exchange of one of his pigs! Bill learned a lot from his father and from Big Bill Broonzy's records, Big Bill staying always his main musical influence. Bill learned also the piano at his local church, becoming a very skilled pianist in demand a little bit everywhere. He moved to Saint Louis, Mo. in 1940 playing during a short time with Big Joe Williams who urged him to try his luck in Chicago. In 1941, Bill moved to the Windy City, playing in Maxwell Street and many Chicago clubs with Little Walter (who gave him his nickname "Lazy Bill" probably due to the nervous eye disorder that gave him some physical limitations), Johnny Young, John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Homesick James etc...

Lazy Bill mainly playing piano by now formed his blues band during the early 50's with his niece Miss Hi-Fi on vocals, Jo Jo Williams on guitar and Johnny Swanns on drums. Bill recorded as a pianist with Homesick James, Snooky Pryor, Little Willie Foster, Eddy Clearwater and with Earl Dranes' group The Blues Rockers. Lazy Bill Lucas recorded only four tracks as a vocalist in October 1953, waxing the classics She got me walkin' and I had a dream. For several reasons, Bill moved to Minneapolis at the end of the 50's, making a living mostly outside music but still playing regularly locally with other Chicago blues expatriates like Mojo Buford and his old friend Jo Jo Williams. He was a regular at the Key Club, playing by himself or with his pals and he almost always was picked to back Chicago bluesmen when they came to town like Big Walter Horton, Smokey Smothers, even Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. This is (during the late 60's) when Jeff Titon interviewed him, documenting this bluesman in depth. Lazy Bill Lucas appeared on several blues festivals during the 1970's, playing also in a musical revue "Dat Feeling" and even hosting his own radio show The Lazy Bill Lucas Show on KFAI in Minneapolis. He recorded several albums from 1969 to 1973 for small independent labels that unfortunately were poorly distributed and sold.

            He recorded a last album in May 1982 before dying in his sleep at his Minneapolis' home on December 11 of the same year.

            This post gathers all his studio recordings and tries to be a well deserved tribute to an important but too neglected bluesman.

            Thanks a lot to Xyros who provided any of the rare recordings herein.

            Most of this article comes from Jeff Titon and Jim O'Neal writings about Lazy Bill on Blues Unlimited and Living Blues.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

 

 

 

Lazy Bill Lucas 1950's band with Johnny Swanns, Miss Hi-Fi and Jo Jo Williams.