AFBF 1969/ The Complete Sessions

  

AFBF 1969/ THE COMPLETE SESSIONS

 

           

After Al Smith in 1968, the line up of the AFBF 1969 European tour was once again given to a blues producer. This time it was the great Arhoolie's founder and manager Chris Strachwitz who also introduced on stage each artist, mostly bluesmen who had recorded on Arhoolie with the exception of Magic Sam and Carey Bell.

            The Paris show which I attended was quite good with Juke Boy Bonner starting with several of his own compositions and some Jimmy Reed's numbers. As far as I remember, Alex Moore appeared a little frail and, alone on the big concert stage, seemed to be hidden behind his piano, playing more for himself than for the audience. John Jackson followed, certainly the first Piedmont style bluesman to grace those AFBF's. I will have the opportunity to visit Mr Jackson ten years after at his home near Washington DC and he remembered this tour fondly but apologized himself for being too restrained and shy at that time before an European audience that he didn't know previously.

           

Clifton Chenier and his brother were their usual excellent showmen, introducing himself in French and mocking Chris Strachwitz who "sait pas parler français, le pauvre gars" (can't speak French, the poor boy!). 

Earl Hooker lighted the stage on fire with several instrumentals, displaying a dexterity on his double neck guitar that stunned the audience, singing some numbers with a young Carey Bell who was at that time mostly unknown but blowed like hell.

         

  Magic Sam closed the show with his trio and played a wonderful driving set that started a thunder of applause. I chatted a little bit with him and he told me to come to visit him in Chicago, telling me he was going to sign a contract with a major label for which he had great expectations. Unfortunately, Sam would die less than two months after this show!

            So, here are the titles from this tour that I've been able to gather for my "Blue Eye" blog.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

 

 

All titles recorded in Europe during October 1969

 

Juke Boy Bonner, vcl/g/hca.

01. Jumping with Juke Boy

02. Running shoes

Alex Moore, vcl/pno.

03. Across the Atlantic Ocean

John Jackson, vcl/g.

04. Poor boy

05. John Jackson's breakdown

06. You ain't no woman

Clifton Chenier, vcl/acc; Cleveland Chenier, rubboard; Robert St Julien, dms.

07. Zydeco et pas sale (Les haricots sont pas salés)

08. Wrap it up

Earl Hooker, vcl/g; Carey Bell, hca; Mac Thompson, bs; Robert St Julien, dms.

09. Earl's boogie

10. Going up and down

11. Crosscut saw

12. Blue shadows fall

Carey Bell, hca; Earl Hooker, g; Mac Thompson, bs; Robert St Julien, dms.

13. Rocking with chromonica

Magic Sam, vcl/g; Mac Thompson, bs; Robert St Julien, dms.

14. Easy baby

15. Looking good

16. All your love

 

All photos taken from my programme by Chris Strachwitz, Horst Lippman, Tom Revis.

AFBF 1968

 

AFBF 1968

 

           

For the 1968 American Folk Blues Festival European tour, German promoters Lippman and Rau had given to producer, promoter and bandleader Al Smith the task to form a lineup of artists, almost entirely based on Al's roster of bluesmen he had under contract. At that time Al who had been one of the main A&R man at Vee Jay, had launched his own companies like Torrid, Blues on Blues (BOB) and recently Bluesway. Al Smith had just been beginning a several years collaboration with ABC, recording many first rate LPs by several big blues names who had signed a contract with him: John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Jimmie Reed, Big Joe Williams and a lot of lesser names but certainly not lesser talented.

            So it was natural that those blues stars would form the line up of the AFBF 1968 tour. After the near disaster of 1967, the backing band this time was first rate with guitarist Eddie Taylor, longtime Reed's accompanist (and largely responsible of the best moments of Reed's career), impeccable bassist and drummer Jerome Arnold and J.C. Lewis. Plus the great harmonica of Big Walter Horton who had already been on the AFBF 1965 lineup. Roosevelt Sykes (a long time friend of Al Smith) who was at first scheduled, couldn't appear and was replaced by Curtis Jones who at that time was living permanently in Europe.

           

The show that I attended in Paris was certainly one of the very best among all of those AFBFs. Everybody was in great form except Jimmy Reed who, probably drunk, stumbled on stage, only saved by the always reliable Eddie Taylor. Big Joe Williams that I never saw less than excellent, was at his greatest this evening. At first, opening the show and the spotlights being badly adjusted, Big Joe, sitting on his stool, tuned his guitar for a long while. His charisma was such that the audience, completely mesmerized by this giant of the blues working on his old battered and well worn 9 string guitar, didn't make a single noise. Suddenly, Joe got up of his stool and wiping his face with a huge handkerchief, asked loudly: "Is somebody out there?". After a great round of applause he whispers " Ah, you

are here!" and he got back on his stool and started to deliver a masterful set. Walter and Eddie Taylor and the band were extremely tight. T-Bone was his usual great and John Lee Hooker, now a big favorite of European stages since 1962, also delivered one of the better set that I've seen from him. The finale was very exciting with T-Bone alternating guitar and piano while Hooker rocked like hell, finishing dancing frantically on stage while the band was following every of his movement.

            Unfortunately, 1968 would be the only AFBF without a record issued! Apparently there were disagreements between German promoters and Al Smith and Al, having almost all the artists under his wing, took back to the USA all the recordings with the idea to issue a double album of the tour on Bluesway in the future. Why didn't this happen? Anyway, Al confirmed this to me when I interviewed him lengthy some months before his untimely death. Those tapes (many hours of it) are somewhere in some unknown vaults with many still unissued Bluesway sessions that Al showed me by Floyd Jones, John Littlejohn, Big Walter and many others.

            So, I've modestly tried for this post to gather whatever possible from this great tour and give a glimpse of what happened during this very successful tour.

Enjoy it!

                                         Gérard Herzhaft

 

All tracks recorded in Europe October 1968

Big Joe Williams, vcl/g.

01. Baby please don't go

02. Crying shame

Big Walter Horton, hca; Eddie Taylor, g; Jerome Arnold, bs; J.C. Lewis, dms.

03. Juke

Curtis Jones, vcl/pno.

04. Cherie

Jimmy Reed, vcl/g/hca; Eddie Taylor, g; Jerome Arnold, bs; J.C. Lewis, dms.

05. Big boss man

John Lee Hooker, vcl/g; T-Bone Walker, pno; Eddie Taylor, g; Jerome Arnold, bs; J.C. Lewis, dms.

06. Boom boom

07. It serves me right to suffer

08. Maudie

T-Bone Walker, vcl/g/pno; Eddie Taylor, g; Jerome Arnold, bs; J.C. Lewis, dms.

09. I wonder why

10. Stuttgart blues

11. Stormy monday blues

John Lee Hooker, vcl/g; T-Bone Walker, pno; Eddie Taylor, g; Jerome Arnold, bs; J.C. Lewis, dms.

12. Shake it baby

All photos taken from my AFBF 1968's programme by J.P.Leloir, Ambor, Dabrowski, M. Rowe, H. Lippmann

 

 

HONEYBOY EDWARDS/ Complete early recordings 1942-69

 HONEYBOY EDWARDS/ Complete Early Recordings 1942-69

 Honeyboy Edwards a été un acteur important de l'histoire de la migration du blues du Delta vers Chicago. Né à Shaw (Ms) le 28 juin 1915 au coeur du Delta, David Edwards a longuement voyagé avec Robert Johnson et Big Joe Williams, Forgeant son propre style au contact de ces deux compères ainsi que d'autres dont il a croisé la route un moment, tels Charlie Patton, Son House, Tommy Mc Clennan, Tommy Johnson, Robert Petway et bien sûr son voisin Muddy Waters. Guidés par John Work, les Lomax découvrent Edwards en 1942 sur la plantation Stovall où il est manoeuvre agricole et l'enregistrent à Clarksdale. Cette superbe série de titres non commerciaux enregistrés pour la Bibliothèque du Congrès révèlent en Edwards un des plus doués de ces bluesmen du Delta de ces années 1940, avec un jeu de guitare en fingerpicking fluide, imaginatif et substantiellement moderne.

        

Honeyboy Edwards. Clarksdale 1942

     Comme Muddy Waters, Honeyboy aurait dû émigrer vers Chicago mais il préfère traîner au Texas, le temps de graver un beau Build myself a cave pour un obscur label local. Il remonte à Memphis où il enregistre pour Sam Phillips une des plus belles versions de Sweet home Chicago qui restera inédite pendant deux décennies et qui sera même un temps attribué au pianiste Albert Williams! Mais Edwards est aussi à Chicago, attire l'attention des frères Chess qui le font enregistrer quelques grands titres (Drop down mama) mais décident de ne pas les exploiter pour ne pas concurrencer Muddy Waters! Il reste encore au moins trois titres inédits dans les archives de Chess si celles-ci existent encore quelque part!

            Par la suite, Honeyboy fait partie des premiers Aces avec Fred Below et les frères Myers mais les quitte juste avant qu'ils n'enregistrent. Il est du premier Blues Revival mais la plupart des séances que produit à l'époque Pete Welding resteront aussi inédites. La malchance frappe encore lorsque Honeyboy est en 1969 dans les studios Chess avec Fleetwood Mac et que les deux titres qu'il enregistre alors ne sont pas retenus sur l'album original!

            Heureusement, Honeyboy, grâce à sa longévité, finira par enregistrer plusieurs albums la plupart du temps en solo, apparaître dans les grands festivals, faire des tournées internationales, un des derniers témoins du passage du blues du Delta à celui de Chicago.

            Il décède le 22 août 2011 à Chicago après avoir publié en 1997 sa superbe autobiographie (The world don't owe me nothing) que nous recommandons chaudement.

                                     Gérard HERZHAFT

            Born in Shaw (Ms) on June 28th, 1915, David "Honeyboy" Edwards has known and played with most of his local contemporaries, Robert Johnson, Big Joe Williams, Tommy Mc Clennan, Robert Petway and of course his neighbour Muddy Waters. He also learned from Charlie Patton, Tommy Johnson and Son House, all of whom he met and sometimes played with.

            Lead by African American musicologist John Work, John and Alan Lomax discovered Edwards on Stovall Plantation where David was a sharecropper. Work noted that here was "a skilled blues singer and guitarist as well as a clever young man". Thus Edwards was quite extensively recorded for the Library of Congress during two days of July 1942 in Clarksdale. Those recordings show an excellent singer and a very fluent, imaginative fingerpicking guitarist with a more modern approach than most of his local fellow bluesmen.

            Like Muddy Waters and so many others, Honeyboy should have migrate to Chicago and probably he would have started to record a thicker work and maybe become an important name of the post-war Chicago blues. But instead he preferred to drift here and there, working as a field hand a little bit everywhere in the Southern States and playing his music in juke joints and venues. His recorded output during the 1950's is unfortunately quite thin but of a very high quality. He waxed four sides in Texas (only two were issued), one striking version of Sweet Home Chicago in Memphis for Sam Phillips that will stay unissued for decades and even attributed to piano player Albert Williams (!)... When he hit Chicago in 1953, he eventually recorded for the Chess label four titles that Chess didn't issue because they thought Edwards's style was too close to Muddy Waters', which was of course true. Only one (Drop down mama) has been issued on LP, the remainder lays somewhere in the Chess vaults if there still is such a thing today!

            And that's it for his commercial recordings for the African American blues market! Honeyboy will also ne a member of the Aces with Below and the Myers brothers but once again won't record with them. He'll have to make a living outside of music during the 50's and 60's. And when Pete Welding brought him in the studio in 1964 and 1967 for the new public of the Blues Revival, most of the tracks Honeyboy recorded then would stay unissued until the CD years. In 1969, Edwards is part of the Fleetwood Mac's Chess sessions but - guess what - the two titles he takes as a leader will stay once again in the vaults until the 1990's!

            But at last, during the 1980's, Honeyboy's talents will be recognized. Edwards, as an elder witness of the henceforth legendary road that brought the Delta blues to Chicago and as an old partner of Robert Johnson, will record several CD's, be on major festival stages, tour Europe. He even will write in 1997 a gripping autobiography (The world don't owe me nothing) that should be in all blues libraries.

            Honeyboy Edwards died in Chicago on 22 August 2011.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

HONEYBOY EDWARDS/ Complete Early Recordings

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g/hca. Clarksdale, Ms. 20 juillet 1942

01. Spread my raincoat down

02. Chain Gang song 1 (You got to roll)

03. Chain Gang song 2

04. Stagolee

05. Just a spoonful

06. I love my Jelly roll

07. Hellatakin' blues

08. Worried life blues

09. Water Coast blues

10. The Army blues

11. Tear it down rag

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g/hca. Clarksdale, Ms. 22 juillet 1942

12. Wind howlin' blues

13. Roamin' and ramblin' blues

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g; Thunder Smith, pno. Houston, Tx. 1950

14. Build a cave

15. Who may your regular be?

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g; Albert Williams, pno; Joe Willie Wilkins, g; Dickie Houston, dms; James Walker, wbd. Memphis, Tn. 1952

16. Sweet home Chicago

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g; Gus Jenkins, pno; Willie Nix, dms. Chicago, Ill. 9 janvier 1953

17. Drop down mama

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g; John Lee Henley, hca. Chicago, Ill. 17 mars 1964

18. My baby's gone

19. Angel Child

20. Highway 61

21. Love me over slow

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g. Chicago, Ill. 29 juillet 1967

22. Just like Jesse James

23. Sweet home Chicago

24. Blues like showers of rain

25. Long tall woman blues

26. Love me over slow

27. Crawling kingsnake

28. Skin and bones blues

29. Bull cow blues

30. Worryin' woman blues

Honeyboy Edwards, vcl/g Big Walter Horton, hca; Buddy Guy, g; Peter Green, g; Willie Dixon, bs; Mick Fleetwood, dms. Chicago, Ill. 4 janvier 1969

31. My baby's gone

32. Honeyboy blues

American Folk Blues Festival 1967/ The complete sessions

 

AFBF 1967/ The Complete Sessions

 

           In 1967 the American Folk Blues Festival tours of Europe were well established and much sought after by blues buffs all over many countries of Western and even Eastern Europe. The 1967 edition – which wasn't advised by Willie Dixon anymore – took the task to expose some of the major "rediscovered" Delta blues legends who, thanks to bold researchers, had been lifted from retirement and obscurity directly to major American acoustic blues festivals of the early 1960's. Son House, Bukka White and Skip James were proudly announced at the top of this very exciting lineup of the 1967 tour.

If Bukka was great (as always), an extraverted showman, Skip James was a little bit shy and with his high-pitched voice not always well received, Son House was the great winner of the shows. Utterly and deeply involved in his blues, shouting, sweating, lost somewhere between the Delta and Europe, he appeared to the European audiences as an unbelievable blues giant. In the Paris concert, the PA system went down at a time while Son was still preaching his blues. He didn't seem to notice the fact his microphone didn't work anymore and, the eyes closed, torturing his guitar with his slide, he shouted his blues the same way he would have been in a Delta juke joint 20 years ago.

            The country blues part of the Festival was rounded professionally by old favorites Brownie & Sonny. Unfortunately the other half of the show that was dedicated to the electric Chicago blues was very weak and even an unexpected major flop! The main mistake of course had to enrolled Hound Dog Taylor who was of course a fine bluesman of his own, impersonating Elmore James's style but absolutely unable to be the lead guitarist of the show. The previous years had featured major lead guitar players like M.T. Murphy, T-Bone Walker, Hubert Sumlin, Buddy Guy and Otis Rush and the comparison was dreadful for Hound Dog. He also had never appeared on a concert hall and, in Paris, he played almost all the time looking towards the curtains and showing his back to the audience! Add a clumsy and non blues bass player with Dillard Crum plus Little Walter who was angry at everyone and seemed to dislike the fact he was backed by musicians for whom he had no great consideration (I've heard that for some shows Walter rather played unaccompanied!), a very young and very shy Koko Taylor who also was unsettled with this backing band.

            Anyway, the tapes I've been able to gather from this tour feature some great moments and also historic performances.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

 

(Thanks a lot to my brother Cisco and Lise Brière de l'Isle for their remembrances of the Paris concert)

 

All titles recorded october-november 1967 over Europe, mainly in Germany

Brownie Mc Ghee, vcl/g; Sonny Terry, hca/vcls.

01. Born with the blues

02. I'm gonna move

Sonny Terry, vcl/hca; Brownie Mc Ghee, g/vcls.

03. Rock Island line

Bukka White, vcl/g.

04. Aberdeen blues

05. Aberdeen, Ms. blues

06. Got sick and tired

Skip James, vcl/g.

07. Hard luck child

08. Hard times killing floor blues

Son House, vcl/g.

09. Death letter

10. Got a letter this morning

11. Preaching the blues

Hound Dog Taylor, vcl/g; Little Walter, hca; Dillard Crume, bs; Odie Payne, dms.

12. Shake your moneymaker

13. The sky is crying

Koko Taylor, vcl; Little Walter, hca; Hound Dog Taylor, g; Dillard Crume, bs; Odie Payne, dms.

14. Wang dang doodle n°1

15. Wang dang doodle n°2

16. What kind of man is this? n°1

17. What kind of man is this n°2

18. Will my man be home tonight?

Little Walter, vcl/hca; Hound Dog Taylor, g; Dillard Crume, bs; Odie Payne, dms.

19. Berlin shuffle

20. Mean old world

21. My babe

22. You're so fine

Brownie Mc Ghee, vcl/g; Sonny Terry, hca/vcls.

23. Walk on

All photos are from my programme of the AFBF 1967 by Lippmann, Ambor, Dabrwosky, Dick Waterman

 

 

 Odie Payne and Dillard Crum

BOBBY "Guitar" BENNETT/ Blues Guitar Masters Vol. 9

 

BOBBY "GUITAR" BENNETT/ Blues Guitar Masters Volume 9

 

           

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett has long been a mystery figure among blues buffs, gaining a great reputation from his masterpiece When girls do it but very often being confused with another Bobby Bennett, a singer from James Brown's Famous Flames who also made a solo career under this name.

            Thanks to all-time great researcher and producer Dick Shurman who finally located and made possible an interview by the man, we now may know better our Bobby "Guitar" Bennett.

           

Courtesy Bobby Bennett

Clinton "Bobby" Bennett was born 24 February 1942 at Raeford, NC. He Learned guitar at a very early age with one of his uncle who was a staunch Jimmy Reed's fan. In 1957, Bobby Bennett was living in Dunn, NC. where a local DJ hired him to help him programming blues music on his radio show. The subsequent years saw Bobby playing guitar and singing blues and rock'n'roll on many clubs and radio programmes in Norfolk, Va. and Philadelphia where he gathered his first own band, performing in many clubs and venues and signing his first recording contract on the V-Tone label, waxing his first single The plea/ She's my girl in 1960. For a couple of years, Bobby was also a member of the Bandits, the band of Philadelphia drummer Pancho Villa (real name Charles Miller), recording at least one single with them for the Arliss label (Bobby's guitar). It is unsure if Bennett is present on the rest of Pancho Villa's 45s.

           

During the 1960's, Bobby Bennett was quite often on the studios, recording several singles between blues, Soul and Rock'n'roll and being constantly in-demand for live shows a little bit everywhere around Philly. When hired by bandleader Chuck Jackson, he added the tag "Guitar" between his first name and name, recording in 1964 the famous When girls do it with his terrific guitar solos and licks.

            During the early 1970's he seemed to disappear from the radars, just when the anthology When girls do it published in England and comprising this title gained a lot of interest towards the singer and guitarist Bobby "Guitar" Bennett. It's pretty sure he had been located at that time, Bobby "Guitar" Bennett would have toured Europe and recorded albums... But Philadelphia wasn't a town for blues researchers at that time.

            In fact, Bobby had to make a living out of music, playing only sporadically his brand of Soul and blues, mostly for private parties. In 1985, he turned himself almost exclusively to Gospel.

            This article is almost entirely based on Bobby Bennett's interview by Dick Shurman ad Gene Tomko and the subsequent article published in Living Blues 240. Thanks to those two brave researchers as well as Peter Sturman for his help with this comp.

                                          Gérard HERZHAFT

 

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; Pancho Villa, dms; band. Philadelphia, PA. 1960

01. The plea

02. She's my girl

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; Pancho Villa, dms; band. Philadelphia, PA. 1961

03. Bobby's guitar

04. Baby's cakes hunch (as Pancho Villa)

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; Helen Way Singers, vcls; band. New York City, january 1962

05. The boss turn

06. Show me

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; Pancho Villa, dms; band. Philadelphia, PA. march 1962

07. Alone with my tears

08. Never going to let you go

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; band. New York City, 1963

09. Before I blow my stack

10. You don't love me true

11. You don't love me true (alt.)

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; band. New York City, february 1965

12. When girls do it

13. She's so fine

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; band. Philadelphia, PA. october 1965

14. Goin' home

15. Lawdy Miss Clawdy

16. Evol (Love spelled backwards)

17. You did it again

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; band. Philadelphia, PA. 1966

18. Big New York

19. Baby try me

Bobby "Guitar" Bennett, vcl/g; band. Philadelphia, PA. 1970

20. Days go by

21. Bumble bee (Sting me)

 

 

AFBF 1966/ The Complete Sessions

 

AFBF 1966/ The complete sessions

 

All tracks recorded all over Europe during october 1966

To my great dismay, I couldn’t attend the Paris concert of this AFBF 1966 (october 1966). In fact, Uncle Charles (De Gaulle) had called me and I was drafted in September 1966. I made a two year military duty in the French West Indies. But my (little) brother Cisco with whom I shared the same love for folk and blues attended the show and made me a complete and detailed account what happened this very evening. He also sent me the programme and recordings of the concert that a French radio (Europe 1) had recorded and broadcasted during that month. I have included some of those recordings in this compilation despite a rather poor sound. 

Roosevelt Sykes, vcl/pno; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

01. Running the boogie

02. Sail on

03. Tall heavy woman

04. Boot that thing

05. Night time is the right time

Sleepy John Estes, vcl/g; Yank Rachell, mdln/vcls.

06. You shouldn’t do it

07. Tan little daddy

08. Yellow yam blues (vcl: Yank Rachell)

Junior Wells, vcl/hca; Otis Rush, g; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

09. Hoodoo man blues

10. Checkin’ upon my baby

11. Over yonder walls

12. Shake my hand

13. A tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson

14. Vietnam blues

15. What’d I say

Little Brother Montgomery, vcl/pno; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

16. I keep on drinking

Robert Pete Williams, vcl/g.

17. Louise

18. Don’t the moon lokk lonesome

Sippie Wallace, vcl; Little Brother Montgomery, pno; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

19. Suitcase blues

20. Up the country

21. Woman be wise

Otis Rush, vcl/g; Little Brother Montgomery, pno; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

22. All your love

23. It takes time

24. Sweet little angel

Big Joe Turner, vcl; Otis Rush, g; Little Brother Montgomery, pno; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

25. Well, oh well!

26. Chains of love

27. Flip flop and fly

Big Joe Turner, vcl; Otis Rush, g; Roosevelt Sykes, pno; Jack Myers, bs; Fred Below, dms.

28. Roll’em Pete

 

         

All photos come from my AFBF 1966 programme by Ray Flerlage, Horst Lippman, Valerie Wilmer, Stephanie Wiesand, Gunther Kieser

A lot of thanks to Xyros for his help.

Les Rolls Royce de l'harmonica se trouvent sur Harmonicaland 

The Rolls Royces of the harmonica are at Harmonicaland