HOWLIN' WOLF/ Complete Live Recordings 1963-72 (Re-up)
La tâche a été - si possible -
encore plus compliquée car s'étendant sur une décennie. Même si Howlin' Wolf a
été saisi en concert (au Copacabana Club de Chicago) en 1963 pour une parution
sur un LP Argo, il lui a surtout fallu se rendre en Europe avec l'AFBF 1964
pour y être substantiellement enregistré, soit dans le cadre de la tournée
officielle soit durant la deuxième tournée qu'il a effectué dans la foulée avec
Willie Dixon, Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin et Clifton James. Il faut noter que
peu de ces concerts n'ont été enregistrés pour être publié. Il s'agit
essentiellement d'enregistrements effectués par des radios nationales et
locales à travers l'Europe dont les stations diffusaient des extraits. Leur
qualité technique est correcte dans l'ensemble et permet d'apprécier la teneur
complète d'un concert du Wolf à l'époque.
Les choses se précipitent par la
suite. Après que les Rolling Stones durant leur première tournée américaine
aient insisté auprès de Shindig, l'émission musicale TV de la chaîne ABC, très populaire
auprès des ados, pour qu'y apparaisse Howlin' Wolf avant eux, les concerts
américains du Wolf se multiplient et avec eux, les enregistrements sur du
matériel de fortune et sans passer par le système d'amplification. A
l'exception du concert du 26 janvier 1972 à Alice's Revisited, aucune de ces
bandes n'était destinée à être publiée. Elles sont apparus sur des labels plus
ou moins pirates au cours des années avec un son souvent très médiocre voire
éprouvant. Nous avons essayé d'améliorer autant que possible leur
"qualité" sonore mais la tâche a été souvent trop rude! Malgré tout,
nous les proposons ici en tant que documents.
Même s'il n'était encore qu'un jeune
sexagénaire, Wolf était très malade, les années de son épouvantable enfance
marquée par la violence, l'abus et les privations faisant leur néfaste effet
sur sa santé. Après un accident de voiture le 1er janvier 1973, son système
rénal arrête de fonctionner et, devant plusieurs fois par semaine subir une
dialyse rénale, il continue (par nécessité financière) à tourner et jouer en
public. Mais il est très diminué et souvent chante entièrement assis et
seulement quelques morceaux, laissant l'essentiel du concert à son orchestre,
dirigé par Eddie Shaw. Plusieurs disques pirates de ces dernières années ont
paru ici et là que nous avons choisi de ne pas les faire figurer ici, la
dernière fois où le Wolf apparaît dans toute sa splendeur étant, à notre avis,
le Ann Arbor Jazz & Blues Festival de 1972.
Gérard
HERZHAFT
After
those of Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), we have tried to gather all (or
the most possible!) live recordings of another blues master, Howlin' Wolf!
The
task has been - if any!- even more complicated because spanning on a decade.
Even
if Howlin' Wolf has been recorded live at the Copacabana Club in 1963 for the
Argo LP's "Folk Festival of the Blues", the bulk of his 1960's live
recordings was mostly done in Europe. He was one of the big star of the AFBF
1964, taking the dedicated European audiences by storm. His success was such
that he and some members of the AFBF line-up (Willie Dixon, Sunnyland Slim,
Hubert Sumlin and Clifton James) embarked in the wake for a further tour of
Europe until November 1964. If few of those European 1964 gigs were recorded to
be issued on LP, they were done by radio stations with good technical
equipments and for the purpose to broadcast some tunes during their jazz
programmes. Now they are a testimony of what the Wolf sounded at that time when
he was in full possession of his considerable talent and stage presence.
In
the USA, Wolf's career took a decisive turn when the Rolling Stones - while
touring America in 1965 - insisted with ABC's Shindig, a TV programme very
popular to teenagers, that Howlin' Wolf would appear before us. Thus, suddenly,
Wolf would be able to be lined-up in festival and concert halls throughout the
country before a white audience! Apparently, several of those (and probably
still much more laying in the vaults) were recorded, very often on primitive
equipments. With the exception of the 1972 Alice's Revisited venue, none of
those US recordings had to be issued. They appeared throughout the years on
more or less confidential bootleg albums. The sound is sometime very poor and,
although we have tried to improve it with our home studio, it's quite often
still very bad. We have included them anyway here for documentary purpose more
than listening pleasure!
Unfortunately,
even he was only in his early 60's, the Wolf was beginning very ill, the
dreadful years of his childhood when he suffered greatly violence, abuse and
unbelievable bad treatments (he got his hoarse voice because he wasn't allowed
by his uncle to sleep in the house, even during cold winters and he had to beg
for food to passengers' trains during the nearby stops) took their harmful
toll. After a bad car accident during 1973 New Years' eve, Howlin' Wolf had
henceforth to undergo kidney dialysis several times a week. Although he had
still to play gigs throughout the country for making a living, he was strongly
diminished and mostly played and sung seated and only a few numbers, leaving
most of the set to his band, led by Eddie Shaw. Several bootleg recordings of
those late concerts have also popped up but we have chosen not to feature them.
Gérard HERZHAFT
I've reuploaded this article and links to
answer to numerous queries. But, as I have had problems to keep those links available,
I can't say how long they will be available. In any case, it is the last time
that I'm re-posting them. So grab them while it lasts!
HOWLIN WOLF/ Complete Recordings 1963-72/ Discography
The very best Howlin' Wolf biography that really explains the man, his greatness and his masterworks has been written by Mark Hoffman, certainly one of the very best blues books
The very best Howlin' Wolf biography that really explains the man, his greatness and his masterworks has been written by Mark Hoffman, certainly one of the very best blues books
