NEW YORK CITY/ The Blues Yesterday/ Vol. 8

 

NEW YORK CITY/ The Blues Yesterday/ Volume 8

 

 

            It has been some time now that we have not been back to New York R&B ... the yesterday years of course. 

            This 8^th Volume opens with the great blues belter Dossie Terry (1921-1977) who, despite having continuously recorded between 1945 and 1959 is mostly an unkown. He recorded under the nickname Georgia Boy, indicating he was from this Southern State. His music is generally first rate R&B with great backing musicians like Rene Hall, Budd Johnson or Kenny Burrell. Despite our efforts and the help of the usual collectors, we have been unable to gather all his tracks, particularly his 1945-46 recordings. If anyone could fill those gapes and give more info about this very good artist, it would be much appreciated.

            Dallas Bartley (1916-1979) is much better known. Coming from Cave Springs (Mo) but growing in Springfield (Mo), Dallas learned violin, guitar, piano and bass at Springfield's Lincoln High School. He started a professional musical career as a featured bassist and songwriter in several bands like those of King Kolax, Earl Hines, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington and particularly Louis Jordan, being in Jordan's Timpany Five band for

several years in the early 40's. Bartley formed his own band in New York City in 1943 and waxed a handful of records under his own name, also appearing on several movies and soundies. He was a regular at the Apollo Theatre, also touring the Southern States. He went back to Springfield in 1969, founded the Springfield Jazz Society. He died on 22^nd november 1979.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MApR-puzQwE

          

  Cecil Payne (1922-2007) is of course very well known in the jazz field as one of the best baritone saxophonist from the bebop era. He played in several jazz bands (Roy Eldridge, Dizzie Gillespie, Illinois Jacquet etc...), recorded with numerous jazzmen and also fronted his own band, recording several jazz albums. Like many of his peers, Payne started in a more R&B vein, his first records from 1949 even featuring the singer Howard Johnson, a nickname (for copyright reasons) for none other than Brownie Mc Ghee. 

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                               Gérard HERZHAFT

 

DOSSIE TERRY, vcl; Melba Pope, pno; band. New York City, 1945

01. Whiskey head woman

Furlough blues (this track can be heard through hwolf comment)

The O.P.A. blues (this track can be heard through hwolf comment)

Dortehea Dorethea boogie

Dossie Terry, vcl; pno; bs. New York City, 1946

02. She's alright

New Moon blues

Dossie Terry, vcl; Budd Johnson, t-sax; Rene Hall, g; Sterling Malone, g; Howard Biggs, pno; Abie Baker, bs; Kelly Martin, dms. New York City, 5-13 december 1951

03. Lost my head

04. When I hit the number

05. Sad sad affair

06. Didn't satisfy you

07. My love is gone

08. Twenty four years

Dossie Terry, vcl; Kelly Owens, pno; Gene Redd, vb; Kenny Burrell, g; Carl Pruett, bs; Cliff Leeman, dms. New York City, 18 july 1957

09. Thunderbird

10. I got a watch dog

Dossie Terry, vcl; band. New York City, novembre 1957

11. Railroad section man

12. You will be mine

Dossie Terry, vcl; band. New York City, mars 1958

13. Skinny Ginnyo

14. Fool mule

Dossie Terry, vcl; band. New York City, 1959

15. No other love

16. Come on

Four more titles by Dossie Terry, not listed in Blues Discography are provided by Ballas. See the comments section for those. Thanks a lot to Ballas.

DALLAS BARTLEY, vcl/bs; Bob Mosley, pno; Bob Merrill, tpt; Porter Gilbert, a-sax; Jack Parker, dms; band. New York City, 29 september 1944

17. Cherry red (vcl: Bob Merrill)

18. Cryin' and singin' the blues (vcl: Walter Fuller)

19. We gonna pitch a boogie woogie (vcl: Bob Merrill)

Dallas Bartley, bs; Bill Martin, tpt/vcl; Porter Kibley, a-sax; t-sax; Bob Mosley, pno; Hillard Brown, dms. Los Angeles, Ca. 1945

20. Sandin' Joe

Dallas Bartley, vcl/bs; Bil Martin, tpt; John Dungee, a-sax; Joshua Jackson, t-sax; Gideon Honore, pno; Earl Phillips, dms. New York City, 1946

21. The band that really comes on

22. They raided the joint

23. All ruzzit buzzit

24. Saint Louis blues (vcl: Annie Laurie)

Dallas Bartley, vcl/bs; band. Chicago, Ill. 25 november 1947

25. I lnow what it's all about

26. You're the greatest

CECIL PAYNE, b-sax; Irvin Stokes, tpt; Bruce Hinkson, t-sax; Billy Kyle, pno; Franklin Skeete, bs; Hayward Jackson, dms. New York City, 21 june 1949

27. Egg head

28. Hippy Dippy

29. Mo chops

Big Joe

Cecil Payne, b-sax; Brownie Mc Gee (as Henry Johnson), vcl on *; Leonard Hawkins, tpt; Ray Abrams, t-sax; Billy Taylor, pno; John Simmons, bs; Joe Harris, dms. New York City, 25 november 1949

30. Block buster boogie

31. Ham hocks

32. (The deacon says) The worst is yet to come*

33. Angel child*

DETROIT JUNIOR: Complete Early Recordings

 DETROIT Jr/ Complete Early Recordings

(New Links)

           

De l'Arkansas (où il est né à Haynes le 26 octobre 1931) à Detroit et Flint - un séjour qui lui donnera son surnom - puis Chicago en 1955, l'itinéraire d'Emery Williams Jr ne diffère guère de celui de la plupart des bluesmen de sa génération. Les années d'apprentissage passées dans les juke-joints du Sud laissent leur marque sur son jeu de piano, sans subtilités mais puissant et carré, ainsi que sur sa voix qui semble perpétuellement essayer de dissiper une brume épaisse de fumées et de vapeurs d'alcool. Son ton laconique fait encore davantage ressortir l'humour grinçant de la plupart de ses compositions.

            Pris sous l'aile protectrice d'Eddie Boyd dès son arrivée à Chicago dans les années 50, Detroit Jr devient un pilier des clubs de la ville. Il fait partie des orchestres de Morris Pejoe, Lefty Dizz, Little Mack Simmons et enregistre pour Bea & Baby, Chess, CJ, Palos plusieurs blues marquants dont certains sont des succès locaux: Money tree et le désopilant Call my job en 1965. Mais le Chicago blues de cette époque est en crise et seuls les grands noms vont réussir à survivre. Detroit Jr reprend son rôle d'accompagnateur dans divers groupes, en particulier derrière Howlin' Wolf. Le Blues Revival ne fait que l'effleurer malgré, en 1971, un excellent microsillon, Chicago urban blues, produit par Al Smith où Detroit Jr, en grande forme, est accompagné par le guitariste Mighty Joe Young. Cette verve est intacte sur les quatre titres que le pianiste enregistre en 1980 pour l'anthologie Living Chicago blues (Alligator).

            Par la suite, Detroit Jr a continué d'écumer les clubs de Chicago, parfois en compagnie du guitariste L.C. Roby, enregistrant encore quelques excellents albums, notamment Blues on the Internet, son dernier pour Delmark. Il décède le 9 août 2005 à Chicago.

            Tous nos remerciements pour Steve Wisner, Robert Barleigh. et Blues4Sale qui nous ont généreusement fourni les titres les plus rares de Detroit Jr.

                                                           Gérard HERZHAFT

            From Haynes, Arkansas (where he was born on 26 October, 1931) to Detroit and Flint where he get his nickname and where he worked three years in automobile plants to Chicago in 1955, Emery Williams Jr has followed the same path that many Chicago bluesmen. He learned the church organ at an early age and became a noted piano player in local juke joints. He will always keep his no-nonsense «barrelhouse» style of playing and his effective and fascinating voice, seeming always winning a hard battle against alcohol vapors and curls of smoke. All along his career he will also be able to write some first rate blues filled with a very personal wry and caustic humor.

            When in Chicago, Detroit Jr was taken under his wing by Eddie Boyd who introduced him in clubs and studios. During the 1950’s and 60’s Detroit Jr played with several bands (Morris Pejoe, Lefty Dizz, Little Mack Simmons) and recorded substantially for Bea & Baby, Chess, C.J., Palos, gaining local hits with Money tree or Call my job, two titles that have become blues classics until this day. But in the mid-60’s, the times were hard for the blues. Despite a very good LP for Al Smith, his solo career went nowhere and Jr found a better and steady job as a regular member of the Wolf Gang, behind Howlin’ Wolf and, after Wolf’s death, with Eddie Shaw’s Wolf Gang. He will have to wait the 1980’s and his excellent participation to Alligator’s legendary series Living Chicago Blues to resume his solo career, touring Europe quite often, staging on the main blues festivals and recordings several good albums whose the best might be his last for Delmark, Blues on the Internet. Detroit Jr died in Chicago on August 9th, 2005.

            A lot of thanks to Steve Wiseman, Robert Barleigh and Blues4Sale who have generously shared their very rare records.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

DETROIT Jr/ Early Recordings

Complete Recordings

Detroit Jr (Emery Williams Jr), vcl/pno; Little Mack Simmons, vcls; Eddie King, g/vcls; Bob Anderson, bs; Robert Whitehead, dms. Chicago, Ill. 18 février 1960

01. Money tree

02. So unhappy

Detroit Jr, vcl/pno; saxes; Eddie King, g; Willie Dixon, bs; Fred below, dms. Chicago, Ill. Mai 1960

03. Too poor

04. You mean everything to me

Detroit Junior, vcl/pno; Milton Bland, t-sax; Phil Upchurch, g/bs; Freddy Robinson, g/bs; Billy Davenport, dms; Harold Burrage, bells/sp. Chicago, Ill. 1960

05. This time for Xmas

06. Christmas day

Detroit Junior, vcl/pno; Johnny Campbelle, t-sax; saxes; band; The Troyettes, vcls. Chicago, ill. 1962

07. Money’s no problem

08. Different dances

Detroit Junior, vcl; saxes; James Wheeler, g; Lafayette Leake, pno; Johnny Howard, bs; dms. Chicago, Ill. 11 juillet 1964

09. Zig zag

10. I’ll find me another girl

11. Can't take it

12. Mother in law

13. Don't unpack

Detroit Junior, vcl/pno; Ike Perkins, g; band. Chicago, Ill. 29 mai 1965

14. Talk fast

15. It’s bad to make a woman mad

Detroit Junior, vcl/pno; Maria, vcls; Lonnie Brooks, g; bs; Harold Tidwell, dms. Chicago, Ill. juillet 1965

16. Call my job

17. The way I feel

Detroit Jr, vcl/pno; Fenton Robinson, g; Burgess Gardner, t-sax; Bob Anderson, bs Billy Davenport, dms. Chicago, Ill. 1966

18. All through with love

19. Come on in

Detroit Junior, vcl/pno; Lafayette Leake, pno; band; Louis Satterfield, bs. Chicago, Ill. 27 septembre 1967

20. Secret love

21. Young blood

Detroit Junior, vcl/pno; Mighty Joe Young, g; Little Mack Simmons, hca; Jimmy Richards, bs; Bill Warren, dms. Chicago, Ill. 1972

22. Money crazy

23. Windy city blues

24. Dance with me baby

25. So unhappy (1972)

26. Welfare blues

27. Don’t get in my shape

28. Call my job

29. My weakness is women

30. Alice

31. Christmas blues (1972)

CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday/ Volume 26

  

CHICAGO/ The Blues Yesterday/ Volume 26

 

 

           

Let's go back to our very popular series "Chicago/ The blues Yesterday"!

            For this 26^th Volume, we start with the great singer Arelean Brown (1924 – 1981) who enjoyed a local hit with her witty I'm a streaker. Born in Tchula, Ms from a very musical family that encompassed blues luminaries like Otis and Abe Smothers, Lee Shot Williams, George Brown (who played guitar with Howlin' Wolf), Arelean started singing professionally in Detroit where she would have first recorded sides hitherto unissued. She relocated in Chicago, got friend with Little Mack Simmons for whom she recorded a handful of 45s backed by first rate Chicago musicians like

Lonnie Brooks, L.V. Johnson and Scotty & The Rib Tips. Although she had to make a living outside music Arelean managed to play regularly in Chicago clubs and even tour the Southern States. Her untimely death from cancer prevented her to make more records and tour Europe where her singles were high praised with blues audiences. 

 
 I don't know very much about The Highway Man whose real name was/is (?) William Holland. A good impersonator of Howlin' Wolf he has recorded two singles of four Wolf's well known songs. He is backed by the good guitarist L.C. Roby who is reputed to be his son. According to Rob Ford, those tracks by The Highway Man are only part of a whole album which unfortunately has never been issued. Any more info about this artist and L.C. Roby would be very much needed.

             

Eddie Shaw (1937-2018) is a very well known and high rated singer, saxophone player, harp player, bandleader, composer who played with Howlin' Wolf for two decades and ran his band during the maestro's last years. After backing Ike Turner and Little Milton while still a teenager in Mississippi, Shaw joined Muddy Waters' band for some time in Chicago before teaming with Magic Sam (with whom he will record his first tracks under his own name) and then Howlin' Wolf. After the Wolf's death, Eddie Shaw kept his band together and toured the USA and Europe as The Wolf Gang, recording a vibrant tribute to the Bluesmen of Yesterday on his first LP produced by Howlin' Wolf's widow. I had the chance to see Shaw and his Wolf Gang in Washington DC during those years and he gave an extraordinary show with Hubert Sumlin at the top of his talent! After that, Shaw recorded many LPs and CDs (many for Red Rooster, the excellent Austrian's Wolf label! and one for the French Isabel), all of them being of a high level despite the absence of Hubert Sumlin. We have gathered all of Shaw's early tracks.

                                                                       Gérard Herzhaft

 

Eddie Shaw (right) with Bobby Fields and A.C. Reed c. 1965

 

ARELEAN BROWN, vcl; Buddy Scott, g; Little Mack Simmons, hca; The Rib Tips, band. Chicago, Ill. january 1971

01. Hello baby

02. I love my man

Arelean Brown, vcl; Lee Shot Williams, vcls; Little Mack Simmons, hca; Lonnie Brooks, g; Detroit Jr, pno/org; L.V. Johnson, g; Robert Covington, bs; Billy Davenport, dms. Chicago, Ill. 12 january 1974

03. Impeach me

04. You're gonna miss me around here

05. I'm a streaker baby

06. Why I love you

Arealean Brown, vcl; Little Mack Simmons, hca; Emmitt Brown, pno; Lonnie Brooks, g; L.V. Johnson, g; Buddy Scott, bs; Tommie J. Brown, dms. Chicago, Ill. 4 february 1974

07. I'm so blue

08. Pushing our love aside

09. I can't believe it

10. Chicken man

Arelean Brown, vcl; Lonnie Brooks, g; L.V. Johnson, g; Little Mack Simmons, hca; Buddy Scott, bs; Tommie J. Brown, dms. Chicago, Ill. 7 february 1974

11. Broken many hearts

12. I love my man

13. Eagle stirs her nest

Arelean Brown, vcl; band. Chicago, Ill. late 1974

14. Humpty dumpty

15. Gotta find my baby (fragment)

HIGHWAY MAN (William Holland), vcl; L.C. Roby, g; Eddie Shaw, t-sax; Billy Branch, hca; Detroit Jr, pno; Marilyn Love, bs; Ben Sandmer, dms. Chicago, Ill. 29 september 1979

16. Don't laugh at me

17. I walked from Dallas

18. Killing floor

19. Louise

EDDIE SHAW, t-sax; Magic Sam, g; Mac Thompson, bs; Bob Richey, dms. Chicago, Ill. 6 february 1966

20. Riding high

21. Blues for the West Side

22. Looking good

Eddie Shaw, vcl/t-sax; Shorty Stalworth, t-sax; Milton Houston, g; Willie Kent, bs; Little Addison, dms. Chicago, Ill. 2 august 1969

23. A hog with my horn

24. Shaw time

25. It's all right

26. Eddie's rock

Eddie Shaw, vcl/t-sax; Hubert Sumlin, g; Jimmy Dawkins, g; James Green, bs; Fred Below, dms. Chicago, Ill. 20 january 1971

27. Little by little

Eddie Shaw, vcl/t-sax; Detroit Jr, pno; Hubert Sumlin, g; Shorty Gilbert, bs; Chico Chism, dms. Chicago, Ill. 4 june 1973

28. I don't trust nobody

Eddie Shaw, vcl/t-sax; Detroit Jr, kbds; Hubert Sumlin, g; Shorty Gilbert, bs; Chico Chism, dms. Chicago, Ill. 29 june 1977

29. This little voice

30. I can't stop loving you

31. Big leg woman

32. I've got to tell somebody I

33. Blues men of yesterday I

34. Blues men of yesterday II

35. I've got to tell somebody II

Eddie Shaw, vcl/t-sax; Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, kbds; Hubert Sumlin, g; Shorty Gilbert, bs; Chico Chism, dms. Chicago, Ill. 18 january 1978

36. Out of bad luck

37. Stoop down baby

38. Sitting on top of the world

39. My baby's so ugly

40. It's alright

WILLIE DIXON/ 1952-62

 

WILLIE DIXON

 

           

I guess it's no use to present Willie Dixon (1915-1992) to most of this blog's followers who are, for the most part, hardcore blues buffs!

            Singer and bassist, sometimes guitarist, Willie is above all renown for being the composer, producer and arranger of some of the most brilliant blues classic tunes and sessions of the postwar years. And his compositions can be read like a who's who of the greatest blues numbers ever when sung and played by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, Koko Taylor etc...

            As a performer, Willie was very often a little bit too much sententious and corny. His deep voice could be particularly striking sometimes but seemed without enough range otherwise.

            Well, this is certainly not to belittle the greatness of some Willie Dixon's albums, particularly during the 1970's, like Peace?, Catalyst or Earthquake and hurricane which should be in all blues collections. Or the excellent albums he made with his Chicago Blues All Stars that gathered blues giants like Big Walter Horton, Johnny Shines, Sunnyland Slim...

           

In fact, Willie started his career with Leonard Caston's Big Three Trio, a group of guitar, piano and bass with shared singing parts. They recorded prolifically during the late 1940's and early 50's in a jazz/blues/pop style. Many of the songs that would become Dixon's blues classics were recorded first with the Big Three Trio in a way very different that it would be later on. Those Big Three Trio have been heavily reissued, so we have only kept an example with the first version of My blues will never die which would become a striking, moving masterpiece by Otis Rush.

            We have then gathered all the recordings Willie made for different labels during the next decade (1952-62) that were hard to find and scattered in a lot of compilations, most of them being unavailable today.

                                                                       Gérard HERZHAFT

 

 

 

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Leonard Caston, pno; Bernardo Dennis, g. Chicago, Ill. 16 june 1952

01. My love will never die

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Harold Ashby, t-sax; band. Chicago, Ill. 17 february 1954

02. Wang dang doodle

03. So easy

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Leonard Caston, vcls; Ollie Crawford, g/vcls; Harold Ashby, y-sax; Lafayette Leake, pno; Al Duncan, dms. Chicago, Ill. october 1954

04. Violent love

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Harold Ashby, t-sax;  t-sax; Lafayette Leake, pno; Fred Below, dms. Chicago, Ill. may 1955

05. If you're mine

06. Alone

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; t-sax; Lafayette Leake, pno; Fred Below, dms. Chicago, Ill. july 1955

07. Walking the blues

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Harold Ashby, t-sax;  t-sax; Lafayette Leake, pno; Ollie Crawford, g/vcls; Fred Below, dms. Chicago, Ill. november 1955

08. Crazy for my baby

09. The pain in my heart

10. I'm the lover man

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Harold Ashby, t-sax;  t-sax; Lafayette Leake, pno; Al Duncan, dms. Chicago, Ill. 27 july 1956

11. Twenty nine ways to my baby's door

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Jody Williams, g; dms. Chicago, Ill. april 1957

12. Firey love

13. All the time

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Champion Jack Dupree, pno. New York City, 1958

14. Could I would I?

15. Ugly girls

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Memphis Slim, pno; Wally Richardson, g; Harold Ashby, t-sax; Gus Johnson, dms. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 3 december 1959

16. Built for comfort

17. Don't tell nobody

18. Go easy

19. Good understanding

20. I got a razor

21. Move me

22. Nervous

23. Sittin' and cryin' the blues

24. Slim's thing

25. That's all I want baby

26. That's my baby

27. Youth to you

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Memphis Slim, pno/vcls. Los Angeles, Ca. 5 january 1960

28. Rub my root

29. Home to mama

30. Shaky

31. One more time

32. Now howdy

Willie Dixon, vcl/bs; Lafayette Leake, pno; Clifton James, dms. Chicago, Ill. june 1962

33. Back home in Indiana

34. Wrinkles

Willie Dixon, vcl; J.T. Brown, t-sax; Hubert Sumlin, g; Johnny Jones, pno; Jerome Arnold, bs; Junior Blackmon, dms. Chicago, Ill. 28 september 1962

35. Tail dragger