When ever I see a clip of Frank "Sugarchile" Robinson, it makes me feel good. His music is funny, because it is cool to see such a small child playing Boogie Woogie.
Ali Ibrahim “Farka” Touré (October 31, 1939 – March 7, 2006) was a Malian singer and guitarist, and one of the African continent’s most internationally renowned musicians. His music is widely regarded as representing a point of intersection of traditional Malian music and its North American cousin, the blues. The belief that the latter is historically derived from the former is reflected in Martin Scorsese’s often quoted characterization of Touré’s tradition as constituting "the DNA of the blues". Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
Well actually yesterday was the birthday of "Blind" Lemon Jefferson (October 26, 1894 – 12 December? 1929)
Not really blues, but funny none the less. At least it made me laugh. I hope you blues guitar players find it funny too.
Happy birthday to Elvin Bishop who was born on October 21, 1942 in Glendale, California. He is an American blues and rock and roll musician and guitarist.
It is funny and cool how all of life is interconnected. So I'm reading the home page of Chess.com because I am a chess player. You know the board game chess. Not the record company.
And I see a link to a story in the LA Times titled Move over, Truman Capote: Another movie duel to the death? so now I'm wondering what does this have to do with the board game chess.
Turns out nothing.
The article is about the movie "Who Do You Love" Which is about; "The life story of legendary record producer Leonard Chess, founder of Chess Records, the label that helped popularize Blues music during the 1950s and '60s"
And it seems to be getting good reviews.
I wrote about the other movie Cadillac Records.
I can't wait to see them both, to see which one is the better movie and which one tells the story better.
Click image for Delmark - 55 Years Of Blues
To continue the series of great Delmark products, Delmark Records' 55th anniversary, 55 Years Of Blues will include one CD and one DVD.
The CD features music by such acclaimed Chicago blues artists as Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, Speckled Red, and others.
The DVD features video from previous Delmark video releases by folks like Little Arthur, Dave Specter and Byther Smith. It will also include a performance from the anniversary celebration held last March at Buddy Guy's Legends club, Chicago blues legend Zora Young performing "Til The Fat Lady Sings" with Lurrie Bell. (Release date: 10/21/08)
Other Cool Delmark Music @ Amazon.com
Aretha Franklin and Mavis Staples - O Happy Day
Lil' Dave Thompson – Deep In The Night (Electro-Fi Records)
Dave Thompson, who is an not very well known, will release Deep In The Night, his second album for the Electro-Fi Records label, in late-October. Backed by his hard-working road band, the collection hopefully will bring the Mississippi Delta blues guitar work the young musician is becoming known for.
According to Lil'DaveThomson.com;
David Lonzo Thompson was born in Hinds County, Mississippi May 21, 1969. Lil Dave's exposure to music came early and has always been a way of life. His father, the late Sam Thompson played with Willie Foster, Asie Payton, Paul Wine Jones, Eddie Cusic, James Son Thomas and others.(Release date: 10/21/08)
Lil Dave's list of influences reads like an anthology of the blues. His family was burned out in legendary Moorhead, MS (Where the Yellow Dog Crosses the Southern) and moved to B.B. Kings hometown of Indianola, MS. But it was in Leland, MS, (Hellhole of the Delta) and home of James "Son" Thomas and other blues legends that Dave, at the age of 14, formed his first band. He, along with drummer, Dell Cusic and bass player, Allen Hite called themselves The Delta Blues Band. As a teenager, Dave played with various blues, Rand B, Reggae, and gospel bands in the delta area until he met and toured with the late Booba Barnes in 1990.
Bluesman LIGHTNIN' MALCOLM is one of the leading, younger generation artists on the scene today. Born in rural Missouri, Malcolm enjoyed the freedom of country life, quickly learning to entertain himself and others around him. Growing up in a little village called Burgess in a country house next to the KCS Railroad that ran from Kansas City to New Orleans, the train has always been a theme in Malcolm's music, as well as the inspiration for the steady, insistent bass rhythms of rural dance music.Together they are the "2 Man Wrecking Crew," and their new CD album delivers that good old school juke-joint sound. It is good to hear two young bluesmen doing it just like they learned it from R.L Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill.(Release date: 10/21/08)
Vanity Fair.com's culture and entertainment section has a very interesting article on Robert Johnson titled Portrait of a Phantom Searching for Robert Johnson. It conicals the control for the rights of Johnson's music and even his images.
The article does a good job of reporting on the few know images of Johnson and how they were found and where they come from. Specifically the article tells the story of Zeke Schein and a photo that he bought on eBay.
The article also gives details from those who were inspired by Robert Johnson's music over the years. For example, Eric Clapton is quoted;
“At first the music almost repelled me, it was so intense and this man made no attempt to sugarcoat what he was trying to say, or play,” Clapton writes in his recently published memoir, Clapton: The Autobiography.Thanks to Chal of Chal's Juke Joint for turning me on to this article.
click image to see @Amazon.com
Paul Reddick – Sugarbird (Northern Blues Music)
I like Canadian bluesman Paul Reddick not just because he is a talented songwriter, but he is a harmonica player as well, which means he has a special place in my heart, like many other blusemen who are harp players.
I like how he seems to be well grounded in the blues, going all the way back to the beginning for some of his inspiration and influences. His last couple of albums were well received and they made a statement that he is a real bluesman.
I am hoping that his upcoming Northern Blues release Sugarbird will provide more confirmation of his skills. (Release date: 10/14/08)
Just in case you were on your way to church, took a wrong turn and found yourself in a Juke Joint instead (don't act like it can't happen), I am posting a little Shirley Caesar.
All I need you to do is "hold my mule" while I dance. Because that's the way I feel right now!
click to see @Amazon.com
Jimmy Thackery & The Drivers – Inside Tracks (Telarc)
Bluesman Jimmy Thackery was a founding member of the Nighthawks, after that he built a significant solo career. Since 1991 he has been leading a trio, Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers, bringing his virtuoso blues-rock guitar style to work on albums Solid Ice and Healin' Ground.
Leading his hard-edged, tough-as-nails blues trio, Inside Tracks shows off Thackery's songwriting skills. (Release date: 10/14/08)
This video clip made me laugh and I hope you all enjoy it too.
It is from the 1946 Movie; No Leave No Love. Frank "Sugarchile" Robinson is the kid playing the piano.
Notes from YouTube; One such was that tiny bundle of Detroit dynamite, "Sugar Chile" Robinson. Born Frankie Robinson, the youngest of six children, in Detroit in 1940, "Sugar Chile" began pounding on the family piano as a toddler - he reputedly banged out a recognisable version of Erskine Hawkins' Tuxedo Junction at the age of two - and by 1945 he had been "discovered" by pianist and bandleader Frankie Carle. Within a year he was asked to play at a Whitehouse party for President Harry Truman, had guested with Lionel Hampton's Orchestra and even appeared performing the title song in the 1946 MGM romantic comedy film "No Leave, No Love".
It was not until July 1949, however, that he made his first records for the Capitol label, when, in the consummate company of jazz veterans Leonard Bibbs on bass and drummer Zutty Singleton, Robinson took his first two releases into the Billboard R&B chart in late 1949; Numbers Boogie made it to number four, while Caldonia (What Makes Your Big Head So Hard) only reached number 14. His subsequent national tour broke box-office records eve rywhere and it is claimed that his appearance at Chicago's Regal Theatre remains the biggest one-week attraction of the theatre's entire history, easily beating the jazz royalty of the day like Count Basie and Duke Ellington. Robinson toured with Basie in 1950 and made a celebrated musical short with the Basie Sextet and Billie Holiday in Hollywood in August to showcase his hits.
The Christmas season of 1950 witnessed Sugar Chile's first European release and Christmas Boogie c/w Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer sold well enough to spark a European tour in 1951, including rave reviews for his spot at the London Palladium. He was a big hit on US radio and TV all through 1951 and then, while still in his pre-teens, Robinson's career was suddenly over; his last single release was issued in August 1952, shortly followed by a 10" compilation LP of boogie woogie that featured many of his 1952 recordings.
Apart from a few radio transcriptions and film soundtracks, "Sugar Chile" Robinson's complete recording career - a period of just under three years - has been reissued in its entirety on one 2003 CD compilation, "Chronological Classics 1949-52". If he really was only nine years old at the time, the performances from his first session such as Vooey, Vooey Vay, Caldonia and Numbers Boogie were quite astonishing. As with other child stars, like Toni Harper, Robinson was frequently burdened with immature material, but even nursery rhyme knock-offs such as Sticks And Stones, Christmas Boogie and (Rock-A-Bye) Baby Blues were transformed into entertaining performances with hip and clever touches. The youngster acquitted himself as a pianist exceptionally well on the few instrumentals, particularly Lazy Boy's Boogie, and for variety he occasionally switched to organ or celeste on later sessions.
From Wikipedia; Robinson continued to tour Europe and America until the mid-1950s when he opted to pursue an academic career. He earned a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan. Remaining in musical obscurity throughout the latter 20th century, he surfaced in the early 2000s, and has made a comeback with the help of the American Music Research Foundation.
To better understand the blues, it helps to understand the roles of some of the supporting and enabling players for the eairlier bluesmen.
H. C. Speir was just such a person. He was born Henry C. Speir in Prospect, Mississippi, October 6, 1895 and he died in Jackson, Mississippi in 1972. He was an American "talent broker" and record store owner from Jackson, Mississippi. He was responsible for launching the recording careers of most of the greatest Mississippi blues musicians in the 1920s and 1930s.
Bluesworld.com has a very interesting interview with Mr. Speir titled, Godfather Of Delta Blues H.C. Speir.
The Blues Trail.com also has a write up on him @ HC Speir.
Lonnie Pitchford, born on October 8, 1955 was a blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi. He passed away on November 8, 1995.
The video below shows him building a one string diddly bo. Notice how he uses a snuff(a type of smokeless tobacco) can for a resonator.
We are just going to let this one speak for it self.
A favorite of many blues fans is Stevie Ray Vaughan. I really like his music and when you have a blues guitarist such as B.B. King saying;
“I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie [Ray Vaughan] missed on both counts, but I never noticed.”Then you must be something special.
Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American blues-rock guitarist, whose broad appeal made him an influential electric blues guitarist. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007.So it is not all just hype, but the young man could play.
I have written several times about Pete Seeger, here and in my other music blog. I've always wanted to do something to let Pete Seeger know how much I appreciate the help that he gave to so many blues musicians.
Simply put the man is a national treasure.
Please check out www.nobelprize4pete.org, and give them as much support as you can.
Pete Seger@SqueezeMyLemon
October is also the birth month of Bluesman Kevin More, aka Keb Mo'. He was born on October 3, 1951 in South Central Los Angeles, California. He is a blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
I have loved his music since he came on the scene, and thought that I would do a quick search for good quality mp3s out there to celebrate his birthday.
Keb Mo mp3s - Get'em while they are hot
Lyle Lovett & Keb' Mo' - Till it Shines@aintsuperstituiousbut Blog. This post has several Lyle Lovett mp3s for any fans of his music.
Love Train@Cover Lay Down. An interesting version of the O'Jays' song. This post also includes several other mp3s by other artist.
Imagine@Cover Lay Down. I really like this and Cover Lay Down is quickly becoming one of my "go to" music blogs. If you like covers you have to take a few minutes checking out this great blog. This post also includes several other mp3s by other artist.
That's Not Love@Anyones Guess. A acoustic version of one of Keb Mo's hits. This post also includes several other mp3s by other artist.
Keb Mo@SqueezeMyLemon
Albert Collins was born on October 1, 1932, and he passed away on November 24, 1993. He was a blues guitarist, singer and musician.
