(Allmusic - Bob Gottlieb)
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(Allmusic - Bob Gottlieb)
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James Booker - Junco Partner
(Allmusic - Bob Gottlieb)
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Various - Chicago Blues In The Groove
Some good unissued( at the time) Chicago blues from artists you don't usually hear much from. The exception been Eddie Boyd of course.Front cover is included in the rar file.
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Muddy Waters Autograph
Something I recently bought and I'm as pleased as a monkey with a banana with it. So that been said I thought I'd share it with you.
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Various - Old Friends For The First Time Together
"The music has the unforced feel of (Chicago's) blues of the late 30s and 40s without once sounding anachronistic. The five musicians (playing as a quintet) share the vocal duties, providing striking contrasts...All the material is original in the true sense, not just old blues with reshuffled lyrics and new titles, and the quintet interprets it with real conviction. Horton is featured on four of the eleven numbers." - Manchester, England Evening News (review for the cd adjusted for the lp)
This has been rereleased on CD some years ago with 6 extra tracks.
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Frits's Tapes Number 114, 115, 116, 117, 118 & 119
Tape 114: http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/gRK5ONxi/file.html
Tape 115: http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/yWATTe9x/file.html
Tape 116: http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/kxG1mLeb/file.html
Tape 117: http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/o3U6XeZS/file.html
Tape 118: http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/s4oaPd2C/file.html
Tape 119: http://www26.zippyshare.com/v/A62NBhwg/file.html
A big Thank You (I owe you a beer or two) goes to Frits for taping his 45's way back before computers made life easy and for sharing them with us. All in all about 1785 tracks covering a wide spectrum Blues, Soul, R&B and whatever else there was.
This also is a good moment for me to take a long break after about 7-8 years of ripping and posting. With the excellent informative site "Blue Eye" from Gerard Herzhaft which is a must for any blues fan and newcomer "The Blues Years" from MarcFr whose postings of out of print LP's and CD's are a very welcome addition you won't go without the Blues.
.... or at least for some time.
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Article 8
Requests are always welcome and if I can't help out maybe a regular visitor can.
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Homesick James - The Country Blues
His correct age may remain in doubt (he's claimed he was born as early as 1905), but the slashing slide guitar skills of Homesick James Williamson have never been in question. Many of his most satisfying recordings have placed him in a solo setting, where his timing eccentricities don't disrupt the proceedings (though he's made some fine band-backed waxings as well).Williamson was playing guitar at age ten and soon ran away from his Tennessee home to play at fish fries and dances. His travels took the guitarist through Mississippi and North Carolina during the 1920s, where he crossed paths with Yank Rachell, Sleepy John Estes, Blind Boy Fuller, and Big Joe Williams.
Settling in Chicago during the 1930s, Williamson played local clubs and recorded for RCA Victor in 1937. The miles and gigs had added up before Williamson made some of his finest sides in 1952-53 for Art Sheridan's Chance Records (including the classic "Homesick" that gave him his enduring stage name).
James also worked extensively as a sideman, backing harp great Sonny Boy Williamson in 1945 at a Chicago gin joint called the Purple Cat and during the 1950s with his cousin, slide master Elmore James (to whom Homesick is stylistically indebted). He also recorded with James during the 1950s. Homesick's own output included crashing 45s for Colt and USA in 1962, a fine 1964 album for Prestige, and four tracks on a Vanguard anthology in 1965.
Williamson has never stopped recording and touring; he's done recent albums for Appaloosa and Earwig. No matter what his current chronological age, there's nothing over-the-hill about the blues of Homesick James Williamson.
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William 'Blues Boy" Wells - Blues Boy
William Wells was from Kansas City. He plays guitar and sings on some
tracks of the live "Little Hatchet Band" LP on the German M&M label which was recorded at a K.C. club in the 12th Street & Vine district in 1970. He was
known in K.C. as "Junior" Wells, and after he moved to Los Angeles he did
some recording for Pandora (which was owned by Jack Lauderdale, who also ran
the older Swingtime label) and Castle. K.C. musicians tell me he later
became a preacher. He was the nephew of Leon "Mr. Blues" Estelle, who was
generally recorded as K.C.'s best blues guitarist. (Jim O' Neal)
tracks of the live "Little Hatchet Band" LP on the German M&M label which was recorded at a K.C. club in the 12th Street & Vine district in 1970. He was
known in K.C. as "Junior" Wells, and after he moved to Los Angeles he did
some recording for Pandora (which was owned by Jack Lauderdale, who also ran
the older Swingtime label) and Castle. K.C. musicians tell me he later
became a preacher. He was the nephew of Leon "Mr. Blues" Estelle, who was
generally recorded as K.C.'s best blues guitarist. (Jim O' Neal)
This one is for Hartmutt.
Also sorry about the terrible scans but it couldn't be avoided.
Post: http://www76.zippyshare.com/v/X3zQ67kn/file.html
If you're having problems try the link below for more options:
http://www.embedupload.com/?d=2WIQEXNYAS
and I forgot to mention that the Little Hatch Lp is here:
http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/SDMhKwSk/file.html
If you're having problems try the link below for more options:
http://www.embedupload.com/?d=2WIQEXNYAS
and I forgot to mention that the Little Hatch Lp is here:
http://www77.zippyshare.com/v/SDMhKwSk/file.html
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Johnny Otis - Formidable
Johnny Otis modeled an amazing number of contrasting musical hats over a career spanning more than half a century. Bandleader, record producer, talent scout, label owner, nightclub impresario, disc jockey, TV variety show host, author, R&B pioneer, rock & roll star -- Otis answered to all those descriptions and quite a few more. Not bad for a Greek-American who loved jazz and R&B so fervently that he adopted the African-American culture as his own
California-born John Veliotes changed his name to the blacker-sounding Otis when he was in his teens. Drums were his first passion -- he spent time behind the traps with the Oakland-based orchestra of Count Otis Matthews and kept time for various Midwestern swing outfits before settling in Los Angeles during the mid-'40s and joining Harlan Leonard's Rockets, then resident at the Club Alabam.
It wasn't long before the Alabam's owner entreated Otis to assemble his own orchestra for house-band duties. The group's 1945 debut sides for Excelsior were solidly in the big-band jazz vein and included an arrangement of the moody "Harlem Nocturne" that sold well. Shouter Jimmy Rushing fronted the band for two tracks at the same date. Otis' rep as a drummer was growing; he backed both Wynonie Harris and Charles Brown (with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers) that same year.
The Otis outfit continued to record for Excelsior through 1947 (one date featured Big Jay McNeely on sax), but his influence on L.A.'s R&B scene soared exponentially when he and partner Bardu Ali opened the Barrelhouse Club in Watts. R&B replaced jazz in Otis' heart; he pared the big band down and discovered young talent such as the Robins, vocalists Mel Walker and Little Esther Phillips, and guitarist Pete Lewis that would serve him well in years to come.
Otis signed with Newark, New Jersey-based Savoy Records in 1949, and the R&B hits came in droves: "Double Crossing Blues,""Mistrustin' Blues," and "Cupid's Boogie" all hit number one that year (in all,Otis scored ten Top Ten smashes that year alone!); "Gee Baby,""Mambo Boogie," and "All Nite Long" lit the lamp in 1951; and "Sunset to Dawn" capped his amazing run in 1952 (vocals were shared byEsther, Walker, and other members of the group). By then, Otis had branched out to play vibes on many waxings.
In late 1951, Otis moved to Mercury, but apart from a Walker-led version of Floyd Dixon's "Call Operator 210," nothing found pronounced success with the public. A 1953-1955 contract with Don Robey's Peacock logo produced some nice jump blues sides but no hits (though the Otis orchestra backed one of his many discoveries, Big Mama Thornton, on her chart-topping "Hound Dog," as well as a young Little Richard while at Peacock). Otis was a masterful talent scout; among his platinum-edged discoveries were Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Hank Ballard, and Etta James (he produced her debut smash "Roll with Me Henry").
In 1955, Otis took studio matters into his own hands, starting up his own label, Dig Records, to showcase his own work as well as his latest discoveries (including Arthur Lee Maye & the Crowns,Tony Allen, and Mel Williams). Rock & roll was at its zenith in 1957 when the multi-instrumentalist signed on with Capitol Records; billed as the Johnny Otis Show, he set the R&B and pop charts ablaze in 1958 with his shave-and-a-haircut beat, "Willie and the Hand Jive," taking the vocal himself (other singers then with the Otis Show included Mel Williams and the gargantuan Marie Adams & the Three Tons of Joy). During the late '50s, Otis hosted his own variety program on L.A. television, starring his entire troupe (and on one episode, Lionel Hampton), and did a guest shot in a 1958 movie, Juke Box Rhythm.
After cutting some great rock & roll for Capitol from 1957 to 1959 with only one hit to show for it, Otis dropped anchor at King Records in 1961-1962 (in addition to his own output,Otis' band also backed Johnny "Guitar" Watson on several sides). Later in the decade, Otis recorded some ribald material for Kent and watched as his young son Shuggie built an enviable reputation as a blues guitarist while recording for Columbia. Father and son cut an album together for Alligator in 1982, accurately entitled The New Johnny Otis Show.
In later years, the multi-talented Otis added operating a California health-food emporium to his endless list of wide-ranging accomplishments. He was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Otis died at home in Altadena, California in January 2012 at the age of 90. If blues ever boasted a renaissance man among its ranks, Johnny Otis surely filled that bill. (Allmusic - Bill Dahl)
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Post: http://www76.zippyshare.com/v/mACoOTOS/file.html
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Thurston Harris - Same
Thurston Harris began singing in church as a six-year old member of the Canaan Crusaders. Years later, Thurston and his brother William sang in the Indiana Wonders. It wasn't until he spent some time in the army that Thurston picked up on rhythm 'n' blues, his favourite groups being the Dominoes (then with Clyde McPhatter on lead) and the Five Royales. After moving to Los Angeles, Harris allegedly went around there passing himself off as the lead vocalist on the Five Royales'"Help Me Somebody" (a # 1 R&B hit in 1953), bluffing his way onto Hunter Hancock's popular R&B radio show and into talent shows. In 1953 he joined an as-yet-unnamed group, which began recording for Federal in that same year. When their first record, "Part Of Me", came out, it was credited to the Lamplighters. Over the next three years, this group had a dozen singles released on Federal, featuring Thurston Harris as lead vocalist. Nothing charted, but there was nothing wrong with the quality of these recordings. But the Lamplighters fought among themselves almost from the start. They drank too much, smoked too much dope and had too many run-ins with the law. The worst of the lot was Thurston himself. "I was a hot-head ; I wouldn't let anybody tell me what to do", he told Jim Dawson. By 1956, Harris had become too difficult to work with, but the Lamplighters would reunite with him on a few occasions. One such event took place in August 1957, after Harris had been signed to Eddie Mesner's Aladdin label. Mesner gave Harris a song that had been released by Bobby Day only a few days earlier, "Little Bitty Pretty One". The song was simple, on paper it consists only of two choruses. In the studio this paucity of material required a lot of humming as filler. The background vocals were provided by the former Lamplighters, who now called themselves the Sharps. As Earl Palmer laid down a steady beat, Plas Johnson riffed on tenor sax and Pete Lewis chorded on electric guitar, the group built the nonsense choruses into something dynamic and exciting. "Little Bitty Pretty One" rocketed into the pop Top 10, peaking at # 6 (# 2 R&B), while Bobby Day's original stalled at # 57. The record made Harris a star overnight, with stops on American Bandstand and the Ed Sullivan Show, and tours with Fats Domino, Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. "Little Bitty Pretty One" was also a hit in later versions by Frankie Lymon (# 58, 1960), Clyde McPhatter (# 25, 1962) and The Jackson Five (# 13, 1972).
Thurston's follow-ups to his hit were as good, if not still better, but sales were relatively insignificant. "Do What You Did", recorded at the same session as "Little Bitty Pretty One", is undoubtedly his best rocker. It went to # 57 on Billboard's pop charts in early 1958 (# 14 R&B). Another Bobby Day cover, "Over And Over", gave Harris his final chart entry (# 96), later in 1958 ; this time Day outsold him. Fine singles like "Be-Baba-Leba", "(I Got Loaded At) Smokey Joe's" and "Runk Bunk" (covered in the UK by Adam Faith) slipped into obscurity. Thurston had his final Aladdin session on January 13, 1961. It was also the very last session in the history of the Aladdin label, as Imperial Records took over the catalog without picking up Harris's contract. Thurston went on to record sides for Cub (1962), Dot (1963), Imperial (1963) and Reprise (1964), after which he wouldn't record for 20 years. Harris was homeless, moving between friends and relatives for years. Along the way there were a few hospitals and jails. He got rid of his drug habit, but was still struggling with alcoholism. Around 1983, some musical friends managed to get him on a bill with Big Jay McNeely at the famous Palomino Club - his first major appearance in many years. He developed into a good blues singer and got a chance to record again, but before his new career could take off, he died of acute alcoholism and heart failure at his sister's home in Pomona, California, on April 14, 1990. He deserves to be remembered as much more than just a one-hit wonder.
(www.rockabilly.nl)
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Big Joe Duskin - Don't Mess With The Boogie Man
Pianist, singer, and songwriter Big Joe Duskin got his start playing piano in church, accompanying his father's sermons with gospel hymns. He began playing piano at age seven, but the sounds of bluesmen passing through Cincinnati, OH, caught his ear and his imagination, and his life changed. Duskin was born February 10, 1921, in Birmingham, AL, the third youngest of 11 children. His father was a preacher who found steady work on the railroad and moved the family to Cincinnati. Duskin grew up not far from the Union Terminal train station where his father reported to work. Cincinnati, situated as it is on the Ohio River, was a bustling place in the 1930s and '40s, owing to plentiful jobs on the riverboats and the railroads.As a teenager he became enamored with blues, and loved the recordings and live shows of people like Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, and Pete Johnson. His father, Rev. Perry Duskin, would catch his son playing "the Devil's music" on the piano from time to time and made young Joe promise to stop playing blues and boogie-woogie, at least while the elder Duskin was alive and kicking. Young Joe made that pact with his father as a teenager, knowing his father was then nearing 80, but Rev. Duskin lived to be 105, so young Joe wound up working as a police officer and a postal worker as opposed to a full-time bluesman.
Although he'd carved something of a reputation out locally on the strength of his live shows, Duskin didn't record for any labels until the late '70s. In the early '70s, at the prompting of a young blues historian, Steven C. Tracy, Duskin began playing piano again at festivals around the U.S. and Europe. His first recording, Cincinnati Stomp, was released in 1978 on Arhoolie Records. He recorded several other albums for European labels in the 1980s and '90s, but Big Joe Jumps Again! (2004) was only the second time Duskin recorded for a U.S. label. In the 1990s, he continued touring and performing with enthusiasm and played at the prestigious New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Chicago Blues Festival.
Duskin passed away May 6, 2007, but his music and ideals remain alive through the Big Joe Duskin Music Education Foundation, based in Ohio. Duskin's recordings include the aforementioned Cincinnati Stomp, reissued on compact disc by Arhoolie; 1988's Don't Mess with the Boogie Man on Special Delivery Records; 1994's Blues Rendezvous on Back to Blues; 1997's Live at Dollar Bill's Saloon on Mirage Records; 1998's Down the Road a Piece on Wolf Records; and Live at Quai du Blues, released by the Austerlitz label in 2004.
Duskin's final recording would be the aforementioned Big Joe Jumps Again!, released by the Memphis-based Yellow Dog Records label in 2004, the same year the Mayor of Cincinnati declared July 31 to be "Big Joe Duskin Day" and the pianist was presented with a key to the city.
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Various - C.J.'s Roots Vol. 3 a.k.a Collector's Album From The Catalog Of C.J. Records
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Clayton Love - Come On Home Blues
Red Lightinin RL 0029 This is a 10 inch vynil release from 1980 with 8 live tracks recorded, at a guess, sometime in the 70's. I haven't split the mp3's as the numbers flow into each other. Pianist Clayton Love was a prominent member of Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm during the mid-'50s, making some of his finest platters with the legendary band. But Love made his first vinyl appearance on Lillian McMurry's Jackson, MS-based Trumpet Records in 1951 with his own jump band, the Shufflers. The combo was a fixture around Vicksburg, where Love was attending Alcorn A&M as a pre-med student. Love's cousin, Natchez bandleader Earl Reed, had recorded for Trumpet and recommended his young relative to McMurry. Love's 1951 debut, "Susie"/ "Shufflin' with Love," exhibited infectious enthusiasm if not a great deal of polish. From there, Love moved over to Aladdin in 1952 (with saxist Raymond Hill's band backing him), Modern (with Turner on guitar) and Groove in 1954, and in 1957, Love fronted and played the 88s with Turner and the Kings of Rhythm on their Federal platters "Do You Mean It,""She Made My Blood Run Cold," and "The Big Question." Turner had nothing to do with Love's pair of 1958 singles for St. Louis-based Bobbin Records; bassist Roosevelt Marks led the backing band for the clever coupling "Limited Love"/ "Unlimited Love." Long settled in the Gateway City, Love made an album for Modern Blues Recordings in 1991 with fellow ivories aces Johnnie Johnson and Jimmy Vaughn, Rockin' Eighty-Eights.
(Bill Dahl, All Music Guide)
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Sunday morning blues
Almost every Sunday morning since the kids have left the nest I pull out 3 LP's to listen to while we have breakfast. It's a purely random choice, though most pre-war LP's are rejected as a Sunday morning play, that turns up music I haven't heard for some time. My wive and I together with the cat, who for some reason sits at the head of the table, enjoy the music in the background with coffee and toast. On a nice sunny day as today the doors are open and in the far background we can hear the neighbours chickens and sheep. Good start to the Sunday if you ask me.
This Sundays choices were:
Big Joe Williams - Blues On Highway 49
Willie Willis - Blues, food For The Soul
VA - Johnny Otis Presents "Some Old Folks Boogie" Dig Tracks
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Phillip Walker Band - Live Pit Inn
Despite recording somewhat sparingly since debuting as a leader in 1959 on Elko Records with the storming rocker "Hello My Darling," Louisiana-born guitarist Phillip Walker enjoys a sterling reputation as a contemporary blues guitarist with a distinctive sound honed along the Gulf Coast during the 1950s.A teenaged Walker picked up his early licks around Port Arthur, TX, from the likes of Gatemouth Brown, Long John Hunter, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Lonnie "Guitar Junior" Brooks. Zydeco king Clifton Chenier hired Walker in 1953 as his guitarist, a post he held for three and a half years.
In 1959, Walker moved to Los Angeles, waxing "Hello My Darling" for producer J.R. Fulbright (a song he's revived several times since, most effectively for the short-lived Playboy logo). Scattered 45s emerged during the '60s, but it wasn't until he joined forces with young producer Bruce Bromberg in 1969 that Walker began to get a studio foothold. Their impressive work together resulted in a 1973 album for Playboy (reissued by HighTone in 1989), The Bottom of the Top, that remains Walker's finest to date.
Walker cut a fine follow-up set for Bromberg's Joliet label, Someday You'll Have These Blues, that showcased his tough Texas guitar style (it was later reissued by Alligator). Sets for Rounder and HighTone were high points of the 1980s for the guitarist, and 1994's Big Blues from Texas (reissued in 1999) continued his string of worthy material. His 1995 set for Black Top, Working Girl Blues, shows Walker at peak operating power, combining attractively contrasting tracks waxed in New Orleans and Los Angeles. I Got a Sweet Tooth followed in 1998, and displayed no letdown in quality or power. Walker got together with fellow blues legends Lonnie Brooks and Long John Hunter in 1999 to record Lone Star Shootout for Alligator. Walker is featured as lead vocalist on four tracks and backs the others on the rest of the record. In the fall of 2002, a live recording of a spring concert was released on M.C. Records.
Rare Japanese LP recorded live in 1979 with guest artist George 'Harmonica' Smith.
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Jimmy Reed - Let The Bossman Speak!
There's simply no sound in the blues as easily digestible, accessible, instantly recognizable, and as easy to play and sing as the music of Jimmy Reed. His best-known songs -- "Baby, What You Want Me to Do,""Bright Lights, Big City,""Honest I Do,""You Don't Have to Go,""Going to New York,""Ain't That Lovin' You Baby," and "Big Boss Man" -- have become such an integral part of the standard blues repertoire, it's almost as if they have existed forever. Because his style was simple and easily imitated, his songs were accessible to just about everyone from high-school garage bands having a go at it, to Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Lou Rawls, Hank Williams, Jr., and the Rolling Stones, making him -- in the long run -- perhaps the most influential bluesman of all. His bottom-string boogie rhythm guitar patterns (all furnished by boyhood friend and longtime musical partner Eddie Taylor), simple two-string turnarounds, country-ish harmonica solos (all played in a neck-rack attachment hung around his neck), and mush-mouthed vocals were probably the first exposure most white folks had to the blues. And his music -- lazy, loping, and insistent and constantly built and reconstructed single after single on the same sturdy frame -- was a formula that proved to be enormously successful and influential, both with middle-aged blacks and young white audiences for a good dozen years. Jimmy Reed records hit the R&B charts with amazing frequency and crossed over onto the pop charts on many occasions, a rare feat for an unreconstructed bluesman. This is all the more amazing simply because Reed's music was nothing special on the surface; he possessed absolutely no technical expertise on either of his chosen instruments and his vocals certainly lacked the fierce declamatory intensity of a Howlin' Wolf or a Muddy Waters. But it was exactly that lack of in-your-face musical confrontation that made Jimmy Reed a welcome addition to everybody's record collection back in the '50s and '60s. And for those aspiring musicians who wanted to give the blues a try, either vocally or instrumentally (no matter what skin color you were born with), perhaps Billy Vera said it best in his liner notes to a Reed greatest-hits anthology: "Yes, anybody with a range of more than six notes could sing Jimmy's tunes and play them the first day Mom and Dad brought home that first guitar from Sears & Roebuck. I guess Jimmy could be termed the '50s punk bluesman."
But if selling more records than Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, or Little Walter brought the rewards of fame to his doorstep, no one was more ill-equipped to handle them than Jimmy Reed. With signing his name for fans being the total sum of his literacy, combined with a back-breaking road schedule once he became a name attraction and his self-description as a "liquor glutter," Reed started to fall apart like a cheap suit almost immediately. His devious schemes to tend to his alcoholism -- and the just plain aberrant behavior that came as a result of it -- quickly made him the laughingstock of his show-business contemporaries. Those who shared the bill with him in top-of-the-line R&B venues like the Apollo Theater -- where the story of him urinating on a star performer's dress in the wings has been repeated verbatim by more than one old-timer -- still shake their heads and wonder how Reed could actually stand up straight and perform, much less hold the audience in the palm of his hand. Other stories of Reed being "arrested" and thrown into a Chicago drunk tank the night before a recording session also reverberate throughout the blues community to this day. Little wonder then that when he was stricken with epilepsy in 1957, it went undiagnosed for an extended period of time, simply because he had experienced so many attacks of delirium tremens, better known as the "DTs." Eddie Taylor would relate how he sat directly in front of Reed in the studio, instructing him while the tune was being recorded exactly when to start to start singing, when to blow his harp, and when to do the turnarounds on his guitar. Jimmy Reed also appears, by all accounts, to have been unable to remember the lyrics to new songs -- even ones he had composed himself -- and Mama Reed would sit on a piano bench and whisper them into his ear, literally one line at a time. Blues fans who doubt this can clearly hear the proof on several of Jimmy's biggest hits, most notably "Big Boss Man" and "Bright Lights, Big City," where she steps into the fore and starts singing along with him in order to keep him on the beat.
No way is this a good or well recorded Jimmy Reed lp but it still has a couple of moments and it is Jimmy Reed.
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Lincoln Chase - 'n You
Lincoln Chase studied at the American Academy of Music in New York City, and signed as a recording artist for Decca Records in 1951. However, his single releases for Decca and, later, other labels including RCA, Dawn, Liberty and Columbia were unsuccessful.
As a songwriter, early recordings of his songs included "Rain Down Rain" by Big Maybelle, and "Salty Tears" by Chuck Willis (both 1952), and "Mend Your Ways" by Ruth Brown (May 1953). His first real success came when his song "Such a Night" was recorded by The Drifters, featuring Clyde McPhatter, in November 1953. The song reached #2 on the Billboard R&B chart in early 1954, and was covered by Johnnie Ray, whose version reached #1 on the UK singles chart. A version recorded by Elvis Presley in 1960 also became a hit in 1964, and the song has subsequently been recorded by many other musicians.
Chase's next major success came with "Jim Dandy", recorded in 1956 by LaVern Baker and the Gliders. The song rose to #1 on the US R&B chart and #17 on the Hot 100 in early 1957. Chase also wrote the follow-up record, "Jim Dandy Got Married". He released an album on Liberty Records in 1957, The Explosive Lincoln Chase, recorded with the Spencer Hagen Orchestra.
In 1959, he met singer Shirley Ellis, and worked as her manager for the next few years. Contrary to some reports, they were never married. After collaborating on several unsuccessful singles, he wrote the song "The Nitty Gritty" for her, and it rose to #8 on the Hot 100 in early 1964. Several follow-ups written (or co-written) by Chase - "(That's) What The Nitty Gritty Is", "The Name Game", and "The Clapping Song (Clap Pat Clap Slap)" - also made the US pop charts.
In 1973, Chase released a second album under his own name, Lincoln Chase 'N You, on Paramount Records. Featuring drummer Idris Muhammad, it has been described as "trippy, odd and funky all at the same time....a bit like a black Frank Zappa but groovier."
Chase died in the Atlanta area on 6 October 1980 at the age of 54.
This is a greatly underrated LP and I can't understand why it's never been re-released. His first Lp will be posted in the future.
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Little Joe Blue - It's My Turn Now
Little Joe Blue, born Joseph Valery, Jr., was a relatively late starter as a blues artist. Born in Mississippi in 1934, his musical sensibilities were heavily influenced by the work of Louis Jordan, Joe Liggins, and B.B. King, which he encountered from his teens into his 20s. He didn't turn to music as a profession until the late '50s, when he was well into his twenties, forming his band the Midnighters in Detroit at the end of the decade. By the early '60s, Valery had moved to Reno, Nevada, where he began recording as an adjunct to his performances in local clubs before moving on to Los Angeles. He recorded for various labels, including Kent and Chess' Checker Records division during the early to mid-'60s, and never entirely escaped the criticism that he was a B.B. King imitator, which dogged him right into the '80s. The style that King popularized also happened to suit Valery, however, and he gained some credibility in 1966 when he racked up a modest hit in 1966 with the song "Dirty Work Is Going On," which has since become a blues standard. He had extended stints with Jewel Records and Chess from the late '60s into the early '70s, and recorded until the end of the '80s. Valery performed throughout the south, and later Texas and California, during that decade, and later toured Europe, including performances as part of the International Jazz Fest during the '80s. There is currently one CD of his work in print, the Evejim disc Little Joe Blue's Greatest Hits, a reissue of two LPs, I'm Doing Alright and Dirty Work Going On, that he cut in the '80s. His "Standing on the Threshold," featuring a powerful vocal performance and some beautifully soaring horns behind some lean, mean guitar and piano, also appears on Jewel Spotlights the Blues, Vol. 1. Little Joe passed away in April 1990.
Many Thanks go to Steve W., Richard S. and Gerard for sharing this hard to find LP.Post: http://www22.zippyshare.com/v/nrhX3p7u/file.html
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Bob Starr - Stop This Energy Crisis
Privately pressed funk, soul LP with a touch of the blues that is sought after by the lovers of everything offbeat. A valid message then and even more so now.
Thanks go to HM for sharing this LP and Bob Starr's other LP which will be posted in the future. At the same time filling a request from Gerard.
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Jimmy McCracklin With Lafayette Thomas - The Best Of
A full half-century from when he started out in the blues business, Jimmy McCracklin was still touring, recording, and acting like a much younger man. In fact, he vehemently disputed his commonly accepted birth date, but since he began recording back in 1945, it seemed reasonable. McCracklin grew up in Missouri, his main influence on piano being Walter Davis (little Jimmy's dad introduced him to the veteran pianist). McCracklin was also a promising pugilist, but the blues eventually emerged victorious. After a stint in the Navy during World War II, he bid St. Louis adieu and moved to the West Coast, making his recorded debut for the Globe logo with "Miss Mattie Left Me" in 1945. On that platter, J.D. Nicholson played piano; most of McCracklin's output found him handling his own 88s.
McCracklin recorded for a daunting array of tiny labels in Los Angeles and Oakland prior to touching down with Modern in 1949-1950, Swing Time the next year, and Peacock in 1952-1954. Early in his recording career, McCracklin had Robert Kelton on guitar, but by 1951, Lafayette "Thing" Thomas was installed as the searing guitarist with McCracklin's Blues Blasters and remained invaluable to the pianist into the early '60s.
By 1954, the pianist was back with the Bihari Brothers' Modern logo and really coming into his own with a sax-driven sound. "Couldn't Be a Dream" was hilariously surreal, McCracklin detailing his night out with a woman sent straight from hell, while a 1955 session found him doubling credibly on harp.
A series of sessions for Bay Area producer Bob Geddins' Irma label in 1956 (many of which later turned up on Imperial) preceded McCracklin's long-awaited first major hit. Seldom had he written a simpler song than "The Walk," a rudimentary dance number with a good groove that Checker Records put on the market in 1958. It went Top Ten on both the R&B and pop charts, and McCracklin was suddenly rubbing elbows with Dick Clark on network TV.
The nomadic pianist left Chess after a few more 45s, pausing at Mercury (where he cut a torrid "Georgia Slop" in 1959, later revived by Big Al Downing) before returning to the hit parade with the tough R&B workout "Just Got to Know" in 1961 for Art-Tone Records. A similar follow-up, "Shame, Shame, Shame," also did well for him the next year. Those sides eventually resurfaced on Imperial, where he hit twice in 1965 with "Every Night, Every Day" (later covered by Magic Sam) and the uncompromising "Think" and "My Answer" in 1966.
McCracklin's songwriting skills shouldn't be overlooked as an integral factor in his enduring success. He penned the funky "Tramp" for guitarist Lowell Fulson and watched his old pal take it to the rarefied end of the R&B lists in 1967, only to be eclipsed by a sassy duet cover by Stax stalwarts Otis Redding and Carla Thomas a scant few months later. McCracklin made a string of LPs for Imperial, even covering "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" in 1966, and segued into the soul era totally painlessly. Latter-day discs for Bullseye Blues proved that McCracklin still packed a knockout punch from behind his piano, no matter what his birth certificate said. Jimmy McCracklin died in San Pablo, California on December 20, 2012 at the age of 91. (Bill Dahl – Allmusic)
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