Dan Pickett was another supremely gifted player who was based on the East Coast, his work is rarely anthologised - which is a big shame given his skill and reputation amongst those "in the know". We had no problem in sharing his 1949 song "99 and 1/2" with you on last night's STAR BLUES.
Our pitch opened with Louis Jordan for no other reason than he matches my definition of sublime and it was a refreshing change to hear the original of "Buzz Me" rather than any one of a number of electric versions which always centre on guitar showings off. The erudite scribe Charles Shaar Murray wrote about Jimmy Witherspoon: "Too jazz for blues and too blues for jazz". I can see his point but Spoon was bigger than either genre, his effortless shouting was a highlight at the 1959 Monterey Jazz Festival when conventional wisdom said his time was long gone, killed off by rock'n'roll. He and tenor sax man Ben Webster had other ideas. We took their cover of "St Louis Blues" from a volume in the Orbis magazine series.
Ann Peebles gets waaaaay less props than she should, I doubt many folks could name one of her songs which isn't about "Rain". After many years with Willie Mitchell at the helm, Ann jumped ship from Hi to Bullseye for a project produced by Ron Levy. His touch brought out a grittier edge to her voice and she was steered towards less obvious songs such as those by Delbert McClinton. Nice. Ollie Nightingale can sound like Sam Cooke at times, not that's a bad thing because it's double qualification for duties in the gospel tent. Amos Milburn held keyboard court with one of his Aladdin recordings, ably supported not once but twice by Otis Spann and Muddy Waters (even if Muddy was smuggled into 'Blues will never die" as Dirty Rivers). "Blow Wind Blow" was the first song Otis Spann did as part of Muddy Waters' band and its one of the mere handful of sides Walter Horton cut with Muddy. I used the opportunity as a reminder that 1913 will be the centenary of Muddys birth and we will be doing some special shows next April in celebration.
Freddie Kings work for Cotillion is sometimes overlooked when compared with the early stuff for Federal and his later stuff for RSO, I like it for the way King Curtis put Freddies guitar up front and let everyone else try to keep up from behind. The 1967 album "Never Get Out Of these blues" isn't one of John Lee Hooker's best but it does have a couple of flashes of what Hooker does best, mostly on Al Kings song "Think Twice Before you Speak" and we also had a smidge of the man himself from a Kent collection of proper R&B. Just time to mention a project from Ann Rabson and Bob Margolin on Vizztone, full of charm and old-fashioned pleasure of two seasoned players enjoying each others company.
Regular listeners will know I always wear a white tee-shirt - and once a year I sign one for charity. Just done it, there's is only one of them, You can bid for it by taking part in the Thursday auctions on Ryan Taylor's breakfast show on Thursday mornings. He's keeping it a secret on when it will be, you should listen to him to find out. I've slipped a few extra goodies into the basket so I hope you'll want to follow the auction and time those bids precisely. Meantime you were splendid company yesterday, I was Gary Blue and if you'll have me I'll bring some more trivia and tomfoolery next Sunday night at ten pm (Mr Ernest, Mrs Doubtfire and the two little ducks, Deefer and Spot will already be there). Until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you
Track.Title | Track.ArtistSort | Index | Album.Title | Album.ArtistSort | Label |
Buzz Me | Louis Jordan | 3 | Reet Petite And Gone | Louis Jordan | INDIGO |
Miss Lucy | Big Al Downing | 5 | Holy Mackerel! Pretenders To Little Richard's Throne | Various Artists | ACE |
Lucky To Be Living | Dave Riley & Bob Corritore | 4 | Lucky To Be Living | Dave Riley & Bob Corritore | Blue Witch Records |
Think Twice Before You Go | John Lee Hooker | 6 | Tantalizing With The Blues | John Lee Hooker | MCA |
Dyin' Flu | Albert Collins | 6 | The Cool Sound Of Albert Collins | Albert Collins | BLUE CITY |
Read Me My Rights | Ann Peebles | 3 | Full Time Love | Ann Peebles | BULLSEYE BLUES |
St. Louis Blues | Jimmy Witherspoon | 15 | Ain't Nobody's Business | Jimmy Witherspoon | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
Home In Your Heart | Solomon Burke | 23 | Handy Man - The Songs Of Otis Blackwell | Various Artists | ACE |
Ain't Givin Up Nothin | Al King | 20 | New Breed R'n'b | Various Artists | Kent (U.K.) |
Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out | Joe Hicks | 7 | Stax: We'll Play The Blues For You | Various Artists | STAX |
Adelphi Ramble | Richard 'Hacksaw' Harney | 4 | Sweet Man | Richard 'Hacksaw' Harney | EDSEL |
Tough Luck | Robert Lee McCoy | 1 | Prowling Nighthawk | Robert Nighthawk | CATFISH |
I Wonder Why | Freddie King | 3 | My Feeling For The Blues | Freddie King | REPERTOIRE |
Tin Pan Alley | Phillip Walker | 2 | Bottom Of The Top / Blues | Phillip Walker | DEMON |
Choo Choo Boogie | Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown | 5 | Just Got Lucky | Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
I've Got A New Home | Ollie Nightingale & The Dixie Nightingales | 8 | Gospel Celebrities And Celestial Lights | Various Artists | Fantastic Voyage |
cut you a-loose | rick allen | 10 | age & chief blues story | various artists | fuel 2000 |
Blow Wind Blow | Muddy Waters | 23 | Mad Love : Introduction To Muddy Waters | Muddy Waters | PROPER |
The Blues Never Die | Otis Spann | 6 | All That Blues | Various Artists | ORIGINAL BLUES CLASSICS |
Anybody's Blues | Amos Milburn | 32 | Blues Barrelhouse And Boogie - The Best Of | Amos Milburn | Capitol |
Anywhere You Go | Ann Rabson With Bob Margolin | 10 | Not Alone | Ann Rabson With Bob Margolin | Vizztone |
99 1/2 Won't Do | Dan Pickett | 23 | Shake That Thing!: East Coast Blues 1935-1953, | Various Artists | JSP Records |
Blues After Hours | Pee Wee Crayton | 13 | The History Of Rhythm And Blues Volume Two 1942-1952 | Various Artists | Rhythm and Blues Records |
need your love so bad | fleetwood mac | 10 | fleetwood mac | fleetwood mac | blue horizon |
frogs in the long grass | Eddie Martin & His Big Blues Band | 1 | Looking Forward Looking Back | Eddie Martin & His Big Blues Band | BUEBLOOD |
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