1909 Lovie Lee*
1941 Paul Kantner*
1944 John B. Sebastian*
1954 Hollywood Fats*
1963 Lizzie Miles+
1989 Bobby Mitchell+
1995 Sunnyland Slim+
2009 Lester Davenport+
Brandon Niederauer*
Happy Birthday
Hollywood Fats *17.03.1954
Er begann im Alter von zehn Jahren mit dem Gitarrespiel. Nachdem er als Teenager den Blues entdeckt hatte, fuhr ihn seine Mutter in verschiedene Bluesclubs in South Central Los Angeles, wo er verschiedene Größen der Bluesmusik hörte und mit ihnen spielte. [1] Er trat mit Shakey Jake Harris, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy und Junior Wells auf. Nachdem er in den 1970ern mit dem Mundharmonikaspieler James Harman gearbeitet hatte und kurze Zeit bei Canned Heat spielte (Tondokument:Canned Heat in Concert)[2], gründete er mit dem Mundharmonikaspieler Al Blake, dem Pianisten Fred Kaplan, dem Schlagzeuger Richard Innes und dem Bassisten Larry Taylor die Hollywood Fats Band. 1979 veröffentlichte die Band ihr einziges Album. Nicht lange danach löste sich die Band auf, Mann spielte danach wieder mit James Harman und einer Band namens Dino´s Revenge, mit der er auch live spielte.
1986 trafen sich die Mitglieder der Hollywood Fats Band und spielten einen Gig, bei dem sie sich entschlossen, wieder gemeinsam aufzutreten. Nach der anschließenden Feier mit Freunden starb Hollywood Fats aber an einer Überdosis Heroin.
Hollywood Fats (March 17, 1954 – December 8, 1986)[1] was an American blues guitarist, active in Los Angeles, California.
Biography
Hollywood Fats was born Michael Leonard Mann in Los Angeles, and started playing guitar at the age of 10. While in his teens, his mother would drive him to various clubs in South Central Los Angeles to jam with well-known blues musicians when they came to town. Hollywood Fats' father was a doctor and his siblings went on to become doctors and lawyers. He met Buddy Guy and Junior Wells who gave him the nickname.[2] Hollywood Fats toured with James Harman, Jimmy Witherspoon, J. B. Hutto, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and Albert King.
During the 1970s and 1980s he worked with the blues harmonica player and singer James Harman. He played on a number of his records including Extra Napkin's, Mo' Na'Kins, Please, Those Dangerous Gentlemans and Live in '85. Other guitarists with whom he played included Junior Watson, Kid Ramos and Dave Alvin.
Hollywood Fats was invited to be a sideman to Muddy Waters and later met the harmonica player Al Blake. Blake had just moved to Los Angeles from Oklahoma. In 1974, Hollywood Fats and Blake formed a band consisting of pianist Fred Kaplan, Richard Innes on drums and Canned Heat bassist Larry Taylor called the Hollywood Fats Band.[3]
For a King Biscuit Flower Hour concert on September 7, 1979, which was later to be released on record, Hollywood Fats played the lead guitar in Canned Heat.
The Hollywood Fats Band released a self-titled album in 1979, the only album under their name. The band broke up not long after and Hollywood Fats continued to play with Harman's band, and The Blasters in 1986 replacing Dave Alvin.
Hollywood Fats also played with a non-blues band called Dino's Revenge from 1985 through 1986. He recorded three songs with Dino's Revenge as well as playing several live performances.[4] The band consisted of Marshall Rohner of T.S.O.L. as well as Kevan Hill, Butch Azevedo and Steven Ameche all of The Twisters.[5]
Hollywood Fats died of a heroin overdose in 1986 in Los Angeles at the age of 32. At the time of his death, he was playing with the James Harman Band, the Blasters and Dino's Revenge.
The band reunion
Around 2002, the remaining original members of the Hollywood Fats Band were reunited with young Kirk Fletcher on guitar, and recorded some new material. The first of the recordings came out on Al Blake's solo album Dr. Blakes Magic Soul Elixir released in 2002. This new version of the band started calling themselves the Hollywood Blue Flames. They released two albums under their name from Delta Groove Productions. The second album Road To Rio came with a CD titled Larger Than Life which consisted of previously unreleased live recordings of the original Hollywood Fats Band.
Paul Kantner *17.03.1941
Paul Lorin Kantner (* 17. März 1941 in San Francisco, Kalifornien; † 28. Januar 2016) war ein amerikanischer Rockmusiker (Gitarre, Gesang) und Mitbegründer der Rockband Jefferson Airplane.
Biografie
Paul Kantner war der erste, den Marty Balin 1965 zum Projekt Jefferson Airplane einlud. Kantner schrieb etliche Songs für die Band, die sich häufig um Themen aus der Science-Fiction drehten: Der Text des Liedes Crown of Creation vom gleichnamigen Album aus dem Jahr 1968 besteht zum Beispiel nur aus Zitaten aus dem 1955 erschienenen Science-Fiction-Roman Wem gehört die Erde? von John Wyndham. Mit David Crosby und Stephen Stills schrieb er das Stück Wooden Ships, das auf dem Airplane-Album Volunteers erschien. Kantners Solo-Album Blows Against the Empire von 1970 – mit Beiträgen von Grace Slick, David Crosby, Jerry García und Graham Nash – handelt davon, dass um das Jahr 1990 herum siebentausend Hippies ein von der Regierung gebautes Raumschiff kapern, um damit ins All auszuwandern. Es wurde für den Hugo Award nominiert.
Die Airplane-Sängerin Grace Slick und Paul Kantner wurden ein Paar, ihre gemeinsame Tochter China wurde 1971 geboren. Sie nahmen die Alben Sunfighter (1971) und Baron Von Tollbooth & the Chrome Nun (1973) auf, bevor sie 1974 Jefferson Airplane endgültig in Jefferson Starship umbenannten – den Namen hatte Kantner schon 1970 für Blows Against the Empire verwendet.
1980 erlitt Kantner eine Hirnblutung. 1983 erschien sein Soloalbum The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra. 1984 verließ Kantner Jefferson Starship und erreichte auf gerichtlichem Weg, dass die Band ihren Namen ändern musste und sich fortan Starship nannte. Mit Marty Balin und Jack Casady formierte er 1985 die KBC Band, die ein Album aufnahm.
1989 gab es eine kurzzeitige Wiedervereinigung von Jefferson Airplane. Danach belebte Kantner Jefferson Starship wieder – diese jüngste Inkarnation der Band wird allgemein als Jefferson Starship – The Next Generation bezeichnet.
Kantner starb am 28. Januar 2016 an Multiorganversagen und septischem Schock als Folgen eines Herzinfarkts, den er einige Tage zuvor erlitten hatte. Er hinterlässt zwei Söhne und eine Tochter.
Paul Lorin Kantner[1] (March 17, 1941 – January 28, 2016) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, known for co-founding Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era, and its more commercial spin-off band Jefferson Starship. He was born in San Francisco, California.
Formed in 1965 when he and Marty Balin met, Kantner eventually became the leader of Jefferson Airplane and led the group through its highly successful late 1960s period. In 1970, while still active with Jefferson Airplane, Kantner and several Bay Area musicians recorded a one-off side project under the name "Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship."
Jefferson Airplane continued to record and perform until 1972. When the band officially broke up, Kantner revived the Jefferson Starship name and continued to record and perform with that band for the next five decades. Kantner had the longest continuous membership with the band; at times he was the only founding member still in the band from the original Jefferson Airplane lineup,[2] and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with other band members in 1996.
Early years
Kantner was born on March 17, 1941, in San Francisco, California,[1] the son of Cora Lee (Fortier) and Paul Schell Kantner. Kantner had a half-brother and a half-sister by his father's first marriage, both much older than he. His father was of German descent, and his mother was of French and German ancestry.[3] His mother died when he was eight years old, and Kantner remembered that he was not allowed to attend her funeral. His father sent him to the circus instead.[2] After his mother's death, his father, who was a traveling salesman, sent young Kantner to Catholic military boarding school. At age eight or nine, in the school's library, he read his first science fiction book, finding an escape by immersing himself in science fiction and music from then on.[2][4][5] As a teenager he went into total revolt against all forms of authority, and he decided to become a protest folk singer in the manner of his musical hero, Pete Seeger.[5] He attended Saint Mary's College High School, Santa Clara University and San Jose State College, completing a total of three years of college before he dropped out to enter the music scene.[2][6]
1960s–1970s
During the summer of 1965, singer Marty Balin saw Kantner perform at the Drinking Gourd, a San Francisco folk club, and invited him to co-found a new band, Jefferson Airplane.[2][4][7] When the group needed a lead guitarist, Kantner recommended Jorma Kaukonen, whom he knew from his San Jose days.[2] As rhythm guitarist and one of the band's singers, Kantner was the only musician to appear on all albums recorded by Jefferson Airplane as well as Jefferson Starship. Kantner's songwriting often featured whimsical or political lyrics with a science-fiction or fantasy theme, usually set to music that had a hard rock, almost martial sound. Kantner wrote many of the Airplane's early songs, including the chart hits "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil", "Watch Her Ride", "Crown of Creation", and the controversial "We Can Be Together"; and, with Balin, co-wrote "Today" and "Volunteers".[8] He also wrote, with David Crosby and Stephen Stills, the song "Wooden Ships", though for contractual reasons he was not credited initially.[9]
With Jefferson Airplane, Kantner was among the performers at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Recalling Woodstock 40 years later, Kantner stated: “We were due to be on stage at 10pm on the Saturday night but we didn’t actually get on until 7.30am the following day.”[10] Later in 1969, the group also played at Altamont, where Marty Balin was knocked unconscious during their set by a Hells Angels member originally hired as security for the concert. Kantner appears in the documentary film about the Altamont concert, Gimme Shelter, in a tense on-stage confrontation with a Hell's Angel regarding the altercation.[11]
Despite its commercial success, the Airplane was plagued by intra-group fighting, causing the band to begin splintering at the height of its success.[12] Part of the problem was manager Bill Graham, who wanted the group to do more touring and more recording.[13][14] During the transitional period of the early 1970s, as the Airplane started to come apart, Kantner recorded Blows Against The Empire, a concept album featuring an ad hoc group of musicians whom he dubbed Jefferson Starship.[5][12][15][16] This earliest edition of Jefferson Starship included members of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (David Crosby and Graham Nash), members of the Grateful Dead, (Jerry Garcia, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart), as well as some of the other members of Jefferson Airplane (Grace Slick, Joey Covington and Jack Casady).
In Blows Against the Empire, Kantner and Slick sang about a group of people escaping Earth in a hijacked starship. The album was nominated in 1971 for the Hugo Award, the premiere award voted by science fiction fandom.[17] A sequel, The Empire Blows Back, was released in 1983 and included most of the same musicians, performing this time under the name The Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra.[18]
Kantner had been in love with Grace Slick for some time, but she was involved in a relationship with the band's drummer, Spencer Dryden. After their two-year affair ended, he finally had a chance with Grace.[2][14][19] In 1969, Kantner and Grace Slick began living together publicly as a couple. Rolling Stone magazine called them "the psychedelic John and Yoko." Slick became pregnant, and a song about their child's impending birth, "A Child Is Coming," appeared on Blows Against the Empire. Kantner and Slick's daughter China Wing Kantner was born in 1971.[20][21][22]
Kantner and Slick released two follow-up albums. Sunfighter was an environmentalism-tinged album released in 1971 to celebrate China's birth. China appears on the album cover, and the track list includes "China," a song written and sung by Slick about her new baby. Kantner and Slick made news again in 1972, when they were accused of assaulting a policeman after their Akron, Ohio concert.[23][24] 1973's Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun was named after the nicknames David Crosby had given to the couple. Through a songwriter friend Kantner discovered teen-aged guitarist Craig Chaquico during this time, who first appeared on Sunfighter and went on to play with all of the incarnations of the Starship name through 1991. Slick left Kantner in the 1970s to marry Skip Johnson, a Jefferson Starship roadie.[4] Despite the split, Slick remained with the band through 1978.
After Kaukonen and Casady left the Airplane in 1973 to devote their full attention to Hot Tuna, the musicians on Baron von Tollbooth formed the core of a new Airplane lineup that was formally reborn as "Jefferson Starship" for a tour in 1974. Kantner, Slick, and David Freiberg were charter members along with late-Airplane holdovers – drummer John Barbata and fiddler Papa John Creach – plus Chaquico and Pete Sears, who played bass and keyboards. Marty Balin also joined Jefferson Starship while their first album, Dragonfly, was still in the works, co-writing with Kantner the album's biggest hit "Caroline."[16][25]
After the 1978 release of the album Earth – to which Kantner contributed just one song – Jefferson Starship saw major personnel changes. Slick took a leave of absence, and Balin quit the group to pursue a solo career. No attempt was made to replace Slick, but Balin was replaced by Mickey Thomas, who had previously achieved success as a member of the Elvin Bishop Group.[26][27] Freedom at Point Zero, an album dominated by Kantner compositions, was released to commercial success. Grace Slick returned for the follow-up album, Modern Times, which also featured Kantner's science fiction themes.[4]
1980s–1990s
In October 1980, Kantner was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in serious condition from a cerebral hemorrhage.[5] Kantner had been working in Los Angeles on an album when he became ill.[28] He was 39 years old at the time and beat considerable odds with a full recovery without surgery.[29] A year later, Kantner talked about the experience, saying, "If there was a Big Guy up there willing to talk to me, I was willing to listen. But nothing happened. It was all just like a small vacation." It was his second brush with serious illness or injury, having suffered a serious motorcycle accident in the early 1960s: "I hit a tree at 40 miles an hour head first and nearly shattered my skull. I had a plate in there for a while."[4] The injury from the motorcycle accident was credited with saving Kantner from serious complications from the cerebral hemorrhage; the hole left by the accident relieved the accompanying cranial pressure.[2]
Kantner in concert with Jefferson Starship, 1996.
In 1984, Kantner (the last founding member of Jefferson Airplane remaining) left Jefferson Starship, complaining that the band had become too commercial and strayed too far from its counterculture roots.[30] Kantner made his decision to leave in the middle of a tour.[26] Upon quitting Kantner took legal action against his former bandmates over the Jefferson name (the rest of the band wanted to continue as Jefferson Starship).[31] Kantner won his suit, and the group name was reduced to simply "Starship."[13] Under the terms of the settlement, no group can call itself Jefferson Starship without Paul Kantner as a member, and no group can call itself Jefferson Airplane unless Grace Slick is on board.[32][33] The legal battle had personal repercussions as well, permanently damaging Kantner's friendships with Mickey Thomas and Craig Chaquiço.
In 1985, following his departure from Jefferson Starship, Paul Kantner rejoined with Balin and Jack Casady to form the KBC Band, releasing their only album, KBC Band (which included Kantner's hit, "America"), in 1987 on Arista Records.[12][33] There was a video made for "America" as well as a national KBC tour.[34] In 1986, Kantner headed for court with Slick and her then husband, Skip Johnson, over the taping of some telephone conversations.[35]
With Kantner reunited with Balin and Casady, the KBC Band opened the door to a full-blown Jefferson Airplane reunion. In 1988, during a San Francisco Hot Tuna gig where Kantner was performing, they found themselves joined by Grace Slick. This led to a formal reunion of the original Jefferson Airplane (featuring nearly all the main members, including founder Marty Balin, but without Spencer Dryden, who left in 1970).[36][37] A self-titled album was released by Columbia Records. The accompanying tour was a success, but their revival was short-lived, although the band never formally disbanded.[38] According to Grace Slick, the reunion began as a joke: "We hadn't even talked for a year, and we were battling legally – in fact, there are still some standing lawsuits between me and Paul, something to do with the Airplane. Anyway, the idea was that I'd just sneak in, stand at the side of the stage and come out and sing 'White Rabbit' and see what Paul did. Paul never got the joke, but he liked it, the audience liked it, and that's how it started."[39]
1990s–2010s
Kantner and his Jefferson Airplane bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.[40] The performance at the induction ceremony was the first time original members Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Spencer Dryden and Kantner had played together since 1970.[41] Grace Slick had to miss the ceremonies because of a serious leg infection, but sent a message which was delivered by Kantner, "Grace sends her love."[42]
In 1991 Kantner and Balin reformed Jefferson Starship and Kantner continued to tour and record with the band through 2013. Jefferson Starship was primarily a Paul Kantner solo band, with various former Airplane and Starship members dropping in for tours or specific shows. With their latest female vocalist Cathy Richardson and Kantner's son Alexander Kantner on bass, Jefferson Starship released their first studio album in a decade, titled Jefferson's Tree of Liberty in September 2008.[43] The album was a return to Kantner's musical roots featuring covers of 1950s and 1960s protest songs.[44][45]
In late 2010 Kantner started to compile collections of "sonic art" performed by him and various artists, including a mix of cover songs, sound effects, and spoken word, releasing multiple volumes under the title "Paul Kantner Windowpane Collective".[46]
On March 25, 2015, it was reported that Kantner had suffered a heart-attack.“Paul’s health took a bad turn this week,” the members of Jefferson Starship said via a Facebook post. “He’s in the hospital, stable and undergoing tests to find out exactly what’s going on, but doctors suspect he had a heart attack. He is in the best possible care and we are sending him all of our best wishes, good thoughts and healing vibes." The band also stated that they're "continuing the tour without him, as most of the shows are sold out or close to it and we have to honor our contracts and our fans who bought tickets and put on the best show possible,” the band said in its official statement. “We will dedicate every show to Paul until he is well enough to rejoin us onstage.”[47] Kantner returned to the group later on in the year, in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jefferson Airplane with special shows that also featured Grateful Dead tribute group Jazz is Dead.
Personal life and death
Kantner had three children; sons Gareth (a restauranteur) and Alexander (a musician who sometimes played with Jefferson Starship), and daughter China (a former MTV VJ and actress.)[48]
A political anarchist, Kantner once advocated the use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD for mind expansion and spiritual growth, and was a prominent advocate of the legalization of marijuana.[4][49] In a 1986 interview, Kantner shared his thoughts about cocaine and alcohol, saying, "Cocaine, particularly, is a bummer. It's a noxious drug that turns people into jerks. And alcohol is probably the worst drug of all. As you get older and accomplish more things in life in general, you realize that drugs don't help, particularly if you abuse them."[50] When Kantner suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in 1980, his attending physician at Cedars-Sinai, Stephen Levy, was quick to point out it was not a drug-related issue, saying: "There is zero relationship between Paul's illness and drugs. He doesn't use drugs."[51]
Kantner died in San Francisco at the age of 74 on January 28, 2016 from multiple organ failure and septic shock after he suffered a heart attack days earlier.[1] Shortly after Kantner's passing, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart reflected, "He was kind of the backbone of that band. It was always about Grace and Jack and Jorma (Kaukonen), I don’t think he got the credit he deserved." [52] He died on the same day as Airplane co-founder Signe Toly Anderson.
Paul Kantner - Somebody To Love - Jefferson Starship Live 2013
2
John B. Sebastian - I Had a Dream
JOHN SEBASTIAN - BLACK SNAKE BLUES
Lovie Lee - Lovie's Boogie
Jam Cruise Superjam Voo Doo Child Brandon Niederauer Jan 5 2014 nunupics.com
R.I.P.
Sunnyland Slim +17.03.1995
In den späten 1920er Jahren zog Sunnyland Slim nach Memphis, um dort als Pianist seinen Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen. In der Beale Street spielte er u. a. mit Little Brother Montgomery und Ma Rainey.
1939 ging er nach Chicago, wo er mit Sonny Boy Williamson I. auftrat. 1947 machte er Aufnahmen unter dem Namen „Doctor Clayton's Buddy“. Er nahm für J.O.B. Records auf und spielte auch auf Muddy Waters' Platten in den späten 1940er Jahren als Begleitmusiker, so für das kurzlebige Label Tempo-Tone. Sunnyland Slim wurde bei einer Messerstecherei an der Hand verletzt, so dass einige Finger etwas von der ursprünglichen Bewegungsfähigkeit einbüßten, aber er war dennoch ein begehrter Begleitpianist. 1962 veröffentlichte er auf Prestige Records eine LP. Es folgten im Laufe der Zeit zahlreiche Aufnahmen für verschiedene Plattenfirmen.
In den 1960er Jahren spielte er mit King Curtis, ging mit Otis Rush auf Tour und reiste mit dem American Folk Blues Festival 1964 und den Chicago All Stars 1968 durch Europa. Die Allstars bestanden aus Willie Dixon am Bass, Clifton James am Schlagzeug, Walter Horton an der Bluesharp und Johnnie Shines an der Gitarre. Diese Besetzung machte 1968 für BASF Aufnahmen, die als LP im gleichen Jahr veröffentlicht wurde. Die Allstars hatten in den USA weitaus weniger Erfolg als in Europa, was kurze Zeit später zur Auflösung dieser Band führte. 1970 trat er beim Ann Arbor Blues Festival auf. Zur gleichen Zeit nahm er für BEE & Baby Records in Chicago einige Singles auf: Entweder unter seinem Namen oder denen von Homesick James (voc & Slide-Gitarre) oder von Andrew McMahon (Voc & Bass). 1972 ist er als Begleitmusiker auf einer Live-Howling Wolf-LP der Firma Chess zu hören. 1980/81 tourte Sunnyland mit dem AFBF. Selbst im hohen Alter spielte Sunnyland Slim noch bei Konzerten in Chicago und gab jungen und alten Talenten so Auftrittsmöglichkeiten.
Sunnyland Slim starb 1995 nach einigen schweren Erkrankungen an Nierenversagen. 1991 war er in die Blues Hall of Fame aufgenommen worden.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunnyland_Slim
Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew (September 5, 1906 – March 17, 1995)[1] was an American blues pianist, who was born in the Mississippi Delta, and later moved to Chicago, Illinois, to contribute to that city's post-war scene as a center for blues music.[2] Chicago's broadcaster and writer, Studs Terkel, said Sunnyland Slim was "a living piece of our folk history, gallantly and eloquently carrying on in the old tradition."[3]
Biography
Sunnyland Slim was born on a farm in Quitman County, near Vance, Mississippi.[1][3] He moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1925, where he performed with many of the popular blues musicians of the day. His stage name came from a song he composed about the Sunnyland train that ran between Memphis and St. Louis, Missouri.[3] In 1942 he followed the great migration of southern workers to the industrial north in Chicago.
At that time the electric blues was taking shape there, and through the years Sunnyland Slim played with such musicians as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf,[4] Robert Lockwood, Jr., and Little Walter.[3] His piano style is characterised by heavy basses or vamping chords in the left hand and tremolos with his right. His voice was loud and he sang in a declamatory style.[5]
Sunnyland Slim's first recording was as a singer with Jump Jackson's band on the Specialty label in September 1946. His first recordings as a leader were on the Hy-Tone and Aristocrat labels in late 1947.[6] Slim continued performing until his death in 1995.
He released one record on RCA Victor using the moniker 'Dr. Clayton's Buddy': "Illinois Central" b/w "Sweet Lucy Blues" (Victor 20-2733).
In the late 1960s, Slim became friends with Canned Heat and played piano on the track "Turpentine Moan" on the album Boogie with Canned Heat. In turn, members of Canned Heat - lead guitarist Henry Vestine, slide guitarist Alan Wilson and bassist Larry Taylor - guested on Sunnyland Slim's Liberty Records album Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On (1968), which also featured Mick Taylor.
In 1988 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship.[3]
Sunnyland Slim died in March 1995 in Chicago, after complications from renal failure, at the age of 88.
Biography
Sunnyland Slim was born on a farm in Quitman County, near Vance, Mississippi.[1][3] He moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1925, where he performed with many of the popular blues musicians of the day. His stage name came from a song he composed about the Sunnyland train that ran between Memphis and St. Louis, Missouri.[3] In 1942 he followed the great migration of southern workers to the industrial north in Chicago.
At that time the electric blues was taking shape there, and through the years Sunnyland Slim played with such musicians as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf,[4] Robert Lockwood, Jr., and Little Walter.[3] His piano style is characterised by heavy basses or vamping chords in the left hand and tremolos with his right. His voice was loud and he sang in a declamatory style.[5]
Sunnyland Slim's first recording was as a singer with Jump Jackson's band on the Specialty label in September 1946. His first recordings as a leader were on the Hy-Tone and Aristocrat labels in late 1947.[6] Slim continued performing until his death in 1995.
He released one record on RCA Victor using the moniker 'Dr. Clayton's Buddy': "Illinois Central" b/w "Sweet Lucy Blues" (Victor 20-2733).
In the late 1960s, Slim became friends with Canned Heat and played piano on the track "Turpentine Moan" on the album Boogie with Canned Heat. In turn, members of Canned Heat - lead guitarist Henry Vestine, slide guitarist Alan Wilson and bassist Larry Taylor - guested on Sunnyland Slim's Liberty Records album Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On (1968), which also featured Mick Taylor.
In 1988 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship.[3]
Sunnyland Slim died in March 1995 in Chicago, after complications from renal failure, at the age of 88.
Bobby Mitchell & the Toppers were part of the wave of New Orleans rock & rollers who followed in the wake of Fats Domino and Lloyd Price. Although the group had limited success (their best known song, "Try Rock 'n Roll," climbed into the R&B Top 20 nationally, and "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday" was a smash in numerous localities without ever charting nationally) and broke up in 1954, Mitchell remained a popular figure in New Orleans R&B for 35 years.
Bobby Mitchell (August 16, 1935-March 17, 1989) was born in Algiers, LA, the second oldest of what were eventually 17 children in a family that made its living fishing the Mississippi River -- Mitchell himself contributed to the family's well-being by cutting and selling wood. When he was ten years old, Mitchell got a job after school making deliveries for a liquor store, and it was while hanging around the store that he started singing -- he was good enough then that people gave him nickels and dimes for his performances.
Mitchell played football in school until an injury sidelined him permanently, after which he joined the school chorus. By the time he was done with school, the music teacher was giving him solos on numbers such as "Ol' Man River" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." At age 17, he was in his first singing group, the Louisiana Groovers. By that time, Mitchell was falling firmly under the influence of R&B, most especially the sound of Roy Brown.
Mitchell wrote his first original song, "One Friday Morning," a doo wop-style ballad, which he cut as a demo with help from a teacher with a tape recorder (still a relative rarity in 1952). That tape got auditioned at a local radio station, and this led to the formation of a backing group called the Toppers, consisting of Lloyd Bellaire (tenor), Joseph Butler (tenor), Willie Bridges (baritone), Frank Bocage (bass), and Gabriel Fleming (piano). Vocally, they were influenced by acts such as Clyde McPhatter and the Dominoes, although they also listened to the records of Roy Hamilton and Nat King Cole. One factor that prevented them from coming up with a firmer direction of their own at the time was their youth -- Mitchell was barely 17 at the time.
Eventually, they hooked up with producer Dave Bartholomew, and at his urging they cut some demos for Imperial Records. The group did as asked, but at the time it seemed as though it wasn't going to work out too well. The six of them were walking eight miles each day to the studio to practice with Bartholomew, and in the end Imperial only wanted Mitchell, until the singer insisted that it was all of them or nothing. Bartholomew relented, and in the meantime, the group had its first original song, "Rack 'Em Back," written by Joe Butler in response to the clowning on those long walks.
This became the B-side of their debut single, while a Lloyd Bellaire original, "I'm Crying," was the A-side. Released in May of 1953, it didn't sell well, although it was a beginning -- Mitchell's voice was powerful and extremely expressive but quirkily uneven in the beginning, which made recording him tricky; the Toppers' singing was smooth, and the backing, by Lee Allen on tenor sax, Earl Palmer on drums, and Red Taylor on baritone sax (with Bartholomew on trumpet), was as solid as any rock & roll cut in New Orleans during that era. On stage in those early days, however, the group's instrumental backing was Gabriel Fleming's piano.
"I'm Crying" sold well in places like Cincinnati and Houston, but Mitchell and his group were unable to appear there to push the record any further, largely because of their ages and the fact that they were still required to attend school. Additionally, they weren't able to play any nightclubs even locally because they were underage, so they played high school dances, parties, weddings, and events at places like the American Legion Hall. Their recording career continued with more sessions resulting in classics such as "4x11 Equals 44," a rock tune built around a set of popular lottery numbers.
Mitchell had trouble juggling the requirements of a career with school, and the Toppers endured until early 1954, when they finally split up after a session that included two hot songs, the raucous "School Boy Blues," with its killer guitar intro by Justin Adams, and "Sister Lucy," the latter highlighted by a Lee Allen solo. "Sister Lucy" ended up as the B-side of a local double-sided hit with Bellaire's "My Baby's Gone"; "Sister Lucy" pulled in white listeners, while Bellaire's song reached the black stations and clubs.
The Toppers' breakup came about because of the military draft, which claimed the members as they turned 18. Lloyd Bellaire joined the Army, while Frank Bocage joined the Navy, and Joseph Butler and Willie Bridges joined the Air Force. They did cut one more session late in the year but essentially ceased to exist in the spring of 1954. Ironically, just at that moment "My Baby's Gone" and "Sister Lucy" became local hits. Mitchell and the Toppers were suddenly in serious demand, and with Gabriel Fleming he organized a new group called the King Toppers.
The local success of "My Baby's Gone" was never repeated nationally, and his next record, "Nothing Sweet As You"/"I Wish I Knew," failed to chart. Mitchell was inactive in the studio for 1955. He returned to recording early in 1956 with a song tailor-made for the period, "Try Rock 'n Roll," one of those tunes meant to exploit the now-popular music style and name. That record made it to number 14 on the Billboard R&B chart, although it did far better than that in certain cities, and Mitchell was now getting booked onto all-star shows as far away as New York and Los Angeles.
In 1957 Bartholomew received a song by a Cajun writer named Roy Hayes called "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday" and gave it to Mitchell to record. It became a hit locally in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Kansas City, among other places, and got Mitchell a spot on American Bandstand. Mitchell also proved something of a surprise to promoters and disc jockeys in those cities where he'd never played before, because they assumed, on the basis of that record, that he was white.
Mitchell's sporadic success on Imperial ended in 1958, as the label dropped most of its New Orleans acts except for Fats Domino. He continued performing and recording, now trying to support a wife and her three children by a previous marriage. He signed with a succession of smaller labels in the early '60s, along the way working with Dr. John. By the mid-'60s, the couple had eight children and Mitchell's career had stalled. He still played shows in Houston and Mobile, but his records weren't selling -- he was back with Imperial Records very briefly, and then returned to Rip Records, where he'd previously cut a couple of singles. Those sides for Rip and Sho-Biz were among the finest songs that Mitchell ever recorded, but were largely unheard.
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday [Bear Family]
A heart attack in the early '60s brought an end to his career on the road. Mitchell continued performing in New Orleans, where he remained a music celebrity for the next 29 years, performing regularly and eventually finding new recognition. Toward the end of his life, he also saw the first money from his original Imperial recordings with the release of a reissue LP, I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday. Mitchell became one of New Orleans' most visible and forthcoming '50s veterans. He passed away in 1989 after years of worsening illnesses, including diabetes, kidney failure, and two further heart attacks.
Many of Mitchell's early recordings were influenced by the dominant musical personalities of his day, including Roy Brown, Roy Hamilton, and, especially, Fats Domino, which was understandable since he shared the same producer and was on the same label. His voice had a distinct quality all its own, however, which became recognizable once he became comfortable in the studio. The Toppers, who ceased working with Mitchell after mid-1954, were a somewhat unpredictable group musically, mostly owing to their ages, and their sound was consciously derivative of numerous vocal groups of the period, especially the early Drifters. With Bartholomew's top session men backing them up, however, their records were solid New Orleans R&B at its best, and many of the records are classics of the sound from that era, if not on a par with those of Fats Domino then certainly residing on the level just below his and Lloyd Price's.
Bobby Mitchell (August 16, 1935-March 17, 1989) was born in Algiers, LA, the second oldest of what were eventually 17 children in a family that made its living fishing the Mississippi River -- Mitchell himself contributed to the family's well-being by cutting and selling wood. When he was ten years old, Mitchell got a job after school making deliveries for a liquor store, and it was while hanging around the store that he started singing -- he was good enough then that people gave him nickels and dimes for his performances.
Mitchell played football in school until an injury sidelined him permanently, after which he joined the school chorus. By the time he was done with school, the music teacher was giving him solos on numbers such as "Ol' Man River" and "You'll Never Walk Alone." At age 17, he was in his first singing group, the Louisiana Groovers. By that time, Mitchell was falling firmly under the influence of R&B, most especially the sound of Roy Brown.
Mitchell wrote his first original song, "One Friday Morning," a doo wop-style ballad, which he cut as a demo with help from a teacher with a tape recorder (still a relative rarity in 1952). That tape got auditioned at a local radio station, and this led to the formation of a backing group called the Toppers, consisting of Lloyd Bellaire (tenor), Joseph Butler (tenor), Willie Bridges (baritone), Frank Bocage (bass), and Gabriel Fleming (piano). Vocally, they were influenced by acts such as Clyde McPhatter and the Dominoes, although they also listened to the records of Roy Hamilton and Nat King Cole. One factor that prevented them from coming up with a firmer direction of their own at the time was their youth -- Mitchell was barely 17 at the time.
Eventually, they hooked up with producer Dave Bartholomew, and at his urging they cut some demos for Imperial Records. The group did as asked, but at the time it seemed as though it wasn't going to work out too well. The six of them were walking eight miles each day to the studio to practice with Bartholomew, and in the end Imperial only wanted Mitchell, until the singer insisted that it was all of them or nothing. Bartholomew relented, and in the meantime, the group had its first original song, "Rack 'Em Back," written by Joe Butler in response to the clowning on those long walks.
This became the B-side of their debut single, while a Lloyd Bellaire original, "I'm Crying," was the A-side. Released in May of 1953, it didn't sell well, although it was a beginning -- Mitchell's voice was powerful and extremely expressive but quirkily uneven in the beginning, which made recording him tricky; the Toppers' singing was smooth, and the backing, by Lee Allen on tenor sax, Earl Palmer on drums, and Red Taylor on baritone sax (with Bartholomew on trumpet), was as solid as any rock & roll cut in New Orleans during that era. On stage in those early days, however, the group's instrumental backing was Gabriel Fleming's piano.
"I'm Crying" sold well in places like Cincinnati and Houston, but Mitchell and his group were unable to appear there to push the record any further, largely because of their ages and the fact that they were still required to attend school. Additionally, they weren't able to play any nightclubs even locally because they were underage, so they played high school dances, parties, weddings, and events at places like the American Legion Hall. Their recording career continued with more sessions resulting in classics such as "4x11 Equals 44," a rock tune built around a set of popular lottery numbers.
Mitchell had trouble juggling the requirements of a career with school, and the Toppers endured until early 1954, when they finally split up after a session that included two hot songs, the raucous "School Boy Blues," with its killer guitar intro by Justin Adams, and "Sister Lucy," the latter highlighted by a Lee Allen solo. "Sister Lucy" ended up as the B-side of a local double-sided hit with Bellaire's "My Baby's Gone"; "Sister Lucy" pulled in white listeners, while Bellaire's song reached the black stations and clubs.
The Toppers' breakup came about because of the military draft, which claimed the members as they turned 18. Lloyd Bellaire joined the Army, while Frank Bocage joined the Navy, and Joseph Butler and Willie Bridges joined the Air Force. They did cut one more session late in the year but essentially ceased to exist in the spring of 1954. Ironically, just at that moment "My Baby's Gone" and "Sister Lucy" became local hits. Mitchell and the Toppers were suddenly in serious demand, and with Gabriel Fleming he organized a new group called the King Toppers.
The local success of "My Baby's Gone" was never repeated nationally, and his next record, "Nothing Sweet As You"/"I Wish I Knew," failed to chart. Mitchell was inactive in the studio for 1955. He returned to recording early in 1956 with a song tailor-made for the period, "Try Rock 'n Roll," one of those tunes meant to exploit the now-popular music style and name. That record made it to number 14 on the Billboard R&B chart, although it did far better than that in certain cities, and Mitchell was now getting booked onto all-star shows as far away as New York and Los Angeles.
In 1957 Bartholomew received a song by a Cajun writer named Roy Hayes called "I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday" and gave it to Mitchell to record. It became a hit locally in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Kansas City, among other places, and got Mitchell a spot on American Bandstand. Mitchell also proved something of a surprise to promoters and disc jockeys in those cities where he'd never played before, because they assumed, on the basis of that record, that he was white.
Mitchell's sporadic success on Imperial ended in 1958, as the label dropped most of its New Orleans acts except for Fats Domino. He continued performing and recording, now trying to support a wife and her three children by a previous marriage. He signed with a succession of smaller labels in the early '60s, along the way working with Dr. John. By the mid-'60s, the couple had eight children and Mitchell's career had stalled. He still played shows in Houston and Mobile, but his records weren't selling -- he was back with Imperial Records very briefly, and then returned to Rip Records, where he'd previously cut a couple of singles. Those sides for Rip and Sho-Biz were among the finest songs that Mitchell ever recorded, but were largely unheard.
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday [Bear Family]
A heart attack in the early '60s brought an end to his career on the road. Mitchell continued performing in New Orleans, where he remained a music celebrity for the next 29 years, performing regularly and eventually finding new recognition. Toward the end of his life, he also saw the first money from his original Imperial recordings with the release of a reissue LP, I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday. Mitchell became one of New Orleans' most visible and forthcoming '50s veterans. He passed away in 1989 after years of worsening illnesses, including diabetes, kidney failure, and two further heart attacks.
Many of Mitchell's early recordings were influenced by the dominant musical personalities of his day, including Roy Brown, Roy Hamilton, and, especially, Fats Domino, which was understandable since he shared the same producer and was on the same label. His voice had a distinct quality all its own, however, which became recognizable once he became comfortable in the studio. The Toppers, who ceased working with Mitchell after mid-1954, were a somewhat unpredictable group musically, mostly owing to their ages, and their sound was consciously derivative of numerous vocal groups of the period, especially the early Drifters. With Bartholomew's top session men backing them up, however, their records were solid New Orleans R&B at its best, and many of the records are classics of the sound from that era, if not on a par with those of Fats Domino then certainly residing on the level just below his and Lloyd Price's.
Bobby Mitchell - I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday - [Domino-Bartholomew-Hayes]
Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport (January 16, 1932 – March 17, 2009),[1] was an American Chicago blues harmonica player and singer.
Born in Tchula, Mississippi, United States, Davenport moved from Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois, when he was 14. There he played with Arthur Spires, Snooky Pryor, and Homesick James, then worked with Bo Diddley, with whom he played harmonica on a 1955 Chess Records session.[2] He led his own group in the 1960s while he worked during the day as a paint sprayer. In the 1980s he was the harmonica player for the Indiana group The Kinsey Report.[2]
In July 1994, Wolf Records released the Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis album, Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 11, the tracks of which Davis had recorded in 1988 and 1989. The collection included Davenport on harmonica, and Kansas City Red playing the drums.[3]
Davenport released his first album under his own name in 1992 and recorded a follow-up in 2002.
Davenport died in March 2009 in Chicago, from prostate cancer, at the age of 77.
Born in Tchula, Mississippi, United States, Davenport moved from Mississippi to Chicago, Illinois, when he was 14. There he played with Arthur Spires, Snooky Pryor, and Homesick James, then worked with Bo Diddley, with whom he played harmonica on a 1955 Chess Records session.[2] He led his own group in the 1960s while he worked during the day as a paint sprayer. In the 1980s he was the harmonica player for the Indiana group The Kinsey Report.[2]
In July 1994, Wolf Records released the Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis album, Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 11, the tracks of which Davis had recorded in 1988 and 1989. The collection included Davenport on harmonica, and Kansas City Red playing the drums.[3]
Davenport released his first album under his own name in 1992 and recorded a follow-up in 2002.
Davenport died in March 2009 in Chicago, from prostate cancer, at the age of 77.
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