1902 Barbecue Bob*
1904 Jazz Gillum*
1940 Robert "Wolfman" Belfour*
1946 John "Juke" Logan*
1971 Curtis Jones+
Happy Birthday
Barbecue Bob *11.09.1902
Barbecue Bob (eigentlich Robert Hicks; * 11. September 1902 in Walnut Grove, Georgia; † 21. Oktober 1931 in Lithonia, Georgia) war ein US-amerikanischer Bluespionier und einer der führenden Vertreter des sogenannten Atlanta Blues.
Barbecue Bob erlernte das Gitarrenspiel von seinem Bruder Charley Hicks, der als Laughing Charley Lincoln ebenfalls ein bekannter Bluesgitarrist war. Die beiden Brüder übersiedelten 1923 nach Atlanta, wo sie häufig zusammen auftraten, hier wechselte Robert auch zur zwölfsaitigen Gitarre. Hicks bediente sich häufig des Bottleneckspiels. Sein Bluesstil erinnerte dabei eher an den Delta Blues als an den Gitarrenstil eines Blind Willie McTell, der in Georgia wahrscheinlich auch zum Umfeld von Barbecue Bob gehörte.
Seinen Spitznamen erhielt er 1927, als er von einem Talentscout der Firma Columbia Records als Strassenmusiker vor einem Barbecue-Restaurant entdeckt wurde, ein Werbefoto zeigte ihn dementsprechend in einer Küchenuniform mit Gitarre. Während seiner kurzen Karriere nahm er zwischen 1927 und 1930 mit 68 Stücken ein vergleichsweise umfangreiches Werk auf, drei der Stücke sind jedoch noch verschollen. Für seinen Bruder und seinen Jugendfreund Curley Weaver arrangierte er erste Aufnahmemöglichkeiten. Mit Curley Weaver und Buddy Moss, dem er die ersten Gitarrengriffe beibrachte, nahm er 1930 als Georgia Cotton Pickers auf. 1931 starb er an einer Tuberkulose in Verbindung mit einer Lungenentzündung.
Robert Hicks, better known as Barbecue Bob (September 11, 1902 – October 21, 1931) was an early American Piedmont blues musician. His nickname came from the fact that he was a cook in a barbecue restaurant. One of the two extant photographs of Bob show him playing his guitar while wearing a full length white apron and cook's hat.
Early life
He was born in Walnut Grove, Georgia. He and his brother, Charlie Hicks, together with Curley Weaver, were taught how to play the guitar by Curley's mother, Savannah "Dip" Weaver.[1] Bob began playing the 6-string guitar but picked up the 12-string guitar after moving to Atlanta, Georgia in 1923-1924. He became one of the prominent performers of the newly developing early Atlanta blues style.
In Atlanta, Hicks worked a variety of jobs, playing music on the side. While working at Tidwells' Barbecue in a north Atlanta suburb, Hicks came to the attention of Columbia Records talent scout Dan Hornsby. Hornsby recorded him and decided to use Hicks's job as a gimmick, having him pose in chef's whites and hat for publicity photos and dubbing him "Barbecue Bob".[1]
Career
During his short career he recorded 68 78-rpm sides. He recorded his first side, "Barbecue Blues", in March 1927. The record quickly sold 15,000 copies and made him a best selling artist for Columbia's race series. Despite this initial success, it was not until his second recording session, in New York during June 1927, that he firmly established himself on the race market. At this session he recorded "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues", a song inspired by the major floods taking place in Mississippi at that time.[2] This song, as well as his other blues releases, gained considerable popularity, and his records sold much better than those of other local blues musicians.[1]
The two part duet with crosstalk, "It Won't Be Long Now" was recorded with his brother Charlie (a/k/a Charlie Lincoln, or Laughing Charlie) in Atlanta on November 5, 1927. In April 1928, Bob recorded two sides with the female vocalist Nellie Florence, whom he had known since childhood, and also produced "Mississippi Low Levee Blues", a sequel to "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues". In April 1930, he recorded "We Sure Got Hard Times Now", which contains bleak references to the early effects of The Depression. Although Barbecue Bob remained predominantly a blues musician, he also recorded a few traditional and spiritual songs including "When the Saints Go Marching In", "Poor Boy, Long Ways from Home" and "Jesus' Blood Can Make Me Whole".
Barbecue Bob also recorded as a member of The Georgia Cotton Pickers in December 1930, a group that included guitarist Curley Weaver and harmonica player Buddy Moss. As a group they recorded a handful of sides including their own adaptation of Blind Blake's "Diddie Wa Diddie" (recorded as "Diddle-Da-Diddle") and the Mississippi Sheiks' "Sitting on Top of the World" (recorded as "I'm On My Way Down Home"). These were the last recordings that Bob recorded.
He died in Lithonia, Georgia, of a combination of tuberculosis and pneumonia brought on by influenza, at the age of 29, on October 21, 1931. His recording of "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues" (about the 1927 flood) was apparently played at his graveside before burial.
Musical style
Bob developed a "flailing" or "frailing" style of playing guitar more often associated with the traditional clawhammer banjo (as did his brother, and, initially, Curley Weaver). He used a bottleneck regularly on his 12-string guitar, playing in an elemental style that relied on an open Spanish tuning reminiscent of Charley Patton. He had a strong voice that he embellished with growling and falsetto, and a percussive singing style.[1]
Influence
Bob had some influence on Atlanta blues musicians such as the young Buddy Moss (who played harmonica with him on The Georgia Cotton Pickers recordings), but his way of playing was quickly overshadowed by the finger-picked Piedmont blues style that rose in popularity by the late 1920s/early 30s as can be heard in the development of the recordings of Curley Weaver. Barbecue Bob's "Motherless Child Blues" was recorded and performed on stage by Eric Clapton. John Fahey attributes his arrangement of "Poor Boy a Long Ways From Home" to Barbecue Bob in his 1979 "Best Of" book of tablature. More correctly, Fahey attributes the song to his persona "Blind Joe Death," and writes "Death learned this from an old Columbia record by Barbecue Bob [14246-D], which the Death household at one time possessed." Bob's elder brother, Charley, also played blues and was recorded by Columbia under the name "Laughing" Charley Lincoln. However, he never received the same acclaim as his brother.
Jazz Gillum *11.09.1904
William McKinley Gillum (* 11. September 1904 in Indianola, Mississippi; † 29. März 1966 in Chicago, Illinois), bekannt als Jazz Gillum, war ein US-amerikanischer Blues- und Hokum-Musiker. Neben Sonny Boy Williamson I. war er der populärste Mundharmonikaspieler im Chicago der 1930er.
Wie B. B. King in Indianola geboren, brachte sich Gillum das Spielen auf der Blues Harp selbst bei. Nachdem er mit 7 Jahren von seinem Ziehvater weggelaufen war, verbrachte er die nächsten Jahre bei Verwandten in Charleston, Mississippi, wo er jobbte und an Straßenecken musizierte.
1923 ging er nach Chicago. Hier trat er häufig mit dem Gitarristen Big Bill Broonzy auf. 1934 machte Gillum seine ersten Aufnahmen.
In den 1930ern und 1940ern erschien er sowohl unter eigenem Namen wie auch als Begleitmusiker auf vielen von Lester Melrose produzierten Platten. Nach dem Ende von Bluebird Records war auch Gillums Karriere vorbei. 1961 machte er noch einmal Aufnahmen mit Memphis Slim.
Jazz Gillum starb 1966 durch einen Kopfschuss bei einer Streiterei.
William McKinley Gillum (September 11, 1904 – March 29, 1966),[1] known as Jazz Gillum, was an American blues harmonica player.
He was born in Indianola, Mississippi. After running away from home at the age of seven, Gillum spent the next few years in Charleston, Mississippi, working and playing for tips on local street corners. He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1923, meeting up with the guitarist, Big Bill Broonzy.[1] The duo started working club dates around the city and, by 1934, Gillum started recording for both ARC and Bluebird Records.
He appeared on many of the highly popular "Bluebird beat" recordings produced by Lester Melrose in the 1930s and 1940s, under his own name and as a sideman.[1] Gillum was the first to record the blues classic "Key to the Highway" (featuring Broonzy on guitar) utilizing the now-standard melody and 8-bar blues arrangement. (The song had first been recorded a few months earlier by Charlie Segar, with a different melody and a 12-bar blues arrangement.) Gillum's version of the song was then covered by Broonzy a few months later, and has become the standard arrangement of this now-classic blues song. Gillum's records also resulted in some of the very earliest recordings of electric guitar in blues, when 16-year-old fledgling jazz guitarist George Barnes was featured on several songs on the 1938 Gillum session that produced "Reefer Headed Woman" and others.
Gillum joined the United States Army in 1942 and served until 1945.[2] Gillum recorded an early version of "Look on Yonder Wall" (1946) with Big Maceo on piano, which was later popularized by Elmore James.[3]
However, after the Bluebird record label folded in the late 1940s he made few further recordings. His last, slightly sad recordings were on a couple of 1961 albums with Memphis Slim and the singer-guitarist Arbee Stidham on Folkways Records.[3]
On 29 March 1966, during a street argument, he was shot in the head and was pronounced dead on arrival at Garfield Park Hospital in Chicago.[2] He is buried at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. [2]
Gillum's daughter, Ardella Williams, is active as a blues singer in Chicago.
R.I.P.
Curtis Jones +11.09.1971
Curtis Jones (August 18, 1906 – September 11, 1971) was an American blues pianist.
Jones was born in Naples, Texas, United States, and played guitar whilst young but switched to piano after a move to Dallas. He often played guitar on one or two songs on his albums and at live performances.[2][2] In 1936 he relocated to Chicago, where he recorded between 1937 and 1941 on Vocalion, Bluebird, and OKeh. Among his best-known tunes from these recordings were the hit "Lonesome Bedroom Blues" and the song "Tin Pan Alley".[2] His "Decoration Blues" though unissued at the time, was recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson I in 1938. World War II interrupted his recording career, which he did not resume until 1953, when a single of his, "Wrong Blues"/"Cool Playing Blues", was released on Parrot, featuring L. C. McKinley on guitar.
Jones's first full-length album appeared in 1960 on Bluesville, by which time he had become a noted performer on the Chicago folk music scene.[2] A solo album was released in 1962, by which time Jones had moved to Europe. He lived there and in Morocco for the rest of his life.[2] He made further albums in the UK, including one in 1968 that featured Alexis Korner on guitar.[2]
One of Jones' songs, "Highway 51", was included on Bob Dylan's 1962 debut album, Bob Dylan.
Jones was born in Naples, Texas, United States, and played guitar whilst young but switched to piano after a move to Dallas. He often played guitar on one or two songs on his albums and at live performances.[2][2] In 1936 he relocated to Chicago, where he recorded between 1937 and 1941 on Vocalion, Bluebird, and OKeh. Among his best-known tunes from these recordings were the hit "Lonesome Bedroom Blues" and the song "Tin Pan Alley".[2] His "Decoration Blues" though unissued at the time, was recorded by Sonny Boy Williamson I in 1938. World War II interrupted his recording career, which he did not resume until 1953, when a single of his, "Wrong Blues"/"Cool Playing Blues", was released on Parrot, featuring L. C. McKinley on guitar.
Jones's first full-length album appeared in 1960 on Bluesville, by which time he had become a noted performer on the Chicago folk music scene.[2] A solo album was released in 1962, by which time Jones had moved to Europe. He lived there and in Morocco for the rest of his life.[2] He made further albums in the UK, including one in 1968 that featured Alexis Korner on guitar.[2]
One of Jones' songs, "Highway 51", was included on Bob Dylan's 1962 debut album, Bob Dylan.
Jones died of heart failure in Munich in 1971, at the age of 65.
Curtis Jones - Highway 51 Blues
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