Montag, 26. September 2016

26.09. Dick Heckstall-Smith, Jackie Payne, Hörbie Schmidt, Joe Pitts * Bessie Smith, L.C. ´Good Rockin' Robinson, Pat Hare, Harry "Cuby" Muskee +








1934 Dick Heckstall-Smith*
1937 Bessie Smith+
1976 L.C. ´Good Rockin' Robinson+
1980 Pat Hare+
2011 Harry "Cuby" Muskee+
Jackie Payne*
Hörbie Schmidt*
Joe Pitts*





Happy Birthday

 

Dick Heckstall-Smith   *26.09.1934 

 



Richard Malden ("Dick") Heckstall-Smith (* 26. September 1934 in Ludlow, Shropshire; † 17. Dezember 2004 in London) war ein einflussreicher britischer Blues-, Rock- und Jazz-Saxophonist.
Im Laufe seiner Karriere arbeitete Heckstall-Smith mit vielen Blues-, Jazz- und Rock-Musikern zusammen. Er übertrug auf dem Saxophon Jazztechniken in die Rockmusik und wurde auch dafür bekannt, ein Tenor- und ein Sopran-Saxophon gleichzeitig zu spielen.
Heckstall-Smith leitete schon als Student ein Jazzorchester, wurde 1957 Profi-Musiker und trat u. a. mit dem Klarinettisten Sandy Brown auf. Alexis Korner brachte ihn 1962 zu Blues Incorporated. Weitere Stationen waren die Graham Bond Organization (mit Jack Bruce und Ginger Baker, den späteren Cream-Gründern) und John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, bevor er 1968 mit dem Schlagzeuger Jon Hiseman die legendäre Jazzrock-Gruppe Colosseum ins Leben rief. Nach dem vorläufigen Ende dieser Formation im Jahr 1971 folgten Solo-Alben (A Story Ended) und eine Reihe weiterer Engagements in Rock-, Jazz-, Blues- und Folk-orientierten Ensembles. 1978 war er mit Alexis Korner im Rockpalast zu sehen (The Party Album, 1978). 1993 trat er in der Band von Jack Bruce anlässlich dessen 50. Geburtstages im E-Werk in Köln auf. Dick Heckstall-Smith, studierter Agrarwissenschaftler, widmete sich jedoch auch einer akademischen Karriere.
Seit 1994 wurde Colosseum von Hiseman und ihm mehrfach reaktiviert (1994: Reunion Concert im "Rockpalast"). In den letzten Jahren vor seinem Tod war Dick Heckstall-Smith mit der Hamburg Blues Band in Deutschland zu sehen.
Er starb am 17. Dezember 2004 an Krebs.

Dick Heckstall-Smith (16 September 1934 – 17 December 2004) was an English jazz and blues saxophonist.[1] He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.

Early years

Heckstall-Smith was born Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith in the Royal Free Hospital, in Ludlow, England, and attended a York boarding school. However, he refused a second term there, instead enrolling in Gordonstoun, where his father had accepted a job as headmaster of the local Grammar School. Dick Heckstall-Smith was raised in Knighton, Radnorshire. He learned to play piano, clarinet and alto saxophone in childhood.[1]

Heckstall-Smith completed his education at Dartington Hall School before reading agriculture – and co-leading the university jazz band – at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, from 1953. Aged 15, he had taken up the soprano sax while at Dartington, captivated by the sound of Sidney Bechet. Then Lester Young and tenor saxophonist bebop jazzman Wardell Gray proved to be major influences for him.[2][3]

Musical career

Heckstall-Smith was an active member of the London jazz scene from the late 1950s. He joined Blues Incorporated, Alexis Korner's groundbreaking blues group, in 1962, recording the album R&B from the Marquee. The following year, he was a founding member of that band's breakaway unit, The Graham Bond Organisation. (The lineup also included two future members of the blues-rock supergroup Cream: bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker.)

In 1967, Heckstall-Smith became a member of guitarist-vocalist John Mayall's blues rock band, Bluesbreakers. That jazz-skewed edition of the band, had also included drummer Jon Hiseman and future Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, released the album Bare Wires in 1968.

From 1968 to 1970, Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman were the key creative members of the pioneering UK jazz-rock band Colosseum. The band afforded Heckstall-Smith an opportunity to showcase his writing and instrumental virtuosity, playing two saxophones simultaneously.[1]

After exiting Colosseum, Heckstall-Smith fronted and played in several other fusion units, including Manchild, Sweet Pain, Big Chief, Tough Tenors, The Famous Bluesblasters, Mainsqueeze, Big Chief and DHSS. Collaborating musicians common to many of these outfits included Victor Brox, Keith Tillman and harp player John O'Leary, a founder member of Savoy Brown. He participated in a 1990s reunion of the original Colosseum lineup and played the hard-working Hamburg Blues Band. In 2001 he recorded the all-star project Blues and Beyond, which reunited him with Mayall, Bruce, Taylor, ex-Mayall and Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green. In the 1980s in his Electric Dream ensemble Heckstall-Smith also worked with the South African percussionist Julian Bahula.

Colosseum - Walking In The Park
Colosseum - Jon Hiseman (dr) Dick Heckstall-Smith (s) James Litherland (g, voc) Dave Greenslade(k) Tony Reeves (b) Beat Club 31.01.1970 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAxSQ_CL9gY 






Jackie Payne   *26.09.1945

 

http://www.discogs.com/artist/837922-Jackie-Payne

Jackie Payne (September 26, 1945 - ) is an American blues singer. He was nominated in both 2007 and 2008 for the Blues Music Award (formerly the W. C. Handy Awards) for Best Male Soul Blues Artist; an album he recorded with Johnny Otis was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1993. He is the nephew of the blues harmonica player Neal Pattman.

Biography
Early career

Payne was born in Athens, Georgia. His original birth name was William, and he was known as Willie during childhood. He trained as a singer in his father's gospel choir and learned the blues from his uncle, Neal Pattman, who played harmonica. By the age of 13, he was singing professionally with the Allen Swing Band in Atlanta. He later joined an R&B group called The Serenaders. He moved to Houston, Texas in 1963, at the age of 17, and recorded his first regional hit, "Go Go Train" b/w "I'll Be Home" on the Jetstream label in 1965. The success of that single led to a 45-city tour with the Stax revue, which at the time featured headliners like Otis Redding (to whom Payne's voice has sometimes been compared), Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, and Carla Thomas. His career was checked when he entered the United States Army in 1968. He then settled in Culver City, California, performing at The Cover Girl Club with Pee Wee Crayton. [1]

The Johnny Otis years

Payne was the lead singer for the Johnny Otis Show for fifteen years. He recorded several albums with Otis's band and appeared for many years on the Johnny Otis Saturday morning live radio radio show broadcast on KPFA-FM. "Spirit of the Black Territory Bands," recorded by The Johnny Otis Orchestra, featured Payne on vocals and was nominated for a 1993 Grammy Award. Payne's 1998 CD, "A Day In the Life of a Blues Man," was produced by Kenny Blue Ray for the British JSP Records label. [1]

The Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band

Payne and blues guitarist Steve Edmonson, formed the Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band in the late 1990s. The band, which was based in the San Francisco Bay Area, has recorded three albums, Partners in the Blues on the Burnside Records label, Master of the Game and Overnight Sensation on the Delta Groove label. The band won the Contemporary Blues Award for Best Soul Blues Album of 2006 for the Master of the Game.


Jackie Payne Steve Edmonson Band Feat. Randy Chortkoff @ the Otard Castle in Cognac, France 













Hörbie Schmidt  *26.09.



http://www.hoerbieschmidtband.de/index.html


Hörbie  Schmidt,  Dozent  für  Popmusik  und  Juror  bei  "Jugend  musiziert"  (Kiel,  Schleswig-Holstein,  Deutschland)  sowie  bei  vielen  Schülerbandwettbewerben,  ist im
Norden  eine  Kultfigur  und  Förderer/Netzwerker  in  der  Musikszene.  Der  Diplom-Sozialpädagoge   leitet  und  organisiert  Bandcamps  für  Kids  und  Jugendliche  für  den  Bundesverband  Pop,  coacht  Nachwuchsbands,  organisiert  Auftritte  und  Festivals  und  berät  Musikwettbewerbe.  Für  Hörbie  ist  soziales  Engagement  eine  Selbstverständlichkeit und gehört zu seinem Leben wie der Blues. Als einzige Musikschule in Deutschland bietet er zusammen  mit seinem Sohn Mischa Gohlke, dem Bluesgitarristen  und Stevie Ray Vaughan Interpreten, Musikunterricht für hörgeschädigte  Menschen  im  Rahmen  des  Projektes  "Grenzen  sind  relativ“  an.  Dieses  einzigartige  Projekt  ist  vom  Bundesbeauftragten  für
Menschen mit Behinderungen als beispielhaftes inklusives Projekt ausgezeichnet worden.

Hörbie  Schmidt  lebt  und  liebt   Musik.  Musik  ist seine  Berufung.  Sein Lebenswerk ist die  Rock & Pop Schule in Kiel - Trendsetter und mehrfach ausgezeichnete Rock  ́n‘ Roll Institution in Deutschland  -  die  der  in  Norddeutschland   aus  Radio,  TV  und Print   bekannte  Sänger,  Gitarrist  und  Komponist  seit  18  Jahren leitet.
Seine  Hörbie  Schmidt  Band  hat  8  (!)  Auszeichnungen  beim  Deutschen Rock & Pop Preis 2014 der  renommierten Deutschen  Popstiftung  abgeräumt.  Ihre  Debüt-CD  "Wir  kommen  aus dem  Hohen  Norden"  wurde  zum  besten  Album  in  der  Rubrik  "Rhythm  &  Blues" gewählt.  Als  bester  Sänger  ausgezeichnet,  reflektiert  und kommentiert er seinen Alltag und sein bewegtes Rock  ́n ́ Roll  Leben heiter-ironisch, träumerisch-gefühlvoll, klar und direkt!
Der  leidenschaftliche  Songwriter  mit  der  Löwenmähne  hat  den  Blues,  Rock,  Funk  und  gefühlvolle  Balladen  in  den  Fingern,  im  Kopf  und  in  der  Seele.  Sein  Körper,  seine  Gestik  und  Mimik  verkörpern und verschmelzen Text und Musik. Hörbie Schmidt ist ein norddeutsches Original mit Witz, Charme und immer mit  einer  frischen  Brise  in  seinen  Statements. Sein virtuoses, manchmal  wildes Gitarrenspiel ist  eine  Fusion  -  so  sagen  Freunde  und   Kollegen   -   aus   Hendrix,   Santana   und   Clapton.   Gesungen   und interpretiert wird   das   musikalisch   kunterbunte  und abwechslungsreiche  Programm   von  „Old  School“  bis „Modern  Blues  Rock“.  Diese  musikalische  Vielfalt  spiegelt  den
Musikhintergrund der Hörbie Schmidt Band wieder, denn die Musiker sind alles Männer in den besten Jahren und als Dozenten in  allen  Popmusikstilistiken  seit  Jahrzehnten  zu  Hause.  Die   Arrangements  der  Bluesklassiker  zeichnen  eine  einfühlsame,  authentische und professionelle Handschrift, die Interpretationen sind voller Individualität und Gemeinsamkeit. Die inhaltlichen Botschaften der Songs werden mit Lust, Liebe, Leidenschaft und häufig mit einem Lachen vorgetragen und interpretiert.  


Hörbie Schmidt Band - Wir kommen aus dem Hohen Norden 







Joe Pitts  *26.09.


https://www.facebook.com/joe.pitts.5477/photos_albums

 Die Kritik vergleicht den in Arkansas geborenen und lebenden Joe Pitts mit Walter Trout oder Duane Allman. Ich setze ihn auf eine Stufe mit dem großen Jimmy Thackery.
Pitts spielt seine Gibson gefühlvoll mit einer Selbstverständlichkeit wie dies nur wenigen erfahrenen Gitarristen gelingt. Sie klingt schwer, heftig und ungemein bluesig. Er verzichtet sowohl auf einen Gitarrenwechsel als auch auf mehrere Quadratmeter Pedals und den großen Auftritt.

Joe Pitts ist schon lang im Geschäft. Seit seinem Studium am Berklee College of Music ist er als Musiker unterwegs. Mit seiner Joes Pitts Band hat er den amerikanischen Kontinent, Europa und den Rest der Welt bereist. Wir hatten die Gelegenheit, ihn in 2011 in der Blues Garage Isernhagen zu erleben. Ich war seinerzeit von seiner Gelassenheit, seinem klaren Gesang und seinem beeindruckenden Gitarrenspiel mit längeren Slideeinlagen begeistert.

Entsprechendes gilt für die Bandmitglieder, die er als Arkansas führende Musiker vorstellt: Al Hagood (Bass), Chris Moore (drums, perc.) und Don Collins (Hammond). Alles gestandene Musiker, die einen hervorragenden Sound garantieren.
Auf dem Album finden sich Eigenkompositionen und Cover in ausgewogenem Verhältnis. Joe Pitts arrangiert die Cover auf seine sehr persönliche Art und vermeidet absolut die Langeweile die aufkommen könnte, wenn man schon wieder eine Version von ‘Black Cat Bone’ hört.

‘Payin’ the Price’ wurde 2013 open air im Postmaster Grill, Camden/Arkansas mitgeschnitten. Ein ganz großes Lob gehört dem Soundengineer für die hervorragende Soundqualität der CD.

Hailed as one of the most soulful blues rock guitarists today, Joe Pitts is pulling influences from yesterday into today. Joe has been compared to legendary guitarists Duane Allman and Walter Trout. Although his influences range from Jeff Beck to Roy Buchanan, Joe is known worldwide for his slide guitar work. Studying at Berklee College of Music, set Joe up for the possibilities that are endless on a stringed instrument. Rooted deeply in the blues, but a devout lover of rock and jazz, Joe is a musician's musician. Touted as one of Arkansas' best musicians, this international touring artist has played thousands of shows, touring Europe and the Midwest to Southeast US constantly. See a show and find out why Joe is considered one of today's most impassioned musicians.

 Joe Pitts is no stranger to the blues. Joe has been playing worldwide, this year, 2016, for 42 years. So much time and travel on the road, you will have the blues, and he’s got a huge soul full of them. Being honored as one of the most soulful guitarists in Arkansas, and staying on the road for many years, 2016 will bring Joe back to where it all began. With a band full of world class players, JPB is at the best it’s ever been. Al Hagood (Bass), and Chris Moore (Drums) are long time musicians with Joe and they have played thousands of shows together and sealed the sound that started it all for the JPB. Southern soul, as some people call it. Call it what you want, it’s music. It’s real, and it’s made by musicians that live and love the life that brings them to where they are today. Winter/Spring 2016 will bring in a brand new studio CD, “Axe To Grind”, and the 10th CD that Joe has recorded. It’s back to the beginning, and when you see a show, you’ll know, that the music today, was fueled by a love of the music from our past.

Touted as one of Arkansas' best band of musicians, with 9 CD's, 14 World Tours and constantly touring the Midwest and Southeastern US...... just see a show and find out why Joe is considered one of today's most impassioned musicians. The band is made up of world class touring musicians that are some of the most consummate professionals in the business. See a show and you'll see why Rusty Edwards, Executive Director of the "Weather Report Legacy Project", says, "The JPB... the reason God created Arkansas."

Joe Pitts Band is:

Joe Pitts - Guitar/Slide/Vocals
Al Hagood - Bass Guitar
Chris Moore - Drums/Percussion


Joe Pitts Band-"Candy for Fools" 
Joe Pitts-guitar and vocals
Stuart Baer-keyboards
Al Hagood-bass
Chris Moore-drums



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuMFw2lzjzo 











R.I.P.


Bessie Smith   +26.09.1937

 



Bessie Smith [ˈbɛsɪ ˈsmɪθ] (* 15. April 1894[1] in Chattanooga, Tennessee; † 26. September 1937 in Clarksdale, Mississippi) war eine US-amerikanische Bluessängerin, vorwiegend aktiv in den 1920er Jahren, die damals mehr als 150 Schallplatten einspielte und als „Kaiserin des Blues“ galt.[2]

Leben

Bessie Smith war eines von sechs Kindern und wuchs in tiefster Armut in einer kleinen, baufälligen Hütte auf. Ihr Vater, ein Prediger der Baptisten-Gemeinde, starb kurz nach ihrer Geburt, ihre Mutter, als sie neun Jahre alt war. Diese Kindheit ist in ihrem Titel „Washwoman Blues“ beschrieben. Um aus dem Elend zu fliehen, schloss sie sich einem Vaudevilletheater an und zog mit ihm durch das Land. Mit 17 Jahren schloss sie sich der Moses-Stokes-Show, wo auch schon ihr Bruder Clarence arbeitete, als Tänzerin an. Dort traf sie auch das erste Mal auf Ma Rainey, die sie unter ihre Fittiche nahm. 1913 trat sie in Atlanta im Theatre 81 auf, wo sie von dem Schauspieler Leigh Whipper wahrgenommen wurde. Anschließend ging sie auf die Tourneen der Theater Owners Booking Association. 1918 erhielt sie ein Engagement in Baltimore.

Im Zuge der Prohibition bekam Bessie reichlich zu tun und hatte viele Auftritte in zahlreichen Clubs, welche zumeist im Besitz von Gangstern waren, die mit illegalem Alkoholausschank Geld machten. Die Kehrseite war, dass sie auch mit dem Alkohol in Berührung kam und schließlich alkoholkrank wurde. Auch dies spiegelt sich in zahlreichen Liedern wie „The Gin House Blues“, „Me and My Gin“ oder „Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)“ wider. In Philadelphia lernte sie Jack Gee, einen Nachtwächter, kennen. Bei ihrer ersten Verabredung kam es im Restaurant zu einer Schießerei, bei der Jack eine Schusswunde erlitt, der er fast erlag. Bessie besuchte ihn oft im Krankenhaus und schließlich heirateten sie 1923.

1921 trat sie zum ersten Mal im Standard Theatre in Philadelphia auf; im Jahr darauf gastierte sie mit dem Charlie Johnson-Orchester im elegantesten Tanzlokal Atlantic Citys, im Paradise Gardens. Im Februar 1923 machte sie auch ihre ersten Plattenaufnahmen, u. a. den von ihrer Kollegin Alberta Hunter komponierten „Down Hearted Blues“, der sie berühmt machen sollte. Der Song war vier Wochen auf #1 der Billboard-Charts; in nicht weniger als sieben Monaten wurden 870.000 Exemplare verkauft. 1924 trat sie das erste Mal in Chicago auf, dem Blues-Zentrum dieser Zeit. Hier entstand auch ihre nächste Single „Weeping Willow Blues“. In dieser Zeit arbeitete sie unter anderem auch mit Louis Armstrong zusammen und nahm mit weiteren Musikern wie Buster Bailey, Fletcher Henderson, Jack Teagarden oder Charlie Green auf. Bessie Smith sang häufig auch Stücke, die zum Repertoire ihrer Kolleginnen gehörten, wie den „Graveyard Blues“ von Ida Cox oder den „Bo-weavil Blues“ von Ma Rainey; „sie verstand es jedoch, das verwendete Material umzuwandeln und ihm den Stempel ihrer starken Persönlichkeit aufzudrücken,“[3] oder sie verwendete das reichhaltige Volksmusikgut aus dem Süden, das sie mit ihren Mitarbeitern wie James P. Johnson oder Clarence Williams umarbeitete.

Mit ihrer „leidenschaftlichen Stimme“ war sie „die Attraktion der Harlem Frolics Show“, wo sie zwischen 1925 und 1927 auftrat.[4] Als dann die Begeisterung für den Blues nachließ, war Smith gezwungen, wieder auf Tour durch die Südstaaten zu gehen. Im März 1928 kam das Stück „Empty Bed Blues“ heraus.[5] Darin gab es so viele anzügliche Bemerkungen über die Liebeskünste des Geliebten, die teilweise so direkt waren, dass man es als pornographisch bezeichnen musste. Dies setzte sich in vielen ihrer Lieder fort, die Ende der 1920er Jahre entstanden.

Am 30. September 1929 erschien das im Mai des Jahres aufgenommene „Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out“, der ihr letzter Charterfolg werden sollte (Platz 15). Im gleichen Jahr wurden noch weitere Stücke eingespielt; sie drehte auch für RKO Pictures einen Musikfilm („St. Louis Blues“; Regie: Dudley Murphy), bei dem unter anderem James P. Johnson, Mitglieder des Fletcher Henderson Orchesters und der Hall Johnson Choir mitwirkten. 1931 kündigte aber Columbia Records den Vertrag mit ihr. Von ihren letzten Einspielungen zwischen 1930 und 1933 wurden nur ein paar 100 Exemplare produziert; am 24. November 1933 nahm sie unter Leitung von John Hammond noch weitere Songs auf, in denen sie sich stilistisch dem Jazz annäherte („Gimme a Pigfoot“). 1935 erhielt sie ein Engagement in der Show „Stars over Broadway“ des Apollo Theater.

1936 rückte sie noch einmal ins Rampenlicht, als sie die Chance bekam, für die erkrankte Billie Holiday im Harlemer Nachtclub Connie’s Inn aufzutreten. Jetzt schien sich das Publikum wieder für sie zu interessieren, und die Arbeitsangebote häuften sich. Produzent John Hammond engagierte sie 1937 für seine neue Show „From Spirituals to Swing“, wo sie aber nicht mehr auftreten sollte.

Tod

Am 26. September 1937 fuhr sie gemeinsam mit ihrem Liebhaber Richard Morgan mit ihrem Wagen in Mississippi, als sie einen Lastwagen streiften und der Wagen sich überschlug. Die ersten Leute an der Unfallstelle waren Dr. Hugh Smith, ein Chirurg aus Memphis, und sein Fischerkumpel Henry Broughton. Chris Albertson, der Biograph von Bessie Smith, führte in den frühen 1970er Jahren ein detailliertes Interview mit Hugh Smith zum Unfallhergang. Bessie Smiths linker Arm und ihre Rippen wurden schwer verletzt. Sie wurde in ein Krankenhaus für Schwarze (Blacks) aufgenommen. Ihr rechter Arm wurde amputiert. Nach Angaben des behandelnden Arztes verstarb sie einen Tag nach dieser Operation, ohne das Bewusstsein wiedererlangt zu haben.[6]

Es gibt noch andere Schilderungen, auf welche Art, zu welchem Zeitpunkt und an welchem Ort sie gestorben ist:

    Sie wurde, im Gegensatz zu weißen Verletzten, am Unfallort nicht verarztet und
    verblutete daraufhin ebenda.
    Sie starb auf dem Weg zum Krankenhaus.
    Sie wurde im Krankenhaus für Weiße nicht aufgenommen und verblutete, bzw. mehrere
    Krankenhäuser hätten sich geweigert, die Verletzte aufzunehmen, worauf diese auf den
    Stufen einer Klinik verstarb. Eine dieser Versionen geht auf ein Zeitungsinterview des
    Magazins Down Beat mit dem Produzenten John Hammond zurück.

Bessie Smith wurde 1980 in die Blues Hall of Fame und 1984 in die National Women’s Hall of Fame aufgenommen; 1989 erhielt sie posthum den Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sonstiges

Der tragische Tod bewog 1959 Edward Albee zu dem Einakter The Death of Bessie Smith, in dem die Variante vertreten wird, dass der sterbenden Sängerin der Zutritt zu einer Klinik für Weiße untersagt wurde. Bernard Malamud zitiert sie in „The Tenants“ auf dem Vorblatt seines Romans:„I got to make it, I got to find the end …“

Die Sängerin Janis Joplin, eine große Verehrerin von Bessie Smith, wollte 1970 deren Grab besuchen und stellte dabei angeblich fest, dass ihr Idol anonym beerdigt worden war. Daraufhin ließ Joplin einen Grabstein für die Verstorbene setzen, der die Inschrift trägt: „The Greatest Blues Singer In The World Will Never Stop Singing – Bessie Smith – 1894–1937“[7] („Die größte Blues-Sängerin der Welt wird niemals aufhören zu singen“). Nach anderen Quellen bezahlte eine Krankenschwester aus Philadelphia den Grabstein zur Hälfte und Joplin trug, nachdem man sie telefonisch darum gebeten hatte, die andere Hälfte der Kosten.[8]

Rick Danko und Robbie Robertson von The Band veröffentlichen zusammen mit Bob Dylan auf der LP The Basement Tapes, aufgenommen 1967 im Keller des legendären Big Pink, einen Song namens „Bessie Smith“. Norah Jones coverte diesen Song auf ihren Konzerten.

Leben und Tod von Bessie Smith sind Thema der Jazzoper Cosmopolitan Greetings von Allen Ginsberg (Libretto), George Gruntz (Jazz-) und Rolf Liebermann (Zwölftonmusik), die 1988 in Hamburg uraufgeführt wurde.

Der Begleittext des Albums The World's Greatest Blues Singer, eine Zusammenstellung ihrer bekanntesten Titel, wurde 1971 mit einem Grammy bedacht.

Stimmen ihrer Kollegen

    „Da ist sie. Strahlend ist das einzige Wort, das sie beschreiben kann. Natürlich, sie ist nicht schön, aber für mich ist sie es. Ein weißes, schimmerndes Abendkleid, eine großartige hoch gewachsene Frau, und sie beherrscht die Bühne und das ganze Haus vollständig, wenn sie den ‚Yellow Dog Blues‘ singt. Ja, ich kann es nicht ausdrücken, aber sie hat eben Ausstrahlung und erfasst und fesselt mich. Es gibt keine Erklärung für ihren Gesang, ihre Stimme.“

– Art Hodes


Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer.

Nicknamed The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s.[1] She is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and, along with Louis Armstrong, a major influence on other jazz vocalists.[2]

Life

The 1900 census indicates that Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in July 1892, a date provided by her mother. However, the 1910 census recorded her birthday as April 15, 1894, a date that appears on all subsequent documents and was observed by the entire Smith family. Census data also contribute to controversy about the size of her family. The 1870 and 1880 censuses report three older half-siblings, while later interviews with Smith's family and contemporaries did not include these individuals among her siblings.

Bessie Smith was the daughter of Laura (née Owens) and William Smith. William Smith was a laborer and part-time Baptist preacher (he was listed in the 1870 census as a "minister of the gospel", in Moulton, Lawrence, Alabama.) He died before his daughter could remember him. By the time she was nine, she had lost her mother and a brother as well. Her older sister Viola took charge of caring for her siblings.[3]

To earn money for their impoverished household, Bessie Smith and her brother Andrew began busking on the streets of Chattanooga as a duet: she singing and dancing, he accompanying her on guitar. Their favorite location was in front of the White Elephant Saloon at Thirteenth and Elm streets in the heart of the city's African-American community.

In 1904, her oldest brother, Clarence, covertly left home, joining a small traveling troupe owned by Moses Stokes. "If Bessie had been old enough, she would have gone with him," said Clarence's widow, Maud. "That's why he left without telling her, but Clarence told me she was ready, even then. Of course, she was only a child."[4]

In 1912, Clarence returned to Chattanooga with the Stokes troupe. He arranged for its managers, Lonnie and Cora Fisher, to give Smith an audition. She was hired as a dancer rather than a singer, because the company also included the well known singer, Ma Rainey. Smith eventually moved on to performing in various chorus lines, making the "81" Theater in Atlanta her home base. There were times when she worked in shows on the black-owned T.O.B.A. (Theater Owners Booking Association) circuit. She would rise to become its biggest star after signing with Columbia Records.

By 1923, when she began her recording career,[5] Smith had taken up residence in Philadelphia. There she met and fell in love with Jack Gee, a security guard whom she married on June 7, 1923, just as her first record was released. During the marriage—a stormy one, with infidelity on both sides—Smith became the highest paid black entertainer of the day, heading her own shows, which sometimes featured as many as 40 troupers, and touring in her own custom-built railroad car. Gee was impressed by the money, but never adjusted to show business life, or to Smith's bisexuality. In 1929, when she learned of his affair with another singer, Gertrude Saunders, Bessie Smith ended the relationship, although neither of them sought a divorce.

Smith eventually found a common-law husband in an old friend, Richard Morgan, who was Lionel Hampton's uncle and the antithesis of her husband. She stayed with him until her death.[3]

Career

All contemporary accounts indicate that while Rainey did not teach Smith to sing, she probably helped her develop a stage presence.[6] Smith began forming her own act around 1913, at Atlanta's "81" Theater. By 1920, Smith had established a reputation in the South and along the Eastern Seaboard.

In 1920, sales figures of over 100,000 copies for "Crazy Blues," an Okeh Records recording by singer Mamie Smith (no relation) pointed to a new market. The recording industry had not directed its product to blacks, but the success of the record led to a search for female blues singers. Bessie Smith was signed to Columbia Records in 1923 by Frank Walker, a talent agent who had seen her perform years earlier. Her first session for Columbia was February 15, 1923. For most of 1923, her records were issued on Columbia's regular A- series; when the label decided to establish a "race records" series, Smith's "Cemetery Blues" (September 26, 1923) was the first issued.

She scored a big hit with her first release, a coupling of "Gulf Coast Blues" and "Downhearted Blues", which its composer Alberta Hunter had already turned into a hit on the Paramount label. Smith became a headliner on the black T.O.B.A. circuit and rose to become its top attraction in the 1920s.[7] Working a heavy theater schedule during the winter months and doing tent tours the rest of the year (eventually traveling in her own railroad car), Smith became the highest-paid black entertainer of her day.[8] Columbia nicknamed her "Queen of the Blues," but a PR-minded press soon upgraded her title to "Empress".

Smith had a powerfully strong voice that recorded very well from her first record, made during the time when recordings were made acoustically. With the coming of electrical recording (her first electrical recording was "Cake Walking Babies (From Home)" recorded Tuesday, May 5, 1925),[9] the sheer power of her voice was even more evident. She was also able to benefit from the new technology of radio broadcasting, even on stations that were in the segregated south. For example, after giving a concert for a white-only audience at a local theater in Memphis, Tennessee, in October 1923, she then performed a late night concert on station WMC, where her songs were very well received by the radio audience.[10]

She made 160 recordings for Columbia, often accompanied by the finest musicians of the day, most notably Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher Henderson, James P. Johnson, Joe Smith, and Charlie Green.

Broadway

Smith's career was cut short by a combination of the Great Depression, which nearly put the recording industry out of business, and the advent of "talkies", which spelled the end for vaudeville. She never stopped performing, however. While the days of elaborate vaudeville shows were over, Smith continued touring and occasionally singing in clubs. In 1929, she appeared in a Broadway flop called Pansy, a musical in which top critics said she was the only asset.

Film

In 1929, Smith made her only film appearance, starring in a two-reeler titled St. Louis Blues, based on W. C. Handy's song of the same name. In the film, directed by Dudley Murphy and shot in Astoria, she sings the title song accompanied by members of Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, the Hall Johnson Choir, pianist James P. Johnson and a string section—a musical environment radically different from any found on her recordings.

Swing era

In 1933, John Hammond, who also mentored Billie Holiday, asked Smith to record four sides for Okeh (which had been acquired by Columbia Records in 1925). He claimed to have found her in semi-obscurity, working as a hostess in a speakeasy on Philadelphia's Ridge Avenue.[11] Bessie Smith worked at Art's Cafe on Ridge Avenue, but not as a hostess and not until the summer of 1936. In 1933, when she made the Okeh sides, Bessie was still touring. Hammond was known for his selective memory and gratuitous embellishments.[12]

Bessie Smith was paid a non-royalty fee of $37.50 for each selection and these Okeh sides, which were her last recordings. Made on November 24, 1933, they serve as a hint of the transformation she made in her performances as she shifted her blues artistry into something that fit the "swing era". The relatively modern accompaniment is notable. The band included such swing era musicians as trombonist Jack Teagarden, trumpeter Frankie Newton, tenor saxophonist Chu Berry, pianist Buck Washington, guitarist Bobby Johnson, and bassist Billy Taylor. Benny Goodman, who happened to be recording with Ethel Waters in the adjoining studio, dropped by and is barely audible on one selection. Hammond was not entirely pleased with the results, preferring to have Smith revisit her old blues groove. "Take Me for a Buggy Ride" and "Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)", both written by Wesley Wilson, continue to be ranked among her most popular recordings.[3] Billie Holiday, who credited Smith as her major influence along with Louis Armstrong, would go on to record her first record for Columbia three days later with the same band personnel.

Death

On September 26, 1937, Smith was critically injured in a car accident while traveling along U.S. Route 61 between Memphis, Tennessee, and Clarksdale, Mississippi. Her lover, Richard Morgan, was driving and misjudged the speed of a slow-moving truck ahead of him. Tire marks at the scene suggested that Morgan tried to avoid the truck by driving around its left side, but he hit the rear of the truck side-on at high speed. The tailgate of the truck sheared off the wooden roof of Smith's old Packard. Smith, who was in the passenger seat, probably with her right arm or elbow out the window, took the full brunt of the impact. Morgan escaped without injuries.

The first people on the scene were a Memphis surgeon, Dr. Hugh Smith (no relation), and his fishing partner Henry Broughton. In the early 1970s, Dr. Smith gave a detailed account of his experience to Bessie's biographer Chris Albertson. This is the most reliable eyewitness testimony about the events surrounding Bessie Smith's death.

After stopping at the accident scene, Dr. Smith examined Bessie Smith, who was lying in the middle of the road with obviously severe injuries. He estimated she had lost about a half-pint of blood, and immediately noted a major traumatic injury to her right arm; it had been almost completely severed at the elbow.[13] But Dr. Smith was emphatic that this arm injury alone did not cause her death. Although the light was poor, he observed only minor head injuries. He attributed her death to extensive and severe crush injuries to the entire right side of her body, consistent with a "sideswipe" collision.[14]

Broughton and Dr. Smith moved the singer to the shoulder of the road. Dr. Smith dressed her arm injury with a clean handkerchief and asked Broughton to go to a house about 500 feet off the road to call an ambulance.

By the time Broughton returned approximately 25 minutes later, Bessie Smith was in shock. Time passed with no sign of the ambulance, so Dr. Smith suggested that they take her into Clarksdale in his car. He and Broughton had almost finished clearing the back seat when they heard the sound of a car approaching at high speed. Dr. Smith flashed his lights in warning, but the oncoming car failed to stop and plowed into the doctor's car at full speed. It sent his car careening into Bessie Smith's overturned Packard, completely wrecking it. The oncoming car ricocheted off Dr. Smith's car into the ditch on the right, barely missing Broughton and Bessie Smith.[15]

The young couple in the new car did not have life-threatening injuries. Two ambulances arrived on the scene from Clarksdale; one from the black hospital, summoned by Mr. Broughton, the other from the white hospital, acting on a report from the truck driver, who had not seen the accident victims.

Bessie Smith was taken to Clarksdale's G. T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital, where her right arm was amputated. She died that morning without regaining consciousness. After Smith's death, an often repeated but now discredited story emerged about the circumstances; namely, that she had died as a result of having been refused admission to a "whites only" hospital in Clarksdale. Jazz writer/producer John Hammond gave this account in an article in the November 1937 issue of Down Beat magazine. The circumstances of Smith's death and the rumor promoted by Hammond formed the basis for Edward Albee's 1959 one-act play The Death of Bessie Smith.[16]

"The Bessie Smith ambulance would not have gone to a white hospital, you can forget that." Dr. Smith told Albertson. "Down in the Deep South cotton country, no ambulance driver, or white driver, would even have thought of putting a colored person off in a hospital for white folks."[17]
Smith's death certificate

Smith's funeral was held in Philadelphia a little over a week later on October 4, 1937. Her body was originally laid out at Upshur's funeral home. As word of her death spread through Philadelphia's black community, the body had to be moved to the O.V. Catto Elks Lodge to accommodate the estimated 10,000 mourners who filed past her coffin on Sunday, October 3.[18] Contemporary newspapers reported that her funeral was attended by about seven thousand people. Far fewer mourners attended the burial at Mount Lawn Cemetery, in nearby Sharon Hill. Gee thwarted all efforts to purchase a stone for his estranged wife, once or twice pocketing money raised for that purpose.[19]

The grave remained unmarked until August 7, 1970, when a tombstone—paid for by singer Janis Joplin and Juanita Green, who as a child had done housework for Smith—was erected.[20]

Dory Previn wrote a song of Janis Joplin and the tombstone called "Stone for Bessie Smith" on her album Mythical Kings and Iguanas.

The Afro-American Hospital, now the Riverside Hotel in Clarksdale, was the site of the dedication of the fourth historic marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail.


Bessie Smith - Yellowdog Blues 














L.C. ´Good Rockin'` Robinson +26.09.1976

 

http://www.wirz.de/music/roblcfrm.htm

L. C. Robinson (May 15, 1915 — September 26, 1976)[1] was an American blues singer, guitarist, and fiddle player. He played an electric steel guitar.
He was born Louis Charles Robinson in Brenham, Texas.[1] He and his brother, harmonica player A. C. Robinson, worked and recorded in Texas and California in the 1930s and 1940s.[2] Oakland Blues, a compilation album of Oakland music, was released in 1968 by World Pacific Records.[2]
He cut the album Mojo In My Hand, a retrospective of his music, recorded primarily in San Francisco during the early 1970s, a few years before his death, the record showcased his multi-instrumental skills on guitar, fiddle and lap steel guitar.[3]
Robinson played at the San Francisco Blues Festival in both 1973 and 1974. He visited Sweden the following year, but his work was never widely known in Europe.[2] He died of a heart attack in Berkeley, California in 1976, aged 61.


L.C. Robinson - Ups And Downs 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmQkaay5cOI 







Pat Hare   +26.09.1980

 

 


Pat Hare (* 20. Dezember 1930 in Cherry Valley, Arkansas; † 26. September 1980 in St. Paul, Minnesota), eigentlich Auburn Hare, war ein US-amerikanischer Blues- und Rockabilly-Gitarrist und Sänger.
Ende der 1940er Jahre musizierte Hare in Memphis in der Band von Howlin' Wolf. 1953 spielte er die Gitarre bei der ersten Hit-Single von James Cotton, My Baby/Straighten Out Baby und Cotton Crop Blues/Hold Me in Your Arms. Mitte der 1950er Jahre arbeitete Hare mit Junior Parker zusammen. 1957 machte er Aufnahmen mit Bobby "Blue" Bland, darunter der Hit Farther On Up The Road. In den späten 1950ern war er in Chicago Mitglied der Band von Muddy Waters, mit der er 1960 Live at Newport einspielte. 1962 ging Hare nach Minneapolis, wo er mit George "Mojo" Buford auftrat.
Eigentlich ein eher ruhiger Mensch, verlor Hare leicht die Beherrschung, wenn er trank. 1964 wurde er wegen Mordes an seiner Freundin und einem Polizisten verurteilt (die Tat war 1962 geschehen) und verbrachte den Rest seines Lebens hinter Gittern, wo er 1980 an Krebs starb. Ironischerweise hatte er 1954 ein Stück namens I'm Gonna Murder My Baby aufgenommen, in dem er sang: Yes, I'm gonna murder my baby (yeah, I'm tellin' the truth now) 'Cause she don't do nothin' but cheat and lie.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Hare 

  Auburn "Pat" Hare[1] (December 20, 1930 - September 26, 1980),[2] was an American Memphis electric blues guitarist and singer.[3] His heavily distorted, power chord-driven electric guitar music in the early 1950s is considered an important precursor to heavy metal music.[4] His guitar work with Little Junior's Blue Flames had a major influence on the rockabilly style,[5] while his guitar playing on blues records by artists such as Muddy Waters was influential among 1960s British Invasion blues rock bands such as The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds.[4]

Biography

He was born in Cherry Valley, Arkansas.[2] He recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, serving as a sideman for Howlin' Wolf, James Cotton, Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland and other artists.[2] Hare was one of the first guitarists to purposely use the effects of distortion in his playing.[3]

In 1951, he joined a blues band formed by Junior Parker, called Little Junior's Blue Flames.[6] He played the electric guitar solo on "Love My Baby" (1953), which later inspired the rockabilly style.[5] One of their biggest hits was "Next Time You See Me"[7] which in 1957 reached #5 on the Billboard R&B charts and #74 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.[8]
  
His guitar solo on James Cotton's electric blues record "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954) was the first record to use heavily distorted power chords, anticipating elements of heavy metal music. According to Robert Palmer: "Rarely has a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound been captured on record, before or since, and Hare's repeated use of a rapid series of two downward-modulating power chords, the second of which is allowed to hang menacingly in the air, is a kind of hook or structural glue. [...] The first heavy metal record? I'd say yes, with tongue only slightly in cheek."[4] The other side of the single was "Hold Me in Your Arms"; both songs "featured a guitar sound so overdriven that with the historical distance of several decades, it now sounds like a direct line to the coarse, distorted tones favored by modern rock players." According to Allmusic, "what is now easily attainable by 16-year-old kids on modern-day effects pedals just by stomping on a switch, Hare was accomplishing with his fingers and turning the volume knob on his Sears & Roebuck cereal-box-sized amp all the way to the right until the speaker was screaming."[3]

Reported to have been an unassuming man in private (once married to Dorothy Mae Good, with whom he had three children — a son and two daughters); however, he had serious, and ultimately fatal, drinking problems.[3] Shortly after the "Cotton Crop Blues" recording, he recorded a version of the early 1940s Doctor Clayton song "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" on May 14, 1954, which has since been released on the 1990 Rhino Records compilation album, Blue Flames: A Sun Blues Collection. The record also features power chords, which remains "most fundamental in modern rock" as "the basic structure for riff-building in heavy metal bands." According to Robert Palmer, the song is "as heavy metal as it gets."[4] According to the album liner notes, "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby", "is doubly morbid because he did just that". In December 1963, Hare shot his girlfriend dead, and also shot a policeman who came to investigate.[9] At the time of his arrest, he was playing in the blues band of Muddy Waters. He was replaced in the band by guitarist James "Pee Wee" Madison.[3][10] Hare spent the last 16 years of his life in prison, where he formed a band named Sounds Incarcerated.[9] Hare succumbed to lung cancer in prison, and died in 1980 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
 

 


Pat Hare I'm Gonna Murder My Baby (1954) 










Harry "Cuby" Muskee  +26.09.2011

 



Harry "Cuby" Muskee (10 June 1941 – 26 September 2011) was the singer of the blues band Cuby + Blizzards, which he co-founded with Eelco Gelling. Muskee was born in Assen, and died in Rolde aged 70.

Biography

Muskee was born in the Wilhelmina Hospital in Assen. Early on, he lived with his mother at his grandmother's place, because his father was captured and transported to Germany. Only after the war – when he was four years old – he saw his father for the first time. The family moved to Rotterdam, but returned to Assen after two years. His mother suffered from multiple sclerosis and could not properly care for her child. Because his father, a fire chief, was mostly away from home, his grandmother largely took care of Muskee.

At the age of ten Muskee became a member of the soccer club Achilles 1894 and at fifteen he went for his first guitar lessons. At high school he came into contact with jazz and Dixieland music. Together with the brothers Henk and Jaap Hilbrandie he founded the band The Mixtures. From this band emerged later on the 'Old Fashioned Jazz Group'. This band mostly played at school dances in Assen.

Through listening to the American Forces Network radio station – for U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany – Muskee came into contact with blues music. When he discovered the album Live at Newport by John Lee Hooker, he decided that he also wanted to make this kind of music. In 1961, when Muskee was 20 years old, his mother died, and a year later his grandmother died. Shortly afterwards, Muskee broke through with The Blizzards.

After the breakup of Cuby + Blizzards – in 1972 – he toured around with formations like Red White 'n Blue, the Harry Muskee Band, the Muskee Gang and Muskee. Ultimately, the original name Cuby + Blizzards proved to be the most catchy and under this name, assisted by the Groningen guitarist Erwin Java, Muskee toured for many years around the world. In addition, he presented music programs on Radio Drenthe. For the same channel, he made a study tour through the southern states of the United States in search of the roots of the blues. A statue of Harry Muskee was placed in Grolloo, in 1997.

Muskee died in Rolde on 26 September 2011 of cancer.


Window of my eyes - Cuby & The Blizzards (Harry Muskee) 



 

Keine Kommentare:

Kommentar veröffentlichen