1889 Clarence M. Jones*
1911 Buster Brown*
1930 Jackie Brenston*
1942 Pete York*
1955 R.L. Boyce*
1957 Hawk Levy*
1958 Big Bill Broonzy+
1959 Paul Cox*
1961 Stick McGhee+
1995 Jesse Thomas+
1995 Erbie Bowser+
2009 Jim Dickinson+
2010 John Slaughter+
Jon Amor*
1911 Buster Brown*
1930 Jackie Brenston*
1942 Pete York*
1955 R.L. Boyce*
1957 Hawk Levy*
1958 Big Bill Broonzy+
1959 Paul Cox*
1961 Stick McGhee+
1995 Jesse Thomas+
1995 Erbie Bowser+
2009 Jim Dickinson+
2010 John Slaughter+
Jon Amor*
Happy Birthday
Paul Cox *15.08.1959
Paul Cox gilt als einer der besten Vokalisten des europäischen Blues, der mit der John Slaughter Blues Band durch ganz Europa getourt ist.
This Bio is about The Proof’s lead singer, Paul Cox. The other distinguished musicians of The Proof have their own page on the site, “The Band” here.
Paul Cox is one of the best showmen and singers around today. Equally at home with Soul and Blues songs, and more than capable of Rockin’ it up, he has been described by DJ and Blues Band legend Paul Jones as having “the best voice in the UK.”
Paul has an impressive track record, playing with great guitar players including Snowy White, Ray Minhinnett, Henry McCulloch, the late John Slaughter, and recently French guitarist Chrlie Fabert.
Paul is a regular at venues and festivals across the UK and Europe , including Montreux, Ronnie Scott’s, the London Palladium, and the Royal Festival Hall.
He has opened for some of the greatest artists in the world, including Ray Charles and Eric Clapton, and sung with Paul Rogers, Bonnie Tyler, Sam Brown, Ruby Turner, and Debbie Bonham.
Hawk Levy *15.08.1957
Steve “Hawk” Levy moved to Hollywood Florida at the age of 13 from New York. At that early age Hawk found himself listening to big band sounds like Count Bassie, Louis Jordan and Benny Goodman when his peers were listening to rock. It took Levy 17 years of music appreciation before he discovered the blues at a Nighthawks show. The next day Hawk took up an instrument, the harmonica. Levy took to the instrument rapidly, craving to play at every possible opportunity. Within 8 months he had his own band, Harps ‘N Chords. By 14 months Harps .N Chords were paying major blues festivals.
During the next 15 years Hawk later became known as Hurricaine Hawk which evolved into a band called Hurricaine Hawk and the Invaders.
The original band included Tommy D’Stephano aka Big Daddy of Big daddy and the Reign, John Stratton, Tony Mancuso and Dave Race. The band member have evolved since then, getting bette all the time. From 1995 to present the invaders played regionally around Florida and at numerous festivals, including the prestigious Riverwalk Blues Festival for 4 years.
Hawk has shared the stage with some great blues performers, just some of which included Bob Margolin, James Peterson, Jimmy Thackery, John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, Cookie and the Vagrantz, The Dhali Lamas, Sapphire, Benoit King, and Rock Bottom, The Nighthawks, Pinetop perkins to name a few. During his tenure in the blues he has produced 3 recordings, Harps N Chords , Hurricaine Hawk and the Invaders (Emotional Invasion), and Hurricaine Hawk & Midnight Johnny. Levy has recorded on other numerous recordings.
Theater in recent years opened Levy to a different creative avenue to pursue. He performed and sang as a featured artist in MJM Productions Tommy and Jesus Christ Superstar with numerous supporting roles in both.
In 2003 Hawk was given the opportunity to host a blues show on NPR Radio affiliate WQCS 88.9 FM. His show ran for 67 weeks as the Hurriciane Hawk Blues Hour. The Blues hour spanned all of the jump, and swing era music that was so closely related to the blues. The show was educational as well as informative as Levy delved into the depths of the origination of the blues. Levy connected the start of the blues as hollers in the fields of slavery to the swing and jump era of Louis Jordan, all the way on up to the rocking blues of today. The show was well received from Cocoa Beach to Boca Raton Florida.
Hurricane Hawk & the Invaders is a jumpin and swinging band that will get you up on your feet. During one of their shows you are going to hear some recognizable covers, but most of their tunes are catchy, tongue and Cheek Originals. This band can work any number of players, from an acoustic blues duo to a 7 piece band.
Hawk Levy has assembled and performed in bands that have played varied venues often at festivals and large events. He has performed from California to Florida. Hawk's catchy lyrics keeps audiences listening for more, singing and dancing along to originals like Give It Up, Some Kinda Woman, and Daytime Dancer. And you'll laugh at tunes like "The New Hokee Pokee" and "This Dating Thing (Scares the Hell out of Me)". Don't miss one of their high energy shows.
Hurricane Hawk & the Invaders - I AINT FLYING
Pete York *15.08.1942
Pete York (* 15. August 1942 in Middlesbrough) ist ein englischer Schlagzeuger des Rock, Jazz und des Blues. Bekannt wurde er in den 1960ern als Mitglied der Spencer Davis Group und des Duos Hardin & York.
Leben
Nach seiner Schulzeit ging York nach Birmingham, um in einer Jazzband als Schlagzeuger zu spielen. Er schloss sich der Spencer Davis Group an, die 1964 ihre erste Schallplatte aufnahm. Die größten Hits der Gruppe waren Keep On Running (1965) und Gimme Some Lovin’ (1966). 1969 verließ York die Spencer Davis Group und trat mit Eddie Hardin als Duo Hardin & York auf – bisweilen the World’s Smallest Big Band (die kleinste Big Band der Welt) genannt. Der Erfolg war beachtlich. Hardin & York traten mit Bands wie Deep Purple auf. 1972 war das Startjahr für Pete York’s Percussion Band mit drei Schlagzeugern, einem Gitarristen und einer Bläsergruppe. Gastschlagzeuger waren u. a. Ian Paice, Keef Hartley, Roy Dyke und Keith Moon. Ab 1973 spielte Pete York bei Klaus Doldingers Passport, wo auch Kollegen wie Alexis Korner, Brian Auger und Johnny Griffin zu Gast waren. 1974 trat York bei Jon Lords Rock Meets Classic auf. In diesem Jahr gab es auch ein Revival der Spencer Davis Group. Für die bis heute immer wieder ausgestrahlte TV-Reihe „Superdrumming“ zeigte er verschiedene Drum-Stile und prominente Schlagzeuger mit ihren Besonderheiten.
1975 nahm York auf Bali mit Eberhard Schoener das Album Bali Agung auf. Er ging mit Klaus Doldinger auf Tour und spielte mit Jon Lord das Album Sarabande ein. 1976 nahm York mit Chris Barber und seiner Band das Album Echoes of Ellington auf und ging mit ihnen auf Tour durch Afrika und Australien.
Am 16. Juni 1977 heiratete Pete York seine Freundin Mecky (geborene Meeder), die er 1974 bei einer Feier nach einem Konzertauftritt in München kennengelernt hatte.[1] Ihre Tochter Stephanie wurde am 3. Mai 1979 geboren.
Yorks nächste Band Pete York’s New York bestand bis 1983. Neben seiner eigenen Band und den Tourneen mit Chris Barber hatte Pete York immer wieder Gastauftritte mit bekannten Musikern wie Dr. John und Charlie Watts. York beteiligte sich auch am Rock and Blues Circus mit Chris Farlowe, Jon Lord und Colin Hodgkinson.
1984 zog Pete York mit seiner Familie nach Deutschland, nach Berg am Starnberger See.[1] In dieser Zeit begann das Projekt Pete York Presents …., an dem Spencer Davis, Chris Farlowe, Brian Auger, Colin Hodgkinson und viele andere teilnahmen. Yorks Tochter Stephanie taufte die Gruppe Daddy and the Steamers. 1986 entstand der Zeichentrickfilm Dracula Junior, für den York die Story geschrieben hatte und den die Band mit ihren Stimmen versah. In diese Zeit fielen auch einige Gigs im Jazzbereich mit Albie Donnely, dem Frontman von Supercharge.
1987 spielte er Schlagzeug in der Band von Konstantin Wecker (LP Wieder dahoam mit anschließender Tournee). Im gleichen Jahr wurde die Fernsehserie Villa Fantastica aufgezeichnet, die York geschrieben hatte. Die Livemusik kam vom Quintett Roy Williams, Dick Morrissey, Brian Auger, Harvey Weston und Pete York. York schrieb auch für die Fernsehshow Vorhang auf, Film ab!. Super Drumming mit Ian Paice, Louie Bellson, Cozy Powell, Gerry Brown und Simon Phillips wurde produziert. 1989 bis 1990 gab es Fortsetzungen von Super Drumming mit Billy Cobham, Jon Hiseman und weiteren bekannten Musikern. Auch Villa Fantastica wurde fortgesetzt. Ab 1990 tourte York regelmäßig im Januar mit seiner Jazzband Hollywood Swing. Daneben gab es weiter Touren mit Daddy and the Steamers.
1992 feierte York seinen fünfzigsten Geburtstag mit einem Open-Air-Konzert vor 80.000 Besuchern in der Schweiz. Weitere Revival-Festivals gab es u. a. in Schottland und Holland. York spielte drei Monate in einem Club in Berlin. Ab 1994 spielte York bei Jon Lord & the Gemini Band. Ab 1995 gab es die Pete York Big Band, die Swing-Klassiker im Programm hatte. York trat auf dem Birmingham International Jazz Festival zum ersten Mal mit Drummin’ Man auf, einem Tribut an Gene Krupa. Aus der Big Band entstanden die Blue Jive Five. York war mit all seinen Bandprojekten ständig unterwegs. 1998 spielte er zum hundertsten Geburtstag von George Gershwin, ein Jahr später war es der Hundertste von Duke Ellington, 2000 folgte die Jahrhundertfeier für Louis Armstrong.
2000 sah ein Revival von Hardin & York. Mit Jon Lord spielte York bei einem internationalen Symposium von Nobelpreisträgern in Zermatt. 2003 gab die Spencer Davis Group Konzerte mit den Troggs und den Yardbirds.
2002 konnte Pete York seinen sechzigsten Geburtstag und seine silberne Hochzeit feiern. Im September spielte er mit Kollegen Swing und R&B vor ausverkauftem Haus in Starnberg. 2004 trat York mit Helge Schneider und Jimmy Woode auf. Das Trio spielte in Schneiders Film Jazzclub - Der frühe Vogel fängt den Wurm eine zentrale Rolle. 2005 gründete er zusammen mit Herman Rarebell (dr; ex-Scorpions) und dem Jazzdrummer Charly Antolini die Formation "Drum Legends". Im gleichen Jahr veröffentlichten sie die CD Live 2005 und die DVD Live In Gran Canaria. Von 2006 bis 2008, sowie derzeitig tourte und tourt York erneut mit Helge Schneider durch Deutschland, Österreich und die Schweiz und trat auch mit den Radio Kings von Martin Breinschmid sowie als Begleitmusiker von Martin Schmitt auf. Daneben findet York immer wieder Zeit, um seine eigenen Jazz- und Bluesprojekte mit wechselnden Besetzungen zu realisieren.
Instrumente
Zu Zeiten der Spencer Davis Group spielte Pete York ein Schlagzeug der Marke Rogers, in der Konfiguration: Bassdrum, Hängetom, Standtom, Snare, Hi-Hat, sowie drei Becken und ein Splash-Becken, nebst Kuhglocke. Später ergänzte er dieses um ein weiteres Standtom. In dieser Zusammenstellung ist er sehr beständig geblieben, spielt diese heute von der Marke Pearl.
Pete York (born Peter York, 15 August 1942, Redcar, Yorkshire, England) is a rock drummer[1] who has been performing since the 1960s.
Early life
Born in Redcar, he attended the Nottingham High School and learnt to play the trumpet and snare drum in a school band, he also attended Trent College. Upon leaving school he embarked on a commercial apprenticeship.
Spencer Davis Group
He was one of the original members of the Spencer Davis Group, along with Spencer Davis and the brothers, Steve and Muff Winwood. York stayed with the band until 1969.
Later career
He left the Spencer Davis Group to form Hardin and York with Eddie Hardin.
Eric Clapton's Powerhouse was a short lived blues band in 1967. It starred Eric Clapton (guitar), and featured Paul Jones (harmonica) and Jack Bruce (bass), Steve Winwood (vocals) with York (drums), and Ben Palmer (piano).
In the 80s he fronted an all-star band called Olympic Rock & Blues Circus featuring a rotating line-up of the likes of Jon Lord, Miller Anderson, Tony Ashton, Brian Auger, Zoot Money, Colin Hodgkinson, Chris Farlowe and many others. Olympic Rock & Blues Circus was touring primarily in Germany in 1981/82 and 1989.
In February 1987, York started his first series of "Superdrumming" featuring Ian Paice, Louie Bellson, Cozy Powell, Gerry Brown and Simon Phillips.
The next year, 1988, the second series of "Superdrumming" featured Billy Cobham, Bill Bruford, Dave Mattacks, Zak Starkey, Nicko McBrain, Jon Lord and Eddie Hardin.
The third series of "Superdrumming" featured Jon Hiseman, Steve Ferrone, Mark Brzezicki, Trilok Gurtu and the return of Ian Paice. The band on this series featured Miller Anderson, Colin Hodgkinson, Brian Auger, Jon Lord and Barbara Thompson.
In 1989, Brian Auger was musical director for the thirteen-part film retrospective series Villa Fantastica, made for German TV. A live recording of the series, Super Jam (1990), featured Brian Auger on piano, York on drums, Dick Morrissey on tenor saxophone, Roy Williams on trombone, Harvey Weston on bass guitar, plus the singers Zoot Money and Maria Muldaur.
In 1990, the fourth series of "Superdrumming" was held in Freiburg, Germany with drummers Ian Paice, Jon Hiseman, Cozy Powell and York.
Since 2004, York has teamed up with German multi-talent entertainer and Jazz-musician Helge Schneider on a regular basis, playing the drums on several of Schneider's recordings as well as accompanying him on tour. York also had a substantial acting part in Schneider's film Jazzclub (IMDB's entry for the film).
York participated in the 'Drum Legends' project with Herman Rarebell, where they released a live CD and DVD with the contribution of jazz drummer, Charly Antolini.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_York
Pete York Blues Project - 2012-04-24 - When a blind man cries
Buster Brown *15.08.1911
Buster Brown (* 15. August 1911 in Cordele, Georgia; † 31. Januar 1976 in New York) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues- und R&B-Sänger und Mundharmonikaspieler, dessen Mundharmonikaspiel sich an den Stil von Sonny Terry anlehnt. Am bekanntesten ist sein Hit „Fannie Mae“.
In den 1930er und 1940er Jahren spielte er in lokalen Klubs und machte einige nichtkommerzielle Aufnahmen; so wurde sein Auftritt beim Folkfestival im Fort Valley State Teachers College für das Folkmusic Archiv der Library of Congress aufgenommen. 1956 übersiedelte er nach New York, wo er von Bobby Robinson, dem Chef von Fire Records entdeckt wurde. [1]
1959, mit beinahe 50 Jahren, nahm er „Fannie Mae“ auf, eine Nummer, die ihn auf # 38 der US Top 40 und # 1 der R&B-Charts[2] brachte. Die Nachfolgesingle, ein Cover von Louis Jordans „Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby“[3] kam nicht in die R&B-Charts, das gelang ihm erst wieder mit „Sugar Babe“ (# 19).[4] Eine darauffolgende Aufnahme von „Crawlin' Kingsnake“ für Checker Records in Chicago erreichte aber nicht mehr die Charts.
Buster Brown ist auch der Co-Autor von „Doctor Brown“, eines Songs, der 1968 von Fleetwood Mac auf ihrem Album Mr.Wonderful gecovert wurde.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buster_Brown_%28Bluesmusiker%29
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVNcqb2a3KA#t=18
Buster Brown (August 15, 1911 – January 31, 1976)[1] was an American blues and R&B singer best known for his hit, "Fannie Mae".[1]
Biography
Brown was born in Cordele, Georgia.[1] In the 1930s and 1940s he played harmonica at local clubs and made a few non-commercial recordings. These included "War Song" and "I'm Gonna Make You Happy" (1943), which were recorded when he played at the folk festival at Fort Valley (GA) State Teachers College, for the Library of Congress' Folk Music Archive.[2]
Brown moved to New York in 1956, where he was discovered by Fire Records owner Bobby Robinson. In 1959, at almost fifty years of age, Brown recorded the rustic blues, "Fannie Mae", which featured Brown's harmonica playing and whoops, which went to # 38 in the U.S. Top 40, and to #1 on the R&B chart in April 1960. His remake of Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached # 81 on the pop charts later in 1960, but did not make the R&B chart.[3][4] "Sugar Babe" was his only other hit, in 1962, reaching # 19 on the R&B chart and # 99 on the pop chart.
In later years he recorded for Checker Records and for numerous small record labels.[5] He also co-wrote the song "Doctor Brown" with J. T. Brown, which was later covered by Fleetwood Mac on their 1968 album, Mr. Wonderful.
Death
Brown died in New York in 1976, at the age of 64.[1]
It is often erroneously cited that Brown's real name was "Wayman Glasco" - however, that was Brown's manager who, after his death, bought all of Brown's publishing - thus unintentionally creating the confusion. Though likely a nickname, or alias, Buster Brown may have been his birth name.
Biography
Brown was born in Cordele, Georgia.[1] In the 1930s and 1940s he played harmonica at local clubs and made a few non-commercial recordings. These included "War Song" and "I'm Gonna Make You Happy" (1943), which were recorded when he played at the folk festival at Fort Valley (GA) State Teachers College, for the Library of Congress' Folk Music Archive.[2]
Brown moved to New York in 1956, where he was discovered by Fire Records owner Bobby Robinson. In 1959, at almost fifty years of age, Brown recorded the rustic blues, "Fannie Mae", which featured Brown's harmonica playing and whoops, which went to # 38 in the U.S. Top 40, and to #1 on the R&B chart in April 1960. His remake of Louis Jordan's "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby" reached # 81 on the pop charts later in 1960, but did not make the R&B chart.[3][4] "Sugar Babe" was his only other hit, in 1962, reaching # 19 on the R&B chart and # 99 on the pop chart.
In later years he recorded for Checker Records and for numerous small record labels.[5] He also co-wrote the song "Doctor Brown" with J. T. Brown, which was later covered by Fleetwood Mac on their 1968 album, Mr. Wonderful.
Death
Brown died in New York in 1976, at the age of 64.[1]
It is often erroneously cited that Brown's real name was "Wayman Glasco" - however, that was Brown's manager who, after his death, bought all of Brown's publishing - thus unintentionally creating the confusion. Though likely a nickname, or alias, Buster Brown may have been his birth name.
Fannie Mae-Buster Brown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVNcqb2a3KA#t=18
Jackie Brenston *15.08.1930
Jackie Brenston (* 15. August 1930 in Clarksdale, Mississippi; † 15. Dezember 1979 in Memphis, Tennessee) war ein US-amerikanischer Rhythm and Blues-Musiker. Sein bekanntester Hit Rocket 88 gilt als eine der frühesten Rock’n’Roll-Aufnahmen.
Leben und Karriere
Nach dem Ende seines Militärdienstes 1947 lernte Brenston Saxofon spielen. Er spielte in der Band von Ike Turner, den „Kings Of Rhythm“. Am 3. oder 5. März 1951 nahmen sie Rocket 88 beim Memphis Recording Service, dem Vorläufer von Sun Records, auf. Turner hatte das Stück geschrieben, dennoch wurde Brenston als Autor genannt. Und obwohl es von den Kings Of Rhythm eingespielt worden war, erschien es unter dem Namen „Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats“ auf Chess Records #1458. „Rocket 88“ war die Markenbezeichnung des neuesten Autos von Oldsmobile.
Rocket 88 war nach seiner Veröffentlichung im April 1951 für fünf Wochen auf dem ersten Rang der R&B-Hitparade und entwickelte sich zum anerkannten Prototyp zahlreicher zukünftiger Rock’n’Roll-Titel.[1] Bill Haley nahm das Stück ebenfalls auf – manche bezeichnen diese Version als die erste Rock’n’Roll-Aufnahme –, Little Richard benutzte das Piano-Intro unverändert für seinen Hit Good Golly Miss Molly.
Brenston konnte den Erfolg von Rocket 88 nicht wiederholen. Nach dem Versuch einer Solokarriere spielte er in der Band von Lowell Fulson, später wieder bei Ike Turner. In den 1960ern verfiel er zusehends dem Alkohol. Er starb an einem Herzinfarkt.
Jackie
Brenston (August 24, 1928 or 1930[note 1] – December 15, 1979) was an
American R&B singer and saxophonist, who recorded, with Ike Turner's
band, the first version of the pioneering rock and roll song "Rocket
88".
Biography
Brenston was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.[1] Returning to Clarksdale from army service in 1947, Brenston learned to play the tenor saxophone, linking up with Ike Turner in 1950 as sax player and occasional singer in his band. The local success of Turner’s Kings of Rhythm prompted B. B. King to recommend them to studio owner Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee, where the band made several recordings in early March 1951, including "Rocket 88", on which Brenston sang lead and was credited with writing.
Phillips passed the recordings on to Chess Records in Chicago, who released "Rocket 88" as by "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", rather than under Turner's name. The record soon reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and stayed at that position for over a month. Phillips' later claimed that this was the first rock and roll record,[1] this has often been repeated by others, although there are numerous other candidates. Phillips used the success of the record to start Sun Records the following year.
After one further recording session, Brenston and Turner parted company, and Brenston went on to perform in Lowell Fulson's band for two years. He returned to play in Turner's band from 1955 to 1962. Although he occasionally sang with the band, Turner apparently barred him from singing "Rocket 88".
By now an alcoholic, Brenston continued playing in local bands. After a final recording session with Earl Hooker in 1963, he worked occasionally as a truck driver before a fatal heart attack in Memphis at the age of 51.
Legacy
In 2007, Rev-Ola released a compilation of twenty-four vintage sides recorded by Brenston. Of his legacy, music author and historian Richie Unterberger wrote:
If ever there were a case of the record overshadowing the artist, it would be Jackie Brenston's 'Rocket 88.' ... Brenston is often dismissed as a footnote to his own landmark, with pianist/bandleader Ike Turner's role in the recording getting more ink, Brenston sometimes characterized as a journeyman who lucked into the spotlight almost by chance. ... [Brenston was] something of a journeyman R&B vocalist, but wasn't as inconsequential as some critics have opined.[2]
Notes
Although most published sources, and the US Social Security Death Index, give 1930 as his year of birth, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and reportedly his gravestone, give 1928.
Biography
Brenston was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, United States.[1] Returning to Clarksdale from army service in 1947, Brenston learned to play the tenor saxophone, linking up with Ike Turner in 1950 as sax player and occasional singer in his band. The local success of Turner’s Kings of Rhythm prompted B. B. King to recommend them to studio owner Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee, where the band made several recordings in early March 1951, including "Rocket 88", on which Brenston sang lead and was credited with writing.
Phillips passed the recordings on to Chess Records in Chicago, who released "Rocket 88" as by "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", rather than under Turner's name. The record soon reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and stayed at that position for over a month. Phillips' later claimed that this was the first rock and roll record,[1] this has often been repeated by others, although there are numerous other candidates. Phillips used the success of the record to start Sun Records the following year.
After one further recording session, Brenston and Turner parted company, and Brenston went on to perform in Lowell Fulson's band for two years. He returned to play in Turner's band from 1955 to 1962. Although he occasionally sang with the band, Turner apparently barred him from singing "Rocket 88".
By now an alcoholic, Brenston continued playing in local bands. After a final recording session with Earl Hooker in 1963, he worked occasionally as a truck driver before a fatal heart attack in Memphis at the age of 51.
Legacy
In 2007, Rev-Ola released a compilation of twenty-four vintage sides recorded by Brenston. Of his legacy, music author and historian Richie Unterberger wrote:
If ever there were a case of the record overshadowing the artist, it would be Jackie Brenston's 'Rocket 88.' ... Brenston is often dismissed as a footnote to his own landmark, with pianist/bandleader Ike Turner's role in the recording getting more ink, Brenston sometimes characterized as a journeyman who lucked into the spotlight almost by chance. ... [Brenston was] something of a journeyman R&B vocalist, but wasn't as inconsequential as some critics have opined.[2]
Notes
Although most published sources, and the US Social Security Death Index, give 1930 as his year of birth, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and reportedly his gravestone, give 1928.
JACKIE BRENSTON BLUES HAS GOT ME AGAIN.wmv
R.I.P.
Big Bill Broonzy +15.08.1958
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Big Bill Broonzy (geboren als Lee Conley Bradley; * 26. Juni 1893 oder 1898 in Scott County, Mississippi; † 15. August 1958 in Chicago, Illinois) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Musiker und -Komponist.
Bill Broonzy, geboren als Lee Conley Bradley, war eines von 17 Kindern seiner Eltern Frank und Mittie Bradley.[1] Den größten Teil seiner Kindheit soll er in Arkansas verbracht haben, wo er bereits durch seinen Onkel Jerry Belcher das Fiedelspiel erlernte und in bescheidenem Maße auch auftrat. Seine Wehrpflicht leistete er während des Ersten Weltkriegs in Europa ab. Anschließend verdingte er sich als Feldarbeiter. 1920 ging Big Bill Broonzy nach Chicago, wo ihm Papa Charlie Jackson das Gitarrespielen beibrachte. 1927 machte er erste Aufnahmen für Paramount. Unter den Liedern, bei denen er sich selbst begleitete, war auch der Song „Big Billy Blues“, von dem künftig sein Künstlername abgeleitet wurde. Broonzy konnte von seiner Musik zunächst nicht leben und ging bis in die 1950er Jahre noch anderen Berufen nach.
Nach 1930 nahm er mit Georgia Tom (eigentlich: Thomas Andrew Dorsey) am Klavier und Frank Basswell unter dem Gruppennamen „Famous Hokum Boys“ verschiedene Platten auf. Um 1936 begann er, mit einer kleinen Band aufzutreten, mit Schlagzeug und Bass, gelegentlich ergänzt um Mundharmonika, Piano oder Blasinstrumente. Die Aufnahmen aus dieser Zeit firmieren unter dem Namen Big Bill and his Chicago Five. In der Fachliteratur (z. B. bei Dicaire, siehe Bibliografie) gibt es Hinweise, dass Broonzy möglicherweise das Powertrio in die populäre Musik eingeführt hat – ein Konzept, das später Musiker und Bands wie Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top und Cream in der Rockmusik erfolgreich machten.
In den 1930ern war Broonzy u. a. mit Memphis Minnie unterwegs. Nach dem Tod von Robert Johnson wurde Broonzy an dessen Stelle für die New Yorker Show From Spiritual To Swing engagiert und wurde auch vom weißen Publikum begeistert aufgenommen. In den 1950ern war er mehrfach erfolgreich in Europa auf Tour. Er machte Aufnahmen u. a. mit Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee und Leadbelly und wurde 1953 letztlich Berufsmusiker.
1957 erkrankte Big Bill Broonzy an Kehlkopfkrebs und starb daran ein Jahr später. Er wurde in Chicago beigesetzt.
Big Bill Broonzy hatte einen nicht unwesentlichen Einfluss auf Bluesgrößen wie Muddy Waters und Memphis Slim. Er war ein ausgezeichneter Gitarrespieler und hat über 350 Stücke komponiert. 1980 wurde er in die Hall of Fame der Blues Foundation aufgenommen, ebenso 2010 sein Song Key to the Highway und seine Autobiographie (gemeinsam mit Yannick Bruynoghe) Big Bill Blues 1990.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bill_Broonzy
Big
Bill Broonzy (June 26, 1893 – August 14 or 15, 1958) was a prolific
American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the
1920s when he played country blues to mostly African-American
audiences. Through the 1930s and 1940s he successfully navigated a
transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with
working-class African-American audiences. In the 1950s a return to his
traditional folk-blues roots made him one of the leading figures of the
emerging American folk music revival and an international star. His long
and varied career marks him as one of the key figures in the
development of blues music in the 20th century.
Broonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including both adaptations of traditional folk songs and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in that his compositions reflected the many vantage points of his rural-to-urban experiences.[1]
Life and career
Early years
Born Lee Conley Bradley,[2] "Big Bill" was one of Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher's 17 children. His birth site and date are disputed. While he claimed birth in Scott, Mississippi, an entire body of emerging research compiled by blues historian Robert Reisman suggests that Broonzy was actually born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Broonzy claimed he was born in 1893 and many sources report that year, but after his death, family records suggested that the year was actually 1903.[3] Soon after his birth the family moved to the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area, where Bill spent his youth. He began playing music at an early age. At the age of 10 he made himself a fiddle from a cigar box and learned how to play spirituals and folk songs from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. He and a friend named Louis Carter, who played a homemade guitar, began performing at social and church functions.[4] These early performances included playing at "two-stages": picnics where whites and blacks danced at the same event, but with different stages for blacks and whites.[5]
On the understanding that he was born in 1898 rather than earlier or later, sources suggest that in 1915, 17-year-old Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper. He had decided to give up the fiddle and become a preacher. There is a story that he was offered $50 and a new violin if he would play four days at a local venue. Before he could respond to the offer, his wife took the money and spent it, so he had to play. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. Broonzy went to work locally until he was drafted into the Army in 1917.[6] Broonzy served two years in Europe during the first world war. Then after his discharge from the Army in 1919, Broonzy returned to the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area, where he is reported to have been called a racial epithet and told by a white man he knew before the war that he needed to "hurry up and get his soldier uniform off and put on some overalls." He immediately left Pine Bluff and moved to the Little Rock area but a year later in 1920 moved north to Chicago in search of opportunity.[7]
1920s
After arriving in Chicago, Broonzy made the switch from fiddle to guitar. He learned guitar from minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson, who began recording for Paramount Records in 1924.[8] Through the 1920s Broonzy worked a string of odd jobs, including Pullman porter, cook, foundry worker and custodian, to supplement his income, but his main interest was music. He played regularly at rent parties and social gatherings, steadily improving his guitar playing. During this time he wrote one of his signature tunes, a solo guitar piece called "Saturday Night Rub".[9]
Thanks to his association with Jackson, Broonzy was able to get an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams. His initial test recordings, made with his friend John Thomas on vocals, were rejected, but Broonzy persisted, and his second try, a few months later, was more successful. His first record, "Big Bill's Blues" backed with "House Rent Stomp", credited to "Big Bill and Thomps" (Paramount 12656), was released in 1927. Although the recording was not well received, Paramount retained their new talent and the next few years saw more releases by "Big Bill and Thomps". The records continued to sell poorly. Reviewers considered his style immature and derivative.[10]
1930s
In 1930, Paramount for the first time used Broonzy's full name on a recording, "Station Blues" – albeit misspelled as "Big Bill Broomsley". Record sales continued to be poor, and Broonzy was working at a grocery store. Broonzy was picked up by Lester Melrose, who produced acts for various labels including Champion and Gennett Records. He recorded several sides which were released in the spring of 1931 under the name "Big Bill Johnson".[11] In March 1932 he traveled to New York City and began recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive labels (Melotone, Perfect Records, et al.).[9] These recordings sold better and Broonzy was becoming better known. Back in Chicago he was working regularly in South Side clubs, and even toured with Memphis Minnie.[12]
In 1934 Broonzy moved to Bluebird Records and began recording with pianist Bob "Black Bob" Call. His fortunes soon improved. With Call his music was evolving to a stronger R&B sound, and his singing sounded more assured and personal. In 1937, he began playing with pianist Joshua Altheimer, recording and performing using a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and double bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). In March 1938 he began recording for Vocalion Records.[13]
Broonzy's reputation grew and in 1938 he was asked to fill in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson at the John H. Hammond-produced From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared in the 1939 concert at the same venue.[14] His success led him in this same year to a small role in Swingin' the Dream, Gilbert Seldes's jazz adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, set in 1890 New Orleans and featuring, among others, Louis Armstrong as Bottom and Maxine Sullivan as Titania, with the Benny Goodman sextet.
Broonzy's own recorded output through the 1930s only partially reflects his importance to the Chicago blues scene. His half-brother, Washboard Sam, and close friends, Jazz Gillum, and Tampa Red, also recorded for Bluebird. Broonzy was credited as composer on many of their most popular recordings of that time. He reportedly played guitar on most of Washboard Sam's tracks. Due to his exclusive arrangements with his own record label, Broonzy was always careful to have his name only appear on these artists' records as "composer".[13]
1940s
Broonzy expanded his work during this period as he honed his song writing skills which showed a knack for appealing to his more sophisticated city audience as well as people that shared his country roots. His work in this period shows he performed across a wider musical spectrum than almost any other bluesman before or since including ragtime, hokum blues, country blues, city blues, jazz tinged songs, folk songs and spirituals. After World War II, Broonzy recorded songs that were the bridge that allowed many younger musicians to cross over to the future of the blues: the electric blues of post war Chicago. His 1945 recordings of "Where the Blues Began" with Big Maceo on piano and Buster Bennett on sax, or "Martha Blues" with Memphis Slim on piano, clearly show the way forward. One of his best-known songs, "Key to the Highway", appeared at this time. When the second American Federation of Musicians strike ended in 1948, Broonzy was picked up by the Mercury label[15]
In 1949, Broonzy became part of a touring folk music revue formed by Win Stracke called I Come for to Sing, which also included Studs Terkel and Lawrence Lane. Terkel called him the key figure in this group. The revue had some success thanks to the emerging folk revival movement. When the revue played Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Broonzy met a local couple, Prof. Leonard and Lillian Feinberg, who would find him a custodial job at ISU when a doctor ordered Bill to leave the road for his health later in 1949. He remained in Ames until 1951, then resumed touring. [16]
1950s
After returning to the road, the exposure from I Come For to Sing made it possible for Broonzy to tour Europe in 1951. Here Bill was greeted with standing ovations and critical praise wherever he played. The tour marked a turning point in his fortunes, and when he returned to the United States he was a featured act with many prominent folk artists such as Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. From 1953 on his financial position became more secure and he was able to live quite well on his music earnings. Broonzy returned to his solo folk-blues roots, and travelled and recorded extensively.[15] Broonzy's numerous performances during the 1950s in British folk and jazz clubs were a significant influence on British audiences' understanding of the blues,[17] and significantly bolstered the nascent British folk revival and early blues scene. Many British musicians on the folk scene, such as Bert Jansch, cited him as an important influence.[18]
While in the Netherlands, Broonzy met and became romanically involved with a Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.[19][20]
In 1953, Dr. Vera (King) Morkovin and Studs Terkel took Broonzy to Circle Pines Center, a cooperative year-round camp in Hastings, Michigan, where he was employed as the summer camp cook. He worked there in the summer from 1953 to 1956. On July 4, 1954, Pete Seeger travelled to Circle Pines and gave a concert with Bill on the farmhouse lawn, which was recorded by Seeger for the new fine arts radio station in Chicago, WFMT-FM.[21]
In 1955, with the assistance of Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, entitled Big Bill Blues.[14] He toured worldwide to Africa, South America, the Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. At the school's opening night on December 1, he taught a class "The Glory of Love".[22]
Illness and death
By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from the effects of throat cancer. He died on August 14 or 15, 1958 (sources vary on the precise date), and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois.[23][24]
Style and influence
Broonzy's own influences included the folk music, spirituals, work songs, ragtime music, hokum, and country blues he heard growing up, and the styles of his contemporaries, including Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Broonzy combined all these influences into his own style of the blues that foreshadowed the post-war Chicago blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.[14]
Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, since this was considered to be more "authentic".
A considerable part of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony, and other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the 1950s. The Smithsonian's Folkways Records has also released several albums featuring Big Bill Broonzy.
In 1980, he was inducted into the first class of the Blues Hall of Fame along with 20 other of the world's greatest blues legends. In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk, and others.
Broonzy as an acoustic guitar player inspired Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Ray Davies, John Renbourn, Rory Gallagher,[25] Ben Taylor,[26] and Steve Howe.[27]
In in the September 2007 issue of Q Magazine, Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones cited Broonzy's track "Guitar Shuffle" as his favorite guitar music. Wood remarked, "It was one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."
Eric Clapton has cited Bill Broonzy as a major inspiration, commenting that Broonzy "became like a role model for me, in terms of how to play the acoustic guitar."[28]
Broonzy's influence on roots rockers the Blasters is apparent. In 2014, the Blasters' founders Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin, as a duo, released the album Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy. Dave Alvin commented, "We're brothers, we argue sometimes, but one thing we never argue about is Big Bill Broonzy."[29]
During the benediction at the 2009 inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, the civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery paraphrased Broonzy's song "Black, Brown and White Blues".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bill_BroonzyBroonzy copyrighted more than 300 songs during his lifetime, including both adaptations of traditional folk songs and original blues songs. As a blues composer, he was unique in that his compositions reflected the many vantage points of his rural-to-urban experiences.[1]
Life and career
Early years
Born Lee Conley Bradley,[2] "Big Bill" was one of Frank Broonzy (Bradley) and Mittie Belcher's 17 children. His birth site and date are disputed. While he claimed birth in Scott, Mississippi, an entire body of emerging research compiled by blues historian Robert Reisman suggests that Broonzy was actually born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. Broonzy claimed he was born in 1893 and many sources report that year, but after his death, family records suggested that the year was actually 1903.[3] Soon after his birth the family moved to the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area, where Bill spent his youth. He began playing music at an early age. At the age of 10 he made himself a fiddle from a cigar box and learned how to play spirituals and folk songs from his uncle, Jerry Belcher. He and a friend named Louis Carter, who played a homemade guitar, began performing at social and church functions.[4] These early performances included playing at "two-stages": picnics where whites and blacks danced at the same event, but with different stages for blacks and whites.[5]
On the understanding that he was born in 1898 rather than earlier or later, sources suggest that in 1915, 17-year-old Broonzy was married and working as a sharecropper. He had decided to give up the fiddle and become a preacher. There is a story that he was offered $50 and a new violin if he would play four days at a local venue. Before he could respond to the offer, his wife took the money and spent it, so he had to play. In 1916 his crop and stock were wiped out by drought. Broonzy went to work locally until he was drafted into the Army in 1917.[6] Broonzy served two years in Europe during the first world war. Then after his discharge from the Army in 1919, Broonzy returned to the Pine Bluff, Arkansas area, where he is reported to have been called a racial epithet and told by a white man he knew before the war that he needed to "hurry up and get his soldier uniform off and put on some overalls." He immediately left Pine Bluff and moved to the Little Rock area but a year later in 1920 moved north to Chicago in search of opportunity.[7]
1920s
After arriving in Chicago, Broonzy made the switch from fiddle to guitar. He learned guitar from minstrel and medicine show veteran Papa Charlie Jackson, who began recording for Paramount Records in 1924.[8] Through the 1920s Broonzy worked a string of odd jobs, including Pullman porter, cook, foundry worker and custodian, to supplement his income, but his main interest was music. He played regularly at rent parties and social gatherings, steadily improving his guitar playing. During this time he wrote one of his signature tunes, a solo guitar piece called "Saturday Night Rub".[9]
Thanks to his association with Jackson, Broonzy was able to get an audition with Paramount executive J. Mayo Williams. His initial test recordings, made with his friend John Thomas on vocals, were rejected, but Broonzy persisted, and his second try, a few months later, was more successful. His first record, "Big Bill's Blues" backed with "House Rent Stomp", credited to "Big Bill and Thomps" (Paramount 12656), was released in 1927. Although the recording was not well received, Paramount retained their new talent and the next few years saw more releases by "Big Bill and Thomps". The records continued to sell poorly. Reviewers considered his style immature and derivative.[10]
1930s
In 1930, Paramount for the first time used Broonzy's full name on a recording, "Station Blues" – albeit misspelled as "Big Bill Broomsley". Record sales continued to be poor, and Broonzy was working at a grocery store. Broonzy was picked up by Lester Melrose, who produced acts for various labels including Champion and Gennett Records. He recorded several sides which were released in the spring of 1931 under the name "Big Bill Johnson".[11] In March 1932 he traveled to New York City and began recording for the American Record Corporation on their line of less expensive labels (Melotone, Perfect Records, et al.).[9] These recordings sold better and Broonzy was becoming better known. Back in Chicago he was working regularly in South Side clubs, and even toured with Memphis Minnie.[12]
In 1934 Broonzy moved to Bluebird Records and began recording with pianist Bob "Black Bob" Call. His fortunes soon improved. With Call his music was evolving to a stronger R&B sound, and his singing sounded more assured and personal. In 1937, he began playing with pianist Joshua Altheimer, recording and performing using a small instrumental group, including "traps" (drums) and double bass as well as one or more melody instruments (horns and/or harmonica). In March 1938 he began recording for Vocalion Records.[13]
Broonzy's reputation grew and in 1938 he was asked to fill in for the recently deceased Robert Johnson at the John H. Hammond-produced From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared in the 1939 concert at the same venue.[14] His success led him in this same year to a small role in Swingin' the Dream, Gilbert Seldes's jazz adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, set in 1890 New Orleans and featuring, among others, Louis Armstrong as Bottom and Maxine Sullivan as Titania, with the Benny Goodman sextet.
Broonzy's own recorded output through the 1930s only partially reflects his importance to the Chicago blues scene. His half-brother, Washboard Sam, and close friends, Jazz Gillum, and Tampa Red, also recorded for Bluebird. Broonzy was credited as composer on many of their most popular recordings of that time. He reportedly played guitar on most of Washboard Sam's tracks. Due to his exclusive arrangements with his own record label, Broonzy was always careful to have his name only appear on these artists' records as "composer".[13]
1940s
Broonzy expanded his work during this period as he honed his song writing skills which showed a knack for appealing to his more sophisticated city audience as well as people that shared his country roots. His work in this period shows he performed across a wider musical spectrum than almost any other bluesman before or since including ragtime, hokum blues, country blues, city blues, jazz tinged songs, folk songs and spirituals. After World War II, Broonzy recorded songs that were the bridge that allowed many younger musicians to cross over to the future of the blues: the electric blues of post war Chicago. His 1945 recordings of "Where the Blues Began" with Big Maceo on piano and Buster Bennett on sax, or "Martha Blues" with Memphis Slim on piano, clearly show the way forward. One of his best-known songs, "Key to the Highway", appeared at this time. When the second American Federation of Musicians strike ended in 1948, Broonzy was picked up by the Mercury label[15]
In 1949, Broonzy became part of a touring folk music revue formed by Win Stracke called I Come for to Sing, which also included Studs Terkel and Lawrence Lane. Terkel called him the key figure in this group. The revue had some success thanks to the emerging folk revival movement. When the revue played Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Broonzy met a local couple, Prof. Leonard and Lillian Feinberg, who would find him a custodial job at ISU when a doctor ordered Bill to leave the road for his health later in 1949. He remained in Ames until 1951, then resumed touring. [16]
1950s
After returning to the road, the exposure from I Come For to Sing made it possible for Broonzy to tour Europe in 1951. Here Bill was greeted with standing ovations and critical praise wherever he played. The tour marked a turning point in his fortunes, and when he returned to the United States he was a featured act with many prominent folk artists such as Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. From 1953 on his financial position became more secure and he was able to live quite well on his music earnings. Broonzy returned to his solo folk-blues roots, and travelled and recorded extensively.[15] Broonzy's numerous performances during the 1950s in British folk and jazz clubs were a significant influence on British audiences' understanding of the blues,[17] and significantly bolstered the nascent British folk revival and early blues scene. Many British musicians on the folk scene, such as Bert Jansch, cited him as an important influence.[18]
While in the Netherlands, Broonzy met and became romanically involved with a Dutch girl, Pim van Isveldt. Together they had a child named Michael who still lives in Amsterdam.[19][20]
In 1953, Dr. Vera (King) Morkovin and Studs Terkel took Broonzy to Circle Pines Center, a cooperative year-round camp in Hastings, Michigan, where he was employed as the summer camp cook. He worked there in the summer from 1953 to 1956. On July 4, 1954, Pete Seeger travelled to Circle Pines and gave a concert with Bill on the farmhouse lawn, which was recorded by Seeger for the new fine arts radio station in Chicago, WFMT-FM.[21]
In 1955, with the assistance of Belgian writer Yannick Bruynoghe, Broonzy published his autobiography, entitled Big Bill Blues.[14] He toured worldwide to Africa, South America, the Pacific region and across Europe into early 1956. In 1957 Broonzy was one of the founding faculty members of the Old Town School of Folk Music. At the school's opening night on December 1, he taught a class "The Glory of Love".[22]
Illness and death
By 1958 Broonzy was suffering from the effects of throat cancer. He died on August 14 or 15, 1958 (sources vary on the precise date), and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Illinois.[23][24]
Style and influence
Broonzy's own influences included the folk music, spirituals, work songs, ragtime music, hokum, and country blues he heard growing up, and the styles of his contemporaries, including Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake, Son House, and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Broonzy combined all these influences into his own style of the blues that foreshadowed the post-war Chicago blues sound, later refined and popularized by artists such as Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon.[14]
Although he had been a pioneer of the Chicago blues style and had employed electric instruments as early as 1942, his new, white audiences wanted to hear him playing his earliest songs accompanied only by his own acoustic guitar, since this was considered to be more "authentic".
A considerable part of his early ARC/CBS recordings have been reissued in anthology collections by CBS-Sony, and other earlier recordings have been collected on blues reissue labels, as have his later European and Chicago recordings of the 1950s. The Smithsonian's Folkways Records has also released several albums featuring Big Bill Broonzy.
In 1980, he was inducted into the first class of the Blues Hall of Fame along with 20 other of the world's greatest blues legends. In 2007, he was inducted into the first class of the Gennett Records Walk of Fame along with 11 other musical greats including Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Gene Autry, Lawrence Welk, and others.
Broonzy as an acoustic guitar player inspired Muddy Waters, Memphis Slim, Ray Davies, John Renbourn, Rory Gallagher,[25] Ben Taylor,[26] and Steve Howe.[27]
In in the September 2007 issue of Q Magazine, Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones cited Broonzy's track "Guitar Shuffle" as his favorite guitar music. Wood remarked, "It was one of the first tracks I learnt to play, but even to this day I can't play it exactly right."
Eric Clapton has cited Bill Broonzy as a major inspiration, commenting that Broonzy "became like a role model for me, in terms of how to play the acoustic guitar."[28]
Broonzy's influence on roots rockers the Blasters is apparent. In 2014, the Blasters' founders Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin, as a duo, released the album Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy. Dave Alvin commented, "We're brothers, we argue sometimes, but one thing we never argue about is Big Bill Broonzy."[29]
During the benediction at the 2009 inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama, the civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery paraphrased Broonzy's song "Black, Brown and White Blues".
BIG BILL BROONZY LIVE IN HOLLAND 1953 BACKWATER BLUES
Jesse Thomas +15.08.1995
Jesse "Babyface" Thomas (February 3, 1911 – August 15, 1995[1][2]) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer.[3] Known at different times as "Baby Face" or "Mule", and occasionally billed as "The Blues Troubadour", Jesse Thomas popped up all over the blues map in his eight decade career.
Born in Logansport, Louisiana, United States, Thomas is best known for the song "Blue Goose Blues", which he recorded for Victor in 1929. He recorded and performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, based in the Los Angeles area.[4] He recorded for Specialty Records in 1953.[4]
His career spanned over 60 years – in 1994 he appeared at the Long Beach Blues Festival. The Texas bluesman, Ramblin' Thomas, was his brother,[5] and fellow Louisiana blues guitar player, Lafayette Thomas, was his nephew.
A longtime resident of the Lakeside neighborhood of Shreveport, Louisiana, Thomas died there on August 15, 1995 at the age of 84.
Jim Dickinson +15.08.2009
James Luther "Jim" Dickinson (November 15, 1941 - August 15, 2009) was an American record producer, pianist, and singer who fronted, among others, the Memphis, Tennessee-based band Mud Boy and the Neutrons.
Dickinson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and subsequently raised in Chicago and Memphis. He attended Baylor University as a drama major and eventually graduated from the University of Memphis, where he became acquainted with pioneering music journalist Stanley Booth. Following graduation, he played on recording sessions for Bill Justis and recorded at Chips Moman's American Studios. Dickinson recorded what has been described as the last great single released by Sun Records—"Cadillac Man" b/w "My Babe" by The Jesters (1966)—playing piano and singing lead on both sides despite not being an actual member of the group.
In the late 1960s, Dickinson joined with fellow Memphis musicians Charlie Freeman (guitar), Michael Utley (keyboards), Tommy McClure (bass) and Sammy Creason (drums); this group became known as the Dixie Flyers and backed a variety of performers, including Hank Ballard, James Carr, Albert Collins, and The Tempters. In 1970, the group began to back Atlantic Records' venerable stable of soul acts at the behest of producer Jerry Wexler (who was introduced to the group by Booth) following the acrimonious dissolution of his relationship with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Based out of Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, they recorded Aretha Franklin's 1970 hit "Spirit in the Dark"; over the next year, the Flyers also contributed to recordings by Carmen McRae, Delaney & Bonnie, Jerry Jeff Walker, Dee Dee Warwick, Ronnie Hawkins, Sam & Dave, Dion, Brook Benton, Lulu, Sam the Sham, and Esther Phillips. Unable to acclimate to Miami and the variegated production styles of Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin, Dickinson heeded the advice of erstwhile Muscle Shoals guitarist Duane Allman and left the group to pursue a solo career in 1971; the remaining Flyers backed Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge for several years before ultimately disbanding in the mid 1970s.
In 1972, Dickinson released his first solo album (Dixie Fried) on Atlantic, which featured songs by Bob Dylan, Furry Lewis, and a title song by Carl Perkins.[1]
In the 1970s, he became known as a producer, recording Big Star's Third in 1974, as well as serving as co-producer with Alex Chilton on the 1979 Chilton album Like Flies on Sherbert. He produced an eclectic range of performers, including Willy DeVille, Green on Red, Mojo Nixon, The Replacements, Tav Falco's Panther Burns and Screamin' Jay Hawkins; and in 1977 an aural documentary of Memphis' Beale Street, Beale Street Saturday Night, which featured performances by Sid Selvidge, Furry Lewis and Dickinson's band Mud Boy and the Neutrons. As a session musician in his own right, he played piano on The Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in December 1969; contributed to the Flamin' Groovies' album Teenage Head in 1971; worked with Ry Cooder on nearly a dozen records beginning in 1972; recorded a one-off single ("Red Headed Woman") with The Cramps in 1984; and played electric piano & pump organ on Bob Dylan's 1997 comeback album Time Out of Mind. In 1998, he produced Mudhoney's Tomorrow Hit Today.[1]
His sons Luther and Cody, who played on his 2002 solo effort Free Beer Tomorrow, and the 2006 Jungle Jim and the Voodoo Tiger, have achieved success on their own as the North Mississippi Allstars.
Dickinson also made a recording with Pete (Sonic Boom) Kember of Spacemen 3 fame. "Indian Giver" was released in 2008 by Birdman Records under the name of Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis, with Captain Memphis, obviously, referring to Dickinson.
In 2003, Dickinson also briefly featured in The Road to Memphis part of Martin Scorsese's The Blues
Snake Eyes
In 2007 Dickinson played with the Memphis-based rock band Snake Eyes. The band, formed by Memphis musician Greg Roberson (former Reigning Sound drummer), featured Jeremy Scott (also from the Reigning Sound), Adam Woodard, and John Paul Keith. While the band disbanded in October 2008, Dickinson and Roberson went on to form another Memphis group, Ten High & the Trashed Romeos. This band included Jake and Toby Vest (of Memphis band The Bulletproof Vests) and Adam Hill. Ten High & the trashed Romeos recorded two albums, the first including all original compositions written by Dickinson and the band. The second album consisted entirely of covers of 1960's Memphis garage rock songs.
Death
Dickinson died August 15, 2009 at Methodist Extended Care Hospital in Memphis following triple-bypass heart surgery.
Stick McGhee +15.08.1961
Stick McGhee, auch Sticks McGhee (* 23. März 1917 in Knoxville (Tennessee) als Granville Henry McGhee; † 15. August 1961 in der Bronx, New York City) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues und Rhythm-and-Blues-Gitarrist und Sänger. Er war der jüngere Bruder von Brownie McGhee.
McGhee begann mit dreizehn Jahren Gitarre zu spielen.[1] Nachdem er von der Highschool geflogen war, arbeitete er mit seinem Vater bei Eastman Kodak.[1] 1940 verließ er diesen Job und zog nach Portsmouth, Virginia, danach nach New York. Dort leistete er 1942 seinen Militärdienst ab und war dann während des Zweiten Weltkriegs als Soldat in der Army.[1] 1946 wurde er aus der Armee entlassen und ließ sich in New York nieder. [2].
Bereits während seines Militärdienstes hatte er oft Gitarre gespielt. Schließlich hatte er mit dem Anfang 1949 aufgenommenen Rhythm and Blues-Song „Drinkin’ Wine Spoo-De-O-Dee“ Erfolg. Der Song wurde auch der erste Hit des jungen Labels Atlantic Records. In McGhees Band spielten Wilbert „Big Chief“ Ellis (Piano), Brownie McGhee (Gitarre) und Gene Ramey (Bass).[3]
Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee brachte „das neue Lebensgefühl auf den Punkt: Trinken und Schlägereien sind alles, worum es im Leben geht, und wenn jemand Streit sucht, dann gib ihm ’nen Drink aus oder hau ihm eins auf’s Maul,“ beschrieb Greil Marcus die Stimmung dieses Songs, den seine Nachahmer u.a. zu Baby, Let’s Play House (Elvis Presley, 1955) anregte.[4] Die ersten Zeilen lauteten:
Drinkin’ that mess is our delight,
And when we get drunk, start fightin’ all night.
Knockin’ out windows and learnin’ down doors,
Drinkin’ half-gallons and callin’ for more.[1]
Sein Song wurde zu einem der frühesten prototypischen Rock and Roll Songs; er erlebte zahlreiche Coverversionen, etwa durch Jerry Lee Lewis und Mike Bloomfields Electric Flag (als „Wine“). Der Songtitel gab auch einem alkoholischen Fruchtgetränk (spodi) seinen Namen. Zunächst hatten Granville und Brownie McGhee gemeinsam den Song überarbeitet und für Harlem Records eingespielt,[1] wo er im Januar 1947 erschienen war und anschließend in den Radios lief. Landesweit bekannt wurde er dann durch die zwei Jahre spätere aufgenommene Version für Atlantic Records; er kam dann auf Position 3 der Billboard R&B-Chart.[1]
Seine weiteren Songs wurden von vielen Künstlern gecovert, darunter Lionel Hampton, Wynonie Harris die Hillbilly-Formation Loy Gordon & His Pleasant Valley Boys.[1] Populär blieb „Drinkin’ Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee” bis Ende der 50er durch die Versionen von Malcolm Yelvington (1954), Johnny Burnette (1957), Jerry Lee Lewis im Jahr 1959[1] und schließlich 1962 Larry Dale.
McGhee nahm dann noch weitere Schallplatten für Atlantic auf und schrieb populäre Songs wie den „Tennessee Waltz”, „Drank Up All the Wine Last Night”, „Venus Blues”, „Let’s Do It” und „One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show”, jedoch blieb der kommerzielle Erfolg aus.[1] McGhee wechselte von Atlantic zu Essex Records, um das Album My Little Rose einzuspielen, jedoch ohne größere Resonanz, woraufhin er 1953 zu King ging. Für das label nahm er eine reihe von Rock and Roll-Songs auf wie „Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice," „Head Happy With Wine," „Jungle Juice," „Six to Eight," „Double Crossin' Liquor,” „Dealin’ from the Bottom” und „Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter”.[1] Nachdem auch bei King der Erfolg ausblieb, nahm er noch 1955 letzte Aufnahmen für Savoy Records auf; danach zog er sich aus dem Musikgeschäft zurück.[1] Er starb im August 1961 im Alter von 44 Jahren an Lungenkrebs.
Granville Henry McGhee, also known as Stick (or Sticks) McGhee,[2] (March 23, 1917 – August 15, 1961) was an African-American jump blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, best known for his blues song, "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee".
Early life
He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States,[1] and Granville received his nickname during the early years, when he was pushing his older brother, Brownie McGhee, who was stricken with polio, in a wagon with a stick.[3] Granville began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. After his freshman year, Granville dropped out of high school and worked with his father at Eastman Kodak. In 1940, Granville quit his job and moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, and then he relocated to New York. There he entered the military in 1942 and served in the Army during World War II.[3] In 1946, Granville was discharged and settled in New York.[4]
Entertainment career
In the military, Granville often played his guitar. One of the songs, that McGhee was best known for, was "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee". The original lyrics of the song were as follows:
Drinkin’ that mess is our delight, And when we get drunk, start fightin’ all night. Knockin’ out windows and tearin’ down doors, Drinkin’ half-gallons and callin’ for more. Drinkin’ wine motherfucker, drinkin’ wine! Goddam! Drinkin’ wine motherfucker, drinkin’ wine! Goddam! Drinkin’ wine motherfucker, drinkin’ wine! Goddam! Pass that bottle to me![3]
This song was one of the earliest prototypical rock and roll songs, and was covered by Jerry Lee Lewis and Mike Bloomfield's Electric Flag (as "Wine").[1] The song lent its name to the alcoholic fruit drink, spodi. In 1946, Granville and Brownie McGhee collaborated and modified the song into a clean cut version for Harlem Records.[3] The song was released a year later in January 1947 at the price of 49 cents. The song did not get much airplay time until two years later, when Granville recreated the song for Atlantic Records.[1] As a result, it rose to Number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart, where it stayed for 4 weeks, spending almost half a year on the charts overall.[3]
His songs attracted countless covers over the years. The first cover was by Lionel Hampton featuring Sonny Parker, then Wynonie Harris, and lastly, Loy Gordon & His Pleasant Valley Boys with their hillbilly-bop rendition. His song "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" maintained its popularity throughout the 1950s by various artists, including Malcolm Yelvington in 1954, Johnny Burnette in 1957, and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1959.[3]
McGhee continued to make records for Atlantic and created popular songs such as "Tennessee Waltz Blues",[1] "Drank Up All the Wine Last Night", "Venus Blues", "Let's Do It", and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" but his music career overall was not successful.[3] McGhee moved from Atlantic to Essex to create a record called "My Little Rose". The record failed so he moved to King in 1953.[1] There he recorded a number of rock and roll songs such a "Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice", "Head Happy With Wine", "Jungle Juice", "Six to Eight", "Double Crossin' Liquor", "Dealin' from the Bottom", and "Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter". However, he was unable to make money out of his records so he left King to record for Savoy in 1955, but retired from the music industry in 1960 because he lost his passion for music.[3]
Death
McGhee died in The Bronx, New York, on August 15, 1961 of lung cancer, at the age of forty-four,[5] and he left his old guitar to Brownie's son before he died.
Early life
He was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States,[1] and Granville received his nickname during the early years, when he was pushing his older brother, Brownie McGhee, who was stricken with polio, in a wagon with a stick.[3] Granville began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. After his freshman year, Granville dropped out of high school and worked with his father at Eastman Kodak. In 1940, Granville quit his job and moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, and then he relocated to New York. There he entered the military in 1942 and served in the Army during World War II.[3] In 1946, Granville was discharged and settled in New York.[4]
Entertainment career
In the military, Granville often played his guitar. One of the songs, that McGhee was best known for, was "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee". The original lyrics of the song were as follows:
Drinkin’ that mess is our delight, And when we get drunk, start fightin’ all night. Knockin’ out windows and tearin’ down doors, Drinkin’ half-gallons and callin’ for more. Drinkin’ wine motherfucker, drinkin’ wine! Goddam! Drinkin’ wine motherfucker, drinkin’ wine! Goddam! Drinkin’ wine motherfucker, drinkin’ wine! Goddam! Pass that bottle to me![3]
This song was one of the earliest prototypical rock and roll songs, and was covered by Jerry Lee Lewis and Mike Bloomfield's Electric Flag (as "Wine").[1] The song lent its name to the alcoholic fruit drink, spodi. In 1946, Granville and Brownie McGhee collaborated and modified the song into a clean cut version for Harlem Records.[3] The song was released a year later in January 1947 at the price of 49 cents. The song did not get much airplay time until two years later, when Granville recreated the song for Atlantic Records.[1] As a result, it rose to Number 2 on the Billboard R&B chart, where it stayed for 4 weeks, spending almost half a year on the charts overall.[3]
His songs attracted countless covers over the years. The first cover was by Lionel Hampton featuring Sonny Parker, then Wynonie Harris, and lastly, Loy Gordon & His Pleasant Valley Boys with their hillbilly-bop rendition. His song "Drinkin' Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee" maintained its popularity throughout the 1950s by various artists, including Malcolm Yelvington in 1954, Johnny Burnette in 1957, and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1959.[3]
McGhee continued to make records for Atlantic and created popular songs such as "Tennessee Waltz Blues",[1] "Drank Up All the Wine Last Night", "Venus Blues", "Let's Do It", and "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show" but his music career overall was not successful.[3] McGhee moved from Atlantic to Essex to create a record called "My Little Rose". The record failed so he moved to King in 1953.[1] There he recorded a number of rock and roll songs such a "Whiskey, Women and Loaded Dice", "Head Happy With Wine", "Jungle Juice", "Six to Eight", "Double Crossin' Liquor", "Dealin' from the Bottom", and "Get Your Mind Out of the Gutter". However, he was unable to make money out of his records so he left King to record for Savoy in 1955, but retired from the music industry in 1960 because he lost his passion for music.[3]
Death
McGhee died in The Bronx, New York, on August 15, 1961 of lung cancer, at the age of forty-four,[5] and he left his old guitar to Brownie's son before he died.
Erbie Bowser +15.08.1995
BOWSER,
ERBIE (1918–1995). Erbie Bowser, blues, jazz, and boogie-woogie
pianist, was born in Davila, Texas, on May 5, 1918, the youngest of ten
children. Bowser's parents moved the family to Palestine, Texas, when he
was five. His father played the violin, and his mother played piano,
violin, and accordion. Erbie began playing piano and singing in the
church choir, as his musical parents expected. While still attending
Lincoln High School he joined the North Carolina Cotton Pickers Review
and began performing throughout the South during summer vacations. After
high school he joined the Sunset Entertainers and toured Texas with the
Tyler-based band, playing blues, jazz, and big band tunes. He soon
toured Europe and North Africa with the Special Services Band, playing
at USO shows in England, Sicily, Italy, and Africa. Upon his discharge
from military service he worked as a brick mason, and then attended
Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas, for two years. His parents'
death prevented him from finishing college. He married a woman from
Greenville, Texas, in 1948. Around 1949 the couple moved to Odessa.
There Bowser found a job with Midwestern Drilling Company, while his
wife went to work at the local hospital. Bowser met guitarist T. D. Bell
working in the oilfields of West Texas. The two began playing together
with Johnny Holmes at nightspots in West Texas and New Mexico. Their
musical partnership lasted five decades.Bowser and his wife moved to Austin in the mid-1950s, so she could attend Huston-Tillotson College. In Austin Bowser began a twenty-year career with the National Cash Register Company. He also participated in jam sessions with musicians from nearby colleges, performed with fraternity bands such as the Sweetarts, and played solo at the Commodore Perry Hotel. When Bell moved to Austin around 1960, he and Bowser began playing together at the Victory Grill (owned by Johnny Holmes), the Club Petit, and Charlie's Playhouse. Eventually various combinations of Bowser, Bell, and such musicians as Roosevelt T. Williams (the Grey Ghost), Mel Davis, James Jones, Lenny Nichols, and Fred Smith became known as the Blues Specialists. Bowser and the Blues Specialists were regular fixtures on the Austin music scene throughout the 1960s and 1970s. After a hiatus, in the late 1980s Bowser and Bell returned to the stage. In 1991 they released an LP entitled It's About Time (Spindletop). Sponsored by folklorists and blues and jazz enthusiasts such as Tary Owens and by organizations such as the Texas Commission on the Arts, Bowser made national and international appearances, including performances at the Smithsonian Institution and Carnegie Hall. This return from semiretirement resulted in a revival of the Blues Specialists, and Bowser and Bell became regular performers at venues such as the Continental Club.
Listen to this artist
Bowser credited the influence of his parents, his wife, and a high school music teacher, B. G. Bradley, for his success and his early interest in music. His wife of forty-seven years coached him through difficult songs, because, although he had an excellent ear, he could not read music. Bradley, who had played with Erskine Hawkins before becoming a teacher, encouraged Bowser to play from his heart. Other influences included Dorothy Campbell, Nat Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, and the Ink Spots. During his fifty-year career, Bowser worked with many other fine performers, such as Jim Watts, George Rains, Mark Kazanoff, Ed Guinn, Jonathan Foose, Long John Hunter, Little Daddy Lot, Spec Hicks, and Marcia Ball.
Among the honors and recognitions extended to him are a proclamation of honor from the Texas Commission on the Arts and induction into the Austin Chronicle's Texas Music Hall of Fame. Displays and holdings honoring Bowser include biographical and charcoal portraits in the "Texas Piano Professors" exhibit at the Texas Music Museum in Austin and interviews and biographical sketches in the keeping of the Austin Blues Family Tree Project. Bowser died of cancer on August 15, 1995, at St. David's Hospital in Austin. His piano can be heard on such recordings as Tary Owens's Texas Piano Professors (1987); the Blues Specialists Liveset: January 15, 1989; Long John Hunter's Ride with Me (1992); and Blues Routes: Heroes and Tricksters (1999). The Blues Specialists continued to perform in 2008. Bowser was inducted into the Austin Music Memorial in 2010.
T.D. Bell & Erbie Bowser - Erbie's Bounce
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