More Trouble!

There is enough said, and written, about McKinley Morganfield aka Muddy Waters. The world isn't waiting for another Muddy compilation. Although......Today's offering is something special. Perhaps even a treat. This disc contains all his Chess singles from the period 1955 - 1959!
As the (great) liner notes of the album say:
"Sometimes it looks like Muddy Waters' recording career ended after the May 1955 session when he cut Mannish Boy".
And they are correct. It often looks like that. All the real Muddy Waters classics are recorded before this breaking point. And with Mannish Boy Muddy gave his particular style it's last ingredients. At that time Muddy was at the height of his popularity with the black Blues fans, and it was still another 5 years before the folk and rock lovers of the early 60's picked up.
However, after May 1955 he kept recording and performing. All the way up to his death in 1983. Please listen carefully and enjoy a Muddy Waters who finally created 'his sound' and kept recording in this style. Perhaps this record does not contain any great classics (perhaps Trouble No More is an exception), but it is Muddy at his best and well worth your time.

1989 - Trouble No More

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Nothing But The Blues XXXI

It's been a while. I've been busy, busy, busy. In my case that means no uploads! Sorry for that. On the other hand: If I wouldn't be busy every now and then, I wouldn't make any money. And no money means no (new) music.
Ages ago I got a question from somebody asking me if there was any Jimmy Yancey in the collection. Well...... there is, and today's disc is dedicated to this great pianist.
James Edward Yancey was born in February 1898. His father, a variety artist, learned little Jimmy to sing and dance and took the boy 'on the road'. By the time Jimmy was 16 he had been all over America and Europe!
At that time Jimmy settled in Chicago and focused on his piano playing. Within no-time he established himself as a known Blues and Boogie woogie player. His preference for the Boogie woogie and his central role in the Chicago Blues and Jazz scene earned him his nickname "Papa of Boogie woogie".
It took 'Papa' until 1939 before his recording career started. At that time he already had been a influential member of the Chicago scene for over 20 years!
Most Jimmy Yancey recordings are solo. It wasn't until shortly before his death that he used a 'backing band'. On the other hand Jimmy accompanied a wide variety of artists himself.
When 'Papa' died in 1951 the world lost one of it's three greatest Boogie woogie pianists.
Tracks 1 - 17 are all recorded in April 1939 in Chicago. Tracks 18 - 23 are from the same location, same year, but from October. Tracks 24 dates from December 1943 (Chicago)

2000 - Nothing But The Blues - disc 31 - Jimmy's Stuff

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Nothing But The Blues XXX

With disc 30 we turn to Big Joe Williams. Big Joe, born as John Lee Turner in 1903 in Mississippi, always has been a roamer. He was the eldest of 15 brothers and sister. At what age his father 'disappeared' I don't know, but it is said that his brutal stepfather was the reason he left home at an early age. This is also said to be the reason he could never really settle some where.
The oldest recordings with Big Joe are from 1930. However it would take him until 1935 before he would record under his own name. In that year Lestor Melrose, a famous scout, took him to Chicago to record for the Bluebird label. The second recording session that year delivered them Big Joe's first, a probably greatest, hit: Baby, Please don't go. In the years folowing Big Joe came to work and play with people Sonny Boy Williamson (Nothing But The Blues discs 5 & 6 )and Peetie Wheatstraw. Big Joe was a multi intrumentalist. Appart from his accordeon playing, his skills with the harmonica and kazoo, his most remarkable musical feature was his 9-string (!) guitar.
Big Joe is considered to be one of the greatest representatives of the Delta Blues. This is partly because of his background and his obvious talents, but also partly because of the fact that he is the only one who 'survived'. I already wrote earlier that a lot of musisians gave it up during the 40's to never return to the scene of to resurface somewhere in the mid 60's. For unkown reasons this is particulary through for the representatives of the Delta Blues. But not for Big Joe. Big Joe was around for the complete ride. When Joe died in 1982, in his beloved Mississippi, he was remembered as the man that kept the Blues from the South alive.
The tracks 2,5,10 and 16 date from Big Joe's first recording session under his own name (Chicago, February 1935). Tracks 3,12 and 17 date from October 1935 (Chicago). On these 3 tracks you can also hear Old Tracy on a 1-string fiddle! Tracks 4,13,18, and 19 are recorded in Aurora in 1937 (together with Sonny Boy Williamson). Tracks 1,6,8 and 20 take us back to Chicago (1941). Tracks 5,7,15 and 21 are recorded with Sonny Boy again in December 1941 in Chicago. Track 7 is a re-recording of Baby, Please don't go, called Please don't go. This version, only recorded 6 years later show both the enormous development of Big Joe, as the influence of Sonny Boy. Track 9 is also recorded in Chicago, but in 1945. The other tracks (14 and 22) are also from 1945, Chicago, but with Sonny Boy again.

2000 - Nothing But The Blues - disc 30 - Meet Me Around The Corner

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