Happy New Year

The two most popular R&B vocal groups of the late '40s were the Ravens and the Orioles. The Orioles were Sonny Til, lead tenor; Alexander Sharp, George Nelson, Johnny Reed, and Tommy Gaither, guitar. This song reached #9 on the R&B charts in 1949.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas #2

Merry Christmas #3

Merry Christmas #4

Video of the Week #45

Although "Every Day I Have the Blues" has been recorded many times by such notables as B. B. King and Count Basie, it was written and originally recorded by Memphis Slim. Here he is in 1963 with Matt Murphy on guitar, Willie Dixon on bass and Bill Stepney on drums.

As a bonus, his long-time guitarist does "Matt's Guitar Boogie."

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Video of the Week #32 (T-Bone Walker)

Video of the Week #17 (Sonny Boy Williamson)

Yusef Lateef (1920-2013)

I reflect on nature and humanity whenever I prepare to perform or record. I believe that whatever I contemplate or try to achieve in life, a percentage of what I believe, think and feel will naturally come through my music and expression.

Jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer and educator Yusef Lateef died on December 23 at his home in Shutesbury, near Amherst, Mass. He was 93. Lateef was known for incorporating the sounds of African, Asian and Middle Eastern music into his jazz compositions, and for his ability to play a variety of instruments, including the bassoon, oboe and woodwinds from other countries.

He was born William Huddleston on October 9, 1920, in Chattanooga, TN. His family moved to Detroit when he was five, and the family name changed to Evans. He studied the tenor saxophone at Miller High School, and began playing professionally at age 18. Like many of his contemporaries, he spent the '40s as a sideman with R&B and jazz bands. He was a member of Lucky Millinder's band in 1946. His big break came when he joined Dizzy Gillespie's big band in 1949. He appears (as William Evans) on some of the later cuts of Dizzy Gillespie: The Complete RCA Victor Recordings. On "Jump Did-Le Ba," he solos right after Dizzy. The vocal is by Joe Carroll.

He was one of the first musicians to convert to Islam; he changed his name to Yusef Abdul Lateef in 1950. He spent the '50s in Detroit, studying flute and oboe at Wayne State University. He recorded his first LP as leader, Jazz Mood, for Savoy in 1956. Beginning with his third album, Prayer to the East in 1958, he began to blend non-Western influences into his music. When John Coltrane began to do the same, he cited Lateef as an influence. Here's a favorite of mine from the Savoy period with Lateef on oboe playing "In the Evening." The pianist is probably Hugh Lawson.

He moved to New York in 1960 and played with Charles Mingus and Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji. His greatest exposure came as a result of joining Cannonball Adderley's group, expanded to a sextet in 1962. Here he is playing soprano sax on "Brother John" in 1963.

From the late '50s through the early '70s, he released many successful LPs on the Riverside, Prestige, Impulse and Atlantic labels.  

He spent much of the rest of his life as a student and a teacher. He received bachelor's and master's degrees from Manhattan School of Music, and a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Massachusetts in 1975. His dissertation compared Western and Islamic education. In the '80s, he spent four years studying and teaching in Nigeria. He taught both in Manhattan and at UMass from 1987 to 2002.

He distanced himself from the jazz community, saying that he found the term “jazz” degrading (he called his music “autophysiopsychic music”), and refusing to play where smoking and drinking were permitted. He began to write longer and more ambitious compositions for orchestras, many of which included non-Western instrumentation. He received the Grammy Award in 1988 (in the “New Age” category) for Yusef Lateef's Little Symphony, on which he overdubbed all the instruments.

In addition to his music, Dr. Lateef also painted and wrote both poetry and fiction. He started his own record label, YAL, in 1992 and published his autobiography, Gentle Giant, in 2006. He was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2010. This interview is from that time. A three-part interview on Marc Myers' blog can be found beginning here.

He continue to perform through last summer.  His most recent project was a series of duets with percussionist Adam Rudolph, some of which appear on his 2013 CD Voice Prints.

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Video of the Week #27 (Cannonball Adderley, with Yusef Lateef)

Video of the Week #23 (John Coltrane)

Merry Christmas #4

This song made #3 on the R&B charts in 1947, and repeated in the top ten in 1948 and 1949. Johnny Moore's Three Blazers were Charles Brown, piano and vocals; Johnny Moore, guitar, and Eddie Williams, bass. Charles Brown left the group to go out on his own in 1949. They never found a successful replacement.

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Merry Christmas

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Video of the Week #44

This is an appearance by the Modern Jazz Quartet on the TV program Jazz Casual in 1962. The MJQ was Milt Jackson, vibes; John Lewis, piano; Percy Heath, bass; and Connie Kay, drums. The song is "The Golden Striker." It is followed by an awkward interview of John Lewis by Ralph J. Gleason that you may want to disregard.

Westsylvania Jazz and Blues Festival

Big news. The first Westsylvania Jazz and Blues Festival will be held on Saturday, May 24, 2014 in Indiana, PA. Admission will be free. The festival will include local and regional artists such as the Dad Band, who are involved in organizing the event along with the Indiana Arts Council, and at least one nationally-known headliner. The lineup will depend on how much money they raise. Their Kickstarter campaign can be found here.

Why Westsylvania? They explain that, prior to the Revolutionary War, Westsylvania was the proposed name for a state to consist of parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Indiana is about 60 miles east of Pittsburgh. For the event to be successful, they will need to reach out to Pittsburghers, as well as folks from Johnstown and Altoona.

Since one of their goals is to reach out to young people who are unfamiliar with blues and jazz, May 24 is a surprising choice for the date. The festival will take place after IUP's approximately 15,000 students have left town. Indiana shrinks to approximately half its size when classes are not in session. Maybe they had no choice due to the availability of the venue. Looking on the bright side, it will be easier to find a place to park.

The outdoor festival will take place in a newly renovated section of North Seventh Street, which can be closed to traffic. Naming rights have been sold, so it is now called “IRMC Park.” I believe that stands for the Indiana Regional Malpractice Center, which used to be called Indiana Hospital.

As soon as I hear who's performing, I'll let you know.

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The 2013 Pittsburgh Blues Festival

CD Review: Magic Sam, Live at the Avant Garde

Highly recommended

Magic Sam died in 1969, so I'll start with some background. The first generation of post-World War II Chicago bluesmen were men who were born in the South and migrated to Chicago as adults, usually stopping along the way in Memphis. They began recording in the late '40s or early '50s. The big four were Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson (#2), and Little Walter, all of whom recorded for Chess Records. Others include Elmore James, Jimmy Rogers and Big Walter Horton.

The second generation consisted of men who came to Chicago at a younger age, and credit the first generation with part of their musical education. Some of them recorded in the '50s, but they hit their stride in the early '60s. This group includes Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Carey Bell and Eddy Clearwater. Guitarists like Guy, Rush and Allison played in what was called the West Side style—stinging single-note solos with lots of vibrato.

Samuel Maghett, aka Magic Sam, is usually considered the primary exemplar of the West Side style. He was also known for his soulful vocals. He recorded four classic singles for Cobra Records in 1957 and 1958, followed by a few less interesting singles for the Chief and Crash labels. His primary legacy is two Delmark LPs, West Side Soul (1968) and Black Magic (1969), both of which were best sellers. He seemed poised for stardom and it was rumored that Stax Records was ready to sign him once his commitment to Delmark was over. Tragically, he died of a heart attack on December 1, 1969, at the age of 32. Although I think Magic Sam was a better guitarist and singer than his contemporaries at the same time, it is his unrealized potential that is the tragedy. It is not fair, for example, to compare his recordings to the '80s and '90s CDs of Buddy Guy or Luther Allison.

The fact that he recorded so infrequently has created a market for any Magic Sam recordings collectors can find. Delmark released The Magic Sam Legacy, which has alternate takes and unissued sides from the two albums. They've also released three CDs of live performances [Magic Sam Live (1982), Rockin' Wild in Chicago (1990) and Give Me Time (1991)]. The present CD is Delmark's fourth set of this type. There are also a few Magic Sam performances on other labels. They were typically recorded on less-than-professional equipment under less-than-ideal conditions by Magic Sam fanatics. The liner notes usually include a disclaimer apologizing for the sound quality. There is a lot of duplication of songs.

This CD was recorded by high school senior and Magic Sam fan Jim Charne at a small coffee house in Milwaukee on June 22, 1968. In the notes, he explains that, with the cooperation of both Sam and the management, he placed several mics around the room, but had no opportunity to check the sound in advance of the performance. The result is excellent guitar sound quality, full and clear, but the vocals are slightly underrecorded (relative to the guitar) and suffer from some distortion. All in all, not a bad result. He doesn't explain why it took 45 years for these tapes to reach the public.

Although Sam usually recorded with a piano and/or tenor sax, this set just has Big Mojo Elem on bass and Bob Richey on drums. The impression is one of a typical Saturday night set in a blues club. Sam's singing is relaxed. His playing is energetic, although his solos don't differ a great deal from those on his other recorded versions of these songs. He introduces some of the songs, but don't expect at lot of chatter. I personally never cared much for “That's All I Need,” and this version is typically boring, but all the other songs range from very good to great. The blistering instrumental “Lookin' Good” is a highlight wherever it appears. Here is a clip from a German documentary featuring Sam playing his first single, “All Your Love,” which is not on this CD, and “Lookin' Good.”

Five of the sixteen songs are from West Side Soul and two are from Black Magic. Four of the tunes are Sam originals. There are covers of songs by Freddy King, Bobby Bland, B. B. King, Little Junior Parker, Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin, Otis Rush and Junior Wells. Particularly noteworthy are versions of Muddy Waters' “Still a Fool” and Jimmy Rogers' “That's All Right,” because I don't think they appear on any other Magic Sam CDs. There are three instrumentals. One of them, “Hully Gully Twist” by B. B. King, is also unique to this CD.

None of Sam's live CDs are essential purchases for anyone other than a dedicated Magic Sam fan. The essential Magic Sam is his four Cobra singles, which have been reissued on several CDs, and his two Delmark studio albums. However, if you decide to supplement them with a live Magic Sam set, Live at the Avant Garde is not a bad choice.

Tracks: San-Ho-Zay; Don't Want No Woman; I Need You So Bad; Feelin' Good; It's All Your Fault, Baby; You Belong to Me; Bad Luck Blues; Come On in This House; Hoochie Coochie Man; Still a Fool; That's All I Need; All Your Love (I Miss Loving); That's All Right; Lookin' Good; Every Night, Every Day; Hullky Gully Twist. (68 min.)

Personnel: Magic Sam, vocals, guitar; Big Mojo Elem, bass; Bob Richey, drums.

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Magic Slim (1937-2013)

Video of the Week #40 (Otis Rush)

Merry Christmas #3

This version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" by Dexter Gordon is from 1980 with Kirk Lightsey on piano, David Eubanks on bass, and Eddie Gladden on drums.

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Video of the Week #43

Hadda Brooks had a dual career as a ballad singer and a boogie woogie piano player. Her  biggest hit was "That's My Desire" in 1947, but she didn't make much money because she didn't write the song and it was covered for the pop charts by Frankie Laine.

Here she is singing "'Til You" in the 1950 film noir In a Lonely Place, directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. She gets more face time than most night club singers did in films of that era.

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Video of the Week #21 (Savannah Churchill)

Jim Hall (1930-2013)

Guitarist-composer-arranger Jim Hall died December 10 of heart failure at the age of 83. He is known for his subtle and understated playing that has served as an effective counterpoint to some of the great musicians of the last 60 years. He was an inspiration to younger guitarists, many of whom have performed with him.

James Stanley Hall was born on December 4, 1930 in Buffalo, and moved to Cleveland at a young age. He took up the guitar at age 9, and knew he wanted to be a musician after hearing a solo by Charlie Christian when he was 13. He majored in music theory at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he was thoroughly grounded in classical music.

After moving to Los Angeles, he became a charter member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, a cool jazz group that integrated jazz with classical music. (Chico Hamilton died a couple of weeks ago.) Two years later, he joined clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre's equally experimental trio, which at one time consisted of clarinet, guitar and trombone (Bob Brookmeyer). He was a member of Sonny Rollins' quartet, beginning with Sonny's 1961 “comeback” album, The Bridge. 

He also joined in critically acclaimed collaborations with trumpeter Art Farmer, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, and pianist Bill Evans. I've selected "My Funny Valentine" from the Evans-Hall LP Undercurrent, but both his albums with Evans are currently available in full on You Tube.

In the late '60s, he was a band member on Merv Griffin's television show, which put bread on the table, but which he compared to retiring from music. From that point on, he performed and recorded primarily as the leader of his own group, or in equal partnerships with musicians such as Ron Carter, Pat Metheny and Joe Lovano. He had long and fruitful relationships with the Concord and Telarc labels, which allowed him to develop his talents as composer and arranger, sometimes for large ensembles. One of his last appearances was at Newport last summer with young guitarist Julian Lage. Here is a 1996 version of “In a Sentimental Mood” with Joe Lovano, along with Scott Colley, bass, and Yoron Israel, drums.

In an interview, he explained his use of space in a solo, first, with characteristic modesty, as due to lack of technique, but more seriously, as an opportunity for listeners to reflect on what they have heard before moving on to the next idea. Hall often explained his ability to collaborate with other musicians as a result of his being a good listener.

Between 1963 and 2002, Jim Hall was voted the top guitarist in the Down Beat Critics' Poll 15 times, and 5 times in the Readers' Poll. He received the Jazz Masters award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2004.

Fortunately, Jim Hall's career is well documented. I recommend this hour-long documentary that was released to accompany his 1998 CD By Arrangement. Some of the same territory is covered in more depth (but without the music) in a 2009 Library of Congress interview with Larry Appelbaum.

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Chico Hamilton (1921-2013)

Johnny Smith (1922-2013)

Award Nominations

Grammy Awards

The nominations are in for both the Grammy Awards and the Blues Music Awards. The Grammys have five jazz categories and one blues category. Here are the nominees.

Best Jazz Instrumental Album

Gary Burton—Guided Tour

Terri Lynne Carrington—Money Jungle

Gerald Clayton—Life Forum

Kenny Garrett—Pushing the World Away

Christian McBride—Out Here

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album

Darcy James Argue's Secret Society—Brooklyn Babylon

Randy Brecker, Wlodek Pawlik Trio and Kalisz Philharmonic—Night in Calisia

Brussels Jazz Orchestra with Joe Lovano—Wild Beauty

Alan Ferber—March Sublime

Dave Slonaker Big Band—Intrada

Best Latin Jazz Album

Buika—La Noche Mas Larga

Paquito d'Rivera and Trio Corrente—Song For Maura

Roberto Fonseca—Yo

Omar Sosa—Eggun

Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet—Latin Jazz—Jazz Latin

Best Jazz Vocal Album

Andy Bey—The World According to Andy Bey

Lorraine Feather—Attachments

Gregory Porter—Liquid Spirit

Cecile McLorin Salvant—Woman Child

Tierney Sutton—After Blue

Best Improvised Jazz Solo

Terence Blanchard—“Don't Run,” from Magnetic

Paquito D'Rivera—“Song For Maura,” from Song For Maura

Fred Hersch—“Song Without Words #4: Duet,” from Free Flying

Donny McCaslin—“Stadium Jazz,” from Casting For Gravity

Wayne Shorter—“Orbits,” from Without a Net

Best Blues Album

Billy Boy Arnold, James Harmar, Mark Hummel, Charlie Musselwhite, Sugar Ray Norcia—Remembering Little Walter

James Cotton—Cotton Mouth Man

Ben Harper, with Charlie Musselwhite—Get Up

Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa—Seesaw

Bobby Rush—Down in Louisiana

In addition, several folks you might consider jazz and blues artists have been nominated in other categories. For example, Mavis Staples and Allen Toussaint have albums nominated in the Americana category—a category that is vague to the point of silliness. Both Gary Clark, Jr. and Gregory Porter have songs nominated in the category of Best Traditional R&B Performance. And for those who have been following Maria Schneider's adventure in classical music, Winter Morning Walks, she is nominated for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, her vocalist Dawn Upshaw is nominated for Best Classical Vocal Solo, and the album is also nominated for Best Engineered Album, Classical.

I continue to be amazed at how insulated the Grammy nominations are from jazz criticism, especially in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album category, which accounts for the large majority of releases. The Grammy Awards will be presented on January 26.

Blues Music Awards

Here are the nominees.

Entertainer of the Year

Rick Estrin

Buddy Guy

John Nemeth

Bobby Rush

Kim Wilson

Album of the Year

Billy Boy Arnold, James Harmar, Mark Hummel, Charlie Musselwhite, Sugar Ray Norcia—Remembering Little Walter

Lurrie Bell—Blues in My Soul

James Cotton—Cotton Mouth Man

Buddy Guy—Rhythm and Blues

Ben Harper, with Charlie Musselwhite—Get Up

Song of the Year

Lurrie Bell—“Blues in My Soul”

James Cotton, Tom Hambridge, Richard Fleming—“He Was There”

James Goode—“That's When the Blues Begins”

Doug MacLeod—“The Entitled Few”

Johnny Sansone—“The Night the Pie Factory Burned Down”

Acoustic Album

Rory Block—Avalon

Guy Davis, with Fabrizio Poggi—Juba Dance

The Hound Kings—Unleashed

Harrison Kennedy—Soulscape

Doug MacLeod—There's a Time

Acoustic Artist

Rory Block

Guy Davis

Harrison Kennedy

Little G Weevil

Doug MacLeod

Contemporary Blues Album

Buddy Guy—Rhythm and Blues

Ben Harper, with Charlie Musselwhite—Get Up

Cyril Neville—Magic Honey

Brandon Santini—This Time Another Year

Trampled Under Foot—Badlands

Contemporary Blues Female Artist

Beth Hart

Candye Kane

Bettye LaVette

Ana Popovic

Susan Tedeschi

Contemporary Blues Male Artist

Gary Clark, Jr.

Buddy Guy

Johnny Sansone

Otis Taylor

Kim Wilson

Rock Blues Album

Toronzo Cannon—John the Conquer Root

The Rides—Can't Get Enough

The Tedeschi-Truck Band—Made Up Mind

Walter Trout—Luther's Blues

Mike Zito—Gone to Texas

Soul Blues Album

Frank Bey and Anthony Paule—Soul For Your Blues

Otis Clay—Truth Is

Dave Keller—Soul Changes

Johnny Rawls—Remembering O. V.

Bobby Rush—Down in Louisiana

Soul Blues Female Artist

Barbara Carr

Denise LaSalle

Dorothy Moore

Sista Monica

Irma Thomas

Soul Blues Male Artist

Frank Bey

Otis Clay

John Nemeth

Johnny Rawls

Bobby Rush

Traditional Blues Album

Billy Boy Arnold, James Harmar, Mark Hummel, Charlie Musselwhite, Sugar Ray Norcia—Remembering Little Walter

Barrelhouse Chuck and Kim Wilson—Driftin' From Town to Town

Lurrie Bell—Blues in My Soul

The Cash Box Kings—Black Toppin'

James Cotton—Cotton Mouth Man

Traditional Blues Female Artist

Diunna Greenleaf

Trudy Lynn

Teeny Tucker

Lavelle White

Zora Young

Traditional Blues Male Artist

Billy Boy Arnold

Lurrie Bell

James Cotton

Anson Funderburgh

John Primer

Best New Artist Debut

Adrianna Marie—Double Crossing Blues

Gracie Curran—Proof of Love

Paul Gabriel—What's the Chance?

Shawn Holt and the Teardrops—Daddy Told Me

Valerie June—Pushin' Against a Stone

Clay Swafford—Rooster

Historical Album

Freddie King—The Complete King/Federal Singles

Roosevelt Sykes—The Original Honeydripper

Various Artists—Death Might Be Your Santa Claus

Various Artists—The Jewel/Paula Blues Story

Various Artists—The Sun Blues Box

DVD

Joe Bonamassa—An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House

Murali Coryell—Live

Floyd Dixon—Time Brings About a Change

The Healers—Live at Knucklehead's

The Royal Southern Brotherhood—Songs From the Road

Band

Rick Estrin and the Night Cats

Li'l Ed and the Blues Imperials

The Mannish Boys

The Tedeschi-Trucks Band

Trampled Under Foot

Bass

Patrick Rynn

Danielle Schnebelen

Bob Stroger

Bill Stuve

Larry Taylor

Drums

Jimi Bott

Tony Braunagel

Cedric Burnside

Tom Hambridge

Kenny Smith

Guitar

Kid Andersen

Lurrie Bell

Gary Clark, Jr.

Ronnie Earl

Anson Funderburgh

Harmonica

James Cotton

Rick Estrin

Charlie Musselwhite

Brandon Santini

Kim Wilson

Horn

Jimmy Carpenter

Sax Gordon

Terry Hanck

Big James Montgomery

Eddie Shaw

Piano

Marcia Ball

Barrelhouse Chuck

Mike Finnigan

Dave Keyes

Victor Wainwright

I'm amazed that Otis Taylor's My World is Gone did not receive any nominations. There seems to be a direct line running from Chicago through Memphis to New Orleans that accounts for the majority of the Blues Foundation awards. Outsiders have a more difficult time of it.

The nominees have a long time to think positively. The Blues Music Awards will not be presented until May 8.

Chick Willis (1934-2013)

Robert “Chick” Willis died in an Atlanta suburb on December 7 after a long battle with throat cancer. He was 79 and a non-smoker. He was the cousin of '50s R&B singer Chuck Willis, and was best known for his off-color 1972 hit, “Stoop Down, Baby.”

Robert Willis was born in Cabaniss, GA, on September 24, 1934. Chuck Willis, had 14 hits on the R&B charts between 1952 and 1958, including “C. C. Rider,” which reached #1. After leaving the service, Chick became Chuck's chauffeur, then a singer with his entourage, where he also learned to play the guitar in a style he credited to Guitar Slim. His first record was “You're Mine” in 1956. After Chuck died suddenly of a bleeding ulcer in 1958, he joined Elmore James' band.

After a few unsuccessful single records, his breakthrough came in 1972, when he recorded “Stoop Down, Baby” for the tiny LeVal label of Kalamazoo, MI. The song sold well despite being unplayable on the radio. Over the years, he did a number of remakes and sequels, and recorded several other risque songs.

Over the years, he gradually became a well-respected bluesman. He recorded seven successful CDs for the Ichiban label in the '80s and '90s, and nine other CDs, the last one in 2010. He has been a popular live performer on the blues festival circuit for the past three decades. Here's a nice set on three songs from 2008, ending with one of his late cousin's greatest hits, "Don't Deceive Me."

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Three More Losses (Jerry McCain)

Bobby Parker (1927-2013)

Joe Bihari (1925-2013)

Joe Bihari, the youngest and last surviving Bihari brother, died in Los Angeles on November 28 at the age of 88. The Bihari brothers were the owners of Modern Records, one of the first and largest post-war rhythm and blues labels that recorded many of the early pioneers of the genre.

Joseph Bihari was the son of Hungarian immigrants. He was born in Memphis on May 30, 1925. His older brothers were Lester (1912-1983), Jules (1913-1984) and Saul (1918-1975). They also had four sisters. For reasons that are unclear, Joe spent much of his childhood in a Jewish children's home in New Orleans, where he formed his musical tastes. In the '40s, he moved to Los Angeles to join Jules and Saul, who were in the juke box business. They formed Modern Records out of frustration because they couldn't obtain enough R&B records to stock their juke boxes. Their first artist was boogie woogie pianist and ballad singer Hadda Brooks.

They released records on Modern and four affiliate labels, RPM, Flair, Meteor and later, Kent. Lester operated Meteor from his home in Memphis, while the other three brothers worked primarily out of Watts in Los Angeles. Their best-known artist was B. B. King, who recorded for them from 1950 to 1962, with 35 songs that made the R&B charts. Some of the others they recorded included John Lee Hooker, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ike Turner, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lowell Fulson, Floyd Dixon, Pee Wee Crayton, Jimmy McCracklin, Etta James, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Jesse Belvin, and vocal groups too numerous to mention. The company went bankrupt in the mid '60s, and in the '80s, their catalog was sold to Ace Records in the U. K., which has been gradually releasing the songs on CD.

In the '50s, Joe specialized in discovering and recording new talent in the Memphis area, with the help of his young talent scout, Ike Turner. Although B. B. King first recorded for Bullet in 1949, his first hit, “Three O'Clock Blues,” was recorded by Joe Bihari in a Memphis YMCA in 1951 with Turner on piano.

According to an often told story, Bihari and Turner were harrassed by a the police for attempting to record black artists in Clarksdale, MS. “What do you think we fought the Civil War for?” one of the officers asked, to which Bihari replied, “You lost!”

“I don't think you have to be a genius to record blues,” Bihari said in an interview, “All you have to do is stick a microphone out there and let them play.” Nevertheless, the brothers took more than their share of the royalties, either by buying the songs for a flat fee, or by surreptitiously adding their names as co-authors. In their now well-known code, Joe was Joe Josea, Saul was Sam Ling, and Jules was Jules Taub.

To quote B. B. King: “The company I was with knew a lot of things they didn't tell me, that I didn't learn about until later. . . . Some of the songs I wrote, they added a name when I copyrighted it. . . . There was no such thing as Ling and Josea. That way, the company could claim half of your song."

Some of the Biharis' greatest recordings came from the many vocal groups in the LA area. Here's one of my favorites, the Jacks (also known as the Cadets) doing “How Soon,” backed with “So Wrong.” The lead singer on both sides is Willie Davis.

After leaving the music business, Joe Bihari was involved in motorcycle racing along with his friend, actor Steve McQueen. The Bihari brothers were inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2006.

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Merry Christmas #2

I'll post a few Christmas songs between now and the day.  This is Duke Ellington and his Orchestra doing "Jingle Bells." Johnny Hodges solos on alto sax. (Louis Armstrong is not on this recording.)

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Video of the Week #42

From 1965, Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton sings her 1952 hit, "Hound Dog," which was covered with greater success four years later by some other fellow. She's accompanied by a very sharp looking Buddy Guy on guitar; Eddie Boyd, piano; Jimmy Lee Robinson, bass; and Fred Below, drums.

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News and Notes

Aaron Moore (1918-2013)

Chicago blues and boogie-woogie pianist and singer Aaron Moore died of cancer on November 27 at the age of 95. Moore was born February 11, 1918 on a plantation near Greenwood, MS, and was taught piano by his mother, a music teacher. He moved to Chicago shortly after high school, where he was mentored by blues pianist Roosevelt Sykes.

Moore worked for the Chicago Sanitation Department for 36 years and freelanced on weekends, backing up bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, Hound Dog Taylor and Lonnie Brooks. After his retirement, he became more active on the blues scene. He recorded two CDs for Delmark Records, Hello World (1996) and Boot 'Em Up (1999). He was a sideman on many other recordings. His last appearance was on Chris James and Patrick Rynn's Barrelhouse Stomp (2013).

Lonnie Brooks

Speaking of Lonnie Brooks, he will celebrate his 80th birthday on December 21 at Chicago's House of Blues. Among those performing will be his sons, Ronnie and Wayne Baker Brooks, Eddy Clearwater, Otis Taylor, Billy Branch, Jimmy Johnson, Lil' Ed Williams and Dan Aykroyd. By the way, "the Chief" isn't too far from his own 80th birthday. Eddy Clearwater was born January 10, 1935.

Mosaic Records

Mosaic Records, jazz's premiere reissue label, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its co-founding by Michael Cuscuna and the late Charlie Lourie. Their first boxed set was The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Thelonious Monk in 1983. An essay by Cuscuna on the label's origins is posted on their website. In their early years, they concentrated on the Blue Note catalog, but they have since earned the trust of many other labels. This year's releases include sets by Chick Webb and Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Shaw, and Clifford Jordan.

Rosebud

The Rosebud Agency, the largest and most well-known blues booking agency, will close at the end of the year due to "unforeseen circumstances leading to a concern about being able to deliver the same level of service." Founded in 1976, the agency currently represents folks like John Hammond, James Cotton, Marcia Ball, Duke Robillard, Elvin Bishop, Allen Toussaint and Trombone Shorty.

Antone's

Also closing this year at their current location is Antone's blues club in Austin, TX. The club's brand name has been bought by a team of seven investors and will relocate somewhere in Austin next summer. The club was opened by the late Clifford Antone in 1975 and contributed to the city's reputation as a musical destination. Antone also started a blues record label. He died in 2004. Since then, the club has been owned by his sister, Susan Antone.