The Soul of a Man: Bobby "Blue" Bland (1930-2013)

The blues and R&B genres have lost a giant. Bobby “Blue” Bland died Sunday, June 23, at his home in Germantown, TN, a Memphis suburb. He was 83. A key participant in the Memphis synthesis of the early 1950s, he was one of the last survivors of the immediate postwar generation of R&B artists who defined rock and roll music for decades. The only R&B artists of equivalent stature who are still with us are Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard, and of course, his friend and colleague B. B. King.

But Bobby Bland is not as well known as the other four. His career illustrates the deep divide between black and white music that has always existed in this country. He placed 57 records on the R&B charts between 1957 and 1982. Three of them (“Farther Up the Road,” “I Pity the Fool,” and “That's the Way Love Is”) went to #1. Yet only four of his singles crossed over to the pop charts. R&B historian Galen Gart suggested that he and his Duke Records labelmate Little Junior Parker were “too 'uptown' for white blues fans and too laid-back for white soul fans of the era,” so they were “relegated to a never-ending tour of the chitlin' circuit.”

Unlike most of his contemporaries, Bobby Bland didn't play an instrument. He was a pure singer, combining elements of blues, gospel, jazz and pop into a style that alternates between delicate phrasing and soulful pleading. Only Aretha Franklin uses as much melisma—the breaking up of a single syllable of text into several musical notes—as Bobby Bland. Early in his career, he often sang in falsetto. However, he abandoned this in the late '50s in favor of his characteristic hoarse cry or growl. This technique begins with a vowel of a given note, reaches up to a higher note, then returns to the starting point. He was also known for his vibrato, and his use of a stutter leading up to a word or phrase that he wanted to emphasize. He cited his major influences as Ira Tucker of the Dixie Hummingbirds, Roy Brown, Lowell Fulson, and B. B. King. He claims to have learned his growl from the recordings of the Rev. C. L. Franklin—Aretha's father.

Robert Calvin Bland was born on January 27, 1930 in Millington, TN, near Memphis. He dropped out of school in the third grade to work in the cotton fields. (Early in his career, he was unable to read song lyrics due to illiteracy.) He moved to Memphis in 1947 and sang with a gospel group, the Miniatures. In 1949, he became part of the legendary Memphis blues band, the Beale Streeters. Although the personnel changed often, it is usually listed as Bobby Bland, vocals; Johnny Ace, piano; B. B. King, guitar; Adolph “Billy” Duncan, tenor sax, and Earl Forest, drums. Singer and pianist Rosco Gordon was also an occasional member.

His first recording was in December, 1951, as Robert Bland, backed by the Rosco Gordon band. It was produced by Sam Phillips in the Sun Studio, who leased it to Chess Records (Chess 1489—“Crying”/”A Letter From a Trench in Korea”). Around this same time, Ike Turner, who was producing for the rival Bihari Brothers, led two Bland sessions with himself on piano, which resulted in two releases on the Modern label. None of these sides are particularly good. He was then signed by Memphis DJ Joe Mattis for his new Duke label. He recorded four sides backed by the Beale Streeters, including Johnny Ace and B. B. King. He then left for a 2½ year stint in the Army. Here's his first Duke release, “I. O. U. Blues.”

When he returned in 1955, Duke had been sold to Houston entrepreneur Don Robey, known for his physical violence and exploitive management of his artists. (The ever-present “Deadric Malone,” a co-author of many Duke releases, was Robey taking his cut of the publishing rights.) Robey paired him with Bill Harvey's Band, including trumpeter-arranger Joe Scott, resulting in the classic Bobby “Blue” Bland sound—a lively, full-band sound typical of Texas R&B. He recorded with tenor sax men such as Harvey and Bobby Forte, and great guitarists like Roy Gaines, Clarence Holloman and Wayne Bennett. Scott's horn arrangements anticipated the Stax Records sound of the Memphis Horns. Despite the excellence of these recordings, his first hit did not come until 1957, “Farther Up the Road.”

But from that point on, the hits came with great regularity until he left Duke in 1972. All these Duke recordings are collected in order on three double CDs released by MCA in the '90s. They are available and highly recommended. Here are a couple of my favorites. 

I recommend that you check out Chapter 5 of Charles Keil's (1966) Urban Blues, “Big Bobby Blue Bland on Stage,” for a detailed and vivid description of his touring stage show, which included an 11-piece band led by Joe Scott, a regular warm-up singer, Al “TNT” Braggs, and a girl group, the Bland Dolls. Their carefully planned program of hits and new releases seemed directed primarily at middle-aged African-American women, and usually reached a climax with his emotional rendition of “Stormy Monday.”

In 1973, Robey sold out to ABC Records, who attempted to turn Bobby Bland into a pop singer. The results left much to be desired. However, this period produced two successful live collaborations with ABC labelmate B. B. King. Here they are on television in 1975.

In 1985, he signed with Malaco Records, the Southern soul label in Jackson, MS, a move that reunited him with much of his remaining fan base. Their mutually beneficial arrangement that resulted in 10 well-crafted albums, the last being Blues at Midnight in 2003. Here's a clip from the 1998 Malaco CD, Live on Beale Street.

Bobby Bland was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and received a Grammy lifetime achievement award in 1997. He continued to perform at blues festivals as late as 2012, when he appeared at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival. He probably should have retired sooner than he did.

At Bobby Bland's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, B. B. King introduced him by saying, “There's no better singer in any genre.”