I'm not a fan of the widespread use of
distance learning, in which college students take courses by
computer. Both common sense and the evidence so far suggests that
the results are inferior to classroom learning. However, the fact
that several companies are trying to take advantage of the potential
financial windfall that distance learning could bring has created a
window of opportunity for those of us who don't care about getting a
degree but would like to take free college courses. There are dozens
of MOOCs (massive open online courses) available on the internet.
I've completed four of them so far, including the two-part History of Rock taught by John Covach of the University of Rochester.
Starting March 13, Coursera will be
offering Music's Big Bang: The Genesis of Rock 'n' Roll
taught by David Carlson of the University of Florida. The 8-week
course is about how blues, jazz, gospel and other genres came
together around 1955 to create rock and roll. It appears to be the
pre-history of rock.
The course ends in 1960. The syllabus suggests that it should be
of interest to both blues and jazz fans. The nice things about these
courses is that you can do as much or as little as you want with no
cost or obligation. You can watch the lectures, do the readings,
take the quizzes, write the papers, etc.,
or if you don't care about the credit, you can just watch the
lectures and quietly drop out at the end.
In
this case, the readings are mostly books I've read before. I'm going
to check out the lectures.
As my videos of the week go into their second year, I'm still finding interesting videos from before 1970. This week, the great Bessie Smith in a 16-minute short film, St. Louis Blues, from 1929.
You'll see why I have some reservations about this video. This must have been a humiliating role for Bessie Smith. She is battered by her unfaithful boyfriend, and she responds by drinking and welcoming him back for more abuse. But this is said to be the only filmed record of this great blues singer. Her boyfriend is played by dancer Jimmy Mordecai, and his girlfriend by Isabel Washington. The bar patrons who sing backup while Bessie sings "St. Louis Blues" are the Hall Johnson Choir and the pianist is James P. Johnson. The film was produced by W. C. Handy and written and directed by Dudley Murphy.
This is a 50 min episode of Jazz Casual with Ralph J. Gleason from 1961. His guest is the Dave Brubeck Quartet: Dave Brubeck, piano; Paul Desmond, alto sax; Eugene Wright, bass; and Joe Morello, drums. There are nine songs and a Brubeck interview. Some of the best songs of the period of are featured, including "Take Five," "Blue Rondo a la Turk," and the wonderful "Castilian Blues."
The 2014 inductees into the Blues Hall of Fame were announced Wednesday.
Performers
R. L. Burnside
Big Jay McNeely
Eddie Shaw
Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson
Robert Pete Williams
In the 34 years of the Hall of Fame's
existence, the only saxophone player to be inducted was Louis Jordan.
This year, he is joined by three colleagues. Like Jordan, Eddie
“Cleanhead” Vinson was primarily a 1940s R&B vocalist who also
played the alto sax.
Big Jay McNeely was one of the many tenor sax
men who made the R&B charts in the late '40s and early '50s.
Eddie Shaw, also a tenor player, was a member of Howlin' Wolf's band
who went on to form his own group, the Wolf Gang, after Wolf's death and is still
performing.
Robert Pete Williams was a country bluesman from
Louisiana who was discovered in prison in 1959 and had a 20 year
recording career after his release.
R. L. Burnside was the leader of
a group of northern Mississippi hill country bluesmen who played in
juke joints and recorded extensively in the '80s and '90s.
Albums
Howlin' Wolf, Moanin' at Midnight
(Chess, 1958)
J. B.
Hutto, Hawk Squat
(Delmark, 1969)
Single
records
Kokomo
Arnold, “Milk Cow Blues” (Decca, 1934)
Erskine
Hawkins and his Orchestra, “After Hours” (Bluebird, 1940)
Charley
Patton, “High Water Everywhere, Parts 1 and 2” (Paramount, 1930)
Robert
Petway, “Catfish Blues” (Bluebird, 1941)
Tampa
Red and Georgia Tom, “It's Tight Like That” (Vocalion, 1928)
Books
Peter
Guralnick, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke
Non-performers
Mike
Kappus, of the Rosebud Agency, booking agent and manager
Don Robey, owner of Duke and Peacock
Records
Dick Shurman, record producer and
writer
The induction ceremony will be held in
Memphis on May 7, the night before the Blues Music Awards.
Mississippi Delta bluesman Son House first recorded in 1930. This clip is from the mid-60s. He sings and plays his National steel guitar on "Death Letter Blues," followed by an unaccompanied version of "John the Revelator."
OKeh Records has a long and storied
history. It was started as an all-genre label in 1918, but when
Mamie Smith's “Crazy Blues” became a surprise hit in 1920, they
decided to specialize in jazz and blues. From then until about 1932,
it was one of the three major blues labels (along with Paramount and
Columbia). Major jazz artists that recorded for OKeh included Louis
Armstriong and Duke Ellington. The label was revived between 1940
and 1946, and later in 1951 as an R&B label. The majority of the
recordings on this blues compilation are from the '20s, with a few
from the early '40s.
The set is a bargain. It's a 2-CD
package with 50 songs and over 2½ hours of music. I paid less than
$10 for it. It was produced in England, where copyrights expire
after 50 years. I don't see any reason to feel guilty about buying a
“bootleg,” since there is little chance that OKeh will release
this material in the U. S.
During the '20s, classic female blues
singers with either piano or small jazz band accompaniment were quite
popular. This compilation differs from most early blues sets in the
relatively high number (18 out of 50) of cuts by women, some of which
are seldom heard. In addition to Mamie's Smith's ground-breaking
release, there are songs by Alberta Hunter, Victoria Spivey, Sippie
Wallace, and many lesser-known names. Some great instrumental solos
had me reaching for my discography. (The liner notes are minimal.)
Bertha “Chippie” Hill's “Pratt City Blues” features amazing
trumpet breaks by Louis Armstrong; Margaret Johnson is backed by
Sidney Bechet on soprano sax, and Dora Carr has piano accompaniment
by Cow Cow Davenport.
As the '20s progressed, country
bluesmen and guitarists gradually supplanted women as fan favorites.
The majority of these 50 songs are country blues, and OKeh recorded
some of the very best. Included are classic recordings by Big Bill
Broonzy, Blind Boy Fuller, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon
Jefferson, Lonnie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Minnie,
Roosevelt Sykes and Bukka White. There are also early recordings by
artists who went on to became more popular after World War II, such
as Champion Jack Dupree, Memphis Slim, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee
and Big Walter Horton.
There are great instrumentals—a
whooping harmonica solo by Terry, and a groundbreaking slide guitar
solo by Sylvester Weaver. White guitarist Eddie Lang's “Blue Blood Blues,”
accompanied by Lonnie Johnson and an unknown trumpeter, is a favorite
of mine. Of historical interest is a clunky version of “St. Louis
Blues” by W. C. Handy's Orchestra. String and jug bands are
represented by the Mississippi Sheiks (“Sitting on Top of the
World”) and the Birmingham Jug Band (“Giving It Away”),
respectively.
All artists are limited to one song
apiece, so you get quite a variety of performers. You probably won't
care for all of them. Some of the early recordings are fairly
primitive. The sound quality is good considering their age, but the
combination of low fidelity and 78 rpm surface noise can be
off-putting. Some of the songs are corny and sound as much like
country as blues. If I've heard a man play the stovepipe once, that's
probably enough for my lifetime.
Whether this is an essential purchase
for you may depend on how many other country blues compilations you
have. This makes a great starter set. I have about half of these
songs on other CDs, but I was happy to get the rest, given the
reasonable price.
Disc 1: Mamie Smith, Crazy
Blues; Blind Lemon Jefferson, Black Snake Moan; Sonny
Terry, Blowin' the Blues; Lonnie Johnson,
Wrong Woman Blues; Roosevelt Sykes,
.44 Blues; Georgia Bill (Blind Willie McTell),
Scary Day Blues; Champion Jack Dupree,
Warehouse Man Blues; Victoria Spivey,
T. B. Blues; Sylvester Weaver,
Guitar Rag; Martha Copeland,
Penetrating Blues; Texas Alexander,
Levee Camp Moan Blues; Irene Scruggs,
Sorrow Valley Blues; Little Hat Jones,
Roiled From Side to Side Blues; Eva Taylor,
Irresistible Blues; Snitcher Roberts,
Low Meaning Blues; Rosa Henderson,
Every Woman's Blues; Uncle Bud Walker,
Stand Up Suitcase Blues; Alberta Hunter,
Your Jelly Roll is Good; Charlie McCoy (with Bo Carter),
That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away; Sippie Wallace,
Walkin' Talkin' Blues; Peter Chatman (Memphis Slim),
Miss Ora Lee Blues; Papa Freddie (Spruill),
Muddy Water Blues; Peter Cleighton (Doctor Clayton),
Something is Going On Wrong; Hambone Willie Newborn,
Roll and Tumble Blues; The Mississippi Sheiks,
Sittin' on Top of the World. (76 min.)
Disc 2: Mississippi John Hurt,
Stack o' Lee Blues; Big Bill Broonzy,
When I Been Drinkin'; Brownie McGhee,
Double Trouble; Bertha “Chippie” Hill,
Pratt City Blues; Mississippi Bracey,
You Scolded Me and Drove Me From Your Door; Blind Boy
Fuller, When You Are Gone;
Memphis Minnie, Me
and My Chauffeur Blues; W. C. Handy,
St. Louis Blues; The Birmingham Jug Band,
Giving It Away; Dora Carr,
Cow Cow Blues; Rosetta Crawford,
Lonesome Woman's Blues; Esther Bigeou,
Panama Limited Blues; Stovepipe No. 1 and David Crockett,
A Woman Gets Tired of One Man All the Time; Blind Willie
Dunn's (Eddie Lang) Gin Bottle Four,
Blue Blood Blues; Blues Birdhead,
Mean Low Blues; Sara Martin,
Achin' Hearted Blues; Macon Ed and Tampa Joe,
Tickle Britches; Gladys Bentley,
Worried Blues; Bo Carter,
Ants in My Pants; Ada Brown,
Evil Mama Blues; Little Buddy Doyle (with Big Walter
Horton), Hard Scufflin' Blues;
Carrie Edwards,
Fattening Frogs For Snakes; Sloppy Henry,
Canned Heat; Margaret Johnson,
If I Let You Get Away With It Once, You'll Do It All of the Time;
Bukka White, Parchman
Farm Blues. (75 min.)
Here's a short film of Dexter Gordon performing "Loose Walk" in the Netherlands in 1964. His colleagues are George Gruntz, piano; Guy Pedersen, bass; and Daniel Humair, drums.
Each year at the end of January, the Blues Foundation hosts the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. It's a competition among relatively unknown blues artists. Local blues societies sponsor entrants in two categories, Single Artists/Duos and Bands. Over 225 acts participated this year.
The winner of the Band competition was Mr. Sipp, the Mississippi Blues Man, sponsored by the Vicksburg Blues Society. Mr. Sipp is 36-year-old singer and guitarist Castro Coleman, who leads a band, the Kin Folk, consisting of just keyboards, bass and drums. Here he is singing "Mrs. Jones" from last year's competition. (It's not unusual for bands to participate more than once and gradually move up the food chain.) If you go to this website, you can sample several video clips of this band.
Second place went to the Ghost Town Blues Band from the Memphis blues Society. And in third place, a local Pittsburgh group, Billy the Kid and the Regulators, sponsored by the Blues Society of Western Pennsylvania. This is the title tune from their CD, as performed at the BSWPA competition in April.
The Single Artist/Duo competition went to a veteran Canadian bluesman, Tim Williams, sponsored by the Calgary Blues Music Association.
The second place finisher was Lucious Spiller from the Ozark Blues Society of Northwest Arkansas.
The winner of the Best Self-Produced CD competition was Hank Mowery for his album Account to Me, sponsored by the Western Michigan Blues Society. Here's the title song, a great piece of Louisiana swamp R&B.
