Percy Sledge (1940-2015)

Southern soul balladeer Percy Sledge, best known for his 1966 hit, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” died on April 14 in Baton Rouge, LA, at the age of 74. He underwent surgery for liver cancer in 2014. Sometimes called the King of Slow Soul, he was known for his distinctive tenor voice and his pleading delivery.

Percy Tyrone Sledge was born to a poor family in rural Leighton, AL, on November 25, 1940. As a child, he picked cotton, sang in a church choir, and listened to country music, the only music available on his local radio station. He first performed at the age of 15 as a member of an a cappella vocal group.

He was working as a hospital orderly, while performing in local clubs with the Esquires Combo, when a patient heard him singing “Why Did You Leave Me, Baby?” in the hallways. He wrote the song after his girlfriend left town to pursue a modeling career. The patient brought him to the attention of record producer Quin Ivy. At Ivy's direction, the song was rewritten with the help of bassist Calvin Lewis and organist Andrew Wright of the Esquires, and retitled “When a Man Loves a Woman.” It was recorded at Muscle Shoals studio with Spooner Oldham's organ chording slowly in the background. The record was picked up by Atlantic Records, who signed him to a contract. It reached #1 on both the pop and R&B charts.

Here he is singing his signature tune about ten years ago.

For reasons that are unclear, the songwriting credits went only to Lewis and Wright. Sledge says he “gave” them the song, a decision which he later regretted. It cost him a considerable amount in royalties, since the song appeared on several film soundtracks and reached the top of the charts again in 1991 through a cover version by Michael Bolton.

Worst decision I ever made. But I am not at all bitter. It was God's will for me to give it to them. But if I had my time again, I wouldn't do it. Because of my children.

Eight of his other single records made the R&B charts between 1966 and 1974, including “Warm and Tender Love,” “It Tears Me Up,” and “Take Time to Know Her.” He also released four fine studio albums on Atlantic. Many of his album cuts were covers of Southern soul classics. A 4-CD collection of his Atlantic recordings was released on Rhino and is highly recommended if you can find it.

Percy Sledge continued to perform around the world and to record intermittently for almost 50 years. His 1994 CD, Blue Night, on the Sky Ranch label, was nominated for a Grammy award in the contemporary blues category. His 2004 Varese-Sarabande album, Shining Through the Rain, was also well-received. His final CD was a collection of gospel songs released in 2013.

Percy Sledge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. He is also a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and received a Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award. “When a Man Loves a Woman” was ranked 53^rd on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest records of all time.

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Clark Terry (1920-2015)

© Reuters

Clark Terry, the jazz trumpeter, composer and educator, who was a member of the bands of both Count Basie and Duke Eliington, and who was said to have been a mentor to Miles Davis and Quincy Jones, died on Saturday, February 21, at the age of 94. He passed away at a hospice near his Pine Bluff, Arkansas home of complications from diabetes. Known for his technical proficiency and good humor, he had a career that spanned over 70 years, during which he was one of the country's most frequently recorded musicians. In addition to the trumpet, he helped popularize the flugelhorn and was a tongue-in-cheek scat singer.

Clark Terry was born to a poor family in St. Louis on December 12, 1920, the seventh of eleven children. His mother died when he was six, and his father discouraged his interest in music. Nevertheless, after graduating from high school, he started his carreer by barnstorming with local bands. In 1942, he joined the Navy and was assigned to the band. After the war, he joined the big band of George Hudson. This was followed by gigs with Charlie Barnet and Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson.

He rose to prominence as a member of Basie's band from 1948 to 1951, and with Ellington from 1951 to 1959.

After a brief stint with Quincy Jones, he became a staff musician with NBC and was a member of the Tonight Show band until 1972 when the program moved to Los Angeles. He became a household name through his bantering with Johnny Carson during “Stump the Band” sketches. Throughout this time, he played and recorded with small groups in both swing and hard bop styles. Here is playing flugelhorn on “Argentia,” a song he wrote and recorded with Thelonious Monk in 1958.

Beginning in 1967, Clark Terry was a member of Jazz at the Philharmonic. He played often with big bands at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and around the world, and toured in small groups with musicians such as Oscar Peterson, J. J. Johnson, Gerry Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer. His discography includes about 80 albums as leader or co-leader and many more recordings as a sideman. Here he plays "Samba de Orfeu" at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1977.

While with Oscar Peterson he recorded “Mumbles,” a comic scat singing number which became one of his signature tunes. This performance is from 2007.

For many years, Clark Terry was an adjunct professor at William Paterson University in Wayne, NJ, which has an archive of his memorabilia. He received the NEA Jazz Master Award in 1991, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, was inducted into the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Hall of Fame in 2013, and holds 16 honorary doctorates. His autobiography, Clark, was published in 2011. The 2014 documentary Keep On Keepin' On tells the story of his relationship to pianist Justin Kauflin, a student of his at William Paterson, with whom he continued to work after his diabetes forced him to retire to Pine Bluffs.

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Our New Family Member, Django

When our beloved dog Chomsky passed away at age 14 in August, we thought it would be a long time before we adopted another. But then Tina found this one-year-old border terrier mix on the internet. He was once scheduled for euthanasia, but was rescued by Tracy's Dogs.

We've named him Django. We think it has a nice ring to it. It also honors jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt; Sergio Corbucci and Franco Nero, writer-director and star of the 1966 film Django; and Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx of Django Unchained. He isn't completely socialized yet, but he's curious and bright and is learning quickly.

Video of the Week #100

There is very little video of B. B. King prior to his 1969 crossover hit, "The Thrill is Gone." This clip is far better than any others I've seen. It's a 30-min appearance on Jazz Casual from May 1968. He is backed by a small group of his band members:  Mose Thomas, trumpet; Lee Gatling, tenor sax; James Toney, piano; and Sonny Freeman, drums.  The songs are:

1. Whole Lotta Love
2. I've Got a Mind to Give Up Livin'
3. (I Think I'll Move to) The Jungle
4. Darling, You Know I Love You
5. That's Wrong, Little Mama

This is followed by an interview with host Ralph J. Gleason. He finishes with a slow blues instrumental which is probably untitled.

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Video of the Week #99

This week, some rare footage of guitarist Django Reinhardt, with Stephane Grappelli on violin and the Quintette du Hot Club de France playing "J'attendrai." This 1939 clip is from a documentary that tries to explain the meaning of jazz. You will notice that Reinhardt did not have the use of the last two fingers of his left hand, which were injured in a fire when he was 18.

Spaghetti western fans will be familiar with the 1966 film Django by Sergio Corbucci. (Quentin Tarantino paid tribute to it, and its star, Franco Nero, in Django Unchained.) Corbucci named the title character after Django Reinhardt. In the film, Django's hands were crushed by the bad guys, but he was still able to operate a machine gun in the final shootout.

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CD Review: Various Artists, Speak Easy: The RPM Records Story, Volume 2, 1954-57

Not Recommended

As promised, Ace Records in the U. K. has followed up Volume 1 with a second 2-CD set of hits from the RPM label owned by the Bihari brothers of Los Angeles. This one covers the years 1954 through 1957. It is disappointing, in part because the recordings they have to choose from are not as good as the earlier RPM sides, and also due to some questionable choices of what songs to include.

The good news is that B. B. King recorded some of his best sides between 1954 and 1957, and this set includes nine of them. An interesting oddity is an extended alternate take of B. B. covering Tennessee Ernie Ford's hit “Sixteen Tons,” complete with a lengthy false start, an apology, and a completed version. There are also five terrific songs from Johnny “Guitar” Watson, and four rare selections by Chicago harmonica man George Smith, one of them the classic instrumental “Blues in the Dark.”

However, Ace's policy of including alternative takes when the master take has already been issued on another CD is called into question by what appears to be a blooper. The alternate take of Johnny Watson's “Ruben” features only a backing track by the band during the break. Missing is Watson's guitar solo, the highlight of the song. A mistake of a different kind is including Eugene Fox's two part lame attempt at comedy, “The Dream.”

I have two main problems with this set. First of all, beginning in 1956, RPM tried to expand into the pop market. There is, for example, an embarrassing early effort by Paul Anka. There are five rockabiily songs. As a result, the second CD includes about ten songs that are of little interest to R&B fans, who are, after all, the primary consumers of this set.

Next to B. B. King, RPM's biggest hits during this period were by R&B vocal groups. I've noticed that European R&B reissue labels prefer up tempo vocal group sides, while American collectors prefer ballads. Given my bias, not surprisingly, I'm disappointed with Ace's choices.

The Biharis' most successful group was the Jacks, who had six RPM releases and also recorded on Modern as the Cadets. (In general, the Jacks sang ballads and the Cadets did up tempo songs, but there were exceptions.) The Jacks receive only two selections here, their big hit “Why Don't You Write Me?” and the undistinguished jump tune “Sugar Baby.” Left on the table are several fine ballads by their smoky-voiced lead singer Willie Davis. If they felt the need to include an up tempo side, “How Soon” would have been a better choice. Fortunately, the entire Jacks/Cadets output is available on two Ace CDs.

Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns were a top-notch West Coast group who had three RPM releases. Only one of them makes it onto this set. (By the way, did you know that Maye was also a major league outfielder/first baseman. As Lee Maye he for played 12 seasons (1959-1971), primarily with the Milwaukee Braves.) I can't quarrel with the inclusion of “Eddie, My Love” by the Teen Queens, since it was one of the label's biggest hits, but I'm unimpressed with their other two choices from this group. Clydie King and the Teens' cover of the Six Teens' “A Casual Look” has to be one of the “youngest” teen hits ever. And so it goes.

This set is not without its unexpected pleasures. I had heard of, but not heard, Little Eddie Lang (real name Langlois), a New Orleans singer-guitarist known for his row of gold front teeth. CD 2 contains one side of each of his two 1956 RPM releases, the only records he made. He is not to be confused with jazz guitarist Eddie Lang (real name Salvatore Massaro), who recorded some great instrumental duets with Lonnie Johnson and died in 1933.

There is some excellent R&B on these two CDs, but not enough to justify their purchase.

Disc 1: The Meadow Larks, Real Pretty Mama; Pass the Gin; Quinn Kimble, Feel My Broom; Connie Mack Booker, Love Me, Pretty Baby; Earl Curry, One Whole Year, Baby; Lover Boy (Ike Turner), The Way You Used to Treat Me; Lonnie the Cat, I Ain't Drunk; B. B. King, Don't You Want a Man Like Me?; You Upset Me, Baby; Every Day I Have the Blues; Crying Won't Help You; Preacher Stephens, Whoopin' and a-Hollerin'; The Chanters, She Wants to Mambo; Buddy Milton and the Twilighters, O-O-Wah; The Fox (Eugene Fox), The Dream, Parts 1 and 2; Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Hot Little Mama; Too Tired; Those Lonely, Lonely Nights; Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns, Truly; Joe Houston, Shtiggy Boom; The Jacks, Why Don't You Write Me?; Little George Smith, Blues in the Dark; Oopin' Doopin' Doopin'; Donna Hightower, Doggone It; Hands Off; Johnny Wright, Suffocate. (74 min.)

Disc 2: B. B. King, Sixteen Tons; Did You Ever Love a Woman?; Sweet Little Angel; Bim Bam; I Wonder; The Teen Queens, Eddie, My Love; Billy Boy; Rock, Everybody; Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Ruben; She Moves Me; Little George Smith, Cross-Eyed Suzzie Lee; Down in New Orleans; The Jacks, Sugar Baby; Pat Cupp, Do Me No Wrong, Long Gone Daddy; Little Clydie and the Teens, A Casual Look; Richard Berry, Yama Yama, Pretty Mama; Eddie Lang, I'm All Alone; You Got to Crawl Before You Walk; Paul Anka, Blau-Wile-Deveest-Fontaine; The Jewels, She's a Flirt; Donna Hightower, He's My Baby; Maxwell Davis, Cool Diggin'; Jack Lewis, Bippin' and Boppin'; Prentice Moreland, Memories of You; Vido Musso, Speak Easy; Darrell Glenn, Hello, Baby; Don Cole, Snake-Eyed Mama. (73 min.)

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Thanks to the American Folk Blues Festival, a series of European tours organized by Willie Dixon in the 1960s, we have some of the best--and in some cases the only--video of many Chicago blues artists. Here, harmonica great Big Walter Horton plays an instrumental, "All Star Boogie," and a vocal, "It Ain't Right," accompanied by Lafayette Leake, piano; Lee Jackson, guitar; Willie Dixon, bass; and Clifton James, drums.

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