Showing posts with label Little Brother Montgomery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little Brother Montgomery. Show all posts

Friday, October 16, 2020

Little Brother Montgomery - Tasty Blues

Size: 100,9 MB
Time: 42:48
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1961/1992
Styles: Chicago Blues, Piano Blues
Art: Full

01. Taty Blues (4:43)
02. Santa Fe (2:39)
03. How Long, Brother? (3:39)
04. Pleading Blues (3:36)
05. No Special Rider (2:24)
06. Brother's Boogie (2:58)
07. Sneaky Pete Blues (4:22)
08. Something Keeps Worrying Me (4:06)
09. Cry, Cry Baby (3:04)
10. Satellite Blues (3:58)
11. Deep Fried (3:59)
12. Vicksburg Blues (3:14)

Here's a very attractive example of a pianist with roots dug deep in pre-war tradition updating his style just enough to sound contemporary for 1960. With a little help from bassist Julian Euell and Lafayette Thomas (better-known as Jimmy McCracklin's guitarist), Montgomery swoops through his seminal "Vicksburg Blues" and "No Special Rider" with enthusiasm and élan. ~Bill Dahl

Tasty Blues MP3
Tasty Blues FLAC

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Various - Classic Delta & Deep South Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:34
Size: 154.7 MB
Styles: Acoustic delta blues
Year: 2018
Art: Front

[2:37] 1. Big Bill Broonzy - C.C. Rider
[2:26] 2. Roosevelt Sykes - Woman In Elaine, Arkansas
[3:01] 3. Son House - Death Letter Blues
[2:46] 4. K.C. Douglas - Your Crying Won't Make Me Stay
[3:33] 5. Bukka White - Columbus, Mississippi Blues
[1:57] 6. Cat-Iron - I'm Goin’ To Walk Your Log
[3:20] 7. Clifton Chenier - Why Did You Go Last Night
[3:54] 8. Sam Chatmon - I Stand And Wonder
[3:59] 9. Johnny Young - Sleeping With The Devil
[2:47] 10. Shortstuff Macon - Short Stuff's Corinna
[2:01] 11. Big Joe Williams - Married Woman Blues
[3:01] 12. Little Brother Montgomery - Up The Country Blues
[4:48] 13. John Littlejohn - Dream
[3:40] 14. Doctor Ross - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
[3:31] 15. David Honeyboy Edwards - Catfish Blues
[3:41] 16. Memphis Slim - M & O Blues
[4:19] 17. Scott Dunbar - Forty-Four
[5:03] 18. Son House - Sun Goin' Down
[4:03] 19. Mississippi Fred Mcdowell - Frisco Line
[2:58] 20. Big Bill Broonzy - Diggin' My Potatoes

Mississippi, particularly the Delta, lays claim to being the land where the blues began. Forged in the crucible of poverty and racial oppression, blues flourished there as nowhere else, evolving into what most critics consider the deepest or most intense strain of the blues tradition. During the Great Migration, music changed consistently, adapting to its new surroundings like St. Louis and Chicago, while retaining its connection to its down home Delta roots. This collection celebrates the diversity and dissemination of the blues’ most powerful and influential voices.

Classic Delta & Deep South Blues mc
Classic Delta & Deep South Blues zippy

Sunday, September 4, 2016

Little Brother Montgomery - Blues

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 41:03
Size: 94.0 MB
Styles: Piano blues
Year: 1961/2012
Art: Front

[2:30] 1. Pleading Blues
[3:09] 2. Vicksburg 44
[3:44] 3. Early One Morning
[3:44] 4. Now About That Prisoner
[2:52] 5. Crescent City Blues
[2:18] 6. Pallet On The Floor
[3:09] 7. West 46th Street Boogie
[3:33] 8. Louisiana Rag
[2:56] 9. I Ain't No Bulldog
[3:33] 10. Mean Old Mama
[2:18] 11. London Shout
[2:52] 12. Storyville Blues
[2:31] 13. L& N Boogie
[1:48] 14. It's All Over Now

Although the barrel house may no longer exist, the piano style that took its name finds rich expression in Blues. On this album, released in 1961, Little Brother Montgomery, who is known as “one of the keepers of [the] heritage of the blues,” performs music known to convey tragedy, despair, and revolt, but also a message of hope. Liner notes include an introduction to blues heritage and Little Brother Montgomery.

Blues mc
Blues zippy

Monday, August 22, 2016

Various - Chicago Piano (1951-58 from Cobra & Job)

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 52:59
Size: 121.3 MB
Styles: Piano blues, Chicago blues
Year: 1991/2006
Art: Front

[3:05] 1. Sunnyland Slim - Highway 61
[2:19] 2. Sunnyland Slim - It's You Baby
[2:53] 3. Sunnyland Slim - Overnight
[2:46] 4. Sunnyland Slim - That Woman
[2:21] 5. Sunnyland Slim - 'fore Day Bounce
[2:54] 6. Floyd Jones - Big World
[2:59] 7. Sunnyland Slim - Mary Lee
[2:38] 8. Eddie Boyd - Five Long Years
[3:32] 9. Eddie Boyd - Hard Headed Woman
[3:12] 10. Eddie Boyd - It's Miserable To Be Alone
[2:26] 11. Charles Clark - Row Your Boat
[2:00] 12. Memphis Slim - I Wonder What's The Matter
[1:58] 13. Memphis Slim - I Can't Live Without You
[2:14] 14. Memphis Slim - Best Gal I Ever Had
[2:05] 15. Memphis Slim - So Tired
[2:31] 16. Walter 'Shakey' Horton - Need My Baby
[3:00] 17. Little Brother Montgomery - Keep Drinkin'
[3:02] 18. Little Brother Montgomery - Boogie
[2:47] 19. Moody Jones - Please Somebody
[2:08] 20. J.T. Brown - Short Dresses

The blues piano genre is arguably the root of much of modern American music. After blues, ragtime evolved, followed by jazz, and on down to boogie woogie and eventually rock 'n roll. Although the genre has seen many trends come and go, in contemporary times blues piano is no different that it was 100 years ago.

Since the piano man was usually unaccompanied, the genre developed into the sound of a one-man show. The player was responsible for creating all parts of the music: bass, rhythm, and melody. This type of playing became labeled as “boogie woogie” or “barrelhouse piano.” Blues became a larger part of the greater consciousness upon the release of brass player W.C. Handy's “The Memphis Blues” and “St. Louis Blues” in the early 1900s. The genre quickly made its way into the night spots of big cities, and boogie woogie became the genre of choice for parties in New York and Chicago, among others.

The genre continued to get more popular throughout the roaring twenties, but a decade later big bands were all the rage. However, boogie woogie was resurrected in the late 30's, thanks in part to a legendary performance by Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, and blues pianist Pete Johnson and Carnegie Hall.

In the thirties, blues piano music was often played by swing bands such as Count Basie's. By the time the forties rolled around, smaller outfits centered around the piano developed a new twist on the blues. Known as “jump blues,” this genre was the among the most popular dance music after the World Wars, and historians recognize it as a precursor to the tidal wave of rock 'n roll.

Chicago Piano mc
Chicago Piano zippy

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Various - Down In Black Bottom: Lowdown Barrelhouse Piano

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 67:59
Size: 155.6 MB
Styles: Piano blues
Year: 1999/2006
Art: Front

[3:18] 1. Turner Parrish - Ain't Gonna Be Your Dog No More
[3:16] 2. Freddie Nicholson - You Gonna Miss Me Blues
[3:11] 3. Freddie Nicholson - Freddie's Got The Blues
[2:50] 4. Dan Stewart - New Orleans Blues
[2:26] 5. Speckled Red - The Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo
[2:40] 6. Bob Call - 31 Blues
[3:10] 7. Bert M. Mays - You Can't Come In
[3:04] 8. Bert M. Mays - Michigan River Blues
[2:50] 9. James Bat Robinson - Humming Blues
[2:57] 10. Tampa Red - Black Hearted Blues
[2:50] 11. Joe Dean - Mexico Bound Blues
[3:22] 12. Little Brother Montgomery - Louisiana Blues
[2:32] 13. Little Brother Montgomery - Frisco Hi-Ball Blues
[2:35] 14. Lonnie Clark - Down In Tennessee
[3:07] 15. Willie Harris - West Side Blues
[2:52] 16. Lonnie Clark - Broke Down Engine Blues
[3:06] 17. Sylvester Palmer - Mean Blues
[2:52] 18. John Oscar - Whoopee Mama Blues
[3:13] 19. Cow Cow Davenport - Chimes Blues
[3:02] 20. Turner Parrish - Graveyard Blues
[2:56] 21. Sammy Brown - The Jockey Blues
[3:01] 22. Joe Evans - Shook It This Morning Blues
[2:39] 23. Joe Evans - Down In Black Bottom

In addition to their indispensable compilations devoted to the bluesmen and women of the 1920s and 1930s, Yazoo has delivered a number of excellent, topical country blues sets as well. Though not always as essential as the single-artist discs, they are nonetheless valuable on both musical and historical terms. Released simultaneously with the label's bawdy Barrelhouse Mamas collection, Down in Black Bottom is a similar collection of early piano blues, with the focus once again being on small combos. Possibly due to the fact that pianists were so often thrust into the role of accompanist, few of these artists made significant names for themselves on record. There is a handful of exceptions, of course. Little Brother Montgomery was an exceptionally gifted pianist who, before moving to Chicago during the 1940s, absorbed the rich and varied piano traditions that surrounded him in the Jackson, MS, area. Tampa Red remained a popular performer long after his move to the Windy City, where the hokum material he favored went over well with Chicago audiences. Names like Sammy Brown, Sylvester Palmer, and Parish Turner, however, remain more mysterious. Most of the musicians on this compilation who managed to achieve notoriety did so through their piano skills rather than their singing. This was good time music for the most part and, as a result, these signers weren't the most exceptional of blues versifiers either. Oftentimes the lyrics rely on the sort of stock phrases that nearly every bluesman acquired as a matter of course. Though the blues on this disc hardly represent the most emotionally compelling of Yazoo's extensive catalog, the set will certainly appeal to enthusiasts of the style, as well as blues fans in search of a less demanding introduction to the early recordings. ~Nathan Bush

Down In Black Bottom: Lowdown Barrelhouse Piano mc
Down In Black Bottom: Lowdown Barrelhouse Piano zippy

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Little Brother Montgomery - S/T (Europe 1972)

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1972/2007
Styles: Blues
Time: 41:34
Size: 95,7 MB
Art: Full

(3:08) 1. Elementary Blues
(3:40) 2. Crescent City Blues
(2:34) 3. No Special Rider
(6:50) 4. Muleface
(4:29) 5. Someday You'll Be Sorry
(1:31) 6. Someday You'll Be Sorry (Reprise)
(5:57) 7. Medley: Mood Indigo/Solitude/Satin Doll/Squeeze Me
(2:34) 8. London Shout
(3:17) 9. Your Love Is So Incredible
(2:57) 10. Memories of You
(4:34) 11. Little Brother's Little Boogie

This session by Little Brother Montgomery was recorded in 1972 during his European tour. These tapes were on the shelves for almost 20 years. This gig comes over as almost a Library of Congress session with Little Brother talking about his life between songs. The songs are varied, running from a Duke Ellington medley to an original composition. He was enjoying a final flowering about this time in his life with several albums issued. His piano playing is very strong considering he had suffered a stroke in the late sixties. This 1972 tour did wonders for his self esteem and helped him immensely to recover. Little Brother was hard to categorize, though he is best remembered as a blusman, he could play in any key, knew most of the jazz standards en he could play old pop songs. It was all the same to him. Music was just music!

Little Brother Montgomery (Europe 1972)

Friday, January 29, 2016

Various - Picking The Blues: Boogie Woogie Pioneers Compiled By John Mayall

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 70:29
Size: 161.4 MB
Styles: Boogie Woogie Piano blues
Year: 2006
Art: Front

[3:09] 1. Cow Cow Davenport - Cow Cow Blues
[3:18] 2. Pinetop Smith - Jump Steady Blues
[3:16] 3. Charlie Spand - Moanin' The Blues
[3:01] 4. Romeo Nelson - Head Rag Hop
[3:10] 5. Wesley Wallace - Fanny Lee Blues
[2:53] 6. Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider Blues
[3:15] 7. Jabo Williams - Pratt City Blues
[3:18] 8. Turner Parrish - Fives
[2:58] 9. Walter Roland - Jookit Jookit
[2:26] 10. Cleo Brown - Boogie Woogie
[3:06] 11. Jesse James - Lonesome Day Blues
[3:39] 12. Albert Ammons - Bass Goin' Crazy
[4:02] 13. Pete Johnson - Holler Stomp
[2:41] 14. Jimmy Yancey - 35th And Dearborn
[3:51] 15. Meade Lux Lewis - Six Wheel Chaser
[2:36] 16. Jay Mcshann - Vine Street Boogie
[2:43] 17. Cripple Clarence Lofton - In The Mornin'
[2:56] 18. Big Maceo Merriweather - Chicago Breakdown
[2:46] 19. Montana Taylor - Indiana Avenue Stomp
[2:42] 20. Memphis Slim - Slim's Boogie
[3:56] 21. Speckled Red - Early In The Morning
[4:35] 22. Otis Spann - Otis In The Dark

British musician, bandleader, and blues historian John Mayall was tapped by the excellent jazz and blues archival label Document to dig through his record collection and present the best of the boogie-woogie pioneers. Not only did Mayall select the 22 songs for the disc, but he also wrote the liner notes in which he recalls his life-altering discovery of this music by hunting down used 78s back in the early '50s. The lineup Mayall chose speaks for itself. Not only does he pay tribute to the professors of boogie-woogie, but also a cross reference of blues pianists recorded between 1928 and 1960, none of which are represented by more than one track, serving the listener with a full scope of variations in style. ~Al Campbell

Picking The Blues: Boogie Woogie Pioneers Compiled By John Mayall mc
Picking The Blues: Boogie Woogie Pioneers Compiled By John Mayall zippy

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Sunnyland Slim, Little Brother Montgomery - Chicago Blues Session

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 48:26
Size: 110.9 MB
Styles: Chicago blues
Year: 1960/1989
Art: Front

[2:54] 1. One Room Shack
[2:15] 2. Trembling Blues
[3:39] 3. Prison Bound
[3:21] 4. My Electrical Invention Blues
[2:44] 5. Brownskin Woman
[3:28] 6. La Salle St. Boogie
[4:08] 7. That's Why I Keep Drinking
[3:35] 8. I Got The Blues About My Baby
[1:41] 9. Bob Martin Blues
[2:53] 10. Devil Is A Busy Man
[2:36] 11. No Special Rider Blues
[4:22] 12. Everytime I Get To Drinkin'
[2:45] 13. Depression Blues
[2:25] 14. Sad And Lonesome
[2:24] 15. Disc Jockey Special
[3:11] 16. Vicksburg Blues

In 1960, legendary blues pianist Sunnyland Slim and jazz pianist Little Brother Montgomery got together and recorded a full length album full of blues and jazzy pieces, showcasing each person's background. Jump Jackson appears on drums on a few tracks.

Chicago Blues Session mc
Chicago Blues Session zippy

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Various - Classic Piano Blues From Smithsonian Folkways

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 64:09
Size: 146.9 MB
Styles: Piano blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[3:11] 1. Memphis Slim - Dedication To Pete Johnson
[3:04] 2. Booker T. Laury - Early In The Morning
[3:19] 3. Speckled Red - How Long Blues
[2:55] 4. James P. Johnson - Yellow Dog Blues
[2:54] 5. Memphis Slim - Key To The Highway
[2:50] 6. Meade Lux Lewis - Medium Blues
[2:57] 7. Champion Jack Dupree - Black Wolf Blues
[4:53] 8. Big Chief Ellis - Dices Blues
[1:09] 9. Lead Belly - Big Fat Woman
[2:51] 10. Sammy Price - Harlem Parlor Blues
[3:03] 11. Henry Brown - Little Drops Of Water
[4:07] 12. Little Brother Montgomery - Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
[3:26] 13. Speckled Red - Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
[2:09] 14. Willie Dixon - Wish Me Well
[2:52] 15. Henry Townsend - All My Money's Gone
[4:32] 16. Victoria Spivey - You're My Man
[4:20] 17. Champion Jack Dupree - On My Way To See Moe Asch
[2:54] 18. Roosevelt Sykes - Sweet Old Chicago
[3:28] 19. Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider Blues
[3:03] 20. James P. Johnson - Hesitation Blues

Storyville nightclubs, Beale Street juke joints, gambling houses, barrelhouse bars in the lumber and turpentine camps of East Texas—these were the places African American piano bluesmen called home. Born of ragtime and hard times, the piano blues migrated with its players from the deep South to the urban North. Classic Piano Blues revisits raucous boogie-woogie and blues legends Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, Champion Jack Dupree, Speckled Red, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Lead Belly, Little Brother Montgomery, Roosevelt Sykes, James P. Johnson, and more, in 20 tracks drawn from the well of the Folkways Collections.

Classic Piano Blues From Smithsonian Folkways mc
Classic Piano Blues From Smithsonian Folkways zippy

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Various - Blues Piano Orgy

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1972
Styles: Blues
Time: 60:45
Size: 141,1 MB
Covers: Full

(4:16) 1. Speckled Red - Blues Hurt My Tongue to Talk
(2:47) 2. Roosevelt Sykes - Dresser Drawers
(3:00) 3. Roosevelt Sykes - Concentration Blues
(2:55) 4. Roosevelt Sykes - Kickin' Motor Scooter
(2:31) 5. Roosevelt Sykes - (New Year's) Resolution Blues
(3:17) 6. Sunnyland Slim - My Baby's Coming
(4:09) 7. Sunnyland Slim - Poor Boy
(3:14) 8. Sunnyland Slim - Everytime I Get to Drinkin'
(3:06) 9. Sunnyland Slim - Depression Blues
(2:53) 10. Little Brother Montgomery - Stendahl Stomp
(3:09) 11. Little Brother Montgomery - Tremblin' Blues
(2:42) 12. Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider Blues
(3:01) 13. Memphis Slim - Bass Key Boogie
(2:56) 14. Memphis Slim - Five O'Clock Blues
(2:51) 15. Memphis Slim - Nat Dee Special
(5:16) 16. Curtis Jones - Lonesome Bedroom Blues
(2:58) 17. Curtis Jones - Takin' Off
(3:11) 18. Curtis Jones - Tin Pan Alley
(2:25) 19. Otis Spann - Three-In-One Blues

Thanks in part to the luridly alluring title and the enthusiastically informative liner notes by Bob Koester, this solid collection was many a young musician's introduction to the men who pioneered blues piano in the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt Sykes is the best represented artist here, and his leering vocals are hard to resist: After hearing the ribald metaphor of "Dresser Drawers," you'll never view furniture quite the same way again. His "Kickin' Motor Scooter" is truly a marvel of smiling euphemism, with the song devoted to boasts of how he's "A dangerous motor scooter...A tricky motor scooter!" Other artists, while not always as inventive lyrically, show a wide range of piano styles, from the bouncing syncopated jazz of "Stendahl Stomp" to the trickling upper registers and restrained bass coaxed by Curtis Jones from a battered old piano in "Tin Pan Alley Blues #2." Not every track is unaccompanied piano, though. "Every Time I Get to Drinking," a blues dirge to the bottle, revolves around the elastic pull of an upright bass. The closing instrumental, Otis Spann's "Three-in-One Blues," features ominous bass chords wracked by a scattershot backing of drums. Despite being essentially a glorified soundcheck, and by far the least structured piece on the album, it's also the most primally satisfying. -- Allmusic.

Blues Piano Orgy

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Little Brother Montgomery - No Special Rider

File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1999
Styles: Piano Blues
Time: 47:15
Size: 109,0 MB
Covers: Full

(4:14) 1. No Special Rider Blues
(4:23) 2. Prisoner Bound Blues
(3:06) 3. You Gotta See Your Mama Every Night
(4:24) 4. Cow Cow Blues
(4:21) 5. Gin House Blues
(4:05) 6. New Vicksburg Blues
(2:54) 7. London Shout
(3:20) 8. Oh, Daddy
(7:40) 9. Little Brother's Early Pieces and History
(2:59) 10. No Special Boogie
(2:30) 11. Farrish Street Jive
(3:13) 12. Mule Face Blues

Barrelhouse piano player Eurreal "Little Brother" Montgomery played boogie from the crowds as a touring, pre-teen performer. Also a vocalist, Montgomery began his half-century of recording in the Depression with such songs of loss as "Vicksburg Blues" and "No Special Rider." On these 1969 recordings, rich, full-throated Jeanne Carroll ("Penny Pinching Blues") appears on four of the 12 tracks. She carefully enunciates her way through a rendition of Ma Rainey's "You Gotta See Your Mama Every Night." The excellent blues vocalist and pianist Little Brother Montgomery, an influence to Willie Dixon, Otis Spann, and Skip James, here guides us from his home through the tradition of classic early, post-ragtime piano blues. -- Allmusic.

No Special Rider

Monday, September 23, 2013

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Takoma Blues

Styles: Acoustic & Electric Chicago Blues,
Recorded: mid 1960's
Released: 1998
File: mp3 @ 320 k/s
Size: 157.19 MB
Time: 72:09
Art: Front+Back

01. Hesitation Blues - Little Brother Montgomery - 2:32
02. Minglewood Blues - John Lee Granderson - 1:39
03. Chicago Breakdown - Dr Ross - 5:55
04. I Feel So Worried - Big Joe Williams - 3:00
05. V 8 Ford Blues (Going To Your Funeral In A V-8 Ford) - James Cotton - 3:51
06. Crying Won't Make Me Stay - Maxwell Street Jimmy - 2:56
07. Michigan Water Blues - Little Brother Montgomery - 3:35
08. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - John Lee Granderson - 2:46
09. Hobo Blues - Dr Ross - 4:36
10. Stack O'Dollars - Big Joe Williams - 2:43
11. Polly Put The Kettle On - James Cotton - 1:50
12. Five Long Years - Eddie Boyd - 2:54
13. Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - Dr Ross - 3:01
14. Alberta - Maxwell Street Jimmy - 2:57
15. I Ain't Got Nobody - Big Joe Williams - 2:57
16. Preachin' Blues - Son House - 4:43
17. I Wish I Was In Heaven Sitting Down - Rev Robert Wilkins - 3:54
18. Pleadin' Blues - Little Brother Montgomery - 4:21
19. Lend Me Your Love - Sunnyland Slim - 3:57
20. Two Trains Running - Maxwell Street Jimmy - 2:17
21. Whistlin' Pines - Big Joe Williams - 2:20
22. O Lord I Want You To Help Me - Rev Robert Wilkins - 3:25

Personnel: Various Artists - see above

Notes: The Takoma acoustic blues/folk recordings have been extensively reissued and written about in these pages for several years, making available once again those seminal sides by guitar geniuses such as John Fahey and Leo Kottke. To continue with this reissue programme, Takoma now presents a collection of recordings made in Chicago in the early 1960s by performers who, at the time, represented the predominant traditional blues sound of the city.
Recorded in various locations, from small apartments and tucked-away basements to intimate clubs and tiny studios, the selection demonstrates an easy and natural union between the musicians. There is no sense of formality, just a sense of trying to please one another, evoking a very personal and unusual compilation.
Little Brother Montgomery is best known for his dixieland playing in Chicago's larger and noisier clubs. But on 'Hestitating Blues' and 'Michigan Water Blues', accompanied by Michael Bloomfield, was a rare occasion where he played traditional tracks at a smaller club called the Fickle Pickle - the music he loved best.
John Lee Granderson was in his 50s when he recorded his solo contributions. A Tennessee man who had travelled and played all over the South during his younger days, here he recorded in a Chicago apartment were he worked as a janitor. Using the most basic guitar he displays a mastery of the instrument.
Dr Isaiah Ross acquired his nickname "The Doctor" because he obsessively read medical books during his military service. He played guitar and harmonica at the same time, and occasionally interjected with his own vocals. Both 'Chicago Breakdown' and 'Hobo Blue's were recorded in concert at the University of Chicago in 1965.
Big Joe Williams plays in the harsh Delta tradition and is best known for playing the 9-string guitar. Here he plays 6-string and is accompanied by Paul Butterfield on harmonica. Recorded in 1965 in a small film studio the two improvise a session reminiscent of the 1941 Bluebird sessions with Big Joe and Sonny Boy Williamson.
Harpist James Cotton was a pupil of Sonny Boy Williamson. He came to Chicago after a recording stint alongside Howlin' Wolf for Sun Records and joined Muddy Waters' band then went solo. Here he plays with Paul Butterfield, alongside guitarist Elvin Bishop.
Maxwell Street Jimmy's real name was Charles Thomas. He was discovered playing outside his restaurant on Maxwell Street, in his cook's apron. Here he was recorded at the Fickle Pickle on the traditional blues night in 1963.
Finally, Eddie Boyd arrived in Chicago having followed the same route as Cotton, but playing the piano. He left Waters' band saying Muddy didn't play sweet enough for his taste. Having recorded for many small Chicago labels, including J.O.B and Chess, he recorded his blues classic 'Five Long Years' in 1952. This version was recorded 11 years later.

                                                This post dedicated to dreumis :-)
                                                                 Takoma Blues
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