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Jeez, Mississippi Fred McDowell. When Blues is Blues it is spooky.
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02-18-2020 05:16 AM
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there are a lot of jazz-blues that stays in the spirit of the blues. Someone brought Herb Ellis' record, Starring Stan Getz and Roy Eldrige, it's one of Getz's best
Getz's counter-sing at 4:10 then solo at 4:45
there is obviously Mingus, and so much free jazz or its heritage
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BB King + the Count Basie Orchestra. BB's voice so absolutely glorious. And it's like God's Orchestra supporting him.
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I went through a blues harmonica phase, still got one of these. I did at least learn how to bend the notes a bit.
Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
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it was one of my first instruments, with the flute recorder. I never got to do the bluesmen's stuff with it. I also have a Honner like Toots Thielemans, there it's even worse Originally Posted by grahambop
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Tell me all about it! I ordered most of my blues albums from Chris Strachwitz' "Down Home Music" shop and mail order - those were the times when shipping costs were still reasonable. Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
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I still try and play a bit of slide occasionally, it’s such a great expressive sound, but I’m not very good at it!
Here’s one of the famous examples.
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Remember when the blues was cool enough to be used in TV ads?
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Clarence Gatemouth Brown is one of my favourites, you get a bit of everything when he plays!
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young Van Morrison
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Used record stores in Nashville are where I found a lot of my early blues albums. I still recall how t-h-i-c-k Albert King's "Travelin' to California" was. First Robert Johnson albums were on Columbia, not so thick, much shinier. The things one remembers years later... Originally Posted by TOMMO
Later still, I ordered cassettes from a guy in Virginia who was taping from old albums, mostly out of print. I got my first Bob Wills recordings that way. (My uncle Tommy had them on 78s and sometimes he would play them for me.)
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Yeah, Fathers and Son, Live at the Regal, and the Beano records were major touchstones for me. I have a lot of blues recordings since I've always played and listened to blues as much as I have to jazz, but if we're talking stuff that was foundational/formative, here are few more: Originally Posted by joelf
Mike Bloomfield: "Between a Hard Place and the Ground"
Rev. Gary Davis Jr: Live at Newport
Blues Project: Live at the Cafe Au GoGo
Jimmy Reed: I had a couple of singles collections, I think one was called the Best of Jimmy Reed
Otis Rush: So Many Roads Live in Japan
Albert King: King of the Blues Guitar
Freddie King: Let's Hide Away and Dance with Freddie King
Hot Tuna: the first live album, and Burgers
Lightin Hopkins: The Best of Lightnin Hopkins
Paul Butterfield Blues Band: The first album, and East/West
Derek and the Dominoes: Layla
Robert Johnson: Kind for the Delta Blues Singers
I was fortunate to have gotten into blues when there was still a pretty vibrant live blues scene in NY, and was able to see a lot of great people live just at the point when I was trying to learn this music. I also had a few lessons with Danny Kalb (of the Blues Project) in high school, and he showed me a lot of stuff and got me singing, which is really the key to playing the blues.
John
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All my favorite jazz knows the blues. I can hear it pretty quickly. Great idea for a thread.
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This is one of my favorite records, blues or not. The bridge is unusual.
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Another one from Taj Mahal, totally different vibe.
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Can't say I have heard him mentioned hereabouts , although not a guitar player. I love Junior Mance his albums are a great place to dig into blues ideas
Will
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My favorite song from the first Taj Mahal album I got as a teenager. (That's the original cover pictured in the video.)
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How about this one?
Joseph Spence!... i mean, if Monk was a Blues player.. 
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And*: Originally Posted by John A.
Albert King: Years Gone By
Paul Butterfield: The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw; In My Own Dream
Mike Bloomfield: It Ain't Killin' Me
Jesse Fuller: (Anything)
*Did anyone have this collection LP with a lot of mostly Chicago artists? Can't remember the name for the life of me, but it had an astounding moment in the middle of----I think---a Lowell Fulsom cut. Someone shouts out, music playing, 'Heil Hitler!'. Bizarre. Guess it was someone's idea of a joke?
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Beat me to the punch, you m$$$$# f**&^---LOL. Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
'She caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride...'
Takes me back to when, in about '68, ca, Jonathan Schwartz was a rock DJ on WNEW FM. He played Taj a lot. I used to lie on the floor in front of the family Magnivox entertainment center for 8 hours at a time, spellbound.
Any wonder I turned out like this? (Insert stick figure of nut job here)...
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For guys my age, this was influential eye opening affirmation of the power and validity of contemporary electric interpretations of the country blues. Post Cream, pre SRV. Allmans owned it.
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Deep Lightnin' Hopkins.
Muddy w/ James Cotton. Wish I knew the rest of the group, but they are stellar no doubt.
Can't forget Freddie
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Two I can identify in the clip are: Pee Wee Madison - gtr. and Otis Spann - piano, plus most probably (because it was the line-up in 1966): Luther Johnson on bass and Francis Clay on drums. Originally Posted by arielcee
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Different forms of country blues
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Couldn't agree more. The guitar parts were great---I don't think there is a better two-guitar tandem in rock history than Duane Allman and Dickie Betts---and the rhythm was singular. Using two drummers gave them a feel no other rock-blues band had. I spent a couple days recently listening to "Fillmore East", "Eat A Peach" and selected later cuts, over and over. To me, the Allman Bros were giants. Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
Interesting to compare their "You Don't Love Me" with the earliest one. (Which I also like, don't get me wrong.) Between the two was the version by Junior Wells (1965). The Allmans were more influenced by this version than by the Willie Cobbs version. But b/w the Wells version and the Allman Bros version you can hear how much the rhythm section adds. (That's Buddy Guy playing guitar with Junior Wells and it's interesting to compare how he plays the main riff with how the Allmans do it.)
Last edited by MarkRhodes; 02-19-2020 at 12:10 PM.
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Can't forget Elmore James. Zappa once said of him, "He played the same slide lick in every song but I always felt like he meant it." His voice gives me chills. (The best kind.)
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Another big inspiration of the Allmans
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Love Sonny Boy. Listen to him a lot: "I Don't Know," "Your Funeral, My Trial", "Fattening Frogs For Snakes", "Don't Start Me Talkin'". Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
Interesting to hear what the Allmans took from this recording and also what they added. (Their rhythm section was on another level.)
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Smokestack Lightnin'! Howlin' Wolf never seen this one coming........
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I was waiting in an office this morning and watched a Cornell Dupree video on my phone. In it, he said he was very influenced by country music when growing up and that it's an important part of his style. (For those unfamiliar with the name, Cornell Dupree played on over 2,500 sessions--King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, Joe Cocker, hundreds of others-- and is thought of primarily as an R&B guitarist.) Here's a taste from the video, "Rainy Night In Georgia."
Anyway, later in the video he says he doesn't think there's much difference between country music and blues.
I thought of this song, covered by greats from both camps:
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And he and Eric Gale were an important part of Stuff. Caught them live at the old Mikell's. Lovely... Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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cornell dupree was big influence on early hendrix...they played together backing up some r&b greats like king curtis and percy sledge
here's cornell with his guild starfire next to jimi
near his end, cornell had severe respiratory problems and would play on stage with an oxygen tank!!
cheers
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Blind Willie Johnson. What can you say?
Electric or "slick" blues ultimately just sucked the essence right out of the thang, IMO.
Ry does it good.
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Of course, Ryland was another big influence on the Allmans, and a big influence on Duane's slide playing. By listening to Ry's slide on Taj's cover of this tune, Ry taught Duane exactly how to approach it.
*Correct info by Neatomic credits Jesse Edwin Davis as slide on this cut, sorry for my misinformation.
Last edited by cosmic gumbo; 02-23-2020 at 03:28 AM.
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A live version of "Memphis Soul Stew"---talk about a band of legends! Originally Posted by neatomic
cornell dupree was big influence on early hendrix...they played together backing up some r&b greats like king curtis and percy sledge
here's cornell with his guild starfire next to jimi
near his end, cornell had severe respiratory problems and would play on stage with an oxygen tank!!
cheers
The hit single version:
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love ry cooder...and taj..and lindley..(recently posted a cooder/lindley jesus on the mainline in another thread) and tho ry cooder is indeed on the first taj mahal lp..and had played with him beforehand in the rising sons...its the great jesse ed davis that played slide with taj...duane allman spoke about how jesse ed was a big influence on him!!...pretty sure jessie ed used the e tuning that duane used...cooder was a g tuning guy Originally Posted by cosmic gumbo
like i said love'm all..but gotta give jesse ed davis his due...he was a native american, and had a hard short career and life...but he played with many greats..he was a fave of clapton, hari and john lennon too
here he is playing slide on different track from that lp..with (session great) bill boatman on 2nd guitar..ry's not on this
jesse with heavy friends
cheers
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but, here is ry cooder rippin it with capt. beefheart/don van vliet...the producer called in ry...and gave him money to go out and buy an electric guitar...his first..he got a sonic blue strat...(still has!)
and here's the original...by the great robert pete williams...williams had been serving time for manslaughter in angola prison and was released based on his musical talent..various music biz people rallied for his parole
from the ^ utube clip
"Robert Pete Williams (born 1914), author of Grown So Ugly
Covered in 1967 by Captain Beefhart and his Magic Band (arrangement by Ry Cooder)
This cover was then recovered by The Black Keys in 2004
You can like best whichever version you want but Robert still did it first and just him and a guitar."
cheers
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One of my favorite early BB King songs, "You Upset Me, Baby." (The title is always given as "You Upset..." but when singing, BB says "You upsets me...")
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Absolutely mesmeric groove, and magic generated from the one chord. Originally Posted by neatomic
Gives one lots of possibilities to think on...
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A little late to the party, but a few of my faves:
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Thanks for including my late friend Eddy. Worked with him in the early eighties on several european tours and enjoyed a life-long friendship with him. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Earl Coleman. W/ Miles and Gene Ammons.
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One of the greatest intros in Chicago blues, "That's Alright" by Jimmy Rogers.
(Jimmy recorded this song several times, so you may know the song but recall a slightly different version.)
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Yea... back home. Cool thread.
So someone said, all jazz has blues. I'll that that a little further, the consistent, or universal thread through all jazz styles... is the Blues.
So what is the blues?
just some existing thoughts, nothing new.
1) Blues is a Tonality, (not just a song form)
by tonality, I mean... not Functional harmony, unless you want to get into Subdominant Function.
2) Blues use metrical function...... typical maj/min functional harmony or linear harmonic structure etc... become flipped over. Instead of calling Blue Notes embellishments or color, with Blues, all the traditional functional theory becomes... embellishment and color.
3) The only somewhat traditional functional relationship... is the minor 3rd. So like the relative Minor of major relationship... or the relative Maj. or Min. that harmonic or melodic movement can still have functional movement.
4) Chord Patterns or vamps and grooves become repeating or loops... become Tonic. At least within periods of time.
Anyway... just some thoughts. dig all the posts.
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A few blues (and bluesy) things by the Rolling Stones.
The Stones with Muddy Waters
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Agreed. I often teach that tune as a prime example of electric Chicago blues in the key of E. Here's my transcription of the intro and solo: Originally Posted by MarkRhodes
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Wow! Thanks---never knew this existed. What record is it from? Originally Posted by arielcee
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