The Iconic Blues Historic Blues from 1930s to 1970s
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 11
BLUES BLAST MAGAZINE – Apr 2023
Black Diamond Express: Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Set 11
Nimbus Records
Six CD Set
In the 1980's, Johnny Parth, a well-known Austrian music collector and curator, compiled significant collections from the early days of blues recordings from the 1920's and 1930's. He joined with Paul Oliver, a world authority and significant researcher of early blues musicians, provided significant notes and insights into the artists and their songs. 42 albums were initially released on the Saydisc Records label between 1982 to 1988. Those albums have been compiled into 6 cd box sets that were released in the first seven box sets. The collection has now been expanded to cover 72 CDs. The additional cd's are compiled from earlier cd's released by Saydisc in the late 60's which further covered the early years of the blues both on song releases and, in many instances, field recordings of the musicians. The various sets cover the gamut of early blues from gospel, hokum, and ragtime leading to the advent of modern blues, rock & roll, and the 1960's British blues boom. Many of the recordings come from very obscure and rare 78's. The box sets have all of Paul Oliver's notes provided in the original releases.
As shown in the title, this is the eleventh box set release. For the most part, this set focuses on early piano blues. Those cd's include Peetie Wheatstraw on two CD's, Little Brother Montgomery, and a compilation of various piano players. Kokomo Arnold is the only non-piano playing blues artist in the set. However, his connection to the other music in the box is that Kokomo was a frequent performer with Peetie Wheatstraw. The final cd in the set focuses on a wide range of pre-WWII and post war recordings of gospel music.
The first cd is labeled simply as Piano Blues and features 14 songs by eight different artists. Oliver comments that prior to these releases, piano players were mostly ignored and not even particularly considered to be part of the history of blues. The obvious focus of historians was the southern influence, particularly Mississippi, of the era's guitarists. The earliest recordings on the album are two songs, "Crazy About My Baby" and Bustin' The Jug", from Blind Roosevelt Graves featuring Will Ezell on piano recorded in Richmond, Indiana in 1929. Most of the remaining songs in the set by Shorty Bob Parker, Little Brother Montgomery, Springback James, Mississippi Jook Band (Roosevelt Graves with Cooney Vaughan on piano), Lee Brown with Sam Price on piano, and Pinetop and Lindberg (Aaron & Lindberg Sparks) were recorded in the mid 1930's. Cripple Clarence Lofton has two songs, "I Don't Know" (1939) and "Policy Blues" (1943).
James "Kokomo" Arnold, born in Lovejoy, Georgia, is featured on the second cd. Fourteen songs are again featured on the album. The songs provided are from 1935 to 1938 and are a selection from over 100 songs Kokomo recorded in his brief career. Kokomo's musical trip began in 1930 under the name of Gitfiddlin' Jim. The represented songs also do not include his best-known songs that were hits in the era, "Milk Cow Blues" and "Old Original Kokomo Blues", the first still showing up on modern era albums. His bottleneck guitar style is considered to be unique. Arnold reportedly got fed up with the music industry, stepped away to work in a Chicago mill, and further refused to ever have anything to do with the recording industry although he continued to play.
Discs 3 and 4 features Peetie Wheatstraw. The first is titled The Devil's Son-in-Law (1930-36) and the latter's title is The High Sheriff From Hell (1936-38). Wheatstraw, real name William Bunch, was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. He recorded over 170 songs under his own name and was one of the top-selling blues artists of his era. Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Boy Williamson and even Robert Johnson cited him as an influence. His songs deal heavily with his sexual prowess, gambling and other similar proclivities leading to his nicknames provided as the series' album titles. Both cd's include 16 songs. His song "Sugar Mama" including Lonnie Johnson on guitar was later recorded by John lee Hooker.
Disc 5 Little Brother Montgomery (1930 - 1969) covers the career of Eurreal Montgomery, who was born in 1906 in Kentwood, Louisiana. Unlike many pianists, Montgomery could play anything from jazz to opera and in the 1960's was a regular performer at Chicago's McParlans Lounge, an Irish bar, where he mixed his blues with popular Irish songs. Unlike the first four cd's, the sixteen songs are about an equal mix of songs from the 30's and songs from the 50's and 60's finishing with three songs from a 1969 release, two years after he had to quit performing after suffering a stroke. Jean Carroll provides vocals on two of those latter songs.
On Disc 6, the music provides 26 songs divided equally between pre-war and post-war gospel music. The disc's title, Black Diamond Express to Hell, somehow feels in contrast to the music presented. Per notes provided by The Rev. Doug Constable for this cd, the music is "an expression of common traditions and social outlook, common convictions about man's way to redemption, and of an intimacy within the congregation that is unfamiliar to members of European churches". The music presented here is authentic music as heard in many church gatherings of African Americans.
As might be expected of recordings that were transferred from 78 RPM records and from field recordings made from setups from the back of a car almost 100 years ago, the music is scratchy and sometimes difficult to hear the vocals. However, for those who wants to delve into the deep history of the blues, the Bluesmasters series is certainly an excellently archived collection. The twelfth and final box set in the series is scheduled for release in September 2023 and will feature Matchbox's role in the introduction to the British blues boom.
Writer John Sacksteder is a retired civil engineer in Louisville, Kentucky who has a lifelong love of music, particularly the blues. He is currently the Editor of the Kentuckiana Blues Society's monthly newsletter.
Henry’s Blueshouse
Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol.11
Here’s the 11th of the impressive series of blues releases by Matchbox – each release comprises of six CDs – this set has a playing time of 5 hours and 11 minutes.
This splendid and insightful review came from the pen of Stuart Maxwell, the singer, harmonica player and frontman of one of Henry’s most favourite bands, Shufflepack, who will next grace our stage on Tuesday 6th June.
This is a journey. We're taken from hell to heaven via some of the dodgiest barrelhouses and juke joints to be found in America in the middle of the last century.
Number eleven in the Matchbox Bluesmaster reissues brings us six more CDs that bring together recordings from some of the biggest names in black music from the middle of the last century, as well as some of the most obscure.
Championing the cause of Hades is Peetie Wheatstraw, who was every bit as good a marketing man as he was a musician. Possibly better, because he rarely strayed far from the simple formula that made his name and secured him some one hundred and seventy recording dates before his adopted father-in-law called him down to the region of the damned in 1941. Still, the self-appointed High Sherriff from Hell wrote some highly entertaining songs and there’s enough variety here to show why his influence extended far beyond his untimely passing.
Salvation is given to us in the form of the sixth disc of this collection, the original LP of which gives the set its title. It is a glorious collection of sanctified recordings, including a stirring sermon from Rev. J.C. Burnett which is undimmed by the rudimentary recording and the ravages of time. No lover of blues and soul can ignore the spiritual dimension that shapes the music, and here it is in all its transcendental, if slightly hysterical, majesty.
But heaven and hell are not reserved solely for angels, fallen or otherwise. This set also brings us collections from Kokomo Arnold and Little Brother Montgomery, both of which hit you with an altogether more elemental energy even than Rev. Burnett.
Arnold has never been given the status he deserves as a singer and guitarist of peerless potency. It doesn't help that he didn't die in mysterious circumstances, and that he turned his back on music, refusing to be part of the blues revival of the 1960s that did so much for Son House, Fred McDowell and their like.
He did enough though and his legacy speaks for itself to those lucky enough to explore it. Have a listen to The Twelves on this collection; there aren't many performances as joyously aggressive as this in any musical genre, and Kokomo knows it for sure, judging by his wicked chuckle as he hammers through it.
Eurreal “Little Brother” Montgomery, by contrast, had a long and distinguished career as a performer and recording artist. The collection in this set shows off his versatility as a soloist and ensemble player and the more you hear, the more you are drawn into his world.
By the time you get to Winding Ball Blues you are ready to be caught up irretrievably in its simple beauty. Recorded in 1954, it was not issued until Matchbox put it in this collection in 1971.
As with all these CD reissues, we have cause to be infinitely grateful to the original compilers and to series producer Gef Lucena for bringing these magnificent performances to us. As Blind Mamie and her husband A.C. Forehand declare, we can be so glad today that God – or the devil – has given us this music.
Stuart Maxwell
Blues In Britain
Matchbox Bluesmaster Series 11 : Black Diamond Express
(6 CD set)
Saydisc/Nimbus Records
As we reach the eleventh set of this unmissable collection of historic blues recordings, yet again it's like opening a treasure trove, each set bringing new and lasting pleasures for blues fans. Set 11 seals the bond of what a great series these Matchbox Bluesmaster compilations are, covering recordings from 1929 to 1969, everything still sounding absolutely amazing. As with the other sets, these recordings were originally issued on vinyl in 1970, but have never seen light of day on CD until now.
Disc I is entitled Blues Piano, fourteen slices of the best in piano-based blues taken from sessions recorded in the thirties from Chicago, Richmond, New York, New Orleans, Atlanta and Hattiesburg, Mississippi. When first released on vinyl back in 1968, Paul Oliver stated in his sleeve notes, "There was a gap in the released piano blues market, so we have attempted to illustrate some of the varied roles the piano played on early records, in the hope that the reception will be favourable enough to lead to the release of more of these neglected classics." One listen to this superb set of recordings confirms that expectation: these are long overdue nuggets of pure blues gold. We open with the wonderful voice and piano of Cripple Clarence Loften on two absolutely incredible tracks, 'I Don't Know' and 'Policy Blues', followed by Blind Roosevelt Graves, joined by another master of the ivories Will Ezell, for 'Crazy about My Baby' and 'Bustin' The Jug'. Other highlights of this first disc include the recording of Pinetop and Lindberg (actually Aaron and Linberg Sparks recorded in Atlanta playing 'East Chicago Blues'), swing over to New York and catch Lee Brown on vocals with Sam Price on the piano 'Down By The M & O' or travel down to Mississippi and join Blind Roosevelt Graves and his Mississippi Jook Band featuring the keys of Uaray Graves. To Chicago for some 'Texas Holler Blues' with the wonderfully named Springback James (Frank James) rolling the blues keys to perfection. Along with the likes of Clarence Loften, Roosevelt Sykes and Shorty Bob Parker, along with Little Brother Montgomery, this is piano blues at its very best.
Disc 2 features left-handed slide guitarist Kokomo Arnold: fourteen blues classics recorded between 1935-1938, three featuring the piano of Peetie Wheatstraw (who was also a guitar player). Most of the other tracks feature Kokomo solo, though there's a little string bass on a couple. Kokomo was one of the most prolific artists of the 1930s and later became a mill worker in Chicago. His first record came along in 1930 as Gutfiddle Jim and consisted of the best two sides he would ever record. The bluesman from Lovejoy, Georgia was one of the finest bottle neck guitarists of his time, said by many to be the finest ever. His career really took off in 1934, and here we find him a few years later playing songs such as 'Tired Of Running From Door To Door', 'Kid Man Blues', 'The Twelves', 'Big Leg Mama' and 'Back On The Job', plus the neat title of 'Slop Jar Blues'.
Disc 3 and 4 feature two volumes by the man known as "the devil's son-in-law", Peetie Wheatstraw. The first volume is from 1930-1936, the second (subtitled The High Sheriff From Hell) recordings from 1936-1938. Wheatstraw was one of the small band of post-depression bluesmen who recorded extensively and sold well throughout the thirties. Peetie was also one of the most influential and unique artists of the time, mainly in his early years, alongside such artists as Blind Boy Fuller, Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Johnson. Born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, his real name was William Bunch and he recorded around 170 sides under his own name as well as accompanying several others. It's interesting to note that several tracks see Kokomo Arnold joining Peetie on songs such as 'Low Down Rascal', the ever-timely 'When I Get My Bonus' and 'False Hearted Woman'. A couple of other tracks feature Lonnie Johnson on guitar: Two songs 'Truckin' Thru' Traffic' and 'Sugar Mama' became associated with artists such as John Lee Hooker, but just take a listen to Peetie's originals, they remain hugely influential recordings all these years later: Over these two discs we are treated to thirty two of his finest sides from his finest period.
Disc 5 lands us in amongst some of the finest piano blues recordings ever, courtesy of that great bluesman Little Brother Montgomery. Taken over a long period between 1930 and
1969, it's a tasty sixteen tracks. From those 1930 sessions, we have 'No Special Rider Blues', a superb version of 'Vicksburg Blues' and 'Louisiana Blues', where he's joined on guitar by Minnie Hicks. Alongside solo sides, Little Brother also headed a trio and a band that came under the title of His Jazz Blues Band. From a 1969 session, there's the wonderful but little-remembered voice of Jeanne Carroll. Born Eurreal Wilford Montgomery, and a close friend of another big name in piano blues, Roosevelt Sykes, he was part of a rapidlyvanishing tradition of blues piano men, playing barrelhouse piano, a tradition you hear very little of now. These recordings show not only how great he was as an artist but demonstrate a form of blues that should not be forgotten. As quoted by writer Derrick Stewart Baxter, "as long as artists such as Montgomery are around, piano blues cannot die." True indeed.
Disc 6 is entitled Black Diamond Express To HelI, containing a generous 26 pre-war and postwar tracks taken from several sessions between 1927 and 1951, all recorded while there was an incredible growth in the music of the African American churches. It was a period of incredibly jubilant recordings of Gospel music, alive with common traditions and social outlook. Unlike the staid music that would be heard in European churches at the time, these tracks breathe life and joy, whether you're a believer or not. Opening with 'Mother's Prayer' featuring A C Forehand, joined by one Blind Mamie Forehand on hand cymbals, then a Christmas Song featuring the wonderfully-named Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, Half Pint Jackson and one Punch Miller. 'I Saw The Light' is by Bull City Red and he's joined by a true blues legend in Blind Gary Davis on guitar: These come from the pre-war sessions but, after 1945, we get a cracking version of 'Lay My Burden Down' from Prophet B W West, 'I'll Fly Away' by the Rev.BC Campbell and his congregation and a couple of superb Gospel tracks performed by the Goldrock Gospel Singers. Many songs in this set have been since recorded by several artists in more modern times, but there's something about these recordings that modern techniques can't improve on.
Quite simply, like this entire series, this is another box of unmissable recordings, as fresh and exciting today as they were when they were first recorded. Don't miss one disc of this wonderful series.
Pete Clack
Note: The final set, no. 12 in this incredible series due later this year, features an unmissable collection of British blues devoted to the British Blues Boom of the 1960s: Dave Kelly, Jo Anne Kelly, Dave Peabody, Fran McGillivray, Mike Cooper, Ian Anderson and many more.
Trevor Hodgett (RnR May/June 2023)
****
Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Set 11 Black Diamond Express
(MATCHBOX) www.saydisc.com
The latest six-CD boxed set in the marvellous Matchbox Bluesmaster series collates six compilation albums originally released in the Late 60s and early 70s.
CD One includes piano-led tracks recorded between 1929 and 1943 by Cripple Clarence Lofton (such as an exuberant 'I Don't Know'), The Mississippi Jook Band, Shorty Bob Parker and others.
CD Two features 1935-1938 tracks by dazzling slide guitarist Kokomo Arnold including 'The Twelves' (his version of 'The Dirty Dozens') and 'Big Ship Blues' which shows his skill as a lyricist.
CDs Three and Four feature 1930-1938 tracks by Peetie Wheatstraw but although some of these are great, his playing is mind-numbingly repetitive with the same intro, for example, appearing on several songs.
CD Five compiles Little Brother Montgomery tracks recorded between 1930 and 1969. Included are three versions of his rhythmically complex signature song 'Vicksburg Blues' and 'Winding Ball Blues', an elegant instrumental.
CD Six is dedicated to African-American church music recorded between 1927 and 1953 and includes electrifyingly powerful performances such as 'Laid My Burden Down' by Prophet B.W. West and 'I'll Fly Away' by Rev. B.C. Campbell and Congregation.
Trevor Hodgett (RnR May/June 2023)
MATCHBOX BLUESMASTERS SERIES - SET 11
Black Diamond Express
MSESET11 - 6 CD
Max W Sievert (JEFFERSON BLUES MAG, SWEDEN)
Now we have reached the finals of Matchbox's re-release of previous albums. The first seven sets contained all 42 LPs in the previous Bluesmaster series from 1982-88. The remaining sets have presented LPs that the company released in the 1970s. Here come the last six with a focus on piano.
CD1 – BLUES PIANO – SDR 146 (41 min)
A collection of piano blues, something that was not so common when this LP was originally released back in 1968. Familiar artists like Little Brother Montgomery and Cripple Clarence Lofton along with more obscure names like Shorty Bob Parker or Frank "Springback" James. Some tracks have the piano as a prominent accompaniment, although it is not the pianist who is responsible for the song. Blind Roosevelt Graves is backed by Will Ezell (the oldest tracks here, from 1929) and Cooney Vaughn on the keys, respectively. The "most recent" track is "Policy Blues" by Lofton from 1943.
CD2 – KOKOMO ARNOLD – SDR 163 (42 min)
Kokomo Arnold is a somewhat forgotten artist, best known for his "Milk Cow Blues", exactly, the "Elvis song". Born in Georgia around the turn of the last century (the exact year is debated), it is his rich lyrics and fine left-handed slide playing that mainly characterize him. He debuted back in 1930 under the name Gitfiddle Jim, but here we get 14 songs from his recordings for Decca during the mid-30's. Piano accompaniment on some tracks, but mostly it's Arnold's guitar that shines. "Busy Bootin" and "Kid Man Blues" are fine examples of an artist whose music was a significant influence for Robert Johnson.
CD3 – PEETIE WHEATSTRAW Vol. 1 – The Devil´s Son-In-Law SDR 191 (48 min)
CD4 – PEETIE WHEATSTRAW Vol. 2 – The High Sheriff From Hell SDR 192 (50 min)
Wheatstraw was a very prolific artist with over 160 songs in his own name. Here we get a selection of 32 recorded between the years 1930-38. Peetie was one of those who sold his soul to the devil, at which roundabout this happened, however, is unclear. He was mainly a pianist, and today his music may sound quite repetitive, but when it was released on 78s it was quite different. Surely it was his lyrics that attracted the record-buying audience. Paul Garon analysed Peetie's lyrics in his book "The Devil's Son-In-Law" in Studio Vista's Blue's Paperback series. There was much more to them than his obligatory "Ooh, well well". Born on December 21, 1902, the celebration of his 39th birthday came to a disastrous end. Together with two friends (Big Joe Williams had jumped out of the car a little earlier), they drove at full speed into a freight train and were thrown out of the car. All died.
CD5 – LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY – No Special Rider Blues SDR 213 (53 min)
Montgomery was included in Matchbox set 8 with a LP recorded in 1972. Here we get a mix of both older and later material. His first two 78s from 1930/31 are included along with some songs from 1936. "Cow Cow Blues" dates from 1954 and the closing three songs from a session for FM Records with vocals by Jeanne Carrol, a singer in the classical style. "In The Evening" and "Michigan Water Blues" from 1960 with a larger "jazz band" are excellent examples of Montgomery's breadth. Few artists could sing the low-down blues in such a heartfelt, sad, but yet beautiful way.
CD6 – BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS TO HELL – SDX207/208 (78 min)
Originally a 2-LP of African American religious music, divided into prewar and post-war. 13 songs from the years 1927-36 with genuinely religious artists such as A.C. Forehand, Rev. F.W McGhee and Elder Otis Jones. But also the Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers with Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon on vocals. Bull City Red´s "I Saw The Light" has Blind Gary Davis on guitar while Daniel Brown's "Beulah Land" features guitar by Blind Blake.
The post-war part covers the years 1944-53 (plus some unknown dates). Rev. Utah Smith rocks in New York on "I Want 2 Wings", guitar and supportive congregation. On the West Coast, Rev. Charles White does "How Long", a test for Jaxyson Records, accompanied by James "Black Diamond" Butler who did the classic "T.P. Railer" and "Lonesome Blues" for the same label. Rev. A. Johnson plays steel on two songs from 1952/53.
Some songs had to be deleted due to space reasons when the original double became a CD. However, these are easily accessible on other releases, such as a couple with Bo Weavil Jackson.
What an achievement! 64 LPs has become 11 sets with a total of 66 CDs. An outstanding document of more than 30 years of record releases. Game, set and match.
Max W Sievert
LONDON JAZZ NEWS SET 11 REVIEW
Blues piano, as David Harrison (note-writer to Disc 1), points out, is an under-represented and under-researched area of the music. He attributes this neglect to the perceived “inauthenticity” of the instrument in what was seen as a predominantly rural, country artform by its champions in the Blues Revival. The examples of the form included on most of the discs in this collection (Kokomo Arnold’s tracks feature him on guitar) demonstrate just how short-sighted this view was.
Disc 1, Blues Piano, features a representative selection of pianists, beginning with one of the most justly celebrated: Cripple Clarence Lofton, whose two tracks (recorded in 1939 and 1943) showcase the Tennessee bluesman’s jaunty, spirited playing complementing his pleasantly laid-back vocals. Blind Roosevelt Graves then contributes two vocals, backed by his own guitar and the piano of Will Ezell. “Crazy ’Bout My Baby” and ‘Bustin’ the Jug” are both jook-band-type numbers featuring Graves and his half-brother Uaroy Graves; two later cuts, “Skippy Whippy” and “Dangerous Woman”, are by a similar outfit, named the Mississippi Jook Band, with which Cooney Vaughanperforms on piano. The former tracks are relatively relaxed affairs with a semi-competent (unknown) cornet player; the latter, though tighter, are similarly informal. Shorty Bob Parker is a somewhat mysterious figure, his reedy vocals on “Rain and Snow” and Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “So Cold in China” ably supported by the guitar of Kid Prince Moore. Little Brother Montgomery needs no introduction; he contributes a single characteristically robust piano solo track, “Farish St. Jive”. Springback James, on the other hand, is “almost a biographical blank”, according to Harrison, as is Lee Brown, who is accompanied by the better-known pianist Sam Price, a widely recorded contemporary artist. The St. Louis-based brothers Aaron and Lindberg Sparks conclude the selection, which more than vindicates Harrison’s assertion that these recordings are “neglected classics”.
If ever this last description applied to the oeuvre of anyone in early blues, it surely applies to the work of the performer on Disc 2, Kokomo Arnold. His fourteen tracks here showcase all his considerable strengths: a blisteringly urgent vocal style, powerful (left-handed) bottleneck guitar playing, lyrical inventiveness. He started his career (in 1930) with a bang, his two greatest sides “Paddlin’ Blues” and “Rainy Night Blues”, but it was in 1934 that he launched his career proper with “Milk Cow Blues” and “Old Original Kokomo Blues”, the Scrapper Blackwell song that gave him his name. The cuts on this disc were recorded between 1935 and 1938 in Chicago and New York, and they demonstrate just why he was such a powerful influence on contemporary blues singers, most notably Robert Johnson. Arnold is arguably at his best heard solo, but he is also highly effective on the tracks featuring piano accompaniment (mostly from Peetie Wheatstraw). His lyrics, like those of many of his contemporaries, are often violently misogynistic (“Says I feel just like mama, throwing my slop jar in your face (x2)/Said you done lost your mind, and let that old out‑minder take my place. Now I could cut your throat mama, and drink your blood like wine (x2)/Because you’s a dirty old buzzard, and you sure done lost your mind”), but they can also be surprisingly poetic and reflective. He refused to record after 1941, and died (in Chicago) in 1968, still cruelly under-appreciated.
Another highly influential bluesman, Peetie Wheatstraw was extensively recorded in in the 1930s, and Discs 3 and 4 comprise 32 tracks made before his premature death (in a car crash) in 1941. He plays rather basic, percussive piano on all these cuts, accompanied (on Disc 3) by guitarists such as Charley Jordan, Will Weldonand Charlie McCoy and (on Disc 4) by Kokomo Arnold and Lonnie Johnson, his voice a somewhat slurred drawl, his lyrics the customary mixture of what liner-note writer Jack Parsonscalls “bragging off-handedness” and “attempts to catalogue some of the types of no-good women the singer has known”. Although Wheatstraw stands out from many of his more introspective contemporaries by prioritising informality and sheer entertainment over soul-searching (his “Throw Me in the Alley” here, backed by a lively band of trombone, clarinet and violin, is a highlight of Disc 3), Tony Russell perhaps hits the nail on the head when, referring to the lack of variety in Wheatstraw’s repertoire, he comments: “Anybody listening to long stretches of his recordings is likely to go stir-crazy”; the two discs here are therefore probably best listened to separately.
Disc 5 documents the varied talents of a man liner-note writer Derrick Stewart Baxter refers to as a “barrelhouse pianist, blues singer and entertainer extraordinary”: Little Brother Montgomery. During a long career, he played everything from straightforward blues to jazz, opera and even torch songs and popular fare such as “A Long Way to Tipperary”. His voice is an affecting plaintive warble, but it is his virtuosic but always propulsively swinging piano that immediately captures and holds the attention. The 16 cuts on this disc come from a 40-year span in his career (1930–69) and include his first recordings (the somewhat tricksy “Vicksburg Blues” and “No Special Rider”), the ragtime-tinged “Mule Face Rag” and – with a “jazz blues band” – the richly atmospheric “In the Evening” and “Michigan Water Blues”, and are rounded off by three trio recordings (with drummer Red Saunders and bassist Truck Parham) from 1969. A legend on top form.
Concluding with 26 Gospel tracks, divided equally between those recorded pre- and post-war, and ranging from the downright sentimental (“Mother’s Prayer” by A. C. Forehand) to the fiercely evangelistic (“Arise and Shine” by Lonnie McIntorsh) or joyously celebratory (“I’ll Fly Away” by Rev. B. C. Cambell and his lively congregation), this six-CD set (the eleventh in Matchbox’s excellent reissue series) provides yet more evidence of the inestimable value, both cultural and social, of the blues and related music. (Chris Parker)
BLACK DIAMOND EXPRESS: MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES SET 11
Matchbox MSESET11, 6 CDs, approx 5 hours 11 minutes
This is a journey. We're taken from hell to heaven via some of the dodgiest barrelhouses and juke joints to be found in America in the middle of the last century.
Number eleven in the Matchbox Bluesmaster reissues brings us six more CDs that bring together recordings from some of the biggest names in black music from the middle of the last century, as well as some of the most obscure.
Championing the cause of Hades is Peetie Wheatstraw, who was every bit as good a marketing man as he was a musician. Possibly better, because he rarely strayed far from the simple formula that made his name and secured him some one hundred and seventy recording dates before his adopted father-in-law called him down to the region of the damned in 1941. Still, the self-appointed High Sherriff from Hell wrote some highly entertaining songs and there’s enough variety here to show why his influence extended far beyond his untimely passing.
Salvation is given to us in the form of the sixth disc of this collection, the original LP of which gives the set its title. It is a glorious collection of sanctified recordings, including a stirring sermon from Rev. J.C. Burnett which is undimmed by the rudimentary recording and the ravages of time. No lover of blues and soul can ignore the spiritual dimension that shapes the music, and here it is in all its transcendental, if slightly hysterical, majesty.
But heaven and hell are not reserved solely for angels, fallen or otherwise. This set also brings us collections from Kokomo Arnold and Little Brother Montgomery, both of which hit you with an altogether more elemental energy even than Rev. Burnett.
Arnold has never been given the status he deserves as a singer and guitarist of peerless potency. It doesn't help that he didn't die in mysterious circumstances, and that he turned his back on music, refusing to be part of the blues revival of the 1960s that did so much for Son House, Fred McDowell and their like.
He did enough though and his legacy speaks for itself to those lucky enough to explore it. Have a listen to The Twelves on this collection; there aren't many performances as joyously aggressive as this in any musical genre, and Kokomo knows it for sure, judging by his wicked chuckle as he hammers through it.
Eurreal “Little Brother” Montgomery, by contrast, had a long and distinguished career as a performer and recording artist. The collection in this set shows off his versatility as a soloist and ensemble player and the more you hear, the more you are drawn into his world.
By the time you get to Winding Ball Blues you are ready to be caught up irretrievably in its simple beauty. Recorded in 1954, it was not issued until Matchbox put it in this collection in 1971.
As with all these CD reissues, we have cause to be infinitely grateful to the original compilers and to series producer Gef Lucena for bringing these magnificent performances to us. As Blind Mamie and her husband A.C. Forehand declare, we can be so glad today that God – or the devil – has given us this music.
STUART MAXWELL, Jazz Rag