The Iconic Blues Historic Blues from 1930s to 1970s
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 4
MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES –
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 4
BLUES IN BRITAIN The Matchbox Blues Masters Series - Volumes 3 and 4
Recorded between 1926 and 1950, these are pure blues gold. Many of the artists you may not have heard of before but don't let that put you off. This is the first time any of these tracks have appeared on CD, but between 1982 and 1988 they found a release on LP form through Saydisc Records. In fact most of the recordings were subtitled "Complete Recordings in Chronological Order", with the remainder released as "The Remaining Titles" or "New to LP". The original 78 rpm records, many of them extremely rare, were provided by several collectors for these releases.
Volumes 1 and 2 were reviewed quite recently in this magazine, now come volumes 3 and 4. Texas Alexander who recorded over a twenty year period in San Antonio, Texas had a great earthy blues voice and most of the recordings still sound fine but obviously age and using rare originals affect a few tracks, but the quality of the music far outweigh anything else. The man himself came from the backwoods, could be heard singing in the streets. He recorded some well received tracks for Okeh Records, so to have three discs of his work here is something any blues fan should grab a listen too From the period between 1927 and 1930 and from Atlanta, Georgia come Julius Daniels and Lil McClintock. Both just have guitar backing. Daniels was born in South Carolina and remained pretty obscure, but not so much as McClintock who did all his tracks here in one session, including the wonderfully titled 'Don't Think I'm Santa Claus'. Daniels gets eleven tracks including 'My Mama Was A Sailor’. Names that may seem a little more familiar with long time blues followers is Peg Leg Howell and the wonderful St Louis Bessie whose eighteen recordings in this set prove she was a mighty blues singer. One area covered in these latest releases feature what's called The Sanctified Jug Bands, interesting because of the practice of recording the Sunday sermon and releasing them on disc the next day, preacher usually backed, as here, by three female voices and maybe a single harmonica. This disc includes amongst others Brother Williams Memphis Sanctified Singers and the Holy Ghost Sanctified Singers, all recorded in Memphis. The songs have rhythm mainly through some amazing clapping to set the songs alive; its great toe tapping stuff, full of life and hugely enjoyable fire and brimstone preaching. Set three offers us as an opener from the Memphis Harmonica Kings (1929-30) and the first section of this set is by Noah Lewis. To hear the man himself is a real treat. Again out of Memphis sessions is a mix of solo and band tracks that include Sleepy John Estes on guitar along with Yank Rachell on mandolin . These are legendary tracks, as are the rest of this disc featuring The Beale Street Rounders with Jed Davenport, including songs like 'Milk Cow Blues', 'How Long Blues' and 'I'm Sitting On Top Of The World'.
By the time we hit disc three we find Willard 'Ramblin' Thomas, recorded in Chicago over three sessions between 1928 and 1932. This is solo voice and guitar and over the sixteen tracks there's much to enjoy. Thomas's songs are the work of a poet with his use of imagery and turn of phase, making his music more inventive than others around him at the time.
Next up are the Country Girls of the blues. These recordings from 1926 to '29 offer songs from the likes of Lillian Miller, Hattie Hudson, Gertrude Perkins, Pearl Dickson, Laura Henton and the wonderfully named Bobbie Cadillac. In fact her 'Carbolic Acid Blues' recorded in Dallas, is one of the best titles around, about how a woman treats a cheating man. All of these ladies' tracks feature mainly just piano with a little guitar here and there.
Rufus & Ben Quilian make up the majority of the next disc mostly from a session in New York, with others from Atlanta recorded in 1929 and 1930 while the final disc features an artist fans of classic blues will know slightly better, De Ford Bailey, Of the sixteen tracks all but two are in great shape, the others being poor condition originals, recorded mostly in New York and Atlanta but with one from a Charlotte, NC session.
Along with the six discs in each set, Paul Oliver's extensive original notes make very interesting reading, an insight into these largely unknown musicians and their recordings. Pete Clack
BLUES MATTERS issue 122 Sept 2021 MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES SET 4 Saydisc Records
As advised in earlier reviews of previous collections in this series, this collection is a look as far back into blues history as blues history goes, it’s some of the very earliest recordings ever made. That means that blues scholars and fans alike can find out exactly where their favourite music came from, the people who first wrote this type of music, and sang it, and eventually managed to get it recorded on the primitive equipment of the times. Most of these musicians would be forever lost to obscurity were it not for the purists who have made it their business to treasure this living musical history. Singled out for attention this time is the disc of recordings from St Louis Bessie, Bessie Mae Smith. Smith’s voice is positively ethereal, and it gives an interesting slant on the eternal and depthless mine of blues inspiration, mistreatment of the artist by a loved one. This time, it’s the male of the species who are clearly behaving in ways not appreciated by the singer. Cryin’ For Daddy Blues is a painful lament for her lover who fails even the basic test of treating her right. Unusually for the age of the waxings, 1927 to 1930, the recording quality is more than acceptable, with Bessie being backed by a guitarist and pianist with more than the standard rudimentary grasp of their respective instruments. It also shows a seriously adventurous journey to the very edges of acceptable lyricism in songs like Creepin’ Eel Blues which would no doubt have brought censure from the white population, had they ever been exposed to it, which obviously unlikely. The track My Daddy’s Coffin Blues is a truly desperate tale of a dream in which Bessie’s lover has passed on, featuring some wonderful piano runs between verses. But even that is eclipsed by Death Valley Moan which is every bit as chilling and bleak as the title suggests. It’s not all doom though, St. Louis Daddy is a tale of defiance, Bessie drinks whiskey when she wants and says what she feels, strong stuff for 1929.Wonderful blues. ANDY HUGHES.
Matchbox Bluesmaster Series – Set 4
The carefully prepared 40+ LPs in Saydisc's 1980s Bluesmaster series chronicling pre-war US blues now appear on CD. By Ian Lomax 10 September 2021 JAZZ JOURNAL 393 In 1968, Saydisc created the well-known and much respected Matchbox label with the objective of releasing material by contemporary British country blues artists as well as LPs of pre-war US country blues. When the British blues phenomenon did eventually run out of steam, Matchbox folded in 1977 but returned in 1982 to concentrate on pre-war US blues. It is at this stage Saydisc created the well-received Bluesmaster Series, an undertaking which resulted in the release of 38 LPs and two double-LP sets. Many of these releases were transcribed from mostly rare 78s (as frequently no original source existed) or previously unreleased US Library of Congress recordings. Saydisc is currently making the whole Bluesmaster Series of LPs available on CD, and this is set 4 of a planned seven-set series.
Set 4 comprises six CDs with meticulous tracklisting and original liner notes by the respected blues historian Paul Oliver, who was a world authority on early blues and travelled in the US extensively to try and trace any remaining details of these sometimes-obscure musicians. Comprising just under 100 tracks and lasting approximately five hours, this is blues-fan heaven. It features the music of Texas Alexander, who was a prolific and popular singer. Female blues is represented by the outlandish St. Louis Bessie (aka Bessie Mae Smith) complete with risqué lyrics and featuring some outstanding guitar playing by Lonnie Johnson. Atlanta blues comes from Julius Daniels and there is a variety of early gospel music from four sanctified singer groups, including the Brother Williams Memphis Sanctified Singers and Elder Richard Bryant. The sound is more than acceptable considering the variable quality of the sources. This is pre-war US country blues at its finest and its rawest. It is also the yin and yang of the genre. The more authentic the blues, the more problematic the quality. Nonetheless, Matchbox have done a splendid job – first in preserving and committing the source to vinyl and then digitalising the entire Bluesmaster Series. Many of these artists, such as Texas Alexander and Bessie Mae Smith, are not as well known as some of their contemporaries but they are equally talented. Unfortunately, circumstances as much as talent often determined a musician’s place in the future blues hall of fame. The music is of historic importance and highly entertaining. The listener is transported back to a time that we can barely imagine in the UK. The music is a testimony to the stoicism and the endurance of a black community that would continue to endure absolute poverty and discrimination for the remainder of the century (and later). The music is never about a better earthly future, but an expression of shared negative experiences. Race records, of course, were not targeted at white listeners. They were sold and marketed to be bought by a black audience, who could identify with the songs being sung. Gospel music did offer some hope of salvation; but even this was a temporary respite to the daily grind as the reward only ever came to you after you were dead. But music was (and remains to this day) a balm for a troubled sole and long may it continue. This Bluesmaster Series should not be seen as the preserve of the serious blues collector. It can be appreciated by anybody with an interest in the history of music, America and social change. The DNA for swathes of non-classical Western music is probably in these tracks and sometimes it is surprising how sophisticated (musically) these early pioneers were. This may not be your usual CD purchase, but I doubt you will be disappointed if you take a chance.
September 2021 • LIVING BLUES Matchbox Bluesmaster Series: Set 4 MSESET4 The ongoing Matchbox Bluesmaster Series continues with CD reissues of six albums first released on vinyl between February 1986 and April 1987. Up first is Atlanta Blues 1927-1930 (The Complete Recordings in Chronological Order of Julius Daniels-Lil McClintock). The title is misleading: Daniels and McClintock recorded in Atlanta but were from the Carolinas, and, as Paul Oliver went to pains to point out in his liner notes, they were “songsters" more than blues singers. McClintock's slim discography is four titles, two sacred songs accompanied by slide guitar and two humorous minstrel-like pre-blues, Furniture Man and Don't Think I'm Santa Claus. Daniels cut seven titles over two 1927 sessions, including a couple of conventional blues, a wonderful sacred song, Slippin' and Slidin' Up the Golden Street and the archetypal Piedmont blues Crow Jane. His most “songsterish" offering, Ninety Nine Year Blues, has loping fingerstyle guitar and a structure akin to John Hurt's Spike Driver Blues. Its likely work song origin is underscored by the "On a Monday…” verse associated with but recorded much later by Lead Belly. Intriguingly, there are alternate takes of four Daniels titles, including a slower, vocally clearer Ninety-Nine Year Blues.
Were the recordings of Texas Alexander the Rosetta Stone of the early blues? Oliver's notes to Texas Alexander Vol. 3 (1929-30) suggest he viewed them as such. It's a tempting viewpoint, given Alexander's seemingly bottomless well of free-floating blues verses, the final line of a verse occasionally dropped (an atavistic stylistic touch, or had the red “stop light" come on in the studio?) and his penchant for moaned punctuation to lines like "I'd rather see my coffin roll up to my backdoor”, Alexander sounds like a weary field hand discovering the New World of the blues with one foot still firmly planted in that of the work song. That's most evident in his recordings with guitarists, who had to adapt to Alexander's idiosyncratic sense of time. Little Hat Jones picks a hot intro to Johnny Behren’s Blues, only to slow dramatically to match Alexander's relaxed vocal tempo. But the eight sides Alexander cut in 1930 accompanied by the Mississippi Sheiks proved he could adapt to stricter rhythms when forced to. They represent a successful artistic compromise by both sides, though the eight 1929 titles (Jones accompanies on the first two and fellow Texas guitarist Carl Davis on the remaining six) are Alexander in his unfettered glory.
Oliver asserts Peg Leg Howell was the “first rural blues" artist ever recorded by Columbia, and his initial 14 sides appear on Peg Leg Howell Vol. I (1926-27). Oliver makes a convincing case in his commentary for the Atlanta street musician's historic significance, though solo recordings of Howell's voice and guitar can be a slow slog, the lively Skin Game Blues here excepted. Far more engaging are the eight Peg Leg Howell & His Gang tracks with the tipsy-sounding fiddling of Eddie Anthony. A rowdy trio that included second guitarist Henry Williams, this is an aggregate that surely earned ample tips on Atlanta’s Decatur Street with the likes of Hobo Blues , a brave stab at Cow Cow Blues, and a ragged cover of Blind Blake's Too Tight Blues (with crisply enhanced sound quality, it opened the CD accompanying the 2021 Blues Images calendar).
By the late 1920s, sermonizing preachers with singing congregations had become a popular subgenre of the "race" record industry. The fourth entry in this installment of the Matchbox series explores a quirky niche of that subgenre. Sanctified Jug Bands (1928- 30). Elder Richard Bryant is the leader on 13 tracks here, sermonizing on some but not all. The "abridged sermon followed by congregational singing" format is typically heavy on shouting and emotional abandon over musical precision. The accompaniment of harmonica, mandolin, guitar, washboard, jug, and, on some tracks, cornet, is fittingly down-home, and A lie Was Told, But God Know'd It is a fascinating reframing of part of the Christmas story. But the six other tracks here, two by Brother Williams Memphis Sanctified Singers, including one of the earliest recordings of He's Got the W hole World In His Hands (February 1930), and four by the female Holy Ghost Sanctified Singers, are more musically focused. All the Sanctified Jug Bands were recorded in Memphis, and it's surmised that members of the Memphis Jug Band appear on these sides.
There was nothing sanctified about the recordings of St. Louis Bessie (Bessie Mae Smith) (1927-30). She was prone to what Oliver called an "introspective and rather morbid frame of mind ... " Slithery double entendres (Creepin' Eel Blues, Boa Constrictor Blues, Sneakin’ Lizard Blues) undulate through her recordings, alongside the phantasmagoric: in Dead Sea Blues she imagines "mean sea beasties sharpenin' their teeth for me." Aside from vivid imagery, what makes Bessie's 18 tracks worth hearing is the variety of her accompanists, including, on her nine 1927 sides, Lonnie Johnson, primarily on guitar but also playing violin on two songs. The fact that Bessie recorded Mean Bloodhound Blues a couple of years before Victoria Spivey took on that theme begs the obvious comparison: Bessie was the lesser singer of the two, but she gave Spivey a brisk run for the money in terms of luridly imaginative lyrics.
Finally, this roundup of Matchbox releases concludes with Texas Alexander Vol. 4 (1934-50). With the worst of the Depression in the rearview and with post-Prohibition taverns fueling demand for records to stock jukeboxes, Alexander made his first recordings ensemble featuring clarinet, alto sax, piano, and guitar, Alexander sounds a mite unsure of his footing at times. That changed a few months later when he cut eight sides backed by sympathetic Texas guitarists, likely Willie Reed and Carl Davis. Reprising time-tested blues themes (Katy Crossing Blues, Easy Rider Blues), these represent Alexander's last recorded hurrah, though not his last recordings. Those would be two songs cut in 1950 for Houston's Freedom label. Though lyrically interesting (Crossroads finds Alexander singing lyrics generally associated with Robert Johnson), the backing duo, Benton's Busy Bees (Leon Benton on guitar, Edwin "Buster" Pickens on piano), overwhelms Alexander, leaving him to sound like a feeble Lightnin’ Hopkins imitator. It was a sadly ironic end to an exceptional 66-side recording career: Hopkins, his younger cousin and sometime accompanist, would later recall being mightily impressed by Alexander cruising the Lone Star State in a Cadillac during his salad days. -Mark Humphrey
BLUES & RHYTHM Sept 21 set 4 These were the final six in the 200 series of the original Matchbox Bluesmaster LPs, so we've reached the end of this first part of the CD reissue programme (it's set to continue with boxes including the 1000 series of 'Remaining Titles’ etc). Julius Daniels is well worth investigating, one of those who tends to be referred to nowadays as a songster, on the basis that the repertoire he recorded was a rich mix, including blues with a strong regional flavour, slide guitar spirituals and strong traces of older styles. It's worth remembering, though, that most blues singers of this period had a wider repertoire than they tended to put on disc, so us labelling an individual 'a songster' might just reflect what the record company guy happened to ask for on a particular day. Daniels was a fine guitarist - 'NinetyNine Year Blues’ especially has some nifty fingerwork - with a decent voice that hints at an older man, and it's good to get to hear his complete works. Bruce Bastin's research showed that while he recorded in Atlanta, he wasn't from (or known in) that city. Lil McClintock who, likewise, only came to Atlanta to make his records, cut two secular songs, and two religious, and again sounds like an older man. Neither of the secular songs is a blues, but both are entertaining items, the second like a medley of different themes - you imagine him singing on a street corner and going straight from one song into another without a break, keeping it lively to hold the attention and encourage his listeners to toss a coin in his direction. Peg Leg Howell did live in Atlanta, and also seems equally at home with blues, dance tunes and old-time songs. These first dozen or so sides offer a thoroughly intriguing mix, about half solo and half with 'His Gang’. Of the former, songs like 'Tishamingo Blues' or 'Doin' Wrong' are very much in the then-current Atlanta vein, and there's some delightful slide on 'Skin Game Blues’. In the latter group. it's more obviously celebratory stuff, led by Eddie Anthony's fiddle. Instrumentals like 'Beaver Slide' were probably more common among black musicians in the 1920s than recordings suggest, so it's always a treat to hear one, and the trio format was also more suitable for good-humoured hokum like 'Too Tight Blues'. An eccentric take on ‘Cow Cow Blues’, providing the basis for 'Hobo Blues’. is another highlight. Texas Alexander, who gets two of the volumes included, was a compelling, soulful singer, always good to come across on an anthology, although one who benefits from the complete chronological treatment, as he mostly sang fairly similar blues, in a similar style. As he played no accompanying instrument himself, though, on record he was supported by some first-class players including, on Volume Three, Little Hat Jones (two tracks) and Carl Davis (six tracks), two very different but equally impressive guitarists, and the Mississippi Sheiks (eight tracks). These men's contributions add much to the enjoyment, despite the odd dodgy moment - I'm guessing the Sheiks didn't get to practice much with Alexander, or they'd have noticed that they haven't quite got the chords right on 'Days Is Lonesome’. On six tracks on Volume Four, there's His Sax Black Tams, an unknown trio who contribute well and offer further evidence that the clarinet is as much a blues instrument as the harmonica or the slide guitar. Even so, you can almost see the nervous glances they're exchanging as he works his way through 'Blues In My Mind', the only one not to use a conventional twelve-bar structure. On the last of his pre-war recordings, there's duetting guitars (possibly Willie Reed and Carl Davis), playing complementary lines which fit Alexander's vocals to a tee. 'Lonesome Valley Blues' and 'Easy Rider' use a nippier tempo and feature some satisfyingly robust Texas-style picking - performances to treasure. Finally, there's his one post-war release, with Leon Benton sounding like Lightnin' Hopkins on electric guitar and Buster Pickens on piano. Alexander had had to learn how to work with accompanists, and mostly his prewar sides show that he'd been getting the hang of it. By 1950 he seems to have forgotten whatever he'd learned, his timing is all over the place and while the musicians do their best, the effect is pretty chaotic.
Elder Richard Bryant and his entourage recorded for Victor and Okeh. For the former, it's essentially sermons with a frantic bit of singing at the end. Interesting, but not as much fun as the Okehs which are all riotous, swinging spirituals - and when I say 'fun', I really mean that the participants sound like they're having a whale of a time: shouting, squealing, cutting across each other with wild harmonies. Flailed strings, clattering percussion and rasping jug all add to the good times. We don't know who Brother Williams was - the singers on his two sides are all women - presumably one of the accompanists. As a trumpet is the prominent instrument, I wondered if he might be playing that, but I don't think it's heard playing while the singers are doing their stuff, so possibly it's one of them playing. Maybe Brother played the jug. I must admit Bessie Mae Smith, aka St. Louis Bessie aka Blue Belle, would never feature in any list of my favourite blueswomen. Paul Oliver, in his notes (one of the best things about all of these volumes) uses the word ‘unsophisticated', and that's usually an attraction for me, but here it seems to mean a kind of rough monotone not helped by frequent flat notes. She recorded eighteen songs between 1927 and 1930, though, so presumably some listeners heard something they liked. Mildly suggestive lyrics feature a creepin' eel, a sneakin' lizard and a boa constrictor, but for me it's Lonnie Johnson who does most to brighten up the first nine tracks, and other accompanists like Wesley Wallace, Henry Brown and Charley Jordan add good value elsewhere. Interestingly, it's her two sides for Paramount (the rest were for Okeh and Vocalion) that made my ears prick up - decidedly unusual and all the more effective for it. I remember grumbling a bit when the Bluesmaster series first appeared, as at first I just didn't get what they were trying to do. The penny dropped eventually and I came to regard Johnny Parth's complete/chronological project with enormous respect. Even so, playing through this box set I find it hard to avoid the thought that if you selected from it well and arranged the results carefully, you could come up with an absolute killer of a double album. Ray Templeton
July 2021 issue of the LOS ANGELES JAZZ SCENE During 1982-88, the British Saydisc label, in their Matchbox Bluesmaster series, released 38 albums and two double-Lps of early country blues, mostly dating from 1926-34. All of the music is now being reissued on seven six-CD sets, making available many treasures. Vol. 3 and 4 have recently been released, complete with the late Paul Oliver's definitive liner notes. Although some of these sessions have since been reissued (including the Texas Alexander dates), many have not been available for quite some time. Set 3 consists of Memphis Harmonica Kings 1929-30 (Noah Lewis and Jed Davenport), Texas Alexander Vol. 2 (which at times has accompaniment by Lonnie Johnson, Eddie Lang, and King Oliver), Ramblin' Thomas 1928-32, Country Girls 1926-29 (Lillian Miller, Hattie Hudson, Gertrude Perkins, Pearl Dickson, Laura Henton, and Bobbie Cadillac), Rufus & Ben Quillian 1929-31, and De Ford Bailey & Bert Bilbro 1927-31. These sessions comprise the complete recordings of each of these artists, with the more prolific Alexander's output being spread across this series on four CDs. While each of the discs has many moments of interest, the solo harmonica performances of De Ford Bailey (the only African-American musician of the era who was featured on the Grand Ole Opry) and the solo work of singer-guitarist Ramblin' Thomas are among the highpoints. Set 4 consists of Atlanta Blues 1927-30 (featuring Julian Daniels and Lil McClintock), Texas Alexander Vol. 3 1929-30, Peg Leg Howell Vol. 1 1926-27, Sanctified Jug Bands 1928-30 (Elder Richard Bryant, Brother Williams and Holy Ghost Sanctified Singers), St. Louis Bessie 1927-30, and Texas Alexander Vol. 4 (1934 and two songs from 1950). From lowdown blues to goodtime music, traditional folk songs to spontaneous originals, the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series is full of unique performances that, while mostly by long-forgotten artists, are an important part of the United States' musical heritage. And most importantly, the music is enjoyable to hear, even 90 years later. Each of these valuable sets are available from www.saydisc.com.
LONDON JAZZ 28 June 2021 Matchbox Bluesmaster Series – Set 4 (MSESET4 – 6 CDs. Release Date 2 July 2021. Album Review by Chris Parker) Julius Daniels/Lil McClintock (1927–30) Texas Alexander Vol. 3 (1929–30) Peg Leg Howell (1926–27) Sanctified Jug Bands (1928–30) St. Louis Bessie (1927–30) Texas Alexander Vol. 4 (1934–50) This six-CD set, the fourth in the series of reissues of Saydisc vinyl recordings of blues roots music from the 1920s and 1930s (supplemented with a couple of Texas Alexander tracks from a 1950 Houston session, included here), documents the uniquely influential music produced not only by contemporary blues artists but also by songsters and informal gospel groups. In the process, Matchbox triumphantly vindicates the 1912 prediction of pioneering civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson that the music of the South he so beguilingly describes in his Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man (as productive of ‘one of the most thrilling emotions which the human heart may experience’) will one day constitute African Americans’ ‘most treasured heritage’. The first CD is split between South Carolina’s Julius Daniels and a (probably) older man, Lil McClintock. As the late Paul Oliver points out in his characteristically erudite liner notes, both these men drew their repertoire from a tradition slightly pre-dating blues, so are as likely to sing ballads and spirituals as straightforward blues material, and their songs contain a wealth of historical detail about coal mining, rural working life and experiences in the prison system, not to mention novelty songs about mules and even seagoing women in men’s attire. Both Daniels and McClintock are possessed of affecting, emotive voices, particularly effective at conveying the direct power of lines such as ‘Policeman come by asked me what’s my name … My name is written on the bosom of my shirt, I’m a solid lover, never had to work.’ Texas Alexander has two CDs dedicated to his work, appropriately enough, since he was a relatively rare example of someone who (sporadically) made a decent living from his Okeh royalties. He is accompanied by various guitarists and by larger groups, both the Mississippi Sheiks and an intriguing band including a New Orleans-style clarinettist, ‘His Sax Black Tams’. The second CD concludes with the aforementioned 1950 Houston tracks, their raggedness underlining the sad end to which Alexander came, worn down both by syphilis and labour during his spell of imprisonment in the 1940s. He may have had a somewhat erratic approach to rhythm and verse structure, but his is an undeniably powerful and authentic voice. Shot and lamed by his brother-in-law, Peg Leg Howell had to make a living from bootlegging during Prohibition, resulting in his imprisonment and consequential exposure to songs such as ‘New Prison Blues’, with its chillingly graphic lyrics. All Howell’s material has a compellingly lived-in quality to it, whether his songs deal with gambling or the perils of train tracks, and his repertoire, as Oliver points out, thus constitutes a highly personal body of work forged from country songs, ballads, blues and field hollers. The music of the Sanctified Jug Bands may well have been ‘devised by the company promoters for the sole purpose of selling more records’, as Oliver suggests, since there is scant evidence of jug bands ever having played in churches, but the CD devoted to them contains a good number of hectoring sermons and shrill spirituals that provide a fascinating snapshot of this strand of Southern music. In many ways, however, it is the CD dedicated to St. Louis Bessie that is the highlight of the collection. Lyrics such as ‘Just because I’m from the country my man treats me like a dog: he wants to put me in the stable and feed me like a hog’, plus a great number of songs about death and morbid dreams (not to mention her apparent obsession with snakes), make listening to her music a rather harrowing experience. But she is, simply, an utterly compelling and powerfully individual voice, and her delivery of such lines as ‘Late last night I lay in my bed alone’, and her constant references to moaning, weeping and worrying are highly affecting. There are, it is good to report, three more six-CD sets to come from Matchbox; they are doing the musical world a great service with this excellent series of reissues.
MUSIC WEB INTERNATIONAL
MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES SET 4
With this volume we are at the mid-point in the Matchbox Bluesmaster reissue programme. The original LPs from which these CDs derive were issued between 1982 and 1988 and its rubric was blues, hokum and gospel 78s made between 1926 and ’34. For an introduction to the series and its ethos, have a brief look at a previous volume ( review ).
The first CD focuses on Julius Daniels and Lil McClintock and their Atlanta 78s. Daniels was an archaic songster and had an astute selection of songs, such as the intriguingly titled ‘My Mamma a Sailor’, and shows a real appreciation of Gospel, a couple of which he sings, deftly self-accompanied. There’s a Country feel to one or two of these songs and it’s valuable to have no fewer than three alternative takes. Lil McClintock, a man not a woman, is a gruffer voiced and older sounding musician than Daniels, though equally obscure biographically speaking. There are only four sides by him here, all recorded in December 1930, but the song choice is intriguing, the delivery confident and one senses in his use of the slide in his accompanying guitar playing on the gospel Mother Called Her Child To Her Dying Bed that he is mining a tradition far older and more venerable than the date of the recording.
Texas Aleander has made two appearances thus far in the series and here’s No.3. Three of the sides he made in San Antonio, Texas in November 1929 – all the sides were made in that town – are tough to listen to, suffering from surface wear and other imperfections. But one listens anew to the stylish guitar accompaniment of Carl Davis and to the appearance of that phalanx of good timers, the Mississippi Sheiks, in the June 1930 tracks. Here too there is some wear and occasional blasting on the discs, though nowhere very damagingly, and certainly not enough to efface the swinging elan of the Sheiks.
CD3 examines the Atlanta, Ga sides made in 1926-27 by Peg Leg Howell. You’ll find his later 1928-29 recordings in the first volume of this series. There ‘26-27 sides were Columbia’s first rural blues discs and as such marked a shift in the music’s propagation, or potential propagation. His first forays, on standard blues, show how capable he was, how in tune with the current of contemporary taste too, but it’s when he’s joined by the excitingly rough and ready violinist Eddie Anthony in April 1927 – always a galvanizing presence – that things really take off. These three tracks, with His Gang, are marvellously vivid, as are indeed the recordings they made later in the year. He shows in Doin’ Wrong, taken solo, just how penetrating are his bass strings and that he knows all the old tropes in Skin Game Blues. Howell is the standout artist in this box.
Sanctified Jug Bands defines the title of disc four, an important but problematic one for even the lover of blues and hokum because one has to confront sermons too, and here we have a disc full of sermons, all recorded in Memphis. Richard Bryant was a stentorian figure and touches hysterical heights at various points; it’s only when his sermonizing has ended that the congregation – the singers – can let loose. It’s really only the last few tracks that are devoid of sermons; possibly the great Will Shade is playing harmonica in them.
St Louis Bessie dominates CD5. Her rather lugubrious delivery doesn’t elevate the 1927 St Louis 78 much above the ordinary but once in Chicago things improve. On a couple of sides she is joined by Lonnie Johnson, whose guitar playing is, for him, quite discreet but whose fiddle playing is exciting on Boa Constrictor Blues, one of those phallic numbers St Louis Bessie enjoyed singing. De Loise Searcy is a nondescript piano accompanist but there’s an unknown pianist on the 5 December 1928 session and he is something else. He sounds classically trained to me but can Stride hard and gets down with Boogie braggadocio too. In fact, this whole session is very impressive; three fine songs, intriguing lyrics, superior accompaniments. If you know the name of the pianist – no one seems to – drop me a line.
The final CD returns to Texas Alexander but this time we move on to 1934. He’s accompanied by an anonymous little jazz ensemble known as His Sax Black Tams, which sounds like wordplay to me. The band manage to bring some regularity to Alexander’s rambling metrics at the expense of a whole heap of messy playing. The pianist’s solo on Worried Blues is bizarre, whilst the clarinetist - who doubles alto - may have passed through New Orleans from the sound of things. But this is largely good time music, every one a blues (in the title at least). A better representation of this important figure comes in the later sides he made with two-guitar accompaniment. These crisp stylish sides are impressive, especially Easy Rider Blues. As a pendant there are two titles from 1950, far beyond the stated rubric of the series as a whole and reveal, in poor sound, a much older man with Benton’s Busy Bees.
It seems superfluous to commend the late Paul Oliver’s wonderful notes, but I won’t miss the opportunity to praise the continuing relevance and value of this series of reissues.
Jonathan Woolf