The Iconic Blues Historic Blues from 1930s to 1970s
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 5
MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES –
SOME FULL REVIEWS OF SET 5
LONDON JAZZ NEWS SET 5 REVIEW
The fifth six-CD set of early blues recordings from the Saydisc vaults mines the wealth of material (originally issued on LPs between 1982 and 1988) that comes under the category of “remaining titles” or “new to LP”, but – like its predecessors – comes with comprehensive notes by the late great blues professor Paul Oliver.
Starting, appropriately enough (for he was a great pioneer of rural blues, his recordings bringing the form to the attention of the record-buying public in the late 1920s), with Blind Lemon Jefferson, the set begins with the singer’s first secular titles, “Got the Blues” and “Long Lonesome Blues”, the former featuring the unforgettable opening line: “Well the blues come to Texas, lopin’ like a mule”. The subsequent cuts include the celebrated “Match Box Blues” (part of Ma Rainey’s repertoire) and a series of snapshots of rural life ranging from a fear of being shot (“Cannon Ball Moan”) to a visit from the repo man (“Empty House Blues”), all showcasing Jefferson’s finely honed guitar technique and haunting vocal style.
Frank Stokes may cast his stylistic net slightly more widely than Jefferson, including syncopated ragtime and dance rhythms and jaunty banter passages in his repertoire, but his guitar playing is similarly light and deft, and his often sensual lyrics, plus his humorous songs, made him a surefire attraction at medicine shows when he was still a teenager. Many of the songs included here feature Stokes accompanied by either guitarist Dan Sane or violinist Will Batts (with whom he often played in a string band popular in country clubs), but perhaps his most celebrated song, “I Got Mine”, is a lively solo performance recorded in Memphis in 1928.
Blind Blake has been memorably described (by blues writer Dr Hans R. Rookmaaker) as “a real artist with a personal style, never going beyond his capabilities, trying to refine his technique but always staying within the tradition he was born into”, and eleven of the eighteen tracks featured here are solo recordings that more than justify such praise. Blake, however, was a skilful enough guitarist to attract the attention of jazz musicians, and several tracks featured on this CD see him collaborating with the great clarinettist Johnny Dodds and the xylophone player Jimmy Bertrand, prompting Paul Oliver to speculate rather ruefully on “ways in which blues and jazz combinations could have been developed”. There are also three songs from Bertha Henderson, sympathetically accompanied by Blake as she moans out her mournful lyrics. Blake is a somewhat neglected figure these days, but his technical mastery shines through on these recordings, particularly on his solo-guitar outings “Guitar Chimes” and “Blind Arthur’s Breakdown”, which conclude the selection.
Big Bill Broonzy, contrastingly, has never been neglected: as Oliver points out, “There are few blues singers as extensively recorded, as widely respected in his day, or as consistently good as Big Bill Broonzy.” His work, indeed, may well be a good place to start for anyone wishing to become better acquainted with early blues, since it is intensely communicative and accessible. His cleanly articulated guitar playing, too, prefigures rock guitar in a way little early blues playing does (Robert Johnson aside, of course). Here, Broonzy is featured in a variety of contexts, accompanied by Georgia Tom Dorsey or the Jug Busters, or accompanying the likes of Bill Williams or Georgia Tom and Jane Lucas in his inimitably light-fingered, thoroughly professional manner.
The Mississippi Sheiks (the name is a nod to the contemporary popularity of the film heart-throb Rudolph Valentino) were extensively recorded (though not at full string-band strength) performing in a variety of musical modes from blues to novelty songs, and this CD concentrates on just one year’s output from the family-based band formed around the thirteen children of Eliza Jackson and Henderson Chatmon, later joined by Walter Vincson. An intriguing highlight of this selection is a highly affecting version of “Sitting on Top of the World”, but all their material is addressed with infectious verve and brio.
Lonnie Johnson is already a significant presence on previous CD sets in this consistently excellent series; here, he gets a disc to himself to vindicate Paul Oliver’s fulsome praise of him: “There has been no blues singer to compare with Lonnie Johnson for diversity of experience and breadth of respect … His importance as a blues artist is without question, not only as a singer and guitarist, but also as an influence on his contemporaries … and as an accompanist to singers as varied as Texas Alexander and Clara Smith.” On these eighteen tracks, he is featured as singer, guitarist and violinist, not to mention banjoist, and he effortlessly demonstrates on all of them just why, to quote Oliver again, “there was no name in the male blues [between 1926 and 1928] better known than that of Lonnie Johnson”. Inventive, deft and fluent, he perfectly exemplifies the spirit and energy that make these Bluesmaster compilations so compulsively listenable.
Blues from the Avon Delta Review
Also available: Blues from the Avon Delta: The Matchbox Blues Story by Mark Jones (The Record Press, 120pp., £19.99), an exhaustive survey of “how Blueswailin’ Bristol kick-started Britain’s late 1960s’ country blues boom and became the epicentre of the UK’s DIY blues record label industry”. A labour of love, this painstakingly researched work, as well as providing a history of the 1960s British blues boom, lists all Saydisc (and related companies’) releases (complete with sleeve images). Blind Boy Fuller and Kokomo Arnold jostle with Jo-Ann and Dave Kelly, Peetie Wheatstraw and Furry Lewis with Mike Cooper and Ian Anderson – the result is truly an aficionado’s dream
Blues Matters review of set 5 Dec 21/Jan 22 Reading the excellent liner notes that accompany this 6 CD compilation, I was staggered to read that 42 albums are covered within this project. These cover every major blues artist from the 1920s and some of those names don’t immediately roll off the tongue. Happily, this particular set includes some of my all-time blues heroes. Disc one is dedicated to one such hero of mine, Blind Lemon Jefferson. The first song, Got The Blues, tells you everything that you need to know about Jefferson. The magnificent voice, exquisite guitar playing, and to top it all, fantastic lyrics, which as he is blind, would not be the easiest of tasks to put into song. The recordings are the best available, some are very scratchy because of the status of the early 78 that they were taken from. Also, you have to take into consideration that these tunes were recorded almost 100 years ago. Such is the skill and deference of these blues masters, One Time Blues recorded in 1927, shows Jefferson at the peak of his career. A huge blues tune at the time, still holding its own today. Frank Stokes mean may not be up on the tip of your blues tongue, and listen to the CD, and he will be! “Tain’t No Business If I Do”, highlights exactly how good this guy was. He was very much in the country blues tradition towards the end of the 1920s which is self-evident on hearing his work. Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson are two more blues giants of this era. Blake, with songs like, Backdoor Slam Blues, which could well have been the inspiration behind Since I’ve Been Loving You (Led Z) and Lonnie Johnson’s Woman Changed My Life, epitomise blues fom the moment of conception to latter-day blues we have today. I wish I could write more about this compilation so that I could exude my delight at the production of such fine material. Stephen Harrison (Blues Matters, issue 123 December 21/January 22)
LIVING BLUES (USA) Jan-Feb 2022 VARIOUS ARTISTS Matchbox Bluesmaster Series: Set 5 MSESET5 The latest six-CD set in the on-going reissue of the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series brings to the digital realm six LPs originally issued between April 1984 and February 1986. These were the initial releases in the MSE 1000 series of titles variously tagged "The Remaining Titles" or “Mostly New to LP." Those "new" or "remaining" modifiers applied specifically to tracks not previously issued on vinyl by the related Austrian Roots and English Saydisc labels. Many had previously come to LP in the States on such labels as Yazoo, Biograph, Mamlish, etc. That said, this collection is a motherlode of gems for fanciers of pre-war guitar styles, albeit with often less than 21st century sound quality. This collection opens with The Remaining Titles: Blind lemon Jefferson, 1926-29. It's surprising to find among his Remaining Titles two of Jefferson's best-known (and most covered) songs, Match Box Blues and One Dime Blues. Paul Oliver's notes offer no clues as to why these hits were late coming to European vinyl, though he does reflect on how Jefferson's popularity during his lifetime and subsequent high regard by trad jazz enthusiasts "has somehow worked to the disadvantage of his reputation among blues collectors”. Love him or snub him, there's no denying Jefferson's once-universal popularity: some of the nearest recorded approximations of his complex guitar accompaniments were waxed by south-eastern hillbilly artists. Without Jefferson's success and subsequent early death, would there have been reason for record companies to seek out guitar playing blues singers from the Delta and elsewhere? Pushing the speculative envelope further yet, might America's Blue Yodeler Jimmie Rodgers be regarded on one level as a white answer to Jefferson? Here are 17 of his songs, some a mite surface noisy, all beyond reproach. Jefferson's declamatory vocal projection battles bravely through the auditory sandstorm of battered Paramount 78 r.p.m.'s, but it's a blurrier picture for his fellow Paramount stars the Beale Street Sheiks (Frank Stokes and Dan Sane) on The Remaining Titles: Frank Stokes 1921-29. Too bad, since their interlocking finger-style guitars are a delight. It feels like the clouds part, the sun shines, and the sound is suddenly sharp on the later Victor sides Stokes made with fiddler Will Batts. Like Jefferson's, Stokes· ''Remaining Titles" oddly include some of his best-known songs: I Got Mine, Frank Stokes’ Dream, Tain't Nobody's Business if I Do. Stokes’ gently rollicking guitar and vibrato-laden vocals, sounding older than his 40ish years, are charmers even at 20 songs, a tad samey-sounding. Variety is in no short supply on The Remaining Titles: Blind Blake 1926-29. We find the ragtime guitar great holding his own in the unlikely company of xylophone, slide whistle, and even a musical saw on a mercifully few tracks here. Clarinetist Johnny Dodds proves a better fit for Blake, who also works as sideman to vocalist Bertha Henderson on her lurid Terrible Murder Blues, likely inspired by Victoria Spivey's Murder in the First Degree. Blake's own vocals can be ploddingly doleful on his slow blues but radiate an upbeat sparkle on such ragtime showpieces as Skeedle Loo Doo Blues and Wabash Rag. No wonder: his syncopated right hand and sure command of the fingerboard lent an infectiously joyful bounce to his playing. The 18 tracks on this collection are a mixed bag, both musically and in terms of sound quality, but it closes on a high note with the instrumental showpiece Blind Arthur's Breakdown, a timeless reminder of Blake's balance of mastery with a musical sense of humor. Mostly New to LP: Big Bill Broonzy 1921-32 offers insight into the early evolution of an artist who, unlike the first three in this set continued to record long after the Depression killed the Paramount label. The opener House Rent Stomp, is Broonzy’s recording debut and a nifty good-time guitar duet with John Thomas, who offers dry spoken asides ("Play it till the sergeant comes!"). There are other guitar duets on songs, notably with Frank Brasswell on the hokum-style Papa's Getting Hot. By 1932's solo Too Too Train Blues Broonzy sounds much as he would in later decades, both vocally and in his spare but deeply effective guitar accompaniment. There's much to like in these 16 tracks, though the sound quality on some tries the listener's patience. Happily, that's not an issue on Mostly New to LP: Mississippi Sheiks 1930 (Vol. 1). The Sheiks were essentially a two-man string band comprised of singer-guitarist Walter Vinson and singer-fiddler Lonnie Chatman with occasional assists from Bo Chatman (Carter) and Sam Chatman. The 18 tracks here show the group ‘s considerable stylistic range, from the Tommy Johnson-inspired Stop and Listen Blues to The Sheik Waltz and The Jazz Fiddler. While we might wish that more Black pre-war string bands had been recorded, we're lucky that the one that achieved commercial success (and thus recorded extensively) had so much to offer and landed on OKeh rather than Paramount, Banner, or another budget label with shoddy sound. Mostly New to LP: Lonnie Johnson (Vol. I) 1926-28 is not the place for anyone unfamiliar with Johnson to make his acquaintance. At least the first seven tracks pre-date the OKeh label's earliest electrical recordings, so the sound is muffled. Johnson is accompanist on at least a half dozen songs, many of a plodding classic blues variety. He's often heard playing something other than guitar: violin, banjo, even kazoo! There are a few standout tracks with guitar: Love Story Blues opens with a runaway solo that tells us his signature style was fully developed by early 1926. But since it was waxed in January of that year it's an acoustic recording with subpar sound. The one jaw-dropper here, the instrumental guitar tour de force To Do This, You Got to Know How, illustrates the Eurocentric exclusiveness of the "Mostly New to LP" label: it had appeared a dozen years prior to this 1986 release on the Yazoo label compilation String Ragtime: To Do This You Got to Know How. Caveat emptor. -Mark Humphrey
BLUES IN BRITAIN JAN 22 – Reviews of set 5 and Blues From the Avon Delta book Various Artists Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Vol. 5 Matchbox /Saydisc Records Here it is, box set no. 5 in this wonderful series, another six albums and 107 tracks of the very finest in recorded blues, hokum and gospel recorded between 1926 and 1932. Previous sets have included some fairly unknown artists, but this time we have some real nuggets of blues gold. First released on LP between 1982 and 1988, the wait for them to be available on CD has been worth it. This latest package includes sets by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Frank Stokes, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, the Mississippi Sheiks and Lonnie Johnson. Herein lie the roots of what we hear today and the accompanying booklet with notes from rated blues historian Paul Oliver means we get an incredible insight into these historic performances. Blind Lemon Jefferson's seventeen recordings, were recorded in '26 in Chicago and while you may not know all of the songs included here, all are pure blues gold. Blind Blake was simply an amazing guitarist, though his music is not the easiest to play as Ralph McTell will attest. Eleven of his eighteen tracks are solo performances. Frank Stokes has had many of his old recordings released over the years, but here we have twenty Memphis recordings from 1929, all demonstrating his humour, ragtime and dance rhythms. We all know Big Bill Broonzy and here we get sixteen recordings from sessions in Chicago and New York between 1927 -32, including some by Sammy Simpson, a name Broonzy sometimes used. Playing mostly around Louisiana and Texas in the early thirties were the Mississippi Sheiks that included vocalist/ guitarist Sam Chatman. Here we get just one year's output by the group all from 1930, including the superb 'Sitting On Top Of The World' The set is completed by the man that many, including B. B. King, think is the best guitarist of them all, Lonnie Johnson. Eighteen tracks recorded in both New York and St. Louis present Johnson as singer, guitarist and violinist and prove why he's regarded as one of the absolute greats. Age has done little to diminish the quality of these performances. Pete Clack
RnR Jan 2022 VARIOUS **** Matchbox Bluesmaster Series – Set 5 (SAYDISC) www.saydisc.com This latest six-disc set from the Saydisc archives will be a welcome treat for blues historians and collectors alike. Spanning the mid-1920s to early 1930s, each disc is dedicated to a single artist and comes packaged with a comprehensive booklet from the respected blues writer, Paul Oliver. First up is Blind Lemon Jefferson, a true pioneer of recorded rural blues with his evocative vocals and superb guitar technique, demonstrated on tracks such as 'Match Box Blues' and 'Empty House Blues'. The often-unsung Frank Stokes contributes ragtime and dance rhythms plus lyrical innuendo and humour on songs such as 'I Got Mine', before Blind Blake offers varied styles, from traditional blues to collaborations with jazz artists like clarinettist Johnny Dodds and Jimmy Bertrand on xylophone, both of whom feature on a number of tracks. Big Bill Broonzy remains one of the most inspirational artists of the genre. His clean guitar sound and crisp vocals have been much copied and are included here in a variety of groupings, accompaniments and musical styles. Family-based band The Mississippi Sheiks deliver some high-energy, juke joint dance numbers, but also an interesting reworking of their most widely recorded song 'Sitting On Top Of The World'. For the first time in this series, the iconic Lonnie Johnson gets a disc to himself - a deserved reward for such a peerless singer, multi-instrumentalist and innovator. So sit back and enjoy the sources behind the birth of so much of the music we enjoy to this day. Morgon Hogarth (RnR Jan 22)
JAZZ RAG MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES SET 5 Matchbox MSESET5, 6 CDs, approx 5 hours 30 minutes The consciousness of black history that has emerged in the past few years is long, long overdue. For blues fans, however, it has created a somewhat complex mix of emotions. On the one hand, we can shake our heads ruefully and be glad that the world is at last awakening to the horror and heroism that lies at the core of the music we love. On the other hand, we suddenly find ourselves in danger of being accused of the conveniently adaptable faux pas of “cultural appropriation.” In the febrile climate of finger-pointing and statue-smashing, it can feel like an act of complacent ignorance to listen to and appreciate recordings like these from the 1920s and 1930s. What can a well-to-do white man, sitting in a centrally-heated home in the UK’s Thames Valley, know of Bill Broonzy’s plaintive expression of a deep and abiding hurt when he sings, “I was standing on the corner, I did not mean no harm....”? Its an innocuous enough line, after all. Yet in all the righteously articulate rage of the Black Lives Matter campaigning was there ever a more telling expression of what it means to be black in a white world? Consider the statement for a few moments. Bring your imagination to it. In what kind of existence does one have to qualify the act of standing on the corner? The deeper you dig into this apparently ordinary recollection, the more appalled you get. Yet underneath the racial politics is a fundamental human sadness about living without what Billy Bragg describes as “agency” – some sense of control over our lives and the outcomes of our actions. This is why collections like the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series, which Saydisc has reissued with such meticulous care in these multi-disc sets, are so important. Because, appropriate or not, we do relate to the stories they tell. And not just comfortable white people sitting in cottages in the Thames Valley, but people of every culture, everywhere in the world. These recordings have something to say about your existence whether you are an Adele fan, or a reefer-toting aficionado of Ornette Coleman. Because every backwater and flowing mainstream of Western popular music is rooted in this stuff. As you listen to these recordings, which, remember, were never intended for release as collected bodies of work, something elemental begins to rise within you. Simple as they seem, these songs, and especially the scales and inflections that the players and singers employ, tap into a timeless and universal experience of life. If we have loved and lost, if we have ever feared for our children, if we have felt the burden of debt and uncertain employment, if we have known the shouting joy of lust and triumph, then we have known what these people are singing about. Albert King called it “blues power” and it’s there even in the hokum songs and novelty features. Mind you, it’s a pretty tenuous presence on the Blind Blake cuts on which Jimmy Bertrand muddles his way round a xylophone. For the record (thank you, yes, pun intended) set five of the Matchbox Bluesmaster reissues from Saydisc features Blind Lemon Jefferson, Frank Stokes, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, The Mississippi Sheiks and Lonnie Johnson. Not a bad roster. It also has the usual authoritative liner notes by Paul Oliver. It’s great, but that almost doesn’t matter. What matters is that on February 17th, 1930, in Shreveport Louisiana, The Mississippi Sheiks recorded “Stop And Listen Blues”, which contains the essence of so much of the music that hurtled round the world and finished up with Howlin’ Wolf roaring and Robert Plant wailing and Ariana Grande doing whatever she does. It’s got squeaky violin and some solid guitar playing, and Walter Vincson (marketed as Jacobs – not THAT Walter Jacobs) sings very nicely. Yet still it grabs your vitals and twists and twists until you are weeping for his baby laid out on the coolin’ board. This collection is packed with stuff like that. Every disc pulls you in and connects you with something eternal and essential. Yes, it is a potent reminder that black lives matter. But it reaches beyond the issues of the moment to declare, across the ages, that every life matters and that, in the end, none of it matters really. Just the pain, the love and the joy we share as people, no matter what. It’s a helluva legacy. STUART MAXWELL
BLUES IN BRITAIN MARCH 2022-02-25 Matchbox Bluesmaster Series Volume 6 MSESET6 (6 CD box set) Matchbox When I began reviewing these amazing box sets last year I said they were a rare insight into the world of black music and, as each set comes along, that view has grown stronger. Some names are more familiar such as pianist and singer Roosevelt Sykes with some lesser known recordings from 1929 through to '31. The Memphis Jug Band has had many releases over the years, but here are some you will not have heard, unless you bought the vinyl release in the 1980s. Barbecue Bob gained some recognition when Eric Clapton recorded his ‘Motherless Child' on his From The Cradle album; here we have more Barbecue Bob recordings to enjoy. As far as the lesser known artists are concerned, CD I features eighteen tracks by Papa Charlie Jackson, a man in a class all by himself - he was a mighty fine and exciting guitar player with a voice that the ladies loved. 'Salt Lake City Blues', 'Mama Don't Allow It', 'I'm Tired Of Fooling Round With You', 'Look Out Papa Don't Tear Your Pants' and 'I'm Looking For A Woman Who Knows How To Treat Me Right' are amongst a set of consistently fine blues. Bobbie Leecan (guitar) and Robert Cooksey (harmonica) recorded their sixteen songs in the New York area mainly in 1927, though various other musicians appear on some tracks. Whether on their own, with the Dixie Jazzers Washboard Band or Blind Bobbie Baker, this set has some hugely enjoyable songs. The Mississippi Sheiks will need little introduction to those who know their blues and here we get another glorious set of tracks from them. With various line-ups that include the great Walter Jacobs (then known as Walter Vinson), they serve up eighteen glorious songs. Roosevelt Sykes offers another eighteen tracks of great piano blues: mainly solo, but with the odd help from Clarence Harris and Johnnie Strauss on vocals. Jug bands were very popular at the time but the leaders by far were the Memphis jug Band, who did the original version of the Rooftop Singers' 'Walk Right In' and here are tracks from sessions in Atlanta, Memphis and Chicago. Joined on a couple of tracks by The Memphis Sheiks, they deliver a first class set of some of their finest recordings. These are nuggets of pure blues gold. This series is proving beyond doubt to be something to treasure. Pete Clack LIVING BLUES, USA Mar/Apr 2022 Matchbox Bluesmaster Series: Set 6 MSESET6 The penultimate entry in the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series is a particularly enjoyable one, both in terms of musical variety and sound quality. The featured artists not only represent very different approaches to blues in its first recorded generation, they incorporate disparate musical tributaries that made that era’s “blues” idiom far less formulaic than it arguably became later.
LIVING BLUES, USA Mar/Apr 2022 Matchbox Bluesmaster Series: Set 6 MSESET6 The penultimate entry in the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series is a particularly enjoyable one, both in terms of musical variety and sound quality. The featured artists not only represent very different approaches to blues in its first recorded generation, they incorporate disparate musical tributaries that made that era’s “blues” idiom far less formulaic than it arguably became later. This six CD set reproduces six LPs issued in the UK between August 1986 and February 1988. Opening is Papa Charlie Jackson 1924-29 Mostly New to LP. New Orleansborn, Chicago-based Jackson (1887-1938) is referred to in Paul Oliver's liner notes as a songster “whose great importance in the history of Black song lay in the breadth of his repertoire." That breadth encompassed a Kentucky folk song Long Gone, Lost John, usually associated with "hillbilly" artists (Henry Whitster recorded a version in 1925), songs that suggest Tin Pan Alley affinities (Salt Lake City Blues slyly satirizes Mormon polygamy), and, of course, ragtime blues (Tain't What You Do But How You Do It). Jackson's approach was more vaudevillian than street busker, though he reportedly played both roles. His instrument of choice, the banjo guitar, was rare on record but supremely suited to his material, and he played it well. (On Take Me Back Blues No. 2 he briefly picks what may be one of the earliest boogie guitar lines on record.) Jackson wasn't a powerhouse singer but his deadpan delivery fit his songs, and the 18 here are miraculously devoid of the surface noise common to Paramount label 78 r.p.m.'s crackle and hiss that renders many records by the likes of Blind Lemon Jefferson sounding like a distant baleful bray from inside a Quonset hut battered by a hailstorm. Fortunately, the artists on the other five CDs here recorded for major labels and audio quality is rarely an issue. The 18 tracks on Memphis Jug Band 1927-34 The Remaining Titles span the MJB's first year of recordings for Victor to its final session seven years later for OKeh. Jim Jackson may be credited with popularizing Kansas City Blues, but the funkier MJB version, with three of the band's members trading verses and Will Shade and Ben Ramey wailing harmonica/kazoo counterpoint, was recorded just nine days after Jackson's initial waxing of the song and in a different city, proving the ragtime blues classic was widely floating through the "public domain" of the day. The MJB covered all bases: Jug Band Waltz is a variant on the sentimental favorite Over the Waves: He's in the Jailhouse Now is a variant of a song generally associated with "the father of country music" Jimmie Rodgers, though Blind Blake also cut a version (the MJB's is surely the most fun). The band tended towards borderline sloppiness in its good-natured looseness but could tighten up when needed on something like the sprightly jug band classic You Got Me Rollin'. The best of the MJB still sounds fresh 90 years on, and this collection offers a good selection of the varied recorded incarnations of a group whose motto could have been the title of one of the songs here: Tear It Down, Bed Slats and All. Barbecue Bob (Robert Hicks) 1927-30 The Remaining Titles offers 16 performances by one of the most appealing and accessible of the early blues singer-guitarists. Atlanta-based Hicks (1902-1931) played percussive 12-string slide guitar accompanying a voice, relaxed yet powerful, that delivered clearly enunciated lyrics with conversational directness. The routines of the medicine shows are reflected in comic banter with his brother Charlie ("Laughing Charley") on It Won't Be Long Now-Parts l &2, while Easy Rider Don't You Deny My Name is one of the best pre-war renditions of a familiar theme. Hicks is at his lyrical best on Cold Wave Blues (“Ol' Jack Frost is now ready to put that thing on you ... "), and throughout his propulsive guitar work drives songs that are often compelling and never less than interesting, thanks in no small measure to Hicks' affable personality. Affability abounds on the 16 selections offered on Bobbie Leecan and Robert Cooksey 1926-27 The Remaining Titles. This duo may be the least specifically “bluesy" artists on this set, but that's no indictment. Paul Oliver wrote: "Recognition for these interesting Eastern [i.e .. East Coast] artists who worked in the hinterland between jazz, blues and vaudeville is long overdue." Leecan picked guitar in the bass-heavy down-stroke style pioneered on record by Nick Lucas. Robert Cooksey played harmonica “with a pronounced warble." Oliver wrote, "but with clear notes and a certain jazz phrasing ... " Both occasionally played kazoo on their recordings, the polished professionalism of which suggests a vaudeville act more than street corner buskers. Researcher Tony Russell, adding a postscript to Oliver's liner notes, quotes a 1926 New York newspaper in which Leecan and Cooksey are described as "wont to entertain Harlem poolroom and cabaret patrons." They were among the first to record Ain't She Sweet in the year it was a pop hit (1927), but also offered such titles as Dirty Guitar Blues and the first recording of Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out. This set opens and closes with two very different renditions of the first title the duo cut in 1926, Black Cat Bone Blues, reprised the following year as Black Cat Bones with cornet, piano, and washboard as part of the Dixie Jazzers Washboard Band. Variety, and the fact that Leecan & Cooksey don't really sound like anyone else, make them well worth a listen. Roosevelt Sykes 1929-1934 Mostly New to LP offers 18 tracks by the Honeydripper, 13 in the role of accompanist. Four songs by Johnnie Strauss, a growling, hard-edged female vocalist, are standouts here, though the piercing voice of Isabel Sykes, surmised to be Roosevelt's sister, also hits home. The three male vocalists Sykes accompanies may be less striking, though Sykes’ piano accompaniments never fail to deliver. His own five songs range from the agrarian (Cotton Seed Blues) to the fluvial (Black River Blues, a dread-of-drowning saga wherein Sykes "spied a tiny little shoe tossing up and down" on a river). Sykes is one of the few recording artists of that era who some current LB readers may have seen in performance (he was active till near his 1983 passing), and, whether center stage or sideman, was always worth hearing. Mississippi Sheiks Volume 2 1930-34 Mostly New to LP closes this set with 18 performances by the most popular Black string band on record: Oliver reckoned they made "some 80 titles" while he placed the tally by artists with some Sheiks affiliation, including Bo Carter and Charlie McCoy, at a staggering "270 titles issued." The core group was just Walter Vinson, vocals and guitar, and Lonnie Chatman, fiddle and vocals. All but seven of the tracks here are performed by that duo. Bo Chatman (Carter) and Sam Chatman appear on the outliers alongside Lonnie's distinctive fiddle. The opening track, Sheiks Special, is an instrumental waltz that might have passed for an "old timey" offering of that era. Lazy Lazy River finds Vinson aspiring to rewrite a then recent Hoagy Carmichael hit, while Hitting the Numbers is a paean to "playing policy" set to the tune of the Sheiks' Sittin’ on Top of the World. If all that sounds a mite derivative, fear not: blues both hard (Kitty Cat Blues) and hokum (It’s Done Got Wet celebrates the repeal of Prohibition) holds forth for the main, the Sheiks ably demonstrating why they get to close the show. Mark Humphrey
BLUES BLAST MAGAZINE 14th April 2022 Matchbox Bluesmaster Series – Sets 5 and 6 Nimbus Records www.wyastone.co.uk www.saydisc.com www.matchboxbluesmaster.co.uk 6 discs in each set The Matchbox Bluesmaster series was released from November 1982 to June 1988 by Saydisc Records. Rare 78 rpm records were loaned to supplement the ones on hand to create what was called “Complete Recordings in Chronological Order” along with some add on tracks. These records were mastered on tape and released on vinyl. Austrian collector Johnny Parth edited the sets and got the recordings grouped and released by Saydisc in the UK. Hans Klement did the remastering work from Austrophon Studios in Vienna. The tracks selected were released in seven sets of six records and are here released on CD. The master tapes have long since vanished, so Norman White took the vinyl pressings and used high end transcription techniques to make the digital recordings. In addition to the 42 releases in these seven sets, even more music is expected for release as they have many pre-Bluesmaster cuts that can be released. This music is early blues, originally released from 1926 to 1934; two cuts are from 1950, but the rest are from the ‘20’s and ‘30’s. Blues, gospel and hokum music (humorous blues with lots of sexual innuendos) were the order of the day for black recordings; labels like OKEH searched far and wide for artists to record, finding people on street corners, juke joints, and other places. This music that rose from the plantations and made its’ way into the urban centers became the impetus for urban blues, R&B and rock and roll. Paul Oliver provides ample notes and data on each set of CDs. Oliver is a jazz and blues historian who has written 10 books on blues and gospel history and passed away in 2017 after a long career as a music historian and architect. He provides copious notes in a booklet for each set. The quality of the sound of the songs ranges from fairly good to sometimes just listenable. Most are decent and offer the listener an in depth look at early blues as it was in the beginning of the recording era. I was provided Sets 5 and 6 for review. Each set was shipped with a one disc sampler of the six CD sets which give the listener an insight into the music, but it is the complete sets that make for an in depth and comprehensive listen of early artists honing their craft. The Matchbox Bluesmaster Series is released here by UK publishing company Nimbus Records. The series was produced by Gef Lucena. Matchbox Bluesmaster Series – set 5 is comprised of six CDs with one artist per CD. They are Blind Lemon Jefferson (1926-1929), Frank Stokes (1927-1929), Blind Blake (1926-1929), Big Bill Broonzy (1927-1932), the Mississippi Sheiks Vol. 1 (1930) and Lonnie Johnson Vol. 1 (1926-1928). It is interesting to contrast the raw and emotive work of Jefferson to the more urban and polished performances of the likes of Broonzy and Johnson. The Memphis Sheiks reside in a soft spot in my heart and hearing them here and later on the next set gave me great joy. Broonzy went on to a lucrative and long performing and recording career and the Sheiks have recently had newly remasters stuff on high grade vinyl released, but the primal sounds here are something to appreciate. Another gem is Blind Blake’s CD. His superb vocals and guitar are something to truly savor. And if you want a chuckle or two, Stokes serves up some bawdy and humorous tunes to enjoy. Matchbox Blues Master Series – set 6 offers six CDs, again with one artist per CD. They are Papa Charlie Jackson (1924-1929 recordings), the Memphis Jug Band (1927-1934), Barbeque Bob (1927-1930), Leecan & Cooksey (1926-1927), Roosevelt Sykes (1929-1934) and the Mississippi Sheiks Vol. 2 (1930-1934). More Sheiks? Great stuff! Wild and cool jug band tunes from Memphis and Papa Charlie Jackson’s high energy banjo are something to really appreciate. Leecan & Cooksey and Barbecue Bob offer more in the joyful and boisterous times of the 1920’s. And if it is dark and dirty and deeper blues you are looking for, then look no further than Roosevelt Sykes. He and the artists on his CD offer up some truly inspired tunes. Each album on it’s own is a wonderful listen; each of the 6 CD sets is amazing and the 7 sets make up a huge collection of early blues that give the listeners much to appreciate. Whether you are new to this music or a seasoned blues fan, these recordings are an amazing combination of music that can be enjoyed over and over again. The nuances and glimpses into what created our music over the years and up to today are here in these recordings. These bluesmasters gave us the roots of all of America’s popular music and having this huge collection to savor gives the listener a superb view of blues as it began to be put down on records. I most highly recommend these sets to new and old blues lovers. There is something on each CD for the listener to appreciate and the sets become a huge compendium of great music for the collections of listeners. Reviewer Steve Jones is president of the Crossroads Blues Society and is a long standing blues lover.