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Let's Talk Blues Music

Fitter said:
Understatement of the century "Fitter is jealous of Fishbait".
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One of my treasured moments back in the early 60's took place at the old Chessmate in Detroit. Back then, there were many small clubs around during the folk/blues revival; mostly store fronts made into "coffee houses" which featured lots of "rediscovered" bluesmen. The Chessmate was one such club which seated 15-20 people if they sat close together. Being a young guitar player who was besotted with pre-war blues styles, I spent a lot of time there.


I had the habit of sitting as close to the performers as possible, the better to rip-off guitar licks. Jesse "Lonecat" Fuller (San Fransisco Bay Blues) was playing there one night and since the club was so tiny and the stage was only a foot high, I was able to position myself within three feet of Jesse.

He was playing his trademark Gibson electric 12-string and "fotdela" and the harp/kazoo/microphone rig was around his neck. Jesse was a bit long in the tooth then but still a great performer. In the middle of "Brown Skin Gal Got My Eye on You" he started playing the kazoo. I was intently focused on his left hand as he played the huge Gibson when a big glob of spit drooled from the end of his kazoo and landed on my shoe.

Sometimes I still show the shoe to people and point out Jesse's dried spit. The reponses I get are priceless.
 
Depends on your definition of 'blues' of course, but in addition to those already mentioned, I should like to add Rory Gallagher
 
Fitter said:
Understatement of the century "Fitter is jealous of Fishbait". Some more personal favourites:
Peetie Wheatstraw
Elmore James
Albert King
Georgia Tom and Tampa Red
Leadbelly
Roosevelt Sykes
Skip James
Lonnie Johnson
The Mississippi Sheiks
Sonny Terry and Brownie Mcghee
A now defunct acoustic trio Jackson Delta
And the big man himself Willie Dixon.
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Leadbelly was awesome. My grandfather, a sociologist, did a miniature version of Alan Lomax in the 30's. He was documenting southern black spiritual songs and took a wire recorder with him to record at churches throughout the south. Lots of folks along the way gave him records they thought he would like. When he died, I found a huge stash of 78s many of which were Leadbelly recordings. Most of them I donated to East Tennessee Sate University's blues collection, but only after playing them almost endlessly for a few months. That sound is in my bones now.
 
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Funnily enough, I was just rewatching The Blues Brothers movie last night. My god, John Lee Hooker was incredible! I don't think anyone mentioned Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday. Although they sang jazz and other genres, I'll always enjoy their blues renditions.

As for blues musicians other than vocalists, SRV, JLH, Buddy Guy are way up there. In fact, could you also include Bob Dylan in this genre? Oh, and Led Zeppelin's blues was always much cooler to me than Stairway to Heaven ever was :)
 
Sefarst said:
I'm looking from input as to who your favorite blues singers and guitarists are. Contemporary artists are fine as well. I like Marc Broussard as a contemporary artist but still have a soft spot in my heart for the really old blues musicians like Robert Johnson.

Extra points if you can link us to some of their music. Obviously for Marc Broussard:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NC1v5trmB1E

And for Robert Johnson:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A

B.B. King, with a little jazz:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tBWcSc3nPow&feature=related
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I know some people don't like it, but I always loved the stuff put out by Fat Possum Records. People complain about corrupting the music because of some of the arrangements, but they sought out and found these guys and gave them a voice and made them some money and I think it was a wonderful enterprise. here is RLBurnside - a fat possum guy. They have wonderful guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8RtayjqqIw&feature=related
 
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Ron_Tomkins said:
Also, non-blues musicians but with a very strong blues sense in their playing:

Artie Shaw
Louis Armstrong
Art Tatum
Horace Silver
Lennie Tristano (yup)
Charlie Parker
Dave McKenna
Lester Young
Billie Holiday
Miles Davis
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Even if you stick to jazzers you're missing a few there:

Grant Green
Milt Jackson
Coltrane
Monk
Blakey
Jimmy Smith
...

Everything those guys did was soaked in the Blues.
 
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billydkid said:
I know some people don't like it, but I always loved the stuff put out by Fat Possum Records. People complain about corrupting the music because of some of the arrangements, but they sought out and found these guys and gave them a voice and made them some money and I think it was a wonderful enterprise. here is RLBurnside - a fat possum guy. They have wonderful guys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8RtayjqqIw&feature=related
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Good stuff. The Southern blues guitarists tend to be the best, in my opinion.
 
One of the genres I really like is the stuff that was happening in Chicago immediately post war, up until the mid Fifties, when people were still figuring out what could be done with amplification. Not just people like Muddy, the Wolf, Sonny Boy, but the slightly less famous ones: Baby Face Leroy, Johnny Young, Floyd Jones, Snooky & Moody, J B Hutto, Big Boy Spires, Sunnyland Slim, Johnny Jones, in Detroit Baby Boy Warren or Bobo Jenkins...

You'll find that nearly all of them were from Mississippi.
 
Not that I don't like the prewar stuff as well: Patton, Son House, Tommy Johnson, Big Joe Williams...

Nobody's mentioned Memphis Minnie yet!

Or Leroy Carr.
 
Etta James
Shuggie Otis (did more fusion/jazz/pop, but saw him playing blues live once, and he was awesome)
Bessie Smith
Ma Rainey

John Fahey - now there was an icon of the coffee shop crowd in the 60s! I must've worn out about five copies of Blind Joe Death. (Imagine our surprise when we learned that he wasn't a gnarled old blind black man, but a good ol' boy. But the guy could play!)
 
Lisa Simpson said:
Saffire: The Uppity Blues Women
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I love that "middle aged blues". Makes me remember when I was that young man...

For some reason, I always think of Koko Taylor when I think of Sapphire. Don't know why. Anyway, she does a wonderful version of Bob Segar's "Come to Papa" (Come to mama). She was also, AFIK, the original belter for Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle"
 
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