The first recorded blues turns 100. So what else was happening in 1914?

BLUESMUSE49. Start spreading the news. The world’s first blues recording, The Memphis Blues, was laid down three times in New York 100 years ago this coming July. But as I’ve written enough about Memphis Blues’ centenary (see 11 December 2013 post), how about finding out what other interesting musical events happened exactly 100 years ago?

Let’s start with the second calypso ever recorded and the first recorded in the West Indies, which made its debut in 1914.

The earliest calypso recorded, however, actually came along in 1912, which was a good two years

Trinidad's Lovey's String Band

before the first recorded blues. Like the first blues, the first calypso, called Mango Vert, was recorded in New York. Here’s a YouTube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd-7P_LCOVM

As you’ll have seen, the first calypso was cut in 1912 by Lovey’s String Band, who hailed from calypso’s birthplace, Trinidad. Active from the 1890s to the 1920s, other songs in the Lovey’s (sound like British actors, don’t they?) catalogue included a smoking version of a number called Mari-Juana. And, as an example of the infancy of

Ballin' the Jack sheet music

the recording industry, by 1914 the release of blues records had outstripped the calypso records released: by three to two.

While pop music records released in 1914 were few and far between, one of the most popular was a disc called Ballin’ The Jack by Prince’s Orchestra. Ballin’ The Jack was an American dance craze of the era, as you’ll see from its lyrics below.

First you put your two knees close up tight,

Then you sway 'em to the left, then you sway 'em to the right,

Step around the floor kind of nice and light,

Then you twis' around and twis' around with all your might,

Stretch your lovin' arms straight out in space

Then do the Eagle Rock* with style and grace

Swing your foot way 'round then bring it back,

Now that's what I call "Ballin' the Jack."

Of the hundreds of performers who have since recorded

Little Miss Dynamite, Brenda Lee

Ballin’ The Jack, this Brenda Lee version from 1960 is my favourite:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlsnTVZ4nYo

*In an interesting aside (to me, anyway), when I arrived in Australia from England in 1973, a great Aussie band called Daddy Cool was all the rage down under and one of their tracks was Eagle Rock. Little did anyone know Eagle Rock was first mentioned on record in 1914, except Daddy Cool, of course. For those interested in hearing a top song, here’s the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQfAZVsz6KM

I joined Daddy Cool’s record label in Oz and remembered the band being promoted in London as an American band, would you believe. Their

Daddy Who? Daddy Cool: worth a listen

management didn’t want anyone to know they were Aussies. Daddy Cool also had quite a bit of exposure in the USA at the time, I believe. Anyone remember them?

 

Another rare record from 1914 that you might know was Aba Daba Honeymoon by the  comic duo, Arthur Collins and Byron G. Harlan. If you don’t know the song, you proably know the chorus:“Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the chimpie to the monk; Baba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the monkey to the chimp.” Collins & Harlan’s 1916 song

That Funny Jas Band from Dixieland, incidentally, featured one of the first recorded uses of the word "Jas," which eventually became known as jazz.

The comedy hit of the year in the USA in 1914 was a record called The Little Ford Rambled Right Along by Billy Murray. Listening to this novelty song about the new Model T Ford, I can hear Murray’s vocal influences on the English comic songster, George Formby. If you’re a bit of a motor head, why not take a listen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gs_wqA8W_U

Highlights of the many songs published in 1914 (as opposed to being recorded) were two W.C. Handy compositions: St. Louis Blues and The Yellow Dog Blues. 1914 was also the year, the Georgia

Lucille Hegamin and her band in Chicago c. 1914

Peach, Lucille Hegamin, moved to Chicago where she worked with pianists Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton, before marrying another pianist, Billy Hegamin. Lucille Hegamin once said: “I think I can say without bragging that I made the St. Louis Blues popular in Chicago”.

Also in 1914, Gertrude and Will Rainey (Ma and Pa) started touring America as Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues; while the biggest song on the South’s black vaudeville circuit was still Baby Seal’s Blues. This song had the distinction of being the second blues ever published (in August 1912), the first blues published with vocals, and the first blues published that was written by an African American. Tellingly, the sheet music instructed the musicians to play the tune very slowly, just as Hart Wand’s Dallas Blues sheet music had six months’ earlier in March 1912.

Sonny Boy 1: born in 1914

Finally, the first and original Sonny Boy Williamson was born John Lee Williamson near Jackson, Tennessee, in 1914. The original Sonny Boy Williamson’s blues harmonica-playing set the standard for the traditional Chicago blues harp sound for generations to come.

Overshadowing everything in 1914, of course, was the outbreak of World War One and a host of tunes now associated with that war were published that year including, It’s a Long, Long Way To Tipperary. A British music hall song by Jack Judge that topped America’s Billboard chart for 13 weeks, It’s a Long, Long Way To Tipperary was recorded by the American Quartet with Billy Murray, who seems to have been having a good year in 1914.

It’s a Long, Long Way To Tipperary has since lost one of its “longs” and is now referred to simply It’s a Long Way To Tipperary.

For more on the history of the blues, packed with hundreds of photographs, why not check How Blues Evolved now at Amazon. Even better, why not buy it. It’s going for a song.

In the UK, preview How Blues Evolved on this link below:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=how+blues+evolved+volume+one

  

 In the USA, get your free previews on this link:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=how+blues+evolved 



  

 

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The Bloody Nerve’s big new wall of sound

Hot on the heels of their debut EP, ‘Red’, Nashville’s hottest rock vocal duo, with a little help from their talented friends*, have released their follow-up three-tracker, ‘Blue’, which I’ve been invited to review. Due to my geographical circumstance during the cold UK winter, I can only to listen to music on my laptop, so on I went, duly linking to:

http://thebloodynerve.bandcamp.com/

First, let me say that The Bloody Nerve have genetic 

rock and blues connections, with the Bloody

component of The Bloody Nerve, Stacey Blood, hailing from Texas, birthplace of the origin of rock & roll (in the 1880s no less), as my next book ‘How Rock & Roll Evolved’ will testify. His partner, Laurie Ann Layne, comes from New York, where the first recorded blues in history was recorded exactly 100 years ago, as I'm never tired of pointing out.

If like me, you’re listening to The Bloody Nerve through your computer, plug in your head phones immediately. I’ve just put on mine and was hit with such a wall of sound I thought Phil Spector must be producing again.

The new EP’s first track ‘Changin’ Mind’ is a slow, drawling, bluesy soul ballad, with some pretty decent hooks, produced by Nashville’s own David Norris. That’s if a vocalist with the power of Stacey Blood can drawl, and blues and soul can live together in the same song. Actually, The Bloody Nerve show that they can.

‘Changin’ Mind’ and track two ‘Strange’ were both written, produced and sung by Stacey Blood while track three is a nod to Nashville and country rock with Laurie Ann Layne’s powerful rendition of the old Gram Parsons/Chris Etheridge classic, ‘She’.

I keep saying power and powerful but that really is the essence of The Bloody Nerve; two exceptionally powerful voices, one male, one female, backed by a band as tight as the proverbial nun’s lady bits. The depth and power in these guy’s voices virtually classify their sound as power rock. If you like guitar bands with powerhouse vocals then The Bloody Nerve are for you.

 *Stacey Blood, vocals/guitars and Laurie Ann Layne, vocals, are joined in The Bloody Nerve by Terry Bayless, keyboards; Bobby Blood, bass guitar / trumpet; Peter Wolf, drums. Featured on Changin' Mind are Buddy Hyatt, keyboards; Danny Parks, electric guitars; Bobby Terry, acoustic guitars; Wayne Killius, drums.

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How Christmas Day was saved by Spotify

BluesMuse48. Talk about being let down by your own blog post. I thought my video juke box link might add a nice bit of nostalgia to Christmas Day for anyone interested in 1950s classic American pop music. So, on Christmas Day, round we go to my younger son’s place where he’s promised to indulge me by playing my Christmas jukebox. He’s got a huge great iMac screen upon which to watch the old pop classics playing, so we link expectantly to my Merry Christmas (From Paul Merry) post; and absolutely nothing happens.

The iMac refused to link to my video juke box link. My wife’s iPad would connect, but who wants to watch and listen to music on an iPad? So, if you checked out my blog on Christmas Day hoping to connect to some vintage Americana, and my link wouldn’t connect, a massive apology to you. If you did manage to log on, however, it would be nice to receive your feedback.

Now, as you know, every cloud has a silver lining and we spent the evening, instead, listening to music on Spotify, the music streaming service which enables you to listen to almost any track in the world except Beatles and Stones tracks, I believe. Some songs you can’t find on Spotify; but there are also many million that you can.

It’s great for allowing people to check out old song favourites they thought were gone forever.

A favourite album from 1972

On Christmas Day Spotify allowed us to play magnificent song after magnificent song (in my eyes, anyway. Aren’t all songs subjective?)  Just one example was the fabulous Valerie, by the now defunct Liverpool band, The Zutons. You’ll probably know Mark Ronson’s equally superb cover versions with the sadly departed Amy Winehouse on vocals. If you can put up with the commercial at the beginning, here’s a link to Ronson’s video featuring various miming Amy Winehouse look-alikes (because the real Amy wasn’t available for the shoot).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HLY1NTe04M

Another old, old favourite was an album that never got the kudos it so richly deserved. That was Grin 1+1 released in 1972 with songs written by their guitarist, the 21-year-old Nils Lofgren. Yes, that’s the same Nils Lofgren who was in Neil Young’s Crazy Horse and played on ‘Young’s After The Gold Rush album. Nils has also long been a stalwart of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, as Springsteen fans will know. Nils Lofren’s Grin 1+1 album was a pop classic in its own right; and with a ‘Rockin’ Side’ and a ‘Dreamy Side’ had something for everyone.

Of course, we got onto all the blues classics, getting to a high point which was going to be hard to

Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

top. Then I remembered one of my best-loved records from the early 70s, Derek and The Dominos’ seminal “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs”; and their rendition of the fabulous Key To The Highway.

For younger blues lovers who don’t know of Derek and the Dominos, do yourself a huge favour and check them out. Key To The Highway won’t be on film or video but this is the link to the Dominos’ Have You Ever Loved A Woman, written in 1960 by the late U.S. R&B songwriter, Billy Myles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVRQd8WN4i0

The reason the breathtaking Derek and the Dominos’ album version of Key To The Highway was never filmed was it was only recorded by pure chance, in Criteria Studios, Miami. Sam the Sham of Woolly Bully fame was in the studio next door cutting the song, which is usually credited to blues pianist Charlie Segar, who recorded it first in 1940, and blues legend, Big Bill Broonzy. Big Bill recorded it in 1941 with harmonic player, Jazz Gillum, cutting it down from 12-bars to the eight bars so familiar today. The story goes that Eric Clapton and Duane Allman started jamming on the track after hearing Sam’s version, with the other Dominos quickly joining in. Producer Tom Down, hearing what was happening, barked to the engineer, “hit the goddam machine” to start the tape rolling. They missed recording the beginning and the track clearly starts half way through. Luckily it continues on for another nine minutes producing some of the most magical blues rock you’re ever likely to hear. Another great blues classic to feature on the Layla album is the Prohibition-era Nobody Know You When You’re Down And Out, written as a vaudeville blues by Jimmy Cox ( born 1882 – died 1925) in 1923.

Eric Clapton (2nd left) was on fire in 1966

For many, many years, “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs” was perhaps my favourite album. Then Layla started getting played regularly on the radio, Eric Clapton started experimenting with country and ballads, the masses discovered him, and his blues spell was broken.

But on Christmas Day I was once more transfixed by the blues guitar playing of early Eric Clapton. So we Spotified John Mayall’s Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton album from 1966, when Eric was just 21. If you’ve ever wondered what all the “Clapton Is God” graffiti was all about, check out the original Blues Breakers album with the youthful Eric on lead guitar. Those really were the days when he and his guitar were on fire and he first forged his reputation.

On the subject of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers, it would be remiss of me to pass them by without mentioning just a few of the rock and blues luminaries who have been members. There were Eric Clapton, of course, and Jack Bruce, who later formed Cream. There were Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, who became Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, (the blues band who morphed into the later pop band). 

There was Mick Taylor, later guitarist with the Rolling Stones; Andy Fraser, later bass player for Free, and, travelling the other way, Harvey Mandell, Walter Trout and Larry Taylor who left Canned Heat to join Mayall.

But back to Derek and The Dominos: like the clichéd comet they lit up the underground music scene

The brilliant Derek & The Dominos (l to r) Gordon, Radle, Whitlock, Clapton

(as it was called then) and burnt out.

They were formed by ex-Delaney & Bonnie & Friends band members: Clapton, guitar/vocals; Bobby Whitlock, keyboard/vocals/guitar, (who I later had the pleasure of meeting when his solo album was released on the record label I worked for); bassist, Carl Radle; and drummer, Jim Gordon. They were later joined by the Allman Brothers’ founding guitarist, Duane Allman and Traffic founding guitarist, Dave Mason.

After just one album, though, they split while recording the follow-up in 1971, with Eric Clapton retiring from music to nurse his heroin habit. That same year, Duane Allman died in a motor cycle accident, aged 24. Carl Radle died in 1980 of a kidney infection caused by drugs and alcohol. Jim Gordon, an undiagnosed schizophrenic, killed his mother with a hammer and was institutionalised in 1984.

Ironically, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was regarded as a failure when it was first released and sold poorly, even though for many of us, it was the ultimate rock album of the era. Today, however, it is often listed as one of the best rock albums ever recorded. If you have never heard this masterpiece, you simply must give it a try.

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Since it’s Boxing Day, let’s talk blues musicians who boxed

"Very good read! Sort of expected to read that the Wolf was a boxer as well. Best wishes for a prosperous 2014."
JonnyThumper (@jonnythumper) December 26, 2013.

BLUESMUSE47.

The heavyweight blues song writer, Willie Dixon

In most countries in the English-speaking world, including Britain, Australia and Canada, the day after Christmas is called Boxing Day. The expression comes from the traditional giving of gifts in Christmas boxes by employers to workers.

So what better time to talk about blues musicians who were also professional boxers, those guys who fight in the ring for money. The first name that springs to mind is Willie Dixon, a giant of a man at six foot six, weighing in at 250 pounds, and a giant of a songwriter. Big Willie’s compositions include the Cream and Howlin’ Wolf classic, Spoonful; and the only blues record ever to top the UK pop charts, Little Red Rooster, recorded by the Stones. Willie also wrote the Muddy Waters classics Hoochie Coochie Man (see 18 September post in Archives) and I Just Want To Make Love To You, to name just a few classic blues tunes.

Born in Mississippi in 1915, Willie Dixon won the Illinois Golden Gloves Heavyweight Boxing championship in 1937 and worked as a sparring partner with the legendary Heavyweight World Champion, Joe Louis. He turned professional but quit after only four fights after an argument with his manager over money. Willie Dixon died in 1992.

Champion Jack Dupree

The second boxing bluesman to mention would obviously be that professor of barrelhouse piano, Champion Jack Dupree. Born William Thomas Dupree in New Orleans, in 1909 (like so many bluesmen’s birth date, this is disputed), his father was from Africa’s notorious Belgium Congo and his mother part Cherokee Indian. I’ve a feeling both parents were murdered but whatever the reason young Bill Dupree grew up in the same orphanage as Louis Armstrong, the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs.

A Golden Gloves boxing champion as well as a boogie woogie pianist, Dupree fought over 100 professional bouts, thus acquiring his nickname. Champion Jack moved to Europe in 1960, living in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, during the 1970s and 1980s. A cook in the U.S. Navy during World War Two, Champion Jack Dupree died in Hanover, Germany, in 1992 aged 81.

Whether you like boxing or not, whether you call the day after Christmas Boxing Day or not, wherever you are, have a good one.

Note: As I replied to Johnny, author of the quote above, Howlin' Wolf was a massive 6' 6" and 300lbs but I've never heard of him being a professional boxer. From what I gather, the Wolf  was quite a canny businessman so probably never had the need to box.

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