Hyde Park Blvd

Aretha, circa 1968. Photograph by Lee Friedlander (via 1968. Photograph by Lee Friedlander (via cdsporch.org)

Even if it’s not a Roller, I don’t think Slowhand is feeling any pain. Courtesy of Frango.

Happy birthday one day late.  With Big Mama Thornton (and a very Chicago stage set) in 1965.

William H. Johnson, Jitterbugs (II), ca. 1941 via my Brazilian friend, Frango

Traveling Wilburys via musical friend Frango

King Oliver Creole Jazz Band originated in New Orleans, migrating to Chicago to play at the Lincoln Gardens on East 31st Street.  In 1922, Oliver telegraphed the young Louis Armstrong, musician (and home-town competitor to Oliver), inviting him to join the band as second cornet.

The combination was like the discovery that two lead guitars could transform a rock band (think Allman Brothers or Derek and the Dominoes).  Chicago, ground zero in the 1920s for the emerging musical style, was electrified.  In addition to the cornets, the band included Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Bud Scott on banjo, Baby Dodds on drums (and that pennywhistle that comes out of nowhere), and Lil Harden, who became Louis Armstrong’s second wife, on piano.

It was Lil that convinced Louis to leave King Oliver and never again be second cornet to anyone.

Clapton explains the degree of difficulty in making music that sounds so easy and then demonstrates the residue of hard work and talent.

Why Robert Johnson is under-appreciated. And why Eric Clapton isn’t.

Neil Young called ‘Four Strong Winds’ his favorite song (he recorded it on ‘Comes a Time’).  Ian Tyson wrote it and it found its way into many repertoires — Brothers Four, The Chad Mitchell Trio, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris,  Gordon Lightfoot, the Searchers.

I can’t find a video of them doing the song, but here’s a clip of Ian in a documentary on Canadian folk artists:

Ian & Sylvia represented the best of early 60s folk — taste, harmonies, passion. This clip from a 1988 reunion provides a sense of who they were — and the musicians who came to honor them.

I want to close with a video of them from the 1960s. “Jesus Met the Woman at the Well” was on their 1963 album “Four Strong Winds.”

I’ve been thinking about a series of posts about some of my favorite things, especially those that don’t seem to get their due.

The J. Geils Band, better remembered for their later work (“Centerfold,” “Freeze Frame,” “Love Stinks”), vocalist Peter Wolf and harpist “Magic Dick” Salwitz, got their start as the house band at Boston After Dark.

They had great taste in musical archaeology and recasting, excavating everything from “Thunderbird” Big Walter Price’s “Pack Fair and Square”(1956)  to the Contour’s “First I look at the Purse” (1965, written by Smokey Robinson),  from Otis Rush’s “Homework” (1962)  to John Lee Hooker’s “Serves Me (You) Right to Suffer (1964).  Geils is a terrific, understated guitarist and the band retains a ragged, bluesy quality characteristic of the vintage.  Wolf’s histrionics overshadow his ability as a songwriter, as did Magic Dick’s Jewfro his harmonica playing.

Here’s a 1979 German concert tape of “Looking for a Love” (originally recorded by the Valentinos — Bobby Womack and his brothers) — in 1964.

And here’s a brief “Pack Fair and Square” along with Walter Price’s original recording.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TyzAAwJnIw&feature=related]In 1970 and 1971 I sat and listened to “Mississippi” Fred McDowell after concerts at Joe’s Place in Cambridge, a combination of hero-worship and a desperate attempt to learn some licks.

Fred would sit as long as the group continued to provide a passed bottle of apricot brandy. He was patient, I was clueless. This video reminds me of a lesson that focused on this song, Going Down to the River .

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTF9p45IMSE]This great piece is an excerpt from a 1969 documentary called “Blues Maker.” Originally, Fred played slide guitar using a beef bone; here he’s using his trademark bottleneck. The driving bass line is characteristically Fred, something he passed on to Bonnie Raitt.