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| Title: | BLUES and R&B Interest Group |
| Notice: | Welcome to the Blues/R&B Conference! |
| Moderator: | OSOSPS::SYSTEM A |
|
| Created: | Tue Apr 04 1989 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 557 |
| Total number of notes: | 7144 |
553.0. "From Sprituals To Swing" by OSOV03::KAGEYAMA (I Got Rhythm!) Wed May 14 1997 04:44
"From Sprituals To Swing" were a legendary concerts held at the Carnegie
Hall in late 1938 and in late 1939 by producer John Hammond. This
concerts were indented to introduce wide variety of Afro-Amercan music
to the public and not to illustrate the evolution of the music as their
title suggest. The recordings of the concerts had not been available to
the public for long years and kept as Hammond's own enjoyment. But
finnally it was released from Vanguard in 1970s(?) as a double LP set and
now is available as a double CD set.
The performers included in this CD were Benny Goodman Sextet (with
vibraphonist Lionel Hampton and guitarist Charlie Christian), the Count
Basie Orchestra with singer Helen Humes and guest Hot Lips Page, The
Kansas City Six (an all-star group with Lester Young, Buck Clayton and
Charlie Christian), pianist James P. Johnson, the hot New Orleans
Feetwarmers which features the soprano of Sidney Bechet, the Golden Gate
Quartet, blues singer Ida Cox, the blues harmonica of Sonny Terry, Big
Bill Broonzy, Mitchell's Christian Singers, singer Joe Turner with
boogie-woogie pianists Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis and Albert Ammons.
The song which attracted me most is the "Four Day Creep" by Ida Cox.
It'a great blues. It's amazing I didn't notice her since today. The
song was backed by "jazz instruments" or those which were hardly used in
this kind of blues, horns, which created strange atomopher and could be
said to be the fine integration of blues and jazz, not in a sense of
blues vocal in jazz.
The byproduct of "From Sprituals To Swing" is the boogie woogie craze in
the late 1930s by Joe Turner and the boogie woogie trio(Albert Ammons,
Pete Johnson, Meade "Lux" Lewis). I expected a lot to this CD, but only
song you can listen to in it is "It's All Right, Baby" by Turner and
Johson, which is included in the Rhino box set of Turner.
Ammons played with Big Bill Broonzy, who was the final replacement for
Robert Johson of his death and a big name in pre-war Chicago blues. But
this attempt was a failure (in my opinion). Ammon's character as a
boogie woogie pianinst doesn't go well with Broonzy's blues feeling.
I only know James P. Jones as a leading figure of slide piano and
wondering "Mule Walk Stomp" and "Carolina Shout" is a good example of
his style. FWIW, he was a comanion of the queen of blues, Bessie Smith.
- Kazunori
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
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| 553.1 | musical Johnsons | HELIX::CLARK | | Wed May 14 1997 18:13 | 30 |
| You touch on several potential topics for discussion in your post -- I'll
start with a couple...
> Ammons played with Big Bill Broonzy, who was the final replacement for
> Robert Johson of his death and a big name in pre-war Chicago blues.
Yes, John Hammond (Sr.) sent people looking for Robert Johnson
specifically for this concert, intending to provide him the same type of
exposure that (it turned out) brought the boogie-woogie pianists to a
wider audience. Too bad RJ died before the connection could be made. His
songs might have reached an influential audience 30 years before he was
widely "rediscovered" by musicians outside the area he traveled.
> I only know James P. Jones as a leading figure of slide piano and
> wondering "Mule Walk Stomp" and "Carolina Shout" is a good example of
> his style. FWIW, he was a comanion of the queen of blues, Bessie Smith.
James P. Johnson is called the Father of Stride Piano (reasonably
appropriately -- whether he was the first, he was the first to succeed at
it in a way that influenced others). His stylistic descendants include
Fats Waller, Willie "The Lion" Smith, and (through Waller) Art Tatum. In
addition to stride pieces (of which Carolina Shout is indeed a good
example), he wrote classical pieces of many types (choral, orchestral --
wasn't an opera or oratorio recently revived?). And of course,
accompanied Bessie Smith.
In the 70s when I first listened to James P, there wasn't much recorded
material in print. I expect more is available now, and someone
(Smithsonian? Rhino? CBS?) is likely to have done a skillful compilation.
Maybe someone else (here or in JAZZ) has more current information. - Jay
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| 553.2 | | OSOV03::KAGEYAMA | I Got Rhythm! | Sun May 18 1997 02:49 | 14 |
|
>> I only know James P. Jones as a leading figure of slide piano and
> James P. Johnson is called the Father of Stride Piano (reasonably
Oh, yes. It's "stride" piano definitely. ;-)
> In the 70s when I first listened to James P, there wasn't much recorded
> material in print. I expect more is available now, and someone
> (Smithsonian? Rhino? CBS?) is likely to have done a skillful compilation.
I created an individual topic for him, 554.
- Kazunori
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| 553.3 | | OSOV03::KAGEYAMA | I Got Rhythm! | Mon May 19 1997 03:34 | 38 |
|
re>.1 -< musical Johnsons >-
>Too bad RJ died before the connection could be made. His
> songs might have reached an influential audience 30 years before he was
> widely "rediscovered" by musicians outside the area he traveled.
John Hammond writes in his liner notes to this CD...
Rober Johnson, Vocalion's blues singer and guitarist, was
singned, and then promptly murdered in a Mississippi barroom
brawl, whereupon Big Bill Broonzy was prevailed upon to leave
his Arkansas firm and mule and make his very first trek to the
big city to appear befire a predominatly white audience.
Yes, he was almost appearing to the national attention. As for Broonzy,
he moved to Chicago from Arkansas in early 1920s and was already a major
performer during 1930s in Chicago. So Hammond's recollection must be
wrong.
.0>I expected a lot to this CD, but only
.0>song you can listen to in it is "It's All Right, Baby" by Turner and
.0>Johson, which is included in the Rhino box set of Turner.
I didn't mean the box set, it's the triple CD set mentioned in topic 446.6.
Hammond also writes
And there is still enough good material left for another three
LP sides.
Which might include Turner and the boogie woogie trio performance which
I'm longing for.
.0>FWIW, he was a comanion of the queen of blues, Bessie Smith.
I tried to say an "accompanist" as .1 says. Sorry for my wording.
- Kazunori
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| 553.4 | | STAR::EVANS | | Mon May 19 1997 21:31 | 15 |
| "Robert Johnson, Vocalion's blues singer and guitarist, was
singned, and then promptly murdered in a Mississippi barroom
brawl"
I don't think this part is correct either. Robert Johnson was poisoned.
I don't think there was a brawl. There seems to be good evidence that
Johnson was poisoned by the jukejoint's owner for taking liberties with
the owner's wife. Johnson died a few days later. His place of burial
remains uncertain. The liner notes for The Complete Robert Johnson and
the recent PBS show on "The Search for Robert Johnson" are good sources
for what actually happened to the man who was a major influence on
American popular music.
Jim
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