Chicago Blues
...blues is our business!
Stars & Stories
Stars & Stories
click on the Stars' names to hear more
“I wanted to definitely
be a musician or a good preacher or a heck of a baseball player. I couldn't
play ball too good - I hurt my finger, and I stopped that. I couldn't preach,
and well, all I had left was getting into the music thing.”
~ Muddy Waters
I'll always
like Muddy Waters till the day I die. Nothing's gonna change that.
~ Mick Jagger – Rolling Stones
“I've
always wanted the sound of Muddy Waters' early records - only louder.”
~ Eric Clapton
“I have several memories of Muddy Waters. The
weirdest one is when we first went into Chess Studios in '64, the first time we
came here... There's Phil Chess and there's … this guy in white overalls
painting the ceiling. As we walked by into the studio, somebody said, Oh, by
the way, this is Muddy Waters, and he's painting the ceiling. He wasn't
selling records at the time, and this is the way he got treated... I'm dying,
right? I get to meet The Man - he's my fucking god, right - and he's painting
the ceiling! And I'm gonna work in his studios. Ouch! Oh, this is the record
business, right?... And bless him. When we started the Rolling Stones, we were
just little kids, right? We felt we had some of the licks down, but our aim was
to turn other people on to Muddy Waters.”
~ Keith Richards – Rolling Stones
Howlin' Wolf – another of
Chicago Blues’ founding fathers was as rough as Muddy was smooth. A huge man, with a deep, resonant voice, his
music had an edge, the guitar solos scorching, and the piano work,
formidable. Wolf was a physical
performer, and passionate singer, adept playing both harp and guitar. The songs he made famous – Killing Floor, The
Red Rooster, Spoonful, and Back Door Man – became standards of rock bands.
Howling Wolf was the archtype blues
musician, a lone wolf, outcast with a guitar and mean dispostion. His nasty,
nasal sound (howlin) was enough to make your skin crawl. Gives me the shivers
just thinking about it.
B.B. King – 83, is ranked #3 on
Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Guitarists, has won 15 Grammy
Awards, played over 10,0000 gigs, and used to work 250 nights a year.
On the conflict of being a blues musician: “The blues was like that
problem child that you may have had in the family. You was a little bit ashamed
to let anybody see him, but you loved him. You just didn't know how other
people would take it.”
~ B.B. King
When, at the height of the Beatles’ fame, John
Lennon was asked his ambition, he answered that he wanted to, “…play guitar like B.B. King.”
~ John Lennon
The Manchester Guardian
Marion “Little Walter” Jacobs – was the greatest blues
harmonica player and set that standards that would be emulated by others. An unparalleled innovator, his jazz-oriented
harp playing revolutionized blues and provided the centerpiece for countless
recordings by Walter, Muddy, Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, and others.
Freddy Below – was a schooled, jazz
drummer who set the standards for Chicago Blues - house drummer on 1,000’s or
recordings at Chess Records, and member of The Aces, backup band to both Jr.
Wells and Little Walter. He is shown here with The Aces – Dave Myers,
bass, and Louis Myers, guitar (l-r).
Mr. Robert Lockwood Jr. – the stepson of
legendary Delta bluesman, Robert Johnson. A “jazz guitarist who played blues”,
he was at the forefront of the electric blues revolution, and the most
in-demand blues session guitarist in the 1950’s. His jazz-oriented
chordings, riffs and arrangements were instrumental in creating the “sound” of
the music of Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson, and his was a mentor to
several great blues guitarists. He had
his own band in Cleveland for over 40 years, touring until his passing at age
91, in 2006.
Jimmy Reed – His melodies were
simple, his guitar patterns hypnotic, his harmonica piercing, and singing lazy. There was an easy, infectious quality to
Reed’s music that listeners enjoyed and bands felt inspired to perform and record,
including Honest I Do (Rolling Stones),
Take Out Some Insurance (The
Beatles), Big Boss Man and Baby, What You
Want Me to Do (Elvis Presley), and Goin’ To New York (The
Doors).
On the music of Jimmy Reed: “The music seemed to be very simple but
later you learned that it was quite hard to be simple. “
~ Bill Wyman – Rolling Stones
“…’61, ’62… We wanted to sell records
for Jimmy Reed, Muddy, John Lee Hooker. We were disciples – if we could turn
people on to that, then that was enough. “
~ Ron Woods – Rolling Stones
Big Walter Horton – This shy, quiet
musician, alternately known as “Shakey” or “Mumbles” played harmonica with
extraordinary power and unsurpassed tone.
He was legendary both as an accompanist and soloist, including classic
recordings by Jimmy Rogers, Walkin’ By Myself, and Muddy Waters, Hoochie
Coochie Man.
Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog"
Taylor –
was one of the premier slide guitar players in Chicago. While there were other great slide guitarists
– Elmore James recorded more hit
singles, and Earl Hooker was technically superior – “Dog” played a rough,
rockin’ style, and as one critic stated, “…Hound
Dog Taylor & the Houserockers took
Elmore James’ music and turned it upside down.”
“When I die, they’ll say,
‘He couldn’t play shit, but he sure sounded good’.”
~Hound Dog Taylor
Amos "Junior"
Wells – One of Chicago’s premier
blues harmonica players and performers. He combined great harp playing
skills with the soul and showmanship of James Brown and Jr. Walker. He
recorded and toured worldwide with guitarist, Buddy Guy, taking the blues to
new audiences.
Willie Dixon was a blues bassist, vocalist, songwriter,
arranger and record producer. His songs, including "Little Red Rooster", "Hoochie
Coochie Man", "Evil",
"Spoonful", "Back Door Man", "I Just Want to Make Love to You",
"I Ain't Superstitious",
"My Babe", and "Wang
Dang Doodle", written during the peak of Chess Records, 1950-1965, and
performed by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and Little Walter, influenced a
worldwide generation of musicians. Next
to Muddy Waters, he was the most influential person in shaping the post-World
War II sound of the Chicago blues. He also was an important link between the
blues and rock and roll, working with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley in the
late-1950s, and his songs were covered by some of the biggest bands of the
1960s and 1970s, including Bob Dylan, Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Yardbirds, The
Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Grateful Dead.
Magic Sam – One of the greatest Chicago Blues guitarists and singers; his life cut short by a heart attack at 32. He combined a voice reminiscent of Sam Cooke, with unequaled, rapid fire, melodic, guitar playing. His classic solo in Sweet Home Chicago is so famous that the song was dedicated to him in the Blues Brothers movie. His album, West Side Soul, is regarded as one of the greatest Chicago Blues albums of all times.
Francis Clay – His precision, jazz
drumming flair, and musical arrangements helped define Chicago Blues. He
came to play with Muddy Waters’ band for 7 days and stayed 7 years. Clay’s resume included stints with the James
Cotton Blues Band, Big Jay McShann, and the big bands of Dizzy Gillespie, Cab
Calloway, and Louie Bellson. Clay said
that because his drumming style was so flashy, “Muddy would put two guitarists
in front of me so that I wouldn’t upstage him.”
Louis Jordan – “the father of Rhythm ‘n Blues” was a jazz, blues and rhythm ‘n
blues band leader from the 1930’s to the 1950’s, known as “King of the Jukebox”
because of the number of hit records he and his band, the Tymphany Five,
produced. Jordan was a talented singer
and instrumentalist with great comedic flair; a leading practitioner, innovator
and popularizer of "jump blues". His hits included, Keep A-Knockin’, Choo Choo Ch’boogie, Don’t Let the Sun Catch You
Cryin’, Knock Me A Kiss, Caledonia, Let the Good Times Roll, and a
contender for the first Rock & Roll record, Saturday Night Fish Fry. To this day Louis Jordan still ranks as the
top black recording artist of all time in terms of the total number of weeks at
#1 -- his records scored an incredible total of 113 weeks in the #1 position
(the runner-up being Stevie Wonder with 70 weeks).
Albert King – While not a Chicago
blues man, no discussion of great blues guitarists would be complete without
Mr. Albert King. His was “the Memphis
Sound”. A huge man, resplendent in a
white suit, pipe clenched between his teeth, his Flying V guitar cradled as he
bent the strings mercilessly, the horn players doing dance steps in unison.
Albert rocked arenas around the world.
He was the inspiration to a generation of blues guitarists including
SRV.
Aaron "T-Bone" Walker, was a blues guitarist,
singer, pianist and songwriter who was one of the most important pioneers of
the electric guitar, his career spanning from the 1920’s to 1970’s. An innovative soloist, he helped popularize
“jump blues”. He was a major influence
on the playing style of B.B. King, Chuck Berry, and Jimi Hendrix, and by
extension, every guitarist who imitated their styles in blues and rock. Among his hits were Stormy Monday, and T-Bone
Shuffle. He was identified with the
large (jazz style) arch-top guitars he played and famous for playing the guitar
behind his head or back, while doing the splits, or with his teeth. Throughout his career Walker worked with the
top quality jazz and studio musicians and toured Europe with Jazz at the
Philharmonic.
Luther Tucker – Protégé of Mr. Robert
Lockwood Jr., and guitarist with Little Walter’s band for almost 8 years,
Tucker began his professional career at age 14.
A contemporary and teenage friend of Magic Sam, Otis Rush, and Freddy
King, Tucker was one of the most prolific and talented Chicago Blues guitarists,
featured on over 300 recordings, and a founding member of the James Cotton
Blues Band. Unfortunately, his two CD’s
were not released until after his death.
Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) – A well
known harmonica player and radio artist in the south in the 30’s and 40’s, and
a very popular performer after migrating to Chicago in the 50’s, he was widely
recorded and enjoyed great popularity in England in the 60’s, touring with Jeff
Beck, Eric Clapton and the Yardbirds.
What Others Have Said…
“I like blues, but it is music I am too ignorant to understand. “
~ Barry Gibb – The Bee Gees
“I'm certain that it was an incredible gift for me to not
only be friends with some of the greatest blues people who've ever lived, but
to learn how they played, how they sang, how they lived their lives, ran their
marriages, and talked to their kids.” ~ Bonnie Raitt
“Once I was checking in to a hotel and a couple saw my ring
with Blues on it. They said, 'You play blues. That music is so sad.' I gave
them tickets to the show, and they came up afterwards and said, 'You didn't
play one sad song'.” ~ Buddy Guy
“I still like to play the blues more than anything else.” ~ Christine McVie – Fleetwood Mac
“I think it was that we were really seasoned musicians. We had serious roots that spanned different
cultures, obviously the blues.” ~ Jimmy Page – Led Zeppelin
“The blues tells a story.
Every line of the blues has a meaning.“ ~ John Lee Hooker
"I just like the blues better than rock 'n' roll. “ ~ Johnny
Winter
“Music
isn't just learning notes and playing them. You learn notes to play to
the music of your soul.” ~ Katie Greenwood (not related to Kevin)
“If you don't know the blues... there's no point in picking up the guitar and playing rock and roll or any other form of popular music. “ ~ Keith Richards – Rolling Stones
“Chicago Blues is high-spirited music… Chicago Blues are
hard-edged and loud because Chicago is a hard-edged, tough industrial city in
which you have to be more powerful and louder in order to be heard. “ ~ Scholastic.com –
Knowledge Adventure
“The blues is the foundation, and it's got to carry the top.
The other part of the scene, the rock & roll, and the jazz, are the walls
of the blues. “ ~ Luther Allison
“I like the blues a lot. I grew up on it.” ~ Morgan Freeman
"Saturday night is your big night. Everybody used to fry up
fish and have one hell of a time. Find me playing till sunrise for 50 cents and
a sandwich, and be glad of it. And they really liked the low-down blues.” ~ Muddy Waters
“I like to listen to the blues and some classical.” ~ Peter Tork – The Monkeys
"Hearing the blues changed my life.” ~
Van Morrison
