SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
WINTER, 2017
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
WINTER, 2017
VOLUME FOUR NUMBER ONE
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
JILL SCOTT
DAVID MURRAY
(February 25--March 3)
OLIVER LAKE
(March 4–10)
GERALD WILSON
(March 11-17)
DON BYRON
(March 18-24)
KENNY GARRETT
(March 25-31)
COLEMAN HAWKINS
(April 1-7)
ELMORE JAMES
(April 8-14)
WES MONTGOMERY
(April 15-21)
FELA KUTI
(April 22-28)
OLIVER NELSON
(April 29-May 5)
SON HOUSE
(May 6-12)
JOHN LEE HOOKER
(May 13-19)
ELMORE JAMES
(1918-1963)
Artist Biography by Cub Koda
No two ways about it, the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period was Elmore James, hands down. Although his early demise from heart failure kept him from enjoying the fruits of the '60s blues revival as his contemporaries Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf did, James left a wide influential trail behind him. And that influence continues to the present time -- in approach, attitude and tone -- in just about every guitar player who puts a slide on his finger and wails the blues. As a guitarist, he wrote the book, his slide style influencing the likes of Hound Dog Taylor, Joe Carter, his cousin Homesick James and J.B. Hutto, while his seldom-heard single-string work had an equally profound effect on B.B. King and Chuck Berry. His signature lick -- an electric updating of Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and one that Elmore recorded in infinite variations from day one to his last session -- is so much a part of the essential blues fabric of guitar licks that no one attempting to play slide guitar can do it without being compared to Elmore James. Others may have had more technique -- Robert Nighthawk and Earl Hooker immediately come to mind -- but Elmore had the sound and all the feeling.
A radio repairman by trade, Elmore reworked his guitar amplifiers in his spare time, getting them to produce raw, distorted sounds that wouldn't resurface until the advent of heavy rock amplification in the late '60s. This amp-on-11-approach was hot-wired to one of the strongest emotional approaches to the blues ever recorded. There is never a time when you're listening to one of his records that you feel -- no matter how familiar the structure -- that he's phoning it in just to grab a quick session check. Elmore James always gave it everything he had, everything he could emotionally invest in a number. This commitment of spirit is something that shows up time and again when listening to multiple takes from his session masters. The sheer repetitiveness of the recording process would dim almost anyone's creative fires, but Elmore always seemed to give it 100 percent every time the red light went on. Few blues singers had a voice that could compete with James'; it was loud, forceful, prone to "catch" or break up in the high registers, almost sounding on the verge of hysteria at certain moments. Evidently the times back in the mid-'30s when Elmore had first-hand absorption of Robert Johnson as a playing companion had a deep influence on him, not only in his choice of material, but also in his presentation of it.
Backing the twin torrents of Elmore's guitar and voice was one of the greatest -- and earliest -- Chicago blues bands. Named after James' big hit, the Broomdusters featured Little Johnny Jones on piano, J.T. Brown on tenor sax and Elmore's cousin, Homesick James on rhythm guitar. This talented nucleus was often augmented by a second saxophone on occasion while the drumming stool changed frequently. But this was the band that could go toe to toe in a battle of the blues against the bands of Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf and always hold their own, if not walk with the show. Utilizing a stomping beat, Elmore's slashing guitar, Jones' two-fisted piano delivery, Homesick's rudimentary boogie bass rhythm and Brown's braying nanny-goat sax leads, the Broomdusters were as loud and powerful and popular as any blues band the Windy City had to offer.
But as urban as their sound was, it all had roots in Elmore's hometown of Canton, MS. He was born there on January 27, 1918, the illegitimate son of Leola Brooks and later given the surname of his stepfather, Joe Willie James. He adapted to music at an early age, learning to play bottleneck on a homemade instrument fashioned out of a broom handle and a lard can. By the age of 14, he was already a weekend musician, working the various country suppers and juke joints in the area under the names "Cleanhead" or Joe' Willie James." Although he confined himself to a home base area around Belzoni, he would join up and work with traveling players coming through like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. By the late '30s he had formed his first band and was working the Southern state area with Sonny Boy until the second world war broke out, spending three years stationed with the Navy in Guam. When he was discharged, he picked off where he left off, moving for a while to Memphis, working in clubs with Eddie Taylor and his cousin Homesick James. Elmore was also one of the first "guest stars" on the popular King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena, AL, also doing stints on the Talaho Syrup show on Yazoo City's WAZF and the Hadacol show on KWEM in West Memphis.
Nervous and unsure of his abilities as a recording artist, Elmore was surreptitiously recorded by Lillian McMurray of Trumpet Records at the tail end of a Sonny Boy session doing his now-signature tune, "Dust My Broom." Legend has it that James didn't even stay around long enough to hear the playback, much less record a second side. McMurray stuck a local singer (BoBo "Slim" Thomas) on the flip side and the record became the surprise R&B hit of 1951, making the Top Ten and conversely making a recording star out of Elmore. With a few months left on his Trumpet contract, Elmore was recorded by the Bihari Brothers for their Modern label subsidiaries, Flair and Meteor, but the results were left in the can until James' contract ran out. In the meantime, Elmore had moved to Chicago and cut a quick session for Chess, which resulted in one single being issued and just as quickly yanked off the market as the Bihari Brothers swooped in to protect their investment. This period of activity found Elmore assembling the nucleus of his great band the Broomdusters and several fine recordings were issued over the next few years on a plethora of the Bihari Brothers'owned labels with several of them charting and most all of them becoming certified blues classics.
By this time James had established a beach-head in the clubs of Chicago as one of the most popular live acts and regularly broadcasting over WPOA under the aegis of disc jockey Big Bill Hill. In 1957, with his contract with the Bihari Brothers at an end, he recorded several successful sides for Mel London's Chief label, all of them later being issued on the larger Vee-Jay label. His health -- always in a fragile state due to a recurring heart condition -- would send him back home to Jackson, MS, where he temporarily set aside his playing for work as a disc jockey or radio repair man. He came back to Chicago to record a session for Chess, then just as quickly broke contract to sign with Bobby Robinson's Fire label, producing the classic "The Sky Is Crying" and numerous others. Running afoul with the Chicago musician's union, he returned back to Mississippi, doing sessions in New York and New Orleans waiting for Big Bill Hill to sort things out. In May of 1963, Elmore returned to Chicago, ready to resume his on-again off-again playing career -- his records were still being regularly issued and reissued on a variety of labels -- when he suffered his final heart attack. His wake was attended by over 400 blues luminaries before his body was shipped back to Mississippi. He was elected to the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980 and was later elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a seminal influence. Elmore James may not have lived to reap the rewards of the blues revival, but his music and influence continues to resonate.
http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/main-source-electric-guitar-elmore-james
The main source of the electric guitar, Elmore James
Elmore James
(b. January 27, 1918)
Without question, James was the most influential slide guitarist of the postwar period. He was born in Canton, MS., and was the son of Leola Brooks, later given the surname of his stepfather, Joe Willie James. He got into music at an early age, learning to play bottleneck on a homemade instrument made out of a broom handle and lard can.
By the age of 14, he was already a weekend musician, working the various country suppers and juke joints in the area under the names "Cleanhead" or Joe Willie James. Although he stuck to a home base area around Belzoni, MS., he would work with traveling players coming through like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson. By the late '30s he had formed his first band, playing until the Second World War broke out then spending three years stationed with the Navy in Guam.
After discharged, he picked up where he left off, moving for a while to Memphis, working in clubs with Eddie Taylor and his cousin Homesick James. Elmore James was also one of the first "guest stars" on the popular King Biscuit Time radio show on KFFA in Helena, AR, the Talaho Syrup show on Yazoo City's WAZF and the Hadacol show on KWEM in West Memphis. As a guitarist, he (pretty much) wrote the book, his slide style influenced the likes of Hound Dog Taylor, Joe Carter and J.B. Hutto, while his seldom-heard single-string work affected B.B. King and Chuck Berry. Edgy and unsure of his abilities as a recording artist, James was secretly recorded by Trumpet Records at the tail end of a Sonny Boy session doing his now signature tune, Dust My Broom.
The legend has it that James didn't even stay around long enough to hear the playback, much less record a second side. Bo Bo Thomas was put on the flip side and the record became the surprise R&B hit of 1951. In the meantime, he had moved to Chicago and assembled the nucleus of his great band the Broorndusters and recorded several certified blues classics. By this time James had established a Reputation in the clubs of Chicago as one of the most popular live acts and regularly broadcasting over WPOA. In 1957, he recorded several successful sides for “Chief” label, all of them later being issued on the larger Vee-Jay records.
A radio repairman by trade, James reworked his guitar amplifiers in his spare time, getting them to produce raw, distorted sounds that wouldn't resurface until the advent of heavy rock amplification in the late '60s. This amp style was connected to one of the strongest emotional approaches to the blues ever recorded. His health, always in a fragile state due to a recurring heart condition sent him back to Jackson, Mississippi, where he temporarily set aside his playing for work as a disc jockey and radio repairman. He came back to Chicago to record for Chess, producing the classic The Sky Is Crying and numerous others. Running afoul with the Chicago musician's union, he returned back to Mississippi.
James returned to Chicago, ready to resume his on-again off-again playing career when he suffered his final heart attack on May 24, 1963. Over 400 blues luminaries attended his wake before his body was shipped back to Mississippi. He was elected to the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1980 and was later elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Elmore James may not have lived to reap the rewards of the blues revival, but his music and influence continues to resonate.
Reference:
All Media Guide
1168 Oak Valley Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48108 USA
https://www.rockhall.com/inductees/elmore-james
Elmore James
Elmore James: guitarist, singer, songwriter;
January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963)
Elmore James is known as the “King of the Slide Guitar.”
He was inspired by the local performances of Robert Johnson to take up the guitar. It was, in fact, a number by Johnson ("Dust My Broom") that became James’ signature song and laid the foundation for his recording career. First cut by James in August 1951, “Dust My Broom” contains the strongest example of his stylistic signature: a swooping, full-octave opening figure on slide guitar. His influence went beyond that one riff, however, as he’s been virtually credited with inventing blues rock by virtue of energizing primal riffs with a raw, driving intensity.
Elmore James was born on a farm in Richland, Mississippi, on January 27, 1918. By the time he was 12, he was playing a one-string, wall-mounted “guitar” that was common to the region. The music of Robert Johnson and Kokomo Arnold had drawn him to music. He eventually moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he ran a radio repair shop and played guitar at night and on weekends. One account has him playing with a band that included drums as early as 1939. If correct, that would place him several years ahead ofMuddy Waters in blending Delta Blues with electrical amplification and percussion.
James went into the Navy in 1943. After his discharge, he teamed up with Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller), the harmonica player he had performed with on and off since the Thirties. They performed all over the South, but eventually split up in New Orleans. James returned to Mississippi, where he was briefly hospitalized with heart problems. On August 5, 1951, James backed Williamson on eight tracks recorded for Trumpet Records. At the end of the session, James came forward and sang “Dust My Broom.” Trumpet released the song, credited to “Elmo James,” in late 1951, and it was moving into the R&B Top 10 as 1952 arrived.
The following year, James moved to Chicago, where he was able to participate in the birth and flowering of electric blues. He ended up cutting several different versions of “Dust My Broom” under different titles. His most successful was “I Believe (My Time Ain’t Long),” which reached Number Nine in 1953. He also had several other hits that featured his impassioned singing and playing, including “Look On Yonder Wall,” “Shake Your Money Maker,” “Talk to Me Baby (I Can’t Hold On),” “It Hurts Me Too” and “The Sky Is Crying.”
Throughout the rest of the Fifties, James bounced back and forth between Chicago and Mississippi. Unfortunately, heavy drinking and chronic asthma complicated his heart trouble. He made a detour to New York City in 1959 to record for the Fire label – sessions that yielded some of his finest recorded work. In 1961, the musicians’ union blacklisted him for non-payment of dues. He returned to Mississippi and played local gigs until May 1963, when he went back to Chicago for a recording session with deejay Big Bill Hill. But on May 24, the night before the session, James died of a heart attack. He was 45 years old.
James left behind a raft of classic blues songs that include “Shake Your Money Maker,” “Talk to Me Baby,” “It Hurts Me Too” and “The Sky Is Crying.” James’ distinctive style has influenced a legion of Chicago slide players, and his songs have been cut by the admiring likes of the Allman Brothers Band, Canned Heat, Fleetwood Mac and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. “You can hear his signature riff at least once a night from every slide guitarist working,” music historian Tony Glover has written, “but no one has ever quite matched that vocal intensity, which transformed the lonesome moan of the Delta into a Chicago scream.”
ELMORE JAMES: Sliding with the king
by Graham Reid
It has been almost half a century since Elmore James bent over to pull up his socks before going out to play in an Chicago nightclub . . . and went face down on to the floor with his third and final heart attack.
Although he was not widely known, the world lost a good one who left an immense legacy.
James had an agonised vocal style and brutal slide guitar playing which no doubt owed its relentless, attacking style to his first instrument, a wire attached to a broomstick and played with bottle or can.
He has always found favour among blues-rock musicians from John Mayall (who recorded numerous James songs in the early Sixties, including James' classic Dust My Broom) to the Black Crowes, whose debut album, Shake Your Money Maker took its title from a James song.
Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan have both covered Sky is Crying, Jeremy Spencer of olden days Fleetwood Mac was a James disciple, and the Allman Brothers used to do Done Somebody Wrong. They had Sky is Crying played at brother Duane’s funeral.
Elmore James (born in Mississippi as Elmore Brooks in 1918, died 1963) has not really had his due from compilers of his dozen or so years of recordings. That is largely because he bounced around from small labels until Chicago record shop owner Bobby Robinson nailed him down in '59 for his final four years.
The '93 collection King of the Slide Guitar -- there would be none so bold as to challenge that title, surely? -- gathered 50 Robinson-years tracks on to two discs in a box which included excellent versions of all his best-known songs: Sky is Crying, Dust My Broom, Done Somebody Wrong, Moneymaker and Standing at the Crossroads, his version of the Robert Johnson classic on which he takes composer credits.
Plagiarism is endemic in the blues, but James always seemed particularly cheeky. Even his classic Dust My Broom is of questionable authorship (Johnson had I Believe I'll Dust My Broom and there were other versions even earlier). James also frequently rewrote himself -- I'm Worried is a minor variant on Broom for example -- and numerous other James songs are connected at the hip. His songs work in a few small closed circles.
That’s hardly a big deal because James -- inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in '92 by Robbie Robertson -- brings anger and often seething rage to his vocals and scary guitar.
He may have had a tortured spirit inside, but James was a snappy dresser on stage and enjoyed practical jokes. The box’s comments by sideman and label head Robinson unfortunately give only small insights into James the man, but the music here confirms a comment by Lawrence Hoffman of Living Blues magazine: “It’s kind of a moot point to review James' music -- it’s like commenting on a primary colour."
His raw elemental sound -- derived from Johnson and elemental in its aggressiveness -- popularised the rural Delta blues from which it was drawn, but its very intensity provided source material for another generation of blues musicians who would appear around the time of his death, and they were mostly white and English
.
But it wasn't just the blues aficionados who recognised him: on the Beatles' For You Blue -- a Harrison composition on which Lennon plays James-style slide guitar -- Harrison says, "Elmore James' got nothing on this baby".
After the astonishing sales success of the Johnson box set -- half a million sold and still going -- it wouldn't be surprising to find King of the Slide Guitar shadowing it.
James deserves, albeit belatedly, that kind of recognition.
After all, Clapton, the Black Crowes, Jimi Hendrix (who briefly called himself Jimmy James and recorded James' Bleeding Heart), Mayall, Roy Buchanan (who wrote Tribute to Elmore James) and Stevie Ray Vaughan can't all be wrong about this man whose music, according to Bob Marley biographer, the late Timothy White, is "fused in a passion fierce enough to strip the paint off Heaven's gate".
http://www.soulandjazzandfunk.com/interviews/2619-elmore-james-biographer-interviewed.html
ELMORE JAMES BIOGRAPHER INTERVIEWED
09 March 2014
by Charles Waring
by Charles Waring
(Elmore James photo by George Adins,
courtesy Robert Sacré)
Revered singer/guitarist, ELMORE JAMES (1918-1963), was a key figure of the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and his unique style - combining loud, amplified slide guitar licks with declamatory vocals - was hugely influential, especially regarding the sound of the British beat groups of the 1960s (including the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac).
The iconic blues maven's life is the subject of a fascinating biography, 'The Amazing Secret History of Elmore James,' by American author, Steve Franz, who also hosts a Stateside radio show, 'Blues Unlimited' (to find out more go to http://bluesunlimited.podomatic.com).
SJF's US correspondent John Wisniewski recently caught up with Steve to find about more about the background to his book and the enduring influence of Elmore James...
Why did you choose Elmore James to write about? What interested you about his life?
Well, that's a good question. Like a lot of people, I imagine, I sort of "fell" into it more than anything. The book opens with a true story of an experience I had one day in 1987 regarding Elmore James, and I can honestly say it was one of those experiences that changes your life. The interesting thing about Elmore is - over the years - I've heard a lot of people say something exactly along those same lines: that hearing the music of Elmore James for the first time was a life-altering experience. How was it that Brian Jones (of the Rolling Stones) put it? Something like "the Earth shifted on its axis" when he first heard Elmore (loud laugh). I also remember talking with Mike Rowe (who grew up in London, and is the author of the critically acclaimed book "Chicago Breakdown"), and he mentioned his experience with the first Elmore record he ever heard, 'Coming Home.' It's a fierce, bluesy rocker that Elmore cut in 1957. And Mike's comment about it was something along the lines of "Well, then. Nothing will ever quite be the same again, will it?" To hear words like that come from a rather reserved, and quietly staid English gentlemen just made the observation, to my thinking anyway, all the more poignant.
I think the thing that really "hooked" me about Elmore, though, is that - sure - there are great blues musicians. Many in fact. But there is something kind of special and a little different about Elmore. People still talk about his music with a reverence that you don't often find with other blues artists. It's really undeniable. I don't know if I really adequately addressed that in the book, but I did put a lot of quotes in from other people that I think sort of addressed that issue. Another way of saying it might be this way -- that Elmore James was what people refer to as a "musician's musician." It's also interesting to me that when I had a chance to talk to Cosimo Matassa (after the book came out, and someone who had recorded him twice, down in New Orleans), that he pretty much told me, without any real prompting, that Elmore was one of the more memorable musicians that came through his door. That there was something about him that stood out from the regular crowd. And this coming from a guy who held hundreds and hundreds of sessions over the years!
So, going back to that day in 1987.... I guess you could say I became hooked. I was commuting to grad school at the time, and I listened to Elmore every day, on the one hour commute coming and going, I think for something like 7 months straight. After a while, I think I began to realize that the course of my life was inevitably going to change, somehow. And it did. And I changed schools, went to Memphis State University, enrolled in their Ethnomusicology program, and wrote my master's thesis on Elmore. Which later became the book.
Which artists influenced Elmore James?
Well, of course, the obvious one is Robert Johnson. That's a relative given. And while I don't want to take anything away from Johnson either, there's still a very thin possibility that they might've influenced each other. Someone down in the Mississippi Delta claimed that they spoke to someone who remembers Elmore singing "Dust My Broom" (his signature piece) around the time of the 1927 flood. So...... who knows.... you know? He would've been just a little kid at the time. So I'm somewhat skeptical about that, but the idea does raise some interesting questions.
Other influences that I think have been overlooked were from Tampa Red and also Robert Nighthawk. Tampa Red's slide guitar playing was smooth and advanced, and likewise, so was Robert Nighthawk's (who fell under Tampa Red's spell, basically). Nighthawk often performed numbers from the Tampa Red catalog, and then, so did Elmore. It's safe to say that while Tampa was a hugely important figure in the blues, in terms of his body of work and slide guitar playing, I think you could also say that Robert Nighthawk influenced virtually every person in Chicago who played slide guitar in the post-war years, including such key figures as Muddy Waters, Elmore James, and Earl Hooker. So, I don't think you can trace Elmore's roots *just* back to the Delta. You have to look at what Tampa Red and Nighthawk were doing, and what they were doing was technically advanced slide guitar solos that were different from what a typical Delta Blues guitarist with a slide would do.
But, obviously, there's more than that, too. If you go back and look at the songs Elmore covered over the years -- and he was a really great interpreter of traditional material -- there's songs that go back to John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson (the first one) and Leroy Carr.... and Memphis Minnie and Jazz Gillum.... and others. So while Robert Johnson, Tampa Red, and Robert Nighthawk would be the "big three" I guess, there's others too, that Elmore obviously heard and listened to -- either on the radio, or he had their records and listened to them at home.
How far reaching has Elmore James' music been on rock music?
Well, that's a very good question, and I think the answer isn't really a very obvious one, when you start to really look at it. Throughout the course of my research, I'd always heard people 'talking' about what an influence Elmore was on rock music, but I always found it hard to pinpoint exactly. But it is there, if you know where to look, and when you do, it starts to come out in bits and pieces. Such as Canned Heat playing Elmore James styled numbers from time to time (I think they did one at Woodstock, if I remember correctly); the Beatles very coyly dropping his name during one of John Lennon's guitar solos ('For You Blue' - 'Elmore James got nothin' on this cat!' - or words to that effect); and of course, well, a lot of folks have made mention of the fact that Jimi Hendrix was once spotted in a snapshot with a couple of LPs under his arm - one of them, an Elmore James, album, of course. And truth be told, the British Invaders dearly LOVED Elmore. And not just folks like Brian Jones of the Stones, or John Mayall and Eric Clapton (Mayall recorded a tribute song; Clapton did a credible nod with his 'Tribute to Elmore'), but also, of course, bands like Fleetwood Mac, who got their start playing the blues - thanks, of course, to early group member Jeremy Spencer, who took "Elmore fanaticism" to a whole new level, I think (loud laugh).
But if you take a step back and look at Elmore more in terms of his influence on blues and rhythm and blues at the time he was first hitting it really big -- 1952, and 1953 -- first of all, you've got all sorts of folks doing songs that sound like they're incorporating his trademark riff into them. B.B. King was one of the ones that did, with a tune called 'Please Love Me' (1953). He doesn't play Elmore's signature riff with a bottleneck, as Elmore does, but with has "bare fingers." And truth be told, B.B. King had a BIGGER hit doing the Elmore James guitar riff in a song than Elmore ever did! I always thought that was interesting point. Plus, well, need I say that Chuck Berry has long professed to be an Elmore James fan. And that driving rhythm that he made so popular. Not unlike the driving rhythm one finds on some of Elmore's greatest rockers. So, if I had to draw a lineage, I'd say..... there you go...... Elmore James..... Chuck Berry..... Rock and Roll. In other words, maybe not so complicated after all. Interestingly, both Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley -- two bluesy R&B performers who can also rightly be called Rock 'n' Rolllers -- did numbers that give a direct or indirect nod to Elmore.
And, finally, let's not forget the Allman Brothers. One of the first albums I ever owned, ironically, had covers of 'One Way Out' and 'Done Somebody Wrong' on them. Of course, I was just a little kid at the time. No idea who Elmore James was, then. In retrospect, I've always found that kind of an interesting bit of serendipity, though!
Are you a record collector? Do you have many of Elmore's 78s and 45s?
Yes, I am, and as a matter of fact, I do. The Elmore James book is heavily illustrated with "label shots" (images of the original 45 and 78rpm records), which many people have commented on over the years.
The impetus for that really came about as a result of some work I did with Rhino, on a reissue of Elmore James stuff. Their philosophy about reissues was this: get the information off of the original issue -- whatever that might be -- and use that. So, in terms of the song titles, the authorship and publishing credits, etc. -- that's what they did. And I really liked that historical approach, to see what the historical record indicated from the very first known source of issue for a particular song. In Elmore's case, since he was active as a recording artist in the 1950s and early 1960s, that meant that the bulk of his recorded work originally appeared on 78s and/or 45s. Later on, in the 1960s, some "alternate takes" and "LP only" cuts (i.e., stuff that was never issued on 45 or 78) started to come out as well.
But, I like the historical approach of finding the original source - the first known source of publication or issue of a particular song. In a way, it's the "real thing" -- and then when you realize that in some cases (but certainly not all), the master tapes were later lost -- in that case, a good clean 78 becomes a rather valuable historical document because then you might have a better sounding version than what is generally available now. Like I said -- it doesn't always happen, but has happened with Elmore several times.
Another reason for wanting to (somewhat fanatically) collect anything remotely related to Elmore was so that I could properly nail down the discographical details of his recorded legacy. In many cases, after I listened to a particular LP or CD, I would find that subtle mistakes had been made in previous discographies. There's nothing like getting your hands on the original source material..... I found it absolutely invaluable.
Of course, I started collecting LPs when I was a kid. I don't have as many LPs as maybe I should have..... but at least I can say that I spent a lot of my youth in used record stores. It kept me off the streets anyway (loud laugh).
Any future plans to write another biography?
Well, yes.... I think anyone who writes a book naturally thinks about the next one. And, well, time just has a way of slipping by, doesn't it?
Yes, many people I'd like write a book on, or at least topics that I think would be fascinating.... or would have been. Some of them might be too late. I always thought that a Studs Terkel-style book about Elvis Presley - an oral history, so to speak - would be fascinating. But, hard to say anymore. Malvina Reynolds is another person I think definitely deserves one. Crying shame that no one's attempted one, really. Same thing with John Prine and also Roger McGuinn. And while it might surprise some people to hear me toss these ideas out, the thing to me that they all have in common -- even, to a certain degree, I also put Elmore James in this category -- is that they're all what I would call "American Originals" -- in other words, musicians who contributed something unique and enduring; something that constitutes a lasting legacy that sets them apart from other musicians and performers. The latter two - Prine and McGuinn, I imagine will be taken care of in time. But, speaking from a professional standpoint, I'd love to do one on Malvina Reynolds. That would be cool.
As far as the blues are concerned, my next book will probably not be a biography, but I definitely do have a topic in mind that interests me, and I think it would make for some good and fascinating reading. The problem is getting started, of course! Once I get to that stage -- well, there's usually no stopping me. But, yes, getting started is the hard part, for sure.
As things sit right now, most of the major players of Chicago Blues have had bio's written about them. Muddy Waters has two, Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter each have one. Someone has been working on one of Sonny Boy Williamson #2 for many years, but I'm starting to lose hope on that. The problem with Sonny Boy is that his childhood is just largely a complete blank. And he was well known for, well...... shall we say..... "exaggerating" from time to time (loud laugh). In any event, if the Sonny Boy one never comes out, and if nobody else ever gets around to it, I'll try to make sure it gets done eventually. I'll have to get back to you on that, though.....
Thanks again for the opportunity to do this. It's been fun to go back and think about some of these comments and questions all over again. Elmore James is still one of my favorites. Nothing like him..... but then again, I'm kind of opinionated when it comes to Elmore.....
'The Amazing Secret Life Of Elmore James' is published by BlueSource publications and is priced at $34.95
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Elmore+James
Elmore James
- Let's Cut It: The Very Best of Elmore James [Flair/Virgin, 1991] A-
- The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James [Rhino, 1993] A+
Consumer Guide Reviews:
Let's Cut It: The Very Best of Elmore James [Flair/Virgin, 1991]
Already leading what must have been a pretty damn raucous Mississippi
horn band by 1939, James is the missing link between Robert Johnson and
Hound Dog Taylor. Johnson taught him, or couldn't stop him from
stealing, the "Dust My Broom" lick he lived off of; Taylor converted his
slashing simplification of Johnson's slide into something even
simpler--boogie. These are the Bihari brothers-produced originals of
tunes he recorded as often as he could get paid before drinking himself
to cardiac arrest at 45 in 1963--not subtle, you could even say
monochromatic, and they rock like nobody's business. I miss the endless
despair of "1839 Blues" and the post-Bihari classic "It Hurts Me Too."
But if you're so culturally deprived you can't hum "Dust My Broom,"
here's your chance to become an addict. A-
The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James [Rhino, 1993]
Robert Palmer (the important one, I mean) raided the vaults of eight mostly deceased labels to assemble this compiler's tour de force, designed to prove that his man belongs on Mount Bluesmore with Muddy, Wolf, and Sonny Boy II. And though that can't be done in a mere 21 songs (much less 14 on cassette), especially with the more predictable Virgin Flair and Capricorn Fire collections out there proving James's mortality, he rewrites history anyway. As a devotee who considered James a creature of "Dust My Broom," I now know him for the visionary bandleader and galvanic guitarist Palmer and his many previously uncollecteds champion. His voice vying with the harsh distortions he gets out of his amplifier, James would play any kind of blues as long as he could make a lot of noise, and he made "It Hurts Me Too" famous after he was dead. What more do you want? How about his scariest sexual rival, "The 12 Year Old Boy"? A+
https://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/learn/delta/blues/people/elmore_james.htm
Elmore James - Delta School
Born
January 27, 1918, in Richland, Mississippi, Elmore James was raised on
several different farms in the Durant, Mississippi, area by sharecropping
parents. Before acquiring his first guitar, he played several different
homemade instruments, including a strand of broomwire nailed to the front
porch of his cabin. This was known locally as a "diddley bow."
In 1932, at the age of fourteen, Elmore James, also known as Joe Willie,
began playing guitar for parties and dances in the Durant area.
James was inducted into the Navy in 1943, taking part in the invasion of Guam before being mustered out in 1945. He was soon back home in Belzoni, sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson and working the local jukes. James also began a professional partnership with his guitar-playing cousin "Homesick" James Williamson, working clubs on Beale Street in Memphis. In 1947, James backed up Sonny Boy on KFFA radio's King Biscuit Time program in Helena, Arkansas. The show was initially broadcast from the Interstate Grocery Building before it moved to the Floyd Truck Lines Building. During his stint on KFFA, James fell under the spell of Robert Nighthawk, refining his style to reflect Nighthawk's liquid, crying slide guitar.
Robert Palmer (the important one, I mean) raided the vaults of eight mostly deceased labels to assemble this compiler's tour de force, designed to prove that his man belongs on Mount Bluesmore with Muddy, Wolf, and Sonny Boy II. And though that can't be done in a mere 21 songs (much less 14 on cassette), especially with the more predictable Virgin Flair and Capricorn Fire collections out there proving James's mortality, he rewrites history anyway. As a devotee who considered James a creature of "Dust My Broom," I now know him for the visionary bandleader and galvanic guitarist Palmer and his many previously uncollecteds champion. His voice vying with the harsh distortions he gets out of his amplifier, James would play any kind of blues as long as he could make a lot of noise, and he made "It Hurts Me Too" famous after he was dead. What more do you want? How about his scariest sexual rival, "The 12 Year Old Boy"? A+
See Also
- Elmore James Completism, Volumes I Through V (or VI) [2003-09-30]
https://www.nps.gov/history/nhl/learn/delta/blues/people/elmore_james.htm
Elmore James - Delta School
Born
January 27, 1918, in Richland, Mississippi, Elmore James was raised on
several different farms in the Durant, Mississippi, area by sharecropping
parents. Before acquiring his first guitar, he played several different
homemade instruments, including a strand of broomwire nailed to the front
porch of his cabin. This was known locally as a "diddley bow."
In 1932, at the age of fourteen, Elmore James, also known as Joe Willie,
began playing guitar for parties and dances in the Durant area.
By 1937 James had moved on to plantations near the Delta
town of Belzoni, Mississippi, and taken up with musicians Sonny
Boy Williamson and Robert Johnson.
Johnson's guitar prowess made a terrific impact on James, who would echo
Johnson's slide technique in his own recordings. After Johnson's death,
James toured the South with Williamson working juke joints and theaters.
He assembled a band in 1939 after parting ways with Williamson. During
the late 1930s or early 1940s James began playing electric guitar. He
became a master of using the distortion and sustain of this instrument
to create a dense, textured sound that provided the blueprint for postwar
Chicago blues.
James was inducted into the Navy in 1943, taking part in the invasion of Guam before being mustered out in 1945. He was soon back home in Belzoni, sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson and working the local jukes. James also began a professional partnership with his guitar-playing cousin "Homesick" James Williamson, working clubs on Beale Street in Memphis. In 1947, James backed up Sonny Boy on KFFA radio's King Biscuit Time program in Helena, Arkansas. The show was initially broadcast from the Interstate Grocery Building before it moved to the Floyd Truck Lines Building. During his stint on KFFA, James fell under the spell of Robert Nighthawk, refining his style to reflect Nighthawk's liquid, crying slide guitar.
While working clubs with Williamson in Jackson, Mississippi, James made
his first record for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet Label. On August 5, 1951,
at the Trumpet Studios,
James cut the Robert Johnson chestnut "Dust My Broom" which
reached number nine on the national R&B charts within several months
of its release. James established residency in Chicago the following year,
forming his legendary band the Broomdusters. While never attaining the
fame of fellow Mississippi expatriates Muddy
Waters and Howlin' Wolf, James became
one of the city's most influential guitarists. He recorded for a variety
of labels throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving a legacy of slow
blues, boogies, and full-fledged rave ups that dominate the musical vocabulary
of Chicago blues.
Elmore James died May 24, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of forty-five.
Elmore James's grave
is located near his native Durant, Mississippi.
THE MUSIC OF ELMORE JAMES: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MR. JAMES:
ELMORE JAMES -- BLUES MASTERS WORKS-- (FULL CD):
Elmore James - 40 Exciting Legendary Blues Tracks:
Elmore James was known as the King of slide guitar. Born in the
Mississippi delta in 1918, blues guitarist, singer and songwriter, he
had a major influence on many groups and artists such as the Beatles,
the Rolling Stones, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac, Jimi
Hendrix, Frank Zappa, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, John Lennon, and Eric
Clapton.
Find the album here :
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00 :00 - Dust My Broom
02 :46 - I Believe
06 :03 - Stranger Blues
09 :20 - Look On Yonder Wall
12 :15 - Shake Your Moneymaker
14 :50 - The Sky Is Crying
17 :37 - Done Somebody Wrong
19 :58 - Early In the Morning
22 :47 - Sho' Nuff I Do
25 :40 - Standing At the Crossroads
28 :28 - Happy Home
31 :16 - Rock My Baby Right
33 :52 - Baby What's Wrong?
36 :46 - My Best Friend
40 :10 - Strange Kinda Feeling
42:43 - No Love In My Heart
45:08 - Dark and Dreary
47:57 - Make a Little Love
50:47 - Where Can My Baby Be?
53:44 - 1839 Blues
57:01 - Mean and Evil
59:17 - Sunny Land
01:02:36 - Lost Woman Blues
01:05:42 - Hand In Hand
01:08:35 - I Held My Baby Last Night
01:12:04 - Sinful Woman
01:14:56 - Whose Muddy Shoes?
01:18:16 - Country Boogie
01:20:59 - Going for Good
01:24:04 - One Way Out
01:26:31 - My Baby's Gone
01:29:29 - Mean Mistreatin' Mama
01:31:03 - Sunnyland Train
01:33:18 - Everyday I Have the Blues
01:36:40 - So Unkind
01:39:13 - Make My Dreams Come True
01:42:06 - Fine Little Mama
01:44:39 - I Can't Stop Lovin' You
01:47:19 - I Need You
01:50:07 - Strange Angels
Elmore James - 'Dust My Broom'-- (Full Album):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_James
Elmore James
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Elmore James | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Elmore Brooks |
Born | January 27, 1918 Richland, Holmes County, Mississippi, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Died | May 24, 1963 (aged 45) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1940s–1963 |
Elmore James (January 27, 1918 – May 24, 1963) was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader.[1] He was known as "King of the Slide Guitar" and was noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.
Contents
Biography
James was born Elmore Brooks in Richland, Holmes County, Mississippi,
the illegitimate son of 15-year-old Leola Brooks, a field hand. His
father was probably Joe Willie "Frost" James, who moved in with Leola,
and Elmore took his surname. He began making music at the age of 12,
using a simple one-string instrument (diddley bow,
or jitterbug) strung on a shack wall. As a teen he performed at dances
under the names Cleanhead and Joe Willie James. He married Minnie Mae
about 1942.[2] He subsequently married at least twice more.[citation needed]
James was strongly influenced by Robert Johnson, Kokomo Arnold and Tampa Red.
He recorded several of Tampa Red's songs. He also inherited from Tampa
Red's band two musicians who joined his own backing band, the
Broomdusters, "Little" Johnny Jones (piano) and Odie Payne (drums). There is a dispute about whether Johnson or James wrote James's signature song, "Dust My Broom".[2]
During World War II, James joined the United States Navy, was promoted to coxswain and took part in the invasion of Guam. Upon his discharge, he returned to central Mississippi and settled in the town of Canton
with his adopted brother Robert Holston. Working in Holston's
electrical shop, he devised his unique electric sound, using parts from
the shop and an unusual placement of two DeArmond pickups.[2] Around this time James learned that he had a serious heart condition.
He began recording with Trumpet Records in nearby Jackson in January 1951, first as a sideman for Sonny Boy Williamson II and for their mutual friend Willie Love
and possibly others. He made his debut as a session leader in August
with "Dust My Broom", which was a surprise R&B hit in 1952.[1] His backing musicians became known as the Broomdusters.[1]
In 1959, he began recording for Bobby Robinson's Fire Records, which released "The Sky Is Crying", "My Bleeding Heart", "Stranger Blues", "Look on Yonder Wall", "Done Somebody Wrong", and "Shake Your Moneymaker", among others.[1]
Death
James died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1963,[1] as he was about to tour Europe with that year's American Folk Blues Festival. He was buried in the Newport Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ebenezer, Mississippi.[6]
Sound
James played a wide variety of "blues" (which often crossed over into other styles of music) similar to that of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and some of B. B. King's
work, but distinguished by his guitar's unique tone, coming from a
modified hollow-body acoustic guitar, which sounded like an amped-up
version of the more "modern" solid-body guitars. Waters took the Belgian
blues fan George Adins to see James play in Chicago in 1959; Adins
recalled,
Elmore will always remain the most exciting, dramatic blues singer and guitarist that I've ever had a chance to see perform in the flesh. On our way we listened to him on the radio as Big Bill Hill ... was broadcasting direct from that place. I was burning to see Elmore James and before we even pushed open the door of the club, we could hear Elmore's violent guitar sound. Although the place was overcrowded, we managed to find a seat close to the bandstand and the blues came falling down on me as it had never done before. Watching Elmore sing and play, backed by a solid blues band (Homesick James, J.T. Brown, Boyd Atkins and Sam Cassell) made me feel real fine. Wearing thick glasses, Elmore's face always had an expressive and dramatic look, especially when he was real gone on the slow blues. Singing with a strong and rough voice, he really didn't need a mike. On such slow blues as "I'm Worried" – "Make My Dreams Come True" – "It Hurts Me", his voice reached a climax and created a tension that was unmistakably the down and out blues. Notwithstanding that raw voice, Elmore sang his blues with a particular feeling, an emotion and depth that showed his country background. His singing was... fed, reinforced by his own guitar accompaniment which was as rough, violent and expressive as was his voice. Using the bottleneck technique most of the time, Elmore really let his guitar sound as I had never heard a guitar sound before. You just couldn't sit still! You had to move...
Adins also witnessed James at the Alex Club, on the West Side of Chicago, where
he always played for a dance audience and he made the people jump. "Bobby's Rock" was at that time one of the favourite numbers with the crowd and Elmore used to play [it] for fifteen minutes and more. You just couldn't stand that hysteric sound coming down on you. The place was rocking, swinging![7]
His best-known song is the blues standard
"Dust My Broom" (also known as "Dust My Blues"). The song gave James's
band its name, the Broomdusters. Its opening slide guitar riff
is one of the best-known sounds in all of blues. It is essentially the
same riff that appeared in the recording of the same song by Robert Johnson, but James played the riff with electric slide guitar. B. B. King used this riff to open his 1953 number 1 R&B hit "Please Love Me." It was even transformed into a doo-wop chorus on Jesse Stone's "Down in the Alley", recorded by the Clovers and Elvis Presley. Stone transcribed the riff as "Changety changety changety changety chang chang!"[citation needed]. It is also the opening riff of the Yardbirds' "The Nazz Are Blue".
Influence
Many electric slide guitar players will admit to the influence of James's style. He was a major influence on such successful blues guitarists as Homesick James, John Littlejohn, Hound Dog Taylor, J. B. Hutto and many others. He also influenced many rock guitarists, such as the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones (Keith Richards wrote in his book[citation needed] that when they first met, Jones was calling himself Elmo Lewis and wanted to be Elmore James), Canned Heat's Alan Wilson and in particular Fleetwood Mac's Jeremy Spencer. John Mayall included "Mr. James" on his 1969 album Looking Back as an homage to James. James's songs "Done Somebody Wrong" and "One Way Out" were covered by the Allman Brothers Band, who were influenced by James.[8]
James was also covered by the blues-rock band Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble many times in concert. The most famous of these covers is one that came by an indirect route – bluesman Albert King recorded a cover of "The Sky Is Crying", and Vaughan copied King's version. That song was also covered by George Thorogood on his second album, Move It On Over, and by Eric Clapton on his album There's One in Every Crowd. The most famous guitarist who admired James was Jimi Hendrix.
Early in his career Hendrix styled himself variously as Maurice James
and subsequently as Jimmy James, in tribute to Elmore James, according
to former bandmate and recording partner Lonnie Youngblood.[9] A photo on the sleeve of his album Blues shows Hendrix in London, holding James's UK LP The Best of Elmore James.
(Hendrix was frequently photographed holding LP covers of musicians
that influenced him.) He performed James's "Bleeding Heart" at the
Experience's Royal Albert Hall concert in 1969 and also with the Band of Gypsys at their New Year's concerts at the Fillmore East in 1969–70, and he recorded two versions of it in the studio.[citation needed]
James is mentioned in the Beatles' song "For You Blue": while John Lennon evokes James's signature sound with a Höfner 5140 Hawaiian Standard lap steel guitar,[10] George Harrison says, "Elmore James got nothin' on this, baby."
Frank Zappa was also influenced by James.[11]
Eric Burdon performed the song "No More Elmore" on the album Crawling King Snake (1982).
On the 1974 record Second Album, Roy Buchanan
included an instrumental song he wrote titled "Tribute to Elmore
James," which begins with James' classic slide guitar riff, and uses his
soloing style throughout.
Discography
Main article: Elmore James discography
Selected singles
- "Dust My Broom" (1951 & 1965)
- "I Believe" (1953)
- "Standing at the Crossroads" (1954 & 1965)
- "Dust My Blues" (1955)
- "It Hurts Me Too" (1957 & 1965)
- "The Sky Is Crying" (1960)
- "I Can't Hold Out" (1960)
- "Rollin' and Tumblin'" (1960)
- "Shake Your Moneymaker" (1961)
- "Look on Yonder Wall" (1961)
- "Bleeding Heart" (1965)
- "One Way Out" (1965)
- "Every Day I Have the Blues" (1965)
Selected compilation albums
- Blues After Hours (1960)
- Whose Muddy Shoes (1969)
- Street Talkin' (1975)
- King of the Slide Guitar (1992)
- The Classic Early Recordings: 1951–1956 (1993)
- The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James (1993)
- Golden Hits (1996)
References
- "Guitar Player Magazine, 1983". Home.online.no. January 9, 1984. Archived from the original on February 23, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
