II. ARCHIVE OF BOOKS, RECORDINGS, SHEET
MUSIC, VIDEOS, AND ADVERTISING MATERIALS
IIB. Recordings
II B1. African Source Materials
It is Africa that is the largest presence in African American music, and it is still the least
understood. Africa itself is still largely unknown to most Americans, and there is so much
uncertainly in placing the ancestry of any specific African tribal group in any particular area of
the United States or the Caribbean. Slaves were marched thousands of miles from their tribal
areas before they were placed on the ships, and when they arrived in the Western Hemisphere
there was generally an effort to separate members of the same tribe so they would not be able to
communicate with the other slaves except through the slave holder’s language. What is known is
the general area the slaves came from - West Africa, roughly from Senegal to Angola, and inland
in the northern regions to the Niger basin in what is now Mali. This selection of recordings is
only an introduction to the wealth of music from this area, but the archive includes the
documentary recordings of the music I recorded on my travels in these areas as I searched for
roots of the blues and other musical forms I knew from the United States. Six albums were
released by Sonet Records in Sweden, and Folkways Records in the United States, and the book
The Roots of the Blues also resulted from these travels.
The 1974-1975 Recordings
AFRICAN JOURNEY A Search for the Roots of the Blues Vol. 1 - LP, Recorded and documented
by Samuel Charters. Sonet Records, 1974. Dodd LP 1
Music of griots of the Mandingo, Wollof, and Serrehule peoples, including master Mandingo
griot Jali Nyama Suso, with processional and dance music of the Jola and the Fula peoples.
AFRICAN JOURNEY A Search for the Roots of the Blues Vol. 2 - LP, Recorded and documented
by Samuel Charters. Sonet Records, 1974. Dodd LP 2
Music from Ghana, Togo, and The Gambia, with griots from the Mandingo and Wollof tribes.
The albums were also released in the United States by Vanguard Records.
JALI NYAMA SUSO - LP, “Songs from The Gambia” Recorded and documented by Samuel
Charters. Sonet Records, 1977. Dodd LP 3
Suso was a brilliant musician and singer, and here he is documented performing traditional
Mandingo griot narratives accompanying himself on the kora.
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Traditional African Music from Slave areas
Many of the albums in the archive were released by Folkways Records, a company I was
associated with for more than thirty years. Included in the catalog of more than 2000 releases
were a large number of albums documenting African music. It was part of the determined effort
of the owner and director of the company, Moses Asch, to document every area of human
expression and creativity. Few of the albums had large sales, and it was always necessary for the
person who had done the field recordings to supply their own notes and photographs as best they
could, but without Asch’s determination we would have a much more limited knowledge of the
world’s music.
GAMBIA’S MUSIC - double LP boxed set, recorded and annotated by Marc D. Pevar. Folkways
Records, 1978. Dodd LP 4a, 4b
Informal music from a Mandinka compound and performances by professional griots. Notes in
English, French, and Swedish.
GAMBIAN GRIOT KORA DUETS, featuring Alhaji Dal Konte, Dembo Konte, Ma Lamini Jobate
- LP, recorded in Dakar, Senegal and Brikama, The Gambia in December, 1977 by Marc Pevar.
Folkways, 1979. Dodd LP 5
FOLK MUSIC OF GHANA - LP, recorded by Ivan Annan, Folkways Records, 1964. Dodd LP 6
TRADITIONAL DRUMMING AND DANCES OF GHANA - LP, recorded by John Tanson
Folkways Records, 1976. Dodd LP 7
MUSIC OF THE JOS PLATEAU AND OTHER REGIONS OF NIGERIA - LP, recorded by
Stanley Diamond; edited, with notes by Victor Grauer, Folkways Records, 1966.
Dodd LP 8
MUSIC OF THE IDOMA OF NIGERIA - Ediigwu Sings the Ancient Songs of Oturkpo, Nigeria LP, recorded and documented by Robert G. Armstrong Asch Mankind Series, Asch Records,
1969. Dodd LP 9
During this period of the late 1960s Moses Asch of Folkways Records had licensed the
Folkways label to Verve Records, but he continued to issue ethnic material under his own
name.
MUSIC FROM THE VILLAGES OF NORTHEASTERN NIGERIA - Double LP boxed set,
recorded by Paul Newman & Lyn Davison, annotated by Paul Newman & Eric H. Davison.
Asch Mankind Series, Asch Records, 1969. Dodd LP 10a, 10b
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC OF THE KALAHARISAN - LP, recorded by Marjorie Shostak, Megan
Biesele, and Nicholas England Folkways Records, 1982. Dodd LP 11
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The !Kung San people, whose music is documented on this album, did not
become part of the
wave of slaves brought to the Americas, but their music is
interesting as a glimpse into the
older traditions that have undergone considerable acculturation in the coastal areas colonized
by the Europeans.
MODERN SOUNDS IN AFRICAN MUSIC
This small introduction is only a sampling of the rich world of new music in Africa. Some
of the recordings are traditional in nature, many of them are experimental blendings of African
idioms and instruments with European instrumentalists. Whatever African music is today, it is
certain that the newer styles will continue to change and develop as African society rushes to join
the modern world.
AFRICAN FORCE - LP, no title. ITM Records, 1987. Dodd LP 12
A hybrid group with a single white member, rock drummer Ginger Baker of
“Cream.”
STELLA CHIWESHE - CD, “Ambuya?” Shanachie, 1990.
Chiweshe is from Zimbabwe and her group includes traditional instruments like
thumb piano, and hosho, dried gourd maracas. Dodd CD 1
the mbira, or
SONA DIABATE - CD, “Girls of Guinea” Shanachie Records, 1990. Dodd CD 2
TOUMANI DIABATE - CD, “Djelika” Hannibal, 1995. Dodd CD 3
Diabate, who is from Mali, is a virtuoso performer on the kora.
HAMZA EL DIN - CD, “Music of Nubia” Vanguard, 1964. Dodd CD 4
HAMZA EL DIN - CD, “Al Oud” Vanguard, 1965. Dodd CD 5
HAMZA EL DIN - CD, “Eclipse” Rykodisc, 1988. Dodd CD 6
Hamza El Din was born in the Upper Nile Valley, in the area that was known in Egyptian
history as Nubia. Nubia has no tradition of any instrument other than the
drum, but as a
student in Cairo El Din learned to play the oud, a prototype of the lute that is a popular
instrument for restaurant musicians throughout the middle east.
Using the lute he began to compose melodies to poetry in the Nubian arabic dialect and
became a performer while he was a student for three years in Rome. He moved to the United
States and became part of the Greenwich Village crowd of young folk singers. He signed a
recording contract with Vanguard Records, and appeared at the Newport Folk Festival.
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO - CD, “Heavenly” Gazell Music, 1997. Dodd CD 7
South Africa’s best known vocal group performs a group of gospel songs, with three African
pieces.
ALHAJI GARBO LEAO and his GOGE Music - LP, recorded in Nigeria by Randall F. Grass,
Folkways Records, 1976. Dodd LP 13
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The goge is a one-string violin, similar to the riti played by the Fula musicians in The Gambia.
Leo (his name is spelled differently in the notes to the album) is a member of the Hausa tribe
who was living in Northern Nigeria at the time of the recording. The goge is amplified and there
is percussion and drum accompaniment.
DOCTEUR NICO - LP, “Dieu de la Guitare (No. 1)” Tabansi Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 14
ORCHESTRA SUPER MAZEMBE - LP, “Kaivaska” Virgin Records, 1983. Dodd LP 15
OUSMANE M’BAYE & His African Ensemble - LP, “Songs of Senegal” Folkways Records,
1975. Dodd LP 16
MOZAMBIQUE ONE - CD Globestyle Records, 1994. Dodd CD 8
MOZAMBIQUE TWO - CD Globestyle Records, 1994. Dodd CD 9
Two documentations of contemporary music in Mozambique, including dance
song, and instrumental ensembles.
musicians,
FELA RANSOME-KUTI & The Africa 70 - LP,“Greatest Hits” EMI, 1984. Dodd LP 17
Ransome-Kuti was a charismatic performer who used the tenor saxophone to
create a style of
jazz that has more African than European influence.
RHYTHM OF RESISTANCE - Music of Black South Africa - LP, Virgin Records, 1978.
Dodd LP 18
This is music from the soundtrack of a film of the same name.
Among the artists included:
Babsy Mlangeni
Malombo
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Mahotella Queens
Abafana Baseqhudeni
MOSHE SEPHULA and Orchestra - LP, “Bantu High Life” Folkways, 1967.
Dodd LP 19
Although High-Life music is a style of music from South Africa that developed long after the
traffic in slaves to the Americas it is widely popular everywhere in
Africa today, and it
contains traditional elements from many of Africa’s tribal
cultures.
SONGHAI 2 - CD, Rykodisc, 1994. Dodd CD 10
Songhai is a collaboration between Malian kora virtuoso Toumani Diabete and
Spanish guitarists, Ketama and Jose Soto.
two young
ALI FARKA TOURE - CD, “African Blues” Shanachie Records, 1990. Dodd CD 11
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Toure’s CD caused a great deal of excitement, with its blending of traditional African
melodies - he grew up in Mali - and the American blues he heard on recordings by John Lee
Hooker and Albert Collins.
The Victoria Jazz Band is from Kenya, and their music is a mix of a number of styles. The
term for the music is Luo. The note on the back of the album claims, it’s the ‘in’ sound in Kenya
today.”
See also listing in video section of the catalog.
II B2. American pre-Blues and Related Source Materials
It will probably never be possible to find the place and the moment when the blues was
first created, but there is a wide array of musical traditions that we know became part of the
blues. These traditions - gang songs, field hollers, string band music, work songs - have all been
extensively documented, and it is possible by immersing yourself in these sources to understand
how the blues might have been patiently constructed by a musician or singer searching in this
material for a more personal means of expression.
One of the first researchers to document this range of material was Alan Lomax, who
found a number of performers in Western Alabama when he was working as a field collector for
the Library of Congress. Some of the singers became more widely known through the limited
distribution of the Library of Congress recordings, and in 1950 Harold Courlander followed him
to the same area and recorded many of the same artists. The recordings on Courlander’s field
trips were released by Folkways Records. At the time the recordings were made there was still
an acrimonious debate over the survival of African elements in the music of the South. Some
southern theorists believed that everything in the music of the South, white and black, could be
traced to a British source. It was recordings like these, with their documentation of song and
dance that had nothing to do with European traditions beyond the use of English that began to
erode the position of the cultural purists.
NEGRO FOLK MUSIC OF ALABAMA - Volume 1 -LP, “Secular Music”, recorded and
documented by Harold Courlander. Folkways Records, 1956. Dodd LP 21
Among the performers included in the album are Rich Emerson, Dock Reed, and Vera Hall
Ward, and the selections present a wide range of material, from harmonica solos to children’s
“play-party” songs to field calls and Brer Rabbit tales.
In 1954 jazz scholar Frederic Ramsey Jr. was given a Guggenheim grant to research the
rural black traditions that could have played a role in the development of jazz and he returned to
Alabama to document the music there, though he chose a different area than the section of
Livingstone County where Lomax and Courlander had done their earlier recording. From
Alabama he went to New Orleans, then worked northward through rural Louisiana and into
Mississippi. He was a conscientious and determined field researcher and he found a significant
informant in sharecropper Horace Sprott. He also was the first to document the survival of rural
African American brass bands in the Alabama countryside. We met when he came to New
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Orleans with his tapes, and we became close friends. He had been associated with Moses Asch
of Folkways Records from the company’s earliest years, and Folkways issued a multi-volume
collection of Fred’s recordings, under the title Music from the South, the next year.
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 1 - LP, “Country Brass Bands” Dodd LP 22
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 2 - LP, “Horace Sprott, 1” Dodd LP 23
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 3 - LP, “Horace Sprott, 2” Dodd LP 24
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 4 - LP, “Horace Sprott, 3” Dodd LP 25
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 5 - LP, “Song, Play, and Dance” Dodd LP 26
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 6 - LP, “Elder Songsters, 1” Dodd LP 27
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 7 - LP, “Elder Songsters, 2” Dodd LP 28
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 8 - LP, “Young Songsters” Dodd LP 29
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 9 - LP, “Song and Worship” Dodd LP 30
Fred was also a gifted photographer and in 1960 Rutgers University Press published the book
Been Here and Gone with a selection of the images he had taken during his research. He
selected music from the previous nine albums and released a tenth album to complete the series
and to illustrate the music that he had captured so brilliantly with his camera.
MUSIC FROM THE SOUTH - Volume 10 - LP “Been Here and Gone” Dodd LP 31
One of the richest sources of traditional music in the South was to be found in the brutal
prison system, which used prisoners as field hands, driving them just as they had been driven in
the hard years of slavery. Researchers coming into the prisons with their portable recording
equipment found a legacy of field songs and work songs still being used to help the convicts
through a day’s labor. The prisons also had talented musicians who sang blues and gospel songs.
John A. Lomax and his son Alan found Leadbelly in Louisiana’s Angola Prison Farm in the
1930s, and in 1958 folklorist Dr. Harry Oster found another singer in Angola, bluesman Robert
Pete Williams.
NEGRO PRISON CAMP WORKSONGS - LP, recorded in 1951 at Ramsey and Retrieve State
Farms, Texas, by Toshi and Pete Seeger, John Lomax Jr., Chester Bower and Fred Hellerman.
Folkways Records, 1957. Dodd LP 567
AFRO-AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC from Tate and Panola Counties, Mississippi - LP, Library of
Congress, n.d. Dodd LP 32
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The musical examples include fife and drum music, work songs, blues, folk songs, “bow
diddley” music, ballads, and country string bands. Edited and with extensive notes by David
Evans.
JOHN’S ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, ITS PEOPLE & SONG - LP, Folkways Records, 1973,
recorded and annotated by Henrietta Yurchenco. Dodd LP 33
This is a documentation of the music of this isolated area of the Carolina coast. Much of the
material is spiritual singing by the island’s church members, but there is also children’s play
songs and a primitive blues.
MISSISSIPPI FOLK VOICES - Southern Culture Records, 1983. Dodd LP 34
A documentation of fife, fiddle, blues song, gospel song, Sacred Harp singing, and music from
Parchman State Penitentiary Farm. Recorded and annotated by William Ferris.
In 1974 musician and folklorist Mike Seeger was asked to conduct “a few” courses in
American folk music traditions and for classroom use he prepared two LPs which were privately
released and included examples of almost every kind of southern folk music. One of the most
interesting examples he included was a short example of banjo playing by an 80 year old African
American musician named Lucius Smith, from Sardis, Mississippi. Smith’s playing bridges the
distance between the unstressed arpeggiated figures of African playing and the regular stress of
European influenced techniques, which emphasize a down stroke at the beginning of each
rhythmic unit. Thanks to this example it is possible to trace the evolution of the 5-string banjo
from the Niger basin to modern day Nashville.
Other examples of African American musical styles in the collection are field hollers,
surge singing, spirituals, gospel shouts, fife playing, “quills,” jews harp, harmonica blues, and
several blues taken from commercial releases in the 1920s through 1950s.
A SURVEY OF RURAL MUSIC OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES - 2 LPs, selected
and annotated by Mike Seeger. The LPs are presented in a blank double album, with the
mimeographed notes inserted into one of the pockets of the album. No company name is given
and no date of publication. Dodd LP 35a, 35b
JAZZ - Volume 1 THE SOUTH - LP, edited and annotated by Frederick Ramsey Jr. Folkways
Records, 1958. Dodd LP 36
This is the first volume of Ramsey’s comprehensive and influential series of LPs documenting
the history of jazz. This LP, including field hollers, string band ragtime, blues, and rural gospel
song, endeavored to present a picture of the musical environment which nurtured early jazz.
BEFORE THE BLUES - The Early American Black Music Scene - Vol. 1 – CD
Dodd CD 12
BEFORE THE BLUES - The Early American Black Music Scene - Vol. 2 – CD
Dodd CD 13
BEFORE THE BLUES - The Early American Black Music Scene - Vol. 3 – CD
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Dodd CD 14
These three CDs were released by Yazoo Records, a division of Shanachie Records, in 1996.
Although the title is “Before the blues’ most of the selections are early blues recordings, although
they represent blues styles that were still in a formative stage and contained elements of other
song styles. Also included are gospel selections, string band breakdowns, ballads sung by white
performers, and a cowboy song. Among the artists included are the Mississippi Mud Steppers,
Henry Thomas, Frank Stokes, Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt,
Cannon’s Jug Stompers, the Memphis Jug Band, and Blind Boy Fuller.
ECHOES OF TIMBUKTU AND BEYOND IN CONGO SQUARE U. S. A. - LP, a musical
document created by Bilal Abdurahman. Folkways Records, 1979. Dodd LP 37
ALBUMS BY INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS
ELIZABETH COTTON - LP, “Folk Songs and Instrumentals with Guitar” Folkways Records,
1958. Dodd LP 38
Elizabeth Cotton worked for some years for the family of musicologist Charles Seeger, and his
children, Pete, Mike, Peggy, and Penny, grew up hearing her gentle folk guitar playing. One of
her songs “Freight Train” became well known during the folk boom, and she eventually won a
Grammy Award in the 1980s.
LEADBELLY
The story of Huddie Ledbetter - “Leadbelly” - the murderer who was found in the Angola
Prison Farm by John A. Lomax and his teenage son Alan and who sang his way out of prison
with their help - is so well known that it is an American legen.d. He worked first for the
Lomaxes as chauffeur and general helper, then when they had introduced him to the 1930s folk
world he quickly became a celebrated night club performer and recording artist. The story is
more complicated than its usual quick outline - as all stories like this are. The Lomaxes signed a
management contract with him guaranteeing them 50% of his earnings, and they copyrighted all
of his large repertoire of songs as co-compositions by himself, John and Alan. The copyright
situation has become an emotional issue with many folklorists today and whatever final
adjustments were finally made in the distribution of income from the song royalties this
background has caused considerable controversy over the Lomaxes’ role in Leadbelly’s career.
LEADBELLY - CD, “Midnight Special - The Library of Congress Recordings, Vol. 1”
Rounder Records, 1991. Dodd CD 66
LEADBELLY - CD, “Gwine Dig A Hole To Put The Devil In - The Library of Congress
Recordings, Vol. 2” Rounder Records, 1991. Dodd CD 67
LEADBELLY’S LEGACY Vol. 3 - 10” LP, “Early Recordings”
Edited and with a long introductory note by Frederic Ramsey Jr. Dodd LP 39
LEADBELLY - LP, “Negro Folk Songs for Young People” Folkways Records, 1960.
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Dodd LP 40
This is an LP reissue of early 78rpm singles that Moses Asch of Folkways recorded with
Leadbelly in the late 1930s. The original album attracted considerable attention, with some
critics writing that these were children’s songs sung by a murderer.
LEADBELLY - Double LP, “The Leadbelly Set” Xtra Records, 1965. Dodd LP 41a, 41b
This is a selection of Leadbelly’s Folkways recordings.
II B3. Rural Gospel Song and Beginning Urban
Although the emphasis over the years of gathering this archive has been on the blues and
blues sources it isn’t possible to ignore the deep and vital tradition of gospel song that has been
one of the foundations of African American life in America. There is sometimes a
characterization of musical idioms in the black community as “shaped by the blues,” but it would
be more accurate to say that the vocalization of the gospel texts, the scales and harmonies of
gospel music, and the rhythms of pentacostal worship lie at the base of all African American
musical expression. Of the four major musical movements that emerged in the social tumult that
followed the Civil War it was gospel music - the spirituals of the Fisk Jubilee Singers - that first
attracted the world’s notice. Ragtime, then jazz, and finally the blues followed in the next
decades.
There have been two main currents in the broad stream of gospel music that emerged out
of the spirituals, and out of the congregational singing of the early black churches. One current
was the music in the churches itself, which has become more sophisticated and less dependent on
the participation of the congregation. The music of the larger churches now is performed by
large choirs with professional soloists, accompanied by instrumental groups that are on the same
level of musical abilities as the studio musicians in the pop field. At the same time the music
hasn’t lost its fervor, its joy, and its ability to “stir the souls” of the congregations. It is ironic
that over the last twenty years jazz has swung less and less, while the gospel churches have taken
up the rhythms of worship with fresh excitement.
The other current in the gospel stream has been the music of the guitar evangelists, many
of them street singers, and often blin.d. In reality nearly all of the singers who were presented as
blues artists by their record companies had as large repertoires of religious song. Some of the
best known bluesmen, like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton also recorded “holy
songs,” although there is only one major example of a major religious singer who was also an
important blues artist. The North Carolina artist Blind Gary Davis, who was discovered singing
on the streets of New York in the 1950s, had also recorded a group of brilliant blues pieces in the
1930s before he became a minister. For many years most of us who were involved with country
blues included both Davis and the great guitar evangelist of the 1920s, Blind Willie Johnson, in
any country blues anthologies. I devoted a chapter to Johnson in the book The Country Blues.
In the archive there is a small, but broad selection of gospel materials, which trace some of
the main outlines of nearly a century of recorded gospel music.
REVEREND GARY DAVIS
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REVEREND GARY DAVIS - CD, “Gospel, Blues and Street Songs” Riverside Records,
original recording 1956 by Kenneth S. Goldstein. Dodd CD 15
Davis sings on eight of the tracks, the other seven tracks on the CD are by Pink Anderson. See
separate listing in catalog.
BLIND GARY DAVIS - LP, “Harlem Street Singer” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960.
Dodd LP 42
REVEREND GARY DAVIS - CD, “Say No To The Devil” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961.
Dodd CD 16
REVEREND GARY DAVIS - CD, “The Reverend Gary Davis at Newport” Vanguard Records,
1965. Dodd CD 17
REVEREND GARY DAVIS - LP, “Sun Is Going Down” Folkways Records, 1966, recorded by
Marzette Watts. Dodd LP 43
Reverend Gary Davis as Guitar Instrumentalist
Gary Davis had recorded as a blues singer before he became a street evangelist,
and from the evidence of the recordings it was clear that he was a major
instrumentalist. For many years the style of his area of the Carolinas was described
“Blind Boy Fuller” guitar, but the recordings make it clear that it was Davis who
was the more influential guitarist. When he was rediscovered in New York City he
refused to record blues, but in later years he relented enough to record the
instrumentals he taught to a generation of New York-based finger-style, acoustic blues
guitarists. One of his pupils was Stefan Grossman, who produced two of these
albums.
REVEREND GARY DAVIS - LP, “Ragtime Guitar” Transatlantic Records, 1971.
Produced by Stefan Grossman, material recorded 1962-1970. Dodd LP 44
REVEREND GARY DAVIS - Double LP, “Lo’ I Be With You Always” Kicking Mule Records,
1973. Dodd LP 45a, 45b
Produced by Stefan Grossman, material recorded 1962-1968.
MAHALIA JACKSON - LP, “I Sing Because I’m Happy, v. 2” Folkways Records, 1979.
Dodd LP 46
JUANITA JOHNSON & THE GOSPEL TONES - LP, “Climbing High Mountains”
Records, 1974. Dodd LP 47
Folkways
Blind Willie Johnson
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Blind Willie Johnson was one of the first country singers I tried to locate, searching for
him through East Texas in November, 1955. I narrated the story of the search for him and edited
an album of interviews and songs which Folkways Records released in 1957. It was the first
album which I had produced entirely myself.
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - CD, “Praise God I’m Satisfied” Yazoo Records, 1989.
Dodd CD 18
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - CD, “Sweeter As The Years Go By” Yazoo Records, 1990, notes
by Dave Evans. Dodd CD 19
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - Double CD, “The Complete Recordings” Okeh Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 20
Annotated by Samuel Charters. The notes won a NAIRD award for the year.
THE MISSIONARY QUINTET - 10” LP, “Gospel Songs” Folkways Records, 1954.
Recorded by Marshall Stearns in Nassau, Bahamas. Dodd LP 48
LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY - LP, “Church Songs” Folkways Records, 1975.
Dodd LP 689
See also listings for Montgomery in the section on Piano blues in the catalog, IIB4.
PARAMOUNT SINGERS - CD, “Work & Pray On” Arhoolie Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 21
DOCK REED and VERA HALL WARD - 10” LP, “Spirituals” Folkways Records, 1953. Dodd
LP 49
Recorded by Harold Courlander.
BLIND JOE TAGGART - LP, “A Guitar Evangelist, 1926-1931” Herwin Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 50
REV. ROBERT WILKINS - LP, “Memphis Gospel Singer” Piedmont Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 51
SACRED STEEL
“Sacred Steel” is a style of gospel music performed in House of God Churches which uses
the Hawaiian steel guitar as its basic instrument. The style was first introduced into the services
in the 1930s by Troman and Willie Eason, two brothers from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Troman took lessons in the Hawaiian steel guitar from an Hawaiian musician named Jack
Kahanalopua, who had a music studio in the city.
SACRED STEEL - CD, “Live!” Arhoolie Records, 1999. Dodd CD 22
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COLLECTIONS
American Primitive Raw Pre-War Gospel, 1928-1936, V. 1 Dodd CD 356
Gospel Greats - CD, Excelsior Records, 1996. Dodd CD 23
Artists include:
Five Blind Boys
Mighty Clouds of Joy
The Dixie Hummingbirds
Mahalia Jackson
Inez Andrews
Willie Banks & The Messengers
Sensational Nightingales
Sensational Williams Brothers
The Soul Stirrers
The Jackson Southernaires
Gospel Pioneers - CD, Excelsior Records, 2000. Dodd CD 24
Artists include:
Dorothy Love Coates
Reverend James Cleveland
The Consolers
The Caravans
Willie Banks & The Messengers
Davis Sisters
Dorothy Norwood
The Sensational Nightingales
Margaret Allison & The Angelic Gospel Singers
Reverend Cleophis Robinson, Sr.
In The Spirit, The Gospel and Jubilee Recordings of Trumpet Records - CD, licensed by
Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 25
Artists include:
St.Andrews Gospelaires
Argo Gospel Singers with The Southern Sons
Blue Jay Gospel Singers
Carolina Kings of Harmony
Gospel at Newport - CD, Vanguard Records, 1995, recordings from 1959, 1963-66.
Dodd CD 26
Artists include:
Dixie Hummingbirds
Swan Silvertone Singers
Rev. Pearly Brown & Mrs. Christine Brown
Joseph Spence
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Dorothy Love Coates & The Gospel Harmonettes
Bessie Jones & Janie Hunter
Moving Star Hall Singers
Rev. Alex Bradford & The Stone Temple Baptist Church Singers
Reverend Gary Davis
Freedom Singers
Son House
Chambers Brothers with Joan Baez
Staples Singers
THE SOUL OF BLACK MUSIC, Vol. 1 - LP, both albums released by Sonet Records, 1979,
original performances from the catalog of Nashboro Records. Dodd LP 52
THE SOUL OF BLACK MUSIC, Vol. 2 – LP. Dodd LP 53
Artists include:
Swanee Quintet
Angelic Gospel Singers
The Gospel Keynotes
B. C. & M. Mass Choir
Supreme Angels
Cleophus Robinson
Fairfield Four
Soul Searchers
Original Gospel Harmonettes
Bright Stars
The Consolers
Birmingham Community Choir
Star of Faith
Kings Temple Choir
Rev. Isaac Douglas
Willie Mae Ford Smith
Ward Singers
Thompson Community Choir
R. H. Harris
Dorothy Love Coates and The Gospel Harmonettes
Delois Barret Campbell
Edna Gallman Cooke
II B3a. “The Golden Age of Gospel”
The Specialty Records gospel recordings, and The Staples Singers, from the
Collection
Fantasy
Although the greatest number of recordings which are included in the Fantasy Records
Collection in the Archive are jazz albums, among the many labels which Fantasy acquired over
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the years was Specialty Records, founded in 1946 by Art Rupe in Los Angeles. For almost
twenty years Rupe enjoyed a brilliant run of success as both producer and director of the
company’s operations, with an artist roster that reached from Sam Cooke to Little Richard. Rupe
was also widely regarded as one of the most sensitive and responsive producers of gospel artists,
and the care he gave to these performers brought a new standard to gospel recording. His series
of releases in the 1950s and 1960s are often referred to as the “Golden Age of Gospel,” and the
music is characterised by a careful technical polish and a moving commitment to the Christian
gospel traditions that the groups and soloists represented. Among the Specialty gospel artists
who later turned to successful careers in secular music were Cooke of the Soul Stirrers and Lou
Rawls of The Chosen Gospel Singers
As with the other areas of the Fantasy Collection (See the Jazz Component in the catalog)
we extend our thanks to Fantasy Vice-President Bill Belmont, who arranged for the presentation
of the material to the Archive.
(In this listing of the Specialty gospel albums which are in the Archive, the missing numbers
in the numerical sequences are blues, R&B, and early rock and roll releases, many of which are
listed in other areas of interest.)
LPs
Dodd #
Specialty #
Artist/Title
LP 990
SPS 2121
THE BEST of THE PILGRIM TRAVELERS Volume 1
LP 991
SPS 2132
BROTHER JOE MAY Search Me lord
LP 992
SPS 2133
THE BEST of ALEX BRADFORD Too Close To Heaven
LP 993
SPS 2141
THE BEST OF DOROTHY LOVE COATES and THE
ORIGINAL GOSPEL HARMONETTES Volume 2
CDs
Dodd #
Specialty #
Artist/Title
CD 1703
SPCD 7013
THE SOUL STIRRERS featuring R. H. Harris Shine On Me
CD 1704
Lifeboat
SPCD 7014
THE CHOSEN GOSPEL SINGERS featuring Lou Rawls The
CD 1705
SPCD 7015
ALEX BRADFORD Rainbow In The Sky
CD 1706
SPCD 7016
SISTER WYNONA CARR Dragnet for Jesus
CD 1707
SPCD 7017 DOROTHY LOVE COATES and THE ORIGINAL GOSPEL
HARMONETTES Get On Board
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CD 1708
SPCD 7030
THE PILGROM TRAVELERS Walking Rhythm
CD 1709
SPCD 7031 THE SOUL STIRRERS featuring Sam Cooke, Paul Foster, and
Julius Cheeks Jesus Gave Me Water
CD 1710
SPCD 7032
THE MEDITATION SINGERS Good News
CD 1711
SPCD 7033 BROTHER JOE MAY, with special appearances by Sister Wynona
Carr, The Sallie Martin Singers, The Pilgrim Travelers, and Annette May Thunderbolt of the
Middle West
CD 1712
Religion
SPCD 7034
THE DETROITERS and THE GOLDEN ECHOES Old Time
CD 1713
SPCD 7040
Heaven Is My Home
THE SOUL STIRRERS featuring Paul Foster and Johnnie Taylor
CD 1714
Sermon
SPCD 7041
THE ORIGINAL FIVE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA The
CD 1715
SPCD 7042
ALEX BRADFORD Too Close
CD 1716
The Lifeline
SPCD 7043
THE SALLIE MARTIN SINGERS/CORA MARTIN Throw Out
CD 1717
SPCD 7044
THE SWAN SILVERTONES Heavenly Light
CD 1718
SPCD 7045 THE GREAT 1955 SHRINE CONCERT
Featuring: The Pilgrim Travelers
The Caravans
Brother Joe May
Annette May
The Soul Stirrers
Ethel Davenport
Dorothy Love Coates and The Original Gospel Harmonettes
CD 1719
SPCD 7051 THE STAPLES SINGERS, THE PILGRIM TRAVELERS,
REVEREND CLEOPHUS ROBINSON A Gospel Christmas Card
CD 1720
SPCD 7052 THE SOUL STIRRERS featuring Sam Cooke, Paul Foster, J. J.
Farley, Julius Cheeks, and Bob King
CD 1721
SPCD 7053
THE PILGRIM TRAVELERS Better Than That
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CD 1722
SPCD 7054 BROTHER JOE MAY Live 1952-1955
With special appearances by Annette May, The Sallie Martin Singers, and Prof. J. Earl Hines
CD 1723
SPCD 7055 REVEREND CLEOPHUS ROBINSON Someone To Care
Although this was released with a Speciality catalog number it is actually a compilation of the
very rare sessions Robinson recorded in 1962 and 1963 for Battle Records, which was a
subsidiary of Riverside Records, which also is part of the Fantasy gathering of labels. The CD
was released as part of a Legends of Gospel series.
CD 1724
SPCD 7056 WOMEN OF GOSPEL’S GOLDEN AGE
Artists include:
Bessie Griffin
The Helen Robinson Youth Choir
Princess Stewart
The Argo Singers
Dorothy Love Coates and The Original Gospel Harmonettes
Lil Greenwood
The Simmons-Akers Trio
Sister Wynona Carr
The Sallie Martin Singers
The Famous Ward Singers of Philadelphia
CD 1725
SPCD 7066 REV. MACEO WOODS and THE CHRISTIAN TABERNACLE
CONCERT CHOIR Hello Sunshine
The Volt Recordings
CD 1726
SPCD 7067 CHALICE
This is another compilation from a label which Fantasy owned, re-released with a Specialty
catalog number. The label was Chalice, and it was a short-lived gospel series produced by the
well-known Stax label, which was located in Memphis, and had a series of international hits with
artists like Otis Redding, Booker T and the MGs, and Sam and Dave. The artists for Chalice
were from Memphis and the surrounding area.
Artists include:
The Dixie Nightingales
The Jubilee Hummingbirds
The Dixie Nightingales
The Stars of Virginia
The Pattersonaires
CD 1727
SPCD 7068 GOLDEN AGE GOSPEL CHOIRS 1954-1963
Artists include:
The Back Home Choir
The Pentacostal Choir of Detroit
The Helen Robinson Youth Choir
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Voices of Victory
CD 1728
SPCD 7069 GOLDEN AGE GOSPEL QUARTETS Volume One (1947 1954)
Artists include:
The Southern Harmonizers
The Pilgrim Travelers
The Golden Echoes
The Paramount Singers
The Soul Stirrers
The Pilgrim Travelers
The Detroiters
The Chosen Gospel Singers
The Swan Silvertones
The Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama
The West Coast Jubilees
CD 1729
SPCD 7070 GOLDEN AGE GOSPEL QUARTETS Volume Two (1954 1963)
Artists include:
The Soul Stirrers
The Chosen Gospel Singers
The Pilgrim Travelers
The Pilgrom Jubilee Singers
The Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama
The Gate City Singers
The Capitol City Stars
The Clefs of Calvary
The Gable Airs
CD 1730
Lifted Me
SPCD 7202 (Two albums on one CD) SWAN SILVERTONES My Rock/ Love
CD 1731
SPCD 7203 (Two albums on one CD) THE ORIGINAL FIVE BLIND BOYS
OF ALABAMA Oh Lord - Stand By Me/Marching Up To Zion
CD 1732
SPCD 7204 (Two albums on one CD) THE BEST OF THE PILGRIM
TRAVELERS
CD 1733
SPCD 7205 (Two albums on one CD) THE BEST OF DOROTHY LOVE
COATES and THE ORIGINAL GOSPEL HARMONETTES
CD 1734
SPCD 7206 (Two albums on one CD) GREATEST GOSPEL GEMS
Artists include:
Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers
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Brother Joe May
Pilgrim Travelers
Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama
Alex Bradford
Dorothy Love Coates and The Original Gospel Harmonettes
Swan Silvertones
Robert Anderson
Chosen Gospel Singers
Sister Wynona Carr
Soul Stirrers
Johnnie Taylor with The Soul Stirrers
Meditation Singers
Brother Joe May with The Pilgrim Travelers
James Cleveland
THE STAPLES SINGERS
Another of the great gospel groups was the seminal quartet of the 1960s, the Staples Singers,
with the stunning voice of daughter Mavis, who is heard here in a solo album of love songs. The
family recorded a wide range of material, not restricting themselves to the gospel repertoire,
which gave them a wide cross-over audience. We’ll Get Over includes their performance of
Randall Stewart’s song ‘When Do I get Paid,” one of the protest songs of the era which
demanded reparations for African Americans for their labor as slaves in the building of the
United States. These albums were issued by Fantasy from the original masters on Stax and Volt
labels.
LPs
Dodd LP 994 STX 4116 THE STAPLES SINGERS Beautitude: Respect Yourself
Dodd LP 995 MPS 8532 THE STAPLES SINGERS We’ll Get Over
Dodd LP 996 MPS 8539 MAVIS STAPLES Only For The Lonely
Dodd LP 997 MPS 8553 STAPLES SINGERS Be What You Are
CONTEMPORARY RAP GOSPEL
II B4. Rural Blues and the Acoustic Blues Tradition
II B4a. Pre-war recordings
By the mid-1920s the record companies who were marketing the blues to African
American audiences became aware that there was a local market for blues material in the South,
and that there were also many southern performers who included blues songs as part of their
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songster repertoire. The first company to test the field was Paramount Records, which had been
successful with the city blues of Ma Rainey, and they began to release blues singles by male
artists, among them banjoist and band vocalist Papa Charlie Jackson and Texas singer Blind
Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson was so successful that immediately other companies followed their
lead and looked for southern musicians who played the blues. The actual recordings were made
by traveling production teams who set up recording facilities with portable equipment in hotel
rooms, local theaters or dance halls - anywhere where they found a quiet space. They worked
their way through most of the southern cities, relying on local talent scouts to find the singers.
Jesse Johnson, who owned a music store, was the scout for Okeh Records in St. Louis, and on his
advice they did the first recordings with Lonnie Johnson, who became the most successful of the
male blues artists of the 1920s. Interestingly, Johnson was the only one of the southern blues
scouts who was African American. The others where white, but they had a genuine interest in
the music they were hearing, and they quickly became useful judges of which performers had
commercial potential.
H. C. Speir, who owned a music store in Jackson, Mississippi, was one of the most
important of the scouts, and he brought Charley Patton and Son House, among many others, to
Paramount Records, and several years later Robert Johnson to Vocalion. In North Carolina J. B.
Long discovered the Durham group of musicians around Blind Boy Fuller in the 1930s. The
companies also relied on other musicians for advice. Mississippi John Hurt was wakened in the
middle of the night by white neighbors, the country duet of Narmour & Smith, who asked him to
play for a record company scout. After one piece, and part of another, Hurt was told to go back
to sleep and then come and record the next morning. The companies relentlessly raided each
other’s artists, sometimes issuing the singles under a pseudonym, sometimes not going to the
trouble. Ralph Peer was the director of the field recordings for Victor Records in the 1920s,
although his primary concern was finding new song material for his Southern Music Publishing
Company. He was responsible for some of the most affecting recordings of Memphis bluesman
Furry Lewis and Atlanta 12-string guitar artist Blind Willie McTell.
Columbia Records usually used Frank Walker for their field trips, though he was also
Bessie Smith’s producer, and his time always had to be divided between New York and the
southern cities. Columbia had begun an important 14000 numerical series for their “race” artists,
and in the late 1920s, as the novelty of country blues began to wear off for the record buying
public, Columbia discovered street evangelist Blind Willie Johnson, who became their most
important artist since Bessie Smith.
The commercial companies, working through the mid-1920s and through all of the 1930s,
left an unparalled rich hoard of music. Although the recording directors were primarily
interested in the blues, and they were less concerned with the rest of their artists’ “songster”
repertory they included a wide assortment of southern musical styles in their sweeps. The
arrangement with scouts like Speir, who owned their own music shops, was that if they would
guarantee to sell 300 copies of a single, then the company would do the recording. The legacy of
these recordings, created as much by chance and by guess as by plan, is one of the treasures of
American culture.
Several of the blues singers who began their careers in the pre-war years, among them
Lonnie Johnson, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, and Big Joe Williams, were extensively
recorded during the blues revival. They are listed here where their careers began, and the list
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includes their post-war recordings. Thomas A. Dorsey’s blues recorded under the name “Georgia
Tom” are included here, and his gospel recordings are listed in that category.
PINK ANDERSON
PINK ANDERSON and REVEREND GARY DAVIS - CD, “Gospel, Blues and Street Songs”
Riverside Records, 1956, CD release, 1991. Dodd CD 15
Seven titles on the CD are by Anderson, the remaining titles are by Davis. This recording, done
by folk singer Paul Clayton at a folk festival in Charlottesville,Virginia, in 1950, were
Anderson’s first new recordings since the 1920s. The following four albums were recorded and
annotated by Samuel Charters.
KOKOMO ARNOLD - LP, “Blues Classics by Kokomo Arnold” Blues Classics 4, n.d.
Dodd LP 54
One side of the album contains eight blues by Arnold, the other side contains blues by Peetie
Wheatstraw.
KOKOMO ARNOLD - Double CD set, “Midnight Blues” History label, n.d.
Dodd CD 27a, 27b
BARBECUE BOB - CD, “Chocolate To The Bone” Yazoo, 1992. Dodd CD 28
LOTTIE BEAMON (KIMBROUGH) - LP, “Lottie Beaman” Wolf, n.d.
Dodd LP 55
One side of the album contains eight blues by Beamon, the other side contains blues by Luella
Miller.
BLIND BLAKE - LP, “Blind Blake & Papa Charlie Jackson’’ Collector’s Classics, n.d.
Dodd LP 56
One side of the album contains eight blues by Blake, the other side contains blues by Papa
Charlie Jackson.
THE BLIND BLAKE BIOGRAPH REISSUES
BLIND BLAKE, 1926-1930 - LP, “Bootleg Rum Dum Blues” Dodd LP 57
BLIND BLAKE, 1926-1932, Volume 2 - LP, “Search Warrant Blues”
Dodd LP 58
BLIND BLAKE, 1926-1929, Volume 3 - LP, “No Dough Blues” Dodd LP 59
BLIND BLAKE, 1926-1931, Volume 4 - LP, “Rope Stretchin’ Blues” Dodd LP 60
BLIND BLAKE, 1926-1939 - LP, That Lovin’ I Crave” Dodd LP 61
All five albums reissued by Arnold S. Caplin on his Biograph label, 1975.
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“BROWNSVILLE” SON BONDS - CD, “Complete Recorded Works” Wolf Records, n.d. Dodd
CD 64
Tracks 1-18 are by Bonds, the remaining for tracks are by Charlie Pickett.
ARTHUR CRUDUP - LP, “Look On Yonder’s Wall” Delmark, n.d. Dodd LP 62
ARTHUR CRUDUP - LP, “Crudup’s Mood” Delmark, n.d. Dodd LP 63
ARTHUR CRUDUP - LP, “Roebuck Man” United Artists, 1970. Dodd LP 64
SLEEPY JOHN ESTES - LP, “Masters of the Blues, Vol. 3 1935-1937” Collector’s Classics,
n.d. Dodd LP 65
SLEEPY JOHN ESTES - LP, “Portraits in Blues, Vol. 10” Storyville Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 66
SLEEPY JOHN ESTES - LP, “Electric Sleep” Delmark Records, n.d. Dodd LP 72
SLEEPY JOHN ESTES - LP, “Blues Live!” Storyville Records, n.d. Dodd LP 67
Original recordings made in 1967. Five titles on the album are by John Henry Barbee.
GEORGIA TOM, 1928-1931 - LP, “The Accompanist” Blues Documents, 1989. Dodd LP 68
Georgia Tom was the pseudonym of Thomas A. Dorsey, who left the blues for gospel music
shortly after these recordings were made.
CLIFFORD GIBSON - CD, “Beat You Doing It” Yazoo, 1991. Dodd CD 29
BLIND ROOSEVELT GRAVES, 1929-1936 - LP, “Complete Recordings” Wolf, n.d.
Dodd LP 69
Graves was one of the few southern songsters whose gospel and blues recordings were both
released under his own name.
SON HOUSE - LP, “Delta Blues” Xtra, reissued from Folkways release edited and
with notes by Samuel Charters. Dodd LP 70
Six of the selections are from Houses’ 1942 documentary recordings, edited by Samuel Charters.
The remaining selections are by J. D. Short.
PEG LEG HOWELL - LP, “The Legendary Peg Leg Howell” Testament Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 71
Howell was rediscovered in Atlanta in the early 1960s, and this recording was made by C. P.
Matthews shortly before Howell’s death. He was in poor health at the time of the recording, and
had not played for almost thirty years, but the album is still a valuable document of an important
early blues artist.
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT
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Although Mississippi John Hurt for many years was only a name on some old
recordings, he was a legend in the folk and blues revival world for “Frankie,” his 1928
version of “Frankie and Johnnie.” It was included in the Folkways American Folk
Music albums, edited by Harry Smith, and hundreds of young guitarists had struggled
to copy Hurt’s intricate, delicately phrased finger picking. He had also recorded a
song called “Avalon Blues,” and - as Dick Spottswood described in the notes to the
first album made after his rediscovery in 1963 “. . . in March of this year, collector and field researcher Tom Hoskins discovered
tiny Avalon on a state map of Mississippi, and, remembering John’s singing ‘Avalon’s
my home town, always on my mind’ on ‘Avalon Blues’ . . went there in high hopes.
The first person he asked directed him easily to John’s house, and within minutes
Tom was knocking on the door and an old legend began to be created anew.”
John was one of the most loved and respected of the blues revival artists, and
he came almost to typify everything that the Newport Folk Festival represented.
No one who heard his softly understated, musically rich performances of
“Spanish Fandang” or laughed at his pleased “Coffee Blues” ever forgot his warmth
or his pleasure at performing for his new audiences.
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - LP, “1928 Sessions” Yazoo, n.d.
Detailed liner notes by Steve Calt. Dodd LP 73
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - LP, “Folk Songs and Blues” Piedmont Records, 1963.
Dodd LP 74
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - LP, “Worried Blues” Piedmont Records, 1964.
Dodd LP 75
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - LP, “Today!” Vanguard Records, Reissue Welk Record Group,
1986. Dodd LP 76
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - LP, “The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt” Vanguard Records,
1967. Dodd LP 77
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - CD, “The Best of Mississippi John Hurt” Vanguard Records,
1970, CD 1987. Dodd CD 30
MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT - CD, “Last Sessions” Vanguard Records, 1972. Dodd CD 31
SKIP JAMES
SKIP JAMES - LP, “Greatest of the Delta Blues Singers” Melodeon Records, n.d. Dodd LP 78
This was James’s first LP following his rediscovery by John Fahey, Henry Vastine and Bill Barth
in a Mississippi Hospital in the spring of 1964. Like John Hurt, he had become a legendary
figure through the reissue of his older recordings, and he had an important effect on the blues
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revival, even though he was less accessible than Hurt. One of his compositions, “I’m So Glad”
became a major hit for the group Cream, led by Eric Clapton.
SKIP JAMES - LP, “Today!” Vanguard Records, 1966. Dodd LP 79
SKIP JAMES - LP, “Devil Got My Woman” Vanguard Records, 1968. Dodd LP 80
SKIP JAMES - Double LP, “I’m So Glad” Vanguard Records, 1966-1968.
Dodd LP 81a, 81b
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON - LP, “The Classic Folk Blues, Vol. 1” Riverside Records,
1957. Dodd LP 82
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON - LP, “The Classic Folk Blues, Vol. 2” Riverside Records, 1960.
Dodd LP 83
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON - LP, “Volume 1” Roots, n.d. Dodd LP 84
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON - LP, “Volume 3” Roots, n.d. Dodd LP 85
BLIND LEMON JEFFERSON - CD, “King of the Country Blues” Yazoo, 1990.
Dodd CD 32
LONNIE JOHNSON
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “Masters of the Blues, Vol. 6” Collector’s Classics, n.d.
Dodd LP 86
This useful documentation of Johnson’s career between 1925 and 1932 includes his first success,
“Mr. Johnson’s Blues” and the blues he recorded on the violin on the same session.
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “Woke Up This Morning Blues In My Fingers, Original Recordings,
1927-1932” Origin, 1980. Dodd LP 87
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “The Originator of the Modern Guitar Blues” Blues Boy, 1963.
Dodd LP 88
This is a reissue of Johnson singles from the period 1941- 1952.
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “Lonesome Road” King Records, n.d. Reissue album.
Dodd LP 89
LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Blues by Lonnie Johnson” Prestige Records, 1960.
Dodd CD 33
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LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Blues & Ballads,” with Elmer Snowden, Prestige Records, 1960.
Dodd CD 34
LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Blues, Ballads & Jumpin’ Jazz,, Vol. 2” with Elmer Snowden.
Prestige Records, 1960. Dodd CD 35
LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Losing Game” Prestige Records, 1960. Dodd CD 36
LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Idle Hours” with Victoria Spivey, Prestige Records, 1961.
Dodd CD 37
LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Another Night To Cry” Prestige Records, n.d.
Dodd CD 38
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “Blues Roots Vol. 5” Storyville Records, 1963.
Dodd LP 90
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “Tears Don’t Fall No More” Folkways Records, 1967.
Dodd LP 91
LONNIE JOHNSON - LP, “Mr. Trouble” Folkways Records, 1967.
Dodd LP 92
Both Folkways albums were edited and with notes by Samuel Charters, 1982.
LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 4”Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 39
ROBERT JOHNSON
ROBERT JOHNSON - LP, “King of the Delta Blues Singers” Columbia Records, 1966.
Dodd LP 93
ROBERT JOHNSON - LP, “King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2” Columbia Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 94
ROBERT JOHNSON - Double CD, “The Complete Recordings” Columbia Records, 1990.
Dodd CD 40
TOMMY JOHNSON - CD, “Complete Recordings in chronological order, 1928-1930”
Wolf Records, n.d. Dodd CD 41
FURRY LEWIS - Double LP, “Shake ‘Em On Down” Prestige, 1972.
This is a repackaging of two Bluesville Lps, “Back on My Feet Again,” and “Done Changed My
Mind,” recorded in April and May, 1961. Dodd LP 95a, 95b
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TOMMY McCLENNAN - CD, “I’m A Guitar King, 1939-1942” Wolf Records, n.d.
Dodd CD 42
ROBERT LEE McCOY - LP, “Complete Recordings, Vol. 1” Wolf Records, n.d. Dodd LP 96
ROBERT LEE McCOY - LP, “Complete Recordings, Vol. 2” Wolf Records. N.d.
Dodd LP 97
BROWNIE MCGHEE & SONNY TERRY
BROWNIE McGHEE - CD, “The Folkways Years, 1945-1959” Smithsonian Folkways, 1991.
Dodd CD 43
BROWNIE McGHEE & SONNY TERRY- LP,“Sing” Folkways Records, 1958.
Dodd LP 98
BROWNIE McGHEE & SONNY TERRY - CD, “Blowin’ The Fuses” Tradition, 1996.
Reissue material. Dodd CD 44
BROWNIE McGHEE - CD, “Brownie’s Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960.
Dodd CD 45
BROWNIE McGHEE & SONNY TERRY - CD “at the 2nd Fret” Prestige, 1962.
Dodd CD 46
BROWNIE McGHEE & SONNY TERRY - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 5” Storyville, 1991.
Dodd CD 47
BLIND WILLIE MCTELL
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - CD, “The Early Years, 1927-1933” Yazoo, 1989.
Dodd CD 48
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - CD, “Blind Willie McTell, 1927-1935” Yazoo, 1991.
Dodd CD 49
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - LP, “King of the Georgia Blues Singers” Roots, n.d.
Dodd LP 99
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - LP, “Death Cell Blues” Biograph, n.d. Dodd LP 100
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - LP, “Blind Willie McTell: 1940” Melodeon n.d. Dodd LP 101
McTell’s recordings for the Library of Congress folk music archives, supervised by John A.
Lomax. This invaluable documentary includes a long autobiographical monolog.
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BLIND WILLIE McTELL - LP, “Trying to Get Home, 1949” Biograph, n.d.
Dodd LP 102
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - LP, “Love Changing Blues” Biograph, n.d. Dodd LP 103
This compilation includes six rediscovered, unissued tracks from McTell’s 1949 session for
Regal. The B side of the LP contains six tracks by Memphis Minnie.
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - LP, “Atlanta Twelve String” Atlantic Records, 1972.
Dodd LP 104
This was the first release of all but two unissued titles recorded by Atlantic Records in Atlanta in
1949.
BLIND WILLIE McTELL - CD, “Last Session” Prestige/Bluesville, 1963.
Compiled and annotated by Samuel Charters. Dodd CD 50
MEMPHIS MINNIE - LP, “Blues Classic” Blues Classics, n.d. Dodd LP 105
MEMPHIS MINNIE - LP, “Love Changing Blues” Biograph, n.d. Dodd LP 103
This is the second side of an album with six selections by Blind Willie McTell.
MEMPHIS MINNIE – LP, “Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe” Blues Classics #13.
Dodd LP 121
LUELLA MILLER - LP, “Complete Recordings” Wolf, n.d. Dodd LP 55
This is the second side of an album with eight selections by Lottie Beaman.
THE MISSISSIPPI SHEIKS - CD, “Stop And Listen” Yazoo, 1992. Dodd CD 51
CHARLEY PATTON
A GRAMMY WINNING BLUES REISSUE
One of the founders of the adventurous independent label Revenant Records was
guitarist/composer John Fahey, and the legendary Mississippi artist Charlie Patton was one of
artists who inspired Fahey’s own creative directions. Fahey also wrote a musicological and
textual study of Patton’s life and music as part of his university studies. Revenant’s presentation
of the Patton recordings is perhaps the most lavish and imaginative of any reissue done of the
music of a vernacular music artist. The material is presented in a mock- 1920s singles album,
with the title embossed on the cover along with motifs from the advertisements for Patton’s
recordings. Inside is a reprint of Fahey’s book, a series of articles by blues scholars Dick
Spottswood, David Evans, Paul D. Mitchell with Edward Komara, Edward Komara, and a
reconsideration of Patton “Thirty-Five Years On” by Fahey.
The texts of the songs themselves show Patton to be a wide-ranging, richly evocative folk
blues poet, and Dick Spottswood has done an exemplary service with his transcriptions of the
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texts and his notes to the songs. Appendixes include a thematic catalog of Patton’s recordings,
Patton indexes and notes, and a conversation on collecting Pattonäs original 78s with Gayle Dean
Wardlow. The illustrative materials include reproductions of the labels of all of Patton’s 78s,
was well as the labels of unissued test pressings, and all of the advertising materials appearing in
newspapers at the time. The entire collection is enclosed in an embossed protective box.
The singles themselves have been skillfully remastered and they are presented on seven
discs which duplicate the labels of the Paramount singles and are mounted in a reproduction of
the old record sleeves that protected the original 78s. Not only everything of Patton is here, but
also the recordings artists associated with him, like Willie Brown, Louise Johnson, and Son
House.
The CD set is breathtaking in its conception and it sets a new standard for presentation of
older material Visually it is a stunning evocation of the period that produced the music, with
vintage photographs, reproductions of recording sheets and
Motives taken from the Patton advertisements.
CHARLEY PATTON - 7 CD set, “Screamin’ and Hollerin’ the Blues” Revenant
Records, nd. 2000-0105/CD 1882a-g
CHARLEY PATTON - LP, “The Immortal Charlie Patton”Origin Jazz Library, 1960.
This first collection of Patton’s blues to be reissued was the first album in the important Origin
series produced by collectors Pete Whalen and Bill Givens. See the introduction to the Origin
Jazz Library below under Collections. Dodd LP 106
CHARLEY PATTON - CD, “King of the Delta Blues” Yazoo, 1991. Dodd CD 52
CHARLEY PATTON - CD, “1929-1934, The Remaining Titles” Wolf, n.d.
Dodd CD 53
CHARLIE PICKETT - CD, “Complete Works” Wolf, n.d. Dodd CD 54
Four titles by Pickett are included on this CD featuring the blues of “Brownsville” Son Bonds.
J. D. SHORT - LP, “His Early Recordings, 1930-1933” Wolf, n.d. Dodd LP 107
J. D. SHORT - LP, See SON HOUSE, “Delta Blues” listed above. Dodd LP 70
TAMPA RED - CD, “Don’t Tampa With The Blues” Prestige, 1960, CD release 1992.
Dodd CD 55
TAMPA RED - CD, “Don’t Jive Me” Prestige, 1960, CD release 1992.
Dodd CD 56
SONNY TERRY - CD, “The Folkways Years, 1944-1963” Smithsonian Folkways, 1991.
Dodd CD 57
SONNY TERRY - CD, “Sonny’s Story” Prestige, 1960, CD release, 1990.
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Dodd CD 58
SONNY TERRY - CD, “Sonny Is King” Prestige, 1960-1962, CD release, 1990.
Dodd CD 59
HENRY THOMAS - CD, “Texas Worried Blues, Complete Recorded Works” Yazoo, 1989.
Dodd CD 60
HENRY TOWNSEND and HENRY SPAULDING - LP, “Complete Recordings, 1929- 1937”
Wolf, n.d. Dodd LP 108
PEETIE WHEATSTRAW - LP, “Blues Classic” Blues Classics, n.d. Dodd LP 54
The album also includes eight blues by Kokomo Arnold.
BUKKA WHITE - LP, “Mississippi Blues, The Incredible Bukka White” Sonet Records,
licensed from Takoma Records, n.d. Dodd LP 109
BUKKA WHITE - CD, “Sky Songs” Arhoolie, 1963, CD release, 1990. Dodd CD 61
BIG JOE WILLIAMS - LP, “Mississippi’s Big Joe Williams and his nine-string guitar”
Folkways Records, 1962. Dodd LP 110
BIG JOE WILLIAMS (with J. D. Short) - LP, “Piney Woods Blues” Delmark, n.d.
Dodd LP 111
BIG JOE WILLIAMS - LP, CD - “Big Joe Williams” The Legacy of the Blues, Vol. 6, Sonet.
Dodd LP 749
From the series produced and annotated by Samuel Charters.
BIG JOE WILLIAMS - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 2” Storyville, 1991. Dodd CD 62
ANTHOLOGIES
THE ORIGIN JAZZ LIBRARY
Among the collectors and enthusiasts who were involved with the country blues in the late
1950s were two New Yorkers who had been friends since their school years together, Pete
Whalen and Bill Givens. We listened to many records together, but Pete and Bill had much more
extensive collections than I did, and they were particularly interested in the northern Mississippi
artists like Charlie Patton. When I didn’t include Patton in the first reissues I did they decided to
start their own reissue blues label and their first release was a Patton album. They followed it
with a collection of rare early blues, most of the artists from the Delta and - as a response to my
The Country Blues reissue album - titled it Really! the Country Blues!. We continued to be good
friends and as their label grew and I continued to do reissue albums for RBF we met often and
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we tried not to duplicate the artists we were documenting. I wrote the notes for their The Great
Jug Bands, and both Ann and I contributed cover photos to their albums. Our only disagreement
was over the importance of Robert Johnson, whom they considered to be a younger imitator of
the great singers of the 1920s. Whalen and Givens had a sensitive knowledge of the early
country blues, and their Origin Jazz Library was the most important of the reissue labels that
introduced the rural blues traditions to the new audience in the 1960s. Whalen continues to play
an important role in the documentation of the early blues through his quarterly magazine 78
Quarterly, Givens died of cancer in the late 1990s.
[All of these albums are LPs]
Origin Jazz Library 1 - Charlie Patton, 1929-1932 Dodd LP 106
Origin Jazz Library 6 - The Country Girls See listing below in catalog. Dodd LP 112
Origin Jazz Library 9 - Crying Sam Collins and his Git-Fiddle
This collection also includes two titles by King Solomon Hill.
THE RURAL BLUES TRADITIONS - COLLECTIONS
Mississippi
CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI BLUES, The Jackson Area, 1928-1935 - LP, Wolf, n.d.
Dodd LP 113
Artists include:
Willie Harris
Mississippi Bracy
“Big Road” Webster Taylor
Arthur Petties
The Mississippi Moaner (Isaiah Nettles)
THE MISSISSIPPI BLUES No. 2, The Delta, 1929-1932- LP, Origin Jazz Library, n.d.
Dodd LP 114
Artists include:
Son House
J. D. Short
Robert Wilkins
Charlie Patton
Garfield Akers
Blind Joe Reynolds
Louise Johnson
Hi Henry Brown
Joe Calicott
MASTERS OF THE DELTA BLUES, The Friends of Charlie Patton - CD, Yazoo, 1991.
Dodd CD 63
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Artists include:
Kid Bailey
Tommy Johnson
Bukka White
Willie Brown
Ishmon Bracey
Louise Johnson
Son House
Bertha Lee
MISSISSIPPI BLUES, The Complete Recorded Works of Otto Virgial, Robert Petway, and
Robert Lockwood, 1935-1951) - CD, Wolf, n.d. Dodd CD 64
See also MISSISSIPPI BLUES in the RBF series listed above.
Memphis
KINGS OF MEMPHIS TOWN (1927-1930) - Saydisc, n.d. Dodd LP 115
Artists include:
Furry Lewis
Robert Wilkins
Frank Stokes
The Beale Street Shieks
Sleepy John Estes
Lonnie McIntorsh
FRANK STOKES’ DREAM, The Memphis Blues, 1927-1931 - CD, Yazoo, 1991.
Dodd CD 65
Artists include:
Tom Dickson
Frank Stokes
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe
Pearl Dickson
Furry Lewis
Noah Lewis
Cannon’s Jug Stompers
Will Weldon
MEMPHIS JAMBOREE 1927 - 1936 - LP, Yazoo, n.d. Dodd LP 116
Artists include:
Will Batts
Memphis Minnie
Hattie Hart
Yank Rachel & Dan Smith
The Two Charlies
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Kansas Joe McCoy
Furry Lewis
Gus Cannon
Jim Jackson & Co.
Sam Townsend
East Coast Blues
EAST COAST BLUES 1926-1935 - Yazoo, n.d. Dodd LP 117
Artists include:
Willie Walker
Blind Blake
William Moore
Carl Martin
Tarter & Gay
Bo Weavil Jackson
Bayless Rose
Chicken Wilson & Skeeter Hinton
BLIND BOY FULLER ON DOWN, VOLUME 2, In The Fuller Tradition - Saydisc, n.d.
Dodd LP 118
Artists include:
Julius Daniels
Blind Boy Fuller
Buddy Moss
Blind Gary Davis
Bull City Red
Sonny Jones
Blind Boy Fuller No. 2 (Brownie McGhee)
Sleepy Joe’s Washboard Band
Jammin’ Jim (Ed Harris)
Dan Pickett
Curley Weaver
See also ATLANTA BLUES in the RBF series listed above.
Women’s Blues in the Rural Tradition
THE COUNTRY GIRLS - LP, Origin Jazz Library, n.d. Dodd LP 112
Artists include:
Lottie Kimbrough
Geeshie Wiley
Rosie Mae Moore
Lulu Jackson
Lillian Miller
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Lucille Bogan
Nellie Florence
Pearl Dickson
Memphis Minnie
Mae Glover
I CAN’T BE SATISFIED, Early American Women Blues Singers - Town & Country, Vol. 1 Country - CD, Shanachie Records, 1997. Dodd CD 68 Produced by Richard Nevins and Don
Kent.
Artists included:
Ruby Glaze
Hattie Hart
Hattie Hudson
Lottie Kimbrough
Bertha Lee
Memphis Minnie
Bertha Henderson
Mae Glover
Rosie Mae Moore
Lillian Miller
Lizzie Washington
Irene Scruggs
Geeshie Wiley
Bessie Tucker
Jennie Clayton
Pearl Dickson
Elizabeth Johnson
Mattie Delaney
I CAN’T BE SATISFIED, Early American Women Blues Singers - Town & Country, Vol. 2, Town
- CD, Shanachie Records, 1997. Dodd CD 114 Produced by Richard Nevins and Don Kent.
Artists include:
Victoria Spivey
Clara Smith
Martha Copeland
Lucille Bogan
Sara Martin
Sippie Wallace
Edith Johnson
Ma Rainey
Bertha “Chippie” Hill
Katherine Baker
Margaret Johnson
Hattie Burleson
Madlyn Davis
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Ivy Smith
Alberta Brown
GENERAL ANTHOLOGIES of PRE-WAR RURAL BLUES
There is so much duplication of artists on these releases that generally only the names of
artists not available in an individual album, or an album that is already listed, are specifically
named. Although the artist may be included on another album the selection may not be
duplicated, so it will be helpful to anyone using the materials if they make their own list of the
artists whose performances are of interest.
BEFORE THE BLUES “The Early American Black Music Scene” Vol. 1 Dodd CD 12
BEFORE THE BLUES Vol. 2 Dodd CD 13
BEFORE THE BLUES Vol. 3 Dodd CD 14
All three CDs released by Yazoo, 1996.
Blues artists not included in other compilations or reissues:
Andrew and Jim Baxter
Sam Collins
Rube Lacy
Little Hat Jones
Weaver & Beasley
Papa Harvey Hull
Teddy Darby
Charley Jordan
Lulu Jackson
South Street Trio
Blue Boys
Bobby Grant
Texas Alexander
Blue Boys
COUNTRY BLUES CLASSICS
Vol. 2 Dodd LP 119
COUNTRY BLUES CLASSICS
Vol. 3 Dodd LP 120 [jacket only]
COUNTRY BLUES CLASSICS Vol. 4 Dodd LP 122
All three LPs issued by Blues Classics, n.d. Artists not available on other albums:
Bobo Jenkins,
Frank Edwards
Blind Norris
Scrapper Blackwell
Pinetop Slim
Milton Sparks
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Johnny Shines
Lonnie Coleman
Wright Holmes
The Delta Boys
Walter Roland
Kid Stormy Weather
Casey Bill
Harmonica Frank
Black Boy Shine
Leroy Dallas
Peter Warfield
Dennis McMillon
John Henry Barbee
Sonny Boy Johnson
Carl Martin
Gabriel Brown
Lost John Hunter
James McCain
Pete McKinley
SIC EM DOGS ON ME - LP, Herwin Records, n.d. Dodd LP 123
Artists not available on other albums:
Rosie Mae Ford
De Ford Bailey
D. H. Bilbro
Louis Lasky
Long “Cleve” Reed
COUNTRY BLUES OBSCURITIES, Vol. 1- LP, Saydisc, n.d. Dodd LP 124
Artists included:
William and Versey Smith
“Big Boy” George Owens
Smith and Harper
Big Boy Cleveland
John D. Fox
Johnnie Head
“Bill” Wilber
Alfred Lewis
Walter Rhodes
Will Bennett
Whistlin’ Rufus
Archie Lewis
Shreveport Home Wreckers
CREAM OF THE CROP - LP, Saydisc, n.d. Dodd LP 125
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Artists not included on other albums:
Dennis Crumpton and Robert Summers
Walter “Buddy Boy” Hawkins
Richard “Rabbit” Brown
The Beale Street Sheiks
THE MALE BLUES SINGERS - LP, Collector’s Classics, n.d. Dodd LP 126
Artists not included on other albums:
Casey Bill
Mississippi Sheiks
Barefoot Bill
Otis Harris
SKOODLE UM SKOO, Early Blues Vol. 1 The Folk Tradition - LP, Saydisc, n.d.
Dodd LP 127
Artists not included on other albums:
Stovepipe No. 1
Banjo Joe (Gus Cannon)
Winston Holmes and Charlie Turner
Walter Jacobs and The Carter Brothers
Billy James and his Guitar
GUITAR WIZARDS, 1926-1935 - CD, Yazoo, 1991. Dodd CD 69
Artists include:
Blind Blake
Carl Martin
Tampa Red
Sam Butler
William Moore
Billy Bird
BLUES AT NEWPORT - CD, Vanguard Records, 1959-1964. Dodd CD 70
BLUES WITH A FEELING - Double CD, Vanguard Records. Dodd CD 71
These are compilations taken from the Newport Folk Festival recordings made by the Vanguard
mobile recording unit. Included among the artists are Son House, Skip James, Mississippi John
Hurt, Jesse Fuller, Robert Pete Williams, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Water,
and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
ROOTS N’ BLUES, The Retrospective, 1925-1950 - 4CD Boxed set with 60 pages, lavishly
illustrated booklet. Columbia Records, 1992. Compiled by Lawrence Cohn.
Dodd CD 72, 73, 74, 75
This monumental compilation includes 107 examples of white and black country music. The
blues material is too voluminous to list, but Cohn has chosen dozens of important artists and he
has endeavored to include selections that have not been previously reissued, or in some instances
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previously issued. The materials in the booklet include reproductions of contemporary
advertising materials and artists’ photographs. The production is a major resource for anyone
interested in American vernacular music.
See also video listings in catalog.
II B4b. Jug Bands
There has never been a mystery about jug bands - they are simply small country blues
bands that include a jug as a bass instrument. The only real mystery for most audiences is how
the jug is played. The players make a buzzing sound with their lips, and the jug - held close to
the mouth - resonates the soun.d. By tightening or loosening the lips the player can vary the pitch
of the notes and jug virtuosi can even manage reasonably melodic solos on the instrument. The
jug band is usually associated with Memphis, because of the popularity of the two excellent
Memphis groups, the Memphis Jug Band, led by Will Shade, and Cannon’s Jug Stompers, led by
Gus Cannon. When I was first researching blues roots in the 1950s I was particularly interested
in the jug bands, and on a trip to Memphis in 1956 I was sent to the shabby furnished room
where Shade was living by his old booking agent, and when I came back to record him the next
day there was Gus Cannon sitting in the room with him.
The jug bands always occupied an uncertain ground between musical legitimacy and
vaudeville humor. The bands certainly emphasized the comedy side of the jug when they
performed - but the recordings they made were often sensitive blues or complex country rags, in
which the jug was used as a rhythmic timbre in the ensemble. There was a third major group of
jug band musicians in Louisville, centered around violinist Clifford Hayes. Hayes and his groups
were very popular on the black vaudeville circuit, and they played a tightly rehearsed, loosely
swinging jazz style. To exploit their popularity the record company - Victor Records - added
well known jazz soloists to the band and one of their recordings with New Orleans clarinetist
Johnny Dodds was released as the B-side of one of the most sophisticated arrangements by Jelly
Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers.
CANNON’S JUG STOMPERS - Double LP, “The Complete Works, 1927-1930. including Gus
Cannon as ‘Banjo Joe’” Herwin Records, n.d. Dodd LP 128a, 128b
Includes extensive notes and transcriptions of the songs by Bengt Olsson.
CLIFFORD HAYES, Vol. 1 (1926-1931) - LP, “Dixieland Jug Blowers, Clifford Hayes’
Louisville Stompers, Jimmie Rodgers & the Louisville Jug Band” Wolf, n.d.
Dodd LP 129
CLIFFORD HAYES, Vol. 2 (1924-1931) - LP, “Sara Martin’s Jug Band, Kid Coley, John
Harris” Wolf, n.d. Dodd LP 130
THE MEMPHIS JUG BAND, 1927-1929 - LP, no title. Saydisc, n.d. Dodd LP 131
THE MEMPHIS JUG BAND - CD, no title. Yazoo, 1990. Dodd CD 76
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THE MEMPHIS JUG BAND - LP, “The Jug Bands, Vol. 1” Collector’s Classics, n.d.
Dodd LP 132
COLLECTIONS
THE GREAT JUG BANDS - CD, “Ruckus Juice & Chittlins, Vol. 1” Yazoo, 1998.
Dodd CD 77
Artists include:
Whistler’s Jug Band
Birmingham Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band
Ben Ferguson
John Harris
King David’s Jug Band
Cincinnati Jug Band
Cannon’s Jug Stompers
Dixieland Jug Blowers
Noah Lewis’s Jug Band
Jed Davenport & His Beale Street Jug Band
Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band
Kaiser Clifton
The Walter Family
Earl McDonald’s Original Louisville Jug Band
THE GREAT JUG BANDS - CD, “Ruckus Juice and Chittlins, Vol. 2” Yazoo, 1998.
Dodd CD 78
Artists include:
Cannon’s Jug Stompers
Birmingham Jug Band
Noah Lewis’s Jug Band
Memphis Jug Band
Kentucky Jug Band
King David’s Jug Band
Minnie Wallace
Dixieland Jug Blowers
Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band
Ezra Buzzington’s Rustic Revelers
Cincinnati Jug Band
Earl McDonald’s Original Louisville Jug Band
Mississippi Sarah & Daddy Stovepipe
Whistler’s Jug Band
Phillips Louisville Jug Band
Five Harmaniacs
Jed Davenport & His Beale Street Jug Band
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Prairie Ramblers
Contemporary Jug Band Recordings
AMERICAN SKIFFLE BANDS - LP, Folkways Records, 1957. [not transferred]
Recorded and annotated by Samuel Charters. The sessions in Memphis in 1956 included Will
Shade of the Memphis Jug Band, and Gus Cannon of Cannon’s Jug Stompers.
II B4c. Piano Blues and Boogie Woogie
In the last years of the Nineteenth century and the early years of the Twentieth the piano
was as much a part of American life as sentimental valentines, suffragettes, baseball, racial
violence, the suppression of the native Americans, cigars, straw hats, and apple pie. Every
middle class family aspired to at least one piano and even poorer families often managed to find
a piano in playable condition to dress up the front room. Piano factories in every major city
produced instruments in all price levels, with or without player piano mechanisms so that even
the hopelessly untalented could make a tune by pumping the pedals. In the long decades before
the arrival of phonograph records, movies, radio, and television, evenings at home were quiet very quiet - unless somebody in the family could make music.
With pianos everywhere it isn’t surprising that the instrument was part of the blues, just as
it was the dominant instrument in ragtime, and an essential part of the development of jazz. The
first appearance of the blues for a home audience was as printed piano music - first “Dallas
Blues” by Hart Wand in the spring of 1912, then the first success of the blues, W. C. Handy’s
“Memphis Blues, ” published in the fall of the same year. Two years later, in 1914, Handy’s “St.
Louis Blues” made the blues part of the repertoire of the most adventurous parlor pianists. To
make sure it would be a hit Handy added a tango for the middle section of the piece, and in 1914
everybody knew what a tango was, even if they weren’t sure about a blues.
Out in the country and in the city brothels and saloons there were as many pianos, but they
usually weren’t in good repair or in tune. Once, playing in a dance hall in New Orleans I sat
down at the pretty, white painted piano and found that none of the keys played below middle C.
The pianists who drifted in to entertain often weren’t in much better shape than the instruments.
As the drummer Albert Jiles told me in New Orleans, looking back at pianists he had heard
playing the blues “Salty Dog” in the 1920s,
“I never do hear SALTY DOG played the way they used to play it when I was
coming up. Of course, some of those men was what you call specialists. SALTY
DOG was the only tune they could play.”
When we think of the dominance of the guitar in the blues today, we sometimes forget that
it is the electric guitar that is so dominant. Guitars at the turn of the century were small, soft
voiced instruments, strung with gut, and played with either a straight plectrum or the fingers.
The sound was perfect for a living room or a front porch, but too small for a dance hall. The
banjo, especially the four-string band instrument, had many musical limitations, but it was loud,
and the banjo pushed the guitar out of the dance orchestra until the guitar was electrified in the
late 1930s.
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The blues musicians liked the guitar - it had all the advantages of a true folk instrument. It
was relatively cheap, easily portable, simple to maintain, and it could be used to play music of all
types - which was essential in those years before the record companies turned songsters into
blues singers. The blues on the piano became an intricate, widely diverse musical style, and
often the pianists worked with a guitarist for the tonal and musical possibilities of the other
instrument. The difficulty was always to balance the sound level of the two instruments, but the
greatest piano/guitar duet teams managed to get it just right. One of the most popular blues
artists of the 1930s was Leroy Carr, and an essential ingredient in his blues was the flowing,
astringent sound of the other half of the duo, guitarist Scrapper Blackwell. The successful
“Bluebird Blues” style of the late 1930s - named for the Bluebird label that released the singles was built on the solid foundation of the pianists - musicians like Josh Altheimer and Big Maceo
Merriweather who provided the steady background for an entire generation of blues singers.
This selection of piano blues centers on the blues artists who accompanied themselves on
the piano - and there is a wide range of styles. Since most of the music was recorded in studios
the pianos were playable and in tune, but, as you can hear in the recordings of Barrelhouse Buck,
made on a parlor piano in East St. Louis, sometimes there is a suggestion of the uncertain
realities of the blues pianists’s world.
INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS
LEROY CARR - LP, “Blues Before Sunrise” Columbia Records, 1962.
Dodd LP 133
CHAMPION JACK DUPREE, 1940-1941 - LP, “Cabbage Greens” Columbia Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 134
CHAMPION JACK DUPREE - LP, “The Women Blues of Champion Jack Dupree”
Records, 1968. Dodd LP 135
Folkways
CHAMPION JACK DUPREE - LP, “The Incredible Champion Jack Dupree” Sonet Records,
1969. Dodd LP 136
CHAMPION JACK DUPREE - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 6” Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 208
CHAMPION JACK DUPREE – LP, “Champion Jack Dupree” Legacy of the Blues, Vol. 3,
Sonet, 1971. Dodd LP 746
CURTIS JONES - CD, “Trouble Blues” Prestige/Bluesville 1960, CD released 1993.
Dodd CD 79
MEMPHIS SLIM
Memphis Slim was a young pianist who began his career as part of the Bluebird Blues
boom of the late 1930s, then was one of the few artists of that generation who made a successful
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transition to the new R & B idiom as “Memphis Slim and His House Rockers.” When R & B
faded he shifted again to the new folk blues scene of the 1960s, and blossomed as a tireless
performer of a personal, engaging style of boogie and blues. He had the ability - like Lightning
Hopkins - to sit down in a recording studio and compose “new” blues as he went along, and he
also stayed free of exclusive agreements to any single company, so it seemed sometimes in the
1970s that he was simultaneously recording for every record label in the known world. He had
always been openly critical of racism in the United States, and he was one of the three blues men
Alan Lomax interviewed for his strong “Blues in the Mississippi Night” documentation. As Slim
became more popular in Europe he spent more and more time away from the United States, and
he finally became a fixture in the Paris night club scene; a tall, urbane, impeccably dressed
performer who never lost the easy assurance of his singing, or the blues thunder in his fingers.
MEMPHIS SLIM - LP, “The Real Folk Blues” Chess Records, nd, reissue of singles.
Dodd LP 137
MEMPHIS SLIM - CD, “All Kinds of Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD 1990.
Dodd CD 80
MEMPHIS SLIM - CD, “Steady Rolling Blues” Prestige Bluesville, 1961, CD 1990.
Dodd CD 81
MEMPHIS SLIM - LP, “Traveling With The Blues” Storyville Records, 1961.
Dodd LP 138
MEMPHIS SLIM - LP, “Favorite Blues Singers” Folkways Records, 1973.
Dodd LP 139
MEMPHIS SLIM - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 9” Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 82
MEMPHIS SLIM – LP, “Memphis Slim” Legacy of the Blues, Vol. 7, Sonet, 1973.
Dodd LP 750
MEMPHIS SLIM - Double CD “Blues and Boogie” and “Reunions” Universal Music,
France, 2004. 2000-0105/CD 1883a-b
This is a compilation album and on many of the selections Slim performs in diet with another
performer.
Supporting artists:
Willie Dixon
Roosevelt Sykes
Mickey Baker,
Buddy Guy
Sonny Criss
Charlie McCoy
Canned Heat
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Peter Green
Freddie King
LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY - LP, “Master of the Blues, Vol. 9” Collector’s Classics,
n.d. Dodd LP 140
This is a collection of Montgomery’s early recordings, including his classic “Vicksburg Blues,”
which he recorded several times later in his career.
LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY - CD, “Tasty Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960.
Dodd CD 209
LITTLE BROTHER MONTGOMERY - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 7” Storyville, 1991.
Dodd CD 83
See also Gospel section in catalog [Dodd LP 689].
OTIS SPANN - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 10” Storyville Records, 1991. Dodd CD 210
Otis Spann, the finest Chicago pianist of the post-war years, was better known for his work with
the great Muddy Waters band, but he also recorded as a band musician for a number of other
artists, and had begun to tour as a soloist before his early death from a heart attack.
SPECKLED RED - LP, “The Dirty Dozen” Storyville Records, n.d. Dodd LP 141
SPECKLED RED - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 11” Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 211
SUNNYLAND SLIM - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 8” Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 212
SUNNYLAND SLIM, with BIG TIME SARAH - CD, “Long Tall Daddy”
Records, 2004. 2000-0105/CD 1884
Arcola
ROOSEVELT SYKES - LP, “Roosevelt Sykes, 1929-1941” RST Records, 1988.
Dodd 142
MERCY DEE WALTON - CD, “Pity And A Shame” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD 1992.
Dodd CD 84
COLLECTIONS: CONTEMPORARY RECORDINGS
PRIMITIVE PIANO - LP, “Primitive Piano” Tone Records, n.d. Dodd LP 143
Artists include:
Speckled Red
Billie Pierce
James Robinson
Doug Suggs
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REISSUES
BLUES PIANO Vol. 1 - LP, Saydisc, n.d. Dodd LP 144
Artists include:
Cripple Clarence Lofton
Blind Roosevelt Graves
Shorty Bob Parker
Little Brother Montgomery
Springback James
Mississippi Jook Band
Lee Brown
Pinetop and Lindberg
BARREL HOUSE, BLUES and BOOGIE WOOGIE - LP, Storyville, n.d. Dodd LP 145
Artists include:
Champion Jack Dupree
Dink Johnson
Speckled Red
Jimmy Yancey
Memphis Slim
Meade Lux Lewis
MAMA DON’T ALLOW NO EASY RIDERS HERE, “Strutting the Dozens, Classic Piano Rags,
Blues & Stomps, 1928-1935” - CD, Yazoo, 1998. Dodd CD 213
Artists include:
Turner Parrish
Cow Cow Davenport
Herve Duerson
Will Ezell
Blind Leroy Garnett
Arnold Wiley
Speckled Red
Raymond Barrow
Oliver Brown
The emphasis on this collection is barrelhouse piano - uptempo blues and energetic folk ragtime.
BOOGIE WOOGIE
Boogie Woogie piano is a particular style of blues piano, but during the enormous
popularity of boogie woogie during World War 2 the boogie tail certainly wagged the larger dog
of blues piano. Boogie Woogie was endlessly discussed and analyzed during the great years, but
there was never agreement on more than a vague outline of its origins. It was sometimes called
“fast Texas,” and most pianists in Texas knew the boogie style, but it was just as popular
throughout the South. The difference between blues piano and boogie woogie is the pattern of
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the left hand, which in boogie creates a steady, unvarying rhythmic pattern. There are three or
four basic variants of the left-hand pattern, usually built around the tempo. Slower boogie tends
to have an open, syncopated left-hand figure, while faster boogie builds on a bunched, drumming
left-hand pattern.
Part of the fascination of boogie, and of all blues piano, is the tireless effort on the part of
the pianists to resolve the conundrum of playing non-diatonic music on a determinedly diatonic
instrument. The piano insists on the major-minor dichotomies that can be avoided on the guitar.
To deal with the problem the pianists developed a number of strategies, and one of the simplest is
the boogie pattern that alternates major and minor thirds in the tonic chord in a relentless series
of 8th notes. Boogie is an endlessly fascinating study, and it has social implications as well as
musical. When the Museum of Modern Art in New York City recreated the working studio of
avant-garde artist Piet Mondrian in New York in the 1940s they included his old phonograph and
his record collection. Tapes of his records played continuously, and the first floor of the museum
swung with the sound of boogie woogie, the music he played to inspire his “New York” series of
paintings.
In the collection are most of the masterpieces of boogie - Meade Lux Lewis’s
incomparable “Honky Tonk Train Blues,” which is one of the most brilliant examples of modern
pianism in any idiom - Wesley Wallace’s startlingly original train blues, “Number 29,” with its
left hand pattern in a disconcerting 6/4 rhythm - the haunting performance of Carr’s “How Long
Blues” by Jimmy Yancey on parlor harmonium, with his wife softly singing the lyrics - and the
complete recordings of “Pinetop” Smith, whose “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie” became one of the
ubiquitous sounds of a decade. It is particularly poignant that Smith’s solo should have had such
influence, since he had only time to make four recordings before he was killed as a bystander in a
barroom fight. One of them, “I’m Sober Now,” illustrates the special qualities that boogie
brought to social life in American cities. He begins playing boogie, then switches to standard
dance music, which causes loud protests from his audience. He announces that “I don’t mind
playing any kind of job that gets me drunk, but Pinetop is sober now,” and refuses to go back to
the rolling boogie beat that the crowd is demanding until somebody brings him a drink.
JIMMY YANCEY
One of the great discoveries of the first wave of interest in jazz as an historical
phenomenon in the 1930s was a shy, gentle amateur pianist who worked as a groundskeeper in
the baseball stadium of the Chicago White Sox. Jimmy Yancey played boogie woogie all his
life, but before a group of white enthusiasts heard his playing he usually would walk quietly into
a South Side Chicago bar, sit at the piano that was part of the furniture of nearly every American
bar and restaurant at this period, play two or three of his specialties, and leave as quietly as he
came. His introspective, luminous style was at the opposite spectrum from the thunderous,
crowd pleasing boogie of the Albert Ammons/ Pete Johnson duo playing, and he could create a
moment of almost still tranquility with his own approach to Carr’s “How Long Blues.” His
performance of the piece in December, 1943, playing a small harmonium and his wife singing
the words, is still one of the most affecting moments in the blues. As English critic Derrick
Stewart-Baxter wrote of the recording in his note to the Storyville reissue of the session in the
collection,
“This volume open with a truly magnificent track, the vocal version of “How Long
235
Blues”, with Jimmy Yancey on harmonium (which produces a strangely eerie
atmosphere) and his wife Estella Mama Yancey singing as if her heart was about to
break. What can one write about this extraordinary woman who fits into no
recognizable category? . . . She is as earthy as the southern soil itself, and her blues
are never far from sorrow. When she sings, the blues are all around her - sitting on
her shoulders it seems. The voice is as acid as vinegar, and when she sings it is as
though her heart is breaking . . .”
JIMMY YANCEY - 10” LP, “A Lost Recording Date” London Records, nd, licensed from
Riverside Records. Dodd LP 146
These Yancey titles were recorded in the spring of 1939.
JIMMY YANCEY - LP, “The Immortal” Oldie Blues, n.d. Dodd LP 147
These Yancey titles were recorded in 1940 and 1943, and include singing by Mama Yancey, with
a performance of “How Long Blues” on which Jimmy plays the accompaniment on electric
organ.
JIMMY YANCEY, ALONZO YANCEY and CRIPPLE CLARENCE LOFTON - LP, “The
Yancey-Lofton Sessions, Vol. 1” Storyville Records, n.d. Dodd LP 148
JIMMY YANCEY, ALONZO YANCEY and CRIPPLE CLARENCE LOFTON - LP, “The
Yancey-Lofton Sessions, Vol. 2” Storyville Records, n.d. Dodd LP 149
These albums collect all the recordings done for Session label in Chicago in 1943. Each of the
pianists performs as a soloist. Mama Yancey again sings with her husband, and this version of
“How Long Blues,” with Jimmy playing a parlor harmonium, is a blues masterpiece.
JIMMY YANCEY & MAMA YANCEY - LP, “Chicago Piano” Atlantic Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 150
The recordings were done in 1951.
COLLECTIONS
BOOGIE WOOGIE RARITIES, 1927-1932 - LP, Milestone Records, n.d. Dodd LP 151
Artists include:
Meade Lux Lewis
Wesley Wallace
Blind Leroy Garnett
Cripple Clarence Lofton
Will Ezell
Charlie Spand
Jabo Williams
Cow Cow Davenport
Henry Brown
Charles Avery
236
JUKE JOINT JUMP, A BOOGIE WOOGIE CELEBRATION - CD, Columbia Records, 1996.
Dodd CD 85
Artists include:
Memphis Slim
Freddie Slack with the Will Bradley Trio
Curley Weaver with Clarence Moore
Charlie Spand
The Boogie Woogie Boys: Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons
Sir Charles Thompson
Red Saunders & His Orchestra
Pete Johnson with Big Joe Turner
Champion Jack Dupree
Harry James and the Boogie Woogie Trio
Albert Ammons
Calvin Frazier
Adrian Rollini Trio
Willie “Long Time” Smith
Pete Johnson
Art Tatum
SHAKE YOUR WICKED KNEES, “Rent Parties and Good Times, Classic Piano Rags, Blues &
Stomps, 1928-1943” - CD, Yazoo, 1998. Dodd CD 86
Although the description of the collection doesn’t make it clear, this is a compilation of boogie
woogie classics, including the recording of “Pine Top’s Boogie Woogie” that sparked the boogie
woogie craze of the late 1930s. His “I’m Sober Now” is here, as well as his other two
recordings. Also in the selection is the brilliant “Honky Tonk Train Blues” by Meade Lux Lewis
and Romeo Nelson’s irrepressible “Head Rag Hop.”
Artists include:
Romeo Nelson
Pine Top Smith
Cow Cow Davenport
Joe Dean
Meade Lux Lewis
Charles Avery
Hokum Boys & Jane Lucas
Lil Johnson
Montana Taylor
Henry Brown
237
Mozelle Alderson
II B4d. The Continuing Rural Blues Tradition, the PostWar Recordings
In the late 1950s, with the publication of The Country Blues, many young blues enthusiasts
became aware that there was still a vital blues tradition both in the southern countryside and in
the northern cities like Chicago and Detroit. Using their own amateur tape recorders, and often
paying the musicians out of their own pockets they began to document the rich lode of music that
they foun.d. Some of the researchers concentrated on locating older musicians who had been
major figures in the 1920s and 1930s. Within a few years audiences in coffee houses or on
college campuses could hear performances by - among many others - Mississippi John Hurt, Son
House, Skip James, Lonnie Johnson, Furry Lewis, Gus Cannon, Bukka White, and Sleepy John
Estes. They could also hear many new blues discoveries, whose music added new depths to what
was already known about the blues traditions. I have listed the later recordings by the older
artists in the section in the catalog on pre-war rural blues, IIB4a, and the recordings by the new
artists are listed here.
JOHN HENRY BARBEE - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 3” Storyville, 1991.
Dodd CD 87
ZUZU BOLLIN - CD, “Texas Bluesman” Antone’s, 1991. Dodd CD 88
JUKE BOY BONNER - LP, “I’m Going Back to the Country Where They Don’t Burn the
Buildings Down” Arhoolie, 1968. Dodd LP 152
JUKE BOY BONNER - LP, “The Struggle” Arhoolie, 1969. Dodd LP 153
JUKE BOY BONNER – LP, “Juke Boy Bonner” Legacy of the Blues, Vol. 5, Sonet, 1972.
Dodd LP 748
R. L. BURNSIDE - CD, “Come On In” Fat Possum, 1998. Dodd CD 89
CAT-IRON - LP, “Cat-Iron Sings Blues and Hymns” Folkways Records, 1958.
Recorded and annotated by Frederic Ramsey Jr. Dodd LP 154
CEPHAS & WIGGINS - CD, “Cool Down” Alligator, 1995. Dodd CD 90
DADDY HOTCAKES - LP, “The Blues in St. Louis, Vol. 1 Daddy Hotcakes”
Records, 1984. Dodd LP 155
Recorded and annotated by Samuel Charters
Folkways
238
CEDELL DAVIS - CD, “Feel Like Doin’ Something Wrong” Fat Possum, n.d.
Dodd CD 91
K. C. DOUGLAS - CD, “K. C.’s Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD, 1990.
Dodd CD 92
K. C. DOUGLAS - CD, “Big Road Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD, 1994.
Dodd CD 93
SNOOKS EAGLIN
Eaglin, when he was discovered by Dr. Harry Oster in the late 1950s, happened at that
moment to be playing on the streets of New Orleans. Eaglin is blind, so on the first recordings
there was an emphasis on the “blind street singer” aspect of Eaglin’s music, but Snooks actually
was an ambitious R & B performer, and his career has veered awkwardly between these two
poles. He is a brilliant guitarist, and the first records, released on Folkways, featured stunning
acoustic guitar work which attracted the new guitarists who were trying to learn what they could
do with the new acoustic guitar styles. He then recorded a number of R & B singles for a
commercial label, but they weren’t successful with R & B buyers so he drifted back to the folk
audience. Complicating his situation has been the tight control of his career by his family, which
has sometimes led to difficulties over potential commercial opportunities. He is still a brilliant
guitarist and still an entertaining performer, whatever idiom he is playing in, and perhaps there
will finally be some way to resolve the contradictions of his career.
SNOOKS EAGLIN - CD, “That’s All Right” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD, 1994.
Dodd CD 94
SNOOKS EAGLIN - CD, “Country Boy in New Orleans” Arhoolie, 1991, original recordings by
Dr. Harry Oster, 1958. Dodd CD 95
SNOOKS EAGLIN - CD, “New Orleans Street Singer” Storyville, 1994.
Dodd CD 96
SNOOKS EAGLIN – LP, “Snooks Eaglin” Legacy of the Blues – Vol. 2, Sonet, 1971.
Dodd LP 745
DAVID “HONEYBOY” EDWARDS - LP, “Mississippi Delta Bluesman” Folkways Records,
1979. Dodd LP 156
PETE FRANKLIN - CD, “Guitar Pete’s Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD, 1993.
Dodd CD 97
JESSE FULLER
239
Jesse was a strong, withdrawn figure who had found a way to perform as a one-man band
when he couldn’t find other musicians to play with in Oakland, California, where he moved
during the war years. He termed himself “The Lone Cat,” and he maintained his distance from
both the folk and the blues worlds. He had constructed a kind of string bass that he played with
his foot, his “fodela,” and the clanking sound that can be heard on the recordings is the noise the
pedals of his instrument made as he played.
JESSE FULLER - CD, “Frisco Bound” Arhoolie, 1991. Dodd CD 98
HEZEKIAH and the HOUSE ROCKERS - LP, “Hezekiah” High Water Records, 1990.
Dodd LP 157
Produced and annotated by Dr. David Evans
LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS
Lightning had been through two or three careers as a singles blues artist in the first postwar blues scene when he got caught in the shift in popularity to R&B and Soul music, and
dropped out of sight in the Houston ghetto. I found him there in the winter of 1959, rented him a
guitar, and recorded an album with him in the decrepit room he was renting in the back of a
house on Dowling Street. To keep some kind of balance between the guitar and the voice I did
the album with the microphone held in my hand, moving it down to the guitar for a solo and up
toward his lips for the vocals. The album was an immediate success, and it helped open the way
for the flood of blues recordings that followed. Lightning made his own contribution to the flood
- producing albums on a steady basis for a number of record companies. Like Memphis Slim,
Lightning could walk into the studio, sit down at the microphone, and put together enough “new”
verses and guitar solos for an album in afternoon’s work. His playing was wildly irregular, so it
was difficult for other musicians to follow him, but at his best he was one of the most moving
and intensely creative musicians the blues has ever seen. He could silence a noisy audience with
a handful of notes in an introduction to a slow blues, or he could get the same audience up on
their feet dancing with half a chorus of an up tempo shuffle.
He is accompanied by drums and bass on some of the Prestige releases, but some of the
accompaniments were added in the studio after the original recordings. When I was first working
at Prestige one of my responsibilities was to oversee the Lightning overdubs. The original tapes
arrived from Houston, where he was recorded by his manager, Mack McCormick, and I played
them back in the studio - usually to bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herb Lovelle. Lovelle
had an easier time, since he could follow Lightning’s swoops of melody with a pattering drum
sound that followed the beat. Leonard had to try to guess what chord might come next, and when
Lightning might decide to play it, but he had developed a kind of toneless thud that worked most
of the time. He had spent many years as a young musician accompanying blues singers, and
when I sympathized with him after one take for the problems he was having playing with
Lightning he shrugged and said, “I’ve been playing with Lightning Hopkins all my life.”
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - CD, “The Gold Star Sessions, Vol. 1”Arhoolie, 1990.
Dodd CD 99
240
Lightning’s first recordings, for Gold Star label in Houston in the late 1940s.
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Early Recordings, Vol. 2” Arhoolie, 1971.
Dodd LP 158
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - CD, “Jake Head Boogie” Ace, 1999.
This is a reissue of Hopkins’ titles on Modern label from the early 1950s.
Dodd CD 100
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Houston’s King of the Blues, Historic Recordings 1952-1953”
Blues Classics, 1984. Dodd LP 159
LIGHTNING HOPKINS with SONNY TERRY - CD, “Last Night Blues” Prestige/Bluesville,
1961, CD, 1992. Dodd CD 101
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Lightnin’” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961. Dodd LP 160
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Blues in My Bottle” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961.
Dodd LP 161
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Goin’ Away” Prestige/Bluesville, 1963, CD 1990.
Dodd LP 162 [CD not transferred]
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Hootin’ The Blues” Prestige Records, 1963.
Dodd LP 163
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - LP, “Soul Blues” Prestige Records, 1964.
Dodd LP 164 [jacket only]
LIGHTNING HOPKINS – LP, “Lightnin’ Hopkins” Legacy of the Blues, Vol. 12, Sonet, 1974.
Dodd LP 753
THE HOPKINS BROTHERS, Lightning, Joel & Henry - CD, “The Hopkins Brothers”
Arhoolie Records, 1964, CD, 1991. Dodd CD 102
[A Lightning Hopkins Set]
LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS - 7 CDs in box, with extensive, illustrated booklet, “The Complete
Prestige/Bluesville Recordings” Prestige Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 103a, 103b, 103c, 104a, 104b, 104c, 104d
The set was compiled and annotated by Samuel Charters.
LONG JOHN HUNTER - CD, “Border Town Legend” Alligator Records, 1996.
Dodd CD 105
JUNIOR KIMBROUGH - CD, “God Knows I Tried” Fat Possum Records, 1998.
241
Dodd CD 106
JOHNIE LEWIS - LP, “Alabama Slide Guitar” Arhoolie, 1971. Dodd LP 165
MANCE LIPSCOMB - CD, “Texas Songster” Arhoolie Records, 1989.
Dodd CD 107
MISSISSIPPI FRED McDOWELL - CD, “Steakbone Slide Guitar” Tradition Records, 1996.
Dodd CD 108
FRANKIE LEE SIMS - LP, “Lucy Mae Blues” Specialty Records, 1970.
Dodd LP 166
BABY TATE - CD, “See What You Done Done” Prestige/Bluesville, 1961, CD, 1994.
Recorded and annotated by Samuel Charters. Dodd CD 109
TABBY THOMAS - LP, “25 Years with the Blues” Blues Unlimited Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 168
TABBY THOMAS - LP, “Blues Train” Maison de Soul, 1986. Dodd LP 167
ROBERT PETE WILLIAMS - CD, “Free Again” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960, CD, 1992.
Dodd CD 110
Dr. Harry Oster found Robert Pete Williams in the 1950s in the Angola Prison Farm in
Louisiana, where he was serving a long term for murder. He had been attacked by a drunken
man wielding a knife in the small Louisiana town of Scotland, and he had shot the man to death
in self defense. Oster managed to get Williams paroled, but he was first bound over to a local
farmer as a kind of indentured field hand, and it wasn’t the mid-1960s that Williams was free to
travel and perform as he chose. He appeared at most blues festivals and played for audiences
everywhere in the world, living quietly in a small house in southern Louisiana when he wasn’t
traveling. Williams had several themes that he returned to again and again, and he had four or
five ways of playing an accompaniment to his singing, but when he was singing he let his
inspiration direct his music, and all of his recordings are colored with a strong mood of creative
inspiration.
ROBERT PETE WILLIAMS - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 1” Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 111
THE MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION
Guitarist and blues lover Timothy Duffy, with audio pioneer Mark Levinson, founded the
Music Maker Relief Foundation as a “nonprofit organization that provides financial assistance
and recording services in need.” At the same time through the musicians Duffy uncovered who
were still active and performing in the Piedmont region he made it clear that the rural, acoustic
blues tradition continues to have artists waiting to be discovered. The recordings themselves and
the album notes and photographs reflect the unique quality of the music itself.
242
ETTA BAKER - CD, “Railroad Bill” Music Maker Records, 1999.
2000-0105/CD 1885
ESSIE MAE BROOKS - CD, “Rain in Your Life” Music Maker Records, 2000.
2000-0105/CD 1886
Ms. Brooks, who is accompanied by Cool John Ferguson on guitar and piano, is a gospel artist.
PRESTON FULP - CD, “Sawmill Worker” Music Maker Records, 2001.
2000-0105/CD 1887
GUITAR GABRIEL - CD “Deep in the South” Music Maker Records, 1991.
2000-0105/CD 1888
GEORGE HIGGS - CD “Tarboro Blues” Music Maker Records, 2001.
2000-0105/CD 1889
ALGIA MAE HINTON - CD “Honey Babe”
2000-0105/CD 1890
COOTIE STARK - CD “Sugar Man”
2000-0105/CD 1891
Music Maker Records, 1999.
Music Maker Records, 1999.
A MUSIC MAKER COMPILATION
“I’ve Played So Much Guitar It’d Make Your Ass Hurt” Cello Recordings, 1999.
2000-0105/CD 1946
Timothy Duffy produced this CD for the Winston Blues Revival, which included artists
represented on the label, as well as a performance of Mississippi John Hurt’s classic “My Creole
Belle” by legendary artist Taj Mahal, who has been a Creative Consultant to the Music Maker
activities. The handsome small booklet notes that “All door proceeds benefit Music Maker
Relief Foundation.”
Artists included:
Cootie Stark
Neal Pattman
Beverly “Guitar” Watkins
Taj Mahal
Mudcat
Guitar Gabriel
Willie Mae Buckner
BIG AL CALHOUN with HENRY TOWNSEND - CD, “Harmonica Blues” Arcola
Records, 2001. 2000-0105/CD 1892
LIGHTNING HOPKINS - CD, “Jake Head Boogie” Ace Records, 1999.
243
2000-0105/CD 1893
A compilation of Hopkins’ recordings on the Modern label from the late 1940s’ and early 1950s.
LONNIE JOHNSON, The Unsung Blues Legend - CD, “The Living Room Session”
Blues Magnet, 2000, recording 1965. 2000-0105/CD 1894
FURRY LEWIS, BUKKA WHITE & FRIENDS - CD “Party! at home” Arcola
Records, 1968. 2000-0105/CD 1895
FRED MCDOWELL - CD “You Gotta Move”
2000-0105/CD 1896
Arhoolie Records, 1964 and1965.
BABE STOVALL “THE OLD ACE” - CD, “Mississippi Blues and Religious Songs”
Arcola Records, 2003. 2000-0105/CD 1897
HENRY TOWNSEND - CD, “The Real St. Louis Blues” Arcola Records, 2001.
2000-0105/CD 1898
BIG JOE WILLIAMS - CD, “Watergate Blues” Christy Records, 1992.
2000-0105.CD 1899
Before blues enthusiast Axel Kustner tracked him down and made these recordings in the mid1970s, Big Joe, over his long career, had spent many hours in front of recording microphones.
Perhaps it was the circumstances - most of the recording was done outdoors in front of Big Joe’s
trailer in Crawford, Mississippi - or simply Kustner’s enthusiasm, despite the heat and the casual
unpredictability of the people who drifted in and out of the scenery. Kustner came back day after
day, asking Joe for songs no one else had heard him sing, and he recorded the music with a feel
for the loose mood of the life around the trailer. A wonderful document of the music and the
spontaneous personality of a unique blues artist.
COLLECTIONS
BAWDY BLUES - CD, Prestige Bluesville, 1991, recorded between 1956 and 1961.
2000-0105/CD 1900
Artists included:
Memphis Slim
Tampa Red
Victoria Spivey
Lonnie Johnson
Pink Anderson
Memphis Willie B.
Blind Willie McTell
THE BLUES, Vol. 6 - Double LP, Intercord (Germany) 1981. Dodd LP 172a, 172b
244
A general overview of contemporary recordings covering both urban and rural styles and
including artists as diverse as Albert Collins, Son Seals, J. D. Short, Bukka White, and Left Hand
Frank. The bulk of the titles were licensed from Sonet Records.
BLUES WITH A FEELING - NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL CLASSICS - Double CD, Vanguard
Records, 1993. Dodd CD 71
A collection of material recorded on the stages and at the workshops of the Newport Folk
Festivals.
Artists included:
Son House
Skip James
Bukka White
Robert Pete Williams
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Reverend Pearly Brown & Mrs. Christine Brown
Mississippi Fred McDowell, Annie Mae McDowell & Rev. Robert Wilkins
Lightnin’ Hopkins
Mance Lipscomb
Elizabeth Cotten
Mississipi John Hurt
Jesse “Lone Cat” Fuller
John Lee Hooker
Muddy Waters
Eddie Boyd & Willie Dixon
Lafayette Leake & Willie Dixon
Dave Van Ronk
John Hammond
Eric Von Schmidt
“Spider” John Koerner
The Chambers Brothers
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
EXPRESSIN’ THE BLUES - CD, Cello Records, 1999. Dodd CD 112
This collection of field recordings of older, little known blues performers still active is a tribute
to the vitality of the blues tradition. The material has been collected and assembled by Timothy
Duffy, founder of the Music Maker Relief Foundation, which has managed to raise over
$350,000 for distribution to elderly musicians who need things as elemental as dentures and
medical care. The project would be noteworthy if only for its idealism and enthusiasm, but this
collection of rural blues is also one of the finest selections of these older blues styles that has
been released in many years. The album is beautifully packaged, with intriguing visual and
literary presentations by Wesley Wilkes and Albion W. Tourgee.
Among the artists included:
Guitar Gabriel
Big Boy Henry
Etta Baker
245
Neal Patman
Essie Mae Brooks
Cootie Stark
Precious Bryant
Algia Mae Hinton
Rufus McKenzie
Bishop Dready Manning
Albert Smith
MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUES Vol. 1 - LP, Arhoolie Records, n.d. Dodd LP 169
MISSISSIPPI DELTA BLUES Vol. 2 - LP, Arhoolie Records, n.d. Dodd LP 170
Both albums recorded and annotated by George Mitchell, with additional notes by
David Evans.
Among the artists included:
Napoleon Strickland and Como Drum Band
Do Boy Diamond
Teddy Williams,
Furry Lewis
Houston Stackhouse & the Blues Rhythm Boys
R. L. Burnside
Rosa Lee Hill
Joe Calicott
STEEPED IN THE BLUES TRADITION - CD, Tradition Records, 1996 (Some pre-war
recordings are included, but the majority of the material is from the post-war period.
2000-0105/CD 1901
Artists included:
Big Joe Williams
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Lightnin’ Hopkins
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Leadbelly
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Joe Williams with Lightnin’, Sonny. and Brownie
Sonny Terry and Alec Seward
THE TAKOMA BLUES SERIES, RARE BLUES - LP, Sonet Records, n.d. Dodd LP 173
From sessions produced and annotated by Norman Dayron.
Artists include:
Dr. Isaiah Ross
Maxwell Street Jimmy
Big Joe Williams
Son House
246
Rev. Robert Wilkins
Little Brother Montgomery
Sunnyland Slim
TEXAS BLUES, Bill Quinn’s Gold Star Recordings - CD, Arhoolie Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 113
Artists include:
Lil’ Son Jackson
Lee Hunter
L. C. Williams
Thunder Smith
Leroy Ervin
Buddy Chiles
Andy Thomas
Perry Cain
Bill Quinn was the owner and operator of a small record company in Houston, Gold Star
Records, and he tried to make a success of his label in the early post-war period. He recorded a
number of promising blues artists, but faced with the usual problems of distribution and
promotion he gave up after a few years. An affable, easy man to talk with, Quinn was known to
the blues world for the one Gold Star artist who did sell records for him, Lightning Hopkins.
There was no way he could hold Lightning to an exclusive contract, however, and he finally sold
the masters when the company ceased operations.
VIRGINIA TRADITIONS, Southwest Virginia Blues - LP, Blue Ride Institute, 1988.
Dodd LP 171
Artists include:
Steve Tarter and Harry Gay
Fred Galliher
James Henry Diggs
Earl Gilmore
Kind Edward Smith
The Carter Family
Josh Thomas
Carl Martin
Howard Twine
Malcolm Johnson
Dock Boggs
Dave Dickerson
“Cowboy” Thurman Burks
Byrd Moore
Spence Moore
Bobby Buford and Keith Rogers
247
II B5. Early Urban Blues
II B5a. Classic Women’s Blues
The blues today is so dominated by male singers, and the accompaniments are so centered
around the guitar that it is often forgotten that in the first years of the blues as a commercial
product it was women singers who dominated record sales, and the accompaniments were played
by the leading jazz artists of the period. It is also not so well known that this is the only period 1920 to 1925 - when sales of blues records dominated the African American market. The blues
by male artists, in the years after 1925, never reached the same sales level, proportional to the
audience, and the Chicago blues, the most innovative of the post war blues styles, was restricted
to its local market until the records later began to sell to white audiences. In the 1920s it was the
emergence of jazz artists like Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, and Duke Ellington that
took over the market from the women blues artists, and with the first recordings by the Mills
Brothers in 1929 the African American audience joined the American main stream.
Usually the recording by Mamie Smith of “Crazy Blues” in 1920 is considered the first
blues recording, but there had been many recordings of instrumental blues before she made the
session under the supervision of the song’s composer, New York song writer Perry Bradford.
The first blues sheet music had been published eight years before, and “blues” had appeared
under many guises and in many forms, mostly associated with vaudeville acts. The difference
with Smith’s recording, was that it was the first by an African American performer. Smith was a
stage personality, but she sang in an uninhibited vocal style with some of the mannerisms of a
country tent show performer. The song wasn’t a blues - it was a popular song in the minstrel
show tradition - but, whatever it was, it was a success. It is difficult to know how many copies
were sold, but the figure was high enough - probably more than 200,000-3000,000 copies - to set
a whole industry in motion. It was suddenly clear that there was a market for what were then
called “race records,” and the market has been steadily exploited since that first moment.
Mamie Smith immediately went on tour on the black vaudeville circuit, appearing with her
back-up group called “The Jazz Hounds,” led by trumpeter Johnny Dunn, and sweeping on stage
in a series of elaborate gowns. Her success led to recordings by dozens of other blues artists, one
of whom, “Ma” Rainey, is still regarded as the “classic” woman’s blues artist, and a younger
protege of Rainey’s, Bessie Smith, who became the first major star of black popular music. She
was billed as “The Empress of the Blues,” but her extensive recorded output included only a
portion of what would be considered blues. She toured on the same theater circuit as Mamie
Smith, she wore the same elaborate gowns, she also had a jazz group as accompaniment, and she
sang the usual repertoire of minstrel show songs, popular dance songs, and novelty blues - but
everything she sang was suffused with an expressive roughness and a searing dramatic intensity.
Both Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith sang with deep, majestic power, and their music was shaped
by the earnest sincerity of the southern countryside. Whatever they sang, it sounded like a blues.
The reign of the women’s blues had two important effects on the rapidly changing styles of
jazz and on the development of the blues itself. To accompany the women the record companies
brought in jazz artists like Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, and Sidney Bechet, and jazz - which
up to that time had been ragtime-based - began to take on a blues tinge. In a fascinating series of
cross-influences, the accompanists, as they responded to the women’s singing, began to develop
the instrumental vocalization that became one of the characteristics of early jazz, and, learning
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from the jazz musicians, the women singers began to shift away from the slow, sometimes
ponderous tempo of their first recordings to a more rhythmic style that became the jazz vocal.
The other effect of the women’s blues - on the blues itself - was less positive. The first
successes prodded the entire “race” record industry into a stereotyping of the blues form. The
recording directors that went into the South a few years later were looking for “blues” - that is, a
song with the same twelve bar form and the same subject material as the successful recordings by
the women. When the recording directors auditioned the country singers they made a strenuous
effort to limit their repertoire to the blues. In the South in this period every musician was a
“songster.” That is, they played everything that their audience wanted to hear. The recording
industry turned them into “blues singers” - simply by not recording anything else they did. If the
companies relented enough to record some of their religious repertoire the records were usually
issued under a pseudonym.
The reign of the women singers was short - largely because the audience’s tastes changed,
and the songs the women sang changed along with them. By the late 1920s a series of successful
black musical reviews introduced new songs and dances to the Broadway stage, and the women
singers starred in them, singing cabaret material. In a short time more sophisticated artists like
Ethel Waters had taken over the audience. By the 1930s major new black singers like Billie
Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald could build their entire careers on popular song material. The period
of the classic women’s blues left a wide trail after it, but it was a surprisingly brief moment.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WOMEN’S BLUES
I CAN’T BE SATISFIED, Early American Women Blues Singers - Town & Country, Vol. 2, Town
- CD, Shanachie Records, 1997. Produced by Richard Nevins and Don Kent.
Dodd CD 114
Artists include:
Victoria Spivey
Clara Smith
Martha Copeland
Lucille Bogan
Sara Martin
Sippie Wallace
Edith Johnson
Ma Rainey
Bertha “Chippie” Hill
Katherine Baker
Margaret Johnson
Hattie Burleson
Madlyn Davis
Ivy Smith
Alberta Brown
INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS
IDA COX - 10” LP, “King Oliver Plays the Blues with Ida Cox and Sara Martin”
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London Records, nd, licensed from Riverside Records. Dodd LP 174
Cox and Martin each sing four blues. Despite the title the accompaniest for Cox is not Oliver.
The cornetist is now thought to be Oliver’s nephew, Dave Nelson.
SARA MARTIN - See Ida Cox listed above. Dodd LP 174
MA RAINEY - LP, “The Immortal Ma Rainey” Milestone, n.d.
Dodd LP 175
MA RAINEY - LP, “Blame It On The Blues” Milestone, n.d. Dodd LP 176
MA RAINEY - 10” LP, “Louis Armstrong Plays the Blues” London Records, nd, licensed from
Riverside Records. Dodd LP 177
Rainey sings on three titles of this CD, including “See See Rider.”
BESSIE SMITH
BESSIE SMITH - Double LP, “Any Woman’s Blues” Dodd LP 179a, 179b
BESSIE SMITH - Double LP, “The Empress” Dodd LP 180a, 180b
BESSIE SMITH - Double LP, “Nobody’s Blues But Mine” Dodd LP 178a, 178b
All of the albums released by Columbia Records, n.d. These albums were included in the five
album release of Bessie Smith’s entire recorded production supervised by John Hammond, who
had produced Smith’s final recording session when he was a twenty-three studio neophyte, and
Chris Albertson, author of the definitive biography of Smith. The notes to the elaborately
produced albums are by Albertson.
BESSIE SMITH – 78, “House Rent Blues” / “Work House Blues” Dodd SE 50
MAMIE SMITH, Vol. 4 - LP, “First Lady of the Blues” Document Records, 1989.
Dodd LP 181
TRIXIE SMITH - See Ma Rainey, above. “Louis Armstrong Plays the Blues”
Dodd LP 177
Trixie Smith performs two songs, with accompaniment by an instrumental group from the
Fletcher Henderson Orchestra that included Louis Armstrong.
VICTORIA SPIVEY - LP, “The Blues Is Life” Folkways Records, 1976.
Dodd LP 182
VICTORIA SPIVEY with LONNIE JOHNSON - CD, “Woman Blues” Prestige/Bluesville,
1961, CD, 1994. Dodd CD 115
SIPPIE WALLACE - CD, “Women Be Wise” Alligator Records, 1992. Dodd CD 116
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COLLECTIONS
SONGS WE TAUGHT YOUR MOTHER - CD, Prestige/Bluesville, 1961. Dodd CD 117
Artists include:
Alberta Hunter
Lucille Hegamin
Victoria Spivey
A young New York enthusiast of jazz and popular music, Len Kunstadt, located many of the
older musicians still living in Harlem, and he brought three of the women singers to the Prestige
studios for a session in the classic style nearly forty years after their first success. One, Alberta
Hunter, went on to a successful new career, and Spivey did a number of recordings with her old
duet partner, Lonnie Johnson. These are listed under Johnson’s name in the Rural Blues section
of the catalog.
MEAN MOTHERS: INDEPENDENT WOMEN’S BLUES, VOLUME 1 – CD, Rosetta Records,
1980, 1990. Dodd CD 2113
Artists include:
Rosa Henderson
Mary Dixon
Maggie Jones
Susie Edwards
Bernice Edwards
Gladys Bentley
Bessie Brown
Bertha Idaho
Martha Copeland
Harlem Hannah
Lil Armstrong
Blue Lou Barker
Rosetta Howard
Ida Cox
Lil Green
Billie Holiday
II B5b. Urban Blues Roots
As the blues became a more predictable segment of the record market in the 1930s the
companies releasing material to the increasingly urban buyers began to depend on a small group
of artists who could supply releases on a regular basis. The extended recordings swings through
the South were too uncertain in their results and they took too much time. In the Depression
years the market had dwindled, and also the amount that could be charged for a 78rpm single had
dropped. Marketing had more and more shifted away from mail order and music stores, to record
counters in general merchandise stores - the “five and dimes” - many of whom had their own
record labels. The counters had to be stocked weekly with new releases, which sold for prices
between 39 cents to 59 cents, depending on the popularity of the artists and the quality of the
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production. Many companies simply repressed older releases from the 1920s on cheaper
materials, using pseudonyms for the artists, and supplied these to the stores for their labels.
The audience for the blues had also become more predictable. A certain kind of artist sold
records, and certain kinds of songs were popular. Sometimes the decisive role of the record
companies is overlooked in our analyses of the blues. What we have on record is the result of a
series of commercial decisions, and has almost nothing to do with the creative resources of
African American culture. Sales potential has been behind every choice of artist and repertoire.
Many of the artists in the group of albums listed here were recorded for the race label of Victor
Records, Bluebird Records, which by 1940 had come to dominate the blues industry. The
recordings were done in Chicago by a small group of musicians centered around Big Bill
Broonzy, and they featured small instrumental groups for accompaniment and songs that
sometimes were close to the easy swing and presentation of the small band jazz that was also
popular. The “Bluebird Beat” could fill the counters of the “five and dimes,” and the releases
were also carefully adapted to the new juke boxes that were spreading through black
neighborhoods. Even today most of the copies of the old Bluebird releases by artists like Big
Maceo or Jazz Gillum that turn up in collections are heavily worn only on one side - the side that
was played on the juke box. The Bluebird Beat became very popular, but it also became
repetitive and formulaic. The artists and the companies continued to turn out the same kind of
releases, finally without much inspiration or imagination.
The 1930s urban blues was a musical style that was in transition. With the addition of
small horn sections and a heavier back beat it became the R & B of the post war years. With the
shift to slide guitars and the addition of the electric harmonica it metamorphised into the Chicago
blues.
A BLUES DOCUMENT
BLUES IN THE MISSISSIPPI NIGHT - CD with lengthy booklet containing entire transcription
of text and documentary photographs. Rykodisc, 1990. Dodd CD 214
The blues singers interviewed by Alan Lomax on this astonishing document are Memphis Slim,
Big Bill Broonzy, and Sonny Boy Williamson. On a prior, limited release of the material the
singers were not identified, to protect them from retaliation by white listeners. In this interview conversation is perhaps a better description - Lomax asked frank questions about the racism that
each of the singers had encountered as they grew up and as they tried to live their daily lives and
pursue their careers. Their answers were a frightening glimpse into the systematic racism that
had turned the United States into a de facto apartheid state.
BIG BILL BROONZY
Broonzy was a talented, productive artist who was one of most popular of this generation
of urban artists. From Arkansas, where he had grown up as a sharecropper, he had a wide
background in the blues, and he also seemed to know every blues musician in Chicago. For a
few years, when the Bluebird Beat had run its course, he dropped out of music, but he was found
working as a custodian at the University of Chicago and - like his friend and fellow bluesman
Memphis Slim - he began a new career as a folk blues artist, recording for many of the folk labels
of the 1950s.
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BIG BILL BROONZY - LP, “Big Bill Broonzy (1935-1939) RST Records, 1988.
Dodd LP 311
BIG BILL BROONZY - LP, “Big Bill Broonzy (!935-1941) B.O.B. Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 312
BIG BILL BROONZY - LP, “Big Bill Broonzy Sings Folk Songs” Folkways Records, 1962.
Dodd LP 313
BUMBLE BEE SLIM - LP, “Bumble Bee Slim, 1931-1937” Document Records, 1986.
Dodd LP 314
JAZZ GILLUM - LP, “Jazz Gillum, 1935-1946” B.O.B. Records, n.d. Dodd LP 315
JAZZ GILLUM - LP, “Blues by Jazz Gillum” Folkways Records, 1968. Dodd LP 316
MERLINE JOHNSON - LP, “The Yas Yas Girl, 1937-1941” B.O.B., n.d. Dodd LP 317
ST. LOUIS JIMMY - CD, “Goin’ Down Slow” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960, CD, 1996.
Dodd CD 118
SUNNYLAND SLIM - CD, “Slim’s Shout” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960, CD, 1993.
Dodd CD 119
ROOSEVELT SYKES - CD, “The Return of Roosevelt Sykes” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960, CD,
1992. Dodd CD 120
ROOSEVELT SYKES - CD, “The Honeydripper” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960, CD, 1993.
Dodd CD 121
WASHBOARD SAM - LP, no title. Blues Classics, n.d. Dodd LP 318
The album includes an extended note by Paul Oliver.
SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON - LP, no title. Blues Classics, n.d. Dodd LP 319
This is the Sonny Boy Williamson who began recording in the 1930s and was murdered in 1948
at the age of 36.
SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON - LP, “Sonny Boy and his Pals” Saysdisc, n.d.
This is also the early Sonny Boy Williamson. On seven titles he is the singer and harmonica
player, on the other seven titles he accompanies Elijah Jones, Yank Rachel, or Big Joe Williams.
Dodd LP 320
“SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON” - CD, “Goin’ In Your Direction” Alligator Records,1994.
Dodd CD 122
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This is a reissue of the blues recorded for Trumpet Records in Jackson, Mississippi by Rice
Miller, who signed a contract with Trumpet in 1950. He had been using the name of the original
Sonny Boy Williamson for several years. The album includes lengthy, informative notes by
Marc Ryan.
“SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON” - LP, “The Original” Blues Classics, 1965.
The album includes notes by Paul Oliver. Dodd LP 321
“SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON - LP, “Bummer Road” Chess Records, n.d.
This is a reissue of Chess singles recorded between 1957 and 1960. Dodd LP 322
“SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON - CD, “Blues Masters, Vol. 12” Storyville Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 123
“SONNY BOY WILLIAMS – 7” LP, “It’s King Biscuit Time” Arhoolie Records, 1975.
Dodd LP 759
COLLECTIONS
ANY KINDA MAN, Previously unissued, 1934-1938 - LP, Travelin’ Man Records, 1989.
Dodd LP 323
Artists include:
Lil Johnson
Victoria Spivey
Barrel House Anne
Memphis Minnie
Irene Sanders
Hattie Bolten
THE DETROIT BLUES, The Early 1950s - LP, Blues Classics, n.d. Dodd LP 324
Artists include:
Baby Boy Warren
Dr. Ross
Bobo Jenkins
Eddie Kirkland
Detroit Count
L. C. Green
Big Maceo
John Lee Hooker
One String Sam
Brother Will Hairston
II B6. Post-war Rhythm and Blues
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Perhaps the simplest distinction we can make between the pre-war acoustic blues and
the post-war Rhythm and Blues that developed from it is that in the early advertising, and on the
later album covers for the pre-war blues the singers are hardly ever smiling. On the rhythm and
blues album covers none of the singers ever stops smiling, and that difference almost sums up the
changes in the music. Rhythm and Blues is a positive, confident, up tempo style that reflects the
experience of young African American men in the recently ended war. They had come through it
with courage and with honor, and even if they came back to a country that still was scarred by
racial prejudice they felt now that they would never be forced to go back to the humiliation and
the fear that they had known before the war had taken them away. As Charles Brown sang, in the
title of one of the new songs, “My Heart is Mended.”
Stylistically the new R&B bands had learned from Fats Waller and his Rhythm, the great
jive group of the 1930s, and from the new, small swinging bands like Louis Jordan and his
Tympani Five. There was none of the roughness or the hurried studio time of the acoustic blues
of the 1920s. The new sound had some of the sophistication and verve that came with the
success of the swing orchestras. R&B developed in the shadow of Duke Ellington, Jimmy
Lunceford, Cab Calloway, and Count Basie, and the shadows these musicians cast was a long
one. R&B stepped out into a spotlight of its own with skillful arrangements, instrumental
sophistication, and the strong personalities of its own artists. The music was still the blues, but it
was blues performed in classy band uniforms and sung with a grinning smile.
MILDRED ANDERSON - CD, “Person to Person” Prestige/Bluesville 1959. Reissued 1993.
Dodd CD 124
A presentation of tenor man Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and including the fine hammond organ jazz
soloist Shirley Scott.
MILDRED ANDERSON - CD, “No More In Life” Prestige/Bluesville, 1960.
Reissued, 1995. Dodd CD 125
JAMES BOOKER, LP, “The Piano Prince from New Orleans” Metronome Records, 1976.
Dodd LP 183
EARL BOSTIC - LP, “Earl Bostic, 14 Hits” King Records, 1977. A reissue collection.
Dodd LP 184
CHARLES BROWN - LP, “Sunny Road” Route 66, 1978. A reissue collection.
Dodd LP 185
The Route 66 releases, from a small company in Sweden, are an excellent example of a
responsible reissue project. The material was carefully selected, the album notes include the
lyrics of the songs, and the performers were paid royalties on all album sales. I was presented
with a set of the albums in exchange for helping one of the Route 66 staff, Per Notini, decipher
some of the lyrics.
CLARENCE “GATEMOUTH” BROWN - CD, “No Looking Back” Alligator Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 126
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ROY BROWN - LP, “Good Rocking Tonight” Route 66, 1978. A reissue collection.
Dodd LP 186
ROY BROWN - LP, “Laughing but Crying” Route 66, 1979. A reissue collection .
Dodd LP 187
RUTH BROWN - LP, “Sweet Baby of Mine” Route 66, 1979. A reissue collection.
Dodd LP 188
The extensive notes also include a discography and a list of unissued recordings.
FLOYD DIXON - LP, “Opportunity Blues” Route 66, 1976. A reissue collection .
Dodd LP 189
FLOYD DIXON - CD, “Wake Up And Live!” Alligator Records, 1996. Dodd CD 127
WILLIE DIXON - CD, “Willie’s Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1990, originally issued 1960.
Dodd CD 357
BILL DOGGETT - LP, “Bill Doggett All His Hits” King Records, 1977. A reissue collection.
Dodd LP 190
LOWELL FULSON, 1946-1957 - LP, “Lowell Fulson” Blues Boy, 1982. A reissue.
Dodd LP 191
Blues Boy reissues were also from Sweden’s Route 66 label, and there was the same attention to
album notes, song lyrics, and artists’ royalties. See also the Arhoolie archive.
SLIM GAILLARD - LP, “Cement Mixer Put-ti Put-ti” Folklyric Records, 1984. A reissue.
Dodd LP 192
It’s difficult to know where to put someone as talented and as individual and as eccentric as Slim
Gaillard. He was a hipster, and he delighted in speaking and singing “jive” and accompanying
himself with a more or less straight jazz piano backgroun.d. His pre-war recording of “Flat Foot
Floogie (With a Floy Floy)” by “Slim and Slam,” with bassist Slam Stewart, was one of the
surprise hits of the decade, but Stewart decided that it was too difficult working as a duo and
after the war Gaillard worked with his own trio or small group, usually including the bass player
Bam Brown.
SLIM GAILLARD & FRIENDS - LP, “Chicken Rhythm” Storyville Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 193
Among the friends on this collection of singles from the mid-1940s are Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie
Parker, Howard McGhee, and Lucky Thompson.
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PAUL GAYTEN & Annie Laurie - LP, “Creole Gal” Route 66, 1975. A reissue.
Dodd LP 194
WYNONIE HARRIS - LP, “Mr. Blues is Coming to Town” Route 66, 1977. A reissue.
Dodd LP 195
ROY HAWKINS - LP, “Why Do Everything Happen To Me” Route 66, 1978. A reissue.
Dodd LP 196
IVORY JOE HUNTER - LP, “7th Street Boogie” Route 66, 1977. A reissue.
Dodd LP 197
BULL MOOSE JACKSON & His Buffalo Bearcats - LP, “Big Fat Mamas Are Back
In Style Again” Route 66, 1980. A reissue. Dodd LP 200
LIGHTNIN’ SLIM - LP, “London Gumbo” Sonet Records, 1978, licensed from Nashboro
Records. Dodd LP 198
LITTLE WILLIE JOHN - LP, “Little Willie John” King Records, 1977. A reissue.
Dodd LP 199
Little Willie John did the original recording of the song “Fever” which two years later became a
major hit for Peggy Lee, and is now a contemporary classic.
JIMMY McCRACKLIN and his Blues Blasters - LP, “Rockin’ Man” Route 66, a reissue.
Dodd LP 201
AMOS MILBURN & HIS CHICKEN SHACKERS - LP, “Just One More Drink”
Route 66, 1978. A reissue. Dodd LP 202
BOBBY MITCHELL & THE TOPPERS - LP, “I’m Gonna Be A Wheel Someday”
Mr. R & B Records, 1979. A reissue. Dodd LP 203
Mr. R & B Records was another division of the Route 66 label.
JUNIOR PARKER - LP, “Sometimes Tomorrow My Broken Heart Will Die” Bluesways
Records, 1973. Dodd LP 204
Parker started on the harmonica and he came to the blues through the playing of Sonny Boy
Williamson No. 2 - Rice Miller - who was playing on the King Biscuit Time radio program and
performing on small tours around the countryside. Parker played with Sonny Boy when he was
still a boy, then went on to record for Sam Phillips’ Sun label in Memphis. From Sun he went to
Don Robey’s Duke-Peacock Records in Houston and this album is a collection of his hits from
his years with Duke.
LLOYD PRICE - LP, “The ABC Collection” ABC Records, 1976. Dodd LP 205
New Orleans-born Lloyd Price is one of the handful of R&B artists who became even better
known to the new rock and roll audiences in the 1950s, when the two styles began to sound more
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and more like each other. This collection includes his most successful record, “Lawdy Miss
Clawdy,” a song that crossed over to AM radio and became his trademark for years of Rock and
Roll package shows. His “Stagger Lee” and “Corrina, Corrina” had the same kind of sales
response with both audiences, and Price’s blues-inflected singing style left its impression on
dozens of younger performers.
PROFESSOR LONGHAIR - LP, “The London Concert” JSP Records, n.d. Dodd LP 206
One of the glories of New Orleans AM radio in the 1950s was the sound of Professor Longhair
with his distinctive piano style and his irrepressible sense of humor. The bands accompanying
him had different names - one, I remember, was named “The Shuffling Hungarians” - but they all
played with that loose, unmistakable New Orleans swinging rhythm. On this live concert he only
has his drummer with him, but with his piano that’s all he needed to do a selection of his most
popular songs.
PROFESSOR LONGHAIR - LP, “Crawfish Fiesta” Sonet Records, 1980, licensed from
Alligator Records. Dodd LP 207
AL SMITH - CD, “Hear My Blues” Prestige/Bluesville 1959. Reissued 1993.
Dodd CD 128
Another “Lockjaw” Davis presentation, again with Shirley Scott playing the Hammond organ.
BIG MAMA THORTON - CD, “Jail” Vanguard Records, 1975. Dodd CD 129
A live performance by Thorton at Monroe State Prison, Monroe, Washington. She does her hits
for a noisily appreciative audience, including a version of her classic “Ball ‘N’ Chain,” the song
that became the first hit for Janis Joplin, who sang it as closely as she could to Thornton’s style.
JIMMY WITHERSPOON - CD, “Baby, Baby, Baby” Prestige/Bluesville, 1963. Reissued, 1990.
Dodd CD 130
JIMMY WITHERSPOON - CD, “Evenin’ Blues” Prestige/Bluesville, 1963. Reissued, 1993.
Dodd CD 131
This material is taken from a particularly strong session in Los Angeles in August, 1963. The
guitarist is the Texas electric blues veteran T. Bone Walker, whose stinging tone is an excellent
foil for Spoon’s dark, smooth voice.
BILLY WRIGHT - LP, “The Prince of the Blues: Stacked Deck” Route 66, 1980. A Reissue.
Dodd LP 208
R&B COLLECTIONS
BATTLE OF THE BLUES - LP, King Records, n.d. Dodd LP 209
Artists include:
Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson
Roy Brown
Wynonie Harris
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GOING BACK TO NEW ORLEANS - LP, Specialty Records, 1978. Dodd LP 210
A British reissue of singles from one of the most successful of the R&B labels, Specialty records.
Artists included:
Joe Liggins
Lil Millet
Art Neville
Lloyd Lambert
Earl King
Lloyd Price
Roy Montrell
Edgar Blanchard
Guitar Slim
Ernie Kador
Big Boy Myles
Jerry Byrne
NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL 1976 - LP, Island Records, 1976.
Dodd LP 211a, 211b
Artists include:
Allen Toussaint
Irma Thomas
Earl King
Lee Dorsey
Ernie K-Doe
Robert Parker
Lightnin’ Hopkins
Professor Longhair
New Orleans R&B at its finest, with Lee Dorsey performing his hit “Workin’ In A Coal Mine”
and Professor Longhair ending the show with his “Mardi Gras in New Orleans.”
THE SPECIALTY STORY - 5 CDS in a box with an extensive, fully illustrated booklet. Specialty
Records, 1994. Dodd CD 132, 133, 134, 135, 136
Art Rupe’s Specialty label was one of the most successful producers of R&B hits, and Rupe was
one of the most respected company owners in the field. He was also the producer for his greatest
successes, and his tight, bright sound was one of the basic sources for the rock and roll that
developed a few years later. The range of artists included in this reissue is too lengthy to list, but
it includes blues, r&b, and gospel performers, and each of their singles was carefully produced
and promoted on a nationwide basis. Among the best known artists associated with Specialty
were Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, Roy Milton, Joe Liggins, Don & Dewey, Alex
Bradford, The Soul Stirrers, Larry Williams, and Lloyd Price. All of their most important
releases are included in this lavish boxed set, which includes a statement by Rupe.
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SHOUT, BROTHER, SHOUT! Trumpet Records R & B, 1951-1954 - CD, Alligator Records,
1994. Dodd CD 137
Artists include:
Rocky Jones & The Texas Jacks
Lonnie Holmes & His Dark Town Boys
The Four Sharps
Sherman “Blues” Johnson & His Clouds of Joy
Beverly White & Her Trio
Willie Love & His 3 Aces
Wally Mercer
II B7. Modern Blues
II B7a. Chicago and Modern Electric Blues
Seven years after he had recorded as a field hand playing an acoustic guitar and nervously
imitating the recordings of Robert Johnson, McKinley Morganfield, who was working on the
Stovall Plantation in northern Mississippi, recorded a record with a blues trio for a small
Southside Chicago record company. In the brief period he had refashioned his blues, learned
how to play an electric guitar, and changed his name to Muddy Waters. His new style, part
Mississippi, part Chicago, and entirely Muddy Waters, changed the course of the blues, and with
it the direction of popular music in our half of the twentieth century. His success opened the
door for other blues musicians to take the new Chicago style even further, and his own
recordings slowly expanded from the first trio, with acoustic bass, to the full Chicago blues band
sound we know today, with lead guitar, rhythm guitar, piano, harmonica, bass, and drums.
Muddy played his guitar leads with a slide, and the slide style dominated the single releases of
another Mississippian who had learned from Robert Johnson, Elmore James. The third of the
great Mississippi triumvirate of the Chicago blues, Howlin’ Wolf, played the rhythm guitar in his
group, but the leads were there in the skilled fingers of Hubert Sumlin.
The recordings at first sold as singles in the South Side. It was only years later that they
were reisssued in LP form, and by that time the audience for the grit and fire of the South Side
style had drifted off to Soul and the carefully coached mechanics of the Motown Soun.d. The
Lps were for the new audience, which was young and white. The music so completely defined
the rush of the postwar years that it was only a brief time before young white musicians began to
imitate the soun.d. In 1964 I introduced Muddy and his band at a folk concert at New York’s
Carnegie Hall, and he called me later that night from his run down hotel in Greenwich Village to
say that they hadn’t been paid enough to get back to Chicago and could I produce some kind of
record session with them so they could pay their hotel bill. It was only two years later that young
white musicians who had learned the style from Muddy, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, were to
cause a sensation at the Newport Folk Festival and begin a whole new era of rock. Their success
was a tribute to Muddy’s great breakthrough, and the white musicians who followed the first
generation of Chicago bands, from Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield to the Rolling Stones,
always insisted on crediting the musicians from whom they had learned.
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INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS
LUTHER ALLISON and the Blue Nubulae - LP, “Love Me Mama” Delmark Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 212
LUTHER ALLISON - CD, “Soul Fixin’ Man” Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 138
LUTHER ALLISON - CD, “Blue Streak”Alligator Records, 1995. Dodd CD 139
BILLY BOY ARNOLD - CD, “Eldorado Cadillac” Alligator Records, 1995. Dodd CD 140
CAREY BELL - LP, “Carey Bell’s Blues Harp” Delmark Records, n.d. Dodd LP 213
CAREY BELL - CD, “Deep Down” Alligator Records, 1995. Dodd CD 141
JOHN BRIM - See Chess LP “Elmore James - John Brim” Dodd LP 231
The LONNIE BROOKS Blues Band - LP, “Bayou Lightning” Sonet Records, licensed from
Alligator Records, 1979. Dodd LP 214
LONNIE BROOKS - CD, “Satisfaction Guaranteed” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd CD 142
LONNIE BROOKS - CD, “Roadhouse Blues” Alligator Records, 1996. Dodd CD 143
ALBERT COLLINS - LP, “Ice Pickin’” Sonet Records, licensed from Alligator Records, 1978.
Dodd LP 215
ALBERT COLLINS - LP, “Frostbite” Sonet Records, licensed from Alligator Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 216
JOHNNY COPELAND - LP, “Copeland Special” Rounder Records, 1981. Dodd LP 217
JIMMY “FAST FINGERS” DAWKINS - LP, “Fast Fingers” Delmark Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 218
JIMMY DAWKINS - LP, “Transatlantic 770” Sonet Records, licensed from Nashboro Records,
1978. Dodd LP 219
BO DIDDLEY - LP, “Bo Diddley Is A . . . Lover” Checker Records, n.d. Dodd LP 220
BO DIDDLEY - LP, “Bo Diddley’s A Twister” Checker Records, n.d. Dodd LP 221
See also The Super Super Blues Band
BUDDY GUY
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A BUDDY GUY COLLECTION
Some years ago I was asked by Vanguard Records to produce a 5 CD boxed set
documenting Buddy Guy’s long career in recognition of his current popularity. Vanguard owned
only three of his albums, the first two that I had produced and a later recording before he left the
label, and I suggested that there might be a problem with obtaining permission from other
companies to use their material. I was told to continue anyway, and I gathered this collection of
Guy’s CDs, documenting virtually all of his recordings up to that point. I turned over my play
list of the projected documentary and wrote a draft of the notes for the package, but as I had
anticipated the other companies controlling his recordings were uninterested in being part of the
Vanguard release. The project was dropped, but I expanded the notes I had written into the
chapter “Buddy Guy, A Cry as Big as the Sky” for my 2004 book Walking a Blues Road .
BUDDY GUY - The Early Years - Cobra and Chess Labels. A shared CD with OTIS RUSH,
“Blues on Blues” Fuel 2000 Records. 2000-0105/CD 1902
A collection of the singles Guy and Rush recorded for the short-lived Cobra label. Guy didn’t
play his own guitar accompaniment for some of the early sides, instead either Rush Ike Turner
backed him.
THE CHESS SINGLES
Compilation CDs of the Chess singles from the early 1960s, often repeating titles.
“I Was Walking Through the Woods” CD, Chess Records 1990. 2000-0105/CD 1903
“Buddy’s Blues” CD, Chess Records, 1997. 2000-0105/CD 1904
“The Best of Buddy Guy” CD, Chess Records, 2001. 2000-0105/CD 1905
“Muddy Waters Folk Singer” CD, Chess Records, 1999. 2000-0105/CD 1906
This was a Muddy Waters album session, but Guy was added as a back-up acoustic guitarist,
since Muddy couldn’t think of anyone else on the Chess roster of artists who could fit in with his
old acoustic Mississippi style.
A CHESS COLLECTION. 2000-0105/CD 1907
Artists include:
Howlin’ Wolf
Sonny Boy Williamson
Little Walter
Muddy Waters
Elmore James
Etta James
Buddy Guy
Little Milton
Koko Taylor
THE VANGUARD YEARS
A Three CD set containing the three LP albums Guy recorded for Vanguard Records between
1966 and 1970. - Vanguard Records, 2000.
262
“A Man and the Blues” 2000-0105/CD 1908a
“This Is Buddy Guy” Both produced by Samuel Charters. 2000-0105/CD 1908b
“Hold That Plane!” Produced by Michael Cuscuna. 2000-0105/CD 1908c
THE PARTNERSHIP WITH JUNIOR WELLS
For several years following the Vanguard period Guy’s career languished and his recordings were
made as a partnership with his long-time friend Junior Wells.
“Southside Blues Jam” CD, Delmark Records, 1969-1970. 2000-0105/CD 1909
“Buddy and the Juniors” CD, (original release Blue Thumb Records, 1970) BGO records,
1998. 2000-0105/CD 1910
“Drinkin’ TNT ’n’ Smokin’ Dynamte” CD, Blind Pig Records, 1988.
2000-0105/CD 1911
“Alone & Acoustic” CD, Alligator Records, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 1912
“Live in Montreux” CD, Evidence Records, 1997, a re-release of the 1977 release on the
French label Black & Blue Records. 2000-0105/CD 1913
BUDDY GUY - CD, “A Man & The Blues” Produced by Samuel Charters, Vanguard Records,
1967. Dodd CD 144
BUDDY GUY - CD, “This Is Buddy Guy!” Produced by Samuel Charters, Vanguard Records,
1968. Dodd CD 145
BUDDY GUY - CD, “My Time After Awhile” Produced by Samuel Charters, Vanguard Records,
1992. This is a compilation of the two previous albums. Dodd CD 146
BUDDY BUY - CD, “Hold That Plane!” Vanguard Records, 1972. Dodd CD 147
BUDDY GUY & JUNIOR WELLS - CD, “Alone & Acoustic” Alligator Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 148
BUDDY GUY COLLECTIONS
“Buddy Guy” CD, A French Reissue on Warner Brothers Records, 1998.
2000-0105/CD 1914
“Buddy Guy and Junior Wells” CD, St. Clair Records, 2000. 2000-0105/CD 1915
Includes both solo performances by each of them and two duets.
A EUROPEAN SESSION FEATURING THE NEW ELECTRIC SOUND
“Stone Crazy” CD, Alligator Records, 1981, a re-release of the original 1979 CD on the French
label Isabel Records. 2000-0105/CD 1916
TODAY’S STARRING CAREER
263
Although Guy had no recording contract as a solo artist for some years, he was appearing on the
international festival circuit as the opening act for groups like the Rolling Stone. The excitement
his performances as he put more focus on his guitar solo work finally brought him to the
attention of the mainstream audience, and he has now become an icon of the modern blues.
“Damn Right, I’ve Got the Blues” CD, Silvertone, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 1917
“The Very Best of Buddy Guy” CD, Rhino, 1992. 2000-0105/CD 1918
“Feels Like Rain” CD, Silvertone, 1993. 2000-0105/CD 1919
“Slippin’ In” CD, Silverstone, 1994. 2000-0105/CD 1920
“The Real Deal, Live with G. E. Smith and the Saturday Night Live Band. CD, Silvertone, 1996.
2000-0105/CD 1921
“Heavy Love” CD, Silvertone, 1998. 2000-0105/CD 1922
“Sweet Tea” CD, Silvertone, 2001. 2000-0105/CD 1923
A RELATED RECORDING
STEVIE RAY VAUGHN & DOUBLE TROUBLE - CD, The Real Deal, Greatest Hits 2. Epic,
1999. 2000-0105/CD 1924
Vaughn was influenced by a number of blues artists, and on this compilation he performs a live
version of Buddy Guy’s “Leaved My Girl Alone.” It clearly shows the imprint of Guy’s playing
on one of his younger disciples.
A MODERN COLLECTION
“Big Blues Extravaganza” CD, Columbia/Sony. 2000-0105/CD 1925
Artists include:
Albert Collins
Lightnin’ Sam Hopkins
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Jimmy Vaughn and the Tilt-A-Whirl Band
Keb’ Mo’
Gatemouth Brown
Dr. John
Buddy Guy
Taj Mahal
The Neville Brothers
Rory Block
W. C. Clark and Friends
B. B. King
Delbert McClinton
JOHN LEE HOOKER - 3 CD BOX, “John Lee Hooker” K-Box, Manufactured in Holland.
2000-0105/CD 1926a-c
ALBERT KING with Stevie Ray Vaughan - CD, “In Session” Stax Records, 1999.
2000-0105/CD 1927
264
JOHNNY HEARTSMAN - CD, “The Touch” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd CD 149
MICHAEL HILL’S BLUES MOB - CD, “Bloodlines” Alligator Records, 1994.
Dodd CD 150
MICHAEL HILL’S BLUES MOB - CD, “Have Mercy!” Alligator Records, 1996.
Dodd CD 151
HOMESICK JAMES & SNOOKY PRYOR - LP, no title. Virgin Records, 1973.
Dodd LP 222
JOHN LEE HOOKER
JOHN LEE HOOKER - LP, “Alone” Specialty Records, 1970 reissue. Dodd LP 223
JOHN LEE HOOKER - LP, “Goin’ Down Highway 51” Specialty Records, 1971 reissue.
Dodd LP 224
These are LP reissues of singles Hooker recorded for Specialty in Detroit in the last
1940s and
early 1950s. Hooker performs without band accompaniment.
JOHN LEE HOOKER - CD, “Burning Hell” Riverside Records, 1959, reissued 1992.
Dodd CD 152
JOHN LEE HOOKER - CD, “The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker” Riverside Records, 1959,
reissued 1991. Dodd CD 153
JOHN LEE HOOKER - CD, “That’s My Story” Riverside Records, 1960, reissued 1991.
Dodd CD 154
JOHN LEE HOOKER - Double CD package, “The Ultimate Collection: 1948-1990”
Records, 1991. Dodd CD 155a, 155b
Rhino
HOWLIN’ WOLF
HOWLIN’ WOLF - LP, “Evil” Chess Records, n.d. Dodd LP 225
This is a reissue of Wolf’s singles from the period 1951-1957. The album was originally issued
with the title “Moanin’ In The Moonlight”.
HOWLIN’WOLF - LP, “More Real Folk Blues” Chess Records, n.d. Dodd LP 226
HOWLIN’ WOLF - LP, “Rockin’ The Blues” Chess International, n.d. Dodd LP 227
HOWLIN’ WOLF - double LP, “Chester Burnett aka Howlin’ Wolf” Chess/Janus, 1972.
Dodd LP 228a, 228b
265
This is a compilation of Wolf’s greatest singles from his earlier recording period. A strong
feature of the album is a long essay written with Wolf’s help by blues historian Pete Welding.
HOWLIN’ WOLF - LP, “The Howlin’ Wolf Album” Cadet Concept, n.d. Dodd LP 229
This album was a product of the 1960s, and it was an attempt by the producers - Marshall
Chess, Charles Stepney & Gene Barge - to bring Wolf’s music into the ‘60s rock era. Wolf was
so upset with the result that the album cover had no art work, it simply read - in large black
letters on a bare white background This is Howlin’ Wolf’s
new album.
He doesn’t like it.
He didn’t like his electric
guitar at first either.
Wolf’s growled comment, when he heard the playbacks, was “Dog shit.” See also The Super
Super Blues Band
J. B. HUTTO and his Hawks (with Sunnyland Slim) - LP, “Hawk Squat” Delmark Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 230
ELMORE JAMES
ELMORE JAMES - JOHN BRIM - LP, “Whose Muddy Shoes” Chess Records, n.d.
A reissue of singles from the period 1953-1960. Dodd LP 231
ELMORE JAMES - LP, “Memorial Album” Sue Records, n.d. Dodd LP 232
ELMORE JAMES - LP, “The Resurrection of Elmore James” Kent Records, n.d.
Both of these albums are reissues of early singles. Dodd LP 233
ELMORE JAMES - LP, “The Legend of Elmore James” Sonet Records, licensed from Kent
Records, n.d. Dodd LP 234
Includes three previously unissued performances, three alternate takes and some moments of
James talking in the studio.
B. B. KING
B. B. KING - LP, “B. B. King The Rarest King” Blues Boy, n.d. Dodd LP 235
A reissue of King singles from the period 1949 to 1960. The album includes a
introduction to King’s music by Swedish blues pianist Per Notini.
lengthy, useful
B. B. KING - Boxed set with four cassettes and 72 page lavishly illustrated booklet, “King of the
Blues” MCA, 1992. Dodd AC 1, 2, 3, 4
The definitive King collection, documenting his career from 1949 to 1991.
266
B. B. KING - Double CD, “The Modern Recordings 1950-1951” Ace Records, 2002.
2000-0105/CD 1928a-b
B. B. KING - CD, “King of the Blues” Ace Records, 2002. 2000-0105/CD 1929
This is a compliation of King’s recordings on the Kent label, 1960-1961.
B. B. KING - 4 CD Box including additional sampler CD, “The Vintage Years” Ace
Records, 2002. 2000-0105/CD 1930a-d
Roger Armstrong and his London-based Ace Records have long set a high standard for reissues
of post-war vintage recordings, and this sumptuous boxed set is an example of their finest
production work. The compilation was made by blues expert John Broven, and the 75 page,
lavishly illustrated booklet accompanying the CDs was written by Broven and Colin Escott. The
recordings were originally issued as singles or on LP by a variety of local labels, and a
discography is included in the booklet.
LIL’ ED and the BLUES IMPERIALS - CD, “What You See Is What You Get”
Records, 1992. Dodd CD 156
Alligator
LITTLE WALTER - LP, “Hate To See You Go” Chess, n.d. Dodd LP 236
A reissue of singles from 1952 - 1960.
LITTLE WALTER - Double LP, “Boss Blues Harmonica” Chess Records, 1984.
Dodd LP 237a, 237b
MAGIC SAM’S Blues Band - LP, “West Side Soul” Delmark Records, n.d. Dodd LP 238
MUDDY WATERS
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “Down on Stovall’s Plantation” Testament, 1966.
Dodd LP 239
This is an essential LP release of all of the recordings Waters did for Alan Lomax in 1941 and
1942 when Lomax was collecting music for the Library of Congress. Waters records as a soloist
and as a member of the Son Sims Four.
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “Sail On” Chess Records, n.d. Dodd LP 240
A collection of Waters’ singles from the period 1948-1954. Originally release as “The Best of
Muddy Waters.”
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “Folk Singer” Chess Records, 1972. A repackaging of the 1963
release. Dodd LP 241
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “Brass and the Blues” Chess Records, 1966. Dodd LP 242
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “More Real Folk Blues” Chess Records, 1967. Dodd LP 243
267
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “Electric Mud” Chess Records, 1968. Dodd LP 244
Chess’s attempt to do with Waters what they had done with Howlin’ Wolf in the high point of
the psychedelic era. The album includes Waters’ version of the Rolling Stones success “Let’s
Spend The Night Together.”
MUDDY WATERS - LP, “‘Unk’ in Funk” Chess Records, 1974. Dodd LP 245
MUDDY WATERS - Double LP set, “McKinley Morganfield A. K. A. Muddy Waters” Chess
Records, n.d. Dodd LP 247a, 247b
An extensive overview of Waters’ career on Chess, with excellent notes by Pete Welding.
MUDDY WATERS - Six LP boxed set, “Muddy Waters The Chess Box” Chess Records, 1989.
Dodd LP 246a, 246b, 246c, 246d, 246e, 246f
The definitive collection of Waters’ music on Chess, with a lavishly illustrated booklet, and notes
by Mary Katherine Aldin and Robert Palmer. See also The Super Super Blues Band
KENNY NEAL - CD, “Walking On Fire” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd CD 157
KENNY NEAL - CD, “Bayou Blood” Alligator Records, 1992. Dodd CD 158
KENNY NEAL - CD, “Hoodoo Moon” Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 159
FENTON ROBINSON - LP, “I Hear Some Blues Downstairs” Sonet Records, licensed from
Alligator Records, 1978. Dodd LP 248
JIMMY ROGERS - LP, “Chicago Bound” Chess Records, n.d. Dodd LP 249
This is a reissue of singles from 1950-1956.
OTIS RUSH - LP, “Cold Day In Hell” Delmark Records, 1975. Dodd LP 250
OTIS RUSH - LP, “Lost In The Blues” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd 251
This is Alligator’s reworking of the 1977 Sonet album. To fill out the sound Bruce Iglauer,
president and producer of most Alligator releases, added keyboard to the original tracks, edited
some of the solos, and remixed the album to bring it closer to the Alligator soun.d. Rush was
angrily displeased with the result, although he had also expressed his dissatisfaction with the
original album for its lack of a horn section.
SON SEALS - LP, “The Son Seals Blues Band” Alligator Records, 1973. Dodd LP 252
SON SEALS - LP, “Midnight Son” Sonet Records, licensed from Alligator Records, 1977.
Dodd LP 253
SON SEALS - LP, “Chicago Fire” Sonet Records, licensed from Alligator Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 254
268
SON SEALS - CD, “Living in the Danger Zone” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd CD 160
SON SEALS - CD, “Nothing but the Truth” Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 161
SON SEALS Live- CD, “Spontaneous Combustion” Alligator Records, 1996. Dodd CD 162
OTIS SPANN - LP, “Cryin’ Time” Vanguard Records, 1968. [not transferred]
Produced by Samuel Charters.
SUGAR BLUE - CD, “In Your Eyes”Alligator Records, 1995. Dodd CD 163
THE SUPER SUPER BLUES BAND, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley - LP,
Checkers Records, 1967. Dodd LP 255
MAURICE JOHN VAUGHN - CD, “In the Shadow of the City” Alligator Records, 1993.
Dodd CD 164
PHILIP WALKER - LP, “Someday You’ll Have These Blues” Sonet Records, licensed from
Alligator Records, 1980. Dodd LP 256
KATIE WEBSTER - CD, “No Foolin’” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd CD 165
JUNIOR WELLS’ CHICAGO BLUES BAND - LP, “Hoodoo Man Blues” Delmark Records,
n.d. Dodd LP 257
JUNIOR WELLS - LP, “It’s My Life, Baby” Produced by Samuel Charters. Vanguard Records,
1967. Dodd LP 258
This copy is a later LP reissue on Vanguard’s Midline series.
JUNIOR WELLS - LP, “Junior Wells’ South Side Blues Jam” Delmark Records, n.d. Dodd LP
259 See also Buddy Guy
JUNIOR WELLS - CD, French compilation for Warner Brothers Records, 1998.
2000-0105/CD 1931
BILLY BOY ARNOLD - CD, “Back Where I Belong” Alligator Records, 1993.
2000-0105/CD 1932
COLLECTIONS
CHICAGO/ THE BLUES/ TODAY!
SWEET HOME CHICAGO - LP, Delmark Records, 1969. Dodd LP 260
Artists include Magic Sam, Luther Allison, Louis Myers,and Leo Evans
269
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES - Volume 1, Jimmy Johnson, Eddie Shaw, Left Hand Frank.
Dodd CD 166/ Dodd LP 261
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES - Volume 2, Carey Bell, Magic Slim, Johnny “Big Moose”
Walker. Dodd CD 167/ Dodd LP 262
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES - Volume 3, Lonnie Brooks, Pinetop Perkins, The S. O. B.
Ban.d. Dodd CD 168/ Dodd LP 263
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES - Volume 4, A. C. Reed, Scotty and the Rib Tips, Lovie Lee.
Dodd CD 169/ Dodd LP 264
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES - Volume 5, Lacy Gibson, Big Leon Brooks, Andrew Brown.
Dodd LP 265
LIVING CHICAGO BLUES - Volume 6, Detroit Junior, Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson,
Queen Sylvia Embry. Dodd LP 266
LPs, released by Sonet Records, licensed from Alligator Records, 1978. The material was
released on four CDs by Alligator in 1991, and this set is also in the archive. Alligator Records
was begun in the 1970s by Bruce Iglauer, who was working behind the counter at Bob Koester’s
Jazz Record Mart, in Chicago. Iglauer’s first release was a rough and irresistible album by Hound
Dog Taylor, and he went on to build Alligator into the country’s most important blues label. The
format and the presentation of the Living Chicago Blues series was a conscious response to the
Chicago/The Blues/Today! albums of the 1960s.
THE NEW BLUEBLOODS, The Next Generation of Chicaco Blues - LP, Sonet Records, licensed
from Alligator Records, 1987. Dodd LP 267
Artists include:
Michael Coleman
Donald Kinsey and the Kinsey Report
Valerie Wellington
The Sons of Blues/Chi-Town Histlers
The Professor’s Blues Review Featuring Gloria Hardiman
John Watkins
Maurice John Vaughn
Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band
Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
Don Payton and the 43rd Street Blues Band
THE ALLIGATOR RECORDS CHRISTMAS COLLECTION - CD, Alligator Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 170
Artists include:
Koko Taylor
270
Kenny Neal
Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials
Katie Webster
William Clarke,
Tinsley Ellis
Charles Brown
Son Seals
Lonnie Brooks
Little Charlie & The Nightcats
Elvin Bishop
Saffire
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
Charlie Musselwhite
. . . makes the blues come alive ALLIGATOR CHICAGO - CD, Sonet Records, licensed from
Alligator Records, 1990. Dodd CD 171
Artists included:
Kenny Neal
Charlie Musselwhite
Koko Taylor
Lonnie Mack
Katie Webster
Paladins
Lonnie Brooks
Little Charlie & The Nightcaps
Saffire
Alert Collins
Delbert McClinton
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
William Clarke
Elvin Bishop
Lucky Peterson
Harp Attack (James Cotton, Junior Wells, Carey Bell, Billy Branch)
Hound Dog Taylor
THE ALLIGATOR RECORDS 20th ANNIVERSARY TOUR - Double CD, Alligator Records,
1993. Dodd CD 172a, 172b
Artists included:
Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperial
Katie Webster
Elvin Bishop
Lonnie Brooks
Koko Taylor
See also video listing in catalog.
271
POSTWAR CHICAGO BLUES - CD. Blues Masters, Volume 2
2000-0105/CD 1933
Artists include:
Baby Face Leroy Trio
Muddy Waters
Jimmy Rogers and His Trio
Little Walter and the Night Cats
Sonny Boy Williamson
Johnny Shines
Howlin’ Wolf
Bo Diddley
Eddie Boyd
Robert Jr. Lockwood
J. B. Lenoir
Jimmy Reed
Jody Williams
Otis Rush
Magic Sam
Buddy Guy
Earl Hooker
Junior Wells
Rhino, 1992.
BLUES INSTRUMENTAL FOLIOS
In the 1980s and 1990s, the Hal Leonard Publishing Corporations, base in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, produced a series of blues instrumental folios. These were expensively produced for
the serious blues guitarist, and each release presented the work of a single artist, with the guitar
playing, both accompaniment and solo, annotated in both notation and tablature. The
transcriptions are accurately described as “Authentic Record Transcriptions,” and they present a
useful source of study for anyone interested in the guitar techniques of the modern blues. In most
of the folios the words for the songs also are included, along with historical photos and useful
biographical essays on the featured artists. The following folios are included in the series and
will be found in the Archive.
ALBERT COLLINS – The Complete Imperial Recordings; includes thirty-six titles, published in
1958. Dodd D 2056
BO DIDDLEY – Guitar Solos; includes eighteen titles, published in 1988. Dodd D 2055
WILLIE DIXON – The Master Blues Composer; includes thirty titles, and many of them
presented in versions performed by different artists, published in 1992. Dodd D 2049
Dixon was one of the most successful composers of blues songs performed by Chicago artists,
and the folio includes a personal introduction, as well as Dixon’s own notes on the meaning
behind the songs.
272
JOHN LEE HOOKER – The Healer; includes ten titles, published in 1991. Dodd D 2051
ELMORE JAMES – Master of the Electric Slide Guitar; eighteen titles, published in 1996.
Dodd D 2052
B. B. KING – no folio title, twenty blues titles, published in 1989. Dodd D 2053
MUDDY WATERS – Deep Blue; thirty-one titles, published in 1995. Dodd D 2054
II B7b. The New Blues
The first published blues, “Dallas Blues,” which appeared in the spring of 1912, was
composed by a white man who heard a melody sung by an African American who was working
in his store and turned it into a song. The blues has had its white composers and performers for
as long as there has been a blues style. The reality is that both of the races in the American
dilemma have been borrowing and adapting from each since they first found themselves on the
same continent. In the 1960s and 1970s, when for the first time there were authentic blues
performers appearing in concerts and in clubs where young white listeners could hear them, there
was considerable anxiety about whether whites could perform the blues. The same question was
asked every blues singer who would stand still long enough to answer. The answer, from Muddy
Waters to Lightning Hopkins, was pretty generally the same, “Those white boys can play their
instrument, but they can’t really sing the blues. You have to be born with the blues.” In an
irreverent response to all of this anxiety an English band of the 1960s, the Bonzo Dog Band,
recorded a song called “Can a Blue Man Sing the Whites?” In 1957 I heard a new young blues
singer’s voice coming out of the juke boxes in black bars in New Orleans, and it was several
months before I found out he was white, and his name was Elvis Presley. Now that we are more
than three decades along in the career of Eric Clapton the question isn’t asked with the same
urgency.
What this gathering of new blues reflects is the reality that there is almost no interest on
the part of young African American performers in the older blues. The young black musicians
who have immersed themselves in the blues can be numbered on the fingers of one hand - and
even Taj Mahal, who has included the blues in his leisurely trip through African American folk
styles, is in his sixties now. Keb’ Mo’ is the only younger black performer who has achieved
much recognition as a traditional blues artist, but his award winning album is largely filled with
soul numbers. If there is to be a new generation of blues artists then this generation will be
white, and it is some of the artists whose music is included in the archive who will be this next
generation.
ELVIN BISHOP - CD, “Ace In The Hole” Alligator Records, 1995. Dodd CD 173
Bishop was the first guitarist in the Paul Butterfield Quartet, then when Mike Bloomfield came
into the group Bishop shifted to rhythm guitar. With the deaths of both Butterfield and
Bloomfield Bishop has become a solo performer who tours steadily.
273
MICHAEL BLOOMFIELD - CD, “The Best of Michael Bloomfield” Takoma Records, 1997.
Dodd CD 174
Bloomfield’s blues moved from acoustic folk styles to hard edged Chicago. He was an effective
singer, but he was much better known as a guitarist. He grew up in Chicago and learned his
blues hanging out in the South Side clubs. Of all the young guitarists in the city Bloomfield was
the most exciting. He was part of the Butterfield band that had such a frenzied reception at the
Newport Folk Festival and then he played with the electric band that accompanied Bob Dylan.
For a period he joined his friend and fellow musician from earlier bands, Nick Gravenites, in an
ambitious group called Electric Flag. At the same time he had become drug dependent, and after
several years when his career drifted he was found dead of a drug overdose.
CANNED HEAT - EP LP, “The Best of Canned Heat”Scepter Records, 1973.
Dodd LP 268
Canned Heat, from Los Angeles, was the only early rock band that tried conscientiously to work
within the artistic dimensions of the country blues, and to everyone’s surprise they had a major
hit with their version of the old Texas piece “Fishing Blues,” that had been recorded in the ‘20s
by Henry Thomas.They also struggled with drug problems, and the band’s career ended when the
lead singer and strongest personality in the band, Al Wilson, died of an overdose.
CANNED HEAT - LP, “Vintage” Grand Prix, n.d. Dodd LP 269
PETER CASE - CD, “Sings Like Hell” Vanguard Records, 1994. Dodd CD 175
WILLIAM CLARKE - CD, “Serious Intentions” Alligator Records, 1992. Dodd CD 176
WILLIAM CLARKE - CD, “Groove Time” Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 177
WILLIAM CLARKE - CD, “The Hard Way” Alligator Records, 1996. Dodd CD 178
TINSLEY ELLIS and the HEARTFIXERS - CD, “Cool On It”Alligator Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 179
TINSLEY ELLIS - CD, “Trouble Time” Alligator Records, 1992. Dodd CD 180
TINSLEY ELLIS - CD, “Storm Warning” Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 181
JOHN HAMMOND
Hammond is the son of the legendary record producer, John Hammond Sr., and in the family
John Jr. was usually known as “Jeep.” He has had a long and impressive blues career, although
the kind of major success of an Eric Clapton has always eluded him. He began as an acoustic
blues musician, influenced by Robert Johnson, since then he has had various blues groups, some
edging closer to R & B, but all of them hard-driving, solid bands.
JOHN HAMMOND - CD, “John Hammond” Vanguard Records, 1964. Dodd CD 182
274
JOHN HAMMOND - CD, “Big City Blues” Vanguard Records, 1964. Dodd CD 183
JOHN HAMMOND - CD, “So Many Roads” Vanguard Records, 1965. Dodd CD 184
JOHN HAMMOND - CD, “Country Blues” Vanguard Records, 1965. Dodd CD 185
JOHN HAMMOND - CD, “Solo” Vanguard Records, 1976. Dodd CD 186
JOHN HAMMOND and the NIGHTHAWKS - CD, “Hot Tracks” Vanguard Records, 1979.
Dodd CD 187
COREY HARRIS - CD, “Between Midnight and Day” Alligator Records, 1995.
Dodd CD 188
Harris is also one of the handful of young black musicians who had been drawn to the blues.
COREY HARRIS - CD, “Fish Ain’t Bitin’” Alligator Records, 1997.
2000-0105/CD 1935
For this interesting CD Harris and co-producer Larry Hoffman broke from the usual Alligator
mold and introduced the old Mississippi rural brass band tradition with Hoffman’s arrangements
for the brass instruments. The rough sound was an exciting and effective complement to Harris’s
strong voice that returned the blues to its rural songster roots.
DAVE HOLE
DAVE HOLE - CD, “Short Fuse Blues” Alligator Records, 1992. Dodd CD 189
DAVE HOLE - CD, “Working Overtime” Alligator Records, 1993. Dodd CD 190
DAVE HOLE - CD, “Steel on Steel” Alligator Records, 1995. Dodd CD 191
DAVE HOLE - CD, “Ticket To Chicago” Alligator Records, 1997. Dodd CD 192
DANNY KALB - CD, “Livin’ With The Blues” LegendR Records, 1989.
Dodd CD 193
KEB’ MO’ - CD, no title. Okeh/Epic, 1994. Dodd CD 194
LITTLE CHARLIE and the NIGHTCATS - CD, “Straight Up!” Alligator Records, 1995.
Dodd CD 195
LITTLE CHARLIE and the NIGHTCATS - CD, “Night Vision” Alligator, 1993.
2000-0105/ CD 1938
BOB MARGOLIN - CD, “Down in the Alley”
Alligator, 1993. 2000-0105/CD 1939
275
BOB MARGOLIN - CD, “My Blues & My Guitar” Alligator Records, 1995.
Dodd CD 196
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE
In 1964, when I was in Chicago for Prestige Records I met a young harmonica player
named Charlie Musselwhite who was working behind the counter at Bob Koester’s record shop,
which was also the headquarters of Bob’s Delmark Records. Charlie had just up from Memphis,
where he had taken lessons from Will Shade of the Memphis Jug Ban.d. Charlie Musselwhite
and I listened to bands on the South Side together and when I needed a harmonica player for a
blues album with a new singer named Tracy Nelson I brought Charlie into the session for his first
recording.
Three years later I was back in Chicago as an artist and repertory director for Vanguard
Records, and Charlie was one of the first musicians I signed to a Vanguard contract. When we
went into the studio there were so many difficulties that neither of us wanted to repeat the
experience, and for the rest of his Vanguard years he worked with other producers. Stand Back
was our only album together. He played harmonica for many years, then learned the guitar, and
he tours now playing either instrument. He has had one of the longest and most successful
careers of the new generation of white performers, and he is now considered a blues legend
himself.
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE BLUES BAND - CD, “Stone Blues” Vanguard Records, 1968.
Dodd CD 197
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE BLUES BAND - CD, “Tennessee Woman” Vanguard Records,
1969. Dodd CD 198
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE - CD, “Signature” Alligator Records, 1991. Dodd CD 199
CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE - CD, “In My Time” Alligator Records, 1993.
Dodd CD 200
ANN RABSON - CD, “Music Makin’ Mama” Alligator Records, 1997. Dodd CD 201
JUDY RODERICK - CD, “Woman Blue” Vanguard Records, 1965. Dodd CD 202
SAFFIRE, THE UPPITY BLUES WOMEN - CD “Broadcasting” Alligator Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 203
SAFFIRE - CD, “Old, New, Borrowed & Blue” Alligator Records, 1994. Dodd CD 204
SAFFIRE - CD, “Cleaning House” Alligator Records, 1996. Dodd CD 205
LARRY JOHNSON - CD, “Blues for Harlem” Armadillo Music Ltd., 1999.
2000-0105/CD 1936
276
LARRY JOHNSON - CD, “The Gentle Side of Larry Johnson” Stella Records, 2000.
2000-0105/CD 1937
BRIAN KRAMER - CD, “Where There’s A Will” Self produced, 2005.
2000-0105/CD 1945
Kramer is an expatriate American blues artist who lives with his wife and family in Stockholm,
Sweden. On this CD he is joined on two tracks by guitarist Bob Brozman.
MO BLUES - CD, “For the Road” Prophone, 1997. 2000-0105/CD 1940
A blues band recorded in Sweden, with three Swedish musicians, an American vocalist, and a
pianist from Finland.
ROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND - CD, “Liver at the Wetlands” Dare
Records, 2001. 2000-0105/CD 1941
A unique and exciting blues sound - Randolph plays his leads on a 13 string pedal steel guitar,
which takes him into a new blues world.
MEM SHANNON - CD, “A Cab Driver’s Blues” Hannibal/Rykodisc, 1995.
2000-0105/CD 1942
THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL BAND
When I traveled to Chicago in the summer of 1967 one of the first bands I heard was a
young white blues band playing in a club on Wells Street. The band was a quartet, with Corky
Siegel playing harmonica or electric piano, Jim Schwall guitar or mandolin, Jos Davidson, bass,
and Russ Chadwick, drums. They had a consistent, energetic blues style, and I signed them to a
Vanguard contract. Despite the usual tensions of the 1960s company/artist relationships they
were successful on Vanguard, then went on to do a brilliant series of appearances with the
Boston Symphony Orchestra playing a composition titled “Concerto for Blues Band and
Orchestra” that had been written for them by William Russo. One of my brightest memories of
the band is the confused looks of the audience around me at the Tanglewood Festival, as Corky
stood on the stage blowing - as far as they could tell - into his han.d. His Chicago-style
harmonica was so small that his hand hid it completely, and for most of the audience the wailing
sound that filled the air around the symphony orchestra could have been coming from the sky.
THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL BAND - LP, “Siegel-Schwall ‘70” Vanguard Records, 1970.
Dodd LP 270
CORKY SIEGEL - CD, “Corky Seigel’s Chamber Blues” Alligator Records, 1994.
Dodd CD 206
277
JOHN WESTON & BLUES FORCE - CD, “So Doggone Blue” Fat Possum Records, 1993.
Dodd CD 207
DRIFTWOOD & HOTSPURS - no title, nd. Self produced in Stockholm, Sweden.
2000-0105/CD 1934
“Driftwood” plays many of the instruments, Lennart “Hotspurs” Söderberg plays resonator
guitar, and there is an eclectic back-up group.
COLLECTIONS
GENUINE HOUSE ROCKIN’ MUSIC - CD Alligator Records, 1993. 2000-0105/CD 1943
Artists include:
Koko Taylor
Billy Boy Arnold
Elvin Bishop
Katie Webster
Little Charlie and the Nightcats
Johnny Heartsman
Safire - The Uppity Blues Women
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
Tinsley Ellis
William Clarke
Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
Bob Margolin
Kenny Neal
Maurice John Vaughn
Lonnie Brooke
Charlie Musselwhite
Son Seals
ALLIGATOR RECORDS 25th ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION - Double CD, 1996.
2000-0105/CD 1944a-b
Artists include:
Jimmy Cotton
Albert Collins with Johnny Copeland
William Clarke
Charlie Musselwhite
Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials
C. J- Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band
Maurice John Vaughn
Floyd Dixon
Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang
Cephas & Wiggins
Kenny Neal
Long John Hunter
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Safire - The Uppity Blues Women
Lonnie Mack and Stevie Ray Vaughn
Billy Boy Arnold
Tinsley Ellis
Sugar Blue
Professor Longhair
Koko Taylor
Lonnie Brooks
Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin
Little Charlie and the Nightcats
Luther Allison
Katie Webster
Elvin Bishop
Carey Bell
Lucky Peterson
Dave Hole
Corey Harris
Michael Hill’s Blues Mob
Roy Buchanan with Delbert McClinton
Roy Buchanan
Sonny Boy Williamson
Johnny Winter
Hound Dog Taylor
Fenton Robinson
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
II B8. Zydeco and Related Cajun Sources
II B8a. Cajun Sources
Both of the words that identify these colorful Louisiana musical styles are casual
variations on the French words that are part of the identity of the people who live in these
isolated farms and towns in the western areas of the state. As most people are aware, “Cajun” is
a way of saying “Acadian.” The home for the people in Louisiana now was the island of Acadia,
on the eastern coast of Canada. In 1755 the French colonists were driven off the island by
English invaders, who sold some of the people into slavery, seized their land and property, and
drove the rest into exile. The island was renamed Nova Scotia. Louisiana at that time was
controlled by Spain, but it had been French, and there was still a large French speaking
population. The dispossessed Acadians made their way through the American colonies, or found
ships to carry them to New Orleans, and they moved inlan.d. The culture in the areas where they
settled remained French speaking, and with strong emotional ties to France, even if everyday life
was closely linked to the rural Louisiana economy. A significant difference between their way of
life and that of their neighbors was that they generally didn’t own slaves, and there was a much
more relaxed attitude toward racial differences. For the Acadians the most crucial difference was
French and non-French, not white and non-white as it was everywhere else in the South.
279
Cajuns usually describe their music as an expression of their French heritage, but the
situation is more complex. The language they sing in is the only thing about the music that is
French. When the colonists left France in the early eighteenth century none of the musical styles
that characterize Cajun music existed. The waltz and the two-step both developed decades later.
The small accordion that is characteristic of Cajun music was not invented until the nineteenth
century, and the instrument didn’t appear in Louisiana until it was brought to the area by German
immigrants in the 1830s and 1840s. Some of these same German immigrants moved on to
Texas, where they passed the same accordion on to the Mexican laborers they used for field
labor, along with the waltzes and two-steps that they played on the instrument, with the result
that in both western Louisiana and northern Mexico there is a lively indigenous population with
similar traditions, similar melodies, and a similar affection for small accordions.
The music that is played in Louisiana today also does not have such long traditions. For
the early part of the century the dominant instrument in Cajun music was the violin, and for
rhythm the triangle was used. There was still a tradition of French ballads, and some songs were
adapted to the new dances and the new social conditions, but the music was largely a hybrid. As
Cajun music began to make its way into the commercial main stream the bands were built around
the fiddles, and the accordion almost disappeared. The change came in the 1940s, with the
recordings of a young, half-blind musician named Iry LeJune, who played the accordion, and
whose singing was deeply influenced by the blues idiom of a local African American musician,
Amedie Ardoin. A young record company owner heard about LeJune’s way of wailing his songs,
recorded him in his kitchen on primitive equipment, and released the records for a local market.
The sound quality was poor, but it was immediately obvious that Le June was one of those
unexpected geniuses who completely restructure the tradition they have absorbed, as Robert
Johnson did for the delta blues ten years earlier. Tragically, LeJune was killed in an accident at
the age of 26, but the effect of those first recordings reshaped Cajun music.
Because of the less restrictive racial situation in the Cajun areas it is one of the few areas
of the South where the music of white and black musicians is virtually interchangeable. Amedie
Ardoin, who first recorded in the 1920s, was one of the early stars of Cajun music. His style was
carried on by LeJune, and his son “Boi-Sec” (Dry-stick) Ardoin, then the next key figure in the
development of the accordion was the white musician Nathan Abshire, whose most popular
number was “Pine Grove Blues.” Both white and black Cajun bands sing in French, perform the
same waltzes and two-steps, and often trade off as musicians, even though it wasn’t possible for
them to appear together for public performances until the 1960s. I recorded an album with BoiSec and his family with the fine Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa, and I titled the album simply A
Couple of Cajuns.
Most of the music in the archive reflects the influence that Iry Le June has had on the
contemporary Cajun style, but from the evidence of earlier recordings it is clear that Cajun music
has been changing continually. If there is a tradition, the tradition is best described as perpetual
change. In recent decades the drift has been toward the new Country and Western idiom, and the
steel guitar, which the western bands took over from the Hawaiian novelty groups in the 1930s,
has now become solidly established in the Cajun orchestra. If you were to trace the origins of
Cajun music today you would find that by combining the old-style German accordian, western
swing style violin playing, the blues influenced vocals of Iry Le June, and ringing sound of the
electrified Hawaiian guitar you have defined a traditional way of playing French music.
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INDIVIDUAL PERFORMERS
NATHAN ABSHIRE - LP, “Pine Grove Blues” Swallow Records, n.d. Dodd LP 271
Nathan was a large, gentle man with a drinking problem who sang the blues and played the blues
on his small, button accordian. When I knew him he had a poor paying job supervising the town
dump out in the bayous, but he was admired and respected by his neighbors for his music, even if
they shook their heads over his occasional difficulties getting back from a playing job.
NATHAN ABSHIRE - LP, “Good Times Killin’ Me” Sonet Records, 1978. Dodd LP 272
Produced and annotated by Samuel Charters
ALPHONSE “BOIS-SEC” ARDOIN & CANRAY FONTENOT - LP, “Cajun Blues: Les Blues
Du Bayou” Melodeon Records, 1966. Dodd LP 273
Canray Fontenot played for many years with Boi-Sec, and he was widely regarded as the finest
and most exciting of the French-style African American fiddlers.
LAWRENCE “BLACK” ARDOIN and HIS FRENCH BAND - LP, no title. Arhoolie Records,
1984. Dodd LP 274
This is a group which is moving stylistically from cajun to zydeco, but the use of the fiddle and
the square, button accordian place it still in the cajun style.
THE ARDOIN FAMILY ORCHESTRA with DEWIE BALFA - LP, “A Couple of Cajuns”
Sonet Records, 1981. Dodd LP 275
Produced and annotated by Samuel Charters.
Boi-Sec attempted to turn over the family’s musical traditions to a band made up of his sons,
with Gus Ardoin replacing him on the accordion. After I had done half of an album with the new
orchestra for the series “The Cajuns” Gus was killed in a tractor accident on a back country road,
and, sadly, Boi-Sec picked up his accordian again.
THE BALFA BROTHERS - LP, “Play Traditional Cajun Music” Swallow Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 276
This was the first LP by the Balfa Brothers.
The Balfa Brothers - Dewey, Rodney, and Will - were one of the fine family orchestras that have
characterised so much of southern music. This album is a compilation of singles they recorded
for Floyd Soileau’s company in Ville Platte.
BALFA BROTHERS ORCHESTRA - LP, “Cajun Days” Sonet Records, 1979.
Dodd LP Dodd 277
Produced and annotated by Samuel Charters.
The sessions for the album had to be scheduled over an extended period, due to technical
difficulties and illness, and before the album could be completed two of the brothers, singer and
guitarist Rodney, and violinist Will, were killed in an automobile accident. The album is the last
recording by this distinguished musical family. Dewey Balfa, the informal leader of the
orchestra, and Rodney’s son Tony continued to play as a duet until Dewey’s death from illness.
281
They recorded together with Rocking Dopsie and the Twisters for an album that brought together
the two styles, cajun and zydeco.
HADLEY J. CASTILLE - LP, “Avec son violon Cajun Presente les chansons traditional de la
Louisiane” Kajun Records, 1981. Dodd LP 278
MICHAEL DOUCET - CD, “Beau Solo” Arhoolie Records, 1989. Dodd CD 221
IRY LEJUNE
IRY LeJUNE - LP, “The Legendary Iry LeJune, Vol. 1” Goldband Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 279
IRY LeJUNE - LP, “The Legendary Iry LeJune, Vol. 2” Goldband Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 280
LeJune was born near Church Point, Louisiana, in 1928 and he was taught the accordian by his
father. He suffered from near blindness from childhood, and music for him was a necessity. It
was the only way he could make any kind of living in poor farm country, like so many of the
blind blues artists of the same time. He learned his way of singing and his accordion style from
the recordings and the local appearances of Amedie Ardoin. Eddie Shuler, a musician himself
and owner of Goldband Records described his meeting with LeJune in the notes to these albums.
“When I first met Iry, he was coming up the street with his accordion in a flour sack. In thinking
back it seems a little unreal that this man would one day be the greatest in his field. All of his
contracts were made with a handshake, and with him that was all you needed; for once he made a
deal with you there were no other arrangements. Most of his recordings were recorded at his
home south of Lacassine, La. We would take the tape recorder (after they came out) and set it on
the table in the kitchen.” LeJune was killed in 1954, when he was helping another musician
change a flat tire and another car struck them both, killing him instantly. The first volume of
these LPs contains a short biographical sketch by Mike Ledbitter.
MARC SAVOY - LP, “Oh What A Night” Arhoolie Records, 1981. Dodd LP 281
JO-EL SONNIER - LP, “Cajun Life” Sonet Records, 1980. Dodd LP 282
AMBROSE THIBODEAUX - LP, “More Authentic Acadian French Music” La Louisianne
Records, n.d. Dodd LP 283
RUFUS THIBODEAUX - LP, “A Tribute to Harry Choate” Tribute Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 284
COLLECTIONS
LE GRAN MAMOU: A CAJUN MUSIC ANTHOLOGY, 1928-1941 - CD, The Country Music
Foundation, 1990. Dodd CD 222
282
A general overview of the commercial recordings made in Louisiana by Victor and Bluebird
records. Among the artists included are Leo Soileau, Amedie Ardoin, Falcon Trio, Nathan
Abshire, the Hackberry Ramblers, and Happy Fats.
LOUISIANA CAJUN MUSIC, Vol. 1, FIRST RECORDINGS, THE 1920s - LP, Old-Timey
Records, n.d. Dodd LP 285
LOUISIANA CAJUN MUSIC, Vol. 2, THE EARLY 30’S - LP, Old Timey Records, 1971.
Dodd LP 286
These are excellent introductions to early Cajun music, with transcriptions of the lyrics also
translated into English.
CAJUN HONKY TONK, THE KHOURY RECORDINGS - CD, Arhoolie Records, 1995.
Dodd CD 223
Artists include:
Nathan Abshire
Lawrence Walker
The Texas Melody Boys
Harry Choates
Floyd LeBlanc
The Musical Four Plus One
Vincent & Cagley
Elise Deshotel with Dewey Balfa
Shuk Richard & Marie Falcon
CAJUN FAIS DO-DO - CD, Arhoolie Records, 1995. Dodd CD 224
All the material on the album was recorded by Chris Strachwitz, owner of Arhoolie Records, in
May, 1966.
Artists include:
Nathan Abshire and The Balfa Brothers
Cyp and Adam Landreneau
Ison J. Fontenot & Jerry Devillier
The Breaux Brothers
JAMBALAYA - THE MUSIC OF LOUISIANA, Vol. II - CD, Louisiana Film Commission, 1994.
Dodd CD 225
A promotional CD including music of all styles from Louisiana. Cajun and zydeco artists
include Jo-El Sonnier, D. L. Menard, and Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas.
II B8b. Zydeco
In the same way that “Cajun” is the local way of saying “Acadian,” the other word used to
describe a western Louisiana musical style also has a French background, though the derivation
is more complex. “Zydeco” is a way of pronouncing the beginning of the phrase “les haricots
283
son pas sale” - “the beans aren’t salty.” The phrase was the name of a melody that Frenchspeaking African American musicians in Louisiana played over and over on their accordions.
When the first two words, les haricots - lezarico - were said quickly, they evolved into the name
of a musical style. It was many years before there was any agreement as to the spelling, and in
Louisiana today you still find dance posters with the music spelled as “zordico” or “zodico,”
which certainly have as much claim to being correct as any other spelling of the word. The new
style appealed to Louisiana people who had moved to Houston, and Houston blues man
Lightning Hopkins did an early single of his version of the music with the title “Zologo Blues.”
The piece titled “Les haricots . .” is a repetitive sequence of notes with many of the
characteristics of an African melody, and in its first versions by the new bands it was played
without chord changes and with an insistent rhythm that was reminiscent of African drumming.
As the bands became more sophisticated, and instruments were added to the basic accordion and
rubboard sound, the tune stubbornly remained different from everything else they performed.
Every zydeco band plays it, titling it something like “Doin’ the Zydeco,” or “Zydeco Two-Step,”
and each of them has found its own way to deal with its essential rhythmic formlessness.
Zydeco could be described as an energetic R & B-tinged version of Cajun music. As the
white Cajun bands edged closer and closer to Country and Western, the black Cajun groups
edged away toward the blues. Instead of the steel guitar they added the tenor saxophone, and
they adapted the blues and R & B styled new pieces to the basic Cajun repertoire of waltzes and
two-steps. Zydeco is a new style, emerging in the 1950s, so almost every step in its evolution
found its way on to record. The album on Arhoolie Records, “Zydeco, the Early Years,” listed
below, documents the rough beginnings. The most important figure in the development of
zydeco was the Lafayette musician Clifton Chenier, who composed most of the basic zydeco
repertoire, and created the band style with his line-up of accordion, lead guitar, and saxophone,
bass, drums, and rubboard. He also changed the type of accordion that was used in the bands.
The Cajun musicians play a square button accordion with only limited harmonic possibilities.
Clifton played a keyboard accordion, which was better suited to R & B chord changes and blues
melodies.
The rubboard is also characteristic of zydeco. In the beginning players used a genuine
washboard - just as black musicians throughout the Caribbean used saws and scrapers for a
rasping, percussive rhythm in small dance bands. Clifton’s brother Cleveland, who played
washboard in the band, wore a ridged sheet metal vest which he had made for him at a local
metal shop. For the rhythm he scraped it with a metal beer bottle opener. The vest is called a
“frottoir” and it is standard for every ban.d.
Clifton Chenier began his recording career with local companies, then for many years was
an exclusive artist for Chris Strachwitz and Arhoolie Records. There were many Louisiana
people living in the San Francisco Bay area, where Arhoolie is located, and Chris sponsored
dances featuring Clifton’s ban.d. When sales from Clifton’s singles slumped he became upset
with Strachwitz and began recording with other labels. I produced the album I’m Here with
Clifton in 1983, and we won a Grammy Award that year for the best album in the Ethnic Folk
category. At the same time I was working with another Lafayette zydeco band, Rocking Dopsie
and the Cajun Twisters, and one of the albums we did was nominated for a Grammy award the
next year.
284
FERNEST ARCENEAUX & THE THUNDERS - CD, “Rockin’ Pneumonia”
1991, reissue of material from 1979. Dodd CD 215
Ornament,
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO - LP, “One For The Road” Blues Unlimited, 1979.
Dodd LP 691
Buckwheat began as a keyboard player in Clifton Chenier’s group, then went on his own, first
playing Hammond organ with his band, then teaching himself the accordian. His group played a
more sophisticated, lounge-styled zydeco, which was very popular.
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO - LP, “Take It Easy, Baby” Blues Unlimited, 1980.
Dodd LP 287
J. J. CAILLIER - LP, “Zydeco Train Revue” Caillier Records, 1986. Dodd LP 288
BOOZOO CHAVIS - LP, “Louisiana Zydeco Music” Maison de Soul, 1986. Dodd LP 289
Chavis is an older musician whose band plays a relentless, driven style of zydeco that has been
filling western Louisiana dance floors for the last fifty years. A description of his band could be
“roots” zydeco.
C. J. CHENIER - CD, “Too Much Fun” Alligator, 1995. Dodd CD 216
C. J. Chenier is Clifton’s son, and he took over his father’s band after Clifton’s death from
diabetes. In his first month’s as the band’s leader he struggled to find his own identity, but he
has become one of the most successful of today’s zydeco performers.
C. J. CHENIER - CD, “The Big Squeeze”Alligator, 1996. Dodd CD 217
CLIFTON CHENIER
CLIFTON CHENIER - LP, “Bayou Blues” Sonet/Specialty, 1972. Dodd LP 290
This album of Chenier’s early recordings was licensed from Specialty Records and manufactured
by Sonet Records in Great Britain. Interestingly, one of the songs is from the period when there
was no regularization in the spelling of the style, and it is titled “Zodico Stomp.”
CLIFTON CHENIER - LP, King of Zydeco” Home-Cooking Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 291
CLIFTON CHENIER - LP, “I’m Here” Sonet Records, 1982. Dodd LP 292
Produced and annotated by Samuel Charters. Grammy winner in the Ethnic Folk Music
category, 1984.
CLIFTON CHENIER - LP, “Country Boy . . .” Caillier Records, 1984. Dodd LP 293
See also the Chenier video produced by Arhoolie Records.
THE CREOLE ZYDECO FARMERS - CD, “Live in Louisiana” CMA, 1994. Dodd CD 218
285
JOHN DELAFOSE - LP, “Zydeco Man” Arhoolie, 1980. Dodd LP 294
JOHN DELAFOSE - LP, “Zydeco Excitement” Maison de Soul, 1985. Dodd LP 295
JOHN HART with ROCKING DOPSIE and THE TWISTERS - LP, “The Blowin’ Man”
Sonet Records, 1981. Dodd LP 296
Produced by Samuel Charters, notes by Charters as “Freddie Crozier.”
John Hart played the tenor saxophone with Clifton Chenier for many years, and his playing
established the zydeco tenor style. When Clifton became less able to tour, because of his illness,
John agreed to play on a Rocking Dopsie album with us, and he never left Dopsie’s ban.d.
QUEEN IDA
Queen Ida learned to play in Louisiana, then assembled her band with her brother in the
1960s after they had moved to the Bay area. She is one of the most entertaining of the zydeco
artists, and through her tireless touring she has introduced zydeco to audiences everywhere in the
world.
QUEEN IDA and THE BON TEMPS ZYDECO BAND - LP, “In New Orleans” Sonet Records,
1980. Dodd LP 297
QUEEN IDA - LP, “On Tour” Sonet Records, 1981. Dodd LP 298
QUEEN IDA - LP, “In San Francisco” Sonet Records, 1983. Dodd LP 299
QUEEN IDA - LP, “On A Saturday Night” Sonet Records, 1984. Dodd LP 300
QUEEN IDA - LP, “Caught in the Act!” Sonet Records, 1985. Dodd LP 301
ROCKING DOPSIE
One of the first things that has to be said about Dopsie is that his name is pronounced
Doopsie - “oop,” not “op.” He grew up on a farm outside of Lafayette and taught himself to play
the accordion, but he knew so little about the instrument that he picked it up upside down, and
for the rest of his career he played the keyboard melodies with his left hand moving over the keys
in the opposite direction from the way the accordion was designed. With his right hand he
jabbed rhythmic interjections that gave his music a freely spontaneous, relentless drive. It is
difficult for me to be objective about Dopsie, since I was his producer for almost ten years, and
we spent many late nights in the band’s van as he drove us back from dances in Houston or Lake
Charles or New Orleans and I kept him awake talking about music and the road and the dance
they’d just played and anything else I could think of. Dopsie threw himself so completely into
his music that I remember one night seeing wet footprints on the stage. He was sweating so
profusely that the sweat had soaked through his shoes. After Chenier’s death Dopsie arranged to
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have himself crowned “King of Zydeco” by the mayor of Lafayette, and Sonet Records obliged
by buying him a crown.
He had worked for so many years as a day laborer, while he played his music at night, that he
strained his heart, and he began to lose his rough voice. He suffered first a serious heart attack,
then, while he still was trying to go on touring with his band, a final, fatal attack.
It was Dopsie and the band that supplied a backing track of their version of “My
Josephine” for the zydeco selection on Paul Simon’s Graceland album. Simon was sent the track
by Mark Miller, and he improvised a lyric over it, utilizing elements of the melody. Despite
efforts to have Dopsie receive royalties for the use of the track, Simon refused to make any
payment beyond the small studio fee he had paid at the time.
ROCKIN’ DOPSIE & THE TWISTERS - LP, “Doin’ The Zydeco” Sonet Records, 1976.
Dodd LP 302
This was Dopsie’s first album, recorded in three hours in a basic, bare studio in Baton Rouge.
ROCKIN’ DOPSIE - LP, “Zy-De-Blue” Sonet Records, 1977. Dodd LP 307
ROCKING DOPSIE and HIS CAJUN TWISTERS - LP, “Hold On!” Sonet Records, 1979.
Dodd LP 303
It was with this album - recorded on a Sunday afternoon in Mark Miller’s studio in Crowley that John Hart joined the band, and he stayed with Dopsie until Dopsie’s death.
ROCKING DOPSIE - LP, “Big Bad Zydeco” Sonet Records, 1980. Dodd LP 304
ROCKING DOPSIE with DEWEY BALFA, TONY BALFA, JAY PELSIA - LP, “Steamin’ and
Stompin’ French Style” Sonet Records, 1981. Dodd LP 305
This album, which we rehearsed in a work shed at the back of an isolated farm, brought the cajun
and the zydeco style together in a session that was enthusiastic and energetic, even if the two
styles proved to be less comfortable with each other than we had expected.
ROCKING DOPSIE - LP, “Good Rockin’” Sonet Records, 1983. Dodd LP 306
All of the Sonet albums by Rocking Dopsie were produced by Samuel Charters. Good Rockin’
was a Grammy nominee.
ROCKIN’ DOPSIE - LP, “Saturday Night Zydeco” Maison de Soul, 1988.
Dodd LP 308
ROCKIN’ DOPSIE JR. & THE ZYDECO TWISTERS - CD, “Feet Don’t Fail Me Now” AIM,
1995. Dodd CD 219
Rockin’s Dopsie Jr. is Dopsie’s oldest son, another son continued as the band’s drummer, and a
third son is now playing accordian.
SAM BROTHERS 5 - LP, no title. Arhoolie Records, 1979. Dodd LP 309
This was a young group, all brothers, which had considerable success in Louisiana festivals when
zydeco music was at its most popular.
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COLLECTIONS
LA LA, LOUISIANA BLACK FRENCH MUSIC - LP, Maison de Soul, 1977.
Dodd LP 310
Although there are two groups listed on the LP, The Carrere Brothers and The Lawtell Playboys,
the Carreres are members of the Playboys. The music is country zydeco.
ZYDECO, Volume One, The Early Years - CD, Arhoolie Records, 1962, CD, 1989.
Dodd CD 220
Artists include:
McZiel & Gernger
Sidney Babineaux
Albert Chevalier
George Alberts
Peter King & Hebert
Willie Green
Herbert Sam
Clifton Chenier
Clarence Garlow
II B9. New Orleans Jazz Revival
Although mainstream jazz and contemporary experimental jazz has not been included in
the archive collection, New Orleans music today functions more as a vernacular folk style than it
does as a jazz idiom, and it seems appropriate to include it here. When the jazz audience began
to split in the so-called “moldy fig” wars of the 1950s, New Orleans music was one of the two
polarities that helped to divide both the critical establishment and jazz lovers themselves. As
jazz changed after its success in the swing era, it became technically more demanding and in
terms of harmony and melodic material more complex. Progressive jazz - bebop - had arrived,
and not all of the jazz world was that excited. At the same time that bop was taking shape
uptown in Manhattan, downtown at the Stuyvesant Casino a group of New Orleans veterans
opened an extended engagement, led by a trumpeter named Bunk Johnson, who claimed to have
played with the first jazz band in the 1890s and to have been a teacher of Louis Armstrong. It
was Armstrong who had sent researchers looking for Johnson, so it seemed reasonable that the
other claim might also be true - that he had played with Buddy Bolden’s orchestra. Whatever the
historical justification the band caused a storm of debate, was the subject of considerable media
attention, made a series of very successful recordings, and then returned to New Orleans.
In New Orleans at the same time a researcher named William Russell had started his own
record company, American Music, to document the veteran New Orleans musicians. Russell had
very definite ideas about how he felt the music should sound, and he was responsible for fixing
the older-styled trumpet, trombone, clarinet line-up, accompanied by bass, banjo, and drums, that
became the characteristic of the New Orleans revival bands. When I first went to New Orleans in
1950 most of the neighborhood bands used saxophones and electric guitars, but when the New
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Orleans Revival began in earnest a few years later it was the older style, encouraged by Russell
that became the standard. In the New Orleans Uptown neighborhoods, with their young black
audiences, everyone had moved on to Rhythm & Blues, so there wasn’t much concern about
what was happening in the taverns and clubs with music for middle-aged whites dancers.
To complicate the confusion that was shaking the jazz establishment there were gifted
musicians in New Orleans, particularly clarinetist George Lewis, and even if what they were
playing didn’t have any real relationship to what was being played in New York there was
musical value in what they were doing. A young English musician, Acker Bilk, had a world
wide hit re-recording one of Lewis’ plaintive clarinet solo pieces. What was obvious was that if
what the progressive bands on 52nd Street were playing was jazz, then the music in New Orleans
couldn’t be jazz at all. The argument advanced that far and it has largely stayed stuck at that
point. What has happened is that the critical world of jazz, based on the younger New York
musicians, has promoted music of increasing complexity that has almost as little relationship to
the popular jazz of the 1930s as the New Orleans style - while the pleasant, melodic music of the
New Orleans bands is probably the most wide-spread vernacular African American music in the
world. There are thousands of band everywhere playing in this style. A European city like
Stockholm has twenty-five bands playing regularly in several popular clubs. Copenhagen has a
yearly summer jazz festival with New Orleans style bands playing on street corner stages.
Virtually every week in the United States there is a festival somewhere for the music. All of this
activity is rigorously ignored by the jazz establishment, and the New Orleans style bands just as
resolutely avoid the main line critics. The new free jazz and avant-garde jazz artists sell so few
copies of their recordings that jazz has ceased to have any commercial importance in the record
market, and the younger New York musicians are now involved in efforts to return to at least the
styles of the 1950s to find some of their old audience, but the New Orleans revival bands play to
festival audiences that can number in the tens of thousands. There is probably no way now to
resolve the controversy that has beset jazz for almost half a century.
Much of the New Orleans music in the archive was recorded in New Orleans in the 1950s,
with many of the Russell sessions included. My own first major documentary project was a five
volume survey of New Orleans music that was released on Folkways Records in 1958-1959, and
I recorded New Orleans dance hall bands and classic style blues singers between 1954 and 1958.
All of this was part of the research for my first book, Jazz: New Orleans, 1885-1957, a
biographical dictionary of the black musicians working in the city during those years. How
would I define New Orleans jazz today? I would describe it as a vernacular dance music based
on European American popular song, but performed with elements of collective improvisation
and instrumental paraphrase that have clear African American elements. I would also describe it
as music that communicates a high level of pleasure, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, made
up of whichever New Orleans musicians are available to go on tour at that moment, is one of the
most popular concert attractions in America.
Whatever the debate ultimately will resolve about the place of the new New Orleans music
in the history of jazz there is no disagreement over the musical delights of the New Orleans jazz
marching bands, and in recent years there has been a revitalization of their music through the
interest of young African American musicians who have taken up the old marching styles and
fused them with newer melodic material and more modern rhythms. My own major recording
project in the 1950s was an album with the Eureka Brass Band, the most respected of the city’s
bands during those years, and the archive also has examples of many of the younger bands.
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THE NEW ORLEANS RECORDINGS
EMILE BARNES, 1946 - CD, “The Very First Recordings” American Music, 1997,
recorded in 1946-1953 by Sam Ruvidich and Charles Bowler, and John Bernard.
Dodd CD 226
EMILE BARNES - LP, “Dauphine Street Jam Session, Emile Barnes, Early Recordings, Vol. 1
(1951) Folkways Records, 1983. Dodd LP 325
EMILE BARNES - LP, “Early Recordings, Vol 2 (1951-1952) Folkways Records, 1983, both
albums recorded by Alden Ashforth & David Wycoff. Dodd LP 326
BARNES/BOCAGE BIG FIVE - CD, “1954” American Music, 1996, recorded by James
McGarrell, 1954.
Dodd CD 227
The leaders are Emile Barnes, clarinet, and Peter Bocage, trumpet.
PETER BOCAGE - LP, “Peter Bocage with his Creole Serenaders” Riverside Records, 1961.
Dodd LP 327
Peter Bocage, veteran trumpeter and violinist, is featured on both sides of this LP. On the second
side the group has a different personnel and the title of the side is Peter Bocage with the LoveJiles Ragtime Orchestra. Bocage is the violinist on these instrumentals. The album is one of the
series New Orleans: The Living Legends.
OSCAR “PAPA” CELESTIN and HIS NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND - LP, “The Radio
Broadcasts, 1950-1951” Folklyric Records, 1981. Dodd LP 328
Celestin’ band, including Alphonse Picou and Bill Mathews, plays on one side of the LP, George
Lewis’s band from the same period - see below - performs on the other.
KID CLAYTON - LP, “The First Kid Clayton Session: 1952” Folkways Records, 1983,
recorded in New Orleans by Alden Ashforth & David Wycoff. Dodd LP 329
BABY DODDS - LP, “Talking and Drum Solos” Folkways Records, 1959.
Recorded and annotated by Frederic Ramsey Jr. Dodd LP 330
THE DECEMBER BAND, Vol. I - LP, no title. GHB Records, 1985 Dodd LP 331
Musicians include Kid Thomas, Jim Robinson, John Handy, and Sammy Penn
THE DECEMBER BAND, Vol. II - LP, no title. GHB Records, 1985. Dodd LP 332
THE EAGLE BRASS BAND - LP, “The Last of the Line” GHB Records, 1983, recorded and
annotated by Alden Ashforth. Dodd LP 333
THE EUREKA BRASS BAND - Double CD, “In Rehearsal” American Music, 1999.
Recorded in 1956 and annotated by Samuel Charters. Dodd CD 228
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THE EUREKA BRASS BAND – audio cassette, 1/12/1956 2000-0105/AC 908
THE EUREKA BRASS BAND – audio cassette, 1/26/1956 2000-0105/AC 909
KID HOWARD/Punch Miller - CD, “Prelude to the Revival, Vol.1” American Music, 1992.
Dodd CD 229
Although the album is packaged as a Kid Howard recording from 1937, the CD is a collection of
several recordings done in New Orleans, or by New Orleans musicians between 1937 and 1941.
Artists included:
Kid Howard’s Band
Andy Anderson’s Pelican State Jazz Band
Duke Derbigny’s Orchsetra
Joe Thomas’ Dixieland Band
Punch Miller’s Band
BUNK JOHNSON - CD, “In San Francisco” American Music, 1991, recordings 1941-1943.
Dodd CD 230
Includes seven titles with Kid Ory’s Creole Jazz Ban.d.
BUNK JOHNSON - LP, “Bunk Johnson’s Brass & Dance Band” Storyville, n.d.
Dodd LP 334
Recorded by William Russell and originally released on his American Music label, 1945-1946.
BUNK JOHNSON - CD, “Bunk Johnson Plays Popular Songs” American Music, 1997,
recorded 1944-1946 by William Russell. Dodd CD 231
The first recordings of Bunk Johnson, made by Mary Karoley in February, 1942, are included in
the CD by Kid Rena listed below.
GEORGE LEWIS - CD, “The George Lewis Band at Herbert Otto’s Party, 1949” American
Music, 1993, recorded in 1949 by Herbert Otto, with two tracks recorded by Robert Greenwood.
Dodd CD 232
GEORGE LEWIS - CD, “George Lewis at Manny’s Tavern, 1949” American Music, 1995,
recorded by Johnny Wiggs, 1949. Dodd CD 233
HERB MORAND - CD, “1949” American Music, 1993, recorded in 1949 by William Russell
and Herbert Otto. Dodd CD 234
BIG EYE LOUIS NELSON - CD, “1949 Sessions & Live at Luthjens” American Music, 1992,
recorded in 1949 by William Russell and Herberty Otto. Dodd CD 235
DOC PAULIN - LP, “Doc Paulin’s Marching Band” Folkways Records, 1982, recorded in
1980 by Alden Ashforth and David Wycoff. Dodd LP 335
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REBIRTH JAZZ BAND - LP, “Here To Stay” Arhoolie Records, recorded by Chris Strachwitz,
1984. Dodd LP 336
Strachwitz included a personal note on the LP jacket - “This is a ‘Live’ recording made at
Grease Lounge in New Orleans! I suggest you play side 2 first because I did a better job of
recording the band on that 2nd day!”
KID RENA - CD, “Kid Rena - 1940, Prelude to the Revival, Vol. II” American Music, 1992,
recorded in 1940 by Heywood Hale Broun Jr. Dodd CD 236
This is the first “revival” recording made in New Orleans, and it was a conscious effort to
document some of the older musicians first mentioned in the book Jazzmen, published in 1939.
One of the clarinetists was Alphonse Picou, who was credited with improvising the famous
clarinet chorus on “High Society March” that became standard for New Orleans musicians. It is
interesting that “Woody” Broun, who sponsored the session, was the only African American who
has played a role in the basic research into the roots of jazz. Included on the CD are the first
recordings by Bunk Johnson.
TREME BRASS BAND - CD, “Gimme My Money Back” Arhoolie, 1995, recorded in 1993 by
Jerry Brock and Chris Strachwitz. On four of the titles the band includes two unidentified
Japanese tourists playing banjo and piano. Dodd CD 237
NEW ORLEANS STYLE IN JAPAN
BLACK BOTTOM BRASS BAND - CD, “New Orleans Magic” Pony Canyon Inc, 1998.
Dodd CD 238
The band is from Osaka, Japan, and for the session in New Orleans Bo Dollis of the Wild
Magnolias was added for two vocals.
COLLECTIONS
THE JOHN REID COLLECTION, 1940-1944 - CD, American Music, 1995, recorded 1940-1944
by John D. Reid. Musicians include Sidney Bechet, Peter Bocage, Alphonse Picou, and George
Baquet. Dodd CD 239
NEW ORLEANS 1946 - CD, American Music, 1994, recorded in 1946 by Rudi Blesh.
Dodd CD 240
Artists include:
The Original Zenith Brass Band
Eclipse Alley Five - musicians include George Lewis and Jim Robinson
Avery-Tillman Band
THE MUSIC OF NEW ORLEANS
This set of five LPs was compiled and edited by Samuel Charters from material recorded
in New Orleans over a period of four years, beginning in the spring of 1954 and ending with the
recording of the Eureka Brass Band in the spring of 1958, and from material licensed to
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Folkways by Alden Ashforth and David Wycoff. The albums were released by Folkways
Records out of sequence, with Volume 2, by the Eureka Brass Band, released first. Much of the
recording was done in conjunction with research for the book by Charters, Jazz: New Orleans,
which was published in 1958.
SOUNDS OF NEW ORLEANS
This series of albums documents the better known traditional jazz musicians active in
New Orleans between 1950 and 1956. The material for the series was recorded in New Orleans
or later licensed from other sources by Karl Emil Knudsen, a Danish jazz enthusiast who is the
owner of Storyville Records in Copenhagen. The albums were beautifully produced, and
included, in a double album jacket, notes by jazz historian Chris Albertson, artists’ photographs,
historical material, and recipes. The albums, unfortunately, were released at close to the end of
the LP era, so few collectors were fortunate enough to see them in their original presentation.
Vol. 1 - Paul Barbarin and his Band, Percy Humphrey’s Jam Session Dodd LP 337
Vol. 2 - Johnny Wiggs Dodd LP 338
Vol. 3 - Albert Burbank with Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band Dodd LP 339
Vol. 4 - Sharkey Bonano Live at the Perez Club Dodd LP 340
Vol. 5 - Alvin Alcorn Dodd LP 341
Vol. 6 - George Girard Dodd LP 342
Vol. 7 - George Lewis and his New Orleans Jazzband Dodd LP 343
Vol. 8 - Sharkey Bonano at Lenfant’ Lounge Dodd LP 344
Vol. 9 - Kid Ory and his Creole Jazz Band Dodd LP 345
Vol. 10 - New Orleans Trumpets - with Ernie Cagnolatti, Alvin Alcorn, Lee Collins,Oscar
“Papa” Celestin, Percy Humphrey, Johnny Wiggs, Sharkey Bonano,George
Hartman, Johnny Bayersdorffer, and George Girard Dodd LP 346
LPs, the series was released by Storyville Records, 1988
504 RECORDS
Documents of the New Orleans Jazz Revival
For more than thirty years Mike Dine has been releasing recordings of this traditional
musical style on his own small independent record label 504 Records. Dine is one of a
generation of English enthusiasts who have made the music of the New Orleans jazz revival the
center of their lives, Their fervent interest in the traditional jazz style began in the late 1940s
and it continues today, despite the widespread damage to the city in the hurricane and flood of
2005 and the death of many of the older musicians. What Dine has documented with his CDs is
the emotional response of a stream of travelers who have come to New Orleans to play the music
themselves or to make recordings of the veteran artists they found who were still performing.
Many of the sessions were produced by Dine himself, but many others were produced sometime
during the last fifty years by other people who shared his enthusiasm. One memorable session
with the Olympia Brass Band in 1968 was recorded by Charlie Crump outdoors in London in
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front of St.Martin’s in the Fields Church in Trafalgar Square and on the steps of St. Paul’s
cathedral.
There has been a flood of similar recordings on a number of labels with many of the same
artists, but what gives the 504 label its unique importance is its rich documentation of musicians
and bands in Great Britain that were inspired to play in the New Orleans style. Ken Colyer was
the first English musician to travel to New Orleans in the 1950s and sit on the same bandstand
with the legendary names, and in conjunction with the The Ken Colyer Trust, which is dedicated
to preserving his recordings, 504 has released a number of the important early sessions, as well as
the recordings from a concert by Ken playing once again with the formative English group, The
Crane River Jazz Band.
Also of importance for anyone interested in the English jazz revival is the live concert by
trumpeter Bob Wallis and his band, DJCD-002. Wallis was one of the most colorful figures of
the movement, but his career was cut short by illness and there were only a few sessions that
capture Wallis’s raw stage presence and his rapport with his audiences.
Dine has also released the informal tapes recorded by the art gallery owner Larry
Borenstein who encouraged the loose jam sessions in his gallery that become the inspiration for
the opening of the New Orleans jazz attraction Preservation Hall. On Volume 15 from the
Borenstein tapes (CD 44) can be heard a very young but enthusiastic Sam Charters who had no
idea that the impromptu session with a friend, trumpeter Punch Miller, was being recorded.
The CDs have been presented to the Archive by Dine and by Tom Stagg, who distributes
504 Records in the United States, and also presents a wide ranging sample of the New Orleans
musical culture in his shop “New Orleans Music” in the French Quarter.
An illustrated catalog of 504 Label is also included in the Archive.
THE 504 LABEL
504 CDS 6 - MICHAEL WHITE’S NEW ORLEANS MUSIC. 2000-0105/CD 1947
504 CDS 7 (Two CDs) - KID THOMAS & LOUIS NELSON - Live at the 100 Club
with the New Iberia Stompers. 2000-0105/CD 1948
504 CDS 8 - WENDELL EUGENE’S NEW ORLEANS BAND. 2000-0105/CD 1949
504 CDS 9 - PAUL BARBARIN and His New Orleans Band. 2000-0105/CD 1950
504 CDS 10 - YOUNG TUXEDO BRASS BAND N. O. LA. 2000-0105/CD 1951
504 CDS 11 - MICHAEL WHITE & HIS LIBERTY STREET 5 & 3. 2000-0105/CD 1952
504 CDS 16 - PETE FOUNTAIN and his Basin Street Six. 2000-0105/CD 1953
504 CDS 18 - LIONEL FERBOS and THE CREOLE SWINGERS. 2000-0105/CD 1954
504 CDS 20 - RELIGIOUS RECORDINGS from BLACK NEW ORLEANS, 1924 – 1931.
2000-0105/CD 1955
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504 CDS 21 - KID SHEIK with CHARLIE LOVE and HIS CADO JAZZ BAND 1960.
2000-0105/CD 1956
504 CDS 23 - KEN COLYER: The Unknown New Orleans Sessions with Raymond
Burke 1952-1953. 2000-0105/CD 1957
504 CDS 27 - RAYMOND BURKE and CIÉ FRAZIER with BUTCH THOMPSON
in NEW ORLEANS . 2000-0105/CD 1958
504 CDS 28 - SIX & SEVEN EIGHTHS STRING BAND of New Orleans La. 2000-0105/CD
1959
504 CDS 30 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 1. 2000-0105/Cd 1960
Kid Thomas’ Dixieland Band 1957 with Ed Washington
504 CDS 31 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 2. 2000-0105/CD 1961
Willie Pajeaud’s New Orleans Band 1955, Kid Thomas’ Dixieland Band 1957
504 CDS 32 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 3. 2000-0105/CD 1962
Isidore ‘Tuts’ Washington
504 CDS 33 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 4. 2000-0105/CD 1963
Kid Thomas’ Dixieland Band 1960 with Emanuel Paul
504 CDS 34 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 5. 2000-0105/CD 1964
Punch Miller’s New Orleans Band 1957
504 CDS 35 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 6. 2000-0105/CD 1965
A New Orleans Anthology: 726 St. Peter New Orleans La. 1955-1961
504 CDS 36 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 7. 2000-0105/CD 1966
Billie & Dee Dee Pierce with Kid Thomas Valentine - 1960
504 CDS 37 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 8. 2000-0105/CD 1967
Kid Thomas’ Dixieland Band 1957 with Ed Washington
504 CDS 38 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 9. 2000-0105/CD 1968
Noon Johnson‘s Bazooka Band, Noon Johnson with Kid Thomas, and Lemon Nash
504 CDS 39 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 10. 2000-0105/CD 1969
Billie and Dee Dee Pierce - 1960 & with Kid Thomas Valentine
504 CDS 40 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 11. 2000-0105/CD 1970
Punch Miller’s New Orleans Band, 1957 and with Ed Washington
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504 CDS 41 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 12. 2000-0105/CD 1971
Kid Thomas’s Dixieland Band 1957 with Ed Washington
504 CDS42 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 13. 2000-0105/CD 1972
Babe Stovall, 1958 – 1964.
504 CDS 44 - The LARRY BORENSTEIN COLLECTION - Volume 15. 2000-0105/CD 1973
PUNCH MILLER’S BIG 3, NEW ORLEANS BAND, BIG 2 and SOLO TRUMPET
504 CDS 48 - PAUL BARBARIN and His New Orleans Band in Concert, 1951-1959.
2000-0105/CD 1974
504 CDS 50 - GEORGE LEWIS with Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen 1957. 2000-0105/CD 1977
The Famous Manchester Free Trade Hall Concert -Rehearsal and opening half
504 CDS 51 - GEORGE LEWIS with Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen 1957. 2000-0105/CD 1976
The Famous Manchester Free Trade Hall Concert - 2nd Half
504 CDS 52 - GEORGE LEWIS with Ken Colyer’s Jazzmen 1959 - Live in Germany.
2000-0105/CD 1975
504 CDS 53 - KEN COLYER in NEW ORLEANS: The Complete 1953 Recordings.
2000-0105/CD 1978
504 CDS 54 - OSCAR ‘PAPA’ CELESTIN and his Original Tuxedo Jazz Band - 1949 - 1953.
2000-0105/CD 1979
504 CDS 55 A JAZZ FRIENDS PRODUCTION - THE NEW ORLEANS JAZZ WIZARDS.
2000-0105/CD 1980
504 CD 57 – LEON PRIMA, SHARKEY BONANO. Live In Concert, 1948 and 1949.
2000-0105/CD 2021
504 CDS 58 - THE GEORGE LEWIS RAGTIME BAND In Concert 1959
Manchester Free Trade Hall Opening House. 2000-0105/CD 1981
504 CDS 59 - THE GEORGE LEWIS RAGTIME BAND In Concert 1959
Manchester Free Trade Hall Second House. 2000-0105/CD 1982
504 CDS 64 - ALVIN ALCORN with THE NEW IBERIA STOMPERS 1973-1974.
2000-0105/CD 1983
504 CDS 65 - BRIAN CARRICK with Waldron “Frog” Joseph and his New Orleans Boys.
2000-0105/CD 1984
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504 CDS 67 - SWEET EMMA BARRETT and her Bell Boys, Mardi Gras 1960 – Live.
2000-105/CD 1985
504 CDS 68 - CUFF BILLETT - SAM RIMINGTON INTERNATIONAL ALL-STAR
JAZZ BAND at ALGIERS POINT – LOUISIANA. 2000-0105/CD 1986
504 CDS 69 (Two CDs) - THE GEORGE LEWIS RAGTIME BAND LIVE in CONCERT 1963. 2000-105/CD 1987
504 CDS 70 - TOPSY CHAPMAN with BRIAN CARRICK and his NEW ORLEANS
HERITAGE JAZZ BAND. 2000-0105/CD 1988
504 CDS 74 - SAM RIMINGTON’S INTERNATIONAL ALL STARS ‘Live In-Store’ at the
Louisiana Music Factory, New Orleans. 2000-0105/CD 1989
504 CDS 75 - JOHN ’KID’ SIMMONS INTERNATIONAL ALL STARS ‘Live In-Store’ at the
Louisiana Music Factory, New Orleans. 2000-0105/CD 1990
504 CSD 76 - WALTER PAYTON and the SNAP BEAN BAND ’Live In-Store’ at the
Louisiana Music Factory. 2000-0105/CD 1991
504 CDS 77 - WALTER PAYTON’S GUMBO FILÉ BAND ’Live In-Store’ at the Louisiana
Music Factory. 2000-0105/CD 1992
504 CDS 80 - REG KOELLER’S NEW ORLEANS HOT SHOTS. 2000-0105/CD 1993
504 CDS 81 - NEW ORLEANS GOSPEL QUARTETS 1947-1956. 2000-0105/CD 1994
Jackson Gospel Singers, Famous Soul Comforters, Southern Harps, Famous Four, New Orleans
Humming Four, Delta Southernaires, Southern Revivalists, New Orleans Chosen Five, Zion
Harmonizers, Crescent City Gospel Singers
504 CDS 82 - ‘TEXAS SAM MOONEY and his SUNSHINE BAND. 20000-105/CD 1995
504 CDS 83 - LINNZI ZAORSKI and DELTA ROTALE ‘Line In-Store’ at the Lousiana
Music Factory. 2000-0105/CD 1996
504 CDS 84 - FRANK OXLEY’S LOUISIANA MOONSHINE BAND. 2000-0105/CD 1997
504 CDS 85 (Two CDs) - KID ORY and HIS CREOLE JAZZBAND, Live at the Beverly
Cavern – 1949. 2000-0105/CD 1998
504 CDS 86 (Two CDs) - KID ORY and HIS CREOLE JAZZ BAND, Live at the Beverly
Cavern - 1949, Discs 3 & 4. 2000-0105/CD 2000
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504 CDS 87 - KID ORY and HIS CREOLE JAZZ BAND, Live at the Beverly Cavern 1949, Disc 5. 2000-0105/CD 1999
504 CDS 88 - SHIRLEY ALEXANDER with BRIAN CARRICK and His New Orleans
Heritage Jazz Band. 2000-0105/CD 2001
Nola CD 89 - DEJAN’S OLYMPIA BRASS BAND – 1968. 2000-0105/CD 2002
CD 90 - DWAYNE BURNS and HIS NEW ORLEANS BAND. 2000-0105/CD 2003
504 RELEASES IN CONJUNCTION WITH ‘LORD RICHARD’ EKIN
504/La Croix CD 91 - The LORD RICHARD NEW ORLEANS SESSIONS - Volume 1.
2000-0105/CD 2004
LOUIS NELSON, 1967 with the ‘KID MARTYN BAND and MARTYN’S EAGLE BRASS
BAND, featuring DAN PAWSON
504/La Croix CD 92 - The LORD RICHARD NEW ORLEANS SESSIONS - Volume 2.
2000-0105/CD 2005
KID THOMAS VALENTINE, 1961 & 1968
504/La Croix CD 93 - The LORD RICHARD NEW ORLEANS SESSIONS - Volume 3.
2000-0105/CD 2006
DAN PAWSON, 1966-1971 - A TRIBUTE
504/La Croix CD 94 - The LORD RICHARD NEW ORLEANS SESSIONS - Volume 4.
2000-0105/CD 2007
BILLIE AND DEDE PIERCE, 1967
504/La Croix CD 95 - The LORD RICHARD NEW ORLEANS SESSIONS - Volume 5.
2000-0105/CD 2008
LOUIS JAMES, 1967 & JOHN HANDY, 1966
504/La Croix CD 96 - The LORD RICHARD NEW ORLEANS SESSIONS Volume 6. 2000-0105/CD 2009
DAN DAWSON, 1971-1988
504 CDS 100 (Two CDs) - THE ’504’ RECORDS STORY - 1978- 2003. 2000-0105/CD 2010a-c
504 CDS 101 - THE ‘504’ RECORDS STORY – LAGNIAPPE. 2000-0105/CD 2010a-c
504 CDS 102 - DWAYNE BURNS and HIS NEW ORLEANS BAND. 2000-0105/CD 2011
504 CDS 103 - ALLEN TOUSSAINT
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I Love a Carnival Ball. 2000-0105/CD 2012
504 CDS 104 - ST. AUGUSTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH of NEW ORLEANS and
BRIAN CARRICK’S NEW ORLEANS HERITAGE BAND. 2000-0105/CD 2013
504 CD 105 - BILLIE and DEE DEE PIERCE LIVE AT LUTHJENS, 1953. 2000-0105/Cd
2014
DINE-A-MITE JAZZ a division of 504 RECORDS
Albums 1, 3, and 4 released in cooperation with the Ken Colyer Trust
DJCD-001 - KEN COLYER’S JAZZMEN in Concert – 1959. 2000-0105/CD 2015
DJCD-002 (Two CDs) - BOB WALLIS & THE STORYVILLE JAZZMEN Live in
Leipzig – 1976. 2000-0105/CD 2016
DJCD-003 - KEN COLYER’S JAZZMEN Live at the 51 Club – 1960. 2000-0105/CD 2017
DJCD-004 - THE CRANE RIVER JAZZ BAND Live at the 100 Club – 1976. 2000-0105/CD
2018
DJCD-005 - SAM RIMINGTON and the BARRY ’KID’ MARTYN RAGTIME
BAND ALUMNI featuring CUFF BILLETT. 2000-0105/CD 2019
DJCD-006 - THE NEW IBERIA STOMPERS. 2000-0105/CD 202
II B10. Ragtime
The beginnings of jazz have always been associated with New Orleans, just as the first
sound of the blues has been placed in Mississippi. Ragtime is music from the Midwest, and not
only is there a long history of string band and parlor music in Missouri that prepared the way for
ragtime, three of the four most important ragtime composers, Scott Joplin, James Scott, and Tom
Turpin all began their careers in Missouri towns. Joplin’s first great hit, “Maple Leaf Rag,” was
written and published in Sedalia, and James Scott spent most of his musical career living quietly
in Carthage, Missouri, composing his rags, giving piano lessons and playing in the local theater.
Turpin ran a St. Louis saloon, where he was one of the city’s colorful personalities.
There are hints of ragtime in the early published “Ethiopian” quadrilles which are also in
the archive, but all the evidence from local Midwest African American newspapers of the 1880s
emphasises the string band sources and the role of the parlor pianists, usually young women, who
took over some of the melodies and turned them into piano pieces. For a few years the new style
was considered simply as a way of performing familiar songs in “ragged” time - which meant
syncopation. Then at the end of the 1890s the first compositions in “ragtime” appeared,
instrumental piano pieces which had a distinctive rhythmic and harmonic character. Ragtime
was different, but at the same time its listeners found much about it that was familiar. The rags
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used the form of the popular marches of the period - an opening sixteen bar melody which
repeats, a second sixteen bar strain which is also repeated, then a modulation and a trio in a
different key, and back to the original key for a sixteen bar rhythmic finale, which also repeated.
Everyone knew where they were with ragtime, and they loved it. The melodies had a new
tonality, and even though the harmonic resolutions were familiar the voicings of the chords was
different. Played as written, ragtime had a rhythmic momentum which was very effective for
dancing, and it was soon a feature of every social dance program.
Ragtime was fortunate to have a stubborn, convinced publisher named John Stark, who
believed that he had found the music of the future. He encouraged Joplin and Scott, both of
whom he published, to compose rags that were much more difficult than the usual parlor pieces,
and he defended his music and his composers in colorful advertising prose. Thanks to Stark
there is an extensive piano literature of what is called “classic ragtime,” and he continued to
publish music he believed in even after a flood of novelty ragtime and thin ragtime songs had
worn down the enthusiasm of the ragtime audience. It was not until the 1940s and the 1950s, and
the beginning of the ragtime revival that Stark’s faith in the music was justified.
Ragtime was unfortunate in one way - it came too early for documentation on phonograph
records. The sound quality of the early recording machines was so poor that the companies used
pianos only as accompaniment. There was another form of reproduction, the player piano, and
many ragtime pieces appeared on piano rolls. The rolls had much better sound quality, but often
they were stiff and monotonous. Most of them were cut by machine - that is, a workman simply
spread out the roll, marked it with the notes from the piano score, then cut the holes in the paper,
often adding embellishments that couldn’t be played by a performer. There were also hand
played rolls, and they had more spontaneity. Joplin himself had an opportunity to preserve some
of his own compositions on rolls.
Ragtime was so engaging that it managed to insinuate itself into nearly every style of
American popular music, and it was also used by composers like Satie, Milhaud, Stravinsky and
Gershwin to create a new classical idiom. With the revival of interest in ragtime in the 1970s
there was a new assessment of Joplin’s genius, and he is now considered a serious American
composer - a judgement which John Stark would emphatically endorse.
As is evident from the amount of ragtime material in the archive, ragtime has been a
serious interest for many years. I first heard it played in the mid-1940s, and the first recording
project I ever conceived - in 1951 - was an album of Joplin’s rags with a flower in the title. The
album would be called “A Joplin Bouquet.” I was finally able to record it in 1958, with Ann
Danberg - who in a few months would be Ann Charters - as the pianist. It was the first time his
music had been played as he had insisted - with all the notes as he’d written them and at
reasonable tempos. In 1959 we recorded a documentary album with the last of great ragtime
composers, Joseph Lamb, who was living close to us in Brooklyn. In 1965 we were able to
record the first excerpts from Joplin’s opera Treemonisha with the Utah State Concert Chorale in
Logan, Utah. Then as a result of the ragtime boom that followed the release of the Joshua Rifkin
recordings and the use of Joplin’s music in the film The Sting Ann was asked to record two more
albums of Joplin’s compositions for Sonet Records in Stockholm. Because of our involvement
over the years the ragtime material in the archive steadily accumulated.
PRE-RAGTIME STRING BAND MUSIC and EARLY RAGTIME INSTRUMENTALS
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BUEHLING, SAPOZNIK, MOORE - LP, “Banjo Gems” Kicking Mule Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 347
The three banjoists are Clarke Buehling, Henry Sapoznik, and Steve Moore, and
several of the pieces are from the early ragtime years, when performances by banjo
soloists or string groups were as popular as piano solos.
THE ETCETERA STRING BAND - Cassette album, “The Harvest Hop” The Etcetera String
Band, n.d. Dodd AC 5
The group has done extensive research into ragtime’s string band roots, and their
performances document the pre-ragtime instrumental style that became the material
for the rag composers.
THE ETCETERA STRING BAND - Cassette album, “Fun on the Levee: Cake Walks and Rags,
1895-1905, from Missouri River Towns” The Etcetera String Band, n.d.
Dodd AC 6
The Etcetera String Band has also recorded a CD of “Early Creole Dance Music,” from
Louisiana, Haiti, Trinidad, Martinique, and the Virgin Islands which is listed in the Caribbean
section of the catalog.
See also the recordings of early Haitian pre-ragtime, “Haitian Piano with Fabre Duroseau,” in
the Caribbean section of the catalog.
SCOTT JOPLIN
SCOTT JOPLIN - LP, “A Joplin Bouquet” Performed by Ann Charters, Portents, 1964,
recorded in December, 1958. Dodd LP 348
The first recording of Joplin’s music performed as serious composition.
SCOTT JOPLIN - LP, “Treemonisha and Classic Rags” Performed by the Utah State University
Concert Chorale, Ted Puffer, director, and Ann Charters, piano, Portents, 1965. Dodd LP 349a-b
The first recording of excerpts from Joplin’s opera.
THE GENIUS OF SCOTT JOPLIN - Double CD, Gazell Productions, 1993.
Dodd CD 242
This is a CD reissue of Ann Charters’ three solo albums devoted to Joplin’s music,
and the excerpts from Joplin’s opera. All of the albums were produced and annotated
by Samuel Charters.
SCOTT JOPLIN - LP, “Piano Rags by Scott Joplin” Performed by Joshua Rifkin, Nonesuch
Records, 1970. Dodd LP 350
It was the enormous success of Rifkin’s recordings which led to the use of Joplin’s
music in the film The Sting, and the serious interest in ragtime in the 1970s.
SCOTT JOPLIN - LP, “Piano Rags by Scott Joplin, Vol. II” Performed by Joshua Rifkin,
Nonesuch Records, 1972. Dodd LP 351
301
SCOTT JOPLIN - CD, “Max Morath Plays the Best of Scott Joplin” Performed by Max Morath,
Vanguard, 1972. Dodd CD 241
SCOTT JOPLIN - CD, “The World of Scott Joplin” Performed by Max Morath, Vanguard, 1973.
Dodd CD 243
SCOTT JOPLIN - LP, “E. Power Biggs Plays Scott Joplin” Performed by E. Power Biggs,
Columbia Records, 1973. Dodd LP 352
Biggs, who was a specialist in classical keyboard music, played Joplin here on a specially
built harpsichord with pedal keys.
SCOTT JOPLIN - LP, “The Red Back Book” The New England Conservatory Ragtime
Orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller, Angel Records, 1973. Dodd LP 353
This was another of the very successul releases that helped spur the interest in
Joplin and his music. The “Red Back Book” is a collection of orchestrations printed
by Joplin’s publisher in 1905, and it includes one orchestration, James Scott’s “Frog
Legs Rag” which is credited to Joplin.
See sheet music listing in catalog for more information on “The Red Back Book”
SCOTT JOPLIN - Double LP box, “Scott Joplin’s ‘ Treemonisha’,” Deutsche Grammophon,
1976. Dodd LP 349a, 349b
The first, and so far only, recording of the entire score of Joplin’s opera, with
orchestration by Gunther Schuller from Joplin’s piano score.
SCOTT JOPLIN - CD, “Super Hits.” Performed by E. Power Biggs, playing a pedal
harpsichord. Sony Music, 2000. A CD reissue of Bigg’s successful LP release. 2000-0105/CD
1859
JOSEPH LAMB
JOSEPH LAMB - CD, “Joseph Francis Lamb, 19 Rags” Performed by David Buechner,
Connoisseur Society, 1997. Dodd CD 244
JOSEPH LAMB - CD, “American Beauties, The Rags of Joseph Lamb” Performed by
Virginia Eskin, piano. Koch International Classics, 2000. 2000-0105/CD 1854
Eskin’s collection includes a number of compositions which were completed or
found in manuscript by Lamb after his rediscovery.
OTHER RAGTIME COMPOSERS AND PERFORMERS, including NOVELTY RAGTIME
ROY BARGY - LP, “Piano Syncopations” RBF Records, 1978, compiled and annotated by
David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 354
302
RUBE BLOOM & ARTHUR SCHUTT - LP, “Novelty Ragtime Piano Kings” RBF Records,
1980. Dodd LP 355
Eight selections are by Bloom and eight by Schutt.
WILLIAM BOLCOM - LP, “Heliotrope Bouquet, Piano Rags” Nonesuch Records, 1971. Dodd
LP 356
Composers represented include Turpin, Joplin, Lamb and Scott. Bolcom also plays
his own lovely “Graceful Ghost” and two others.
KEN COLYER’S JAZZMEN - LP, “Ragtime Revisited” Joy Records, 1971.
Dodd LP 357
GEORGE HICKS - LP, “Ragtime: Tickled Pink” Folkways Records, 1983, produced and
annotated by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 358
JAMES P. JOHNSON - LP, “The Original James Johnson” Folkways Records, 1973,
recorded by Moses Asch, programmed by David A. Jasen, with notes by Jasen and Charles
Edward Smith. Dodd LP 359
JAMES P. JOHNSON - LP, “‘Yamekraw’ An Original Composition by James P. Johnson”
Folkways Records, 1962, recorded by Moses Asch, with notes by Perry Bradford and Noble
Sissle. Dodd LP 360
JAMES P. JOHNSON - CD, “Snowy Morning Blues” Decca Jazz, 1991.
Dodd CD 245
MAX KORTLANDER - LP, “The Piano Roll Artistry of Max Kortlander” RBF Records, 1981,
compiled and annotated by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 361
PAUL LINGLE - LP, “Dance of the Witch Hazels” Euphonic Records, 1979.
Dodd LP 362
PAUL LINGLE - LP, “Legend of Lingle” Euphonic Records, 1980. Dodd LP 363
ALAN MANDEL - LP, “American Piano Music, including ‘Grand Sonata in Rag’”
Grenadillla Records, 1977. Dodd LP 364
Although the album includes a lengthy note by someone who seems to be the
composer of the sonata he (or she?) is identified only as “Albright.”
BILLY MAYERL - LP, “The Syncopated Impressions of Billy Mayerl” RF Records, 1976,
programmed and notes by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 365
MAX MORATH - See also listings under Scott Joplin above
Max Morath is an engaging performer and social commentator who has presented
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ragtime and the ragtime for many years to audiences everywhere in the country. He
is also a composer, and his “Golden Hours” is one of the most inventive and
beautifully melodic pieces of the modern ragtime era.
MAX MORATH - Double LP, “Max Morath Plays Ragtime” Vanguard Records, 1976.
Dodd LP 366a, 366b
MAX MORATH - LP, “The Ragtime Women” Vanguard Records, 1977. Dodd LP 367
MAX MORATH - CD, “The Ragtime Man” Omega Classics, 1986. Dodd CD 246
MAX MORATH - Cassette, “Cripple Creek, A Ragtime Suite for Piano” Mel Bay, 1986.
Dodd AC 7
MAX MORATH - CD, “The Ragtime Century” PianoMania, 1991. Dodd CD 247
MAX MORATH - CD, “Real American Folk Songs” Solo Art Records, 1994.
Dodd CD 248
MAX MORATH - CD, “Drugstore Cabaret” Premier Recordings, 1995. Dodd CD 249
MAX MORATH - CD, “Jonah Man, A Tribute to Bert Williams” Vanguard Records, 1996.
Dodd CD 250
MAX MORATH - Cassette, “Living A Ragtime Life” Mormacks, n.d. Dodd AC 8
JELLY ROLL MORTON - LP, “Piano Classics, 1923-24” Folkways Records, 1962, compiled
and annotated by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 368
Morton is more properly considered a jazz pianist, but this is a collection of his
earliest solo piano recordings, and there is a strong ragtime influence evident in
several of the compositions.
BERT WILLIAMS
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “Nobody”/ “My Landlady” Dodd SE 2
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “He’s a cousin of mine” Bert Williams / “McGinty at the living
picture” Joe Flynn Dodd SE 3
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “I’ll lend you anything” / “Constantly” Dodd SE 4
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “You can’t get away from it” / “The Darktown Poker Club” Dodd SE
5
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “I’m neutral” / “Indoor Sports” Dodd SE 6
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “No place like home” / “Twenty Years” Dodd SE 7
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “O Death where is thy sting” / “When I return” Dodd SE 8
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BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “Oh! Lawdy (Something’s done got between Ebecaneezer and Me)” /
“Bring back those wonderful days” Dodd SE 9
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “Everyone wants a key to my cellar” / “It’s nobody’s business but my
own” Dodd SE 10
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “The moon shines on the moonshine” / “Somebody” Dodd SE 11
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “I’m sorry I ain’t got it you could have it if I had it blues” / “Checkers”
Dodd SE 12
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “Lonesome Alimony Blues” / “Save a little dram for me” Dodd SE 13
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “Ten little bottles” / “Unlucky Blues” Dodd SE 14
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “Get up” / “I want to know where Tosti went (when he said goodbye)”
Dodd SE 15
BERT WILLIAMS – 78, “My last dollar” / “I’m gonna quit Saturday” Dodd SE 16
THE NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME ORCHESTRA
The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra was organized by a young Swedish jazz pianist
named Lars Edegran, who had moved to New Orleans to play with the bands in the city. In the
jazz archive at Tulane University he found the orchestrations that had been played by the John
Robichaux Orchestra in New Orleans at the turn of the century, and he formed an orchestra to
play them. The importance of Edegran’s group is that he combined older and younger musicians,
including William Russell, the jazz scholar and very individual company owner who had been
instrumental in starting the traditional jazz revival with his recordings of Bunk Johnson and
George Lewis in the 1940s. Russell had played the violin in silent movie houses at the time of
World War I, and he had never relinquished his old techniques. Trumpeter Lionel Ferbos and
drummer John Robichaux Jr. were almost of the same generation, and they also knew the style of
music from this period. The group was racially mixed, and the long experience of most of the
members as jazz musicians, and their familiarity with the older musical idioms they created
music that felt like something that had come from another era. Russell has died, and there have
been changes in personnel, but the group is still performing, and it still has an unmistakable New
Orleans swing.
THE NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME ORCHESTRA - LP, no title. Pearl Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 369
THE NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME ORCHESTRA - LP, no title. Vol. II Pearl Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 370
THE NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME ORCHESTRA - LP, no title. Arhoolie Records, 1971. Dodd
LP LP 371
THE NEW ORLEANS RAGTIME ORCHESTRA - LP, no title. Sonet Records, 1972.
Dodd LP 372
MIKE POLAND - CD, “Piano Deco, Vol. 1” Polecat Records, 1994. Dodd CD 251
305
DAVID THOMAS ROBERTS - CD, “American Landscapes” Pinelands Recordings, 1995.
Dodd CD 252
Roberts is one of the most gifted of the younger ragtime composers who make up
an informal group they call “Terra Verde.” His piece “Roberto Clemente” has
already become a contemporary rag classic.
CHARLEY STRAIGHT - LP, “The Piano Roll Artistry of Charley Straight”
Dodd LP 373
TREBOR TICHENOR - LP, “Days Beyond Recall” Folkways Records, 1979.
Dodd LP 374
Tichenor is a major collector of ragtime music and piano rolls, and has
played an important role in the growth of interest in ragtime in the St. Louis area. As
a pianist and composer he specializes in “folk” ragtime, a more informal style that
developed in Missouri at the same time as the classical rag period.
TERRY WALDO - LP, “Snookums Rag” Dirty Shame Records, 1974. Dodd LP 375
THE RAGTIME ERA
BERT WILLIAMS - LP, “Nobody and Other Songs” Folkways Records, 1981, compiled by
Samuel Charters, with notes from the book Nobody, the Story of Bert Williams by Ann Charters.
Dodd LP 376
The great Bert Williams was the first African American performer to appear on the
stage with white actors, and became the first popular black recording artist. Between
1900 and his death in 1922 he made dozens of recordings, and there were entire
generations who could recite his “Nobody” along with the record. His singing was
woven into the ragtime era, and his “You Can’t Get Away from It” is the first vocal
performance on record that swings in a modern sense.
“RAGTIME 1, THE CITY, Banjos, Brass Bands, & Nickel Pianos” LP, Folkways Records,
1971, compiled and annotated by Samuel Charters. Dodd LP 377
Artists include:
Steve Williams
Fred Van Eps
Vess L. Ossman
Machine Cut Piano Roll
Joseph Moskovitz
Ossman-Dudley Trio
Arthur Collins
Prince’s Band
Vic Meyers and his Orchestra
Jelly Roll Morton
Celestin’s Original Tuxedo Orchestra
The State Street Ramblers
306
“RAGTIME 2, THE COUNTRY, Mandolins, Fiddles, & Guitars” LP, Folkways Records, 1971,
compiled and annotated by Samuel Charters. Dodd LP 378
Artists include:
The Dallas String Band
Carolina Tar Heels
Jesse Young’s Tennessee Band
Cow Cow Davenport
Jolly Jivers
Frank Stokes
Leake Country Revelers
Theron Hale and Daughters
Sam Moore and Horace Davis
Charlie Turner
East Texas Serenaders
Kessinger Brothers
Blind Boy Fuller
THE PIANO ROLL - LP, RBF Records, 1964, compiled and edited by Trebor Jay Tichenor.
Dodd LP 379
Tichenor’s notes include an excellent introduction to the player piano and the
techniques of music reproduction by paper roll.
THOSE RAGTIME BANJOS - LP, Folkways Records, 1979, compiled and annotated by David A.
Jasen. Dodd LP 380
Artists include:
Fred Van Eps
Vess L. Ossman
Black Face Eddie Ross
Pete Mandell with the Savoy Orpheans
Roy Smeck & Art Kahn
Len Fillis & Sid Bright
Harry Reser & Henry Lange
Dick Roberts & Red Roundtree
COLLECTIONS
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THE AMERICAN RAGTIME ENSEMBLE, David Reffkin, director - CD. “Ragtime
Chamber Music. Crazy Otto Music, 2003. 2000-0105/CD 1855
Period orchestral arrangement of rags from 1900-1918.
Composers included:
Frank Wooster and Ethyl Smith
Mark Janza
William Penn
James Reese Europe
Percy Wenrich
Scott Joplin
Raymond Birch
Leon Block
George Cobb
Kerry Mills
Tom Turpin
MATTHEW DAVIDSON - CD, “The Graceful Ghost, Contemporary Piano Rags”
Mastersound, 1994. 2000-0105/CD 1856
Among the contemporary ragtime composers included:
Donald Ashwander
William Bolcom
Hal Isbitz
Terry Waldo
Max Morath
Trebor Jay Tichenor
David Thomas Roberts
Jack Rummel
Galen Wilkes
William Albright
Garry Smart
and Davidson himself.
ELITE SYNCOPATIONS - CD, “Sidewalk Blues” New World Concert Inc, 1995. 20000105/CD1857
Compositions by Jelly Roll Morton and Duke Ellington are included, as well as the following
ragtime composers:
Scott Joplin
Charles L. Johnson
Artie Matthews
Joseph Lamb
“Zez” Confrey
VIRGINIA ESKIN - CD, “Fluffy Ruffle Girls: Women in Ragtime. Northeastern Records, 1987.
[not transferred]
308
It may seem unusual that there should be so many women writing ragtime compositions
between 1906 and 1913, the years when most of these pieces were composed, but women were
the audience for ragtime sheet music, since they often were expected to entertain in their homes,
and to play for informal dancing. For many years ragtime was a parlor music, rather than a stage
music, which is reflected in the calm, comfortable mood of these compositions. The one
contemporary woman composer, Judith Lee Zaimont, wrote both of her pieces in 1975. Eskin is
an accomplished performer with a clear affinity for the melodic and rhythmic elements of classic
ragtime. It is fortunate that she has chosen to include six of the seven ragtime compositions by
May Auferheide from Indianapolis, whose work was published by a company established by her
father to support her musical talent.
Composers whose works are included:
Marian L. Davis
May Aufderheide
Geraldine Dobyns
Julia Lee Niebergall
Irene Cozad
Judith Lee Zaimont
Charlene Blake
Irene Giblin
Imogene Giles
Glayds Yelvington
Mary Baugh Watson
Adaline Shepherd
VIRGINIA ESKIN - CD, “Spring Beauties: The Ragtime Project” Koch International
1998. 2000-0105/CD 1858
For her third ragtime project Eskin (see her Joseph Lamb CD and her CD of women
ragtime composers) chose to record contemporary compositions, and they demonstrate the
vitality and the promise of the new ragtime. Although she chose not to include any of the writing
of the new Terra Verde group, she has found a broad range of ragtime interests. One of the lesser
known works she includes is the fine tango-styled “Tangled Rag” by James Tenney, who is much
better as known as a pioneer in electronic composition. The one composition outside her frame
of reference is a “Characteristic Intermezzo” by Irving Berlin.
Composers included:
Gunther Schuller
Kenneth Laufer
Richard Zimmerman
Mark Kuss
Marjorie Merryman
James Tenney
Martin Amlin
Henry Gilbert
William Albright
Scott Wheeler
Irving Berlin and Ted Snyder
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Brian Dykstra
Max Morath
Stefan Kozinski
Judith Zaimont
Richard St. Clair
RAGTIME (1900-1930) - Double LP, RCA Records, Black & White, 1983.
Dodd LP 381a, 381b
THE GOLDEN AGE OF MECHANICAL MUSIC, Vol. 1, PIANOLA RAGTIME - LP, Saydisc,
n.d. Dodd LP 382
EARLY RAGTIME PIANO, 1913-1930 – LP. Dodd LP 383
LATE RAGTIME PIANO - LP. Both albums, Folkways Records, 1977, compiled and annotated
by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 384
EARLY BAND RAGTIME – LP. Dodd LP 385
LATE BAND RAGTIME - LP. Both albums, Folkways Records, 1979, compiled and
annotated by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 386
RAGTIME PIANO INTERPRETATIONS - LP, Folkways Records, 1974, compiled and annotated
by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 387
RAGTIME PIANO NOVELTIES OF THE 20’S - LP, Folkways Records, 1980, compiled and
annotated by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 388
SWINGIN’ PIANO 1920-1946 - LP, Folkways, 1983, compiled and annotated by David A. Jasen.
Dodd LP 389
EARLY SYNCOPATED DANCE MUSIC, Cakewalks, Two-Steps, Trots, and Glides - LP, RBF
Records, 1978, compiled and annotated by David A. Jasen. Dodd LP 390
TOE TAPPIN’ RAGTIME - LP, Folkways Records, 1974, compiled and annotated by David A.
Jasen. Dodd LP 391
THE TUNEFUL TWENTIES - LP, RF Records, 1976, compiled and annotated by David A.
Jasen. Dodd LP 392
THEY ALL PLAY RAGTIME - LP, Jazzology Records, nd, notes by Rudi Blesh.
Dodd LP 393
Artists performing include:
Max Morath
Donald Ashwander
Tom Shea
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John Arpin
Joseph Lamb
Peter Lundberg
Trebor Jay Tichenor
PRETTY BABY, Music from the Soundtrack of the Motion Picture - LP, ABC Records, 1978.
Dodd LP 394
Artists playing in the film were The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra,.
ELITE SYNCOPATIONS - LP, “Music for the Ballet by Scott Joplin and Others” CRD Records,
1976. Dodd LP 395
FINGER STYLE GUITAR RAGTIME
RAGTIME GUITAR DUETS - LP, performed by Lasse Johansson and Claes Palmkvist Sonet
Records, 1976. Dodd LP 396
HULL’S VICTORY - CD, performed by Dakota Dave Hull, Flying Fish Records, 1983.
Dodd CD 253
REUNION RAG - CD, performed by Dakota Dave Hull, Flying Fish Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 254
RAGTIME INFLUENCED HAWAIIAN GUITAR
The United States was swept with three new musical styles at about the same time ragtime, the tango, and Hawaiian music, and it isn’t surprising that they all influenced each other
on the vaudeville stage, and on record and sheet music sales.
BOB BROZMAN - LP, “Blue Hula Stomp” Kicking Mule Records, 1981. Dodd LP 397
HULA BLUES - LP, Rounder Records, 1974. Dodd LP 398
Among the artists included:
Sol Hoopi
Frank Ferera
Jim and Bob the Genial Hawaiiana
Hawaiian Serenaders
Roy Smeck
ON THE BEACH AT WAIKIKI - LP, Folkways Records, 1981. Dodd LP 399
Compiled and annotated by Samuel Charters.
The emphasis on this collection was on the Hawaiian style of guitar as much as it
was on the Hawaiian musicians themselves. Included in the assortment is the Yale
University Hawaii Trio playing a charleston, and the New Orleans Six and Seven311
Eights String Band, which has a jazz style influenced by the city’s rich jazz heritage.
HAWAIIAN STEEL GUITAR, 1920s – 1950s - LP, Folklyric Records, 1976.
Dodd LP 400
Compiled and annotated by Chris Strachwitz.
Includes an additional track by Jenks “Tex” Carman, “Samoan Stomp.”
CASSETTES
Cassettes were always less than satisfactory as a way of preserving music, but in the era of
the walkman they were everywhere, and of all the possible ways of getting music to listeners they
were the cheapest. For the ragtime world, with its small corps of dedicated fans, cassettes
became a way to exchange information, to promote jobs, and keep track of each other’s playing.
For those interested in classic ragtime there was the excitement of a cassette with 1959
recordings of Joseph Lamb, the only one still living of the great group of composers published by
John Stark. Particularly active was pianist Frank French who put onto cassette not only the
complete rags of James Scott, but also compositions by Gottschalk and composers from Brazil
and the Caribbean.
IN DAHOMEY
A UNIQUE RECORDING OF A RAGTIME MUSICAL
In 1902 the great African American vaudeville team of Williams and Walker scored a
major New York stage hit with their ragtime musical comedy “In Dahomey.” It was the first
black musical to appear on Broadway. Despite the show’s success, however, the score by
Harlem composer William Marion Cook, with material added by other popular composers, and
lyrics by among others the noted African American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was though to
be lost. Fortunately the musical also traveled to England, and acting on a tip ragtime historian
and performer Ian Whitcomb succeeded in rescuing the score from a London warehouse the day
before the warehouse’s contents were shredded.
The cassette is of historical interest for the ragtime content. The performance is amateurish
and the “orchestra” is based around a sound reproduction program, but it is valuable for its
glimpse into the repertory of a black musical theater company, as well as presenting several
attractive ragtime songs. The project was directed by Patrick J. Gogarty, who also conducted the
performance.
IN DAHOMEY, A Negro Musical Comedy. Palm Springs, CA: Sound Current Records, 1994.
2000-0105/AC 894
THE AMERICAN RAGTIME ENSEMBLE, David Reffkin, Director. Ragtime Chamber
Music, The Historic 1975 Sessions. self produced, 1979. 2000-0105/AC 895
Reffkin has devoted many years to ragtime as a performer, historian, leader of his
ensemble and host of a long running interview and music radio program that has emphasized
ragtime and its roots and off shoots. His ensemble plays with an entirely authentic will to please
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and under Reffkin’s direction their arrangements have lost none of ragtime’s invitation to
dancing.
DONALD ASHWANDER. Untitled, a collection of ten of his compositions performed by the
popular ragtime personality. Dallas: Ashwander Music, 1996. [not transferred]
BARFOTA JAZZMEN. Ragtime Constellation. Self produced, 1998.
2000-0105/AC 896
This is a veteran traditional jazz group from northern Sweden that has had a long affinity
for the ragtime idiom.
THE ELITE SYNCOPATORS with JOHN OTTO - Ragtime. . .and a bit more. No
company listed, nd. 2000-0105/AC 897
An eclectic collection with an emphasis on the distinctive ragtime compositions by Joplin
contemporary Brun Campbell.
FRANK FRENCH
Gottschalk of Louisiana. self produced, nd. 2000-0105/AC 898
French describes these performances as “adaptations”
More American Souvenirs. Boulder, CO, self produced, nd. 2000-0105/AC 899
A Ragtime Feast, Joplin, Lamb, Scott, Marshall. self produced, nd.
2000-0105/AC 900
James Scott’s Ragtime. Boulder, CO: self produced, 1993. 2000-0105/AC 901
JOE LAMB PLAYS JOE LAMB. Hot Cinders, 29 performances from 1959, including the
“Montgomery Tape.” Sedalia, MO: Scott Joplin Foundation of Sedalia, 1994.
2000-0105/AC 902
BOB MILNE. Boogie, Blues &Rags. Self produced, nd. 2000-0105/AC 903
Six of the pieces performed are compositions by Milne.
MARTY MINCER. Classic Piano Rags. Hamburg, Iowa: self produced, 1990.
2000-0105/AC 904
Front Porch Ragtime, Music from Other Parts of the House. Hamburg, Iowa: self
produced, 1991. 2000-0105/AC 907
MAX MORATH QUINTET. POP!! Goes the Music! Woodcliff Lakes, NJ, Normacks,
Inc, nd. 2000-0105/AC 905
A COLLECTION
NEW ENGLAND RAGS & POPULAR SONGS, Original Recordings, 1903-1930.
Produced by Galen Wilkes, Van Nuys, CA, nd. 2000-0105/AC 906
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Wilkes has gathered a group of original recordings featuring music either performed by or
composed by musicians and entertainers from the New England area. Providence, RI is
represented by George M. Cohan, Hartford’s artist is the minstrel star Lew Dockstader, etc. An
interesting concept that Wilkes has presented well.
II B11. The Rural White Blues Tradition
When folk song collectors went into the rural areas of the American South they were
completely unprepared for the wealth of traditional English song material which they found still
being sung and played in the United States. If they had also been collecting the blues they would
have been as unprepared for the wide range of early blues which found its way into the white
rural repertoire. Southern white songsters preserved every kind of music they heard - including
the blues, and those performers who talked with interviewers over the years always named the
source of their blues as a black neighbor or a black singer. They also had taken over the banjo by
the time the first recordings were made, so the source for our knowledge of southern African
American banjo traditions is largely the white performers who consciously imitated their styles.
The banjo, of course, is an African instrument, and the African playing techniques, as well as the
banjo itself, were widespread throughout the South.
When Victor Records recording scout Ralph Peer turned from recordings blues and jug
band music in cities like Memphis and Atlanta he gathered country white musicians for a series
of recordings in Bristol, Tennessee in 1929. Among the performers he found there were two who
were to be among the new country music’s biggest stars. One was a traditional family singing
group, the Carter Family, the other was Jimmy Rogers, who sang the blues. It is ironic, and its
implications are very complex, to realize that the first white country musician to achieve real
success with a wide southern audience was a blues singer.
THE HARRY SMITH-MOSES ASCH ANTHOLOGIES
ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC, Volume One: Ballads - Double LP box.
Dodd LP 401a, 401b
ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC, Volume Two: Social Music - Double LP.
Dodd LP 402a, 402b
ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC, Volume Three: Songs - Double LP.
Dodd LP 403a, 403b
Edited and annotated by Harry Smith, with Moses Asch, Folkways Records, 1952.
This series of LPs had a major formative influence on the folk music boom of the
1950s, and through Bob Dylan, who considered it a major source for material and
musical styles, it also had an effect on some early rock performers. Smith, an
avantgarde film maker and amateur music enthusiast, was asked by Moses Asch of
Folkways to put together a series of albums that would illustrate the backgrounds of
the folk music that Folkways was presenting to the new folk audience. Smith’s
selections were eclectic and audacious, and with Asch’s help the booklet material was
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also assembled in an almost surrealist presentation. Perhaps the single most important
breakthrough for the set was the mingling of white and black performers. The rural
blues artists were presented with cowboy singers, cajun vocalists, country gospel
singers, jug bands, traditional ballads, and holiness congregations. The resulting
medley of songs and instruments is still as startling today as it was a half century ago.
For many of us in the 1950s the set of albums were a kind of touchstone of
authenticity. When Ann Danberg and I began living together in 1957 the first
purchase we made together was a set of the anthology, and the albums, by now
somewhat scuffed and battered, have stayed with us through all the travels of the
years since then.
RURAL ARTISTS
CLARENCE ASHLEY, with DOC WATSON - LP, “Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s”
Folkways Records, 1961. Dodd LP 408
Clarence Ashley was one of the “old-timey” singers whose music was part of the
Folkways anthology, and his rediscovery was important to the whole shift in
emphasis in the folk movement from entertainment to authenticity. What was
equally important was the playing of a young neighbor, Doc Watson, who was
included in the improvised recording sessions. This was the folk world’s
introduction to the brilliant guitar instrumentalist who is still a major figure in the
world of folk and country music.
CLARENCE ASHLEY, with DOC WATSON and THE ORIGINAL CAROLINA TAR HEELS
- LP, “Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s, Part 2” Folkways Records, 1961. Dodd LP 404
Both albums recorded and annotated by Eugene Earle and Ralph Rinzler, for Part 2
Mike Seeger was also with them. The recordings were made in September, 1960, in
Shouns, Tennessee, Saltville, Virginia, and Deep Gap, North Carolina.
GENE AUTREY - CD, “Gene Autrey, Blues Singer, 1929-1931, ‘Booger Rooger Saturday
Nite!’” Columbia Legacy, 1996. Dodd CD 255
Autrey is much better known for his years as a successful “singing cowboy” in a
series of forgettable films, and he also achieved record industry immortality for his
78 rpm single of “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer,” which was probably the
biggest selling single of all time. His audience during his greatest years would
have been surprised to learn that he had begun his career singing the blues. His songs
were modeled on other recordings by white country artists, and he made an
intelligent career choice when he decided to sing other kinds of songs.
DOC BOGGS - CD, “Country Blues” Revenant Records, 1997. Dodd CD 256
Revenant Records is the creation of guitarist John Fahey. This release of Boggs’
complete early recordings is sumptuously packaged in a hard-cover sixty page book
with photographs, historical background, transcriptions of lyrics, and extended essays
by Greil Marcus and Jon Pankake. The album sets a new standard for reissue
materials.
315
DOC BOGGS - LP, “Legendary Singer & Banjo Players” Folkways Records, 1964.
Dodd LP 405
Recorded and edited by Mike Seeger.
RUFUS CRISP - LP, no title. Folkways Records, 1972. Dodd LP 406
Recorded by Margot Mayo and Stuart Jamieson at Allen Kentucky, 1946, edited by
Ralph Rinzler.
DARBY & TARLTON - LP, no title. Old Timey Records, n.d. Dodd LP 407
The artists’ full names are Tom Darby and Jimmy Tarlton. Edited by Chris Strachwitz,
with Eugene Earle and Jimmy Tarlton.
ROSCOE HOLCOMB - LP, “Close to Home” Folkways Records, 1975. Dodd LP 409
Recorded and documented by John Cohen.
Holcomb was an unemplyed Kentucky coal miner discovered by photographer,
film maker, and musician John Cohen. Holcomb’s high, keening voice had a raw
intensity that turned everything he performed into an emotional epiphany, and his
banjo playing still was shaped by the earliest banjo styles.
THE MADDOX BROTHERS & ROSE, Vol. 2 - CD, “America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band”
Arhoolie, 1995. Dodd CD 257
SAM McGEE - LP, “Grand Dad of the Country Guitar Pickers” Arhoolie Records, 1970.
Dodd LP 410
THE McGEE BROTHERS & ARTHUR SMITH - LP, no title. Folkways Records, 1964.
Dodd LP 411
Recorded and edited by Mike Seeger.
BILL MONROE and THE BLUEGRASS BOYS - CD, “Live Recordings, 1956-1969”
Smithsonian Folkways, 1993. Dodd CD 258
Monroe’s band is usually considered the source of today’s bluegrass music, and
there was considerable blues inflection in his singing style, as well as in the band’s
repertoire.
BILL MONROE & DOC WATSON - CD, “Live Duet Recordings, 1963-1980”
Folkways, 1993. Dodd CD 259
Smithsonian
TEX ISLEY/GRAY CRAIG & THE NEW NORTH CAROLINA RAMBLERS - LP, “North
Carolina Boys” Leader Sound, 1972. Dodd LP 412
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CHARLIE POOLE and THE NORTH CAROLINA RAMBLERS - LP, “Old Time Songs
recorded from 1925-1930” County Records, 1965. Dodd LP 413
Poole’s style was strongly effected by the black instrumental groups in the North
Carolina area, and there is an engaging “blues” feel to their music.
KILBY SNOW - LP, “Country Songs and Tunes with Autoharp” Folkways Records, 1969.
Dodd LP 414
Recorded, edited, and annotated by Mike Seeger.
THE STANLEY BROTHERS - CD, “The Rich-R’-Tone Recordings” Revenant Records, n.d.
Dodd CD 260
Although not as elaborately produced as the Revenant Doc Boggs reissue, this
collection of these 1947-1952 singles by the Stanley Brothers maintains the same high
standard of scholarship and documentation. The extensive notes are by Gary B. Reid.
GID TANNER and THE SKILLET LICKERS - LP, “The Kickapoo Medicine Show”
Records, n.d. Dodd LP 415
Rounder
COLLECTIONS
Although there is no question that white country artists in their blues performances were
borrowing from their white neighbors, the nature of the borrowing is also of considerable value
in casting new light on the blues itself. The recording policies of the companies involved helped
skew our perceptions of southern vernacular music, since they generally only were interested in
blues material from their African American artists, creating the “blues man” out of performers
who were essentially country songsters. The white artists were recorded with a broader
repertoire, which more accurately reflected the rural musical environment. The recordings were
made in the South between 1927 and 1938.
“Mountain Blues” Four CD box, JSP Records (London), 2005. [not transferred]
Artists included:
Vol. 1
Larry Hensley
Cobb & Underwood
Clarence Green
Dixie Ramblers
South Georgia Highballers
Frankie Marvin
Gene Autrey
Frankie Marvin
Bill Cox & Cliff Hobbs
Bill Cox
Lonnie Glosson
Hershal Brown
Riley Puckett
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Bowman Sisters
Carolina Buddies
Vol. 2
Dick Justice
Justice & Jarvis
Slim Smith
Crowder Brothers
Clarence Ashley
Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster
Gwen Foster
Walter Davis & Gwen Foster
The Carver Boys
Chuck Darling
Palmer McAbee
Carroll Countý Revelers
Samantha Bumgarner
Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts
Asa Martin & His Kentucky Hillbillies
Georgia Crackers
Callahan Brothers
Homer Callahan
Vol. 3
Carolina Tar Heels
Buster & Jack
Narmour & Smith
Nations Brothers
Byrd Moore
Byrd Moore & Jess Robinson
Reaves White County Ramblers
Lowes Stokes & His North Georgians
Leave County Revelers
Vol. 4
Prairie Ramblers
Three Tobacco Tags
Moatsville String Ticklers
Roandake Jug Band
Mike Shaw’s Alabama Entertainers
Prince Albert Hunt
Oscar Ford
The Freeny Harmonisers
Kentucky Ramblers
Kentucky String Ticklers
Spangler & Pearson
George Edgin’s Corn Dodgers
Ashley’s Melody Men
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Earl Johnson & His Dixie Entertainers
Dykes Magic City Trio
Rodgers & Nicholson
Uncle Bud Landress
Burnett & Rutherford
WHITE COUNTRY BLUES, 1926-1938, A Lighter Shade of Blue - Double CD, Sony Records,
1993. Dodd CD 261
Presumably compiled by Lawrence Cohn, who was responsible for other releases
in Sony’s “Roots N’Blues” series, although no credit is given on the album set itself.
An excellent survey of the influence of the blues on white country artists through
recordings made in the early period of field collecting by the major companies. There
are extensive notes and transcriptions of the lyrics - this copy of the set prints the
notes in Japanese, with the transcriptions in English and Japanese.
Among the artists included:
Frank Hutchinson
Charlie Poole with the North Carolina Ramblers
Tom Darby and Jillie Tarlton
Riley Puckett
Clarence Green
Tom Ashley
Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
W. Lee O”Daniel & His Hillbilly Boys
Prairie Ramblers
Cliff Carlisle
Bill Cox & Cliff Hobbs
Alle Brothers
Al Dexter
The Rhythm Wreckers
MOUNTAIN MUSIC of KENTUCKY - LP, Folkways Records, 1968. Dodd LP 416
Recorded and annotated by John Cohen. The album introduced the banjo playing
and singing of Roscoe Holcomb, as well the examples of 5-string banjo styles by
several other Kentucky musicians.
STEEL GUITAR CLASSICS - LP, Old Timey Records, n.d. Dodd LP 417
Artists include:
Jimmy Tarlton
Sol Hoopii’s Trio
Lemuel Turner
Kanui & Lula
Jenks “Tex” Carman
Cliff Carlisle
Jimmie Davis
Roy Acuff
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WESTERN SWING, BLUES, BOOGIE & HONKY TONK
Country music continued to have a strong blues element through the 1930s, as the groups
enlarged and began to absorb instrumental techniques and vocal styles from other recordings and
from the radio. The most important influence on a very young guitarist named Charlie Christian
as he was growing up in Oklahoma City was the recordings of the Light Crust Doughboys and
their pioneer electric guitar soloist, Muryel Campbell.
Volume 4, The 1930s Dodd LP 418
Volume 5, The 1930s Dodd LP 419
Volume 6, The 1940s & ‘50s Dodd LP 420
Volume 7, The 1940s & ‘50s Dodd LP 421
Volume 8, The 1940s & ‘50s Dodd LP 422
LPs, Old Timey, n.d.
This series of Lps was compiled by Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, and
includes most of the major country artists of the period.
Among the artists included:
Milton Brown & His Brownies
Ted Daffan’s Texans
The Tune Wranglers
Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys
Light Crust Doughboys
Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers
Buddy Jones
Ocie Stockard & His Wanderers
Johnny Tyler & Riders of the Rio Grande
The Farr Brothers
Luke Wills Rhythm Busters
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Tommy Duncan & His Western All Stars
Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
Hawkshaw Hawkins
Bill Nettles
The Maddox Brothers & Rose
II B12. Contemporary Blues-Based Guitar Instrumental
Music
II B12a. John Fahey
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In the summer of 1959 an LP came in the mail to the basement apartment in Brooklyn
where I had just finished writing The Country Blues. The record was in a white cover, with only
the words “Blind Joe Death” in large letters on both sides. With it there was a letter to me from
someone named John Fahey, telling me that this was a record he had made of his own music, and
asking me for an opinion. The letter was as guarded as the LP jacket. The music was a series of
guitar instrumentals based on the finger picking style of the Mississippi bluesmen. I kept waiting
for someone to sing, and when I didn’t hear any singing I wrote John a short note saying that
other people in New York were doing the same kind of thing but the record was interesting. John
has never forgiven me for my note, and even if I’m not sure if we ever would really have become
friends I have always been angry at myself for my insensitivity. John sent out a few copies of the
record, which he had pressed for himself on his own Takoma label, and sold more through mail
orders. When the copies were gone he recorded a new record and sold the copies the same way.
This time the copies went more quickly, and he recorded a third album. Within a few years
Fahey and his music had become one of the growing influences of the 1960s. He was still almost
unknown personally, but his music was everywhere in the new undergroun.d.
I had difficulty describing the pieces when I first heard the 1959 album, but I soon realized
that John had created a new music, based entirely on the materials he had learned from the
country blues. He had been one of the people who rediscovered Bukka White, and then
Mississippi John Hurt, and from the musicians themselves he had absorbed finger techniques and
new concepts of guitar tunings and chordal structures. He has never described himself as a
guitarist - his description of his own music is that he is a composer who plays the guitar. What
he did was to create a compositional style which synthesized elements from the entire range of
rural southern string music, including the Mississippi slide guitar, Virginia string bands, the
alternate thumb picking of the Delta, and the finger style of the Carolinas. His compositional
technique was to record passages with different guitars which built up segments of his pieces then he spliced the tape sections together, editing, changing tone, and adding echo effects. His
last step was then to learn the piece as it was finally structured so he could perform it.
By the middle of the ‘60s John was touring regularly, and he had outgrown the small
record company he had set up with a partner, ED Denson, the man who had gone to Memphis
with him to find Bukka White. I had known ED for several years and we worked together to sign
John to a contract with Vanguard. There were two albums - the first an album that included three
long requia, and an extended three part piece that utilized a complicated sound montage over
John’s guitar. We recorded many of the sound effects for the montage at Knott’s Berry Farm
outside of Los Angeles, where the events John was depicting in the composition had taken place.
Because of time problems and delays from John’s side I finally went ahead and mixed the sound
piece without him, and our edgy relationship became even more difficult. For the second album
on the Vanguard contract he worked with a friend, Barry Hansen, in Los Angeles, while I acted
as executive producer in New York. The album, The Yellow Princess, was one of John’s finest
achievments, with a music concrete piece built on montage, a successful fusion of his guitar with
small instrumental groups, and a rich collection of new compositions.
By this time Fahey had a series of disciples, among them Leo Kottke, who developed the
idiom John had created into a more flamboyant and emotionally open statement. John was not
upset. He recorded Kottke for his own record company, and they continued to be close friends.
He was also having emotional problems, and his life often veered into difficulties, despite the
growing creativity of his music. By the 1970s an entire school of guitar composition had grown
321
from his work, and a new record company, Windham Hill, was established by a guitarist named
Will Ackerman to present young guitarists playing in the Fahey style. It isn’t an exaggeration to
say that John’s guitar compositions were the basis for the New Age movement that swept the
guitar world, and that the basic foundation for all of it was southern blues guitar.
Fahey himself was having more problems with his health, and alcohol was beginning to
take a toll on his emotional stability. In the mid-1990s he was forced to live for a period in a
men’s shelter in Portland, and the experience brought him out of the crisis. He is touring again,
composing new music, and in his interviews there is a new clarity and purpose to his musical
ambitions.
THE TAKOMA RECORDINGS, 1959-1968
Volume 1, Blind Joe Death
Dodd LP 423
Volume 2, Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes
Dodd LP 424
Volume 3, The Dance of Death & Other Plantation Favorites Dodd LP 425
Volume 4, The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party and Other Excursions
Dodd LP 426
The title piece of the album is a twenty-five minute long extended composition describing and
unhappy experience with someone he loved, and it carried his compositional techniques to new
levels of complexity.
(There is no Volume 5 in the Takoma catalog listing, but Fahey probably considered the
Riverboat album listed below as the fifth of his series of albums.)
Volume 6, Days Have Gone By Dodd LP 427
The Voice of the Turtle Dodd LP 428
The New Possibility, John Fahey’s Guitar solo Christmas Album Dodd LP 429
John’s contemplative rephrasings of the traditional Christmas hymns became one of his biggest
selling albums. For John the album represented a statement of his evolving religious beliefs, and
this seriousness gives the album its unique quality. All of these albums are LPs, the first four are
repackagings from the mid-1960s. The Voice of the Turtle is Fahey’s “Picture Album” and
contains extended notes and illustrations in his half serious, half parody style of writing.
The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death - LP, Riverboat Records, n.d. Dodd LP 430
The Legend of Blind Joe Death - CD, Takoma Records, 1996. Dodd CD 262
This is a compilation of both the original recordings for the 1959 album and the re-recordings of
the same compositions that Fahey made in the 1960s to release the album again with better sound
quality.
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Blind Joe Death/John Fahey LP Takoma 4448 Takoma Park, MD, 1959. 2000-0105/LP 1452
A first pressing of Fahey’s self-produced first album, with the matrix numbers K8OP-4447-1 and
K8OP- 4448-1 scratched in the vinyl.
This is the copy Fahey sent to Sam Charters in the summer of 1959.
Christmas with John Fahey Vol. II LP Takoma Records C-1045, 1975. 2000-0105/LP 1454
This is the original release of the album, followed by the Sonet repressing.
The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977
LP Sonet Records SNTF 733, 1977. 2000-0105/LP 1455
Let Go LP Varrick Records 008, 1984. 2000-0105/LP 1453
Varrick Records was a subsidiary label manufactured by the adventurous Cambridge, company
Rounder Records.
THE VANGUARD RECORDINGS
Requia - LP, Vanguard Records, 1967. Dodd LP 431
Produced and sound montage mixed by Samuel Charters.
The Yellow Princess - LP, Vanguard Records, 1968. Dodd LP 432
Produced by John Fahey and Barret Hansen, executive producer, Samuel Charters
THE CONTINUING TAKOMA SAGA
America - LP, manufactured by Sonet Records, 1972. Dodd LP 433
Fare Forward Voyagers - LP, manufactured by Sonet Records, 1974. Dodd LP 434
Christmas with John Fahey (Soldier’s Choice) Vol. II - LP, manufactured by Sonet records,
1975. Dodd LP 435
Old Fashioned Love - LP, manufactured by Sonet Records, 1975. Dodd LP 436
This is the first of Fahey’s album to use a large group of musicians and studio arrangements. The
selections include a popular song, Frank Loesser’s “Old Fashioned Love” and John’s irritated
response to one of the younger guitarists who - John felt - was breathing too closely down his
neck. The piece is titled “The Assassination of Stephan Grossman.” Grossman retaliated on an
album recorded in 1980 with his “The Assassination of John Fahey.“
John Fahey Visits Washington, D. C.- LP, 1979. Takoma was now being distributed by
Chrysalis Records. Dodd LP 437
John Fahey Live in Tasmania - LP, manufactured by Sonet Records, 1981. Dodd LP 438
The album was recorded in an auditorium in Hobart University in Hobart, Australia, which is the
capital city of the island of Tasmania. It was the first recording by an international artist in the
history of Tasmania, and it is one of John’s finest albums.
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THE LATER YEARS
The City of Refuge - CD, Tim/Kerr Records, 1997. Dodd CD 263
A TRIBUTE
A Tribute to John Fahey. Eleven of His Finest Compositions Played by Woody Harris,
Bob Hadley, Arvid Smith and Stephen Connolly - LP, Kicking Mule Records, licensed to Sonet
Records, 1979. Dodd LP 439
Blind Joe Death/John Fahey LP Takoma 4448 Takoma Park, MD, 1959. 2000-0105/LP 1452
A first pressing of Fahey’s self-produced first album, with the matrix numbers K8OP-4447-1 and
K8OP- 4448-1 scratched in the vinyl.
This is the copy Fahey sent to Sam Charters in the summer of 1959.
Christmas with John Fahey Vol. II LP Takoma Records C-1045, 1975. 2000-0105/LP 1454
This is the original release of the album, followed by the Sonet repressing.
The Best of John Fahey 1959-1977
LP Sonet Records SNTF 733, 1977. 2000-0105/LP 1455
Let Go LP Varrick Records 008, 1984. 2000-0105/LP 1453
Varrick Records was a subsidiary label manufactured by the adventurous Cambridge, company
Rounder Records.
John Fahey & Cul de Sac The Epiphany of Glenn Jones CD Thirsty Ear Recordings, 1997.
2000-0105/CD 2020
Glenn Jones was the leader of the group Cul de Sac and he had idolized Fahey for many years.
He brought John into the studio essentially to do a concept album conceived by Jones, but as
anyone who had worked with Fahey before could have told him this was a doomed idea. Jones’
notes describe the fiasco the followed, and unfortunately the music that finally was completed
fails to justify the struggle and the trauma that went into the recording. Jones’ notes also hint at
his relative innocence working with complicated artists in the studio. The tumult sounds similar
to so many misdirected recording sessions, complete with the rising sense of panic as the
expensive studio clock is running and nothing is going as planned.
THE FANTASY CDS
In the 1990s Fantasy Records in Berkeley, under the artistic direction of Fantasy’s Bill
Belmont, began reissuing Fahey’s Takoma albums. The albums used the original Takoma art
work, but they were re-edited and remastered, often including material dropped from the early
release or titles that were too long to fit onto the LP sides.
The Legend of Blind Joe Death CD Takoma 8901, 1996. 2000-0105/CD 2123
The CD version includes both original and re-recorded versions of material from Fahey’s groundbreaking first album.
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The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death CD Takoma 6504, 1997. 2000-0105/CD 2124
Fahey released this album on a small label in Boston, and it has been rereleased in its original
form. The booklet includes a long introduction by George Winston, written in 1996 and a
personal note by Samuel Charters written in 1968.
America CD Takoma 8903, 1998. 2000-0105/CD 2119
The original album was to be released as two LPs, but at the last moment Fahey scrapped nine of
the compositions to release it as a single album. He may have been told that it’s more difficult to
sell double albums, and his small company was always struggling with miniscule budgets. The
nine pieces that were dropped are included on this CD reissue.
Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes CD Takoma 8908, 1998. 2000-0105/CD 2115
This album includes the new versions of the ten tracks (out of twelve) of the original LP
versions.
The Dance of Death and Other Plantation Favorites CD Takoma 8909, 1999.
2000-0105/CD 2122
This CD adds four titles to the original release.
The Voice of the Turtle CD Takoma 6501, 1996. 2000-0105/CD 2118
Fahey considered this a “Musical Hodograph and Chronologue” and included is the extensive
booklet of photographs and text that accompanied the original LP.
The New Possibility:John Fahey’s Guitar Soli Christmas Album CD Takoma 8912, 1993.
2000-0105/CD 2114
The CD also includes Christmas music from Christmas with John Fahey, Vol II..
The Best of John Fahey, 1959-1977 CD Takoma 8915, 2002. 2000-0105/CD 2117
Two of Fahey’s longest and most ambitious pieces have been added to this reissue, including the
23 minute long “Fare Forward Voyagers.”.
The Best of John Fahey Vol. 2: 1964-1983 CD Takoma 8916, 2004. 2000-0105/CD 2125
This compliation includes previously unreleased performances, among them three pieces from a
“long-lost” Takoma album, Azalea City Memories.
POSTHUMOUS RELEASES
Fahey struggled with poor health for several years and died of complications from heart
surgery in 2001. His reputation has continued to grow and there is an active group of Fahey
enthusiasts who are working to make his music and his legacy known to wider audiences.
Red Cross, Disciple of Christ Today CD Revenant Company, 2003. 2000-0105/CD 2116
This is in its way a sensitive and moving memorial album to Fahey, and Glenn Jones’ touching
notes capture the emotions and the challenges of knowing John as a friend.
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The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick CD Water records, 139, released by Revenant Company,
2004. 2000-0105/CD 2121
A live album recorded at the Matrix in San Francisco in 1968 and 1969. The title is a reference
to his classic composition “The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party.”
John Fahey/Your Past Comes Back to Haunt You: The Fonotone Years, 1958-1965 CD Atlanta,
GA: Dust-to-Digital, Texarkana: Revenant Co., 2011. 2000-0105/CD 2127a-e
A FOUR TRACK TAPE
In the 1960s several companies, including Vanguard Records, launched tape versions of
some of their albums for the high-fidelity audience. The tapes had the advantage of relatively
little surface noise and there was no loss of sound quality with repeated playings. There was
some sales interest in the 8-track tape format for use in automobile tape decks, but the 4-track
tapes like this one never attracted much attention. Fahey’s album was a reasonable choice
because of his upscale audience and the artistic quality of the album, but there were few sales.
The Yellow Princess 4-track tape, Vanguard Records x9293, nd. 2000-0105/RR 295
A FAHEY FOLLOWER, LEO KOTTKE
In the late 1960s Fahey received a demo cassette at Takoma Records from a younger
guitarist named Leo Kottke, who had been playing the trombone and the guitar for several years,
and who had been influenced by Fahey’s own recordings. Fahey liked the playing despite the
poor sound quality of the demo. He suggested that Kottke come to California, and for some
months Kottke lived in John’s house and worked for Takoma as a shipping clerk. His debut
album 6 and 12 String Guitar was released on Takoma in 1969, and although its initial reception
was slow, it went on to sell more than half a million copies. The similarities of the two styles
were obvious, including the half-serious titles of some of the pieces, but there was a lighter tone
to Kottke’s playing and his compositions weren’t weighted with Fahey’s larger musical
ambitions. Kottke is also a genial performer which helped him maintain his position as an
important figure in the world of American steel string guitar composition. (See also a Dodd
listing for a previous CD release)
LEO KOTTKE 6 and 12 String Guitar CD Takoma 6503, 1996. 2000-0105/CD 2126
II B12a1. John Fahey Guitar Folio
JOHN FAHEY – John Fahey’s Christmas Songs; thirteen titles, nd, published by Warner
Brothers. Dodd D 2050
The Transcriptions, by John Stropes, include detailed performance tips.
II B12b. Other Instrumentalists Influenced by Fahey
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John Fahey’s compositional techniques have been widely influential, and this is a
collection of the music of some of the instrumentalists who are writing what is now sometimes
loosely described as Music for the American Steel String Guitar.
WILLIAM ACKERMAN - LP, “Passage” Windham Hill Records, 1981. Dodd LP 440
ROBBIE BASHO - CD, “Guitar Soli” Takoma, 1996. Dodd CD 264
From the notes to the album “The debt that modern guitar composers owe to the late Robbie Basho can
hardly be overstated. Though Fahey invented the genre and Kottke proved its
marketability, it was Basho’s technique, vision, and self-image that resonated most
strongly with Will Ackerman and the so-called New-Age guitar movement he
founded . . .”
SCOTT COSSU - LP, “Wind Dance” Windham Hill Records, 1981. Dodd LP 441
RICHARD CRANDELL & BILL BARTELS - LP, “Oregon Hill” Cutthroat Records, 1983.
Dodd LP 442
ALEX de GRASSI - LP, “Slow Circle” Windham Hill Records, 1979. Dodd LP 443
ALEX de GRASSI - LP, “Clockwork” Windham Hill Records, 1981. Dodd LP 444
STEFAN GROSSMAN - LP, “Thunder on the Run” Kicking Mule Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 445
This album includes the composition “The Assassination of John Fahey.“
STEFAN GROSSMAN - CD, “Black Melodies on a Clear afternoon” Shanachie Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 265
STEFAN GROSSMAN - CD, “Shining Shadows” Shanachie Records, 1992.
Dodd CD 266
MICHAL HEDGES - LP, “Breakfast in the Field” Windham Hill Records, 1981.
Dodd LP 446
LEO KOTTKE - CD, “6 and 12 String Guitar” Rhino Records, licensed from Takoma Records,
1969. Dodd CD 268
LEO KOTTKE - CD, “My Father’s Face” Private Music, 1989. Dodd CD 267
GEORGE WINSTON - LP, “Ballads and Blues, 1972” Windham Hill Records, 1981.
Dodd LP 447
Although Winston’s piano solos are uniquely individual, and his recordings
became major best sellers at the height of the New Age movement, selling hundreds
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of thousands of copies, it is often forgotten that this first recording was originally
released on Fahey’s Takoma Label, and the sessions were produced by Fahey and
Doug Decker. Perhaps the closest description of the influence Fahey’s compositions
had on Winston is to say that there is an “affinity” in their musical thinking.
COLLECTIONS
CONTEMPORARY GUITAR, SPRING ‘67 - LP, Takoma, 1967. Dodd LP 448
Artists include:
Robbie Basho
John Fahey
Max Ochs
Harry Taussig
Bukka White
LEO KOTTKE, PETER LANGE, JOHN FAHEY - CD, no title. Takoma Records, original release
1974. Dodd CD 269
WINDHAM HILL RECORDS SAMPLER ‘81 - LP, Windham Hill Records, 1981.
Dodd LP 449
Artists include:
William Ackerman
David Qualey
Bill Quist
Alex de Grassi
Robbie Basho
George Winston
Daniel Hecht
COUNTRY: An Original Soundtrack Album composed and conducted by Charles Gross – LP,
Windham Hill Records, 1984. Dodd LP 690
II B12b1. Leo Kottke
LEO KOTTKE – Transcribed; four titles, published by Music Sales, Inc.
Included with the folio is a cassette of the pieces analyzed. Dodd D 2058 and Dodd Audio 1077
II B13. Caribbean
II B13a. Folk and African-derived Cult Music from the
Caribbean
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As writer Mark Kurlansky has described the Caribbean, it is “a continent of islands,” and
scattered across the warm seas to the south of the United States is a myriad of lands and cultures
that reflect the immense diversity of this meeting place of so much of the last centuries’ history.
The islands were divided between a confusion of conquerors and colonizers; including Spanish,
French, English, Dutch, Danish, and American, and the Caribbean also became the world of a
mingling of millions of men and women from the tribes of West Africa, who were brought to the
islands to work on the plantations that enriched their European owners. Slavery in the colonies
was harsh and unrelenting. As the plantation owners in the sugar fields of Cuba expressed it,
“Sugar is made with blood.” In Cuba the death rate among slaves working in the cane fields was
so high that there was almost no effort to build any kind of family life. Slaves were imported as
adults, and worked until they were dead, and with the owners only interested in strong male
laborers, the number of women included in the shipments was very low. Slavery was not
abolished in Cuba until 1886, so it continued to haunt Cuban life as a troubling presence well
into the 20th Century.
The Caribbean plantations were used as an intermediary stop on the journey of slaves from
Africa to the United States, and the slaves typically spent a year working in the islands to learn a
little language and to try to accustom themselves to the brutalities of the slave system. The
world’s only successful slave rebellion freed Haiti in the 18th century, and fears of local
rebellions caused the Caribbean slave holders to be even more savage in their repression. The
only mitigating factor in the slave life was the demographic balance that left few whites in most
of the areas of cultivation, and since there were so many slaves there was not the determined
effort to separate tribal groups that was characteristic of plantation life in the American South.
This meant that tribal identities remained strong, and nearly every important West African
religion flourishes in the Caribbean in a complex interrelationship with the Catholic and
Protestant sects of the colonial powers. The relentless pressure of tourism now is changing every
aspect of life in the islands, but as late as the 1960s and 1970s it was still possible to find isolated
areas which maintained their older cultural identity, and the music was enthusiastically
documented by a number of researchers.
It is too much of an oversimplification to suggest that the Caribbean is “losing” its
distinctive character with the sweeping changes, since the area has suffered from the desolation
of poverty and isolation for most of its recent history. The islands are plagued with
unemployment, emigration - mostly to the United States - violence, corruption, and also a high
incidence of HIV infection. If the changes can reverse the depressing realities of contemporary
island life then they have to be accepted with some equanimity. Through all of the changes
music continues to be a colorful and vibrant aspect of Caribbean culture, and it is fascinating to
follow traditional musical styles through their amalgamation into the popular styles of the dance
halls and the Calypso tents of the Caribbean today.
AN OVERVIEW OF TRADITIONAL CARIBBEAN MUSICAL CULTURES
Harold Courlander, who for many years was associated with Folkways Records in New
York City, was one of the early field workers to document Caribbean music in Cuba and Haiti,
and he produced for Folkways a two LP set presenting some of the traditional musical styles.
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CARIBBEAN FOLK MUSIC - Vol. 1 - Double LP with extensive notes. Edited by Harold
Courlander, Folkways Records, 1960. Dodd LP 450a, 450b
The areas included in the documentation are Puerto Rico, Carriacou, Jamaica,
The Bahamas, San Andres, Trinidad, St. Thomas, Tortola, Cuba, Haiti, Honduras,
Surinam, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Curacao, and Mexico
Folkways earlier issued a smaller collection of Caribbean music.
CARIBBEAN DANCES - 10” LP. Recorded and documented by Walter and Lisa Lekis,
Folkways Records, 1953. Dodd LP 451
The islands included are Matrinique, Virgin Islands, Guadeloupe, Trinidad,
Antigua, and Curacao.
The Lekis recordings are particularly interesting for the blending of European and
African traditions which their selections document. Among other unusual selections
is a “Medley of Old Calypso” sung by Mighty Zebra with the old style acoustic
accompaniment.
BELIZE
Belize is the modern name for the British colony of British Honduras, which is on the
southern coast of the Quintana Ro peninsula in southern Mexico. The people of the colony are a
mixture of Mayan indians and descendants of African slaves, with a small immigrant population
of Mennonites from North America. The three dominant groups in the society have resisted
mingling, and each has maintained its own culture. This group performs a traditional music
called “Garifuna” from the interior of Belize. They live and perform in Los Angeles.
CHATUYE - CD, “Heartbeat in the Music” Arhoolie Records, 1992. Dodd CD 270
CARRIACOU
THE BIG DRUM DANCE OF CARRIACOU - LP. Recorded and documented by Andrew C.
Pearse. Folkways Records, 1956. Dodd LP 452
Carriacou is a small island in the Windward Islands, and it retained a
sophisticated tradition of drum and dance.
THE BIG DRUM & OTHER RITUAL & SOCIAL MUSIC OF CARRIACOU - LP. Recorded and
documented by Donald R. Hill. Folkways Records, 1980. Dodd LP 453 [mold]
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
MUSIC FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Vol. 1 The Island of Quisqueya.
Dodd LP 454 [mold]
MUSIC FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Vol. 2 The Island of Espanola.
Dodd LP 455 [mold]
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MUSIC FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Vol. 3 Cradle of the New World.
Dodd LP 456 [mold]
MUSIC FROM THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Vol. 4 Songs from the North
All LPS. Dodd LP 457 [mold]
The series was recorded by Verna Gillis, with Ramon Daniel Perez Martinez Folkways Records,
1976.
GAGA IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - LP. Folkways Records, 1978.
Dodd LP 458a, 458b
This material was recorded by Gillis at the same time, but the disc is included in a Folkways
Ethnic Series box with music from Haiti.
GUADELOUPE
HURRICANE ZOUK - LP, “A Tropical Storm Compilation” Virgin Records, 1988.
Dodd LP 459
Artists include:
Zouk Time
Francky Vincent
Gerard Hubert
Come Back Des Viking Guadeloupe
Vik’in
Soukoue Ko Ou
Zouk is probably best described as the French-speaking Caribbean’s version of Soca, the
Trinidadian modernization of Calypso. The style was conceived as commercial disco music,
created in Paris by singer and producer Jacob Desvarieux in 1978 and introduced by the group
Kassav. The same French production company had been producing disco music for the West
African market, and they felt there was also a market for the same type of music in the French
islands. It is slickly produced, well recorded, and presents some Afro-Caribbean elements in the
rhythm backgrounds, though its aim was simply to produce another form of the disco music that
for several years was created everywhere in the world by artists and record companies with
similar ambitions, and sounded vaguely similar in every culture. Zouk is music for the traveler
who feels that Disco Night at a Caribbean Club Med is a crucial cultural experience. The word
“zouk” is Creole slang for “party.”
FLORIDA
JUNKANOO BAND KEY WEST - LP. Recorded and documented by Marshall W. Stearns
Folkways Records, nd, recordings done in 1964. Dodd LP 460 [mold]
Jazz historian Marshall Stearns found this group of Bahamian musicians playing on the
streets of Key West during the Carnival season. The music and the costume were similar to the
traditions in Nassau, although the group had picked up some American songs during their Florida
years. “Junkanoo” is a word of uncertain origin that describes street dances performed at
Christmas. Stearns explained in his detailed notes, “ . . the word has been used for many years in
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the British West Indies to describe a series of masquerade-dances during the Christmas holidays,
a sort of Protestant equivalent of Mardi Gras, which center around a special kind of music played
by a special kind of ban.d.”
HAITI
MUSIC OF HAITI - Vol. 1 Folk Music of Haiti. Dodd LP 461 [mold]
MUSIC OF HAITI - Vol. 2 Drums of Haiti. Dodd LP 462
MUSIC OF HAITI - Vol. 3 Songs and Dances of Haiti. Dodd LP 463
All Lps. The series was recorded and documented by Harold Courlander. Folkways Records,
1952. Although the documentation does not give dates of recording Courlander was active in
Cuba in 1940, and the Haitian recordings might have been done at the same time.
Since Haiti has managed to maintain its independence as an African American nation since
the 1790s it has continued to be a rich source of African cultural survivals in the Western
Hemisphere, despite the fierce poverty and insidious violence that scars Haitian life.
VODUN-RADA RITE FOR ERZULE - LP. Recorded and documented by Verna Gillis.
Folkways Records, 1975. Dodd LP 464 [mold]
RARA IN HAITI - LP. Recorded and documented by Verna Gillis Folkways Records, 1978.
Dodd LP 458a-b
This album is included in a Folkways Ethnic Series box which also includes music recorded by
Gillis in the Dominican Republic.
HAITIAN PIANO with FABRE DUROSEAU - 10” LP. Recorded by Harold Courlander.
Folkways Records, 1952. Dodd LP 465
This is one of the most charming documentations of the French Creole traditions in
the islands. With his two brothers occasionally joining him on violins Duroseau
performs Haitian meringues, a style that was then a form of pre-ragtime syncopated
composition, on an out-of tune piano that sounds as old and as wise as the music
itself.
JAMAICA
BONGO, BACKRA & COOLIE JAMAICA ROOTS - Vol. 1, LP. Kumina and Convince,
Jamaican East Indian Music. Dodd LP 466
BONGO, BACKRA & COOLIE JAMAICA ROOTS - Vol. 2, LP. Revival Zion, Wake,
Quadrille Band and Fife and Drum. Dodd LP 467
Recorded and documented by Kenneth M. Bilby Folkways Records, 1975.
FOLK MUSIC OF JAMAICA - LP. Recorded and documented by Edward Seaga, Folkways
Records, 1956. Dodd LP 468
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JAMAICAN CULT MUSIC - LP. Recorded in Kingston by George Eaton Simpson, Folkways
Records, 1954. Dodd LP 469
This collection is particularly interesting for the documentation of the music of
“Ras Tafari” youth group, recorded in December, 1953, a decade before the
international interest in the religion following the success of the rasta reggae groups
MUSIC OF THE MAROONS OF JAMAICA - LP. Recorded and documented by Kenneth M.
Bilby, Folkways Records, 1981. Dodd LP 470 [mold]
The Maroons are the descendants of escaped slaves who fled into the mountains of
Jamaica and resisted recapture. Today they continue to live in isolated mountain
settlements and their music has clear ties to their African ancestry.
MARTINIQUE
II B13b. Trindad’s Calypsos and Pans
THE CALYPSONIANS
Trinidad has long had a vital tradition of song and instrumental music, which survives today
in the song competition at the calypso “tents” - enclosed performance areas - that are part of the
yearly Carnival celebrations. The tradition of the calypso singer, a performer who comments on
local events or world history in rhymed song lyrics, has nineteenth century roots, and there were
commercial recordings made of pioneer calypsonians as early as 1914. In the 1930s calypso had
a wave of popularity and there were dozens of recordings made by artists like Wilmouth Houdini,
Atilla the Hun, Lord Invader, The Caresser, and The Lion. The best known of all the songs was
Invader’s “Rum and Coca Cola,” from the war years, which was illegally copyrighted by an
American tourist with experience in the music industry, and it was only after a long and
expensive court action that Invader was able to collect some of the royalties he was owed.
In the notes to a calypso collection compiled for Folkways Records I wrote, “It isn’t fair to
describe the calypso singers, however, without emphasizing that their music is colorful and
exuberant and richly expressive and often hilariously funny. The texts are sometimes complex
and based on historical records or local traditions - but they can just as often be based on a
neighborhood street fight or a fire in a barroom. There is the same dead pan earnestness to the
lyrics whether they’re singing about the coming Coronation of Edward VI or the tap dancing of
‘Bojangles’ Robinson. . .”
THE REAL CALYPSO, 1927-1946 - The Real Calypso Vol. 1 - LP. Compiled and annotated by
Samuel Charters, Folkways Records, Folkways Records, 1966.
2000-0105/LP 1290
This selection opens with one of calypso’s classic songs, “Henry the VIII, The Caresser’s
response to the 1936 abdication of the British king Edward VIII for the love of an American
divorcee. The song’s lamenting chorus, opening with the lines “It’s love, love, love alone, that
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caused King Edward to leave the throne,” mirrors the feelings of many people in the British
Empire at the event.
Lord Invader presents what became Calypso’s biggest international hit, his “Yankee
Dollar,” which was renamed “Rum and Coca Cola” by an American entertainer, whose wife
heard the song on a vacation trip to the island. The American also claimed he was the song’s
composer, which led a long and frustrating lawsuit for Invader before he was able to reclaim his
song.
Artists included:
The Caresser
The Lion
Atilla the Hun
Gerald Clark and his Calypso Orchestra, vocal by Sir Lancelot
Lord Invader
Lord Beginner
The Executor
Sam Manning
WILMOUTH HOUDINI - CD, “Poor but Ambitious” - Arhoolie Records, 1993. [not
transferred]
LORD KITCHENER - CD, “Kitchener Forever” Lord Kitch Classics, Vol. 2. - Charlie’s
Records, nd. [not transferred]
SAM MANNING - CD, Volume 1, Recorded in New York, 1924-1927. Jazz Oracle, nd. [not
transferred]
SAM MANNING - CD, Volume 2, Recorded in New York, 1927-1930. Jazz Oracle, nd. [not
transferred]
Sam Manning could probably be described best as a Caribbean entertainer who was
popular in New York clubs and theaters in the 1920s for his humorous, infectious songs. He was
born in Trinidad, and he always retained his sense of calypso, though he performed a wide range
of material. He included songs like the West Indian favorite “Sly Mongoose“ among his many
recordings, and he performed a classic calypso “Lieutenant Julian” about the African American
aviator who attempted to duplicate the New York to Paris flight of Cjarles Lindbergh. The
chorus intoned Julian’s words “Paris or eternity,” but the eventual flight got no further than Long
Island, where the unfortunate Julian crash landed.
THE MIGHTY SPARROW - CD, “Corruption” BLS Records, 2000. [not transferred]
A collection of Sparrow’s modern political calypsos, including his insistent composition
“Death of Martin Luther King,” with its chorus “Segregation must be destroyed!”
SEND YOUR CHILDREN TO THE ORPHAN HOME Calypso Songs of Social Commentary and
Love Troubles - The Real Calypso Vol. 2 - LP. Compiled and annotated by Samuel Charters,
Folkways Records, 1981. Dodd LP 471
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Artists included:
The Executor
Atilla the Hun
Wilmouth Houdini
The Caresser
The Lion
The Tiger
Lord Invader
Lionel Belasco’s Orchestra
Harmony Kings’ Orchestra
CALYPSO PIONEERS 1912- 1937 - LP. Produced by Dick Spottswood and Don Hill, Rounder
Records, 1989. Dodd LP 472
Artists included:
Lovey’s Band
Belasco’s Band
Julian Whiterose
Monrose’s String Orchestra
Phil Madison
Merrick’s Orchestra
Sam Manning
Wilmouth Houdini
Belasco’s Orchestra
Gerald Clark & His Night Owls
Bill Rogers
The Executor
Attila the Hun
Keskidee Trio
Although the selection by Julian Whiterose was recorded in 1914, almost a decade
before the rural blues recordings made in the United States, it is in the classic calypso
tradition of Carnival boasting. The album includes excellent notes - uncredited - with
texts for the songs and a wealth of historical detail.
A SELECTION OF GREAT CALYPSOS Through the Years: Volume One - LP. Issued as a
“25th Anniversary of Independence Souvenir Collection” by Carotte Records, n.d. Dodd LP 473
Artists include:
Shorty
Melody
Black Stalin
Shadow
Sparrow
Kitchener
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Douglas
Sniper
Terror
This selection includes songs by the two most important calypsonians of the recent
decades: Kitchener - “Lord Kitchener” - and Sparrow - “The Mighty Sparrow.”
WILMOUTH HOUDINI - LP, “Calypso Classics from Trinidad” Folklyric Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 474
This is a collection of Houdini’s singles recorded in Trinidad, 1931-1940.
LORD INVADER - 10” LP, “Calypso with the Lord Invader and Trinidad Caribbean
Orchestra - Folkways Records, 1961. Dodd LP 475
THE MIGHTY SPARROW - LP, “Slave” Hilary Records, n.d. Dodd LP 476
“Sparrow,” Slinger Francisco, is a cheerful, bulky singer weighing over 200 hundred
pounds who was given the name Sparrow by another calypsonian, Melody, who watched him
move around the stage in an imitation of James Brown and growled, “You keep dancing around
like a goddamned sparrow. Stand up and sing like everybody else.” On his first record Francisco
was named “Little Sparrow,” but he was upset with the title. “I didn’t like that. I wanted to be
Depth Charge, Torpedo, Explosion, or something. So I made it “The Mighty Sparrow.”
Sparrow’s single of his song “Dear Sparrow,” on the jukebox of a little open air dance pavilion
on Andros Island in the Bahamas, helped lighten up the nights when we were documenting the
music of Andros in 1958. This LP collection is undated, but the song “Kennedy and Krushchev”
suggests it was recorded in the early 1960s.
THE STEEL PANS
The other distinctly Trinidadian music of the post war years is the music of the steel
drums, or pans. During the war, when the islands were cut off from regular contact with the
larger countries either or the north or the south people were forced to make use of whatever
materials that were at hand to keep their societies going. Young men with more time than money
discovered that if they beat on the round steel tops of empty oil drums they could make a metallic
tone - and by shaping the tops of the drums into smaller pockets they could produce musical
notes. The smaller and shallower the pocket, the higher the pitch of the note. The “pan” quickly
evolved into a sophisticated instrument that is carefully tuned with a small hammer. and played
with short wooden sticks. In Trinidad there are pan orchestras with hundreds of members, and
the instrument has also produced a number of virtuoso performers who have created a new style
of instrumental music grounded in the distinctive character and bright tone of the pans.
An Early Steel Band document
THE TRINIDAD PAN HARMONIC ORCHESTRA STEEL BAND- 10” LP, recorded in
Trinidad. Folkways Records, 1957. Dodd LP 477
From the notes by Vital Angel,
“The Pan Harmonic Steel Orchestra has been formed in the inception of steel
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band times. It has been playing in such varied places as the Ritzi Yacht Club of
Trinidad and Tobago as well as funerals and weddings. The Trinidad Pan Harmonic
Orchestra has been selected to give steel band concerts in all Public Squares of
Trinidad and Tobago. Attendance at these concerts has reached 30,000 and it is
increasing all the time.”
BOOGSIE SHARPE - LP, “Steel & Brass Equals Gold” Straker’s Records, n.d.
Dodd LP 478
Len “Boogsie” Sharpe is described on the record label as “Trinidad’s No. 1,” and
he is one of the modern steel pan masters. Although there are occasional half-hearted
vocal overdubs this is a brilliant instrumental collection.
KIM LOY WONG and his WILTWYCK STEEL BAND - LP, “Kim Loy Wong” Folkways
Records, 1959. Dodd LP 479
ZANDA - LP, Pan-Tastic-Visions WIRL, 1976. Dodd LP 480
Pans used in a “New Age,” contemporary jazz idiom with Boogsie Sharpe as
featured soloist.
II B13c. Reggae
Reggae will always be associated with Jamaica, and with Bob Marley, who was one of the
handful of Caribbean musicians to become world stars. Although it is possible to trace the
development of reggae through instrumental and vocal styles called “ska” or “rock steady” that
were played in the Trenchtown slums of Kingston, Jamaica in the 1950s, for most of the
audience outside of Jamaica it was the 1972 film The Harder They Fall, filmed in Kingston with
singer Jimmie Cliff in the lead, that introduced them to reggae. Reggae was especially attractive
to young audiences in the 1970s because of its political militancy, its open advocacy of the use of
marijuana, and its religious overtones. Most of the singers belonged to the Rastafarian Sect in
Jamaica, and the lyrics for many songs used Rasta phrases. The term “Babylon,” which refers to
the world’s industrialized societies, became a common term used everywhere where people were
listening to reggae.
The slower, more laid-back rhythms of reggae were so different from North American
blues and soul that dancers and musicians had to learn the new style from the beginning. The
drummers found themselves playing a pattern of accents that turned their usual off-beat style
upside down, and in many of the classic reggae recordings the bass played a distinct melodic line,
instead of the usual chord sequences. With the new possibilities of multi-track recording the
producers began imitating the effects of marijuana as they mixed the records - bringing different
instruments up and down in the sound mix and adding echo and repetitions, a technique that is
called “dubbing.” A few years later dubbing was picked up by street DJs in the Bronx, in New
York City, and it became part of the repertory of the new rap producers.
Also important to the development of rap in the United States were the recordings of
Jamaica’s dub poets, beginning in the 1970s with the albums of Linton Kwesi Johnson, which
combined spoken texts with instrumental accompaniment. Johnson’s albums, particularly
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Forces of Victory, recorded in 1979, made brilliant use of dubbing techniques, and one of his
poem/performances, “Inglan is a Bitch” from 1980, had considerable success as a strong political
statement. More important to the development of rap were two dub poets who followed Johnson,
Michael Smith and Mutabaruka, who used faster tempos and rougher accompaniments, and were
even more outspoken in their criticism of the world’s political injustice. Mutabaruka had his
breakthrough at the Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica in 1981, and toured the United States as part
of the Lollapalooza extravaganzas in the 1990s.
At the height of its popularity reggae had a world-wide audience, and now-classic rock
recordings, like “Hotel California” by the California group The Eagles, used reggae rhythms as
the basis for their arrangements. In Sweden one of the most popular protest bands, Peps and his
Band of Blood, recorded Jamaican reggae songs in translation and also wrote their own reggae
styled pieces. In West Africa Bob Marley was an iconic figure who represented the struggle for
black freedom and self-expression. Marley was not only a sensitive and skilled musician, he was
one of the period’s finest song writers in any style, and with his group he created a body of music
that continues to bring vitality and a creative standard to a younger generation of reggae artists.
His early death in 1981 from a brain tumor was a serious loss to the world’s music.
Neither reggae nor Jamaica have thrived in the 1990s. Younger dance hall crowds found
that the old style music was too slow for dancing, and a series of government measures that have
tried to suppress the use of marijuana in the Rasta community have caused the music to lose
much of its vitality. The shrinking audience meant less money for production, and reggae today
generally lacks the brilliant arrangements and instrumental sophistication of groups like Marley’s
Wailers or Toots and the Maytalls. The newer reggae artists have also absorbed much of the tone
and the mannerisms of the American rappers. An album like Bobby Konders/Massive B, Reggae
Meets Hip Hop, recorded in Jamaica in the late 1990s, consciously tries to create a cross-over
sound for both styles, and the cover art depicts a Rasta, dreadlocks under a big cap, shaking
hands with a rapper, who is wearing earphones over his baseball cap.
The new reggae is so different from the Rasta influenced recordings of the 1970s that the
two styles are listed separately.
See also videos listed in video section of the catalog.
CLASSIC REGGAE
The Jamaican musicians were fortunate to have a record company that was founded in
Jamaica by one of the rock world’s shrewdest commercial talents, although there were later
protests over some of the company’s business policies. Chris Blackwell built his Island label on
reggae, and he maintained the highest standards of production and promotion - spending heavily
to bring the groups to Europe for extended tours, and creating a catalog of the finest reggae
performances. The next serious effort by a record label to become involved with reggae was by
Virgin Records, still a very new company, which introduced what it called its “Front Line”
series. Virgin recorded many of the younger artists, but was unable to promote them as
successfully as Island had done with its catalog.
ASWAD - LP album, “Aswad” Island, 1976. Dodd LP 481
BIG YOUTH - LP album, “Isaiah, First Prophet of Old” Virgin Front Line, 1978.
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Dodd LP 482
BIG YOUTH - LP album, “Dread Locks Dread” Virgin Front Line, 1978. Dodd LP 483
BLACK UHURU - LP album, “Sinsemilla” Island, 1980. Dodd LP 484
Black Uhuru was one of the best of the younger groups, and they have had a long
and successful career. Many people who listen to reggae don’t realize that the name
of the group generally only describes the singers. Uhuru was a vocal trio, and the
musicians who performed with them were the same instrumentalists who recorded
with Bob Marley. “The Wailers” was the name of the trio that included Marley as one
of the singers. The bass player Robbie Shakespeare and drummer Sly Dunbar, who
play on this LP, were brilliant artists whose styles defined reggae, and they had a
major influence on the rock music that was developing at the same time. Sinsemilla
is the name of an especially strong variety of marijuana.
BURNING SPEAR - LP album, “Garvey’s Ghost” “A Dub album” Island, 1976.
Dodd LP 485
One of the folk heroes of Jamaica is the charismatic black leader Marcus Garvey,
who led an important black freedom movement in the United States in the 1920s.
Garvey believed that there would never be justice for African Americans in the society
he found there, and he advocated a return to Africa. At the height of his influence he
had an active organization in Harlem that included uniformed military guards and
staged elaborate parades on Harlem’s streets. Through active fund raising he was
raising money to purchase ships to take his followers to Africa on the Black Star line,
as the organization’s shipping line was named. The American authorities became so
concerned with the strength of his growing organization that they imprisoned him on a
false charge of mail fraud and deported him when he was released from prison.
BURNING SPEAR - LP album, “Social Living” Island, 1978. Dodd LP 486
The album again contains tributes to Marcus Garvey. Three of the songs are
“Marcus Children Suffer,” “Marcus Senior,” and “Marcus Say Jah No Dead”
JIMMY CLIFF - LP album “The Harder They Come” Island, 1972. Dodd LP 487
This is the Original Soundtrack Recording for the film and includes songs by the
following artists:
Jimmy Cliff
Scotty
Melodians
Maytals
The Slickers
Desmond Decker
The album included three major reggae hits; Cliff’s “The Harder They Come,”
and “You Can Get It If You Really want,” and the Melodians “Rivers of Babylon.”
JIMMY CLIFF - LP album “Struggling Man” Island, 1973. Dodd LP 488
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CULTURE - LP album “Cumbolo” Virgin Front Line, 1979. Dodd LP 489
SLY DUNBAR - LP album “Simple Sly Man” Virgin Front Line, 1977.
Dodd LP 490
THE GLADIATORS - LP album, “Proverbial Reggae” Virgin Front Line, 1978.
Dodd LP 491
THE GLADIATORS - LP album, “Sweet So Till” Virgin Front Line, 1979.
Dodd LP 492
THE GLADIATORS - LP album, “The Gladiators” Virgin, 1980. Dodd LP 493
THE ICEBREAKERS with THE DIAMONDS - LP album, “Planet Mars Dub”
Virgin Front Line, 1978. Dodd LP 494
The Diamonds is a vocal trio who recorded under their own name “The Mighty
Diamonds.’ Their first album is included in the archive.
JAH LION - LP album, “Colombia Colly” Island, 1976. Dodd 495
This is the first album by Patrick Francis, who titled himself first Jah Lion,
then Jah Lloyd the Black Lion, and then Jah Lloyd. He was a dub producer, arranger,
back-up vocalist, and record salesman who had a period of considerable success in the
reggae boom of the late 1970s.
JAH LLOYD the BLACK LION - LP album, “The Humble One” Virgin Front Line, 1978.
Dodd LP 496
JAH LLOYD - LP album, “Black Moses” Virgin Front Line, 1979. Dodd 497
LINTON KWESI JOHNSON - LP album, “Forces of Victory” Island, 1979.
Dodd LP 498
LINTON KWESI JOHNSON - LP album “Bass Culture” Island, 1980.
Dodd LP 499
Johnson’s albums are a unique blend of spoken poetry and reggae rhythms. His
work has a strong political emphasis, and he could be considered a forerunner of
the rap styles that became popular in the United States a few years later. The second
album was a particular response to his experience as a Jamaican immigrant trying to
live in England, and one of the poem/performances, titled “Inglan is a Bitch”, became
popular with a more general audience. The album also included his comment on the
social climbing in the immigrant society, “Di Black Petty Booshwa.”
Johnson is also listed in the rap section of the catalog.
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LUCKY DUBE - CD, “Serious Reggae Business” Gazell Music, 1997. Dodd CD 271
This is an interactive CD compatible with Windows 95.
BOB MARLEY
Marley, who was born in St. Anns, Jamaica in 1945, began singing when he was a
teenager, and when he was nineteen he formed his popular West Indian group The
Wailin’ Wailers, and with the Wailers had a productive recording career before he
made the classic recordings that brought the group worldwide fame and all the
difficulties and tensions that are attendant with it.
Marley’s recordings have continued to have an importance that extends beyond
the early excitement over reggae. In Africa he is a symbol of black freedom, and
the political content of his songs has inspired many younger song writers. In the
inner city record shops of the United States he is almost alone among artists of any
earlier period to still be a strong presence. There are framed portraits, tee shirts,
posters, videos, and racks of his albums on sale.
In early 2000 a study was released of sales of the top 1000 selling albums of the
previous ten years, using sophisticated counting techniques, and the largest selling
“catalog” album of the decade was Marley’s Legend, which sold more than seven and
a half million copies. Since albums by every major rock artist of the sixties and
seventies come into the same category Marley’s success is even more impressive.
All of us who were fortunate enough to see him perform will never forget the
moments in his songs when he would unstrap his guitar, hand it to a member
of the band behind him, and begin to dance - lifting his knees and holding out his
hands, as if a large, skinny bird had suddenly come on to the stage to dance
along with the music.
THE LEGENDARY BOB MARLEY - 3 CD box set, compilation issued by CMC Home
Entertainment in 1996. Dodd CD 272, CD 273, CD 274
These three CDs contain 47 of the singles that Marley and the Wailers recorded in
the 1960s and the early 1970s. Most of the songs didn’t become standards, but the set
includes early versions of some of the songs that were recorded again later and
became indelibly associated with the group, among them “Lively Up Yourself,”
“Small Axe,” and “Trench Town Rock.” The set is a startling illustration of Marley’s
productivity. All of the songs are credited to him as composer, though one of the
selections, the spiritual “Go Tell It On The Mountain,” would more properly have
been designated as “Traditional, arranged by ...”
Although most audiences associate the Wailers with Marley, the first releases on
Island were titled only “The Wailers.” There were jealousies within the group that probably
would have led to an eventual breakup, but the use of Marley’s name in the group’s title caused
considerable friction. The other two members of the Wailers, Neville Livingston, who later
changed his name to Bunny Wailer, sang the high harmonies, and Peter Mackintosh, who became
Peter Tosh, sang many of the vocal leads. In those arrangements Marley sang a second high tenor
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harmony in falsetto. Both Wailer and Tosh were major reggae artists, and it is a tribute to the
group’s sense of a shared creativity that the Wailers were able to stay together as long as they did.
Marley himself survived an attack by an armed gang that shot its way into his business
compound in 1977, but Tosh was not so fortunate, and he was shot to death ten years later.
See also Bob Marley Videos listed in the video section of the catalog.
THE WAILERS - LP album, “Catch a Fire” Island, 1973. Dodd LP 500
THE WAILERS - LP album, “Burnin’” Island, 1973. Dodd LP 501
Wailers classics that appeared on these albums include “Stir It Up,” “I Shot the
“Sheriff,” and “Small Axe” by Marley, and “Get up, stand up,” a collaboration with
Tosh. Catch a Fire is in the original packaging, which was in the form of a dummy
cigarette lighter. It was so difficult to open that the release was soon repackaged.
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Natty Dread” Island, 1974.
Dodd LP 502
This album, after Bunny Wailer and Tosh had left the group, helped bring Marley
worldwide attention. The songs included “Lively Up Yourself,” “No Woman No
Cry,” “Them Belly Full,” “Rebel Music,” and “Talkin’ Blues.” The title was
originally “Natty Dreads,” which referred to the Rastas dreadlocks, and it meant
simply “nice looking hair.” By turning the title into “Natty Dread” the record
company gave the title an air of mystery and menace, which the text of the song
didn’t do much to clarify, since it’s one of Marley’s less coherent lyrics. With this
album the women’s vocal trio “I Three,” which included Marley’s singer Rita, sang
the backup harmonies, and it was this sound that Marley was to take on his most
successful tours.
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Live” Island, 1975.
Dodd LP 503
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Rastaman Vibration” Island, 1976.
Dodd LP 504
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Exodus” Island, 1977.
Dodd LP 505
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - double LP album, “Babylon by Bus” Island, 1978. Dodd
LP 506a, 506b
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Kaya” Island, 1979. Dodd LP 507
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BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Survival” Island, 1979.
Dodd LP 508
An LP Repackaging.
Following the first successful English tour of Bob Marley and the Wailers, Trojan records
reissued a number of the old Wailer’s singles, but with the group’s current name “Bob Marley
and the Wailers.”
BOB MARLEY and THE WAILERS - LP album, “Rasta Revolution” Trojan, 1976.
Dodd LP 509
BOB MARLEY - CD, “Slave Driver” Rock Classics, Albuquerque, NM, n.d.
Dodd CD 275
THE MIGHTY DIAMONDS - LP album, “The Mighty Diamonds” Virgin Front Line, 1976.
Dodd LP 510
PABLO MOSES - LP album, “A Song” Island, 1980. Dodd LP 511
MUTABARUKA - CD, The Ultimate Collection” Shanachie, 1996.
Dodd CD 276
This is a compilation covering Mutabaruka’s career, including previously
unreleased live and mix material.
PRINCE FAR I - LP album, “Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Part 2” Virgin Front Line, 1979.
Dodd LP 512
TAPPER ZUKIE - LP album, “MPLA” Virgin Front Line, 1976. Dodd LP 513
TOOTS & THE MAYTALS - LP, album, “Reggae Got Soul” Island, 1976.
Dodd LP 514
Toots Hibbert, leader of the Maytals, used a brass section with his group to give
his music a soul flavor. He was one of the groups who achieved popularity on tour in
the reggae years, and he spent considerable time in the United States.
PETER TOSH - LP album, “Equal Rights” Columbia Records, 1977. Dodd LP 515
When Peter Mackintosh left the Wailers he recorded with the rhythm section of
Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, who had made so many classic reggae sessions.
The lead guitar player of the Wailers, Al Anderson, was also in the studio with
them. Although this album opened with Tosh’s collaboration with Marley, “Get Up,
Stand Up” and Tosh was given considerable promotion by his new label he never
equaled Marley’s success.
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BUNNY WAILER - LP album, “Blackheart Man” Island, 1976. Dodd LP 516
This was Wailer’s first solo album, and both Marley and Tosh took part in the
sessions. For one of the songs, “Dreamland,” the three Wailers sang the back-up
vocal in their old trio style.
BUNNY WAILER - LP album, “Protest” Island, 1977. Dodd LP 517
DELROY WILSON - CD, “The Best of Delroy Wilson” Heart Beat, 1991. Dodd CD 277
CLASSIC REGGAE COMPILATIONS
THIS IS REGGAE MUSIC - LP album, Island, 1976. Dodd LP 518
Artists include:
Junior Murvin
Lee Perry
Max Romeo & the Upsetters
Justin Hines
Jah Lion
Burning Spear
Prince Jazzbo & the Upsetters
Bunny Wailer
Peter Tosh
Aswan
REGGAE ISLAND - LP album, Island, 1979. Dodd LP 519
Artists include:
Rico
Toots and the Maytals
Ijahman
Steel Pulse
Jimmy Cliff
Bob Marley and the Wailers
Justin Hines
Bunny Wailer
Zap-Pow
Dillinger
Third World
Inner Circle
This compilation includes the classic song “Famine” by Toots and the Maytals,
which deals with the larger social issues of hunger in the Jamaica countryside.
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REGGAE - 3 CD box, Charley Records, 1995. Dodd CD 278, CD 279, CD 280
Artists include:
Bob Marley
Dillinger
Greyhound
Cornell Campbell
Gregory Isaacs
Dennis Brown
The Heptones
Yellowman and the Paragons
Prince Allah
Lee Perry
The Reggae Masters
The Upsetters
John Holt
Soulful Dynamics
Susan Cadogan
Philip Frazier
Ricky and Bunny
The Black Arks
Carol Cool
Roman Stewart
Ruddy Thomas
Soul Train
Safari Club
Lee and the Bluebell
Charmaine Burnett
David Curley
Ricky Grant
CONTEMPORARY REGGAE, DANCE HALL and DJ
AMBELIQUE - CD, “Sings the Classics” VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 281
Although this is a contemporary album, with songs covering a wide range of styles,
the rhythm section is the classic pairing of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, and
Dunbar produced the album.
BORN JAMERICANS - LP single, “Boom Shak A” “Warning Sign” “Sweet Honey”
Delicious Vinyl, 1992/1995. Dodd LP 520
DENNIS BROWN - CD, “One of a Kind” I.M.A.J. Records, n.d. Dodd CD 282
DEAN FRASER - CD, “Slow Melodies” VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 283
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LADY LEE - LP single, “We Love I” “The Right Decision” Urban Street/Party Reggae, n.d.
Dodd LP 521
LADY SAW - CD, “Raw, the Best of Lady Saw” VP Records, 1998. Dodd CD 284
BYRON LEE and the DRAGONAIRS - CD, “Softlee, Vol, VI” VP Records, 1997.
Dodd CD 285
KASHIEF LINDO - CD, “What Kinda World” VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 286
RISING LION - CD, “New Day” Ruff Stuff Records, 1997. Dodd CD 287
LA TRENGGAE - CD, “La Trenggae” Taxi Records, 1997. Dodd CD 288
TANYA STEPHENS – CD, “Too Hype” VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 358
CONTEMPORARY COMPILATIONS
REGGAE BANGARA - LP album, Sonic Sounds Records, n.d. Dodd LP 522
Artists include:
Chaka Demus
Pliars
Skullman
Nardo Hanks
Mackie Ranks
Daddy Woody
Anthony Red Rose
Brent Dowe
Fragga Ranks
Taxi Gang
These two LP collections, with gaudily designed covers and a general roughness to
the production and presentation, are intended for a contemporary dance crowd that is
not looking for subtlety in its music. The recording is done in studios with limited
equipment, usually called “roots studios.” Virtually all of the songs have been
recorded over the same instrumental track, which has been remixed in a number
of ways to give the impression that there is some variety on the record. So that the
rhythm track would fit all of the songs the performers have written melodies that
don’t use chord changes. It is obviously music that is meant to be danced to, in a
thunderously loud dance hall, and not analyzed in a quiet living room. The terms
“Dance Hall” and “DJ” are both used to describe the new tren.d.
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REGGAE GOLD, 1997 - CD, VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 289
Artists include:
Tony Rebel
Lady Saw & Beenie Man
Carleton & Yami Bolo
Tanya Stephens
Bountry Killer
Scare Dem Crew
Benjy Myaz
Frisco Kid
Beenie Man
Buju Banton
Everton Bender
Beres Hammond
Goofy
The Taxi Gang
REGGAE GOLD, 1998 - CD, VP Records, 1998. Dodd CD 290
Artists include:
Spragga Benz
Frisco Kid
Beenie Man
Sean Paul
Bountry Killer
Vegas
Sizzla
Buju Banton
Luciano
Degree
Red Rat
Harry Toddler
Beres Hammond
Sanchez & Beenie Man
Shabba Hanks & Carlton Livingston
The Reggae Gold compilations have been consistently strong sellers and have
helped maintain an audience for reggae in these years when the vogue has largely
passed.
TOTAL TOGETHERNESS, Vol. 7 - CD, VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 291
Artists include:
Merciless & Lady Saw
Beenie Man
Scare Dem Crew
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Sizzla
Wayne Wonder
Gregory Isaacs
Ghost
Bountry Killer & Beenie Man
Monster Shock Crew
Richie Stephens
Dennis Brown
Frankie Paul
Lukie D
Red Rat
TOTAL RECALL, Vol. 10 - CD, VP Records, 1998. Dodd CD 292
Artists include:
Carlton Patterson
Barrington Levy
Sugar Minott
Hugh Brown
Johnny Ringo
Ray I
Dillinger
Michael Scotland
General Echo
Larry Marshall
I Roy
Stanley Beckford
DANCE HALL MASSIVE 4 - CD, November Records, 1995. Dodd CD 293
Artists include:
Shabba Ranks & Cocoa Tea
Louis Culture
Sanchez
Beenie Man
Lady Saw
Marcia Griffiths & Bounty Killer
Pinchers
Lt. Stitchie & Donovan Steele
Garnet Silk
Sebastian
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DJ CONNECTION - CD, November Records, 1995. Dodd CD 294
Artists include:
Red Dragon
Little Lenny
Leggo
Glamor Murphy
Frankie Sly
Don Youth
General T. K.
Judah
Elephant Man
Powerman
Ken Serious
This is one of the best of the recent dancehall collections, and there is a rich mix of texts
and rhythms.
ORIGINAL COPY - CD, VP Records, n.d. Dodd CD 295
Artists include:
Capleton
Inspector Grizzle
African
Jah Cure
Military Man
Granny Roots
Determine
This CD was produced with Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare as part of the
back up group, and there has been considerable care taken with the arrangements and
recording. Although the music has absorbed many ideas from the American rap
artists, the performances clearly demonstrate that Jamaican music still has a creative
edge.
DUB REVOLUTION UK ROOTS: High Steppin’ to the Future - CD, Roir Records, 1994. Dodd
CD 296
Artists include:
The Disciples
Zion Train
Bush Chemists
Testament
Alpha & Omega
Centry Meets The Music Family
Little Lord Creator
Scarab
Tribulation All Stars
Fish & Goats at the Controls
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WordSound
REGGAE GOSPEL
CARLENE DAVIS - CD, “Vessel” VP Records, 1998. Dodd CD 297
REGGAE RELATIVES
BOBBY KONDERS/MASSIVE B REGGAE MEETS HIP HOP - LP album, Massive B label,
Kingston, Jamaica, n.d. Dodd LP 574
See detailed listing in rap entry in catalog
II B13d. Soca
Although Soca is found everywhere in the Caribbean now it is perhaps most closely
associated with Barbados, where it is the musical style of the “Crop-Over” Festival that is the
high point of the Barbadian - or “Bajan” - year. It was developed first in Trinidad as an attempt
to freshen up Trinidad’s calypso style, which was beginning to sound dated to younger listeners.
The term combines the first letters of the words “soul” and “calypso,” and it blends the faster
tempos and the instrumental virtuosity of the American soul groups with the traditional calypso
song style. It is an enthusiastic, up-tempo music, performed with a rush of energy. In the early
years of soca the song lyrics were often as inventive and topical as calypso, but with the new
groups the emphasis is more on the show and the band’s endurance. There is no more exciting
sight in Caribbean music than the four or five lead members of one of the great soca bands
advancing across the stage in a widely spaced line toward the audience, singing and strutting,
with the band’s drums and horns blasting behind them.
During the Crop-Over Festival in Barbados, which is held in the summer at the end of the
cane cutting season, the performers set up “tents” - performance areas like the “tents” of the
Trinidad calypsonians - and there is a fierce competition among the singers to win the yearly
prize for the best crop-over song. As in Trinidad there are strict rules for the form and the length
of the song’s lyrics. Most of the singers find local support to pay for a recorded version of their
song, and the sponsorship for a record can include everyone from a group of friends to a
plumbing supply store to a taxi company to a local cafeteria or an insect exterminator. The
printed jackets for the crop-over albums usually include advertisements for the sponsors to help
pay the costs.
For several years most of the recordings of soca music were done with a group of
Caribbean musicians living in Brooklyn, which gave soca recordings a consistent level of
performance, and two of the companies with large catalogs, Straker’s Records and B’s Records,
were both located in Brooklyn. The artist who attracted the most attention in the early years of
soca was probably David Rudder, who wrote lyrics with considerable charm and inventiveness.
Many of the albums included in the archive came from the files of West Indies Records, which
handles the manufacturing of many of the crop-over competition entries. Over three or four
day’s listening at their office in an old sugar mill in the center of Barbados they offered singles
and albums as part of a proposed licensing arrangement for U. S. release.
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ADONIJAH - LP EP, “Amandla” WIRL (West Indies Records, Ltd. Barbados), 1988.
Dodd LP 523
TONY “BOX” ALLEYNE - LP EP, “Power in the Bumpsy” WIRL, 1987. Dodd LP 525
ARROW - LP EP, “Instant Knockout” Charlie’s Records, 1980. Dodd LP 524
ASTERISKS - LP EP, “Soca Syndrome” Straker’s Records, 1987. Dodd LP 526
BLACK STALIN - LP EP, “I Time” B’s Records, 1986. Dodd LP 527
“Black Stalin,” Leroy Calliste, is in the direct line of the older calypsonians like
Lord Kitchener, and his songs make strong political statements, sung with the
soca energy and excitement.
BLACK STALIN - LP EP, “Sing for the land” B’s Records, 1986. Dodd LP 528
BUMBA - LP EP, “Harmony” WIRL, 1988. Dodd LP 529
CALYPSO ROSE - LP EP, “On Top of the World” Straker’s Records, 1987.
Dodd LP 530
(The reverse side of this album is by Winston Soso)
Rose is a fine, veteran singer who has influenced many younger soca artists.
Her style has many of the older calypso elements, but she is recording here with
the Brooklyn soca bandleader Frankie McIntosh, and the arrangements feature soca
rhythms.
FOREIGNER FRANK - LP EP, “Foreigner Frank” WIRL, 1987. Dodd LP 531
KID SITE - LP single, “Hypocrite” “Version” Sounds Gud, 1988. Dodd LP 532
JOHN KING - LP EP, ”John King” J & K Music, 1987. Dodd LP 533
To be certain of hitting a wide Caribbean audience one of King’s songs is
titled “I Am A Calypso,” and he follows it with “More Soca.”
JOHN KING - LP EP, “Awe Some” J & K Music, 1988. Dodd LP 534
BYRON LEE and the Dragonaires - CD, “Socarobics” VP Records, 1997.
Dodd LP 536
MERCHANT - LP EP, “Ah Coming Too” Straker’s Records, n.d. Dodd LP 535
PETER METRO & CHARMAINE - LP single, “Dibbi Dibbi” “Tell Them No Do It” Witty,
n.d. Dodd LP 536
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PENGUIN - LP single, “Soft Man” “Teasers” B’s Records, n.d. Dodd LP 537
POMPEY - LP EP, “After Dark” Rix, 1987. Dodd LP 538
THE PROTECTOR - LP single, “We Talking Change” “You Gotta Sweat” Straker’s Records,
n.d. Dodd LP 539
REBELS - LP single, Bend Down & Rock” Straker’s Records, n.d. Dodd LP 540
(The reverse side of the this record is by Winston Soso)
DAVID RUDDER - LP album, “Charlie’s Roots” Sire Records, 1987. Dodd LP 541
SAUVAGE - LP single, “She Fussy” Sauvage, 1987. Dodd LP 542
SERENADER - LP EP, “Rough and Tough” Sunlight Productions, 1988. Dodd LP 543
SHADOW - LP EP, “High Tension” Straker’s Records, n.d. Dodd LP 544
SINGING FRANCINE - LP, “Reaching Out” Straker’s Records, 1987. Dodd LP 545
Francine Edwards, “Singing Francine,” is one of the most delightful soca artists
of this period. Her style is clearly influenced by Calypso Rose, but she has an
infectious rhythm and a cheerfully friendly voice.
WINSTON SOSO - Soso performs on the B sides of two Straker’s releases.
Dodd LP 530, LP 540
Three songs, including “Traitors and Rumors” are on the reverse of the album by Calypso Rose,
and one song is on the reverse of the single by the Rebels.
SPICE - LP, “In De Congaline” Spice, 1988. Dodd LP 546
Spice was a racially mixed group that had considerable success with this release,
and were widely considered to be soca stars of the future.
SOCA COLLECTIONS
FIREDANCE - LP EP, Firedance Vol. 1 Firedance Productions, 1988. Dodd LP 547
Artists include:
Black Pawn
Rennea Cobham
Poonka
Dragon
Big Davy
Derry
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CROP-OVER CALYPSO Jump-Up Mix Vol. 1 - Cassette album, WIRL 1988.
Dodd AC 9
Artists include:
Spice
Adonijah
Jadu
Sauvage
Pompey
Ras Iley
Red
Plastic Bag
Reporter
CROP-OVER CALYPSO Jump-Up Mix Vol. 2 - Cassette album, WIRL 1988.
Dodd AC 10
Artists include:
De Hawk
Saturn
Hot Gossip
Serenader
Classic
Foreigner Frank
Cockroach
Madd
DOWN DE ROAD Barbados Crop-Over Hits - Cassette ep, WIRL, n.d. Dodd AC 11
This was issued as a promotion by a company called Harris Paints. The artists
are not named, but the titles of the songs are: “Lawn Um Down,” “We Spring
Garden,” “Rain,” “In De Congaline,” “Barber-Greene,” “Roadblock”
SAY WHAT? “Double Entendre Soca from Trinidad” - LP, Rounder Records, 1990.
Dodd LP 548
Artists include:
Shadow
Bally
Rio
Plainclothes
Monarch
Poser
SOCA GOLD - CD, VP Records, 1997. Dodd CD 299
Artists include;
Ronnie McIntosh
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Third Bass
Krosfyah
Super Blue
Chinese Laundry
Arrow
Iwer George
Rukshun
Beenie Man & Lady Saw
Coalishun
Atlantik
General Grant/Sonny Man & Deinse Belfon
Ataklan
Denise Belfon
SUPER CROP-OVER PARTY - LP, WIRL, 1988. Dodd LP 549
Artists include:
The Draytons
Foreigner Frank
Panta
Wendy Alleyne
Rita Forrester
Duke Check E. D. Shirt 1988
II B13e. Bahaman Rhymers, Instrumental Music, and Joseph
Spence
It was the music of the Bahaman rhymers that in 1958 took me to Andros Island in the
Bahamas with Ann Danberg, who would become Ann Charters a year later. We traveled to
Andros to document the songs of the isolated communities of sponge fishermen who still scraped
out a meager life on the island, even though the sponging industry had been wiped out by
parasitic disease two decades before. While we were on Andros we also found a rich, living
musical tradition which also included the marvelous guitarist Joseph Spence. I wrote the story of
our summer in the book The Day is So Long and the Wages So Small, published in 1999.
Rhyming is - or I should say was, since the style has almost completely died out in the
Bahamas - a unique song form which combines the African elements of shifting accent, surging
rhythm, and vocal chant with the English traditions of the polyphonic hymn or anthem. The
harmonic structure of the song is maintained by a treble voice and a bass voice who repeat their
chorus - with considerable embellishment - over and over, while the lead singer, the “rhymer,”
improvises a text based on the general theme of the song they are “rhyming.” The style was
developed in the long nights on the sponge beds, when the small fishing boats would tie up
together and float through the darkness. The crews, who slept on the crude open decks, sang to
pass the hours. Rhyming is a vibrant, intensely rhythmic song style that insists on a high level of
musicality by the performers.
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The greatest rhymers were highly regarded in the community, and there were often singing
contests - one rhymer singing against another - which stretched through the night. The winner
was decided by the lyric quality of his singing, but just as much by the inventiveness of his
improvised text. If the vessels were in port the winner was usually carried by the ship’s crew to a
local rum shop with his prize - most often a colored handkerchief - wrapped around his neck. On
Andros, in Lisbon Creek Settlement, we were fortunate to be able to find Frederick McQueen,
who was considered the finest of the singers in the years after the war, and we also recorded
another excellent rhymer, John Roberts, who lived in Fresh Creek Settlement.
While we were living in Fresh Creek we also - entirely by accident - came upon the
guitarist Joseph Spence, who had come to the settlement to visit friends and was playing for three
or four men who were constructing a small house. Spence had also taken the English polyphonic
hymn as the basis for his style, and he had developed it with the looser Caribbean dance rhythms.
He performed breathtakingly complex, swinging improvisations, sometimes playing three
improvised parts at the same time on different strings of the guitar. Of all the guitarists I
recorded over many years I never heard anyone with Spence’s exuberant individuality and
stunning virtuosity.
The book The Day is So Long and the Wages So Small, published in 1999, tells the story of
our Andros summer.
It was a documentary recording of Bahaman rhyming made by Alan Lomax in the 1930s
that took us to the Bahamas, and fortunately Rounder Records, as part of its series of Lomax
recordings, has recently issued his early material. Many of the selections were previously
unavailable, and included on the disc is “Dig My Grave,” the song that we were searching for in
our own journey to Andros twenty years later.
The album by Joseph Spence has been reissued on CD under the title Joseph
Spence The Complete Folkways Recordings 1958. A copy of the CD is included
in the archive. Dodd CD 300
JOSEPH SPENCE - CD, “Happy All The Time” Recorded by Paul Rothchild and Fritz
Richmond, Warner Brothers Records, 1985. This is a reissue of the LP released on Electra
Records in 1965. Dodd CD 301
JOSEPH SPENCE - CD, “Bahamian Guitarist” Arhoolie Records, 1972/1990.
Dodd CD 302
JOSEPH SPENCE - LP, “Living on the Hallelujah Side” Recorded by Scott Billington and Bill
Nowlin, documentation by Scott Billington. Rounder Records, 1980.
Dodd LP 550
OUT ON THE ROLLING SEA, A Tribute to Joseph Spence and the Pinder Family - CD, Green
Linnet Records, n.d. Dodd CD 303
Among the artists included are Van Dyke Parks, David Lindley, Taj Mahal, and
David Grisman
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THE REAL BAHAMAS in Music and Song - LP. Recorded by Peter K. Siegel and Jody Stecher,
documentation by Jody Stecher. Nonesuch Records, n.d. Recordings made in 1965. Dodd LP
551/ Dodd CD 323
Artists included:
Joseph Spence with the Pindar Family
Frederick McQueen
Bruce Green, Tweedie Gibson, Clifton Green
Sam Green and group
Sheldon Swain and group
This material has been reissued on CD, and a copy is in the archive. Dodd CD 353
THE GREAT RHYMING SINGERS OF THE BAHAMAS - CD, “Kneelin’ Down Inside the
Gate” Recorded by Peter K. Siegel and Jody Stecher. Rounder Records, 1994.
Dodd CD 304
Among the artists included are Joseph Spence and Frederick McQueen. The
selections were recorded by Siegel and Stecher in Nassau in 1965.
II B13f. Traditional and Contemporary Afro-Cuban Styles
The music of Cuba reflects a number of influences, not only the African legacy of the
centuries of slavery that created the sugar empire that brought Cuba brief riches as a colony of
Spain in the 19th Century. Another strong influence has been American popular music, which
became part of Cuban life during the three military occupations by the U. S. Army between 1898
and 1918. Beginning in the 1920s Havana became the kind of mecca for travelers looking for
excitement, music, gambling, and prostitution that Las Vegas has become today. The
Conservatoria Municipal in the city trained hundreds of musicians for the sophisticated dance
orchestras that played for dancing and for the elaborate stage shows at the casinos. The Cuban
orchestras were so highly regarded that record companies began documenting their music as early
as 1906 on commercial cylinder recordings. The term for the groups was “Orquesta Tipica” or
“Orquesta Danzon.”
At the same time there was a popular music that was centered around vocal duets and the
“sextetos,” which were small, guitar-based groups with singers and often a trumpet. A general
term for this less commercial style of music is “son.” Cuba also has an important African
tradition, particularly in the eastern areas around Santiago de Cuba. With the success of the slave
rebellion in Haiti many slave holders fled to Cuba, since the coast of eastern Cuba is close to
Haiti, and they forced their slaves to go with them. Slavery was not abolished in Cuba until
1886, and the African influence remained strong. The African religions which survived in Haiti
also have a strong foothold in Cuba today.
The influence of Cuba on other areas of the Caribbean and on the United States itself has
been very strong. The congas player Chano Pozo caused such a sensation with the Dizzy
Gillespie Orchestra in New York City in the late 1940s that the Afro-Cuban rhythms he
introduced became part of the new Bebop jazz idiom. As a boy Pozo had been a drummer with a
native group that belonged to the Abakwa religious cult.
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Cuba has been the source of a number of popular dance styles, from the mambo to salsa,
and nearly all of them are included in the archive, although in the modern period they have
moved some distance from their folk roots. There is a strong representation of these styles in the
archive. In the summer of 1998 I began working with the veteran Cuban pianist Bebo Valdes,
producing recordings and writing a biography, and with this special interest in Valdes I collected
materials which documented this more recent period in Cuban music.
CUBAN CULT MUSIC
CULT MUSIC OF CUBA - LP. Recorded and documented by Harold Courlander. Folkways
Records, 1967. Dodd LP 749
Courlander’s recordings, made in 1940, document the main Cuban religious cults,
including Lucumi, Abakwa, Arara, and Kimbisa, with chants to specific gods, among
them Orisha, Legba, Yemaya, and Chango.
OLDER TRADITIONS
THE CUBAN DANZON Before There Was Jazz:1906-1929 - CD. Arhoolie Records, 1999.
Dodd CD 305
Artists include:
Orquesta Pablo Valenzuela
Orquesta de Enrique Pena
Orquesta de Felipe Valdes
Orquesta Babuco
Orquesta de Jamie Prats
Orquesta de Felix Gonzalez
Orquesta Francesca de Tata Periera
Orquesta Romeu
Orquesta Tipica Criolla
EARLY CUBAN DANZON ORCHESTRAS 1916-1920 - CD. Harlequin Records, 1999.
Dodd CD 306
Orq de Tomas Poince
Orq Felix Gonzalez
Orq Felipe Valdes
Orq Casas
Orq Valenzuela
Orq Francesca Reveron
Orq Tata Periera
MARIA TERESA VERA y RAFAEL ZEQUEIRA - CD, “El Legendario Duo de la Trova
Cubana 1916- 1924” Tumbao Records, 1998. Dodd CD 307
Vera and Zequeira were one of the most popular duets in Cuba, with the two
voices accompanied by her simple guitar backgrounds.
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SEXTETOS CUBANOS Sones 1930 - CD, Arhoolie Records, 1991. Dodd CD 308
Artists include:
Sexteto Munamar
Sexteto Machin
Sexteto Nacional
Sexteto Matancero
TRADITION DE CUBA - CD, “El Son” Edenways, 1997. Dodd CD 309
Artists include:
Carlos Embale
Sierra Maestra
Faustino Oramas
Los Guanches
Sexteto Habanero
Sexteto National
Los compadres
Septeto Turquino
Septeto Anacuona
CUBA IS MUSIC - CD, “Greatest Orchestras Volume 1” Legacy Latino, n.d.
Dodd CD 310
Artists include:
Rolando Laserie con la Orq. de Bebo Valdes
Orq. Almendra
Orq. Aragon
Orq. Almendra
Benny More y su Orquesta
Orq. Hnos. Castro
Septeto Tipico Nacional
Orq. Sublime
Orq. Chopin
Trio Matamoros
Orq. Guaracheros de Oriente
ERNESTO LECUONA and the CLASSICAL TRADITION
One of the most influential Cuban musicians of the years before the second World War
was the pianist and composer Ernesto Lecuona, who used the rhythms and the melodic elements
of the Afro-Cuban tradition to create a brilliant classical repertoire. Lecuona often toured Europe
and the United States and many of his compositions have become part of the standard repertory
for both the concert stage and the dance hall. When he performed his “danzas cubanas” in Paris
in 1928 the composer Maurice Ravel said, “This is more than piano playing.” Lecuona published
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three collections of pieces in the Cuban idiom, titling the last group “danzas afro-cubanas.” He is
known outside of Cuba for compositions like “Malaguena” and “Siboney,” but every Cuban
musician has performed his Afro-Cuban pieces like “La comparsa,” ”La habanera,” “Danza
negra,” and “Danza lucumi.” When he was asked about Lecuona’s playing, pianist Bebo Valdes,
one of the most accomplished of the pianists who followed Lecuona, threw up his hands and
said, “If I could play on my best day the way he played on his worst!” Lecuona recorded
extensively and this collection includes his performances of 63 of his compositions from the
1920s and 1930s.
Lecuona is the best known of the Cuban classical musicians who adapted folk materials for
their compositions, but already in the mid-19th century Manuel Saumell Robredo was writing
Afro-Cuban classical compositions, and they have been recorded by young Cuban concert pianist
Felix Spengler. He also performs compositions by another composer working in the Afro-Cuban
idiom, Ignacio Cervantes Kawanagh, as well as a selection of Lecuona’s music.
ERNESTO LECUONA - Double CD, “The Ultimate Collection, Lecuona plays Lecuona” RCA
Victor Records, 1997. Dodd CD 311
FELIX SPENGLER - CD, “Two Spheres” Piu Mosso, 1996. Dpdd CD 312
CUBAN DANCE BAND TRADITION and SALSA
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB - CD, “Buena Vista Social Club” World Circuit, 1997.
Dodd CD 313
The surprise world-wide hit by veteran dance band musicians assembled in
Havana by American guitarist Ry Cooder.
RUBEN GONZALEZ - CD, “Introducing Ruben Gonzalez” World Circuit, 1997.
Dodd CD 314
Gonzalez is the pianist with the Buena Vista Social Club ban.d.
MARCELINO GUERRA – CD, “Rapindey” Invitation Records, 1997. Dodd CD 359
HATUEY - CD, “El Baile de la Paz” Gazell Records, 1998. Dodd CD 315
A contemporary salsa group based in Stockholm, Sweden.
IRAKERE - CD, “Indestructible” Harmonia mundi, 1998. Dodd CD 316
A grammy award winning contemporary group which has revitalized older Cuban
traditions. The leader for most of its long and successful career has been pianist
Chucho Valdes, who is the son of Bebo Valdes.
LECUONA CUBAN BOYS Vol. 2 - CD, “Lecuona Cuban Boys” Harlequin, 1991.
Dodd CD 317
This is a contemporary reissue of recordings by the group from the 1930s, with
extensive notes including reminiscences by one of the group’s musicians. Although
they used Lecuona’s name - with his permission - they never performed with him, and
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the group didn’t play much of his music. They were a colorful show band that
tirelessly toured the world presenting their jazz-oriented adaptations of Afro-Cuban
rhythms.
ELADIO REINON LATIN JAZZ OCTET con BEBO VALDES - CD, “Acere” Fresh Sound
World Jazz, 1998. Dodd CD 318
ELADIO REINON LATIN BIG BAND con BEBO VALDES - CD, “Afro Cuban Jazz Suite No.
1” Fresh Sound World Jazz, 1999. Dodd CD 319
Reinon is a Spanish musician who leads popular latin groups. For these two
releases he brought Bebo Valdes into the studio with his musicians. The second
CD is the first recording of a major composition written and arranged by Valdes in
the early 1990s, when he was in his early seventies.
BEBO VALDES y su ORQUESTA SABOR de CUBA - CD, “Mayajuiga” Caney Records,
1995. Dodd CD 320
This is a reissue of Valdes’s recordings in Havana in the late 1950s with his large
radio orchestra.
BEBO VALDES - CD, “Bebo Rides Again” Messidor, 1995. Dodd CD 321
This was the first recording for Valdes in more than thirty years. Featuring
musicians like alto saxophone player Paquito D’Rivera and trombonist Juan-Pablo
Torres, the album played an important role in the current revival of interest in Latin
jazz.
BEBO VALDES - Double CD, “Recuerdos de Habana - A Portrait at 80” Gazell Records,
1999. Produced by Samuel Charters. Dodd CD 322
For this “portrait” Valdes performed compositions covering more than 150 years
of Cuban musical history, including music by Robredo and Lecuona, and his own
compositions from the CuBop era of the 1950s. For some selections he worked with a
Cuban rhythm group, for the rest of the album he was accompanied by his son Rickard
Valdes, who played timbales.
II B14. Rap and Hip Hop
The terms “Rap” and “Hip Hop” are often used interchangeably, but they have different
connotations. Hip Hop is generally used to mean the entire genre of contemporary African
American urban popular music. It is a general term which specifically identifies new styles that
have a strong rhythmic orientation and express contemporary social attitudes. The term is used
to describe the music which followed the pop category of Soul, which in its turn replaced the
term Rhythm and Blues. “Rap” is a specific genre included within Hip Hop, but has a separate
identity from it. Rap is the spoken art form combining musical materials from earlier musical
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genres with highly sophisticated rhyming texts which developed out of the “toasting” of
Jamaican disc jockeys in the Bronx in New York City in the 1980s.
Rap has been both noisily controversial and immensely popular from its first beginnings,
and it has spread everywhere in the world. Since it is an art form based on black street
vernacular it has continued to have a strong black identity, but popular musical styles depend on
fantasy identification between the artists and the public to reach their widest audiences and rap
has adjusted to its large numbers of white listeners. Just as the electric Chicago blues styles
attracted the adolescent suburban audience through white performers like Eric Clapton and the
Rolling Stones, rap has also produced white performers who have had considerable success,
including the Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice, and Eminem. There are rap artists creating music in
every European language, in Japanese and in many of India’s linguistic groups. In African
countries there are performers “rapping” in their own tribal languages as well as the dominant
colonial language. As a gesture of half joking respect one American group named itself “Young
Black Teenagers,” even though all of its members are white.
Rap at its best is a wildly creative, inventive musical idiom, and the recordings can reflect
this insistence on spontaneity and imagination. Rap is also a style that sometimes seems to have
no clear direction. One song on an album can be a highly skilled, complex, interweaving of
electronically produced rhythms and an imaginative text. The next song on the same album can
as easily be a repetitive rant consisting of a stream of vicious obscenities directed at the young
women that the rapper happens to be thinking about. Much of the controversy that has swirled
around rap is over the style called “gangsta” rap, usually identified with performers from the
West Coast. Gangsta rap began as an expression of the hard realities of ghetto life in Los
Angeles, with its rage directed at the police and the political system that has created the ghettos.
The rage was expressed in descriptions of violence and exhortations demanding change. The
artists pushed their poetic imagery to its limit, in some songs openly advocating the killing of
police officers and the destruction of the symbols of white power. When opponents of rap attack
the genre, it is almost always Gangsta rap that they are attacking. The opposition to this style of
rap extends to many in the African American community who detest its brutality and obscenity.
At the other end of the rap spectrum is the sophisticated, subtly nuanced music of groups
like De la Soul or Brand Nubian, whose members have middle class suburban backgrounds.
Often their music reflects their university studies as much as it does urban street life, and for
them the excitement of rap has been its creative possibilities. Throughout its brief history rap has
drawn from these two extremes - the Los Angeles ghetto and the Long Island suburbs - and
through the electronic techniques of sampling, which is the rerecording of small “samples” from
the rhythm and melody riffs of earlier recordings, rap has also become the idiom for artists from
just about every area in between. There are even gospel groups like the brilliant “Gospel
Gangstas” who use rap as a religious expression.
Rap has been strongly attacked for its negative and sexually exploitative attitudes toward
women, and the sexual imagery of many rap performances perhaps aggravate as much as they
reflect the tensions in the ghetto community. In the confusion of today’s sexual mores the
women rappers have tried to balance the male attacks by presenting their own grievances, and
their anger is as intense and as dismissive as the male artists. The problems of obscenity and the
advocacy of violence which have prevented an even wider acceptance of rap led first to an
industry-wide labeling of all albums to identity those with “explicit lyrics” that parents may find
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objectionable. The labels read “Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics.” Since virtually all rap
albums now carry this label, however, the labeling hasn’t been a hindrance to sales.
More problematic for the record companies and the rap performers has been the
restrictions on radio play for songs with open obscenity, which are subject to the same censorship
codes as everything else that is broadcast on public airways. To get around this problem most
rap singles are recorded in multiple versions, including at least one which is labeled as a “clean”
track, and can be played on commercial radio. The careful self-censorship to maximize sales and
radio exposure suggests that the issue of freedom of self expression is not as decisive with the
rappers as their interviews with sympathetic journalists would suggest.
As one of the items in the archive makes clear, however, within the rap community there is
a consciousness of social responsibility. For the double LP set America is Dying Slowly many of
today’s major rap artists, including Wu-Tang Clan, Biz Markie, and De la Soul, created and
recorded new songs dealing with the AIDS crisis in the black community. All of the profits of
the album are to be used within the community to combat the scourge of AIDS. The funds are to
be donated to medical research, and the notes to the production include a dispassionate
discussion of the devastating effect of AIDS on what they term “communities of color.” The
music is skillfully produced, and the raw insistence of rap is entirely appropriate for a description
of this human tragedy.
One of the reasons for the continued relevance of rap in the African American community
is that for the first time black entrepreneurs have succeeded in maintaining control of a major
area of the recording industry. There are exceptions, like the present white owner of the
important label Def Jam, but the majority of the company owners are from the communities that
produced the artists. Also, rap is one of the most inexpensive forms of popular music to produce.
Since the background material is created by layering existing recordings, a rap track can be
produced in the bedroom of any ambitious artist who can scrape together the modest amount of
money needed to assemble the basic electronic equipment. This accessibility to the productive
means of rap has kept it so closely tied to its roots. Virtually all of African American music
before this was recorded, manufactured, and marketed by white business interests, but now the
community has the power to control its own expression.
This control of the manufacture of rap music has also helped insure the presentation of
most rap performances on the LP format, which has virtually disappeared from the mainstream
record market. The more popular CDs cannot be used for the “scratching,” which means
physically turning the record backwards on the LP turntable to produce a rhythmic “scratching”
sound, and which is an essential element of the DJ style. Inner city record outlets include large
sections of LP material, and usually the popular stores have DJs who “spin” LPs for the
customers. Most of the LPs in the archive come from Beat Street and Music Factory, two noisy
record outlets on Fulton Street in downtown Brooklyn, that supply the local disc jockeys.
What is perhaps ironic about this black control of rap music is that almost 80% of the sales
are now to white suburban teenagers, even though the restrictions on radio play often mean that
the most popular rap songs reach their audience through word of mouth. The styles and the
attitudes of the urban black community have become a dominant voice in the American mix in
the 1990s.
BANNED IN THE USA
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In 1990 a judge in Miami, Florida upheld the ban on sales within the county limits of a rap
recording titled Nappy As The Want To Be by The 2 Live Crew. The album had already sold
more than two million copies nationwide, and it had been on sale for almost two years.
Nationwide there was a furor over the ban. There was no question that the material on the album
was beyond the limits of what would be considered obscenity, and The 2 Live Crew has
consistently been demeaning toward women, but the issue was drawn over the question of
Freedom of Speech. Many rock musicians who had also been threatened by the authorities for
the content of their lyrics defended the group, and Bruce Springsteen, whose “Born in the USA”
was the best selling song in the country, permitted Luther Campbell and the Crew to sample a
new version of the song that he did with the lyrics changed to “Banned in the USA.” The
censorship issue was decided on a legal appeal in the group’s favor, but after a series of public
hearings on the problem of obscenity in rap the industry agreed to use the Explicit Lyrics
stickering. The issue of censorship emerged again with the gangsta rappers who in some lyrics
urged killing of the police, and this time many of the labels began to exercise some control over
the content of their releases.
LUKE Featuring THE 2 LIVE CREW - LP Single, “Banned in the USA” - Radio mix, Radio
instrumental, Black mix, Percapella Luke Records, 1990. Dodd LP 552
II B14a. Pre-rap Verbal Performance Recordings and “Old School”
rap
Nothing that preceded rap really prepared us for the audacity and the controversy of the
surge of rap recordings that inundated the market in the 1990s, but in occasional earlier
recordings there is a use of the spoken word, and a political consciousness that has some of the
elements of what followed. Included in this group of albums is the classic track from 1971, “The
Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron, and a release by the group The Last
Poets, which also used spoken word and poetry to demand political change. Jamaican Linton
Kwesi Johnson used spoken word with an instrumental accompaniment to advocate change, and
his tracks have a rhythmic foundation that in some ways anticipates rap. Even more important
was dub poet Mutabaruka, whose spoken texts, with their skillful use of rhyme were imitated by
the “Old school” rappers. The boasting of the Jamaican Djs was a strong influence on early
rappers, and it was also the “dub” technique of the reggae producers that first showed the
potential for remixing instrumental tracks.
The classic song from 1979, “Rapper’s Delight,” by the Sugarhill Gang, is usually
considered to be the first rap recording, although its optimistic innocence is far from the moods
and attitudes of the rap that emerged from this modest beginning. The term often used for rap
recordings from this period is “Old School.”
GIL SCOTT-HERON - CD, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” RCA, later issue.
Dodd CD 324
Born in Chicago in 1949 and raised in Jackson, Tennessee, Scott-Heron was
shaped by the social tumult of the 1960s. The compilation also includes the rap-like
performances “Whitey On The Moon,” “No-Knock,” and “Brother.”
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THE LAST POETS - CD, “The Last Poets” Metrotone Records, 1979. Dodd CD 325
MUTABARUKA - CD, “The Ultimate Collection” Shanachie Records, 1996.
Dodd CD 276
Mutabaruka had his break-through in the Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica in 1981,
and he toured the United States as part of the Lollapalooza extravaganzas in the
1990s. This compilation covers his high points of his career, including previously
unreleased live and mix material.
This CD is shelved in the reggae section of the archive.
SUGAR HILL GANG - CD “The Best of Sugar Hill Gang - Rapper’s Delight” Rhino,
later reissue of the 1979 original, included with other performances by the group.
Dodd CD 326
SUGAR HILL GANG - LP Single, “Rapper’s Delight” Rapmasters, n.d. Dodd LP 553
This is the full length single version of the song.
On the reverse of the single there are two other artists,
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - “Freedom”
Cash Money & Marvelous - “Ugly People”
“OLD SCHOOL” COLLECTION
TRUE SCHOOL LYRICAL LESSONS from the RAP LEGENDS, Vol. 2 K-Tel International,
1996. Dodd CD 327
Artists include:
Treacherous Three and Kool Moe Dee
Fearless Four
Jimmy Spicer
Spoonie Gee & The Treacherous Three
T-Ski Valley
Kurtis Blow
Masterdon Committee
Afrika Bambaattaa
The collection includes Kurtis Blow’s cheerfully innocuous hit “Christmas Rappin’,”
which helped introduce rap to a larger audience.
II B14b. Rap and Hip Hop
Although the term Hip Hop was used in introducing this material, all of these recordings,
in fact, are rap performances. For simplicity the listing is alphabetically by artist, regardless of
recorded medium. Included are most of the major rap artists of the last few years, but there are
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also local rappers, and releases on neighborhood independent labels. Rap, as a style, is so large
and varied that this broad over-view seems like the best way to present one of the most exciting
creative idioms in today’s musical world.
ABOVE THE LAW - LP single, “Spokes” and “Killaz in the Park” - Tommy Boy Records,
1996. Dodd LP 554
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT - Cassette album, “3 years, 5 months, and 2 days in the life of .
.” Chrysalis, 1992 . Dodd AC 12
THE BEASTIE BOYS - CD, Check Your Head” Capitol, 1992. Dodd CD 328
BE GEE - CD, “Ya Gotta Be Gee” Death Trap Records, 1993. Dodd CD 329
BIG L - LP single, “Ebonics” and “Size ‘Em Up” Flamboyant Records, 1996.
Dodd LP 555
This is a fascinating “rap” presentation of street slang, which the rapper terms
“ebonics,” the formal designation for the African American dialect. In his rap Big L,
who is from Brooklyn, defines common terms in both their street meaning and
in more general usage.
BLACK MOON - CD, “Enta Da Stage” Wreck Records, 1993. Dodd CD 330
BLACK SHEEP - Cassette album, “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” Polygram Records, 1991.
Dodd AC 13
BRAND NUBIAN - Cassette album, “One For All” Electra Records, 1990.
Dodd AC 14
BRAND NUBIAN - Cassette album, “In God We Trust” Electra Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 15
NENEH CHERRY - Cassette album, “Homebrew” Virgin Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 16
CHOICE - Cassette album, “The Big Payback” Priority Records, 1990. Dodd AC 17
CHUNK - Cassette album, “Chunk II, Still the Menace” Tandem Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 18
CHUNK - CD, “Break ‘Em Off A Chunk” Murder One Records, 1994. Dodd CD 331
CRAZY RAK - Cassette album, “On the Real Tip” Sumo Records, n.d. Dodd AC 19
THE CREEPER - CD, “Creeper” Butt Naked Records, 1994. Dodd CD 332
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DAZZIE DEE - LP single, “Everybody Wants to be a Gangsta” “West Side Hoodsta’s”
Capitol Records, 1995. Dodd LP 556
DAS EFX - Cassette album, “Dead Serious” Eastwest Records, 1992. Dodd AC 20
DE LA SOUL - Cassette album, 3 Feet High and Rising” Tommy Boy, 1989.
Dodd AC 21
DE LA SOUL - Cassette album “Is Dead” Tommy Boy, 1991. Dodd AC 22
D-SHOT - CD, “The Shot Calla” Sick Wid’ It Records, 1994. Dodd CD 355
DRU DOWN - CD, “Dru Down” C Note Records, 1993. Dodd CD 333
DR. DRE - Cassette single, “Nuthin’ But A ‘G’ Thang” Inerscope Records, 1993.
Dodd AC 23
See also video listing in catalog.
ERIK B. and RAKIM - Cassette, album, “Don’t Sweat the Technique” MCA Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 24
FLESH-N-BONE - CD, “T.H.U.G.S.” Def Jam, 1996. Dodd CD 334
FU-SCHNICKENS - Cassette album, “F. U. ‘Don’t Take It Personal’” Jive Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 25
GANGSTA BOOGIE - CD, “Gangsta Boogie” Bossman Records, n.d. Dodd CD 335
THE GETO BOYS - Cassette album, “The Geto Boys” Rap-A-Lot Records, 1990.
Dodd AC 26
The Geto Boys was one of the gangsta groups to cause difficulty with the explicit
nature of their music. The cassette includes this message on the front cover, below
the Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics notice, “Def American Recordings is opposed
to censorship. Our manufacturer and distributor, however, do not condone or endorse
the content of this recording, which they find violent, sexist, and indecent.”
GETO BOYS - Cassette album, “We Can’t Be Stopped” Rap-A-Lot Records, 1991.
Dodd AC 27
GETO BOYS - CD, “Uncut Dope” Rap-A-Lot Records, 1992. Dodd CD 336
See also video listing in catalog.
GRANDMASTER MELLE MEL and the FURIOUS FIVE - CD, same title, Sugar Hill, 1994.
Dodd CD 337
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The performances by Melle Mel are among the earliest rap recordings, and this
CD is a reissue of material from the 1980s, with a logo stating “The Best of Old
School Rappers.” The songs show a fascinating mix of doo-wop and soul elements,
as well as tracks like “Miami Vice” that virtually define the rap aesthetic.
GRAND PUBA - Cassette album, “Reel to Reel” Electra Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 28
HOUSE OF PAIN - Cassette album, “Fine Malt Lyrics” Tommy Boy, 1992.
Dodd AC 29
The members are from Ireland, and it was one of the early foreign rap groups to
achieve success in the United States.
ICE CUBE - Double LP album, “War & Peace, Volume 1 (The War Disc)” Priority Records,
1999. Dodd LP 557a, 557b
K-BUZ$ - CD, “Da Grim Reapa” Urban Knowledge Records, 1994. Dodd CD 338
KMC - CD, “Three Men with the Power of Ten “Priority Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 339
KOOL ROCK JAY - Cassette ep, “Street Life” Triad Records, 1992. Dodd AC 30
KORNERSTONZ - LP single, “What We Do This For” “Korner Life” “Front On Me” CEO
Records, 1996. Dodd LP 558
KULCHA - CD, “Kulcha” Warner Brothers Australia, 1994. Dodd CD 340
Another foreign rap group, this one from Australia.
L. A. NASH - LP single, “Car Busta U” “Can’t Find A Reason” Menes Records, 1996.
Dodd LP 559
QUEEN LATIFAH - Cassette album, “Nature of a Sista” Tommy Boy, 1991.
Dodd AC 31
LATIN ALLIANCE - Cassette album, “Latin Alliance” Virgin Records America, 1991.
Dodd AC 35
L. L. COOL J. - Double LP album, “Phenomenon” Def Jam Records, 1997.
Dodd LP 560a, 560b
MAC DRE - Cassette ep, “What’s Really Going On?” Strictly Business Records, 1992.
Dodd AC 32
367
MC EIHT - CD, “Death Threatz” Epic Street, 1996. Dodd CD 341
MC LYTE - Cassette album, “Act Like You Know” Atlantic Records, 1991.
Dodd AC 33
MISTA MEANA - LP single, “Winners & Losers” “A thru Z” Sure Shot, n.d.
Dodd LP 561
MISTER DOPE AMERICA - LP single, “Shallow End” “Deep End” Insomnia Records, 1998.
Dodd LP 562
NAUGHTY BY NATURE - Cassette album, “19 Naughty III” Tommy Boy, 1993.
Dodd AC 34
NEW BREED OF HUSTLAS - CD, “Ratha B-A Hustla” Mobstyle Records, 1992/3.
Dodd CD 342
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. - LP double album, “Life after Death” Bad Boy Records, 1997.
Dodd LP 563a, 563b
The album was released after the artist was shot and killed, and this note was
stickered on to the package:
“This album represents the artistic vision of the Notorious B.I.G. and is being
released in its entirety as it was recorded and manufactured prior to March 9, 1997.”
THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G. - CD, “Born Again” Bad Boy, 1999. Dodd CD 343
This collection is a memorial tribute to the artist including songs by artists like
Eminem, Method Man, Ice Cube, and Lil’ Kim & Puff Daddy. It was created by Puff
Daddy, acting as executive producer for his own label.
N. W. A. - CD, “Straight Outta Compton” Ruthless Records, 1988. Dodd CD 344
This was the album that for many listeners defined the gangsta rap idiom. The
rappers included Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E. It is still a strong statement that
vibrates with rage, and it has been imitated by dozens of other groups. Ice Cube has
gone on to make films which have more or less drifted away from his street attitudes,
Dr. Dre is now a successful rap producer, and Eazy-E died of illness some years after
their first success.
O. G. FUNK - CD, “Out of the Dark” Rykodisc, 1993. Dodd CD 345
This is a well-produced hybrid, which includes funk vocal choruses, responding to
rapped verses. The instrumental back-up is played by a small group, instead of
with the usual sampling. One of the rappers is the veteran Grandmaster Melle Mel.
P. M. DAWN - Cassette album, “Of the Heart of the Soul and of the Cross” Island, 1991. Dodd
AC 36
368
RATED X - CD, “Will Rap 4 Sex” Tandem Records, 1992. Dodd CD 346
REVIVAL OF THE UNDERGROUND - 12” EP, Five titles including “It’s In Their Nature” by
Ghetto Seals Dancefloor Distribution, 1998. Dodd LP 564
RICHIE RICH - CD, “Seasoned Veteran” Def Jam, 1996. Dodd CD 347
RUN-D.M.C. - Cassette album, “King of Rock” Profile, 1985. Dodd AC 37
In this early rap best seller the influence of Jamaican dubbing on the rap
instrumental background is very clear, and one track is titled “Roots, Rap, Reggae”
to make the relationship even more evident.
7 MILE - LP single, “Just a Memory” Crave, 1997. Dodd LP 565
SEVENTY SIX of the DARK MYNDZ - LP single, “Been Waiting So Long” “Throwing
Words” Infinity Records, 1998. Dodd LP 566
SNOOP DOGG - CD, “Da Game Is To Be Sold, Not To Be Told” No Limit Records, 1998.
Dodd CD 348
See also video listing in catalog.
TOO SHORT - DOUBLE CD, “Greatest Hits, Volume 1, 1983- 1988” In-a-Minute Records,
1993. Dodd CD 349
TONE LOC - 12” 45 rpm single, “Wild Thing” “Loc’ed After Dark” Delicious Vinyl, 1988.
Dodd FF 52
TOTALLY INSANE - CD, “Goin’ Insane” In-a-Minute, 1993. Dodd CD 350
TRIBE CALLED QUEST - Cassette album, “The Low End Theory”. Dodd AC 38
THE TWO LIVE CREW - LP single, “Do the Damn Thing” Lil’ Joe Records, 1997.
Dodd LP 568
2 PAC - LP single, “I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto” Amaru Records, 1997.
Dodd LP 569
2 PAC - Double LP, “Greatest Hits” Death Row Records, 1998.
Dodd LP 570a, 570b, 570c, 570d
This was released after 2 Pac’s murder in Los Angeles.
TUPAC SHAKUR - CD, “Last Interview”. Dodd CD 351
This is a bonus CD that was packaged with the video Thug Immortal. It was edited from a series
of interviews which Shakur did with writer Rob Marriott to gather material for an autobiography.
See also video listing in catalog.
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2 TONE - CD, “Nu Breed” 2-Tone Records, 1993. Dodd CD 352
US - LP single, “Niggaz” “Streetz Worldwide” House of Power Records, 1999.
Dodd LP 571
YOUNG BLACK TEENAGERS - CD, “Young Black Teenagers” MCA Records, 1991.
Dodd CD 353
This is a white group that defended its decision to perform as rappers in the
songs of this first release.
YOUNG BLACK TEENAGERS - Cassette album, “Dead Enz Kids Doin’ Lifetime Bidz”
MCA Records, 1993. Dodd AC 39
COMPILATIONS
AMERICA IS DYING SLOWLY - LP double album. Red Hot Records, 1999.
Dodd LP 572
Artists included:
Biz Markie, Chubb Rock, & Prince Paul
Pete Rock & The Lost Boyz
Wu Tang Clan
Goodie Mob featuring Big Rube
Coolio
Eightball & JMG
Money Boss Players
Spice 1, Celly Cel, 187-Fac, Ant Banks & Gangsta P
Common & Sean Lett
Organized Konfusion
De La Soul & Da Beatminerz
O. C. & Buckwild
Sadat X, Fat Joe & Diamond D.
Domino
Mac Mall
This compilation was released as a project to raise money for medical expenses for
African American AIDS victims. The notice on the LP reads, “All net proceeds will
go towards fighting AIDS in communities of color.”
CASSETTES
ON THE RAP TIP - Cassette album, Priority Records, 1989. Dodd AC 40
Artists included:
Tone Loc
De la Soul
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Eazy-E
Slick Rick
Kid ‘N Play
NWA
EPMD
Sir Mix-A-Lot
Cash Money & Marvelous
Awesome Dre’ & The Hardcore Committee
QUEENS OF RAP - Cassette album, Priority Records, 1989. Dodd AC 41
Artists included:
J. J. Fad
MC Lyte
The Real Roxanne
Antoinette
Big Lady K
Salt-N-Pepa
Swee Tee
Roxane Shane
Latifa
Big Lady K
LADIES OF GANGSTER RAP - CD, Deff Trapp, 1999. Dodd CD 354
Artists included:
Foxy Brown
MC Lyte
Lil Kim
Mia X
Gangster Boo
Ghetto Twins
Lady of Rage
Cl’che
Trapp
DJ MATERIALS
The record outlets that service the working DJs have a wide variety of LPs available
which help with pacing a night of spinning. These two LPs are only a suggestion of the
extensive range of sounds and music on sale.
ULTIMATE BREAKS & BEATS -LP album, Street Beat Records, 1987. Dodd LP 573
This is a collection of funk and soul tracks which can be used by DJs in their own
mixes. The colorful cover art depicts the DJ as an octopus, using tentacles to spin on
both turntables, check out the next disc, rap on the microphone, and hold on to the
sound level.
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RAP RELATIVES
BOBBY KONDERS/MASSIVE B REGGAE MEETS HIP HOP - LP album, Massive B label,
Kingston, Jamaica, n.d. Dodd LP 574
Artists include:
Bountry Killer & Jeru
Yankee B
Ninjaman
Jigsy King
Turbo Belly
Jr. Reid
Burro Banton
Action Fire
Rap has been closely tied to Jamaican “toasting” since its beginnings in Bronx
playgrounds, and this album creates a sturdy picture of the way the two styles have
influenced each other.
The archive also includes a small collection of rap street posters, books, magazines, and
advertising cards.
See also the video listing in catalog.
II B15. The New Reggae
The reggae material which is already in the Archives documents the development of early
reggae and ska, and emphasizes the classic reggae artists of the 1970s and 1980s, including Bob
Marley, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh, Toots and the Maytalls, Augustus Pablo, and Lee Perry, as
well as many other artists who were part of that creative moment. As reggae became less of a
reflection of strong social concerns it lost some of its world wide audience, particularly following
Marley’s death, but as a popular musical idiom it has continued to change and develop, just as
the classic style continually evolved in the first years. Today’s reggae, and its new hybrid, Dance
Hall, have moved into contemporary dance rhythms and have begun to create a new reggae style
which includes some of the elements of sampling and verbal play which were introduced with
rap and hip hop.
This new collection of material includes many of the newest reggae stars and also presents
the new reggae rhythms and vocal styles. The various samplers present a broad overview of the
current trends, and the individual CDs range from major stars like Beenie Man to reggae gospel
artists like Carlene Davis and Claudelle Clark.
Many of the albums in this overview are produced by VP Records, which has its
headquarters in the heart of Jamaican New York City, the district of Jamaica, a section of Long
Island just east of the Van Wyck Parkway. VP today is one of the major labels on the very active
reggae scene, with an exciting group of artists and busy production schedules. The label is
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distributed by Big Daddy Music of Kenilworth, New Jersey, who generously provided the
Archives with much of the material in this selection.
INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS
CD 1653 Beenie Man - CD, Who Am I “Sim Simma”.. VP Records, 1998
CD 1654 Beenie Man - CD Single, Tell Me. VP Records, 1998
The single includes, as is usual, alternate remixes, and one of the mixes, the “Reggae
Reprise,” is a useful demonstration of the current reggae rhythms.
CD 1655 Bigga - CD, Riding The Wave. Vision Records, 1991
CD 1656 Buccaneer - CD, ‘da opera”. VP Records, 1998
CD 1657 Cocoa T - CD, One Way. VP Records, 1998
CD 1658 Dread & Fred - CD, Iron Works, Parts 1 & 2 (“On High”).
Jah Shaka, 1991
CD 1659 Dean Fraser - CD, Retrospect. VP Records, 1999
Reggae has continued to adapt other styles to reggae rhythms, and Fraser’s solo saxophone is
reggae’s answer to the very popular jazz-influenced artist Kenny G., who has sold millions of
albums of his mainstream saxophone instrumentals. Although some vocals are included, this is a
reggae instrumental album.
CD 1660 Frisco Kid - CD, Finally. VP Records, 1998
CD 1661 Goofie - CD, I Don’t Give A Damn!!. VP Records, 1999
CD 1662 Pam Hall - CD, Bet You Don’t Know. VP Records, 1998
CD 1663 Innocent Crew - CD, Taxi DJ Link. VP Records, 1999
CD 1664 Gregory Isaacs - CD, Lady Of Your Calibre. World Records, 1995
Isaacs is an established performer from the classic reggae years, and he has moved easily into
the newer reggae idiom.
CD 1665 Jr. Jazz - CD, My Turn.
VP Records, 1997
CD 1666 LMS - CD, Reality Check. VP Records, 1999
CD 1667 Lady Saw - CD, 99 Ways. VP Records, 1998
CD 1668 Derek Lara - CD, All About Life.
VP Records, 1999
CD 1669 Jah Lewis - CD, All Gone Astray. Shanachie, 1991
CD 1670 Freddie McGregor - Double CD, The Anthology.
VP Records, 1999
JACOB MILLER
Jacob Miller was one of the most talented of the younger artists who followed Marley and
other older musicians into the reggae elite. His early death - in a 1980 automobile accident in
Jamaica when he was 26 - cut short what might have been a career with the international
dimensions of the older stars. This double CD package is both a tribute from several
contemporary artists and an anthology of some of his own hit recordings, including the classic
“Tenement Yard.”
CD 1671 Jacob Miller - Double CD, Songbook - Chapter A Day. VP Records, 1999
CD 1672 Monster Shack Crew - CD, Monster Party. VP Records, 1998
CD 1673 Prezident Brown - CD, Original Blue Print. VP Records, 1996
CD 1674 Sanchez - CD, True Identity. VP Records, 1999
CD 1675 Shinehead - CD, Troddin’. Elektra, 1994
CD 1676 Singing Melody - CD, Sweeter. VP Records, 1999
CD 1677 Sly, Robbie, Gitsey & the Taxi Gang - CD, La Trenggae
VP Records, 1997
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The legendary rhythm team of drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare have
moved into reggae production in recent years, and this album is a blending of Caribbean and
South American Latin sounds with a reggae base.
BUNNY WAILER
As one of the original Wailers, with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer has continued
a career that has been as individual as his own singing style. This collection should be regarded
more as a statement of his religious and political beliefs than as a commercial recording, and in
its art work as well as its arrangements and songs it is a continuation of the ideals which Wailer
continues to represent today.
CD 1678 Bunny Wailer - CD, Communication.
Solomonic Tuff Gong, n.d
REGGAE GOSPEL
It would perhaps be considered anachronistic for a Christian gospel performer to turn to
reggae, the music of the Rastafari faith, as the source of a new musical idiom, but these two
performers have mixed the two worlds with results that leave the impression that the fusion still
is searching for a cohesive soun.d.
CD 1679 Claudelle Clark - CD, The Prayer. VP Records, 1998
CD 1680 Carlene Davis - CD, Vessel.
VP Records, 1998
REGGABILLY
This may be the only album with this classification. White performers who translate their
love for reggae into an affectionate romp through many of the main themes. The pitch for the
album, on the back card with the list of credits, reads, “Blue Mountains/ Blue Ridge
Mountains/Dancing Dub Poetry/ Reggabilly Romp/ Positive/Honest/Native/ Run through the
Garden/Join the Dance.”
CD 1681 Ras Alan and The Lions - CD, Native.
Red Pepper Records, 1993
COLLECTIONS
CD 1682 After Hours - CD, VP Records, n.d
Artists: Home T
Brian & Tony Gold
Peter Mann
Chevelle Franklyn
Hopton Lindo
Dennis Brown
Hopeton James
TT Crew
CD 1683 Book Shelf - CD, VP Records, 1998
Artists: Devonte/Tanto Metro
Sean Paul
Mr. Vegas
Lady Saw
Beenie Man
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Evette
Pancho Kryztal
Richie Stephens
Tanya Stephens
Sasha
CD 1684 Cultural Consciousness - CD, VP Records, 1999
Artists: Morgan Heritage
Terror Fabulous & Red Rose
Fred Locks
Mikey General
Triston Palmer
Simpleton
Sizzla
Determine
Tyrical
Lukie D
Mykal Roze
Mikey General
Gregory Isaacs
CD 1685 Dancehall 2000 - CD, Germaine Music Distributors, 1999
Artists: Beres Hammond
Beres Hammond + Buju Banton
Tony Rebel
Arp
Beenie Man
Nicki Tucker
IMS
D. Wisdom
Morgan’s Heritage
Buju Banton
Richie Stevens
Lenky
Mega Banton
Jahmali
CD 1686 Kickin’ - CD, GP Records, 1999
Artists: Anthony B
Spanner Banner
George Nooks
Sanchez
Richie Stephens
Frankie Paul
Skatta
375
Tony Curtis
Yami Bolo
Ghost
Ambelique
Mickey Spice
CD 1687 Mix With A Bend - CD, VP Records, 1999
Artists: Captain Barkey & Lexus
Black Rat & Max Wayne
Fiona
Franco Nero
Razor
LMS & Morgan Heritage
Tulocks & Curly Locks
Little Wicked & Ibars
Thriller U
Angie Angel
Ba’Sheba
Military Man
Anthony B.
LMS
X Khan
Future Troubles
CD 1688 Original Copy - CD, VP Records, 1996
Artists: Capleton
Inspector Grizzle
African
Jah Cure
Military Man
Granny Roots
Determine
CD 1689 Reggae Roots - CD, K-tel International, 2000
This is a TV merchandised collection which includes a broad range of new and classic
reggae artists.
Artists: Bunny Wailer
Dennis Brown
Culture
Gregory Isaacs
Black Uhuru
Levy w/ Bennie Man (sic)
Yellowman
Mad Professor
Augustus Pablo
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Israel Vibration
The Mighty Diamonds
Freddie MacGregor
Berres (sic) Hammond
Don Carlos
CD 1690 Big Ship Ole Fung, Reggae Ska, Volume One- CD, VP Records, 1997
Artists: Papa San
Cutty Ranks
Richie Brown
Rappa Robert Delta
Cobra
Riky General & Yeshemabeth
Galaxy P
Carlene Davis
Chaka Demus
Captain Barkey & Angel Doolas
T.K.O. with Winston Wheeler
Tyrical & Bobby Treasure
Boy Ken
Jermaine Forde & Robbie Lyn
CD 1691 Sail Away - CD, VP Records, 1999
Artists: Beenie Man & Mr. Vegas
Chico & Frisco Kid
Sean Paul
Richie Stephens
T. O. K.
Nitty Kutchie
Round Head
Frisco Kid
Tony Curtis
Copper Cat
Demo Delgado
CD 1692 70 Oz. of Reggae - CD, Compose Records, 1991
Artists: Gregory Isacs
Ken Boothe
Lee Cover-Lee Perry & The Upsetters
Rita Marley & The Soulettes
John Holt
Freddie MacGregor
Judy Nowatt & The Gaylettes
Carlene Davis
Dennis Brown
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Slim Smith
Ethiopians
Heptones
Gregory Isaacs
Horrace Andy
CD 1693 Sweet Love, Volume 3 - CD, VP Records, 1999
Artists: Ambelique
Tony Curtis
George Nooks
Glen Washington
Fiona
Delano Stewart
Pam Hall
Michelle Gordon
Pat Kelly
Mikey Spice
Joy White
Jimmy Riley
Dean Frazer
CD 1694 Tings + Time - CD, VP Records, 1999
Artists: Freddie MacGregor
Frankie Paul
Marcia Griffith
Bushman
Tanto Metro & Devonti
Singing Melody
Gregory Isaacs
Delroy Stewart
Lone Ranger & Delroy Stewart
Colin Roach
Ian Sweetness
Thriller U
Johnny P.
Ernest Wilson
Spanner Banner
Admiral Tibett
Little Richie
Candy Man
CD 1695 Total Recall, Volume 10 - CD, VP Records, 1998
Artists: Carlton Patterson
Barrington Levy
Sugar Minott
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Hugh Brown
Johnny Ringo
Ray I
Dillinger
Michael Scotland
General Echo
Larry Marshall
I roy
Stanley Beckford
CD 1696 total togetherness, Volume 8 - CD, VP Records, 1998
Artists: Beenie Man
Mr. Vegas
Terror Fabulous
Sizzla
Ghost
Lukie D
Alley Cat
Tanya Stephens
General B
Capleton
Dennis Brown
Morgan Heritage
Sanchez
Frankie Paul
Serial Kid & Elephant Man
CD 1697 Universal Message – CD, VP Records, 1999
Artists: Buju Banton
Bushman
Glen Washington
Jah Cure & Sizzla
Sanchez
Capleton
Morgan Heritage
Anthony Selassie & Louie Culture
Anthony B
Luciano
Cocoa Tea
Beres Hammond
Freddie McGregor (sic)
Norris Man
II B16. Brazil
379
Of the three great centers of African influenced music in the New World, the United States,
Cuba, and Brazil, it is Brazil that rivals the U. S. in the variety and brilliance of its many musical
styles. Like the music of Cuba, Brazil’s vernacular music could be characterized as almost
uniquely African-influenced. Of all the slave areas of the Western colonies it was Brazil which
imported the largest number of slaves – an estimated five million. Brazilian slavery was no less
cruel than slavery everywhere, but the country’s history was tied to Portugal, the European
discoverer of the land, and Portugal was small and poor. With few men and women able or
willing to emigrate from Portugal to colonize the vast country, intermarriage between the races
was common and it wasn’t unusual for slaves to be freed, often while they still were working. It
was also not uncommon for their children to be freed with them. Unlike the United States, Brazil
also had a less restrictive “color line” to limit the economic opportunities of the newly freed
laborers.
For many years Brazil liked to describe itself as the world’s only racially integrated society,
despite the reality that the educated white upper classes continued to control much of the
country’s economic and political life. In the cultural and social life of the country, however, the
two racial groups were much closer than in other countries in the hemisphere with an inheritance
of slavery. The population of the Salvador, the capital city of the state of Bahia on the northeast
coast north of Rio de Janeiro, is estimated to be more than 90% of African ancestry, which means
there can be no question of African musical roots, still kept alive by the popular candomble
singing and drumming of Brazil’s religious cults
In the early 1800s, when Brazil’s distinctive cultural identity began to emerge, the ties were
particularly close to Portugal, and for nearly three decades Brazil was Portugal. In the turmoil of
the Napoleonic Wars the British fleet aided the entire Portuguese Royal Court and its
government to flee from capture by Napoleon’s armies, and the Portuguese government was
reestablished first in Salvador, then later moved to Rio de Janeiro.
With the presence of the royal court also came a popular Portuguese vernacular song style
called the modinha, and its gentle vocal phrases were to become the basis of the Brazilian
melodic style. The soft lyric quality of these little songs still marks many of the compositions of
new song writers like Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque. In the 1800s the melodic style was
soon woven into the African drum rhythms of the lundu which lay under all popular dance forms
everywhere in Brazil. Later in the century the European dance form the polka was introduced
into Rio’s dance halls and it became wildly popular, but it was quickly adapted to the rhythms of
the Cuban African-influenced habanera, and the new dance style, the tango brasileiro, became
the root and source of much of Brazilian music today. With a new urban rhythmic drive it
evolved in the streets of Rio first into a brilliant instrumental music called choro, and that in turn
gave way to the samba, which is the music of today’s carnival season in Rio.
Although all of the world’s popular music styles finally make their way to Brazil, it is the
country’s own musicians and their Brazilian idioms who dominate the world of Brazilian music.
During a four day carnival weekend in Salvador the only piece played over the radio or at night
on the streets that wasn’t Brazilian was the song “Dancing Queen” by the Swedish group ABBA.
An afternoon radio disc jockey played it as a break from the non-stop programming of Brazilian
dance favorites.
As in all of the lands of the African diaspora there is continual adaptation of new musical
sounds and rhythms and in the 1950s there was a response to the moods and rhythms of the
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samba that was reshaped into a style called bossa nova by a group of young musicians in Rio. It
immediately became one of the world’s most widely imitated new jazz styles, and its soft
rhythms in turn were picked up and made popular by musicians in Europe and the United States.
Its new sounds emphasized particularly the lyricism and musicality of Brazil’s great generation
of young guitarists and composers.
Today the most distinctive of the country’s new styles come from the impoverished areas of
the Northeast – north of Salvador. The rough, pulsing music of this world is dominated by the
accordion, and there are certainly affinities with the other accordion music styles of the diaspora,
the cumbia of Columbia and the cajun-zydeco music of Louisiana, and there are many
similarities to Tex-Mex/Nortenos music of the border states of the United States and northern
Mexico. The Northeast’s music has had many different names, but there was never any question
that its leading performer was an accordionist, composer, and singer named Luiz Gonzaga. A
new generation following in Gonzaga’s path generally call their music forro.
The Modinha
Although the modinha, the song form that was the source for the characteristic Brazilian vocal
melodies, was created before the era of recordings, there has in recent years been an effort to
recreate the moods and styles of these distinctive songs. In 1997 one of the leading authorities on
the modinha, Brazilian musicologist Manuel Viega from the University of Bahia, aided in a
recording that avoided the operatic-styled performances of most recent performers and
emphasized the music’s essential modesty. In Bahia, when the songs were first introduced, they
were meant to be sung by the daughters and wives of the rural landowners, and this collection
captures that informal household mood.
In his notes to the collection Professor Viega discusses the roots of the modinha.
“In Portugal the term modinhas appears in the later part of the 18th century, perhaps as a
diminutive form of moda, a genre typical of Portuguese folklore, but also as a general term for
airs, often sung in two voices with harpsichord accompaniment. “Domingo Caldas Barbarosa
(c.1740-1800), a mulatto priest from Rio de Janeiro who lived in the Lisbon court and was
associated with modinhas at a time when the term first appeared, was indignantly criticized for
his poetry, considered harmful to the education of young ladies who might become charmed by
the poisonous philtres of sensuality, by the beguiling attitudes from Brazil and by the supposed
South American laziness. . . . ” A learned doctor, Antonio Ribiero dos Santos already had
complained in 1763 about:
. . . love songs talking of sighs, of flattering words, of refined affairs and frivolous rambling.
It is with this that they delude young girls, it is what they touch children, it is what the lads sing
and what ladies and m aids have on their lips. . . today this plague is general since Caldas
started using them in his poetry and began writing verses for women.
By the end of the 1800s the songs had become so popular for evening serenades that it was
said that the sales of the music only were affected by the introduction of electric street lighting,
which was an embarrassment for the young serenaders. For the recording Professor Viega
himself played the piano accompaniments, with guitar, flute, and clarinet also used.
Andrea Daltro Modinhas Brasileiras: Songs from 19th century Brazil Nimbus Records CD NI
5523. The album was recorded in Salvador in 1997. 2000-0105/CD 2022
381
The Tango Brasileiro
Just as the march music of the American brass bands lent their multi-themed form to the
syncopated dance style that took on the name ragtime, the polka, after its introduction into the
dance salons of Rio de Janeiro in the 1870s, gave its formal structure to a new dance form in
Brazil, the tango brasileiro. Among many writers there is a continuous, emotional debate about
the origins of the tango – does its roots lie in Brazil or Argentina? The truth is that both were
heavily influenced by Cuban rhythms as well as the new forms of the polka, and both emerged in
the poor neighborhoods of their cities about the same time. There is, however, such a distinct
difference between the rhythms of the two tango styles that it’s more useful to conclude that the
Brazilian tango emerged from the Portuguese culture of Brazil, and the Argentine tango emerged
from the Spanish culture of Argentina. A further divide between the two was in the nature of the
later immigration, which was heavily Italian in Brazil, while there was a stronger German
influence in Argentina. With its rural culture dependent on cattle raising, Argentina had many
fewer slaves and no defining Afro-Argentinian culture. It also had no song form like the
modinha. What gives the tango brasileiro its unique flavor is its roots in the rhythms of Africa
and this distinctive Portuguese song form.
The tango was so popular Brazil that it was standard fare for generations of composers. One
composer, however, Ernesto Nazareth, born in Rio to Italian immigrants was a young pianist
when the polka lent its forms to the new rhythms, and his more than fifty year long career as
pianist and composer left an indelible imprint on the new style. He is sometimes described as the
creator of the tango, but whatever anyone feels about any of these extravagant claims as to who
might have created the tango, his compositions that will always define the rich harvest of music
that grew from these roots. Nazareth’s name is so synonymous with this musical style that his
life and career can stand for this moment of Brazil’s cultural life.
ERNESTO NAZARETH
For someone who comes from the from the United States the most obvious way to describe
Ernesto Nazareth is to say is that he was a Brazilian composer of popular Brazilian dance pieces
written for the piano whose career resembled that of the American ragtime composer Scott
Joplin. He was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1863 – Joplin was born in Texas in 1868 - and they
both had successful careers as composers of popular dance music for piano solo. They each drew
on the vitality of African rhythms that were part of the musical heritage of their own countries
and set the rhythms against richly distinctive, elegantly constructed melodies. Much of
Nazareth’s music drew on the syncopated rhythms of the Cuban contradanza, while Joplin
published only one composition using the syncopated Cuban habanera rhythm, his 1909 piece
“Solace.” The music was subtitled “A Mexican serenade,” which categorized it as a “dansa,” the
Mexican term for music using the same wide-spread Cuban syncopations.
Joplin would struggle all his life for recognition as a serious composer, while the ragtime that
he composed was denigrated and parodied by much of American society. In his early years
Nazareth faced some of the same dismissal of his compositions by Rio de Janeiro’s cultural elite,
but he had a long and highly successful career, and there was finally a more appreciative
acceptance of his genius. Today his music still is an important part of the repertoire of musicians
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playing in the choro style, and it is performed everywhere by instrumentalist groups and solo
artists in their own arrangements. It continues to be taught to young piano students, and remains
an integral element in the Brazilian tradition of solo piano performance.
Nazareth was the son of Italian immigrant parents. The family name was Nazare, but for his
professional career he became Nazareth, and that is the name he is known by in Brazil today. His
first piano instruction came from his mother. He quickly absorbed the rhythms of the streets and
the cafes and he published his first composition, a polka-lundu, when he was fourteen. The
polka’s march-like, multi-thematic structure was to become the basic pattern for most Brazilian
salon piano music, in the same way that the popular march provided the structural pattern for
Joplin’s ragtime compositions. Nazareth’s tangos employed the new rhythms and melodies in a
wide variety of compositional forms.
Nazareth continued to compose until the end of the 1920s, a career that extended for nearly
fifty years. He published more than 210 works, many of them the tangos and waltzes for which
he was most known, but there were also polkas, schottisches, quadrilles, fox-trots, a variety of
other dances, and a number of concert studies for pianists with more advanced skills. As the
audience became more excited by the newer choro style his publishers classified many of the new
publications of his compositions as “choros,” but his “tangos Brasileiros” were written to be
played at a slower tempo than the colorful music of the instrumental choro ensembles.
Occasionally writers have stated that Nazareth worked as a pianist for silent films, but for
much of his career he played for the audiences sitting in a salon at the entrance of one of the
large Rio theatres, passing the time with something to eat and drink before the doors opened for
the show. For several years beginning in 1917 he was employed by the Cine Odeon, and his
most popular tango “Odeon” was named for the theatre. His pieces were also played by
instrumental ensembles of every conceivable style, and the piano sheet music was as widely
popular with the same emerging middle-class audiences who played the music of Scott Joplin in
their parlors in the United States.
Lyrics were added to some of Nazareth’s his best-known melodies, as they were to Joplin’s,
but each of them was known to their audiences as a composer of instrumental dance pieces,
despite Joplin’s determined efforts to achieve success as a composer for opera and Nazareth’s
published concert studies for piano solo. Nazareth’s compositions were to have an important
role in the development of modern classical music in Brazil through his friendship and
occasional musical partnership with Brazil’s most important composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Part of the success of Nazareth’s pieces was that they are comfortably suited to the piano,
probably because he spent much of his life performing, and his music was intended for his own
use.. As the term goes, “they lie under the fingers.” Nazareth recorded at the end of his career,
and from the examples of his playing he was obviously a gifted pianist, though he was already
having serious problems with his hearing, and a year before the recording was made he had been
emotionally devastated by the death of his wife. Although there still are strong disagreements
over how Scott Joplin’s music should be performed, there is no argument over how Nazareth
meant his music to be played, since his own performances closely followed his written scores,
even to dynamic markings and notations for staccato passages.
Virtually every rhythmic style of Brazilian music of his time makes its way into his
compositions, and he had a lucid, continually fresh sense of melody. Although most of his
tangos were written in the structural form of the polka, the style of his writing extends from
Chopin-esque waltzes to burly rhythmic pieces that pulse with the life of Rio’s streets. The
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lyricism of his waltzes can be compared to Chopin, though he never made the same technical
demands on the pianist that were at the heart of much of Chopin’s music.
Pixinguinha, the popular choro flutist and composer, was also part of the entertainment world
of Rio’s cariocas in these years, and it is the music of these two composers that has come to
characterize this long and rich period of Brazil’s musical life. In his perennially popular polka
“Apanhei-te, Cavaquinho” Nazareth has created an irresistible musical picture of an early choro
street group, with a flying, flute-like melody in the right hand, and the left hand accompanying
the melody with ringing rhythmic chords. The chords are played in the octave above middle-C to
imitate the bright sound of the small guitar, the cavaquinho that is essential to the choro style.
In the last years of his life Nazareth suffered from a mental breakdown and was confined to
an institution, where he died in 1934. He was found outside the grounds of the hospital, close to
a stream and a small waterfall. It is said that when his body was found his arms were extended
and his fingers shaped as though he were playing a piano.
For many years after his death Nazareth’s compositions continue to be performed as dance
music, often by the choro groups. They adopted his music to their own tempos, but retained their
harmonies and rhythmic syncopations. In 1982 the young Brazilian concert pianist Arthur
Moreira Lima performed Nazareth’s music at the Library of Congress Concert Series in
Washington, and the concerts were so successful that he was asked to record the music. Between
September 13 and 15, 1982 he recorded enough music for two Long Playing albums, giving the
compositions the care and attention to interpretation that is usually given to the classical piano
repertoire, but also with all the rowdy enthusiasm of a night in the Rio Carnival. When the
albums were released they introduced Nazareth to many young American musicians, including
the contemporary ragtime composers associated with the Terra Verde group. There have since
been many recordings of Nazareth’s music by concert artists, both from Brazil and Europe, and
his music again has become a source of inspiration for other composers and pianists.
RECORDINGS OF THE MUSIC OF NAZARETH
Ernesto Nazareth
Two performances by the composer are included in the CD set Choro, 1906-1947(See
notation below in the section of Choro recordings.) “Escavado” and “Apanhei-te, Cavaquinho”
were recorded on September 10, 1930 by Odeon Records, when Nazareth was in his late sixties.
Arthur Moreira Lima, piano Tangos, Waltzes, Polkas Ernesto Nazareth
Arte LP PAD 144, 1983. 2000-0105/LP1435
Minneapolis: Pro
Titles included:
Odeon (tango) 1910
Escorregando (tango brasileiro) 1923
Duvidoso (tango) 1910
Eponina (valsa) 1912
Batuque (tango) 1906
Fon-Fon (tango) 1910
Apanhei-te Cavaquinho (polka) 1915
Brejeiro (tango) 1893
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Passaros em Festa (walsa) 1922
Bambino (tango) 1909
Sarambeque (tango) 1916
Carioca (tango) 1913
Arthur Moreira Lima, piano Waltzes and Tangos of Ernesto Nazareth
Arte LP PAD 170, 1984. 2000-0105/LP1436
Titles included:
Ouro Sobre Azul (tango)
Ameno Reseda (polka)
Tenebrosa (tango)
Elegantissima (valsa capricho)
Labarinto (tango)
Nene
Confidencias (valsa)
Famoso (tango)
Mercedes (mazurka de expressao)
Vem Ca. Branquinha (tango)
Turbilhao de Beijos (valsa lenta)
Minneapolis: Pro
Other albums recorded more recently by other pianists present many of the same compositions
chosen by Arthur Moreira Lima, played with brilliant technique and a sense of the tango idiom.
Iara Behs, piano Ernesto Nazareth Tangos, Waltzes and Polkas: Odeon – Brejeiro – Apanheite Cavaquinho Naxos International, CD 8.557687, 2005. 2000-0105/CD 2023
Dominique Cornil, piano Ernesto Nazareth Brazilian Tangos and Waltzes Brussels: GHA, CD
126.028, nd. 2000-0105/CD 2024
Marcello Verzoni, piano Brazilian Piano Music: Villa-Lobos, Guarneri, Nazareth
Koch-Records, International, CD 310 019 G1, 1989. 2000-0105/CD 2025
Verzoni performs eight of Nazareth’s compositions.
Berlin:
Just as guitarists in the United States have adapted classic ragtime compositions to their own
instrument, Brazilian guitarists haven’t hesitated to adapt Nazareth’s music to their own styles.
Turibio Santos is one of the most widely known of a new generation of guitarists who have
turned to earlier Brazilian music for their inspiration.
Turibio Santos, guitar, with the conjunto Choros do Brasil Valsas e Choros Rio de Janeiro:
Kuarup Discos, LP KLP 001, nd. 2000-0105/LP1437
Noted classical guitarist Santos performs five of Nazareth’s compositions with a small choro
ensemble of cavaquinho, seven-string guitar and percussion.
Turibio Santos, guitar, with the participation of Leandro Carvalho O Guarani Manaus:
Labogen, CD 500AVB02. 2000-0105/CD 2026
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Santos performs seven of Nazareth’s compositions with a small instrumental ensemble.
See also the CD set Choro, as well as the CD albums by Café Brasil, Charando Baxinho (a
concert performance including Arthur Moreira Lima), Raphael Rubello & Dino 7 Cordes, Dircu
Leitte, and the LP by Turibio Santos “Violao Brasil”
THE MUSIC OF ERNESTO NAZARETH IN PIANO SCORE
In the 1990s it still was possible to find copies of the piano scores for Nazareth’s
compositions in the small music shops along Rua da Carioca in Rio. Although the shelves
holding the music were sometimes a little dusty they were still in easy reach behind the shop’s
counter. Most of the space in the stores was given over to guitars, the rich array of Brazilian
percussion instruments, and electric equipment, but his compositions were still part of the
repertory of any working musician. As the grading of technical difficulty for some of the newer
editions indicates, his compositions were also used for piano instruction.
Many of the newer editions of the compositions have been designated as “choro” pieces,
choro, however, was not part of the Brazilian musical scene until the last years of Nazareth’s
career. Despite the popularity of his music with the choro musicians, Nazareth maintained that
his piano music was not written for the choro groups, which generally didn’t include pianos and
played often at much faster tempos.
It was also possible to acquire a number of compositions from the Archives of the National
Music Library in Rio, and although these are facsimile copies they are included to document as
much as possible of Nazareth’s music.
AN EARLY PUBLICATION
Many of Rio’s shops selling used books also sold old sheet music, but this copy, published for
the Carnival of 1932, was found in a shop specializing in antiques from India. It is also clear
from the advertisements on the back of the music that the samba has now become a popular
fixture of Carnival music. The publisher was a large music and piano store in Rio.
Gaucho Tango Brasileiro Rio de Janeiro, Vuiva Guerreiro & Cia., assigned 1932. Dodd Folder
255
PUBLISHED PIANO SCORES
Publishers – Since many of the titles were published by one or two firms, it is simpler to list
them here. EAN is Editora Arthur Napoleao, Ltda, Rio. Most titles list other Nazareth
compositions also published by the company on the back page. IV is Irmaos Vitale, Sao Paulo
and Rio. E.A.M. is a division of Irmaos Vitale.
COMPOSITIONS – Original Editions
Beija-Flor Polca EAN, 1913, assigned 1968. Dodd Folder 256
Chave de Ouro Tango IV, assigned 1940. Dodd Folder 257
Coracao Que Sente Valsa IV, assigned 1940, 1976. The cover notes that this is suitable for
third year piano students. Dodd Folder 258
Cutuba Choro Rio de Janeiro: EAN, assigned 1973. Dodd Folder 259
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Encantada Shottisch EAN, 1922, 1968 Folder 316
Escorregando Tango Brazileiro IV-E.A.M., assigned 1940, 1976. Dodd Folder 260
Esta Chumbado Tango Brasileiro EAN, 1963. Folder 317
Ferramenta Tango-Fado Portugues IV-E.A.M., assigned 1940. For fourth year piano students.
Dodd Folder 261
Floraux Tango Sao Paulo: Mangione & filhos cia. 1925, assigned 1946. Dodd Folder 262
Garoto Choro EAN, 1916, assigned 1968. Dodd Folder 263
Genial Valsa EAN, assigned 1960. This edition has been simplified for younger students.
Dodd Folder 264
Improviso Estudo Para Concerto EAN, 1931, assigned 1968. A more difficult concert study
for advanced pianists. Dodd Folder 265
Jangadeiro Choro (Tango Brejeiro) EAN, assigned 1960. Dodd Folder 266
Nao Me Fujas Assim Polka EAN, assigned 1963 Dodd Folder 267
Odean Tango Brasileiro Sao Paulo: Mangione & Filhos Cia.,1926, assigned 1945, 1968. This
is one of Nazareth’s most popular compositions and this printing includes a lyric by Hubaldo
Mauricio and a guitar arrangement which includes illustrated finger positions. Dodd Folder
268
Rebolico Choro EAN, 1913, assigned 1966. Dodd Folder 269
Segredo Tango EAN, assigned 1973. Dodd Folder 270
Sustenta a… Nota… Tango Brasiliero Caracteristico EAN, 1919, assigned 1968. Dodd Folder
271
Talisma Choro EAN, assigned 1960. Simplified version “for music schools.” Dodd Folder
272
Vesper Valsa EAN, 1914, assigned 1968. Dodd Folder 273
Vitorioso Tango IV- EAM, assigned 1940, 1976. For fifth year piano students. Dodd Folder
274
AN AMERICAN EDITION
At the height of the craze for the tango in the United States one of the major music publishers,
Jerome H. Remick & Co., introduced a series titled Musica Creole, The Most Famous South
American Dances For Piano. This copy of one of Nazareth’s compositions from 1914 lacks the
inner page of the score, but it is still interesting for its lavish cover, which is much more artistic
than the modest covers generally presented by the Rio de Janeiro publishers.
Dengozo Maxixe Tango New York: Jerome H. Remick & Co., 1914. Dodd Folder 275
FACSIMILE COPIES FROM THE NATIONAL MUSIC LIBRARY, RIO DE JANEIRO
Few copies of music published before 1900 bear dates of publication and are listed as nd, “no
date.”
Adieu Romance sem Palavras (also subtitled Romance sans Paroles) nd Dodd Folder 276
Alerta! Polka 1910, assigned 1939 Dodd Folder 277
Almirante (Cacadora) Polka nd Dodd Folder 278
O Alvorecer Tangk de Salao nd (“O” in Portuguese is “the”) Dodd Folder 279
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Ameno Reseda Polka nd (A note indicates that the music should imitate the sound of the
popular small guitar the Cavaquinho.) Dodd Folder 280
Arrojado Samba nd Dodd Folder 281
Arrufas Schottisch nd Dodd Folder 282
Ate que Emfim! Fox-trot nd Dodd Folder 283
Atlantico Tango nd Dodd Folder 284
Atrevido Tango nd Dodd Folder 285
Batuque Tango Caracteristico nd Dodd Folder 286
Beija Flor Polka nd Dodd Folder 287
A Bella Melusina Polka nd Folder 288 (“A” is “to”)
Bicyclette-Club Tango nd Folder 289
Cacique Tango nd Folder 290
Catrapuz Tango nd Folder 291
Cavaquino porque Choras? Choro nd Folder 292
Celestial Valsa (assigned 1946) Folder 293
Chile-Brazil Quadrilha nd Folder 294
Confidencia Valsa nd Folder 295
Corbeille de Fleurs Gavotte nd Folder 296
Correcto Polka nd Folder 297
Cre e espera Valsa nd Folder 298
A COPY OF THE MANUSCRIPT SUBMITTED FOR COPYRIGHT
Cubanos Tango Brazileiro nd Folder 299
Ceura Polka-tango nd Folder 300
Cutuba Tango nd Folder 301
Cuyubinh Polka-Lundu nd Folder 302
Delightfulness (Delicia) Fox-trot nd Folder 303
Dirce Valsa Capricho nd Folder 304
Divina Valsa nd Folder 305
Electrica Valsa Rapida nd Folder 306
Elegantissima Valsa-Capricho 1926 Folder 307
Elite Club Valsa Brilhante nd Folder 308
Encantada Schottisch nd Folder 309
Escavado Tango nd Folder 310
Eulina Polka (assigned 1946) Folder 311
Feitico Tango (assigned 1940) Folder 312
Onze de Maio Quadrilha nd Folder 313
MUSICAL TRIBUTES TO NAZARETH
Nazareth’s compositions have been performed by Brazilian musicians for more than a
century, and in recent years American pianists interested in the classic ragtime of composers like
Scott Joplin and Joseph Lamb have discovered his music as well, In Brazil his music has been
performed by almost every conceivable instrumental combination and they are a staple of the
modern Choro repertoire. Two composers, one Brazilian and one American, have gone further
and created music in the spirit and style of Nazareth.
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Francisco Mignone
The Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone followed Nazareth by a generation, and there
is much of Nazareth’s spirit in his own music, though Mignone is harmonically and rhythmically
a Modernist of the 1930s and 1940s. His freely lyric set of “Street Corner Waltzes” – Valsas de
Esquina – is performed by many of the pianists who also include Nazareth in their repertoire.
His tribute to his older colleague is a set of five pieces with some of the infectious mood and
many of the mannerisms of Nazareth’s music, though transposed into a more modern idiom.
Nazarethiana 5 Pecas Para Piano
314
Rio de Janeiro: Editora Arthur Napoleao, Ltda, 1977 Folder
Hal Isbitz
The contemporary American ragtime composer Hal Isbitz has also been inspired by
Nazareth. Isbitz, who lives in Santa Barbara, California, for many years has been associated with
the group of new ragtime composers who are known as Terra Verde. They have continually
worked to extend the horizons of the ragtime idiom. Isbitz has composed a number of pieces
using the syncopations and moods of Nazareth’s characteristic manner, and he published them
together as Blue Gardenia. Isbitz’s introduction to the volume reads “This collection of piano
pieces is dedicated to the memory of the great Brazilian Ernest Nazareth.”
Blue Gardenia Twelve Latin American Piano Pieces Santa Barbara, CA: Zelda Productions,
1994. The pieces have been very popular and this copy is from the 5th printinng. [not
transferred]
Blue Gardenia was recorded by Canadian pianist John Arpin, who was an important musical
presence in the modern ragtime revival.
Isbitz has also produced a music folio containing many of Nazareth’s lesser known
compositions, which he obtained by contacting the National Music Library in Rio de Janeiro.
Composicoes para Piano de Ernesto Nazareth Zelda Productions, 5238 Calle Morelia,
Santa Barbara, CA 93111-2503 nd Folder 315
CHORO
Although the Choro style is now more than a century old it still is a vital element of the
Brazilian musical scene. The notes to the CD collection Choro, by Philippe Lesage and adapted
by Tony Baldwin, are a useful introduction to this colorful and exciting music.
“People still argue about the origin of the word ‘choro’, when in fact there is no simple
answer. Suffice it to say that, literally translated from Portuguese, it means a lament, which
is why choro tends to be though of as a rather doleful music. In fact, the term is used to
distinguish it from ‘canto’ (song), because choro is first and foremost an instrumental form,
with the emphasis on imaginative improvisation. Although the characteristics of choro are
quite distinctive, they are the result of a long gestation period. His involved the gradual
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cross-pollination of European melody and harmony with African rhythm, a blend that
spawned the first truly Brazilian music. With its strongly polyphonic base, choro is a
graceful, gentle, and refined form of virtuoso popular music. In its early stages it was more
of a mood than a formal style. . . “
Lesage also points out that the choro compositions generally are written in three part,
multi-thematic forms, but doesn’t mention that this form originated with the polka and then was
transmuted into a more specifically Afro-Brazilian idiom by the earlier composers whose music –
the tango Brasileiro - emerged a generation before the choro. Ernesto Nazareth, the most
important of the tango Brasileiro composer was born thirty-five years before the most important
choro composer and performer, Pixinguinha, who was born in 1898. Lesage does emphasize that
choros roots lie in Rio’s working class neighborhoods. He writes,
“The choro movement originated in Rio de Janeiro, the very center of European
ascendancy and fashion in Brazil. It was enriched by influences from Recife and Sao Paulo.
Yet . . . it remains a fundamental carioca (i.e. Rio) idiom Rio at the end of the 19th century
had a fantastic setting and an explosive population. The huge influx of freed black slaves
from Bahia brought in African drumming and chanting. Poor immigrants from Italy, Spain,
Portugal and Austro-Hungary contributed their own dances. These different groups lived
cheek by jowl in the same districts and gradually began to produce a cohesive form of music,
which mirrored the softer, suppler version of the Portuguese language that they spoke. The
music was not quite the same as in Cuba, the West Indies or the rest of South America. Choro
musicians were workers and small tradesmen, who played instinctively by ear.”
Other writers have also pointed out that many of the new arrivals in the city had little
money and they often shared rooms in crowded buildings, where they were forced to play quietly,
which meant that they were drawn to stringed instruments. Choro even today, with the later
additions of melodic instruments like the flute and the saxophone, still has the feel of a small
string band sitting in a circle on kitchen chairs, playing and improvising and watching each
other’s fingers as the music fills their shabby rooms. An important moment in the story of choro
was a formal meeting in 1919 between the Brazilian classical composers, led by the young Heitor
Villa-Lobos, and their choro counterparts, emphasizing their shared roots. Villa-Lobos, who had
an early association with Ernesto Nazareth, also wrote a number of compositions with a
distinctive choro influence.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD OF CHORO
CHORO, 1906-1947 France: Fremeaux & Associes, Double CD set FA 166, 1999.
2000-0105/CD 2027a-b
This collection is an excellent introduction to the classic years of Choro, and virtually every
major artist in included, many of them with a number of titles. Of particular interest are the two
piano solos played by Ernesto Nazareth.
Artists included: Jacob de Bandolim
Pixinguinha
Grupo de Pixinguinha
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Benedito Lacerda
Benedito Lacerda/Pixinguinha
Luis Americano
Araci de Almeida
Patapio Silva
Ernesto Nazareth
Custodio Mesquita
Choro Carioca
Grupo Chiguinha Gonzaga
Joao Pernambuca
Luperce Miranda
Garoto
Canhoto
Oito Batutas
Orlando Silva
Ademilda Fobseca
Styles of music: Although most of the selections on the collection are choros, also represented
are the tango Brasileiro, waltz, maxixe, and jongo.
CHORO TODAY
Chorando Baixinho Kuarup Discos CD KCD005, 1992. 2000-0105/CD 2028
This is a release of an historic concert bringing together many of today’s choro artists in a tribute
to the choro traditions. The concert was recorded at the Theater of the Hotel Nacional in Rio on
October 12, 1978. The pianist Arthur Moriera Lima was a featured artist, and he performed
compositions of Ernesto Nazareth as well as playing with the choro artists.
In addition to Lima and the well-known group Conjunto Epoca de Ouro, the artists
appearing on the concert stage were:
Abel Ferreira
Copinha
Joel Nascimento
Ze da Velha
Café Brasil
A gathering of many of today’s choro artists in performances that consciously recreate the
music of the great choro masters, including Pixinguinha and Jacob do Bandolim. The album
opens with an evocation of the Rio nights by the legendary Brazilian jazz accordionist Sivuca.
Many of the accompanying musicians are members of the group Conjunto Epoca do Ouro, “A
Group from the Golden Age” which specializes in choro. Teldec CD 8573-82368-2, 2000.
2000-0105/CD 2029
The artists who appear are:
Ronaldo do Bandolim
Dino 7 Cordas
Cesar Fari
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Toni
Jorge Filho
Jorghinho do Pandeiro
Mario Seve
Celsinho Silva
Papito
Rodrigo Lessa
Rogerio Souza
Pedro Amorin
Paulo Sergio Santos
Mauricio Carrilho
Bororo
Paulinho da Viola
Altamiro Carrilho
Carlos Malta
Martinho da Vila
Cristovao Bastas
Joel do Nascimento
Joao Lira
Henrique Cazes
Beto Cazes
Leila Pinheiro
Luciana Rabello
Joao Bosco
Ademilde Fonseca
Maria Teresa Madeira
Rilda Hora
One of today’s leading choro artists is the clarinetist and saxophonist Paulo Moura, who began
his professional career as the principal clarinetist with the Brazil Symphony Orchestra. Since
then he has been active both on the concert stage and in the recording studio, and he brings to his
music a persuasive warmth and innate musicality. This is only a small selection of his many
recordings.
Paulo Moura
Mistura E Manda Kuarup Discos, LP KLP017, 1984. 2000-0105/LP1438
Gafieira etc & tal Kuarup Discos, LP KLP024, 1986. 2000-0105/LP1439
Quartet Negro Kuarup Discos, LP KLP031, 1987. 2000-0105/LP1440
with Moura, Zeze Motta, Jorge Degas, and Djalma Correa
Paulo Moura with Arthur Moreira Lima
This double LP set is a live recording of a wide-ranging concert of improvisations and solos, with
some pieces in the choro style, others performances of Brazilian music composed by, among
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others Heitor Villa-Lobos. With Paulo Moura, who plays soprano and sopranino saxophone; and
Arthur Moreira Lima are Elomar, voice and guitar; and Heraldo, viola and electric guitar.
Concertao: Um passeio musical pelo Basil
Kuarup Discos double LP KLP008/9, 1981.
2000-0105/LP1441a-b
See also Moura’s tribute album to choro artist Pixinguiha
SOME OF CHOROS GREATEST MUSICIANS
PIXINGUINHA
There is a saying in Brazil that if you want to describe Brazilian folk music in a few words
it’s hard to sum up all of its parts, but if you want to describe Brazilian folk music in one word
you only need to say “Pixinguinha.”
Pixinguinha was born Alfredo da Rocha Viana Jr, in Rio in 1898. His father was an
amateur flutist and collector of choro music, whose son was to become the supreme flutist of the
choro style. Pixinguinha was also a prolific composer whose compositions shaped the new choro
style as well as a band leader and stage personality. The bright, infectious, optimistic sound of
today’s choro comes from his influence.
Pixinguinha formed his own group when he was only fifteen, Grupo Choro Carioca. His
first compositions were performed when he was twenty. A Rio theater asked him to organize a
group for the stage shows and the group that he led with a lifelong friend, the guitarist Donga
became an immediate hit. As “Os Oito Batutas,” (The Eight Cool Guys), they attracted so much
attention that in 1922 they toured first to Argentina, then took their music to Paris, where they
were an immediate sensation. In the 1930s Pixinguinha made some of his most influential
recordings as a flutist, and in the 1940s he teamed with another flutist, Benedito Lacerda, who
switched to the tenor saxophone for their small instrumental group, and their recordings shaped
an entire new generation of choro musicians.
Pixinguinha remained active and was working in the studio on a new recording at the time
of his death in 1973 at the age of 75.
RECORDINGS
The collection Choro includes nine selections by Pixinguinha, five with either his own
groups or as a soloist, and four with the popular duet he formed with flutist and tenor
saxophonist Benedito Lacerda. His recording career began when he was still a teenager, when he
recorded as part of a duet for a Rio company in 1911. With his own group that he assembled
four years later he recorded again in 1917 and 1918. The collection also includes a tenth
selection by the group Oito Batutas, “Eight Cool Guys” who appeared under his leadership in
Paris in the 1920s.
Pixinguinha Iris Music CD 3004092, 2002.
This CD contains sixteen of Pixinguinha’s classic recordings from the 1930s and 1940s, many of
them with the saxophonist Benedito Lacerda.
A TRIBUTE ALBUM
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It would be difficult to find a modern recording of choro that doesn’t include the
compositions of Pixinguinha. This album includes most of his best known compositions
performed by today’s foremost choro clarinetist, the brilliant Paulo Moura. The small
accompaniment group, like Moura, is steeped in the choro tradition, and brings their own bright
infectiousness to the performances.
Paulo Moura y Os Batutas Pixinguinha Blue Jacket Records CD 5019-2, 1998.
2000-0105/CD 2030
JACOB DO BANDOLIM
Although he is known as “Jacob” to a growing number of American musicians who have
discovered his music, in Brazil he was as often called “Jaco,” or “Jaco do Bandolim,” which in
English would come out as “Mandolin Jaco.” (Bandolim is the Portuguese name for the
Brazilian mandolin.) His real name was Jacob Pick Bittencourt, and he was born in Rio in 1916,
the son of a pharmacist. His parents were Brazilian and Polish, and he was given a mandolin as a
gift when he was twelve. Three years later he was performing on Brazilian radio and by the time
he was sixteen he was leading his own prize winning choro group. He continued to perform and
promote the music of the mandolin until his death in 1969. There is still some uncertainty about
his everyday life, since despite his busy involvement with his instrument and its music he never
considered himself as more than an amateur performer. Like most of the other choro musicians
of that period he supported himself with another job. Some writers have suggested he was
employed for much of his life as a clerk in the Ministry of Justice, but there are also suggestions
that he worked a variety of jobs, from salesman to insurance agent, street vendor and court
reporter. He began recording in 1947, and his releases were instantly popular, selling so well,
that his record label was almost entirely devoted to his music.
Jaco do Bandolim’s recordings are among the finest of the choro style. He was one of the
most technically brilliant of the bandolim artists of the time, but his performances have also a
warmth and a sensitivity that lifted anything he played to a unique level of expressiveness. Like
Pixinguinha he was also a gifted composer, and a wide selection of his compositions have
become staples of the choro repertoire. Many of his most popular recordings featured his own
compositions, but he also recorded many of the classic pieces of Ernesto Nazareth and
Pixinguinha. He died in 1969.
RECORDINGS
There have been many compilations released of Jaco’s music, but the two fine CDs
released by one of his American admirers David Grisman, himself an exceptional mandolinist,
are especially interesting, both for the selections chosen and for the comments by other American
artists drawn to music. The CDs were released on Grisman’s own label Acoustic Disc.
Jacob do Bandolim Mandolin Master of Brazil, Original Classic Recordings Volume 1
San Rafael, CA: Acoustic Disc, CD ACD 12, 1994. 2000-0105/CD 2031
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Mandolin Master of Brazil, Original Classic Recordings, Volume 2 San Rafael, CA: Acoustic
Disc, CD ACD 13, 1994. 2000-0105/CD 2032
MUSIC OF THE NORTHEAST
The Northeast of Brazil is the group of states on the bulge of land that thrusts toward
Africa. It was the first area of Brazil to be settled, and it was also the landing place for most of
Brazil’s slaves. In the first years of the colony it became rich, and the planters and investors
earned vast fortunes on the labor of the slaves on the untouched land. The land, however,
quickly was exhausted, and it has now become nearly a desert as continuous droughts have
altered the once lush landscape. People were forced to leave the land and migrated first to the
northeastern cities of Recife and Salvador, then as their slums filled, people were driven further
south to Rio de Janeiro and San Paulo. It was a move with many similarities to the great
migration of the ex-slaves of the American South to the industrial cities of the north. Musically,
the effect of these newcomers was as important to Brazil as the northward movement in the US,
which brought jazz and blues into the American mainstream.
In 1949 the accordionist, singer, and composer Luiz Gonzaga, whose name became
synonymous with the music of this stricken area, recorded a song which became an anthem for
the land and its people. It is part of the repertoire of every performer from these northern states
and it has been recorded many times, sometimes with only its distinctive melody as an
instrumental. Gonzaga wrote the words and the music was adapted from a folk song by his
longtime collaborator Humberto Teixeira. The title is “Asa Branca”, which means “White
Wing.”
When I saw the land burning
Like a bonfire on St. John’s Day
I asked God in the heavens above
Oh, why such a cruel torment?
What hell-fire, what a furnace!
Not even a single planted tree
I lost my cattle for lack of water
My horse died of thirst.
Even the white winged dove
Flew away from this backland
So I said, farewell Rosinha
Keep my heart with you.
Today a long way away
in a sad solitude
I wait for rain to fall again
So I can go back to my land. . . .
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(Copyright 1947, Rio Musical Ltde)
Translated by Duncan Lindsay
For many years the music of the Northeast still was dominated by radio, film, and
recordings of the Rio’s artists, but the Northeast’s great musicians – beginning with Joao
Pernambuco in the 1920s – continued to be part of the newer styles that were emerging in the
1930s. Luiz Gonzaga became the symbol of the Northeast’s music for the 1940s and 1950s, and
in recent decades the Northeast’s best known singers and composers of the group Tropicalismo,
among them Maria Bethania and her brother Caetano Veloso, with Gilberto Gil, have made the
modern Bahian music of the Northwest a symbol of the popular music of all of Brazil.
RECORDINGS
Bresil, Le Chant du Nordeste, Nordeste’s Song, 1925-1850 Fremeaus & Associes, double CD
FA5032, 2002. 2000-0105/CD 2033a-b
Artists included: Luis Gonzaga
Emilinha Borba & Os Boemios
Manezinho Araujo com Boemios da Cidade
Folk melody arranged by Heckel Tavares, sung by Januario de Oliveira,
guitar accompaniment by Zezhino, and Petit
Raul Roulien, accompanied by Heckel Tavares and Guilhermene Pereira
Stefana de Macedo, accompanied by Gao, Zezinho, and Angelino
Augusto Calheiros, accompanied by Orquestra Copacabana or Grupo
Regional
Jararaca and Ratinho with the Grupo Regional
Jararaca, accompanied by Vicente Paiva e seu conjunto
Francisco Alves and Gastao Formenti, accompanied by Rogerio and Alves
or Simao Bountman orquestra
Paraguassu, accompanied by Joao Pernambuco and Sampaio
Elisa Coelho, guitar accompaniment
Joao Pernambuco and Zezhino
Jose Menezes and Quarteto Brasil
Luis Americano
Orquestra do Maestro Zacarias
Ratinho, accompanied by Os Batutos do Norte or Luperce Miranda e sus
conjunto
Orquestra Victor Brasileira
Sergio Schnoor, accompanied by Orquestra Columbia do Rio de Janeiro
Passos e sua Orquestra
Orquestra Diabos do Ceu
Styles of music represented: Baiao, cancao, cancao Brasileira, choro, coco, danca, fox-trot,
frevo, jongo, maracta, marcha, marchino, modinha seresta, polka, samba, toada, toada Nortiste
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Joao Pernambuco A Pioneer of the Music of the Northeast
It is difficult to place Pernambuco precisely in the Brazilian musical world, since he was
born and grew up in the Northeast, but at the age of twenty he moved to Rio, where he became
part of the group of choro musicians close to Pixinguinha and also was associated with VillaLobos in the first classic years of choro. In the notes to the Choro collection, which includes two
of Pernambuco’s recordings he is described as “One of Brazil’s greatest 20th Century musicians,”
and the writer singled out “his innate creative flair and exceptional regional feel.”
Pernambuco was born into poverty in 1883 in Jatoba, in the state of Pernambuco. His
given name was Joao Teiveira Guimaraes. He was one of eleven children, and he was self-taught
as a guitarist and composer. After years of struggle in Rio he published his first hit song in 1913.
He soon was playing as a guest of Pixinguinha and Os Oito Batutos and began giving guitar
lessons in a popular music shop which introduced his distinctive guitar styles to younger
musicians. Despite his years in Rio his music continued to be identified with his Northeastern
traditions. In the translation of the text by Teca Calazans in the collection of Northeast
recordings Calazans writes “”His ‘choros’ had a distinct Northeast flavor, different from those of
Pixinguinha and Ernesto Nazareth. Brazilian guitarists, regardless of their backgrounds, almost
always include a piece by Joao Pernambuco in their repertoire.” Although Pernambuco was a
major popular composer and a sensitive, influential guitarist with a noteworthy career until his
death in 1947 he made only nine recordings, all of them from the year 1929.
RECORDINGS
Pernambuco’s recordings were a series of lyrical, sensitive guitar duets performed with
second guitarist Zezino. Two of the titles are included in the documentary double CD set Choro
and an additional five titles are included on the CD set Le Chant du Nordeste. (See list above)
His classic waltz “Sonho do Magica,” which has become a standard piece for guitarists not only
in Brazil but around the world, is included in the Choro collection.
FORRO
Although this story is almost certainly not true, it is often told to someone new to the
Northeast who asks about the origin of the word “forro’. As Bernard Seligman, who produced
the recordings for the album Brazil: Forro related it in the notes to his album,
Even the name forro tells a story of its origins/. In the early part of the century when
multinational corporations increased their Brazilian presence, initiating a construction
boom, nearly all the workers were Nordestinos. They worked hard for little pay, then as
now. On weekends came the beer-guzzling parties that the English-speaking owners
would host for their crews, parties for all, hence with a slight Brazilianization, forro.
A less colorful suggestion for the roots of the name is the word, perhaps of African origin,
“forrobodo,” which can mean either party or dance hall.
397
Forro is often compared to the Louisiana black accordion music Zydeco, and there are
many similarities in the rough dance rhythms and the kind of working class audiences for the two
musical styles. Forro also can be linked to the other accordion style of the black diaspora, the
Cumbia of Columbia. Although they have different racial roots there are also great similarities
between forro and the irrepressible accordion based dance music of the Northern Mexico-Texas
border, Nortenos as it’s called in Mexico, Tex-Mex as it’s called in Texas.
In its earliest form forro was the music of small groups who went from market place to
place singing and playing for whatever money they could collect, just as the black songsters of
the American South took their guitars and their songs into the nearby towns for the crowds of
Saturday shoppers. The traditional forro ensemble was made up of an accordion, a triangle, and
a large drum, called the zabumba. Forro, with its urgent social messages and its restless rhythm
and melody soon attracted a larger audience, and in the 1960s Luiz Gonzaga hosted a nationwide television show that featured many Northeast artists, as well as several of Brazil’s major
pop artists who were attracted to the music. One of Gilberto Gil’s most distinctive recordings is
his version of the classic song from the Northeast, “So Quero Um Xodo” written by Dominghina,
who as a young musician played with Luiz Gonzaga.
Despite its period of national attention forro lost some of its audience to newer styles,
among them Rio’s international success Bossa Nova, and when Gerald Seligman first went on
his search for forro groups to record he wrote:
A Brazilian friend was aghast – “Forro! You’re kidding, that’s what maids listen
to, what taxi drivers listen to!”
His friend’s comment was to become the title of the collection of forro selections that
Seligman produced. In his notes Seligman went on to describe the music music itself.
Forro is a generic term, a rubric for musical things Northeastern, played with
driving rhythms on button accordions called sanfonas, or on the European keyed
variety, the accordion. It’s as far as can be from the cool, sophisticated jazzinflected sensibilities of bossa nova, the rich harmonies and moving subtleties of
Brazil’s suddenly popular, popular music, or the joyous polyrhythmic festival of
samba . . .
Forro today still has all the raw power of its roots in beer parties after a sweaty week
working in Brazil’s impoverished Northeast, though it also may be blended with some of the
sophistication of the music world of Rio and San Paulo, where many of the musicians were
forced to move.
RECORDINGS
Brazil:Forro, Music for Maids and Taxi Drivers
London: GlobeStyle Records CD ORB
048, 1989. 2000-0105/CD 2034
This is a useful introduction to the uninhibited country sound of today’s forro. Gerald Seligman
found four representative groups and let them play with their own arrangements and choice of
material in the studio.
The artists included on the compilation are:
Toino de Alagoas
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Duda da Passira
Jose Orlando
Heleno Dos Oito Baixos
Forro do Brasil ARC Music CD EUCD1878, 2004. 2000-0105/CD 2035
The artists included are:
Ze Cupido
Banda Mapson
Severino Januario e Joao Silva
Ary Lobo
Corone Pereira (Toinha de Serrinha)
Luiz Sergio
Trio Mossoro
This is a strong, representative compilation of the music of some of forro’s most important
artists, and is an indispensible introduction to the forro idiom. The accordionist Ze Cupido
contributes instrumental versions of some of the most popular hits, including his arrangement of
“Asa Branca.”
Brazil Classics 3, Forro etc Luaka Bop CD 68089 90004-2, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 2036
This is another of the helpful compilations David Byrne has made of the Brazilian music he has
been attracted to. It is musically more uneven than his other anthologies, perhaps because some
of the tracks have been produced in Rio studios with Brazilian pop stars. Also included,
however, are songs by several of the key figures in the forro traditions, including Luiz Gonzaga
and Dominghinhos.
The artists included are:
Luis Gonzaga
Gal Costa
Jackson do Pandeiro
Dominguinhos
Nando Cordel & Amelinha
Clomilda
Jorge do Altinho & Dominguinhos
Genival Lacerda
Trio Noedestino
Joao do Vale
Luis Gonzaga & Elba Ramalho
Luiz Gonzaga
For Brazilian audiences today the name Luiz Gonzaga is synonymous with music of the
Northeast. A flamboyant performer of extraordinary talent he has made his fluid accordion style
and his sincere vocals known everywhere in the country, through his recordings, his stage
appearances, and in recent years his showcases on TV and film. He was born in the Northeast in
1912 and grew up playing the accordion and learning the local musical styles, among them the
399
xaxodos, baioes, chamego, and cocos. One of the many nicknames his audiences used for him
was “King of the Baioes.” Just as many American listeners have found that the accordion music
of Gonzaga and the other artists of the Northeast had the feel of Louisiana’s zydeco music,
Gonzaga’s own role as the pioneer and tireless advocate of his music is similar to the role played
by Clifton Chenier for zydeco.
Like many poor boys from the Northeast Gonzaga joined the Army when he was eighteen,
and because of his interests in music he joined an Army musical group that toured Brazil until the
late 1930s. He continued his musical career after he left the service and in 1943 he began
performing in costumes native to his own region and presenting his own compositions in the
Northeast styles. He soon began a long and productive recording career that made him one of
Brazil’s most popular musical performers, and he made innumerable recordings, most of them in
the style of his own Northeast. His singing voice could be gentle and persuasive, while his
accordion playing often had the boisterous excitement of a Carnival street band. Although his
audience for a brief period was drawn to the success of Bossa Nova, the new jazz-influenced
style that emerged in Rio in the 1960s, he continued to perform everywhere in Brazil, and within
a few years many of Brazil’s popular new vocalists began recording his songs. He remained one
of his country’s most loved artists until his death in 1989.
RECORDINGS
The documentary collection Le Chante de Nordeste contains seven of Gonzaga’s early
recordings from 1943 to 1950. The first disc includes his text to a new arrangement of an old
folksong titled “Asa Branca,” which with his new lyrics attracted an international audience for
the Northeast’s idiom. One of the most interesting performances, is a recording from 1943 of an
exuberant instrumental choro, accompanied by a small string group opens the second disc.
Gonzaga’s performance captures the unmistakable brilliance and warmth of the great choro artist
Pixinguinha.
A Greatest Hits album
O Melhor de Luiz Gonzaga BMG/RCA Records CDM10032. 2000-0105/CD 2037
This compilation opens with his 1949 recording of Asa Branca and covers the span of his long
career.
A Live Album
Volta Pro Curtir BMG Records CD 74321855432, 1972/2001. 2000-0105/CD 2038
This recording was made in a theater in March 1972 as Gonzaga led his small group with his
accordion as he sang and talked with the audience. His warmth and humor, as well as his
musicianship dominate the performance. The group used the classic instrumentation of
accordion, triangle, and large drum, with occasional added guitar, bass, and percussion. A
woman singer, Maria Helena, also played triangle. Of the 15 pieces on the recording Gonzaga
composed or composed fourteen of them. One of the young members of the group,
Dominguinhos, is regarded as the heir to Gonzaga’s role in the music of the Northeast.
BRAZILIAN MUSIC TODAY
400
Brazil’s Popular Artists
In the last decades Brazil’s popular singers have become world figures and there has been a
flood of recordings of their music. For most of the recordings, however, the unique character of
Brazil’s great musical traditions has been so diluted that the recording sessions could have been
made with studio musicians almost anywhere in the world. It has always been true that the
recording industry can turn any musical style into a flat pastiche of cliches, but Brazil’s drum
rhythms and some of the distinctive instrumental sounds have still made their way into many of
the studio arrangements. The best introduction to this pop world is this selection made by David
Byrne, a well-known leader, composer and singer of the rock group Talking Heads.
Byrne began casually picking up LPs from Brazil when he came across them, and he fell in
love with some of the music. This is a gathering of some of the best music he found, and it
includes most of the popular artists of the recent decades. In some of the arrangements you can
hear instruments like the accordion of the northeast or the mouth bow of Bahia, and the sounds of
the drums bind the arrangements their Brazilian roots. Also included is one of the greatest songs
of Chico Buarque,“Calice,” a fierce protest against the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil
during most of these years. The song was a joint composition of Buarque and Gilberto Gil, and
singing with him on the recording is Milton Nascimento. A note in the text explains that
“calice” or “chalice” is in street dialect often used as the phrase “cale se,” which means “keep
quiet”. Here is the opening verse and the chorus as translated by Arto Lindsay:
How to drink this bitter drink
Sip this pain, swallow this hard labor
Even if the voice is silent the chest remains
You can’t hear the silence in this city.
What good does it do me to be the son of a saint,
It would be better to be the son of another.
Another reality, one that’s less dead
So many lies, so much brute force.
Chorus
Father take this chalice from me
Father take this chalice from me
Father take this chalice from me
Of wine tinted with blood.
Beleze Tropical Compiled by David Byrne Luaka Bop CD72438-49022-2-3, 1989.
2000-0105/CD 2039
The artists included are:
Jorge Ben
Maria Bethania & Gal Costa
Gilberto Gil
Caetano Veloso
Chico Buarque
Milton Nascimento
Nazare Pereira
401
Today’s Brazilian music still is strongly influenced by the Tropicalismo movement of the
late 1960s. It was Brazil’s response to the loose, disruptive Hippy culture of the U. S, and also
openly sympathetic to the student revolts in Paris in the summer of 1968. The movement, called
Tropicalia in the other arts, affected every area of Brazilian culture, from painting and sculpture
to modernist poetry. The Brazilian government had been overthrown in 1964 by a military group
that was governing the country as a dictatorship. The junta was determined to suppress any
protest against their power, which they justified under the vague cover of “anti-communisn” and
the artists and musicians were singled out for punishment. Chico Buarque, who sang his
collaboration with Gilberto Gil “Calice” on the David Byrne collection was from an important
family and he continued to perform, but always under threat of arrest. For some of his concerts
police were stationed on stage to prevent him from singing material that was considered critical
of the government.
Blended with the open political nature of the new music was a return to the native music of
the Northeast, through the songs of Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, who were both from Bahia.
With Veloso’s sister Maria Bethania they introduced the sound of the drums and the uninhibited
rhythms of their own social background. Both Caetano and Gil were arrested, briefly
imprisoned, and finally exiled to London, where they remained until 1972. Ironically, when the
military junta lost power and a new government emerged, Gil for a short period acted as Brazil’s
Minister of Culture.
In his introductory notes to a compilation of Gil’s early recordings (see below) Christopher
Evans wrote:
Like many ill-defined, loosely affiliated movements, Tropicalia had no specific goals or
doctrine. Its name was an ironic reference both to Veloso’s song of the same title and to
the conflicting associations evoked by the tropical climate of Brazil: simultaneously sundrenched and paradisiacal while being denied the economic advantages of more
temperate climes: where high living was undermined by hardship, repression, and
violence. Those who subscribed to its tenets were active in most of the arts, but were
united chiefly by their opposition to the status quo rather than any clearly defined vision
as to what should replace it. It came closest to finding coherent expression, however, in
the field of music where its exponents advocated a kind of “devouring” of the influences
and technology of dominant nations in the interest of creating something that was both
anti-colonialist yet, ultimately, uniquely Brazilian .
Today’s Artists, and the Rebels of Tropicalia.
Jorge Ben
a l’Olympia Philips Records LP 6349 154, July 1975. 2000-0105/LP1442
This is a live album recorded at Paris’s famed Olympia Theater, and Ben’s performance is
powerful and exciting.
Samba Now Island Records LP, ILPS 9361, 1976. 2000-0105/LP1443
This is a compilation of Ben’s singles for the Brazilian market which was released by
Island Records in England and the U. S.
402
Maria Bethania
Alibi Philips Records LP, 6349 405, 1978. 2000-0105/LP1444
As one of the most popular of all Brazil’s vocal artists during this period Bethania’s
recordings often sound overproduced and her distinctive voice is lost in the background
arrangements, but for this collection of important songs by the new writers she is working
with a smaller group and she sings with concentration and power. One of the album’s
strongest tracks is her recording of Buarque and Gil’s.”Calice” which was discussed
above The album also includes an insert sheet with the lyrics of the songs.
Cancoes e Momentos Musica Latina CD ML 51014, 1999. 2000-0105/CD 2040
A compilation album that includes her performance by songs of among others Tom Jobim,
Caetano Veloso, Luis Gonzaga, Jr. and Milton Nascimento, who joins her in a duet for the
album’s title song.
Chico Buarque
Chicocanta Philips Records LP 6349 093, nd. 2000-0105/LP1445
O Trovador (The Troubadour) Polygram Records CD 522801. 2000-0105/CD 2041
A compilation album of some of Buarque’ most successful ballad recordings.
Gilberto Gil
The Sound of Revolution, 1968-1969 El/Cherry Red Records CD, agmem 1 42GD.
2000-0105/CD 2042
A compilation of two albums, Frevo Rasgad, from 1968 and Cerebro Electronico, 1969
These two albums, re-released together on this CD, were Gil’s response to the
excitement of Tropicalismo. The first of the albums was recorded with the group most
closely associated with the movement, Os Mutantes (The Mutants). The albums
are often chaotic. In the second of them there are with babbles of electronically altered
voices and long sections of electronic montage. In both there are abrupt jumps of mood
and tempo. They emerge today as masterpieces of the Age of Psychodelia and they
are among the most exhilarating albums produced in Brazil in this tumultuous period.
Milton Nascimento
Milagredos Peixes EMI Records LP, 2C068-421071, 1974. 2000-0105/LP1446
Travessia Iris Musique CD, 195-3001 195, 1988. 2000-0105/CD 2043
Elis Regina
e Outros (and others) Vento de Maio EMI Records LP, 31C 064 422 925.
2000-0105/LP1447
Appearing on this album with Regina are other artists including Adoniron Barbison, Lo
Borges, and Milton Nascimento.
403
Dois Na Bossa Numero 2 Philips Records LP 632.792L, 1966. 2000-0105/LP1448
This is a live recording of an energetic and spontaneous Rio theatre revue that a very
young Regina presented together with Jair Rodrigues.
Caetano Veloso
UNS Philips Rccords LP 812 747-1 8,1983. 2000-0105/LP1449
A personal album by Veloso. including two duets with his sister Maria Bethania. He is
pictured on the album cover as a very young man with his brothers Roberto and Rodrigo,
and on the reverse he and his sister embrace their mother and father.
Prendaa Minha Polygram Records CD, 314 538 563-2, 1998. 2000-0105/CD 2044
For this concert, recorded live, Veloso presents some of his greatest hit before an
enthusiastic audience, breaking off at one point to read a favorite poem..
SOME ACOUSTIC GUITARISTS
Although the electric guitar is part of the Brazilian music scene, it is the acoustic guitar
that is closest to the Brazilian heart. The acoustic guitar has the warmth and the immediacy that
suits the Brazilian musical temper, and just as choro will always bear the traces of Pixinguinha
and Jacob do Bandolim, and just as the Brazilian popular vocalists, will continue to draw on the
moods of the modinha, the guitar style also has clear Brazilian roots in the playing of the
Northeast’s Joao Pernambuco. It would be an understatement to say that the Brazilian guitarists
are brilliant artists. It is hard to imagine that as a group there could be any who are better.
Luiz Bonfa
The Bonfa Magic Caju Records CD, released in the US as Milestone Records
MCD-9202-2, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 2045
Romero Lubambo & Weber Drummond
5003CD, 1993. 2000-0105/CD 2046
Face to Face
GSP Records CDGSP
Nonato Luiz, with Djalma Correa and Luiz Alves
Gosto de Brasil Caju Records CD
released in the USA as Milestone Records MCD-9204-2, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 2047
Nonato Luiz with Tulio Mourao and Nivaldo Ornelas
Carioca Caju Records CD,
released in the USA as Milestone Records MCD-9214-2, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 2048
Francisco Mario
Retratos
Caju Records CD released in the USA as Milestone
Records CD MCD-9232-2, 1994. 2000-0105/CD 2049
Marco Pereira & Cristovao Bastos
Bons Encontros
Caju Records CD released in the
USA as Milestone Records MCD-9213-2, 1992. 2000-0105/CD 2050
Baden Powell
Seresta Brasileira
Caju Records CD released in the USA as Milestone
Records MCD-9212-2, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 2051
404
Canto on Guitar
MPS Records LP 15.300, 1970. 2000-0105/LP1451
Powell had just returned from a very well received European tour before recording this album
and it contains virtuoso solo guitar piecesl he performed for the concert audiences.
Raphael Rabello & Dino 7 Cordas (no title) Caju Records CD released in the USA as
Milestone Records MCD-9221-2, 1991. 2000-0105/CD 2052
See also the albums by guitarist Turibio Santos listed under “Ernesto Nazareth”
SAMBA
The origins of the samba, as with so much other Brazilian music, lie in the streets of
Salvador, Bahia’s capital, with its glittering mosaic of African-Brazilian musical styles and its
closeness to the religious ceremonies of the African faiths still vital in Bahian life. It was in Rio
de Janeiro, however, where new generations of people congregated as the northeastern areas of
Brazil were gripped by poverty that samba took root. As it grew in popularity samba absorbed
melodies and instrumental technique from choro and the dances of the northeast, even from the
tango brasileiro, but all of the ingredients were propelled by the buoyant energy of the carnival
drums.
Samba has been the music of Rio’s Carnival for only a few decades, so it has been
possible to document its sudden rise to its present dominance. The first samba composition to
attract a large audience was the song “Pelo Telefone” which was a hit in the 1917 carnival.
However it was several years before the new style attracted larger audiences. In his notes to the
Rough Guide collection of samba classics David McLoughlin writes that it was a performer
known as Sinho who had the first success as a sambista, “ . . . , but samba only came to be
definitely structured by a group that lived in Estacio de Sa, a region of middle-class Rio, in the
second half of the 1920s. This group of composers, bohemians and various other types that
hibernated and flourished at night in bars like Café Apolo and Do Compadre had a leader in the
form of the composer Ismael Silva”
It was Silva who organized the first “samba school” in 1928, and it is the “schools” that
dominate Rio’s carnival today. The schools’ only role is to organize and rehearse the groups of
massed dancers and singers who parade in their florid costumes down the short artificial street
behind high walls in Rio’s samba stadium in the annual competition to choose the most exciting
samba school presentation of the year. The people swaying under the glitter of their elaborate
dress and singing their one song over and over are usually not singers or dancers, and many of
them are not even Brazilian.
. To join one of the schools simply takes an expensive fee, enough enthusiasm to stay
through the months of unending rehearsals, and again another heavy expense to pay for the
costumes. The riotously flamboyant presentation of elaborate floats, with riders on horseback
and royal courts, and the massed dancers and singers streams past bleachers with hard benches on
one side and a row of balcony boxes on the other, the seats filled with friends and family
members who have brought food and drinks and wait noisily for their friends to make their
appearance. Some of the most popular “schools” may have as many as three thousand dancers,
with hundreds of drummers. It is the fantastic decorations of the floats and the costumes and the
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noise of the massed singing and drumming that draws tourists from all over Brazil and from the
rest of the world.
On the streets of Rio itself, however the dancing and the music are more spontaneous, and
each year’s new samba compositions fill the air. As McLaughlin notes, “Samba continues to
flourish and splinter with the carnival samba on the one hand and samba-cancao (samba-song)
on the other.” As the samba left the Rio slums it took with it the assertive, sometimes strident
rhythms of the difficult life of its poor neighborhoods, the notorious favelas. Samba continues to
go through continuous phases of renewal as each successive variation of the style becomes
quieter with age and is quickly pushed aside by newer and younger musicians.
The most distinctive element of the samba style is the presence of the drums, which have a
minor role in much Brazilian vernacular music. The basic pulse is a simple count of two or four,
always played by at least one instrument, against this pulse a texturing of syncopation is played
with drums and percussion, and it is this layering of the rhythm that gives samba its lift.
Although in the competitions the sambas enredo, which has a faster rhythm is popular, the more
popular samba cancao, generally played at a slower tempo, is the sound of the street music.
Visitors to Rio in carnival season are often surprised to see neighborhood groups who follow
sound truck playing records or a small band playing on a truck, “dancing” in a crowd at a
comfortable 4/4 rhythm. The dance step is a relaxed jog-trot, since the rhythm leaves no space
for movement with more of the body. The hips sway, but without a strong after-beat there is no
time for the pelvic movements that are characteristic of street dancing in an American city like
New Orleans.
Street samba is also often humorous. In the carnival season in 1995 three of the veteran
samba stars, Bezerra da Silva, Moreira da Silva, and Micro, dressed in tuxedos and performed as
“Os 3 Malandros”. Their show was a parody of the operatic stars, “The Three Tenors”, then
touring the world. The sambaists mixed their earthy samba beat with recorded operatic
backgrounds, and their album of the show was one of the year’s major hits.
RECORDINGS
Cem Anos de Samba “Os Caretas” (One Hundred Years of Samba) A 3-LP boxed set.
Polydor Records 2481 118, 2488 234, 2488 235, 1975. 2000-0105/LP1450a-c
This set is a useful introduction to Samba. 110 favorite sambas are performed by a young and
enthusiastic quartet, the earliest of the songs from the first years of samba’s popularity. Of
special interest is the extensive booklet included with a richly illustrated history of samba. The
text is in Portuguese, but the vivid historical photos used as illustrations convey the mood and the
setting of Rio’s streets in samba’s formative years.
Samba, The Rough Guide Rough Guide CD RGNET 1058, 2001. 2000-0105/CD 2053
The artists included are:
Leci Brabndao
Moacyr Luz
Paulo Moura e Os Batutos
Duo Barbieri-Schneiter
Dona Ivone Lara
Velha Guarda da Mangueira
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Cartola
Zizi Possi
Bezerra da Silva
Brazil Classics 2 O Samba Luaka Bop CD 68089-90002-2, 1989. 2000-0105/CD 2054
The artists included are:
Clara Nunes
Zeca Pagodhino
Alcione
Ciro Monteiro
Beth Carvalho
Neguino da Beija Flor
Chico da Silva
Almir Guineto
Agepe
Martinho da Vila
Raulinho da Vila
Samba! Samba! Arc Music CD EUCD 2273, 2010. 2000-0105/CD 2055
The artists included are:
Bezerra da Silva
Aniceto do Imperio
Moreira da Silva
Dicro
Os 3 Malandros
Conjunto Nosso Samba
Raul de Barros
TWO POPULAR BANDS OF THE CARNIVAL IN SALVADOR
One of the most colorful of the scenes of Brazil’s Carnival is the tumultuous procession of
the giant moving sound stages – the Trios Eletricos – that move ponderously through Salvador’s
streets on carnival night, struggling through a sea of dancers. As many as a million people can
fill the city’s streets in a tide of bodies. Ahead of each sound wagon is an area held separate
from the crowds by a moving roped enclosure, the ropes dragged by straining lines of young men
and women – Salvador’s poor – who keep an area open for dancers who pay to be a member of
the Trio’s own crowd. A favorite move of the dancers is to draw back in their open area and then
at a climax of the music run forward and leap into the air. From a distance it looks as though the
street has exploded. The bands on the top of the Trios are among the finest in Brazil. Sometimes
as many as fifteen musicians, with a line of sweating drummers, are crowded onto the stage that
covers the top of the Trio, usually with friends and people dancing along among the members of
the band. The Trios are a block long and the stage is three stories above the street. Inside there
are stairs for the people up on the stage, and down the stairs are toilets, food and beer, soft drinks,
bottled water, and cubicles containing cots for a moment’s rest. The bands will be out all night,
and breaks are essential. In the press of the crowd it can take a half an hour for a wagon to turn a
corner. For families who wait at the back of the crowds with sleepy children, one of the most
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exciting moments is the appearance of Gilberto Gil, who lives in Salvador, and waves from the
front stage of his own Trio, his name emblazoned in neon lights. Friends sometime join him and
for an hour on one Carnival night the thin figure smiling and waving beside him was Caetano
Veloso.
The sound systems of the Trios create a massive wall of music. The sides and the backs of
the vehicles are covered with rows of speakers concealed behind brightly painted scrims. The
noise is like the thunder of a stadium rock concert, but it is moving through a surging press of
screaming faces and waving arms. The bands perform with incredible energy and among the
most popular of the bands that appear on the Carnival Trios are Carlinhos Brown and the
irrepressible “Chiclete com Banana,” (Banana Flavored Chiclets)
Carlinhos Brown Para Sempre EMI CD 534090, 2001. 2000-0105/CD 2056
Chiclete com Banana Borboleta Azul BMG CD 7432170992, 1999. 2000-0105/CD 2057
BOSSA NOVA
When you fly into Rio de Janeiro today you will find yourself landing at the Tom Jobim
International Airport. The name may not be familiar to some arriving passengers, but every
Brazilian will recognize the name of the Rio de Janeiro pianist and song writer who was one of
the creators of the subtle and breathily suggestive rhythmic style that was named Bossa Nova.
Two of the songs associated with the sound, “The Girl from Ipanema” and “Desifinado” became
world hits, and with them the distinctive bossa nova syncopations became part of the
international song repertory.
The term “bossa nova” itself means either “new wave” or “new trend,” and it was a
popular phrase with a loose crowd that hung around the bars and the musicians’ cafes at Rio’s
Copacabana Beach in the 1950s. Many of the musicians insist that the new style has its roots in
samba, but although much of the pulse of the new style was drawn from samba rhythms, it is a
different musical world. Samba is a steamy, pushy street music, bossa nova – though it has
absorbed some elements of the samba style - is cool, withdrawn - a style with a jazz feel that
blends in its moods some of the insinuating subtlety of the small Cuban bolero groups. The soft,
uninflected singing style and the lightly syncopated guitar accompaniments were created by the
youngest of the group of musicians at the center of the new style, guitarist and composer Joao
Gilberto, but as much as any new popular musical style can be the creation of a single group of
musicians, bossa nova essentially was the creation of three talented musicians and lyricists. They
were Gilberto, who was born in 1931, the pianist and composer Antonio Carlos “Tom” Jobim,
born in 1929, and a successful poet and diplomat in the Brazilian government’s consular service,
Vinicius do Moraes. Vinicius, born in 1913, was older than the other two and was already an
established modernist poet when he began his association with Jobim.
Neither Jobim or Gilberto had attracted much attention as young musicians, and it was in a
discouraged period of exile in southern Brazil that Gilberto created his personal rhythmic
rephrasing of the samba music he’d grown up with. Jobim was a talented pianist and singer, but
it was not until he met Vinicius that his career began to develop any momentum. A play by
Vinicius was being presented for production and Jobim was hired to write music for it. They
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collaborated for the first time, and when the play was later filmed under the title Black Orpheus
they collaborated on three new songs, writing them over the telephone since Vinicius had just
been sent on a consular posting to Argentina. The success of the film brought them immediate
attention from Brazilian audiences.
It was Gilberto who wrote what is considered as the first bossa nova song, “Bim-Bom”,
and the three were associated through the entire bossa nova boom. Of the three he is the only one
still living and still performing. Vinicius’s life careened through a major career as a modernist
Brazilian poet, a turbulent officlal role representing Brazil as consular officer and cultural
diplomat, eight marriages and debilitating periods of alcohol abuse. He died in 1980 at the age of
67. Jobim had just finished the final session on a new album in New York in December of 1994
when he collapsed and died of a heart attack, like Vinicius, 67 years old.
The new sound first broke through in Brazil, with the song “Chega de Saudade,” by Jobim
and Moraes, which became the title of an LP of songs written by them in 1962. The next year,
with Joao, they were asked to come to New York to collaborate on an album with the American
jazz tenor saxophonist Stan Getz, who had been a major star in the era of cool jazz. His record
company, Verve Records and his producer Creed Taylor, moved quickly to establish the new
sound on the label and the two albums which Getz recorded with Jobim, Joao Gilberto, and his
wife Astrid Gilberto in 1963 and 1964 sold millions of copies worldwide. The first release,
Getz/Gilberto, was perhaps the largest selling jazz record ever released. The single of “The Girl
from Ipanema” was released in two versions – as a single, with the saxophone single edited out,
and as an album track with Getz’s solo included. Either way it was one of the last great hit
recordings of the jazz era. (The version with the tenor solo is included in the album Bossa Nova
Brasil.)
There was a girl from Ipanema, which is the Rio neighborhood of Rio where Jobim lived
immediately to the south of Copacabana, and with its own beach. Every afternoon she walked
over to Copacabana and passed a café where the musicians hung out. She was a slim teenager,
with long hair, and she was very beautiful. When the recording became popular she was startled
that a song had been written about her, but she became friendly with Jobim and Gilberto and the
musicians around them and in photographs of them all together she smiled happily.
RECORDINGS
Bossa Nova Brasil Verve Records CD 314 515 762-2, 1992. 2000-0105/CD 2058
The artists included are:
Gal Costa
Nara Ledo
Leila Pinheiro
Elis Regina
Luiz Bonfa
Caetano Veloso & Gal Costa
Tom Jobim
Joao Gilberto
Alcione
Roberto Menescal
Edu Lobo & Tamba Trio
Maria Bethania
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Vinicius & Toquinho
Elis & Tom
Tom Jobim & Astrid Gilberto
Baden Powell
Tamba Trio
Carlos Lyra
Joao Gilberto, Stan Getz, & Astrid Gilberto
Vinicius de Moraes
It is obvious from the artists included in this compilation that the new style had a strong impact
in Brazil. Nearly every major popular singer made at least one bossa nova recording, and many
of them still include material from these years in their concert appearances.
Elis Regina and Tom Jobim Elis & Tom Verve Records CD, B0011296, recorded in
1974. 2000-0105/CD 2059
As a pianist Jobim was an instinctive minimalist, allowing his melodies to stand for
themselves in simple, often single-note phrasing. Of the younger singers who performed in the
bossa nova style Elis Regina perhaps was the most successful in reinterpreting Gilberto’s unique
phrasing and Jobim’s thoughtful moods into her own style. This album was recorded in New
York for the Brazilian market and the lyrics were sung in Portuguese. Jobim brought his own
group of accompanying musicians and they worked in the studio with a small U. S. backing
group.
Of all the women singers who appeared with Jobim Regina was perhaps the most sensitive,
but always with hints of her irrepressible stage personality adding an edge of excitement to the
interpretation. This collaboration is generally considered one of the finest of the classic bossa
nova albums, and the opening composition “Aguas de Marcas” (The Waters of March) became a
major single release. Two versions of it were recorded at the session, one as a solo for Regina,
the other as a spontaneous vocal duet with Jobim which they performed several times on
television and in a series of enthusiastically received concerts. Regina enjoyed a very successful
career as a solo artist but threw herself into her life without concern for the possible
consequences. She died of an accidental overdose of drugs and alcohol at the age of thirty-six.
Joao Gilberto Joao voz e violao (Jaoa voice and guitar) Universal Music CD 314 546
713-2. 2000-0105/CD 2060
A classic album that presents Gilberto singing softly with his guitar as his only accompaniment.
The album was produced by Caetano Veloso and songs are included by among others Veloso,
Tom Jobim, and Gilberto Gil.
Tom Jobim Inedito (Antonio Carlos Jobim: The Unknown) DRG Records CD 31611, 2006.
2000-0105/CD 2061
This is a contemporary re-release of an album made by Jobim in 1987, recording new
versions of his classic compositions as pianist and singer in a larger orchestral setting. He
was now sixty years old, and it was a year of quiet celebration and travel with his wife and
family. It was also a productive year in the recording studio. In addition to these sessions
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he did two other albums that appeared at the time. The Inedito material was released later
in a limited edition double album as a memorial a year after his death in 1994.
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