Finally the Blues

[Big Beat Steve]

No recall is needed as far as I am concerned.

I dont think anybody would need one. Give or take one song, so what?

[papsrus]

Time to drop that bone, dog.

Legitimate corrections, fine. They should be (and are being) pointed out. Endlessly needling Allen over preferences on how to list track credits, or the inevitable typos that will slip through in a project of this magnitude, or a single duplicate track among the mountain that he's presented here, uncalled for, IMO.

It's a fucking glorious set, obviously a labor of love, and a job well done.

[Big Beat Steve]

Irony aside, I somehow resent that "dog" tag (pun intended), bull(y)dog.

BTW, in case you hadn't noticed, it's been dropped a while ago and the discussion had moved on.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Big Beat Steve

[AllenLowe]

I hadn't noticed -

[Christiern]

Hate to say this, but 090290289089082908908920890892089082908208908984787676732456563724 c has always been my favorite take.

[Hot Ptah]

Allen, where did you find this great stuff?

I am amazed at how many records you have included with excellent acoustic slide guitar playing. I had no idea that so many even existed.

One example--CD 5, Song 2, "Honey in the Rock" by Blind Mamie Forehand. This song, unknown to me before today, has a yearning, haunting vocal and some first rate slide guitar backing. It's one of the more powerful recordings I have ever heard. Again, where did you find this great stuff, Allen?

But then, you have included the comfort foods of Doc Boggs, Tommy Johnson, John Hurt, Blind Blake, Blind Willie Johnson etc., so that the entire project does not seem like one giant roller coaster ride into obscurities. I am more impressed with this set the more I delve into it.

I am also digging the jazz too, of course. I wonder how a hard core blues fanatic, who has never listened to jazz, will react to the great cuts by Charlie Johnson, King Oliver, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Joe Venuti, Meade Lux Lewis etc.

That George Gershwin selection is an inspired choice.

Annette Hanshaw's "I Must Have That Man", while quite good, has made me appreciate what a towering achievement Billie Holliday and Lester Young created on the same song. It is great to hear a different, good version for comparison.

[Dan Gould]

I wonder how a hard core blues fanatic, who has never listened to jazz, will react to the great cuts by Charlie Johnson, King Oliver, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Joe Venuti, Meade Lux Lewis etc.

Brings up a thought, probably a silly one since I expect Allen is on top of it - but has the set been offered on Blindman's Blues forum?

[J.A.W.]

I wonder how a hard core blues fanatic, who has never listened to jazz, will react to the great cuts by Charlie Johnson, King Oliver, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Joe Venuti, Meade Lux Lewis etc.

Brings up a thought, probably a silly one since I expect Allen is on top of it - but has the set been offered on Blindman's Blues forum?

Yes

[AllenLowe]

yes, next stop Weenie Campbell - I'm a little overwhelmed right now, trying to make contact with critics, etc.

as for the variety of tunes - almost everything on the set is from my own collection, LP, CD, 78, etc. I don't really know how I did it, but the current mess in my basement is a sign that I was there and gone. I basically went through everything I own, and spent maybe an additional $1500 on materials (I know this figure is close, since I am doing my taxes this week).

I did a little shopping at Stereo Jacks (where I was fortunate to snap up a pile of LPs from a recently-deceased collector; also, my local used record store had some choice things - for example - a Savoy LP reissue of John Lee Hooker which was so much better sounding than the CD versions that it was both laughable and scandalous). I've been somewhat on top of the whole blues reissue thing the last 15 years, have snapped everything up that I could, as well as grabbing vanishing LPs with good sound (especially French black and whites, RCA/BMGs, Columbia/EMIs, et al). Sources are of prime importance, of course, as a good source makes any restoration engineer sound like a genius (I took the King Oliver from a very good-sounding 10 inch Columbia). Of course, there was also Document, of which I own a lot, and they are not as bad as they are purported to be, sound-wise (in many cases I could tell they had used LP transfers from decent vinyl).

I tried to put some out-of-the-way things on it, too - there's a Charlies Ives solo piano piece coming up, an Aaron Copeland piece (called blues but very far from it) and even a Harry Partch spoken word, put there since Partch had a lot to say on the relationship between American speech and American vernacular music. And, most happily of all, the set ends with a Jaki Byard solo.

as for the hardcore blues guys, it will be interesting - even true experts like Paul Oliver show a deep misunderstanding of, for one example, Ethel Waters, and I tried to deal with this. I also have a greater sympathy for the whole minstrel ethos than most critics, and I did my best to include and explain.

Most frustrating is when I find things that I think I should have included - like more post-War acoustic things, or some more on the Popular Front (though I do have Woody Guthrie/Cisco Houston, Josh White, and Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Leadbelly - I just should have engaged with the subject in greater detail).

Edited April 27, 2010 by AllenLowe

[ghost of miles]

Most frustrating is when I find things that I think I should have included - like more post-War acoustic things, or some more on the Popular Front (though I do have Woody Guthrie/Cisco Houston, Josh White, and Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Leadbelly - I just should have engaged with the subject in greater detail).

Have you ever seen Bear Family's SONGS FOR POLITICAL ACTION? It covers that area thoroughly--exhaustively, even!

Really looking forward to picking up V. 1 of your blues set, Allen, when a little extra cash blows my way at the end of next month.

[AllenLowe]

Ghost - just tried to send you a message, but the messenger wouldn't let me - contact me at alowe5@maine.rr.com.

[Hot Ptah]

yes, next stop Weenie Campbell - I'm a little overwhelmed right now, trying to make contact with critics, etc.

as for the variety of tunes - almost everything on the set is from my own collection, LP, CD, 78, etc. I don't really know how I did it, but the current mess in my basement is a sign that I was there and gone. I basically went through everything I own, and spent maybe an additional $1500 on materials (I know this figure is close, since I am doing my taxes this week).

I did a little shopping at Stereo Jacks (where I was fortunate to snap up a pile of LPs from a recently-deceased collector; also, my local used record store had some choice things - for example - a Savoy LP reissue of John Lee Hooker which was so much better sounding than the CD versions that it was both laughable and scandalous). I've been somewhat on top of the whole blues reissue thing the last 15 years, have snapped everything up that I could, as well as grabbing vanishing LPs with good sound (especially French black and whites, RCA/BMGs, Columbia/EMIs, et al). Sources are of prime importance, of course, as a good source makes any restoration engineer sound like a genius (I took the King Oliver from a very good-sounding 10 inch Columbia). Of course, there was also Document, of which I own a lot, and they are not as bad as they are purported to be, sound-wise (in many cases I could tell they had used LP transfers from decent vinyl).

I tried to put some out-of-the-way things on it, too - there's a Charlies Ives solo piano piece coming up, an Aaron Copeland piece (called blues but very far from it) and even a Harry Partch spoken word, put there since Partch had a lot to say on the relationship between American speech and American vernacular music. And, most happily of all, the set ends with a Jaki Byard solo.

as for the hardcore blues guys, it will be interesting - even true experts like Paul Oliver show a deep misunderstanding of, for one example, Ethel Waters, and I tried to deal with this. I also have a greater sympathy for the whole minstrel ethos than most critics, and I did my best to include and explain.

Most frustrating is when I find things that I think I should have included - like more post-War acoustic things, or some more on the Popular Front (though I do have Woody Guthrie/Cisco Houston, Josh White, and Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Leadbelly - I just should have engaged with the subject in greater detail).

Allen, I think that any regrets you may have are akin to the 1961 New York Yankees thinking back on games they could have won. If I were you, I would sit back for a moment and bask in the triumph of your achievement.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Hot Ptah

[AllenLowe]

well, these days I feel more like the Brooklyn Dodgers -

[Hot Ptah]

well, these days I feel more like the Brooklyn Dodgers -

They did win the World Series once!

[AllenLowe]

well, than, maybe more like Virgil Starkwell when he mispelled the bank robbery note.****

****from Take the Money and Run

[Hot Ptah]

well, than, maybe more like Virgil Starkwell when he mispelled the bank robbery note.****

****from Take the Money and Run

You've got a gub?

[AllenLowe]

no, just some wrong label names -

[Dan Gould]

How are you at apting natural?

[AllenLowe]

that's one of my favorite comedy scenes -

[papsrus]

Just received an amazon e-mail promoting 'Really the Blues?'

[Niko]

Just received an amazon e-mail promoting 'Really the Blues?'

me, too

[Big Beat Steve]

So I ought to receive one too. Amazon lately seems to have made a habit of plugging items with me that I bought some time BEFORE. A really wise commercial strategy ...

[jeffcrom]

Really the Blues? showed up on my doorstep today. I knew I would have many of the tracks elsewhere, but I had no idea that there would be so many revelations among the music I hadn't previously heard. Just on Disc One, "Poor Mourner" by Cousin and DeMoss, Cook's "Rain Song," and George O'Connor's unfortunately titled blues have shifted my understanding of the music.

Too cool!

[Fer Urbina]

Received it just now. Don't know when I'll be able to give it a proper spin. Soon, I hope.

Thanks, Allen!

F

[Hot Ptah]

I have been listening to CDs 2 and 3.

I am really struck by Jelly Roll Morton's 1923 recording, "New Orleans Joys" (CD 2, #6). This seems to me to be an earlier version of a lot of the New Orleans rhythm and blues that came later. There are moments that remind me of Professor Longhair. Whether Professor Longhair and the other New Orleans rhythm and blues musicians of the post-World War II era actually listened to "New Orleans Joys" as the source of their music, or whether "New Orleans Joys" is a 1923 example of a style of New Orleans music that has been around for a long time and gets passed down to succeeding generations, I don't know--but it is striking to hear this 1923 recording after listening to Professor Longhair, Archibald, Tuts Washington and other New Orleans pianists of the 1940s and later.

Then the very next song, "Guitar Blues" by Sylvester Weaver (CD 2, #7), also from 1923, sounds to me like John Fahey or Leo Kottke, 40 years earlier. I had never heard of Sylvester Weaver before.

CD 2, #10, James P. Johnson's "Bleeding Hearted Blues", from 1927, is so great. But then I think that I have heard only great recordings from James P. Johnson in the 1920s.

CD 3, #26, Arizona Dranes' "Crucifixion"--what a great blues piano performance. I love stuff like this. Who is Arizona Dranes and why had I never heard of him before?