Guest (Posted: 01 Oct 2005 13:09 )
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Hei from Finland...I'm English,58,and was and was a blues and r'n'b fan from the age of 13.This was about as early as you could get, (1960),because recordings were very hard to come by.A few slipped under the wire by being categorised as "rock´n`roll".The first English release of blues that I personally came across was a couple of 7"E.P's featuring Jimmy cotton,backed by Chris Barber on double bass,and a drummer,(probably Barber's trad jazz band drummer).Barber was a closet blues freak,despite playing the aforesaid dodgy Dixieland for a living.I think the label was (U.K.)Columbia.Next up was probably "Talkin``bout You",Chuck Berry (on gold & purple) Pye.There was also an E.P.faturing "Maybelline""Wee Wee Hours"and 2 tracks I can't now recall.Sometime after I came across an import copy of "Muddy Waters at Newport"(my dates are shaky,but we're probably talking 1963/4.Philips Jazz Masters series also issued the Robert Johnson "King of the Delta Blues "album...what a revelation THAT was!Thereafter the flood-gates slowly opened to this perceived new market and new releases became frequent.I started playing guitar around '61 under the thrall of Duane Eddy,so was fairly competent by the time I discovered blues was my passion:I learned to play bottle-neck by trial and much error...finally sussing that" open" tuning was necessary...not so easy without the manuals of today.I chose open G,which seemed to be the easiest to tune to from regular pitch.And so I became a blues guitarist in my home town of Chesterfield,Derbyshire.I wasn't the best blues guitarist around...I was the ONLY blues guitarist around,so had a pretty good time for several years.It's hard to convey the excitement of the early "Gospel and Blues"concerts organized by the British Jazz Federation in the early 60's.The first I saw was at Fairfield Hall,Croydon,in I guess 63 or 64.Muddy waters was headlining.Apparently the promoters (trad. and "modern" jazzers to a man),persuaded Waters that British audiences wouldn't tolerate a "folk"performer playing a massively amplified Fender Telecaster,so he appeared with an almost ukelele sized acoustic guitar,a broad indulgent smile,and left the "house"guitarist on the tour,Matt "Guiter"Murphy, to handle guitar chores.These things happened quite often,in those days.The "establishment"academics couldn't grasp that this was wild,loud,dirty music about sex,drinking and hard times,and not the polite strumming of the Kingston Trio (REAL folk music!).Thereafter I only missed one of these annual events..unfortunately the one featuring Howlin'Wolf who promptly died on his return to the U.S.I think he remains the only major blusman I haven´t seen live.These subsequent annual tours were actually run by people who liked blues music,so Buddy Guy Otis Rush,T-Bone Walker,etc.etc.were not subject to any form of interference.If I had the energy,or the memory banks, to remember all the great blues artists I've seen,it would be pretty much a "Who's Who".It's a tragedy that the U.K.television stations didn't see fit to record these annual events.I DO remember seeing T-Bone Walker on black & white TV but that was an exception to the rule.It wasn't until the later 60's that TV caught up,but this was now the age of "soul",wonderful in it's own right...but what an opportunity had been wasted -to archive the blues greats.I guess there is probably much more footage in the U.S.at least,I HOPE there is....I'll end on a controversial note.I saw Chuck Berry several times and he NEVER played any of his trade mark "licks"on stage,confining himself the the equally trademark "chugging "rhythm part.Reading a discography some years ago,I noticed that the aforementioned Matt "Guitar"Murphy was on virtually all of the "classic"Berry sessions.Are we attributing those fabulously characteristic "trade mark"licks to the wrong guy?Just a thought.Hope some .or any,of this ramble is of interest.Luck with your project,Yours" Senile Blues Boy,"Turku,Finland
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