Bukka White

Written by Terry Currier Tuesday, 30 June 2009 20:54

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the December 1995 BluesNotes

    The end of the 1950s and especially the first few years of the 1960s found renewed interest in acoustic Blues music. This time, however, the audience was different. Blues music had been part of Black culture since the early 1900s but whites did not listen to the Blues. Jazz music broke the race barriers with artists such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Times were changing and young, white audiences were flocking to see acoustic Blues players. Many of these players were old Blues veterans who had played in the thriving years of the 1920s. They continued to try and make a meager living playing music. Many had taken other jobs outside of music over the past 20 to 30 years and now were being sought out to have their talents seen and heard once again. Bukka White was one of those players.

    Bukka was born Booker T. Washington White to John White and Lula Davison in Houston, Mississippi on November 12, 1906. He and his brothers and sisters grew up on his grandfather's farm. His father worked on the railroad but was also a musician, so Bukka was exposed to music when he was very young. By the time he was eight, his father had taught him the fundamentals of playing guitar. He attended a Baptist Church where he learned to sing.

    Around 1919, Bukka moved to Grenada, Mississippi to live on his uncle's farm. This was the land of Delta Blues. Bukka got hold of a makeshift guitar and in the evenings, after working long days in the fields, he played music; however, his uncle broke this guitar because he kept being awakened by Bukka's late playing. Bukka was more careful with his next guitar.

    The Bluesmen who played on the plantations fascinated Bukka. Although he aspired to be like Charlie Patton, very little of Charlie's style is evident in Bukka's playing. During this period, his uncle encouraged Bukka to learn to play the piano; however, the guitar would always be his instrument of choice. It came in handy several years later when he left the farm to live on his own. Many times it was his only way to get a meal.

    Throughout the 1920s, he played music on the streets, at parties, and in barrelhouses in the South. Sometimes, he was forced to take non-musical work to get by. He moved to Memphis, Tennessee and, in 1930, an agent of Victor Records approached him about making a record. He recorded 14 sides and some of the sides had Blues singer Napoleon Hairiston playing or singing on them. There were religious songs with church women backing him. Two of these were released under the name Washington White, "The Singing Preacher". Label cutbacks, because of the Depression, were the reason the other 10 sides were not released. It was very hard for Bukka to find work playing music, so he decided to go back to work in the fields.

    Bukka married Nancy Buchauey in 1933 and they moved to West Point, Mississippi. He continued to work in the fields, but he also boxed and played baseball for the Negro Leagues. All this came to a halt in 1937 when he was arrested for shooting a man. He was released on bail until his trial, but he took off to Chicago to make a record for the American Record Company. After recording only two sides, a Mississippi sheriff arrested him at the studio. The sheriff took Bukka back to Mississippi where he served time at Parchman Farm Prison. Alan Lomax visited Parchman Farm and Bukka recorded two sides for the Library of Congress label. The American Record Company worked hard trying to get Bukka released from prison and in 1940 they finally succeeded. Bukka recorded for Vocalion immediately after his release. He cut 12 sides and many of them reflected the anguish he felt while he was incarcerated.

    He continued to play music in clubs in the North for the next couple of years. In 1942, he enlisted in the Navy for two years. After his release, he moved back to Memphis. His first daughter, Irene, was born that year. He continued to work non-musical jobs, but did manage to get a few club dates. In 1946, his wife died.

    Over the next 17 years, Memphis was his home base and he played when he could find gigs. Then, in the middle of the acoustic Blues revival, a young John Fahey looked him up and he recorded on Fahey's own Takoma label in 1963. This sparked the beginning of his second musical career. He recorded for Arhoolie later that year and in the following year for Takoma, again. Bukka married a woman named Leola in 1964.

    He began playing all over the country at Folk and Blues festivals, including the prestigious Newport Folk Festival in 1966. He toured England and Europe in 1967 as part of The American Folk Blues Festival; and 1968 was a busy year for him. He appeared on a live recording of The Memphis Blues Festival on Mike Version's Blue Horizon label. Then recorded his own album on Blue Horizon and with Furry Lewis on a label called ASP. He also played in Mexico, and in 1969, he recorded for Blue Thumb. He returned to Europe in 1970 and 1972 and recorded for Blues Beacon in Germany in 1972. Bukka had never been so busy in his life playing music, and he was enjoying every minute of it!

    The 1970s continued to be good to Bukka who was now in his middle 60s. He appeared in many movies and television shows on Blues, including Mr. Crump's Blues in Memphis (1972), two French films, Blues Under the Skin (1972) and Out of the Blacks Into the Blues (1972), Cocksucker's Blues (1976); and a BBC production in England, The Devil's Music - a History of the Blues (1976).

    Bukka was 70 years old when he became ill with cancer. He entered the City of Memphis Hospital and passed away on February 27,1977. He is buried in New Park Cemetery in Memphis.

    Fortunately, because of the renewed interest in his music in the 1960s, there is a wealth of material on Bukka. If you compare his playing of the 1960s with the recordings of 1930, you will find little change in his style; however, you will find the story of life that had grief and pain, death and despair, as well as joy (in his later recordings), all with the originality that Bukka gave them

Related Links:

• Bukka White at the All Music Guide

• Find Bukka White recordings at CD-DB

• Dogpile Mega-search for Bukka White

Blind John Davis

Written by Terry Currier Tuesday, 30 June 2009 20:53

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the January 1996 BluesNotes

    Chicago .... The city has a history of some of the finest Blues music ever made. Most of this history comes Post-World War II and developed into what we know as the Chicago sound. Today, this sound flourishes all over the world. During the late 1930's and 1940's, many Blacks left the South and moved North to the big cities to find a better way of life. Some had families who had worked in the fields for over two hundred years.

    John Henry Davis, better known to the Blues world as Blind John Davis, migrated to Chicago way before most. He was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on December 7, 1913. His father, John Wesley Davis, was a sawmill worker and his mother, Lillie, was a former minstrel show dancer. When John was three, his father moved the family to Chicago and found work in a wheel foundry. Prohibition came along and John's father took advantage of the opportunities it created to make money. He opened a number of "good time" or "sporting" houses, where people secretly consumed bootleg spirits. His father made different home brews and supplemented his income so his family did not feel the setbacks others felt during the depression.

    John was nine when he lost his eyesight. He stepped on a rusty nail and the infection set in his eyes. His mother tried to cure him with a home remedy, but was unsuccessful. Music was the main form of entertainment at John's father's sporting houses, thus, he was exposed to it whenever his father took him by one. John learned to play piano when he was fourteen, out of jealousy. His father paid people to play piano in his houses, so John asked his father if he would pay him if he learned to play. His father bought him a piano and John taught himself by listening to others play on the radio and in the houses. Within a couple of years, John was playing in his father's places and at parties in the area. He found work in many white clubs in town because of his wide selection of songs. In 1933 he put together his first band, Johnny Lee's Music Masters, and later another group called the Johnny Davis Rhythm Boys. They played many of the white speakeasies in the suburbs and the downtown area.

    John became an accomplished arranger as well as one of the best piano players in town. Around 1937, Lester Melrose's Wabash Music Company hired him as their house pianist. He received a regular salary and played on several recordings each week. Between 1937 and 1942, he played on over 100 songs, including Tampa Red's recordings. Tampa's material was more complex than most Blues players and he found it hard to find people to play with him. John, however, had no problem accompanying him. This led to a lasting friendship between them. John played on Tampa's recordings from around 1937. He also played on recordings by Lonnie Johnston, Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Minnie, Doctor Clayton, and Sonny Boy Williamson. In 1938, he cut six sides for Vocalion with George Barnes (one of the first Chicago musicians to record with an electric guitar). This was also the year John got married.

    During World War II John split his time between working for Lester Melrose and traveling with The Johnny Davis Rhythm Boys. They hooked up with the Frederick Brothers Booking Agency, who found work for them all over the West and Midwest, playing mostly for white audiences. John formed the John Davis Trio at the end of the 1940's. George Barnes played guitar and Ransom Knowling played bass. They recorded for MGM Records in 1949 and again in 1951, but right after these last sessions, John disbanded the trio. He quit traveling around and played mostly solo in the Chicago area, again mostly for white audiences. Once in a while, he worked with Judge Riley who played drums and bass.

    In 1952, John and Big Bill Broonzy became the first of many Blues musicians who traveled to Europe. Both recorded for the French label, Vogue. John returned home and continued playing in the Chicago area. However, his personal luck took a nose-dive in 1955 when his house and everything in it burned. His wife died a few days later.

    The Library of Congress recorded John in 1958 and 1959, but these recordings were never available to the buying public. John played on a session with fellow Chicago musician Al Wynn, which was put out on the Riverside label in 1961. During the rest of the 1960's, he played almost exclusively in Chicago, except for his appearance at The 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Even in the face of the resurgence of the Blues, (now with a young white audience), John continued playing mostly cocktail lounges and white night clubs. Here was this incredible Blues piano player who became less and less known to Blues audiences with every passing year.

    Europeans, however, had not forgotten his brief visit. Their interest prompted another trip in 1973. During this visit, John made a studio recording for the German label Happy Bird, and a live recording for another German label called Christi. Bruce Gulag's new Chicago label put out the live recording in the United States in 1977.

    Throughout the next dozen years, John made regular trips to Europe once or twice a year. He recorded for Oldie Blues, out of Holland, in 1974. He also played more festivals, mostly in the Midwest and in Central Canada. He now played mostly Blues music with a favorite standard thrown in once in a while. John made audiences happy with his wonderful sense of humor and, of course, his playing.

    John was a very good person. In the 1970's he spent much of his time and money looking after Tampa Red, who was living in Sacred Heart Nursing Home, in Chicago.

    John recorded for the Chicago based label, Sirens, in 1977;  the German label L&R in 1983; and the Red Beans label in 1985. The Red Beans recordings were his last. He passed away on October 12, 1985 in Chicago, the city that was home to him most of his life. Although he never gained the popularity of fellow Blues piano players such as Memphis Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, Champion Jack Dupree and Sunnyland Slim, his talent was right up there with theirs.

Related Links:

• Blind John Davis at the All Music Guide

• Find Blind John Davis recordings at CD-DB

• Dogpile Mega-search for Blind John Davis

Pee Wee Crayton

Written by Terry Currier Tuesday, 30 June 2009 20:53

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the April, 1997 BluesNotes

    Texas has produced some of the best when it comes to Blues guitar players, from the early days of Blind Lemon Jefferson to the recent years of Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan. The list in between is staggering. Many, such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Freddie King, Albert King, Johnny Copeland and T-Bone Walker, are gone.  However, some legendary players, including Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Sonny Rhodes and Johnny Winter are still active today.

    Pee Wee Crayton has not received the same recognition as some of the others, but his playing puts him right up there at the top of the list.  He was born to Connie and Curtis Crayton on December 18, 1914 in Rockdale, Texas. He spent most of his childhood in Austin. Early on he showed an interest in music and he made his first instrument out of a guitar box.  While attending Olive C. School, he played both the ukulele and trumpet in the school band.  When he finished school, playing music for a living was not on his mind.  Around 1935, he moved to Los Angeles where he worked several different jobs.  In 1945, he decided to take up playing guitar seriously and he soon left his job in the shipyard.  He formed a trio and they worked in and around Los Angeles and San Francisco.  The following year, he started playing with the Ivory Joe Hunter Band in the Los Angeles area.  He also played with them on a recording for the Pacific label. Pee Wee and his trio continued getting work playing in lower California.  In 1947, he made his own recording for the 4 Star label in Los Angeles. By 1949, he had built up quite a reputation for himself.  He took his band on a tour across the states including a date in Michigan with Big Joe Turner and Lowell Fulson. He also recorded for the Los Angeles-based Modern Records that year.

    There are several stories on how he acquired the name Pee Wee. In a "Living Blues" article in the 1980s, he stated that friend and singer, Roy Brown, gave him the nickname. This makes sense since Roy had a way of making nicknames for many of his friends.  It has also been said that his father gave him the nickname as a tribute to a local Texas piano player.

    Pee Wee's talents were in demand and he began playing on recording sessions with many other bands.  In 1951, he recorded with The Maxwell Davis Orchestra for Aladdin Records in Los Angeles and in 1954 with The Red Callender Sextet.  He also toured with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown that year on the East Coast and recorded for the Imperial label in New Orleans.

    Detroit became his home in 1955.  He toured all over the East and into the South.  There was a show in Detroit billed as the "Battle of the Guitars" with T-Bone Walker and Pee Wee.  The way Pee Wee talked with the media you would have thought he was the Mohammed Ali of guitar and that T-Bone wasn't even close to being in the same league as Pee Wee. T-Bone and Pee Wee duked it out on guitar that night in a show which show-cased two of the finest Blues guitarists at that time.

    In the late 1950s, he toured with Ray Charles, Big Maybelle, and Dinah Washington.  His guitar playing was as suitable for R&B as it was the Blues.  He recorded for VJ Records in Chicago in 1956 and 1957 and for the Fox label in Detroit in 1959.

    The 1960s came and Pee Wee was treated the same way the Great Depression of the 1930s treated the Blues stars of the Golden Blues Decade of the'20s.  Blues had not lost its popularity, but the early years of the 1960s found the revival of the old Country Blues players from the 1920s.  People like B.B. King and T-Bone Walker were doing okay, but lesser known players found it harder to make a living playing music.

    Pee Wee recorded for a small label called Jamie in 1961, and played on a recording with The R.A. Blackwell Orchestra in 1962.  Almost starving, he moved back to Los Angeles and found work as a truck driver.  He occasionally played on the weekends, and in 1968, he again recorded for Modern Records.

    The 1970s treated him much better. He started the decade playing with The Johnny Otis Show at the Monterey Jazz Festival. This was recorded and released on Epic Records. He played the next year with Otis and this helped re-introduce him to many who knew him before, as well as to a whole new audience. In 1971, he recorded a great album for Vanguard Records and he began getting work on his own.  His tough life in the 1960s and probably the fact that he was a bit older had toned down and humbled Pee Wee.  He no longer had that flamboyant Mohammed Ali attitude.  He was just happy to be able to play his guitar - something his rival T-Bone no longer could do. T-Bone passed away in 1975.

    Pee Wee recorded an album for Blue Spectrum Records in Los Angeles in 1974 and played on a Big Joe Turner record for Pablo in 1975.  He continued playing regularly throughout the 1970s and into the early 1980s.  In his spare time, he played golf.  Although he never achieved the popularity of many of his peers, he was respected by all of them. Pee Wee was a musician's musician.  Some say he was best experienced live, but hearing him sing and play on the Modern recordings of the 1950s is a real treat.  Pee Wee Crayton died in 1985.

Related Links:

• Pee Wee Crayton at the All Music Guide

• Find Pee Wee Crayton recordings at CD-DB

• Dogpile Mega-search for Pee Wee Crayton

Bluebird Blues

Written by Terry Currier Tuesday, 30 June 2009 20:53

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the January 1998 BluesNotes

    The 1920s was the Golden Decade for Blues music and recording. Almost every recording company was making trips to the South to record Blues music. As Blues fans, we can be thankful that this happened, even though, usually, their motivation was for the money and not the music.

    Then came the 1930s and the Great Depression. Jazz became the popular music for Black music listeners. The end result was inevitable. Due to the declining demand and a shortage of money, there was less interest in recording Blues music. Some of the major recording companies still made some Blues recordings, but less time and effort was put into the recording process. Instead of making sure they had the best take of a song, they were more inclined to just make one take. To try to assure that the one take was decent, they used more in-house musicians as a backup band. These were musicians they knew were no nonsense people and would get it down the first time. This might have taken away some of the feelings of the music and sterilize the recordings, and it probably did to some degree. However, if you look at who some of the in-house players were, you know why many of the end results were so incredible.

    Victor Records was one of the major companies who continued to make regular Blues recordings during the 1930s.  Let's take a look at some of the changes they made because of economic changes and a decline in consumer demand.

    Records in those days were 10 inch, 78 RPMs consisting of one song per side. Whenever you hear or read that so many sides were cut, it is the same as saying so many songs were cut. The exception to this is when the song is very long. Then they were usually labeled Part One on one side and Part Two on the other side.

    Blues records in the late 1920s were about 75 cents each. During the Depression, record sales dropped tremendously. Victor, like many other companies, dropped their prices a bit - especially on their Blues releases. They transferred the Blues records to the Bluebird label and sold them for just 35 cents. In order to still make money at these prices, Victor trimmed everything to the bone. Besides going to the one-take a song method and using in-house musicians to backup the featured artist, they went from cutting four to eight sides a day to jamming in up to 40 songs in a day.

    The Bluebird label recorded mostly Blues and Jazz and only occasionally recorded anything outside these boundaries. Lester Melrose was the man who found most of the talent for Bluebird. He was both talent scout and recording producer.  For the most part, he had a monopoly on the Chicago Blues market, where Victor was based. He was savvy enough to listen to many of the label staff musicians and use them to find some of Bluebird's best talent. One such musician / talent scout Melrose used was guitarist, Big Bill Broonzy. The staff musicians at Bluebird were top-notch, and in addition to Broonzy, they included Blind John Davis (piano), Roosevelt Sykes (piano), Washboard Sam (washboard), and Ransom Knowling (bass), among others. The faces changed, but they always had the best. Even though they used their cookie cutter approach to making records, some of the finest Blues records of the 1930s were on Bluebird. If an artist lasted for awhile on the label, they sometimes were given more latitude and had more flexibility to "do their own thing" or bring in outside musicians.

    Bluebird had some impressive names record for the label, including: Memphis Slim, Big Maceo, Bill "jazz" Gillum, Tampa Red, Memphis Minnie, Tommy McClennan, Sonny Boy Williamson (John Lee), Robert Lee McCoy, Bo Carter, Lil' Grew, Lonnie Johnson, Walter Davis, Leadbelly, and Big Bill Broonzy.

    Bluebird all but ceased making Blues records in 1942. Like many other raw materials, shellac, the material used to make records, was being rationed because of the United States' entry into World War II. Later that year, J. C. Patrillo, the President of The American Federation Of Musicians, ordered a ban on all recording. The Patrillo Act lasted almost two years. Bluebird came back to life, but so did many new, independent labels. As the new labels started to flourish and take away some of the marketplace sales, Victor decided it was time to shut down the Bluebird division of Race Records.

    Some of these old Bluebird recordings surfaced through the following years and later through RCA who purchased Victor. In the 1970s, RCA began reissuing many of the Bluebird catalog on LP. However, after just a short period, they stopped reissuing and the titles that had come out were soon out of print. This past year, RCA put out the first in what is supposed to be a continuing effort to reissue Bluebird recordings on compact discs. These will continue unless sales fall off RCA's projected expectations. These are some very important recordings that have not seen the light of day for some time. Most of them focus on individual artists and some feature unissued sides and takes. They include: Memphis Slim, Big Maceo, Tommy McClennan, Robert Lee McCoy, Bill "Jazz" Gillum, Tampa Red and Sonny Boy Williamson. A collective work of four women Blues artists include Memphis Minnie, Mississippi Matilda, Kansas City Kitty, and Miss Rosie Mae Moore. I would like to hope these will stay in print for years to come, but history says, "better pick them up now while you can!"