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Buddy Guy: A Man & The Blues (1968)

Today (July 30th, 2010) music legend Buddy Guy turns 74. To mark the occasion, here’s an article I wrote last summer with some updated tour information. I hope you enjoy it. ~tbb

In the Summer of 2008

I was asked to write a piece on Buddy Guy’s album Skin Deep, which at the time was close to being released. In the article I mentioned how I warmheartedly remembered the music legend’s work from the sixties… I listened to Skin Deep, and immediately loved what I heard, but for some reason it made me drift back to an album Guy came out with forty years earlier.

A Man & the Blues was released in 1968, and today I can still visualize the album cover in my mind… I associate that particular LP to the upbeat atmosphere I was surrounded by at the time… In last year’s article I had to restrain from drifting too much. So I thought it might be cool to take the reflective trip I wasn’t able to make last year…

Church Gig 1968

Now I never normally go to church. That’s because I was more familiar with the synagogue further down the road. I remember thinking even at eight years old, how the Cantor when he sang sounded like Jack Bruce from the band Cream. That’s where my imagination led me even at that young age. A wild association I still get a kick out of telling today… Yes, I fondly recall those times being very buoyant indeed. So you could imagine how anxious I was going to church for the first time.

I helped my brother’s friend and roadie The Big F load the gear out of the basement of our house (where they usually rehearsed) to the church hall. The guys were playing one their first live gigs that night and I was helping them set up. I remember they even brought in a horn section to back them up. The gig was going to be more of a family evening of entertainment; a moment in time where friends, music lovers and neighbors would get together and just have a blast.

My brother’s band eventually got a reputation as a great blues party band. In 1968 my brother and his friends were all teenagers looking for an outlet to express themselves through the love of the music that inspired them. Their enthusiasm and musicianship was well received. The guys loved what they did and it showed.

Several of the songs that my brother and his musician friends rehearsed leading up to that gig were from the album A Man & The Blues. The tunes the guys played were “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” “One Room Country Shack” and they opened with the classic Berry Gordy tune “Money.” Many of those songs were versions Buddy covered on the album.

Back then I was too young to express how the music made me feel. All I knew was how important it felt to be around for some reason. And even though I knew deep down I wasn’t going to be a musician, I did know one thing: I needed to experience more of what was going on. I knew right then that music was going to play a big part in my life. It was just a matter of when.

Buddy Guy

was born in July 30th,1936 to a sharecropper’s family, and was one of five children raised on a plantation near the small town of Lettsworth, Louisiana. He learned to play guitar on a self made diddley bow and eventually began performing in the fifties with local acts in Baton Rouge.

Shorty after arriving in Chicago in 1957, Guy entered guitar battle contests on Sundays and Mondays against west side guitarists Magic Sam and Otis Rush. With help from Muddy Waters, he eventually got a recording contract. Some of his early influences were T-Bone Walker and Lightnin’ Hopkins. Guy also learned a thing or two from Guitar Slim (a.k.a. Eddie Jones)

“The first guitar player I saw putting on a show was Guitar Slim—I must’ve been 13 years old—he came out riding that guitar, wearing a bright red suit. I thought; ‘I wanna sound like B.B. King, but I wanna play guitar like that.”

In 1960 Guy worked at Chess Records and recorded “First Time I Met The Blues.” Later that same year he started working the first of what would be many projects with Junior Wells. As the sixties progressed, Buddy left Chess and soon got on a serious roll. He entered Billboard’s R&B charts, toured all over the world and shared the stage with many of the best musicians around at the time.

A Man and & The Blues is Buddy Guy’s first full length solo LP. It featured Otis Spann on piano, bassist Jack Myers and drummer Fred Below. This recording is essential listening for any fan of the blues old or new. Hearing the music once again certainly reminded me of the impact it played in my life.

As the sixties closed, so did a chapter in many of our lives. My brother and several of his friend’s would leave home and head out to the bigger cities in hopes of that one gig which would get them the attention they deserved… Buddy Guy continued to record throughout the seventies and eighties, but as the blues scene softened, so did the high profile gigs. It would take close to 20 years of perseverance, until new opportunities would flourish for Guy. And when it did, they would be huge! But that’s a story for another post.

You definitely don’t miss the opportunity to see this true blues music legend as he continues his tour throughout this summer and into the fall… Dates and show times are subject to change, so make sure you double check. If you want more information on Buddy Guy you can go to his web site by clicking here….

Buddy Guy Tour Schedule 2010

Latest Dates Announced

09/03/10 Naperville Last Fling Naperville, IL
09/04/10 American Music Festival Daytona Beach, FL
10/01/10 House Of Blues Boston, MA
10/14/10 Rothschild Pavillion Rothschild, WI
10/19-20/10 Birchmere Alexandria, VA
10/22/10 Count Basie Theatre Red Bank, NJ
10/26/10 The Grand Opera House Wilmington, DE
10/27/10 Pullo Center @ Penn State York, PA
10/28/10 Maya Center for the Perf. Arts Morristown, NJ
10/30/10 Westhampton Beach P.A.C. Westhampton, NY
11/05/10 Silverton Casino Las Vegas, NV
02/06/11 Mahindra Blues Festival Mumbai, India

With Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

07/28/10 Madison Square Garden Arena New York, NY
07/30/10 Birchmere Alexandria, Virginia
07/31-08-01 Wachovia Center Philadelphia, PA

With B.B. King

08/11/10 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA
08/12/10 San Miguel Indian Bingo/Casino Highland, CA
08/13/10 Chumash Casino Santa Ynez, CA
08/14/10 Harrah’s Rincon Pavilion Valley Center, CA

With The Robert Cray Band

08/17/10 Tulalip Amphitheatre Tulalip, WA
08/18/10 Rogue Theatre Grants Pass, OR

With B.B. King

08/20/10 Ironstone Vineyards Theater Murphys, CA
08/21/10 Mountain Winery Saratoga, CA
08/24/10 Deer Valley Outdoor Theater Park City, UT
08/25/10 Red Rocks Amphitheater Morrison, CO
08/27/10 Zoo Amphitheatre Oklahoma City, OK
08/28/10 Black Oak Amphitheatre Lampe, MO
08/29/10 Allen Event Center Allen, TX
09/11/10 Bull Durham Blues Festival Durham, NC
09/18/10 Sandia Amphitheatre San Diego, CA
10/01/10 House of Blues Boston, MA

With Jonny Lang

10/7-10/8 Northern Lights Theater Milwaukee, WI
10/09/10 Horseshoe Southern Indiana Elizabeth, IN
10/10/10 Sangamon Auditorium Springfield, IL
10/15/10 Historic Surf Ballroom Clear Lake, IA
10/16/10 State Theater Minneapolis, MN
10/23/10 Patriots Theatre Trenton, NJ
10/24/10 The Ridgefield Playhouse Ridgefield, CT
10/29/10 Ulster Performing Arts Center Kingston, NY

Have you seen Buddy Guy in concert before? Anyone checking out the shows listed above? Where were you when Buddy Guy’s 1968 release A Man & The Blues came out? Your comments are always welcome.

The Blues Blogger

Tags: Blues Music Awards, Blues Reflections, Reflections, The Sixties by The Blues Blogger
10 Comments »

Remembering Joe Zawinul

“There is nothing wrong with electronic music as long as you’re putting some soul behind the technology.” ~ Joe Zawinul

Today marks what would have been Joe Zawinul’s 78th birthday. I remember first hearing Zawinul in my early teens when I worked part time in the blues and jazz department of a trendy record boutique back in the seventies. One of my many responsibilities was to keep all the albums in the bins stocked properly and re-order the hot selling items. I loved sifting through all the album covers and reading the liner notes. Something I continue to enjoy today. It was the intriguing vinyl covers of Weather Report where my personal discovery of Joe Zawinul began.

It was also around this time frame that I recall my interest for writing started. And when I heard the eclectic mix of sounds on albums such as I Sing The Body Electric, Sweetnighter, and later the masterpiece Heavy Weather, it opened the door to a whole new world of imaginative thought. I don’t think there’s been a single song that has made me tap my foot or snap my fingers more to its groove than Joe Zawinul’s Birdland. How sad it was to hear of his passing from a rare form of skin cancer back on September 11th 2007 at the age of 75.

Joe Zawinul

Born July 7th 1932, Zawinul grew up in a poor working class family during World War II in Austria. He played accordion on the streets to earn money and received classical piano training at the Vienna Conservatory. After the war, he grew interested in American jazz; and started making a name for himself on the local jazz scene.

“One thing about Viennese musicians, they can really groove, more than even the German bands can,” “It’s something in our nature, perhaps. We’re cosmopolitan and interracial — Czech, Slavic, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Turkish a little bit.”

Zawinul came to the United States in 1959 on a scholarship to study at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, but left to join Maynard Ferguson’s big band. He next landed a gig with Dinah Washington; his funky style can be heard on her 1959 hit What a Difference a Day Made.

Zawinul stock started to rise after joining alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley’s band in 1961. He composed many tunes, but it was most notably the gospel-influenced, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, which climbed the pop charts and won a Grammy for Adderley.

In the late ’60s, Zawinul recorded with Miles Davis. His tune In a Silent Way served as the title track for the Miles’ first venture into the electric arena. Zawinul’s composition Pharoah’s Dance was featured on Davis’ groundbreaking 1970 jazz-rock fusion album Bitches Brew, which won Davis a Grammy in 1970.

In 1970, Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter founded Weather Report and produced a series of albums. Weather Report’s album Heavy Weather with Jaco Pastorius enjoyed its biggest commercial success in 1977. Zawinul went on to form The Zawinul Syndicate in 1986. For the next 20 years The Zawinul Syndicate brought together a global village of musicians who recorded such albums as the Grammy-nominated My People (1996) and World Tour. (1998)

Joe Zawinul did for jazz what Clapton and Bloomfield would do for the blues; becoming the leading force behind the often termed Electric Jazz movement. Like I said earlier, I listened to a lot of Zawinul’s music and found his style, groove and experimentation incredibly contagious. He is one of the people responsible for my appreciation for electric jazz; leading me to other jazz artists that would continue to inspire me to this day.

Are you familiar with Joe Zawinul and his musical legacy? Any moments you’d like to share? Please add you comments or birthday wishes below.

The Blues Blogger

Tags: Jazz, Jazz Reflections, Reflections, The Seventies by The Blues Blogger
7 Comments »

Willie Dixon: I Am The Blues

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Today music legend Willie Dixon would have been 95 years old. The following is a piece I wrote in the spring of 2009. I’ve decided to re-post it to commemorate the man and this day in music history. And also for those who missed the article the first time around.
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Being so young, I never knew the significance of the music I listened to back then… I just knew it moved me in a way I could never quite explain. ~ tbb

In The Year 1970

my brother and several of his friends packed their bags and followed their dreams. Their brash youthful spirit drove them to bigger places as they made a serious attempt at a career in the music business. For me at the time, I was glum. I missed those magical moments when the boys would rehearse in the basement of our house… And so did The Big F who was my brother’s oldest friend.

The Big F was the roadie/bodyguard for the bands my brother was in. When my brother left town, he adopted me as a kid brother and often picked me up to hang out. One thing for sure, I never had a problem with bullies whenever I hung around with The Big F. The man loved his music and would invite me over to his place where I marveled at his record collection. He would let me pick any album I wanted to listen to… I recall Willie Dixon’s I Am The Blues being a very intriguing choice back then…

The Big F had a drum kit in the basement of his house, and always played along to the tunes. And would often spring off his stool, grab some spoons and continue to tap along the walls, lamps, light switches and beverage glasses…

I Am the Blues

This is an album featuring some of Dixon’s classic material but this time with Willie showcasing his own creations. Willie Dixon was a force to be reckoned with and his presence continues to be felt in even today’s most modern blues and rock performers.

Here are the tracks on this album and some of the popular artists that performed them:

“Back Door Man” – The Doors.
“I Can’t Quit You” – Led Zeppelin.
The Seventh Son” – Sting
“Spoonful” – Cream.
“I Ain’t Superstitious” – The Yardbirds.
“You Shook Me” Led Zeppelin
“I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” – Muddy Waters.
“The Little Red Rooster” – The Rolling Stones.
“The Same Thing” – Muddy Waters

This album only represents a small portion of Willie Dixon’s contribution to the music world. Many people today are unaware that Dixon was the original composer of many of the classic songs we know and love… His singing on I Am The Blues may not be as distinct as those who adopted these tunes, but it’s very humbling to hear the master voice his own work. If you haven’t heard this album before, or just looking to rediscover a gem, you’ll love this terrific piece of music history… Very cool and inspiring indeed.

Willie Dixon

was born July 1, 1915 in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Dixon was first introduced to blues as a teenager when he served time on prison farms in Mississippi. He wrote poetry and adapted them into songs.

“The blues will always be, because the blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues.”

In 1936 Dixon left Mississippi for Chicago. He stood tall and weighed in at over 250 pounds. Taking up boxing; he became successful enough that he won the Illinois State Golden Gloves Heavyweight Championship (Novice Division) in 1937. Dixon even turned professional and worked briefly as Joe Louis’ sparring partner. His brief boxing career ended after getting into a money dispute with his manager.

After composing and playing in many local groups, Dixon eventually signed to Chess Records as a recording artist. He began performing less and started getting more involved with the label. Dixon became a full time employee with Chess in 1951, where he acted as producer, A&R talent scout, session musician and staff songwriter. His relationship with the label was nervy at times, but his output and influence was extraordinary. He worked with all the greats such as Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson II, just to name a few.

Later in his life, Willie Dixon became a diligent representative of the blues and a vocal supporter for his peers founding the Blues Heaven Foundation. The organization works to preserve the genre’s legacy and protect copyrights and royalties for blues musicians who were exploited in the past. The foundations’ current vice president is Willie’s grandson Alex Dixon…

It should be noted that Alex Dixon came out with a CD entitled “Rising from the Bushes” last spring… For more information you can go to the following site.

Willie Dixon was granted a Grammy Award in 1989 for his album Hidden Charms. He was also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the “early influences” (pre-rock) category in 1994.

It’s impossible to cover the incredible legacy of Willie Dixon in just one post. So I won’t even attempt it… Dixon was undeniably the greatest blues songwriter of his era and is credited with writing more than 500 songs by the end of his life.

Now it’s time to turn this post over to the readers… So what are your feelings? How familiar are you with his 1970 release I Am The Blues? Any Dixon tunes covered by other bands or musicians that are your favorites? Your comments and birthday wishes are welcome below…

The Blues Blogger

Tags: Blues News, Blues Reflections, Reflections, Reviews, The Seventies, blues by The Blues Blogger
15 Comments »

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