La "Historia del Blues" de Paul Oliver (2)

El especialista británico Paul Oliver también se encargó en los años 60 de la programación de otras antologías para el mismo sello CBS como complemento perfecto de otros tántos libros suyos sobre blues, como "Conversation With The Blues" (centrado en las grabaciones de campo), "Savannah Syncopators" (los orígenes africanos del blues), "Screenin' The Blues", etc. Pero creo que pueden ser los dos dobles álbumes "Story" los más completos y variados, así como las introducciones ideales para empezar a conocer lo mejor que este género puede ofrecer. Los blues de verdad, claro está, no las aproximaciones al género por parte de músicos blancos más o menos célebres.
Editado en España hacia 1977 con las notas e información originales bien traducidas, aunque con un diseño de cubierta tópico y fuera de lugar (las cadenas de la esclavitud), el segundo volúmen viene dividido en cuatro apartados atendiendo a un criterio instrumental: Guitarristas, Pianistas, Cantantes Femeninas y Bandas. Algunos intérpretes casi totalmente desconocidos, pero de primera calidad, junto a otros nombres bien familiares para el aficionado, completan esta excepcional antología, con grabaciones correspondientes a un período muy amplio: 1924 a 1968.

-Jay Bee Rodríguez

Guitar Pickers

01. Curley Weaver - No No Blues (3:07)
02. Little Hat Jones - Hurry Blues (3:09)
03. Emery Glen - Blue Blazes Blues (2:54)
04. 'Mooch' Richardson - Low Down Barrelhouse Blues (3:17)
05. Lonnie Johnson - Broken Levee Blues (3:18)
06. Buddy Moss - Undertaker Blues (3:09)
07. J.B. Lenoir - Mojo Boogie (2:44)
08. Son House - Pearline (4:31)

Piano Players

09. Whistlin' Alex Moore - West Texas Woman (2:55)
10. Sylvester Palmer - Lonesome Man Blues (3:31)
11. George Noble - The Seminole Blues (3:10)
12. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Brown Skin Girls (2:48)
13. Bumble Bee Slim - Ramblin' With That Woman (2:56)
14. Roosevelt Scott - Black Gal Blues (2:52)
15. Roosevelt Sykes - Training Camp Blues (2:51)
16. Champion Jack Dupree - Junker Blues (2:43)

Blues Girls

17. Maggie Jones - Good Time Flat Blues (3:08)
18. Clara Smith - Whip It To A Jelly (3:21)
19. Cleo Gibson - I've Got Ford Movements In My Hips (3:23)
20. Martha Copeland - Desert Blues (3:11)
21. Victoria Spivey - Christmas Morning Blues (3:19)
22. Liza Brown & Ann Johnson - Get On Out Of Here (3:12)
23. The Yas Yas Girl - Good Old Easy Street (2:46)
24. Big Maybelle - Maybelle's Blues (3:12)

Blues Groups

25. Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie - That Will Be Alright (3:08)
26. Mississippi Mud Steppers - Jackson Stomp (3:12)
27. Jazzbo Tommy & His Lowlanders - Blaze Face Cow (2:35)
28. Duskey Dailey & His Band - Miss Georgia Blues (2:35)
29. Willie 'Long Time' Smith - My Buddy Doctor Clayton (2:59)
30. Otis Rush - Love That Woman (2:55)
31. Magic Sam - All Your Love (2:52)
32. John Littlejohn - Been Around The World (5:20)

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hotjazzandcoolblues

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Alberta Hunter and others: Better Boot That Thing - Great Women Blues Singers of the 1920's

Alberta Hunter - Bessie Tucker - Victoria Spivey - Ida Mae Mack

There's remarkable variety among these four singers from the classic era of blues, when women dominated and urban and rural styles were a world apart. The most varied and versatile is urbanite Alberta Hunter, with her lilting voice, sweet vibrato and early-jazz rhythm. A vaudeville veteran, Hunter offers a delightfully actresslike delivery and a cheerful, warming personality; she writes interesting songs, too, and she negotiates difficult lines with ease. Ida May Mack proves quite Bessie Smith-inspired, though with a smaller voice and nothing even faintly like Smith`s rhythmic sophistication. Bessie Tucker is penetrating and primitive, with a stark alto voice and stark pentatonic lines casting a spell of dark desperation; note especially the long, low moan with which she opens ``Penitentiary.`` Urban blueswoman Victoria Spivey, despite lingering vaudeville in her setting and delivery, is in some ways the most rewarding, hard-core blueswoman here. Powerful vignettes like "Blood Hound Blues" and "Dirty Tee Bee Blues"` are near-masterpieces of blues documentary-few other blues composers have revealed such an original, tough-minded yet compassionate point of view. -John Litweiler (Chicago Tribune)


Alberta Hunter
01. I'll Forgive You 'Cause I Love You 2:53
02. I'm Gonna Lose Myself Way Down In Louisville 3:07
03. My Daddy's Got A Brand New Way To Love 2:53
04. Sugar 3:18 (Organ - Fats Waller)
05. Beale Street Blues 3:15 (Organ - Fats Waller)
Bessie Tucker
06. Fort Worth And Denver Blues 3:21
07. Penitentiary 3:31
08. Better Boot That Thing 2:38
09. Bogey Man Blues 2:47
10. Whistling Woman Blues 3:11
Victoria Spivey
11. Blood Hound Blues 2:36
12. Dirty Tee Bee Blues 3:06
13. Moaning The Blues 3:00
14. Telephoning The Blues 3:08
15. Showered With Blues 2:54
Ida May Mack
16. Wrong Doin' Daddy 3:16
17. Elm Street Blues 3:17
18. When You Lose Your Daddy 3:09
19. Mr. Forty Nine Blues 3:04
20. Good-Bye Rider 3:12


Vocals:
Alberta Hunter (tracks: 1 to 5)
Bessie Tucker (tracks: 6 to 10)
Victoria Spivey (tracks: 11 to 15)
Ida Mae Mack (tracks: 16 to 20)

Saxophone [Soprano] - Charlie Holmes (tracks: 11 to 14)
Saxophone [Tenor] - Teddy Hill (tracks: 11 to 14)
Trombone - J.C. Higginbotham (tracks: 11 to 14)
Trumpet - Henry Allen* (tracks: 11 to 14)
Bass - G. Foster (tracks: 11 to 14)
Organ - Fats Waller (tracks: 4 to 5)
Guitar - Jesse Thomas* (tracks: 8 to 10) , W.K. Johnson (tracks: 11 to 15)
Piano - K.D. Johnson (tracks: 6 to 10, 11 to 15) , Lewis Russell* (tracks: 11 to 15)
Mike Jackson (4) (tracks: 1 to 3)

Recorded from 1927 to 1930.
Transferred to digital tape from metal parts at BMG Recordings Studios, May 1992. Digitally remastered at BMG Recordings Studios, New York City, June 1992.

hot jazz and cool blues