Delmark Records artist; J.B. Hutto & His Hawks - Hawk Squat - New release Review

I just received the newest release, Hawk Squat, from J.B. Hutto and His Hawks with Sunnyland Slim and it's dynamite! This is a reissue of tracks recorded in 1966 and 1978, six of which are previously unreleased. Opening with Speak My Mind, Elmore James' influence on Hutto is immediately apparent. With classic James style slide riffs, Hutto launches and hits square on the target. His slide work is raw, real and hot! Excellent! Sunnyland Slim leads the way on slower blues track, If You Change Your Mind, and Hutto with his unmistakable vocals and slide work are backed by Dave Myers on bass, Frank Kirkland and Mauricce McIntyre on sax. Too Much Pride again shows the strong work of Slim on piano and Hutto on vocal and slide. McIntyre makes his presence known with cool sax backing. Great shuffle track, What Can You Get Outside That You Can't Get At Home has a real nice groove and shows Lee Jackson on lead guitar as well as Hutto on slide joined by Junior Pettis on bass. Sowing down the pace a bit, Hutto cries out The Same Mistake Twice. This track is particularly powerful with Hutto showing that he's equally effective as a lead vocalist as a slide player. Very strong! 20% Alcohol is a real cool blues rocker again with Jackson on guitar. Cool shuffle rocker, Hip Shakin' shows strong signs of early rock and roll. Aside from his distinct vocal style and trademark slide tone, this tone has totally dofferent characteristics than the balance and i really like it! Slow blues track, The Feeling Is Gone, is super with the general feel of The Sky Is Crying. Slim creates tension with his organ work but it's Hutto's vocals and slide work that really sets this track on into space. Excellent! Notoriety Woman has a distinctive Chicago sound and as fresh as the day it was cut. Too Late is another slow track with heavy slide work. Backed again by slim on organ, this track is spot on with excellent vocals and expressive slide work. Send Her Home To Me has a scatter lead guitar technique which is quite effective. I don't know that Hutto gets the credit as a vocalist that he deserves but these tracks are really hot! Slim takes a organ solo on this track and Hutto's guitar work is cool. Wrapping the original release is a fast paced blues track, title track Hawk Squat, and features an extended sax solo from McIntyre. An extended jam track with light cymbal work, a full kit drum solo and organ makes this a great track to conclude a release that I feel should be in every collection. There are 6 additional tracks on this release that were not included on the earlier release. This track, I'll Cry Tomorrow, is a great addition with heartfelt vocals interesting guitar work. The balance of the tracks are alternate tracks (included herein) and each has a fresh approach. Included are Speak My Mind (1&2), Too Much Pride, Hawk Squat and The Same Mistake Twice. I am really impressed by this release and it's quality not only in musicianship but in production quality. There is also 18 page booklet included with an additional 18 photos. A 2014 introduction by Bob Koester and original liner notes from 1968 by Bob and Sue Koester make for an interesting read.  

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Thank You For Your Kindness - J.B. Hutto and His Hawks

J. B. Hutto (April 26, 1926 – June 12, 1983) was an American blues musician. Hutto was influenced by Elmore James, and became known for his slide guitar work and declamatory style of singing. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame two years after his death Joseph Benjamin Hutto was born in Blackville, South Carolina, United States, the fifth of seven children. His family moved to Augusta, Georgia when Hutto was three years old. His father, Calvin, was a preacher and Hutto, along with his three brothers and three sisters, formed a gospel group called The Golden Crowns, singing in local churches. Hutto's father died in 1949, and the family relocated to Chicago. Hutto served as a draftee in the Korean War in the early 1950s, driving trucks in combat zones. In Chicago, Hutto took up the drums and played with Johnny Ferguson and his Twisters. He also tried the piano before settling on the guitar and playing on the streets with the percussionist Eddie 'Porkchop' Hines. After adding Joe Custom on second guitar, they started playing club gigs, and harmonica player George Mayweather joined after sitting in with the band. Hutto named his band The Hawks, after the wind that blows in Chicago. A recording session in 1954 resulted in the release of two singles on the Chance label and a second session later the same year, with the band supplemented by pianist Johnny Jones, produced a third. Later in the 1950s Hutto became disenchanted with music, and gave it up to work as a janitor in a funeral home after a woman broke his guitar over her husband's head one night. He returned to the music industry in the mid 1960s, with a new version of the Hawks featuring Herman Hassell on bass and Frank Kirkland on drums. His recording career resumed with, first, a session for Vanguard Records released on the compilation album Chicago/the Blues/Today! Vol. 1, and then albums for Testament and Delmark. The 1968 Delmark album, Hawk Squat!, which featured Sunnyland Slim on organ and piano, and Maurice McIntyre on tenor saxophone, is regarded as his best work on album up to this point. After Hound Dog Taylor died in 1975, Hutto took over his band the Houserockers for a time, and in the late 1970s he moved to Boston and recruited a new band which he called the New Hawks, with whom he recorded further studio albums for the Varrick label. His 1983 Varrick album Slippin' & Slidin', the last of his career and later reissued on CD as Rock With Me Tonight, has been described as "near-perfect". Hutto returned to Illinois in the early 1980s, where he was diagnosed with cancer. He died in 1983, at the age of 57, in Harvey. He was interred at Restvale Cemetery, Alsip, Illinois. In 1985, the Blues Foundation inducted Hutto into its Hall of Fame. His nephew, Lil' Ed Williams (of Lil' Ed and the Blues Imperials) has carried on his legacy, playing and singing in a style close to his uncle's. A "J.B. Hutto" model guitar is often used to refer to a mid-1960s, red, Montgomery Ward Res-O-Glas Airline guitar. Although he was not a paid endorser, Hutto made the guitar famous by appearing with it on the cover of his Slidewinder album. If you like what I’m doing, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”