First I've got to say...WOW!! I love Elvin Bishop and I am thrilled that he has been captured in concert. I've been a Bishop fan for more years than you can imagine and although I love his CD's the man just is a great performer! There is a sincerity and lack of pretentiousness that Bishop just brings along with him and a man with his credentials... it just makes me proud to be one of his greatest fans. I have traveled to both coasts to festivals based upon whether he was playing or not (other performers were icing but Bishop was the incentive). Now on with the show.I have the to be released DVD (available October 16, 2012) and let me tell you what's up!
Bishop opens with
That's My Thing, a simple country blues romp with Crabshaw on old Red Dog and there aren't too many guitars in the world that I'd prefer to have. This guitar not only has provenance, it has character! It has tone! This guitar has seen stuff that blues fans only dream about! And here Elvin has it in a club and it sounds great! I also think Ed Earley is a great contributor with his perfect tone on trombone. Like Miles, his tone is his own and he fits Bishop like a glove. Next up is
My Dog, a personal favorite and one that has personal feelings for me having lost my own personal companion "Wood" last week. Bob Welsh plays a smokin' guitar solo on this track and Bishop kills it on the end. He gets the crowd a howlin' and barkin' and having fun is what this is all about. There is one thing that is particularly cool about listening to such a variety of music (like I do) and that's that you really get to see what's different and what's all the same. Bishop has his own style and he is tremendously inspiring.
Gettin' My Groove Back finds Bobby Cochran (drums) on sweet lead vocals and the band gets a Louisiana blues going with S.E. Willis on accordion coming through. Again Welsh plays an inspired solo and Bishop is sitting with Red Dog in his Over Hauls (Bib Overalls)and boots just rippin' out the tone. Next up is Bishop playing slide on
Mellow-D. This is played on a more modern 345 and although it doesn't have the guts of Red Dog, I love Bishops tone on slide. His early tracks from the late 60's and 70's are definitely worth searching out. After a nice solo from Welsh, Bishop plays some first position slide work on the 5th and 6th string. That is the guts of the guitar ...then moving to the upper octave for the glory. Sweet. Next up is
What The Hell Is Going On, with Elvin back with classic vocals. Elvin's voice is a perfect match for Red Dog's bark and this is a great track to illustrate that. Before I forget I want to mention Ruth Davies who holds down the bottom really tight on an electric upright. Welsh pushes Crabshaw with fine riffs on what looks to be a 60's sg with a Bigsby. Great clean (compared to Bishop) tone. Digging back into the 70's Bishop pulls out
Arkansas Line and gives it a real Tex Mex sound (with a touch of New Orleans). This was a great track on Juke Joint Jump and now sounds fresh as ever with a new slant. It's really cool that Elvin plays Red Dog most of this concert cause the dog really likes to sing.
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| Pic by Bill Horton |
This is pure music. It's really great seeing this in my own living room at my leisure (and permanent).
Got To Be New Orleans is a great funk track with Crabshaw leading the way. This track should show up on Treme (
hint guys). If you haven't seen Treme and you love new Orleans music, it's a must! This track is really loose and and the vocals just gotta make you smile. Welsh flashes some funky riffs on a white tele to punch up the belly of the song but this track is really about the slack! Another great 70's track,
Travelin' Shoes is up next. One of my best friends in college actually turned me on to Elvin Bishop. He was a football player from Mississippi (Ernie Webster)and he was known as the Big E. He had the logo from JJJ painted on the front of his hippie van. This track sounds great and Willis does a nice job on keys. Elvin has altered the word to this tune a few times to describe the "a-whoppin" he was gonna lay on somebody head. Welsh rips out a great solo on this track and Elvin gets the dog barking in tandem. Great music! Elvin asks the crowd if they're having a good time... and he means it! Next up is
Fishin' which is really the track that brought Bishop out of the blues/r&b line and into his own unique style. He had some really great tracks that strayed on earlier albums but this track I think was the major departure to Elvin getting into his having fun openly. Watch clips of Bishop at the Fillmore and catch the chills run up your back. Bishop is like Picasso who can paint a perfect portrait but have found his own unique and extremely potent style. He pulls a fishin' pole guitar out for the punch line and fishes a blonde out of the audience to join in the party letting her strum the old dog.
Stomp is a terrific slide instrumental from Rock My Soul and another that I'm glad to see him revisit!
Stealin' Watermelons is a funky track from Let It Flow. Again back on the modern 345 Bishop sets a great stage for the band to play. Davies sets a solid bottom and Willis takes his turn on keys, Walsh on his tele and the heads are bobbin as the band sings. There is just great electricity produced by this band and Elvin chides them along! Breaking back to
Rock My Soul, a great old R&B tune (from Rock My Soul) Elvin and gang get the grind. Cochran sings Jo Bakers part and although he isn't Baker, the voices (with Earley) sound great. the breakaway with Elvin, Welsh and Earley is terrific! On
Calling All Cows the tandem guitar work was always great and equally matched here with a dash of New Orleans. Bishop and Welsh each take riffs on slide. Bishop takes a walk through the crowd on
El Bo and pulls out the old Chicago licks. This is a great track and giving Crabshaw the space to show what Red Dog can really do. Earley gets a nice run on the trombone and Welsh also plays a nice solo before joining with Bishop for some dueling guitar. Elvin grabs a great riff to finish the track. The band plays
Booty Bumpin', an uptempo boogie giving Davies a brief bass solo and Elvin gives Red Dog a thumpin again. I hope that the audience appreciates what a tremendous treat they were witnessing 'cause I sure do.
Party Till The Cows Come Home which I only remember in live form from the Fillmore release, has become one of Bishops trademark songs.
Little Brown Bird has appeared on a few live recordings and Bishop always does a tremendous job. Not only does Bishop sing his guts out, he really kicks the crap out of the guitar on this track! I know that Bishop is all fun and games, but when the man stops to say something serious, people you need to listen. This is it!! Elvin wraps the set with
Bishop's Boogie. Like any great entertainer you leave the crowd on an uptempo track and Elvin kicks it in gear for a terrific encore!
The icing on this cake is
Elvin Speaks, a frank discussion with Elvin in what appears to be his home studio. This is a really great one on one look at Elvin's exposure to the blues as a child, his first concert, life in Oklahoma in the 40's and 50's, his perceptions of music (he even uses the same expression that I do when I talk about "stale music" "How Much Is That Doggie In The Window!") at the time, his trip to Chicago; his trips to Maxwell street, and exposure to older blues players that we've mostly only seen faint films of. He also reminisced about his times with Smokey Smothers (if you haven't heard Smokey you must check him out!) and Paul Butterfield, his first real band mate. He talks about Bill Graham and his influence on the integration of all genres of music into the mainstream. He even does a little short on Red Dog for guitar heads like me and talks Fishin! He takes a walk through his small garden and shows his real life. He talks about getting Mickey Thomas on his big hit and why. The grits and gravy is when he talks about his take on playing blues...he hits it square on the head. Enjoy this unique video of one of the great blues entertainers of our time.
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This is not from the film but representative of current work...enjoy!
Earl Bostic (April 25, 1912 – October 28, 1965) was an American jazz and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist and a pioneer of the post-war American Rhythm and Blues style. He had a number of popular hits such as "Flamingo", "Harlem Nocturne", "Temptation", "Sleep", "Special Delivery Stomp" and "Where or When" which all showed off his characteristic growl on the horn. He was a major influence on John Coltrane.
Bostic was born April 25, 1912 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He turned professional at age 18 when he joined Terence Holder's 'Twelve Clouds of Joy'. He made his first recording with Lionel Hampton in October 1939, with a.o. Charlie Christian, Clyde Hart and Big Sid Catlett. Before that he performed with Fate Marable on New Orleans riverboats. Bostic graduated from Xavier University in New Orleans. He worked with territory bands as well as Arnett Cobb, Hot Lips Page, Rex Stewart, Don Byas, Charlie Christian, Thelonious Monk, Edgar Hayes, Cab Calloway, and other jazz luminaries. In 1938, and in 1944, Bostic led the house band at Small's Paradise. While playing at Small's Paradise, he doubled on guitar and trumpet. During the early 1940s, he was a well-respected regular at the famous jam sessions held at Minton's Playhouse. He formed his own band in 1945 and made the first recordings under his own name for the Majestic label. He turned to rhythm and blues in the late 1940s. His biggest hits were "Temptation", "Sleep", "Flamingo", "You Go to My Head" and "Cherokee". At various times his band include Keter Betts, Jaki Byard, Benny Carter, John Coltrane, Teddy Edwards, Benny Golson, Blue Mitchell, Tony Scott, Cliff Smalls, Sir Charles Thompson, Stanley Turrentine, Tommy Turrentine and other musicians who rose to prominence, especially in jazz.
Bostic's King album entitled Jazz As I Feel It featured Shelly Manne on drums, Joe Pass on guitar and Richard "Groove" Holmes on organ. Bostic recorded A New Sound about one month later, again featuring Holmes and Pass. These recordings allowed Bostic to stretch out beyond the three-minute limit imposed by the 45 RPM format. Bostic was pleased with the sessions, which highlight his total mastery of the blues but they also foreshadowed musical advances that were later evident in the work of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy.
He wrote arrangements for Paul Whiteman, Louis Prima, Lionel Hampton, Gene Krupa, Artie Shaw, Hot Lips Page, Jack Teagarden, Ina Ray Hutton and Alvino Rey.
His songwriting hits include "Let Me Off Uptown", performed by Anita O'Day and Roy Eldridge, and "Brooklyn Boogie", which featured Louis Prima and members of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Bostic's signature hit, "Flamingo" was recorded in 1951 and remains a favorite among followers of Carolina Beach Music in South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
During the early 1950s Bostic lived with his wife in Addisleigh Park in St. Albans, Queens, in New York City, where many other jazz stars made their home.[3] After that he moved to Los Angeles, where he concentrated on writing arrangements after suffering a heart attack. He opened his own R&B club in Los Angeles, known as the Flying Fox.
Bostic died October 28, 1965 from a heart attack in Rochester, New York, while performing with his band in 1965. He was buried in Southern California's Inglewood Park Cemetery on November 2, 1965. Honorary pallbearers at the funeral included Slappy White and Louis Prima. Today he rests not far from other musical luminaries as Chet Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, and Ray Charles. Bostic was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993.
Jimmy Nolen (April 3, 1934 – December 18, 1983) was an American guitarist, known for his distinctive "chicken scratch" lead guitar playing in James Brown's bands. In its survey of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," the English magazine Mojo ranks Nolen number twelve.
Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, Nolen took up the guitar at the age of 14, teaching himself on a Harmony Acoustic guitar. Having played the violin since the age of 9, Nolen already had a sound musical foundation upon which to base his T-Bone Walker-inspired guitar playing. Nolen was "discovered" in a club in Tulsa, Oklahoma by Jimmy Wilson, a blues singer famous for his 1953 hit "Tin Pan Alley." Soon afterward, Wilson offered Nolen a job in his band. He took Nolen back to Los Angeles, California to play in a studio band with popular southern California players Monte Easter (trumpet) and Chuck Higgins (tenor saxophone). During this period Nolen recorded his own commercially unsuccessful singles, mostly for King Records' Federal subsidiary, on which he both sang and played period-inspired blues songs.
In 1957 Nolen began to play for Johnny Otis, replacing the ailing Pete "Guitar" Lewis. He was the principal behind Otis' hit "Willie and the Hand Jive."He remained in Otis’ band until 1959 when he formed his own group, The Jimmy Nolen Band. They performed in small clubs and ballrooms in California and Arizona's "chitlin' circuit", backing many of the blues greats that passed through California. The principal influences that inspired his guitar technique were, T-Bone Walker, B.B. King and Lowell Fulson. The Jimmy Nolen band was popular but never released any records since their primary purpose was to work as live backup for more famous acts. In the early 1960s Nolen began playing with the backing band for harmonica legend George "Harmonica" Smith.
In 1965, Nolen joined the James Brown band at the recommendation of Les Buie, Brown's guitar player at that time. Buie had grown tired of the road and recommended Nolen as a replacement when the band was in Los Angeles. Like saxophone player Maceo Parker, trombonist Fred Wesley and drummers Clyde Stubblefield and John "Jabo" Starks, Nolen was a staple in James Brown's band. He played with James from 1965 until 1970, when the entire band quit in response to Brown’s erratic behavior, withholding of wages, and demeaning treatment.
During this time Nolen began to tour with Maceo Parker’s group Maceo & All the King’s Men. James replied to the mass resignation of his musicians by hiring a then-juvenile band called the Pacemakers who were based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. This band was composed of the young but heavy-hitting William "Bootsy" Collins on bass, his brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins on guitar, Robert McCullough on saxophone, Clayton Gunnels on trombone, and Frank Waddy on drums. The new band was named The J.B.'s and marked a new era for James Brown. Months after this new band was formed Starks and Stubblefield returned; this lineup can be heard on Brown’s album Soul Brother Number One. Despite this band's undeniable talent for playing breakneck funk, it were relatively short-lived as a group, as the Collins brothers soon left to join George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic organization. In 1972 Nolen returned to play with The J.B.'s.
Nolen remained with Brown until December 18, 1983, when he died of a heart attack in Atlanta, Georgia
Lowell Fulson (March 31, 1921 – March 7, 1999) was a big-voiced blues guitarist and songwriter, in the West Coast blues tradition. Fulson was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He also recorded for business reasons as Lowell Fullsom and Lowell Fulsom. After T-Bone Walker, Fulson was the most important figure in West Coast blues in the 1940s and 1950s
According to some sources, Fulson was born on a Choctaw reservation in Oklahoma. Fulson stated that he was of Cherokee ancestry through his father, but he also claimed Choctaw ancestry. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Ada, Oklahoma, and joined Alger "Texas" Alexander for a few months in 1940, but later moved to California, forming a band which soon included a young Ray Charles and tenor saxophone player, Stanley Turrentine. He recorded for Swing Time Records in the 1940s, Chess Records (on the Checker label) in the 1950s, Kent Records in the 1960s, and Rounder Records (Bullseye) in the 1970s.
Fulson was drafted in 1943, but left the United States Navy in 1945. His most memorable and influential recordings included: "Three O'Clock Blues" (now a blues standard); the Memphis Slim-penned "Everyday I Have the Blues"; "Lonesome Christmas"; "Reconsider Baby" recorded in 1960 by Elvis Presley and in 1994 by Eric Clapton for his From the Cradle album as well as by Joe Bonamassa); and "Tramp" (co-written with Jimmy McCracklin and later covered by Otis Redding with Carla Thomas, ZZ Top (on 2003's Mescalero), Alex Chilton, and Tav Falco.
"Reconsider Baby" came from a long term contract agreed with Chess Records in 1954. It was recorded in Dallas under Stan Lewis' supervision with a saxophone section that included David "Fathead" Newman on tenor and Leroy Cooper on baritone.
Jackie Brenston played in Fulson's band between 1952 and 1954.
Fulson stayed with the Checker label into 1962, when he moved to the Los Angeles-based Kent Records. 1965's "Black Nights" became his first hit in a decade, and "Tramp," did even better, restoring the guitarist to R&B stardom.
In 1993 at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California a show entitled "California Blues - Swingtime Tribute" opened with Fulson plus Johnny Otis, Charles Brown, Jay McShann, Jimmy Witherspoon, Jimmy McCracklin and Earl Brown. Fulson's last recording was a duet of "Every Day I Have the Blues" with Jimmy Rogers on the latter's 1999 Atlantic Records release, "The Jimmy Rogers All-Stars: Blues, Blues, Blues."
A resident of Los Angeles, Fulson died in Long Beach, California, in March 1999, at the age of 77. His companion Tina Mayfield stated that the causes of death were complications from kidney disease, diabetes, and congestive heart failure. He was the father of four and grandfather of thirteen.
Fulson was interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery, in Inglewood, California.
Austin Taylor, better known as Ted Taylor (February 16, 1934 – October 2, 1987) was an American soul musician.
Born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, United States, Taylor sang with The Cadets/The Jacks in the 1950s. He sang lead vocals on The Cadets' "Do You Wanna Dance (Hey Little Girl)" and "I Cry" and also on The Jacks' "Away" and "My Darling." He did not appear on The Cadets' biggest hit "Stranded In The Jungle" in 1955. For that session, he was replaced by singer Prentice Moreland. Taylor left The Cadets/The Jacks to begin a solo career which began with two singles on Melatone Records in 1957. He would later release singles on Ebb Records and Duke Records from 1957 to 1959; in the 1960s he recorded for Ronn Records and Okeh Records in blues and soul styles. In the 1970s he recorded disco for TK Records.
Taylor died in a car crash in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1987, aged 53
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