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Date:         Sat, 9 Jan 1993 11:17:39 EST
From:         Sonia Kovitz <skovitz@MAGNUS.ACS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Blues Roots
              "RTURNBUL@TOROVM1.VNET.IBM.COM" at Jan 7, 93 1:36 pm

Bob Tee, Thanks for your really careful and interesting review of my Blues
comp!

> I didn't care too much for the gospel and a cappella tunes. HOWEVER, a few mo
re
> turns on the deck gave me a whole new appreciation for the songs (as influenc
e
> to current day blues and as songs of their own). Didn't grab me at first, but
> it grew on me in an oh-so-pleasant way.
>

You won my heart over with this comment...it's true that this isn't music "for
show" and because there's no fancy bag of tricks or effects, it can go right by
you.  But if you give it a chance... that music truly IS where all the rest
comes from.  That's what I meant by roots--not chronology, rather "the heart of
it all."

> My fave tracks were definitely by John Lee Hooker. Sonia, what album are thes
e
> from?

_Live at the Kabuki-Wuki_ (probably early 70s)... an album that I'm sure is
no longer in print.  I have a taped copy of an ex-boyfriend's album... I
treasure that tape so much that I've made a copy of my copy just in case.
I can't imagine why they haven't reissued that on CD.  The ENTIRE show (I
included the first and last tune on the tape) is JUST AS GOOD... it never
stops.  Yeah, talk about a groove...  I saw Hooker live in the mid-70s with a
solid back-up band at the Milwaukee Summerfest; I was plastered right there at
the rope and it was just as hot as Kabuki-Wuki BUT didn't have that sizzling
electric organ.

> Richards believes that the most important element to a song is the groove.
> That's the first thing he concentrates on. Well, he should send half his
> royalty checks to Mr. Hooker because I think this guy invented groove.

> Loved Etta James' "Out of the Rain". She uses her voice so well. None of this
> up and down wailing or attempts at impressing us with high screechy notes (ar
e
> you listening Whitney and Mariah?). She just kinda toys with you and
> selectively uses her power.

Good comment--the greatest blues artists definitely "toy with you" (as I once
said about Buddy Guy...live)... and you're right about "selectively using her
power."  The great musicians give you a sense of infinite reserves...

> The cut from _Mississippi Prison Songs_ is probably the most emotional, movin
g
> song on the tape. Completely a cappella, it wouldn't be the same if it was
> marred by instruments (the crackly hissy noises help too).

Again, this song is here to represent where this music COMES FROM... It may
have gained immense popular appeal in all its electric and fabulous
elaborations, but blues is first of all a private dialogue with the self in a
situation that is for real, not concocted for effect... This song says it, and
the loneliness of it is what takes you straight to:
>
> "Lonesome Train" by Jimi Hendrix - Wow.
>

I was browsing through that latest biography (Electric Gypsy? or something
like that) last night at the bookstore, and reading some of Jimi's own comments
(this book is really good at providing Jimi's own voice as much as such a thing
is possible)... Reading  the parts from the final year of his
life, I felt like I was falling down a deep hole.

>As mentioned by some others "Too Many Dirty Dishes" by Albert Collins is pure
> enjoyment. Classic blues with humour. Guitar as dish rag...His solo at the en
d
> is tremendous.

Yep, in fact that shift from his lazy ol' funky foolin' around (amazing in
itself) to pure blitzkrieg... to me that IS a definition of the blues: again,
those unsuspected reserves... There's the cool facade, a kind of self-
protective front ... but the emotion runs DEEP.  Albert is bitching about the
dirty dishes and it's kind of a joke, he's fooling with you (listener),
himself, and his woman... but the truth, the REAL pain of knowing his woman has
cheated on him... that's what that blitzkrieg is about.  The musical and
emotional truth of it are inseparable.  This also reminds me of some stuff I've
read a long time ago about slavery times when slaves could NEVER show what they
really felt about anything.  There's always that deflecting exterior... but
the inner truth comes out in flashes.  Buddy Guy is right here too.

>The Wright Family sings a couple of gospel tunes that made me go "Yowza!". Th
ey
> almost were powerful enough to make me believe...well almost.

Gotta tell you how I learned about the Wright Family.  They're NOT a big name
in gospel (though they deserve to be... they put slick groups like the Winans
to shame).  I attended a program for Black History Month on campus several
years ago.  Again, shamefully, the auditorium (not a huge one, a small one to
begin with) was mostly empty.  The human animal tends to show up only for Big
Names, have you noticed?  So I walk into this mostly empty auditorium (I guess
about 15, at most 20 people were there) and in one of those instinctive "check
the scene out" moments, I decided where I wanted to sit... over on the far
right hand side of the auditorium toward the front.  Two or three folks were
scattered out there, just sitting, not with each other, not saying anything.  I
just decided I wanted to be there.  Then a few more folks sat down over there.
Then the program started and somebody announced "The Wright Family."  And those
folks who were sitting all around me suddenly started to SING in the most
glorious and amazingly strong and true harmony and THEY were the Wright Family!
I was surrounded in song... It was like being in heaven!  After that song, the
family stood up and walked to the stage.  I was transfixed.  The mother, who
does the solo work in that extraordinarily clear and strong voice, was in her
mid-50s at least... sang like a young woman.  All the rest are her kids... The
pianist is her son... I think the rest were daughters.  I bought that album
after the concert.

And while I'm digressing, there was one other occasion where my "check out the
scene" instincts worked like a charm; in fact, this is also a propos of
Marsha's trip to the blues club where she heard James Cotton (yep, Marsha, he's
been around since the 60s, and certainly was playing long before that).  I was
visiting Chicago and wanted to go to a blues club but my friend wasn't
interested in that kind of music and so I decided, OK, I'm going alone.  So I
drove into Chicago's South Side (scared, but still, man, I wanted to hear some
BLUES) and managed to find a parking place right in front of the club (forget
which one it was).  Blind John Davis (pianist) was scheduled. So I walked in
quite nervously and the club was still fairly empty, and I saw a table near the
stage with a couple people sitting there, a middle-aged woman and man, so I
just walked up and asked if they would mind if I sat with them.  They were
really gracious and friendly and invited me to join them and it was
a lot of fun.  Then more people came and sat with them (who knew them), and
guess what? Yep, it was Blind John Davis and his family.  I spent the entire
evening practically part of the show.  It was great!

> Not so favourites? Hmmm, Probably Johnny Copeland's "Well Well Baby-La"
> (trumpet was kind of obtrusive, but I liked the baritone sax)

I agree with you--I don't like the big-band-ish back-up behind Johnny, but hey,
the vocals are the key on this one, and Johnny does that even better live, so I
guess I was bringing my memories of the live performance when I chose it.

 Robert Ward's
> almost pop rendition of "Your Love is Amazing"

Again, I do know what you mean on the "almost pop" aspect.  I had read about
Robert Ward and ordered that album without having heard it, and at first I was
disappointed by it, but the more you listen... there is a soulfulness to it
that eventually transcends the pop-setting, and what a SOUND he gets out of
that guitar... That guitar speaks like a poignant voice...

 Tuck and Patti's "Tears of Joy" (bluesy
> jazz that doesn't quite fit with the rest of the tape - guitar was bland).
>
Yep, guitar is very bland on that one, but Patti's voice is gorgeous, I think,
and (although I wasn't being rational when I put the compilation together, just
reaching for whatever seemed right to follow what I had just recorded) I THINK
I included this one as an emotional balance to all the heartache and dark
stuff.  There is a brightness and light to this song--more of an accent to the
other stuff.  It's not blues at all.

Bob Tee, thanks again!!!!!!

Spideroni, "Rock Around the Kaiser" was written in 1775... If you don't cover
it I'll be mad.

Rick, wow: "Lester Bangs, meet Arthur Rimbaud" MADE MY DAY!  I'm only a two-bit
floozy not worthy to shine their shoes, but thrilled nevertheless.  And now to
the serious stuff, how can you throw out a tease like that, telling us you
wrote a thesis, AND NOT TELL US WHAT IT WAS ABOUT????  "The Philosophical
Underpinnings of Double-Flatted Sevenths in Trombone Arias of the Early
Fifteenth Century and Their Mis-Apprehension"?

Sonia
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