Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Blackjack (1977)

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Gate, the old Texas swing crocodile

If it was just for the incredible "Street Corner", this album would be a must ! But there's a whole lot of other amazing tracks which make of this record a concentrate of "Gate"'s brilliant musical wizardry and jubilating swing. His inimitable jazzy mix of Texas swing, jump blues and swampy country music sounds like nothing else in Southern music, and his agility on any instrument he touches is simply astonishing. Gate could play guitar, violin and harmonica, but also viola, mandolin and mandola ! This guy was a real phenomenon in the post-war musical landscape, a true giant. And a guy full of humor too.

This album starts with "Here Am I", a swinging title carried by horns and showing his typical unusual finger attack on the strings of his fetish 1966 Gibson Firebird guitar. The following "Tippin' In" sees Don Buzard's pedal steel guitar coming in accompanied by an unusual flute (Bobby Campo). On the blues "Song For Renee (Gate's Tune)", Gate demonstrates his skills on violin while Rod Roddy's piano rolls down, along with Campo's flute again.

Country dance tracks like "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again", "Take Me Back To Tulsa", "Dark End Of The Hallway", written by Gate's accomplice Hoyt Garrick, and the final traditional square dance "Up Jumped The Devil" transport us to an open-air party down in a remote farming community of Texas or Louisiana with people stomping their feet hard on the ground.

The outstanding "Street Corner" is a swinging blues featuring amazing harmonica by Gate who mumbles hilarious threats to somebody : “[…] stand in that corner an' don't open your mouth. Shut up ! Shut up ! Gon' shut your big mouth and I mean don't say a word or we gonna fight right now, you gone get hurt ! Get on that corner, get off your coat before I take my knife and flip your doggone throat !”

"Pressure Cooker" and "Honey Boy" are the jazziest tracks, probably the most representative of Gate's inimitable swinging musical cross-over.

Who did "invent" chicken sounding guitar, Gate or Super Chickan, more than 25 years younger than the old crocodile Gate ? The answer is on "Chickenshift" . On the ultra cool blues "Blackjack" Gate skillfully doubles his voice with his guitar.

This is the kind of album that leaves you totally knocked out when the last note fades as if a tornado had passed trough your ears. One easily understands why he didn't like at all being reduced to the mere status of "blues" musician ! This guy could play any style with equal talent. He could have made Mozart sound like a Texas swinger had he tried to adapt one of his works ! ■

Links to an interview and live videos were lately published here. Here are some more.

Talking about music
● At home with some New Orleans' Loyola University students : https://youtu.be/RHq1Scy72Hw

Live videos : it is fascinating to watch how Gate's used his right hand long fingers on the strings.

● From the album :

→ "Up Jumped The Devil", Austin (Texas) : https://youtu.be/nbvZEuWIee0

→ "Song For Renee", Hamburg (Germany), 1983 : https://youtu.be/-N8TcJkCxkU

→ "Chickenshift", 1980 : https://youtu.be/ASF3PKXhK7A

● Pori Jazz Festival, Finland : https://youtu.be/039gp2-7SOg

● With Carlos Santana, Montreux, 2004 : https://youtu.be/9Gys8ewyoo0

● Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, Oregon, 2002 :

→ "Strange Things Happen" : https://youtu.be/0vW0eOvtsB0

→ "Jump Blues" : https://youtu.be/d5YJYyUDEzw

● With Keb Mo, Austin (Texas), 1996 (skip first 1 :45 to escape the ads) : https://youtu.be/10bPGgPCO5Q
● Miami, 1995 : https://youtu.be/BQ9USj2Afqs
● "Got My Mojo Workin'", 1991 : https://youtu.be/Hd6OCs-A18E
● Northampton (Massachusetts), 1988 : https://youtu.be/1h17uWBD0Kk
● The Roxy, Washington DC, 1988 : https://youtu.be/rBzb0peivoU
● With Dizzy Gillespie, Nice (France), 1977 : https://youtu.be/h7FyGvVdd1w
● With Billy Mitchell, Nice (France), 1977 : https://youtu.be/iLNlfyQBxes
[CGB : guitar & vocals. Billy Mitchell : tenor sax. Lloyd Glenn : piano. Georges Duvivier : bass. J C Heard : drums.]
● "Worried life blues" with Canned Heat, 1973 : https://youtu.be/PCDrxQJ-uSk
● "Do The Zydeco" with a young guest : https://youtu.be/AnKQBNjYNOk

● His famous instrumental "Okie Dokie Stomp" : https://youtu.be/Z8T_UrX2GUQ
● "I Hate These Doggone Blues" : https://youtu.be/zPSQCxzlHUI
● "What Am I Living For" : https://youtu.be/POadCjfex4o

● New Orleans, 2005, jazz funeral parade for CGB who passed away a few days after hurricane Katrina devastated the coastal areas of Louisiana and East Texas : https://youtu.be/d646s7mknm8

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, 1924-2005