Chicago blues magic
Drummer Willie “Big Eyes” Smith was the first to join Muddy Waters in 1961, followed by Perkins who took over Otis Spann's seat behind the piano in 1969, and by bassist Calvin “Fuzz” Jones who got on board in 1970 (his real nickname would be originally “Fuzz Box”). Perkins, Jones and Smith backed Waters for many years before leaving to form the Legendary Blues Band in June 1980 with harmonicist Jerry Portnoy.
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| Muddy Waters (left), Pinetop Perkins & Willie “Big Eyes” Smith |
Ronald Horvath aka Ronnie Earl (he chose his moniker in homage to Earl Hooker whose decisive influence can be clearly heard in his guitar style), hung some time around Jimmie Vaughan and the Fabulous Thunderbirds in Austin, Texas, before replacing Duke Robillard in Roomful of Blues in 1979. He left RoB for solo adventures forming a backing band which officially became The Broadcasters in 1987.
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| Pinetop Perkins |
No need to say that the four musicians, joined by ex-Broadcaster Bruce Katz on Hammond organ, are anything but freshmen on the blues scene. For all that, they didn't take the risk to throw themselves in a series of new songs, preferring to stick to what they do best : pure good old Chicago blues classics.
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| Calvin "Fuzz" Jones |
After playing together for years with Muddy Waters, Perkins, Jones and Smith build a foundation as tight as can be for Earl to lay his superb guitar playing on. A track like “Shake For Me” shows the total complicity of the three ex-Muddy Waters musicians. Smith (60 years old) and Jones (70) form a faultless rhythm section, a real joy for the ear !
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| Willie “Big Eyes” Smith |
Beyond the fact that he sings most of the titles (only two are sung by Jones), he's a wonderful pianist able to accord perfectly with Earl. His performance on “Tops Boogie Woogie” is just great.
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| Ronnie Earl |
Earl has left most of his jazz influence aside to concentrate on pure blues numbers, with a sound that strongly reminds his model Earl Hooker, the best example being his performance on the iconic “Anna Lee”, one of the great moments of the album.
As soon as the opening tracks, “How Long”, the four musicians and Bruce Katz sound extremely relaxed and at ease but impressively tight throughout 13 tracks of upper quality.
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| Bruce Katz |
In addition to the outstanding numbers mentioned earlier (the exciting “Tops Boogie Woogie”, “Shake For Me”, “Anna Lee”), one will particularly appreciate “Yonders Wall” (the kind of song that reminds perfectly the rural origin of the electrified Chicago style), “Ronnie's Blues” (a fine example of how Earl enriches the titles with his soulful playing and impressive technique), “Kidney Stew” and “Take It Easy Baby” (two pieces of groovy swing with John Sebastian guesting on harmonica on the second), “I Woke Up This Morning” (quite an Earl Hooker sound from Ronnie Earl !)
On the final “Forty-Four Blues” played solo by Perkins, one realizes how rich his piano playing is.This album, which seems to be originally just a friendly project of four musicians with the sole ambition to play some nice blues together, finally exhales an unexplained magic, the kind that makes you love the blues even more. ■
► With Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells at the Montreux Jazz Festival (though he is hardly visible), 1974 : https://youtu.be/ZTNxzHEy0yk |
| Muddy Waters |
► With Bob Margolin, Mountain Stage Festival, Charleston, West Virginia, 2001 : |
| 97 years old ! |
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| Pinetop & "Fuzz" |
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| Eric Clapton & Ronnie Earl |
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| Earl and B.B. King at Montreux 1997 |
► New Morning, Paris, France, 1997 :
► With Louisiana Red & Sugar Ray Norcia, Regatta Bar, 2011 : https://youtu.be/1gpvPfJXYvk
■ Calvin “Fuzz” Jones & Willie “Big Eyes” Smith : groove & swing wizards
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| "Big Eyes" & "Fuzz" |
● Or with The Legendary Blues Band :
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| Willie “Big Eyes” Smith |
● Willie “Big Eyes” Smith :
2 comments:
Greetings Onurbix, so many times without visiting your nice blog full of news and discoveries, I don't have much contact with Earl since I haven't listened to his music alone, I'll keep up to date without a doubt, a hug
Hello LB, thanx for keeping on visiting Onurblues. The one who impressed me most on this album is Pinetop Perkins: a fantastic blues pianist. Hope this end of autumn is still sunny in Buenos Aires.
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