Portrait : Willie Kent (1936-2006)

A giant's journey

Willie Kent was a burly man, a stainless bassist, a real blues singer and a talented songwriter, but never an icon of the Chicago blues though he did play with almost all the Windy City renowned bluesmen. Among the best talented sidemen that contributed to make Chicago blues a legend, he deserves to be put up back where he belongs : on the front line.
Familiar to the blues aficionados but much less to the average community of blues listeners, Kent has a special asset though : he recorded a dozen albums under his name, most of them with his long time band The Gents.

Willie Kent in his late teens

After he had moved to Chicago in the early 1950s from North Mississippi where he was born and had spent his childhood, Kent initially studied guitar with Willie Hudson, the leader of the band Ralph & the Red Tops, that he finally joined a few years later. But his destiny was to play bass, which he did by accident one day of 1959 when the Red Tops' bassist got too drunk to play.

Hard work and strong will made him a gifted bass player who started to get regular gigs in the city's clubs behind headlining artists. Words about his very serious professionalism soon spread out through the Chicago blues world, especially after his joining Little Milton's band in 1961. He started to receive more and more offers to play and record with some of the biggest names on the circuit : Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Parker Jimmy Dawkins, Eddie Taylor... Besides being a much demanded session musician, he began recording independent albums under his own name in 1975. In 1982, Kent joined the Eddie Taylor band which will become Willie Kent & His Gents after Taylor's death in 1985.

1976 – Willie Kent & Willie James Lyons : Ghetto, Live At Ma Bea's

Kent joined Jimmy Dawkins in 1971 on his European tour. Back in Chicago, Dawkins wanted to keep touring and turned his planned headlining gig at the West Side blues club Ma Bea’s Lounge to Kent, who assembled his first band, Sugar Bear & the Beehives, as Ma Bea's house band. The group featured guitarist Willie James Lyons and drummer Robert Plunkett.

Willie James Lyons

Kent spent over six years at Ma Bea's (1972-1978), backing visiting artists like Fenton Robinson, Hubert Sumlin, Eddie Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson, Carey Bell, Buster Benton, John Littlejohn, Mighty Joe Young… This period was immortalized by the release in 1976 of Ghetto, a live recording made the previous year, on which Lyons is actually sharing the lights with two other guitarists : Big Guitar Red and Luther Johnson Jr.

Outstanding track : Kent & Lyons co-written “Ghetto”, a nearly 8-minute repetitive Latin-flavored funky beat worth the early Santana style and superbly sung by Kent. Actually the song was probably inspired by Donny Hathaway's 1970 eponymous hit “The Ghetto”…

1984-1991 - Willie Kent & His Gents : The King Of West Side Blues (Chicago Blues Session Vol. 21, 1996)

Released in 1996 by the Austrian label Wolf Records as Vol. 21 of their famous Chicago Blues Sessions series, this collection gathers 11 tracks recorded during four different sessions between August 1984 and April 1991 while Kent and His Gents were the house band at Mary's lounge. The Gents, whose line-up evolved through the years, were formally founded after Eddie Taylor died on Christmas Day 1985 with most of the Eddie Taylor Band's members.

Eddie Taylor

Around Kent on vocals and bass, the line-up features guitarists Eddie Taylor himself (on the four 1984 recordings), Johnny B. Moore, Luther “Slim” Adams or Jake Dawson, harmonicist Billy Branch, pianist Ken Barker, and drummer Tim Taylor (Eddie's son).

As this excellent album's title clearly indicates the band plays the “West Side style”, a variant of the “Chicago blues” still closely related to the Delta blues. And these recordings offer highlights like “Slow and Easy”, “Just Your Fool”, “I've Got to Pay”, “I Got to Go”… Kent himself reveals as much a soulful singer as a solid bass player.

→ Note : from now on most of Kent's albums will be recorded with different incarnations of the Gents, though it was not always mentioned on the covers.

1989 - I'm What You Need

Kent's first project after life changes prompted by a triple heart surgery in 1987. Kent spent his recovery examining his life and career and decided to leave his longtime truck driving job to become a full-time professional musician.

For this debut work, he's backed by Johnny B. Moore and Willie Davis on guitar, Barrelhouse Chuck on piano and Tim Taylor on drums. The album, altogether melancholic, and dressed up with overdubbed horns to bring a more soul touch, is certainly not his best work, but it still offers nice tracks like “Boogie All Night Long” or “Mamma Told Me”.

1991 - Ain't It Nice

Recorded with most of the musicians featured on the sessions of The King Of West Side Blues (guitarists Luther “Slim” Adams and Jake Dawson, pianist Ken Barker, and drummer Tim Taylor), and with the skilled "Mad Dog" Lester Davenport on harmonica instead of Billy Branch, and Bonnie Lee on vocals on an exciting up-beat version of her own “I'm Good”, this excellent opus was crowned by the Library of Congress Award for Best Folk/Blues Album of 1991. Kent digs further into the Delta-influenced West Side style, through slow grinding blues as well as upbeat soul-inflected tracks played by his really tight band.

Lester Davenport

His powerful gruff voice enhances as much his self-written material as his covers (B.B. King's “Worry Worry”, Muddy Waters' “One More Mile” here in a fine version, and Junior Parker's “Stranded”).

Peculiarity, the first two tracks, “Memory Of You” and “Check It Out”, start identically before going each their own way. Other notable tracks include the original groove of the funky title track “Ain't It Nice”, the heavy slow blues “Come Home” and the rejoicing “Stranded”, but the top title of the album is undoubtedly the long and superb “Feel So Good”.

1994 - Too Hurt To Cry

The musicians are globally the same, except the replacement of Luther “Slim” Adams by Willie Davis on guitar and the presence of Johnny B. Moore on a couple of tracks. A 3-piece horn section is featured on six titles.

Kent reveals an impressively soulful singer, an energetic bass player and a talented band leader on this superb album which features 13 tracks, 8 of which are signed by Kent himself. Some titles stand out : the superb rhythmic “Going Down the Road” on which the excellence of the musicians can be heard clearly including Kent's great job on bass, “Good Man Feeling Bad” enhanced by interesting riffs from the horns, the up-tempo “This Thing Called Love” with Moore on guitar, and the final new version of the boogie “All Nite Long” (already featured on I'm What You Need).

Among the covers, Kent's vocal performance is impressively soulful and moving, particularly on the nearly 8-minute version of Buddy Guy's “A Man And The Blues” enlightened by Branch's fine harmonica. Kent also delivers Bob Jones's “Willie Mae” and an excellent version of “Blues Train” featuring Moore on guitar, the song “911” written by the American poet Sterling D. Plumpp, and Roosevelt Sykes' classic “Night Time Is The Right Time”.

Really a flawless album reflecting Kent's excellent taste in his own originals and in the choice of the covers, as well as the instrumental skills of the band members.

1995 - Blues And Trouble

This album was recorded in the South of France with The Gents  (Willie Davis and Carlos Showers : guitar, Ken Barker : keyboards, and Cleo Williams : drums). Kent shows the same qualities as usual : solid bass and great vocals.

Ken Barker

Next to fiver Kent's originals (“Mean Mistreatin' Woman”, “Treat My Baby Right”, “Memory of You”, “Come Home” and “Somebody Got to Go”), the repertoire is leaving large space to covers from some of Kent's favorites like Little Milton (“That Will Never Do”), Little Walter Jacobs (“Mean Old World”), Muddy Waters (”Can't Get No Grindin'”) or Lowell Fulson (“Troubles, Troubles, Troubles” and “Reconsider Baby”). He also revisits St. Louis Jimmy Oden's “Going Down Slow” as well as a standard like “Sloppy Drunk” or Deadric Malone's “As the Years Go Passing By”.
A solid Chicago blues album as Kent and His Gents know how to play it.

1995-1996 - Everybody Needs Somebody (Chicago Blues Session Vol. 43)

This second chapter of the Wolf Records' Chicago Blues Sessions series devoted to Willie Kent is sumptuous. The first three titles, were recorded in Chicago in 1995, while the following nine tracks were recorded live in Austria the next year. Kent voice, completely liberated, has stepped up to a new level of quality : he sings more soulfully than never.

Behind him the band follows his pace, tighter than ever, led by Kent's grooving bass and Cleo Williams' drums. This is illustrated for example by highly rhythmical numbers like “Don't Mess With My Baby”, “Thought I Was Lucky”.”Too Hurt To Cry”, “I Just Want A Little Bit”, “All Your Love”, “No Love In Your Heart”.

Carlos Showers

On the guitarists side, next to the ever excellent Willie Davis, Jake Dawson is replaced on the nine live titles by a newcomer, Carlos Showers who also takes on the vocals on the soulful slow “My Baby's Gone”. The loyal Ken Barker is on piano and organ as usual while saxophonist Hank Ford appears on the three Chicago recorded tracks.

The repertoire includes four Kent's originals, the rest being two covers of Magic Sam (“I Just Want A Little Bit” and “All Your Love”), and one of each the following : Muddy Waters (“One More Mile”), Little Walter Jacobs (“Everybody Needs Somebody”), Robert Nighthawk (“Chicago Bound”), Vernon Garrett (the superb “No Love In Your Heart”), and Ivory Joe Hunter (the incredibly soulful “Since I Met You Baby”).
Kent's incredible voice is the most impressive aspect of this great album, one of his best one so far.

1996 - Long Way To O' Miss

On this new project, recorded in August 1996, Kent has made some changes in the band. Only Willie Davis on guitar and keyboard man Kenny Barker (though replaced on four titles) stayed with Kent, and new faces have appeared : Ken Saydak took over Barker's seat on four tracks, Tim Taylor left his drum set to Baldhead Pete, guitarist James Wheeler came in with two songs he wrote (“It Ain't Right” and “Extension 309”) and on which he plays, while the young and promising Vernon “Chico” Banks put his guitar mark on the remaining eleven titles.

Chico Banks

The sound is clean, deep and warm at the same time, especially influenced by Chico Banks' cool guitar style, and though sometimes held back, Kent's voice keeps its heartfelt texture. In addition to Wheeler's couple of songs, and especially “It Ain't Right” which reminds of Earl Hooker's “Two Bugs And A Roach”, the album include covers of Little Joe Blue's “Dirty Works”, a new version of Vernon Garrett's “Ain't No Love In Your Heart”, and Fats Washington's “Black Night(s)”. (Note  - There's a confusion on the album cover : the song, originally recorded by Lowell Fulson and in fact spelled “Black Nights”, was mistakenly attributed to one Charles Brown).

The Kent originals are all pleasing but, except maybe stand-out tracks like “Ain't Got Long to Stay”, “My Friend” or the final “What You Doin' to Me”, his repertoire sounds very classic.

1996 - Freddie Roulette : Back In Chicago, Jammin' With Willie Kent & The Gents

Recorded just a few weeks after the previous opus, Kent and his band are backing lap steel guitar virtuoso and singer Freddie Roulette on this beautiful album. Kent himself stands back : condemned to silence (Roulette does all the vocals), he's even leaving his bass to Chico Banks on four of the 10 tracks. Though the use of a lap steel guitar was rather rare and original in Chicago blues and the album is really exciting, it can't be considered as a full part of Willie Kent's personal discography.

Which is not a reason not to enjoy it as it fully deserves. Personally, I particularly appreciated its rhythmic style, especially on tracks like “Back In Chicago”, the great versions of “Killing Floor” and “The Thrill Is Gone”, the irresistible “Freddie's Funk” carried by Kent's killing bass, and the incredible way Roulette makes his instrument talk on “Laundry Mat Blues” !

1997 - Live at B.L.U.E.S. In Chicago (Chicago Blues Session Vol. 30)

Released in 1997, the third and last album of Wolf's Chicago Blues Sessions series on Willie Kent was actually recorded live on two shows in July 1993 at the renowned B.L.U.E.S. club in Chicago. Emceed by Dan Barker, if features guests Johnny B. Moore on guitar and vocals on “Looking Good”, saxophonist & singer Eddie Shaw on “Sadie”, and Bonnie Lee singing her fetish number “I'm Good”. Kent, on bass, sings the nine remaining tracks.

Jake Dawson

Behind him, the band lines up guitarists Jake Dawson and Johnny B. Moore (particularly brilliant that night), Ken Barker (piano, organ) and Cleo Williams (drums). The album's front cover shows a photo of Dawson, Kent and Moore.

Johnny B. Moore

Except one Kent's song (“All My Life”), the show is composed of covers. Opening with a powerful version of Junior Parker's “Mother In Law Blues” which sets the mood, it features highlights like Buddy Guy's “A Man And His Blues” which gives Kent the opportunity to prove he's a really great soulful vocalist. He confirms on his own “All My Life”, leaves the mike to Moore for a stirring speedy rendition of Magic Sam's boogie “Looking Good”, an amazing piece of guitar virtuosity, comes back for a couple of songs, Muddy Waters' “Ship Made Of Paper” and Fats Washington's “Black Night”, before Bonnie Lee jumps on stage to sing her iconic anthem “I'm Good”.

After two more titles heartfully sung as usual by Kent (Little Joe Blue's “Dirty Work Going On” which leaves space for the band members to express their talents, and B.B. King's classic “Rock Me”), Eddie Shaw gives a fine rendition of Hound Dog Taylor's “Sadie”. The show concludes with an always impressive Kent singing two more numbers, Little Milton's “Tin Pan Alley” and a highly rhythmical version of Little Johnny Christian's “If You Got To Love Somebody”.

This powerful and exciting live album from Kent's group of fine musicians reflects perfectly what a blues night could sound like at that time in most of the renowned Windy City's clubs.

1998 - Make Room For The Blues

Kent's fourth opus for the Delmark label, this excellent album features a renewed line-up of the band : the talented guitarist Billy Flynn, who brought two of his songs (“Teach Me How to Lie” and the exciting “I'm Hooked”), replaces Jake Dawson on seven tracks, and undoubtedly brings a new dimension to the music, the drums are now in the hands of James Carter, and Ken Saydak guests on a couple of tracks with his electric piano. A 3-piece horn section gives the whole a soul color.

Billy Flynn

Kent is always a rock-solid bass master, as it appears on the up-beat “Me and My Baby”, but the album repertoire, quieter and globally slower than usual, is primarily aimed at putting the accent on Kent's excellent song-writing (he signed ten of the 13 titles) and most of all on his intensely driving blues singing. And it really is full of it, For example on the poignant revisited version of “I'm What You Need”.

If it offers notable moments like Flynn's slide guitar on the soulful “I Had a Dream” and his catchy melancholic song “I'm Hooked”, this album is the kind of work that must be appreciated more as a whole for its pleasing general groove and fugitive instrumental instants, rather than for particular outstanding tracks.

1998 - Lil' Ed Williams & Willie Kent : Who's Been Talking

This collaboration produced an exciting moment of the best kind of post-Muddy Waters Chicago blues. With his stainless bass and deep-toned soulful voice, veteran Willie Kent is presiding over the debate between guitarists Lil' Ed Williams, who abandoned his Blues Imperials for once, and Eddie C. Campbell, the other veteran of the lot. The band is tight like hard wood and…

And there's “The Ghetto”, a stirring renewed version of Kent & Lyons' “Ghetto” from their 1975 eponymous album. If only for that song, the album deserves a space on a virtual shelve of your record collection. But there's other catchy titles like Lil' Ed's originals “Going Shopping” or “Your Love Is So Strong”…

Maybe not “the” outstanding electric blues album of the 1990s but undoubtedly a very agreeable work that'll make you turn on the playback switch.

1999 - Johnny B. Moore & Willie Kent : Acoustic Blue Chicago (feat. Lester Davenport & Bonnie Lee)

Read about this album on my recent post about Johnny B. Moore : https://onurblues.blogspot.com/2024/02/johnny-b-moore-discography.html

2001 - Comin' Alive

Caution ! Masterpiece ! Produced by Kent himself, this album is resolutely turned towards the Delta of his youth. This outburst of nostalgia produces a truly superb opus, certainly his greatest studio achievement. Kent, who penned ten of the 12 titles, is surrounded by a brand new line-up : Haguy F. King on guitar, Allen Batts on organ and piano, and Dave Jefferson on drums. Only the excellent and loyal rhythm guitarist Jacob Dawson from the Gents is still in. Guest Erskine Johnson and Twist Turner bring extra piano or organ on half the numbers.

Mr & Mrs Willie Kent

As often for great albums there's not much to say. There's absolutely nothing to change to such an album. Each track stands out on the summits of electric blues. The sound is wide and deep. On his bass, Kent's fingers run with amazing dexterity to deliver solid up-tempo beat like on “Look Like It's Gonna Rain”. Vocally he is more impressive than ever in his ability to deliver the very soulful essence of the blues.

The horns bring a Memphis atmosphere and the final track, “Someone You Should Know”, even features gospel background vocals that most likely reminded Kent of his childhood when he used to go to church with his family.

The groove pours from every song as well as a moving feeling. Kent's last work before his passing in March 2006 after he was diagnosed with colon cancer in early 2005.

What a journey from the Mississippi family farm to the best blues clubs and recording studios in Chicago for this very attaching man and musician ! ■

Willie Kent's Discography (Audio)

► 1975 - Willie Kent & Willie James Lyons : Ghetto (Live At Ma Bea's) : https://youtu.be/xsxMRqjN2pE

► 1984/91 - Willie Kent & His Gents : The King Of West Side Blues (Chicago Blues Session Vol. 21) : not found

► 1989 - I'm What You Need : https://youtu.be/Jg6CM_NDelY

► 1991 - Ain't It Nice : https://youtu.be/IWtotxgzw24

► 1994 - Too Hurt To Cry : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nKbxp7L8IruOZEBfXZGGUVV62qQykL93s

► 1995 - Blues And Trouble : https://youtu.be/5eow7txD7i8

► 1995-1996 - Everybody Needs Somebody [Chicago Blues Session Vol. 43] : not found

► 1996 - Long Way To Ol' Miss : https://youtu.be/GrboQxn7XUc

► 1996 - Freddie Roulette : Back In Chicago, Jammin' With Willie Kent & The Gents : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lrMoWbv-Ps9uO7ouNbdDARBUDk5HWTCh4

► 1997 - Live at B.L.U.E.S. In Chicago (Chicago Blues Session Vol. 30) : not found

► 1998 - Make Room For The Blues : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n8PS3wtyzGQ927aIO1NAsUCVAfi6ZmHb8

► 1998 - Lil' Ed Williams & Willie Kent : Who's Been Talking : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lEuhyQEScvA2q3ruzsD_1-bh3pWouxYr8

► 1999 - Johnny B. Moore & Willie Kent : Acoustic Blue Chicago (feat. Lester Davenport & Bonnie Lee) (excerpts) :

→ “Got To Find My Baby” : https://youtu.be/L5ph5hK8qcE

→ “Looks Like It's Gonna Rain” : https://youtu.be/2E5qxes_K8Y

→ “Look On Yonder's Wall” : https://youtu.be/ba8uOOYV2rU

→ “Goin' Away Baby” : https://youtu.be/yXILQYE1xic

→ “All Night Long” : https://youtu.be/ILiq74vykWk

► 2001 - Comin' Alive (excerpts) :

→ “Born In The Delta” : https://youtu.be/9RrmhsNcBNU

→ “Look Like It's Gonna Rain” : https://youtu.be/tXxoSmjXuns

→ “Lonesome Whistle Blow” : https://youtu.be/MXZSvQdMbvw

→ “Someone Like You” : https://youtu.be/POjXmirWLOc

→ “Sittin' Here Thinkin'” : https://youtu.be/9uQKB3SiGPM

→ “Don't Tell Me Your Trouble” : https://youtu.be/V5kTobCvCg4

→ “Something New” : https://youtu.be/pQdeqQSUxCI

► Audio Bonus : Willie Kent & The Gents (ft. Bonnie Lee and Jimmy Dawkins), Chicago Blues Festival, 1993 : https://youtu.be/ULnk25V3ogY

Live Video

Willie Kent & Jake Dawson

► Atmosphere : Willie Kent at the Blue Chicago club : https://youtu.be/0RH1TzKH3aw

► "Mamma Told Me", Willie Kent with Barrelhouse Chuck and Billy Flynn : https://youtu.be/TIdZK2pXBT8

► Vienna, Austria, 1990 :

→ Willie Kent with the Mojo Blues Band : https://youtu.be/zSV4ECwwrKM

→ “How Long” : https://youtu.be/Qsr3bRb-CMM

→ “Sweet Home Chicago”, Tail Dragger, AC Reed, Willie Kent, Big Mojo Elem : https://youtu.be/IrhojwF6Wu4

Guy King & Eddie Shaw
with Willie Kent & Jake Dawson

► Buddy Guy's Legends club, Chicago, 1999 :

→ https://youtu.be/ooJynvZ2Ppc

→ “Little Red Rooster” : https://youtu.be/I40frCDBZJE

Willie Kent, Rich Kirch
& Jimmy Dawkins in 1982

► North Atlantic Blues Festival, Rockland, ME, 2003 : https://youtu.be/gf40oAVvH2k

► Banana Peel club, Belgium, 2004 : https://youtu.be/Zx9m1ViLNNg

► Willie Kent & The Gents feat. Guy King, Japan, 2004 : https://youtu.be/oWagyF3BJug

► "Sadie", Eddie Shaw with Willie Kent, 2005 : https://youtu.be/JuvHTq8rWSk

 

Willie Kent, 1936-2006