Blues LPs part 7

I'm continuing with some more blues LPs from the collection. The first selection includes several Smiths: Arthur 'Guitar Boogie' Smith should more rightly be in the country section; Bessie Smith, the 'Empress of the Blues' was one of the foremost blues singers of the Jazz Age; Carrie Smith was a blues and jazz singer who actually played Bessie Smith on stage at Carnegie Hall in 1974; Clara Smith was another early blues singer, known as the 'Queen of the Moaners', who mentored Josephine Baker, and harmonica player Little George Smith. Also featured is a ten inch LP by Brother John Sellers, who came from Clarksdale and was discovered by Mahalia Jackson, and one by another singer from the Delta, Son House, one of the most influential of early blues men who was recorded by Alan Lomax in 1941 and was rediscovered in the sixties.

The next montage starts with four LPs by Chicago pianist Otis Spann, who played with Muddy Waters for many years, and recorded for Decca in London in 1964 as well as for Vanguard and BluesWay. There's one by Roosevelt Sykes, who was known as 'The Honeydripper', and one by another blues pianist from the Delta who moved to Chicago, Sunnyland Slim, one by Eddie Taylor, a Mississippi blues guitarist who taught Jimmy Reed how to play, and one by Hound Dog Taylor, another Mississippi guitarist who moved to Chicago. There are also a couple of LPs by Chicago blues shouter Ko Ko Taylor, who I had the pleaure of seeing on a couple of occasions, and two by Arkansas born blues and soul singer Little Johnny Taylor, not to be confused with soul man Johnnie Taylor.

The third selection starts with two more albums by Little Johnny Taylor, one by Fingers Taylor, a harmonica player recorded with Anson Funderburgh, and one by Dewey Terry, one half of rock and roll duo Don and Dewey. Next are five LPs by harmonica player Sonny Terry, including three with his his long time partner Brownie McGhee. There is one LP by Tiny Topsy, an R and B singer who died aged just 34, and one by Tabby Thomas, who ran a club called Tabby's Blues Box in Baton Rouge for many years. Finally there is an LP by Big Mama Thornton, Lightnin' Hopkins and Larry Williams on Arhoolie.

Montage number four features 12 LPs by Joe Turner, including one on London and several on the Pablo and Black and Blue labels. 'Big' Joe Turner was known as 'The Boss Of the Blues' and was a blues shouter without whom it was said (by Doc Pomus) that rock and roll would never have happened. The Kansas City star was featured singer with the Count Basie orchestra and was picked up by Atlantic, where he recorded 'Shake Rattle and Roll', 'Flip Flop and Fly' and many other pioneering rock and roll records. I bought nearly all of these LPs at a car boot sale for 50p each many years ago.

The final selection this time includes three more Joe Turner LPs, including one with Count Basie, and an Ike Turner album on United Artists. There's also one each by boogie woogie player Precious Clarence Turner, sax player Eddie 'Cleanhead' Vinson with Roomful of Blues and Joe Louis Walker, the man whose playing at the 100 Club in London a few years back resulted in total deafness in my left ear the next day (no doubt a culmination of many loud shows in reality), and a couple by guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who died in a helicopter crash in 1990. Finally there are three LPs by renowned Texas guitarist T-Bone Walker.