Blues in Chicago and New York

One of the last of the original Chicago bluesman, Jimmy Johnson, has died at the age of 93. Jimmy was quite a late developer, having moved to Chicago from Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1950 but only playing professionally in 1959. The brother of Syl Johnson, he played guitar with Freddie King, Albert King, Magic Sam and Otis Rush and later with soul singers including Otis Clay and Denise LaSalle. He recorded his first solo album aged 50 in the late seventies for the MCM label and many thereafter for Delmark and Alligator among others. He was a regular performer in Chicago blues clubs until recently and I was lucky enough to catch him in 2017, at the age of 88, at Buddy Guy's Legends club where he dedicated his excellent show to Lonnie Brooks.

Another bluesman who has died, at the age of 86, is Sam Lay, a drummer who played with all the Chicago greats, including Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon, and, later, with the Paul Butterfield Band. He also recorded with Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 and was inducted into the Blues, Jazz and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. He recorded a couple of albums with his own band and a solo album 'Sam Lay in Bluesland' in 1969.

On the subject of the blues, while I was in Jamaica I took the opportunity to read 'New York City Blues', which is edited by John Broven and includes contributions by Larry Simon. New York is often overlooked in terms of the blues, but there was plenty of good stuff happening there over the decades. The book features illuminating interviews with some of the key characters in the New York scene, including record label and shop owner Bobby Robinson, Bob Gaddy, 'Wild' Jimmy Spruill, Noble 'Thin Man' Watts, Rosco Gordon. Larry Dale, John Hammond Jr, Victoria Spivey, Tarheel Slim, Billy Bland and Doc Pomus. I remember seeing many of these artists on the Bobby Robinson R and B revue at the Blues Estafette in 1993, including Bob Gaddy, Jimmy Spruill, Noble Watts, Larry Dale and Dr Horse. The photo below shows Rosco Gordon at the Jazz Cafe in 2000.

There are a couple of other deaths to catch up on. One is keyboard player Hargus 'Pig' Robbins, aged 84, who was a session man who played on dozens of records by Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Joan Boez and many others. His solo 45 'Save It', released on London in 1959 under the name of Mel Robbins, is now very collectable. Another death at the age of 82 is that of one of the UK's leading folk musicians Norma Waterson, who was a member of the Watersons and who was married to folk singer Martin Carthy.