Johnny Otis The Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings

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Thomas Kory Bryant
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Mark s Music Notes The world recently lost two monumental musical figures that once worked together, and both are mostly known for only one of their many respective songs, which is just a small part

1 Mark s Music Notes The world recently lost two monumental musical figures that once worked together, and both are mostly known for only one of their many respective songs, which is just a small part of their stories. Rhythm and blues pioneer Johnny Otis passed away on January 17, 2012 at the age of 90 and Etta James passed away on January 20, 2012 at the age of 73. Otis, mostly known for his song Willie And The Hand Jive, made a huge impact on popular music in the 1950s, and he helped usher in rock and roll music. Etta James is mostly known for her song At Last, but she had many other great songs that have inspired countless other singers. New Orleans musician Trombone Shorty recently followed up his excellent Backatown album with the even better For True album, which captures his unique sound very well. Johnny Otis The Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan: The Complete Savoy Recordings John Veliotes, aka Johnny Otis, was born in 1921, the son of Greek immigrants that owned and operated a grocery store in a predominately black neighborhood in Berkeley, California. Early on, Otis related to the African American culture and decided that he would live his life as a black man, and he was able to pull this off due to his dark olive skin color. Otis began his career in music at age 18, playing drums in various big bands. Nat King Cole talked him into moving to Los Angeles, and Otis was soon leading his own big band. He often played vibraphone instead of drums in his bands, a move that was initiated after he injured one of his hands. Otis partnered with singer/guitarist/band master of ceremonies Bardu Ali, and opened the Barrelhouse Club in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. It was the first nightclub to feature rhythm and blues music exclusively, and it was very popular. In 1950, Otis took the show on the road with his hugely successful California Rhythm & Blues Caravan. In addition to his performance career, Otis was a record producer, talent scout and owner of the Dig record label. Otis became a radio disc jockey in the mid 1950s, and continued his radio show into the mid 2000s. He also

2 had his own weekly variety TV show in LA for eight years. In the 1960s, Otis served as Deputy Chief of Staff to politician Mervin Dymally, and even campaigned for a seat in the California State Assembly, but he lost, partially due to the fact that he ran as John Veliotes, not as Johnny Otis. Musician Frank Zappa was a huge Johnny Otis fan (there is little doubt that Otis 1969 X rated album was a major influence on Zappa), and he coaxed Otis back into music in the 1970s, even securing a record deal for him. In the 1990s, Otis bought a farm, opened a health food store, pastored the Landmark Community Gospel Church and began recording music again. Otis was also a painter, sculpter, cartoonist and author. He wrote several books in his lifetime, including a cookbook, a book about the Watts riots and an autobiography. In the early 2000s, Otis became a professor at the University of California in Berkeley, teaching African American music history. Not bad for a guy that got into music with the goal of playing drums for Count Basie (he actually did fill in for Basie s sick drummer once). Johnny Otis is one of the most influential figures in the evolution of rhythm and blues into rock and roll music. In the post World War II economy, he was forced to downsize his band, and purposely chose some musicians that were a little rough around the edges, so he could get the harder, bluesier sound that the kids liked. Otis had noticed that when the bands that he had played in ventured into boogie woogie territory, the audience really enjoyed it, so he focused on developing this sound. Otis discovered many legendary rhythm and blues singers such as Little Esther Phillips, Big Momma Thornton, Etta James, Hank Ballard, Little Willie John, Jackie Wilson and Sugar Pie DeSanto. Otis produced and played drums on Big Momma Thronton s song Hound Dog, a big hit that was later covered by Elvis Presley, becoming one of his biggest hits as well. Otis was initially credited as a co writer with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller on Hound Dog, but his name was removed when Elvis recorded the song. Otis wrote and sang the hit rock n roll song Willie and the Hand Jive, which was a top ten hit in 1958, and was covered by Eric Clapton in Otis was also the father of awesome guitarist Shuggy Otis, and they played electric blues and funk together in the 1970s. Johnny Otis he has been inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan The Complete Savoy Recordings, is a nice, inexpensive 3 CD compilation of 77 songs from the early 1950s, and is a great place to become acquainted with Johnny Otis and the rhythm and blues that he pioneered. It features a dozen different singers and a vocal group called The Robins that later evolved into the Coasters. There are some great instrumentals that border on straight blues and early rock n roll, with some of the coolest, raunchy electric guitar that was recorded during this period. Fans of rockabilly and early rock n roll will immediately hear the influence that rhythm and blues had on these genres. The set features a cover that was painted by Johnny Otis and liner notes written by musician/producer Billy Vera.

Etta James Gold, Rocks The House, Tell Mama & Who s Blue?

year old mother in Los Angeles who gave her up for adoption

She never knew her father, but he is thought to be a white

3 Etta James Gold, Rocks The House, Tell Mama & Who s Blue? Jamesetta Hawkins, aka Etta James, was born in 1938 to a 14 year old mother in Los Angeles who gave her up for adoption and moved to San Francisco. She never knew her father, but he is thought to be a white man, and Etta believed that he was billiards player Minnesota Fats, but Fats denied this. Etta sang in church until her stepmother died when she was 12, and Etta moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco to live with her natural mother.

4 Etta s favorite singers were Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and when she was 14, she formed a girl doo wop group called The Creolettes that initially just sang for fun. When she was 16, Etta reportedly dated a 29 year old B.B. King, and it is speculated that his song Sweet Sixteen is about her. Around this same time, The Creolettes met Johnny Otis, who reversed Jamesetta s first name to rename the group Etta James and the Peaches. Otis secured a recording deal with Modern Records, and he and Etta wrote her 1955 Rhythm & Blues hit, Roll With Me Henry, an answer song to Hank Ballard s hit Work With Me Annie. Richard Berry, though uncredited, sings on the song and is said to have changed it up significantly during the recording with Johnny Otis band. The Bihari Brothers, owners of Modern Records, changed the name of the song to The Wallflower, hoping to make it more radio friendly with a less explicit title. While Etta and the Peaches toured as Little Richard s opening act, white singer Georgia Gibbs released her pop version of The Wallflower with the lyrics changed to Dance With Me Henry, and it became a hit, which infuriated Etta. Etta soon left the Peaches behind, and had a follow up hit with Good Rockin Daddy, but she couldn t come up with any further hits in the 1950s. In 1960, Etta signed with Chess Records and dated singer Harvey Fuqua of the Moonglows. After a couple of hit duets with Fuqua and a minor doo wop hit, Leonard Chess took Etta s music in a pop ballad direction, replacing gritty honking saxophones with lushly orchestrated music. Her first album, At Last was released in 1960, and though it was only a minor hit at the time, the title song eventually became her signature song. Etta soon branched out from the lush pop sound, introducing some gospel influence into her secular music. In 1964, Chess released the appropriately named Etta James Rocks The House. This album is a raw, warts and all live album recorded in 1963 at the New Era Club in Nashville, Tennessee. The band is lean and mean, stripped down to guitar, bass, organ, saxophone and drums. Etta belts out familiar rhythm & blues and straight blues songs, and the audience goes completely nuts. It is entirely different from her preceding studio albums on Chess. There is no At Last, or anything even remotely resembling that song. Etta s hits in the 1960s trickled off until she went to Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama to record the great 1967 soul album Tell Mama, her best proper studio album. Every song on the album is great, and it was a huge influence on Janis Joplin, who recorded her own live version of Tell Mama. This album was also an obvious influence on Bonnie Raitt as well. Etta was devastated when Leonard Chess died in 1969 of a heart attack at the age of 52. Etta had already struggled with drugs and alcohol, but this struggle became much worse in the 1970s, as heroin was introduced to her. Etta s music became more rock and funk oriented, and she toured as the opener for The Rolling Stones in 1978, but due to her addictions, she didn t record again until Etta s albums in the 1980s and 1990s were mostly uneven, and suffered from overly slick production and the use of drum machines, which sucked the soul out of the music and added a cheesiness factor that dwarfed that of the lushly orchestrated ballads of her early Chess material. Etta s voice was still good, and her performance was nearly always great, it was just the music side of her recordings that suffered. In 2000, she recorded a well received blues rock album called Matriarch of the Blues, with her two sons on bass and drums, which helped her to make a substantial comeback. In 2008, Beyoncé Knowles portrayed Etta in the 2008 film Cadillac Records, which was loosely based on the Chess Records story. Beyoncé sang At Last at President Obama s inaugural ball in 2009, as he danced with his wife Michelle. Etta was very distraught at not being asked to sing the song herself, and publicly berated Beyoncé, even

5 threatening her with physical violence! Her son blamed Etta s comments on her Alzheimer s disease and dementia. Etta was diagnosed with terminal leukemia in 2011, which reportedly triggered arguments between her sons and husband over her estate and will while she was still alive. Through it all, Etta continued recording and touring sporadically, and her last album, The Dreamer, was released in November of 2011 to positive reviews, two months before her death. Etta James is a member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she received the Billboard R&B Founders Award. She has six Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Both At Last and The Wallflower have been given Grammy Hall of Fame Awards for qualitative and historical significance. There are definitely many benefits to having old songs used in TV commercials. There are numerous one and two disc Etta James compilations on the market, but Gold by far does the best job of a career overview by including numerous labels and all phases of Etta s career. The others don t even come close. The Hip O Select label issued the Heart & Soul four disc box set in October of 2011, for those that want a compilation that goes further than the Gold title does. The live Etta James Rocks The House and Tell Mama are essential albums for Etta James fans, and both CDs include excellent bonus tracks that were not on the original vinyl albums. Who s Blue? is a great compilation of Etta s rare Chess recordings from the 1960s and 1970s, including B sides to singles as well as album tracks, and holds up well as an album on it s own. Trombone Shorty For True Troy Trombone Shorty Andrews grew up in New Orleans and participated in brass band parades since he was a small child. His grandfather, Jessie Hill, was the songwriter and original singer of the New Orleans classic Ooh Poo Pah Doo. Shorty has been in a series of bands, one of which Lenny Kravitz saw Shorty playing with in New Orleans in Kravitz was so impressed that he took Shorty on tour as part of his band. In 2010, Jeff Beck saw Shorty s late night post New Orleans Jazz Fest show at Tipitina s, and

6 had him open his U.K. tour that fall. Shorty later made a guest appearance in Jeff Beck s Rock n Roll Party DVD/Blu Ray/CD, honoring Les Paul. Shorty calls his signature sound Supafunkrock. He says that his sound was never conceptualized, but that it developed naturally. It is based on New Orleans funk, but all other forms of New Orleans music as well as influential sounds from abroad are thrown into the melting pot. Shorty s entire Orleans Avenue band is allowed to bring their individual influences and personal tastes to the sound, not just Shorty alone. For True is Trombone Shorty s latest and best album so far, and his second for Verve Forecast Records. It boasts a varied and impressive list of guest artists, including Jeff Beck, Warren Haynes, Lenny Kravitz, Kid Rock, Ledisi, Ivan and Cyrus Neville, Stanton Moore and The Rebirth Brass Band, which includes Shorty s older brother, trumpeter James Andrews. Trombone Shorty does an excellent job of blending old and new styles of music together on For True, and the result is a fresh sound that retains the soulfulness that is missing in most current popular music. Shorty wrote or co wrote the entire album, and in addition to trombone, he plays trumpet, organ, drums and percussion, piano, electric keyboads and synth bass. Shorty has also become a much more confident singer more akin to soul singers of the 1960 s and 1970 s than currently trendy AutoTune dependant singers. This album comes closer to capturing Trombone Shorty s live sound than ever before, which is a good thing. Shorty s live shows are highly energetic and dynamic. The entire venue becomes a party atmosphere as soon as Shorty hits the stage. For True is available on vinyl LP, CD or digital download.

THE INFLUENCE OF RHYTHM AND BLUES

THE INFLUENCE OF RHYTHM AND BLUES OVERVIEW ESSENTIAL QUESTION What did R&B bring to early Rock and Roll, and how was early Rock and Roll different? OVERVIEW All popular music comes from somewhere. But when innovative music gets on the