A few days ago I was shopping for fruits and vegetables over in Chinatown. One of the fruit stands was selling Huolong Guo (Dragon Fruit) and pineapples, and I stopped to buy some. The fruit stand had a boombox that was tuned to Q104.3 FM "New York's Classic Rock" [the new elevator/supermarket music - Ed], and as I was paying for the fruit, Foghat's version of "Big" Joe Turner's "Honey Hush" came on. It occurred to me, I haven't listened to "Big" Joe in quite some time.
When I got back to the button factory, I looked for and old favorite, 'The Best Of Joe Turner — 14 All-Time Hits' on the Atlantic Records label, which I thought I had on CD. In the middle of some of Big Joes CDs was 'Super Black Blues', something else I haven't listened to in quite some time. So I put in the CD transport, and continued my search for 'The Best Of Joe Turner — 14 All-Time Hits'.
'Super Black Blues' is a blues all-star album that was recorded in Los Angeles CA, on October 17, 1969. It was produced by Bob Thiele, and released on the Bluestime label, a subsidiary of Bob's Flying Dutchman label.
This is a gem of a Blues album with T-Bone Walker on vocals and guitar, Joe Turner on vocals, Otis Spann on piano, Ernie Watts on tenor saxophone, George "Harmonica" Smith on harmonica, Arthur Wright on guitar, Ron Brown on bass, and Paul Humphrey on drums.
There are just the four tracks on 'Super Black Blues', but such is the relaxed nature of their musical interplay (not unlike Miles' 'Kind Of Blue'), they stretch out to over 10 minutes more than once as the musicians and singers trade breaks and verses. The only "short" song is also the only song not credited to T-Bone Walker, it's a delicious reading of the standard 'Here Am I Broken Hearted'.
There are different blues styles East Coast, Kansas City, Mississippi, and Chicago blues—that blend perfectly. The overall vibe of this album, is Blues Masters having fun and showing off. And why not?
The sound quality is superb — something we expect from Bob Thiele.
Simply stated, 'Super Black Blues' is an album that belongs in every blues collection.
I (eventually) did find my copy of 'The Best Of Joe Turner -14 All-Time Hits', but on vinyl. This was originally released in 1962, and as far as I can tell never released on CD, there are quite a few best of Joe Turner releases out there, but his one is my favorite. It also has lots of sentimental value, I bought this album in either '67 or '68 at Canterbury Records in Pasadena, CA, which was a short walk from California Institute of Technology. I ripped this album (24bit/48kHz) and will be part of the freeload, it has that nice warm "tubey" sound.
'The Best Of Joe Turner -14 All-Time Hits' has blues, jump blues, jazz, R&B and early rock and roll, a genre which "Big" Joe helped invent. It's been said, that if Joe was a good-looking Caucasian dude with lots of teeth, he'd be would have been a "household name". So it goes…
For the freeload, let's talk about some of your favorite so-called "Super Groups"?
The Soul Clan
ReplyDeleteThe Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra
The New Basement Tapes
plus some of the usual suspects (round'em up)
Soul Clan: Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Don Covay, and Joe Tex
DeleteThe Planet Earth Rock and Roll Orchestra: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bill Kreutzmann, Mickey Hart, David Freiberg
The New Basement Tapes: Jim James/Yim Yames, Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Taylor Goldsmith, Rhiannon Giddens
The New Acoustic Guitar Trio (David Lindley, Richard Thompson, Steve Morse)
ReplyDeleteGinger Baker's Airforce (First Lineup)
The Dirty Mac
The Super Super Blues Band
besides Blind Faith, CSNY, PERRO and so on
Crosby, Stills, Nash, and What's-His-Face brought together a lot of streams in their amalgam of pop, country, and rock. And their harmonies were pretty damn good too. When John McLaughlin became a part of Shakti, it was a bringing together of one of the foremost guitarists in the West with some of India's great classical musicians from both the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. In jazz, VSOP produced some beautiful music at a time the genre was struggling to find a way forward.
ReplyDeleteThanks for today's musical bounty, Babs. Among a stellar lineup, George "Harmonica" Smith is one of my faves. He had the gnarliest tone on chromatic I've ever heard, and was a decent singer too. I used to catch him at the Navy Club in Venice now and then. Largely forgotten and unheralded, George Smith deserves to be heard by modern blues fans.
The Traveling Wilburys, thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteI have always considered Weather Report to be a supergroup, but one that I liked the constituent parts better than the whole.
ReplyDeleteSame here.
DeleteBut the original WR "Live In Tokyo" is all killer no filler.
DeleteThe Wilburys, Cream, CSNY, the sides Jimmie Rodgers did with the Carter Family in 1931, the collabs Ernest Tubb did with Red Foley in the '50s.
ReplyDeleteC in California
V.S.O.P.: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams and Freddie Hubbard.
ReplyDeleteJust to add to the list:
ReplyDeleteHumble Pie
Bad Company
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Asia
French Frith Kaiser Thompson
ReplyDeleteThe Piltdown Men
Any group of musicians, even if individually "stars", isn't a "supergroup". It's just a group. A supergroup is a group hyped as such in the media, or by the record company. Anyway, it's as next to meaningless as any other term, and today is used to describe any group whose musicians have been in any other group, and those musicians will of course modestly deny they're a supergroup.
ReplyDeleteAlmost any jazz recording could be said to be by a supergroup.
As a definition, it's useless, except that any act hyped as a supergroup is going to be less than the sum of its parts.
You'r right, "supergroup" is just a marketing thing.
DeleteThat's a pretty narrow and negative interpretation of it. For it to be a 'Supergroup' those involved by default have to have had a considerable amount of success and popularity beforehand and that's not down to hype that's down to ordinary people appreciating the artists concerned and buying their product. That in turn by default means that there are far more people out there who might be interested in the formation of this new 'supergroup' (as they have already built themselves a reputation) than say 4 kids fresh out of their garage with an old bass, a lead guitar and half a drum kit and yes there is going to be hype around it because there's already a potentially large market for their product.
DeleteOn the plus side, I'd rate the original World Saxophone Quartet, the group on Dave Holland's "Conference of the Birds", and the Gateway trio. Rock "supergroups" tend to be mostly meh (Blind Faith, for example). Thanks to @geriatrix, though, for reminding me of FFKT. And for all you blues fans, be sure to avoid the "Super Blues" and "The Super Super Blues Band" with Muddy, Bo, Walter (one the first) and Wolf (on the second). On the subject of Muddy, DON'T avoid "Fathers and Sons" for an example of how a supergroup is supposed to operate.
ReplyDeleteThe J.B.'s
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_J.B.%27s
The band sent out by David Geffen to conquer the world...and dethrone Crosby, Stills & Nash...
ReplyDeleteThe Souther Hillman Furay Band!
Ok, ok, I kid. They're fine, but far from great, and whatever coup Geffen thought he had by putting this together, went away as quickly as the inspiration (mostly $$$) and motivation (mostly $$$) for this project.
Generally speaking, most so-called super groups never really delivered on the promise of 'whattabout we put these guys together and see magic happen', did they?
The Trio of Doom - John McLaughlin on guitar, Jaco Pastorius on bass and Tony Williams on drums. The had only one concert 1979 and one CD. So Sad!
ReplyDeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/zRvDWhu6WQX
Not a group, but perhaps a super duo: The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show by guitarists Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, released by RCA Records in 1974. I bought this on vinyl many years ago and played it often. There's some lovely guitar playing interspaced with chit-chat between Atkins & Travis, quite enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Dragon Fruit (popular in Thailand), we sometimes put a little salt on it before eating, tasty! Most Thai fruit sellers offer a tiny satchel with a chilli, sugar, & salt mix with your purchase. It took some time to get used to it, but by now I really appreciate it. Exception is maybe papaya, add some lime juice instead!
Thanks for Big Joe, Babs, he was cool!
Not to derail the thread, but I can't believe you heard that Foghat song (which I've never heard of) on a dinosaur rock station like Q-104. I mean I believe you did, I just can't believe they played it, because their playlists are so limited these days and I've never heard them play a song I hadn't heard a thousand times. The only Foghat songs I know are Fool For The City and their cover of I Just Want To Make Love To You by Muddy.
ReplyDeleteAs for a supergroup, how about Los Super Seven?