“The Blues of Otis Spann” (Decca 1964) / “Raw Blues” (Ace of Clubs 1967) ‘Stirs Me Up’ (Decca 45)

Muddy Waters made his first trip to the U.K. in 1958, at the invitation of Chris Barber.  Rather than bring his full band, he brought only his best friend, pianist Otis Spann.

            Barber had been working professionally for almost a decade at this point, playing “Trad-Jazz” (England’s interpretation of Dixieland Jazz); his deep immersion and knowledge of Black American music may have lead him to the misguided idea that most those who enjoyed his music would share the same appreciation for music that they might not be familiar with.

            Waters’ and Spann’s first scheduled show in the U.K. had them playing as a duo as part of a series of jazz concerts.  The bio written for Waters in the concert program emphasized Waters’ early life on a Southern Plantation, billing him as “a living link to the folk tradition of the Deep South”. 

            The audience was expecting an acoustic performance.  Then Waters plugged in his Fender Telecaster (far from widely available in England at the time – demand for the instrument grew after this tour) and Spann began a “mighty rumbling” on his piano and the audience was aghast. 

            This was not what they expected (read: wanted to) hear.

            The next ten days found Waters and Spann touring the country with Barber’s band backing them and that seemed to have created a different set of expectations.  Audiences were more open to the sound the Americans were making, which the Melody Maker jazz critic, Max Jones, described as “…tough, unpolite…often very loud…vital, uninhibited and decidedly ‘Down South’”.

            Within a year of their visit, young English teenagers such as Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Pete Townshend and Jimmy Page were all beginning to long for and begin buying Telecasters. 

            Five years after that, when Waters and Spann (and Waters’ band) returned to the U.K. during a stop on the Blues & Gospel Caravan Tour in 1964, those English teenagers were now young men and making names for themselves.

               Two of these young men would be invited by Mike Vernon to contribute to the session that he was doing with Otis Spann for Decca Records.

            Spann had recorded on album in the States in 1960 for the Candid label and another in Copenhagen, Denmark during his next trip overseas in 1963.

            Vernon had brought Spann into the studio along with the Muddy Waters Band (including Muddy on guitar) and they cut nineteen tracks in a day.  Twelve would be released on an LP, “The Blues of Otis Spann” (Decca 1964); one would be released as the A-side of a single, the B-side was from the LP and heavily overdubbed and four would see release three years later on a Decca compilation title “Raw Blues” (Decca 1967) and another two sat in the vaults for twenty years before being released as “bonus tracks” on a re-issue of the LP in the Netherlands.

Otis Spann

Otis Spann: piano & vocal / Brother (Muddy Waters): guitar /

Ransom Knowling: bass / Little Willie Smith: drums

Recorded May 04, 1964 – Released 1964

Available on: “The Blues of Otis Spann” (Decca 1964)

Side 1

Rock Me Mama

I Came From Clarksdale

Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket

Spann’s Boogie

Sarah Street

The Blues Don’t Like Nobody

Side 2

Meet Me In the Bottom

Lost Sheep in the Fold

I Got a Feeling

Jangleboogie

T-99

Natural Days

Personnel & recording information the same as above

Released & Available on:

“Take Me Back Home” (Black Magic 1984) (Netherlands)

Bonus tracks added to original twelve

Nobody Knows

I’d Rather Be the Devil

Personnel & recording information the same as above

*Eric Clapton: guitar

Released & Available on:

“Raw Blues” (Ace of Clubs 1967)

*Pretty Girls Everywhere (Eugene Church)

Country Boy

My Home in the Desert

You’re Gonna Need My Help

Personnel & recording information the same as above

*Eric Clapton: guitar / Jimmy Page: harmonica/ **Jimmy Page: harmonica, bass & guitar (overdubbed)

Released & Available on:

Decca 45 A-side: ‘Stirs Me Up’, B-side ‘Keep Your Hands Out of My Pocket’

*Stirs Me Up

** Keep Your Hands Out of My Pocket

Otis Spann

Otis Spann: piano & vocal / Brother (Muddy Waters): guitar /

Ransom Knowling: bass / Little Willie Smith: drums

Recorded May 04, 1964 – Released 1964

Available on: “The Blues of Otis Spann” (Decca 1964)

            This is one of the few tracks from the LP that I have found on YouTube, but it is an excellent example of just how tight this band was.  Note Willie Smith’s drumming; he effortlessly follows Spann wherever he goes.  A fun instrumental.

Otis Spann – Jangleboogie –

Personnel & recording information the same as above

Except, Brother (Muddy Waters): guitar & vocal /

Released & Available on: “Raw Blues” (Ace of Clubs 1967)

Otis Spann – You Gonna Need My Help –

            This excellent deep blues was most likely left off the original LP because of Waters’ vocals (as if his slide playing didn’t immediately reveal the true identity of “Brother”!)

            The three band tracks alone make “Raw Blues” a worthy purchase for Blues fans; the track with Eric Clapton, the cover of Eugene Church’s ‘Pretty Girls Everywhere’ is a nice bonus. 

            The nineteen year old Clapton had done a few live dates backing Sonny Boy Williamson II with The Yardbirds and had only done two studio sessions with The Yardbirds when he was recruited to add guitar to a couple of songs being recorded.

            The self-professed “Blues Purist”, Clapton, didn’t seem to mind that we was being asked to play on a decidedly non-blues number and he adds appropriate accompaniment to the number,

Personnel & recording information the same as “The Blues of Otis Spann” (Decca 1964)

Minus: Muddy Waters: guitar / Add: Eric Clapton: guitar

            Released on & Available on: “Raw Blues” (Ace of Clubs 1967)

Otis Spann – Pretty Girls Everywhere –

            I’ve always felt this was the far stronger of the two tracks featuring Eric Clapton and was surprised that it wasn’t pulled as the A-side of the single.

            Clapton was in the studio for the recording of the two numbers and afterwards, Vernon brought in session ace Jimmy Page to overdub harmonica on ‘Stirs Me Up’ as well as bass and guitar on ‘Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket’ (the single’s B-side)

Note that in 1969, Vernon would take ten songs from the original LP, slather them in reverb and overdub guitar from Spit James (real name Ian Cruickshank) of the Keef Hartley Band as well as a small horn section (Steve Gregory, tenor saxophone / Bud Beadle: baritone saxophone and Red M. Lee: trumpet) on two of the songs, rename all the songs and switch the running order of the original LP and reissue the album under the title “Cracked Spanner Head” (Deram 1969)

            A write-up of the 1964 Decca single can be found here: https://smilingcorgipress.com/punks-meet-the-godfathers/