Photo: Lee Orlando (Sean Chambers & Pat DeSalvo & Garnet Grimm) The place: Chicago, City of Big Shoulders. The venue: Reggie’s Bananas Shack. The bands: Fun Parent and Sean Chambers and the Savoy Brown Rhythm Section. The occasion: a celebration of the music of Kim Simmonds and the release of his autobiography, “Street Corner Talking” […]
“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 […]
Slim Harpo, Love Sculpture, The Rolling Stones, Peter Green’s Splinter Group James Moore released his first 45, ‘I’m A King Bee’ under his nom de record Slim Harpo, in 1957 at the age of thirty-three. Starting with a hit, he continued to enjoy mainstream popularity throughout his career, and unlike most of his contemporaries, did […]
Eric Clapton & Jimmy Page meet Otis Spann & Muddy Waters Born March 21, 1930, Otis Spann had made his recorded debut in 1953 as a member of Muddy Waters’ band. He released a lone single under his own name a year later, but recording opportunities were scarce for the pianist after that. He cut […]
Chuck Berry didn’t tour England until May of 1964, but his songs had been in the repertoires of countless British bands for years by then, including the two biggest, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Surprisingly, ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ proved to be particular favorite. I say “surprisingly” as the song was not released in […]
The B-Side: ‘Rambling Pony’ The fourteen-year difference in age between John Mayall and the nineteen-year-old Peter Green at the time of Green’s joining The Bluebreakers was a lifetime in terms of life experience. Green moved into the same apartment block as Mayall on Portchester Road in Bayswater, west London, and the two bonded over Mayall’s […]
Wolf Tracks – ‘How Many More Years’ / ‘No Place to Go’ / ‘You Gonna Wreck My Life’ Chester Burnett’s first record, ‘Moanin’ At Midnight’ backed with ‘How Many More Years’, was recorded by Sam Phillips at the Memphis Recording Studio in Tennessee in July of 1951. It was a rare two-sided hit with ‘How […]
