DANNY KALB: Master Guitarist RIP

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The Blues Project

   I don’t remember the exact time of year, probably early 1967 when my Dad’s friend got a few records that “fell off the truck” as he said. He listened to each and said they weren’t his cup of tea so he gifted the small stack to me, a young 15 year old record collector. There I found a Phil Ochs album, one by Buffy St. Marie, a Dave Van Ronk collection, and two BLUES PROJECT albums, “Projections” and “Live at Cafe Au Go Go”. While none made a heavy rotation on my turntable at that moment in time the “Projections” collection did garner some interest, especially a few months later while listening to TEN YEARS AFTER doing the traditional gospel number “I Can’t Keep From Cryin’, Sometimes” which AL KOOPER arranged for THE BLUES PROJECT. Then, The BLUES PROJECT spun more frequently and were heard more often during the evening hours on WNEW_FM radio.Later on I found there was a connection between PHIL OCHS, DAVE VAN RONK and DANNY KALB co-founder of THE BLUES PROJECT.

   Over the many decades of collecting music and going to concerts I must admit that I never saw THE BLUES PROJECT live and never purchased one of their albums as the first two albums were gifted to me and my buddy gave me two cds, an “Anthology”(1997) of “the BLUES PROJECT”. After reading of the death of DANNY KALB at age 80 (November 19, 2022) I did a bit of research while tossing the double cds on for a go.In retrospect I found his guitar playing to be amazing stuff, especially when the songs are listened to in a chronological sequence. So, today I offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of DANNY KALB and regret in hindsight not having listened to this master guitarist over these many years. REST IN PEACE, Godspeed, DANNY KALB.

MUSIC I NEVER HEARD UNTIL…

Oh, Ye, gentle mistresses and most distinguished gentlemen, and others… The opinions and observations are solely my own views, and I take full responsibility for any errors of fact, not to mention any predictions that prove to be wildly inaccurate.

Today’s Listening Pleasure: HOWLIN WOLF-“Howlin’ Wolf”  

   Playing stick ball in the street with the fellows, we usually had a battery operated AM radio playing the Top 40 tunes of the day to keep us company. One hot summer day in 1964 I heard a strange sounding song, one that starts off with a guitarist plucking each string slowly, followed by bass, drums, and an organ. Then, the voice, and oh what a voice it was…“There is a house in New Orleans”… “Who is this?, What is this?” I awaited for the DJ to announce the tune. Finally, he said, “That’s THE ANIMALS with “House Of The Rising Sun”. I knew I had to find that single on my next trip to the record store.

   Being a very young teen record collector is a difficult hobby to have. Most of my friends collected baseball cards or stamps, me I needed vinyl. Having limited resources a record had to really kick me in the balls for me to buy it. A paper route helped but not by much so at this juncture in time my items were usually limited to the occasional album but mostly singles, aka “the 45”, hopefully one with a picture sleeve. Stored alphabetically in a small compact carrying case each item was also recorded in my “journal” as to where I bought it, who I was with when I bought it and mostly, why or how I became aware of the recording. Years later this journal would be a blast to read and laugh at. But I digress…

   I finally found “House of The Rising Sun” b/w “Talkin’‘Bout You” as it shimmed up the chart  becoming a #1 hit. A few months later The ANIMALS were on Sullivan, SHINDIG!, HULLABALOO, and again all over the radio with various hits “I’m Crying”,“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, et al. All good stuff for sure. “House” was the only ANIMALS single I had, then mid 1966 I bought “The Best of The Animals” album. It was wonderful, gaining a heavy rotation on my turntable. One tune in particular blew me away, “Boom, Boom”. I needed to know more about this recording and who is JOHN LEE HOOKER, the songwriter. I take the bus to TSS which had a great record department. The older guy behind counter, somewhat of a blow hard, knew everything about only what he liked. He once said when describing an album to a customer “it gave me goosebumps on my toe nails, that’s how good that record is”. “WTF is he was talking about?”, I thought.  I searched the bins for HOOKER to no avail. There appeared to be no album nor single by JOHN LEE HOOKER. I was frustrated but determined to find something/anything.The guy at the counter just said, “Nope” when I asked. He obviously either didn’t know who JOHN LEE HOOKER was, OR saw a fourteen year old boy and thought, “get outta here, punk”. A few other less stocked record stores had no HOOKER either.

   Then, two years later while working as a summer intern on Wall Street, all of 16 years old, lo and behold in WALL STREET RECORDS I find the “Concert at Newport” album by JOHN LEE HOOKER. I couldn’t wait to get home to check it out. Amazing, just Mr. Hooker and a bassist, recorded live in 1963. Opening track is “I Can’t Quit You Baby Blues”. A few months later the same tune is on side two of LED ZEPPELIN’S debut album (not credited to JL HOOKER) and it was the opening number when I saw them at FILLMORE EAST, May of 1969.

   Another tune I heard on the radio was “Smokestack Lightning” by a band called SMOKESTACK LIGHTNIN’. I heard this particular song before (Yardbirds) but not like this version, this was slow and deliberate. I knew it was written by HOWLING’WOLF as was “Spoonful” but who was this HOWLIN’ WOLF. Oh my…I got the HOWLIN’ WOLF album (released 1962) aka “The Rocking Chair” lp, and that collection led me to WILLIE DIXON whose recordings were very hard to find. But, I did it…

   In short, the original or so I thought “original” recordings were great upon first listen but eventually I realized these Brits were only reinventing American blues music which me, an American, had never heard until…

to be continued…

TICKETS TORN IN HALF: October 10,1991- JOHN LEE HOOKER with Buddy Guy @ THE BEACON, NYC.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF10/10/91: JOHN LEE HOOKER& THE COAST TO COAST BLUES BAND,THE BENSON & HEDGES BLUES EXPLOSION with Buddy Guy, John Campbell,Tinsley Ellis @ THE BEACON, NYC. When a legend is on the bill you must go. When TWO legends are on the bill, you must get as close to the front as you possibly can, which I did. Directly up front and center. I sat next to an elderly man who knew everything in the world about JOHN LEE HOOKER, and was interested in my observations of Mr. Buddy Guy. He nor I knew anything about Campbell nor Ellis but enjoyed their sets. Buddy was as always “on”, and more so in his excitement of sharing a stage with John Lee Hooker.Note:This was two years after THE HEALER album.

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 8,1999-ERIC BURDON@ IMAC,Huntington,NY

TICKETS TORN IN HALF:October 8,1999-ERIC BURDON@ IMAC,Huntington,NY

After hearing a recording of THE ANIMALS doing “Boom Boom” by John Lee Hooker it was only a very short period of time before I was adding blues records by black Americans to my primarilly Anglophile collection. That song, as the lyrics go, really “knocked me out”. I watched as THE ANIMALS performed on ED SULLIVAN, again my mouth wide open,but I never had the opportunity to see them live, never, not as THE ANIMALS Parts 1,2 or 3. So this was my shot at seeing a legend perform in a small theater not far from my home. I went with two buddies, the three of us attending with great anticipation. “Ladies and gentlemen, a true legend…ERIC BURDON”… and sadly, that was the highpoint of the evening.

ROCK’S IN MY HEAD: Chapter 11- THE BLUES IN BRITAIN

From February 1964-66 The British ruled the US airwaves. The movie  A HARD DAYS NIGHT made LONDON appear cool while Carnaby Street fashions sold like hotcakes in The States. The Mersey Beat sound, as well as the (American) blues influenced London groups, were TOP OF THE POPS in the colonies as well as the Motherland. In the UK THE BEATLES were the most successful artists with 17 singles hitting #1, on top of the UK charts for 69 weeks during the 1960’s with SHE LOVES YOU being the best selling UK single for the entire decade.

The Beatles started as THE QUARRY MEN SKIFFLE BAND in 1957. SKIFFLE style music (guitar, washboard, tea chest bass) was popularized in England by LONNIE DONEGAN who was influenced by American HUDDIE LEDBETTER  better known as Lead Belly who had a hit with ROCK ISLAND LINE in1956) . BIG BILL BROONZY, another American artist was also an icon in England.

BIG BILL BROONZY aka Lee Conley Bradley was a true mystery man, a story teller to the Nth degree. He fabricated many a monologue using each as introductions to his tunes. Usually his “tales” were at best an amalgam of stories told to him by others. But according to most who saw him, BIG BILL was  a great story teller and performer nonetheless. A farm hand born to slaves he played violin and fiddle, later as an itinerant preacher he became Bill Broonzy for unknown reasons. He moved to Chicago in the 1920’s learned guitar and started recording as BIG BILL in 1927.

(broonzy.com)On 23 December, 1938, Big Bill was one of the principal solo performers in the first “From Spirituals to Swing” concert held at the Carnegie Hall in New York City. In the programme for that performance, Broonzy was identified in the programme only as “Big Bill” (he did not become known as Big Bill Broonzy until much later in his career) and as Willie Broonzy. He was described as:”…the best-selling blues singer on Vocalion’s ‘race’ records, which is the musical trade designation for American Negro music that is so good that only the Negro people can be expected to buy it.” The programme recorded that the Carnegie Hall concert “will be his first appearance before a white audience”.

In the fifties, folk blues (acoustic blues) gained popularity in England as Big Bill Bronzy toured the countryside. He was followed a few years later by the electric blues of MUDDY WATERS, SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON, JOHN LEE HOOKER, SISTER ROSETTA THARPE, BLIND GARY DAVIS, SONNY TERRY, and OTIS SPAN. In 1963 MELODY MAKER declared London “the NEW CHICAGO”. American Black artists felt a bit more comfortable touring Europe than they did in the USA.

Also in June of 1963 The STONES release their first single which is a remake of CHUCK BERRY’S 1961 tune “Come On”. Chuck’s original did not chart in the US yet The Stones hit #21 in the Mother Country. The Stones B-side was a remake of WILLIE DIXON’S “I Want To Be Loved”.

CHUCK BERRY was a pioneer of American rock n roll. A singer, songwriter, and guitarist of some renown to say the least. Berry developed a unique guitar sound with a few moves stolen from T-BONE WALKER and together with the addition of the amazing pianist JOHNNIE JOHNSON the two wrote some of the greatest rock songs: “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958).

In 1964, a tune written and recorded by JOHN LEE HOOKER’s (“DIMPLES”) was released in England as a single and stays on the UK charts for 10 weeks peaking at #23. Immediately THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP adds the tune to their set and recorded their version which charts. The Animals also add it to their set. Next HOWLIN WOLF’S “Smokestack Lightning” charts at #42 but more importantly THE YARDBIRDS, MANFRED MANN, THE ANIMALS and THE WHO add that song to their set lists.

The most significant UK single was a WILLIE DIXON (1961) penned tune “Little Red Rooster” originally recorded by HOWLIN’ WOLF, reworked ever so slightly and released in 1964 by THE ROLLING STONES. Their interpretation charts as #1, the first blues record to top the British charts. London Records THE STONES US record company refused to release the 45 in the states.

Within short order THE ANIMALS release LED BELLY’S “House of the Rising Sun”, THE MOODY BLUES record BESSIE BANKS “Go Now”, THE YARDBIRDS do the same with SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON’S  “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl”, and THE ANIMALS “steal” NINA SIMONE’S “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. And ALL becoming huge hits in England and as well as in the States where the naive record buying public assumed these were original songs for the recording artist.

See you next time….Chapter12-POST WWII- THE BRITS and THE U.S. Comments?  jazzbus@gmail.com