Bluesman | All About Blues Music

CHRIS SPEDDING

Guitarist Chris Spedding is not weighed down by fame, but if you consider his work over the last 50 years, he has made a subtle contribution to many aspects of modern musical history. He has played with old Bluesmen; up-and-coming Punks; massively popular kids’ comedy bands; he toured with Rock icons; appeared in big musical…

LONNIE JOHNSON

Guitar maestro Lonnie Johnson didn’t thrash his axe like a Delta field-hand or finger delicate chord patterns like a Piedmont rag-picker, but the early guitar stylists like Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker and the Three Kings, BB, Freddie and Albert would all recognise the trail that Lonnie blazed. His single-string style was precise and thoughtful, giving…

ELLA FITZGERALD

‘The First Lady of Song’ won a talent show at The Apollo in 1934. After fronting Chick Webb’s orchestra, she had hits with Louis Jordan‘s band and The Delta Rhythm Boys. Working with be-bop star Dizzie Gillespie, she developed her ‘scat’ singing with her influential 1945 recording of ‘Flying Home’, but when she recorded The…

DON ‘Sugarcane’ HARRIS

Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris was given his nick-name (by Johnny Otis) when he was half of Don and Dewey, the vocal duo who co-authored rock’n’roll hits, ‘Farmer John’, ‘Justine’ and ‘Big Boy Pete’. Playing a Jazz-influenced electric violin, Don featured on several albums and tours by Frank Zappa and John Mayall‘s bands, before fronting ‘The Pure Food…

KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD

When a seven-year-old kid gets to meet someone like Stevie Ray Vaughan, there’s a good chance he’ll pick up a guitar and try to play some Blues-Rock. Kenny Wayne Shepherd took up the challenge with both hands and made a big name for himself as a young Master of the Stratocaster. Displaying plenty of guitar…

HUGH LAURIE

Highest paid actor in a TV series for his work in ‘House’, film-star, best-selling novelist and hilarious partner to Steven Fry in UK comedies, Hugh is an unlikely Blues icon. His first album, ‘Let Them Talk’ featured 10 classic Blues songs, and included guest appearances from Dr. John, Tom Jones and Irma Thomas. It made…

LES PAUL

Les Paul invented the first effective solid bodied electric guitar. The Gibson Corporation rejected ‘The Log’, an electric guitar Les put together after hours in the Epiphone factory where Les worked in 1940, but when Leo Fender put out his ‘Esquire’ ten years later, they called him back! Les designed the guitar that carries his…

JIMMY RUSHING

‘Mister Five-by-Five’ was probably the loudest Blues Shouter of them all. Fronting the Count Basie Orchestra, Jimmy Rushing was still capable of injecting great emotional force into his performances at a volume that barely needed a microphone! His careful phrasing brought the Blues into the repertiore of swing bands as Count Basie’s front-man; his up-tempo…

MEADE ‘LUX’ LEWIS

This ace ‘Boogie-Woogie’ pianist rose to national fame in the late 30’s when his rocking keyboard music was the current dance craze. Boogie-woogie had enjoyed some popularity in Chicago ten years earlier when Lux’s tune, ‘Honky Tonk Train Blues’ was a hit and became a piano standard, but when the style went nationwide, ‘Lux’ lived…

RECORDING THE BLUES

“Thank God for recording. It’s the best thing that’s happened to us since writing” Keith Richards. ‘Life’ C.2010. Keef was right. Recording is a paradigm shift on a parallel with the rise of literacy. Before recording, music was only available to those within earshot of the musicians. Troubadours would carry their tunes around the region,…