Chicago | All About Blues Music

ARTHUR’ BIG BOY’ CRUDUP

Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup was a powerful and dynamic singer who wrote, ‘That’s Alright Mama’, the song which demolished the racist idea that music had a colour. His reward was small and late arriving, but Arthur’s singing and songwriting talents deserve to be much more than a footnote to the Story of the Blues. Born…

CURTIS JONES

Curtis Jones was a melodic, Texas Blues pianist with a distinctive light touch, who enjoyed a successful recording career in Chicago before WWII, and then had a revival on the 60s Blues scene. He developed his style in Dallas and the club circuit in Kansas City before moving to Chicago in 1936. During the next…

FRED BELOW

‘Drums….Fred Below’ was one of those credits that seemed to turn up on almost every album sleeve on those classic days of Chicago Blues. His swinging shuffles could be heard behind the full roster of Blues Legends as he pulled off his special trick of keeping “a Blues beat with a Jazz feel”. Always in…

LUTHER ALLISON

Luther Allison was born in Arkansas in 1939, and relocated to Chicago when he was 12. He learned guitar and would hang around outside the clubs in the hope of being invited in to play. One day his dream came true and Howlin’ Wolf, no less, invited him onstage. Luther often played behind harp legend…

MAGIC SLIM

Magic Slim had a career spanning nearly 60 years and three dozen albums, as the leader of legendary Chicago band The Teardrops. Schooled in the ‘second wave’ of Chicago Blues coming out of the West-side clubs in the late 50s, Slim’s heavy vibrato guitar, roaring deep voice and commanding stage presence made him a formidable…

MEMPHIS MINNIE

The classic period of Blues recording in the 20’s was the era of the Blues Diva, glamorous women who the radio stations and record companies could promote as stars, like Hollywood did with its yound actresses. Memphis Minnie shattered that mould as a guitarist, singer and songwriter as steeped in country Blues as any Delta…

WASHBOARD SAM

The washboard was the rhythm instrument of choice for street musicians playing the Blues in the early days, but Washboard Sam took it into the studio and made himself a strong career as a session musician in Chicago. He also had a great voice and a talent for songwriting that saw him record more than…

OTIS RUSH

Chicago in the mid-50s was Bluesville. The music of BB King, Elmore James and the ‘Big Beasts’ of the Chess label dominated the Delta based Blues heard in every club on the South-side, but across on the West side of town, a new sound was taking shape. The heavy back-beat behind harp and guitars that…

TAMPA RED

Tampa Red and Big Bill Broonzy were good friends, long-time drinking buddies and the twin powerhouses behind the Blues scene in 1930s Chicago. Neither man had an ego problem and they both acted as mentors to the dozens of young musicians arriving from the South. Red’s apartment became a rehearsal space, rooming house and unofficial…

JOHNNY ‘Big Moose’ WALKER

Shy, retiring characters don’t get called ‘Big Moose’, and loud barrelhouse pianist Johnny Walker got his tag from wearing his hair long and shaggy, but also for his wild personality. He was hugely popular with his fellow musicians for his energy and humour, and onstage he sometimes performed wearing a gorilla mask. When on tour…