![]() Alex van der Tuuk’s essay, Clifford Gibson, illustrated by a Victor Test of Don’t Put That Thing On Me (CD #7) and an engaging photograph of Gibson and his performing dog, brings this accomplished St. Armenter “Bo” Carter was much more than that: he was an exceptional guitarist and very fine singer. To my recollection it did, but it was, back then, allied with Sam Charter’s glancing reference to him in The Country Blues (1959) as “Bo Carter… a ‘party blues’ singer”. Wardlow argues that this picture shaped “the contemporary image of Bo Carter in popular memory”. Wardlow offers these as an alternative to Paul Oliver’s picture (in Conversation With The Blues, Cassell, 1960) of the blind Bo Carter sitting alone with his steel guitar. ![]() It is Illustrated with informal and rather charming photographs of Carter playing for a group of white children (in 1958). The pre-war blues is further documented in “Memories of Tommy Johnson” (CD #6, Cool Drink Of Water), a compilation of reminiscences by Johnson ’s friends and family collected in the early 1960s by Gayle Dean Wardlow, who also contributes a poignant piece on the final years of Bo Carter. ![]() Not only does it document the life and death (by lightning strike!) of Walter “Pat” Rhodes, it also explores the role of the accordion in African-American music, the connection between Rhodes and Charlie Patton ( Banty Rooster Blues) as well as the biographies of Rhodes’ brilliant accompanists - Richard and Mylon Harney (Pet and Can). It’s a pleasure to learn so much more about their lives.Ĭrowing Rooster, an exhaustive investigation by David Evans, Bob Eagle and associates of an obscure record by Walter Rhodes (CD #8), reveals larger contexts. All of this gives context to the work of these pianists and singers which I’ve long admired and collected and which is illustrated by Rob Cooper’s splendid piano solo West Dallas Drag (CD #1). The article marries the vivid recollections of Buster Pickens and Robert Shaw, last survivors of the Santa Fee, with the facts rather starkly recorded in registers of births and deaths. One of the results is West Dallas Drag by Bob Eagle and Michael Hortig which sheds new light on the lives (and music) of “The Santa Fee Pianists”: Black Boy Shine, Pinetop Burkes, Andy Boy, Son Becky and Joe Pullum. ![]() It contains major research articles by some of most distinguished writers on early blues and jazz including David Evans, Dean Gayle Wardlow, Chris Smith, Bob Eagle, Michael Hortig, Alex van der Tuuk, David Butters, Ate van Deldon, Brian Goggin (of this parish) and the editor himself, Paul Swinton.Ī number of the major pieces here are the results of “forensic” research in official documents, especially census records, and the re-examination of older sources such as pioneering interviews from the 1960s. This current annual is the last of the series and it is a wonderful coda to a splendid project. Each annual is accompanied by a CD which showcases (in exemplary sound) some of the music discussed in the book and often made available previously unheard takes and test pressings, previously unreleased field recordings and vanity pressings. Even if it didn’t appear annually, it was always worth the wait because its editor, Paul Swinton, somehow always managed to gather together a fascinating miscellany of important primary research into early blues and jazz, with galleries of historic photographs (often hitherto unseen by the majority of collectors), contemporary advertising material and sheet music, as well historic newspaper articles, magazine pieces and reminiscences. Since 2010 when the first volume appeared, the Frog Blues And Jazz Annual has been eagerly anticipated. ![]() West Dallas Drag Short Dress Gal Butter-Finger Blues Fussin’ and Frettin’ Tomorrow Night Cool Drink Of Water Blues Don’t Put That Thing On Me Crowing Rooster Saturday Night Fish Fry Drag Cavernism Weary Weasel Whitewash Station Bumble Bee Blues Hometown Skiffle #2 Hometown Skiffle #3 Eaton Clan Slow & Easy At The Jazz Band Ball Mister Freddy Fragment & Slow Blues See My Baby Band Box Stomp Would Ya? State Street Jive Poor Boy Long Way From Home Ain’t Got No Mama Now. 6: MUSICIANS, RECORDS AND MUSIC OF THE 78 ERA. To submit material for review see our Contact page for contactīOOK & CD SET: THE FROG BLUES & JAZZ ANNUAL No. We welcome submissions from publishers and record companies for review. Popular feature of the 'hard copy' magazine for many years - its insightful andĪuthoritative reviews by our highly-respected, knowledgeable writers cover theīroadest spectrum of jazz and blues books, CDs, videos, periodicals and much more. VJM's Review pages have been a consistent and ![]()
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