POST 345: MERLINE JOHNSON, CLARA SMITH - THOSE LADIES OF THE BLUES

Tell me honestly: were you much aware of Lucille Bogan, Mamie Smith, Merline Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Clara Smith and Hattie Hart before Tuba Skinny and other young bands in New Orleans today revived some of their songs? I certainly wasn't. Yes, I knew about Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey, and I was aware of Victoria Spivey and Clara Smith, though I couldn't have told you much about them.

So I must thank Tuba Skinny and others for making me seek out those great lady performers (who were often composers too) from the 1920s and 1930s. Fortunately, quite of a lot of their work is available on YouTube.

Lucille Bogan (in her later years performing as Bessie Jackson) lived from 1897 until 1948, first in Mississippi and later in Alabama. She was twice married.

Lucille

Lucille made a lot of recordings, songs often composed by herself; and some of them are notable for their sexual innuendoes or even explicitness. She was the originator of Tricks Ain't Walking No More. Memphis Minnie recorded it too. This Century, it has become a favourite in Tuba Skinny's repertoire. Lucille's recording probably also influenced their choice of Eddie Miller's composition I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water.

Merline Johnson was probably born in 1912, in Mississippi or Missouri.

Merline

Merline made recordings from 1937 until 1947, usually in the company of some of the most famous blues musicians of that era. If you are a fan, you may be interested to know that it was from Merline Johnson that Tuba Skinny learned Got a Man in the 'Bama Mine, Sold It To The Devil, and Running Down My Man. What a legacy from someone about whom little is known!

Hattie Hart worked both with and apart from The Memphis Jug Band. Among the songs she recorded that Tuba Skinny have taken up were Won't You Be Kind To Me? (her 1928 composition), Ambulance Man, and Papa's Got Your Bath Water On.

Hattie

Not much is known about Hattie, who was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in about 1900.

I must briefly mention Clara Smith, who was born around 1894 in Carolina and worked in both New Orleans and New York. In the 1920s, she recorded well over a hundred songs, often with some of the 'big names'. Though she did not compose it, Clara made Freight Train Blues famous; and this is another song Tuba Skinny have developed dramatically (train noises and all) in their repertoire.

Clara

Among Clara's other interesting recordings are Jelly Bean Blues and Percolatin' Blues. Clara died in 1935.

And what about Mamie Smith (1883 - 1946 - no relation to the other Smiths)? She was the singer who made famous the song composed in 1920 by the 27-year-old Perry Bradford, Crazy Blues. He was the Musical Director of Mamie Smith and Her Jazz Hounds. Mamie recorded it in the same year with huge success. This is now considered by jazz and blues scholars to have been an important milestone in the history of our music, because Mamie was the first black blues singer to be recorded.

Mamie

Mamie could be said to have started the era of classic female blues. In 2014, Tuba Skinny introduced into their repertoire a super version of Crazy Blues - quite a tour de force by their singer Erika Lewis.

Memphis Minnie has become a favourite of mine. It was she who recorded Me and My Chauffeur, Bumblebee, Blood Thirsty Blues, Frisco Town, I'm Goin' Back Home, What's The Matter With The Mill? as well as many other good old songs. Erika Lewis and Tuba Skinny have found her work to be a rich source.

Memphis Minnie

'Memphis Minnie' was of course a stage name. She was born in Algiers (the 'across the river' suburb of New Orleans) in 1897 and her real name was Lizzie Douglas. As a teenager, she became a busker in Memphis and it was there that her musical career was to take off, especially when she was invited to make recordings, together with her second husband (of three): they were billed as 'Kansas Joe and Memphis Minnie'. They wrote quite a lot of their own material. Over the years, Minnie performed in many different cities and recorded for various labels. She had a hard life but seems to have been a tough, resilient, cheerful woman and a good singer and guitarist. Possibly she was the most popular country blues singer of all time. She died in 1973. Fortunately, it is still possible to buy many of her recordings and to find some on YouTube. CLICK HERE  for an example of Minnie's work.

Victoria

As for Victoria Spivey from Houston (who is, I believe, a favourite of Erika's), this lady had a long career. Coming from a musical family, she lived from 1906 until 1976 and was a prolific entertainer.

She was a pianist as well as a singer and composer. (Among her compositions were TB Blues, How Do They Do It That Way?, Black Snake Blues, Detroit Moan, Moaning the Blues, Long Gone, and Spider Web Blues.) She made her first recording in 1926 and her last as late as 1964, having worked at times with several of the big names of jazz. At the age of 56, she launched a record label of her own. She even found time to marry four husbands. CLICK HERE to appreciate Victoria Spivey singing Any Kind A Man Would Be Better Than You; and you will understand at once how much she has influenced today's singers, such as Erika Lewis.

Georgia White was another blues singer who influenced Tuba Skinny. For example, Erika picked up Late Hour Blues from Georgia's 1939 recording of this song by Richard M. Jones. Georgia and Richard worked together and jointly composed I'm Blue and Lonesome; Nobody Cares For Me and Biscuit Roller - both of them songs Erika has adopted - to the delight of her fans. Georgia White is believed to have been born in 1903 and was working in Chicago by the 1920s.

Georgia White

She made a very large number of recordings. She was still performing as late as the 1960s and is believed to have died in about 1980.

While 'researching' these ladies, I discovered there were DOZENS more like them making good blues recordings at the same time. For example, check out Leonia Williams. There are several of her recordings from 1922 and 1923 on YouTube - some of them remarkably clear and impressive. She is accompanied by her 'Dixie Band', though I gather they were actually The Original Memphis Five.

I simply could not study the work of all these ladies. But believe me, they are there all right.

Post 285: SHAYE ESTABLISHES THE KEY WITH AN ARPEGGIO

Just listen to Shaye in the first two seconds of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeRFyDLjtSU

Before the song starts, she runs up an arpeggio through these notes (I'm giving Concert Pitch): Bb -  Eb  -  G  - Bb  - C - Eb.

They make up the chord of Eb, or more accurately Eb6.

Why does she do this? I can think of two reasons.

(1) She is signalling to the rest of the band that this song is to be played in the Key of Eb.

(2) She is establishing in her own her head the 'feel' of the key in which they are about to play. This could be particularly important if the previous song was, for example, in the key of F, and she wants to clear her head of that key and firmly establish the new one.

I have noticed this is a procedure Shaye follows in starting many tunes. This is in addition to the great care she takes to get the tempo just right - sometimes tapping her foot for quite a while before counting the band in  with 'One, Two; One, Two Three, Four'.

It seems a good idea and I wonder whether there are many other band-leaders who adopt it.

Post 262: CHOOSING KEYS FOR VOCALISTS

Erika Lewis

An American musician - Lou - has become a very good pen-friend after first writing to me about an article in this Blog several months ago.

Recently he sent me this message:

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Ivan,
I have been playing the tune Six Feet Down (in G) along with Tuba Skinny from their 2010 CD.
Today I saw the video made of them playing this tune at The Louisiana Music Factory in 2015 (Click here to watch it). I thought I would again play along. But this time they were playing it in F.
Strange!

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This message left me thinking in general about choices of keys.

In the case of Lou's example, I think there is a simple explanation. In 2010, Erika was comfortable singing her song in G (one tone higher than in 2015). But her voice matured over the following five years. By 2015 her perfect comfort zone for a tune such as Six Feet Down had become the key of F. In that key, the lowest note used in her vocal is C and the highest is A, so (unlike some of Erika's other songs, such as Crazy Blues, where she sings high Ebs) it does not require a very great range - just four and a half tones. I am sure she could still sing it in G easily enough; but in F it sounds absolutely right for her 2015 'mature' voice.

Tuba Skinny are well-known for the freedom and boldness with which they roam around the keys and often change key (sometimes more than once) within a tune. On some occasions, the band plays a tune in one key and Erika - when taking a vocal chorus - sings it in another. For example, in How Do They Do It That Way?, you find the band playing choruses in Eb and Erika singing choruses in Bb. The transitions are so skilfully managed that you hardly notice. The same sort of thing happens in Delta Bound, with Erika singing in D minor and the band choruses in G minor.

Traditional jazz musicians come to learn that there is no such thing as a correct key for any tune. You can play in a band that performs Muskrat Ramble in Ab, for example, and then deputise in another band, only to find it plays Muskrat Ramble in Bb. A tune such as Ain't She Sweet may turn up in Bb or Eb. You will hear Breeze in either Eb or F. And so on. Whenever there is a singer, the whole band may have to adapt to an unusual choice of key. For example, after years of playing I Can't Give You Anything But Love in F, you one day find yourself in a band with a lady singer who requires the tune to be played in Bb.

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Post 45: 'CRAZY BLUES' - FROM MAMIE SMITH TO TUBA SKINNY

My friend Jan, who lives in Holland, is a keen gardener and also a fan of Tuba Skinny. He is particularly fond of Erika's wonderful singing. He likes to work in his garden, with Erika singing to him.

Jan has told me how much he likes Crazy Blues - a 2014 addition to Tuba Skinny's repertoire. Jan admires the way Erika sings almost continuously through the entire 4½-minute performance. He says he considers it a 'masterpiece' because of the beauty of the song, the way Erika conveys the emotions and the perfect cooperation of the band in supporting Erika - without any instrumental solos. Jan suggested I should write about the performance and its structure.

Crazy Blues was composed in 1920 by 27-year-old Perry Bradford, who at the time was the musical director of the great early blues singer Mamie Smith. She recorded it that year with her Jazz Hounds. It was a hugely successful recording and is now considered by jazz and blues scholars to have been an important milestone in the history of our music.

Tuba Skinny model their version very closely on Mamie Smith's. They use the same Introduction and structure. The only significant difference is that - after the long vocal - Tuba Skinny add an instrumental ensemble once through the Section I shall call (C). I suppose that, on the Mamie Smith 1920 version, limitations of available recording time prevented the band from doing anything other than rounding the tune off very quickly.

It is indeed a tour de force by Erika. I don't know how she memorises so many songs of this type and sings them so well, apparently with no loss of voice. And at the most emotional moments in this song, she has to hit high Ebs, which are probably at the top of her vocal range.

It's a curiously structured song, though typical of its time, I suppose. You can think of it as having 40 bars of 'Verse' leading into a 16-bar 'Chorus' (let's call the Chorus C) - making 56 bars in all. But the  performers break down the  'Verse' into two parts of 28 bars (let's call that A) and 12 bars (let's call that B) respectively. Tuba Skinny plays the song entirely in the key of Eb and the structure (Introduction plus three themes) seems to me to be:

(Intro) Band Intro: 4 bars.

(A) Erika: 28-bar theme, starting at I can't sleep at Night; I can't eat a bite.... and ending at My love for that man will always be.

(C) Erika: CHORUS 16 bars Now I Got The Crazy Blues......and ending with I ain't had nothin' but bad news; now I got the Crazy Blues. Note how the band again uses the motif from the Introduction at the end of this.

(B) Erika: 12-bar blues theme, starting at Now I can read his letters but I sure can't read his mind., ending now I see my poor love was blind.

(B) Erika: 12-bar blues melody again, but with a different set of words, starting at I went to the railroad.

(C) Erika: CHORUS 16 bars Now I Got The Crazy Blues.

(C) Band: CHORUS 16 bars ensemble to round it off.

As so often, we must thank the great digitalalexa for filming this performance so brilliantly. Watch it by clicking here. And more recently, kassiniru posted a performance filmed at The Dew Drop Hall. You can watch it by clicking here. As at March 2016, Erika has not recorded this song on any of the band's CDs.

Jan - the gentleman in Holland who first contacted me about this song - has also kindly sent me the words:

Crazy Blues

I can't sleep at night.
I can't eat a bite
'Cause the man I love
He don't treat me right.
He makes me feel so blue.
I don't know what to do.
Sometime I sit and sigh
And then begin to cry
'Cause my best friend
Said his last goodbye.

There's a change in the ocean, Change in the deep blue sea, my baby.
I'll tell you, folks,  There ain't no change in me.
My love for that man will always be!

Now I got the crazy blues
Since my baby went away.
I ain't got no time to lose.
I must find him today.
Now the doctor's gonna
do all that he can,
But what you're gonna need
is an undertaker man.

I ain't had nothin' but bad news.

Now I got the crazy blues.

Now I can read his letters--
I sure can't read his mind.
I thought he's lovin' me.
He's leavin' all the time.
Now I see my poor love was blind.

I went to the railroad [to]
Hang my head on the track.
Thought about my daddy--
I gladly snatched it back!
Now my babe's gone
And gave me the sack.

Now I've got the crazy blues
Since my baby went away.
I ain't had no time to lose.
I must find him today.

I'm gonna do like a Chinaman, Go and get some hop--
Get myself a gun, and shoot myself a cop.

ain't had nothin' but bad news
Now I've got the crazy blues.

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