Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories (Music in American Life)
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Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories (Music in American Life) $19.93 Through revealing portraits of selected local artists and slice-of-life vignettes drawn from the city’s pubs and lounges, “Chicago Blues” encapsulates the sound and spirit of the blues as it is lived today. As a committed participant in the Chicago blues scene for more than a quarter century, David Whiteis draws on years of his observations and extensive interviews to paint a full picture of the C… |
Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories (Music in American Life)
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August 13th, 2011 at 2:22 am
Terrific overview of the changing Chicago blues scene and community,
David Whiteis’ new book, “Chicago Blues: Portraits and Stories,” is a collection of portraits of blues performers and venues that provides a sense of the diversity of the Chicago blues scene with an emphasis on its evolution as a living tradition among the city’s African-American community. There are chapters devoted to departed masters to a number of contemporary performers representing a diversity of approaches to the blues, and in the process provides an enlightening overview of a still evolving blues scene and tradition. The portraits are derived from articles that Whiteis wrote for a variety of publications including the Chicago Reader, Juke Blues and Living Blues, and it would be welcome for no other reason than making these available, but the book is more than that.
The first part of Chicago Blues is devoted to Elder Spirits, and includes chapters on Junior Wells, Sunnyland Slim and Big Walter Horton. What is surprising is how little has been written on these three and Whiteis’ chapters are welcome for recounting these the lives of these pioneers and masters of the post-war Chicago blues scene. As Whiteis notes, these three mentored him as he developed an knowledge and love of the blues, and his affection for them is obvious as can be gleaned from what he states about Sunnyland Slim, “We weren’t what you would call blood brothers. I don’t claim to have been his intimate confidant. Nevertheless, I honestly believe that no one else ever taught me so much about life than Sunnyland Slim did. To hear that voice growl through the octaves, build into a liontine roar, and then soar into a leonine roar, and then soar into high-tenor declarations of freedom-bound blues passion — or just spend time in the presence of this tender-hearted giant of a man — was to learn life lessons of the most profound and lasting kind.”
The Second Part, “We Gon’ Pitch a Boogie Woogie!” is an examination of blues venues past and present. There is a chapter on Florence’s Lounge, the neighborhood lounge where Hound Dog Taylor and Magic Slim had held regular gigs before they began their years of touring which closed in the ear;y 1980s; the celebrated Maxwell Street Market whose rich history is recounted along with the gentrification of Chicago, expansion of the Chicago campus of Maxwell Street and its destruction of this historical area with a promise of a restored and improved, but ultimately sanitized, area. Whiteis’ bittersweet account of the last day of Maxwell Street brings the community that the University destroyed alive for us. The final chapter of this part, Clubbing the Current Chicago Scene, provides sketches of different venues including the Delta Fish Market and its successor, Wallace’s Catfish Corner; the Starlite Lounge and the late Harmonica Khan who was a star in this neighborhood juke; and then taking in Denise LaSalle’s show at East of the Ryan which includes a nice overview of her career in addition to his perceptive analysis of her oft salty performances that like those of other modern soul and blues artists transcend the dichotomy between sacred and profane.
The Next Part, Torchbearers is in Whiteis’ words, “the heart of the book.” The portraits of currently active performers who carry on the traditions of the elders. Perhaps these are not all major stylists but each “is representative o the music that remains prevalent on the contemporary scene, and each one’s story exemplifies important facets of the `blues life’ as it is lived by contemporary artists… .” Chapters devoted to Jody Williams, Bonnie Lee, Billy Branch, Sharon Lewis and Lurrie Bell, give us an insight into their personal histories, the ups and downs they have faced and how they continue to preserve with their art. It is a reminder that blues is more than “just notes” or “just a feeling,” devoid of any broader context. Of course, one has to be a bit careful in objecting that the music’s cultural history is obscured and challenging the success of some teenage white prodigies while veteran blacks stay in obscurity and then be labeled as an `ignorant racist,” as Billy Branch, one of the most eloquent teachers of the blues as well as a blues performer of the highest order. Chapters on Bonnie Lee, who first came up under Sunnyland Slim and later was associated with the late Willie Kent and Sharon Lewis were revelatory about two women who keep doing what they love to do the most, while the chapter on Lurrie Bell detailed the travails of his life as well as his triumphs (musical and personal).
Part IV, The Soul Side of Town, is devoted to Artie `Blues Boy’ White (who notes even down south some of the venues he used to play have closed), Cicero Blake and Little Scotty (the later a social activist as well as singer). The book concludes with a Coda, as Whiteis ruminates on the current state of the music and its future, observing that their seem to be new obstacles today to the music surviving, but also reminding us that the…
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|August 13th, 2011 at 3:10 am
Thinking About the Blues,
This excellent book is a personal meditation on the recent and present Chicago blues scene by someone who knows it as well as anyone, and who thinks and writes about it much better than most. This is definitely not an introduction to the blues, but if you are a fan of the music, especially of the artists who are still getting it done in the Windy City, and if you have ever done any big picture musing on what the blues is all about, then this will give you a lot to muse about. I loved it.
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|August 13th, 2011 at 4:06 am
A collection of revealing depictions of selected Chicago blues artists,
Chicago Blues: Portraits And Stories is a collection of revealing depictions of selected Chicago blues artists and true tales from the city’s pubs and lounges, juxtaposed to reveal a vital and dynamic part of African-American culture. Written by the winner of the 2001 Keeping the Blues Alive Award for his journalistic achievements, Chicago Blues includes portraits of blues artists the author has personally known and the life stories of past pioneers. B/W photographs sparsely illustrate this eclectic and captivating account of venues such as East of Ryan and the Starlight Lounge, and artists such as Jumpin’ Willie Cobbs, Harmonica Khan, pianist Sunnyland Slim, and many more.
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|August 13th, 2011 at 4:29 am
A Must-Have for Folk Music Lovers,
This book is filled with great images of performers now much older or passed on. I have given it as a gift.
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|August 13th, 2011 at 5:05 am
Previously unseen photos of 1960s folk, blues and bluegrass scene,
Raeburn Flerlage, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 86, was as much a record man as he was a photographer. His decades of work in writing about, promoting, distributing and selling records gave him both an insider’s collection of contacts and a fan’s undying love of musicians and their music. Moving to Chicago in the mid-1940s he placed himself at a well-traveled crossroads for touring artists and, later, ground-zero of the electric blues revolution. He began studying photography in the late-1950s and was given his first assignment (a session with Memphis Slim that found placement in a Folkways record booklet) in 1959.
Flerlage worked primarily as a freelancer, capturing musicians and their audiences at Chicago’s music festivals, concert halls, theaters, college auditoriums and clubs. He was welcomed into rehearsal halls, recording and radio studios, hotel rooms and even musicians’ homes. His photographs appeared in promotional materials, magazines (most notably, Down Beat), and illustrated books that included Charles Keil’s Urban Blues and Robert Palmer’s Deep Blues. In 1971 he started a record distributorship and mostly stopped taking photographs. When his company closed in 1984 he found the demand for his photos increasing, and spent his “retirement” fielding requests from all around the world.
In 2000 ECW elevated Flerlage from photo credits to photographer with the first book dedicated to his photos, Chicago Blues: As Seen From the Inside. His pictures evidenced the comfort and familiarity of someone who’d mingled with musicians on both a professional and personal level, and who’d developed a feel for their lives and their places of work. Fellow photographer Val Wilmer wrote him “No one else has taken the kind of moody action shots that you took in Chicago, so full of atmosphere and so full of the blues.” His photographs were more than just documentation, they were a part of the scene in which musicians created music. Studs Terkel (who’s included in four photos) pointed out that Flerlage was more than a photographer, he was a companion.
This second volume of photographs, despite its title, is not strictly limited to Chicago musicians or folk singers. “Chicago” covers natives, transplants and those touring through the Windy City, and “Folk” encompasses a variety of roots musicians, including guitar toting singer-songwriters, folk groups, blues and gospel singers, bluegrass bands and more. Even those who know Flerlage’s work – either by name or by sight – are unlikely to have seen this part of his catalog. Among the 200-plus photos here, most have never been published before and none duplicate entries in the earlier Chicago Blues.
There are many well-known musicians depicted here, including Odetta, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Doc Watson, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Furry Lewis, the Weavers, Mother Maybelle Carter, Mississippi John Hurt and Bob Dylan. They’re captured in the act of creation: playing or singing, entertaining an audience or conversing with fellow artists. Big Joe Williams is shown seated, staring off camera in concentration as his right hand blurs with motion. The Staple Singers are depicted with their mouths open in family harmony and their hands suspended between claps. Flerlage focused on a musician’s internal intimacy, but also expanded his frame to add the context of stage, auditorium, spotlight and audience.
Beyond the most easily recognized names, Flerlage made pictures of lesser-known musicians, as well as those instrumental in Chicago and folk’s music scenes. Highlights include rare shots of blues busker Blind Arvella Gray, radio legend Norman Pellegrini, Old Town School of Music co-founders Win Stracke and Frank Hamilton, Folkways label founder Moe Asch, Appalachian artists Roscoe Holcomb and Frank Proffitt, children’s folk singer Ella Jenkins, field recordist Sam Charters, Sing Out editor Irwin Silver, one-man band Dr. Ross, and dozens more. Flerlage also captured record stores such as Kroch and Brentano’s and Discount Records, blending his work as a photographer with his career in distribution.
The photos range from careful…
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|August 13th, 2011 at 5:23 am
The photos capture the time – more about the lesser-known artists would have helped.,
Photographer Raeburn “Ray” Flerage was still living when the book of his photos “Chicago Blues: As Seen From The Inside” was published in 2002. This new volume features over 150 more photos of performers characterized as “folk”, who Flerage captured as they came through the Windy City during the 1960s. Most were not based in Chicago but played the major folk venues like The Gate of Horn or one of the many area “folk festivals”. Flerage’s photos have appeared on many album covers and other books but the ones included here were selected by compilers Ron Cohen and Bob Reisman from the archive of previously unpublished images.
The book begins with an 11-page bio of Flerage by Cohen that tells of his relocation to Chicago and his involvement with the organization People’s Songs, where he met many of the performers who he came to know as friends.
The performers shown fall with the broader caption of the “folk scene”. There are blues artists like Sunnyland Slim and Country performers like (the Grand Ole Opry’s) Stringbean. There is also poet Carl Sandburg. The Staples Singers are here as well as actor (and activist) Brock Peters. The giants of the folk scene are here too: Dylan, Baez, the Weavers (both with, and without, Pete Seeger). Some images capture the performer in situations we are not used to seeing them in. A photo of African singer Miriam Makeba in an evening dress is just one.
Beyond the biographical essay there is little text in the book, other than captions identifying the subject, place and date of the photos. And, therein, lies the weakness of the book. There are many photos of performers unknown outside of Chicago (and probably today unknown within Chicago); names like Arvella Gray, Fleming Brown and Stu Ramsey. It would have been helpful to have a section in the back with one-, or two-, sentence explanations about these lesser knowns.
Still this is a nice book to look through, and serves as a companion to the “Blues” volume. (Flerage took jazz photos too, so that is obviously the next book in this series.)
Steve Ramm
“Anything Phonographic”
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