Elcoh
25 posts
May 28, 2018
7:55 PM
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Some of Sonny Boy 1’s greatest recordings were when he was backing Big Joe Williams. For me those recordings were my first inspiration to learn harp back in the late sixties. As great as his own recordings were something about his harp playing backing Big Joe just blows me away.
https://youtu.be/3W8_8BXmPVA
https://youtu.be/TZg4sZ-dYvA
https://youtu.be/wqTWSoq8A4A
https://youtu.be/rVroPLBFAWg
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Joe_L
2837 posts
May 30, 2018
3:49 PM
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It should blow you away. His playing is really great. I really dig this one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdriQ8CdJV0
If you get a change listen to Blues in the Mississippi Night. It's a pretty heavy recording for the stories.
Last Edited by Joe_L on May 30, 2018 3:51 PM
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Elcoh
26 posts
May 30, 2018
8:19 PM
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Thanks! That’s one of my favorites I have all the Blues Classics LP’s. What’s crazy is that there’s only 2800 hits on YouTube!! Sonny Boy 1 has always been underrated but I wish his recordings with Big Joe were more well known.
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Joe_L
2838 posts
May 31, 2018
10:23 AM
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People rarely dig past Little Walter. If they listened to Sonny Boy, they would learn something. His work with Big Joe is classic. When I first started playing, it was considered as classic as Little Walter's work with Muddy Waters.
I love a lot of the old Bluebird recordings. You can hear the roots of the songs that many people still play today. Some of those songs transcend time.
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Elcoh
27 posts
May 31, 2018
2:23 PM
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It is a shame that so many harp players and other blues enthusiasts are missing out on stuff like this. I mean I really do love Sonny Boy 2 and all the Muddy Waters bands and they were the most influential. And although it would be my dream to play with a combo like Big Joe's, in reality , rock came out in the 50's and never went away. Most of the musicians I've played with play in a rock format whether its Blues, R&B or rock. Muddy's Chicago style fits right in because that's where rock came from.
For sure at least every blues harp player should be listening to Sonny Boy 1,why would you wanna miss out on stuff like this!
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Martin
1475 posts
May 31, 2018
5:59 PM
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Perhaps one of the few advantages of the early instructional material from Tony Glover was that he pointed to SBW I & II, Sonny Terry and LW as basic stuff, a sort of a canon, and one was really motivated to buy those records and listen.
But I´m really not sure, there was such a lot of other crap in those books.
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Michael Rubin
1200 posts
Jun 01, 2018
5:41 AM
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Although Apple lets you stream some Big Joe, they don't have the complete collection, so I bought the CDs. Some of the John Lee stuff is really stellar, some just his regular style.
John Lee is really the key to understanding modern harmonica.
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Mirco
589 posts
Jun 01, 2018
9:27 AM
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As a guy who didn't grow up with the blues, and have only been listening to this music for the last 5 years or so, I am ignorant to a lot of this stuff.
In terms of albums, where does a guy start with John Lee Williamson? I see there are five chronological CD's. Is this the sum of his recorded output?
One of the five CD's I'm talking about
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Marc Graci
YouTube Channel
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Elcoh
28 posts
Jun 01, 2018
9:58 AM
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Mirco, these are the 2 Albums that I have with Big Joe Williams and Sonny Boy 1. The first is an LP and the 2nd is a CD.I find its a little tricky to find them online today. Some are just listed as Big Joe Williams and don't mention Sonny Boy in the titles. There are some on Youtube and also most streaming sites.
I would imagine that 5 CD's you mention is most of his recordings. I don't know if it includes Big Joe's stuff though.Anyway there's plenty out there if you look.
Enjoy
https://www.discogs.com/Big-Joe-Williams-And-Sonny-Boy-Williamson-Blues-Classics-21/release/3816388
https://www.discogs.com/Sonny-Boy-Williamson-And-Big-Joe-Williams-Throw-A-Boogie-Woogie/release/5424652
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sydeman
209 posts
Jun 01, 2018
1:48 PM
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There is a lot of info at the following sites:
Discography:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010604063800/http://home.t-online.de:80/home/mueller.lorenz/discog.htm
Re-issues:
http://web.archive.org/web/20010803074523/http://home.t-online.de:80/home/mueller.lorenz/lpcd.htm
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Joe_L
2840 posts
Jun 01, 2018
1:57 PM
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Marc - Start at the beginning. The early stuff is duo or trio. It's straight country blues. As you progress later into his recorded legacy, more pieces are added and the playing becomes a bit less country. In those recordings, you'll hear where the next generation of players got a great deal of their licks and tunes. You'll hear where Little Walter and Junior Wells borrowed a great deal. John Lee Williamson recorded with a bunch of great players that any real Blues fan should know.
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Little roger
216 posts
Jun 01, 2018
11:27 PM
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A shoutout for the great book by Mitsutoshi Inaba: John Lee Sonny Boy Williamson. Highly recommended. Let's support these authors doing valuable research.
I'm not sure JLW is underrated just less known than he should be. He is essential in understanding where the modern role of the harmonica came from. His career illustrates perhaps more clearly than any how the blues moved up to Chicago, changing beat, lyrics and band formations on the way. He also moved to electric harp which, alas, was never recorded before his untimely death.
Of course there were many other important figures but I believe it is safe to say that JLW was THE harp player before Little Walter. Have a listen to late JLW and Walter's 1947 recordings - wow! Talk about the mantle being past on.
If you don't know him, buy this
The Original Sonny Boy Williamson, The Later Years 1939 - 1947. 4 CDs.
Worth every penny and full of hits you thought were by Walter or Muddy or Wells or ZZ Top ;-)
R
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kudzurunner
6485 posts
Jun 02, 2018
3:47 AM
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I spent a lot of time in my earlier years with three almost identical looking LPs of Sonny Boy I. There's so much going on there. I'd recommend that all players do that. Joe L is on the money.
Blues Classics. That's the series.
Blues Classics.
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Beyond the Crossroads: The Devil and the Blues Tradition
Last Edited by kudzurunner on Jun 02, 2018 3:49 AM
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barbequebob
3513 posts
Jun 02, 2018
8:18 AM
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Without Sonny Boy I, there is NO Little Walter or any of the harp greats that came after him and many of his phrases, especially those from where he plays as a sideman (especially behind Big Joe Williams) shows up on just about every blues player since. He had a bad stutter that became a very influential vocal style as well but my favorite of his playing isn't as a front man, but as a sideman. Pay attention to how he uses his hands to shape his sounds.
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Sincerely,
Barbeque Bob Maglinte
Boston, MA
http://www.barbequebob.com
CD available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bbmaglinte
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Elcoh
29 posts
Jun 02, 2018
6:48 PM
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Here’s a great lecture Adam gave on John Lee:
https://youtu.be/s-3DMDuoISg
Thanks Adam for this great forum and all the good stuff you do!!
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Joe_L
2843 posts
Jun 04, 2018
1:25 PM
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Elcoh - Have you heard the recording entitled "Blues in the MIssissippi Night"? It has interviews with Sonny Boy, Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Slim.
Last Edited by Joe_L on Jun 05, 2018 12:47 PM
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Elcoh
30 posts
Jun 04, 2018
3:16 PM
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Thanks Joe,Alan Lomax!! I will have to watch that. Without Alan Lomax, we probably would never have known any bluesmen, it would have been lost in the past.
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