ETTA JAMES LIVES ON

"On the day she died it was blaring from every car radio in America..."

ETTA JAMES 1938-2012

I just heard the news. Although we all knew this day was coming, it still hits pretty hard. She was truly incomparable, and we just loved her...

For now, anyway, please allow me to repost this appreciation of the Great Lady I wrote back in 2006:

Etta James - I'm Gonna Take What He's Got (Cadet 5594)

I'm Gonna Take What He's Got

Jamesetta Hawkins was born in South Central Los Angeles in 1938. Her mother, Dorothy, was 14 years old. Her father, she maintains, was celebrated pool hustler Minnesota Fats. Raised by family friends, her vocal abilities were soon noticed at their church, St. Paul Baptist.

The Echoes of Eden Choir at St. Paul's was the "biggest, baddest and hippest" in L.A., and the Church was a favorite with gospel greats such as Sallie Martin and Rosetta Tharpe, as well as with 'slumming' Hollywood types who filled the back pews. The choir director, Professor James Earl Hines, knew talent when he saw it and took the young Jamesetta under his wing. He coached his young vocal student in what he called "dynamic singing", urging her to "never back off those notes... claim those suckers, sing 'em like you own 'em!" (advice she would clearly take to heart!). The choir was broadcast every Sunday on KOWL, and it wasn't long before the little girl soloist up front became famous in her own right.

She went to school with people like Jesse Belvin and Richard Berry, and became a part of the crowd that hung out on Central Avenue. When her adoptive mother, Mama Lu, died in 1950, Dorothy Hawkins took her daughter to live in the projects of San Francisco. She made friends with a girl named Jean Mitchell, and began harmonizing with her and her sister, Abye at the rec center near their apartment. She eventually moved in with them, and they began calling themselves "The Creolettes".

In the summer of 1954, Hank Ballard and The Midnighters had a huge hit with Work With Me Annie, a suggestive rocker that would hold the number one slot on the R&B charts for 7 weeks. Jamesetta re-wrote the lyrics and came up with an 'answer song' she called "Roll With Me Henry". The Creolettes performed the tune all over town, and people ate it up. Abye, who was older than the other girls, got herself introduced to west coast R&B legend Johnny Otis, and talked him into letting her group audition for him. He was duly impressed, and offered to make them a part of his act. Jamesetta forged her mother's signature on a permission form, and headed back to L.A..

Otis renamed the group "The Peaches", and was also the one responsible for switching the syllables around and coming up with 'Etta James'. He landed the group a deal with the Bihari brothers' Modern Records, and they released Roll With Me Henry in the fall of 1954. Radio stations were refusing to play it because of the suggestive title, and King Records, who had released The Midnighter's original hit was threatening to sue Modern. They pulled the record, paid Sid Nathan off, and changed the name of the song to The Wallflower, agreeing to credit Ballard as a co-writer down the line. The song, with old pal Richard Berry playing the part of Henry, went straight to number one, spending 19 weeks on the R&B charts. A follow-up single, Good Rockin' Daddy (with Jessie Belvin on background vocals), would also crack the top ten. Etta James was in the house!

She began traveling the country in package tours like the Top Ten Revue, working with everyone from Little Willie John to Bill Doggett, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and even Clifton Chenier. She forged lifelong friendships with folks like kindred souls Johnny "Guitar" Watson and Larry Williams, and truly 'went to school' on the R&B road ("Man, I saw some stuff", she says).

The Biharis sent Etta down to Cosimo's studio in New Orleans in 1956 and again in 1957 to try and capture some rock & roll magic. Although songs like Tough Lover and The Pick-Up featured Matassa's 'A' team of crack studio musicians like Lee Allen and Earl Palmer, they failed to make the charts.

It was around this time that Etta fell in love with the suave and sophisticated Harvey Fuqua who, along with his group The Moonglows, seemed to own the top ten at the time. They told her that if she wanted to make some real money, she should get herself signed by their record company, Chess. Broke and hungry, she and her old friend (and original 'Peach') Abye made their way to Chicago.

It took three thousand dollars to buy out her contract from Modern (her last Bihari single was actually released on their new label, Kent), and Leonard Chess, who was always on the look-out for female talent, advanced her another five grand. He assigned ace arranger Riley Hampton to work with her on a song written by Billy Davis and Berry Gordy called All I Could Do Was Cry. It was a huge hit, climbing to number 2 R&B, and paving the way for the lush orchestration of most of her early Argo sides.

She and Harvey would appear together on a couple of Chess releases (as Etta and Harvey), and were also living together at The Sutherland Hotel, working on some old songs. Leonard was so impressed by what he heard that he had Hampton work up arrangements for an entire album of standards. At Last was a huge success, and both the title track and Trust In Me would crack the top five in early 1961.

Etta continued to chart regularly, with great songs like Something's Got A Hold On Me and Stop The Wedding showing off her gospel shout. She also managed to become a full-fledged junkie by this time, and problems in her personal life began piling up. Leonard Chess was always there to catch her when she fell, it seemed, and although she found it hard to trust him completely, they basically needed each other.

Leonard was jealous of the success the "New York Jews" were having recording down South, and once Jerry Wexler had his famous falling out with Rick Hall down in Muscle Shoals, Chess was happy to step in. He signed an agreement with Fame Studios that guaranteed them more money, and began by sending new label signees Irma Thomas and Laura Lee to record there. Lee's Dirty Man broke into the top 20, and set the stage for what was to come.

In August of 1967, Etta James arrived in Florence, Alabama with her entourage, trunks of furs and fancy clothes, two french poodles, and Leonard Chess in tow. By her own admission, she was "pregnant and cranky and ready to blow the doors off the studio".

That's just what she did.

Over the course of a 3 day period, "Rick Hall & Staff" (which included Gene "Bowlegs" Miller on trumpet, Spooner Oldham on keyboards and Jimmy Johnson on guitar) produced some of the most powerful soul music to ever rise out of Muscle Shoals. When Tell Mama was released in November, it just ate up the charts, breaking into the top 10 R&B and top 40 pop. The B side of that single was a song Etta had written with old friend Ellington "Fuggie" Jordan while he was in prison. When Leonard Chess first heard her sing I'd Rather Go Blind, he had to leave the room, so nobody would see him cry. It really is that good, man.

They returned to Fame Studios in December to finish recording tracks for the Tell Mama album, which was released in January 1968. Our current B side was the flip of Etta's cover of Otis Redding's Security, and was released as the second single from the record in March, rising as high as #11 R&B. Written by the great Don Covay (who, of course, would soon contribute his Chain Of Fools to Aretha's southern soul legacy), it's the real thing, baby! Recorded at the original August sessions (the same day as I'd Rather Go Blind), it just cooks! Check out the Fender Rhodes, the guitar, Etta just beltin' it out! I'll take it. The original album has been re-packaged with 12 more tracks she recorded in Muscle Shoals on her first two visits, as well as on her last session in 1968. Buy it.

When Leonard Chess died in January of 1969, Etta lost her friend and biggest fan. Within a few weeks. a faceless executive visited Etta with the deed to her house, which Leonard had held for her for years so she wouldn't lose it... she was amazed. Although she stayed with Chess (which was now owned by something called GRT corporation) until it all fell apart in the mid-70s, things were never the same.

Jerry Wexler (who has called James "the greatest of all modern blues singers... the undisputed Earth Mother") produced an album on Etta for Warner Brothers in 1978 called Deep In The Night, with both of them agreeing to steer clear of the "disco bullshit". Although it's a great record, it didn't sell much, and she moved on.


In 1980, she would team up with Allen Toussaint in New Orleans to produce an album for MCA called Changes that featured great Sea-Saint session men like Leo Nocentelli, Sam Henry and Herman Ernest. Once again, it was a great record that didn't sell much, and remains out of print to this day!

Etta continued to perform throughout the eighties, although her recorded output didn't amount to much. MCA, which now owned the Chess masters, started re-issuing her material. Ace Records in the UK, which had the rights to the Modern and Kent catalogues began doing the same with her earlier output. My girlfriend (now my darling wife) became a HUGE fan, and we went to see the great "Miss Peaches" whenever we could. At a show at the Beacon Theater in NYC in 1989, she somehow worked her way backstage, and when she saw Etta she just broke down and cried. The great lady hugged her and said, "I know, honey, I know..." .

She signed with Island Records around this time and her albums were perrenial Grammy nominees. When she returned to Muscle Shoals with Jerry Wexler to record The Right Time, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally took notice and she was inducted in 1993. She signed with Private Music in 1994, and finally won her a (long overdue) Grammy for her first album for them, Mystery Lady: Songs of Billie Holiday. She continued to turn out quality records for them for the next ten years.

In 2003, Etta was awarded her own star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, as well as receiving a Liftetime Acheivement award at the Grammys. She was awarded another Grammy the following year for her Blues To The Bone album. She had become serious about losing weight at this point, and underwent gastric bypass surgery.


This past March 14th, Etta released a critically acclaimed album on RCA Victor called All The Way that has her covering everyone from Sinatra to Prince. She has lost over 200 pounds, and embarked on an ambitious tour in support of the record on April 8th. Reviews of her first shows have been excellent, and she's scheduled to perform everywhere from Jazz Fest in New Orleans to Carnegie Hall in Manhattan...

That's what I wrote over five years ago.

May She Rest In Peace.

The End

When my friend and partner Sir Lattimore Brown was killed early this year, it felt like the end of something. As I stood there in the cold Florida sun and attempted to deliver some kind of eulogy for him, my words rang hollow in my ears. The March winds rose up and blew them all away. This life, this music, this very real art that Lattimore and his generation had created was fading swiftly and inexorably into the past, and it seemed all I could do was watch as it slipped through my fingers.

That's what it felt like.

I believe we are witnessing 'the end of an era' here. In the most recent issue of In The Basement (which will cease to exist itself this Spring), John Waters wrote that "Soul is in its last death throes... the great names that made the music we love are becoming ever thinner on the ground." Indeed, as each week seems to bring some more sad news...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's like Hyman Roth tells Michael; "This is the business we have chosen..."  As the 'Soul Era' recedes further and further in the rear view mirror, I think we need to continue to celebrate the vibrant and living music this generation is leaving behind them, but accept the fact that it comes from a time and place that we will never see again.

The Robins - Smokey Joe's Cafe (Atco 6059)

Smokey Joe's Cafe

Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller had made a name for themselves out on the West Coast, writing songs for folks like Charles Brown, Ray Charles and Little Esther, but it was the number they composed for Big Mama Thornton that put them on the map. After Don Robey refused to pay up when Hound Dog took the country by storm, they decided to start their own label, Spark. Although they cut some great records, it was the last one they released on the label that made all the difference, and it's hard to imagine a more significant recording than this one. As Lieber said in Hound Dog - The Lieber & Stoller Autobiography: "The Robins got it... Carl Gardner sang a perfect lead."

When friend and fellow Central Avenue Jazzbo Nesuhi Ertegun heard it, he proclaimed it "nothing short of sensational," and sealed the deal with his brother Ahmet back in New York that brought Lieber & Stoller to Atlantic. Re-issued on Atco in October of 1955, Smokey Joe's Cafe would cruise into the R&B top ten and change the face of American popular music forever. Carl Gardner made the trip back East with Jerry and Mike, and would form the foundation of The Coasters for the next fifty years, singing lead on all of their big hits. He passed away on June 12th, Jerry Lieber died on August 22nd.

Howard Tate - You Don't Know Nothing About Love (Atlantic 2860)

You Don't Know Nothing About Love

Another of the great New York based songwriters and producers left us on July 13th, Jerry Ragovoy, who was the force behind some of the greatest records ever made. He wrote Time Is On My Side (along with Jimmy Norman who also died this year), for instance, and Piece Of My Heart and Cry Baby (with Bert Berns). He was a genius in the studio as well, building his own trademark sound to crescendos that few have ever equalled. The records he cut with Lorraine Ellison in the late sixties have remained underground favorites for years, but it is his work with Howard Tate that captures one's imagination. Get It While You Can is, as Larry Grogan says,"an example of all that was great about 60's Soul... alongside great soul ballad tours de force like Otis Redding’s Try a Little Tenderness and James Carr’s Dark End of the Street"

I couldn't agree more, and it is Tate's Verve material that deservedly gets the most attention. This great B Side we have here however, cut for Atlantic in 1972 after Jerry Wexler picked up Howard's contract, is right up there in the same league, in my opinion. It's kind of been 'under the radar', as it didn't sell much at the time, and comes from the period when Atlantic's promotional singles were double A sided affairs, with the 'plug' (in this case,  She's A Burglar, which sank like a stone) in stereo and mono. Both sides were taken from the excellent LP Howard Tate, which would soon be deleted as well, as Atlantic's focus had pretty much shifted away from its Soul artists by then.

In any event, this great Ragovoy written and produced number would surface years later as the cornerstone of Irma Thomas' excellent Rounder LP The Way I Feel. The reunion of Howard and Jerry for the  2003 album, Rediscovered, is one of the great stories to come out of this whole Soul revival thing, and I'm thankful to the folks at the Ponderosa Stomp for making it possible for me to have seen him perform live. He was awesome. Howard Tate passed away on December 2nd.

Howlin' Wolf - Three Hundred Pounds of Joy (Chess 1870)

Three Hundred Pounds of Joy

What Can I Say? The Wolf's high voltage delivery of some of Willie Dixon's greatest lyrics ever make this one of my favorite records of all time (there are those who would tell you it's actually my 'theme song'). Be that as it may, it is Hubert Sumlin's stinging, incisive guitar work that keeps it from ever leaving the ol' jukebox. Released in 1963, it is Hubert's clean tone that launched the British invasion, and is (as he would gladly tell you himself) the place where Eric Clapton got it from. After Wolf died in 1976, Hubert went on to get some of the recognition he deserved, and was a fixture on the 'Blues Circuit', where I caught him every chance I got. The last time I saw him was at the Crawfish Fest out in New Jersey a few years ago, where I took my kids by the hand and planted them in front of the stage. "Remember this moment," I told them, "this man is living history." Hubert Sumlin left us on December 4th.

Please join me in saying goodbye to those who have gone on to glory before us here in 2011:

SIR LATTIMORE BROWN

BENNY SPELLMAN

WARDELL QUEZERGUE

J. BLACKFOOT

HOWARD TATE

DOBIE GRAY

BOBBY PURIFY

JERRY LIEBER

JERRY RAGOVOY

CARL GARDNER

BOBBY ROBINSON

HUEY P. MEAUX

RANDY WOOD

MARVIN SEASE

GIL SCOTT-HERON

GENE McDANIELS

JIMMY NORMAN

HUBERT SUMLIN

PINETOP PERKINS

DAVID 'HONEYBOY' EDWARDS

GEORGE 'MOJO' BUFORD

WILLIE 'BIG EYES' SMITH

BIG JACK JOHNSON

SYLVIA ROBINSON

FAYE TREADWELL

HEAVY D

NICK ASHFORD

RALPH MacDONALD

GLADYS HORTON

DON MANCHA

ESTHER GORDY EDWARDS

MARV TARPLIN

ERNEST KELLEY

ALPHONSO MIZELL

LOLEATTA HOLLOWAY

ANDREA TRUE

CLAY HAMMOND

CORNELL DUPREE

CALVIN SCOTT

EDDIE KIRKLAND

HENRY LEE 'SHOT' WILLIAMS

HERMAN 'ROSCOE' ERNEST III

ISAAC BOLDEN

JOHN BERTHELOT

LARRY HAMILTON

COCO ROBICHEAUX

MANUEL GALIBÅN

CLARENCE CLEMONS

ALTON 'BART' HOLLOWELL

PHOEBE SNOW

AMY WINEHOUSE

VESTA WILLIAMS

AL GREEN

MELVIN SPARKS

ODELL BROWN

RAY BRYANT 

GEORGE SHEARING

SNOOKY YOUNG

SAM 'EARTHQUAKE' BOOKER

CLARENCE MURRAY

JESSY DIXON

DeLOIS BARRETT CAMPBELL

ROSZETTA JOHNSON

ALAN RUBIN

JOHN WALKER

SEYMOUR ROSENBERG

SKIP McQUINN

CHARLIE FACH

LEROY HURTE

DON KIRSHNER

FRANK DRIGGS

BOBBY POE

MACK SELF

DON DeVITO

ALEX STEINWEISS

OWSLEY STANLEY

May They Rest In Peace.

Jimmy Donley - Santa! Don't Pass Me By (Tear Drop 3007)

Santa! Don't Pass Me By

If you know anything about me, you know that I don't believe in coincidences. Every once in a while something happens that kind of spooks me, because it just feels like it was meant to be... I was flipping through some 45s this afternoon, trying to put something together for my annual year end post, where I try to honor some of the folks who have gone on before us.

One of those people was my friend Huey P. Meaux who passed away on April 23rd. No matter what you may have thought of him, he was truly an American original, and an indomitable force in the music industry for many years. Many of the records he cut along the way will live on forever. He cared deeply about that legacy, I think, as witnessed by the fact that he had his own headstone engraved and installed years before he was called upon to lie beneath it. "Producer Extrordinaire," it reads, "Did it My Way! No Regrets! Love Ya - Bye Now!" On the back, he lists the names of the people who stood by him and remained in his corner while he was in prison, among them the two men he considered his brothers, Jerry Wexler and Shelby S. Singleton.

I was introduced to the Crazy Cajun by another record man, Chuck Chellman. We'd spend hours on the phone sometimes, while Huey told me his stories. Some of the most amazing ones had to do with Jimmy Donley. Meaux had signed Jimmy to his fledgling Tear Drop label after Decca let him go in 1962. Donley was a violent, wife-beating drunk who also happened to be a genius, writing some of Fats Domino's best records in the 1950s. He was a household name in those days on the Gulf Coast, and songs like his own Born To Be A Loser spoke the lovesick language of the Cajun Prairie. By the time Huey signed him, Donley was spinning out of control, and was basically homeless. After his mother died in early 1963, Huey found him seriously drunk, hysterical and playing guitar at her graveside. He cleaned him up and got him a hotel room, telling him to get some sleep, and that he'd see him in the morning. Only by the time the morning rolled around, Donley had hooked up a hose to the exhaust pipe of his car and killed himself. "I cried like a baby," Huey told me, "the more talent they have, it seems like they have a little tornado running inside their head..."

Now, as some of you know, my kids and I put together a Christmas CD that we send out to family and friends every year. In 2006, before I met Huey Meaux, or had any clue who Jimmy Donley was, we included this incredible song you're listening to now on the CD. It has grown to be one of our all-time favorites and gets played to death around here every December. I'll be honest with you though, I still never put two and two together until I looked up the Sunny and the Sunliners 45 I was going to use next week in the Tear Drop discography I found on Wikipedia, and saw this record on there. It stopped me in my tracks, man, and I knew I had to post just one more Christmas song. Huey would have wanted me to...

One of the conditions of his parole was that, in addition to being required to wear an ankle monitor, Huey was not allowed to have a computer. He was, however, heavily into his Fax Machine, and I miss the cryptic typewritten notes that would show up unannounced at all hours of the day and night. The last one I received from him was on New Year's Day:

March 4th was the date that his parole was due to expire, and the ankle monitor was to be removed. The last time I spoke with him was on his 82nd birthday, March 10th. He sounded weak, and had been confined to a sick bed when they came to take the monitor off the week before. He never got up again.

The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Mary's Boy Child (Cadet 5662)

Mary's Boy Child


The Ramsey Lewis Trio came roaring up out of Chicago in the early sixties and brought their unique style of cool Jazz into the mainstream of popular culture. They busted things wide open when their swingin' cover of (the recently deceased) Dobie Gray's The "In" Crowd climbed higher on the charts than the original ever did, parking itself at #2 R&B for three weeks in the Summer of 1965 (only kept from the top slot by the Godfather's monster, Papa's Got A Brand New Bag).

The Trio would continue to chart for the rest of the decade with their hip renditions of current hits. This movin' and groovin' take on a traditional Christmas song we have here was released as the flip of My Cherie Amour in 1970 (go figure). It's hard to say enough about the importance of a group that has given us both Young-Holt Unlimited and Earth, Wind & Fire, and has remained current right into the present day. The Great Performer marches on!


...and now, as the usual insanity around here is about to be taken to the next level, please allow me to extend my wishes to you and your family for a happy and a healthy Holiday Season. I hope Santa treats you good!

J. Blackfoot - Hiding Place (Sound Town 15)

Hiding Place


I first met 'Foot' in 2007, when he stopped in at the studio to see Willie Mitchell the day before the Soul Children reunion at the 50 Years of Stax concert in Memphis. With his ebullient personality and infectious smile, he soon had all of us in stitches as he poked fun at Pop and just about everyone else he could think of. He was just kind of larger than life, if you know what I mean, and it was a moment I will never forget. That 'Star Quality' shone through his set with the Soul Children the next day, but I don't think I fully appreciated what an incredible singer he was until he positively channeled O.V. Wright at Willie's Memorial Celebration a few years later...

I know I included most of this in the video I put up back then, but it was honestly one of the greatest 'Deep Soul' performances I have ever witnessed. When Percy Wiggins told me in October that 'Foot was suffering with cancer, it just kind of knocked me down. He was so full of life.

Rest In Peace, Soul Man.

The Bo-Keys featuring John Gary Williams - Congratulations (Norton 9659)

Congratulations

The Bo-Keys are the real deal. Here in this post Willie Mitchell era, this is the place where Memphis Soul lives.

Fresh off their triumphant appearance at this year's Ponderosa Stomp, where they provided the soundtrack to their Tribute to Stax and Memphis Soul, backing up such luminaries as Sir Mack Rice, Eddie Floyd, William Bell and their good friend Otis Clay, they rocked the house last night at Joe's Pub in New York City.

With the incomparable Percy Wiggins handling the vocals, it does my heart good to see that (unlike it was back in the days when he was fronting Hi Rhythm) Percy is now performing some of his own material. It was a rare treat indeed for those of us on this side of the Atlantic to hear him sing both sides of his great 1967 ATCO 45, Book Of Memories and Can't Find Nobody (To Take Your Place). At 68 years of age, Mister Wiggins remains a shining example of what it means to be a Soul Man.

I really can't say enough about how much I appreciate what Scott Bomar has done, opening the doors of his Electraphonic Recording to bring new life and hope to people like our hero Howard Grimes who, at 70 years old, is finally being recognized for the legend he is.

This sweet record we have here, on which Scott brought in Mad Lads leader John Gary Williams to contribute to Norton Records cool Rolling Stones 45 project, offered a glimpse of what he had up his sleeve, the fantastic Got To Get Back. Released last June (and available on glorious vinyl), this stellar LP features Percy, William Bell and Otis Clay on the vocals, along with Memphis stalwarts like Skip Pitts, Floyd Newman, Ben Cauley, Archie Turner, Marc Franklin, and Kirk Smothers.

As I said, this is the place where Soul lives.

The Bo-Keys are currently on tour, and will be joined by Otis Clay when they play Chicago this Saturday, October 22nd. You should go.