On the new Legacy! Legacy!, Chicago singer and poet Jamila Woods lovingly details how art can learn from the past as it shapes the future.
Tag: Muddy Waters
Posted inMusic
Louis Myers cofounded one of the great backing bands in the blues
The guitar and harmonica master from the Aces played with Junior Wells, Little Walter, Otis Rush, Magic Sam, and many more.
Posted inMusic
Blues bassist Calvin ‘Fuzz’ Jones made Muddy Waters sound his best
Calvin “Fuzz” Jones, who spent most of his five-decade career in Chicago, was one of the most prominent sidemen in electric blues.
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Muddy Waters drummer Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith never escaped the sideman shadow
Even when Willie “Big Eyes” Smith won a Grammy at the end of his life, he shared it with pianist Pinetop Perkins.
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Lefty Dizz was one of the greatest showmen in the blues
Guitarist Lefty Dizz toured abroad for decades, but even in his home base of Chicago he was never the star he played like.
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Otis Rush and his searing guitar immortalized the west-side Chicago blues sound
Rush is hardly obscure, but the Secret History of Chicago Music couldn’t let the death of such a powerful and influential artist pass in silence.
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Entertainment lawyer Jay B. Ross fought for the people who made the music he loved
An expert negotiator, he went to bat for stars as big as James Brown and Muddy Waters, but he also clawed back royalties for countless forgotten artists who’d never gotten their due.
Posted inBlogs
Ten great photos taken during the heyday of the blues
Images of Muddy Waters, James Cotton, and Bob Dylan are among 1,000 searchable photos by Raeburn Flerlage that are now online.
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Blues guitarist Joe Carter electrified Chicago’s 1950s club scene, but he never recorded in his heyday
Joe Carter’s only LP came out in 1976, and original copies of the raw-as-hell Mean & Evil Blues now fetch more than $100.
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Blues drummer Sam Lay has made five careers’ worth of music
Sharp-dressed drummer Sam Lay has played with Dylan and Howlin’ Wolf, and in 2015 he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
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Evanston new wavers the Front Lines exemplify the richness of the overlooked midwestern scene
Formed at Northwestern in 1979, the Front Lines played diverse and ambitious tunes—but they split after just a few years, done in by drummer turnover.
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Session drummer Morris Jennings played on Electric Mud, the Super Fly soundtrack, and scores of other records
As a house drummer for Chess Records in the late 60s, Morris Jennings kicked off a five-decade career that never brought him into the spotlight himself.
Posted inBlogs
Report: ‘The credibility of the entire property tax system is in doubt’ in Cook County, and other Chicago news
Also, the ACLU slams Emanuel’s new police reform monitor plan.
Posted inMusic
The best of the weekend’s blues outside Millennium Park
Not at the festival but playing in town are Eddie Shaw, Peaches Staten, L’Roy, Eddy “the Chief” Clearwater, and many more.
Posted inBlogs
Blues harmonica legend Little Walter recorded one of his best singles in 1954, when he was just 24
Little Walter’s 1954 classic “Mellow Down Easy” combines rudely soulful singing, lilting guitar, furious harmonica, and a quasi-Cuban groove.