Boom boom, Boom boom
As with so many things in life, the best ideas are often the most simple, but also often the most genius. A case in point comes with a TV programme I caught the other day. It was a repeat of a programme made in 1991, and broadcast on the consistently high quality BBC4 digital channel, whose often quite inspired Arts output provides the UK with an oasis of quality in a desert of pure dross, characterised by sensationalism and reality TV schlock. So here's the idea. Get blues legend John Lee Hooker, put him on a club stage with a chair and a guitar, surround him with some of the finest talents of modern blues musicianship, ask them to play for an hour and record the whole rockin' jamboree. If you are able to find a copy of John Lee Hooker and Friends, recorded live at San Francisco's sadly now defunct Sweetwater Club, then I would heartily recommend it.
Simply sensational, the show provides an example of the understated yet electric presence of John Lee Hooker, possibly the world's greatest ever blues singer and certainly one of the most enduring. Many people may only know Hooker from his cameo as a street-singer in the Blues Brothers film, but to reduce his reputation to this brief turn is to miss out on one of the great stories of African-American music. In the Blues canon he holds an extremely important place, bridging the transition in the 1950s and early 60s from the traditional southern Delta-blues style, with its rural and folk roots, to the electric Blues sound of Chicago as typified by the Chess label and artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Hooker was as adept as a solo player on acoustic, as he was on an electric guitar, and it was his mastery of both that ties the traditions together in such a significant way.
Hooker's style of guitar, accompanied by an incessant foot stomping on a wooden palette, was often as rambling as the southern solo bluesmen themselves, and it is this improvisational style that makes his work, both live and recorded so fascinating. In fact, the afore mentioned Blues Brothers appearance was the only segment of the movie filmed and sound recorded live, as Hooker's free-styling made the traditional playback, lip-synching technique impossible. As Hooker himself once stated "it don't take me no three days to record no album". His vocal style was uniquely original, synthesizing spoken word with sung lines and verses, and gave his work a feeling of the impromptu and the unstructured. But in reality, despite the improvisational flourishes and freewheeling approach, his songs are also often extremely complex, shown through his other renown is as an innovator in the field of boogie-woogie blues.
The work of John Lee Hooker is nothing if not captivating, and has a strange hypnotic quality that makes it difficult to tear your eyes and ears away from. His voice is a dark rumble, full of gravitas and a sadness that makes it an instrument custom made for the Blues. Look into his face in some of the later filmed recordings and it is almost like looking at the history of the Blues itself, and by extension looking at a narrative of African-American history so central to the history of the US itself. John Lee Hooker's work was of an exceptional vintage, and it is fitting that in 1989 he gave us one last great piece of work, the brilliant album "The Healer", which again marked a return to increased awareness and live appearances, and was the biggest-selling Blues album ever. If you are looking for an accessible yet integral route into Blues music, you could do a lot worse than begin with his recordings.
Such is the way with the breadth and diversity of labels that he recorded for over the years, and the sheer amount of output, that a good Best Of compilation is as good a place as any or indeed "The Healer" album, although I personally have a fondness for a double album "Live at the Café Au Go Go (and Soledad Prison)". The former sees him backed by an all-star band (including Muddy Waters and Otis Spann) in 1966, and the latter as a solo performer in 1972, the two sides of this quite magnificent and talented musician. Like a very select few, Hooker's Blues is elemental, and for that all music fans owe him a debt.
Simply sensational, the show provides an example of the understated yet electric presence of John Lee Hooker, possibly the world's greatest ever blues singer and certainly one of the most enduring. Many people may only know Hooker from his cameo as a street-singer in the Blues Brothers film, but to reduce his reputation to this brief turn is to miss out on one of the great stories of African-American music. In the Blues canon he holds an extremely important place, bridging the transition in the 1950s and early 60s from the traditional southern Delta-blues style, with its rural and folk roots, to the electric Blues sound of Chicago as typified by the Chess label and artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Hooker was as adept as a solo player on acoustic, as he was on an electric guitar, and it was his mastery of both that ties the traditions together in such a significant way.
Hooker's style of guitar, accompanied by an incessant foot stomping on a wooden palette, was often as rambling as the southern solo bluesmen themselves, and it is this improvisational style that makes his work, both live and recorded so fascinating. In fact, the afore mentioned Blues Brothers appearance was the only segment of the movie filmed and sound recorded live, as Hooker's free-styling made the traditional playback, lip-synching technique impossible. As Hooker himself once stated "it don't take me no three days to record no album". His vocal style was uniquely original, synthesizing spoken word with sung lines and verses, and gave his work a feeling of the impromptu and the unstructured. But in reality, despite the improvisational flourishes and freewheeling approach, his songs are also often extremely complex, shown through his other renown is as an innovator in the field of boogie-woogie blues.
The work of John Lee Hooker is nothing if not captivating, and has a strange hypnotic quality that makes it difficult to tear your eyes and ears away from. His voice is a dark rumble, full of gravitas and a sadness that makes it an instrument custom made for the Blues. Look into his face in some of the later filmed recordings and it is almost like looking at the history of the Blues itself, and by extension looking at a narrative of African-American history so central to the history of the US itself. John Lee Hooker's work was of an exceptional vintage, and it is fitting that in 1989 he gave us one last great piece of work, the brilliant album "The Healer", which again marked a return to increased awareness and live appearances, and was the biggest-selling Blues album ever. If you are looking for an accessible yet integral route into Blues music, you could do a lot worse than begin with his recordings.
Such is the way with the breadth and diversity of labels that he recorded for over the years, and the sheer amount of output, that a good Best Of compilation is as good a place as any or indeed "The Healer" album, although I personally have a fondness for a double album "Live at the Café Au Go Go (and Soledad Prison)". The former sees him backed by an all-star band (including Muddy Waters and Otis Spann) in 1966, and the latter as a solo performer in 1972, the two sides of this quite magnificent and talented musician. Like a very select few, Hooker's Blues is elemental, and for that all music fans owe him a debt.
posted by Twelve Bar at 8:02 AM
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