Memphis Gospel 1927 - 1929

Rev. Sister Mary M. Nelson, vocal.
Lonnie McIntorsh, vocal, guitar.
Rev. Johnny Blakey, sermons.
Bessie Johnson, vocal.
Memphis Sanctified Singers, vocal, with Will Shade, guitar.

Booklet Notes written by Ray Funk & Mason Damrau.
Detailed discography.

Memphis may be better known for the blues or Sun Records but it has been equally important as a centre for black gospel music. The quartet scene with groups like the Spirit of Memphis, the Southern Wonders and Sunset Travelers has been documented in Kip Lornell's book, Happy in the Service of the Lord: Afro-American Gospel Quartets in Memphis. Two of the greatest gospel songwriters, Lucie B. Campbell and Rev. W. H. Brewster, both called Memphis their home. Equally important is the fact that Memphis was the place where the most important of all the holiness denominations, the Church of God in Christ, was founded and is still based with annual conventions every fall. It was 1895 when Bishop Charles Mason founded the Church and, in its flock, many of the great gospel singers have flourished from Ernestine Washington to contemporary groups like the Clark Sisters. Continued...

Tampa Red Vol 1 1928 - 1929

Tampa Red, vocal, bottleneck slide guitar

With contributions by: “Georgia Tom” (Thomas A. Dorsey) vocal, piano; Forster & Harris, vocal; Madlyn (Red Hot Shakin’) Davis, vocal; Frankie “Half-Pint” Jaxon, vocal; Martell Pettiford, guitar; Herman Brown, kazoo, washboard; Carl Reid, jazzhorn, jug.

Genres; Country blues, Pre-war Chicago blues, hokum, blues guitar, blues piano, bottleneck slide guitar.

Informative booklet notes by Teddy Doering.
Includes detailed discography.

From this CDs booklet notes.
Through Train Blues was a strange one to kick off a recording career with and one cannot help but wonder if the gentle huffing and puffing of a tuba to fill out a bass rhythm was Tampa’s idea or that of someone else trying to be creative at the recording session for Paramount records. Either way, it kind of works, depending on one’s mood and at least it gets Tampa off the mark with some characteristic slide guitar playing and a song.

For the moment, that was it…, one side and no more! The recording was issued as a flip side to Blind Lemon Jefferson “How Long How Long” (Document DOCD-5019) maybe as a ploy to encourage the market to listen to Tampa. After four months Tampa was in the recording studio again but this time only as a session man for Foster And Harris (Ma Rainey’s Boys) as they played out The Alley Crap Game a performance which would be taken up by the two blues brothers from Georgia Robert “Barbecue Bob” Hicks and Charlie “Laughing Charlie” Hicks in 1930 with their “Dark Town Gamblin’ – Part 1 (The Crap Game)” (Document DOCD-5048). Dodging the ricocheting dices, Tampa provides a gentle slide guitar accompaniment and keeps out of the arguing between the two gamblers. Continued...

Tampa Red Vol 2 12th January to 27th June 1929

Tampa Red, vocal, guitar, bottleneck-slide guitar.

The Hokum Boys: Tampa Red, vocal, guitar; Georgia Tom Dorsey, piano.
Tampa Red’s Hokum Jug Band: Tampa Red, vocal guitar; unknown, piano; Bill Johnson, stand-up bass; Herman Brown, washboard; Carl Reid, jazzhorn, jug; Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon, vocal.
Gospel Camp Meeting singers: Vocal group; accompanied by Tampa Red, guitar; possibly Georgia Tom Dorsey, piano.
Lil Johnson, vocal

Genres: Blues, Blues Guitar, Blues piano, Hokum Blues.

Informative booklet notes by Teddy Doering.
Detailed discography.

From this CDs booklet notes.
The first session included here is a remake of a session that took place in December 1928. Why the original titles were not released, is not quite clear. Anyway, the January 1929 session showed a mixture of straight, low down blues and so-called “hokum blues”. This was to become Tampa Red’s trademark for the next three or four years. Following the success of “It’s Tight Like That”, Tampa Red and Georgia Tom recorded a couple of titles in mid-tempo with a refrain and double-entendre lyrics, often combined with a tongue-in-cheek-way of looking at things. (What about this as a definition for “hokum”?) On five titles we also hear Frankie “Half-Pint” Jaxon, an enigmatic singer, who fits perfectly in Tampa’s hokum concept. Continued...

Tampa Red Vol 3 1929 - 1930

Tampa Red, vocal, bottleneck slide guitar.

With contributions by;

Jenny Pope, vocal.
Georgia Tom, vocal, piano.
Jasper Taylor, washboard.
Frankie-Half-Pint Jaxon, vocal.
Bill Johnson, stand-up bass.
And others…

Genre; blues guitar, blues piano, hokum, bottleneck slide guitar.

Informative booklet notes by Teddy Doering.
Detailed discography.

Taken from this album's booklet notes.
You might call it a period of transition, for after a fulminate start with their success of "It's Tight Like That" and a period of follow-ups, the duo of Tampa Red and Georgia Tom gradually left the "hokum" genre and concentrated more and more on two easy things: the swinging, jazz-influenced up-tempo pieces like "Easy Rider", and they got deeper and deeper into the real slow blues numbers, exploring several aspects of blues playing, and it is plain to hear that especially Tampa Red was getting more and more self confident in his playing refining his guitar style to a degree that he really became a champion, or in other words, a "guitar wizard". Continued...

Tampa Red Vol 4 1930 - 1931

Tampa Red, vocal, guitar.

Includes recordings by Sweet Papa Tadpole (possibly Walter Coleman) accompanied by Tampa Red on guitar.

With contributions by: Georgia Tom Dorsey, piano; Carl Reid, washboard Frankie “Half Pint” Jaxon, vocal.

Genres: Blues, Bottleneck-slide Guitar, Hokum Blues, Early Chicago Blues.

Informative booklet notes by Teddy Doering.
Detailed discography.

From this CDs booklet notes
Tampa Red had been a permanent resident of Chicago since 1925. The same is true for some of his colleagues, like Bumble Bee Slim or Big Bill Broonzy. Those were the people who created what I would like to call the First Chicago Blues. Common to them was an urban approach to the blues, a more sophisticated siyle. Their singing was less expressive, but full of subtleties. There was no "shouting" or "grumbling" in between the vocals. Their lyrics were less concerned with cows, mules, crops or other important things of country life, but rather dealt with attributes of the city. The use of the piano as an accompaniment to guitar playing is another characteristic trait. Thus Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell, though residents of Indianapolis, were able to appeal to the musical taste of urban blacks. And this also explains the success of the duo of Tampa Red and Georgia Tom in Chicago. Continued...

Tampa Red Vol 5 1931 - 1934

Tampa Red, vocal, guitar.

With contributions by: Georgia Tom (Thomas A. Dorsey), vocal, piano; Black Bob, piano.

Genres: Blues, Blues Guitar, Bottleneck-slide Guitar, Blues Piano. Early Chicago Blues.

Informative booklet notes by Teddy Doering.
Detailed discography.

From this CD's booklet notes.
This fifth volume of Tampa Red's early recordings marks two important events in his career: the splitting up of his duo with Georgia Tom, and the end of his Vocalion recordings. The CD starts as a continuation of his earlier recordings, featuring hokum songs and down home blues. Don't Leave Me Here can be heard in two versions, the first being recorded in Chicago in October 1931 and the second recorded in February 1932 in New York! On the May 7,1932 session, Tampa Red is solo again, and he plays two wonderfully relaxed blues. Then there is a gap of almost two years, probably caused by the Depression, as it happened to so many other blues and jazz artists. When the gap was over, things had changed.  Continued...

Bo Carter Vol 1 1928 - 1931

Bo Chatman (Bo Carter) vocal, guitar.

Includes Mary Butler (probably Rosie Mae Moore) vocal.

With contributions by: Lonnie Chatmon, violin; Charlie McCoy, mandolin; Walter Vincson, guitar.

Genres: Blues, Country Blues, Mississippi Blues, Blues Guitar, String Band.

Informative booklet notes.
Detailed discography.

From this album's booklet notes.
Bo's first appearance on record seems to be a Columbia session held in Atlanta, Georgia on November 2, 1928, where he, Charlie and Joe McCoy, and an unknown pianist, backed a singer named Alec Johnson. A Columbia session did take place on December 17, 1928 in New Orleans, with Bo, Charlie McCoy and Walter Vincson, where two titles were cut as the Jackson Blue Boys. But before that session, the group ran into the Brunswick mobile unit and recorded as Charlie McCoy and Do Chatman, as well as backing Mary Butler on four titles. After Good Old Turnip Greens the vocal chores were turned over to Mary Butler for four blues titles. Bungalow Blues was handled smoothly, although a bit stiffly, with its occasional II and VI chords lending it a vaudeville flavour. On Mary Blues the blues style in the vocal was harder and the guitarist (probably Vincson) begins the instrumental introduction with a few bluesy slurs. On Electric Chair Blues the mandolinist had the same difficulty as on Mary Blues, and Butler cut Mad Dog Blues to better effect with only Vincson on guitar (including some mandolin imitation on the breaks). Continued...

Bo Carter Vol 2 5th June 1931 to 26th March 1934

Bo Carter Vol 3: 27 March 1934 to 20 February 1936

Bo Carter, vocal, guitar.

With contributions by Harry Chatmon, piano (tracks 13 & 14)

Genres; Country Blues, Mississippi Blues, Country Blues Guitar.

The first Bluebird sessions in March of 1934 marked a return to the studio for Bo after a two and a half year absence. Tastes in blues had changed and the record companies could no longer afford to take chances on untested acts or untried material. A more disciplined approach was applied in the studio and this sometimes led to records that sounded formulaic or unexciting. Bo Carter's records at this time showed as much or more diversity as any of his recording rivals and his regular trips to the studio attested to his popularity. Continued...

Bo Carter Vol 4: 20 February 1936 to 22 October 1938

Bo Carter, vocal guitar.

Genres: Country Blues, Mississippi Blues, Country Blues Guitar.

It has taken quite some time for Bo Carter's rightful place in blues history to be established. His music was complicated and multifaceted. The question of whether his lyrics are "pornographic" or merely an uninhibited and even healthy view of sexuality is really a relative one. There is certainly enough "raw" data contained in Bo Carter - Vol. 4 for the listener to come to his own conclusion. All Around Man, It's Too Wet, Cigarette Blues, Your Biscuits Are Big Enough For Me, and Don't Mash My Digger So Deep are classics of their type and the gorgeous guitar work on "Cigarette Blues" alone should be enough to persuade even the casual listener that there is more here than suggestive wordplay. Continued...

Bo Carter Vol 5: 22 October 1938 to 12 February 1940

Bo Carter was still touring the South with the Mississippi Sheiks in the years 1930 through 1935. This activity took the band through Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, and as far north as Illinois and New York. During this period Bo's eyesight got progressively worse and he eventually went blind sometime in the 1930s. This ensuing blindness and the disbanding of the Sheiks led Carter to concentrate on his solo recordings. On October 22, 1938 he had his longest session ever, recording eighteen titles in one day, all but one of them issued. This session produced some of his most advanced music from a structural and harmonic standpoint. Continued...

Mississippi Sheiks Vol 1 1930