Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 CLASSIC RECORDS (8) 45rpm AUDIOPHILE discs
$
91
$ 91
Sold For
Oct 19, 2014
Sold Date
Oct 9, 2014
Start Date
$ 90
Start price
2
Number Of Bids
USA
Country Of Seller
eBay
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Description
Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 CLASSIC RECORDS (8) 45rpm AUDIOPHILE discs
(Mastered by Bernie Grundman - Pressed at RTI)
Tracklist
–Michael Turner (13) Introduction To The Festival 0:14 –Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers* Kitchen Sink Boogie 3:56 –Koko Taylor Wang Dang Doodle 6:16 –Bobby ''Blue'' Bland* Ain't That Loving You 2:19 –Dr. John I Walk On Guilded Splinters 4:31 –Junior Walker & The All Stars (I Am A) Roadrunner / These Things Will Keep Me Loving You 4:25 –Bonnie Raitt Tribute To Fred McDowell: (a) Write Me A Few Of Your Lines, (b) Kokomo, (c) Drop Down Mama 3:38 –Howlin' Wolf Highway 49 5:22 –Muddy Waters Honey Bee 5:18 –CJQ* Form Kinetic 6:15 –John Sinclair (2), Muddy Waters, Lucille Spann Festival Dedication To Otis Spann 1:06 –Lucille Spann With Mighty Joe Young Dedicated To Otis 6:32 –Freddie King Goin' Down 4:22 –Luther Allison Please Send Me Someone To Love 7:23 –Boogie Brothers, The (2) With Sister Sarah Brown My Last Meal 2:41 –Johnny Shines Dust My Broom 3:07 –Otis Rush Gambler's Blues 7:38 –Sippie Wallace With Bonnie Raitt Women Be Wise 3:07 –Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra* Life Is Splendid 6:05*(all photos are of the actual item)
Notes
Recorded Live At Otis Spann Memorial Field.Gatefold Cover. By Stuart Jefferson "This festival rapidly became one of the most important festivals of it's kind in the late 60's/early 70's. This festival was responsible for spreading the word about a number of blues performers to a growing audience of blues fans. Ann Arbor also included jazz artists but this set focuses mianly on the blues. The sound is very reminiscent of the early 70's, with all the good and the bad. But overall the sound is perfectly fine--just don't expect clean, crisp sound. The booklet is the same as the original vinyl issue--only reduced in size to make reading the period liner notes (by John Sinclair) all but impossible. I suggest a powerful magnifying glass. The color photos of the performers, though small, are adequate if you have good vision.
But the most important thing--the music--is mostly smoking hot. Beginning with Hound Dog Taylor & The House Rockers ("Kitchen Sink Boogie"), into Koko Taylor ("Wang Dang Doodle"), into a great tune by Bobby "Blue" Bland ("Ain't That Loving You"), the music is unassailable. Dr. John is also here with "I Walk On Gilded Splinters" which actually fits very nicely into the set. Junior Walker & The All Stars are here too with a funky horn-driven medley (including "I'm A Roadrunner"), and after that Bonnie Raitt does a spirited medley in tribute to Mississippi Fred McDowell. The great Howlin' Wolf blasts out "Highway 49", and then Muddy Waters comes on with a stinging "Honey Bee". The disc ends with CJQ and "Form Kinetic". This track features trumpet, guitar, piano, bass, and drums, and is something similar to what Miles Davis was doing at the time. Decide for yourself if this tune is for you. I will say that after hearing the Wolf and Waters it's quite a jolt to go from post-war blues into an attempt at Davis' sound, but festivals were like that back then. You could almost count on hearing something new alongside more familiar artists.
The second disc begins with a dedication to Otis Spann by John Sinclair, Muddy Waters, and Lucille Spann. Things get down and dirty with Mighty Joe Young's guitar and Lucille Spann on "Dedicated To Otis". Mrs. Spann has quite a voice which is on heated display here. And Young's guitar is scorching hot at times on this slow blues. Freddie King does the Don NIx tune "Goin' Down" with his usual high power vocals and guitar. Up next is the (late) Luther Allison doing a fine slow blues tune "Please Send Me Someone To Love", complete with his crying, pleading guitar, plus organ and horns.The Boogie Brothers with Sister Sarah Brown, a blue-eyed blues band, does a version of "My Last Meal". It's appropriately played as a shuffle, but after hearing the previous performers it's a bit light weight sounding--to each his own.
Back to the real thing with the great Johnny Shines and "Dust My Broom", backed by the Boogie Brothers. Thankfully Shines is in good voice and the band lays in behind him just right. And then comes the great Otis Rush with Jimmy "Fast Fingers" Dawkins, another fine yet relatively unknown Chicago blues guitarist. Rush's vocals are spot on and the guitars get the job done. This lengthy (7 1/2 minutes) tune gives Rush and Dawkins room to play, and Rush's band is a tried and true Chicago blues band. Things slow down a bit for Sippie Wallace and Bonnie Raitt with "Women Be Wise", a great old time blues. And proving once again that this is both a blues and jazz festival, Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra finish things up with the relatively lengthy (6 minutes) "Life Is Splendid" from the "Space Is The Place Suite". Fans of Ra (like me) will be familiar with what goes on here--suffice to say that this is typical Ra--chants and shouts over a subtle horn and percussion driven melody.
Listening to the crowd's approval of Ra, reminds me of those long gone days when music fans seemed more open to different musical genres. While Ra's music is rooted in the blues, it's a long way from Bland, Waters, or The Wolf. But this set is an aural look back at what blues/jazz festivals were all about. If that era of live blues and a bit of jazz/space music is your thing, this set will give you an idea of what music was like back then." By Britt Robson "By 1972, the blues revival had made artists like Wolf and Muddy wealthier and more famous than they’d ever been, and hopes for genuine racial integration, while fading, still seemed possible. John Sinclair, the notorious former manager for the MC5 and founder of the White Panther Party, co-produced this first of what would become a series of festivals in Ann Arbor less than a year after being released from jail after a trumped-up marijuana sentence was commuted. All the elements were ripe for a hedonistic merging of race, culture, politics and music. The closest thing to Ann Arbor today is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Remembering when Ann Arbor was the place for indelible, incandescent blues High-octane guitarists are all over this collection, from Hound Dog Taylor (“Kitchen Sink Boogie”) to Freddie King (“Goin’ Down”) to Johnny Shines (“Dust My Broom”), to Otis Rush (“Gambler’s Blues”). Luther Allison (“Please Send Me Someone To Love”) was so memorable he was invited back to close the festival in 1973. And for vocalists, you had Koko Taylor belting out “Wang Dang Doodle” beside the legendary composer of the tune, Willie Dixon. You had Dr. John’s alley-cat voodoo, Bobby “Blue” Bland’s distinctive coo, and Bonnie Raitt returning to back then-75-year old Sippie Wallace on “Women Be Wise.”
The jazz at the Jazz & Blues Festival did not live up to its end of the bargain. (Although the event did produce an Art Ensemble of Chicago performance that later became their Baptizm album.) The best thing here is an excerpt from “Space is the Place” by Sun Ra & His Solar-Myth Arkestra. No matter. In ’72, Ann Arbor was the place for indelible, incandescent blues. Whether you’re the kind of fanatic who would pay good money for a Peetie Wheatstraw bobblehead or just vaguely curious about the genre, there is more than enough iconic magic on this superbly culled set to suit your needs."
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