Robert Nighthawk - And This Is Maxwell Street
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Free Music Notes for And This Is Maxwell Street
Free Music Review: Great stuff. If you like early Chicago blues this is for you.
Hit: 5 Stars
And This Is Maxwell Street is an awesome blues document and is highly recommended for people who like early Chicago blues. Robert Nighthawk is a featured artist here. He was a major influence on Muddy Waters who broke the gates open for everybody who came after him (or indeed preceded him and then hopefully benefited from those opened gates). It's interesting to see and trace those roots.
The stars on these tracks are the folks who had been making a living singing on Maxwell Street a decade (or decades) before Mike Shea made the film And This Is Free in 1964. In spite of that I'm going to focus in on where these recordings fit in terms of Michael Bloomfield's discography. The only reason I'm going there is because of what is in the next paragraph.
R. Weinstock said that these recordings "includ[e] a Dust My Broom that includes Mike Bloomfield on guitar (possibly being Bloomfield's earliest recordings)."
Yes, there are some super early contributions by Mike Bloomfield recorded on these discs. However, Mike Bloomfield had "officially released" material prior to his being recorded for the film And This Is Free (which was later "forked" into the closely related CD set And This Is Maxwell Street). The rest of what R. Weinstock said seems to be right on the money. I don't know if these CDs contain Carey Bell's first vocals or not.
Bob Koester of Delmark appears to have released the first LP with Mike Bloomfield on it. Mike played guitar in March of 1963 on Yank Rachell's Tennessee Jug-Busters : Mandolin Blues. The music on And This Is Maxwell Street was recorded in 1964. Some (at the time) non-commercial recordings with Bloomfield on them were made prior to March 1963. They are talked about below.
Pages that have info about Mandolin Blues
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[...]
[on the page immediately above search for "Mandolin Blues"]
On the [...] page above there are two prior recordings, but they appear to have gotten released only within the last decade.
The recording immediately prior to the Mandolin Blues album is one with Little Brother Montgomery in a live performance at the Fickle Pickle sometime in the first months of 1963 where Bloomfield plays guitar. The Fickle Pickle was a Chicago "rathskellar-type cafe" that had no liquor license which limited how many people wanted to go there. That music was released on the Tacoma label (TAKCD-8905-2) in 1997 as part of the CD The Best of Michael Bloomfield (matl. now also licensed by Fantasy Records). It's doubtful that that tape recording was intended to be commercially released, but you never know ...
Prior to that Bloomfield was recorded while playing guitar for the Westwind Singers on a short demo tape in 1962 or early 1963. That tape recently found its way onto a Westwind Singers compilation CD on the (micro-sized) Balkan Records label. It appears that the CD is available in very few places ...
[...]
The second link is the home page of Balkan Records. It is surprisingly difficult to navigate from the lower page to the upper page (to get to FolkMusic2).
The Balkan Records label specializes in Croatian / Slovenian / Polish / Lithuanian / Serbian / Hungarian / Macedonian folk music. Since the Westwind Singers were a folk group I guess it's a match. Amazingly one of the current Balkan releases is Wehrmacht - Songs Of The German Army 1933 - 45. Their most popular offerings seem to be music played on the tamburica.
Free Music Review: No suprise this was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award
Hit: 5 Stars
At last! What a pleasure it is finally to see the original recordings from Mike Shea's 1964 Maxwell Street documentary "And this Is Free" available in the North American market (also now in Europe on the Catfish label as KAT3D1) with its in-depth liner notes in English for the first time-more than 60 pages! (these recordings first appeared in 1999 in Japan as P-Vine PCD 5527/28). Both this set from Rooster and the Catfish release are identical to the P-Vine release with the exception of the language of the liner notes and the addition of a third bonus disc, which contains the entirety of the 44-minute interview of Robert Nighthawk conducted by guitarist Michael Bloomfield as part of the "And This Is Free" documentary project. And what extraordinary music it is. This disc contains the first known recordings of Carey Bell (who was about 28 in 1964). It contains one of the very few glimpses we have of Robert Nighthawk on the street. Highlights include his growling guitar work on "Cheating and Lying Blues;" some of the most extraordinary electric blues guitar playing ever recorded on "I Need Love So Bad;" Nighthawk doing the two songs that brought him his first real fame--"Annie Lee" and "Sweet Black Angel;" and a lively rendition of "Take It Easy, Baby." Not to be overlooked is fine harp work by Carey Bell, and perhaps the most dynamic and moving performances by one-armed harpist Big John Wrencher that were ever recorded. Here we also get gospel performances by James Brewer, a fine "John Henry" from Arvella Gray (so much livelier than the stiff version on the Swedish Radio tapes also recently issued), and rousing, raw gospel shouting from Carrie Robinson and other performers. Another highlight is two fine songs from Johnny Young. In short, this music captures the excitement of raw, live blues on Chicago's Maxwell Street in its heyday.
Interspersed between the songs are snippets of street preachers, hawkers, hucksters, and the voices of the musicians between numbers. We also hear car horns, conversations, street noise, and the enthusiastic shouting and clapping of the audience on tracks such as "Dust my Broom" and two jams that are perhaps the wildest, most spirited live blues performances ever captured on tape. The producers have attempted (and succeeded, in my view) to recreate the experience of a Sunday on Maxwell Street in the 1960s. Revel in it.
(...) "And This Is Maxwell Street" is the real thing. Don't confuse it with the Rounder disc. My advice is to take your Rounder version to the used record store and replace it with this one.
While this raw, raucous, record of the blues in the streets of Chicago will not appeal to casual listeners who want to turn on some easy background music and relax, it should make any serious blues fan sit up straight and listen hard. This is a slice of what the blues was really about during this period. The interview disc is icing on a very fine cake.
Highly recommended. Nominated this year for a W.C. Handy Award and surely the right choice for best historical release.
Free Music Review: Maxwell Street Blues Box a Must
Hit: 5 Stars
While efforts continue (bluesman Jimmie Lee Robinson has been on a hunger strike) to preserve the remaining portions of the historic Maxwell Street market area, Rooster Blues has released a three disc compilation, And This is Maxwell Street that presents music that was recorded as part of the making of the film, And This is Free. Some of the music from here was issued on Rounder on lp and cd as Robert Nighthawk, Live on Maxwell Street, which has been repackaged and reconfigured with a some previously unissued selections and including tracks attributed to J.B. Lenoir, Carey Bell and Johnny Young, The Rooster Blues has a full two hours of music and includes also selections from Little Arthur (Red Top/Ornithology which is deleted from the latest version of the Rounder); Big John Wrencher; Arvella Gray, Carrie Robinson; and James and Fannie Brewer. Additionally, Mama Talk To Your Daughter, credited to JB Lenoir on the Rounder is credited to Big Mojo Elem here. And there are several Nighthawk performances here that are not on the Rounder including a Dust My Broom that includes Mike Bloomfield on guitar (possibly being Bloomfield's earliest recordings). The full range of music here is quite powerful and entertaining including such selections as Nighthawk's updating of Dr. Clayton's Cheatin' and Lyin' Blues, the fervent gospel singing of Carrie Robinson as well as James and Fannie Brewer, street singer Arvella Gray's vigorous renditions of Corinna, Corinna and John Henry, and one armed harp wizard Big John Wrencher's Lucille. Several tracks spotlight Carey Bell, with I'm Ready perhaps being his first recorded vocal. Portions of vendors' sales pitches and street preachers' sermons are heard here as well. Providing some context to the recording. The Rounder has a portion of Mike Bloomfield's interview with Robert Nighthawk which is heard in its entirety (nearly 50 minutes) on the third disc of the Rooster Blues. My advance copy of the Rooster Blues lacks the booklet that should be accompanying it so I cannot comment on this aspect of the package, but because of the more complete reissue of this historic material, clearly is preferable, and a contender for vintage reissue of the year.Free Music Review: So, Arvella Gray,This IS Maxwell Street!!
Hit: 5 Stars
I am grateful that, in my lifetime, fate has given me the opportunity to discover the pure talent and outstanding blues recordings in AND THIS IS MAXWELL STREET. In researching my family's history, I am overwhelmed by Arvella Gray 's (my father's only male sibling) significant contribution to this genre.Free Music Review: best live blues CD
Hit: 5 Stars
This is without a doubt, the best live blues CD I have ever heard. The recording quality is outstanding, amazing considering it waas recorded in the 60's. Listening to the CD is as if one was actually there on the street.
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