Some September Blues Births:
- September 3rd.,1977-- Nick Curran, born Nicholas Michael Curran
- September 14th.,1889-- Thomas "Tom" Henry Delaney
- September 25th.,1910-- Rosa Lee "Rosalie" Hill
Answer To The August 2022 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Bob Stroger, born December 27, 1930, on a farm just outside of Hayti, Missouri. Some records show that the family moved to Chicago in 1955, which is probably correct. Some sources say that this was when Bob was 16, but with simple addition, 1930 + 16 would be 1946, not 1955. Anyhow, the family lived in an apartment in back of Silvio's, a blues and jazz nightclub. Bob's brother- in -law played in J.B.Hutto's band, and Bob was the one who drove him to their gigs. After he had learned how to play bass guitar, Bob formed a band, a family band, called The Red Tops. When Willie Kent was brought into the band, it was re-named: Joe Russell and The Blues Hustlers. Bob using the Joe Russell tag for gigs, however, didn't stick. After that ended, he was playing jazz with Rufus Forman, until he had the good fortune to meet Eddie King. That meeting was the start of a long- running blues career. He played bass on King's 1965 single recording, "Love Yoy, Baby". He backed King for 15 years, until King moved to Peoria, south of Chicago. Stroger quit playing for a couple of years, until he was recommended to Otis Rush. He backed, toured, and recorded with Rush, in the late'70's up into the mid- '80's. In the late '80's into the early '90's, he worked as a session musician. In '98, he performed at the Lucerne Blues Festival, with a group of musicians. This prompted the recording of his debut album: "In The House: Live At Lucerne, Vol.1". On this, he was accompanied by Ken Saydak on the keyboard, Billy Flynn on guitar, James "Big" Wheeler, alson on guitar, Ron Sorin on harmonica, and Marty Binder on drums. All of them, with the exception of Sorin and Binder, did vocals on different tracks. Sitting here, looking at this c.d., it was released in '02, and was manufactured in Switzerland, with an intro track, and 10 others. Ten years later ('08), Bob recorded his second album, "Bob Is Back In Town", on Airway Records. He recorded another in '22: "That's My Name", for Delmark Records. He was nominated, and won, in the Blues Foundation's Blues Music Award, for "Best Blues Bassist", twice, once in 2011, and again in 2013. He's still around, and will be 92 on December 27, this year.
Blues Question For September 2022: This bluesman was influenced by most all of the big names in Chicago blues. He's recorded quite a few albums under his own name, and accompanied or backed so many players on their recordings/ gigs, it'd take some serious space to list them all. He's won blues music awards for his work. Any idea who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) for September 2022: The song is "Let Me Down Easy", and the main artist is Gloria Hardiman, co- billed with Steve Freund. It features Hardiman on vocals, Freund on guitar, Ken Saydak on keyboards, Bob Stroger on bass (yes, the same as the featured artist above), Eddie Turner on drums, and Diane Holmes and Gail Washington on backround vocals. This was recorded in the first of three recording sessions, in 1983, in Chicago, released on Razor Records # R5103, a 12" L.P. album.
Blues Trivia For September 2022: This is on the above album, with some reference to others, about it's recording, the artists, and the later release of it on Delmark Records. In the first recording session, 3 songs were recorded: "Dr. Feelgood", "Let Me Down Easy", and "New Orleans Hopscotch Blues". The second session had 4 tracks recorded, and the third session had 3 tracks recorded, for the 10 total on the original L.P., 5 on each side. When Delmark released it on c.d., # DE837, they added 4 tracks to it, 2 by Hardiman, and 2 by Saydak. I didn't realize Bob Stroger on bass was on this recording. The trivia part is that Razor Records also released a 7" 45 RPM, # R5104, with "Dr.Feelgood" on the "A" side, and "Let Me Down Easy" on the "B" side. The label on the record shows the artist as being "The Blueprints". That group was originally made up of Gloria Hardiman on vocals, Steve Freund on guitar, Ken Saydak on keyboard, Bob Stroger and Harlan Lee Terson on bass (whichever one was available at any given time), and Eddie Turner on drums. There were others added on the Delmark release, but still from those same sessions. They were: Sam Burkhardt on tenor sax (on sessions 2 & 3), Fred Grady on drums (session 3), Gary Heller and Bob Levis on guitar (no sessions shown), Harlan Lee Terson on bass (session 2), and Sunnyland Slim (Albert Luandrew) on piano (session 3). I believe that "Let Me Down Easy" by Hardiman might possibly be based on the 1965 recording of the same name, on the Calla Records label, # C-102, by Bettye La Vette. Incidentally, that song was written by Dee Dee Ford, under/ behind the pseudonym Wreich- Holloway, and her real name was Wrecia Holloway. Also, as is usual, the "Blueprints" all went their seperate ways: as of 2020 they were: Freund is in San Francisco, Hardiman is doing festivals with Johhny Kilowatt, out of Iowa City (I've heard she's now back home and only performs in/ at her church), Terson and Stroger own "The Bass Chair" in Chicago music venues, And Turner is helping inner city kids, learn and stay out of trouble, as a coordinator at "off the streets club", a boys and girls club in Garfield Park, in Chicago's West Side.
Some September Blues Passings:
- September 3rd.,1970-- Alan Christie Wilson, aka "Blind Owl
- September 21st.,2009-- Sam Carr
- September 23rd.,1997-- Huey "Cookie" Thierry
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