Hope that this finds everyone well, and coping O.K. with the current situation. You'll have observed that some of the NEOBA events have been cancelled or postponed. This is going to be true for all types of musics and musicians. It's most likely to have a considerable negative effect on summer concerts, cruises, and other music venues, and may stretch into the fall/ winter period, though I do hope I'm wrong. But, as is said-- hope for the best, plan for the worst.
Some April Blues Births:
- April 5th.,1934-- "Big" Bill Collins
- April 16th.,1979-- Sean Costello
- April 29th.,1925-- Otis Rush
Answer To The March 2020 Blues Question: The bluesman we were looking for was/is Benny Turner, born October 27, 1939, in Gilmer, Texas. As I stated in the Question, he was the younger brother of a blues icon, one Fred "Freddie" King (shown on his early recordings as Freddy). Both boys learned how to play guitar from their mother, Ella Mae (King) Turner, along with the help of two of her brothers, Leon and Leonard King. Benny started his musical career playing guitar and doing background vocals with a gospel group, The Kindly Shepherds. During that period he also started playing with Freddie and his band, in some Chicago blues clubs. While doing that, he met Dee Clark (remember the song "Raindrops"?), who invited him to go on tour with him and his R&B band, which he did. After that, for a short time, he played bass for The Soul Stirrers. He, after a while, re-joined his brother's band. Freddie passed away three days after Christmas, in '76, which hit Benny hard, so hard, in fact, that he went into a state of deep depression, for which he was eventually hospitalized. When he recovered, two years after Freddie's death, Benny joined Mighty Joe Young's band, and performed with them for eight years. When he left that band, he moved to New Orleans, where, in '86, he became the band leader for Marva Wright, a blues singer of some note. He stayed in that spot for twenty years. After she passed away in 2010, Benny went out on his own and recorded four albums, the latest in 2019. The one that has garnered the most recognition and awards is "My Brother's Blues", a tribute to Freddie, being a collection of the songs Freddie liked the best, and yes, Benny's still alive
Blues Question For April 2020: This bluesman only travelled one time and recorded only four songs. He was a guitarist and singer, who also played the kazoo. He's another of those "unknown" bluesmen, but you'll recognize his recording partner on those four songs. Any ideas on who this bluesman might be ??
Blues Song(s) And Artist(s) For April 2020: The song is "Ice Cream In Hell", and the artist is Tinsley Ellis. This was released on January 31st. of this year, on an album of the same title. I picked this one to show that I do listen to the newer artists, even though I favor the old "stuff". Those old artists and songs are how one learns about the blues, not just the songs, but the blues life in general. "There is much to be learned, Grasshopper".
Blues Trivia For April 2020: This ties in with Benny Turner (kinda'). Freddie King, his older brother, was a big man at 6ft.5in., and on the heavy side, where Benny was average height and skinny. When the family moved to Chicago, Freddie's first and main job, was working in a steel mill, and going to the blues clubs to listen, at night. At age 18, in 1952, he met and married another Texas transplant, Jessie Burnett, with whom, over the years, he/they had seven children. After sitting in with quite a few of the big names of the blues, he started his own band, and did a considerable amount of touring, about 300 shows a year, along with studio work. In 1960 he signed a recording contract with Cincinnati's King Records, and did his early recordings on King's subsidiary label, Federal Records, and was usually shown as Freddy King. His touring schedule in those years was the biggest contributor to his death, as he was a hard-partier. When he'd be setting up for a show, he'd usually, for lunch or dinner, have a Bloody Mary, because he didn't like to be feeling too full to work hard. That led to stomach ulcers, which caused his health to decline. If you get on YouTube and look at some concert footage of him performing, you'll see his size, how hard he worked, how in-command of the music, his playing, and his performance he was. He passed away at the age of 42, from the ulcers and acute pancreatitis. Now, a bunch of trivia: that 1960 contract with Federal got him to record four songs, two of which were released in '60, but not met with a lot of success. The other 2 were released in '61. One of those is now a blues standard, a blues instrumental, unheard of at that time as popular, "Hide Away", which was named after a Chicago West Side club, Mel's Hide Away Lounge. It made it onto and up the pop and R&B charts, not to the top, but close enough. There was a time when a guitarist, auditioning for a gig or a spot in a band would be asked "can you play Hide Away ?". If the answer was no, you were gone. It has been said that Freddie was the best of the four Kings, including Albert, B.B., and Earl. Now, let's back up a bit in time. In 1956, Freddie made his first recording (shown as Freddy King) on the small El-Bee Records label, #157. The "A" side was "Country Boy", and the "B" side was "That's What You Think". Freddie didn't play guitar on these, he only did vocals. The "A" side was a duet with Margaret Whitfield, while the "B" side was just him on the vocal. The surprise here is the musicians on these songs: Earlee Payton on harmonica, Billy "The Kid" Emerson (he's the one who did the original "The Woodchuck" song) on piano, and, depending on what source you're looking at, either Milton Rector or Robert "Big Mojo" Elem on bass. Fred Below was on drums, but the surprise here is the guitarists: Eugene Pearson, and our own Robert Lockwood Jr.. You often hear or see the phrase "small independent label" ? Well El-Bee is one of those. it recorded that #157 of Freddy's in '56. It recorded #161, "The Foster Bros.", in '57 (they went on to record quite a bit more on other labels), and #162, "Vera & The Three Jays" (the only recording by them that I've seen). That label was owned by Chicago lawyer John Burton, and those are the only three records that label put out, a total of six sides.
Some April Blues Passings:
- April 1st.,1997-- Booker T. Lexing, aka Jimmy "Count" Hughes
- April; 12th.,2018-- Deborah Francine Coleman
- April 26th.,1988-- Arbee Stidham
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