THE BEST OF WEST & SOUTH SIDE BLUES SINGERS Vol. 2
Lovie Lee: Ain΄t No Hand Me Down
Foree Superstar Montgomery: Standing At The Crossroads
Larry Taylor: Bad Boy
CD 120.807
The Best Of West & South Side Blues Singers Vol. 2
This CD was worth for waiting so long! On this CD you’ll find great Chicago Blues recordings from 1987 to 1995 from different recording sessions! It starts with two great traditional Chicago Blues recordings from Lovie Lee, Muddy Water’s last piano player! The only two existing recordings by Foree Superstar Montgomery has been mastered on this CD. You find out what a great singer he was! Also Very Taylor’s son Larry sings three great songs, starting with his stepfather’s “Bad Boy”.
Also Blues history are the two last recordings of West Side guitar player Hip Linkchain. John Primer’s brother George Baze a great singer and guitar player will be the next: two great songs in the Jimmy Reed style will be the last document of this great bluesman. One forgotton song from Southside singer Johnny Law’s record session for Wolf will be the next you’ll love it!
Eddie Taylor Jr.‘s first studio recording ever will be next his father’s song “Ride ‘Em On Down” is a killer song.
Last – not least two Lefty Dizz songs will show you what great songwriter (Bad Avenue) and blues showman the blues world lost after his death!!
| Lovie Lee | Ain’t No Hand Me Down Tell Me Baby |
| Foree Superstar | Standing On The Crossroads |
| Montgomery | Wonder Why |
| Larry Taylor | Bad Boy My Baby’s Gone Yes, I Love You |
| Hip Linkchain | Saddle My Pony Goin’ Away Blues |
| George Baze | Park My Car Hush, Hush |
| Johnny Laws | Can’t Be True, I Don’t Need You |
| Eddie Taylor Jr. | Ride ‘Em On Down |
| Lefty Dizz | Bad Avenue I Could Get My Hands On You |
Lovie Lee
Lovie Lee was born March 17, 1909 in Chattanooga, TN. After he moved to Chicago, he worked during the day as a factory woodworker, honing his skills each night in the Chicago Blues Clubs from the 50’s onward as a great piano player. He acquired an impressive local reputation over time, but was little known outside of the Midwest in spite of his association with Muddy Waters during the legend’s final years in the 80’s. He recorded for Alligator’s Living Chicago Blues Series in the late 80’s and recorded one LP for his own label titled GOOD CANDY (later released on the Earwig label).
LOVIE LEE died May 23, 1997 in Chicago.
Foree "Superstar" Montgomery
[The Chicago blues vocalist died in his sleep on November 27, 1999]
Foree was born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, on February 29, 1943, and was later baptized. As an adult he practiced Buddhism. Even though he graduated from Doolittle Elementary and Dunbar Vocational High School [in Chicago], he didn’t partake in sports because, in his own words with a laugh, “I liked the cuties too much.” Before he was a teenager, he was one of the family mechanics; by the time he was a teen, he was the family mechanic and carpenter. As fate would have it, he would grow up to be a bonafide bluesman and a jack of all trades-there wasn’t a car he couldn’t fix or a song he couldn’t sing.
While hanging out at the world famous Theresa’ s Lounge in the mid ’60s, he sang the blues for the first time publicly, on a dare from Flicker, his first cousin, and Junior Wells, the Godfather of the Blues. Junior loved Foree and his voice so much that he bought him an amplifier and microphone to help seal his fate. From that day to the last day he sang, “What’s that she got? Please tell Foree, what’s that she got? Whatever you got, please ma’am lay it on me.” My big brother was there when the blues was red hot!
Though he didn’t play an instrument, that didn’t stop him from getting a solo in a song. Unlike guitar players, he had no notes to bend while soloing, so Big Fo danced. He twisted and wrapped his legs as if the weight of his 260 pound body meant nothing to his feet. He was the last stand-up blues singer (without a musical instrument) from Theresa’s Lounge and the Checkerboard’s heyday still performing. For the record, he started sangin’ the blues on our maternal grandfather’s property in Mississippi as a precocious, mischievous, hard headed little boy. His first true love, his car, Ramblin’ Rose, was a big black sedan named after the Nat King Cole tune. He was probably the first man in Bronzeville to have a record player in his ride, a bluesmobile for sure.
Fernando Jones
Foree’s Baby Brother
Larry Taylor
Larry Taylor, who sings and plays drums on two new Wolf CDs, Best West and South Side Singers Vol. 2, and Eddie Taylor’s Worried About My Baby, is one of the most dynamic, skillful blues singers and drummers in Chicago. He played with Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Rogers and Muddy Waters and Sunnyland Slim when he was but a teenager.
The oldest son in the blues-playing family of the late guitarist Eddie Taylor Sr. and singer Vera Hill Taylor, Larry grew up on the North side of Chicago, “around all ethnics of people”. He absorbed soul, r & b, jazz, rock, and even a little country music. He spent some youthful summers with relatives in Mississippi, where blues was a way of life in juke joints and cottonfields. He learned his trade from drum masters like Fred Below, Earl Phillips, S.P. Leary, Chicken House Shorty, “Wine Head Willie” Williams, Odie Payne Sr., Cassell (drummer for Howlin’ Wolf), John Riley, and, later, Sam Lay.
“People like to hear a variety of music when you put on a show,” he says. “But when you set out to play traditional blues, it should have that certain sound. A lot of drummers play too much and too loud. You have to hit at the right time, and give the singers and musicians some space to do what they gonna do.”
Larry’s soulful singing as well as precision on the bandstand make him an excellent front man. He is able to pull fellow musicians into the spirit of his songs.
Despite being a founder of Chicago blues, providing many of the famous guitar licks behind Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor Sr. received very little for the records he made during his lifetime-a sad and true fate of many a bluesman. The Taylor family, with four boys and four girls, moved many times around the city, sometimes living in dangerous housing projects. “Life is tough, the blues is your life every dayLots of people don’t have money, they don’t even have a place to stay,” goes “Life is Tough,” one of the songs Larry wrote in 1987 with guitarist brother Eddie Taylor Jr. Eddie sings it on his new album, Worried About My Baby, (Wolf Records, December 2003).
The Taylors are survivors and they stick together. Larry often plays with Eddie, and he plays drums and sings a song on Eddie’s new album. Larry also sings on Wolf compilations “West Side Blues Singers” along with Bonnie Lee, Willie Kent, Barkin’ Bill, 1987; and “Best of the West and South Side Singers Vol. 2”, due to be released in July 2004. Larry plays drums on his uncle Jimmy Bums’ Delmark album “Back to the Delta.” Another brother, Tim, also plays drums on Worried About My Baby, and plays with saxophonist Eddie Shaw’s band. Sister Demetria plays drums as well, and the various Taylor sisters, notably Edna, do some singing.
“I see more and more young people at my shows, all races,” says Larry. “The blues is coming back because it appeals to all types of people. This time I hope more of the recoguition and rewards go to the African Americans who created the music in the first place.”
Bonnie McKeown
Hip Linkchain
HIP LINKCHAIN was born November 10, 1936 in JACKSON, MISS. Hip learned to play acoustic guitar at home and was switching to electric after setting in Chicago in the early 50’s. He formed his first band in 1959 and recorded singles for the Lola & Sann labels in the 60’s. In the 70’s he recorded a single for the Blues King Label, also albums for JSP, MCM and Black Magic. Cancer struck him down before he could shed his status as a Chicago Blues journey man, and he died 1989, Feb 13,, in Chicago. Linkchain’s guitar style was unique in the west-side Chicago tradition, and he was a talented song writer and singer.
George Baze
George was born in 1942 in North Carolina. He started playing guitar at age 10 and his biggest influences were Muddy Water’s, B. B. King and Albert King. George was an amazing guitar player and he was never recognized for his talents. He helped to form the Chicago Blues Sound.
George played with many, many blues musicians in his life time. These are some of the biggest names in Chicago that he played most with. Dion Payton, Buddy Guy and Jr. Wells, John Primer, Liz Greeson Mandville and Mississippi Heat. George hosted the jam at Buddy Guy’s Legends for many, many years. He believed that it was very important to teach the younger musicians the right way to play the blues and he put a lot of energy into teaching and incouraging the younger guys on the scene to carry the blues forward. George’s jam night was the longest running jam in Chicago. His jam night was extremely popular and continues to this day because of all the hard work he put into it. George Baze also served time in Vietnam. He was a king soul. He would help everyone that needed it. He was a very good friend to all of us and we miss him very much. George passed on in 1998.
Lisa Becker
Johnny Laws
JOHNNY LAWS was born JULY 12, 1943 in Chicago, Ill. and was a fixture of Chicago’s South Side Blues Community since the mid 60’s. This great singer and guitarist long remained unknown outside the WINDY City; he garnered considerable local attention as a result of his aching falsetto voice, in addition to a vast and eclectic repertoire of songs. LAWS remained little more than a cult favourite until the release of his Wolf Label debut CD in 1995 “My Little Girl”, finally made his music available for a wider audience. From these WOLF record session one song remained unreleased until we released it on this CD.
Eddie Taylor Jr.
When Eddie Taylor Sr., a founder of postwar Chicago blues and the genius behind the famous Jimmy Reed, passed away in 1985, his red guitar, a Gibson 355 stereo, was left sitting in the corner. Eddie Jr., the third son in the family, had grown up hearing blues, but his main interest at the time was the current hip-hop music. One day he started listening to his father’s records, picked up the guitar, hooked it up to the old Fender tube amp, and started teaching himself to play and sing.
Today, at only 32 years old, Eddie Taylor Jr. is a leader in traditional Chicago blues. Most people who play the blues today don’t have the old original feel. I respect all the musicians, but there are certain musicians who give me that true feeling that I really want, he says.
Eddies sophisticated playing allows him to bring back some old favorites and add his own new tunes. that are a bit too tricky for the average blues bar band to copy. Fans are sure to tap their toes when he belts out Cut You Loose, a Picky Allen tune which was a favorite of his late mother Vera.
I can play along with a lot of different kinds of music, says Eddie, but when it’s my turn to stand up, I play what I play. I don’t know whether the person in front of me in the audience knows anything about Eddie Taylor Sr. or Jimmy Reed, or if they are a jazz fan or a classical fan looking to hear something different. But the music I play, I play like me. That’s the way I do it. Eddie’s rising star was temporarily knocked aside in 2002, when he suffered a severe kidney ailment. His youngest brother Milton came to his rescue and donated a kidney. With the support of family and fans, Eddie has regained his strength – and it shows on the bandstand.
Like his father, he lays down a great rhythm line for harmonica players, appearing on new CDs by traditional harpists Little Arthur Duncan and Easy Baby and backing up Easy Baby in the Chicago 2003 Blues Festival. Eddie’s Wolf Records tribute to his father, Lookin’ for Trouble features outstanding musicians such as Eddie Shaw on sax, Johnny B. Moore on guitar, and Martin Lane on harmonica. His own new Wolf release Worried About My Baby has five of his own compositions. Both Wolf records feature his brothers Larry and Tim on drums.
A Taylor family band is one of Eddie’s dreams: We’re proud of our heritage. We want to let the world know what we’re about. That’s all we’re trying to do-get a fair chance out of life, like everybody else.
Bonnie McKeown
Lefty Dizz
Recorded by Adrian Flores in ARGENTINA, 5.4.1988
LEFTY DIZZ was born April 29, 1937 in Osceola, Arkansas. He was taught the rudiments of music by his father after his family moved north to Kankakee, Ill. Lefty has been a stalwart of the Chicago blues scene since the late 50’s, having accompanied numerous blues artists. He made his first record for the King Label 1960. For many years he was based at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago.
In the 70’s he became a regular member of Hound Dog Taylors Houserockers after Brewer Philips left the band. He has records of his own on the CJ, JSP, Black & Blue and Isabel Labels. his stage name refers to the left handed playing and his youthful habit of imitating Hound Dog Taylor-songs with playing slide guitar without using a slide!! Lefty’s forte is tough, gritty guitar blues – his most famous song of his own is “Bad Avenue” also to hear on this CD!!
In the 90’s he was diagnosed with cancer, but he was still playing until he passed away on Sept 7, 1993. And with his passing, the blues lost perhaps his most flamboyant showman.