Post by ChrisB on Apr 15, 2021 19:38:50 GMT
Otis Spann - ‘The Biggest Thing Since Colossus’
I’ve got some piano based blues for you this time around, but with some rather special guitar playing thrown in for good measure. I’ll get to that part in a minute, though.
Otis Spann was born in Mississippi, though it’s not agreed whether it was in 1924 or 1930 or whether it was in Jackson, Mississippi,or in Belzoni, Mississippi.
His father was a pianist called Friday Ford and his mother was Josephine Erby, a guitar player who had worked with Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith. His stepfather, Frank Spann, was a preacher and also a musician. Otis started playing the piano when he was seven, being taught by family members but also by Little Brother Montgomery. He started playing in bands at age 14 and moved to Chicago in the mid-40s. By 1952, he was working in Muddy Waters’ band and as a session musician and solo artist for Chess Records. He also played for Bo Diddley and Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells and Sonny Boy Williamson.
He stayed with Muddy Waters until 1968 and in 1969, found himself involved in a session at Chess that had been set up by Mike Vernon of Blue Horizon records, in order to allow his proteges, a young English blues band, who were touring in the U.S. at the time, to play at the studio of their heroes of the blues. The band were Fleetwood Mac and the session resulted in a double album, known variously as ‘Fleetwood Mac in Chicago’, ‘Blues Jam at Chess’ and as a pair of single albums - ‘Blues Jam in Chicago, Volumes One and Two’. Other musicians on that recording were Willie Dixon on double bass, Walter ‘Shakey’ Horton on harmonica and vocals, J. T. Brown on tenor sax and vocals, Buddy Guy on guitar and David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, guitar and vocals. S.P. Leary also played drums.
Otis struck up a good relationship with the Mac and so, five days later, they met again in a New York studio to play on another session. This time, they were to be the backing band for a Spann solo album. Spann wanted his friend S.P. Leary to play drums, so Mick Fleetwood moved aside. Thankfully, as far as I am concerned, Jeremy Spencer, with his tiresome and endlessly repeated Elmore James riff didn’t take part either! This left John McVie on bass and Peter Green and Danny Kerwan on guitars.
This album is just superb and, for me, it’s maybe one of the best blues recordings ever, up there with ‘Folk Singer’ and ‘Blues from the Gutter’. Of course, I’m a little biased because of my addiction to Peter Green’s guitar playing and with Jeremy Spencer out of the way, it may just be the best Fleetwood Mac album too. Certainly, the most consistent.
It’s the slow tracks where the album really hits the spot. For example, Green’s solo on ‘My Love Depends on You’ is just sublime. Greeny and Spann seem to add up to way more than the sum of their parts and ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business’ is probably the high point of the album.
Spotify Link:
YouTube Playlist:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8a8cutYP7fp5266N2mmTTJaiDC7SkCmM
I’ve got some piano based blues for you this time around, but with some rather special guitar playing thrown in for good measure. I’ll get to that part in a minute, though.
Otis Spann was born in Mississippi, though it’s not agreed whether it was in 1924 or 1930 or whether it was in Jackson, Mississippi,or in Belzoni, Mississippi.
His father was a pianist called Friday Ford and his mother was Josephine Erby, a guitar player who had worked with Memphis Minnie and Bessie Smith. His stepfather, Frank Spann, was a preacher and also a musician. Otis started playing the piano when he was seven, being taught by family members but also by Little Brother Montgomery. He started playing in bands at age 14 and moved to Chicago in the mid-40s. By 1952, he was working in Muddy Waters’ band and as a session musician and solo artist for Chess Records. He also played for Bo Diddley and Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells and Sonny Boy Williamson.
He stayed with Muddy Waters until 1968 and in 1969, found himself involved in a session at Chess that had been set up by Mike Vernon of Blue Horizon records, in order to allow his proteges, a young English blues band, who were touring in the U.S. at the time, to play at the studio of their heroes of the blues. The band were Fleetwood Mac and the session resulted in a double album, known variously as ‘Fleetwood Mac in Chicago’, ‘Blues Jam at Chess’ and as a pair of single albums - ‘Blues Jam in Chicago, Volumes One and Two’. Other musicians on that recording were Willie Dixon on double bass, Walter ‘Shakey’ Horton on harmonica and vocals, J. T. Brown on tenor sax and vocals, Buddy Guy on guitar and David ‘Honeyboy’ Edwards, guitar and vocals. S.P. Leary also played drums.
Otis struck up a good relationship with the Mac and so, five days later, they met again in a New York studio to play on another session. This time, they were to be the backing band for a Spann solo album. Spann wanted his friend S.P. Leary to play drums, so Mick Fleetwood moved aside. Thankfully, as far as I am concerned, Jeremy Spencer, with his tiresome and endlessly repeated Elmore James riff didn’t take part either! This left John McVie on bass and Peter Green and Danny Kerwan on guitars.
This album is just superb and, for me, it’s maybe one of the best blues recordings ever, up there with ‘Folk Singer’ and ‘Blues from the Gutter’. Of course, I’m a little biased because of my addiction to Peter Green’s guitar playing and with Jeremy Spencer out of the way, it may just be the best Fleetwood Mac album too. Certainly, the most consistent.
It’s the slow tracks where the album really hits the spot. For example, Green’s solo on ‘My Love Depends on You’ is just sublime. Greeny and Spann seem to add up to way more than the sum of their parts and ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business’ is probably the high point of the album.
Spotify Link:
YouTube Playlist:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8a8cutYP7fp5266N2mmTTJaiDC7SkCmM
