Piano Blues Vol. 3 1924-c.1940's

Like its two predecessors, Document’s Piano Blues, Vol.3 is a fascinating bundle of refreshingly honest blues, barrelhouse, and boogie-woogie recordings both rare and legendary. While a few of the names will be familiar to early jazz and blues lovers, most of these artists exist in the tenebrously lit margins of pre-WWII musical history. Afro-Canadian Millard G. Thomas, for example, recorded the two opening piano solos in Montreal on October 28 1924; the resulting 78 rpm platter was released on the Compo record company’s Chicago-based subsidiary Ajax. Throughout the decade, Thomas led his Chicago Novelty Orchestra in Montreal; he is known to have made records with that quintet, and with a clarinetist by the name of Theador West. Thomas eventually showed up in New York and wrote lyrics for Brown Buddies, an all-black Broadway musical which opened in October 1930 at the Liberty Theater and ran through the end of January 1931, with music and direction by Joe Jordan and additional songs by Porter Grainger, J.C. Johnson, and Shelton Brooks. This little taste of Millard Thomas’ piano technique lands him stylistically amongst Jelly Roll Morton, Little Brother Montgomery, Hersal Thomas, and the great composer/bandleader Richard M. Jones, who backs vocalist Nolan Welsh on four titles recorded in Chicago for Okeh in 1926. Jones’ percussive piano lays a sturdy if somewhat hypnotic ground for young Louis Armstrong’s beautiful cornet obbligato. “The Bridwell Blues” packs references to Bridwell Prison (also known as Bridewell), a grim edifice adjacent to a stone quarry at 26th Street and California Avenue in Chicago where convicts were made to work themselves into a state of utter exhaustion. On the more obscure “Bouncing Blues” and “Nolan Welsh’s Blues,” Jones comes out of his shell and Armstrong is replaced by violinist and longtime Windy City bandleader Clarence Black, who also recorded with Jelly Roll Morton and Richard M. Jones’ Jazz Wizards. Welsh accompanied himself at the piano on tracks seven-nine, which were recorded for Paramount in November 1928 and January of 1929 and released under the name of Barrelhouse Welch. The lady who sounds off during “The Chicago Women Blues” is believed to have been Texas blues shouter Bernice Edwards. Tracks 10-18 feature vocalist George Hannah and were recorded in his hometown of St. Louis MO, Richmond, IN, and Grafton, WI in 1929 and 1930. “Hurry Home Blues” and “Setting Sun Blues” feature Lonnie Johnson on the violin and pianist John Erby. “Gutter Man Blues,” “The Snitches Blues,” and “Wobblin’ in the Mud” find Hannah backed by a trio which possibly included pianist Georgia Tom Dorsey. The plot thickens considerably beginning with “Molasses Sopper Blues,” as robust 25-year-old Meade “Lux” Lewis enlivens “The Boy in the Boat” (a traditional air devoted to the clitoris); “The Alley Rat Blues,” and “The “Freakish Man Blues,” now considered to have been Hannah’s self-portrait as a gay man. Lewis is also the accompanist on six Paramount recordings made with vocalist Rob (Bob) Robinson in late 1930 and early 1931. In contrast with “I’m Gonna Moochy” and “The Preacher Must Get Some Sometime,” the “Sittin’ on Top of the World” heard here is not the old-time blues standard, but rather the rosy pop song closely associated with vaudeville star Al Jolson. Lewis talks, sings, and even whistles; aside from his 1927 recording of “The Honky Tonk Train Blues,” these are the earliest examples we have from him, and they constitute a special treat which should not be taken for granted. The final two of this compilation’s 26 tracks were performed by an entirely unidentified ensemble consisting of piano, clarinet, guitar, bass, and drums at an unknown location at some point during the early ’40s. The slow drag “House Blues” is followed by an upbeat “Untitled Boogie.” This incredibly rare private acetate recording is a real gem, and those who truly love African-American music from the first half of the 20th century ought to feel grateful towards the folks at Document for digging it up and making it available on this extra bold anthology of classic blues and barrelhouse piano. – arwulf arwulf