5 Songs Friday, June 27, 2025

Blues and Rock and Jazz today

Tommy McClennan – “Cross Cut Saw Blues” 1941 available on Very Best of Tpommy McClennan. I know some of these lyrics from the masterful Albert King version in the 60s, but I’d never heard the original released version of this song before. Apparently, Tony Hollins actually recorded a version three months before McClennan, but that wasn’t released at the time. McClennan didn’t record a whole lot, but what he did was pretty powerful. He left the Mississippi Delta several years earlier than Muddy Waters, and was fairly big on the Chicago blues scene in the years right around 1940. I like the gravelly nature of his vocals, and he was a sharp guitar player, too. This version, perhaps because it’s just acoustic guitar, bass, and vocals, emphasizes the double entendre of the lyrics more than King’s. “Now when ya go fishin, don’t forget the pole.”

The Pretty Things – “Sittin’ All Alone” 1965 single available on expanded release of Get the Picture? In the United States, the Pretty Things are virtually unknown with the exception of their psychedelic concept album S.F. Sorrow. But in England in the mid-sixties, they were right there with the Rolling Stones and the Yardbirds as purveyors of highly creative blues-based original rock’n’roll records. This single sounds a bit like Keith Relf fronting the Stones. Vocalist Phil May was not the most aggressive vocalist, but he could nail this moody and tense number. And guitarist Dick Taylor could probably have fooled anybody in a Keith Richards imitation contest at that time. This song was co-written by May and Taylor with some guy named Stirling getting a credit as well. It’s a typical tale of trying to cope with the loss of a love made modern by pointing out “The records I play they make me feel sad.”

Mtume – “We’re Gonna Make It This Time” 1980 from In Search of the Rainbow Seekers. It often blew my mind as I discovered music out of the order it was created. Knowing James Mtume as the leader of this r&b band that by the time I encountered it was doing electro-funk like their big hit “Juicy Fruit,” I wasn’t prepared to learn that he had been a key percussionist with Miles Davis for a number of years in the early 70s. Then, when I finally got around to hearing the stuff he did in between, I found out that Mtume the band was very much in the spirit of Earth, Wind & Fire for a while. This song features the intoxicating vocals of Tawatha Agee. It’s a quiet storm ballad in which Agee attempts to reassure her man that despite past failures, if they get together one more time they’ll be together forever. I don’t know if it worked, but given this sultry groove and her assertive pleas, I expect they at least gave it the old college try.

Earl Hines – “Tosca’s Dance” sometime in the 20^th Century available on The Indispensable Earl Hines. Many of the recordings of piano great Earl Hines have been released on multiple record labels in various compilations over the years, making it all but impossible sometimes to figure out exactly when a particular one may have originated. (Well, probably not impossible if you have access to one of these albums with discographical data, but I’m not in that position right now.) I’m not sure if this is related to the Puccini opera or if Hines just liked the sound of the word. It’s an absolutely delightful little melody that Hines manipulates across just more than three minutes of infectious and dazzling piano magic. He was one of the best jazz piano players in a time of great jazz piano players.

Percy Mayfield – “Strange Things Happening” 1950 available on The Best of Percy Mayfield. He’s often referred to as the Poet Laureate of the Blues, and this early record gives you some idea why. On the one hand, it’s built on the typical trope of “you better love me or else” which turns up in lots of blues songs. But within these three short verses, he gives her the option of learning to love him or leave him, and he encourages her to just tell him if she doesn’t love him so he can move on, and then comes up with the last verse of “Midnight finds me cryin’, daylight find me cryin’, too.” So, yes, strange things are happening, and she better beware, but I think the pain being expressed is mixed with his concern for her feelings in a way you don’t always find in these kinds of songs. Also, jeebus, the man could sing a blues ballad beautifully. Kudos to the guitarist and sax player who offer exquisite solos in the bridge verse.