Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906* – March 17, 1995),
known as Sunnyland Slim, was an American blues pianist who was born in the
Mississippi Delta and moved to Chicago, helping to make that city a center of
postwar blues. The Chicago broadcaster and writer Studs Terkel said Sunnyland
Slim was "a living piece of our folk history, gallantly and eloquently
carrying on in the old tradition.
Exhibiting truly amazing longevity that was commensurate
with his powerful, imposing physical build, Sunnyland Slim's status as a
beloved Chicago piano patriarch endured long after most of his peers had
perished. For more than 50 years, the towering Slim had rumbled the ivories
around the Windy City, playing with virtually every local luminary imaginable
and backing the great majority in the studio at one time or another. His piano
style is characterised by heavy basses or vamping chords with the left hand and
tremolos with the right. His voice was loud, and he sang in a declamatory
style.
He was born Albert Luandrew in Mississippi and received
his early training on a pump organ. After entertaining at juke joints and movie
houses in the Delta, Luandrew made Memphis his home base during 1927, playing
along Beale Street and hanging out with
the likes of Little Brother Montgomery and Ma Rainey. He adopted his colourful stage name from the title of one of his best-known songs, the mournful "Sunnyland Train." (The downbeat piece immortalized the speed and deadly power of a St. Louis-to-Memphis locomotive that mowed down numerous people unfortunate enough to cross its tracks at the wrong instant.)
the likes of Little Brother Montgomery and Ma Rainey. He adopted his colourful stage name from the title of one of his best-known songs, the mournful "Sunnyland Train." (The downbeat piece immortalized the speed and deadly power of a St. Louis-to-Memphis locomotive that mowed down numerous people unfortunate enough to cross its tracks at the wrong instant.)
Slim moved to Chicago in 1939 and set up shop as an
in-demand piano man, playing for a spell with John Lee "Sonny Boy"
Williamson before waxing eight sides for RCA Victor in 1947 under the somewhat
misleading handle of "Doctor Clayton's Buddy." If it hadn't been for
the helpful Slim, Muddy Waters may
not have found his way onto Chess; it was at the pianist's 1947
session for Aristocrat that the Chess brothers made Waters' acquaintance. Slim's Shout Aristocrat (which issued his harrowing "Johnson Machine Gun") was but one of a myriad of labels that Slim recorded for between 1948 and 1956: Hytone, Opera, Chance, Tempo-Tone, Mercury, Apollo, JOB, Regal, Vee-Jay (unissued), Blue Lake, Club 51, and Cobra all cut dates on Slim, whose vocals thundered with the same resonant authority as his 88s. In addition, his distinctive playing enlivened hundreds of sessions by other artists during the same time frame.
not have found his way onto Chess; it was at the pianist's 1947
session for Aristocrat that the Chess brothers made Waters' acquaintance. Slim's Shout Aristocrat (which issued his harrowing "Johnson Machine Gun") was but one of a myriad of labels that Slim recorded for between 1948 and 1956: Hytone, Opera, Chance, Tempo-Tone, Mercury, Apollo, JOB, Regal, Vee-Jay (unissued), Blue Lake, Club 51, and Cobra all cut dates on Slim, whose vocals thundered with the same resonant authority as his 88s. In addition, his distinctive playing enlivened hundreds of sessions by other artists during the same time frame.
In 1960, Slim travelled to Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,
to cut his debut LP for Prestige's Bluesville subsidiary with King Curtis
supplying diamond-hard tenor sax breaks on many cuts. The album, Slim's Shout,
ranks as one of his finest, with definitive renditions of the pianist's
"The Devil Is a Busy Man," "Shake It," "Brownskin Woman,"
and "It's You Baby."
In the late 1960s, Slim became friends with members of
the band Canned Heat and played piano on the track "Turpentine Moan"
on their album Boogie with Canned Heat. In turn, members of the band—lead
guitarist Henry Vestine, slide guitarist Alan Wilson and bassist Larry
Taylor—contributed to Sunnyland Slim's Liberty Records album Slim's Got His
Thing Goin' On (1968), which also featured Mick Taylor.
Chicago Jump Like a deep-rooted tree, Sunnyland Slim
persevered despite the passing decades. For a time, he helmed his own label,
Airway Records. As late as 1985, he made a fine set for the Red Beans logo,
Chicago Jump, backed by the same crack combo that
shared the stage with him
every Sunday evening at a popular North side club called B.L.U.E.S. for some 12
years.
There were times when the pianist fell seriously ill, but
he always defied the odds and returned to action, warbling his trademark Woody
Woodpecker chortle and kicking off one more exultant slow blues as he had done
for the previous half century. He was a recipient of a 1988 National Heritage
Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United
States government's highest honour in the folk and traditional arts.
Finally, after a calamitous fall on the ice coming home
from a gig led to numerous complications, Sunnyland Slim died of kidney failure
in March 1995. He's sorely missed.
(Edited from Wikipedia & All Music) (* other sources
give 1905 & 1907 as birth year)
Here’s a clip from 1969.: Sunnyland Slim - piano; Willie
Dixon - bass; Johnny Shines - gtr; Clifton James - drums
5 comments:
For ”Sunnyland Slim and His Pals – The Classic Sides 1947 -1953 4CD [2006]” go here:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/7s4tudjzzvmfvft/SSaHP-TCS1.zip
CD1
1. Farewell Little Girl
2. Broke And Hungry
3. Illinois Central
4. Nappy Head Woman
5. Across The Hall Blues
6. Walking With The Blues
7. Sweet Lucy Blues
8. No Whiskey Blues
9. Jivin' Boogie
10. Brown Skin Woman
11. My Heavy Load
12. Keep Your Hands Out Of My Money
13. 5 Foot 4 Gal
14. I've Done You Wrong
15. Roll Tumble And Slip (I Cried)
16. Train Time (4 O'Clock Blues)
17. Hard Times
18. School Days
19. Blue Baby
20. I Want My Baby
21. Mud Kicking Woman
22. Every Time I Get To Drinking
23. Bad Times (Cost Of Living)
24. Hard Time (When Mother's Gone)
25. Brown Skin Woman
26. I'm Just A Lonesome Man
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vy6ghxsr2lv5hl8/SSaHP-TCS2.zip
CD2
1. Back To Korea Blues
2. It's All Over Now
3. You've Got To Stop This Mess - Fat Man
4. Glad I Don't Worry No More - Fat Man
5. Down Home Child
6. Sunnyland Special
7. Leaving Your Town (No Name Blues)
8. Mary Lee
9. I Done You Wrong
10. Orphan Boy Blues
11. When I Was Young (Shake It Baby)
12. Low Down Sunnyland Train
13. Ain't Nothing But A Child
14. Brown Skinned Woman
15. Hit The Road Again
16. Gin Drinkin' Baby
17. Shake It Baby
18. Woman Trouble (Overnite)
19. City Of New Orleans
20. When I Was Young
21. Bassology
22. Worried About My Baby
23. Troubles Of My Own
24. Worried About My Baby
25. I Done You Wrong
26. Be My Baby
http://www.mediafire.com/file/7pf4hq2f03r9vzh/SSaHP-TCS3.zip
CD3
1. Going Back To Memphis
2. Devil Is A Busy Man
3. Shake It Baby
4. Bassology
5. Four Day Bounce
6. That Woman
7. Be Mine Alone
8. Sad And Lonesome
9. Living In The White House - Shines, Johnny
10. Please Don't - Shines, Johnny
11. Dust My Broom - Lockwood, Robert Jr.
12. Pearly B - Lockwood, Robert Jr.
13. I'm Gonna Dig Myself A Hole - Lockwood, Robert Jr.
14. Dust My Broom - Lockwood, Robert Jr.
15. Glory For Man - Lockwood, Robert Jr.
16. My Daily Wish - Lockwood, Robert Jr.
17. Big World - Jones, Floyd
18. Dark Road - Jones, Floyd
19. Schooldays On My Mind - Jones, Floyd
20. Ain't Times Hard - Jones, Floyd
21. Floyd's Blues - Jones, Floyd
22. Any Old Lonesome Day - Jones, Floyd
23. Pet Rabbit - Foster, Leroy
24. Louella - Foster, Leroy
25. Late Hours At Midnight - Foster, Leroy
26. Blues Is Killin' Me - Foster, Leroy
http://www.mediafire.com/file/h50v5734m1dfq02/SSaHP-TCS4.zip
CD4
1. I Wanna Play A Little While - Lenoir, JB
2. Louise - Lenoir, JB
3. Let's Roll - Lenoir, JB
4. People Are Meddlin' In Our Affairs - Lenoir, JB
5. I Have Married - Lenoir, JB
6. Mountain - Lenoir, JB
7. I'll Die Tryin' - Lenoir, JB
8. How Much More - Lenoir, JB
9. Mojo - Lenoir, JB
10. Slow Down Woman - Lenoir, JB
11. I Want My Baby - Lenoir, JB
12. How Can I Leave - Lenoir, JB
13. Ludella - Rogers, Jimmy
14. I'm In Love - Rogers, Jimmy
15. That's All Right - Rogers, Jimmy
16. Shame On You Baby - St. Louis Jimmy
17. I'm Not Satisfied - St. Louis Jimmy
18. Trying To Change My Ways - St. Louis Jimmy
19. Hard Work Boogie - St. Louis Jimmy
20. Your Evil Ways - St. Louis Jimmy
21. I Sit Up All Night - St. Louis Jimmy
22. State Street Blues - St. Louis Jimmy
23. Mother's Day - St. Louis Jimmy
24. Chicago Woman Blues - St. Louis Jimmy
25. Nervous Breakdown - St. Louis Jimmy
26. Old Age Has Got Me - St. Louis Jimmy
Personnel:
Sunnyland Slim (vocals, piano);
Floyd Jones , Johnny Shines,
Leroy Foster, Robert Lockwood, Jr. (vocals, guitar).
Sunnyland Slim recorded on a number of labels in the late 1940s and early '50s, but each of the sides he waxed represented the blues artist's dazzling skill on the ivories and his keening, resonant vocals. Fortunately, SUNNYLAND SLIM & HIS PALS--THE CLASSIC SIDES, a handsome and well-compiled box set, brings together these various recordings under one cover. Across four discs, each of which contains 26 tracks, Sunnyland Slim and his backing musicians stomp out a template for piano-driven Chicago blues that belongs in the library of any fan of the genre.
A big thank you to theblues-thatjazz.com for active links.
For “Sunnyland Slim • Slim's Shout” go here;
https://www31.zippyshare.com/v/zPBQuw9Z/file.html
1 - I'm Prison Bound -
2 - Slim's Shout -
3 - The Devil Is A Busy Man -
4 - Brownskin Woman -
5 - Shake It -
6 - Decoration Day -
7 - Baby How Long -
8 - Sunnyland Special -
9 - Harlem Can't Be Heaven -
10 - It's You Baby -
11 - Everytime I Get To Drinking [take 3] -
12 - Tired Of You Clowning -
Credits:
Bass – Leonard Gaskin
Drums – Belton Evans
Organ – Robert Banks
Saxophone – King Curtis
Vocals, Piano – Sunnyland Slim
Recorded By – Rudy Van Gelder
Recorded in Englewood Cliffs NJ; September 15, 1960
Remastered By [1993] – Phil De Lancie
A big thank you to Egroj @ egrojworld.blogspot for original link
GREAT POST!! many thanks!
Thank you!
Thank you very, very much! Wonderful music.
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