J.C Burris born 15 March 1928

 

J.C. Burris (March 15, 1928* - May 15, 1988)  was an American blues harmonica and rhythm bones player. 

J.C. Burris was born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina. He learned to play harmonica from his uncle, blues legend Sonny Terry. Though never as prolific or well-known as his uncle, Burris did perform and record in New York in the 1950s, and after a few years, he relocated to San Francisco. Burris’s country blues sound was heavily influenced by his uncle, but he developed his own style which incorporated traditional percussive folk instruments into his music, such as African rhythm bones, foot stomps, hand jive, and the tap-tap-taps of his hand-carved “dancing dolls”, Mr. Jack and Mary Lee. 

                    

Burris did some performing in New York in the 1950s and worked on recording sessions with Sonny Terry, Sticks McGhee, and other artists. Country blues at its elemental, folk-hinged best. Burris migrated from Nwr York City (after recording for Folkways, Bluesville, Herals and Ember records) to San Francisco in 1961, making Barbara Dane's always-jumping, North Beach-based Sugar Hill club his initial home. Mostly, though, he played on the streets - frequently around Washington Square Park, where this writer first encountered his irrisistible Carollina blues vision - complementing spry, scruffy vocals with squealing bursts of mouth-harp, a set of African rhythm bones, foot stomping and assorted, quicker-than-the-eye, hand/body slapping. 

At the end of the decade, he relocated to California, finding some work in folk clubs in San Francisco before a stroke in 1966 robbed him of his use of his right side. Nearly seven years later, he regained his mobility on his right side, and in 1973, he began performing again, recording some solo unaccompanied material in 1975-1976 that appears on Arhoolie's Blues Professor album. Burris’s declining years were packed with musical activity – performing at local clubs, schools and blues festivals as well as answering Hollywood’s call, appearing in Gordon Park’s well-received ‘Leadbelly’ film. 

Burris created Mr. Jack in 1968. Mr. Jack finally gained a dancing partner 19 years later when Burris carved the final version of Mary Lee, just one year before his death in 1988. The dolls, with loosely articulated limbs, swung their arms and tapped their feet on a wooden plank placed between Burris’s feet as he rhythmically tapped their heads. Mr. Jack and an earlier, minimalist version of Mary Lee are featured on the cover of Arhoolie’s J.C. Burris: Blues Professor album from 2001. 

On the cover, the dolls’ painted attire differs from the styles of their later years. It appears that Burris frequently updated the dolls’ painted outfits, though Mr. Jack’s mustache over a wide toothy grin and Mary Lee’s rosy cheeks always remained. By the end of Burris’ life, the final version of Mary Lee had developed real locks of hair and a wide smile to match her dancing partner, Mr. Jack. 

Burris continued playing at schools, clubs, and festivals until his death at the general hospital in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, May 15, 1988 at the age of 60 years.. Mr. Jack and Mary Lee were sold at auction in 2020. Though their estimated value was $800-$1,200, they sold for $400. Their current whereabouts are unknown, but hopefully they are well cared for, still smiling, and still dancing. 

Edited from Arhoolie, Last fm,  Stefan Wirz & Downhome Music)*(other sources give birth month as February and May. I opted for the date given from Stephan Wirz discography)