bluebop
Serious MM Forum Member
Posts: 29
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Post by bluebop on Jun 14, 2013 17:30:45 GMT
Skip James has always been one of my favourite blues players. I always feel a little bit frustrated by how popular some of his original "hits" seem to be in comparison to his later work. His music also gets a lot of stick from some for having a very similar playing style. Personally I really like this fact. After trying to learn a few of his tunes I quickly realised what a great guitar style he has. I doubt anyone will ever have that much control of open minor tuning again. A lot of his tunes are almost completely reliant on his wonderful melodies and sense of rhythm. To be that inventive with just three chords is very impressive.
Indeed most of his open tuning stuff avoids any full IV chord and just implies it with clever phrasing. He nearly always uses the same chords and every song is carefully constructed with the melody in mind. Try playing his version of Sickbed blues or Catfish blues and then try play Cherry Ball and then Washington DC centre Blues. He must of been so focused to;
A. Keep each song in it's tempo. Getting this right is crucial to each song. He doesn't alternate thumb all the way through any of his songs (well maybe one or two, but very few and far between). He almost uses his treble and Bass runs for the real syncopation and drive behind his songs.
B. Not overplay. When I try and play in his style I find it just SO easy to just proverbially masturbate all over his great compositions. Don't get me wrong I don't play just like him. I am getting closer though. To be fair I am enjoying the exercise, it helps to come up with new ideas. You can create some very odd harmony in Eminor tuning.
After his "re-discovery" Some people seem to think that his playing was shot in comparison to the 30s stuff. I think he recorded some pretty solid stuff. Especially considering his health. The Bloomington show is pretty damn brilliant. But I recently I have been listening to the album Rare and Unreleased.
I know he played some piano on his original album but he plays a lot more piano on this album. So today I got the album Skips Piano Blues.
Man I like his piano style. It's kind of all over the place style-wise. Some bits sound like Dr John and got that Orleans feel, in both gospel style harmony ad also rhythm. It also has a kid of ragtime/stride piano thing going on it's great. I just wish I could play piano like that.
If anyone is looking for something different you should definitely check out some of his piano work. Also if anyone has any knowledge of other rare skip stuff could you point is in the direction of it. There is a great show on wolfgangs concert vault where he has another band singing with him.
Anyhow sorry for the random post about my admiration of Skip James. Between Skip and Joseph Spence a guitarist can learn almost anything about playing in D
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Post by TN Pat on Jun 14, 2013 18:56:43 GMT
Skip James was certainly the greatest practitioner of spooky blues! Geechie Wiley's "Last Kind Words Blues" is up there, too. A shame not more of her was recorded.
And what can you say about Joseph Spence! They broke the mold with that guy!
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Post by triconehead on Jun 14, 2013 20:41:25 GMT
Thanks for introducing S.J here!
Been listening to some of his vocal/guitar songs and like it a lot,never knew much about him though.
Can you list some album titles to look for?
Mainly the guitar works.
Cheers
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Post by eggy on Jun 15, 2013 6:02:33 GMT
I think Skip`s 1931 recordings on the cd for Yazoo are most important listening.For later years Skip James/Today on vanguard recordings are very good excellent to hear.I too love Skip James.For me his 1931 records are right along with the greatest in country blues.One of the great singers of country blues too. eggy
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Post by Michael Messer on Jun 15, 2013 8:25:16 GMT
Hi Bluebop,
No need to apologise for an admiration of Skip James thread. He was a wonderful musician.
Of course the classic 1930s recordings are definitive, but I agree with you about the later recordings and in fact one of my favourite blues albums that I still only have on vinyl, is I'm So Glad - the double album on Vanguard. Recorded at two sessions, one in 1966 and the other in 1967, it is a wonderful album and features some fantastic piano playing.
Joseph Spence is a whole other story. I went mad on Joseph Spence's music when we first heard about him from Ry Cooder. Brilliant stuff!
Triconehead, the collection to get are the recordings that were originally released on Biograph as King of the Delta Blues, and Yazoo as Lonesome Road Blues.
More Skip James!
Shine On
Michael
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Post by AlanB on Jun 15, 2013 9:38:03 GMT
Hi Bluebop, Of course the classic 1930s recordings are definitive, but I agree with you about the later recordings and in fact one of my favourite blues albums that I still only have on vinyl, is I'm So Glad - the double album on Vanguard. Recorded at two sessions, one in 1966 and the other in 1967, it is a wonderful album and features some fantastic piano playing. Using the link below if you scroll down to 1978 that double LP, its sleeve notes and a review from the Melody Maker are available to read. It may have garnered nice write-ups but as far as Pye Records were concerned it sold poorly despite its ridiculously low price tag of £4.50p www.wirz.de/music/jamesfrm.htm |
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Post by triconehead on Jun 15, 2013 10:12:05 GMT
I´ll get down to search for these albums asap - thanks everyone !
Since Cooder´s earlier stuff always been an inspiration, I just have to follow up on Joseph Spence too.
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Post by AlanB on Jun 15, 2013 11:09:16 GMT
The 1998 CD Skip James: Rare And Unreleased took almost twenty years to see the light of day. When Pye order up tapes of the two Vanguards from the States they also included 22 unknown and unlisted songs, many of them with his wife. David Yeats, then licensed product manager at Pye, kindly put these on a cassette for me. The plan was to follow up the double LP with this "scoop". Unfortunately Pye were having nothing to do with it in light of the poor sales of their earlier James LP. However, that year I compiled two budget price Golden Hour LPs (The Great Blues Men, Vols 1&2) and managed to sneak on to vol.2 Skip's version of Sporting Life Blues.
Apologies for this unwarranted outburst of verbal diarrhoea.
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Post by triconehead on Jun 15, 2013 15:24:12 GMT
Many thanks for tip on Joseph Spence, now I see where Cooder got that from.
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bluebop
Serious MM Forum Member
Posts: 29
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Post by bluebop on Jun 16, 2013 2:35:53 GMT
Wow, thanks for all your responses. It's great to hear that he is truly admired and his music is loved. Not that I am surprised, preaching to believers and all that.
As with many blues musicians he will remain a real enigma, reading what John Fahey says about him is kind of difficult to believe. Skip did record a few of other people blues tunes. I'm pretty sure Sportin' Life was a Brownie Mcghee song which was fairly modern at the time.
I would highly recommend the film in the Scorcsese series of blues documentaries about Skip, JB Lenoir (I had no idea Robben Fords album"talk to your daughter" was from Lenoir) and Blind Willie Johnson. Yeah the series is a little weird but if for nothing else other than the interviews. Especially the interview with Dick Waterman (I also find some of Dicks opinion a little difficult to believe). I am still so jealous of him and Samuel Charters.
The below link is a completely new performance to me, indeed I have not heard it all. Skips first noise is a trademark cough. Funny how skip was Married to Johns niece. (I think.)
Alan B: "When Pye order up tapes of the two Vanguards from the States they also included 22 unknown and unlisted songs, many of them with his wife. David Yeats, then licensed product manager at Pye, kindly put these on a cassette for me."
Do these still exist and were they ever released ? Sounds awesome. Rare and Unreleased is a fantastic album. I love his version of Sorry for to leave you. Really wonderful. It might not have sold well but I am so glad they exist. The best music rarely sells...
When it comes to Spence on the other hand I would really advise the album called the Real Bahamas volume1 and 2. Really amazing doesn't do it justice. It doesn't have a lot of Spence but there is some fantastic Acapella tunes and a lovely tune played by Spence and his Wife called "Won't that be a happy time."
I remember an interview with Ry Cooder where he talks about letting Spence play a brand new Martin dread and the guitar never being the same again because he played so hard.
To me Spence and Skip are similar in that they stick to their own styles with lots of bass and treble runs and tend to play in the same Key most of the time. Which I find really perplexing. Just goes to show how important melody and structure really are. Especially when I think about Joe Pass saying that guitarists should avoid the keys of E and A and Bird practicing songs in every key.
Ultimately I never heard blues as sad and low down as Skip, Or as happy as Joseph Spence. (I guess he ain't "true" blues). Yet they have a strikingly similar style.
If anyone can point me to anything which is as individual and origial as these to please share...
Peace.
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bluebop
Serious MM Forum Member
Posts: 29
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Post by bluebop on Jun 16, 2013 2:45:53 GMT
Oh and also thanks for www.wirz.de/music/jamesfrm.htm. Looks like a really great site into the history. I haven't had much chance to look around but I love this kind of history and information. |
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Post by AlanB on Jun 16, 2013 6:17:43 GMT
Oh and also thanks for www.wirz.de/music/jamesfrm.htm. Looks like a really great site into the history. I haven't had much chance to look around but I love this kind of history and information. I guess you've spotted the two CDs from that session, they are items 68 & 69 (1998) in Stefan Wirz discography. |
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Post by triconehead on Jun 16, 2013 14:24:05 GMT
"Talk you daughter" was a standard for most r&b/bluesbands in the 80/90´s(The Blues Band with Paul Jones uk, for example)and John Mayall(Bluesbreakers) had several Lenoir tunes on his repertoar. I´d belive the most known version of Skip´s "I´m so glad" must be the one of "Cream" ? At least outside US.
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Post by Pickers Ditch on Aug 3, 2017 10:59:28 GMT
Resurrecting an older thread. I'm reading Stephen Calts book "I'd Rather be The Devil" all about Skip James. I'm about 1/3 of the way through and find it fascinating - he was quite a character, to put it mildly. Anyhoo, I've googled to try and find more and discovered this photo:  It does not appear in Calts book. I'm wondering - is it Skip James on a prison levee camp gang circa 1928 - 1932 as it says on the website? - who had the photo / where was it found? A fascinating picture of the place and the time, I would just like to know more. |
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Post by creolian on Aug 3, 2017 20:48:28 GMT
Hello Pd, all, Rainy day detective on the case !  timeline.com/convict-leasing-slavery-1fd126f4ad0c?gi=4ffb51647629That photo is identified as Pitt County, North Carolina 1910 via the U.S. library of congress on that particular website... Many web journalists use this resource (library of congress) for stock photos. Many times to editorialize ideology based opinion mongering. In this case, the issue of prisoners being used for private profit is quite real. The photo is simply one of a work crew, maybe for profit, maybe not... The picture is used on other blogs with other agendas. I found it searching for Parchman farm penetentiary work gangs. The Library of Congress put thousands of public domain images on Flickr and subsequently some have been used as illustration for a variety of legends thanks to the interweb... I was very curious because it is an amazing photograph... It's obviously posed and full of allegory. Looks like it should be part of a marketing brochure for "the wardens choice coffee" or some such malarky Being in Piney woods it can't be too close to any levee. I'm going to do some more research but so far nothing linking it to Skip James. Regards, J |
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