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Post by nawlinspal on Oct 19, 2019 3:39:43 GMT
I've only discovered Jo Ann Kelly in the last few years and I'm so impressed with her singing and guitar playing. I don't know how I missed her since I've been collecting records of British blues from about 1970 on. One of my first concerts in the early 1970s was Savoy Brown. I'm (very slowly) trying to improve her article on an online encyclopedia. Mostly I've been gathering reliable sources before improving/fleshing out the text but I hope to start writing now that I have 12 to 15 good sources, including Pete Moody's three-part biography, her obituaries in three major English papers in 1990, Wirz's discography ( www.wirz.de/music/kellydsc.htm), and several blues encyclopedia bios. There's some great info here in various threads but I'm hoping I can ask for some help on a couple of items. 1. Kelly's first EP, "Blues & Gospel", is widely reported online as released in 1964, which has always seemed strange when her first major LP on Epic was in 1969. Then I found the liner notes from the compilation "Blues & Gospel: Rare & Unreleased Recordings" (2004) ( ia902900.us.archive.org/10/items/mbid-9e414d66-1375-4851-b451-957eac2fdc4d/mbid-9e414d66-1375-4851-b451-957eac2fdc4d-20863916689.jpg) which indicates it was probably released May, 1968. Tony McPhee is extensively quoted about the time frame and circumstances around the recording and release. That seems sourced enough to accurately date the EP but I was wondering if anyone had other info about the EP. 2. I need a photo of Kelly for the article. The use of copyrighted material/photos is, basically, impossible. Even using an album cover requires the cover to be notable enough to specifically talk about it in the article and none of Kelly's album covers fall under that situation. So I'm looking for a photo of Kelly that the copyright owner would be willing to release under a Creative Commons "Attribution + Noncommercial + ShareAlike" (CC BY-NC-SA). Anytime the photo is used, it should be attributed to the copyright owner, cannot be used for commercial purposes, and can be used in derivative works. This does not affect the actual legal copyright, just how the image can be used. There is more info here: CC info
I don't know who to ask about getting a photo. I've been trying to track down Pete Emery and Dave Kelly with limited results. Plus it seems creepy for me to cold-email either of them on this matter but if anyone has a current email to share, I'll do it because I want Jo Ann to be remembered.
Thanks,
N'awlins
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 19, 2019 8:24:34 GMT
Hello N'awlins,
I am surprised to hear that you had not heard of Jo Ann Kelly until recently, especially as your introduction to British blues was the Savoy Brown Band. It was all a long time ago and is not important.
My assumption is that the Jo Ann Kelly Wikipedia page was put together by Jo's family.
Your work, if done and handled correctly, will be much appreciated and my first suggestion on all your questions is to contact the very knowledgeable editor of fRoots magazine - journalist, musician and friend of Jo and Dave Kelly, Ian Anderson. I can put you in touch with Ian, but you need to PM me as I don't post people's contact details on the forum. I can also put you in touch with Dave and Tony if necessary, but before I do any of that I would prefer to be talking to someone whose name I know, as neither your username or email give any clues to who you are, or whereabouts in the world you are based.
The protection of copyrighted work such as photographs and recordings is so important, especially nowadays with people assuming they can help themselves to anything from anywhere on the Internet and use it however they choose. Good sources for photos of Jo would be Ian Anderson, Dave Peabody and Dave Kelly.
You can reply to my post on this thread, but for any contact details you need to PM me and tell me who you are.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by creolian on Oct 19, 2019 12:33:22 GMT
I've only discovered Jo Ann Kelly in the last few years and I'm so impressed with her singing and guitar playing. I don't know how I missed her since I've been collecting records of British blues from about 1970 on. One of my first concerts in the early 1970s was Savoy Brown. I'm (very slowly) trying to improve her article on an online encyclopedia. Mostly I've been gathering reliable sources before improving/fleshing out the text but I hope to start writing now that I have 12 to 15 good sources, including Pete Moody's three-part biography, her obituaries in three major English papers in 1990, Wirz's discography ( www.wirz.de/music/kellydsc.htm), and several blues encyclopedia bios. There's some great info here in various threads but I'm hoping I can ask for some help on a couple of items. 1. Kelly's first EP, "Blues & Gospel", is widely reported online as released in 1964, which has always seemed strange when her first major LP on Epic was in 1969. Then I found the liner notes from the compilation "Blues & Gospel: Rare & Unreleased Recordings" (2004) ( ia902900.us.archive.org/10/items/mbid-9e414d66-1375-4851-b451-957eac2fdc4d/mbid-9e414d66-1375-4851-b451-957eac2fdc4d-20863916689.jpg) which indicates it was probably released May, 1968. Tony McPhee is extensively quoted about the time frame and circumstances around the recording and release. That seems sourced enough to accurately date the EP but I was wondering if anyone had other info about the EP. 2. I need a photo of Kelly for the article. The use of copyrighted material/photos is, basically, impossible. Even using an album cover requires the cover to be notable enough to specifically talk about it in the article and none of Kelly's album covers fall under that situation. So I'm looking for a photo of Kelly that the copyright owner would be willing to release under a Creative Commons "Attribution + Noncommercial + ShareAlike" (CC BY-NC-SA). Anytime the photo is used, it should be attributed to the copyright owner, cannot be used for commercial purposes, and can be used in derivative works. This does not affect the actual legal copyright, just how the image can be used. There is more info here: CC info I don't know who to ask about getting a photo. I've been trying to track down Pete Emery and Dave Kelly with limited results. Plus it seems creepy for me to cold-email either of them on this matter but if anyone has a current email to share, I'll do it because I want Jo Ann to be remembered.
Thanks,
N'awlins
Hi there, You might want to try the Library... Here, we have the Library of Congress which has a ton of archived material. I was tangentially involved in research for the music exhibitory at Mud Island in Memphis. Most of the photos and recordings there came from the LOC. A good portion of any Ken Burns documentary comes straight off the library shelf... There are also some really impressive music streaming offered by local librarys. The Boston library in particular. Through my local library here in the parish I can listen to some of Michal Messers work... as well as scrapper Blackwell, etc... I dunno what is avliable in the UK but you should be able to access USA hosted sites. Here in New Oyunz Id never heard of her... found this www.allaboutbluesmusic.com/jo-ann-kelly/ Enjoyed a listen... Mission Accomplished ! Red Beans and Mustard Greens for all, Jeff |
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 19, 2019 13:56:20 GMT
Jo Ann Kelly was a giant of the British & European blues scene and she was known worldwide. Among others in the US, Canned Heat and Johnny Winter wanted her to join their bands. In 1994 I met and spent some time with Bonnie Raitt, and one of the first things Bonnie asked me, was if I knew Jo Ann Kelly. Bonnie then said that she thought Jo Ann was one of the greatest blues singers of all time. High praise indeed from such a great artist.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by leeophonic on Oct 19, 2019 18:34:23 GMT
In the late 80,s early 90,s I went to a blues band charity gig at the Half Moon in Putney, a great night made all the better for having Jo Anne and Dave Kelly doing a warm up acoustic set in the front room adjacent to the main performance area.
Nobody was recording with phones in the air just eyes awide, ears open and jaws on the floor....
Lee
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 19, 2019 18:59:11 GMT
Lee, reading your post has just reminded me that shortly after Jo Ann died I played at a benefit concert for her family at the Farnham Maltings.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by nawlinspal on Oct 20, 2019 2:22:50 GMT
Thank you so much for your replies, Michael and Jeff! I'll PM you with details, Michael. I can only hang my head in shame for not finding more out about Jo Ann back in the 1970s. Like many kids in the US, I gravitated toward the more electric end of the British blues spectrum: John Mayall, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown, etc. You'll laugh but my idea of finding obscure (for the US) British blues musicians at that time was buying Alexis Korner's anthology "Bootleg Him!" (1972) I bought one of those Immediate British blues anthologies from 1968 with Jo Ann Kelly and T.S. McPhee on it. I just didn't hear how unique she was until a few years ago when it finally dawned on me how unusual it was for a Black woman in Britain to be part of the blues scene and so good at country blues. Yep, I fell for the "large, Black woman" visual as well because I knew blueswomen in the US who sounded just like her. I didn't have a photo of her and was surprised when I picked up a copy of her anthology "Key to the Highway" 2 or 3 years ago. So I've spent the last 3-4 months researching and tracking down events most bios glossed over without details, like the Johnny Winter rehearsals and helping out Memphis Minnie. BTW, the Jo Ann Kelly article on WP was started and developed by Stefan Wirz. He started or fleshed out a sizable group of blues artists' articles on WP.
Sorry to blather on. I get like that when I'm working on something.
Best,
N'awlin
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Post by pete1951 on Oct 20, 2019 8:14:57 GMT
Not sure if you can get BBC ‘sounds’ in US, on Certs Matthews Blues show 2weeks ago (Monday Oct 7th 8.00pm ) she interviews Dave Kelly (and Maggy Bell) some interesting biographical details about Jo Ann. (Memphis Minnie benefit gigs, playing with Mississippi Fred Mc. Etc)
Pete T
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 20, 2019 9:22:17 GMT
If Stefan Wirz wrote the Wikipedia page it should be pretty accurate. Perhaps you should contact Stefan. He is a really good guy and very knowledgeable. I think he probably knew Jo.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by slide496 on Oct 20, 2019 14:21:28 GMT
If you scroll down this page you can see the name of the director for this festival documentary and Jo Ann Kelly id listed as a performer so you might want to try to contact him but and this was done in cnjunction with Fat Possum records . I think they acquired footage but I don't know if they ran into issues raising the money to digitize or produce. www.solzyatthemovies.com/2019/01/28/slamdance-2019-memphis-69/Also Stefan Grossman had been looking for footage of her sometime back and I believe he can be contacted through his website or through his forum. I don't believe he was able to come up with anything He performed with her. The issues I have run into with researching Fred McDowell footage from the 60's and I believe they played tpgether is that people/firms are told they can get ahold of footage and then claim they can get it on the basis of what they've been told and for a variety of reasons, when push comes to shove they can't get, don't have funding to liscence it, have agreed to not share in a liscencing deal, etc. That situation might apply with her as well. Regards, Harriet |
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Post by nawlinspal on Oct 22, 2019 19:42:34 GMT
Not sure if you can get BBC ‘sounds’ in US, on Certs Matthews Blues show 2weeks ago (Monday Oct 7th 8.00pm ) she interviews Dave Kelly (and Maggy Bell) some interesting biographical details about Jo Ann. (Memphis Minnie benefit gigs, playing with Mississippi Fred Mc. Etc) Pete T Thanks for the recommendation! The show is available online for another 15 days as of today. I'm about halfway through and it has some good info I can use. Can I post a link here? The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews: Dave Kelly and Maggie Bell in session. |
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Post by nawlinspal on Oct 22, 2019 20:16:17 GMT
If Stefan Wirz wrote the Wikipedia page it should be pretty accurate. Perhaps you should contact Stefan. He is a really good guy and very knowledgeable. I think he probably knew Jo. Shine On Michael That's true about the accuracy of his material. I have found almost no mistakes in his discography of Jo Ann Kelly. He lists her first release, the EP ''Blues & Gospel'' as 1964 but it seems to be 1968. That's it, though. The only mistake I've found. On Wikipedia, I had to remove his bibliography on Kelly. On WP, the Bibliography section is for books ''about'' the subject of the article or at least have significant chapters or sections on the person. I'm sure Jo Ann is probably listed in the ''index'' of the books but how much is substantial or just a mention is difficult to assess. Bob Brunning's books probably contain more info than most. Probably. Without being able to ascertain the level of material, I put the book list on the talk page for the moment. Some will probably be added back in to the main article as information becomes accessible about the contents. More likely, they will be added back as citations/references rather than bibliography. Unfortunately, Wikipedia is not about the truth but what can be reliably sourced to third-party publications. There's leeway on sourcing but not a lot.
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 23, 2019 9:52:32 GMT
If Stefan Wirz wrote the Wikipedia page it should be pretty accurate. Perhaps you should contact Stefan. He is a really good guy and very knowledgeable. I think he probably knew Jo. Shine On Michael That's true about the accuracy of his material. I have found almost no mistakes in his discography of Jo Ann Kelly. He lists her first release, the EP ''Blues & Gospel'' as 1964 but it seems to be 1968. That's it, though. The only mistake I've found. On Wikipedia, I had to remove his bibliography on Kelly. On WP, the Bibliography section is for books ''about'' the subject of the article or at least have significant chapters or sections on the person. I'm sure Jo Ann is probably listed in the ''index'' of the books but how much is substantial or just a mention is difficult to assess. Bob Brunning's books probably contain more info than most. Probably. Without being able to ascertain the level of material, I put the book list on the talk page for the moment. Some will probably be added back in to the main article as information becomes accessible about the contents. More likely, they will be added back as citations/references rather than bibliography. Unfortunately, Wikipedia is not about the truth but what can be reliably sourced to third-party publications. There's leeway on sourcing but not a lot. I think you should talk with Stefan before editing his work. Shine On Michael |
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Post by joephoto on Oct 23, 2019 21:21:47 GMT
I can't say that I had heard of her but I'm not that well read. The name did ring a bell because of the huge box of old guitar player magazines I went through one by one and I snapped a photo of the page that had a story about her written by Stefan Grossman. If it's really important I'll go back through them to find the article again but Stefan could probably tell you easier if you are able to speak to him. Attachments:
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Post by Michael Messer on Oct 24, 2019 7:35:12 GMT
There are two Stefans in this thread; Stefan Grossman - musician, researcher, teacher, writer, record label owner, and Stefan Wirz - collector and documenter of blues and American roots music and musicians, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of his subjects. Stefan Grossman worked with Jo Ann Kelly on a number of occasions, including recording with her as a musician and recording her as a producer. Stefan Wirz certainly knows Jo's history and is very likely to have met her on occasions.  Stefan Grossman  Stefan Wirz Shine On Michael |
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