R&B Artists

This is a rarity. An entry in the R&B Primer Artists section that wasn’t on the original Shades of Blue site and so isn’t ported over from there. However, it has nonetheless been given a seemingly arbitrary date of production that sits alongside all the other artist entries. How can that be I hear you ask? Well, it’s simply that artists in the R&B Primer are listed alphabetically and the only way I could achieve that when porting over from Shades Of Blue was to structure the posts in date order (those pesky days of arranging orders manually are long gone) and I’m kind of a stickler for that kind of thing – a quality most often ascribed to the nerds in this tough old world, but I can take it!

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Howard Tate was another in the great line of soul mystery men – he cut some of the very finest soul sides in the mid to late 60s and then all but disappeared. And yet those Verve sessions with Jerry Ragovoy were so fine people have constantly been driven to find him, to try and figure him out, just to try and get close to him. “Howard was distant, hard to get next to” – that’s what producer/writer Jerry Ragovoy has to say about his discovery and he probably knew him better than most!

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The Soul Queen of New Orleans (a title bestowed upon her by officials of the city) was actually born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, on February 18, 1941. She’s been a constant and enthusiastic ambassador for the city throughout her life. Her parents moved to New Orleans when she was a baby, and lived in a rooming house behind the Bell Hotel. The motel lounge had a jukebox, which young Irma would sneak off and listen to. In that way, she was exposed to many R&B luminaries and, apparently, Irma’s favourite record at that time was Percy Mayfield’s ‘Ida Red’.

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A link between boogie woogie, blues balladry, country and early rock and roll. Amos Milburn was a contender for entry, but Hunter stole it through his more varied output. Although Ray Charles gets justified credit for the merging of R&B with the sounds of C&W, Ivory Joe had been sneaking elements of country into his ballads and jump blues as far back as the 1940s.

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One of the ‘younger generation’ of players (although in Blues, the younger generation are often well into their 40s, 50s and beyond) Walker was born in San Francisco, California. His eclectic musical interests have taken a long time to develop into a cogent musical personality of their own – at one point, he even quit the blues and formed a gospel quartet.

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Many would argue that he was the link between the old and new, between blues and the early days of rock & roll and many more might argue he wasn’t really a blues artist at all. Whatever your stance, ‘Big’ Joe Turner (born Joseph Vernon Turner) had a long and varied career and is one of the Primer’s favourite artists. He teamed up with Pete Johnson, the boogie woogie pianist, early on in his career and their professional relationship lasted around 40 years.

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Definitely one of the best of the contemporary bluesmen – an artist who can draw new recruits to the blues in a way other exponents of the genre might not. Garner has a natural talent for storytelling and a singular approach to music making; he isn’t really content to try and find a personal interpretation of traditional or prevailing influences or existing blues styles.

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Little Milton made his first serious impact when recording for Chess/Checker in the mid to late 60s, having signed to the label in 1961. One of the great artists who effortlessly adapted the blues form to the influence of soul in many of his recordings, he easily straddles both camps, but his guitar playing certainly keeps him within the blues spectrum. One of the Shades favourites, probably because he was/is an R&B vocal stylist in the mould of all time hero Bobby Bland.

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A particular favourite of the Primer, even if some of his material over the years has been less than inspired. An entry in the Primer primarily because of his varied approach rather than seeing it as a potential drawback. Rawls was born in Chicago in 1935, and he has recorded in a variety of styles over the years – jazz, straight pop, Philly soul, flirted with disco and most recently back to the jazz / blues of his early years. Some have said that his performances are devoid of zest but this pre-supposes that all soul has to be delivered in the style of an Otis Redding or James Brown. This is patent nonsense and no-one can deny the the quality and distinctive nature of his wide ranging voice, nor his gospel roots and jazz inflected styling.

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Now predominantly known, if known at all, as the ‘Queen Of Extreme’, her bawdy latter day raps and highly charged sex grooves, Millie Jackson is probably one of the most underestimated and neglected soul voices of the last 30 years. The lack lustre latter day career should not detract from some great work in the 70s and early 80s – it’s time for a little respect!

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Mitty is now probably best remembered (if at all) for her truly exceptional ballad ‘I Had A Talk With My Man‘ – based on the James Cleveland gospel ‘I Had A Talk With God’ and recorded and released in 1965. But this stellar release is far from the complete story and the recent release of the Chess singles anthology on Kent records provides an appropriate opportunity to pick up on Collier’s career, especially her tenure at Chess records. She never really achieved that much in the way of commercial success and had Dusty Springfield not covered “I Had a Talk with My Man,” Collier would probably be even more obscure than she is.

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An artist whose most famous record, the one with which he is most associated, was the first he ever recorded. But Percy Sledge should be appreciated for far more than ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’, even if the track did help shape southern soul and establish the great Muscle Shoals studios. One of the truly great voices of soul music.

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