Search - Memphis Slim :: Blue Memphis

Memphis Slim, a.k.a. John Len (and Peter) Chatman, born in 1915 in Memphis, and deceased en 1988, started playing piano during the 1920s. He met the great pianist Roosevelt Sykes, and started his recording career in the 1940s. He settled down in Chicago, where he played with bassist Willie Dixon, and moved to Paris in 1961, where he delighted parisian Blues fans ("Live at the Hot Club"). He then recorded many sessions in London (with Alexis Korner, among others), including this "Blue Memphis" album (1970), a concept album in which he teams up with top musicians, like Chris Spedding, Peter Green, Duster Bennett, John Paul Jones and Pete Winfield In this "concept album", Memphis Slim goes down memory lane, by performing some of his standards, with a British instrumentation. Words run naturally, and notes break out with a sound rarely heard in Blues. If you like vinyl albums, try to get the original release (Barclay, 1970/90007). It is not a list of singles, put together on the same album, but a real album, that should be considered as a whole. If you like the Blues of Memphis Slim, and want to hear something else than the classical (but excellent) piano-guitar combination, listen this gem ; it will become one of your references. TRACKS 1. Born in Memphis, Tennessee/ Chicago (M. Slim) - 4:05 2. Me and My Piano (M. Slim) - 1:23 3. Handy Man (M. Slim) - 1:55 4. Feel Like Screaming and Crying (M. Slim) - 3:35 5. Riding on the Blues Train (M. Slim) - 1:39 6. I Started Moving (M. Slim) - 1:47 7. Wind Gonna Rise (M. Slim) - 4:09 8. Youth Wants to Know (M. Slim) - 4:43 9. Boogie Woogie 1970 (M. Slim) - 3:15 10. Otis Spann/ Earl Hooker (M. Slim) - 4:30 11. Chicago Seven (M. Slim) - 3:50 12. Mason-Dixon Line (M. Slim) - 3:23