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4967 - ALEXIS KORNER - Musically Rich ... And Famous, Disc Two (1998)

ALEXIS KORNER
''MUSICALLY RICH ... AND FAMOUS, DISC TWO''
COMPILATION
AUGUST 25 1998
140:33

DISC ONE
1/The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)
Joe Tex/5:42
2/Corrina, Corrina
Traditional/3:10
3/Operator
Alexis Korner / Steve Miller / Robert Plant/4:41
4/Steal Away
Alexis Korner / Steve Miller / Robert Plant/4:45
5/I See It
James Edwards / Pervis Staples/2:36
6/Funky
Alexis Korner/3:07
7/You Don't Miss Your Water
William Bell/3:55
8/Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)
Curtis Mayfield/4:10
9/Evil Hearted Woman
Mance Lipscomb/4:00
10/Lo and Behold
James Taylor/4:08
11/One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
Rudy Toombs/3:04
12/I Don't Know
Amina Figarova / Alexis Korner / Peter Thorup/4:47
13/Oo-Whee Baby
Robert Johnson / Big Joe Turner/3:19
14/Rock Me
Melvin "Lil' Son" Jackson/8:52
15/Captain America
Alexis Korner/4:01
16/Vicksburg Blues
Little Brother Montgomery / Traditional/3:23

DISC TWO
1/Get off of My Cloud
Mick Jagger / Keith Richards/5:32
2/Strange 'N' Deranged
Alexis Korner / Pervis Staples/3:36
3/Spoonful
Willie Dixon/6:43
4/You Got the Power (To Turn Me On)
Willie Chambers/7:16
5/Daytime Song
Alexis Korner/3:47
6/Honky Tonk Woman
Mick Jagger / Keith Richards/3:45
7/A Mess of Blues
Doc Pomus / Mort Shuman/5:49
8/Hey Pretty Mama
Chris Farlowe/4:25
9/Precious Lord
Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey/4:30
10/How Long Blues
Leroy Carr/3:30
11/I Got My Mojo Working
Preston Foster/4:22
12/Geneva
Traditional/4:14
13/Blood on the Saddle
Everett Cheetham/2:58
14/Wreck of the Old '97
Traditional/3:05
15/Big Boss Man
Luther Dixon / Al Smith/3:48
16/Hi-Heel Sneakers/5:33

Ron Aspery /Sax (Soprano)
Harold Beckett /Trumpet
Duster Bennett /Harmonica
Graham Broad /Drums
Annette Brox /Tambourine, Vocals (Background)
Victor Brox /Cornet, Piano, Vocals (Background)
Boz Burrell /Bass, Vocals (Background)
George Caldwell /Vocals (Background)
Tony Carr /Drums, Percussion
Irene Chanter /Vocals (Background)
Eric Clapton /Guitar
Lol Coxhill /Sax (Tenor)
Elton Dean /Sax (Alto)
Jim Diamond /Vocals
Nick Evans /Trombone
Chris Farlowe /Vocals
Peter Frampton /Guitar
Andy Fraser /Bass
Malcolm Griffiths /Trombone
Tim Hinkley /Organ, Piano (Electric)
Colin Hodgkinson /Bass, Vocals (Background)
Nicky Hopkins /Piano
Alexis Korner /Arranger, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Piano, Tambourine, Tiple, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Gaspar Lawal /African Drums, Percussion
Henry Lowther /Trumpet
Steve Marriott /Guest Artist, Guitar
John Marshall /Drums
Danny McIntosh /Guitar (Electric)
Steve Miller /Piano, Vocals (Background)
Zoot Money /Piano, Piano (Electric), Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Eddie Mordue /Sax (Baritone)
Dick Morrissey /Sax (Tenor)
Tony O'Malley /Piano
Robert Plant /Guest Artist, Harmonica, Vocals
Chris Pyne /Trombone
Keith Richards /Guest Artist, Guitar (Electric), Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Paul Rodgers /Vocals (Background)
Barry St. John /Vocals (Background)
Pete Sayers /Banjo, Dobro
Stewart Speer /Drums
Alan Spenner /Bass
Terry Stannard /Drums
Liza Strike /Vocals (Background)
John Surman /Piano, Sax (Baritone)
Peter Thorup /Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Producer, Vocals, Vocals (Background)
Adrian Tilbrook /Drums
Ian Wallace /Drums, Percussion
Ray Warleigh /Sax (Alto)
Rick Wills /Bass, Guitar (Bass)
Mike Zwerin /Trombone

REVIEW
by Rev. Keith A. Gordon
Alexis Korner did as much to popularize the blues in his adopted home of England as Alan Lomax did in the States. True, his approach was different, and he didn't roam town to town capturing authentic blues singers on tape, but Korner brought the sound to British audiences nonetheless. Through his music, through the clubs he founded (and booked American artists in), and through his tireless championing of the genre, Korner shaped the nascent late-'50s U.K. blues scene and ignited a passion that would create a generation of British bluesmen. Musically Rich...and Famous roughly covers the second half of Korner's glorious career, starting in 1967 and running through to the artist's death. The two-CD compilation features 32 songs and a surprising number of "guest" stars, and reflects in large measure the entire gamut of Korner's musical interests, from raw country blues to red-hot R&B, from smoky jazz to British skiffle. By the time of the November 1967 sessions that kick off the set, the British blues scene had undergone a radical change, blues-rock bands like the Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers making stars out of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Peter Green. For Korner, however, it was business as usual, as he formed one group after another during the latter part of the decade. Among the highlights of the various late-'60s bands and collaborations to be found here are a pre-Led Zeppelin Robert Plant howling his way through a pair of Korner originals, "Operator" and "Steal Away." Paul Rodgers and Andy Fraser of Free back up their mentor Korner on the gospel standard "I See It" and a soulful cover of an obscure Curtis Mayfield gem, "Mighty Mighty (Spade and Whitey)." An inspired rendering of William Bell's Stax hit "You Don't Miss Your Water" illustrates Korner's raw charm as a vocalist and skills as a bandleader.

Disc two of Musically Rich...and Famous begins with what was possibly Korner's biggest U.K. hit during his lengthy career, a unique, gospel-tinged spoken word reading of the Rolling Stones' "Get Off of My Cloud," recorded with assistance from Stones guitarist Keith Richards and Humble Pie's Steve Marriott and Peter Frampton. Another song from those sessions, the Korner original "Strange 'n' Deranged," features Korner's infectious vocals and Marriott's rare turn on guitar. Another Stones cover, an acoustic, country blues-styled version of "Honky Tonk Women," has Korner once again paying tribute to his former students. "A Mess of Blues" and "Hey Pretty Mama," recorded at Korner's 50th birthday party in 1978, offer an all-star lineup that includes Eric Clapton and British blues legends Zoot Money and Chris Farlowe paying homage to the godfather of U.K. blues. Musically Rich...and Famous closes with two stellar live tracks from 1982, Korner and longtime partner Colin Hodgkinson mixing up a little electric R&B and boogie-woogie on the classics "Big Boss Man" and "Hi-Heel Sneakers." As shown by Musically Rich...and Famous, Alexis Korner preferred old-school blues, eschewing the musical experimentation of the late '60s and early '70s in favor of a more traditional approach. Korner's music was the deep blues of the Delta, the jazz-inflected sound of New Orleans, and the brassy electric blues of Chicago's Maxwell Street as filtered through London, England. Any music lovers with more than a passing interest in the blues owe it to themselves to discover the work of Alexis Korner.

BIOGRAPHY
by Bruce Eder
Without Alexis Korner, there still might have been a British blues scene in the early 1960s, but chances are that it would have been very different from the one that spawned the Rolling Stones, nurtured the early talents of Eric Clapton, and made it possible for figures such as John Mayall to reach an audience. Born of mixed Turkish/Greek/Austrian descent, Korner spent the first decade of his life in France, Switzerland, and North Africa, and arrived in London in May of 1940, just in time for the German blitz, during which Korner discovered American blues. One of the most vivid memories of his teen years was listening to a record of bluesman Jimmy Yancey during a German air raid. "From then on," he recalled in an interview, "all I wanted to do was play the blues."
After the war, Korner started playing piano and then guitar, and in 1947 he tried playing electric blues, but didn't like the sound of the pick-ups that were then in use, and returned to acoustic playing. In 1949, he joined Chris Barber's Jazz Band and in 1952 he became part of the much larger Ken Colyer Jazz Group, which had merged with Barber's band. Among those whom Korner crossed paths with during this era was Cyril Davies, a guitarist and harmonica player. The two found their interests in American blues completely complementary, and in 1954 they began making the rounds of the jazz clubs as an electric blues duo. They started the London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, where, in addition to their own performances, Korner and Davies brought visiting American bluesmen to listen and play. Very soon they were attracting blues enthusiasts from all over England.
Korner and Davies made their first record in 1957, and in early 1962, they formed Blues Incorporated, a "supergroup" (for its time) consisting of the best players on the early-'60s British blues scene. Korner (guitar, vocals), Davies (harmonica, vocals), Ken Scott (piano), and Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophone) formed the core, with a revolving membership featuring Charlie Watts or Graham Burbridge on drums, Spike Heatley or Jack Bruce on bass, and a rotating coterie of guest vocalists including Long John Baldry, Ronnie Jones, and Art Wood (older brother of Ron Wood). Most London jazz clubs were closed to them, so in March of 1962 they opened their own club, which quickly began attracting large crowds of young enthusiasts, among them Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Brian Jones, all of whom participated at some point with the group's performances; others included Ian Stewart, Steve Marriott, Paul Jones, and Manfred Mann. In May of 1962, Blues Incorporated was invited to a regular residency at London's Marquee Club, where the crowds grew even bigger and more enthusiastic. John Mayall later credited Blues Incorporated with giving him the inspiration to form his own Bluesbreakers group.
Record producers began to take notice, and in June of 1962 producer Jack Good arranged to record a live performance by the band. The resulting record, R&B from the Marquee, the first full-length album ever made by a British blues band, was released in November of 1962. The album consisted of largely of American standards, especially Willie Dixon numbers, rounded out with a few originals. At virtually the same time that Blues Incorporated's debut was going into stores, Cyril Davies left the group over Korner's decision to add horns to their sound. Korner soldiered on, but the explosion of British rock in 1963, and the wave of blues-based rock bands that followed, including the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds undercut any chance he had for commercial success. His more studied brand of blues was left stranded in a commercial backwater -- there were still regular gigs and recordings, but no chart hits, and not much recognition. While his one-time acolytes the Rolling Stones and the Cream made the front pages of music magazines all over the world, Korner was relegated to the blues pages of England's music papers, and, though not yet 40, to the role of "elder statesman."
For a time, Korner hosted Five O'Clock Club, a children's television show that introduced a whole new generation of British youth to American blues and jazz. He also wrote about blues for the music papers, and was a detractor of the flashy, psychedelic, and commercialized blues-rock of the late '60s, which he resented for its focus on extended solos and its fixation on Chicago blues. He continued recording as well, cutting a never-completed album with future Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant in early 1968. Korner's performing career in England was limited, but he could always play to large audiences in Europe, especially in Scandinavia, and there were always new Korner records coming out. It was while touring Scandinavia that he first hooked up with vocalist Peter Thorup, who became Korner's collaborator over the next several years in the band New Church. After his dismissal from the Rolling Stones, Brian Jones considered joining New Church; Korner, however, rejected the idea, because he didn't want his new band to be caught up in any controversy. In 1972, he became peripherally involved in the breakup of another band, inheriting the services of Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, and Ian Wallace when they quit King Crimson.
It was during the '70s that Korner had his only major hit, as leader (with Peter Thorup) of the 25-member big-band ensemble CCS. Their version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" charted in England, and led to a tour and television appearances. In response, Korner released Bootleg Him, a retrospective compiled from tapes in his personal collection, including recordings with Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts. Korner played on the "supersession" album B.B. King in London, and cut his own, similar album, Get Off My Cloud, with Keith Richards, Peter Frampton, Nicky Hopkins, and members of Joe Cocker's Grease Band. When Mick Taylor left the Rolling Stones in 1975, Korner was mentioned as a possible replacement, but the spot eventually went to Ron Wood. In 1978, for Korner's 50th birthday, an all-star concert was held featuring Eric Clapton, Paul Jones, Chris Farlowe, and Zoot Money, which was later released as a video.
In 1981, Korner formed the last and greatest "supergroup" of his career, Rocket 88, featuring himself on guitar, Jack Bruce on upright bass, Ian Stewart on piano, and Charlie Watts on drums, backed by trombonists and saxmen, and one or two additional keyboard players. They toured Europe and recorded several gigs, the highlights of which were included on a self-titled album released by Atlantic Records. In contrast to the many blues-rock fusion records with which Korner had been associated, Rocket 88 mixed blues with boogie-woogie jazz, the group's repertory consisting largely of songs written by W. C. Handy and Pete Johnson.
After a well-received appearance at the Cambridge Folk Festival in the early '80s, there were rumors afterward that he intended to become more active musically, but his health was in decline by this time. A chain smoker all of his life, Korner died of lung cancer at the beginning of 1984.
DoWnLoAd