Search - Henry Gray :: Plays Chicago Blues

Former Howlin' Wolf pianist has strong blues set

R. Weinstock | Falls Church, VA USA | 06/16/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Since he moved back to Louisiana a few decades ago, former Howlin' Wolf pianist Henry Gray has kept playing but has never enjoyed the level of recognition that contemporaries, such as Pinetop Perkins, have. Besides being in Wolf's band for an extended period, Gray did a fair amount of session work, recording with Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Billy Boy Arnold and Jimmy Reed. The biggest influence on his style is Big Maceo, and like that master, he is a strong, two-handed player and he sings with urgency. Gray did record some swamp-blues flavored sides for an Arhoolie anthology, and some singles for small Louisiana labels, an album for Antone's which I believe is long out-of-print, and a live album for Lucky Cat which would have been better if some performances had been edited. "Plays Chicago Blues" has him backed by guitarists Bob Margolin and Kid Ramos, fellow Wolf alumni Chico Chism on drums and Bob Corritore on harmonica. These recoprdings are from sessions that Corritore produced over several years. There is a nice mix of material including covers of classic Chicago blues including a couple songs associated with Elmore James, "It Hurts Me Too" and "I Held My Baby Last Night," and Wolf's "How Many More Years," The Maceo influence is quite evident on the moody "Trouble Blues" and "It Hurts Me Too," while "Henry's Houserocker" is a rollicking instrumental. There is nothing fancy about this music but it may be the best currently available disc of Henry Gray's music available."