Search - Sonny Boy Williamson :: Cool Cool Blues

Cool Cool Blues:The Classic Sides 1951-1954

Stuart Jefferson | San Diego,Ca | 06/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Four discs. 68,68,71,78 min. each approximately. Remastered sound. There are 103 sides by Rice Miller,known as Sonny Boy Williamson and some friends and acquaintances here,and some of the tracks are some of the best blues recordings of this time period.



Starting out with Eyesight To The Blind,a well-known title and Williamson's first release,the music continues along the same vein. Besides Williamson on vocals and harmonica,he is accompanied by the great Willie Love on piano with bass, drums,and guitar. The guitarists range from unknown to Elmore James to B.B.King. The first cd is devoted to Williamson as the main performer. The emphasis is squarely on Sonny Boy,with the backing group supporting him in an understated,but always authentic sound that really makes these tracks shine.



The second cd begins with the awesome Big Joe Williams,whose voice and guitar is one of the highlights of this set. The tracks here are in a John Lee Hooker style,both in the vocals and especially in the guitar,which is used as a counterpart to the vocals. Together they weave a sound as real and primal as any blues you'll hear. Williams is supported by only a bass player,putting his vocals at the center. The next few tracks are by Luther Huff and his brother. Both play guitar with Luther taking the vocal spotlight. His few tracks are good but nothing extraordinary. Next up is another friend of Sonny Boy's,Arthur Crudup. Backing him is a bass,drums,piano,and harmonica combo. Sonny Boy plays harmonica on a couple of tracks. These tracks are done in a jump-blues style and are very enjoyable. Both Bobo Thomas and Elmore James each appear on one track each,with James listed as doing an alternate recording of Dust My Broom ,with Sonny Boy on harmonica,on the box. This alternate is not on my copy nor is it listed in the booklet. Jerry McCain,a Little Walter disciple,has the next few tracks. Accompanied by his own harmonica,and with a tenor sax plus the usual rhythm section,these sides are also in a jump-blues vein.



The third cd starts off with Willie Love,a vocalist-piano player who could lay down some great blues. The backing consists of guitar,bass,drums,and tenor sax. Love's style was a bit more in the "city" style of blues. Sherman Johnson is up next and he continues in the "city" style of blues with a commercial sound aimed at making a hit record. The rest of the tracks on this cd are by Tiny Kennedy and Wally Mercer,respectively. Both are in the same vein as Willie Love,but with a very commercial sound.



The final cd features Sonny Boy Williamson,Willie Love,and Arthur Crudup. Williamson's sound is still in his typical style,but with a bit more of a commercial feel to it. Besides his harmonica and the usual small group backing,there is also a tenor sax in the mix,which gives the sound a different feel than when Sonny Boy first recorded. Crudup's vocal on his two tracks are primal in sound,with the guitar looking ahead to a more modern sound. Willie Love finishes this collection with some fine downhome blues vocals out in front of the usual bass,drums,tenor sax backing.



This is a good collection that gives a good view of blues music that was being produced in the South during the early fifties. Anyone who is interested in this period and these artists would be advised to pick this up."

Sonny's Trumpet Records

Paul Rayson | 01/17/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Despite the name on the box set, this is a Trumpet Records rather than a Sonny Boy Williamson compilation. Most of the songs are by artists other than Sonny, and most of those don't even feature him as guest harp player. It is a great compilation of Sonny's tracks for that label, including alternate takes, but it's more than that. It's the story of Sonny's Trumpet Records. He was the label's star, and this box set charts artists - friends and accompanists - that orbited him then, including B.B. King, Big Joe Williams, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (Elvis Presley's favorite), Elmore James and Little Milton. Trumpet was the first label to record Sonny, and here the songs that he'd reprise for Chess might be more primitive, but it's their vitality that makes them better (compare "Eyesight To The Blind" on Trumpet with "Born Blind" on Chess). So now you know, what you're letting yourself in for isn't a great Sonny Boy Williamson box set but a great box set of Sonny's Trumpet Records."

Essential early !950s Blues Collection

William E Donoghue | Healdsburg CA USA | 05/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I should confess here first that I am Sonny Boy Williamson's biographer as well as Robert Lockwood Jr.'s and in her later years, a close friend of Lillian McMurry, who produced these recordings for her Trumpet Record label. I was her "date" when she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame at the House of Blues on Sunset Strip and introduced her to Ahmet Ertegun, Bobby Rush, Ruth Brown and Little Richard, who knew her by reputation. I even hung out that night a while with Phil Spector.



Lillian McMurry started Trumpet records in 1950 and operated this blues, gospel and country label from her husband's furniture store in Jackson MS.

To clear up a few points of misinformation, Elmore James signed a contract and cashed his check for the advance one day before he recorded "Dust My Broom" (it was NOT recorded seripticiously as claimed; in fact it was nearly impossible to record it without the knowledge of the artist since they could not even play the recording back to here it; it had to be sent out to have a test prssing made), Trumpet never went bankrup (The Chess brothers and the Bihar Brothers of Modern Records in LA apparently conspired to shut down Trumpet's competition telling record store, "If you buy Trumpet Records, we won't supply you with Chess, Checker, Modern and RPM records." Lillian McMurry and her husband paid off all debts including selling Sonny Boy's contract to settle the pressing plan debt. The contract was later sold to Chess Records. It took five years for the McMurrys to pay off all the debt and forty years later she was still collecting royalties for her artists. When she died, there were many royalty checks waiting for the artists to claim.



The bass on "Mighty Long Time" is not a stand up bass but the voice of Southern Sons' bass man Cliff Givens. He was earlier the replacement bass for The Ink Spots, The Golden Gate Quarter and his own earlier Southern Son's recordings and later, after Bill Brown left after "Sixty Minute Man" on all of the Billy Ward and the Dominoes records including those with lead singers Jackie (then Sonny) Wilson and Clyde McPhatter. He later sang with Ry Cooder and James Taylor.



Two of the Big Boy Crudup recordings with Sonny Boy were released as "Elmer James" as a follow-up to "Dust My Broom," the flip side "Catfish Blues" of "Dust My Broom" was originally labeled "Elmo James" even though it was another singer.



If you listen to the recording "West Memphis Blues," it tells a story of Sonny Boy's house being burned down and his moving in with another family. According to Oliver Sain, St. Louis soul man, that was the house of his mother, himself and his stepfather, Willie Love, Sonny Boy's piano player on many of these recordings.



Lillian McMurry was a real groundbreaker.



The one recording released in 1951 was the original version of "Eyesight to the Blind" whose master was lost in a fire at the Pressing Plant.

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