Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters

Subject: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: Amos
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 10:25 AM

On April 4, 1915, Muddy Waters, American blues musician, was born. He died in 1983. This birthday should not be overlooked!   

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot to death in Memphis, Tenn. This should not be overlooked either.

Regards,


A

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: GUEST,Steve Latimer
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 11:27 AM

Amos,

Muddy was something else. One of my regrets in life was not ever seeing him perform live. I have a bunch of his CD's, the studio ones are very good, but there was just such an energy to his live stuff that was never captured in the studio. He also seemed like a very nice man. I am really glad that Johnny Winter revived his career in the late seventies when he produced "Hard Again". It brought Muddy back into the limelight that he so deserved.

And lest we forget Martin Luther King. There is still hate and intolerance in our world, but I feel that there is much less of it and Dr. King was one of the main reasons for it. "I have a dream..."

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: GUEST,Penguin Egg
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 01:17 PM

I was lucky enough to see Muddy Waters play in London in 1976 while he was riding on the wave of Hard Again, a good album by the way, but not classic Muddy. I was 18 years old at the time and it blew my mind. So much passion, excitement and dignity for someone who, to my teenage mind, was so old.

Muddy remains one of my favourite singers in any genre and he was also a wonderful guitarist. His style of playing was very simple-spidery is the only way I can describe it-but a single note from Muddy could hit me in the heart far more effectively than anyone more profficient-say BB King-could do. Listen to the opening bar of Honey Bee to see what I mean; which, by the way, is my favourite Muddy track. A truly great artist.

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: GUEST,Steve Latimer
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 01:42 PM

Penguinegg,

To me, blues is about feel and tone. Muddy was a master of those. I wouldn't say that B.B. was more proficient. They just played a different style. Muddy played primarily slide guitar and laid the foundation for the Johnny Winters, Duane Allmans etc. B.B. was more influenced by the Jazz players. But the sounds that Muddy wrenched out of live performances of Nineteen Years Old, Long Distance Call, Honey Bee etc are among my favourite musical moments.   


The other thing that must be said about Muddy is that he always surrounded himself with tremendous musicians. The list of people who played in Muddy's bands over the years is a Who's who of Chicago Blues. He also invented the Chicago sound when he plugged in.

I'm a year or two younger than you. I am envious of the people who were in Chicago in the fifties and could regularly see Muddy, Little Walter, Sonny Boy, Howling Wolf et al. in their prime.

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: fat B****rd
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 03:16 PM

Muddy Waters at Newport was one of the first blues albums I heard. It still does it for me 40 or so years later.

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: GLoux
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 04:54 PM

I've always loved the photograph taken by Alan Lomax in 1941 in Mississippi of McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, with fiddler Son Sims, two years before MM moved to Chicago. Sims was a friend of and recorded with Charlie Patton in 1929. Apparently, his surrounding himself with fine musicians didn't start in Chicago.

-Greg

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: GLoux
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 05:21 PM

After I posted the above, I found the Son Sims Muddy Waters photo
. Muddy is holding a resophonic guitar.

-Greg

Subject: RE: Happy Birthday, Muddy Waters
From: Kaleea
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 02:21 AM

After an employee played some nasty distorted elec guitar with fellers screaming & called it "Blues," I took it upon myself to educate my employees. The first recording I played was Muddy Waters alone at the piano. I proceeded to play several recordings for them in the coming days, none of which were more recent than 40 yrs ago. They were stunned at the sound of the real thing, Baby! They also learned that they previously knew absolutely nothing about Blues.