Topic: New Blind Blake

[jostber]

Here is Jas Obrecht writing on Blind Blake:

http://www.gracyk.com/blake1.shtml

[Bunker Hill]

Here is Jas Obrecht writing on Blind Blake:

http://www.gracyk.com/blake1.shtml

Interesting. This appears to be his Blues Revue Quarterly feature (issue 7, Winter 1993 p. 18-21) with new paragraphs/material added. BRQ stated it was "excerpted" from a book in progress, which I'm fairly sure has been the topic of discussion elsewhere here because I remember posting part of his email to me on the subject of the book.

[uncle bud]

Indeed it has come up before, BH. I added a Jas Obrecht tag to this topic, which then revealed the previous one.

[Prof Scratchy]

Is Jas a guitar player? If so, I'm surprised he quoted without comment:
"I suspect Blind Blake was a three-finger picker," offers Kaukonen, "and I have a sneaking suspicion he wore picks, because he had such a snappy, percussive sound and he's not popping the strings the way bare-finger players do. His favorite keys were C, G, and E, although I'm pretty sure he could play in any of them if he wanted to."

[Johnm]

Your point is well taken, Prof. Scratchy.  With only two titles played out of E position in standard tuning in Blake's very large catalog of recordings as a soloist and accompanist, it's hard to see how E could be construed as one of his favorite keys.  And in the famous photo of Blake, he is not wearing picks.
All best,
Johnm

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Incidentally, the communication with Obrecht that Bunker Hill alluded to earlier can be found, I believe, in a thread in the Books and Articles child board entitled:  "Status of Books for Release:  Obrecht, McCormack and Wardlow?"
All best,
Johnm

[banjochris]

I'm surprised Paramount was still doing print ads in 1932.         

I think a lot of those later ads weren't done directly by Paramount, but by F.W. Boerner, which was a mail-order company, based in Grafton, founded by a Paramount employee and doing a lot of business with them, but not exclusively and they weren't part of Paramount, IIRC. I seem to remember Tefteller going into that (maybe in the 78 Quarterly article, I don't recall). That's why some of the ads with a similar style are for non-Paramount recordings.
Chris

[Doug]

The ad for "Miss Emma Liza" is one of the small insets on the September page.  It shows a woman standing coquettishly near the gate in a picket fence and a man coming out of his front door looking at her, with an inset photo of Blind Blake.  The ad only mentions the "Miss Emma Liza" side of the disk.  I'm surprised Paramount was still doing print ads in  1932.         

There's a picture of this at http://sundayblues.org/archives/114

[uncle bud]

This from Marshall Wyatt of Old Hat regarding the release of the newly discovered Blake sides:

I've arranged with John Tefteller to reissue the two Blake recordings
as part of his 2009 Blues Images Calendar & CD. This seemed like an
appropriate vehicle for premiering the two sides, especially since John
has the original advertising artwork for "Night And Day Blues." The
calendars will go on sale July 1st.

I may also reissue the sides later on Old Hat Records, in a different
context.

[CF]

Hmm, I thought the Old Hat release was a done deal? I've been waiting with bated breath. But now that Tefteller's adding them to his 2009 calendar . . . sorry Old Hat . . . unless their release has other sides I want . . .

[uncle bud]

Yeah, the Old Hat website now has no actual mention of a CD release that I can see. I hope they still release one, as their work is superlative.

[CF]

Yeah Old Hat's releases are great-looking. The problem for me is that I already have much of the material on their compilations so don't buy them . . . this potential release with the newly discovered Blake tunes was a sure sale for me but now that I can get it on a Tefteller release with guaranteed great remastering & a purdy calendar . . . well, there you go. This almost sounds like a bad decision to license these songs to Tefteller before releasing them themselves  . . . .

[doctorpep]

It's so wonderful that all this stuff is surfacing after eighty years of being forgotten. One might wonder if the forty or so Cryin' Sam Collins songs that remain unreleased will ever see the light of day. Are these two Blake songs from the time period in which he was considered to be at his best, or after his supposed fall from grace, in which "Righteous Blues" is stated to be his swan song?

[banjochris]

I never understood why people thought Blake went downhill later on -- his last record is a little uncharacteristic, maybe, with "Depression" being in a key he didn't record in much and "Champagne Charlie" being a bit of harmless fun, but "Rope Stretching Blues" is great, and "Righteous" and "Policy" particularly being show-stopping performances.
Chris

[uncle bud]

I agree Chris, I don't understand the negative view of later stuff either. But I like Champagne Charlie, so for me the moaning seems based on one song, Depression's Gone from Me, which always seemed like just a lazy cover. Rope Stretching Blues is a classic IMO.

What we do get is some fairly different material later in his career. Rope Stretching in A minor, Playing Policy an unusual accompaniment in G, Champagne Charlie an odd song choice, "Depression" a Sitting On Top of the World clone, and now Sun to Sun is in A (rare, as Frankie said), and Night and Day another unusual accompaniment in G.

Night and Day Blues and Sun to Sun were recorded c. January 1932, placing them just before Champagne Charlie and Depression.