The success of Jimmy Reed is without doubt one of the most fascinating in American roots music. At first pay attention, his lazy vocals and squeaky harmonica solos won’t appear to be a sound significantly suited to mainstream style. But, for the higher a part of a decade, within the 50s and early 60s, Reed’s songs, reminiscent of “Honest I Do” and “Baby What You Want Me to Do,” made common appearances on each the Billboard R&B and pop charts, even cracking the High 40 on a couple of events.
The songs have been lined innumerable occasions, by artists as various as Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Grateful Useless, Etta James, Neil Younger, and The Righteous Brothers. BMI lists over 30 covers of “Baby What You Want Me to Do” alone, whereas Elvis Presley selected to sing “Big Boss Man” (one of many few Reed hits that was not from his personal pen) on his 1968 tv comeback particular.
I first heard Reed on one of many two High 40 stations in Phoenix, Arizona (both KRUX or KRIZ), within the early 60s. It was my first introduction to the blues, and, even on the age of 12, I used to be drawn to the simplicity and honesty of his sound, with completely no context for understanding the place it got here from. Apparently, so had been many others. I purchased my first Jimmy Reed album on 8-track tape and by no means stopped listening to his work.
Born Mathis (or Matcher) James Reed in Leland, Mississippi, in 1925, Reed discovered the rudiments of guitar from his good friend Eddie Taylor, a much more completed guitarist who would function Reed’s accompanist for a lot of his profession. After being discharged from the US Navy in 1945, he adopted the migration of many Southern African-Individuals to Chicago, the place he labored first within the metal trade, at Wisconsin Metal Works and the Valley Mildew Iron Firm, after which on the Armour Packing Firm. In Chicago, Reed started taking his music critically, hitting upon the thought of taking part in guitar and harmonica concurrently, and fashioning a harmonica holder from a coat hanger.
After auditioning for Chess Information, the place he was turned down, he tried his luck with Vivian Carter, a DJ and document retailer proprietor who was simply getting the Vee Jay label off the bottom, in partnership together with her husband, Jimmy Bracken (the “V” and “J” within the label identify). They initially licensed his first document, “High And Lonesome,” to the Probability label, believing the marginally bigger firm’s assets would guarantee a success, however nothing a lot occurred. Nonetheless, his third single for Vee Jay, “You Don’t Have to Go,” launched in 1953, reached No.5 on the Billboard R&B chart, and Reed’s recording profession was off on a roll.
His sound modified little all through his profession, however it was a formulation that labored. Like many nice blues artists – consider Elmore James or Muddy Waters – there may very well be no mistake that one was listening to Jimmy Reed, with the mild pressure of his character, his “lump-de-lump” rhythm, and his excessive harmonica sound creating an indelible impression. He additionally had the benefit of recording with the legendary engineer Invoice Putnam at Chicago’s Common Recording Company. Putnam was a pioneer in growing reverb and echo results that he used to refined benefit on Reed’s data, and his drum sounds – particularly Earl Phillips’ snare – are breathtaking even at this time.
None of that explains Reed’s success, as a result of the center of every of his data is the music. Written by Reed and his spouse, Mary “Mama” Reed, every composition is a small vignette about love and life, and the most effective of them have lyrical hooks that stick and keep. Whereas many blues songs are constructed round macho posturing, there’s virtually none of that in Reed, and songs reminiscent of “Little Rain” obtain a degree of poetry, with each phrase completely and economically positioned.
Most of the songs appear to be constructed round phrases that arose in pure dialog between the couple, who had the knowledge to acknowledge them and write them down. Mary would sit beside Jimmy within the studio when he recorded, teaching him on the phrases that they had written. Their legacy is a physique of songs which may be rivaled solely by Percy Mayfield, Willie Dixon, and Doc Pomus within the blues. He and Mary had a uncommon present.
Jimmy Reed didn’t have a simple life. He was affected by epileptic seizures, for which he didn’t obtain correct therapy, and he was an alcoholic. It’s seemingly that the 2 maladies aggravated each other. In actual fact, some individuals who attended his exhibits might need seen him as a naïve people artist who drunkenly stumbled his approach via his performances. But, there may be an acute musical intelligence behind Reed’s laconic presence. When he launched an album of blues cowl songs on Vee Jay (an concept that at the beginning appears absurd), he clearly had discovered and practiced the songs, making all of the adjustments and lyrical twists whereas reworking them into pure Jimmy Reed. Regardless of all the obstacles stacked in opposition to him, by the mid-70s he was sober and able to embark on a brand new part of his profession, however he died of a grand mal seizure after a gig on August 29, 1976.
Producing the 3CD Jimmy Reed assortment, Mr Luck: The Full Vee Jay Singles, on Craft Recordings, was a dream come true for me. When the corporate acquired the Vee Jay catalogue, I instantly hoped that we may lastly do proper by Jimmy Reed, and I feel we did. Many reels of grasp tapes got here together with the acquisition. Nonetheless, when a cache of Vee Jay masters was found behind a false wall in a Chicago-area storage unit, Sig Sigworth and Mason Williams of Craft Recordings discovered that lots of the reels had been first-generation masters, full with dialog between Invoice Putman and Jimmy Reed. You’ll hear a snippet of their dialog within the new set. With few exceptions, the recordings on this assortment are from the very best sources, and, with Paul Blakemore’s mastering, they’ve by no means sounded higher.
I encourage you to provide Jimmy Reed a pay attention – or a brand new pay attention, when you’ve been a fan all alongside. It’s a outstanding physique of labor by a real American authentic.
