T-Bone Walker - Voices Of Americana: T-Bone Walker '2009

Tracks list

Tracklist:

1. T-Bone Is Back (02:39)
2. How Long Blues (03:05)
3. Reconsider Baby (03:35)
4. I Wonder Why (03:06)
5. Sometimes I Wonder (02:34)
6. Ain't Your Fool No More (03:53)
7. Every Time (03:57)
8. Glamour Girl (02:45)
9. Left Home When I Was a Kid (03:06)
10. T-Bone's Way (04:20)
11. All Night Long (02:58)
12. My Patience Is Running Out (02:25)
13. Heartache (04:44)
14. When We Were Schoolmates (03:27)
15. Good Boy (03:07)
16. Got to Cross the Deep Blue Sea (01:52)
17. She's a Hit (02:21)
18. I Want a Little Girl (03:07)
19. Louisiana Bayou Drive (03:12)
20. Dirty Mistreater (02:37)


 Read moreAaron Thibeault Walker was a product of the primordial Dallas blues
scene. His stepfather, Marco Washington, stroked the bass fiddle with the Dallas
String Band, and T-Bone followed his stepdad's example by learning the rudiments
of every stringed instrument he could lay his talented hands on. One notable
visitor to the band's jam sessions was the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson.
During the early '20s, Walker led the sightless guitarist from bar to bar as the
older man played for tips.

In 1929, Walker made his recording debut with a single 78 for Columbia, "Wichita
Falls Blues"/"Trinity River Blues," billed as Oak Cliff T-Bone. Pianist Douglas
Fernell was his musical partner for the disc. Walker was exposed to some pretty
outstanding guitar talent during his formative years; besides Jefferson, Charlie
Christian -- who would totally transform the role of the guitar in jazz with his
electrified riffs much as Walker would with blues, was one of his playing
partners circa 1933.

T-Bone Walker split the Southwest for Los Angeles during the mid-'30s, earning
his keep with saxophonist Big Jim Wynn's band with his feet rather than his
hands as a dancer. Popular bandleader Les Hite hired Walker as his vocalist in
1939. Walker sang "T-Bone Blues"with the Hite aggregation for Varsity Records in
1940, but didn't play guitar on the outing. It was about then, though, that his
fascination with electrifying his axe bore fruit; he played L.A. clubs with his
daring new toy after assembling his own combo, engaging in acrobatic stage moves
-- splits, playing behind his back -- to further enliven his show.

Capitol Records was a fledgling Hollywood concern in 1942, when Walker signed on
and cut "Mean Old World" and "I Got a Break Baby" with boogie master Freddie
Slack hammering the 88s. This was the first sign of the T-Bone Walker that blues
guitar aficionados know and love, his fluid, elegant riffs and mellow, burnished
vocals setting a standard that all future blues guitarists would measure
themselves by.

Chicago's Rhumboogie Club served as Walker's home away from home during a good
portion of the war years. He even cut a few sides for the joint's house label in
1945 under the direction of pianist Marl Young. But after a solitary session
that same year for Old Swingmaster that soon made its way on to another newly
established logo, Mercury, Walker signed with L.A.-based Black & White Records
in 1946 and proceeded to amass a stunning legacy.

The immortal "Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad)" was the
product of a 1947 Black & White date with Teddy Buckner on trumpet and
invaluable pianist Lloyd Glenn in the backing quintet. Many of Walker's best
sides were smoky after-hours blues, though an occasional up-tempo entry --
"T-Bone Jumps Again," a storming instrumental from the same date, for example --
illustrated his nimble dexterity at faster speeds.

Walker recorded prolifically for Black & White until the close of 1947, waxing
classics like the often-covered "T-Bone Shuffle" and "West Side Baby," though
many of the sides came out on Capitol after the demise of Black & White. In
1950, Walker turned up on Imperial. His first date for the L.A. indie elicited
the after-hours gem "Glamour Girl" and perhaps the penultimate jumping
instrumental in his repertoire, "Strollin' With Bones" (Snake Sims' drum kit
cracks like a whip behind Walker's impeccable licks).

Walker's 1950-54 Imperial stint was studded with more classics: "The Hustle Is
On," "Cold Cold Feeling," "Blue Mood," "Vida Lee" (named for his wife), "Party
Girl," and, from a 1952 New Orleans jaunt, "Railroad Station Blues," which was
produced by Dave Bartholomew. Atlantic was T-Bone Walker's next stop in 1955;
his first date for them was an unlikely but successful collaboration with a crew
of Chicago mainstays (harpist Junior Wells, guitarist Jimmy Rogers, and bassist
Ransom Knowling among them). Rogers found the experience especially useful; he
later adapted Walker's "Why Not" as his own Chess hit "Walking by Myself." With
a slightly more sympathetic L.A. band in staunch support, Walker cut two
follow-up sessions for Atlantic in 1956-57. The latter date produced some
amazing instrumentals ("Two Bones and a Pick," "Blues Rock," "Shufflin' the
Blues") that saw him dueling it out with his nephew, jazzman Barney Kessel
(Walker emerged victorious in every case).

Unfortunately, the remainder of Walker's discography isn't of the same sterling
quality for the most part. As it had with so many of his peers from the postwar
R&B era, rock's rise had made Walker's classy style an anachronism (at least
during much of the 1960s). He journeyed overseas on the first American Folk
Blues Festival in 1962, starring on the Lippmann & Rau-promoted bill across
Europe with Memphis Slim, Willie Dixon, and a host of other American luminaries.
A 1964 45 for Modern and an obscure LP on Brunswick preceded a pair of BluesWay
albums in 1967-68 that restored this seminal pioneer to American record shelves.

European tours often beckoned. A 1968 visit to Paris resulted in one of his best
latter-day albums, I Want a Little Girl, for Black & Blue (and later issued
stateside on Delmark). With expatriate tenor saxophonist Hal "Cornbread" Singer
and Chicago drummer S.P. Leary picking up Walker's jazz-tinged style
brilliantly, the guitarist glided through a stellar set list.

Good Feelin', a 1970 release on Polydor, won a Grammy for the guitarist, though
it doesn't rank with his best efforts. A five-song appearance on a 1973 set for
Reprise, Very Rare, was also a disappointment. Persistent stomach woes and a
1974 stroke slowed Walker's career to a crawl, and he died in 1975.

No amount of written accolades can fully convey the monumental importance of
what T-Bone Walker gave to the blues. He was the idiom's first true lead
guitarist, and undeniably one of its very best. ~ Bill Dahl

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