American Blues News - "Dedicated to the promotion and celebration of the Blues."

(Memphis, Tennessee) Last night I met with President Darren J. Fallas and Vice President John Gemmill of the Memphis Blues Society, and Heidi Knockenheur and Donna Donald to discuss some items of interest and we chanced to talk about a project that will be near and dear to many of our readers' hearts. Across the street, directly east of the Memphis Stax Museum is the former residence of that great bluesman, Peter Chatman, popularly known as Memphis Slim. Slim's house has become dilapidated and needs restoring in a big way (photo above by Darren J. Fallas). The nice folks at Memphis Heritage and some other interested parties including the Memphis Music Foundation and the folks at Soulsville, USA are all interested in making an attempt to restore his home.



Memphis Slim was one of the early boogie woogie players back when that piano craze first started in USA in the 1930's.

Memphis Slim took his name from Memphis, where he was born and raised. Memphis Slim got his start playing the blues at the Midway Café, at 357 Beale Street (southeast corner of Fourth and Beale Street's) in Memphis in 1931. After his early career in Memphis, where he emulated barrelhouse piano players like Roosevelt Sykes and Speckled Red, he moved to Chicago, Illinois and recorded for Okeh Records (as Peter Chatman & His Washboard Band) in 1940. The same year he also recorded for Bluebird Records as Memphis Slim. He played piano as Big Bill Broonzy's partner until 1944. Broonzy, also a sophisticated performer, urged him to develop his own style. Big Bill and Charlie Segar are usually credited for writing the blues classic, "Key to the Highway." This polish gave Memphis Slim opportunities not only in the juke joints he had been playing, but also in the "uptown" nightclubs.


After World War II Slim joined Hy-Tone Records, cutting eight tracks that were later picked up by King. Lee Egalnick's Miracle label recorded the pianist in 1947; backed by his jumping band, the House Rockers (its members usually included saxophonists Alex Atkins and Ernest Cotton), Slim recorded his classic "Lend Me Your Love" and "Rockin' the House." The next year brought the landmark "Nobody Loves Me" (better known via subsequent covers by Lowell Fulson, Joe Williams, and B.B. King as "Everyday I Have the Blues") and the heartbroken "Messin' Around (With the Blues)."


The pianist kept on label-hopping, moving from Miracle to Peacock to Premium (where he recorded the first version of the down-tempo blues "Mother Earth") to Chess to Mercury before staying put at Chicago's United Records from 1952 to 1954. This was a particularly fertile period for the pianist; he recruited his first permanent guitarist, Matt Murphy, who performed "The Come Back," "Sassy Mae," and "Memphis Slim U.S.A." He also worked with bassman Willie Dixon.

I got to play with Matt Murphy one night at the Black Diamond on Beale and he was not only a great entertainer but also a wonderful kind man who loves the music and all of us who are trying to keep it alive. He invited me to join him as piano player on his show at the King Biscuit festival in Helena that year and I have always regretted that I could not make it.



In all, he recorded more than 20 albums under his own name, and appeared on many more recordings as a sideman.


Slim left the United States for good in 1962. Slim lived in France most of his days and conditions there were much better for him than in the South during the days of segregation. Before Memphis Slim passed away, my friend Don McMinn brought him back to Memphis to play some gigs and I got a chance to meet him at a gig they were playing on Washington Street in Memphis back in the 1980's.

Slim was playing with Don's band, then called the Memphis Blues Review, and they were comprised of several of the old members of the Amazing Rhythm Aces including Jeff "Stick" Davis on bass and my buddy, Billy Earheart on keyboards. Billy went on later to play on the road with Hank Williams, Jr. and many other famous musicians.

The club they were playing, which is no longer extant, was an old nightclub called the El Morocco, which in it's last days was used for square dancing and was available for rent for larger events as it would hold quite a large crowd and had a big dance floor. This night the place was packed and everybody there was excited to see the return of Memphis Slim. Slim put on a tremendous show and played one of my favorite classic blues, "Everyday I have the Blues," which he wrote. Here's a link to a video of him playing this song he called his bread winner:



As a young blues player and a big fan of Memphis Slim, I was thrilled when Don and Billy introduced me to this kind old gentleman and sat me down right next to him at their table during a break in the show. Slim was drinking Grand Marnier and I remember noticing how extremely long his fingers were when I shook his hand. He was very friendly and an extremely amusing and entertaining person on and off the stage. That night I asked him if it would be alright with him if I played his song during my little shows and he was delighted that I had asked and assured me that he would be very pleased to be remembered by his fellow musicians in his home town. He was a truly elegant gentleman and meeting him was a great moment in my life.

I also got to hear Memphis Slim play with Don McMinn at our old outdoor music festival the Schlitz Festival, on Main Street back in the 80's. It was another incredibly entertaining show with lots of great solos from both Don and Slim and a highly appreciative crowd cheering them on in the Memphis afternoon sun.

Memphis Slim died on February 24, 1988, of renal failure in Paris, France, at the age of 72. He is buried at Galilee Memorial Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee.

Memphis Slim's final resting place, Galilee Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee

In 1989, he was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

After some inquiries today by my friend, Brad Webb of I-55 Productions, we learned a bit more about the house resurrection project. Brad is my old bandmate who played with me in the band with Blind Mississippi Morris and with whom I have recorded a bunch of songs over the years. He is a fine guitarist and a very kindhearted, dedicated and soulful human being. We got this reply back from Dean Deyo, President of the Memphis Music Foundation:

Brad, there is a group that has started to do some work there but it is moving slowly.

I know a team from Memphis Heritage and the U of M spent a whole weekend at this house a few months ago and tried to clean it out and shore it up – there have been several architects and planners involved looking at it.

They have plans for it but it is depending on the economy and so probably still in the future…. Deanie Parker is the Director of Soulsville and is aware of the project – it is called Memphis Music Magnet – and I am working on it as well – we would appreciate any assistance

Dean A. Deyo

Thanks to the American Blues News, I will keep you all posted on our progress and also pass along how we can all offer donations and assistance to this project. Within just a few blocks of the STAX museum there are the homes of probably 15 or 20 famous musicians including Isaac Hayes, Johnny Ace Alexander and Aretha Franklin, just to name a few.

From the Memphis Commercial Appeal archives:


Memphis Slim came from his home in Paris to play in Mississippi for the first time in 40 years in 1986. He performed at the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival at Freedom Village, near Greenville, on September 20, 1986. "The average blues singer has been taught to be ashamed of the blues. It was America's original art and it came from black people. So naturally they wanted to make us ashamed of it - and they did a good job of brainwashing. Now, it's almost too late," the 70-year-old bluesman said during an interview in his Southwind Motor Coach as he waited to go on. "I don't know what the young people are going to do. But if we don't get a new generation to do something about it, I don't know what's going to happen. They're calling blues everything but blues. They're calling it soul and rock-and-roll, but it's still the damn blues. I wish I knew if the young people are going to take it over, but I don't."

This is a video of one of the greatest BLUES bands of all time. Give it a listen:

Discography

Year	Title	Label
1959	Memphis Slim and the Real Boogie-Woogie	Folkways Records
1960	Memphis Slim and the Honky-Tonk Sound	Folkways Records
1960	Travelling with the Blues	Storyville
1960	Blue This Evening	Black Lion
1960	Pete Seeger at the Village Gate with Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon - Vol 1	Folkways Records
1960	Songs of Memphis Slim and "Wee Willie" Dixon	Folkways Records
1961	Tribute To Big Bill Broonzy	Candid
1961	Steady Rollin' Blues: The Blues Of Memphis Slim	OBC
1961	Memphis Slim U.S.A.	Candid
1961	Broken Soul Blues	Beat Goes On
1961	Alone With My Friends	Battle
1961	Chicago Blues: Boogie Woogie and Blues Played and Sung By Memphis Slim	Folkways Records
1961	Blues by Jazz Gillum Singing and Playing His Harmonica: With Arbee Stidham and Memphis Slim	Folkways Records
1961	No Strain	Bluesville
1962	Sonny Boy Williamson & Memphis Slim: In Paris	GNP Crescendo
1962	Pete Seeger at the Village Gate with Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon - Vol 2	Folkways Records
1962	Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon at the Village Gate with Pete Seeger	Folkways Records
1963	All Kinds of Blues	Bluesville
1963	Jazz In Paris: Aux Trois Mailletz	Polygram
1964	Clap Your Hands	Maison De Blues
1967	Bluesingly Yours	Maison De Blues
1968	Lord Have Mercy On Me	Maison De Blues
1969	The Bluesman	Maison De Blues
1969	Mother Earth	One Way Records
1970	The Blue Memphis Suite	Maison De Blues
1970	Messin' Around with the Blues: The Very Best Of	King
1971	Boogie Woogie	Maison De Blues
1971	Born With The Blues	Fuel 2000
1971	Blue Memphis	Wounded Bird
1972	South Side Reunion: Memphis Slim & Buddy Guy	Sunny Side
1973	Legacy of the Blues, Vol 7: Memphis Slim	Gnp Crescendo
1973	Memphis Slim	Storyville
1973	Soul Blues	Acrobat Records
1973	Raining the Blues	Fantasy
1973	Memphis Slim - Favorite Blues Singers	Folkways Records
1973	Very Much Alive and in Montreux	Universal International
1975	Going Back To Tennessee	Maison De Blues
1981	Rockin' the Blues	Charly
1981	Memphis Heat: Canned Heat & Memphis Slim	Sunny Side
1981	I'll Just Keep On Singin' the Blues	SLG, LLC
1990	Steppin' Out: Live at Ronnie Scotts	Castle Music UK
1990	Together Again One More Time/Still Not Ready For Eddie	Texas Music Group
1990	Parisian Blues	Polygram
1990	The Real Folk Blues	Mca
1992	Blues Masters Vol 9: Memphis Slim
1993	London Sessions 1960	Sequel Records UK
1994	The Blues Collection Vol 13: Beer Drinkin' Woman	ADD
1994	Lonesome	Legacy International
1994	Live at the Hot Club	BMG International
1995	Boogie After Midnight	Chicago Music Co.
1996	The Complete Recordings, Vol. 1: 1940-1941 (Peter Chatman As Memphis Slim)	EPM Musique
1996	Come Back & Other Classics	Masters Intercontinental
1996	The Bluebird Recordings, 1940-1941	RCA
1997	Dialogue in Boogie: Memphis Slim & Philippe Lejeune	Happy Bird
1998	Lonely Nights	Catfish
1998	Very Best of Memphis Slim: The Blues Is Everywhere	Collectables
1999	Life Is Like That	Charly UK
2000	The Folkways Years, 1959-1973	Smithsonian Folkways
2000	Blues At Midnight	Catfish
2000	Memphis Slim at the Gate of the Horn	Vee-Jay
2001	The Complete Recordings, Vol. 2: 1946-1948	EPM Musique
2001	Essential Masters	Cleopatra
2001	Blue and Lonesome	Arpeggio Blues
2001	Ambassador of the Blues	Indigo UK
2002	The Complete Recordings, Vol. 3: 1948-1950	EPM Musique
2002	I Am The Blues	Prestige Elite
2002	Kansas City	Classic World
2002	Boogie For My Friends	Black & Blue France
2002	The Come Back	Delmark
2002	Blues Legends: Memphis Slim	Lead
2003	Three Women Blues
2003	The Complete Recordings, Vol 4: 1951-1952	EPM Musique
2004	Worried Life Blues
2004	Grinder Man Blues	Snapper UK
2004	The Best of Memphis Slim	Liquid 8
2005	Boogie For 2 Pianos Vol 1: Memphis Slim & Jean-Paul Amouroux
2005	Paris Mississippi Blues	Sunny Side
2005	Double-Barreled Boogie: Memphis Slim & Roosvelt Sykes	Sunny Side
2006	Forty Years of More	Passport Audio
2006	Memphis Suite	Sunny Side
2006	Rockin' This House: Chicago Blues Piano 1946-1953 (CDs A&B)	JSP Records
2006	The Sonet Blues Story	Verve Records
2006	An Introduction to Memphis Slim	Fuel 2000
2007	The Ultimate Jazz Archive 14 1940-41 (1 Of 4)	Carinco AG
2007	Sings the Blues	Wnts
2007	Chicago Blues Masters Vol 1: Muddy Waters And Memphis Slim	Capitol
2007	Cold Blooded Woman	Collectables Records
2008	Greatest Moments	Stardust
2008	Four Walls	Jukebox Entertainment
2008	Born To Boogie	Unlimited Media
2008	Legend of the Blues	Wounded Bird Records
2009	Fip Fil and Fim	101 Distribution

© Robert "Nighthawk" Tooms, 2010

RCT

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