On Being Guitar Blues Legend Bobby Parker by chefjimi

"The best stuff I ever heard was by a bloke called Bobby Parker"
Robin Trower

"He is one of the few remaining guitarists on this planet that can pierce your heart and soothe your soul. He inspired me to play guitar"
Carlos Santana

Then there's these little morsels of truth; John Lennon, who lifted the signature riff from Mr. Parker’s “Watch Your Step” for not just one, but two Beatles hits: “I Feel Fine” and “Day Tripper.” Led Zeppelin created their “Moby Dick” from the same source, as did Deep Purple for "Rat Bat Blue'. Robert Plant has openly acknowledged that Mr. Parker’s first record “Blues Get Off My Shoulder,” as the disc that inspired him to start singing.

With all that said, Mr.Parker must hold some kind of a world record for being the musician that singularly inspired so many with so little. Mr. Parker’s discography is not loaded down with hits, nor does he have all that many releases to his name. Nevertheless, he’s made each one count, most notably “Watch Your Step.” which was released in 1961. Mr. Parker managed to say more with its introductory guitar riff than most artists say in their entire careers.

These accolades are not to be taken lightly. Anyone who can garner these quotes and others like them should be a household name. And yet how many of us have heard of, or are familiar with Bobby Parker ? In this interview I attempt to get down some facts about him, the music and the scores of people he has played with. I hope you enjoy it, and maybe learn a little bit too, as I did.

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ChefJimi:
Good afternoon Mr. Parker, I was fortunate enough to see your performance at the Chicago Blues Festival on Saturday, a great crowd even with the rain came out to see you. And a great set by you and your band.

Bobby Parker:
Chicago was fun day, even with the rain, fun to meet everyone, and see people enjoying themselves. Things are blossoming again for me, it's really great. We are all excited at what has been going on. There was a show after at this club where we all got down, man it was so cool, first time I played there.

CJ:
Yes, I spoke to Cadillac Zack about it, he offered this quote "Bobby Parker's performance was legendary. His band was tight and and his singing and guitar playing was fiery." Sounds like I missed a good one !
Bobby, your history reads like a 'who's who' of R&B, Blues etc. Having played with Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Pee-Wee Crayton, the list goes on.


BP:
I was lucky enough to come thru that era when all this stuff began. I met everybody that was anybody in Rock & Roll, or the Blues coming up. I saw all the stuff that went down during that time, the heartaches, hardships, and all the good stuff too. I met everybody. I was on these shows, they were called the Top 10 Review, put on by Irving Feld. They went out every year, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Big Bopper, Richie Valens, Buddy Holly. It was just amazing the history that transpired. I was in so many bands playing behind these great artists, and had the chance to play with all these cats, I was in the house band at the Apollo, The Regal in Chicago, and the Howard Theater in DC. We were a traveling band, just played so much great music in those days.

CJ:
How did you get started, was it a 'inspired moment' or gradual immersion?

BP:
I started out as a kid, I was introduced to guitar when I was about 12 years old. I had a paper route in my neighborhood, there was an old guy who would sit on his porch and he'd pick on his big ol' acoustic guitar, so I would open the gate and deliver his paper to him, and man it would sound so great ! I loved going there and I'd be fascinated by the music.
So one day he asked me ...'son, you want to come up here, you know how play this thing ?”, I said "oh no sir, I don't". But he knew my daddy from up the street so he let me take that guitar home and work on it. It took me no time to start playing, see my Mom was a gospel singer, we are originally from Lafayette Louisiana, in New Iberia area, where all this music was, so I had this knowledge and love from them, it didn't take me long to learn.

I was discovered while at talent show in school, I won that show like five or six weeks straight, by playing the one Blues song I knew “Reconsider Baby''. Otis Williams and the Charms was my first band. They were sorta like the Jackson Five, a little band/doo-wop group. After that I joined Bo Diddley. We then went straight to Chicago and Chess Records (Phil and Leonard). That was where I got indoctrinated to all that funky stuff. Funny guy too, he would do this old thing called 'Hambone' …

JP:
Yeh that became the 'Bo Diddley' beat, correct? Otis Taylor did Hambone at the Chicago Blues Festival. Now did Bo let you play out while with him, or were you restricted – did he let you play any of those funky Bo Diddley guitars ? (we laugh)

BP:
He wasn't a single stroke player like me, I played Licks, he found me, He said 'you one of the best young lick players I know, you wanna hang with us” and I said yeh man.

JP:
That was in Chicago ?

BP:
Yeh, that's where I met everyone. Muddy, Wolf, Little Walter - Jimmy Reed - he was up the street with the other label. . .

CJ:
Vee-Jay I believe.....

BP:
Yeh I think that was it, so I was in awe of all these people. I mean they weren't famous at this time. They only got famous when Clapton, Page and them started imitating them. They all had their times, but they also had lives, with drinking, child-support and having a great time, just ordinary cats. Traveling with Bo we covered the whole country, and that's when I met the Paul Hucklebuck Williams Band, a great guy who helped artists learn how to deal with the road and all the stuff that goes along with it.
I was with Big Joe Turner, Little Walter, Ruth Brown, T-Bone Walker, Smiley Lewis – all these people in that era, but some people hadn't come forward enough to be in the South to play with each other, so we played on a segregated basis in old Tobacco warehouse's.

JP:
So was that the chitin' circuit ?

BP:
It was the beginning of the chitin' circuit, all that great music was being played by a lot of black people, that's all it was. But the young white teenagers wanted to hear this music. They eventually integrated cos they had to hear Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and everybody else. I knew it wouldn't last long – all that negative stuff – see the music was changing everything.

JP:
How did you wind up in DC ?

BP:
Well we would travel in the big shows, with these stars like Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, but Paul Hucklebuck was a great guy, it was a big band like 20 people, like Count Basie but it was the Blues. So we would return from the Apollo and these theaters to the Howard Theater in DC and things were changing for me. There were all these people screaming for me ! Like 3,000 ladies wanting to meet me, screaming for Bobby ! I thought this might be a city I could stay in (we laugh at the thought, both agreeing that it was a no-brainer). And the rest is history. I been here ever since, this was back in the early 60's. So I started forming my own band, and that's when my idea for 'Watch Your Step' started to come around. And man, I recorded that and the whole United Kingdom, went berserk, 'da-dadadada da dum da dum...” (he is singing the riff !).

JP:
Well yeh, when I heard the lick from 'I Feel Fine” by the Beatles, I was like, I know that riff....sorta like Ray Charles 'What I'd Say' but not quite. And Led Zeppelin covered it in Moby Dick....

BP:
Well I counted over 600 variations of that riff. McCartney and Lennon knew what they were doing. They were entrepreneurs, they were also lucky, they got Isley Brother licks, Bobby Parker licks and made them work. Ya know it was gonna happen anyway, sooner or later it was gonna get into the open, the music was too good to stay isolated and separated.

CJ: And we are all better for that. Now you grew up in California ?

BP:
Yeh, I was raised up in California, we left for there whenI was about 7 years old. We were looking for a better life for us all. My father was a repairman for Wurlitzer and other juke box companies like that. He had a route downtown and he would take me with him to service the machines on Saturday's , and I did not want to do that! Yet once I went I found that there were always blues bands there. They would rehearse and that's where I met Lowell Fulsom, T-Bone Walker, a young Etta James and Johnny 'Guitar' Watson.

CJ: Your current band is really tight, and it's a big band kinda sound, that's cool, I love that sound of horns and keys etc., just a great groove sound.

BP:
My current band has been together for 15-20 years. We are a band not just an artist. I got recording studio in my home, Pro-Tools and other stuff, so I got a lot of stuff coming out soon. A lot of original stuff that I have put together over the last thirty years.

CJ: So I can expect to hear some more covers of your songs (we laugh) like I didn't realise the great Little Milton covered you on 'Blues Get Off My Shoulder', did you know Milton?

BP:
Yeh we did a lot of shows together, we played together on the stages. Lots of people did cover that song, they re-arrange it and claim it as theirs.

CJ:
There seems to be a lot of that these days, sampling and taking riffs....Did you ever come to an agreement with Led Zeppelin etc., on yer stuff and Moby Dick riff...?

BP:
Jimmy Page wrote me and wanted to meet me cos he loved my riffs and 'Watch Your Step', so I had sent him a note that we were playing in these various venues and he wanted to meet me and come over. Well I was playing the military circuit, and in Florida we were playing when my buddy on stage next to me says there's Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, sitting next to the stage out front. I'm like no way, but he was there and we tried to get him up on stage but he refused. So a couple of months later he calls me and says to go over to this music store by my home and pick up a new Teac recorder that he bought for me. Tells me to put some stuff on it, and so I did and I would send him tapes every so often. So lo and behold Mick Fleetwood gets wind of it, so he wanted to play with me. So he introduces me to Peter Green after his nervous breakdown to kick it around and we all played together. They all knew each other and 'Watch Your Step' that riff, was still in everyone's ears. So I'm in England and tearing it up, but then Hendrix was hot there and he was burning up his guitars and breaking them on stage and all this, and I wasn't about to do this, so I was feeling out of place, so I came back to the US.

CJ:
Now Bobby, there is this story about how you were given $2,000 to put out a demo for Led Zeppelin's label, but you never did it? Is there any truth to that story?

BP:
When all this happened there was so much going on cos I was still hot in Europe, there was just so much going on, people all in my face, nothing negative but everyone pulling in different directions, but it was all fine it all worked out. We still friends, but we never got it together enough to go into the studio.

CJ:
Carlos Santana has been quoted saying you inspired him to play, how did you meet him?

BP:
I was playing in Mexico and Carlos was just a kid, and trying to play but he was so nice, and he was practicing, then he got his stuff together real good now ain't he?

CJ:
Damn straight, real good. Now, Bobby, was there one stage of yer life, or time while you were playing that seems most memorable to you?

BP:
Well, you know playing in these old Tobacco warehouses and playing with T-Bone Walker. That has got to be one of them. T-Bone, was a sharp little cat, he was always playing the greatest shows he could every night. Would always be dressed up nice, and always giving lessons to the players in the band, just by watching him entertain. We were paid to entertain and put on shows, and T-Bone taught us about that, and more.

CJ:
Bobby, there is so much history involved with you and your career is there a way for fans to inform themselves after they read this interview?

BP:
Well yes there is, we have a site that is dedicated to me and my music. It is at http://http//www.bobbyparkerblues.com/ . It is a great site, we spent alot of time getting it just right. You can listen to my releases 'Bent Out of Shape' and 'Shine Me Up' in their entirety. We are on also FaceBook, so please stop by and become friends.

CJ:
Yes, the sites are really quite good, especially your personal web site. Bobby, thank you for taking the time to talk with me, it was great to see you in Chicago and hope to see you again.

reprise: So Mr. Parker is quite a story, a genuinely sweet man, who is very accepting of the past, but looking forward to the future. He is touring regularly these days and is hoping to re-establish his link with his many fans while hopefully inspiring a new generation of musicians. Personally I would love to see him accomplish his goals. Check him out if you get a chance, and tell him chefjimi sent ya !

Until the next time,
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease


If you enjoyed this serving of the Blues, you might want to check out my other articles, as I roam around seeking out the Blues wherever they are happening.
http://www.ameriblues.com/search/label/chefjimi

all photos used by permission
courtesy of artist, Danspix, and Leslie K. Joseph

copyright © 2010 – bluesuitspeaks, all rights reserved.

Amuse Bouche - Chicago Style by chefjimi

The doors are open, oven is hot and we be servin' up some Deep Dish on the Chicago Blues Festival right here. So you better come on in my kitchen, cos it's gonna be raining outdoors !

The Chicago Blues Festival
It is a gi-normous site, spreading over Grant Park's beautiful grassy stretches, with stages located at various spots, just far enough away to not have a mix of compete ting music; but close enough to run over to the next stage to catch the end of an act that you wanted to see but got sucked in by the other act on the other stage! The City of Chicago closes traffic thru the park, allowing unfettered pedestrian traffic to stroll, dance and reconnect with nature. While providing some of the finest Blues music around. Yet the festival also reaches outward, into the the clubs located at various spots around the city where these clubs schedule special events for the week featuring acts from the fest.

Appetizers
The Chicago Blues Festival is the largest FREE Blues Festival on the planet.

In 1985 the Chicago Blues Festival was the site where the Grammy Award
was presented to Koko Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Hammond,
Sugar Blue, and Luther Guitar Junior Johnson.

The Chicago Blues Festival celebrates the heritage of the blues by remembering
the legends who created the music. The first was during the inaugural event in 1984-Muddy Waters, and continued in 1991 with Robert Johnson's 80th year. In 2008 it celebrated the centennials of Louis Jordan, Robert Petway and Tommy McClennan. In 2010 it celebrated Howlin' Wolf's centennial.

Quintus McCormick just layin' it out for all to see and hear on the Gibson stage on Sunday. Sporting a new Gibson guitar, the man gave it everything he had and then some. He also gets my award for the best faces of all the performers.

Side Salad
The Chicago Black Hawks winning the Stanley Cup and parade coinciding with Friday's kick off of the Festival. This serendipitous occasion brought tons of 'newbie' blues fans out to the park to enjoy some fine, fine music, with Black Hawk flags, hats, shirts and even aluminum
Stanley Cups abounding.

The much anticipated Chicago Blues Reunion, featuring Musselwhite, Lay, Siegel, Goldberg, Mandel & Gravenites - and it lived up to those expectations.

Buddy Guy, the Mayor of Chicago Blues was there in force at his newly opened Legends. The new version is a spacious, air-conditioned club with a great menu, beautiful sight lines from anywhere in the club and enough Award hardware to take up half of Fort Knox. This is a spectacular club that goes above and beyond the 'normal' accepted standards for Blues clubs – oh yeh, Leslie says it has to get the best bathroom award.

A fun event wherein Carl Weathersby & Larry McCray had a 'Guitar Throwdown'. Carl came out and wowed the audience with his sweet soulful singing and his exceptional guitar work (and good oral hygiene) busting out My Girl (everyone in crowd sang) and some Tyrone Davis. Larry shares stage then takes control for some serious McCray style blues, and they finish off with battle of axes, the winner was the crowd as we were treated to two fine players sharing with us their own unique styles and influences.

The array of booths were outstanding, some of the best were the Windy City Blues Society booth. Handing out buttons, and offering a spin of the wheel after joining WCBS for a chance to win some cool stuff. Guess what - I joined, and won some great music too ! The ZONE nutrition tent, where they not only gave you a cool, waterproof, yellow back tote, but inside were some good nutrition bars to scarf down between brews, but the waterproof tote was especially sweet with all the rain we got. The Chiquita banana booth, where you got a crown, and could take a pic of yourself in a banana costume. Oh yeh let's not forget the opportunity that Ocean Spray gave everyone to pose within a picture of the Cranberry guys. Also they did give out shots of cranberry juice and 100 calorie packs of craisins. Not to be outdone Shick had a booth where you could try out there new shaver, guaranteeing that the boys could be lookin' their best for the weekend.

Meat, Potatoes, Fish, Fowl and Vegetarian Selections
James Cotton, just showing everyone why he IS Super Harp ! Joined by Darryl Nulisch, Rico McFarland, Matt 'Guitar' Murphy and others he held court on the Petrillo Main Stage. His sound was a joy to all who attended the show – and there were a lot of folks there.

Playing on his home turf, Sugar Blue just smoked the crowd on Saturday afternoon. The harp bandelero was better than ever, as he played with his legendary incendiary verocity. There were times, good people, that we swore that there were two harps on stage. His dedication of 'Cotton Tree', off his latest release, Threshold, to James Cotton was quite possibly the
highlight of the festival.

Buddy Guy showing up at the Petrillo Band Shell on Sunday night to honor Barry Dolins for starting and organizing this festival for the last twenty-seven years. Thanks Barry for going above and beyond, and thanks Buddy, for showing some love.

The emergence of the Homemade Jamz Band . . .These kids, Ryan, Kyle and Taya, were so cute and fun a few years ago when I saw them on the Legendary Blues Cruise. They were just starting out and now….... Led by Ryan's strong stage presence and leadership skills, they have become a true Blues band. Kyle's improvement on the bass was astounding as he laid down some nasty bottom end to Ryan's much improved guitar and vocal work. But my vote for most improved was Taya on the drums, She has progressed so far in the year since I last saw them, it startled me. Look out world they gonna be HUGE, I'm tellin ya' HUGE ! Wait a minute, both Ryan and Kyle are over six feet tall, they are already huge !
Otis Taylor, and his unique style of Blues. A cross between acid jazz, Mississippi swamp music and country hoe-down he and the band were up to the task on Friday. One exceptional set, one cover song, and it was Hey Joe ! I believe Otis had his swerve on all weekend, reports that he was just great are still filtering in.

Harolds' Chicken Shack, a South Side institution, servin' up some Fried Chicken & Fries with sauce on side and lil' hot cayenne peppers jus' in case !


Guitar Blues Legend, Bobby Parker & the Blues Night Band in the rain on Saturday, bringing the old style sound to the band shell. Mr. Parker can still work the stage with the best of them, this man has a history that is incredible (look for future interview with him coming soon).

Cafe R&B on a hot steamy afternoon at the Front Porch Stage, dressed in suits, white shirts n' ties, just slaying the crowd (as usual). With Roach fronting the band, she is a cross between Tina Turner, James Brown and Ronnie Specter, and verry verry hot too ! Doing wind sprints on stage, standing on one leg for what seemed like three minutes telling the men to 'snatch and grab it' ! They explained that the reason they dress up is to honor Wolf, Muddy et al, since when they played they dressed the part and if the fore-fathers could do it, then it's the least they can do to honor the performers who made all this possible..

The spirit of Wolf was everywhere. From a show on Friday featuring Hubert Sumlin, Jody Williams, Sam Lay etc., and many of these artists performing on their own, to a discussion with these alum moderated by Dick Shurman. Even between acts we were treated to the Wolf singing and playing as we strolled or lulled along the paths. Taildragger made his presence felt, playing at the festival site, and then scooting up to play with Liz Mandeville at the Mayne Stage Theatre Saturday night. Some of the festival shirts featured Wolf towering over the town -which was pretty cool.

International Fare
Nellie 'Tiger' Travis featuring players from Japan, Argentina, North and South USA (hah hah) just channeling the spirit of Koko Taylor with Cookie by her side.

Chris Harper from 'Swiss-a-sippi” (Switzerland), playing some fine harp at the Windy City Blues Society Tent with his band, at the festival and at B.L.U.E.S. On Halsted, with Toronzo Cannon, and a sax player from Italy, Mr. Gianluca Baroncelli. Oh yeh, and Rachel from North Dakota was there.

Family Style Serving
So you know how when you go to one of these events you plan out your schedule and decide ahead of time who you REALLY want to see, who you would LIKE to see, and so on and so forth....So I had a plan – loose as it was – so Saturday AND Sunday I get mesmorized at the Gibson stage. Saturday I wanted to see Sugar Blue at like 1:45 so wandered over to check it out, and here is this guy...Toronzo Cannon and the Cannonball Express...????.....I'll be doggoned this brother just took over the place. A nattily attired lefty, sporting some serious threads and fine kicks is just singing his best and playing some amazing guitar. So check this out, he starts to apologize to the audience for his next action, saying he hopes he doesn't freak anyone out but he would like to dedicate the next number to the souls who have passed from us this year. So he comes off the stage and proceeds to smash his axe against the tarmac.

Ah yeah, the crowd went CRAZY, yes the Blues crowd went crazy, screaming 'n' yelling like a bunch of teenagers at a John Mayer show. But that act shouldn't over shadow this mans ability to play. We were so enthralled by his performance we had to hook up the next night at a club to see him again, OK, no guitar smashing there, but three solid hours of damn good music with guests galore and some of the best working of a crowd I've seen in years. I dunno if he ever gets outta Chicago, but if you get a chance to see him, go Nike on him, errh, JUST DO IT.


Dessert To Go:
The Chicago Blues Bus.

Dan 'Chili' Creed lacking his CTA Transit Card, boarding the #3 Bus at the Festival site, and proceeding to play some killer harp for the passengers,
driver and folks who stood at the
stops as we progressed toward Chicago Avenue. Nice bro'.
http://sharing.theflip.com/session/7248f3866cb728851b92da52ea8ce852/video/15203522

Chef's Special:
I gotta say, we all go to these festivals, pay our dime and enjoy it and move on. What I noticed about this one that makes it extra special is that it is FREE, and that it is in the CITY. What that means is that it exposes the Blues to soo many people who otherwise would not even give us a second look. What with the Blackhawk parade and rally on Friday bring at least 2,000 fired up hockey fans into Grant Park, it was the perfect spot for the festival to be. Weather held up enough on Saturday, but Sunday it was populated by families out for their walk and it is just great to see different people at these shows. In order to keep the Blues alive we need to reach the non-fans, the non-believers, if you will, those who think the Blues is dead, or sad and depressing all the time. Preaching to the choir is useless cos we all know that the Blues is all right, but there are more of those who don't know that and need to see it and hear it
and learn what the Blues really is.
To that I say, THANK YOU Chicago for holding it again and again, cya next year.

Leslie with new Blues fan @ Chicago Blues Fest

Until the next time,
Love, Peace & Chicken Grease


If you enjoyed this Chicago Style serving of the Blues, you might want to check out my Memphis report at http://www.ameriblues.com/2010/05/bma-amuse-bouche.html

or my interview with World Blues Fusion player Harper at
http://www.ameriblues.com/2010/06/harpers-world-fusion-blues-by-chefjimi.html

copyright © 2010 – bluesuitspeaks, all rights reserved.
photo credits: Leslie K. Joseph, chefjimi, Michael Jackson/Chicago Reader, Dan Creed
all photos used with permission.

Questions, comments email me: chefjimip@gmail.com