Memphis Slim: An Incomplete Discography - 13 Albums (1961-1977) [Updated]

Biography: An amazingly prolific artist who brought a brisk air of urban sophistication to his frequently stunning presentation, John "Peter" Chatman – better known as Memphis Slim – assuredly ranks with the greatest blues pianists of all time. He was smart enough to take Big Bill Broonzy's early advice about developing a style to call his own to heart, instead of imitating that of his idol, Roosevelt Sykes. Soon enough, other 88s pounders were copying Slim rather than the other way around; his thundering ivories attack set him apart from most of his contemporaries, while his deeply burnished voice possessed a commanding authority.
As befits his stage name, John "Peter" Chatman was born and raised in Memphis; a great place to commit to a career as a bluesman. Sometime in the late '30s, he resettled in Chicago and began recording as a leader in 1939 for OKeh, then switched over to Bluebird the next year. Around the same time, Slim joined forces with Broonzy, then the dominant force on the local blues scene. After serving as Broonzy's invaluable accompanist for a few years, Slim emerged as his own man in 1944.
After the close of World War II, Slim joined Hy-Tone Records, cutting eight tracks that were later picked up by King. Lee Egalnick's Miracle label reeled in the pianist in 1947; backed by his jumping band, the House Rockers (its members usually included saxists 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)."

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Memphis Slim: An Incomplete Discography - 13 Albums (1961-1977) [Updated]

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The pianist kept on label-hopping, moving from Miracle to Peacock to Premium (where he waxed the first version of his uncommonly wise 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, the estimable Matt Murphy, who added some serious fret fire to "The Come Back," "Sassy Mae," and "Memphis Slim U.S.A."
Before the decade was through, the pianist landed at Vee-Jay Records, where he cut definitive versions of his best-known songs with Murphy and a stellar combo in gorgeously sympathetic support (Murphy was nothing short of spectacular throughout).
Slim exhibited his perpetually independent mindset by leaving the country for good in 1962. A tour of Europe in partnership with bassist Willie Dixon a couple of years earlier had so intrigued the pianist that he permanently moved to Paris, where recording and touring possibilities seemed limitless and the veteran pianist was treated with the respect too often denied even African-American blues stars at home back then. He remained there until his 1988 death, enjoying his stature as expatriate blues royalty. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide

Product Description: Produced by Lee Hallyday, this album with resolutely Rock'n'Roll sound was also one of Slim's first recordings in France. This marvelously concise record has an energy that will delight both fans and collectors.

Review: This was Memphis Slim's 1964 rock & roll album, designed for the Parisian in-crowd youth market. It was recorded at a time when the Rolling Stones were working hard to sound like a Chicago blues band. Some of the tracks are exciting and ideal for exuberant, reckless, or possibly go-go dancing. Unfortunately, despite the promise this series makes of extra material culled from the Barclay, Polydor, and Festival vaults, this disc only contains a paltry 28 minutes of music. Perhaps it would have been longer had the original producers and recording engineers resisted the temptation to fade down on tunes like "Steppin' Out Tonight," a solid Chicago-style jam that suddenly evaporates after two minutes and ten seconds, although it probably lasted ten minutes in the studio. The backing vocals by the Jacques Denjean Singers during "Memphis on the Mississippi" are a bit unsettling, while some of the instrumentation seems to have been gathered from the European trad jazz scene. The best blowing comes from saxophonists Sonny Criss and Georges Grenu. Note also the presence of drummer Phillippe "Fifi" Combelle, whose career began in 1957 when he worked in the reed section of an orchestra led by his father, an ex-Django Reinhardt session man, tenor saxophonist Alix Combelle. An interesting, fun reissue, but why less than half an hour's material on a disc that could hold up to 80 minutes?

Track Listing:
01 - Clap Your Hands - 1:59
02 - Not So Stuck On Me - 2:39
03 - Rainin' In My Heart - 3:21
04 - Steppin' Out Tonight - 2:08
05 - Memphis On The Mississippi - 2:34
06 - Two Of A Kind - 2:15
07 - Fat And Forty - 2:00
08 - House Cleaning - 2:13
09 - So Lonely - 2:59
10 - That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles - 2:03
11 - Baby Doll - 2:29
12 - Double Crossin' Mama - 1:34

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (Organ, Piano, Vocals)
Sonny Criss (Sax Alto)
Mickey Baker (Guitar)
Philippe Combelle (Drums)
Georges Grenu (Sax Soprano)
Georges Grenu (Sax Tenor)
Leo Petit (Banjo)
Bill Tamper (Trombone)
Jacques Denjean (Organ)
Jacques Denjean (Piano)
Bob Mathieu (Drums)
Victor Apicella (Bass)
Pierre Sim (Bass)

Recorded in Paris, 1964.

Product Description: Memphis Slim worked closely with Mickey Baker to record this album. This is a long-awaited reissue where the pianist's charisma and deadpan humor stand out over a full band featuring brass and organ.

Review: This brief segment of the Memphis Slim story unearths a parcel of tasty tracks recorded during 1967 in Paris where Slim would live out the rest of his life. Here he delivers his usual mix of slow drags, soulful struts, shuffles, and boogies, working the piano and singing the blues. Solid support is provided by guitarist Mickey Baker, bassists Guy Pedersen and Roland Lobligeois, and drummer Andre Arpino. The rest of the personnel remain largely unidentified; the nameless organist and a tidy anonymous horn section put a lot of meat on the ribs of this album. On "People People" and "Christina" the organ establishes a vibe comparable with certain wistful portions of John Mayall's largely introspective Bare Wires album, a distant cousin to this session recorded in April of the following year. "Feeling the Blues" is most unique as Slim gives voice to his emotions accompanied only by Baker on acoustic guitar. This is excellent music, and the producers were wise to reissue it. Yet it is not, however, a judicious use of CD space; there are only 35 minutes of music on here. If they had combined it with Clap Your Hands, another album in the series lasting a mere 28 minutes, one wouldn't feel quite so shortchanged.

Track Listing:
01 - Don't Doubt Me - 2:06
02 - People People - 3:41
03 - Bluesingly Yours - 2:24
04 - Waiting Game - 3:02
05 - Watch Out Baby - 2:30
06 - Feeling the Blues - 4:45
07 - Girl I Met Last Night - 2:10
08 - Christina - 2:32
09 - The Animal in Me - 2:18
10 - Mississippi Water - 4:18
11 - My Dog Is Mean - 3:08
12 - Paris Scene - 2:10

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (Piano, Vocals)
Mickey Baker (Guitar)
Andre Arpino (Drums)
Unknown (Horns, Organ)
Roland Lobligeois (Bass)

Product Description: On this trio recording Memphis Slim uses a wide variety of song-contexts to explore the fundamental themes of the blues: man's everyday mundane existence, man-woman relationships, suffering, liquor, superstition. Humor and cynicism are omnipresent, supported by his impeccable piano playing.

Review: Recorded in Paris during the year 1968, Memphis Slim's Lord Have Mercy on Me belongs among his best work in the straightforward blues category. Supported by bassist Henri Tischitz and drummer Michel Denis, Slim lays down 12 studies in Southern-born and Chicago-bred blues, prefacing each track with a spoken title and usually including the take number. "San Juan Blues" operates over a New Orleans rhumba framework. "Three in One Boogie" is a glorious example of this worldly pianist's masterful boogie-woogie technique. The rest of the material either kicks a bit or settles down for a slow and reflective grind, gently grappling with the complexities of life, love, and human nature.

Track Listing:
01 - Messin' Around - 3:11
02 - Big Town Girl - 1:51
03 - Wish Me Well - 2:38
04 - Alberta - 3:55
05 - Three in One Boogie - 3:26
06 - San Juan Blues - 2:18
07 - Sweet Root Man - 2:47
08 - Lord Have Mercy on Me - 2:30
09 - Whiskey Drinking Man - 3:18
10 - Between Midnight and Dawn - 3:10
11 - Blue and Lonesome - 3:00
12 - Misery - 2:19

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (Piano, Vocals)
Michel Denis (Drums)
Henri Tischitz (Bass)
M:\Musica_3\=Da Condividere\HQ\Memphis Slim\03_Memphis Slim - Lord Have Mercy on Me - 1968 (2006)\info.txt

Product Description: Recorded in New York City during May and June of 1969, this excellent album reveals the very core of Memphis Slim's blues artistry. He kneads the piano and sings his heart out in front of a tough little band comprised of R&B tenor sax legend Eddie Chamblee, an unidentified organist, guitarist Billy Butler, bassist Lloyd Trotman, and drummer Herb Lovelle. An anonymous utility horn section shows up during the rocking "Sassy Mae." "Ramble This Highway" (better known as "Key to the Highway") was written by Jazz Gillum, "Rock Me Baby" is credited to Big Bill Broonzy, and the famous "Caldonia" was composed by Fleecie Moore. The rest of the material heard on this album comes straight out of Slim's catalog of original songs. Check out Slim's relaxed sermon on "Freedom" and his candid statement about having the blues because he is black. The jump tunes are fine but the cooler numbers are especially powerful. This will get right into the marrow of your bones before you know what's happening to you. Ideal music for making it through the workday, cooking a big dinner, driving down the freeway in a groove, or laying around doing nothing with a big smile on your face.

Track Listing:
01 - Only Fools Have Fun - 2:54
02 - Little Lonely Girl - 2:17
03 - Forty Years Or More - 4:44
04 - Ballin' The Jack - 2:29
05 - Let's Get With It - 2:32
06 - Broadway Boogie - 3:10
07 - A Long Time Baby - 2:40
08 - Strollin' Thru The Park - 4:49
09 - This Little Woman - 3:41
10 - Sassy Mae - 2:51
11 - Freedom - 5:46
12 - I Am The Blues - 2:50
13 - Ramble This Highway - 2:57
14 - Gambler's Blues - 4:09
15 - Everyday I Have The Blues - 3:02
16 - Rock Me Baby - 5:17
17 - Lend Me Your Love - 5:02
18 - Gone Again - 4:16
19 - All By Myself - 2:20
20 - Caldonia - 2:14

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (Piano, Vocals)
Eddie Chamblee (Sax Tenor)
Herb Lovelle (Drums)
Lloyd Trotman (Bass)
Billy Butler (Guitar)
Unknown (Organ)

Recorded in New York May/June, 1969.

Product Description: Pianist/singer Peter "Memphis Slim" Chatman (1915-1988) enjoyed one of the longest and most successful careers in blues history. His trademarks were hearty, robust singing (somewhat similar to that of B.B. King) and style on the keys that'sequal parts earthiness and elegance. Slim moved to France in 1962, and in 1970, fellow blues stars Buddy Guy and Junior Wells were passing through and set aside some studio time with their old friend. SOUTHSIDE REUNION (originally released in 1972) was the result, a set of relaxed but high-spirited performances, notable for unusually restrained yet sweetly stinging guitar work by Guy.

In 1970, expatriate pianist Memphis Slim hooked up with fellow Chicago blues great Buddy Guy while the guitarist was touring Europe with the Rolling Stones, and recorded the tracks for South Side Reunion, originally released on Warner Bros. in 1972. Slim's rollicking piano and Guy's guitar-slinging prowess are complemented by Windy City musicians Phillip Guy, Ernest Johnson, and Roosevelt Shaw, plus saxophonists A.C. Reed and Jimmy Conley. While harpist Junior Wells (who was also part of the Stones tour) is listed as if he played a prominent role in this endeavor, he's only heard on the tracks "Good Time Charlie," "No," and "Help Me Some." Both casual listeners and collectors will want to check this out, if only for the two takes of Slim's solo harpsichord jam "Ain't Nothing But a Texas Boogie on a Harpsichord."

Review: What you hear is Memphis Slim but what you get is pure Chicago Blues - the Sound of the South, Fifties’ style. Slim hasn’t done anything quite like this since and may never again, but I’m glad he took us back to the good old days just this once.
To close the first day of sessions, we recorded You’re The One with Slim singing the lead vocal, as it appeared on the original album release, then with Buddy doing the same on
a separate take. The latter was not included on the LP in 1971 and appears for the first time inthe present CD, on track 10.
For the last vocal number by Memphis Slim, Rolling and Tumbling, the shadow of his old friend from the Windy City, Muddy Waters, filled the studio.After all Muddy had also been a mentor and a guide for Buddy, who was an alumni of his touring band and had recorded several times with him on Chess Records.Here you have three classic bluesmen singing and playing a blues standard by another blues icon from Chicago: a true Southside Reunion.
The final blowout is a fast instrumental boogie, Jamming at the Castle, with Junior Wells playing right against Slim’s piano stride, while Buddy sneaks in and out of the mêlée. But even the best of friends must part, and after this short Chicago blues jamboree, Parisian style, our three heroes and their fellow musicians had to go their separate ways “Down That Big Road”, as Memphis Slim sang it so many times…

Track Listing:
01 - When Buddy Comes To Town - 6:32
02 - How Long Blues - 2:38
03 - Good Time Charlie - 3:10
04 - You Call Me At Last - 7:37
05 - You're The One - 3:26
06 - No - 5:36
07 - Help Me Some - 4:14
08 - Rolling And Tumbling - 6:05
09 - Jamming At The Castle - 3:22
10 - You're The One (Alternative Version) - 3:18

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (vocals, piano)
Buddy Guy (vocals, guitar)
Phillip Guy (guitar)
Junior Wells (harmonica)
Jimmy Conley (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone)
A.C. Reed (tenor saxophone)
Ernest Johnson (bass guitar)
Roosevelt Shaw (drums)

Recorded on September 24 and 25, 1970, at Michel Magne Studio, Chateau d'Hérouville, France.

Product Description: Teamed with guitarist Peter Green and a well-oiled ensemble of British musicians including John Paul Jones on Hammond organ, Memphis Slim cooked up The Blue Memphis Suite in a London studio at four sessions during June of 1970. A theatrically conceived autobiographical revue, this album feels at first like a sort of audio pantomime as the pianist paints narrated pictures of where he's been and what he's done. A couple of these episodes are broadly obvious, as when he introduces the Windy City segment by quoting from Fred Fisher's hit of 1922, "Chicago." Gutsier reflections materialize in the form of elegies for Otis Spann and Earl Hooker, the authentically slow and ruminative "Feel Like Screaming and Crying" and a refreshingly honest piece entitled "Chicago Seven," where Slim wryly points out that "Nobody seemed worried about all the black blood spilled, but they began to take notice when some of their own got killed." Sobering stuff! Two newly discovered "rough mix" tracks round off this reissue in ways that seem to top the original release: "Mother Earth" now caps the project with humbling intimations of mortality and "I've Got Soul" (its lyrics consisting only of the title sung like a bluesy mantra) serves as the last word on the subject.

Review: The Blue Memphis Suite, recorded in London n 1970. issued that year on the Barclay label in France, and picked up the next by Warner Bros in the U.5 A., was the most ambitious recording of Memphis Slim's prolific career, The auto-biographical suite that makes up the first eight tracks of the original 13-track LP (to which two previously unissued selections have been added for the CD edition) stands 36 years after the fact as a masterpiece of the blues. The brilliant singer, pianist, and songwriter chronicles his journey from Memphis to St. Louis. Chicago. and eventually Paris with highlyempathetic support from an all-star English cast including guitarists Peter Green and Chris Spedding, keyboardists John Paul Jones and Pete Wingfield, and harmonica blower Duster Bennett, plus a 10-man horn section playing charts by Motown arranger Jerry Long.
With so many musicians playing at once-Slim at times overdubs both piano and clavichord, making for a total of four keyboards-they get in each others way on occasion, yet Long was careful to delineate specific parts to each musician The celeste line assigned to Wingfield in the third chorus of feel Like Screaming And Crying-a slow blues that is the suite's most satisfying section-is just one of many subtle touches.
The songs that make up the suite purposely speed up and slow down at times and are cleverly segued into one another, though some fail to reach resolution and thus do not stand up in isolation from the others. Green's sweetly stinging guitar fills supply a sublime foil for, Slim's gruff voice and two-fisted piano, much as they had on earlier sessions with Otis Spann and Eddie Boyd- The Fleetwood Mac guitarist is especially chilling when trading phrases with the leader's piano on the vamp of Chicago Seven, one of five non-suite tracks from the original LP Slim may have been based in France for eight years before the recording, but that tune and another original titled Youth Want To Know show how keenly aware he was of the civil rights and antiwar movements back home. Of the two previously unreleased tracks on the CD, an imaginatively orchestrated treatment of Mother Earth, complete with a moaning vocal group, is particularly welcome.

Track Listing:
01 - Born in Memphis, Tennessee - 3:33
02 - Chicago - 0:34
03 - Me and My Piano - 1:25
04 - HandyMan - 1:58
05 - Feel Like Screaming and Crying - 3:36
06 - Riding on the Blues Train - 1:39
07 - Boogin' and Bluesin' - 1:48
08 - Wind Gonna Rise - 4:08
09 - Youth Wants To Know - 4:49
10 - Boogie Woogie 1-9-7-0 - 3:20
11 - Otis Spann and Earl Hooker - 4:36
12 - Chicago Seven - 3:51
13 - Mason-Dixon Line - 3:51
14 - Mother Earth - 4:55
15 - I've Got Soul - 4:51

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (vocals, piano & clavichord)
Peter Green (lead guitar)
John Paul Jones (hammond organ)
Pete Wingfield (electric piano, celeste & organ)
Johnny Dean (chimes)
Larry Steel (Bass)
Conrad Isidore (Drums)

The Horn Section:
Henry Lowther, Harry Beckett, Kenny Wheeler (trumpets)
Karl Jenkins, Brian Smith, Stan Saltzman, Jerry Gibbs, Peter King (saxophones)
Nick Evans, John Mumford (trombones)

Cameo appearance in "Feel Like Screaming and Crying" by Mae Mercer.
Arrangements - Jerry Long.
Background Vocals by Kay Gardner, Barry St John & Lisa Strike on Mother Earth

Recorded at Delqane Lea Studio (June 3, 1970) & Olympic Sounds Studios (June 5-6 & 18, 1970)

Product Description: If musicologists are to be believed, boogie-woogie as we know it emerged at the turnof the twentieth century in the loggingcamps,railroad construction sites and whore-houses of a Deep South in the throes of Reconstruction.Memphis Slim started out as one of those wandering ‘boogiemen’who spread the word about this riotous and exuberant,blues-inspired styling.To a hypnotic left hand striking eight notes to the bar in the low register,the pianist brought to life ostinato figures and melodic variations with his right hand,playing for a rough and rowdy public willing to forget their life of hardship on the dance floor In the barrelhouses of Louisiana and the juke joints of Mississippi,musicians enter-tained people in order to stop them from brawling.
By the end of the thirties, boogie-woogie outgrew Afro-American circles and took the dance floors of white America by storm when it was adopted by the popular bigbands of the day,even becoming a favorite among country singers who transposed it to the guitar.The boogie-woogie craze what at its peak during the war years,and the style’s raw energy eventually contributed to the rock and roll explosion a decade later.Through rock and roll,boogie-woogie was to resurface at the turn of the sixties when young white rock fans discovered blues music.One of the first to benefit from this resurrection was Memphis Slim who used boogie as a means to reach a wider audience whilst revisiting his early roots.In the eyes of Slim,one of the last great representatives of a tradition in danger of becoming extinct,this lesson in the art of boogie-woogie was something akin to a holy ceremony. A relentless defender of the Afro-American popular styles,the pianist was fully conscious of the fact that his music no longer had a place in his own community.

Review: In his powerfully insightful book of blues-inspired poetry Fattening Frogs for Snakes – Delta Sound Suite, John Sinclair cites blues and jazz scholar Robert Palmer as a source for the theory that the linguistic taproots of the word "boogie" probably reach back to West Africa, as the Hausa "buga" and the Mandingo "bug" both mean "to beat" as in "to beat a drum." This makes sense given the rhythmic potency of boogie-woogie, a style that emerged during the early 20th century among Southern black laborers who lived, toiled, and partied near the very bottom of the U.S. social hierarchy, usually living in an environment that was secluded from the rest of the population and often engaging in the production of turpentine. There are other distinct levels of meaning and purpose here: the subject of blackness, the act of partying in order to blow off steam, and the performer's utility function as a provider of music in order to keep the participants from brawling. Sometimes carelessly criticized for its apparent simplicity, the boogie is as complex as human nature itself. Popularized by white big bands during the 1930s and '40s, boogie-woogie also helped to spawn the eminently exploitable genres of R&B and rock & roll. By the end of the 1960s, pianist Memphis Slim openly made a point of varying the textures and tempos of his music, noting that many of his friends and contemporaries sometimes slid into ruts of predictability. Comfortably established in Paris during the year 1971, Slim demonstrated his incredible technique and refreshing versatility in a magnificent series of blues and boogie-woogie piano duets with drummer Michel Denis. The entire spectrum of movement is covered here, from slow ruminations to lightning-quick fisticuffs. While there are clearly discernible reverberations from Slim's early idol Roosevelt Sykes, one may also pick up on the influences of Jimmy Yancey and Pete Johnson. The album is entirely instrumental with the possible exception of "Ouargla," named for a city in Saharan East Central Algeria. This track begins with off-mike remarks and a humorous vocal outburst. Beautifully alive with musical portraits of his wife Christina and daughter Nathalie, vibrant with colorful sketches of Parisian nightspots and fancy cars, Memphis Slim's richly rewarding Boogie Woogie album stands with the very best in his entire recorded legacy, and belongs among the greatest achievements ever realized in this genre.

Track Listing:
01 - Mellow One - 4:42
02 - Rolling - 3:39
03 - Paris On Rolls - 2:25
04 - Stomping At The Caveau De La Huchette - 4:26
05 - Talk To Me - 2:24
06 - Long Long Boogie - 11:18
07 - Nathalie's Boogie - 2:57
08 - Boogie Woogie At The Penthouse - 4:20
09 - Roll 'Em Slim - 4:52
10 - Ouargla - 3:46
11 - Christina Boogie - 5:01
12 - Mistral Boogie - 2:51
13 - Just Playing Boogie - 3:12
14 - Discotheque Boogie - 3:57
15 - Funky And Nice - 4:58
16 - Hudson Boogie - 1:52

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (piano, vocals)
Michel Denis (drums)

Recorded in Paris, 1971.

Product Description: This choice chapter in the Memphis Slim story delivers an exciting taste of what a modern electric blues band sounded like in live performance during the early '70s. This reissue includes a bonus track featuring Hammond B-3 organist Deacon Jones and formidable electric guitar wizard Freddie King. (It's quite a package, although even with this extra cut the disc only contains 43 minutes of music.) The year 1973 was particularly exciting as blues, soul, funk, and rock & roll began to blend in ways that had only been hinted at during the 1960s. This cultural explosion was inevitable as music festivals were expanded to include a wide range of styles and genres. The 1973 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival, for example, featured One String Sam, Victoria Spivey, Roosevelt Sykes, John Lee Hooker, and Ray Charles on the same weekend as Yusef Lateef, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, and the Sun Ra Arkestra. The 1973 jazz festival held in Montreux, Switzerland, underwent comparable dilation as Odetta, Fats Domino, Muddy Waters, and Professor Longhair appeared alongside Miles Davis, Les McCann, Sam Rivers, and Stéphane Grappelli. Memphis Slim fit perfectly into this mind-blowing lineup. Backed by bassist Benny Turner, drummer Charlie Meyers, and guitarist Joe "Jammer" Wright, Slim rises to the occasion, maintaining at all tempos a powerful presence that is still breathtaking. Most amusing is Slim's politically charged "The Watergate Festival," juxtaposing the seemingly disparate topics of a fertile international music festival scene and the corruption scandal that was steadily disembowelling the Nixon White House during the summer of 1973. This track compares nicely with similar Watergate "tributes" composed and/or recorded by Eddie Shaw, Tom T. Hall, Howlin' Wolf, Big Joe Williams, Percy Heath, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Gil Scott-Heron.

Track Listing:
01 - I'm Lost Without You - 2:21
02 - Whish Me Well - 3:39
03 - Didn't We Babe - 2:23
04 - Montreux Boogie - 5:00
05 - Angel Child - 4:54
06 - The Watergate Festival - 5:35
07 - Baby Please Come Home - 1:29
08 - Everyday I Have The Blues - 4:03
09 - All By Myself - 2:53
10 - Bye Bye Blues - 3:53
11 - Lend Me Your Love - 6:47

Personnel:
Memphis Slim (Piano, Vocals)
Benny Turner (Bass)
Charlie Meyers (Drums)
Ja "Jammer" Wright (Guitar)
Special Guests on "Lend me your Love" : Freddy King (Lead Guitar), Deacon Jones (B3 Hammond Organ)

Recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland on June 29, 1973.

Product Description: Memphis Slim was immensely proud of this album, the first he ever made in his home state of Tennessee. It was recorded at Wayne Moss' Cinderella Studio, a converted garage in Madison, a suburb of Nashville perched between two lakes, in February of 1975. Backed by seven of the area's top session men led by harmonica ace Charlie McCoy, Slim sounds perfectly at home with pedal steel guitar and clavinet. This chapter in Memphis Slim's career combines elements of country and Southern rock with the funky big blues revue sound of the mid-'70s, as background female soul vocals were added later during follow-up production in Bogalusa, LA. The lead singer was Geraldine "Sister Gerry" Richard of Baton Rouge. What you encounter here is much different from Slim's earlier gutsy Arkansas/Mississippi/Chicago piano persona. He enjoys himself fully in the presence of this polished Nashville production team, yodeling on "Blues Cowboy," and carrying on happily, making all kinds of offhand remarks during "Shake That Thing," a song dating back to the mid-'20s. This band rocked wonderfully thanks to the combination of electric guitarists Dale Sellers and Reggie Young and bassist Henry Strzlecki, known in Nashville as the South Pole. Two bonus tracks include "Jerusalem," a gospel-tinged rumination featuring David Briggs on the Hammond B-3 organ.

Track Listing:
01 - Going Back To Tennessee - 3:06
02 - Bootleggin' - 3:04
03 - Good Blues Bad - 3:44
04 - Shake That Thing - 2:42
05 - Losers Weepers - 3:19
06 - A Good Woman Is Hard To Find - 2:36
07 - Blues Cowboy - 3:56
08 - Poor Man Blue - 3:02
09 - I'd Like To Be Loved - 2:52
10 - Boxcar - 3:29
11 - What Is The Blues - 2:31
12 - Headed For Nashville - 3:12
13 - Just Mention My Name In Memphis - 4:40
14 - Jerusalem - 3:27

Personnel:
Personnel:
Memphis Slim (Piano, Vocals)
Kenneth A. Buttrey (Drums)
Russ Hicks (Pedal Steel)
Dale Sellers (Guitar)
Reggie Young (Guitar)
Steve Davis (Clavinet)
Doris Dawson (Vocals Background)
Dolores Powell (Vocals Background)
Geraldine Richard (Vocals)

Recorded at Cinderella Studio, Madison, Tennessee, February 1975.

Product Description: This cd put out by the UK Charly laber has 16 of Memphis Slim's house rockin'-est sides. Memphis Slim & His House Rockers really rock'n'roll the blues, on every cut, includes a racious verison of Rockin The House(We gonna rock, we gonna roll). This is the stuff that influenced the king of Rockabilly Elvis Presley!

Track Listing:
01 - Gotta Find My Baby - 2:21
02 - The Comeback - 2:20
03 - Messin' Around - 3:08
04 - Sassy Mae - 2:48
05 - Lend Me Your Love - 3:14
06 - Guitar Cha Cha - 2:16
07 - Stroll On Little Girl - 2:42
08 - Rockin' The House - 2:08
09 - Wish Me Well - 2:44
10 - Blue And Lonesome - 3:11
11 - My Gal Keeps Me Crying - 2:41
12 - Slim's Blues - 3:09
13 - Steppin' Out - 2:03
14 - Mother Earth - 3:34
15 - What's The Matter - 2:25
16 - This Time I'm Through - 2:29

Product Description: Solo Slim from 1961, presumably just before his emigration to Paris. He sings with the clarity and easeful movement of a mountain stream, his fingers travel the piano keys insistently if not always accurately, and his sexual metaphors (notably in "Churnin' Man Blues") join his homespun insights (try "Mother Earth") in holding out pleasure to the listener-at the time collegians and the city-dwelling folk cognoscenti.

Review: Solo Slim from 1961, presumably just before his emigration to Paris. He sings with the clarity and easeful movement of a mountain stream, his fingers travel the piano keys insistently if not always accurately, and his sexual metaphors (notably in "Churnin' Man Blues") join his homespun insights (try "Mother Earth") in holding out pleasure to the listener-at the time collegians and the city-dwelling folk cognoscenti.

Track Listing:
01 - Blues is Troubles - 3:25
02 - Grinder Man Blues - 4:37
03 - Three-in-One Boogie - 4:29
04 - Letter Home - 3:40
05 - Churnin' Man Blues - 6:32
06 - Two of a Kind - 4:16
07 - The Blacks - 5:10
08 - If You See Kay - 4:29
09 - Frankie and Johnny Boogie - 4:10
10 - Mother Earth - 4:43

Digital remastering - Kirk Felton, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California, 1990.
Originally released on Prestige/Bluesville (1053).

See my previous post (Memph...th My Friends - 1961) here

Product Description: Slim amuses himself rolling the organ keys in four of ten songs on yet another Prestige/Bluesville album recorded in 1961. Stick to his lusty voice-and-piano escapades, because when he pulls out the stops waves of funereal or giddy schmaltz spew forth.

Review: Like Slim's other Bluesville work, this is a characteristic and very consistent effort, though not what you would single out as the cream of his recorded work. He varies the program between originals and covers of standards like "Mean Mistreatin' Mama," "Rock Me Baby," and "Goin' Down Slow," providing a touch of unpredictability by switching from the piano to the organ on a few tracks.

Track Listing:
01 - Mean Mistreatin' Mama - 3:40
02 - Soon One Morning - 4:50
03 - Steady Rolling Blues - 4:35
04 - Celeste's Boogie - 3:42
05 - Big Legged Woman - 2:14
06 - Rock Me Baby - 2:48
07 - Goin' Down Slow - 5:12
08 - Sweet Root Man - 3:49
09 - Mr. Freddie Boogie - 3:56
10 - Three Women Blues - 3:49

Solo Performer: Memphis Slim (vocals, piano, and organ)

Recorded in New York City, October 9, 1961.
Digital remastering - Phil De Lancie, Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California, 1990.
Originally released on Bluesville.