The legendary Blues guitarist Earl Hooker was born on this day in 1930 in Clarksdale, MS. Many of Hooker`s peers consider him to be the best Blues guitarist. Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970) was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a musicians musician,[1] Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker (a cousin) as well as fronting his own bands. An early player of the electric guitar, Hooker was influenced by the modern urban styles of T-Bone Walker and Robert Nighthawk. As a band leader, he recorded several singles and albums, in addition to recording with well-known artists. His Blue Guitar, a popular Chicago area slide-guitar instrumental single, was later overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters and became the popular You Shook Me. In the late 1960s, Hooker began performing on the college and concert circuit and had several recording contracts. Just as his career was on an upswing, Earl Hooker died in 1970 at age 41 after a lifelong struggle with tuberculosis. His guitar playing has been acknowledged by many of his peers, including B.B. King, who commented: to me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period. With the slide he was the best. It was nobody else like him, he was just one of a kind.[2] Early life Earl Zebedee Hooker was born in 1929 in rural Quitman County, Mississippi, outside of Clarksdale. In 1930, when he was one year old, his parents moved to Chicago. His family was musically inclined (John Lee Hooker was a cousin) and Earl was exposed to music at home at a very early age. About age ten, he started playing guitar. Hooker was self-taught and picked up what he could from those around him. Although Hooker was gaining proficiency on guitar, he did not show an interest in singing. This has been explained by a speech impediment, i.e., pronounced stuttering, which afflicted him all his life.[3] Hooker also contracted tuberculosis when he was young. Although his condition did not become critical until the mid-1950s, it required periodic hospital visits beginning at an early age. By 1942, Hooker was performing on Chicago street corners with childhood friends including Bo Diddley. From the beginning, the blues were Hookers favorites, but this was when the more country-influenced blues was giving way to swing-influenced and jump-blues styles, which often featured the electric guitar. T-Bone Walker was popular and in 1942 began a three-month club stint at the Rhumboogie Club in Chicago. He had a considerable impact on Hooker, with both his playing and showmanship.[4] Walkers swing-influenced blues guitar, including the jazzy way he would sometimes run the blues scales[3] and intricate chord work, appealed to Hooker. Walkers stage dynamics, which included playing the guitar behind his neck and with his teeth, influenced Hookers own later stage act. Also around this time, he developed a friendship with Robert Nighthawk, one of the first guitarists in Chicago to switch to electric guitar. Nighthawk taught Hooker slide-guitar techniques, including various tunings and his highly articulated approach; Nighthawk had a lasting influence on Hookers playing. Junior Wells, another important figure in Hookers career, entered his life at this time. The two were frequent street performers and sometimes to avoid foul weather (or truancy officers), they played in streetcars, riding one line to another across Chicago. Early career and recordings Around 1946, Earl Hooker traveled to Helena, Arkansas where he performed with Robert Nighthawk. While not booked with Nighthawk, Hooker performed with Sonny Boy Williamson II, including on his popular Helena KFFA radio program King Biscuit Time.[5] Hooker then toured the South as a member of Nighthawks band for the next couple of years. This was his introduction to life as an itinerant blues musician (although he had earlier run away from home and spent time in the Mississippi Delta). In 1949, Hooker tried to establish himself in the Memphis, Tennessee music scene, but was soon back on the road fronting his own band. By the early 1950s he returned to Chicago and performed regularly in the local clubs. This set the pattern that he repeated for most of his life: extensive touring with various musicians interspersed with establishing himself in various cities before returning to the Chicago club scene.[5] During this time, he formed a band with blues drummer and vocalist, Kansas City Red.[6] In 1952, Earl Hooker began recording for several independent record companies. His early singles were often credited to the vocalist he recorded with, although some instrumentals (and his occasional vocal) were issued in Hookers name. Songs by Hooker and with blues and R&B artists, including Johnny ONeal, Little Sam Davis, Boyd Gilmore, Pinetop Perkins, The Dells, Arbee Stidham, Lorenzo Smith, and Harold Tidwell were recorded by such labels as King, Rockin, Sun, Argo, Veejay, States, United, and C.J. (several of these recordings, including all of the Sun material, were unissued at the time). The harmonica player, Little Arthur Duncan, often accompanied Hooker over this period.[7] Among these early singles was Hookers first recorded vocal performance on an interpretation of the blues classic Black Angel Blues. Although his vocals were more than adequate, they lacked the power usually associated with blues singers.[8] Hookers Sweet Angel (1953 Rockin 513) was based on Robert Nighthawks 1949 Black Angel Blues and showed that Hooker had by now transcended his teacher.[9] (B.B. King later had a hit in 1956 with his interpretation, Sweet Little Angel.) One of Hookers most successful singles during this period was Frog Hop, recorded in 1956 (Argo 5265). The song, an upbeat instrumental, showed some of his T-Bone Walker swing-blues and chording influences, as well as his own style.[10] Chief/Profile/Age recordings Despite a major tuberculosis attack in 1956 that required hospitalization, Earl Hooker returned to performing in Chicago clubs and touring the South. By late 1959, Junior Wells brought Hooker to the Chief/Profile/Age group of labels, where he began one of the most fruitful periods of his recording career. Their first recording together, Little by Little (Profile 4011), was a hit the following year when it reached number 23 in the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart.[11] With this success and his rapport with Chief owner and producer Mel London, Hooker became Chiefs house guitarist. From 1959 to 1963, he appeared on about forty Chief recordings, including singles for Wells, Lillian Offitt, Magic Sam, A.C. Reed, Ricky Allen, Reggie Guitar Boyd, Johnny Big Moose Walker, and Jackie Brenston, as well as Hooker being the featured artist. He appeared on nearly all of Wells releases, including Come on in This House, Messin with the Kid, and It Hurts Me Too, which remained in Wells repertoire throughout his career. Hooker regularly performed with Wells for the rest of 1960 and most of 1961. For the Chief labels, Hooker released several instrumentals, including the slow blues Calling All Blues (1960 Chief 7020) which featured Hookers slide guitar and Blues in D Natural (1960 Chief 7016), where he switched between fretted and slide guitar. However, it was a chance taping before a recording session that captured perhaps Hookers best known song (although by a different title). During the warm-up that preceded a May 1961 scheduled session, Hooker and his band played an impromptu slow blues which featured Hookers slide guitar. The song was played once and Hooker was apparently not aware that it was being recorded.[12] Producer Mel London saved the tape and when looking for material to release the following spring, issued it as Blue Guitar (Age 29106). Earls song sold unusually well for an instrumental blues side[13] and Chicago-area bluesmen were including it in their sets. Sensing greater commercial potential for Hookers Blue Guitar, Leonard Chess approached Mel London about using it for Muddy Waters next record. An agreement was reached and in July 1962, Waters overdubbed a vocal (with lyrics by Willie Dixon) on Hookers single and it was renamed You Shook Me. The song was successful and Chess hired Hooker to record three more instrumentals for Muddy Waters to overdub. One of the songs, again with Dixon-supplied lyrics, titled You Need Love, was also a success and sold better than Muddys early sixties recordings.[14] Later, rock bands such as Led Zeppelin would achieve greater success with their adaptations of Earl Hookers and Muddy Waters You Shook Me and You Need Love. During his time with Chief, Hooker also recorded singles as a sideman for Bobby Saxton and Betty Everett as well as in his own name for the Bea & Baby, C.J., and Checker record labels. By 1964, the last of the Chief labels went out of business and ended his longest association with a record label; for some, his recordings for Chief/Profile/Age represent Hookers best work.[15] Cuca and Arhoolie recordings Hooker continued touring and began recording for Cuca Records, Jim-Ko, C.J., Duplex, and Globe. Several songs recorded for Cuca between 1964 and 1967 were released on his first album The Genius of Earl Hooker. The album was composed of instrumentals, including the slow blues The End of the Blues and some songs which incorporated recent popular music trends, such as the early funk-influenced Two Bugs in a Rug (an allusion to his tuberculosis or TB). Hooker experienced a major tuberculosis attack in late summer 1967 and was hospitalized for nearly a year. When Hooker was released from the hospital in 1968, he assembled a new band and began performing in the Chicago clubs and touring, against his doctors advice. The band, with pianist Pinetop Perkins, harmonica player Carey Bell, bassist Geno Skaggs, vocalist Andrew Odom, and steel-guitar player Freddie Roulette, was widely acclaimed and considered [as] one of the best Earl had ever carried with him.[16] Based on a recommendation by Buddy Guy, Arhoolie Records recorded an album by Hooker and his new band.[1] Two Bugs and a Roach was released in spring 1969 and included a mix of instrumentals and vocals by Odom, Bell, and Hooker. For one of his vocals, Hooker chose Anna Lee, a song based on Robert Nighthawks 1949 Annie Lee Blues. As he had done earlier with Sweet Angel, Hooker acknowledged his mentors influence, but extended beyond Nighthawks version to create his own interpretation. The brilliant bebop[-influenced] instrumental Off the Hook showed his jazzier leanings.[17] Two Bugs and a Roach was extremely well-received by critics and the public[1] and stands today as [part of] Hookers finest musical legacy.[18] Blue Thumb and Bluesway recordings The year 1969 was an important one in Earl Hookers career. He again teamed up with Junior Wells and they performed at higher-paying college dates and concerts, including Chicagos Kinetic Playground. This pairing did not last long and in May 1969, and after assembling new players, Hooker recorded material that was later released as Funk. Last of the Late Great Earl Hooker. Also in May, after being recommended by Ike Turner (with whom he first toured in 1952), he went to Los Angeles to record the album Sweet Black Angel for Blue Thumb Records with arrangements and piano by Turner.[19] It included Hookers interpretations of several blues standards, such as Sweet Home Chicago (with Hooker on vocal), Drivin Wheel, Cross Cut Saw, Catfish Blues, and the title track. While in Los Angeles, Hooker visited the clubs and sat in with Albert Collins at the Ash Grove several times and jammed with others, including Jimi Hendrix.[20] After the Blue Thumb recording session, Earl Hooker and his band backed his cousin John Lee Hooker on a series of club dates in California; afterwards John Lee used them for his Bluesway Records recording session. The resulting album, John Lee Hooker Featuring Earl Hooker – If You Miss Im ... I Got Im, was Earl Hookers introduction to the Bluesway label, an ABC subsidiary and home to B.B. King. This led to recording six more Earl Hooker-involved albums for Bluesway in 1969: Earl Hookers Dont Have to Worry and albums by Andrew Odom, Johnny Big Moose Walker, Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry.[19] Hookers Dont Have to Worry included vocal performances by Walker, Odom, and Hooker as well as instrumental selections. The session had a coherence and consistency that help make the album another part of Hookers finest musical legacy.[18] Touring with his band in California took Hooker to the San Francisco Bay area in July 1969, where he played club and college dates as well as rock venues, such as The Matrix and the Fillmore West. In Berkeley, he and his band, billed as Earl Hooker and His Chicago Blues Band, performed at Mandrakes, a local club, for two weeks as he recorded a second album for Arhoolie. Titled Hooker and Steve, the album was recorded with Louis Myers on harmonica, blues keyboard player Steve Miller, Geno Skaggs on bass, and Bobby Robinson on drums. Hooker shared the vocals with Miller and Skaggs.[21] Last performances After his California sojourn, Hooker returned to Chicago and performed regularly around the city, including the first Chicago Blues Festival on August 30, 1969, which attracted about 10,000 people. In October 1969, Hooker toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, where he played twenty concerts in twenty-three days in nine countries. There his sets were well received and garnered favorable reviews.[22][23] The journey overseas was a sort of apotheosis for Hooker, who regarded it, along with his recording trips to California, as the climax of his career.[24] The tour exhausted him and his friends noticed a severe deterioration of his health upon his return.[24] Hooker played a few dates around Chicago (including some with Junior Wells) from November to early December 1969, whereafter he was hospitalized. On April 21, 1970 at age 41, he died from complications due to tuberculosis. He is interred in the Restvale Cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Alsip.[25] Playing style and recognition Unlike his contemporaries Elmore James and Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker used standard tuning on his guitar for slide playing. He also used a short steel slide. This allowed him to switch between slide and fretted playing during a song with greater ease. Part of his slide sound has been attributed to his light touch, a technique he learned from Robert Nighthawk. Instead of using full-chord glissando effects, he preferred the more subtle single-note runs inherited from others who played slide in standard tuning, [such as] Tampa Red, Houston Stackhouse, and his mentor Robert Nighthawk.[26] In addition to his mastery of slide guitar, Hooker was also a highly developed standard-guitar soloist and rhythm player.[27] At a time when many blues guitarists were emulating B.B. King, Hooker maintained his own course.[28] Although he was a bluesman at heart, Hooker was adept at several musical styles, which he incorporated into his playing as it suited him. Depending on his mood and audience reaction, a Hooker performance could include blues, boogie-woogie, R&B/soul, be-bop, pop, and even a country & western favorite.[29] Earl Hooker was a flamboyant showman in the style of T-Bone Walker and predated Guitar Slim and Johnny Guitar Watson. He wore flashy clothes and would pick the guitar with his teeth or his feet or play it behind his neck or between his legs.[30] He also played a double neck guitar, at first a six-string guitar and four-string bass combination and later a twelve- and six-string guitar combination. After his 1967 tuberculosis attack left him weakened, he sometimes played while seated and using a lighter single-neck guitar. In a genre that typically shunned gadgetry, Earl Hooker was an exception. He experimented with amplification and used echo and tape delay, including double-tracking his playing during a song, [so] he could pick simultaneously two solos in harmony.[31] In 1968, he began using a wah-wah pedal to add a vocal-like quality to some of his solos.[16] Although Hooker did not receive the public recognition to the extent as some of his contemporaries, he was highly regarded by his fellow musicians. Many consider Earl Hooker to be one of the greatest modern blues guitarists, including:[19][32] Wayne Bennett, Bobby Blue Bland, Albert Collins, Willie Dixon, Ronnie Earl, Tinsley Ellis, Guitar Shorty, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, B.B. King, Little Milton, Louis Myers, Lucky Peterson, Otis Rush, Joe Louis Walker, and Junior Wells. In 2013, Hooker was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame, which noted that Earl Hooker was the blues guitarists guitarist, the most respected six-string wizard in Chicago blues musicians circles during the 1950s and 60s.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 15:12:42 +0000
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