Malcolm-
Lonnie was the one guy whom I hesitated about putting on the list. But consider this: in 1959 Lonnie Johnson was a porter at the Ben Franklin hotel here in Philadelphia and had not performed or recorded for many years. It was only during the Blues Revival
of the 1960's that Lonnie Johnson was brought back into the public eye, albeit briefly. Frankly, if you consider he was the second
most popular male blues singer of the 1920's, recorded with both Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, crossed the color line in 1927 with Eddie Lang(a fellow Philadelphia resident) influenced the guitar playing of BB King and the singing style of Elvis Presley and was the inspiration for Robert Johnson adopting his surname I would say that he remains more than just an underrated blues guitarist. Maybe obscure is too strong a word but given his powerful effect on fellow artists for decades on end and his vanishing recognition in popular music history there remains a pretty drastic imbalance between his contribution versus the credit he has thus far received. I produced an album called /Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson/ that will be released on CD and vinyl in the first
quarter of 2008, it is my hope that this recording will, in some very modest way, help redress that situation.
AA
Malcolm Rockwell wrote:Shuggie Otis is pretty well known in California, even today. He has had numerous bands around the San Francisco Bay Area for years. In fact one of the best pick-up drummers in the area, Bob Hobbs, is an old running mate of mine and has worked with Shuggie off and on for the past 25 years. I will admit that Shuggie is somewhat obscure elsewhere.
I can't understand why Lonnie Johnson is on your list, though.
Lonnie is one of the great Blues guitarists. Underrated, yes... obscure, no.
Mal Rockwell
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Aaron Levinson wrote:Roger-
That is why I said "varying degrees of obscurity". Cassino Simpson recorded one 10" via a smuggled tape machine in an insane asylum in his entire life. To suggest he is "fairly well known" is simply not accurate. You may have already know all these folks(I do doubt it)but to even ardent fans of many genres these peeps are outside the "standard points of reference". In the age of the net it is great however that interested parties can do some digging and hopefully discover those less obvious figures. I stand by the list.
AA
Roger and Allison Kulp wrote:Nope.These people are all fairly well known.Maybe not to people who listen to this stuff: http://music.yahoo.com/musicvideos/lists/top.asp ,but fairly well known.
roger
Aaron Levinson <aaron.levinson@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Not to sound pretentious but as a collector I have focused on the "oddball" as a category and can tell you that there are many insanely talented and intriguing people in a plethora of genres who are still languishing in various degrees of obscurity. They include:
1. Shuggie Otis (son of Johnny Otis) 2. Hasaan (jazz pianist) 3. Bernard Peiffer 4. Hector Rivera 5. Hasil Adkins 6. Esquerita 7. James Booker 8. Cass Simpson 9. Mel Brown 10. Lonnie Johnson
These are just 10 artists I can offer off the top of my head who are easily on the level of Betty Davis and in some cases far beyond.
Anyone who has even the slightest interest in finding out about these folks I would be glad to help out. Ping me off-list.
AA
P.S. I was a field investigator for ASCAP for many years, I was the guy that did the undercover investigations of clubs, bars, restaurants, concerts, etc. And by the way, we definitely took people to court...and won.
Don Cox wrote:
On 01/08/07, Scott Phillips wrote:
Amazing ! I grew up in this time frame. HOW did I miss her..?? I'mAnd me. Thanks to all the existing fans for the recommendation.
buying in as well.
I wonder how many other unknowns are hidden in the undergrowth? Three
that have, so far as I'm concerned, emerged recently are Raymond Scott,
Alec Wilder and The Wild Swans (a British rock band from the same period
as Joy Division).
Regards
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