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Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = Memphis Slim| image =Memphis Slim, American Folk Blues Festival 1972 (Heinrich Klaffs Collection 72).jpg||Memphis Slim, American Folk Blues Festival, Hamburg 1972. Foto: Heinrich Klaffs.| caption =| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = John Len Chatman| alias =| birth_date = Birth date|1915|9|3|mf=y| Died = death date and age|1988|2|24|1915|9|3 Paris , France | origin = Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis , Tennessee , United States | instrument =| genre = Blues music|Blues | occupation = Vocalist Musician Bandleader Composer | years_active = 1930s & ndash; 1980s| label = Bluebird Records|Bluebird Hy-ToneMiraclePremium Mercury Records|Mercury United Records|United Vee-Jay Records|Vee-Jay Folkways Records|Folkways | associated_acts =| website =| current_members =| past_members =| notable_instruments = Memphis Slim (September 3, 1915 – February 24, 1988) was an United States|American blues music|blues pianist , singer , and composer . He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues , included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, " Every Day I Have the Blues ", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other artists. He made over 500 sound recording and reproduction|recordings .
Biography
Memphis Slim's birth name was John Len Chatman , and he was born in Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis , Tennessee , United States . His father Peter Chatman sang, played piano and guitar, and operated juke joints,Charters, Samuel Barclay. The Legacy of the Blues , Da Capo Press (1977), p. 165 ISBN 0-306-80054-3 and it is now commonly believed that he took the name to honor his father when he first sound recording and reproduction|recorded for Okeh Records in 1940. Although he started performing under the name Memphis Slim later that same year, he continued to Music publisher (popular music)|publish songs under the name Peter Chatman .
He spent most of the 1930s performing in honky-tonk s, dance halls, and gambling joints in Memphis, Tennessee|West Memphis , Arkansas , and southeast Missouri . He settled in Chicago in 1939, and began teaming with Big Bill Broonzy in clubs soon afterward. In 1940 and 1941 he recorded two songs for Bluebird Records that became part of his repertoire for decades, "Beer Drinking Woman," and "Grinder Man Blues." These were released under the name "Memphis Slim," given to him by Bluebird's producer, Lester Melrose .Komara, Edward M. Encyclopedia of the Blues , Routledge (2006), p. 689 - ISBN 0-415-92699-8 Slim became a regular session musician for Bluebird, and his piano talents supported established stars such as Sonny Boy Williamson I|John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson , Washboard Sam , and Jazz Gillum . Many of Slim's recordings and performances until the mid-1940s were with guitarist and singer Broonzy, who had recruited Slim to be his piano player after Joshua Altheimer 's death in 1940.
After World War II , Slim began leading bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump-blues, generally included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. With the decline of blues recording by the majors, Slim worked with the emerging independent labels. Starting in late 1945, he recorded with trios for the small Chicago-based label Hy-Tone.The Hy-Tone Label. http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/hytone.html Accessed August 1, 2009. With a lineup of alto saxophone, tenor sax, piano, and string bass ( Willie Dixon played the instrument on the first session), he signed with the Miracle label in the fall of 1946. One of the numbers recorded at the first session was the ebullient boogie "Rockin' the House," from which his band would take its name. Slim and the House Rockers recorded mainly for Miracle through 1949, enjoying commercial success. Among the songs they recorded were "Messin' Around" (which reached number one on the R& B number-one hits of 1948 (USA)|R& B charts in 1948 and "Harlem Bound."Miracle Records. http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/miracle.html Accessed August 2, 2009. In 1947, the day after producing a concert by Slim, Broonzy, and Sonny Boy Williamson I|Williamson at New York City's The Town Hall|Town Hall , folklorist Alan Lomax brought the three musicians to the Decca records|Decca studios and recorded with Slim's on vocal and piano. Lomax presented sections of this recording on BBC Radio|BBC radio in the early 1950s as a documentary titled The Art of the Negro, and later released an expanded version as the Gramophone record|LP Blues in the Mississippi Night. In 1949, Slim expanded his combo to a quintet by adding a drummer; the group was now spending most of its time on tour, leading to off-contract recording sessions for King Records (USA)|King in Cincinnati and Peacock Records|Peacock in Houston.
One of Slim's 1947 recordings for Miracle, released in 1949, was originally titled " Nobody Loves Me ". It has become famous as "Every Day I Have the Blues." The tune was recorded in 1950 by Lowell Fulson , and subsequently by a raft of artists including B. B. King , Elmore James , Ray Charles , Eric Clapton , Natalie Cole , Ella Fitzgerald , Jimi Hendrix , Mahalia Jackson , Sarah Vaughan , Carlos Santana , John Mayer and Lou Rawls . http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll? p=amg& sql=17:463941 All Music: Every Day I Have the BluesDead link|date=January 2011|bot=CactusBot Joe Williams (jazz singer)|Joe Williams recorded it in 1952 for Checker Records|Checker ; his remake from 1956 (included in Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings ) was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1992. http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame Grammy Hall of Fame Database
Early in 1950, Miracle succumbed to financial troubles, but its owners regrouped to form the Premium label, and Slim remained on board until the successor company faltered in the summer of 1951. His February 1951 session for Premium saw two changes in the House Rockers' lineup: Slim started using two tenor saxophones instead of the alto and tenor combination, and he made a trial of adding guitarist Ike Perkins. His last session for Premium kept the two-tenor lineup but dispensed with the guitar. During his time with Premium, Slim first recorded his song "Mother Earth."Premium Records. http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/premium.html Accessed August 3, 2009.
Slim made just one session for King Records (USA)|King , but the company bought his Hy-Tone sides in 1948 and acquired his Miracle masters after it failed in 1950. He was never a Chess artist, but Leonard Chess bought most of the Premium masters after the failure.
After a year with Mercury Records , Slim signed with United Records in Chicago;The United and States Labels Part I (1951-1953). http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/unitedstates.html Accessed August 3, 2009 the A& R man, Lew Simpkins, knew him from Miracle and Premium. The timing was propitious, because he had just added Matt Murphy (blues guitarist)|Matt "Guitar" Murphy to his group. He remained with United through the end of 1954, when the company began to cut back on blues recording.The United and States Labels Part II (1954-1957) http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/unitedstates2.html Accessed August 3, 2009.
Slim's next steady relationship with a record company had to wait until 1958, when he was picked up by Vee-Jay Records|Vee-Jay . In 1959 his band, still featuring Matt Murphy (blues guitarist)|Matt "Guitar" Murphy , cut LP Memphis Slim at the Gate of the Horn, which featured a lineup of his best known songs, including "Mother Earth," "Gotta Find My Baby," "Rockin' the Blues," 'Steppin' Out," and "Slim's Blues."Allmusic|class=album|id=r89259|pure_url=yes All Music: 'Memphis Slim at the Gate of the Horn
Slim first appeared outside the United States in 1960, touring with Willie Dixon , with whom he returned to Europe in 1962 as a featured artist in the first of the series of American Folk Festival concerts organized by Dixon and promoter Willie Dixon that brought many notable blues artists to Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. The duo released several albums together on Folkways Records , including, Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon at the Village Gate with Pete Seeger , in 1962. That same year, he moved permanently to Paris and his engaging personality and well-honed presentation of playing, singing, and storytelling about the blues secured his position as the most prominent blues artist for nearly three decades. He appeared on television in numerous European countries, acted in several French films and wrote the score for another, and performed regularly in Paris, throughout Europe, and on return visits to the United States. In the last years of his life, he teamed up with respected jazz drummer George Collier. The two toured Europe together and became friends. After Collier died in August 1987, Slim appeared in public very little.
Two years before his death, Slim was named a Commander in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Minister of Culture (France)|Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France . In addition, the U.S. Senate honored Slim with the title of Ambassador-at-Large of Good Will. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php? id=9330 All About Jazz: Memphis Slim 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. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi? page=pif& GRid=10940509& PIgrid=10940509& PIcrid=12250& ShowCemPhotos=N& Find a Grave: Memphis Slim
In 1989, he was Posthumous recognition|posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame .
Discography
cite web |last= |first= |title=Memphis Slim Discography |publisher=Rolling Stone |date= |url= http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/memphisslim/discography |accessdate=2009-12-13cite web |last= |first= |title=Memphis Slim Albums |publisher=amazon.com |date= |url= http://www.amazon.com |accessdate=2009-12-13
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
commons categoryreflist15. Herzhaft (Gerard).- Encyclopedia of the blues. 2nd ed.- Arkansas Press, 1997
External links
http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi? ARTISTID=354016 Music Match Memphis Slim
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p457/biography|pure_url=yes Memphis Slim biography and discography at Allmusic website
http://www.folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx? sPhrase=memphis%20slim& sType='phrase' Memphis Slim discography on Folkways Records
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html? res=940DE3DE133FF934A15751C0A96E948260 Memphis Slim obituary from the New York Times
Persondata | NAME = John Len Chatman | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Memphis Slim | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Blues musician | DATE OF BIRTH = September 3, 1915 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Memphis, Tennessee | DATE OF DEATH = February 24, 1988 | PLACE OF DEATH = Paris , France DEFAULTSORT:Memphis Slim Category:1915 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Acoustic blues musicians Category:American blues musicians Category:American blues pianists Category:American blues singers Category:Blues Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Musicians from Tennessee Category:King Records artists Category:Vee-Jay Records artists Category:Chess Records artists Category:Deaths from renal failure
