Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Steady Rollin' Blues: The Blues Of Memphis Slim


I'm going to try to be more disciplined about posting music that, in the spirit of "Trenchtown Rock" -- "One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain."

When I'm not at work or sleeping, I'm listening to music. The other day I heard Memphis Slim's "Big Legged Woman." The song can be found on his Steady Rollin' Blues: The Blues Of Memphis Slim (1963) album, a cassette tape of which I purchased from the music vendor's kiosk in Manhattan's Union Square.

I was newly divorced and exploring the blues. This guy, a nice guy, an aging Hippie, sold good-quality tapes -- I don't think he had vinyl or compact disks -- of jazz and the blues. I learned a lot by frequenting his kiosk in the park during my lunch hour.

"Sweet Root Man" is also a track which appears on Steady Rollin' Blues. Very distinctive. In my youth I was of course aware of the double entendre; now it strikes me as so powerful that it nearly blots out everything else about the song.

Anyway, in my twenties I was entranced by Steady Rollin' Blues. All the organ work is incredible. The album has an amazing amount of sonic space that it occupies considering how spare the arrangements are -- just Memphis Slim singing along with the piano or the organ.

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