Carey Bell
Carey Bell (actually Carey Bell Harrington ; born November 14, 1936 in Macon , Mississippi , † May 6, 2007 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American blues musician. He played the blues harp and was a representative of the Chicago blues .
Life
As a child, Bell admired the music of Louis Jordan . He wanted to play the saxophone too, but his family couldn't afford it. Therefore he played the "Mississippi saxophone", the blues harp ; he taught himself to play the harmonica. His role models were DeFord Bailey , Big Walter Horton , Marion " Little Walter " Jacobs and Sonny Boy Williamson I. and II. At 13 he played in the band of his godfather Lovie Lee.
In 1956, Bell went to Chicago with Lee. Here, Bell learned from Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Big Walter Horton. With the increasing popularity of the electric guitar, however, the blues harp lost its appeal and Bell learned to play electric bass with Hound Dog Taylor . He played bass at times with Robert Nighthawk , Johnny Young and Big Walter, but continued to play blues harp in the bands of Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon .
The album Big Walter Horton with Carey Bell was released in 1972, and Bell's first solo album the following year. Bell continued to play with Dixon, whose album Living Chicago Blues (1978) was nominated for a Grammy .
In the 1980s, Bell was mostly heard live, often in a duo with Louisiana Red . In 1990 he recorded the album Harp Attack! With Junior Wells , James Cotton and Billy Branch . which became a bestseller for the Alligator record company. The solo album Deep Down (1995) brought Bell outside of the blues scene attention. As the best harmonica player, he also received the Living Blues Award that year . Bell was also active in Germany. In 1994 he recorded an album entitled "Good Unterstandig" with the Berlin blues band East Blues Experience .
Carey Bell toured and released albums until shortly before his death, often accompanied by his son Lurrie Bell , a blues guitarist.
He died of heart failure in a Chicago hospital in 2007.
Discography (selection)
Albums
- 1969 Carey Bell's Blues Harp Delmark
- 1973 Last Night One Way
- 1977 Heartaches and Pain Delmark
- 1982 Goin 'on Main Street Evidence
- 1984 Son of a Gun P-Vine Records
- 1990 Dynasty! [1990] JSP
- 1991 Mellow Down Easy Blind Pig Records
- 1995 Carey Bell & Spike Ravenswood Saar
- 1995 Deep Down Alligator
- 1997 Good Luck Man Alligator
- 2003 All-Star blues jam Telarc Blues (Bob Margolin, Carey Bell, Pinetop Perkins, Willie Smith, Hubert Sumlin)
- 2004 Second Nature Alligator
- 2007 Gettin 'Up: Live at Buddy Guy's Legends Rosa's Delmark
- 2009 Superharps II Telarc Distribution
- 2009 Brothers in Blues Chrisly Records
DVD and video
- Carey And Lurrie Bell - Gettin 'Up (2007)
Web links
- Works by and about Carey Bell in the catalog of the German National Library
- Carey Bell at Allmusic (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bell, Carey |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Bell Harrington, Carey (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American blues musician (harmonica) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 14, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Macon , Mississippi |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 6, 2007 |
| Place of death | Chicago , Illinois |