Jimmie Gordon

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Jimmie Gordon (* around 1905; † after 1946) was an American blues singer and pianist who was mainly active in Chicago in the 1930s and 1940s.

Live and act

From the mid-1930s, Gordon mainly worked as a studio musician for the local jukebox market and covered well-known songs and the like. a. by Leroy Carr and Joe Pullum had a local hit in 1936 with "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water", was active in the Chicago blues scene during these years and recorded 67 blues songs between 1934 and 1946. Gordon led his own band, occasionally under the title Vip Vop Band , in which u. a. Scrapper Blackwell and the brothers Charlie and Joe McCoy played as well as the pianist Sammy Price , as well as sporadic New York jazz musicians Frankie Newton (trumpet), Pete Brown (alto saxophone) and Zutty Singleton (drums).

Overall, Gordon recorded most of his songs in Chicago between 1934 and 1941, over 60 blues tracks; a first record was made for Bluebird , the others then exclusively for Decca Records (including "Beer Drinking Woman", 1941), on which he accompanied himself or by the pianists Charles Segar, Horace Malcolm or Dot Rice. Other musicians in these sessions included Buster Bennett , Scrapper Blackwell, Carl Martin and John Lindsey. His songs were a mixture of popular songs of the time and his own compositions; on October 2, 1936 he recorded the song Don't Take Away My PWA in the election campaign of President Roosevelt ; commenting on Roosevelt's Public Works Administration social program . He also accompanied the blues singer Alice Moore on a record session.

Jimmie Gordon was marketed by Decca as Peetie Wheatstraw 's Brother . Stylistically, his singing is similar to that of Bumble Bee Slim or Bill Gaither , as in "Louise Louisa Blues", "Yo Yo Mama Blues", "Mother Blues" or "Graveyard Blues".

In the post-war period, Jimmie Gordon recorded four Jump Blues records in the popular Rhythm & Blues context such as "Rock That Boogie" (as Jimmie Gordon and His Bip Bop Band ), which were released in 1946 on King and Queen Records .

Discographic notes

  • Complete Recordings, Vol. 1, 1934-1936 ( Document )
  • Complete Recordings, Vol. 2, 1936-1938 (Document)
  • Complete Recordings, Vol. 3, 1939-1946 (Document)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edward Komara, Peter Lee: Blues Encyclopedia 2004, p. 371
  2. ^ Bob L. Eagle, Eric S. LeBlanc: Blues: A Regional Experience 2013, p. 322
  3. ^ Guido van Rijn: Roosevelt's Blues: African-American Blues and Gospel artists on President Franklin D. Roosevelt . 1995, page 107
  4. ^ Henry Townsend A Blues Life . 1999, page 59
  5. ^ Blues and Evil (1993), 9
  6. ↑ http://www.rootsandrhythm.com/roots/BLUES%20&%20GOSPEL/blues_g2.htm
personal data
SURNAME Gordon, Jimmie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues musician
DATE OF BIRTH around 1905
DATE OF DEATH after 1946