Little Willie Littlefield

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Little Willie Littlefield, April 2006 in Germany

Little Willie Littlefield (born September 16, 1931 in El Campo , Texas , † June 23, 2013 in the Netherlands ) was an American boogie-woogie pianist, singer and songwriter .

Early successes

Little is known about Littlefield's childhood and early recording career. He learned the piano and guitar under the influence of his Baptist church. He made his first recordings in 1948 for the small rhythm and blues label Eddie's Records in Houston. In August 1949 he was discovered by one of the owners of the powerful R&B label Modern Records - Jules Bihari; he was looking for a talented blues interpreter like Amos Milburn . The first recording session for Modern took place in Houston, where Littlefield recorded the title Drinkin 'Hardacol with his friend Don Wilkerson (tenor saxophone) on March 1, 1949 . On July 1, 1949 Farewell followed , which served as the A-side of the single (Modern # 709) released in October 1949 and immediately reached number five on the Rhythm & Blues hit parade . Shortly thereafter, Littlefield moved to Los Angeles, the location of Modern Records . It was here that the even more successful title It's Midnight was created , which even climbed to third place in the charts after it was published in August 1949. Within three months with the accompanying band Jimmy “Maxwell Street” Davis (saxophone), Chuck Norris and Johnny Moore (guitar) as well as Al Wichard and Jessie Price (drums) a total of 22 tracks were created by December 1949, but no further singles from this repertoire were made more in the charts. After a total of 13 singles, he left Modern Records in 1952 and received a recording contract with the young label Federal Records , a subsidiary of King Records .

New record label

Little Willie Littlefield - KC Loving

At Federal it was produced by Ralph Bass . Kansas City , composed by Leiber / Stoller , emerged from its first recording session , which producer Bass renamed "KC Loving" because it sounded faster. The song was recorded on August 18, 1952 and after it was released on December 29, 1952 as Federal # 12110, it was also not featured in the charts, but years later it developed under the original title of Kansas City with over 300 versions to one of the most covered rock ' n'Roll songs. Wilbert Harrison , whose version of Kansas City was sold three million times in 1959 , achieved enormous popularity . On August 18, 1952, three more Leiber / Stoller compositions were recorded, namely Pleading At Midnight (B-side by KC Loving) and Striking on You Baby / Blood is Redder Than Wine . However, Ralph Bass did not succeed in getting Littlefield back on the charts. On October 30, 1953, the last recording session was scheduled for Littlefield at Federal Records , from which four titles emerged. The two singles squeezed out of this also received no response.

caesura

Little Willie Littlefield - Ruby baby

The health consequences of a serious car accident in 1954 prevented him from performing and recording. It wasn't until June 1957 that Don Barksdale's Rhythm Records in San Francisco released a record by him, but it was just as unsuccessful as the next four singles. His self-composed single Ruby-Baby appears here in November 1957. Since then Littlefield has concentrated on his real strength - the live appearances, especially at music festivals from 1978 in Europe. He received a role in the Australian film Love in Limbo ( Just one Night ), a comedy about love and rock and roll that was released in Australia on May 20, 1993.

After numerous appearances at various festivals, including the Montreux Jazz Festival , he took a 5-year creative break in 2000. Littlefield last lived in the Netherlands, where she often played at the annual International Boogie Woogie Festival Holland , but also toured Germany and Austria in 2007 with Michael Pewny .

Little Willie Littlefield 1980 in France

Discography (selection of singles, with date of recording or publication)

as Willie Littlefield And His Orchestra

Eddie's Records:

  • Little Willie's Boogie / My Best Wishes (# 1202), 1948
  • Chicago Bound / What's The Use (# 1205), 1948
  • Boogie Woogie Play Girl / Swanee River (# 1212), 1948
as Little Willie Littlefield

Freedom Records:

  • Littlefield Boogie / (Goree Carter: Sweet Ole Woman's Blues) (# 1502), 1948

Modern Records:

  • It's Midnight / Midnight Whistle (Instrumental) (# 20-686), August 1949
  • Farewell (July 1, 1949) / Drinkin 'Hadacol (March 1, 1949) (# 20-709) October 1949
  • Come On Baby (July 1949) / Merry Xmas (October 1949) (# 20-716), November 1949
  • The Moon Is Risin (October 1949) / Frightened (December 1949) (# 20-726), 1949
  • Your Love Wasn't So (November 1949) / Rockin 'Chair Mama (February 1950) (# 20-729), February 1950
  • Tell Me Baby (November 1949) / Why Leave Me All Alone (December 1949) (# 20-747), April 1950
  • Cheerful Baby / Happy Pay Day (June 1950) (# 20-754), 1950
  • Trouble Around Me / Hit The Road (February 1950) (# 20-775), October 1950
  • Little Lora Wiggins (with Little Willie Littlefield piano / vocals): You Never Miss A Good Woman 'Till She's Gone / Ain't A Better Story Told (December 1950) (# 20-781), 1951
  • I've Been Lost / Once Was Lucky (February 1950) (# 20-801), March 1951
  • Lump In My Throat (Tears In My Eyes) / Mean Mean Woman (# 837), October 1951
  • Life Of Trouble (November 1950) / Too Late For Me (August 1, 1951) (# 854), January 1952
Little Willie Littlefield 1980 in France

Federal Records:

  • with Lil Greenwood : Monday Morning Blues / My Last Hour (# 12082), 1952
  • Striking On You Baby / Blood Is Redder Than Wine (February 18, 1952) (# 12101), 1952
  • Little Esther with Little Willie: Last Laugh Blues / Flesh, Blood And Bones (# 12108), 1952
  • KC Loving / Pleading At Midnight (February 18, 1952) (# 12110) December 1952
  • Little Esther with Little Willie: Turn The Lamps Down Low / Hollerin´ And Screamin´ (July 25, 1952) (# 12115), February 1953
  • The Midnight Hour Was Shining / My Best Wishes And Regards (June 9, 1953) (# 12137), 1953
  • Miss KC's Fine / Rock-A-Bye Baby (June 9, 1953) (# 12148), October 1953
  • (Please Don't Go) Ooo-oh / Don't Take My Heart, Little Girl (October 30, 1953) (# 12163), 1954
  • Falling Tears / Goofy Dust Blues (October 30, 1953) (# 12174), March 1954
  • Jim Wilson Boogie / Sitting On The Curbstone (June 9, 1953) (# 12221), 1954

Rhythm Records:

  • Mistreated / Baby Shame (# 107), June 1957
  • Ruby-Ruby / Easy Go (Instrumental) (# 108), November 1957
  • I Need A Payday / I Want A Little Girl (# 115), 1958
  • Theresa / The Day The Rains Came (# 124), 1958
  • Goodbye Baby / I Wanna Love You (# 130), 1958

BLUES CONNOISSEUR:

  • Mac's Old House / San Jose Express (# 1008)
  • Willie's Blues / I'll Tell The World I Do (# 1011)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
It's Midnight (No Place to Go)
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 3 08/20/1949 (13 weeks)
Farewell
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 5 November 19, 1949 (2 weeks)
I've been lost
  R&BTemplate: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / country wrong 10 08/25/1951 (1 week)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary (English)
  2. ↑ Jules had three brothers Saul, Lester and Joe, all of whom worked for the record company
  3. ↑ Colin Larkin (ed.), The Guinness Who's Who of Blues , 1995, p. 245
  4. ↑ a vitamin substitute
  5. ↑ Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller with David Ritz: Hound Dog - The Leiber and Stoller Autobiography , 2009, p. 60
  6. ↑ John Broven, Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock 'n' Roll Pioneers , 2010, p 344
  7. ^ Joel Whitburn: Hot R&B Songs. Billboard 1942-2010 . 6th edition. Record Research Inc., Menomonee Falls 2010, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4 , The Artist Section, pp. 400 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Littlefield, Little Willie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American boogie woogie pianist
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH El Campo
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 2013
Place of death Netherlands