St. Louis Blues

Roosevelt Sykes began making records in 1929, and kept churning out his own pungent brand of lues and oogie for many decades. When the music heard on this album was recorded in January 1962 and May 1963, Sykes was in the process of ripening into a sanguine creature even more interesting and...

Volume eight in the complete recordings of Roosevelt Sykes as reissued by Document covers his Victor/Bluebird output from 1945 through October 1947. During this portion of his lengthy career, Sykes brought in some of Chicago's toughest sessionmen, including a brace of horn players who...

Document's ninth volume devoted to the complete chronologically reissued works of Roosevelt Sykes covers a four-year period beginning in November 1947 and combines 20 Victor, Bullet, and Regal recordings with four titles that feature Kentucky-born guitarist John Brim and his wife Grace, a...

A veteran of the St. Louis lues scene, Henry Townsend is a true marvel, having recorded in each of the last eight decades, a truly astounding achievement. Blessed with an easy, natural lues voice, a string-snapping acoustic guitar style he learned from old running mate Henry Spaulding, and a...

A fine St. Louis singer and guitarist, this was the first volume of songs Charley Jordan did in the early '30s. He could be very humorous or cuttingly poignant, and there are examples in both veins on this anthology. The sound quality ranges from good to awful. ~ Ron Wynn, All Music Guide

Pianist/singer Roosevelt Sykes is heard at his prime throughout these 25 selections, all of which are duets with drummer Big Sid Catlett. Sykes was always an expressive singer and a powerful pianist, at times sounding like two different performers who were nevertheless very much attuned to each...

Document's chronologically presented history of singing pianist James "Stump" Johnson opens with four titles recorded in January 1929, beginning with "Steady Grindin'" by astringent-toned Dorothea Trowbridge. This was essentially "Don't Give My Lard...

Of the many dozens of lues and jazz artists who appeared on-stage at the 1973 Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival, few were as old, experienced, or rambunctious as Roosevelt Sykes and Victoria Spivey. Most of the people in the audience were young Americans whose awareness of Afro-American music...

Document's St. Louis Women, Vol. 2 follows the remaining chronologies of two little-known blues vocalists whose recordings might otherwise have continued to languish in obscurity. With 20 titles recorded between 1934 and 1937 for the Decca label, Alice Moore's worldliness and...

New Orleans-born guitarist Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson recorded at least 237 lues and jazz sides between the years 1925 and 1947. The only reissue label that has bothered to produce a meticulous overview of this body of works is Document; their Lonnie Johnson retrospective fills no less...

For completists, specialists and academics, Document's Complete Recorded Works (1930-1934) is invaluable, offering an exhaustive overview of Kansas City Kitty & Georgia Tom's early recordings. There are some absolutely wonderful, classic performances on the collection, but the long...

St. Louis guitarist Charley Jordan was an accomplished sideman, cutting tracks with Memphis Minnie, Roosevelt Sykes, Casey Bill Weldon, Peetie Wheatstraw, Big Joe Williams, and many others during his three-decade career, which began in the 1920s. He was also an engaging singer with a poignant...

Very little recorded material exists of Delta bluesman J.D. Short. He only recorded two sessions in the early '30s for Paramount and Vocalion, then quickly faded into obscurity, making this edition of The Sonet Blues Story such a welcome reissue. Thanks to music historian Samuel Charters,...

The ageless Henry Townsend is a national treasure, with an amazing eight-decade musical career that has seen him help shape the sound of St. Louis blues (both on guitar and piano), define it, and even restructure it in his current configuration as the elder statesman of the genre. This intimate...

Solid 1966 solo set, cut during one of the effervescent piano pounder's frequent overseas jaunt and originally issued on Delmark as In Europe. A winning combination of material ancient even back then ("44 Blues," the jaunty boogie "Boot That Thing") and fresh numbers. ~...

The fourth volume in Document's Complete Recorded Works covers Roosevelt Sykes' career from late 1934 to mid-1936, a period during which he introduced his signature tune "Honeydripper," along with "Soft and Mellow (Stella Blues)," the bawdy gem "Dirty Mother...

Document's Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 5 (1937-1939) offers an exhaustive overview of a two-year period from Roosevelt Sykes' career. During that era, Sykes first recorded a raft of classics: "Night Time Is the Right Time," "Drunken Gambler," "Mistake in...

Roosevelt Sykes, one of the best prewar blues pianists, is heard on this chronological Document compilation from a nearly four-year period of his career. With support from drummer Big Sid Catlett, bassist Alfred Elkins, and guitarist Ted Summit, Sykes enthuses over a host of his original songs,...