brownie Posted September 1, 2003 Report Posted September 1, 2003 While looking through old Down Beats for information on an unissued Kenny Dorham session, I also ran into a two-page photo spread in the February 5, 1959 issue that featured a Toots Thielemans quartet date in Chicago. The session was recorded for Argo and supervised by Dave Usher. Thielemans played harmonica with accompaniement by Lafayette Leak on piano, Willie Dixon on bass and Al Duncan on drums. An interesting gathering. Where did this go? The date remains unissued as far as I know. Quote
Peter A Posted September 1, 2003 Report Posted September 1, 2003 This is a very interesting but unusual combination, as Willie Dixon and Lafayette Leake both played amplified Chicago blues at the time, accompanying people such as Little Walter ( a harmonica player too!) and Otis Rush. And Dixon was not a very...well "subtile" bass player, although he played on another jazz related date: "Space Flight" by Sam Lazar w/Grant Green. Anyway, the Chess/Argo discography on Both Sides Now does not mention the date, so we will probably never know how it sounded... Quote
JSngry Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 Lafayette Leake was a MOTHER! Johnny Johnson gets all the credit for being "Chuck Berry's pianist", and that is proper, but when I did a little research and realized that the Berry hits that had all the REALLY flashy, New Orleans-esque piano on them had Leake on piano and not Johnson, that got my attention. I'm wondering if this would have been a "blues-jazz" date, an instrumental equivalent of something like John Lee Hooker's IT SERVE YOU RIGHT TO SUFFER on Impulse!, or some of the Jimmy Witherspoon albums? Toots is a great player, but I dunno, Chicago blues????? Maybe that's why it was never released - seemed like a good idea at the time, but.... I'd like to hear it though! Quote
Jim R Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 "Bluesette with a feeling... that's what I have today..." Quote
JSngry Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 Dammit Jim, not while I'm drinking coffee! I feel like freakin' Danny Thomas all up in here.... Quote
Jim R Posted September 2, 2003 Report Posted September 2, 2003 They could have released this as "Only Trust Your Mama (but she could be jivin' too)"... Also, I'm wondering whether Buddy Guy's career would have been different if he had whistled along with his solos... Try to picture that... BTW, I've always dug Toots, and mean NO disrespect whatsoever. Quote
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