born: Robert Leroy Johnson, 8 May 1911 (sources for this date vary), Hazlehurst,
Mississippi, USA, d. 13 August 1938, Greenwood, Mississippi, USA. For a
subject upon which it is dangerous to generalize, it hardly strains credulity
to
suggest that Johnson was the fulcrum upon which post-war Chicago blues
turned. The techniques that he had distilled from others' examples, including
Charley Patton, House, Son and the unrecorded Ike Zinnerman, in turn
became the template for influential musicians such as Waters, Muddy,
James, Elmore and those that followed them. Credited by some writers with
more originality than was in fact the case, it was as an interpreter that
Johnson excelled, raising a simple music form to the level of performance
art
at a time when others were content to iterate the conventions. He was one
of
the first of his generation to make creative use of others' recorded efforts,
adapting and augmenting their ideas to such extent as to impart originality
to
the compositions they inspired. Tempering hindsight with perspective, it
should be noted that only his first record, 'Terraplane Blues', sold in
any
quantity; even close friends and family remained unaware of his recorded
work
until decades later, when researchers such as Gayle Dean Wardlow and
Mack McCormick contacted them. In all, Johnson recorded 29 compositions
at five sessions held between 23 November 1936 and 20 June 1937; a further
'bawdy' song recorded at the engineers' request is as yet unlocated. It
has
never been established which, if any, of his recordings were specifically
created for the studio and what proportion were regularly performed, although
associate Shines, Johnny attested to the effect that 'Come On In My
Kitchen' had upon audiences. Similarly, the image of shy, retiring genius
has
been fabricated out of his habit of turning away from the engineers and
singing
into the corners of the room, which Cooder, Ry identifies as 'corner loading',
a means of enhancing vocal power. That power and the precision of his guitar
playing are evident from the first take of 'Kind-hearted Women Blues',
which,
like 'I Believe I'll Dust My Broom' and 'Sweet Home Chicago', is performed
without bottleneck embellishment. All eight titles from the first session
in San
Antonio, Texas, exhibit the attenuated rhythm patterns, adapted from a
boogie pianist's left-hand 'walking basses', that became synonymous with
post-war Chicago blues and Jimmy Reed in particular. Several alternate
takes survive and reveal how refined Johnson's performances were, only
'Come On In My Kitchen' being played at two contrasting tempos. Eight more
titles were recorded over two days, including 'Walkin Blues', learned from
House, Son, and 'Cross Road Blues', the song an echo of the legend that
Johnson had sold his soul to the Devil to achieve his musical skill. 'Preachin'
Blues' and 'If I Had Possession Over Judgement Day' were both impassioned
performances that show his ability was consummate. The balance of his
repertoire was recorded over a weekend some seven months later in Dallas.
These 11 songs run the gamut of emotions, self-pity, tenderness and frank
sexual innuendo giving way to representations of demonic possession,
paranoia and despair. Fanciful commentators have taken 'Hellhound On My
Trail' and 'Me And The Devil' to be literal statements rather than the
dramatic
enactment of feeling expressed in the lyrics. Johnson's ability to project
emotion, when combined with the considered way in which he lifted melodies
and mannerisms from his contemporaries, gainsay a romantic view of his
achievements. Nevertheless, the drama in his music surely reflected the
drama in his lifestyle, that of an itinerant with a ready facility to impress
his
female audience. One such dalliance brought about his end a year after
his
last session, poisoned by a jealous husband while performing in a jook
joint at
Three Forks, outside Greenwood, Mississippi. At about that time, Columbia
A&R man John Hammond was seeking out Johnson to represent country
blues at a concert, entitled 'From Spirituals To Swing', that took place
at New
York's Carnegie Hall on 23 December 1938. Broonzy, Big Bill took
Johnson's place. Robert Johnson possessed unique abilities, unparalleled
among his contemporaries and those that followed him. The importance of
his
effect on subsequent musical developments cannot be diminished but neither
should it be seen in isolation. His name was kept alive in the 80s by a
comprehensive reissue project, while in the 90s he was included as part
of the
US stamp series celebrating the classic blues artists. Even in his absence
he
managed to provide controversy - when a cigarette was removed from the
original painting, the decision was described by tobacco baron Philip Morris
as 'an insult to America's 50 million smokers'. ~Music Central '96 |
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Robert Johnson