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Calvin Jones

About Me


Calvin Jones nasce vicino a Greenwood, nello Stato del Mississippi, il 9 giugno 1926. Sebbene inizi a suonare l’armonica all’età di 10/11 anni, subito passò alla chitarra perché, come lui stesso dice, “Non avrei potuto combinare niente di buono con quell’armonica”. Appena arrivato a Chicago nel 1947 – dove prese il soprannome di Fuzz – conobbe Muddy Waters. Calvin ha ricordato una volta di essere stato un giorno letteralmente attirato come da una calamita dal suono slide tagliente di Muddy, che stava suonando una chitarra acustica a cui era stato applicato un pick-up, accompagnato solo da un armonicista. Dopo poco, Calvin iniziò a frequentare, oltre a Muddy, anche Little Walter e Jimmy Rogers suonando a volte con loro nelle varie gare di blues bands nei locali del South Side. Una volta imparato a suonare la chitarra, ebbe la fortuna di avere come maestri nientemeno che gente come Freddy King, Homesick James e Jimmy Rogers. Durante gli anni cinquanta suonò con Jimmy Rogers, Elmore James, Little Walter, Junior Wells e Harmonica Slim. Come leader di una propria band, Calvin Jones iniziò a concentrarsi prevalentemente sulle linee di basso della sua chitarra e, dopo che suo cognato gli regalò un basso elettrico, gradualmente optò per suonare esclusivamente il basso. Ingaggiato da Howlin’ Wolf tra il 1964 e il 1965, passò un periodo a suonare anche con Fenton Robinson finché Muddy Waters non lo chiamò nel 1968 e poi definitivamente nel 1971 a far parte della sua band, nella quale rimarrà come punto fermo al basso fino al maggio del 1980 quando l’intera band si separò da Muddy per motivi di ingaggio. Verso la metà degli anni sessanta Calvin era già entrato a far parte della scuderia della Chess Records, infatti lo si può, ad esempio, ascoltare nei brani registrati da Muddy Waters il 18 maggio 1965, ossia: I Got A Rich Man’s Woman, My Dog Can’t Bark, Roll Me Over Baby e Come Back Baby, Let’s Talk It Over. Ottimo è anche il suo lavoro sui dischi Muddy Brass & Blues (1966), Live At Mr. Kelly’s (1971), Can't Get No Grindin' (1972), Unk In Funk (1974) e King Bee (1980), sempre di Muddy Waters. Ma troviamo Calvin anche in brani di Howlin’ Wolf, come Mary Sue, Hard Luck, The Big House e Tired Of Crying, registrati il 14 luglio 1969. Dopo l’addio dell’intera band a Muddy Waters nel maggio 1980, Calvin Jones e Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith (se non la migliore, una delle migliori ed insuperabili sezioni ritmiche della storia del Chicago blues) fondarono la Legendary Blues Band, nome che Muddy Waters dava alla sua band degli anni settanta. Infatti il gruppo era costituito anche da altri membri della band di Muddy: Jerry Portnoy all’armonica e Pinetop Perkins al piano. Ottimi i loro lavori: Life Of Ease (con Louis Myers alla chitarra) e Red Hot ’n’ Blue. In questi dischi si alternano al canto Perkins, Smith e Calvin Jones, che dimostra ottime doti anche alla voce. Oggi Calvin Jones, alla veneranda età di 81 anni, vive a Senatobia, nel Mississippi, e di tanto in tanto suona il basso e canta in importanti Blues Festival nella Muddy Waters Band Veterans. Calvin Jones è stato, ed è, uno dei migliori bassisti del classico Chicago Blues, un maestro il cui stile asciutto, preciso e carico di groove si adattava alla perfezione al blues compassato, potente e profondo di gente come Howlin’ Wolf e soprattutto Muddy Waters.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 07/03/2008
Band Website: myspace.com/calvinfuzzyjones
Influences: MUDDY WATERS, HOWLIN' WOLF, JIMMY ROGERS
Sounds Like: HIMSELF !!
FROM LIVING BLUES MAGAZINE:
BANDMEMBERS DISCUSS WILLIE SMITH & CALVIN JONES
February 11, 2008
Many younger blues musicians cite Willie and Calvin as strong influences in their own lives. When several of these musicians were asked to reminisce about Willie and Calvin, some common themes emerged: music, road trips, food, and gambling. Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin asserts that “Calvin and Willie should be considered together as well as individually—they were Muddy’s rhythm section—bass and drums—from the late 1960s until 1980. Along with Pinetop Perkins on piano, they really defined what Muddy’s band sounded and felt like during those years. Regardless of the different guitar and harp players, who all brought their own flavor, Willie and Calvin had a sound together that is very recognizable. Having been in the band from 1973 to 1980 and having produced reissues of Muddy’s albums from that time, I would recommend the bonus CD from Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live Legacy Edition, which features the band playing live in a small club, as the best example of what they sound like. There are also live songs from 1977 on the Muddy Waters Classic Concerts DVD (Reelin’ In The Years Productions, 2005, Universal/MCA Records) that show as well as let you listen to how Calvin and Willie drove the band.” Even now, “Calvin’s feel, in combination with Willie, can bring back the sound of Muddy’s band, even so many years after Muddy himself is gone”. Another sideman to Muddy Waters in the ’70s, Jerry Portnoy, explains, “In contrast to other rhythm sections where there is a certain frantic quality to the sound of the younger generation, Willie and Calvin’s sound had a relaxed, loping swing to it. This is a sound you rarely find today. Willie and Calvin’s style is the way blues should be played. Fuzz and the old guys said the same thing, ‘take your time. Never play two notes when one will do.’” Portnoy describes Willie as a “timekeeper, a musician who plays very lyrically.” Margolin elaborates, “[Willie’s] playing is characterized by, along with standard backbeat, tapping out the melodies of vocal, harp or guitar solos. He hears and plays the whole song, not just a drum part. He always swings—his parts always feel good. His son, Kenny, is the only drummer I’ve ever heard who can sound like Willie.” Peter Ward played with the Legendary Blues Band in the early ’80s. He declares, “Willie is one of the best drummers in blues period.” Willie’s drumming was special. He totally understands the use of restraint in drumming—delaying the beat on twos and fours. He understood tension—the idea of building up to an intense moment. Willie used sticks to hit any drum or cymbals in succession, in a fury, a whirl, as we changed into the next chord…Sometimes among the percussion you’d hear clicking as he did this—sticks hitting stands and sticks hitting sticks, I suppose. You’d look back at him, and his eyes were wide when he did this—he was driving the band. The look said, you’re with me or get out of the way! I loved Willie’s endings. They were called ‘retarded’ endings. As the band took a tune out, he’d carry the whole thing and then slow up the last few beats. That was Muddy’s style too.” Keyboard player Bob Lohr observes, “Willie sets the standard by which all other blues drummers are judged. He is one of the top blues players of all time. If you have a session, Willie is the first one you want there. He can play virtually any style of blues you can name and he’s the best at what he does. When you work with Willie, you know everything’s gonna turn out all right.” Kenny Smith puts it this way. “Everything I know and learned on the drums I learned from my dad. When I play drums I feel connected to my dad. I am honored to play behind him because he is my teacher, my ace and mentor. I love him to death. He lives through me and I live through him.” Bob Margolin reports that Calvin’s “signature bass sound is deep—all the treble on his bass is completely rolled off and when he plays a walking bass line, he really drives the band…Calvin is a particularly fine blues singer, often delivering his own vocal interpretations of famous songs by bandleaders he’s worked with: Muddy, Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James, and Little Walter. Many Chicago blues electric bass players, and others in all style of blues, consider Calvin to be very influential.” Bass player Michael “Mudcat” Ward says, “When it comes to containing all the attributes and essentials that make for an exceptional bass player, both musically and personally, Calvin stands among the best. On a musical level, he possesses one of the finest senses of conceptual time among his contemporaries…Coupled with that deep sense of timing, Calvin created a giant, hugely warm and round bass tone. Utilizing fingers, not a pick, he produces his sound in part with a soft, even touch on the strings of his Fender bass. In a highly individualized method, much of the time he does not anchor the thumb of his right [plunking] hand to the instrument [or its strings] but has a free floating approach whereby his forefingers and thumb grasp at the strings with a personal pincer grip technique. Jones can play the fastest shuffle with relative ease. Though it may look deceptively effortless to the untrained observer, years of performing have gone into what now gives the illusion of simplicity. Hearing Calvin sing is an enormous treat. As with his bass playing, Jones makes singing seem effortless. In either voice, vocally or on his Fender, Calvin always manages to make the emotional statement, and does so in a direct and straightforward manner. In blues that’s the name of the game.” Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson chuckles as he talks about his days with Muddy, Willie, and Calvin. “I loved playing with Willie and Calvin. Muddy was crazy about Willie because he drove the van and took care of his business. After Bo got sick, I drove behind Willie. When Muddy rode with me, he’d call Willie on the CB, ‘breaker one nine for the chicken bone. You got the chicken bone, bring it back’. Muddy ribbed Willie; Willie left the bones in the van when he was eating chicken.” Willie claims Muddy called him chicken bone because he threw the bones out the window; “they’d always see bones flying out the window.” According to Peter Ward, Fuzz “told stories…usually late at night, after a gig, in the van, mostly to Willie as Willie drove. Fuzz could go on and on, often about how a brawl started in some club in Chicago, complete with sound effects of the fight or clash. Willie would drive silently, listening to Fuzz’s stories. Occasionally Fuzz would ask Willie if he knew what was going to happen next. Willie would say, what? He bust him right across the teeth with his guitar, something like that and both would burst out loud laughing. Willie was a trip. Jerry called him a horse behind the wheel for his legendary driving. 8-10-14 hours of behind the wheel.” Nick Moss replaced Calvin in the Legendary Blues Band. He has nothing but praise for Willie. “Willie taught me the timing and feel of Chicago blues. Willie did most of the driving and only stopped for food and gas. We were on top of a mountain in Colorado during a blizzard and the van broke down. It was below freezing. Willie would never ask anyone to help. ‘Shit man, get back in the van. I got it.’ In the middle of the snowstorm Willie got under the van and fixed it. Willie carried a double burner and hot plates wherever we went so we could cook in the hotel rooms and save money. We used to cook what Willie would call ghetto spaghetti. Willie would cut up hotdogs or fry up bacon and onions, then add tomato paste and spices. It was really good”. Jerry Portnoy describes Calvin as “quick to laugh. He’s always in a good mood except when he’s gambling. Then he’s serious as cancer. It’s all business.” Luther recalls, “Fuzz and Willie used to gamble all the time; sometimes we all gambled a bit, except for Muddy. Muddy used to say we was in Las Vegas ’cause there’s so much gambling going on. Fuzz used to have all our money in his pocket and laugh about it.”
Record Label: Unknown Major
Type of Label: Major

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