ELMORE JAMES RARE BLUES 78 EARLY IN MORNING-FLAIR-HEAR

$

51

'BLUES '- ONE OF THE MOST EXPRESSIVE FORMS OF MUSIC - ANTIQUE OF MUSIC - WHERE  IT ALL BEGAN.  IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE BLUES, YOU HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR SOUL.

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FACE OF RAW SOUL & BLUES

Born January 27, 1918, in Richland, Mississippi, Elmore James was raised on several different farms in the Durant, Mississippi, area by sharecropping parents. Before acquiring his first guitar, he played several different homemade instruments, including a strand of broomwire nailed to the front porch of his cabin. This was known locally as a "diddley bow." In 1932, at the age of fourteen, Elmore James, also known as Joe Willie, began playing guitar for parties and dances in the Durant area.

By 1937 James had moved on to plantations near the Delta town of Belzoni, Mississippi, and taken up with musicians Sonny Boy Williamson and Robert Johnson. Johnson's guitar prowess made a terrific impact on James, who would echo Johnson's slide technique in his own recordings. After Johnson's death, James toured the South with Williamson working juke joints and theaters. He assembled a band in 1939 after parting ways with Williamson. During the late 1930s or early 1940s James began playing electric guitar. He became a master of using the distortion and sustain of this instrument to create a dense, textured sound that provided the blueprint for postwar Chicago blues.

James was inducted into the Navy in 1943, taking part in the invasion of Guam before being mustered out in 1945. He was soon back home in Belzoni, sharing a room with Sonny Boy Williamson and working the local jukes. James also began a professional partnership with his guitar-playing cousin "Homesick" James Williamson, working clubs on Beale Street in Memphis. In 1947, James backed up Sonny Boy on KFFA radio's King Biscuit Time program in Helena, Arkansas. The show was initially broadcast from the Interstate Grocery Building before it moved to the Floyd Truck Lines Building. During his stint on KFFA, James fell under the spell of Robert Nighthawk, refining his style to reflect Nighthawk's liquid, crying slide guitar.

While working clubs with Williamson in Jackson, Mississippi, James made his first record for Lillian McMurry's Trumpet Label. On August 5, 1951, at the Trumpet Studios, James cut the Robert Johnson chestnut "Dust My Broom" which reached number nine on the national R&B charts within several months of its release. James established residency in Chicago the following year, forming his legendary band the Broomdusters. While never attaining the fame of fellow Mississippi expatriates Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, James became one of the city's most influential guitarists. He recorded for a variety of labels throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, leaving a legacy of slow blues, boogies, and full-fledged rave ups that dominate the musical vocabulary of Chicago blues.

Elmore James died May 24, 1963, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of forty-five. Elmore James's grave is located near his native Durant, Mississippi.

ARTIST

ELMORE JAMES

SONG TITLE

EARLY IN THE MORNING/HAWAAIIN BOOGIE [INSTR.]

LABEL/NUMBER/YEAR

FLAIR #1011

FORMAT

78 RPM

GRADE

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES/COMMENTS

KING OF THE COUNTRY BLUES ON CALIFORNIA BLUES LABEL - RARE

LP TRACKS

NOTE: INSURANCE REQUIRED ON DOMESTICE SHIPPING - INTERNATIONAL, WHERE AVAILABLE.  PLEASE WAIT FOR INVOICE BEFORE CHECK.  WE PACK 78'S LIKE FRAGILE CHINA FOR SAFE TRANSIT.

All records in less than VG+ visual condition receive a test-play before grading.

________________________________________________________________________________

GRADING:

NM:     Free of visual or audible defects - clean labels;  vinyl free of mentionable flaws.

VG+     Some visual defects, which do not affect a clean, close to NM playback.  Except for  the  minor mentionable flaws, this record would easily rate NM.

VG       More defects than a VG+ record, which may produce  light surface noise, that is not overpowering.  Music is still enjoyable - still a nice record.

VG-     Feelable marks and scratches, which  produces more  surface noise, than a VG record - music still enjoyable - noise is not totally overpowering.  Perfect for dj'ng or collection fillers.

G/F       Noisy playback, but still listenable; label may be torn or damaged - listed for historical purposes or collection fillers. Where appropriate, +'s will be added.

Any additional flaws will be addressed in the individual listings.

SHIPPING:

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