Subject: Blake Alphonso Higgs fans?
From: Ed Ricardo
Date: 23 Jan 1998 13:04:10 GMT
Apres Marcus your common or garden Dylan fan can no longer
get on with a sound knowledge of Paul Clayton's complete
works and a good memory for Lord Buckley routines, as in the
old days. A person must dig deeper...
Even those with the motive of debunking ol' Greil.
So EDLIS needs Blake Alphonso Higgs fans. At the moment we
have no one who can authoritatively answer queries about
him.
You may know him better as Blind Blake? Or Arthur Phelps?
Or Arthur Blake?
As a Blind Blake collector told me:
>Some folks say that his name might perhaps be Arthur Phelps,
>but on a 78 recorded in the early thirties with Papa Charlie
>Jackson called "Papa Charlie and Blind Blake Talk About It",
>Papa Charlie asks him "Say Blake, what is your right name?"
>and Blake responds "My right name is Arthur Blake!", so that's
>what I go by.
E-mail if you collect him or know his work, please...
Thanks.
Ed
--
Well I'm a blind dog, baby
I'm your eighth high ball
I'm your best honey, baby; I'm never tired.
I'm your best honey, baby; Let me come inside! ;-)
Ed 15.01.2001:
You're Gonna Quit Me recorded by Bob Dylan is
of course his version of Blind Blake's 1920s
You Gonna Quit Me Blues.
Complete Recorded Works, Volume 2 (1927-1928)
Ragtime Guitar's Foremost Fingerpicker
Blind Blake looms as a permanent reminder of how
dramatically the status of both the popular guitarist and
the black musician has climbed since he stood at the top of
his craft six decades ago. In 1926, he easily ranked as one
of America's premier guitarists.
His complicated and sophisticated picking techniques enabled
him to incorporate many musical devices in his playing that
make his overall musicianship unique. Instead of relying on
fixed accompaniments his approach to rhythm, melody and
chords involves improvisation. This quality lends a
free-form feel even to songs of stereotyped structure or
familiar style. While numerous, Blake's pieces use the same
keys, chords, vocal phrasing and tempo; each is enlivened by
some surprise twist; a novel guitar phrase, an unexpected
melodic idea or perhaps a new rhythmic subtlety. Though his
records were widely admired and often copied, he left no
real proteges. He was one of a kind.
