NOTE: Here’s one from the archives that’s another personal favorite. We recently remastered it, since some better sources became available on a few of the tracks since it was first published. Enjoy! --SBH - - - - - With just 20 different 78s to his credit, recorded over the course of a decade, some might say that Big Maceo didn’t leave much behind in the way of a legacy. But what he did leave helped shape the future course of the blues in Chicago, and made an indelible impact on the world of piano. It wasn’t until he was 36 — in the summer of 1941 — that he made his first recordings, having been born in Georgia, in 1905. One of 11 children, he was born in the town of Newnan, just to the south and west of Atlanta. At first the family farmed, but when he was a teenager, they moved closer to the city, where legend has it he first developed an interest in the piano. Not long afterwards, he moved to Detroit, following the trail of other family members who’d since moved there, looking for better work and a higher standard of living. If Maceo belonged to any piano tradition in Atlanta, it’s been forever lost to the misty fog of history, as it was a city known for guitar players, not piano technicians. Only 19 when he arrived in the Motor City, he would go on to “cut his teeth” at nightclubs, house parties, and barrelhouses in Detroit. By the time he arrived in Chicago, in 1941, he was a seasoned veteran. Tampa Red, who acted as a talent scout and liaison for Lester Melrose — the de facto studio boss in Chicago during the 1930s and ‘40s — would help Maceo secure his first recording date. “Worried Life Blues,” based upon an old Sleepy John Estes composition, was the first tune committed to wax right out of the starting gate. Although it could rightly be regarded as one of the true universal classics of the blues, in a rather curious move, Bluebird held back on releasing it, saving it for his third 78 — if only to prove, once again, that record company executives don’t always “get it.” Unfortunately, one of the songs Big Maceo recorded, “Tuff Luck Blues,” might very well be viewed as prophetic. With his recording career just getting underway, the pause button came down in a big way on August 1st, 1942, when the Petrillo Recording Ban started (allegedly over concerns about royalty payments to union musicians ). Fortunately, Maceo had cut a few sides just days before, but the overall effect was deleterious. He wouldn’t be back in a recording studio until February 1945, taking work as a railroad porter to make ends meet in the intervening years. 1945 saw Maceo blooming, however. Instead of just recording with Tampa Red, as he had in 1941 and 1942, he cut sessions with Big Bill Broonzy, John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, and Jazz Gillum. His records, usually thoughtful and somewhat introspective, had more of rhythmic drive to them, bolstered by his left-hand bass work on the piano — something that came easily to Maceo, who was a natural southpaw. In October 1945, he cut his “magnum opus,” an instrumental of such drive, passion, and keyboard wizardry, that almost all words to describe it seem inadequate. “Chicago Breakdown” was his shining moment of glory, the sum total of his powers; and with its storming right hand and intricately pounding bass runs — said to be a piece that only someone who was naturally left-handed could accomplish. Unfortunately, Maceo would never again duplicate the magic that he achieved on “Chicago Breakdown.” Sometime during the summer of 1946, he suffered a stroke, which paralyzed him on his right side. Never again would he play with the authority he once did, in spite of several heartbreaking attempts. Reports about his life are at once murky and somewhat contradictory, but through them, a picture emerges of a man who loved his drink, was plagued with ill health, and seemingly burned his candle at both ends when the opportunity presented itself. As his older brother Roy recounted to blues historian Mike Rowe (who named his definitive history of Chicago blues after the Big Maceo instrumental): “They call him from New Orleans, ‘Be here tomorrow night...’ I don’t care what time of night it was, he’d get out of the bed and they pick him up in a car and take him down to New Orleans. They let him play all day and night too and then again. Let him lay down and rest awhile. Right back to Dayton or Detroit again and that’s how he had his stroke, on account of he didn’t rest enough.” In the end, it seems, the fast-paced life of a musician simply overtook him. A final session for RCA Victor was held in 1947, with Eddie Boyd on piano. In spite of the fact that his smoky, understated vocals were as strong as ever, it just wasn’t the same, and he was dropped from the label. Another studio date came about in 1949 thanks to Art Rupe of Specialty, but again, we have Johnny Jones — perhaps his star pupil — on the keyboards instead. A year later more recordings were held, with husband and wife team John and Grace Brim, for the Fortune label. Although the effort was commendable, with James Watkins taking over the right hand piano work and Maceo handling the left, it made for a rather sad epitaph. One final session for Mercury, in early 1952 — still unissued all these years later — would be his last time in a recording studio. A little over a year later, this gentle giant of the keyboards would be forever silenced — just a month shy of his 48th birthday. While his legacy might not be all that extensive, perhaps leaving us with an unfulfilled wish for there to be just a little bit more for us to enjoy, in the end, it was enough. Enough to bridge the gap from the work of earlier keyboard icons such as Leroy Carr and Walter Davis, and to pave the way for others, such as Johnny Jones and Otis Spann, who followed in his wake. Special thanks to Mike Rowe, whose research proved crucial in piecing together Big Maceo's story. Photo of Big Maceo courtesy of Blues Unlimited magazine #106, Feb/March 1974. Don't forget to install the PodOmatic Podcast Player app for iOS so you can listen to Sleepy Boy Hawkins wherever you go! Details at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/podomatic/id648258566?mt=8
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