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Bobby Little: Earl Hooker

Earl_Hooker

The Man And His Music

[close] Your contribution is a piece of the puzzle. Learn more Close Earl Hooker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Earl Hooker Background information Birth name Earl Zebedee Hooker Born January 15, 1929(1929-01-15) Quitman County, Mississippi Died April 21, 1970(1970-04-21) (aged 41) Chicago Genres Blues Instruments Guitar Years active 1940s–1970 Labels Cuca, Chief/Profile/Age, Arhoolie, Bluesway Notable instruments Gibson EDS-1275 Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist. Hooker rarely sang and in a genre where the stars were vocalists or vocalists/instrumentalists, his commercial success was limited. However, he "was undeniably a virtuoso among guitar players"[1] and has been acknowledged by many of his peers. As B.B. King commented: "to me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period. With the slide he was the best. It was nobody else like him, he was just one of a kind".[2] Contents [hide] * 1 Early life * 2 Early career and recordings * 3 Chief/Profile/Age recordings * 4 Cuca and Arhoolie recordings * 5 Blue Thumb and Bluesway recordings * 6 Last performances * 7 Playing style and recognition * 8 Partial album discography * 9 Notes * 10 References [edit] Early life Earl Hooker was born in rural Quitman County, Mississippi, outside of Clarksdale. In 1930, when he was one-year old, his parents moved to Chicago. His family was musically inclined (John Lee Hooker was a cousin) and Earl was exposed to music at home at a very early age. About age ten, he started playing guitar. Hooker was self-taught and picked up what he could from those around him. Although Hooker was gaining proficiency on guitar, he did not show an interest in singing. This has been explained by a speech impediment, i.e., pronounced stuttering, which afflicted him all his life.[3] Hooker also contracted tuberculosis at a young age. Although his condition did not become critical until the mid-1950s, it required periodic hospital visits beginning at an early age. By 1942 Hooker was performing on Chicago street corners with childhood friends including Bo Diddley. From the beginning the blues were Hooker's favorites, but this was at a time when the more country-influenced blues was giving way to that of amplified instruments, especially the electric guitar. T-Bone Walker was popular and in 1942 began a three-month club stint in Chicago. He had a considerable impact on Hooker, with both his playing and showmanship.[4] Walker's swing-influenced blues guitar, including "the jazzy way he would sometimes run the blues scales"[5] and intricate chord work, appealed to Hooker. Walker's stage dynamics, which included playing the guitar behind his neck and with his teeth, influenced Hooker's own later stage act. Also around this time, he met and developed a friendship with Robert Nighthawk, one of the first guitarists in Chicago to switch to electric guitar. Nighthawk taught Hooker slide-guitar techniques, including various tunings and his highly articulated approach; Nighthawk would have a lasting influence on Hooker's playing. Junior Wells, another important figure in Hooker's career, came into his life at this time. The two were frequent street performers and sometimes to avoid foul weather (or truancy officers), they played in streetcars, riding one line to another all across Chicago. [edit] Early career and recordings Around 1946, Earl Hooker traveled to Helena, Arkansas where began performing with Robert Nighthawk. While not booked with Nighthawk, Hooker performed with Sonny Boy Williamson II on various occasions, including his popular Helena KFFA radio program King Biscuit Time. Hooker then proceeded to tour throughout the South as a member of Nighthawk's band for the next couple of years. This was his introduction to life as an itinerant blues musician (although he had earlier run away from home and spent time in the Delta). In 1949, Hooker tried to establish himself in the Memphis music scene, but was soon back on the road fronting his own band. By the early 1950s he returned to Chicago and performed regularly in the local clubs. This set the pattern that would be repeated for most of his life: extensive touring with various musicians interspersed with establishing himself in various cities before returning to the Chicago club scene. In 1952, Earl Hooker began recording for several independent labels. His early singles were often credited to the vocalist he was working with at the time, although some instrumentals (and his occasional vocal) were issued in Hooker's name. Songs by Hooker and with blues and R&B artists, including Johnny O'Neal, Little Sam Davis, Boyd Gilmore, Pinetop Perkins, The Dells, Arbee Stidham, Lorenzo Smith, and Harold Tidwell were recorded by such labels as King, Rockin', Sun, Argo, Veejay, States, United, and C.J. (several of these recordings, including all of the Sun material, were unissued at the time). These early singles did not appear in the Billboard R&B chart, but included Hooker's first vocal performance on an interpretation of the blues classic "Black Angel Blues". Although his vocals were more than adequate, they lacked the power usually associated with blues singers.[6] Hooker's "Sweet Angel" (1953 Rockin' 513) was based on Robert Nighthawk's 1949 "Black Angel Blues" and showed that "Hooker had by now transcended his teacher".[7] (B.B. King later had a hit in 1956 with his interpretation, "Sweet Little Angel".) One of Hooker's most successful singles during this period was "Frog Hop", recorded in 1956 (Argo 5265). The song, an upbeat instrumental, showed some of his T-Bone Walker swing-blues and chording influences, as well as his own unique style.[8] [edit] Chief/Profile/Age recordings Despite a major tuberculosis attack in 1956 that required hospitalization, Earl Hooker soon returned to performing in Chicago clubs and touring the South. By late 1959, Junior Wells brought Hooker to the Chief/Profile/Age group of labels, where he began one of the most fruitful periods of his recording career. Their first recording together, "Little by Little" (Profile 4011), was a hit the following year when it reached #23 in the Billboard R&B chart.[9] With this success and his rapport with Chief owner and producer Mel London, Hooker soon became Chief's house guitarist. From 1959 to 1963, he appeared on about forty Chief recordings, including singles for Wells, Lillian Offitt, Magic Sam, A.C. Reed, Ricky Allen, Reggie "Guitar" Boyd, Johnny "Bull Moose" Walker, and Jackie Brenston, as well as Hooker being the featured artist. He appeared on nearly all of Wells' releases, including "Come on in This House", "Messin' with the Kid", and "It Hurts Me Too", songs which would be in Wells' repertoire throughout his career. Hooker regularly performed with Wells for the rest of 1960 and most of 1961. For the Chief labels, Hooker released several instrumentals, including the slow blues "Calling All Blues" (1960 Chief 7020) which featured Hooker's slide guitar and "Blues in D Natural" (1960 Chief 7016), where he switched between fretted and slide guitar. However, it was a chance taping before a recording session that captured perhaps Hooker's best known song (although by a different title). During the warm-up that preceded a May 1961 scheduled session, Hooker and his band played a slow blues which featured Hooker's slide guitar. The song was played once and Hooker was apparently not aware that it was being recorded.[10] Producer Mel London saved the tape and when looking for material to release the following spring, issued it as "Blue Guitar" (Age 29106). "Earl's song sold unusually well for an instrumental blues side"[11] and soon Chicago-area bluesmen were including it in their sets. Sensing greater commercial potential for the song, Leonard Chess approached Mel London about using "Blue Guitar" on Muddy Waters' next record. An agreement was reached and in July 1962, Waters overdubbed a vocal (with lyrics by Willie Dixon) on Hooker's single and it was renamed "You Shook Me". The song was successful and led Chess to hire Hooker to record three more instrumentals for Muddy Waters to overdub. One of the songs, again with Dixon-supplied lyrics, titled "You Need Love", was also a success and "sold better than Muddy's early sixties recordings".[12] Later, rock bands such as Led Zeppelin would achieve greater success with their adaptations of Earl Hooker's and Muddy Waters' "You Shook Me" and "You Need Love". During his time with Chief, Hooker also recorded singles as a sideman for Bobby Saxton and Betty Everett as well as in his own name for the Bea & Baby, C.J., and Checker record labels. By 1964, the last of the Chief labels went out of business and ended his longest association with a record label; for some, his recordings for Chief/Profile/Age represented Hooker's best work.[13] [edit] Cuca and Arhoolie recordings Hooker continued touring and began recording for Cuca Records, Jim-Ko, C.J., Duplex, and Globe. Several songs recorded for Cuca between 1964 and 1967 were released on his first album The Genius of Earl Hooker. The album was composed of instrumentals, including the slow blues "The End of the Blues" and some songs which incorporated popular music trends of the time, such as the early funk-influenced "Two Bugs in a Rug" (an allusion to his tuberculosis or "TB"). Hooker experienced a major tuberculosis attack in late summer 1967 and was hospitalized for nearly a year. When Hooker was released from the hospital in 1968, he assembled a new band and began performing in the Chicago clubs and touring, against his doctor's advice. The band, with Pinetop Perkins, Carey Bell, Andrew Odom, and steel-guitar player Freddie Roulette was "widely acclaimed" and "considered [as] one of the best Earl had ever carried with him".[14] Based on a recommendation by Buddy Guy, Arhoolie Records recorded an album by Hooker and his new band. Two Bugs and a Roach was released in spring 1969 and featured a mix of instrumentals and vocals by Odom, Bell, and Hooker. For one of his vocals, Hooker chose "Anna Lee", a song based on Robert Nighthawk's 1949 "Annie Lee Blues". As he had done earlier with "Sweet Angel", Hooker acknowledged his mentor's influence, but extended beyond Nighthawk's version to create his own unique interpretation. The "brilliant bebop[-influenced]" instrumental "Off the Hook" showed his jazzier leanings.[15] Two Bugs and a Roach "stands today as [part of] Hooker's finest musical legacy."[16] [edit] Blue Thumb and Bluesway recordings The year 1969 was an important one in Earl Hooker's career. He again teamed up with Junior Wells and they began playing higher-paying college dates and concerts, including Chicago's Kinetic Playground. This pairing did not last long and in May 1969, and after assembling new players, Hooker recorded material that would later be released as Funk. Last of the Late Great Earl Hooker. Also in May, after being recommended by Ike Turner (with whom he first toured in 1952), he went to Los Angeles to record the album Sweet Black Angel for Blue Thumb Records with arrangements and piano by Turner. It included Hooker's interpretations of several blues standards, such as "Sweet Home Chicago" (with Hooker on vocal), "Drivin' Wheel", "Cross Cut Saw", "Catfish Blues", and the title track. While in Los Angeles, Hooker visited the clubs and sat in with Albert Collins at the Ash Grove several times and jammed with others, including Jimi Hendrix.[17] After the Blue Thumb recording session, Earl Hooker and his band backed his cousin John Lee Hooker on a series of club dates in California; afterwards John Lee used them for his Bluesway Records recording session. John Lee Hooker Featuring Earl Hooker – If You Miss 'Im ... I Got 'Im was Earl Hooker's introduction to the Bluesway label, an ABC subsidiary and home to B.B. King. This led to recording six more Earl Hooker-involved albums for Bluesway in 1969: Earl Hooker's Don't Have to Worry and albums by Andrew Odom, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Hooker's Don't Have to Worry featured a mix of instrumentals and vocals by Walker, Odom, and Hooker. The session had a "coherence and consistency" that help make the album another part of Hooker's "finest musical legacy".[18] Touring with his band in California took Hooker to the San Francisco Bay area in July 1969, where he played club and college dates as well as rock venues, such as The Matrix and the Fillmore West. In Berkeley, he played Mandrake's for a week solid at nights as he recorded a second album by day for Arhoolie, titled Hooker and Steve, with blues keyboard player Steve Miller. [edit] Last performances After his California sojourn, Hooker returned to Chicago and performed regularly around the city, including the first Chicago Blues Festival on August 30, 1969, which attracted about 10,000 people. In October 1969, Hooker toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, where he played twenty concerts in twenty-three days in nine countries. There his sets were well received and garnered favorable reviews.[19] "The journey overseas was a sort of apotheosis for Hooker, who regarded it, along with his recording trips to California, as the climax of his career."[20] The tour exhausted him and "his friends noticed a severe deterioration of his health upon his return."[21] Hooker played a few dates around Chicago (including some with Junior Wells) from November to early December 1969, whereafter he was hospitalized. On April 21, 1970 at age 41, he died from complications due to tuberculosis. He is interred in the Restvale Cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Alsip.[22] [edit] Playing style and recognition Unlike his contemporaries Elmore James and Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker used standard tuning on his guitar for slide playing. He also used a short steel slide. This allowed him to switch between slide and fretted playing during a song with greater ease. Part of his slide sound has been attributed to his light touch, a technique he learned from Robert Nighthawk. "Instead of using full-chord glissando effects, he preferred the more subtle single-note runs inherited from others who played slide in standard tuning, [such as] Tampa Red, Houston Stackhouse, and his mentor Robert Nighthawk."[23] In addition to his mastery of slide guitar, Hooker was also a highly developed standard-guitar soloist and rhythm player. At a time when many blues guitarists were emulating B.B. King, Hooker maintained his own course.[24] Although he was a bluesman at heart, Hooker was adept at several musical styles, which he incorporated into his playing as it suited him. Depending on his mood and audience reaction, a Hooker performance could include blues, boogie-woogie, R&B/soul, be-bop, pop, and even a country & western favorite.[25] Earl Hooker was a flamboyant showman in the style of T-Bone Walker and predated Guitar Slim and Johnny "Guitar" Watson. He wore flashy clothes and would pick the guitar with his teeth or his feet or play it behind his neck or between his legs.[26] He also played a double neck guitar, at first a six-string guitar and four-string bass combination and later a twelve- and six-string guitar combination. After his 1967 tuberculosis attack left him in a weakened state, he sometimes played while seated and using a lighter single-neck guitar. In a genre that typically shunned gadgetry, Earl Hooker was an exception. He experimented with amplification and used echo and tape delay, including "double-tracking his playing during a song, [so] he could pick simultaneously two solos in harmony".[27] In 1968, he began using a wah-wah pedal to add a vocal-like quality to some of his solos.[28] Although Hooker did not receive the public recognition to the same extent as some of his contemporaries, he was highly regarded by his fellow musicians. Many consider Earl Hooker to be the best modern blues guitarist of his time, including:[29] Wayne Bennett, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Albert Collins, Willie Dixon, Ronnie Earl, Tinsley Ellis, Guitar Shorty, Buddy Guy, Albert King, B.B. King, Little Milton, Louis Myers, Lucky Peterson, Otis Rush, Joe Louis Walker, and Junior Wells. [edit] Partial album discography The following lists the albums Earl Hooker released during his career, as well as currently available compilations. Year Title Label Comments 1968 The Genius of Earl Hooker Cuca recorded Sauk City, WI 1964–1967 1969 Two Bugs & A Roach Arhoolie recorded Chicago 1968 1969 Don't Have to Worry Bluesway recorded Los Angeles 1969 1969 Sweet Black Angel Blue Thumb recorded Los Angeles 1969 1970 Hooker and Steve Arhoolie recorded Berkeley 1969 1972 Funk. The Last of the Great Earl Hooker Blues on Blues recorded Chicago 1969 1972 His First and Last Recordings Arhoolie Sun, Arhoolie recordings 1953, 1968–1969 1993 Play Your Guitar, Mr. Hooker! Black Top Cuca recordings 1964–1967 1999 Simply the Best: Earl Hooker Collection MCA Chess, Blue Thumb, Bluesway recordings 1956–1969 2003 Blue Guitar: The Chief and Age Sessions 1959–1963 P-Vine Chief/Profile/Age recordings 1959–1963 2006 An Introduction to Earl Hooker Fuel Chief/Age recordings 1959–1962 [edit] Notes 1. ^ Herzhaft 1992, p. 141. 2. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 101. 3. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 13. 4. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 12–13. 5. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 13. 6. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 55, 168–169. 7. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 56. 8. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 105. 9. ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 438. 10. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 171. 11. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 139. 12. ^ Danchin 2002, p. 140. 13. ^ Dahl 1996, p. 115. 14. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 251. 15. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 256. 16. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 281. 17. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 277. 18. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 281. 19. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 305–306 20. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 309. 21. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 309. 22. ^ "Earl Zebedee Hooker". Find A Grave. 2000. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10653. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 23. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 168. 24. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 66. 25. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 165. 26. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 161. 27. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 164. 28. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 251. 29. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 101, 325. [edit] References * Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). Encyclopedia of the Blues. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 513. ISBN 1557282528. * Danchin, Sebastian (2001). Earl Hooker: Blues Master. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 389. ISBN 157806306X. * Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942-1988. Record Research, Inc. pp. 613. ISBN 0898200687. * Dahl, Bill (1996). All Music Guide to the Blues. Miller Freeman Books. pp. 424. ISBN 0879304243. * Dahl, Bill. "Earl Hooker Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p370/biography. Retrieved November 27, 2009. * Harris, Jeff. "Big Road Blues Show 2/15/09: Earl Hooker". http://sundayblues.org/archives/tag/earl-hooker. Retrieved November 27, 2009. * Hoppula, Pete (October 20, 2009). "Earl Hooker Discography". Wang Dang Dula. http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/earlhooker.htm. Retrieved November 27, 2009. * Wirz, Stefan (November 11, 2009). "Earl Hooker Illustrated Discography". http://www.wirz.de/music/hookefrm.htm. Retrieved November 27, 2009. Persondata Name Hooker, Earl Alternative names Short description Date of birth January 15, 1929 Place of birth Date of death April 21, 1970 Place of death Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Hooker" Categories: 1929 births | 1970 deaths | African American musicians | American blues musicians | American blues guitarists | Slide guitarists | Blues musicians from Mississippi | Deaths from tuberculosis Hidden categories: Articles using Infobox musical artist with deprecated parameters | Articles with hCards Personal tools * Log in / create account Namespaces * Article * Discussion Variants Views * Read * Edit * View history Actions Search Search Navigation * Main page * Contents * Featured content * Current events * Random article * Donate to Wikipedia Interaction * Help * About Wikipedia * Community portal * Recent changes * Contact Wikipedia Toolbox * What links here * Related changes * Upload file * Special pages * Permanent link * Cite this page Print/export * Create a book * Download as PDF * Printable version Languages * Deutsch * Français * 日本語 * Simple English * This page was last modified on 24 December 2010 at 19:18. * Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. 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Bobby Little And His Music
Earl Hooker The Man And His Music

All A Bout Earl Hooker

North Magnolia Music

The Bobby Little Story

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Earl Hooker
Check Out The Slide King... [close] Your contribution is a piece of the puzzle. Learn more Close Earl Hooker From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Earl Hooker Background information Birth name Earl Zebedee Hooker Born January 15, 1929(1929-01-15) Quitman County, Mississippi Died April 21, 1970(1970-04-21) (aged 41) Chicago Genres Blues Instruments Guitar Years active 1940s–1970 Labels Cuca, Chief/Profile/Age, Arhoolie, Bluesway Notable instruments Gibson EDS-1275 Earl Hooker (January 15, 1929 – April 21, 1970) was a Chicago blues guitarist. Hooker rarely sang and in a genre where the stars were vocalists or vocalists/instrumentalists, his commercial success was limited. However, he "was undeniably a virtuoso among guitar players"[1] and has been acknowledged by many of his peers. As B.B. King commented: "to me he is the best of modern guitarists. Period. With the slide he was the best. It was nobody else like him, he was just one of a kind".[2] Contents [hide] * 1 Early life * 2 Early career and recordings * 3 Chief/Profile/Age recordings * 4 Cuca and Arhoolie recordings * 5 Blue Thumb and Bluesway recordings * 6 Last performances * 7 Playing style and recognition * 8 Partial album discography * 9 Notes * 10 References [edit] Early life Earl Hooker was born in rural Quitman County, Mississippi, outside of Clarksdale. In 1930, when he was one-year old, his parents moved to Chicago. His family was musically inclined (John Lee Hooker was a cousin) and Earl was exposed to music at home at a very early age. About age ten, he started playing guitar. Hooker was self-taught and picked up what he could from those around him. Although Hooker was gaining proficiency on guitar, he did not show an interest in singing. This has been explained by a speech impediment, i.e., pronounced stuttering, which afflicted him all his life.[3] Hooker also contracted tuberculosis at a young age. Although his condition did not become critical until the mid-1950s, it required periodic hospital visits beginning at an early age. By 1942 Hooker was performing on Chicago street corners with childhood friends including Bo Diddley. From the beginning the blues were Hooker's favorites, but this was at a time when the more country-influenced blues was giving way to that of amplified instruments, especially the electric guitar. T-Bone Walker was popular and in 1942 began a three-month club stint in Chicago. He had a considerable impact on Hooker, with both his playing and showmanship.[4] Walker's swing-influenced blues guitar, including "the jazzy way he would sometimes run the blues scales"[5] and intricate chord work, appealed to Hooker. Walker's stage dynamics, which included playing the guitar behind his neck and with his teeth, influenced Hooker's own later stage act. Also around this time, he met and developed a friendship with Robert Nighthawk, one of the first guitarists in Chicago to switch to electric guitar. Nighthawk taught Hooker slide-guitar techniques, including various tunings and his highly articulated approach; Nighthawk would have a lasting influence on Hooker's playing. Junior Wells, another important figure in Hooker's career, came into his life at this time. The two were frequent street performers and sometimes to avoid foul weather (or truancy officers), they played in streetcars, riding one line to another all across Chicago. [edit] Early career and recordings Around 1946, Earl Hooker traveled to Helena, Arkansas where began performing with Robert Nighthawk. While not booked with Nighthawk, Hooker performed with Sonny Boy Williamson II on various occasions, including his popular Helena KFFA radio program King Biscuit Time. Hooker then proceeded to tour throughout the South as a member of Nighthawk's band for the next couple of years. This was his introduction to life as an itinerant blues musician (although he had earlier run away from home and spent time in the Delta). In 1949, Hooker tried to establish himself in the Memphis music scene, but was soon back on the road fronting his own band. By the early 1950s he returned to Chicago and performed regularly in the local clubs. This set the pattern that would be repeated for most of his life: extensive touring with various musicians interspersed with establishing himself in various cities before returning to the Chicago club scene. In 1952, Earl Hooker began recording for several independent labels. His early singles were often credited to the vocalist he was working with at the time, although some instrumentals (and his occasional vocal) were issued in Hooker's name. Songs by Hooker and with blues and R&B artists, including Johnny O'Neal, Little Sam Davis, Boyd Gilmore, Pinetop Perkins, The Dells, Arbee Stidham, Lorenzo Smith, and Harold Tidwell were recorded by such labels as King, Rockin', Sun, Argo, Veejay, States, United, and C.J. (several of these recordings, including all of the Sun material, were unissued at the time). These early singles did not appear in the Billboard R&B chart, but included Hooker's first vocal performance on an interpretation of the blues classic "Black Angel Blues". Although his vocals were more than adequate, they lacked the power usually associated with blues singers.[6] Hooker's "Sweet Angel" (1953 Rockin' 513) was based on Robert Nighthawk's 1949 "Black Angel Blues" and showed that "Hooker had by now transcended his teacher".[7] (B.B. King later had a hit in 1956 with his interpretation, "Sweet Little Angel".) One of Hooker's most successful singles during this period was "Frog Hop", recorded in 1956 (Argo 5265). The song, an upbeat instrumental, showed some of his T-Bone Walker swing-blues and chording influences, as well as his own unique style.[8] [edit] Chief/Profile/Age recordings Despite a major tuberculosis attack in 1956 that required hospitalization, Earl Hooker soon returned to performing in Chicago clubs and touring the South. By late 1959, Junior Wells brought Hooker to the Chief/Profile/Age group of labels, where he began one of the most fruitful periods of his recording career. Their first recording together, "Little by Little" (Profile 4011), was a hit the following year when it reached #23 in the Billboard R&B chart.[9] With this success and his rapport with Chief owner and producer Mel London, Hooker soon became Chief's house guitarist. From 1959 to 1963, he appeared on about forty Chief recordings, including singles for Wells, Lillian Offitt, Magic Sam, A.C. Reed, Ricky Allen, Reggie "Guitar" Boyd, Johnny "Bull Moose" Walker, and Jackie Brenston, as well as Hooker being the featured artist. He appeared on nearly all of Wells' releases, including "Come on in This House", "Messin' with the Kid", and "It Hurts Me Too", songs which would be in Wells' repertoire throughout his career. Hooker regularly performed with Wells for the rest of 1960 and most of 1961. For the Chief labels, Hooker released several instrumentals, including the slow blues "Calling All Blues" (1960 Chief 7020) which featured Hooker's slide guitar and "Blues in D Natural" (1960 Chief 7016), where he switched between fretted and slide guitar. However, it was a chance taping before a recording session that captured perhaps Hooker's best known song (although by a different title). During the warm-up that preceded a May 1961 scheduled session, Hooker and his band played a slow blues which featured Hooker's slide guitar. The song was played once and Hooker was apparently not aware that it was being recorded.[10] Producer Mel London saved the tape and when looking for material to release the following spring, issued it as "Blue Guitar" (Age 29106). "Earl's song sold unusually well for an instrumental blues side"[11] and soon Chicago-area bluesmen were including it in their sets. Sensing greater commercial potential for the song, Leonard Chess approached Mel London about using "Blue Guitar" on Muddy Waters' next record. An agreement was reached and in July 1962, Waters overdubbed a vocal (with lyrics by Willie Dixon) on Hooker's single and it was renamed "You Shook Me". The song was successful and led Chess to hire Hooker to record three more instrumentals for Muddy Waters to overdub. One of the songs, again with Dixon-supplied lyrics, titled "You Need Love", was also a success and "sold better than Muddy's early sixties recordings".[12] Later, rock bands such as Led Zeppelin would achieve greater success with their adaptations of Earl Hooker's and Muddy Waters' "You Shook Me" and "You Need Love". During his time with Chief, Hooker also recorded singles as a sideman for Bobby Saxton and Betty Everett as well as in his own name for the Bea & Baby, C.J., and Checker record labels. By 1964, the last of the Chief labels went out of business and ended his longest association with a record label; for some, his recordings for Chief/Profile/Age represented Hooker's best work.[13] [edit] Cuca and Arhoolie recordings Hooker continued touring and began recording for Cuca Records, Jim-Ko, C.J., Duplex, and Globe. Several songs recorded for Cuca between 1964 and 1967 were released on his first album The Genius of Earl Hooker. The album was composed of instrumentals, including the slow blues "The End of the Blues" and some songs which incorporated popular music trends of the time, such as the early funk-influenced "Two Bugs in a Rug" (an allusion to his tuberculosis or "TB"). Hooker experienced a major tuberculosis attack in late summer 1967 and was hospitalized for nearly a year. When Hooker was released from the hospital in 1968, he assembled a new band and began performing in the Chicago clubs and touring, against his doctor's advice. The band, with Pinetop Perkins, Carey Bell, Andrew Odom, and steel-guitar player Freddie Roulette was "widely acclaimed" and "considered [as] one of the best Earl had ever carried with him".[14] Based on a recommendation by Buddy Guy, Arhoolie Records recorded an album by Hooker and his new band. Two Bugs and a Roach was released in spring 1969 and featured a mix of instrumentals and vocals by Odom, Bell, and Hooker. For one of his vocals, Hooker chose "Anna Lee", a song based on Robert Nighthawk's 1949 "Annie Lee Blues". As he had done earlier with "Sweet Angel", Hooker acknowledged his mentor's influence, but extended beyond Nighthawk's version to create his own unique interpretation. The "brilliant bebop[-influenced]" instrumental "Off the Hook" showed his jazzier leanings.[15] Two Bugs and a Roach "stands today as [part of] Hooker's finest musical legacy."[16] [edit] Blue Thumb and Bluesway recordings The year 1969 was an important one in Earl Hooker's career. He again teamed up with Junior Wells and they began playing higher-paying college dates and concerts, including Chicago's Kinetic Playground. This pairing did not last long and in May 1969, and after assembling new players, Hooker recorded material that would later be released as Funk. Last of the Late Great Earl Hooker. Also in May, after being recommended by Ike Turner (with whom he first toured in 1952), he went to Los Angeles to record the album Sweet Black Angel for Blue Thumb Records with arrangements and piano by Turner. It included Hooker's interpretations of several blues standards, such as "Sweet Home Chicago" (with Hooker on vocal), "Drivin' Wheel", "Cross Cut Saw", "Catfish Blues", and the title track. While in Los Angeles, Hooker visited the clubs and sat in with Albert Collins at the Ash Grove several times and jammed with others, including Jimi Hendrix.[17] After the Blue Thumb recording session, Earl Hooker and his band backed his cousin John Lee Hooker on a series of club dates in California; afterwards John Lee used them for his Bluesway Records recording session. John Lee Hooker Featuring Earl Hooker – If You Miss 'Im ... I Got 'Im was Earl Hooker's introduction to the Bluesway label, an ABC subsidiary and home to B.B. King. This led to recording six more Earl Hooker-involved albums for Bluesway in 1969: Earl Hooker's Don't Have to Worry and albums by Andrew Odom, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, Charles Brown, Jimmy Witherspoon, and Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry. Hooker's Don't Have to Worry featured a mix of instrumentals and vocals by Walker, Odom, and Hooker. The session had a "coherence and consistency" that help make the album another part of Hooker's "finest musical legacy".[18] Touring with his band in California took Hooker to the San Francisco Bay area in July 1969, where he played club and college dates as well as rock venues, such as The Matrix and the Fillmore West. In Berkeley, he played Mandrake's for a week solid at nights as he recorded a second album by day for Arhoolie, titled Hooker and Steve, with blues keyboard player Steve Miller. [edit] Last performances After his California sojourn, Hooker returned to Chicago and performed regularly around the city, including the first Chicago Blues Festival on August 30, 1969, which attracted about 10,000 people. In October 1969, Hooker toured Europe as part of the American Folk Blues Festival, where he played twenty concerts in twenty-three days in nine countries. There his sets were well received and garnered favorable reviews.[19] "The journey overseas was a sort of apotheosis for Hooker, who regarded it, along with his recording trips to California, as the climax of his career."[20] The tour exhausted him and "his friends noticed a severe deterioration of his health upon his return."[21] Hooker played a few dates around Chicago (including some with Junior Wells) from November to early December 1969, whereafter he was hospitalized. On April 21, 1970 at age 41, he died from complications due to tuberculosis. He is interred in the Restvale Cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Alsip.[22] [edit] Playing style and recognition Unlike his contemporaries Elmore James and Muddy Waters, Earl Hooker used standard tuning on his guitar for slide playing. He also used a short steel slide. This allowed him to switch between slide and fretted playing during a song with greater ease. Part of his slide sound has been attributed to his light touch, a technique he learned from Robert Nighthawk. "Instead of using full-chord glissando effects, he preferred the more subtle single-note runs inherited from others who played slide in standard tuning, [such as] Tampa Red, Houston Stackhouse, and his mentor Robert Nighthawk."[23] In addition to his mastery of slide guitar, Hooker was also a highly developed standard-guitar soloist and rhythm player. At a time when many blues guitarists were emulating B.B. King, Hooker maintained his own course.[24] Although he was a bluesman at heart, Hooker was adept at several musical styles, which he incorporated into his playing as it suited him. Depending on his mood and audience reaction, a Hooker performance could include blues, boogie-woogie, R&B/soul, be-bop, pop, and even a country & western favorite.[25] Earl Hooker was a flamboyant showman in the style of T-Bone Walker and predated Guitar Slim and Johnny "Guitar" Watson. He wore flashy clothes and would pick the guitar with his teeth or his feet or play it behind his neck or between his legs.[26] He also played a double neck guitar, at first a six-string guitar and four-string bass combination and later a twelve- and six-string guitar combination. After his 1967 tuberculosis attack left him in a weakened state, he sometimes played while seated and using a lighter single-neck guitar. In a genre that typically shunned gadgetry, Earl Hooker was an exception. He experimented with amplification and used echo and tape delay, including "double-tracking his playing during a song, [so] he could pick simultaneously two solos in harmony".[27] In 1968, he began using a wah-wah pedal to add a vocal-like quality to some of his solos.[28] Although Hooker did not receive the public recognition to the same extent as some of his contemporaries, he was highly regarded by his fellow musicians. Many consider Earl Hooker to be the best modern blues guitarist of his time, including:[29] Wayne Bennett, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Albert Collins, Willie Dixon, Ronnie Earl, Tinsley Ellis, Guitar Shorty, Buddy Guy, Albert King, B.B. King, Little Milton, Louis Myers, Lucky Peterson, Otis Rush, Joe Louis Walker, and Junior Wells. [edit] Partial album discography The following lists the albums Earl Hooker released during his career, as well as currently available compilations. Year Title Label Comments 1968 The Genius of Earl Hooker Cuca recorded Sauk City, WI 1964–1967 1969 Two Bugs & A Roach Arhoolie recorded Chicago 1968 1969 Don't Have to Worry Bluesway recorded Los Angeles 1969 1969 Sweet Black Angel Blue Thumb recorded Los Angeles 1969 1970 Hooker and Steve Arhoolie recorded Berkeley 1969 1972 Funk. The Last of the Great Earl Hooker Blues on Blues recorded Chicago 1969 1972 His First and Last Recordings Arhoolie Sun, Arhoolie recordings 1953, 1968–1969 1993 Play Your Guitar, Mr. Hooker! Black Top Cuca recordings 1964–1967 1999 Simply the Best: Earl Hooker Collection MCA Chess, Blue Thumb, Bluesway recordings 1956–1969 2003 Blue Guitar: The Chief and Age Sessions 1959–1963 P-Vine Chief/Profile/Age recordings 1959–1963 2006 An Introduction to Earl Hooker Fuel Chief/Age recordings 1959–1962 [edit] Notes 1. ^ Herzhaft 1992, p. 141. 2. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 101. 3. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 13. 4. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 12–13. 5. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 13. 6. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 55, 168–169. 7. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 56. 8. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 105. 9. ^ Whitburn 1988, p. 438. 10. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 171. 11. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 139. 12. ^ Danchin 2002, p. 140. 13. ^ Dahl 1996, p. 115. 14. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 251. 15. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 256. 16. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 281. 17. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 277. 18. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 281. 19. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 305–306 20. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 309. 21. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 309. 22. ^ "Earl Zebedee Hooker". Find A Grave. 2000. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10653. Retrieved November 27, 2009. 23. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 168. 24. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 66. 25. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 165. 26. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 161. 27. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 164. 28. ^ Danchin 2001, p. 251. 29. ^ Danchin 2001, pp. 101, 325. [edit] References * Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). Encyclopedia of the Blues. University of Arkansas Press. pp. 513. ISBN 1557282528. * Danchin, Sebastian (2001). Earl Hooker: Blues Master. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 389. ISBN 157806306X. * Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942-1988. Record Research, Inc. pp. 613. ISBN 0898200687. * Dahl, Bill (1996). All Music Guide to the Blues. Miller Freeman Books. pp. 424. ISBN 0879304243. * Dahl, Bill. "Earl Hooker Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p370/biography. Retrieved November 27, 2009. * Harris, Jeff. "Big Road Blues Show 2/15/09: Earl Hooker". http://sundayblues.org/archives/tag/earl-hooker. Retrieved November 27, 2009. * Hoppula, Pete (October 20, 2009). "Earl Hooker Discography". Wang Dang Dula. http://koti.mbnet.fi/wdd/earlhooker.htm. Retrieved November 27, 2009. * Wirz, Stefan (November 11, 2009). "Earl Hooker Illustrated Discography". http://www.wirz.de/music/hookefrm.htm. Retrieved November 27, 2009. Persondata Name Hooker, Earl Alternative names Short description Date of birth January 15, 1929 Place of birth Date of death April 21, 1970 Place of death Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Hooker" Categories: 1929 births | 1970 deaths | African American musicians | American blues musicians | American blues guitarists | Slide guitarists | Blues musicians from Mississippi | Deaths from tuberculosis Hidden categories: Articles using Infobox musical artist with deprecated parameters | Articles with hCards Personal tools * Log in / create account Namespaces * Article * Discussion Variants Views * Read * Edit * View history Actions Search Search Navigation * Main page * Contents * Featured content * Current events * Random article * Donate to Wikipedia Interaction * Help * About Wikipedia * Community portal * Recent changes * Contact Wikipedia Toolbox * What links here * Related changes * Upload file * Special pages * Permanent link * Cite this page Print/export * Create a book * Download as PDF * Printable version Languages * Deutsch * Français * 日本語 * Simple English * This page was last modified on 24 December 2010 at 19:18. * Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. 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