tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post464785507472891189..comments2024-01-06T18:34:30.188-08:00Comments on I Witness: Blues Legends, Courtesy William StoutIWitnessEdhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-16322169391115370542016-12-17T18:35:09.332-08:002016-12-17T18:35:09.332-08:00Really great drawings. All I can say for the namin...Really great drawings. All I can say for the naming errors is , he's an artist, not a musicologist / music historian. And the publishers are what they are too. So, let's cut some slack, eh?1914https://www.blogger.com/profile/11149467160818280546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-3990515318180872262013-07-12T23:56:33.753-07:002013-07-12T23:56:33.753-07:00Guilty as charged. I honestly appreciate the criti...Guilty as charged. I honestly appreciate the criticism, though. It's amazing that no one caught the two photo reference errors. It's also amazing that those two photos have been so often misidentified --- even to the point of being used as CD covers for the wrong artists!<br /><br />I am seeing my editor at ComicCon. I am hoping that if there's a second edition I can make the proper corrections. There were others, by the way (misidentified images purportedly of Ida Cox and Hambone Willie Newbern) --- but I caught them in time.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12175176789551383392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-42917589152272140862013-07-11T08:13:38.707-07:002013-07-11T08:13:38.707-07:001. I did not mean to imply that Waters' import...1. I did not mean to imply that Waters' importance to the world of popular song should invalidate her period of refined "naughty blues." Certainly she belongs among Legends of the Blues. For a taste of Waters as actress and singer of the blues(!) there's an episode available of the Route 66 TV series from the early 60s in which she appears with Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge, Jo Jones, and the great Juano Hernández. The title is "Goodnight, Sweet Blues." (This was from her Billy Graham Crusades period.) No one who ever saw her wonderful gap-toothed smile could confuse her with anyone else.<br /><br />2. Yes, Joe Williams was tall enough to be called Big Joe, but that's no excuse for using his likeness for such an important blues figure as Big Joe Williams.<br /><br />I will come out and say it: Legends of the Blues shows a lack of thorough knowledge and the absence of research and fact checking. The commentaries are basically Wikipedia re-plays with no indication that the writer went beyond Google or CD booklets for information. You state the problem succinctly: "I can imagine some search engine failing to differentiate ..." Legends of the Blues is far too dependent on search engines. <br /><br />Progress Hornsbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16266401976122507327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-44904475777552167352013-07-10T17:33:13.401-07:002013-07-10T17:33:13.401-07:001. Waters sang only religious music after the Grah...1. Waters sang only religious music after the Graham crackers caught her soul; did that invalidate her whole prior career? You can see that she did sing some blues for Black Swan; but when Sweet Mama Stringbean had a chance to leave that life, become pop star Ethel, she seized hold with both hands.<br />2. Basie's Joe was tall enough to also be called Big Joe, and I can imagine some search engine failing to differentiate, which could then lead to the embarrassing situation you have described... and there I stop. It's time for the artist himself to speak up.Ed Leimbachernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-16991957785223582852013-07-10T14:18:56.463-07:002013-07-10T14:18:56.463-07:00Another problem: That's Joe Williams, best kno...Another problem: That's Joe Williams, best known for his work with the Count Basie Band (1954-early 60s), and not blues legend Big Joe Williams.<br /><br />This picture of Joe is likely the source for the depiction of Big Joe:<br /><br />http://www.biography.com/people/joe-williams-9532453<br /><br />I saw multiple performances by each of the Joes. There was no mistaking one for the other.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Progress Hornsbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16266401976122507327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-18408821446117540722013-07-09T09:33:19.026-07:002013-07-09T09:33:19.026-07:00I'd never revoke artistic or poetic license. S...I'd never revoke artistic or poetic license. Sometimes, though, the jazz/blues police have to pass out a speeding ticket or two.<br /><br />But seriously...the Ethel Waters error stuns. This is not a question of personal taste. Surely someone at Abrams, a major arts publisher, should have been aware. Gary Giddins does not exaggerate when he calls Waters "the mother of us all" in relation to her role in shaping 20th century popular song.Progress Hornsbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16266401976122507327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-41640232260966607742013-07-08T11:09:47.707-07:002013-07-08T11:09:47.707-07:00Excellent! Asked and answered, and in short order,...Excellent! Asked and answered, and in short order, your honor, even if you did have to do it yourself. Bill made a few odd choices, as he stated right up front, performers whose skills may have left the Blues behind, or maybe were never rooted there at all, but like his depiction of those faces that you or some other viewer could find too comical or beautiful or just not the likeness you carry around in your head, please remember it cost him a lot to get the artistic license you now seem to wish to revoke.Ed Leimbachernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-85981169818314444082013-07-08T07:24:14.706-07:002013-07-08T07:24:14.706-07:00The picture originated here:
http://www4.nau.edu/...The picture originated here:<br /><br />http://www4.nau.edu/insidenau/bumps/2006/1_18_06/ethel.htm<br /><br />http://azdailysun.com/legendary-blues-singer-comes-to-life-in-nau-production/article_d82ac0a0-1680-55c9-bb4b-5af72abcd4d3.html<br /><br />Val-Limar Jansen is known now as ValLimar Jansen. <br /><br />"Legendary blues singer" is more a publicist catch-phrase than an appropriate description for Ethel Waters. She did record blues songs, but she is a major figure in American popular song, the 32 bar variety. <br /><br />Putting trust in information and images from the Internet is living dangerously. Send in the editors and fact-checkers.<br /><br /> This doesn't dampen my enjoyment of Mr. Sout's work, though I never saw Muddy Waters smoking a cigarette. He favored those brown Little Cigars. Howlin' Wolf and Joe Turner deserve better.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Progress Hornsbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16266401976122507327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-63088766234859432013-07-08T00:01:05.898-07:002013-07-08T00:01:05.898-07:00I'll email your question to Bill and I expect ...I'll email your question to Bill and I expect he'll answer you within a few days. Check back!Ed Leimbachernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-80523630938538130352013-07-07T10:35:42.201-07:002013-07-07T10:35:42.201-07:00I admire Mr. Stout's work, but the Ethel Water...I admire Mr. Stout's work, but the Ethel Waters "card" just doesn't ring tree. The Waters picture which was the source is much circulated on the net, but that's not the gap-toothed singer who was such a major influence on American popular song and its singers*---a few off the top of my head: Crosby,Lena Horne, Connee Boswell, Mel Torme, Lee Wiley, Mildred Bailey. What is the source for the Stout depiction? It's not used in her autobiography "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" or the Waters biographies in my collection. <br /><br />*Gary Giddins wrote in "The Mother of Us All" chapter of Riding on a Blue Note: Waters in many respects was the mother of American popular singing, the transitional figure who combined elements of white stars such as Nora Bayes, Fannie Brice and Sophie Tucker with black rhythms, repertoire and instrumentation.Progress Hornsbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16266401976122507327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-38184093257586090092013-03-12T21:47:06.572-07:002013-03-12T21:47:06.572-07:00p.s. nice irony that this recalcitrant keyboard mi...p.s. nice irony that this recalcitrant keyboard misspells so I now appear lazy and unprofessionalme againnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-58322278281252638482013-03-12T21:32:40.688-07:002013-03-12T21:32:40.688-07:00Hmmm... verry enteres-sting...a credible example o...Hmmm... verry enteres-sting...a credible example of two conflicting realities. Bill rightfully defends himself against my complaint of being neglected for a whole worrisome day, and invokes the evidence which of course persuades me of his caring and the unjustness of my slightly accusatory tale.<br /><br />But two facts from my reality are unfortunately also true. Sandie never told me that she called you, my friend, assuming that I would find the hoped-for email and be elated... but also cautious about revealing her intercession, knowing that I might think of her action to help me stop fretting as, also, embarrassing nd "unprofessioal." <br /><br />But what really set this tale in motion is the dang-blasted second fact: Bill's first email never showed up in my in-box--whether lost in cyberspace, blocked by some vicious spam filter, hacked lose and away by a grinning gremlin, or even deleted unknowingly by a stupider version of, er, me. <br /><br />So Bill was innocent, I was saddened unnecessarily, and we didn't know until now that there were differing realities. I'm glad that both versions have now been told. (Still, mine did add some suspense!) Ed Leimbachernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5241063190450464888.post-2948328970248995532013-03-11T14:50:51.784-07:002013-03-11T14:50:51.784-07:00That pretty much sums up the dilemma that faced me...That pretty much sums up the dilemma that faced me, except for one factual error: I IMMEDIATELY wrote to you upon receiving and reading your spectacular intro, praising it to the heavenly skies (as it well deserved). According to Sandi (when she called to find out why I hadn't responded), after I'd explained that I did, indeed, promptly respond, she told me you apparently hadn't checked the e-mailbox of yours where my praise was still lying in wait. You sent me the intro on the afternoon of 11/25; here's my response (sent upon reading it the morning of 11/26):<br />Hi Ed,<br />That's magnificent! Full of your wit, humor, knowledge and love of the genre (and of me); basically, just what I had hoped for: a full reflection of you, as represented by your consummate skills as a writer.<br /><br />I hope Abrams feels the same way! It will go out to them this morning.<br /><br />Thanks, my friend. You came through like a champ.<br /><br />Whose portrait would you like?<br /><br />BillBillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12175176789551383392noreply@blogger.com