Charles Brown
Albums
This Charles Brown session from early 1992 finds the singer sounding just as natural as he did in the early '50s. Blues and Other Love Songs was originally released on [more]
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These Blues; I Did My Best For You; Honey; May I Never Love Again; I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good); Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby); A Hundred Years From Today; [more]
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Appearances
This Charles Brown session from early 1992 finds the singer sounding just as natural as he did in the early '50s. Blues and Other Love Songs was originally released on [more]
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![Jazz for a Rainy Afternoon [32 Jazz]](/cache/JHS/m7/130x130_on-sale_m71449wr7xh.png)
This sampler CD has 11 ballads taken from the Muse catalog that the 32 Jazz label acquired in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, the liner notes are sparse and the [more]
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Los Angeles is not usually seen as a hotbed of African-American musical creativity in the first half of the 20th century, but this deluxe box [more]
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![Hooker [Box Set]](/cache/JHS/h9/130x130_h97862ps8he.jpg)
John Lee Hooker was an active recording artist for roughly 50 years -- active in that not only did he record steadily, but he actively jumped from label to label, recording for [more]
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These Blues; I Did My Best For You; Honey; May I Never Love Again; I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good); Is You Is, Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby); A Hundred Years From Today; [more]
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Kitty Margolis' third recording for her Madkat label is certainly her most varied and eccentric. Each of the 13 selections has its share of surprises, with Kitty's [more]
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Biography
- Born Sep 13th 1922 in Texas City, TX
- Died Jan 21st 1999 in Oakland, CA
How many blues artists remained at the absolute top of their game after more than a half-century of performing? One immediately leaps to mind: Charles Brown. His incredible piano skills and laid-back vocal delivery remained every bit as mesmerizing at the end of his life as they were way back in 1945, when his groundbreaking waxing of "Drifting Blues" with guitarist Johnny Moore's Three Blazers invented an entirely new blues genre for sophisticated postwar revelers: an ultra-mellow, jazz-inflected sound perfect for sipping a late-night libation in some hip after-hours joint. Brown's smooth trio format was tremendously influential to a host of high-profile disciples -- Ray Charles, Amos Milburn, and Floyd Dixon, for starters.
Classically trained on the ivories, Brown earned a degree in chemistry before moving to Los Angeles in 1943. He soon hooked up with the Blazers (Moore and bassist Eddie Williams), who modeled themselves after Nat "King" Cole's trio but retained a bluesier tone within their ballad-heavy repertoire. With Brown installed as their vocalist and pianist, the Blazers' "Drifting Blues" for Philo Records remained on Billboard's R&B charts for 23 weeks, peaking at number two. Follow-ups for Exclusive and Modern (including "Sunny Road," "So Long," "New Orleans Blues," and their immortal 1947 Yuletide classic "Merry Christmas Baby") kept the Blazers around the top of the R&B listings from 1946 through 1948, until Brown opted to go solo.
If anything, Brown was even more successful on his own. Signing with Eddie Mesner's Aladdin logo, he visited the R&B Top Ten no less than ten times from 1949 to 1952, retaining his mournful, sparsely arranged sound for the smashes "Get Yourself Another Fool," the chart-topping "Trouble Blues" and "Black Night," and "Hard Times." Despite a 1956 jaunt to New Orleans to record with the Cosimo's studio band, Brown's mellow approach failed to make the transition to rock's brasher rhythms, and he soon faded from national prominence (other than when his second holiday perennial, "Please Come Home for Christmas," hit in 1960 on the King label). Occasionally recording without causing much of a stir during the '60s and '70s, Brown began to regroup by the mid-'80s. One More for the Road, a set cut in 1986 for the short-lived Blue Side logo, announced to anyone within earshot that Brown's talents hadn't diminished at all while he was gone (the set later re-emerged on Alligator). Bonnie Raitt took an encouraging interest in Brown's comeback bid, bringing him on tour with her as her opening act (thus introducing the blues vet to a whole new generation or two of fans). His recording career took off too, with a series of albums for Bullseye Blues (the first entry, 1990's All My Life, is especially pleasing), and more recently, a disc for Verve.
In his last years, Brown finally received at least a portion of the recognition he deserved for so long as a genuine rhythm and blues pioneer. But the suave, elegant Brown was by no means a relic, as anyone who witnessed his thundering boogie piano style will gladly attest; he returned in 1998 with So Goes Love before dying on January 21, 1999. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide
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