Chuck Cowdery
Blues Legends
Contents
Click here for a complete list
of the 20 artists profiled in Blues Legends. Click here
for a complete list of the songs on the CD included
with the book.
About the book and, in particular, the photographs.
Blues Legends is a book intended for newcomers to the blues,
especially anyone who (like me) discovered the blues through its 'child,'
rock and roll. Blues Legends is short and easy to read, and the
20 artists profiled are the ones who most influenced
the rock era. A 10-song CD is also included. Veteran
blues fans will like Blues Legends for its many rare photographs.
Above on the left is a photograph of Muddy Waters, as it appears on
the cover of Blues Legends. It was taken by Raeburn Flerlage in
about 1963. The photograph on the right is of Howlin' Wolf and his band
at Silvio's, also taken by Ray in the mid-60s. (That's Wolf at the far
right.) Silvio's was Howlin' Wolf's 'home club' in Chicago. The night this
picture was taken, Wolf kept sending tumblers of bourbon over to Ray's
table. You can't see it too well on this GIF, but Wolf is looking right
at the camera, i.e., right at Ray, and laughing, as Ray gets progressively
drunker. There are several more photos from that night in Blues Legends.
I
wrote this book, but one of the most exciting aspects of it, for me, has
been the photographs. (That's John Lee Hooker, in about 1963.) Most of
them were taken by Chicago photographer Raeburn Flerlage during the fifties,
sixties and seventies, at various venues here in Chicago. Some have never
been published before. Also, using the work of only one photographer shooting
over a fairly compressed period of time (about 15 years), gives the book
a visual unity you usually don't find in blues books, which tend to take
whatever pictures they can get. Ray's pictures really capture a sense of
the time and place.
Ray's pictures are great. For one thing, he photographed practically
everybody who performed in Chicago during that period, and practically
everyone did. The 60 or so pictures in this book just scratch the surface
of his collection. I have had the pleasure of skimming the contact sheets.
Would that all of you blues fans could be so lucky.
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Charles K. Cowdery
3712 N. Broadway, No. 298
Chicago, IL 60613
Comments? Questions? E-mail me at cowdery@ix.netcom.com