Johnny Otis and Friends - The Story of the Blues (2 CD, 2004/FLAC)

 There can’t be many people who have done more in the name of rhythm & blues than John Alexander Veliotes – Johnny Otis to his friends and fans.

Johnny has packed a lot into his lifetime: author, father, painter, radio DJ, TV host, sculptor, political activist, priest, farmer and much more besides. But whatever he’s known for, it’s the music he’s been making since the mid-1940s that has always endeared him to record collectors and marked him as one of the true originators of R&B.

Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan - The Complete Savoy Recordings [3 CD, 1999/FLAC]

 

Although generally best known to the masses for his 1958 hit with the Bo Diddley beat, "Willie and the Hand Jive," Johnny Otis has had a remarkable career. For more than 50 years, Otis has been a drummer, vibraphonist, bandleader, record producer, talent scout, label owner, nightclub impresario, disc jockey, TV variety-show host, author, rock & roll star, painter, and entrepreneur in the health-food business. Born in Northern California in 1921 to Greek-American parents (his real name is John Veliotes), Otis felt more comfortable with the African-American culture that surrounded him in his formative years and adopted it as his own. The Complete Savoy Recordings is a 3-CD compilation that stylishly presents his beginnings as a bandleader and talent scout. As amply displayed here, Otis deserves his place in the upper tier of rhythm & blues pioneers. Through his work with and discoveries of such renowned talent as Jimmy Rushing, Little Esther Philips, the Robins (some of whom went on to form the Coasters), Mel Walker, Marilyn Scott, Linda Hopkins, Bill Doggett, and Jay McNeely, Otis has had a profound influence on American music.

Guitar Slim Green with Johnny And Shuggie Otis ‎– Stone Down Blues [2015]

 

Guitar Slim Green wasn't a prolific bluesman by any means. He recorded several sides in the '40s, '50s, and '60s, including a pair of singles for Johnny Otis' Dig, but perhaps his best-known recording is 1970's Stone Down Blues, his only full-length record. That's entirely due to who supports him on the album, produced by Johnny Otis, who also played drums on the record and brought in his son Shuggie to play bass and the occasional guitar, forming something of a power trio with Guitar Slim. Certainly, father and son help push Green away from his comfortable wheelhouse -- a wheelhouse that's firmly indebted to T-Bone Walker, whose influence can be heard on Guitar Slim's fluid single-line leads -- and into slightly funkier territory. The Otis rhythm section is loose and gritty, something that's readily apparent on the jumping opener "Shake 'Em Up" and that swing pops up elsewhere, including the John Lee Hooker homage "Old Folks Blues." One of the attractive things about Stone Down Blues is how the Otises continue to goose Green along in sly ways, urging him to sing Johnny's protest tune "This War Ain't Right" and mixing up shuffles ("Make Love All Night") with slow 12-bar blues ("My Little Angel Child"), piano blues ("You Make Me Feel So Good"), and urbanized country blues ("Big Fine Thing"). Green's gravelly voice and mellow presence help tie this all together and the whole album feels something like a casual triumph: Johnny Otis is paying his old friend a favor and, in doing so, finds an unwitting intersection between the old and modern blues at the turn of the '60s.

1. Shake 'Em Up
2. Bumble Bee Blues
3. Make Love Al Night
4. My Little Angel Child
5. 5th Street Alley Blues
6. Old Folks Boogie
7. This War Ain't Right
8. You Make Me Feel So Good
9. Big Fine Thing
10. Play On Little Girl