Jimmy BowkskillLoose Blues News

Jimmy Bowskill (right) is the winner of this year's Indie Award for Favourite Blues Artist/Group. Jimmy has been astounding audiences around town over the last year, getting non-stop TV appearances and media attention and is now starting to make a name for himself in Quebec with several tours there. At the end of the month, he will be heading to France for some festival gigs. Look out, world!

Canadian Independent Music Awards Winners 2004: Congratulations to Favourite Blues Artist/Group Jimmy Bowskill and Favourite Jazz Artist/Group Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards. Jimmy Bowskill was also the "house band" on CBC Radio's Here and Now last month, during March Break, of course, with Jerome Godboo and Terry Wilkins. The Jimmy Bowskill Band featuring Jimmy Bowskill on vocals and guitar, Alec Fraser on bass and vocals, Jerome Godboo on harp and vocals, and Bob Vespaziani on percussion, also appeared on the Easter Seals Telethon live on CBC television last month. As well, his recording "Old Soul" was featured on a special "Album Hour" last month on www.thebluesnet.com.

9th Annual Orillia Spring Blues Festival, April 29 to May 2: Grammy award winner James Cotton kicks things off, with locals Wayne Buttery & the Groove Project, at the Thursday gala at Second Last Call. Tickets for this main stage event are $25 in advance and $30 at the door, which includes a weekend blues pass. Fathead plays the Highwayman Inn on Friday and Saturday nights, beginning at 9:30 pm. Jack de Keyzer plays Second Last Call on Friday night, while the Cameo Blues Band takes to the stage on Saturday night. Both shows begin at 10 pm. Morgan Davis returns to Orillia at the Broadway Banquet Hall on Laclie Street for two shows, including a History of the Blues workshop at 3 pm, and a Saturday night show beginning at 8 pm. He'll be followed by the six-piece zydeco blues band Loco Zydeco. Local blues favorites the Ronnie Douglas Band and Jumpin' Dunkin will also take to the stage at other local venues. The action wraps up Sunday with jambalaya and a blues jam at Second Last Call. Admission to all shows other than the main stage event is free with the purchase of a Blues Festival button at the door. For more information visit www.orilliaspringblues.com

Harmonica ShahThe Harmonica Shah Blues Band (left) with guitarist Howard Glazer play the Silver Dollar Room on April 17. On April 16th, they make an appearance at the Red Dog in Peterborough. Photo: Gary Colver

2nd Annual Orangeville Blues & Jazz Festival, June 3 - 6: "This year will see the festival grow from 16 acts to close to 40 acts. Most events are free happening in restaurants, clubs, patios and coffee shops. There will be two free all-day concerts in Alexandra park behind the townhall on Saturday June 5 and Sunday June 6. The festival will showcase award winning International, Canadian and Local artists. The opening night gala on Thursday June 3 takes place at Baba Ganoush and will be hosted by Danny Marks and the Bluz FM Band. Headlining the free concert on Saturday will be Chicago blues legend Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and the Juke Joint Rockers with John Mays, Al Lerman, Mel Brown and Kevin Higgins. Other acts playing on the two stages include David Rotundo & the Blue Canadians, Wayne Buttery & The Groove Project, Fathead, Lance Anderson, Trouble & Strife and others to be added to the line-up. In the clubs will be acts such as Shawn Kellerman & Soul Providers, Jack DeKeyzer Band, Mark Bird Stafford and the Harmonica Knights, Julian Fauth, and Paul James along with many others. There will also be a healthy dose of jazz artists involved in the festival this year. A festival fundraising event will take place early in May at the Galaxy Cinemas in Orangeville. A blues concert in the 240 seat movie theatre will be followed by a Jazz themed movie screening. For more information contact festival director Larry Kurtz 519-941-7875. A complete schedule and information will be available on the festival web site www.orangevillebluesandjazz.ca.

Heartwood Blues April 3 Fundraiser: Following on the success of last year's inaugural event, Heartwood Place is presenting their annual Blues Night. Heartwood Blues will take place on Saturday, April 3 at The Starlight Social Club, 47A King Street North, Waterloo. Featured performers are Juno award-winning guitarist Jack de Keyzer, and Kitchener's legendary Mel Brown. Also appearing are local favourites Waterstreet Blues Band and Daddy Long Legs. Doors open at 8 pm. A cash bar will be available. To order tickets, visit our web site www.heartwoodplace.ca/events/index.htm, or call 519-745-9315. Heartwood Blues is an annual event sponsored by Heartwood Place to promote our goal of creating affordable housing."

Film Festival Fundraiser at Blues-O-Rama: On Friday April 16, at Cougar's Nite Club, 53 Ontario Street in St. Catharines, see vocalist John Mays, Al Lerman on harmonica, bassist Gary Kendall, Michael Fonfara on keys, and Mike Fitzpatrick on drums, and others. The show starts at 8:30 pm, with tickets $10 advance, $15 at the door, available at Esprit Films 2 Lake Street, St.Catharines and locations throughout the Niagara Region. For updates, check the film festival website at www.niagaraindiefilmfest.org. Coming in from out of town? Reserve tickets by emailing dcartmer@becon.org.

Eddy ClearwaterEddy "The Chief" Clearwater (right) plays the Silver Dollar Room on Saturday, May 1with Doc MacLean opening. If you're west of Toronto, Eddy plays the Lil Big Horn Bar & Grill in Cambridge on May 2 along with Big Bill Morganfield and Daddy Long Legs

TUZA Festival of Music and Arts: RANG ("Relay of the Arts for the Next Generation") presents The Tuza ("to do honour") Festival of Music and Arts, which intends to "honour legends and legends-to-be in a cross-generational, multicultural celebration of creative passion, energy, and brilliance. From Thursday April 15 to Sunday April 18, experience the pure sounds of blues, jazz, funk fusion, world rhythms, and contemporary styles. Radiate in the inspiration of spoken word, dance, painting and photography." At the Trane Studio, 964 Bathurst Street, artists will include Jackie Washington, Ken Whiteley, Mose Scarlett, Margaret Stowe's S'Women in Blues Band with vocalists Diana Braithwaite, Miss Angel, and s.h.a.r.(o).n., The Steel Pan Vibrations Band, King Sunshine, Lazo and the Radikals, Alex Katz, Clint Symth, Ray Jonny, Sam Burke, Deborah Castillo, Maracatu Nunca Antes, George Elliot Clarke, Lévitasyon, Lizzy Mahashe, and others, including visual artists, and dance. The Charles Mack Blues Band from Chicago will be releasing their new CD as part of the festival; Currently the bassist with James Cotton and Lucky Peterson, Charles Mack has also been the bassist for Jimmy Johnson, John Hammond, Otis Taylor, Joe Lewis Walker, KoKo Taylor, Ike Turner, Cee Cee Peniston, and many others. Tickets are available at TicketMaster, the Trane Studio (964 Bathurst Street, 2 blocks north of Bloor), and headturner (942 Bathurst Street). Ticket prices are $26.50 to $30, with a Festival Pass for $70. "RANG is a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and promote the arts, to create alliances, mentorships and support networks, and to develop a scholarship foundation for emerging artists". For program details: 416-250-1272, www.rang.ca, or www.galaxiemedia.com/tuza/event.

The 9th Edition of the Festival Jazz & Blues Héritage, March 30 to April 4: This Chicoutimi, Quebec festival will feature Sue Foley, Michael Jerome Browne, Carol Welsman, Hot Toddy, Roxanne Potvin, and many more. www.jazzetblues.com.

The Vocal Group Hall of Fame: The Chairmen of The Board, which featured current Blues Juno nominee Harrison Kennedy, are nominated in the 1970s category, and, with sufficient votes, will be inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. To vote: www.vghf.com/2004_inductee_ballot.htm.

Seneca College Independent Music Production Programme: This new programme may be more a career development offering than "production" per se, but it is nevertheless a unique offering in this market. Seneca College's York University Campus is now offering a new one-year programme to help independent musicians with their careers. Get the inside track on the recording industry. Sharpen your performance. Produce with the newest technology. Learn real business skills from the pros. Deliver and market your best. Independent music production certificate. Get your sound on the right track in one year. They are still accepting applications for May enrollment now. Michael.smith@senecac.on.ca 416.491.5050 x3072. www.senecac.on.ca.

Benefit For The Suzette Augustin Family: A benefit was held last month at the Silver Dollar Room to aid fellow musician Andrew Haynes and his family. Andrew came to Toronto to recover the body of his wife, Suzette Augustin, who was murdered during a recent robbery at a Toronto travel agency. It was Ms. Augustin's first trip to Canada on a break from her studies at the University of Havana. She leaves behind her husband Andrew and an eight-year-old son, Dahved. Mr. Haynes then returned to the Isle of St. Lucia for the funeral. Howard Ross & The Full Count Blues Band, with special guests June Eikhard on fiddle and Phil Manning on the B-3, hoped to help the family with some of their expenses with this benefit show. Anyone still wishing to contribute can contact Howard Ross by phone at 905-985-4998, by e-mail bluesx2@hotmail.com, or by fax 905-985-8932.

The Grand River Blues Society's First Fundraiser: A Muddy Waters Tribute Show was presented last month in Cambridge, Ontario, featuring Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, who, from 1973 to 1980, played guitar with the Chicago Blues legend Muddy Waters, touring worldwide and recording, and learning to play Muddy's powerful music directly from him, and continues to be a blues guitar player and vocalist carrying on the deep Chicago Blues style, as well as creating his original music today. The show also included performances by Max Bent, Daddy Long Legs, Mark "Bird" Stafford, Douglas Watson, Bill Speers, Cheryl Lescom, Larry Goodhand, and John Mays, among others.

Bluesaganza Charity Event: Last month, the Bluesaganza charity event, sponsored by the CAW Local 199 and Bumpin' Uglies, was held in St. Catharines, featuring Chuck Jackson, Pat Carey, Michael Fonfara, Jerome Godboo, Murray Porter and Mike Branton in concert with the Bluesafire band, with guests Suzanne Hyatt from the Odyssey Blues Band and Niagara's own tribute to hurtin' country, Marty Allen. Proceeds from this event have supported the Autism Society of Niagara. The next Bluesaganza charity event at the CAW Local 199 Hall is planned to feature three of Canada's premier R&B singers, Johnny Mays, Johnny Max, and Johnny Wright, "The Three Johnnys".

Bowling For Blues: The Southside Shuffle presented a bowling blues party at Classic Bowl in Mississauga last month, with 5 bowlers per lane, food, prizes and live entertainment featuring Nicole Zita & Black Cat Bones, with Chuck Jackson & Johnny Max of Sunday Nite Soul.

Long & McQuade Guitar Summit: Last month at Healey's, this event featured Rik Emmett, Tony "Wild T" Springer, Jeff Healey, Pat Rush, Jesse Cook, Peter Sabourin, Orin Isaacs and Mark Patterson (ex-Mike Bullard Show ), and Domenic Troiano (Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee).

And Speaking of Wild T and the Spirit: The new CD will released on April 15, but new songs have already been featured on an internet radio show "Radio Gets Wild", www.radiogetswild.co.

And Speaking of Radio: Cybro Radio, with Internet radio host/producer Larry Lowe, features "Blues, Jazz, Gospel & some surprises, 100% music" on www.cybroradio.com, 10am to 4pm EST, 6 days per week, and10am to 2pm EST on Sundays. Sunday Night Soul with Johnny Max & Chuck Jackson is heard every Sunday night from 10 to 11pm on 1430 AM CHKT in Toronto. Their motto is "Listen to the music that radio forgot". With Windows Media Player, listen at www.fairchildradio.com. E-mail Johnny & Chuck at sundaynightsoul@hotmail.com. And Bluesnet.com, featuring Internet radio host/producer Paul Fields aka The Blue Jazzman, plays "Everyday I Have The Blues, the most diverse blues show on the internet", in 60 countries, at www.thebluesnet.com, Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm is the first loop of the day, with repeats at 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, 1am, & 5am, with encore shows featured on the weekends.

Also in the studio: The television studio, that is, where TBS VP Blues Doctor Julie Hill was again interviewed on TVO's Studio 2, this time on a 2-person panel with Canadian Idol judge Zack Werner, on the topic of Canadian Idol. Dr. Hill stood up well against "the Canadian Simon Cowell", on behalf of working musicians. She'll also be interviewed this month by CTV Television, for a prime time documentary version of Balance, on the topic of Weather and Health (to be aired in the summer), and the show will also feature shots of her performing with Raoul & the Big Time last month at the Rex Hotel. This follows a Toronto Star newspaper interview on the "winter blues", which landed her a photo and cover story in the Health Section, as well as in other TorStar publications, last month.

Blue Radio in Quebec: CKRL, Rue D'Auteuil, 89.1 is a blues radio show broadcast in RealAudio at www.ckrl.qc.ca every Friday night from 8 to 10pm. A special edition was presented last month during the community station's Radiothon, with four hours of live performances by four bands from L'Autre Caserne.

Les Grandes Dames du Blues: The fifth edition, for International Women's Day, raised funds and awareness for women's shelters in host cities. Montreal featured Dawn Tyler Watson, Sue Foley, Sylvie Desgroseillier, and Gwendolen Bédard, in support of L'Auberge Madeleine, a centre for women who are homeless or in need of assistance. www.questzones.com/aub-madeleine/index.html. Ottawa featured Dawn Tyler Watson, Alberta Adams, and Roxanne Potvin, in association with the Ottawa Bluesfest & the Ottawa Blues Society in support of the Cornerstone Women's Shelter. Highlights from Les Grandes Dames du Blues Tour can be seen on-line, with video footage of Dawn Tyler Watson, Sue Foley, Sylvie Desgroseilliers, Gwendolen Bédard and some individual band members at Cafe Campus, at www.lenetblues.com/GrandesDamesDuBlues2004.html.

And Speaking of Dawn Tyler Watson: Dawn recently toured Europe, with `Mudzilla', in Beauvais, Bergerac, Dallet, Toussieu, and Bordeaux, France, and Gouvy and Antwerpen, Belgium.

Canucks at The Byron Bay Blues & Roots Music Festival: The Canadian contingent of Serena Ryder, J.W. Jones Blues Band, and Harry Manx, joins James Brown, Solomon Burke, Steve Earle, Richard Thompson, Shemekia Copeland, Taj Mahal, Mavis Staples, Pharoah Sanders, Dr. John, Kenny Neal, Jackson Browne, Robert Balfour, North Mississippi All Stars, Bill Kirchen, and others at this four-day Australian blues/roots festival in early April.

And Speaking of the JW-Jones Blues Band: Their new CD, entitled My Kind of Evil, features guest vocals by Colin James, and was produced by multi-Grammy nominee Kim Wilson. CD Release Parties are planned for May 14 in Toronto at the Silver Dollar Room, and May 15 in Ottawa at the Rainbow Bistro.

Jessie Mae Hemphill `Dares You to do it Again': "Blues legend Jessie Mae Hemphill has released her first new album in over a decade. The Clarksdale, MS granddaughter of the late great Sid Hemphill, and five-time winner of the WC Handy Award, Jessie Mae Hemphill still carries on the tradition of Northern Mississippi hill country music and remains a mainspring of inspiration for a new generation of blues players. A stroke in 1993 left Jessie Mae partially paralyzed on her left side and unable to play guitar, so a string of guitar players from around the country were lined up to do the honours. Jessie Mae lent her voice and tambourine to a host of friends, including Robert Belfour, Jimbo Mathus, DJ Logic, Kenny Brown, Cedric and Garry Burnside, Papa Mali, Chris Chew, RL Boyce, Tramp Camp, Sharde Tuner & the Rising Star Fife and Drum Corp, Kenny Kimbrough, Steve Gardner, Ruthie Foster, Cyd Cassone, Greg Humphreys, and Eric Deaton. The album features an enhanced CD with an extended DJ Logic remix, photographs, plus an 8-minute video of behind the scenes footage. All proceeds from the sale of the album will go to the J.M.H. Foundation, a nonprofit vehicle to draw public attention to the hill country blues music indigenous to the Northern Mississippi region. More information about the J.M.H. Foundation is available at www.jmhemphill.org or email info@jmhemphill.org."

Get Well: Chicago blues guitarist Jimmy Burns underwent heart bypass surgery in Chicago shortly after returning from his successful performance with his band at Toronto's Silver Dollar Room on February 17. Jimmy is said to be recovering rapidly, and in good spirits. He hopes to recommence touring soon, and to appear at the W.C. Handy Awards in Memphis this month.

We remember:The former host of Canadian syndicated radio programme Blues North, 'Big' John Small passed away last month in Toronto at age 65. Big John Small hosted Blues North on the Rock Radio Network in the mid-90s. He was a significant supporter of the blues community in Canada, and will be sorely missed. John Small was also a professor of broadcasting at Seneca College in Toronto. Details are pending on a spring service for John planned by Seneca College.

Radio host and recording artist Rick Fielding, a blues-friendly broadcaster on CIUT for 15 years, passed away on March 20th. after a lengthy and courageous battle with cancer. Originally a native of Montréal, Quebec, Rick was smitten by folk and blues music as a teenager. He later moved to Toronto and in a career that spanned over thirty years toured extensively throughout Canada, Great Britain and the United States. He recorded albums for Folk Legacy and Borealis. and happily managed to finish his latest album Acoustic Workshop while struggling with his illness. A celebration of Rick's life and music will take place in late spring.

"Famed Chicago-based blues saxophonist, vocalist, songwriter and bandleader A.C. Reed, a leading elder figure and the best-known sax player of the Chicago blues scene, died Wednesday, February 25, 2004, from complications due to cancer. He was 77. During the course of his career, Reed played his fat-toned, elegantly simple tenor sax with artists like Albert Collins, Buddy Guy Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Son Seals, both on stage and on record, as well as leading his own band, The Spark Plugs. His three solo albums and numerous singles all featured his wry, humorous songs, some of which have been covered by other artists including Magic Slim, Charlie Musselwhite and Eddie Shaw. DownBeat called Reed one of the blues' most incisive originals. Born Aaron Corthen in Wardell, Missouri in 1926, and raised in downstate llinois, A.C. first heard blues saxophone on an Erskine Hawkins 78 he heard on a jukebox. He was so inspired by the sound of the big honking horn, he decided he wanted to learn how to play the saxophone. He moved to Chicago in early 1942 and found work at a steel mill. With his first paycheck, he bought a saxophone at a pawnshop. He studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music for a few years, emulating his musical hero, tenor man Gene Ammons. While working at the mill during the day, Reed began gigging on weekends with a variety of blues combos, eventually coming under the tutelage of J.T. Brown, Elmore James' tenor sax player. By the end of the 1940s, Reed was gigging regularly with Willie Mabon and Earl Hooker. During the 1950s he toured across the Midwest and Southwest with Hooker and Dennis 'Long Man' Binder. Returning to Chicago in the early 1960s, Reed became an in-demand session player for the Chief and Age labels, and recorded his first single for Age, 'This Little Voice,' in 1961. He recorded more singles for Age, USA, Nike and a few other small Chicago labels during the rest of the decade, while playing regularly in the city's blues clubs. Reed joined with Buddy Guy and Junior Wells' band in 1967, toured Africa with Guy and Wells, and even joined the Rolling Stones tour (still as a member of Guy's band) in 1970. He left Guy's band in 1977 and joined first Son Seals and then Albert Collins, with whom he spent over a decade as a member of Collins' band, The Icebreakers. Reed recorded with Seals and Collins on their seminal Alligator Records albums, including Collins' groundbreaking releases Ice Pickin' (Grammy-nominated), Frostbite, Don't Lose Your Cool, and Live In Japan, and Seals' powerful Live And Burnin'. Reed's exposure with Collins led to a reinvigorated solo career. He recorded four songs for Alligator's Living Chicago Blues anthology series in 1980 and an album for his own Ice Cube label, Take These Blues And Shove 'Em, in 1982. By 1983 Reed was performing regularly with his own band, The Spark Plugs, logging over 250 performances a year. Reed's 1987 Alligator album I'm In The Wrong Business featured guests Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Reed constantly performed and recorded throughout the years. He worked in clubs and at blues festivals all over the country. Besides his Alligator and Ice Cube releases, he recorded for the Austrian Wolf label and appeared on albums by Lousie Miranda and Larry Davis & Byther Smith in the early 1990s. His two final solo albums, the 1998 Junk Food on Delmark and the 2002 I got Money on the French Black And Blue label, both received positive critical acclaim and maintained Reed's status as a seminal Chicago blues figure. He is survived by a sister, Sarah Corthen of Carbondale, IL. A benefit was held last month to help AC's family pay for funeral arrangements. Organized by his drummer, Al Lopestello, AC's regular band, The Spark Plugs, hosted an all-star session along with The Andre Taylor Band, with performers Eddy Clearwater, Phil Guy, Michael Coleman, Big Time Sarah, Cary and Lurrie Bell, Joanna Conner, Carlos Johnson, Doug McDonald, Mathew Skoller, Sam Goode, Charlie Love, J.B. Richie, and many more special guests.

Ella Johnson was a jazz singer who performed with her brother Buddy Johnson in his dance bands in the 1940s and '50s, Ella Johnson died in New York on February 16, according to her nephew James Johnson Jr. She was 86. A smooth singer with a seductive delivery, Johnson was often compared to Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. But as a part of her brother's rollicking bands, she also helped forge a link to R&B and early rock 'n' roll. Johnson was born in Darlington, S.C., and moved to New York to join Buddy, her older brother, while still in her teens. Though only two years older than Ella, Buddy had become an established musician in New York and was leading groups at the Savoy Ballroom and elsewhere. Her first hit with Buddy was "Please, Mr. Johnson" in 1940, and she continued to record and perform with him into the 1960s. One of her best-known songs was "Since I Fell for You" (1945), a ballad written by Buddy that was later performed by Mel Torme and George Shearing, Annie Laurie, Lenny Welch and others. She also sang "When My Man Comes Home," "Hittin' on Me," "Did You See Jackie Robinson Hit That Ball?" and "I Don't Want Nobody." Among her survivors are her husband, four brothers, a sister, and a granddaughter.

California-based bluesman J.J. Malone passed away on Friday, February 20, 2004, at his son's home in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, after a valiant fight with cancer. He was 68. According to his label's website (Blues Express), born August 20, 1935, in Decatur, Alabama, "J.J. Malone was a true blues original. He's quite clear about which musicians most inspired him - Muddy Waters being his all-time favourite - but he doesn't sound like any of 'em - not as a singer, nor as guitarist or piano player. He cites Waters, John Lee Hooker, Doctor Clayton, and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup as early influences on his singing, with Louis Jordan and B.B. King coming into the picture slightly later. The Decatur, Alabama-born, Fairfax, California-based bluesman didn't copy anyone - not even himself. Unlike many blues artists who rely on set patterns, Malone was constantly pushing the envelope, playing whatever pops into his head at the moment. Discography: 1997 - Highway 99 (Fedora), 1999 - See Me Early in the Mornin' (Fedora), 2001 - And the Band Played On (Blues Express). A memorial benefit concert for the family is being planned.

- Julie Hill, Brian Blain

BOOK REVIEW:

Dick Waterman bookBetween Midnight And Day:
The Last Unpublished Blues Archive

By Dick Waterman
Thunder's Mouth Press
176 pages, $30.39 CDN (www.amazon.ca)
www.dickwaterman.com

At various Newport folk festivals during the 1960s, Dick Waterman photographed some artists who were to become blues legends, among them Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Rev. Gary Davis, Muddy Waters and B.B. King.

The Newport photographs, along with others he took during the '60s plus a few from the '90s, make up Waterman's recently published first book, Between Midnight And Day: The Last Unpublished Blues Archive. The pictures are accompanied by entertaining stories in which Waterman, who managed an extraordinary roster of blues artists, reminisces about the artists and his own experiences, good and bad, on the blues highway.

Between Midnight And Day is a journey through blues history, opening with photographs of traditional acoustic players such as John Hurt and Eddie "Son" House, both of whom Waterman managed. Included are the originators of Chicago blues, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, and post-Waters/Wolf-era artists Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, who were also Waterman clients.

The book's title comes from Son House's "Levee Camp Moan": "Woke up this morning/Between midnight and day/I was hugging the pillow/Where my baby used to lay."

Waterman and his buddies, Nick Perls and Phil Spiro, rediscovered House, a mentor of Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, in Rochester, New York, in 1964. House, gave up music altogether in the 1940s, until Waterman and his pals knocked at his door, and sparked a career renaissance for him in the '60s and '70s.

In one of the most powerful photographs in Between Midnight And Day, House stands beside Philadelphia's Liberty Bell. It's certainly ironic to see an American black man of House's generation beside the Liberty Bell.

Waterman also photographed some lesser-known artists, among them Furry Lewis, who once worked as a street sweeper in Memphis. Lewis, sadly, is probably most remembered for the song Joni Mitchell wrote about him, "Furry Sings The Blues."

Waterman says Lewis was upset by Mitchell's profiting from his name and tried to get a share of the song, which would have amounted to a few hundred dollars twice a year. Mitchell's management declared that Lewis wasn't entitled to anything as Mitchell had written both the song's words and music.

"I always felt that for a few hundred bucks he would have been proud to be mentioned in a song written by a woman who lived in faraway California," Waterman writes. "Instead, Furry Lewis stayed bitter until the day he died."

A photographic coup of Waterman's 1964 visit to Will Shade, the leader of the Memphis Jug Band, was the picture he took of Shade's wife, Jennie, reputed to have once been the most beautiful women in Memphis.

At the time Waterman took Jenny's picture, she was an old woman rocking in her chair, sipping whiskey from a coffee cup, smoking cigarettes down to less than an inch and then lighting a fresh one off the butt. The photograph of Jennie, her expression sad and pensive, reveals that the traces of her legendary beauty remained.

Some of the stories in Between Midnight And Day are as memorable as the photographs. A favourite story of mine is about Mississippi John Hurt, who in his on-stage banter at a 1965 appearance mentioned that Waterman had taken him to see the Beatles movies, A Hard Day's Night and Help! "You took Mississippi John Hurt to see the Beatles?" came a voice from the audience.

Waterman recalls he had a bad feeling about where that was going, but then Hurt replied, "Them boys was good. You should have seen them jumping and playing them guitars when they was in the snow." It goes to show that when it comes to music musicians are sometimes more open-minded than their audiences.

Reflecting the male-dominated blues world of the '60s, Between Midnight And Day features a lopsided 43 male artists and seven female artists. The blues scene has changed in the past couple of decades, with a stronger female presence, but blues still remains a musical form that attracts largely male artists.

Waterman's gallery of female artists includes Sippie Wallace, Big Mama Thornton and Etta James, both of whom gave him some trouble when he promoted their appearances, Mavis Staples, folksinger Joan Baez (with Bob Dylan), Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt. Waterman managed Raitt for 15 years and she contributes a preface to this book.

Between Midnight And Day documents the '60s blues revival, which brought many uniquely talented artists out of obscurity. Through the revival, their rich legacy has been handed down to future generations.

With the publication of Between Midnight And Day, the last unpublished blues archive has been released. Most of the artists are no longer with us and the stories in the book are the memories of a man who had access to them. Which is why Between Midnight And Day should become a classic among books about the blues.

- Ruth Schweitzer

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