スリーピー・ジョン・エステス
Big Bill Broonzy called John Estes' style of singing "crying" the blues because of its overt emotional quality. Actually, his vocal style harks back to his tenure as a work-gang leader for a railroad maintenance crew, where his vocal improvisations and keen, cutting voice set the pace for work activities. Nicknamed "Sleepy" John Estes, supposedly because of his ability to sleep standing up, he teamed with mandolinist Yank Rachell and harmonica player Hammie Nixon to play the house party circuit in and around Brownsville in the early 1920s. The same team reunited 40 years later to record for Delmark and play the festival circuit. Never an outstanding guitarist, Estes relied on his expressive voice to carry his music, and the recordings he made from 1929 on have enormous appeal and remain remarkably accessible today.
Despite the fact that he performed for mixed Black and white audiences in string bands, jug bands, and medicine show formats, his music retains a distinct ethnicity and has a particularly plaintive sound. Astonishingly, he recorded for six decades on Victor, Decca, Bluebird, Ora Nelle, Sun, Delmark, and others. Over the course of his career, his music remained simple yet powerful, and despite his sojourns to Memphis and Chicago he retained a traditional down-home sound. Some of his songs are deeply personal statements about his community and life, such as "Lawyer Clark" and "Floating Bridge." Other compositions have universal appeal ("Drop Down Mama" and "Someday Baby") and went on to become mainstays in the repertoires of countless musicians. One of the true masters of his idiom, he lived in poverty, yet was somehow capable of turning his experiences and the conditions of his life into compelling art.
© Barry Lee Pearson /TiVo
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Sleepy John Estes 1929-1941: From Memphis to Chicago
Blues - Fremeaux Heritage 発売日 2002/07/30
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Presenting Sleepy John Estes
Blues - Universal Digital Enterprises 発売日 1930/04/08
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Sleepy John Estes; Singer-Songwriter, Volume 2: Blues Master
R&B - PROFOUND 発売日 2020/10/30
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Crying Out Loud - Sleepy John Estes Blues Chronicles
Blues - Stardom Records 発売日 2023/09/15
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Broke and Hungry - Ragged and Dirty, Too
Blues - Tin Toy 発売日 1964/05/05
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ultimate Blues Anthology: Sleepy John Estes, Vol. 1
Blues - MN Records 発売日 2019/12/02
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sleepy John Estes; Singer-Songwriter, Volume 3: The Blues Legend
R&B - PROFOUND 発売日 2020/10/30
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sleepy John Estes; Singer-Songwriter, Volume 1: Blues Master
R&B - PROFOUND 発売日 2020/10/30
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jailhouse Blues
Sleepy John Estes, Blind Willie McTell
Blues - History 発売日 1999/01/02
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Lawyer Clark Blues - Treasury Of Jazz No. 30 (Recordings of 1941)
Pop - Treasury of Jazz 発売日 2021/01/31
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Ultimate Blues Anthology: Sleepy John Estes, Vol. 2
Blues - MN Records 発売日 2019/12/02
16-Bit CD音質 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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