Charles Brown
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 /TiVo
Artistas semelhantes
-
Merry Christmas Baby / Please Come Home for Christmas
Soul - Lançado por Jewel Records em 01/10/1965
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Complete Jazz Series 1946
Jazz - Lançado por Complete Jazz Series em 01/12/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jack & Charles - [The Dave Cash Collection]
Champion Jack Dupree, Charles Brown
Blues - Lançado por The Dave Cash Collection - OMP em 09/05/2011
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Merry Christmas Baby (New Orleans Version)
Jazz - Lançado por Delta Christmas em 16/11/2020
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Walk With Me (Live)
Vocal Jazz - Lançado por Arkadia Records em 27/01/2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
You Are Mine
Miscellaneous - Lançado por Richworks Media Inc. em 30/10/2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Singles, Vol. 1
Soul - Lançado por Arachne Records em 25/08/2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barry Gray's Jingles, Vol. 1
Jazz - Lançado por Mile End em 05/05/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A New Awakening
Rock - Lançado por Charles Brown em 10/04/2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Driftin'Blues (Live)
Blues - Lançado por Arkadia Records em 24/02/2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Feliz Navidad y próspero Año Nuevo de Charles Brown
Christmas Music - Lançado por Amamos la navidad em 13/11/2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Blazin' Bluegrass
Rory Dempsey, Charles Brown, Dominic Sales
Country - Lançado por KPM Main Series em 01/05/2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
-
Complete Jazz Series 1946 - 1947
Jazz - Lançado por Complete Jazz Series em 01/01/1999
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Complete Jazz Series 1949 - 1951
Jazz - Lançado por Complete Jazz Series em 01/12/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Complete Jazz Series 1947 - 1948
Jazz - Lançado por Complete Jazz Series em 01/12/2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Trouble No More
Blues - Lançado por Vanilla OMP em 19/10/2009
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Please Come Home for Christmas / Christmas in Heaven
Blues - Lançado por Jewel Records em 03/12/1974
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Just a Blessing / Christmas in Heaven
Funk - Lançado por Jewel Records em 30/09/1965
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo