The Half Moon Pub in Putney, London, has been hosting rock'n'roll gigs since 1963, making it one of the oldest live venues in the capital. In 1980, I was studying at Garnett College (now University of Westminster) and living in Roehampton. Every Friday night, I would join a group of fellow students to check out the live music at the Half Moon.
The Blues Band was the resident band, led by ex-Manfred Mann singer/harmonica player John Paul Jones and lead (slide) guitarist Dave Kelly, but there were also one-off gigs by various visiting acts, mainly blues and classic R&B bands, such as Rocket 88, set up by Rolling Stones' keyboard player Ian Stewart and blues stalwart Alexis Corner. A chap called Charlie Watts often played on drums, and if we were really lucky Dick Heckstall-Smith would play two saxophones at once.
One gig has remained in my memory from the many we enjoyed at the Half Moon, and that was a spectacular show by a unique musician -- Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown.
Brown was an influential musician, one of two Texan blues guitarists who paved the way for many others, like Johnny Winters, to follow, the other being the legendary T-Bone Walker. But there are the similarities between Brown and anyone else in the blues, jazz or R&B worlds ends. He was a one-off, as he declared throughout his career.
Born in Louisiana in 1924, he was raised in Orange, Texas. His father taught him guitar at five and fiddle by the age of 10. He learnt country music and string sounds first. He got his nickname from his school, when a teacher noted that he didn't need a microphone as he had a voice like a "gate", and so he was called "Gatemouth" (his younger brother, also a talented guitarist, cashed in on the name, and called himself "Widemouth").
His big breakthrough came at a club when T-Bone Walker took a break and Gatemouth was encouraged to take the stage and play T-Bone's guitar. He invented a song on the stage, Gatemouth Boogie, and made US$600 in 15 minutes (a lot of money at that time). He never looked back.
His first recordings were made in 1947, but it wasn't until the early 50s that he started to make a name for his super first runs and riffs on the guitar, his clear voice and the big band feel to his productions.
Last year, the German-based label Bear Family Productions released a treasure trove of tracks from the early part of his career, 1947 to 1960 -- mainly uptempo R&B dance songs -- that he recorded for the Aladdin and Peacock labels. Bear Family has a long-running series called Rocks that has so far included many R&B, rockabilly and rock'n'roll acts like Chuck Berry, Champion Jack Dupree, Sleep LaBeef, Link Wray and many others. They are excellent packages, with liner notes written by experts, lots of photos and complete discographies.
Brown would never accept being called a blues musician. He resisted all labels, except one: he called himself an American musician. He had a great dislike for slow, sad blues (such as Delta blues) and would back that up by composing and performing up tempo and positive music -- perfect for dancing. In his attitude to being labelled, I think he was similar to Mali's Ali Farka Toure, who baulked at the idea that he was just a "desert bluesman".
The 29 tracks on the compilation represent his early work and feature his unique guitar style and tone (he sort of strummed and picked without using the index finger of his left hand) and band sound (influenced he said by Count Basie and his Big Band and Louis Jordan and his "jump jive" band). He was frustrated during this time as he was not encouraged to play his fiddle (see tracks like Slop Time for a sampling of his fiddle-based R&B).
As his career developed, he added elements from jazz, swing, Cajun and Zydeco to create his own, very distinct sound. On the compilation, however, his work as a Texas guitarist is the focus and it clearly shows just what an influence he and T-Bone Walker were on blues and blues rock musicians.
And some of these tracks really swing. Outstanding songs include dancefloor filler Boogie Rambler and one of my favourites Rock My Blues Away. Pale Dry Boogie (Parts 1 And 2) and Too Late Baby are the other standouts. The best fiddle based song is Just Before Dawn. One thing you'll notice about the fiddle tracks is that they swing and are upbeat: Gatemouth, like other blues fiddlers, was not happy that from the 1930s fiddlers were often replaced by harmonica players (Gatemouth could play a blues harp pretty well, too), a grudge he carried throughout his life.
As his career developed, Brown recorded his own unique take on American music. He was a multi-instrumentalist who sang his own tune and forged his own musical path. Highly recommended.
In my last column, the great Colombian musician Toto La Momposina was described as deceased. I am happy to correct this error and report that she is very much alive.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
