...
Come on baby, don't you want to go, (repeat)
Back to the same old place, sweet home Chicago?
...
(Little Scotty singing on Maxwell Street - Summer 1994 - near Johnny Dollar food stand)
As Milan honors La Scala and Memphis honors Graceland, this web site honors the Maxwell Street Blues Tradition!
A Project by OPENAIR-MARKET NET. Named "COOL SITE" by the Chicago Sun Times, 3/10/96.
NEWS:
Missed
the funeral? Attend virtually by going to the Jimmy Rogers Memorial Homepage
and then view a video of the funeral at the Maxwell Street Museum.
Without Maxwell Street as a incubator and proving ground for Chicago Blues musicians, there would be no Chicago Blues Festival. Maxwell Street gave blues musicians a chance to hear each other jam and pick up extra money between jobs. Without Maxwell Street, many of the migrating blues musicians could not have stayed long in Chicago; they would have had to return to Memphis, St. Louis, or the Delta.
The blues has its origins in the Mississippi Delta. From there it traveled through Memphis (Beale Street) and settled in Chicago at the Maxwell Street Market, where in the 1940s, it became electrified and was given a strong backbeat. This sound was developed at the Maxwell Street Market and local blues clubs. It was recorded in studios such as Chess and VeeJay records and influenced many musicians, helping to incubate the new rock n' roll.
"Chicago's Maxwell Street market was the first stop for many bluesmen after they stepped off trains from the Mississippi Delta in the middle and early parts of this century. During those years, Maxwell Street was a small section of Chicago that offered transplanted blacks from the rural South some of the comforts of their former lifestyles. It was a social center, where they could gather during their time off from jobs in the city's burgeoning steel mills, slaughterhouses, and factories. ... The associations formed among musicians in this fertile environment helped immeasurably in allowing the blues to make the stylistic transition to its new, urban home. - Steven Sharp (1993). "The Maxwell Street Market: No More Fun in the Streets?" Living Blues, October. p. 33.
"In '45, me and Walter come to
Chicago. We had heard all about Maxwell Street - they called
it Jewtown, too - and we wanted to go there because that was where
the happening was. Musicians come to Chicago from everywhere then
just to play on Maxwell Street. Because they could make
a living there." - David Honeyboy Edwards (1997), from the
recent book: The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times
of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards. Click here
for a few more Honeyboy Edwards quotes about Maxwell Street and
then buy the book.
"Maxwell Street and informal house parties were the principal sources of musical employment for blues musicians just in from the south."
(Robert Palmer, Deep Blues, The Viking Press, NY, p. 146)
"On recordings done in 1947 and '48, the Maxwell Street group's ...licks, riffs, and melodies were not too different from their predecessors, but they played with an urgency and drive that had not been captured in grooves before." - Klaus Kilian (quoted in S. Sharp, Living Blues, October, 1993, p. 34).
"The blues renaissance of Chicago that flowered in the mid to late 1930s created a mecca for up and coming bluesmen to ply their trade. Bars and taverns throughout the South Side rang with the anguished strains of the modern blues and on Maxwell Street in the heart of Chicago's black ghetto, new arrivals from the South as well as veterans of the local blues scene could gather in the open-air market, play their music, swap stories and find gigs in the neighborhood barrelhouses."(Glenn Adams from his Chicago Blues section of Delta Kitchen Bluespage)
From an interview with Robert Nighthawk.
"You meets a lot of musicians, get a lot of jobs from Maxwell Street. You do pretty good. Mostly every musician in Chicago played on Maxwell Street at one time, including Muddy Waters."
"See, it's more hard to play out in the street than it is in a place of business, but you have more fun in the street, looks like. Well, so many things you can see, so many different things going on. I get a kick out of it, I guess."
(November 1979. From the cover of the CD: Live on Maxwell Street.Rounder Records Corp., Cambridge, MA 1991)
From Sandra B. Tooze's
1997 book: Muddy Waters: The Mojo Man, available at
bookstores
and from ECW Press.
"…Muddy and Jimmy would play the Maxwell Street Market -- also know as Jewtown - just a few blocks east of where Muddy was living on West 13th Street, close to Roger's apartment as well. From late every Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, this dilapidated slum , home to the poorest of Chicago's blacks, was transformed into a carnival atmosphere of joyful commerce. Street hustlers barked their wares, while gleeful , rambunctious children darted out of garbage-filled alleyways and vanished under shabby tables laden with gaudy trinkets. Amidst the decay and bustle of the ghetto, clouds of greasy smoke billowed from sausage and porkchop stands…hopeful street musicians anticipated their big break or, failing that, an opportunity to earn a decent buck. The steadfast Tenner "Playboy" Venson made his harmonica wail, while further down the street Eddie "Porkchop" Hines danced a deft step while keeping time with his drum. Snooky Prior and guitarist Floyd Jones collected showboxes full of money busking in Jewtown on weekends, much more than they could pull in at a small club."
Hound Dog Taylor talking to Ira Berkow of the New York Times.
"You used to get out on Maxwell Street on a Sunday Morning and pick you out a good spot, babe. Dammit, we'd make more money than I ever looked at. Put you out a tub, you know, and put a pasteboard in there, like a newspaper. I'm telling you, Jewtown was jumpin like a champ, jumpin like mad on Sunday morning."
(Maxwell Street: Survival in an Urban Bazaar, Doubleday, NY, 1977)
Koko Taylor talking to Mary Rose Roberts of the Daily Egyptian.
"I used to go down to a place called Jew-town (Chicago's Maxwell Street) and stand and watch all the musicians play," she said. "One musician would stand behind the next, playing instruments like the guitar and the harmonica. It was a jam session and as fun as a picnic. People would be selling food and listening to music. I used to do it every Sunday until Wang Dang Doodle came out--then I was working.
"When they tore down Maxwell Street I felt sad," Taylor said. "All of the history was lost and erased. But I always have the memories and so many good times."
John Primer talking to Jason Blankenship
I know that you had some first-hand experience playing down on Maxwell Street with Little Pat Rushing and others. What were your feelings when they closed Maxwell street down?
It kind of got to me, you know. Because it was a real legendary place and people would come from all over the world to hear the music down on Maxwell Street. It was a special part of Chicago and I think its a shame that they shut it down. I've only been down to the new one twice since its been there but I can't say that its really the same. Its hard to just pick it up and move it and expect it to affect people the same way. But I think its still a good place.
Mick Rainsford writing about Little Willie Foster
Willie's music is steeped in tradition, his wailing harp and fractured vocals, full of character, capturing the classic Chicago sounds of the late 40s and early 50s to perfection … After serving in Europe during the Second World War, he moved to St Louis and then Chicago, where he would work Maxwell Street playing for tips, honing his skills, aided by Walter Horton, eventually graduating to the Chicago club scene where he played regularly with Floyd Jones, his cousin Leroy Foster, Snooky Pryor and Lazy Bill Lucas, before joining and touring with Muddy Waters' band in 1953.
Jason Blankenship writing about Carey Bell
When a young Carey Bell pulled into Chicago in 1956, along with pianist Lovie Lee, to seek his fortune in the blues capital, the city had no shortage of harmonica players. As Carey himself admits, "There used to be harp players on every corner in Chicago." Undaunted by the amount of competition on the blues scene, Carey's persistence soon began to open doors for him. He landed backing gigs behind such players as Honey Boy Edwards and Johnny Young, and soon became a popular fixture on Chicago's legendary Maxwell Street, (Now gone but not soon to be forgotten.).
John Koenig writing about Jimmy Rodgers and other musicians
Jimmy (Rodgers) had heard Joe Willie Wilkins and Robert Junior Lockwood playing the electric guitar in Memphis. When Jimmy and Muddy first got together, they were playing acoustically. But Jimmy had bought a D'Armand pickup (which had only two settings: "low and loud") that he mounted on his acoustic guitar and took Muddy down to a music shop at 18th and Halsted in Chicago that outfitted most of the local black musicians so that he could get one too. Because Muddy's uncle "old man Dan Jones" was established with a job and a building that he owned, he was able to help Muddy buy an amplifier on time.
From the late forties through the early fifties, Jimmy, Muddy Waters and Little Walter (who had also played with the ubiquitous and influential Houston Stackhouse) worked around Chicago under the name, the Headhunters. "We were the greatest blues players out at that time." The Headhunters never recorded as such; rather, they performed together under that name when Muddy's band wasn't working "to go around and shoot guys down like that." Jimmy recalls of Walter in those days that "[i]t was hard to keep him off the street." He would often play on Maxwell Street for tips.
Jimmy Rogers talking to Jason Blankenship (Legends, July/August 1977, p 16)
Jew Town was really hoppin' around that time - back then in the late 1930s and 1940s. I used to live over there on Peoria Street between Maxwell Street and Roosevelt Road. So we were making some good money playing down there on Maxwell Street with Snooky Pryor and Floyd Jones and all those guys. They was street players back then and they used to play right down from my house on Maxwell. On Saturdays and Sundays Jew Town was lit up, man: there was music everywhere. I would get up and walk a block down the street and be right in the middle of it. It was like Mardi Gras back then, it was a lot of fun.
I think it was 1944 when Muddy finally came to town and Dan (Jones) brought him over to my house on Peoria Street and introduced me to him.
Muddy, he had that rough blues type voice, and he was a good deal older than me. I think he was 29 or 30 when he came to Chicago, so we made him the leader of the group….We just kept on doin' it. We would play over there on Maxwell Street and pass the kitty around and just jam and make some money that way.
From: The Second Time Around, An Interview with "King Ernest" Baker by Scott Dirks for Blues Access.
I first came in an all Mexican neighborhood around 18th and Halsted, over in that area. That's where I first lived as a teenager. I could walk right through the viaduct and come to Jewtown (the Maxwell Street Market), walk right through the viaduct. Yes indeed, come over there and see some of the blues guys. There was a guy over there by the name of Papa George -- there was a man could play that harmonica. I don't know what ever happened to Papa George, but he was a bad harmonica player. Well, everybody played over there in Jewtown, lot of different bands. I never would sit in out on the street, but I went to see them, 'cause I always liked it
A review of "Johnny Young
and Friends" (Testament Records TCD 5003) by <ISTS024@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU>.
This was published in Blues Notes #2, the newsletter of the Johnson
County Blues Society (Iowa) and taken from a Pete Welding Tribute Page.
It is shocking that more blues fans are not aware of Johnny Young and his contribution to Chicago blues. He was among the first to record in the postwar Chicago blues style. In 1947 he recorded along with his cousin, Johnny Williams, for the Ora-Nelle label. His main instrument was the blues mandolin, you read that right, blues mandolin. He is considered the only mandolin player to play in the electric Chicago blues style. He spent most of his time playing Maxwell Street and that's where Benard Abrams, owner of the Ora-Nelle label, heard him. The actual recording did nothing to help Johnny Youngs career.
He recorded very little and spent most of his time on Maxwell Street playing on Sunday mornings with other musicians such as Robert Nighthawk and Carey Bell. In the eary 1960's Peter Welding began to frequently record Johnny and his friends for Testament Records. This particular CD is a re-issue of some of those sessions. The friends who accompanied Johnny included Otis Spann, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, Robert Nighthawk and others. You may have guessed from that line up that this sounds much like the Muddy Waters recordings from the same period. Muddy and Johnny often played together. Johnny was very well liked and respected by his peers, but most blues fanswere never really aware of him. There are eighteen tracks on this CD and Johnny plays mandolin on seven and guitar on the remaining tracks. The vocals are superb and the supporting musicians all eventually became blues legends. This is not slick and polished blues, this is pure Chicago blues from one of the best Chicago bluesmen ever. The mandolin was usually not considered a blues instrument, but when Johnny Young played the mandolin it was definitely a blues instrument. If pure Chicago blues appeals to you, this CD will be a welcomed addition to your collection. Johnny Young died of a heart attack on April 18th 1974 in Chicago at age 56. He was finally beginning to get the recognition he deserved. His main goal in life was to own his own home, but died before reaching that goal. It can be said without doubt or hesitation that Johnny Young was one of the greatest Chicago bluesmen.
Larry Goldberg, a old Maxwell Street resident and vendor, told me this story: "I saw Mick Jagger down here. It was during the summer, sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, on a Sunday. A friend of mine worked for the city and he brought him down. The three of us walked through the old Maxwell Street Market. Mick wanted to see where the music came from. He wanted to know the origins of what he was playing. He played guitar on the street, by the Blues Tree, in back of Nate's Deli. He was amazed at the vitality of the street. He was a reticent man but he seemed to be having fun. I didn't think he wanted to play but he got in the mood. They lent him a guitar. He loved seeing people dancing." - Larry Goldberg as told to Steve Balkin at the White Palace Grill on Roosevelt Rd. (12/28/97)
More on Maxwell Street from Larry Goldberg. "In the old days, Bernard Abrams son and I would sit in front of his dad's store, Maxwell Street Music, and listen to bluesmen play. My mother Fanny was good friends with Idelle, Bernard's wife. When I met these bluesmen, I knew them by their real names: Chester Burnett and McKinley Morganfield. They would play all the stuff in front there. What did a Jewish kid like me know about the Delta Blues, but I learned quickly. Later, I got their autographs. I also saw Willie Dixon on Maxwell Street; he wrote Muddy's songs."
"I first met Piano C. Red, who will be playing at the Maxwell Street Blues Fest, as my cab driver. Then I saw him playing at the Market; and I even bought one of his record albums. The message I got was that there are talented people all around us but we are often too isolated in our own little worlds to notice."
--- Steve Balkin (June 1994).
"Today I again visited the Gethsemane M. B. Church on Union Ave. just South of Maxwell Street. That congregation has been there since the 1920's; the building was a synagogue before that. Most were from Mississippi or Alabama. I heard testimony at the start of Sunday Services. One man said: when things come from the heart, it reaches the heart. I thought that's why the area was such a blues center. People felt comfortable on Maxwell Street, like at home. They could express themselves and it touched people." ---Steve Balkin ( December 1997)
A benefit was held at Rosa's to raise money for his burial expenses. Click here to read about that exciting concert.
Photo of Robert Junior Lockwood playing on Maxwell Street, by John Kavosick.
56 minutes, color. Available from Facets Multimedia, Chicago.
"The Maxwell Street open-air market is one of the oldest and most important traditions in Chicago Blues and Gospel music. Nearly every important blues musician in Chicago has performed or is still performing at this weekly market. Maxwell Street Blues sketches the historical background of the market and then highlights the street performance of Blind Arvella Gray, Carrie Robinbson, Jim Brewer, John Henry Davis, Playboy Venson, Floyd Jones, and the legendary Robert Nighthawk. The rugged spirit that keeps Maxwell Street alive is revealed in the stories that Blind Arvella Gray and Jim Brewer tell about their lives, the origin of their music and their will to survive. "
From the 1980 movie Blues Brothers:
Elwood: Where is Matt guitar Murphy?
Tom: He opened a soul food restaurant with his old lady on Maxwell Street, and he took Blue Lou with him.
Willie: You'll never get Matt and Mr Fabulous outta them high paying gigs.
Jake: Oh yeah? Well me and the Lord. We got an understanding.
Elwood: We're on a mission from God.
***The Soul Food Restaurant was Nate's Deli on Maxwell Street. Here is an image of Nate's from the movie (65k). The script excerpt and image are from The Ultimate Blues Brothers Web Site. Want to meet Nate (15k), himself. Nate's (torn down in 1995 by the University of Illinois) was a landmark in Chicago, the only Kosher Style Blues Deli in the world and a very friendly place.
Here is the sound studio version of Nate's provided by The Blues Brothers.
President Clinton did not accept his invitation to jam with Piano C Red. Want to see what he missed?
Want to see the New Maxwell Street Market?
Want to see the Blues at the New Maxwell Street Market?
Take me to the entire Maxwell Street Cyber Trilogy.
Magazines
Living Blues: The Magazine of the African American Blues Tradition
Meta-Sites
Blues for the Hard-Core - covers 1950's electric blues
Worldwide list of Blues Societies & Foundations by Blues Web
Musicians
Bo Diddley (a)
Bo Diddley (b) - Maxwell St. Plea
Hound Dog Taylor (a)
Hound Dog Taylor (b)
Jimmy Rogers - (memorial page)
John Primer (a)
John Primer (b)
Johnny Shines (a)
Johnny Shines (b)
Junior Wells (a)
Junior Wells (b)
Luther Allison (a)
Luther Allison (b)
'Maxwell Street' Jimmy Davis (a) (memorial page)
'Maxwell Street' Jimmy Davis (b)
Robert Nighthawk (a)
Robert Nighthawk (b)
Robert Nighthawk (c)
Willie James - memorial page
Record Producers
Bernard Abrams - Ora Nelle (memorial page)
Bob Koester - Delmark
Bruce Iglauer - Alligator Records
Leonard and Phil Chess - Chess Records (a)
Leonard and Phil Chess - Chess Records (b)
Michael Frank - Earwig Music
Pete Welding - Testament
Other Interesting Sites
Assn for Advancement of Creative Musicians - Great Black Music
Chicago Metro History Education Center - student projects in family and community history.
HBO's CyberSoulCity - bringing it home
Music Stuff - cool links by Mark Casebolt
NY CD Blues-- In-Depth Blues Reviews
StreetDreams Home Page - CDs of street musicians in Chicago and New York.
This site is a project of Openair-Market Net and was constructed with the help of Barbara Balkin and Stacey Skiba. © S. M. Balkin 1995. mar@interaccess.com
