Chicago was the birthplace of the electric, urban blues which became known as "rhythm and blues" or just plain "Chicago blues"; it was the precursor of rock 'n' roll. The blues may have come from the US south with the "great migration" of African-Americans that began in 1920 and gathered pace during and immediately after World War II, but it was transformed in the late 40s and early 50s into an electrified dance music in the north by Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Bo Diddley, Little Walter and their contemporaries, as well as by new labels like Chess Records.
One of the great R&B musicians from Chicago’s South Side, James Cotton.
And much of this music-making happened on the streets and in the clubs of Chicago's South Side, an area that became home to many African-Americans who were born in the far south. You can trace the history of this influential cultural crucible through the music or, as I recently did, through the biography of a musician like Howling Wolf which gives some perspective on the era, albeit related to the career of a single musician.
But to really gain some understanding of the society from which Chicago blues developed, I would recommend spending some time looking at the photographs of Wayne F. Miller, who passed away last month aged 93.
Miller was a key figure in the development of photojournalism, a contemporary of pioneers like Robert Capa and Henri Cartier-Bresson, who founded the photographers' collective Magnum. Miller joined Magnum in 1958. He gained fame for his moving photographs of World War II (he was a member of Edward Steichen's mobile photography unit), especially his haunting images of the aftermath of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.
But until relatively recently few people were aware of the historically significant photographs he had taken of everyday life in Chicago's South Side between 1946 and 1948 while being supported by a Guggenheim grant. The project had the clunky working title of "The Way Of Life Of The Northern Negro" and it took more than 50 years for the best shots from the collection to find their way into print. In 2000, he set the record straight by publishing Chicago's South Side 1946-48. The photographs in the book are outstanding. Here are the people who went to clubs to dance and party, as well as some of those who were too poor to gain admission. All of the humanity and emotions of the people of the South Side are revealed through Miller's penetrating lens.
Compelling portraits of musicians were featured throughout, but only a few celebrities of the day, like Paul Robeson and Ella Fitzgerald, made it into the book.
Miller's documentary style reminds me of Ray DeCarava, who made a similar body of work in Harlem, New York (including some wonderful photos of jazz musicians), another key location in the development of popular music. Both men made telling contributions not only to the historical legacy of music-making, but also to the development of "street photography" that would emerge into its own in the 1950s with the widespread use of portable 35mm cameras. Miller helped pave the way for daring lensmen like William Klein, Gary Winogrand and Lee Friedlander whose arrival on the scene would shake up the photographic world.
Browse online and you'll find many of Miller's iconic images of Chicago. His photos celebrate a group of people and their culture whose influence profoundly changed the development of popular music worldwide.
VINYL KEEPS ON SPINNING
When I started writing this column back in 1994, I never thought I would one day be recommending new vinyl singles for collectors. CDs were taking over at that stage, tape cassettes were fast fading from sight and nobody was talking about records any more. And yet here we are, almost two decades later, in the middle of a boom, not only in vinyl but also in cassettes.
On International Record Day a few weeks ago, local label Zudrangma Records' recent vinyl release of their CD compilation Theppabutr Productions was featured as one of 100 recommended albums worldwide; collectors snapped up the 1,500 copies available in a matter of days.
Zudrangma also releases regular 7-inch singles under its sub-labels. The Paradise Bangkok label is an example with tracks selected by DJ Maft Sai and his UK-based partner, DJ Chris Menist. The latest 7-inch release, the fourth in this series, features some steamy, percussion-driven funk, Chak Mak Pai, on the A side by Duangdao & Chailai and a deep luk thung track, Nao Muen Jai Ja Kad, which features the haunting vocals of Sornpetch Pinyo, set to punchy brass and a "nagging" Moog synth sound.
Thai funk remains enormously popular with vinyl collectors, so this one is sure to please many of them, and for luk thung fans like yours truly, there's the wonderful voice of Pinyo. More information from: www.zudrangmarecords.com.
This column can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com
