Memphis Slim

File:Memphis Slim Historic Home Memphis TN 01.jpg

Memphis Slim was born John Len Chatman, in Memphis, Tennessee. For his first recordings, for Okeh Records in 1940, he used the name of his father, Peter Chatman (who sang, played piano and guitar, and operated juke joints);Charters, Samuel Barclay. The Legacy of the Blues, Da Capo Press (1977), p. 165. {{ISBN|0-306-80054-3}}. it is commonly believed that he did so to honor his father. He started performing under the name "Memphis Slim" later that year but continued to publish songs under the name Peter Chatman.

He spent most of the 1930s performing in honky-tonks, dance halls, and gambling joints in West Memphis, Arkansas, and southeast Missouri.{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=174}} He settled in Chicago in 1939 and began teaming with the guitarist and singer Big Bill Broonzy in clubs soon afterwards. In 1940 and 1941, he recorded two songs for Bluebird Records{{sfn|Palmer|1982|p=154}} that became part of his repertoire for decades, "Beer Drinking Woman"{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Russell|year=1997|title=The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray|publisher=Carlton Books |location=Dubai|page=13|isbn=1-85868-255-X}} and "Grinder Man Blues". These were released under the name "Memphis Slim," given to him by Bluebird's producer, Lester Melrose.Komara, Edward M. Encyclopedia of the Blues, Routledge (2006), p. 689. {{ISBN|0-415-92699-8}}. Slim became a regular session musician for Bluebird, and his piano talents supported established stars such as John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Washboard Sam, and Jazz Gillum. Many of Slim's recordings and performances until the mid-1940s were with Broonzy, who had recruited Slim to be his piano player after the death of his accompanist Joshua Altheimer in 1940.

After World War II, Slim began leading bands that generally included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues. With the decline of blues recording by the major labels, Slim worked with emerging independent labels. Starting in late 1945, he recorded with trios for the small Chicago-based Hy-Tone Records.{{Cite web|url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/hytone.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123110842/http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/hytone.html|url-status=dead|title=The Hy-Tone Label|archive-date=November 23, 2009|website=Campber.people.clemson.edu}} With a lineup of alto saxophone, tenor sax, piano, and string bass (Willie Dixon played the instrument on the first session), he signed with the Miracle label in the fall of 1946. One of the songs recorded at the first session was the ebullient boogie "Rockin' the House," from which his band would take its name. Slim and the House Rockers recorded mainly for Miracle through 1949, with some commercial success. Among the songs they recorded were "Messin' Around" (which reached number one on the R&B charts in 1948) and "Harlem Bound".{{Cite web|url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/miracle.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090427195857/http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/miracle.html|url-status=dead|title=Miracle Records|archive-date=April 27, 2009|website=Campber.people.clemson.edu}} In 1947, the day after producing a concert by Slim, Broonzy, and Williamson at New York City's Town Hall, the folklorist Alan Lomax brought the three musicians to the Decca Records studios and recorded with Slim on vocal and piano. Lomax presented sections of this recording on BBC Radio in the early 1950s as a documentary, The Art of the Negro, and later released an expanded version as the LP Blues in the Mississippi Night. In 1949, Slim expanded his combo to a quintet by adding a drummer; the group was now spending most of its time on tour, leading to off-contract recording sessions for King Records in Cincinnati and Peacock Records in Houston.

One of Slim's 1947 recordings for Miracle, released in 1949, was originally titled "Nobody Loves Me". It has become famous as "Every Day I Have the Blues." The song was recorded in 1950 by Lowell Fulson and subsequently by numerous other artists, including B. B. King, Elmore James, T-Bone Walker, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, Natalie Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Mahalia Jackson, Sarah Vaughan, Carlos Santana, John Mayer and Lou Rawls.{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/|title=AllMusic | Record Reviews, Streaming Songs, Genres & Bands|website=AllMusic}} Joe Williams recorded it in 1952 for Checker Records; his remake from 1956 (included on the album Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1992.{{cite web|url=http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame |title=Grammy Hall of Fame |publisher=Grammy.org |access-date=January 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707235113/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame |archive-date=July 7, 2015 |df=mdy }}

Early in 1950, Miracle succumbed to financial troubles, but its owners regrouped to form the Premium label, and Slim remained on board until the successor company faltered in the summer of 1951. His February 1951 session for Premium saw two changes in the House Rockers' lineup: Slim started using two tenor saxophones instead of the alto and tenor combination, and he made a trial of adding the guitarist Ike Perkins. His last session for Premium kept the two-tenor lineup but dispensed with the guitar. During his time with Premium, Slim first recorded his song "Mother Earth".{{Cite web|url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/premium.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090310121513/http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/premium.html|url-status=dead|title=Premium Records|archive-date=March 10, 2009|website=Campber.people.clemson.edu}}

Slim made just one session for King, but the company bought his Hy-Tone sides in 1948 and acquired his Miracle masters after that company failed in 1950. He was never a Chess artist, but Leonard Chess bought most of the Premium masters after the demise of Premium.

After a year with Mercury Records, Slim signed with United Records in Chicago;{{Cite web|url=http://campber.people.clemson.edu/unitedstates.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731034210/http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/unitedstates.html|url-status=dead|title=The United and States Labels Part I (1951-1953)|archive-date=July 31, 2009|website=Campber.people.clemson.edu}} the A&R man, Lew Simpkins, knew him from Miracle and Premium. The timing was propitious, because he had just added the guitarist Matt "Guitar" Murphy to his group. He remained with United through the end of 1954, when the company began to cut back on blues recording.[http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/unitedstates2.html] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515012117/http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~campber/unitedstates2.html |date=May 15, 2011 }}

After 1954, Slim did not have a steady relationship with a record company until 1958, when he signed with Vee-Jay Records. In 1959 his band, still featuring Murphy, recorded the album Memphis Slim at the Gate of the Horn, which featured a lineup of his best-known songs, including "Mother Earth", "Gotta Find My Baby", "Rockin' the Blues", "Steppin' Out", and "Slim's Blues".{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/at-the-gate-of-the-horn-mw0000205601|title=Memphis Slim, At the Gate of the Horn: Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards|author=Wynn, Ron|publisher=AllMusic.com|access-date=January 19, 2015}} In December 1959, Willie Dixon's debut album, Willie's Blues, was released.{{cite web|author=Stephen Cook |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/willies-blues-mw0000193238 |title=Willie's Blues - Willie Dixon, Memphis Slim | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |publisher=AllMusic |date=1959-12-03 |access-date=2014-01-31}} Memphis Slim was given almost equal credit on the album as Dixon's piano accompanist. Memphis Slim played on all of the tracks, and wrote the two numbers that were not penned by Dixon.Liner notes from BVLP-1003 - original vinyl album

Slim first appeared outside the United States in 1960, touring with Willie Dixon, with whom he returned to Europe in 1962 as a featured artist in the first of the series of American Folk Festival concerts organized by Dixon, which brought many notable blues artists to Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. The duo released several albums together on Folkways Records, including Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon at the Village Gate with Pete Seeger (1962).{{cite web|url=http://www.folkways.si.edu/memphis-slim-and-willie-dixon-with-pete-seeger/at-the-village-gate/american-folk-blues/music/album/smithsonian|title=Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon at the Village Gate with Pete Seeger|website=Folkways.si.edu|access-date=2016-12-06}}

In 1962, Slim moved permanently to Paris, and his engaging personality and well-honed presentation of playing, singing, and storytelling about the blues secured his position as one of the most prominent blues artists for nearly three decades. He appeared on television in numerous European countries, acted in several French films and wrote the score for À nous deux France (1970), and performed regularly in Paris, throughout Europe, and on return visits to the United States. In the last years of his life, he teamed up with the respected jazz drummer George Collier. The two toured Europe together and became friends. After Collier died in August 1987, Slim rarely appeared in public, although he reunited with Matt "Guitar" Murphy for a gig at Antone's in Austin, Texas, in 1987.

Two years before his death, Slim was named a Commander in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France. In addition, the U.S. Senate honored Slim with the title of Ambassador-at-Large of Good Will.{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=9330 |title=All About Jazz |publisher=AllAboutJazz.com |access-date=January 19, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618051221/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=9330 |archive-date=June 18, 2012 }}

File:Memphis Slim Grave Memphis TN 02.jpg

Memphis Slim died of renal failure on February 24, 1988, in Paris, at the age of 72.{{Cite web|url=https://www.howlfromtheembers.com/week|title=Memphis Slim|website=Howlfromtheembers.com|access-date=October 16, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://blackthen.com/memphis-slim-one-greatest-blues-pianist-singers-composers-time-video/|title=Memphis Slim: One of the Greatest Blues Pianist, Singers & Composers of All-Time [Video]|website=Blackthen.com|date=May 10, 2018|access-date=October 16, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.theblues-thatjazz.com/en/blues/875-memphisslim/16288-memphis-slim-boogie-for-my-friends-2002.html|title=Memphis Slim - Boogie For My Friends (2002)|website=Theblues-thatjazz.com|access-date=October 16, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://blondiecutsarug.blogspot.com/2013/09/memphis-slim.html|title=Blondie Cuts a Rug: Memphis Slim|first=Rebecca|last=Shannon|website=Blondiecutsarug.blogspot.com|date=September 3, 2013|access-date=October 16, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://themusicsover.wordpress.com/tag/memphis-slim/|title=Memphis Slim|website=Themusicsover.wordpress.com|access-date=October 16, 2019}} He is buried at Galilee Memorial Gardens in Memphis, Tennessee.{{Cite web|url=https://memphismusichalloffame.com/inductee/memphisslim/|title=Memphis Slim | Memphis Music Hall of Fame|website=Memphismusichalloffame.com|access-date=October 16, 2019}}

He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1989. He was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2015.

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite encyclopedia

| last = Herzhaft

| first = Gerard

| year = 1992

| encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of the Blues

| section = Memphis Slim

| location = Fayetteville, Arkansas

| publisher = University of Arkansas Press

| isbn = 1-55728-252-8

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofbl00herzh

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Palmer

| first = Robert

| author-link = Robert Palmer (American writer)

| year = 1982

| title = Deep Blues

| url = https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm

| url-access = registration

| location = New York City

| publisher = Penguin Books

| isbn = 0-14006-223-8

}}

• {{cite book

| last = Whitburn

| first = Joel

| author-link = Joel Whitburn

| year = 1988

| section = Memphis Slim

| title = Top R&B Singles 1942–1988

| location = Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin

| publisher = Record Research

| isbn = 0-89820-068-7

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whit

}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20040914081937/http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=354016 Music Match Memphis Slim]
• [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p457/biography|pure_url=yes}} Memphis Slim biography and discography] at AllMusic website
• [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103579 Memphis Slim recordings] at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
• [http://www.folkways.si.edu/searchresults.aspx?sPhrase=memphis%20slim&sType='phrase' Memphis Slim discography on Folkways Records]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE3DE133FF934A15751C0A96E948260 Memphis Slim obituary] from The New York Times

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Memphis Slim}}

Category:1915 births

Category:1988 deaths

Category:American blues pianists

Category:American male pianists

Category:American blues singers

Category:Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee

Category:Singers from Tennessee

Category:King Records artists

Category:Vee-Jay Records artists

Category:Chess Records artists

Category:Black Lion Records artists

Category:Black & Blue Records artists

Category:United Records artists

Category:Deaths from kidney failure in France

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:Blues musicians from Tennessee

Category:20th-century American pianists

Category:20th-century American male musicians