COW COW DAVENPORT — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1925 to 1929 | DOCD- 5141 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The complete output of pianist/singer Cow Cow Davenport as a leader has been made available on two CDs by Europe's Document CD; his sideman dates are also available on two other CDs. Because Cow Cow (named after his famous "Cow Cow Blues") is often categorized as a member of the blues world, it is sometimes overlooked how strong a jazz/blues pianist he was. On this first volume, Davenport is heard collaborating with singer Dora Carr, playing duets with cornetist B.T. Wingfield, interacting with singer Sam Theard, and performing heated solos which are sometimes commented upon by his partner Ivy Smith; in addition, there are a few solo instrumentals that really show what Davenport could do. The highlights include "Chimes Blues," "Atlanta Rag," "Back In the Alley" and four versions of "Cow Cow Blues." Scott Yanow

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Through the efforts of early jazz enthusiasts we know more about Charles “Cow Cow” Davenport than any of the pioneer blues and boogie pianists. Born in 1894 in Anniston, Alabama into a religious and musical family, he taught himself on the church organ. A brief sojourn at the Theological Seminary, Selma was terminated in 1910 when he played piano too freely for a function where the students marched (dancing was not allowed) and “the girls got so frisky they couldn’t march in time”. This incident was to inspire his most popular and enduring song, Mama Don’t Allow No Music Playing Here while the general disapproval of church people for the music he wanted to play led to his coining the term “boogie woogie”. As badly behaved children would be threatened with the “boogie man” (“bogey man”) Davenport said, “I called my music ‘Boogie’ music”. Note that in Davenport’s dictionary the phrase covered all the music “in the honky tonks, joints where nice people did not go”.

A short-lived (one year) marriage to a blues singer pianist Helen Rivers led to Cow Cow Blues (Railroad Blues) his most famous song: “I was so blue I commenced to get drunk. I went from honky tonk to honky tonk drinking everything I could get my hands on. When I walked out on stage that night I could hardly stand up straight. But I had sense enough to pretend like it was part of the act. I made up some words right there on the spot and began to sing my sadness:
Lord I woke up this morning, my gal was gone Fell out my bedside, hung my head and moaned Went down to state and I couldn’t be satisfied Had those Railroad Blues I just too mean to cry

His despair was short-lived too for he met singer Dora Carr who “pestered” him until they teamed up and worked the T.O.B.A. circuit as Davenport And Carr. Laid off in New Orleans they met Ralph Peer who sent them to New York and the first recordings as a vocal duo for Okeh followed in 1924 with Clarence Williams on piano and it was to be a year before Cow Cow Davenport was to play piano on record. Even then the session for Gennett went unissued (possibly because of the Okeh contract?) and it was later that year that Williams allowed him to accompany Dora on Cow Cow Blues. One more Davenport And Carr duo the next year (see BDCD-6040) and the relationship with Dora and, it seems, Okeh broke up. A Paramount session in 1927 with new partner Ivy Smith had violin accompaniment from Leroy Pickett and cornet by B. T. Wingfield who was in Pickett’s band at the Apollo Theatre, Chicago but 1928 and ’29 were the boom years with over twenty sessions for Vocalion and Gennett with Ivy Smith, novelty numbers with his new discovery Sam Theard, accompaniments to Hound Head Henry, probably Jim Towel and Memphis Joe (BDCD-6041) and brilliant solo sessions in a rich variety of styles. Along the definitive Cow Cow Blues and State Street Jive, great classics of Blues piano, Alabama Strut and Atlanta Rag were consummate ragtime while Mootch Piddle hinted at his vaudeville comedy routines. Cow Cow Blues was his most influential number but Dirty Ground Hog was even recalled by John Lee Hooker at his 1952 Chess session. Constantly in demand Cow Cow Davenport must have thought the good times were going to last for ever. DOCD-5141
Tracklist :
1        Cow Cow Blues    2:53
2        Alabama Mistreater    3:01
3        Jim Crow Blues    3:07
4        Goin' Home Blues    3:18
5        New Cow Cow Blues    2:53
6        Stealin' Blues    2:38
7        Cow Cow Blues [Take 1]    3:05
8        Cow Cow Blues [Take 2]    3:10
9        State Street Jive [Take 1]    3:01
10        State Street Jive [Take 2]    3:04
11        Chimin' The Blues    3:11
12        Alabama Strut    2:52
13        Alabama Mistreater    2:53
14        Dirty Ground Hog (Blues)    2:51
15        Chimes Blues    3:19
16        Struttin' The Blues    3:07
17        Givin' It Away    2:28
18        Slow Drag    3:15
19        Atlanta Drag    3:11
20        That'll Get It    3:22
21        I'm Gonna Tell You In Front So You Won't Be Hurt Behind    3:24
22        State Street Blues    2:49
23        Back In The Alley    2:56
24        Mootch Piddle    2:53