BLIND BLAKE — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 : 1926-1927 | DOCD-5024 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Blind Blake, one of the top blues guitarists and singers of the 1920s, is a mystery figure whose birth and death dates are not definitively known. He recorded 84 selections in six years (1926-1932), and fortunately all have been reissued on four Document CDs. Vol. 1 mostly features Blake in unaccompanied performances other than six numbers backing singer Leola Wilson, one song in which he is joined by a kazoo player and two in which someone plays rattlebones behind his guitar. Among the classics heard on this CD are "Early Morning Blues," "Too Tight," "Come on Boys Let's Do That Messin' Around," and "Seabord Stomp." All four of Blind Blake's Document CDs are essential for every serious blues collection. Scott Yanow

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Over a six year period Blind Blake recorded eighty-four titles together with numerous as house guitarist to artists like Papa Charlie Jackson, Ma Rainey, Leola B. Wilson and Irene Scruggs. This compilation covers his formative years and it has been surmised that initially he made three visits between August and December 1926 to Paramount’s Chicago studio. Blake’s first record West Coast Blues / Early Morning Blues was released on October 2 1926, the former title being basically a dance piece with Blake’s jaunty voice exhorting his listeners to do that old country rock, underpinning the spoken lyric with sophisticated, ragtime guitar accompaniment, taking the opportunity to incorporate a popular advertising slogan of the day (Good to the last drop, just like Maxwell House coffee). Early Morning Blues, on the other hand, was lyrically far more menacing, his warm, wistful and insinuating voice, at times reminiscent of Lonnie Johnson’s approach, giving lie to the seriousness of the subject (When you see me sleeping, baby don’t you think I’m drunk, I got one eye on my pistol, the other one on your trunk).
 
The role of Blind Blake as accompanist to Leola B. Wilson, an artist who sang on the vaudeville circuit, displays his ability to use double and stop time phrases, as well as managing to copy her vocal range on Down The Country Blues, a number inspired by a Bessie Smith song. The instrumental, Buck Town Dance, with kazoo playing from Dad Nelson, was probably the model for the piece so often recorded by John Hurt and Gary Davis during the 1960s while Dry Bone Shuffle and That Will Never Happen No More have noticeable echoes of minstrel and white influence. As both were recorded as part of a hillbilly session by the Kentucky Thorobreds perhaps Paramount were hoping to sell Blind Blake to both markets. Blake’s true guitar genius is evinced with Sea Board Stomp (perhaps the basis for some of Big Bill Broonzy’s stomps) where, not satisfied with emulating instruments like cornet, saxophone and trombone, he also treats his audience to a lesson in the syncopations of Dixieland Jazz. DOCD-5024
Tracklist :
1    Leola B. Wilson–    Dying Blues 2:45
Guitar – Blind Blake
Vocals – Leola B. Wilson
2    Leola B. Wilson–    Ashley St. Blues 2:58
Guitar – Blind Blake
Vocals – Leola B. Wilson
3    Blind Blake–    Early Morning Blues 2:52
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
4    Blind Blake–    West Coast Blues 3:09
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
5    Blind Blake–    Early Morning Blues 3:00
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
6    Blind Blake–    Too Tight 2:30
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
7    Blind Blake–    Blake's Worried Blues 3:03
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
8    Blind Blake–    Come On, Boys, Let's Do That Messin' Around 2:43
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
9    Blind Blake–    Tampa Bound 2:41
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
10    Blind Blake–    Skeedle Loo Doo Blues 3:05
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
11    Blind Blake–    Skeedle Loo Doo Blues 3:01
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
12    Blind Blake–    Stonewall Street Blues 2:53
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
13    Leola B. Wilson–    State Street Men Blues 3:09
Guitar – Blind Blake
Piano [possibly] – Jimmy Blythe
Vocals – Leola B. Wilson
14    Leola B. Wilson–    Down The Country 2:32
Guitar – Blind Blake
Vocals – Leola B. Wilson
15    Leola B. Wilson–    Black Biting Bee Blues 2:45
Guitar – Blind Blake
Vocals – Leola B. Wilson
16    Leola B. Wilson–    Wilson Dam 2:34
Guitar – Blind Blake
Vocals – Leola B. Wilson
17    Blind Blake With His Kazoo Band–    Buck-Town Blues 2:53
Guitar – Blind Blake
Kazoo [possibly] – Dad Nelson
18    Blind Blake–    Black Dog Blues 2:47
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
19    Blind Blake–    One Time Blues 2:36
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
20    Blind Blake–    Bad Feeling Blues 2:26
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
21    Blind Blake–    Dry Bone Shuffle 2:40
Bones [Rattlebones] – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
22    Blind Blake–    That Will Never Happen No More 3:02
Bones [Rattlebones] – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
23    Blind Blake–    Brownskin Mama Blues 2:36
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
24    Blind Blake–    Hard Road Blues 2:36
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
25    Blind Blake–    Hey, Hey, Daddy Blues 3:09
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
26    Blind Blake–    Sea Board Stomp 3:01
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake