Twenty-six of Papa Charlie Jackson's recordings dating between February 1926 and September 1928, and an extraordinary volume this is. Now firmly ensconced in the electrical recording era, the sound on these records brings out the rich texture of Jackson's banjo playing, and his singing is thoroughly enjoyable, as he runs through thinly veiled topical songs ("Judge Cliff Davis Blues"), playful romantic pieces ("Butter and Egg Man Blues"), bouncy rags ("Look Out Papa Don't Tear Your Pants"), and more ambitious remakes of his early songs, most notably an outtake of "Salty Dog," cut with Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals (with New Orleans jazz great Johnny Dodds on clarinet). The two-part "Up the Way Bound," dating from the spring of 1926, isn't quite as well recorded as some of the rest, featuring Jackson on guitar, but his vocal performance carries the song well enough -- unfortunately, the second half of this piece, from side two of the original Paramount release, is neither as well recorded nor as well preserved as the first half. There's lots of little slice-of-black-urban-life material here worth noting as well, including Jackson's homage to the numbers racket, "Four Eleven Forty Four." Jackson's vocal skills are vividly displayed in his extraordinarily impassioned singing on "Bad Luck Woman Blues," one of his finest performances. We also get his first version of "Skoodle-Um-Skoo," an upbeat dance number reminiscent of his earlier "Shake That Thing," awhich he recut some seven years later -- this record also demonstrates better than almost any other side the full measure of advantage that the banjo had over the guitar in those days of blues recording, with a solo that fairly leaps out at the listener. Bruce Eder
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Papa Charlie Jackson‘s recordings often have the magpie eclecticism of the songster generation. Mumsy Mumsy Blues, for instance, owes something melodically to the composed blues “Beale Street Papa”, quotes “Careless Love” in the break, and puts together traditional verses, including a line usually associated with Blind Lemon Jefferson. Butter And Egg Man Blues, composed by Everett Murphy, is more routine; a butter and egg man is the same thing as a sugar daddy. Mumsy Mumsy Blues was coupled on disc with The Judge Cliff Davis Blues, with writer credits to Harry – Philwin. The song has some fun with Memphis Police Commissioner Clifford Davis’s law and order crackdown in that city, pointedly announcing the first case as “City of Memphis against Mr. Crow” – which wasn’t going to happen – and obliquely commenting on Southern standards of evidence: “After every case was tried, the prisoners were let inside.” On Up The Way Bound, Jackson plays euphonious guitar, reverting to banjo to accompany a song about policy, titled after a favourite play, 4-11-44, associated in dream books with the phallus. Composer Ezra Shelton uses an unusual structure of three eight-bar segments, comprising verse, chorus and reprised chorus. Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine is a vaudevillian number, and a showcase for Jackson’s flatpicking, and his fast bass runs. Bad Luck Woman Blues was written by Paramount staffer Aletha Dickerson, but Papa Charlie‘s interpretation sounds quite impassioned. There is a witty reference to sympathetic magic: “She keeps a rat’s foot in her hand at night when she goes to sleep, To keep me with her, so I don’t make no midnight creep.” Charlie Jackson was one of Paramount’s major record stars, and in mid-1926, the company brought him in to a session by Freddie Keppard’s Jazz Cardinals, to do the vocal duties on a re-recording of one of his hits, “Salty Dog”. Take 2 is included on this album, and if the disc has been most celebrated for the presence of the great Johnny Dodds on clarinet, Jackson’s contribution shouldn’t be overlooked; like him, Keppard and Dodds were New Orleanians transplanted to Chicago, and Jackson was clearly at ease in their company. It was back to solo blues for “Gay Cattin'”, an eight-bar celebration of having a good time till the money runs out; despite the original label’s ‘assertion of guitar accompaniment, Jackson plays banjo both here and on the flipside, “Fat Mouth Blues”. For his next disc – which was his first electrically recorded one – Jackson was joined by a second banjoist. This individual sounds to me like the same player who had earlier appeared on I’m Alabama Bound and Drop That Sack (see DOCD-5CI87), but with electric recording, the two instruments are much better balanced, and their excellent interplay can be more readily heard; the quadruple time instrumental break on She Belongs To Me Blues is simply astonishing. Coal Man Blues makes one wonder if Papa Charlie really operated a coal cart as his day job, so circumstantial is his account of the work. Skoodle Um Skoo, perhaps an attempt to repeat the success of Shake That Thing, reverts to solo banjo; Jackson conducts both sides of the conversation at the beginning of the performance. The record seems to have sold quite well; Jackson remade it in 1934 (see DOCD-5089). Look Out Papa Don’t Tear Your Pants, with guitar accompaniment, is a cultural ragout, mixing black comic song with a “Hawaiian” intro and a snatch of “Spanish Flangdang” in the break. Baby Don’t You Be So Mean is another vaudevillian piece, with engaging falsetto passages; as so often with Jackson, it refers to Chicago locations, and also to trouble among pimps, their women, and the police. Very much less expected is Bright Eyes; accompanied, like its flip, by some splendid guitar (contrary to the original label information). The playing on Blue Monday Morning Blues shows a clear influence from Jackson’s label mate Blind Blake, and one which was to persist on his later recordings. I’m Looking For A Woman Who Knows How To Treat Me Right was the A-side of Paramount 12602, but Long Gone Lost John is the title of more interest to historians of folk music, being the most complete recorded version of this tale of a Kentucky trickster. Very different is the sentimental Ash Tray Blues, which deploys a rather obscure, possibly sexual metaphor. Different again is the cante-fable No Need Of Knockin’ On The Blind which has been collected from white American singers and British gypsies. I Like To Love My Baby is less startling; with its bouncy chords, cheerful, pop-tinged vocals and passages of scat and stoptime, it’s typical Papa Charlie Jackson, although it may be wondered if there is such a thing: the man who could record Bright Eyes, No Need Of Knocking On The Blind, Long Gone Lost John and The Judge Cliff Davis Blues within about 12 months was predictable only in his unpredictability.
Baby – Papa Needs His Lovin, proclaimed Papa Charlie Jackson, in a wistful little song that owed quite a bit to the vocal delivery of Blind Blake, whose guitar playing also seems to have been much admired by Jackson. On Lexington Kentucky Blues, though, he was his unmistakable self, cheerily recounting his trip to the Kentucky State Fair; “here’s a blues that’s quite different, and it’s based on a true story,” said Paramount in their advertising, accompanying the text with a drawing of Jackson performing in a fairground setting. DOCD-5088
Tracklist :
1 Papa Charlie Jackson– Mumsy Mumsy Blues (Take 2) 2:35
2 Papa Charlie Jackson– Butter And Egg Man Blues 2:55
3 Papa Charlie Jackson– The Judge Cliff Davis Blues 3:03
4 Papa Charlie Jackson– Up The Way Bound (Take 1) 2:30
5 Papa Charlie Jackson– Up The Way Bound (Take 2) 3:01
6 Papa Charlie Jackson– Four Eleven Forty Four 2:58
7 Papa Charlie Jackson– Your Baby Ain’t Sweet Like Mine 2:51
8 Papa Charlie Jackson– Bad Luck Woman Blues 2:59
9 Freddie Keppard's Jazz Cardinals– Salty Dog (Take 2) 2:33
10 Papa Charlie Jackson– Gay Cattin’ (Take 2) 3:06
11 Papa Charlie Jackson– Fat Mouth Blues 2:51
12 Papa Charlie Jackson– She Belongs To Me Blues 2:43
13 Papa Charlie Jackson– Coal Man Blues 3:05
14 Papa Charlie Jackson– Skoodle Um Skoo 2:43
15 Papa Charlie Jackson– Sheik Of Displaines Street 2:36
16 Papa Charlie Jackson– Look Out Papa Don’t Tear Your Pants 3:05
17 Papa Charlie Jackson– Baby Don’t You Be So Mean 2:58
18 Papa Charlie Jackson– Bright Eyes 2:56
19 Papa Charlie Jackson– Blue Monday Morning Blues 3:20
20 Papa Charlie Jackson– Long Gone Lost John 2:42
21 Papa Charlie Jackson– I’m Looking For A Woman Who Knows How To Treat Me Right 3:07
22 Papa Charlie Jackson– Ash Tray Blues 2:54
23 Papa Charlie Jackson– No Need Of Knockin’ On The Blind 3:03
24 Papa Charlie Jackson– I Like To Love My Baby 3:00
25 Papa Charlie Jackson– Baby - Papa Needs His Lovin’ 3:14
26 Papa Charlie Jackson– Lexington Kentucky Blues 3:03
