WALTER ROLAND – Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 1 • 1933 | DOCD-5144 (1993) RM | FLAC (tracks), lossless

The 23 selections on this Document CD were all recorded during a four-day period. Walter Roland was a skillful pianist who was also an effective blues-based singer and even a fine guitarist. He is heard backing his vocals on solo performances (on piano or guitar), accompanying the vocals of Sonny Scott and on two joyous instrumentals ("Guitar Stomp" and "Railroad Stomp") as part of the Jolly Two, he holds his own on guitar duets with Scott. Lucille Bogan (who Roland regularly accompanied) pops up on two numbers where she comments (talking rather than singing) on the proceedings. Among the better selections on this enjoyable set of goodtime music are "No Good Biddie," "Early This Morning," "Jookit Jookit," "Piano Stomp," "Whatcha Gonna Do," "Early This Morning" and the guitar duets. The second volume of Walter Roland recordings is worthwhile, too, but this is his definitive set. Scott Yanow
 
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Mississippi, Texas, Georgia; all names redolent with the best of Southern blues, but Alabama? Surely the “Cinderella” state of the blues. Not that it hasn’t produced its share of outstanding blues artists but never a record industry giant; a Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins or B. B. King. Powerful performers like William Harris and George “Bullet” Williams remain virtual biographical blanks. What then of Alabama Sam, who made his first recording way up in the Big Apple on 17 July, 1933? We know little more about him, even though he made some 56 recordings between 1933 and 1935, mostly under what is presumed to have been his real name, Walter Roland, plus fifty-eight as accompanist to Bessie Jackson, alias Lucille Bogan, one of the toughest female blues singers on record, 16 accompanying Josh White and several with guitarist Sonny Scott, including the classic No Good Biddie. (Intriguingly Roland is dubbed “Walter Scott” on the label of one “Bessie Jackson” record, suggesting a relationship with Sonny, if it’s not just record company confusion.) From his association with Bogan and the influence of pianist Jabo Williams we know that Roland hailed from Birmingham, but his birthplace was, apparently, Tuscaloosa, 40 miles to the south-west in the “Black Belt” of Alabama. Like many pre-war blues artists, Walter Roland‘s first recording was his biggest, an early protest song Red Cross Blues, later recorded by artists as diverse as Leadbelly, Sonny Boy Williamson (as Welfare Store Blues) and Forest City Joe. The next master was “Red Cross” No. 2, his record company (A R C.) presumably anticipating big sales on No. 1 had him record a follow-up in advance! Bogan did her Red Cross Man at the same session, with quite different lyrics. The melody (and in Red Cross Man the repeated line “baby don’t you want to go”) link both songs with Kokomo Blues, yet to be recorded by Kokomo Arnold but already on record by Madlyn Davis, Scrapper Blackwell, Walter Fennell and Jabo Williams, the powerful pianist from “Pratt City” (a district of north Birmingham) who was almost certainly an early influence on Roland. There was considerable interchange of material between Roland, Bogan and Scott. Both Walter and Lucille recorded Schoolboy Blues and Screw Worm but Lucille’s versions weren’t issued. Sonny Scott recorded two versions of Red Cross Blues (both lyrically different to Roland’s), as well as a version of Early This Morning. On July 19th Roland and Scott recorded several superb mainly instrumental performances. “Jookit”, which features inspired boogie piano by Roland, with Scott shouting encouragement, was coupled with Whatcha Gonna Do, a hokum number with Bogan also joining in the fun. Issued as by the “Jolly Jivers“, as was the brilliant barrelhouse Piano Stomp, it appeared, along with Roland & Scott‘s sizzling guitar duet “stomps” as the “Jolly Two“, in Vocalion’s general series, perhaps hoping for wider sales than if they’d been exclusively “race” records. It says much for Walter Roland‘s musical talent that despite being best known as a pianist, he plays excellent guitar on Railroad Stomp and its companion pieces. Big Mama is one of Roland’s cover versions, being a lively reworking of Jabo Williams 1932 Fat Mama Blues (Paramount 13130 / Document DOCD-5102). Roland also “covered” Williams’ House Lady Blues (Paramount 13136 / Document DOCD-5102), which Big Joe Williams revived in 1947 (Columbia 38190). Early This Morning reworks Charlie Spand‘s big 1929/30 hit Soon This Morning (Paramount 12790 / Document DOCD-5108). That he recorded a “No. 2” in 1934 suggests that the formula was successful. Now slide back in time and listen to those Jolly Jivers shaking up a storm down in Jefferson County: “Jookit, Jookit”!  DOCD-5144
Tracklist :
1    Walter Roland–    Red Cross Blues    3:12
2    Walter Roland–    Red Cross Blues No. 2    3:00
3    Walter Roland–    T Model Blues    2:59
4    Sonny Scott & Walter Roland–    Man, Man, Man    3:08
5    Sonny Scott & Walter Roland–    No Good Biddie    2:46
6    Walter Roland–    You Gonna Need Me    2:58
7    Walter Roland–    Slavin' Blues    2:49
8    Walter Roland–    Last Year Blues    3:09
9    Sonny Scott–    Early This Morning    2:30
10    Sonny Scott–    Working Man's Moan    2:53
11    Sonny Scott–    Rolling Water    2:47
12    Jolly Jivers–    Jookit Jookit    2:55
13    Jolly Jivers–    Piano Stomp    2:52
14    Walter Roland–    Back Door Blues    3:04
15    Jolly Two–    Guitar Stomp    2:55
16    Jolly Two–    Railroad Stomp    2:52
17    Walter Roland–    Frisco Blues    2:18
18    Walter Roland–    House Lady Blues    2:50
19    Jolly Jivers–    Whatcha Gonna Do?    2:56
20    Walter Roland–    Early This Morning ('Bout Break Of Day)    2:47
21    Jolly Jivers–    Hungry Man's Scuffle    2:41
22    Jolly Two–    Come On Down    2:31
23    Walter Roland–    Overall Blues    2:33

WALTER ROLAND – Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 2 • 1934-1935 | DOCD-5145 (1993) RM | FLAC (tracks), lossless

Unlike the first Walter Roland Document CD, there is a certain sameness to the 22 recordings (two previously unissued) on this second volume. Lucille Bogan makes comments on three numbers and Josh White (years before he became famous as a folk singer) plays background guitar on the last dozen numbers, but otherwise, the focus is completely on Roland. He sticks to piano this time (no departures on guitar), and all of the selections have his vocals and generally a similar medium-slow tempo. Although somewhat popular at the time, oddly enough, Walter Roland did not record again after 1935. The highlights of this program (which generally does hold one's interest) include "C.W.A. Blues," "Early in the Morning No. 2," "Bad Dream Blues," "I'm Gonna Shave You Dry," "S.O.L. Blues" and "Penniless Blues," but get Volume 1 first. Scott Yanow
 
Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Walter Roland made 19 recordings for the American Record Corporation at 4 sessions in July, 1933. All were issued, as were most of those he made as an accompanist to Lucille Bogan and Sonny Scott, suggesting good sales. A year after their first New York sessions together, Roland and Bogan were back in New York recording for ARC. Although Sonny Scott didn’t make the trip this time, Roland and Bogan were not the only artists in ARC’s New York studio on 30th July, 1934. Buddy Moss from Georgia cut a couple of titles, as did Bob Campbell, a fine but shadowy blues singer and guitarist who may have come up from Alabama with Roland and Bogan. One of Campbell’s titles was the brilliant Dice’s Blues. Two masters later, Roland recorded his version of this piece, varying the lyrics after the first verse and giving it a more up-tempo treatment. Roland’s PWA Blues, like Joe Pullum‘s (an entirely different song, recorded four months before Roland’s) paid tribute to the Public Works Administration, one of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programmes which took men off welfare by creating jobs, thereby helping to lift the nation out of depression. Like Bluebird with Pullum, A.R.C. misheard Roland’s pronunciation of the letter “p”, hearing it as “c” and so mis-titling the record CWA Blues. In teaming Josh White with Walter Roland, first on two 1934 White recordings and then at several March, 1935 sessions, A.R.C. were probably trying to repeat the success of the Leroy Carr & Scrapper Blackwell partnership. Cold Blooded Murder and Sail On Little Girl No. 2 were in fact “covers” of a Bumble Bee Slim record. White and Roland were far too talented to slavishly recreate a sound, however, and their musical empathy produced some outstanding performances. Although under-recorded, on the 7th and 8th of March, White is heard to much better effect on the 14th & 18th March titles. Penniless Blues, the only issued title from the last session on 20th March, is especially fine with Roland bitterly commenting “You know living with that woman is just like being in hell”. All of Roland’s 1933 titles had been issued and only 5 of his 1934 recordings remained unissued (including Walking Blues and the World Fair Blues) but out of two dozen 1935 titles, half were never issued, including the intriguing Our Father Blues, White Corn Drinker and the lively-sounding Steak And Onion Stomp. Having been one of the few successful blues recording artists in Depression time, it seems strange that Roland didn’t record again after 1935, but the tastes of blues record buyers were changing and the bigger sound of the Chicago-based bands was becoming increasingly popular. Big Bill, Jazz Gillum, Tampa Red, Washboard Sam et al were in the ascendancy and territorial musicians like Walter Roland were fading as recording prospects. DOCD-5145
Tracklist :
1        C. W. A. Blues 2:47
2        You Gonna Want Me 2:54
3        Dice's Blues 2:45
4        Collector Man Blues 2:52
5        Early In The Morning No. 2 2:55
6        Big Mama 2:32
7        Every Morning Blues 2:47
8        Screw Worm 2:57
9        Bad Dream Blues 3:04
10        I'm Gonna Shave You Dry 3:29
11        Money Taker Woman 2:55
12        School-boy Blues (16996-3) 2:51
13        School-boy Blues (17009-1) 2:55
14        Talkin' Low Blues 3:10
15        O. B. D. Blues 3:08
16        Club Meeting Blues 3:08
17        Cold Blooded Murder 2:51
18        Sail On Little Girl No. 2 2:59
19        S. O. L. Blues 2:56
20        Worn Out Man Blues 2:52
21        45 Pistol Blues 2:58
22        Penniless Blues 2:56

LUCILLE BOGAN (BESSIE JACKSON) — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order • Volume 1 : 1923-1930 | BDCD-6036 (1994) FLAC (tracks), lossless

A native of Amory, MS who came up in Birmingham AL, Lucille Bogan sang about life as she knew it in a rough and tumble environment that provided her with plenty of material for songs about gambling ("War Time Man Blues," "Roll and Rattler"), the production and peddling of bootleg liquor ("Whiskey Selling Woman"); prostitution ("Tricks Ain't Walking No More"); marijuana ("Pot Hound Blues"); turbulent domestic relationships ("My Man Is Boogan Me," "House Top Blues") and unconventional sexual preferences ("B.D. Woman's Blues," "Women Won't Need No Men"). She sang the blues in a gutsy, honest manner that placed her in league with Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Back in the 1990s, Document reissued 66 of Bogan's records dating from the years 1923-1935 in a chronological survey that filled three CDs. Volume one opens with "The Pawn Shop Blues," recorded in Atlanta, GA for the Okeh record label in July 1923 with Henry Callens at the piano. Bogan shared material with several of her contemporaries; "Pawn Shop" was also recorded during this period by Martha Copeland, and several of Bogan's earliest efforts competed with versions of the same songs by Gladys Bryant, Lena Wilson, Alberta Hunter, Viola McCoy, and Trixie Smith. Bogan's piano accompanists during this phase of her career included Thomas A. Dorsey, Eddie Heywood, Sr., Eddie Miller, Frank James, and early boogie-woogie innovator Will Ezell, whose affair with Bogan is believed to have contributed to the singer's estrangement from her first husband. On some of the Brunswick dates, she was accompanied by Tampa Red and Cow Cow Davenport. The banjoist heard on "Kind Stella Blues," "Jim Tampa Blues," and "War Time Man Blues" was none other than Papa Charlie Jackson, himself a solid link with Gertrude "Ma" Rainey. arwulf arwulf 
Tracklist 
1 The Pawn Shop Blues 2:54
Piano – Eddie Heywood  
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
2 Lonesome Daddy Blues 3:00
Piano – Henry Callens
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
3 Chirpin' The Blues 2:41
Piano – Henry Callens
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
4 Triflin' Blues 3:04
Piano – Henry Callens
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
5 Don't Mean You No Good Blues 3:18
Piano – Henry Callens
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
6 Sweet Patunia 2:43
Piano – Alex Channey
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
7 Levee Blues 2:26
Piano – Alex Channey
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
8 King Stella Blues 2:40
Piano – Will Ezell
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
9 Jim Tampa Blues 2:47
Banjo, Vocals [Shouts] – Papa Charlie Jackson
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
10 War Time Man Blues 2:39
Guitar – Papa Charlie Jackson
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
11 Cravin' Whiskey Blues 2:40
Piano – Will Ezell
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
12 Nice And Kind Blues 2:35
Piano – Will Ezell
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
13 Women Won't Need No Men 2:55
Piano – Will Ezell
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
14 Doggone Wicked Blues 2:46
Piano [Prob.] – Will Ezell
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
15 Oklahoma Man Blues 2:25
Piano [Prob.] – Will Ezell
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
16 New Way Blues 2:47
Guitar – Tampa Red
Piano [Poss./Or] – Georgia Tom
Piano [Prob./Or] – Cow Cow Davenport
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
17 Pay Roll Blues 2:54
Guitar – Tampa Red
Piano [Poss./Or] – Georgia Tom
Piano [Prob./Or] – Cow Cow Davenport
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
18 Coffee Grindin' Blues 3:24
Guitar – Tampa Red
Piano [Poss./Or] – Georgia Tom
Piano [Prob./Or] – Cow Cow Davenport
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
19 Pot Hound Blues 3:07
Guitar – Tampa Red
Piano [Poss./Or] – Georgia Tom
Piano [Prob./Or] – Cow Cow Davenport
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
20 My Georgia Grind 2:52
Piano – Charles Avery
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
21 Whiskey Selling Woman 3:09
Piano – Charles Avery
Vocals – Lucille Bogan

LUCILLE BOGAN (Bessie Jackson) — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order • Volume 2 : 1930-1933 | BDCD-6037 (1994) FLAC (tracks), lossless

The second volume of Lucille Bogan's complete recorded works as reissued during the 1990s by Document is packed with 22 recordings made in Chicago between March 1930 and July 1933, with piano accompaniment by Charles Avery and Walter Roland. These records were cut during the toughest years of the Great Depression, and Bogan sang very candidly about what she and thousands of other women did in order to survive. The life of a prostitute struggling to get by is boldly sketched in songs like "Tricks Ain't Walking No More" and "Struttin' My Stuff." On the "Sloppy Drunk Blues," a song also recorded by Scrapper Blackwell and Leroy Carr, Bogan bluntly states that she loves her moonshine whiskey better than she loves her man. The words to her "House Top Blues" describe the ravages of both alcoholism and domestic violence; "Mean Twister" bemoans the death and devastation left in the wake of a cyclone. "Alley Boogie" and the "New Muscle Shoals Blues," on the other hand, are more like earthy honest celebrations of free love, unashamed and unfettered by socially imposed morality. Some of these recordings sound exactly like a 78 rpm platter spinning on a wind-up phonograph, the steel needle riding the groove through to the end of the song. Other editions of reissued recordings by this artist employed noise reduction technology; Document's approach in 1994 was to present the music as it sounds in its original format. arwulf arwulf 
Tracklist
1 They Ain't Walking No More 3:05
2 Dirty Treatin' Blues 2:52
3 Sloppy Drunk Blues 3:14
4 Alley Boogie 3:03
5 Crawlin' Lizard Blues 3:02
6 Struttin' My Stuff 2:47
7 Black Angel Blues 3:04
8 Tricks Ain't Walking No More 3:14
9 Red Cross Man 3:08
10 T & N O Blues 2:55
11 My Baby Come Back 2:43
12 Forty-Two Hundred Blues 2:41
13 Walkin' Blues 2:53
14 House Top Blues 2:51
15 Baking Powder Blues 2:56
16 Groceries On The Shelf 2:55
17 Seaboard Blues 2:47
18 Roll And Rattler 2:31
19 Superstitious Blues (Hooch House Blues) 2:49
20 Mean Twister 2:54
21 Troubled Mind 2:46
22 New Muscle Shoals Blues 2:48
Credits
Piano – Charles Avery (tracks: 1 to 4), Unknown Artist (tracks: 5 to 8), Walter Roland (tracks: 9 to 22)
Piano [Poss.] – Charles Avery (tracks: 5 to 8)
Speech – Walter Roland (tracks: 12, 18)
Vocals – Lucille Bogan

LUCILLE BOGAN (Bessie Jackson) — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order • Volume 3 : 1934-1935 | BDCD-6038 (1994) FLAC (tracks), lossless

The third and final volume of Lucille Bogan's complete works as presented by Document in 1994 allows the listener to savor 23 recordings made between July 1934 and March 1935, with pianist Walter Roland, and guitarists Bob Campbell and Josh White. It was during this period that Bogan chose to record under the name of Bessie Jackson. "You Got to Die Some Day" has a familiar ring to it, and might well be the source for a line in Eddie Durham and Jimmy Rushing's "Sent for You Yesterday," a major hit for Count Basie and other big-band leaders during the late 1930s. "I Hate That Train Called the M. and O." is one of several Bogan songs inspired by locomotives. Because this particular train separated her from the man that she loved, the emotions expressed here are undiluted and powerfully direct. "Pig Iron Sally," like the train songs rooted in the industrialized territory where she lived and worked, is the testimony of a woman who protects herself by claiming to be filled with Evil. The underlying message is as clear and concise as a crossbow: "Do Not Mess with Me." In many ways, the blues is often used like a diary. Whenever she expressed herself in front of a recording microphone, this singer reflected on who she was, the kind of a world she lived in, and the sort of people who inhabited it. "B.D. Woman's Blues" is about "Bull Dykes"; women who exclusively prefer the company of other women and display what are considered to be masculine characteristics. "Barbecue Bess" is a lusty conflation of flesh (sexual pleasures) and meat (carnivorous dining), both delectable topics for insatiable appetites. "Shave 'Em Dry" exists here in three versions. The first, a cover of a song by Ma Rainey, is a straightforward blues garnished with traditional references to interpersonal relationships and straight-edged razor blades. The two unissued takes could never have been put before the public in the '30s because of the outrageously pornographic lyrics, but were most likely quite popular on the private party circuit. Stash Records made an obscene take available to an appreciative new generation in 1976 on their Copulatin' Blues collection. The sexual imagery is every bit as extreme as the smuttiest outbursts of Jelly Roll Morton's 1938 Library of Congress sessions. After bragging about nipples as stiff as thumbs and seemingly Olympic bouts of frenzied copulation, Bogan (or Bessie Jackson, as she was then called) conjures up a weird architectural edifice as the man's erect penis poses as a church steeple and his sphincter becomes the portal, through which "...the crabs walks in like people!" After describing this bizarre hallucination, which suggests a passage from either the electroshock journals of Antonin Artaud or Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror, she busts out laughing and has to struggle to contain herself in order to finish her wild performance. After 1935, Lucille Bogan stopped making records and moved back to Birmingham, AL, where she managed her son's band, known as Bogan's Birmingham Rhythm Busters. This group, which included trumpeter Martin Barnett, saxophonist Lee Golden, pianist Robert McCoy, and washboard percussionist Clarence Curly, cut two sides for Vocalion in March of 1937. It's a pity that Document didn't dig these up and include them as a footnote at the end of this collection. Lucille Bogan eventually moved to Los Angeles where she died a victim of coronary sclerosis in 1948. Since the reissue of most of her works by Document in 1994, her name and voice have become familiar to small numbers of dedicated classic blues lovers worldwide. arwulf arwulf  
Tracklist
1 You Got to Die Some Day 2:42
Lucille Bogan
2 Lonesome Midnight Blues 2:34
Lucille Bogan
3 Boogan Ways Blues 2:57
Lucille Bogan
4 My Man Is Boogan Me 2:51
5 Pig Iron Sally 3:00
Lucille Bogan
6 I Hate That Train Called the M. and O. 3:10
7 Drinking Blues 2:58
Lucille Bogan
8 Tired as I Can Be 2:39
Lucille Bogan
9 Sweet Man, Sweet Man 3:04
10 Reckless Woman 2:54
Lucille Bogan
11 Down in Boogie Alley 2:53
12 Changed Ways Blues 2:57
13 Bo-Easy Blues 3:02
14 That's What My Baby Likes 3:02
15 Shave 'Em Dry 2:50
Lucille Bogan / Traditional
16 Shave 'Em Dry 3:22
Lucille Bogan / Traditional
17 Shave 'Em Dry 3:18
Lucille Bogan / Traditional
18 Barbecue Bess 2:42
Lucille Bogan
19 B.D. Woman's Blues 3:01
Lucille Bogan
20 Jump Steady Daddy 2:50
Lucille Bogan
21 Man Stealer Blues 3:02
Lucille Bogan
22 Stew Meat Blues 2:57
Lucille Bogan
23 Skin Game Blues 2:56
Lucille Bogan
Credits
Guitar – Walter Roland (tracks: 6, 8)
Vocals – Lucille Bogan
Guitar [Prob.] – Bob Campbell (tracks: 6, 8), Josh White (tracks: 21)
Piano – Walter Roland (tracks: 1 to 5, 7, 9 to 23 )
Speech – Walter Roland (tracks: 5)