A Lesson From “One of Those Records”
Music lovers tend to have different kinds of special recordings they cherish. There are those we consider “the greatest”, or “the most important”, or simply a “favorite” in various genres.
Then there’s another odd little group of recordings. These are ones we don’t consider among the greatest, most important, or favorite; we just play them. A lot. It’s a peculiar phenomenon, and it happens to me: songs and albums I’d never include on a top ten list, yet find myself playing more often than many I would.
One of those records is a 1969 vinyl called Electric Blues “Chicago Style” (Buddah Records BDS 7511). It’s a compilation of singles issued by Blues artists a tier lower in fame than the BB Kings and Muddy Waters of the world: Floyd Jones, Billy Boy Arnold, Snooky Pryor, and Eddie Taylor. At first, I assumed I played it often simply because of the tough, straight-ahead, no-nonsense urban blues in its grooves.
Then I realized that when I replayed individual tracks they tended to be Billy Boy Arnold’s. Why the cuts on Side 2 especially? Arnold’s vocals and harmonica were marvelous across the board, but I finally noticed there was one track I wanted to hear over and over – very unusual for me. So, I decided finally to actually listen to “My Heart Is Crying” to figure out why.
Mystery Solved
Seconds in, I knew; it was obvious. The drummer was the incomparable Fred Below. The beat was an irresistible shuffle, compellingly driving Arnold and the rest of the band to expressive heights. It wasn’t just the beat, though. Accents and virtuosic little fills perfectly placed in non-obvious places lent texture and nuance to every measure. The drummers on the album’s other tracks range from fine to quite good, but there was only one Fred Below.
This little light-bulb moment epitomizes why Fred is a suitable choice for our second Zebedee Award. The award gets its name from the first recipient, singer and master guitarist Earl Zebedee Hooker. (See post of 12/27/20.) The point is to honor musicians unknown to many who should be national heroes. I can’t live long enough to get to them all.
With apologies to Jump Jackson, Elgin Evans, Odie Payne, Bill Stepney, S. P. Leary, Clifton James, Earl Phillips, Sam Lay, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, and others, Fred Below set the standard for Blues drumming.
Brief Bio
Fred Below was born (September 16, 1926), raised, and died (August 14, 1988) in Chicago. Thus, he was one of the few major figures in the birth of urban blues who was not part of the great migration north from the Mississippi Delta or Texas. Following high school and study at the Roy C. Knapp School of Percussion, Below served in the Army, playing for the 427th Army Band.
Fred came to the Blues by way of Jazz training and playing. Before and during his service he got to meet, learn from, and play with any number of Jazz greats. Arriving back home in Chicago from his Army stint, Fred found a burgeoning Blues scene in the early ‘Fifties that dwarfed anything happening in Jazz.
While Fred had to adjust to the nuanced requirements of blues drumming, he would find the virtuosic skills developed while steeping himself in both swing and bebop serving him well the rest of his life. Specifically, his use of the entire drum set – tom-toms, all the cymbals, blocks, rims, bass drum, and so forth – and sophisticated use of elegant rhythms and poly-rhythms made him highly desirable just as the masters (Muddy, Wolf, Walter, Sonny Boy, etc.) were creating the framework for urban blues and all that followed.
Starter Kit for Listeners
Fred Below has an enormous discography. It’s difficult to think of a major figure in the first several decades of Chicago blues with whom Below did not play and record. The house drummer for Leonard and Phil Chess (Chess, Checker and Argo record labels), Fred propels any number of landmark urban blues records. It’s tempting to say, most of them.
Any exploring you do will be amply rewarded. Allow me to get you started.
Audio
Not just the founding fathers of city blues, but also the then-rising generation benefited from collaborating with Fred. A perfect example is Buddy Guy’s early singles on Chess. All are recommended, especially “The First Time I Met the Blues” in which Buddy’s explosive new attack paired perfectly with the thunder provided by Below’s drums. Here’s a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exutWZUTl44
Guy’s first album was on Vanguard. A Man and the Blues is special for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the personnel. The quartet consisted of Buddy on guitar and vocal, Otis Spann on piano, Jack Myers on electric bass, and Fred. Remarkably, each of the four gets my vote as the greatest in Blues history on his instrument. They play like it throughout, but there is a special treat.
The version of Big Maceo’s “One Room Country Shack” is simply exquisite. Maceo was one of Spann’s favorite influences, and he is really feeling it here. The interplay of the four with Buddy’s best recorded vocal is extraordinary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEiBlzrwxh0
Holding it all together is Fred’s sublime brushwork. When was the last time someone recommended a Blues cut to you for the drummer’s brushwork?
A previous post (5/10/2020) described Buddy and Junior Wells as one of music’s “dynamic duos”. Junior’s album on Vanguard It’s My Life, Baby features Buddy, Fred, and Jack Myers behind Junior on harmonica and vocals. If you want to hear Blues virtuosos play Jazz, do the title track. On one special cut, though, “Look How Baby”, Buddy’s guitar solo turns into a freely-improvised duet with Fred’s drums. Only half-jokingly I’ve referred to this as Avant-garde blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxwI53XRP5o
No one but Fred and Buddy, with Jack Myers, could have done this. Almost as noteworthy is the restraint of Junior Wells – not always as generous sharing the spotlight – in having them stretch out to this extent.
Video
Luckily, there is also some video. Here, Fred (with Jack Myers again on bass) backs the great Otis Rush in Europe in a stunning version of “I Can’t Quit You, Baby”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2tEP3I3DM&list=RDtMMjurLqYJQ&index=1
Fred’s regular gig was with The Aces. When brothers Louis Myers on guitar and Dave Myers on bass took on Below as the drummer, they indeed became the Aces, the most sought-after rhythm section in Chicago. Little Walter made the Aces his band after he left Muddy Waters to become a star in his own right, with remarkable success. (Sometimes they called themselves the Jukes, after Walter’s classic hit instrumental.) Everyone wanted to play with them.
Here the Aces back another underrated hero, Eddie Taylor, lead guitarist on all of Jimmy Reed’s hits but a monster in his own right. This is rare footage of Eddie as a leader: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZrUb4N37RU&list=RDtMMjurLqYJQ&index=5
An unusually good view of Fred in action is also with the Aces:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5m7Dve4ibo
One last treat for now – exploring YouTube further yields great rewards – is this video of Fred, Buddy and pianist Eddie Boyd backing Big Mama Thornton on “Hound Dog”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvbSXVc451Q
Not Just the Blues
The records that guaranteed rock ‘n’ roll was not going to be just another passing trend in American pop music were Chuck Berry’s on Chess. These anthems of rock, “Johnny B Goode”, “School Days”, “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Rock and Roll Music”, “Sweet Little Sixteen”, et al, established both the guitar as THE instrument of Rock and the beat that would rule. Fred Below was the drummer.
Another early R’n’R guitar master was almost as famous for his “Bo Diddley beat” as his guitar licks. Fred was not the drummer on most of Bo’s hits; Clifton James was. James cited Below as a top influence, however, and Fred claimed a significant role in creating the iconic beat (https://scottkfish.com/2016/03/09/fred-below-the-beatles-wouldnt-have-been-the-beatles/).
When he wasn’t driving the greatest blues bands or rock innovators in the world, Below drummed for artists as diverse as Dinah Washington, the Moonglows (yes, he’s the drummer on “Sincerely”), and the Platters.
Summing Up
For decades, when dancers on American Bandstand rated a record, that single was headed to a high score if “It had a great beat” and “I could dance to it”. Suffice it to say that Fred Below had a lot to do with what “a great beat” was in American popular music.
Drummers were my entre into Jazz (in order of my becoming aware: Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Sonny Payne, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Elvin Jones, and Philly Joe Jones). Not so, Blues. For me, like most, it was singer-guitarists at first, then pianists and harmonica players. Instances of real listening, as described at the top of this post, brought appreciation for great drumming in Blues.
With space my senior year at Rutgers for an elective, I took bassist Larry Ridley’s superb course on the History of Jazz. One of the most memorable classes was given by guest master drummer Philly Joe Jones. PJ sat on stage at his drum set, explaining and demonstrating the rhythms of world music through 20th Century American popular music. I’ve never learned more on any topic in one one-hour session in my life. Interestingly, he had a kind word for Rock.
“It’s easy to look down on Rock, musically,” he said, “but actually the real Rock ‘n’ Roll beat, done right, is intricate and compelling. It’s derived from the Blues’ shuffle rhythm [demonstrating] and not easy to do, either” [transitioning into rock ’n’ roll]”. No one in the class could sit still as one of the greatest Jazz drummers went back and forth between Fred Below’s Blues and Fred Below’s Rock – and that’s exactly what PJ was doing to epitomize each.
The timing couldn’t have been better for me, to reinforce what I had recently realized about the difference a Fred Below (or a Jack Myers on bass) can make. The least I can do is share the notion.
Enjoy.
***********************************************************
Another Other Aspect: Grachan Moncur III
The main focus here is to honor Fred Below.
I’d be remiss, however, not to mark the passing of Grachan Moncur III on his 85th birthday, this past June 3. He was my “other favorite” trombonist. Not coincidentally, and more importantly, he was tenor sax great Archie Shepp’s other favorite trombonist.
I had paid little attention to the instrument until I first heard Shepp’s first album as a leader, Four For Trane. Featured throughout was the robust playing and imaginative arranging of Roswell Rudd. Wow. Then I discovered my second favorite Shepp album, The Way Ahead. It was my introduction to Moncur, and from then to now I’d be hard pressed to choose between Rudd and Moncur – not that there’s any need to do so. Here’s “Fiesta” from the album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4rkRpaA63Y
As a sideman, Moncur did stellar work not only for Archie Shepp, but for other notables, especially alto great Jackie McLean.
Grachan’s writing and arranging take center stage in two albums as a leader of all-star ensembles: Evolution on Blue Note (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hIqmji2wlY)and New Africa on BYG. A standout on the latter is “When” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aN5VTUUsQ8), a remarkable 12-minute performance featuring one of Shepp’s greatest solos on record.
RIP, Grachan Moncur III. Again, if you can find the time to explore this music, you’ll be glad you did.
Ken Bossong
© 2022 Kenneth J. Bossong