Winslow,
The two studio versions I have that are labelled 'juke' are in the same key, beyond that two different heads/ improvisations. The single: recorded may 12, 1952, w/ Muddy, Jimmy Rodgers and Elgin Evans. The alternate take from the the same day same players released on the "Blues with a Feeling" CD.
One thing we've always observed with the old blues greats is they had been ripped off without credit so much that there was often an attitude, and understandably so. But nobody can ever sort all this stuff out. It's pretty well documented that some of these guys would brag and fabricate at times.
You've got Rice Miller, claiming he's "the original sonny boy", Hound dog Taylor claimed Freddy King stole Hideaway from him, Jody williams said Howlin' Wolfe and Otis Rush stole from him, I've heard that James Cotton was doing Rocket 88 before anyone else.............on and on. And then you have the later generations stealing from the guys that stole from the guys, and on that goes.
Here's what I know, Little Walter had a hit record with one of his recordings of "JUKE", and nobody else did. It's unlikely he ever played it the same way twice. Now how can we steal that?
An old friend that I played music with for 30 years used to say: There's only eight notes and the sharps and flats, there's bound to be some repitition, it's all about how you play it! Just my 2cents, James
----- Original Message ----- From: "Winslow Yerxa" <winslowyerxa@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 7:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Little walter didn't write Juke!
If you listen to the two studio recordings of Juke that little Walter made, it's evident that both were improvised, aside from the first verse head. And that head is such a cliche of swing - witness the citations of prior art coming in on this thread - that it's meaningless to use that one verse to indicate authorship of anything. The final released take of Juke is a masterpiece of pacing and contrast. Could you find a prior existence for all or any of the other verses (as with Freddy King's Hideaway, which took several then-popular dance riffs and strung them together in a dynamic fashion)? Maybe, maybe not. But if so, nobody ever strung them together in that way and to such great effect.
Maybe there's a college thesis for someone in rooting out the possible source material for Juke and then contrasting those antecedents with the final product.
Winslow
Winslow Yerxa
Author, Harmonica For Dummies ISBN 978-0-470-33729-5
--- On Sat, 1/23/10, hazcon <hazcon@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
From: hazcon <hazcon@xxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [Harp-L] Little walter didn't write Juke! To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx Date: Saturday, January 23, 2010, 10:27 PM
http://www.blues.co.nz/features/article.php?id=4
Junior Wells interview in a NZ Blues Mag.Also comments on the Shure Bullet (6$!)
Rck in Z
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