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Jack Johnson Review by Paul "El Dormido" Taylor
Big Jack Johnson, the Oil Man, is a Delta blues musician by birth and residence. He was born in Lambert, MS, on July 30, 1940. He currently resides in Clarksdale, MS, when he isn't on the road, which may not be much since he logs 300+ dates a year. Jack grew up with music. His father was a local musician and Jack started playing with him when he was 13. In 1962 his career took off when he teamed up with Frank Frost and Sam Carr, 2 Delta legends, in an instantly intuitive match that carried them on and off for the next 15 years. The trio recorded as Frank Frost and the Nighthawks, Little Sam Carr and the Blues Kings, and the Jelly Roll Kings.
Jack's band opened up the second set with a couple of numbers before the Oil Man mounted the stage. They introduced him for his opening instrumental, and then he launched into the blues standard, "The Things I Used to Do", a sweetly soulful rendition featuring tremolo guitar strummings, slippery forays up the neck, some in tight clusters of blues notes, and a quiet, introspective meditation on the tune. Jack puts a lot into a song, a lot more than most soloist think to begin with! The Oil Man took "Shake Your Booty" off his "All the Way Back" release, an uptempo, funk style kick ass dance number that had me sweating on the dance floor before the first 4 bars were out. He slipped on the slide to add some spicy Delta flavoring to "King Bee" and followed that up with a country style instrumental invoking Chuck Berry's "Memphis". He gave a vivid reading to BB King's "Rock Me, Baby" that captured the essence of the tune. He included Freddy King's "Hideaway" that sometimes sounded like the band was tearing itself apart trying to make the tempo changes, but Jack just glided right along. Jack's guitar playing is soul satisfying blues. He is constantly inventive although sometimes its easy to anticipate where he's going to go because its such a natural blues progression. He doesn't just leave it at that though, taking the next chorus further on into the tune. Jack's reputation is 'buzz saw guitar blues", but on this night he chose to display an adept guitar style that was satisfying just listening, and just as satisfying dancing to. Plenty of room at the Grand Emporium to sit or dance. Very appreciative crowd. Nice Tuesday night price on the Boulevard draws. Thoroughly satisfying midweek night. 8 o'clock start for the early birds, 3 full sets for the night owls. -- El Dormido
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When I caught Jack Johnson's name on the Grand Emporium calendar for September, I immediately circled the date with much anticipation since Jack has quite a rep as a dynamic blues guitar player straight out of the Delta. Mi amigos simpaticos, Bobby Carson and Bryan Winkert, to KC blues musicians, had also played with Jack during their adventurous sojourn to New York a couple of years ago. Must see show Tuesday night, September 14.
Jack has also maintained a solo career spanning the globe. Jack's recordings include The Oil Man (Earwig LPS-4910), 1988; Daddy, When is Mama Comin Home? (Earwig CD-4916), 1989; We Got To Stop This Killin (MC Records Cat#-33), 1996, and his latest, All the Way Back, 1998.