Page 51 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2018
P. 51

While playing in the clubs of the South and West Sides,
        Otis came to the attention of famed songwriter-producer Willie
        Dixon. “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” a Dixon composition, was the
        first release on a new label, Cobra. Ads touting the “21-year-
        old  sensation”  appeared  as  the  record  climbed  the  charts.
        His  second  record,  “My  Love  Will  Never  Die,”  a  dramatic
        minor-key blues with unforgettable falsetto highlights, earned
        a Cash Box “Award o’ the Week.” In a 1957 Cash Box poll,
        the nation’s R&B disc jockeys voted Otis the most promising
        “Up-and-Coming Male Vocalist.” Now a hot act in the Chicago
        clubs, Otis also began touring, sometimes with R&B and rock
        ‘n roll package shows at top venues including the Apollo in
        New  York.  Promoters  may  have  believed  that  as  a  young,
        good-looking act, he had teen appeal, and he was booked on
        bills with the likes of Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly
        and the Crickets, and the Drifters.
           But Otis’ blues may have been too deep for the younger
        set, or else his aversion to touring started to surface. Soon he
        was back to playing the local clubs, where his blues continued
        to draw good crowds. The failure of his other Cobra singles to
        sell well nationally despite their musical excellence was also
        a source of disillusionment, setting an unfortunate precedent
        for  his  career.  His  1956-1959  Cobra  sides  –  eight  singles
        and  a  number  of  alternate  takes  –  are  still  regarded  as  a
        benchmark of electric blues and set a standard that even Otis
        was challenged to meet in the years to come.
           In 1960, Dixon took Otis to Chess Records, where he cut
        another  classic,  “So  Many  Roads,”  and  in  1962  he  did  a
        session  for  Duke  Records  highlighted  by  “Homework.”  But
        again, no hits resulted. For several years, Otis led one of the   Rooster Blues Records publicity photo, 1985.
        best bands in Chicago but did no recording except for a few   Photo by Kirk West, courtesy BluEsoterica Archives
        tracks  on  Vanguard’s  Chicago/The Blues/Today!  series  and   Otis had taken a job at a store on the South Side and was
        a  few  more  in  Germany  on  tour  with  the  1966  American   playing only when called to go to Japan, where he had met
        Folk  Blues  Festival.  The  1960s  blues  revival  brought  him  a   his wife Masaki in 1975, or to Tramps, a club in New York.
        white following in America and Europe that would become   Then  saxophonist  Abb  Locke  convinced  him  to  play  on  a
        his primary base of support. His first LPs were a compilation   recording session for a 45 that Abb made for Rooster Blues
        of  his  Cobra  sides  and  a  Muscle  Shoals  studio  album  that   (another enterprise Amy and I cofounded with friends).
        helped bring his name to the fore again in 1969: Mourning   I  wanted  to  see  Otis  back  on  the  scene  and  recording
        in the Morning. Otis, however, was less than fond of the final   again, and a young musician I had met, Dan Ivankovich (now
        product. As Otis’ friend, noted blues aficionado and producer   known as Dr. Dan), got Otis some local gigs. Offers for out-
        Dick Shurman says, “Neither the road nor the studio really   of-town work started to come in and I helped as I could. One
        agreed with him, and sometimes the tension associated with a   day Otis told me, “You’re my manager.” That was never my
        new release and touring seemed to make things even worse.”  intention, but when the master calls, as they say...
           By the time Living Blues magazine published its first issue   I traveled with Otis to the West Coast in 1985. He played
        in 1970, I and my ex-wife Amy van Singel, one of the other   with pickup bands at each stop with varying results, but one
        magazine  cofounders,  were  already  Otis  Rush  fanatics.   performance, with the Bobby Murray band at the San Francisco
        Together  with  Dick,  we  interviewed  Otis  several  times  and   Blues Festival, came off without a hitch. Festival Director Tom
        attended a recording session he did for the Delmark LP Cold   Mazzolini  taped  the  set,  which  he  rightly  considered  good
        Day in Hell in 1975, in addition to many of his shows. Amy   enough for an album. I turned it down (not a wise decision in
        took photos for a “lost” album (and one of Otis’ best), Right   retrospect) because I preferred to give Otis the chance to record
        Place, Wrong Time, that had been shelved until Dick helped   some originals and songs that he had not recorded before, and
        rescue it and find a label, Bullfrog, to release it. That was the   to record them the way he wanted. Blind Pig Records made a
        extent of my relationship with Otis until 1983. At that point,   deal for the live album and gave it the title Tops.



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