Sugar Blue
Encyclopedia
Sugar Blue is an American
Grammy Award
winning blues
musician
, who plays the harmonica
. He is probably best known for playing on The Rolling Stones
' single
, "Miss You".
An article in the Chicago Tribune
stated: "The sound of Sugar Blue's harmonica could pierce any night... it's the sound of a musician who transcends the supposed limitations of his instrument."
on Johnny Shines
' Too Wet to Plow (1975) and with Roosevelt Sykes
. Whilst in the company of the latter, Blue met Louisiana Red
and the twosome toured and recorded in 1978.
Taking advice from Memphis Slim
, in the late 1970s Blue traveled to Paris
, France
. This led to him playing on several The Rolling Stones tracks ("Some Girls
", "Send It to Me
" and the aforementioned "Miss You"). Trombonist
Mike Zwerin
backed Blue on his solo
debut album
, Crossroads (1979). Following the release of his From Chicago to Paris (1982), Blue joined Willie Dixon
's Chicago Blues All Stars. In 1984, Blue's track "Another Man Done Gone", appeared on the compilation album
, Blues Explosion. It won a Grammy
in 1984
for Best Traditional Blues Album
.
Blue appeared with Brownie McGhee
in the film
, Angel Heart
(1987). Blue's next album Blue Blazes was released in 1994. It was followed by In Your Eyes (1995), and Code Blue released in 2007.
On January 26, 2010, Beeble Music released Threshold, Blue's latest album.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
winning blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, who plays the harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. He is probably best known for playing on The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
' single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Miss You".
An article in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
stated: "The sound of Sugar Blue's harmonica could pierce any night... it's the sound of a musician who transcends the supposed limitations of his instrument."
Biography
In the mid 1970s, Blue played as a session musicianSession musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
on Johnny Shines
Johnny Shines
Johnny Shines was an American blues singer and guitarist. According to the music journalist Tony Russell, "Shines was that rare being, a blues artist who overcame age and rustiness to make music that stood up beside the work of his youth...
' Too Wet to Plow (1975) and with Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.-Career:Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on...
. Whilst in the company of the latter, Blue met Louisiana Red
Louisiana Red
Louisiana Red is an African American blues guitarist, harmonica player, and singer, who has recorded more than 50 albums...
and the twosome toured and recorded in 1978.
Taking advice from Memphis Slim
Memphis Slim
Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other...
, in the late 1970s Blue traveled to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. This led to him playing on several The Rolling Stones tracks ("Some Girls
Some Girls (Rolling Stones song)
"Some Girls" is the title track of English rock and roll band the Rolling Stone's 1978 album Some Girls. It marked the third time a song on one of the band's albums also served as the album's title and is noted for its risque lyrics concerning the title's "some girls".Alongside previous Stones...
", "Send It to Me
Send It to Me
"Send It to Me" is a song by rock and roll band The Rolling Stones featured on the 1980 album Emotional Rescue.Credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "Send It to Me" is largely the work of Jagger, with him saying at the time of its release, "I did it with Charlie [Watts] very early on.....
" and the aforementioned "Miss You"). Trombonist
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
Mike Zwerin
Mike Zwerin
Mike Zwerin was an American cool jazz musician and author. Zwerin as a musician played the trombone and bass trumpet within various jazz ensembles. He was active within the jazz and prog. jazz musical community as a session musician...
backed Blue on his solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Crossroads (1979). Following the release of his From Chicago to Paris (1982), Blue joined Willie Dixon
Willie Dixon
William James "Willie" Dixon was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. A Grammy Award winner who was proficient on both the Upright bass and the guitar, as well as his own singing voice, Dixon is arguably best known as one of the most prolific songwriters...
's Chicago Blues All Stars. In 1984, Blue's track "Another Man Done Gone", appeared on the compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Blues Explosion. It won a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
in 1984
Grammy Awards of 1984
The 26th Grammy Awards were held on February 28, 1984, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1983...
for Best Traditional Blues Album
Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album was awarded from 1983 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...
.
Blue appeared with Brownie McGhee
Brownie McGhee
Walter Brown McGhee was a Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaborations with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.-Life and career:...
in the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Angel Heart
Angel Heart
Angel Heart is a 1987 North American/British mystery-thriller film written and directed by Alan Parker, and starring Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, and Lisa Bonet...
(1987). Blue's next album Blue Blazes was released in 1994. It was followed by In Your Eyes (1995), and Code Blue released in 2007.
On January 26, 2010, Beeble Music released Threshold, Blue's latest album.
Albums
| Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
| 1978 | Red, Funk and Blue | Black Panther | BP1001 | Duo with Louisiana Red |
| 1979 | King Bee | JSP | Duo with Louisiana Red | |
| 1980 | Crossroads | Blue Silver | BS 3004 | France, recorded 1979 |
| 1982 | From Chicago to Paris | Blue Silver | BS 3012/3332 | France, recorded 1980 with Slim Pezin, Earl Howell |
| 1984 | High Voltage Blues | JSP | 1081 | with Louisiana Red |
| 1991 | Absolutely Blue | Seven Seas/King | KICP 341 | Japan, recorded 1982 |
| 1994 | Blue Blazes | Alligator Alligator Records Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record... |
4819 | |
| 1995 | In Your Eyes | Alligator Alligator Records Alligator Records is a Chicago-based independent blues record label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971.Iglauer started the label with his own savings to record and produce his favorite band Hound Dog Taylor & The HouseRockers, whom his employer, Bob Koester of Delmark Records, declined to record... |
4831 | |
| 2006 | Right Now | Kozel | Switzerland, George Kay Band featuring Sugar Blue | |
| 2007 | Code Blue | Beeble | 801 | |
| 2010 | Threshold | Beeble | 802 | |
Compilations and reissues
| Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
| 1979 | Stars Of The Streets | Blue Whale Records | Performances were recorded live outdoors in the streets and parks of New York City. | |
| 1980 | Jazz Gala '80>[Kingdom Jazz | Gate 7010 | Recorded at the Palm Beach Casino, Cannes, France | |
| 1984 | Blues Explosion | Atlantic Atlantic Records Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz... |
80149 | Grammy winner, recorded live at Montreux |
| 1992 | From Paris to Chicago | EPM Blues Collection | 756 | Reissue of Crossroads and From Chicago to Paris |
| 1998 | The Blues Spectrum of Louisiana Red | JSP JSP JSP may stand for:* Jake Shea's Parties* Joe Six-Pack, Attributed to Sarah Palin, 2008 vice presidential candidate* Ji-Sung Park, South Korean footballer* Jacketed, Soft Point, a type of bullet* Jackson Structured Programming* Japan Socialist Party... |
UK recording | |
| 2007 | Another Man Done Gone | WNTS/Believe Digital | MP3 download | Reissue of Crossroads and From Chicago to Paris |
See also
- List of harmonica blues musicians
- List of Chicago blues musicians
- List of contemporary blues musicians
- List of harmonicists