Tampa Red
Encyclopedia
Tampa Red born Hudson Woodbridge but known from childhood as Hudson Whittaker, was an American
Chicago blues
musician
.
Tampa Red is best known as an accomplished and influential blues
guitarist
who had a unique single-string slide
style. His songwriting and his silky, polished "bottleneck" technique influenced other leading Chicago blues guitarists, such as Big Bill Broonzy
and Robert Nighthawk, as well as Muddy Waters
, Elmore James
, Mose Allison
and many others. In a career spanning over 30 years he also recorded pop, R&B
and hokum
records. His best known recordings include the "classic compositions 'Anna Lou Blues', 'Black Angel Blues
', 'Crying Won't Help You', 'It Hurts Me Too
', and 'Love Her with a Feeling'".
, Georgia
, United States
. His parents died when he was a child, and he moved to Tampa
, Florida
, where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and adopted their surname, Whittaker. He emulated his older brother, Eddie, who played guitar, and he was especially inspired by an old street musician called Piccolo Pete, who first taught him to play blues licks on a guitar.
In the 1920s, having already perfected his slide technique, he moved to Chicago
, Illinois
, and began his career as a musician, adopting the name 'Tampa Red' from his childhood home and light colored skin. His big break was being hired to accompany Ma Rainey
and he began recording in 1928 with "It's Tight Like That", in a bawdy and humorous style that became known as "hokum
". Early recordings were mostly collaborations with Thomas A. Dorsey
, known at the time as Georgia Tom. Tampa Red and Georgia Tom recorded almost 90 sides, sometimes as "The Hokum Boys" or, with Frankie Jaxon
, as "Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band".
In 1928, Tampa Red became the first black musician to play a National
steel-bodied resonator guitar
, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year they were available. This allowed him to develop his trademark bottleneck style, playing single string runs, not block chords, which was a precursor to later blues and rock guitar soloing. The National guitar he used was a gold-plated tricone, which was found in Illinois in the 1990s by music-shop owner and guitarist Randy Clemens and later sold to the "Experience Music Project" in Seattle. Tampa Red was known as "The Man With The Gold Guitar", and, into the 1930s, he was billed as "The Guitar Wizard".
His partnership with Dorsey ended in 1932, but he remained much in demand as a session musician
, working with John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson
, Memphis Minnie
, Big Maceo, and many others. In 1934 he signed for Victor Records, remaining on their artist roster until 1953. He formed the Chicago Five, a group of session musicians who created what became known as the Bluebird sound, a precursor of the small group style of later jump blues and rock and roll bands. He was a close friend and associate of Big Bill Broonzy and Big Maceo Merriweather
. He enjoyed commercial success and reasonable prosperity, and his home became a centre for the blues community, informally providing rehearsal space, bookings, and lodgings for the flow of musicians who arrived in Chicago from the Mississippi Delta
as the commercial potential of blues music grew and agricultural employment in the south diminished.
By the 1940s he was playing electric guitar. In 1942 "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" was a # 4 hit on Billboard
s new "Harlem Hit Parade", forerunner of the R&B chart
, and his 1949 recording "When Things Go Wrong with You (It Hurts Me Too)", another R&B hit, was covered by Elmore James
. He was 'rediscovered' in the late 1950s, like many other surviving early recorded blues artists such as Son House
and Skip James
, as part of the blues revival. His final recordings were in 1960.
He became an alcoholic after his wife's death in 1953. He died destitute in Chicago, aged 77.
magazine began tracking blues (and other "race music") in October 1942 and accurate sales records are not available. However, Red had four singles that placed in the R&B top ten between 1942 and 1951.
Tampa Red also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Big Maceo Merriweather
, Sonny Boy Williamson I
, Memphis Minnie
, Ma Rainey
, and Victoria Spivey
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
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....
.
Tampa Red is best known as an accomplished and influential 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...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
who had a unique single-string slide
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
style. His songwriting and his silky, polished "bottleneck" technique influenced other leading Chicago blues guitarists, such as Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
and Robert Nighthawk, as well as Muddy Waters
Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
, Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
, Mose Allison
Mose Allison
Mose John Allison, Jr. is an American jazz blues pianist and singer.-Biography:...
and many others. In a career spanning over 30 years he also recorded pop, R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and hokum
Hokum
Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music - a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos...
records. His best known recordings include the "classic compositions 'Anna Lou Blues', 'Black Angel Blues
Black Angel Blues
"Black Angel Blues", also known as "Sweet Black Angel" or "Sweet Little Angel", is a blues standard that has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists. The song was first recorded in 1930 by Lucille Bogan, one of the classic female blues singers...
', 'Crying Won't Help You', 'It Hurts Me Too
It Hurts Me Too
"It Hurts Me Too" is a blues standard that is "one of the most interpreted blues [songs]". First recorded in 1940 by Tampa Red, the song is a mid-tempo eight-bar blues that features slide guitar...
', and 'Love Her with a Feeling'".
Biography
He was born Hudson Woodbridge in SmithvilleSmithville, Georgia
Smithville is a city in Lee County, Georgia, United States. The population was 774 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Albany, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Smithville is located at ....
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His parents died when he was a child, and he moved to Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, where he was raised by his aunt and grandmother and adopted their surname, Whittaker. He emulated his older brother, Eddie, who played guitar, and he was especially inspired by an old street musician called Piccolo Pete, who first taught him to play blues licks on a guitar.
In the 1920s, having already perfected his slide technique, he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and began his career as a musician, adopting the name 'Tampa Red' from his childhood home and light colored skin. His big break was being hired to accompany Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues....
and he began recording in 1928 with "It's Tight Like That", in a bawdy and humorous style that became known as "hokum
Hokum
Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music - a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos...
". Early recordings were mostly collaborations with Thomas A. Dorsey
Thomas A. Dorsey
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys." Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.As formulated by Dorsey,...
, known at the time as Georgia Tom. Tampa Red and Georgia Tom recorded almost 90 sides, sometimes as "The Hokum Boys" or, with Frankie Jaxon
Frankie Jaxon
Frankie "Half Pint" Jaxon was an African American vaudeville singer, female impersonator, stage designer and comedian, popular in the 1920s and 1930s.-Life and career:...
, as "Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band".
In 1928, Tampa Red became the first black musician to play a National
National String Instrument Corporation
The National String Instrument Corporation was a guitar company that formed to manufacture the first resonator guitars.-National resonator guitar designs:...
steel-bodied resonator guitar
Resonator guitar
A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar is an acoustic guitar whose sound is produced by one or more spun metal cones instead of the wooden sound board . Resonator guitars were originally designed to be louder than conventional acoustic guitars which were overwhelmed by horns and percussion...
, the loudest and showiest guitar available before amplification, acquiring one in the first year they were available. This allowed him to develop his trademark bottleneck style, playing single string runs, not block chords, which was a precursor to later blues and rock guitar soloing. The National guitar he used was a gold-plated tricone, which was found in Illinois in the 1990s by music-shop owner and guitarist Randy Clemens and later sold to the "Experience Music Project" in Seattle. Tampa Red was known as "The Man With The Gold Guitar", and, into the 1930s, he was billed as "The Guitar Wizard".
His partnership with Dorsey ended in 1932, but he remained much in demand as a session musician
Session 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...
, working with John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson
Sonny Boy Williamson I
Sonny Boy Williamson was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.-Biography and career:...
, Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
, Big Maceo, and many others. In 1934 he signed for Victor Records, remaining on their artist roster until 1953. He formed the Chicago Five, a group of session musicians who created what became known as the Bluebird sound, a precursor of the small group style of later jump blues and rock and roll bands. He was a close friend and associate of Big Bill Broonzy and Big Maceo Merriweather
Big Maceo Merriweather
Big Maceo Merriweather was an American Chicago blues pianist and singer, active in Chicago in the 1940s.-Career:...
. He enjoyed commercial success and reasonable prosperity, and his home became a centre for the blues community, informally providing rehearsal space, bookings, and lodgings for the flow of musicians who arrived in Chicago from the Mississippi Delta
Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. The region has been called "The Most Southern Place on Earth" because of its unique racial, cultural, and economic history...
as the commercial potential of blues music grew and agricultural employment in the south diminished.
By the 1940s he was playing electric guitar. In 1942 "Let Me Play With Your Poodle" was a # 4 hit on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
s new "Harlem Hit Parade", forerunner of the R&B chart
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
, and his 1949 recording "When Things Go Wrong with You (It Hurts Me Too)", another R&B hit, was covered by Elmore James
Elmore James
Elmore James was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter and band leader. He was known as "the King of the Slide Guitar" and had a unique guitar style, noted for his use of loud amplification and his stirring voice.-Biography:James was born Elmore Brooks in the old Richland community in...
. He was 'rediscovered' in the late 1950s, like many other surviving early recorded blues artists such as Son House
Son House
Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. was an American blues singer and guitarist. House pioneered an innovative style featuring strong, repetitive rhythms, often played with the aid of slide guitar, and his singing often incorporated elements of southern gospel and spiritual music...
and Skip James
Skip James
Nehemiah Curtis "Skip" James was an American Delta blues singer, guitarist, pianist and songwriter, born in Bentonia, Mississippi, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
, as part of the blues revival. His final recordings were in 1960.
He became an alcoholic after his wife's death in 1953. He died destitute in Chicago, aged 77.
Discography
Tampa Red was one of the most prolific blues recording artists of his era. It has been estimated that he recorded 335 songs on 78 rpm records, with 251 recorded between 1928 and 1942, making him the blues artist with the most recordings during that period. The bulk of his singles were released before BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
magazine began tracking blues (and other "race music") in October 1942 and accurate sales records are not available. However, Red had four singles that placed in the R&B top ten between 1942 and 1951.
Selected singles
For some of his earlier songs, Tampa Red recorded additional versions (usually designated "No. 2", "No. 3", etc.) or under a different name with collaborators ("Hokum Boys", "Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band", Papa Too Sweet, et al.). Songs with additional versions are marked with a "+".| Date | Title | Label & Cat. no. | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | "It's Tight Like That" | Vocalion Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their... 1216+ |
with Georgia Tom aka Tom Dorsey Thomas A. Dorsey Thomas Andrew Dorsey was known as "the father of black gospel music" and was at one time so closely associated with the field that songs written in the new style were sometimes known as "dorseys." Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom.As formulated by Dorsey,... (piano) |
| "How Long, How Long Blues How Long, How Long Blues "How Long, How Long Blues" is a traditional eight bar blues song, made famous by Leroy Carr on his 1928 Vocalion Records recording with the guitarist Scrapper Blackwell... " |
Vocalion 1228+ | as "Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band" | |
| 1929 | "The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas "The Duck's Yas-Yas-Yas" or "The Duck's Yas Yas Yas" is a hokum jazz-blues song, originally recorded by James "Stump" Johnson, but the most well known version was recorded by Oliver Cobb and his Rhythm Kings.... " |
Vocalion 1277 | with Dorsey |
| "You've Got to Reap What You Sow" | Vocalion 1404 | slide-guitar instrumental | |
| "Corrine Corrina" | Vocalion 1450+ | with Dorsey | |
| 1930 | "The Dirty Dozen #2" | Vocalion 1538 | |
| 1931 | "Things 'bout Coming My Way" | Vocalion 1637+ | |
| 1932 | "You Can't Get That Stuff No More" | Vocalion 1706 | with Dorsey |
| 1934 | "Sugar Mama Blues No. 1" | Vocalion 2720+ | |
| "Black Angel Blues Black Angel Blues "Black Angel Blues", also known as "Sweet Black Angel" or "Sweet Little Angel", is a blues standard that has been recorded by numerous blues and other artists. The song was first recorded in 1930 by Lucille Bogan, one of the classic female blues singers... " |
Vocalion 2753 | ||
| "Mean Mistreater Blues" | Bluebird Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best... 5546 |
||
| 1938 | "Love with a Feeling" | Bluebird 7822 | with Black Bob Hudson (piano) & unknown (bass) |
| 1940 | "It Hurts Me Too It Hurts Me Too "It Hurts Me Too" is a blues standard that is "one of the most interpreted blues [songs]". First recorded in 1940 by Tampa Red, the song is a mid-tempo eight-bar blues that features slide guitar... " |
Bluebird 8635 | with Blind John Davis Blind John Davis Blind John Davis was an African American, blues, jazz and boogie-woogie pianist and singer. He is best remembered for his recordings including "A Little Every Day" and "Everybody's Boogie".-Biography:... (piano) & unknown (bass) |
| "Anna Lou Blues" | Bluebird 8654 | with Davis & bass | |
| "Don't You Lie to Me Don't You Lie to Me "Don't You Lie to Me" is a blues song recorded by Tampa Red in 1940. It became a standard of the blues, with recordings by various artists... " |
Bluebird 8654 | with Davis & bass | |
| 1942 | "Let Me Play with Your Poodle" | Bluebird 0700 | reached #4 in Billboard R&B chart, with Big Maceo Merriweather Big Maceo Merriweather Big Maceo Merriweather was an American Chicago blues pianist and singer, active in Chicago in the 1940s.-Career:... (piano) & Clifford Jones (drums) |
| 1945 | "Detroit Blues" | Bluebird 0731 | R&B #5, with combo (piano, bass, & drums) |
| 1946 | "Crying Won't Help You" | RCA Victor 20-1988 | with combo |
| 1949 | "When Things Go Wrong with You It Hurts Me Too "It Hurts Me Too" is a blues standard that is "one of the most interpreted blues [songs]". First recorded in 1940 by Tampa Red, the song is a mid-tempo eight-bar blues that features slide guitar... " |
RCA Victor 22-0035 | R&B #9, remake of "It Hurts Me Too", with combo |
| 1950 | "Love Her with a Feeling" | RCA Victor 22-0084 | remake of "Love with a Feeling", with combo |
| 1951 | "Sweet Little Angel" | RCA Victor 22-0107 | remake of "Black Angel Blues", with combo |
| "Early in the Morning Early in the Morning (Sonny Boy Williamson I song) "Early in the Morning" is a blues song that was recorded by John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson in 1937. Identified as a blues standard, it was inspired by earlier blues songs... " |
RCA Victor 22-0123 | with combo | |
| "Pretty Baby Blues" | RCA Victor 22-0136 | R&B #7, with combo |
Tampa Red also appeared as a sideman on recordings by Big Maceo Merriweather
Big Maceo Merriweather
Big Maceo Merriweather was an American Chicago blues pianist and singer, active in Chicago in the 1940s.-Career:...
, Sonny Boy Williamson I
Sonny Boy Williamson I
Sonny Boy Williamson was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.-Biography and career:...
, Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie
Memphis Minnie was an American blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. She was the only female blues artist considered a match to male contemporaries as both a singer and an instrumentalist.-Career:...
, Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues....
, and Victoria Spivey
Victoria Spivey
Victoria Spivey was an American blues singer and songwriter. She is best known for her recordings of "Dope Head Blues" and "Organ Grinder Blues", and Spivey variously worked with her sister, Addie "Sweet Pease" Spivey, and with Bob Dylan, Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence...
.
Selected albums
Although he was a prolific singles artist, Tampa Red only recorded two albums, which were released late in his career. Various compilation albums have been released since his death by a number of record companies. Often there is significant overlap, but some compilations focus on certain aspects of his style or original record labels.| Date | Title | Label | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Don't Tampa with the Blues | Bluesville Bluesville Records Bluesville Records is a subsidiary of Prestige Records, launched in the 1960s with the primary purpose of documenting the work of the older classic bluesmen passed over by the changing audience... |
recorded 1960 |
| Don't Jive Me | Bluesville | recorded 1961 | |
| 1974 | Bottleneck Guitar 1928–1937 | Yazoo Yazoo Records Yazoo Records is an American record label, founded in the late 1960s by Nick Perls. It specializes in early American blues, country, jazz, and other rural American genres .... |
|
| 1991–93 | Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order Vol. 1–15 | Document Document Records Document Records is a British record label that specializes in early American blues, bluegrass, gospel, spirituals jazz, and other rural American genres , generally made between 1900 and 1945... |
recorded 1928–53 |
| 1993 | Keep Jumping 1944–1952 | Wolf | |
| 1994 | Tampa Red (1928–1942) | Story of the Blues | |
| The Guitar Wizard | Columbia/Legacy Legacy Recordings Legacy Recordings is Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division. It was founded in 1990 by CBS Records under the leadership of Jerry Shulman, Richard Bauer, Gary Pacheco and Amy Herot to handle reissues of recordings from the vast catalogues of Columbia Records, Epic Records and associated... |
Okeh Okeh Records Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:... and Vocalion Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is a record label active for many years in the United States and in the United Kingdom.-History:Vocalion was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Piano Company of New York City, which introduced a retail line of phonographs at the same time. The name was derived from one of their... releases 1928–34 |
|
| It Hurts Me Too – The Essential Recordings | Indigo | various labels 1928–42 | |
| 1997 | The Complete Bluebird Recordings 1934–1936 | RCA RCA Records RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label... |
|
| The Bluebird Recordings 1936–1938 | RCA | ||
| 2001 | The Essential | Classic Blues | recorded 1928–51 |
| 2002 | Slide Guitar Classics | P-Vine P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is a record label started by Blues Interactions, Inc., a firm in Tokyo, Japan established in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi... |