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Memphis Slim and His House Rockers – Memphis Slim U.S.A. [feat. Matt “Guitar” Murphy]
Delmark DE 710 (1998) – United Series
Compact Disc

Memphis Slim has made more records than any other pianist in blues history. His rich vocals and solid piano work have been exhibited in settings including blues, R&B, rock, even country & western – solo or in bands both large and small. Slim’s recordings for the United label are outstanding, not only among Slim’s own proliferation of material, but among the whole field of urban band blues. And they marked a special occasion: the introduction of Matt “Guitar” Murphy to the Chicago blues. The guitar brought a change in the sound of Memphis Slim & His House Rockers that lasted until Slim disbanded the group and moved to France. Murphy joined the Blues Brothers and became a model for even more emerging modern blues guitarists. This CD contains two Murphy instrumentals, three songs not available since the 78s, and four previously unissued alternate takes.


Memphis Slim & His House Rockers
featuring Matt "Guitar" Murphy
Memphis Slim U.S.A.
Delmark DE-710

1. Memphis Slim U.S.A. 2:53 1482-7
2. Sassy Mae 2:45 1434-5
3. Little Piece of Mind 2:53 1431-3
4. Got To Find My Baby 2:36 1485-1
5. Banana Oil 2:15 1435-5
6. Blue And Lonesome 3:44 1481-1
7. Two Of A Kind 2:35 1484-2
8. She's Allright 2:37 1483-1
9. Blues All Around My Head 3:01 1486-2
10. Wish Me Well 2:58 1430-7
11. Four Years of Torment 2:54 1433-5
*12. Got To Find My Baby 2:55 1432-4
13. Slim Was Just Kiddin' 4:08 1486 1/2
14. Jive Time Bounce 2:50 1486 2/3
15. Backbone Boogie 2:58 1486 3/4
*16. Memphis Slim U.S.A. (alternate) 2:55 1482-6
*17. She's Allright (alternate) 2:36 1483-2
*18. Blues All Around My Head (alternate) 2:51 1486-1
*19. Blue And Lonesome (alternate) 2:53 1481-2

* previously unissued

originally recorded 1954 on United Records, released on LP in 1978 on Pearl Records, on CD in 1998 on Delmark Records


Memphis Slim has made more records than any other pianist in blues history. His rich vocals and solid piano work have been exhibited in many different settings including blues, R&B, rock, even country & western - solo or in bands both large and small. Slim's recordings for the United label are outstanding, not only among Slim's own proliferation of material, but among the whole field of postwar urban band blues. And they marked a special occasion: the introduction to Chicago blues of Matt "Guitar" Murphy. The guitar brought a change in the sound of Memphis Slim & His House Rockers that lasted until Slim disbanded the group and moved to France. Murphy joined the Blues Brothers and became a model for many emerging modern blues guitarists. Notes by Jim O'Neal enclosed.

Memphis Slim, vocals, piano (celeste on 4 & 8)
Matt "Guitar" Murphy, guitar
Neil Green, Jim Conley, tenor sax
Henry Taylor, bass
Otho Allen, drums
unknown bongos

1430-35 recorded March 16, 1954
1481-86 recorded September 29, 1954

1,5,6,7 by Peter Chatman (Memphis Slim)
2,4,8,10,11 by L.C. Frazier (Memphis Slim)
9 by Bill Putnam, Embassy, BMI.

John Len "Peter" Chatmen--Memphis Slim--had only used guitar on two sessions prior to the United dates, and had never featured a guitarist in his working band, though he had teamed up with Robert Johnson in the South and later with Big Bill Broonzy in Chicago. "There was two things I couldn't stand in those days," Slim recalls. "I couldn't stand no damn guitar, and harmonica. But Murphy was such a damn genius, man, 'tiI had to use him. And after that I damn near had to have a guitar. I brought him from Memphis where he was playing with Tuff Green."
Matthew T. Murphy was 22 when he joined Memphis Slim in 1952. Murphy had recorded behind Bobby "Blue" Bland and Jr. Parker earlier that year, worked in the bands of Parker and Howlin' Wolf, and was already regarded as the hottest young blues guitarist around Memphis. His bold attack, jazz-influenced chording and raw amplification epitomized the developing postwar Memphis/West Memphis style. Murphy liked some of the musicians he'd heard locally, like Calvin Newborn and Robert Jr. Lockwood, but for inspiration he looked primarily to West Coast guitarists T-Bone Walker and Johnny and Oscar Moore, and to jazz horn men like Charlie Parker, Arnett Cobb, Gene Ammons and Sonny Stitt. "I always did listen more to horn players than I did to guitar players anyway, he explains. "I wasn't crazy about guitar p!ayers. Those lines I got from horn players."
Murphy remembers, "He saw that the guitar was coming in as a pretty nice instrument for blues, and he came down lookin' for me. Someone from Chicago had told him about me. He listened to me and asked me did I want to go on the road. So I didn't hesitate at all! St. Louis was often home base for Slim, Murphy and other band members during the United years, though they traveled all over the country and spent a lot of time in Chicago, where the United sessions were held. St. Louis was a good town for United as Tab Smith, Jimmy Forrest, Chris Woods, the Dozier Boys lived there. Local disc jockey Spider Burke was an influential friend and many of the records (including Slim's) generally fared better in St. Louis than they did in Chicago or nationally. Slim explains: "St. Louis used to be swingin'! We had it sewed up. St. Louis was so good for me 'til I moved down there. Which was a mistake--as soon as I moved I became 'local talent.' The price went down and I had to move back to Chicago."
United held four sessions with Memphis Slim, recording approximately 30 different songs. Matt Murphy brought with him not only technical skills but a musical inventiveness. Already creating new lines and refining the rougher elements of his Memphis style, Matt helped with many arrangements, and it was probably mainly due to his presence that a quarter of the United titles were instrumentals. Jim Conley also contributed some sax-led instrumental parts, and Slim kicked in a few spontaneous boogies. Slim was meanwhile composing most of his own lyrics (under the name L.C. Fraser or Frazier, who was a cousin from Memphis--Slim had promised L.C. that he would put his name on records!). Louis "Lew" Simpkins, United's A&R man, had previously produced Slim for Miracle and Premium. He handled Slim's first United date in November 1952. After Simpkins died in May 1953, Slim was his own boss in the studio for the remaining three sessions. United's owner, Leonard Allen tells a story: "When Lew died, Slim come to me, said, 'Listen, Allen, let me get back on my old kick. Lew's trying to make me go pop'. I said, 'You tell me what you want to do, and if you think that's gonna sell to the people, that's all I'm interested in. So that's when Slim started to sellin'."
Actually, except for one unissued vocal duet with Terry Timmons, the Simpkins/Slim United session could hardly be considered "pop," as the other tunes were all blues and boogies, with Murphy even taking the vocal on one cut. Slim's later sessions may have been a little looser, though, especially the final set for United where he played a few bars on the celeste and at the end of the session did some jamming with Murphy and the rhythm section. This album features all the titles from the last two dates. Another Memphis Slim album is scheduled in the United Series to cover the remaining material from Slim's first two United sessions. These recordings don't deserve to be lost in the sea of Memphis Slim releases; the 1950's sound of Peter Chatman, Matt Murphy and company makes them unique.
--Jim O'Neal

Album Production: Robert G. Koester
Compilation: Jim O'Neal
Original Supervision and Production: Leonard Allen
Recording: Bill Putnam, Universal Recording Studios
Photos: Ray Flerlage
Design: Kate Hoddinott

United Records was the first successful black-owned record company. Operated by Leonard Allen, tailor, retired policeman and obviously one of exceptionally wide taste in music, the two labels (United and States) issued some of the best performances in the jazz, blues, gospel and R&B idioms between 1951 and '57. Delmark is proud to release this important body of masters, including many previously unissued, recorded in studios which pioneered high fidelity recording in the '50s.


Other Delmark albums containing United masters include:
Junior Wells, Blues Hit Big Town (640) with Muddy Waters,
Elmore James, Otis Spann...
Honkers & Bar Walkers, Volume One (438) with Jimmy Forrest,
Tab Smith, Doc Sausage...
The Four Blazes, Mary Jo (704) with Tommy Braden, Floyd McDaniel
Working The Road - The Golden Age of Chicago Gospel (702) with
Robert Anderson & The Caravans, Lucy Smith Singers...
The Danderliers & Other Great Groups on States, Chop Chop Boom
(703) featuring Chicago doowop groups
J.T. Brown, Windy City Boogie (714)
Morris Pejoe/Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, Wrapped In My Baby (716)
Robert Nighthawk, Bricks In My Pillow (711)
Jimmy Forrest, Night Train (435)
Tab Smith, Top 'n' Bottom (499)
Ace High (455)
Jump Time (447)
Paul Bascomb, Bad Bascomb (431)

Another CD containing Memphis Slim's 1952-'53 United sessions will be issued in a later United Series release.

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Delmark Records, 1 800 684 3480, 4121 N. Rockwell, Chicago, IL 60618
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