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Jimmy Dawkins
Fast Fingers
Delmark DD-623

1. It Serves Me Right To Suffer
2. I Wonder Why
3. I'm Good For Nothing
4. Triple Trebles
5. I Finally Learned A Lesson
6. You Got To Keep On Trying
7. Night Rock
8. Little Angel Child
9. I Don't Know What Love Is
10. Breaking Down
*11. Sad and Blues
*12. Back Home Blues

*previously unissued

The vocal on 11 and the first half of 12 are new '98 vocal tracks re-recorded at the request of Jimmy Dawkins.

All songs by James Dawkins, Leric Music BMI

Jimmy Dawkins, vocals, guitar
Eddie Shaw, tenor sax
Lafayette Leake, piano, organ
Mighty Joe Young, guitar
Joe Harper, bass ('69 session)
Ernest Gatewood, bass ('68 session)
Lester Dorsie, drums

Songs 2,3,4,6,9,10 recorded November 28, 1968
Songs 1,5,7,8,11,12 recorded January 21, 1969

Blues guitarist Jimmy Dawkins stands out as a solemn, thoughtful figure. With his ax cradled in his arms, staring through his shades into the crowd but not really seeing them, he seems merged with his songs on a higher realm. His voice pleads, his fingers answer with super-quick guitar riffs which complement each other beautifully.
Today Jimmy Dawkins is a seasoned Chicago blues veteran still active recording albums. This CD was his very first album as leader and it offers a glimpse into the soul and character of a great blues man. Winner of the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque de Jazz given by the "Hot Club de France".


Jimmy "Fast Fingers" Dawkins, blues guitarist, is perhaps an unfamiliar name to the blues record buyer but definitely not to the blues scene of Chicago's West Side, where he has been a mainstay for more than ten years. There, he stands out as a solemn, thoughtful figure on the bandstands of the taverns and clubs that dot Ogden, Roosevelt Road and West Madison. With his ax cradled in his arm, staring through his shades into the crowd but not really seeing them, he looks somehow forbidding and unapproachable, merged with his songs on a higher realm.
Possibly Jimmy Dawkins would have been "discovered" and recorded a long time ago if he would rely on trickery rather than artistry as do some of his contemporaries. However, Jimmy finds it impossible to jump around, lay on the floor and contort himself to get the audience to listen to him. "Fast Fingers" has been a bluesman since grammar school days in Tchule, Mississippi. It is the blues he feels and it's the blues he plays. He has appeared as a sideman on records made by other artists including Wild Child Butler, Koko Taylor, and Johnny Young. Delmark albums by Sleepy John Estes (Delmark 619), Carey Bell (Delmark 622) and Luther Allison (Delmark 625) feature Jimmy's stacatto style. He met Jimmy Rogers when he was still playing for Muddy and later played with Jimmy on the road for almost two years.
But "Fast Fingers" has developed a grippingly beautiful style of his own. His technical ability cannot be disputed. Hell, just play this record once and dig his magnificent guitar work. But I am sure that after listening you will agree that he has something more than technical proficiency. He has an extra dimension in his style and character that create in his listener's mind mood pictures. The blues is a verbal music but I for one used to listen to the blues tunes and only secondarily to words. Jimmy Dawkins more than anyone else I know got me listening to the words. "Fast Fingers"' plaintive voice and guitar evoke in me emotions which cannot be described on paper. I can only describe him as having soul in such abundance that it spills over into his music, his mannerisms, and his personality. It's not exactly the same type of soul of a wailing James Brown or of a rib joint on Kedzie Avenue, but something more nebulous and hauntingly beautiful. His voice pleads, his fingers answer with super-quick guitar riffs which complement each other beautifully. The synthesis of the two will catapult your mind to a plateau of new awareness. Listen to this album and then decide for yourself if your life hasn't been enriched. This is not just another blues album but a blues experience. It is a glimpse into the soul and character of a great blues man.

John Fishel
Program Director, Ann Arbor Blues Festival

Album Production and Supervision: Robert G. Koester
CD Production: Steve Wagner
Cover Photo: Jim Falconer
Original Cover Photo: Jim Powell
Additional Photography: Ray Flerlage
Design: Kate Hoddinott
Recording: Dave Antler, Sound Studios

Other Delmark Albums of Interest:
Jimmy Dawkins, All For Business (634) with Voice Odom, Otis Rush
Blisterstring (641)
Magic Sam, West Side Soul (615)
Black Magic (620)
Live (645)
The Magic Sam Legacy (651)
Give Me Time (654)
Luther Allison, Love Me Mama (625)
Sweet Home Chicago (618) anthology with Magic Sam, Luther
Allison, Louis Myers and others
J.B. Hutto, Hawk Squat (617) with Sunnyland Slim
Slidewinder (636)
Junior Wells, Hoodoo Man Blues (612) with Buddy Guy
Southside Blues Jam (628) with Buddy Guy, Otis Spann
On Tap (635) with Phil Guy, Sammy Lawhorn
Blues Hit Big Town (640) with Muddy Waters, Elmore
James, Otis Spann, The Aces, Willie Dixon...



JIMMY DAWKINS BIOGRAPHY
by Grego Anderson

Jimmy Dawkins was born in Tchula, Mississippi, and moved to Chicago in 1955. He worked in a box factory, and started to play local blues clubs, gaining a reputation as a session musician.

In 1969, thanks to the efforts of his friend Magic Sam, he released his first solo album Fast Fingers on Delmark Records, winning the “Grand Prix du Disque” from the Hot Club de France. In 1971 Delmark released his second album All For Business with singer Andrew “Big Voice” Odom and guitarist Otis Rush.

He began to tour in Europe and Japan, and recorded more albums in the USA and Europe. Dawkins also contributed a column to the blues magazine “Living Blues” which he co-founded. In the 1980’s he released few recordings, and began his own label, Leric Records, and was more interested in promoting other artists, including Taildragger, Queen Sylvia Embry, Little Johnny Christian and Nora Jean Wallace.

In 1991 he began to tour and record more regularly. In 1995 he received three nominations for the W.C. Handy Award in the categories “Best Blues Instrumentalist – guitar”, “Contemporary Blues Album of the Year” (1994’s Blues And Pain), and “Blues Song of the Year” (“Fool in Heah”). The re-release of Fast Fingers received a W.C. Handy Award nomination as “Best Reissue Blues Album of the Year” in 1999.

"James Henry "Jimmy" Dawkins (October 24, 1936 – April 10, 2013) was an American Chicago blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. He was generally considered a part of the "West Side Sound" of Chicago blues. He was born in Tchula, Mississippi in 1936. He moved to Chicago in 1955. He worked in a box factory, and started to play local blues clubs, gaining a reputation as a session musician.


Dawkins began to tour in Europe and Japan and recorded more albums in the United States and Europe. Dawkins also contributed a column to the blues magazine Living Blues. In the 1980s he released few recordings, but began his own record label, Leric Records, and was more interested in promoting other artists, including Taildragger, Queen Sylvia Embry, Little Johnny Christian and Nora Jean Wallace.

Dawkins died of undisclosed causes on April 10, 2013, aged 76."