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Michael Coleman
Do Your Thing!
Delmark DE-747

1. The Train 4:36
2. Help Me 6:39
3. Message Of Love 4:04
4. Cold, Cold Feeling 5:17
5. Do Your Thing! 7:22
6. Messin’ With The Kid 3:12
7. You Don’t Have To Go 7:33
8. Black Magic Woman 4:49
9. Let’s Straighten It Out 6:15
10. Dock Of The Bay 5:00
11. Tin Pan Alley 6:33
12. Breakfast In Bed 4:00

One of the hottest guitar slingers in Chicago, Michael Coleman hits with his debut American release. In ’79, at the age of 23, Michael joined James Cotton’s band and stayed with him for ten years including two recording projects. Since then he’s worked with Eddy Clearwater, recorded with Syl Johnson and has had several European albums of his own. Do Your Thing! is Michael’s blues party record. With the raucous, kick-butt opener, "The Train", the groove is set. Michael then proceeds to blend tried and true lyrics with fresh arrangements to present a mix of traditional blues and rockin’ soul that's sure to please.

Michael Coleman, vocals, guitar
Marty Sammon, keyboards
Willie "Vamp" Samuels, bass (1,4,5,6,7,12)
Sam Green, bass (2,3,8,9,10,11)
Merle Perkins, drums
Matthew Skoller, harmonica (2,6,7)
Todd Bartelstein, harmonica (3)
Kenny Anderson, trumpet (1,5,12)
Hank Ford, tenor sax (1,5,12)
Bill McFarland, trombone (1,5,12)
Vince Varco, strings (9)

1. The Train (Coleman/Fender)
2. Help Me (Bass/Dixon/Williamson, Arc Music, BMI)
3. Message Of Love (Jimi Hendrix, Experience Hendrix LLC, ASCAP)
4. Cold, Cold Feeling (Jessie Mae Robinson, EMI Unart Catalog, BMI)
5. Do Your Thing! (Isaac Hayes, Irving Music Inc., BMI)
6. Messin’ With The Kid (Mel London, World International Publishing, BMI)
7. You Don’t Have To Go (Jimmy Reed, Conrad Music/Seeds of Reed Music, BMI)
8. Black Magic Woman (Peter Green, Bourne Music Ltd./Murbo Music Publishers, BMI)
9. Let’s Straighten It Out (Benny Latimore, Sherlyn Publishing, BMI)
10. Dock Of The Bay (Cropper/Redding, Irving Music Inc., BMI)
11. Tin Pan Alley (Robert Geddins, Alley Music Corp./Trio Music Co. Inc., BMI)
12. Breakfast In Bed (Bailey/Coleman, Leric Music, BMI)

Album Production and Supervision: Robert G. Koester and Steve Wagner
Recorded at Riverside Studio, Chicago on July 3 & 4, 2000 by Steve Wagner
Photography: Peter Amft
Design: Kate Hoddinott


Do Your Thing! is Michael Coleman’s blues party record. With the raucous, kick-butt opener, "The Train", the groove is set. Michael then proceeds to blend tried and true lyrics with fresh arrangements to present a mix of traditional blues and rockin’ soul that's sure to please.
"Blues was always in my family. I started off when I was eight with my father, Cleo Williams, he plays drums. He recorded with Bonnie Lee, Johnny B. Moore and Karen Carroll on Delmark. Sometimes they call him Baldhead Pete. They would rehearse at my mother's house with Junior Parker. My mother bought me a Mickey Mouse guitar, it had four plastic strings on it. She saw that I was getting notes from it and she went out and bought me a bass. We had a band when we was kids, me and my brother Donald. It was with a man name Mr. Little who lived on Washington and Oakley, in the basement. We had gigs as kids. We’d go there on Saturday nights and play. He would sell hot dogs and stuff. John Primer was down there but he was older than I was."
With his roots firmly planted in the blues, Michael went on to what would be expected of a baby boomer. Born in 1956, he grew up at a time when Rhythm and Blues was hard and funky; literally stinking with heavy bass lines and chunky, melodic guitar riffs. After the intro to "Help Me", a dedication to Junior Wells, Michael displays a generous example of wood-soaked, funk flavored guitar work. The tune shows the skill Michael uses to bring together blues and rhythm, enabling you to slow drag, two step or simply snap your fingers and reminisce about the flamboyant Wells live on stage.
"I started progressing when I was getting into top forty. When I was thirteen I joined a band called the Midnight Sons. I would play the blues with a top forty style. I had a manager who invested some money in us. We started doing some social clubs like the Keyman's Club on the west side and the Henry Horner Boys Club on Lake and Woods. From there I started branching out, playing with Johnny Dollar at the Ghetto and the Rawhide. I was doing top forty in the afternoon and blues gigs with Dollar at night."
On the traditional blues songs Michael shows the influences from his parents’ generation and he proudly displays the leaves grown from his blues roots by sprinkling the album, his American label debut, with funky R&B arrangements. "Let's Straighten It Out" is fat and sweet, presented as a plea, rather than a demand. You can easily imagine the glorious west side basement parties of the ’70s as you listen to the title track. For 50 cents, to get in, you could dance all night.
"What really took me deep in to the blues was Johnny Christian. He’d come around the boys club where I was working on my blues. Every time we rehearsed this man was coming, looking through the window. One day he came up to me and introduced himself. He said, 'Hey man you play good guitar, you want to play in my blues band?' I said, 'Man, you gotta ask my mother about that.' So he went and asked my mother. My mother said 'Yeah.' She sang in the clubs when she went out, but not professionally. She just went out with my father. My father use to play for Eddie C. Campbell, Lil’ Ed Williams and Willie Kent, too. Willie Kent was the one I use to hang around. It was Willie Kent and Johnny Christian."
"I played with James Cotton for ten years. I knew I was going to be a leader because I took care of the band. I had the best time of my life with him. He taught me a lot of stuff. I started playing with Cotton when I was about 25 or 26, I was a young buck! I arranged two albums with him. The High Compression album and Live at Biddy Mulligan’s".
"With this album, I'm more experienced because everyday I learn something about myself musically. I had a good time doing it! Mostly I was trying to show another part of myself and show respect to the guys who have passed like Junior Wells and Otis Redding. Then there's songs that I like and had in mind a different way of arranging them. When you make it a job it sounds like it. Instead, why not make it like you’re enjoying yourself. Just tell ’em you can't change the blues, the only thing you can do is just make it funky and.....Do Your Thing!"
--Sandra Pointer-Jones



Other Delmark albums of interest:
Syl Johnson, Talkin’ Bout Chicago (729)
Back In The Game (674) with Hi Rhythm
Little Milton, Live At Westville Prison (681)
Johnny B. Moore, Troubled World (701)
Live At Blue Chicago (688) with Willie Kent, Karen Carroll
Lurrie Bell, Blues Had A Baby (736)
Kiss Of Sweet Blues (724) with Dave Specter
700 Blues (700)
Mercurial Son (679)
Jimmy Johnson, Johnson’s Whacks (644)
North / /South (647)
Pepper’s Hangout (745)

Call or write for a free catalog of jazz and blues:
Delmark Records 1800 684 3480
4121 N. Rockwell
Chicago, IL 60618
C P 2000 Delmark Records
www.delmark.com