In terms of his musical skill, the sheer size of his repertoire, the length and variety of his career and his influence on contemporaries and musicians who would follow, Big Bill Broonzy is among a select few of the most important figures in recorded blues history. Among his hundreds of titles are standards like "All by Myself" and "Key to the Highway." In this country he was instrumental in the growth of the Chicago Blues sound, and his travels abroad rank him as one of the leading blues ambassadors.

Literally born on the banks of the Mississippi, he was one of a family of 17 who learned to fiddle on a homemade instrument. Taught by his uncle, he was performing by age ten at social functions and in church. After brief stints on the pulpit and in the Army, he moved to Chicago where he switched his attention from violin to guitar, playing with elders like Papa Charlie Jackson. Broonzy began his recording career with Paramount in 1927. In the early '30s he waxed some brilliant blues and hokum and worked Chicago and the road with great players like pianist Black Bob, guitarist Will Weldon and Memphis Minnie.

During the Depression years Big Bill Broonzy continued full steam ahead, doing some acrobatic label-hopping (Paramount to Bluebird to Columbia to Okeh!). In addition to solo efforts, he contributed his muscular guitar licks to recordings by Bumble Bee Slim, John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson and others who were forging a powerful new Chicago sound.

In 1938, Broonzy was at Carnegie Hall (ostensibly filling in for the fallen Robert Johnson) for John Hammond's revolutionary Sprirtuals to Swing Series. The following year he appeared with Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong in George Seldes's film production Swingin' the Dream. After his initial brush with the East Coast cognoscenti, however, Broonzy spent a good part of the early '40s barnstorming the South with Lil Green's road show or kicking back in Chicago with Memphis Slim.

He continued alternating stints in Chicago and New York with coast-to-coast road work until 1951 when live performances and recording dates overseas earned him considerable notoriety in Europe and led to worldwide touring. Back in the States he recorded for Chess, Columbia and Folkways, working with a spectrum of artists from Blind John Davis to Pete Seeger. In 1955, Big Bill Blues, his life as told to Danish writer Yannick Bruynoghe, was published.

In 1957, after one more British tour, the pace began to catch up with Broonzy. He spent the last year of his life in and out of hospitals and succumbed to cancer in 1958. He survives though; not only in his music, but in the remembrances of people who knew him...from Muddy Waters to Studs Terkel. A gentle giant they say...tough enough to survive the blues world...but not so tough he wouldn't give a struggling young musician the shirt off his back. His music, of course, is absolutely basic to the blues experience, and was celebrated in 1999 with the release of the three-disc retrospective The Bill Broonzy Story.

by Steve Huey

 

Slicni muzicari / Similar Artists	Uticaj od ... / Influenced By	Uticaj na ... / Followers
* Washboard Sam * John Brim * Memphis Slim * Blind John Davis * Horace Sprott * Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey * Tampa Red+ * Blind Willie McTell	* Blind Blake * Lonnie Johnson * Blind Lemon Jefferson * Papa Charlie Jackson+ * Peetie Wheatstraw	* Scrapper Blackwell * J.B. Lenoir * Little Walter * Memphis Slim * Johnny Young * Bert Jansch * Davy Graham * Big Maceo Merriweather * Blues, Inc. * Hans Theessink * Eric Clapton * Jimmy Rogers * Washboard Sam * Buddy Scott * C.W. Stoneking

1951 In Concert [live] — Raretone 1952 Blues — Scepter 1953 Big Bill Broonzy & Washboard Sam — MCA/Chess 1954 Folk Blues — Emarcy 1955 Big Bill Broonzy Sings — Period 1956 Big Bill Broonzy Sings Folk Songs — Smithsonian Folkways 1957 Country Blues — Smithsonian Folkways 1957 Historic Concert Recordings [live] — Southland 1958 Blues by Broonzy — Emarcy 1959 Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee [live] — Folkways 1959 Trouble in Mind [Spotlite] — Spotlite 1961 Last Session, Pt. 2 — Verve 1961 Last Session, Pt. 3 — Verve 1964 Remembering Big Bill Broonzy — Mercury 1967 Big Bill Broonzy — Everest 1973 Feelin' Low Down — GNP 1986 Lonesome Road Blues — GNP 1990 Big Bill Broonzy 1934-1947 — Story of B 1995 Just a Dream — Drive 1995 Black, Brown and White — Evidence 1996 Treat Me Right — Rykodisc/Tradition 2001 I Can't Be Satisfied — Collector's Edition 2002 Big Bill Broonzy in Concert [live] — Jasmine 2003 Remembering...the Greatest Minstrel of the Authentic Blues — Beat Goes On 2003 Blues Is My Business — Fuel 2000

1928 Do That Guitar Rag (1928-1935) — Yazoo 1928 The Young Big Bill Broonzy (1928-1935) — Yazoo 1930 Nothing but the Blues: Mississippi River Blues — History 1934 Vol. 1, 1934-1947 — Document 1935 Vol. 2, 1935-1949 — Document 1955 The 1955 London Sessions — Collectables 1958 His Songs and Story — Smithsonian Folkways 1960 The Bill Broonzy Story — Verve 1963 Memorial — Mercury 196 Blues Concert [live] — Dial 1990 Good Time Tonight — Columbia/Legacy 1991 1934-1947 — Wolf 1991 An Evening with Big Bill Broonzy, Vol. 1 [live] — Storyville  ¦ 1994 House Rent Stomp — Saar 1994 Whiskey & Good Time Blues 1994 An Evening with Big Bill Broonzy, Vol. 2 [live] — Storyville  ¦ 1996 Big Bill's Blues — Pearl 1996 The Soutern Blues 1997 1930 — Masters of Jazz 1997 Stayin' Home with the Blues — Universal 1998 Warm, Witty & Wise — Columbia Legacy 1999 1934-1935, Vol. 6 — Masters of Jazz 1999 Chicago Calling — Culture Press 2000 Ridin' on Down — HMO 2000 L Where the Blues Began — Recall 2000 Trouble in Mind [Smithsonian/Folkways] — Smithsonian Folkways 2000 Vol. 7: 1935 — Musisoft 2000 The Post War Years: 1945-1949, Vol. 2 — EPM Musique 2000 Absolutely the Best — Fuel 2000 2001 The Essential — Classic Blues 2001 Father of Chicago Blues — ZYX 2001 Mississippi River Blues — Past Perfect 2001 Legendary Blues Recordings: Big Bill Broonzy — Direct Source 2001 Play Your Hand — Arpeggio Blues 2001 Big Bill Blues [Aim Trading Group] — Aim Trading Group 2002 Blues Legend — Lead(Germany) 2002 Great Bluesmen in Britain — Avid  ¦ 2003 1955 London Sessions [Silverline] — Silverline 2004 All the Classic Sides 1928-1937 — JSP 2004 Big Bill Blues: His 23 Greatest Hit Songs 1927-1942 — Wolf  ¦ 2007 Big Bill Broonzy [Forever Gold] — Forever Gold 2007 The Roots of the Blues — Collectables The Soutern Blues The Soul of New Orleans Blues & Gospel Blues Legends In London — Pye*