ST. LOUIS JIMMY

Hallo Hardi,
wie kommt man auf solch einen ausgefallenen Protagonisten? Was das Forum so alles zutage fördert!

Ich habe zu St. Louis Jimmy einiges aus dem Netz zusammengestellt:

James Burke "St. Louis Jimmy" Oden (* 26. Juni 1903 in Nashville (Tennessee); + 30. Dezember 1977 in Chicago) war ein US-amerikanischer Blues-Pianist, Sänger, Songwriter und Produzent.
James Burke Oden stammte aus Nashville/Tennessee; er sang und spielte bereits in seiner Kindheit autodidaktisch Klavier. In Jugendjahren ging er 1917 nach St. Louis/Missouri, wo er begann, mit dem Pianisten Roosevelt Sykes aufzutreten. Nach über zehn Jahren, die er im Raum St. Louis arbeitete, zog er 1933 mit Sykes nach Chicago.

In Chicago wurde er als St. Louis Jimmy bekannt, wo er in den nächsten vier Jahrzehnten hauptsächlich lebte. Von dort ging Oden mit einer Gruppe von Bluesmusikern auf Tourneen durch die Vereinigten Staaten. Ab 1941 nahm er eine Reihe von Stücken für Bluebird Records auf (“Goin' Down Slow“).

BLUEBIRD
Blues singer with instrumental acc.
12 1941 B-8889 St. LOUIS JIMMY Monkey Face Blues / Going Down Slow
02 1942 B-8993 St. LOUIS JIMMY Lost Ball Blues / Come Day Go Day
00 1942 B-9040 St. LOUIS JIMMY St. Louis Woman Blues / Poor Boy Blues
10 1944 34-0718 St. LOUIS JIMMY Back On My Feet Again / Nothing But Blues
04 1945 34-0727 St. LOUIS JIMMY Strange Woman / One More Break

Oden schrieb auch eine Anzahl von Songs, davon wurden “Take the Bitter with the Sweet“ und “Soon Forgotten“ von seinem Freund Muddy Waters eingespielt.

1947 gründete Oden mit seinem Geschäftspartner Joe Brown das kleine und kurzlebige Label Opera, aus dem dann 1949 J.O.B. Records hervorging. Bei der ersten J.O.B.-Session entstand seine Komposition “Mother's Day“. Schon nach einem Jahr beendete Oden seine Tätigkeit für das Unternehmen, das noch bis 1974 bestand.

BULLET
04 1947 270 St. LOUIS JIMMY I Ain't Done Nothing Wrong / Goin' Down Slow

RCA
Blues singer with instrumental acc.
12 1947 20-2598 St. LOUIS JIMMY Monkey Face Blues / Going Down Slow
01 1948 20-2650 St. LOUIS JIMMY Bad Condition / Dog House Blues

St. Louis Jimmy was born James Burke Oden, June 26, 1903, in Nashville/Tennessee. He moved to St. Louis in 1917, where he performed and picked up his name. He arrived in Chicago in 1932 along with Roosevelt Sykes, who accompanied him on many of his earlier records. Oden recorded regularly during the 1930s and 1940s, scoring a big blues hit with "Going Down Slow" for Bluebird in 1941. Although he played piano himself, Oden usually just sang on his records, leaving the keyboard chores to more proficient performers. After World War II he began appearing on sessions with Sunnyland Slim. Probably in December 1947, he made two sides on a Slim session for Hy-Tone; when it became clear that Hy-Tone wasn't going to release them, he took them to Joe Brown's Opera label.

Probably in the early fall of 1948, St. Louis Jimmy cut two sides at United Broadcasting Studios for Miracle, using a band that included tenor saxophonist Eddie Chamblee and his old friend Roosevelt Sykes.

1948 nahm er für Aristocrat Records “Florida Hurricane“ auf, bei dem er von dem Pianisten Sunnyland Slim und dem Gitarristen Muddy Waters begleitet wurde.

A few weeks later, he returned for Miracle with a Sunnyland Slim-led ensemble that included Muddy Waters on guitar, Oliver Alcorn on tenor sax, and Big Crawford on bass. Muddy's stinging slide guitar can be hearly prominently on “So Nice and Kind“ and “Florida Hurricane“. Leonard Chess and Evelyn Aron were consequently motivated to buy at least these two sides from Lee Egalnick and Lew Simpkins and put them on Aristocrat 7001—and to bill the band as Muddy Waters and His Blues Combo. The single was reviewed in Cash Box on May 7, 1949 (p. 11). What happened to the other two tracks from this session (which would be UB 9291 and 9292) remains a mystery.

MIRACLE
00 1949 M-134 St. LOUIS JIMMY Bisquit Roller / I’m Sorry Now

ARISTOCRAT
05 1949 7001 St. LOUIS JIMMY Muddy Waters and His Blues Combo With Sunnyland Slim So Nice And Kind / Florida Hurricane

Not long after his Aristocrat sides were released, St. Louis Jimmy became Joe Brown's business partner in launching the new JOB label. He recorded a session in August 1949 with another Sunnyland Slim-led combo (this time, Sam Casimir was the guitarist); after one JOB release that got no distribution, most of the session was unloaded to Apollo. St. Louis Jimmy apparently dumped his share in JOB in 1950 and did not share in that operation's subsequent ups and downs. Mercury, Regal, and Savoy also put out material that he had recorded in 1948 and 1949. St. Louis Jimmy recorded for Duke around 1953. His last commercial single was done for Parrot in 1956, with a Red Saunders unit. But as the blues revival picked up he recorded for Bluesville, Delmark, and Spivey, also making a memorable guest appearance on a 1960 Otis Spann album for Candid. During his declining years, St. Louis Jimmy lived in the basement of Muddy Waters' house; he died in 1977.

DUKE
05 1949 D-110 St. LOUIS JIMMY and his Band Drinkin' Woman / Why Work

Nach einem schweren Verkehrsunfall 1957 beschränkte er sich auf eine Tätigkeit als Songwriter u. a. für Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf (“What a Woman!“) und John Lee Hooker. 1960 nahm er für das Prestige-Sublabel Bluesville Records ein Album auf (“Goin' Down Slow“), an dem der Pianist Robert Banks mitwirkte, und wirkte als Sänger auf einer Session für Candid Records mit Robert Lockwood, Jr. und Otis Spann mit. Oden starb 1977 an einer Lungenentzündung, und liegt auf dem Burr Oak Cemetery and Restvale Cemetery in Alsip (Illinois) bei Chicago begraben.

Gruß
Heino

Mai 1949

1948