JB Lenoir: A Natural Man with an Unnatural Beat

There's nothing in the blues like JB Lenoir's Natural Man. You can go through all the Chess, Excello, VeeJay, Sun, sides that you want, and I really doubt you'll ever hear a beat like this. Where did it come from? Lenoir turns the beat inside out and upside down. Breaking all conventions, the drummer smacks the snare on the 1 and the 3 while the rest of the band plays on the usual 2/4. It is chaotic and wonderful.

JB himself is playing a boogie bottom with a horn section riffing along. As for the bass, I'm not sure what is going on there. But somehow it works and hangs together, how, I don't know. Everyone is pretty much playing in a different time signature.

But this was no screw-up. There's many more of these "inside out" 1/3 blues by Lenoir. He must have wanted it this way, and you know, he was right. No one and nothing else sounds like him.
Natural Man

Cleveland: Home of Rock and Roll?

I was just in Cleveland and once again began to ruminate on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Putting it in Cleveland is really a joke. I know that christening the birthplace of any style is less than an exact science. Where is the birthplace of jazz? What about blues? There's lots of reasonable candidates. But for Rock?? There is room for debate, but the last place I would pick would be Cleveland. Especially when it is very, very clear that Memphis is unquestionably more suited to this dubious honor. Memphis had Sun Records and Sun had Elvis, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins, Howlin Wolf, Jackie Brenston/Ike Turner. Sun had the slapback echo, brilliant brainchild of the real genius of Rock and Roll: Sam Phillips. So, lets set the record straight. Memphis is the home of Rock and Roll.

Then again. Who really cares? Really, the sight of these Rock and Roll geezers slapping each other on the back is nauseating.