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Otis Rush

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Otis Rush
Rush in 1997
Rush in 1997
Background information
Birth nameOtis Rush Jr.
Also known asLittle Otis
Born(1934-04-29)April 29, 1934
Philadelphia, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedSeptember 29, 2018(2018-09-29) (aged 84)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Guitar
  • vocals
Years active1956–2003
Labels
Websitewww.otisrush.net

Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018)[1] was an American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter who's been long revered as one of the creators of modern Chicago blues and though he was respected and praised, the success he sought eluded him while others profited from what he created and his career never reached the heights that he deserved.

As a performer, Otis was unique. (Everyone called him Otis, or Mr. Rush.) He had an intense and powerful tenor voice that grabbed your attention and he had big hands so he could make unusual chord inversions on the guitar which he said he got from Charles Brown, the jazz blues piano player, an acknowledged influence. Also, he played his guitar upside down and backwards. Albert King, who Otis borrowed licks from, Jimi Hendrix and Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater played the same way though Otis' sound was other worldly. He had the low strings adjusted very low, and the G, B and high E strings adjusted for slightly higher action so that he could curl his left pinky under the low strings and pull them down, sometimes two and three at a time.[2] Music writer Lester Bangs wrote in one of his last articles that it was the sound of “being mugged by an iceberg”.

Otis ran his amps in such a way that he could sustain his notes. He liked to wring out every sustainable note from his guitars. The term "slow burn" is an accurate description of the way he approached his dark and mournful slow blues. Amplifier technology changed drastically during the decades following his beginnings where, in the 1950s, players usually used what was on the venue's bandstand. During the early years of the electric blues ascent, many of the older performers used Masco P.A. head amps, older Ampegs or beat up Fender amps that were badly in need of new tubes or other repairs. Through the '80s and '90s, he preferred Mesa Boogie Amps. One of his favorites was the Mark 2B channeled into a variety of speaker cabinets.

While Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, his predecessors on Chicago's South Side, popularized an amplified update of the bare bones, down home sound of the Mississippi Delta where the sound of the band was the focus, Otis listened to piano and horn players which gave him his unique phrasing. He also loved T-bone Walker. He said T-bone Walker was one of the best guitar players because he was a great rhythm guitarist as well as a great soloist. Otis always felt that if you couldn’t play rhythm guitar very well and you were just a soloist, you weren’t a complete guitar player. He and his modern variations, along with Magic Sam 's and Buddy Guy's, were more lyrical and more rhythmically complex and are credited with bringing the guitar out front in what came to be known as the West Side sound because it was prevalent in nightclubs on that side of town, influencing a generation of blues and rock musicians including Carlos Santana, Michael Bloomfield, John Mayall, Peter Green, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who named his band after Otis' 1958 hit "Double Trouble."

Citing Otis as one of the deepest of deep blues men, Muddy Waters commented to critic and author, Robert Palmer in his book, Deep Blues, “He’s so good, man.”

Early life

[edit]

Otis Rush was born near Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1934 during the Great Depression, the son of sharecroppers Julia Campbell Boyd and Otis C. Rush,.[3][4] He was one of seven children and worked on the farm throughout his childhood.[4] His mother regularly took him out of school so that he could add to the family income when the cotton was high and white landowners wanted extra labor.

Music was his solace. He sang in gospel choirs and taught himself to play guitar and harmonica, playing on street corners.[4] "This is where my soul came from. This is where my faith started." He said of Neshoba County.

Determined not to spend his life in the cotton fields, he moved north to Chicago at the age of 14, working in stockyards and steel mills and driving a horse drawn coal wagon, hanging out in the city’s blues clubs at night.

Career

[edit]

Otis moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1949[4][5] and, after being inspired by watching Muddy Waters, worked on his craft and made a name for himself playing in blues clubs on the South and West Sides of the city, initially using the name Little Otis.[4] Willie Dixon caught his act and signed him to Cobra Records, a local independent label. From 1956 to 1958, with Dixon producing, Cobra recorded and released eight tracks, the songs that made him famous, including "Double Trouble", "All Your Love (I Miss Loving) and Three Times a Fool," some featuring Ike Turner or Jody Williams on guitar.[2] Cobra's and Otis' first single, "I Can't Quit You Baby", was a national hit in 1956, reaching number six on the Billboard R&B chart. It stayed on the chart for six weeks.[5] Cash Box Magazine named his next release, "My Love Will Never Die" their Award of the Week and in a 1957 Cash Box poll, the nation's R&B disc jockeys voted him The Most Promising Up and Coming Male Vocalist.[6][2] [7]

Otis Rush performs at the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan. Photo by Jeff Titon.
Otis Rush performs at the 1970 Ann Arbor Blues Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Now, as a big drawing, hot act in Chicago's clubs with his fiery guitar work and passionate vocals, he toured nationally as part of r&b and rock and roll package shows with Little Richard, Buddy Holly, The Crickets, Carl Perkins and The Drifters playing at top venues like the Apollo in New York City. He got tired of touring and went back to Chicago, playing clubs again and drawing good crowds though, for the most part, his Cobra sides didn't chart nationally despite their excellence.

On his recommendation, Cobra recorded Magic Sam in 1957 and Buddy Guy in ’58 with Otis playing rhythm guitar on Buddy’s first Chicago recording. In 1959, Cobra went bankrupt. Rush followed Dixon to Chess Records and signed a recording contract with them in 1960.[2] He recorded eight tracks for the label, though they only released four, two singles, including the blistering, emotion drenched classic, "So Many Roads". Chess eventually released all eight tracks on the album Door to Door in 1969, a compilation that included their Albert King recordings.[8] Unhappy with Chess' tightfisted control, he signed with Duke Records. While Chess didn't do much for him, Duke did less. They recorded him in only one four song session and issued only one single, "Homework" backed with "I Have to Laugh" [9] which Vocalion released in the UK in 1963, his first overseas release.

In 1965, he recorded five tracks for a Sam Charters’ project, Chicago/ The Blues/ Today! for Vanguard including a fine version of "I Can't Quit You, Baby" and his haunting version of B.B. King's slow blues, "It's My Own Fault". These recordings are included on the label's compilation album Chicago/The Blues/Today! Vol. 2 which introduced him to new, white audiences. Rush began playing in other cities in the United States and in Europe during the 1960s, earning a place with the American Folk Blues Festival touring Europe and securing several years of bookings at the Ann Arbor Blues festival.[10] In 1967, Unofficial recordings from the 1966 University of Chicago Folkfest were released together with recordings by Little Walter.[11] In 1969, Cotillion Records, an Atlantic Records subsidiary, released his first full album, Mourning in the Morning. Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites, then with the band Electric Flag, recorded and produced the album at the FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They incorporated soul music and rock, something new for Rush. Many critics panned the album but it has since developed a cult following.[2][12] In a Living Blues article by Jim O'Neil, its co-founder, Otis' friend, blues historian and producer, Dick Sherman said, "Neither the road nor the studio agreed with him and sometimes the tension around a new release and touring seemed to make things worse."

"Rush is a 'good singer' with a 'good instrument'—sweet, penetrating, slurred—but the words aren't where his soul goes. It goes into the form itself. Like B.B. King's, only less predictably by now, his solos expand upon the Chicago verities in almost jazzlike flights without ever transgressing against them."

In 1971, Otis recorded the album Right Place, Wrong Time in San Francisco for Capitol Records though Capitol did not release it. He purchased the masters from them and through Dick Sherman's efforts, the album was finally issued five years later on P-Vine Records in Japan and on Bullfrog Records in the United States soon after.[2] The album has since gained a reputation as one of his best works.[14][15]

The Chicago based Delmark label released two albums including his inspired So Many Roads - Live in Concert recorded in Japan where he has a huge following. Live performances of the blues were a new and rare event in Japan when Otis went there in 1975. The album was popular with critics and the public and is one of his best but the blues industry came upon hard times in the late '70’s due to disco's huge popularity and it became difficult to record a blues record. Despite that, he was able to tour overseas and make some recordings for European labels most of which are now available stateside though he was unable to release any new material in America for a number of years. By the end of the decade, he refused to tour, and he had stopped performing and recording.[2]

He made a comeback in 1985 with a U.S. tour and the release of a live album, Tops, recorded with a tight West Coast band at the San Francisco Blues Festival to favorable reviews.[16] The following year, he performed with Eric Clapton at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Rush performing in 2002

In 1994, Mercury released Ain't Enough Comin' In using the same production team and core musicians featured on Buddy Guy’s Feels Like Rain album. It was his first studio album in 16 years, introducing him to a new generation of fans and topping many blues critics' year end lists.[2][7] The next year, he opened for Pearl Jam at Chicago’s Soldier Field. and his album Any Place I'm Goin' followed in 1998 earning him a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album.

Despite his popularity overseas and the release of his European studio recordings in the U.S., he declined or missed bigger opportunities. He turned down an invitation from the Rolling Stones to record and tour with them. He backed away from Johnny Winter's offer of potentially reviving his career as he did for Muddy Waters by producing a record for him on Winters' Blue Sky label and, recording with Carlos Santana, who adored him, never worked out. He didn't record a new studio album after 1998 though he continued touring and performing until 2003 when he suffered a stroke.

In 2002, he was featured on the Bo Diddley tribute album Hey Bo Diddley – A Tribute!, which Carla Olson produced, performing the song "I'm a Man." In the 2005 movie, Devil's Rejects, he performs "I Can't Quit You Baby" from the 1962 American Folk Blues Festival. The director of the film, Rob Zombie, an Otis fan, used the original Cobra recording for the soundtrack. His next album Live and in Concert from San Francisco from 1999 was released by Blues Express Records in 2006 .[2] Video footage of the same show was released on the DVD Live Part 1 in 2003.[17]

In June 2016, Otis made a rare appearance at the Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel honored him for “a lifetime of genius” declaring June 12 as Otis Rush Day in Chicago. He was unable to play because of ongoing health problems but he was there with his family.[18] A video of him belting out his 1956 breakthrough hit “I Can’t Quit You Baby” was interspersed with recorded testaments from Carlos Santana, Steve Miller and Buddy Guy. A tribute concert followed in which Lurie Bell sang “My Love Will Never Die', Jimmy Johnson sang “So Many Roads” and “Three Times A Fool," Ronnie Earl fronting his band, The Broadcasters, gave a heartfelt and captivating set that included a respectful performance of “Double Trouble,” and Eddy Clearwater, “The Chief”, gave a razor sharp performance of “All Your Love (I Miss Loving),” Blues and soul great Otis Clay was scheduled to perform, too, but passed away before the festival began.[19]

"He was one of the last great blues guitar heroes. He was an electric god," Gregg Parker, CEO and a founder of the Chicago Blues Museum said of Otis.[20] Writing in The New York Times, Bill Friskics-Warren acknowledged that Otis was "A richly emotive singer and a guitarist of great skill and imagination, Mr. Rush was in the vanguard of a small circle of late 1950s innovators, including Buddy Guy and Magic Sam, whose music, steeped in R&B, heralded a new era of Chicago blues."[21]

Awards

[edit]

1978 Nominee Grammy Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording - "Right Place, Wrong Time

1980 Grammy Nominee Best Ethnic or Traditional Recording - "So Many Roads."

1995 Grammy Nominee for Best Traditional Blues Album - "Ain't Enough Comin' In

1999 Grammy Winner Best Traditional Blues Album - "Any Place I'm Going."

Otis Rush was elected to the Blues Hall of Fame in 1984.[22]

In 2007, the Mississippi Blues Commission erected the Otis Rush marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Philadelphia, Mississippi at the old train depot (Welcome Center) on West Beacon Street, State Route 21, where he boarded a northbound train in 1948.

In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him number 53 on its 100 Greatest Guitarists list.[23]

The Jazz Foundation of America honored Rush with a Lifetime Achievement Award on April 20, 2018 "for a lifetime of genius and leaving an indelible mark in the world of blues and the universal language of music."[24]

Death

[edit]

Otis Rush died on September 29, 2018, from complications of a stroke. He was 84 years old. His wife, Masaki, announced his death on his website.[1] A celebration in his honor was held at Space in Evanston, Illinois, on April 24, 2019.

Selected discography

[edit]

In depth, illustrated discography - https://www.wirz.de/music/rushotis.htm

Singles

[edit]
  • 1956 "I Can't Quit You Baby" / "Sit Down Baby" (Cobra 5000)[25]
  • 1956 "My Love Will Never Die" / "Violent Love" (Cobra 5005)[26]
  • 1957 "Groaning the Blues" / "If You Were Mine" (Cobra 5010)[27]
  • 1957 "Jump Sister Bessie" / "Love That Woman" (Cobra 5015)[28]
  • 1957 "She's a Good 'Un" / "Three Times a Fool" (Cobra 5023)[29]
  • 1958 "Checking on My Baby" / "It Takes Time" (Cobra 5027)[30]
  • 1958 "Double Trouble" / "Keep On Loving Me Baby" (Cobra 5030)[31]
  • 1958 "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)" / "My Baby's a Good 'Un" (Cobra 5032)[32]
  • 1960 "So Many Roads So Many Trains" / "I'm Satisfied" (Chess 1751)[33]
  • 1960 "You Know My Love" / "I Can't Stop Baby" (Chess 1775)[34]
  • 1962 "Homework" / "I Have to Laugh" (Duke 356 and Vocalion VP 92600 [35]
  • 1969 "Gambler's Blues" / "You're Killing My Love" (Cotillion 44032)[36]

Compilation albums

[edit]

Albums

[edit]

DVDs

[edit]
  • 2003 Live Part One (Blues Express)[17]
  • 2006 Live at Montreux 1986 (Eagle Rock Entertainment)[57]

Footnotes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Otis Rush Official". OtisRush.net. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Dahl, Bill (April 29, 1934). "Otis Rush: Biography". AllMusic.com. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  3. ^ Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues: A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara, California: Praeger. p. 119. ISBN 978-0313344237.
  4. ^ a b c d e Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues who's who : a biographical dictionary of blues singers. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80155-8. OCLC 469533427.
  5. ^ a b Joel Whitburn's Top R&B Singles 1942–1988 (Record Research)
  6. ^ Link text, additional text.
  7. ^ a b Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. p. 164. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  8. ^ a b "Door to Door - Albert King, Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  9. ^ "Otis Rush: Duke-Peacock Blues" (in Japanese). Members.jcom.home.ne.jp. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  10. ^ "Keeping The Blues Alive Blues Video of the Week: Otis Rush Performs "I Can't Quit You Baby" - Keeping The Blues Alive". keepingthebluesalive.org. November 4, 2016. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  11. ^ All music guide to the blues : the experts' guide to the best blues recordings. Michael Erlewine. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. 1996. p. 171. ISBN 0-87930-424-3. OCLC 35662473.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ a b "Mourning in the Morning - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  13. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: R". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 12, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  14. ^ Chadbourne, Eugene. "Oftis Rush: Right Place, Wrong Time". AllMusic.com. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  15. ^ "Otis Rush: Right Place, Wrong Time". Amazon. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Tops - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  17. ^ a b "Part One - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  18. ^ "LIVE REVIEW: Chicago Blues Festival 2016, Tribute To Otis Rush, Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, by Linda Cain". Chicagobluesguide.com. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  19. ^ [1]
  20. ^ "Otis Rush, Chicago's 'king of the hill' blues guitarist, dies aged 84". the Guardian. Associated Press. September 30, 2018. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  21. ^ Friskics-Warren, Bill (September 29, 2018). "Otis Rush, Influential Blues Singer and Guitarist, Is Dead at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
  22. ^ "Otis Rush". Msbluestrail.org. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  23. ^ "100 Greatest Guitarists". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  24. ^ "Jazz Foundation Taps Brittany Howard, Chevy Chase, Bruce Willis, & More For Annual Gala". April 18, 2018. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  25. ^ "Otis Rush - I Can´t Quit You Baby". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  26. ^ "Otis Rush And His Band - My Love Will Never Die". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  27. ^ "Otis Rush - Groaning The Blues". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  28. ^ "Otis Rush - Love That Woman". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  29. ^ "Otis Rush And Willie Dixon Band - Three Times A Fool". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  30. ^ "Otis Rush - It Takes Time". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  31. ^ "Double Trouble — Otis Rush (Cobra, 1958)". Blues Foundation. November 10, 2016. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  32. ^ "Otis Rush And His Band - All Your Love (I Miss Loving)". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  33. ^ "Otis Rush - So Many Roads, So Many Trains". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  34. ^ "Otis Rush - You Know My Love". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  35. ^ "Otis Rush - Homework". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  36. ^ "Otis Rush - Gambler's Blues". Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  37. ^ "I Can't Quit You Baby: The Complete Cobra Sessions - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  38. ^ "Good 'Un's: The Classic Cobra Recordings 1956-1958 - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  39. ^ "The Essential Otis Rush - Otis Rush - User Reviews - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  40. ^ "Blue on Blues - Buddy Guy, Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  41. ^ "Live at Montreux 1986 - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  42. ^ "This One's a Good Un - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  43. ^ "Blues Masters, Vol. 2 - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  44. ^ "Screamin' & Cryin' - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  45. ^ "Cold Day in Hell - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  46. ^ "So Many Roads: Live in Concert - Otis Rush - Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  47. ^ "All Your Love I Miss Loving: Live at the Wise Fools Pub Chicago - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  48. ^ "Right Place, Wrong Time - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  49. ^ "Troubles, Troubles - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  50. ^ "Lost in the Blues - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  51. ^ "Live in Europe - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  52. ^ "Ain't Enough Comin' In - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  53. ^ "Any Place I'm Going - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  54. ^ "Otis Rush Live... And In Concert from San Francisco - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  55. ^ "Otis Rush: Chicago Blues Festival 2001". bluesginza.web.fc2.com. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  56. ^ "Double Trouble: Live Cambridge 1973 - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.
  57. ^ "Otis Rush & Friends: Live At Montreux 1986 [DVD] - Otis Rush - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved September 29, 2018.

Further reading

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  • Carlo Rotello, "Otis Rush," New York Times Magazine, December 27, 2018.
[edit]
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