|
|
|
Bob Stroger
After moving to
Chicago as a teen in 1955, the great blues bassist Bob Stroger didn't
even have to get out of bed in order to hear the music he would wind up
spending the rest of his life playing. He lived in the back of a night
club on the windy city's west side. Not just any night club, either,
this was one that happened to book some blues artists, along the lines
of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. It probably makes sense that the bass
is what he heard first, as it always is the sound of the electric bass
which carries the furthest distance, disturbing the most people.
Peeking in at the action at the club encouraged Stroger further. Depite
the melancholy association of the blues, to Stroger "it looked like
they were having a lot of fun and I made up my mind that what I wanted
to do was play music," he wrote in a little autobiography on his own
website.
His older brother in law happened to be Johnny Ferguson, who played
alongside blues legend J.B. Hutto in group called the Twisters. While
not as important as playing bass, Stroger's first taste of the music
business was performing a task that is certainly a foundation of doing
a gig: he would drive the Twisters to the club.
Improving on his own through steady practice, Stroger got an
enthusiastic family band project going with harmonica blowing cousin
Ralph Ramey and brother John Stroger, a drummer. A few months later an
audition landed this new group a club job, with one little problem. The
owner wanted the band in uniforms, so the typically broke and busted
bluesmen showed up in black tams with red circles scrawled on the top,
announcing that the combo was now officially the Red Tops. Remey was
out of the picture as soon as the new band became in demand for touring
work, as his wife would allow no such drifting. Willie Kent was the
replacement, and the new group was called Joe Russel and the Blues
Hustlers. As for Russel, this was simply a stage name adopted by John
Stroger.
From here Bob Stroger got into a bit of jazz, working sporadically with
Rufus Forman for three years. Meeting guitarist Eddie King in 1969 was
the next big development, as the ensuing collaboration became very dear
to Stroger, to the point where he stopped playing bass completely for
two years following King's decision to relocate. This was after Eddie
King and the King Men had been together off and on for about 15 years,
followed a few years later by a shorter stint as Eddie King and Babee
May and the Blues Machine. All of this firmly established the leader as
yet another gripping string choker named King, just what the blues
world needed as it has almost as many Kings as the English empire.
Morris Pejo was one of the bandleaders that got Stroger going again,
leading to an 80's bass assignment backing up the great guitarist Otis
Rush.
In the following decade the bassist worked with pianist Sunnyland Slim
and Mississippi Heat in what has become much more of a freelance
career. Stroger and drummer Odie Payne became the rhythm section for
European promoter Horst Lippman, whose productions include the American
Blues Folk Festivals. Stroger's discography resembles a stuffed New
York deli sandwich, beginning with the first Eddie King single, "Love
You Baby" in 1965. He has also recorded with Rush, Jimmy Rogers, Eddie
Taylor, Eddie Clearwater, Sunnyland Slim, Lousiana Red, Buster Benton,
Homesick James and Snooky Pryor, among others. Blues rhythm section
enthusiasts should enjoy Stroger's personal list of great drummer
sidekicks: Odie Payne Jr., Fred Below, S.P. Leary, Ted Harvey, K.C.
Jones, Robert Covington, Sam Lay, Jessie Green, Willie "Big Eye" Smith,
Jim Telmin and Billy Davenport.
-Written
by Eugene Chadbourne
|
Albums |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
