Three important names in music passed away this past week, with two of them being big influences on my musical life.
First, let’s look at the passing of John Mayall. He was a student of the blues long before the British Invasion that gave us the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and the Yardbirds. He, along with Alexis Korner, brought Chicago-style blues to young Brits in the early 1960s. His proteges included Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie among many others. His 1966 album John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, often called the Beano album as it featured Clapton reading the Beano comic book on the cover, is considered legendary. He had many chances to gain great success in the US if he would dilute his strict blues style, but he refused. He became a cult hero among blues purists, and his original material was off kilter, not writing about usual blues subjects such as drinking and infidelity, but instead choosing political and environmental themes. He was active until very recently, passing away at the age of 90.
Next, we look at Abdul “Duke: Fakir, tenor singer and last original member of the Four Tops. Motown was a big part of my growing up, and much of that came from the smooth vocals from the talented groups on the label. The Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, and Martha & the Vandellas were all top notch, but my favorite of them all was the Four Tops. Lead singer Levi Stubbs was amazing to say the least, but the icing on the cake was the tight and timely harmonies provided by Lawrence Payton, Renaldo Benson, and Duke Fakir. Listen to classics such as “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch).” “Bernadette,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” and “It’s the Same Old Song.” These four guys were bridging doo-wop with R&B energy.
Then there was the look. The four members, especially Fakir, had absolute class and style in the way that they presented themselves. In the beginning, they wore tailored, matching suits that gave them a gentlemanly look. As the 60s progressed on into the 1970s, they began to make individual fashion statements. Even after leaving Motown, they still had hits with “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” on ABC and “When She Was My Girl” on Casablanca. One has to remember that these four performed together from 1953 to 1997, the longest tenure for any band with original members.
Fakir never left Detroit long-term, He owned much property in the city, and ran a successful restaurant on the Detroit River. He passed away on July 22 of heart failure at the age of 88.
My other big influence that we lost this past week as acoustic guitarist Harry Peter “Happy” Traum. Born in 1938 in the Bronx, he was part of the Washington Square/Greenwich Village scene during the early 1960s, where he would become friends with a young Bob Dylan. Along with Dylan, Pete Seeger, and the Freedom Singers, they recorded Broadside Ballads Volume 1 for Folkways Records. He actually cut the first version of Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind.”
However, Traum is best known by many, including my introduction to him, for his work in creating guitar instructional books, tapes, and videos through his Homespun Music company. As a guitar teacher in New York City, he first wrote the book Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar in 1965. He was soon making tapes for his students based on transcriptions in the book. Due to the popularity, he formed Homespun with his wife and began advertising in various music magazines. Soon he was releasing instructional tapes from fiddler Kenny Kosek and banjo whiz Bill Keith.
By 1983, Homespun was releasing VCR lessons, which was eventually followed by DVD and online downloads. In 1995, Hal Leonard Corporation took over the massive distribution job. Other artists that Traum recorded for lessons included Chet Atkins, Norman Blake, Rick Danko, Donald Fagen, Jerry Douglas, John Hartford, Bill Monroe, Sam Bush, Doc Watson, even musical comedians Steve Martin and Steve Allen. Each video was produced by Traum, starting off in his living room and eventually in a small studio. Many of these videos featured Traum interviewing the presenters, offering insightful questions that would pique the artist’s curiosity and make the student truly interested in the information beyond fingering and picking technique.
While Homespun was Traum’s main passion, he still continued to record his own material, releasing his final recording, “Just for the Love of It,” in 2015 and appearing on Dylan’s Another Self Portrait a year earlier. He passed away on July 17 at the age of 86.
All will be missed. Chew on it and comment.
Luegra 