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"Way
Back" is an apt title for this set from one-time Muddy Waters drummer,
Willie Smith, as it does exactly that - transporting the listener "way
back" to the Chicago blues scene of the late 50s and early 60s with some
classic/vintage Chi-Town blues.
Although building his reputation as a
drummer, Smith has always been a talented harp player in the classic
Chicago style, a talent he both proves, and exploits on this set -
achieving this with the help of musicians like Pinetop Perkins, James
Cotton, Bob Margolin, Billy Flynn, Bob Stroger, Calvin Jones, Bob
Corritore, Kenny Smith, Little Frank Krakowski and Johnny Rapp - all
players with a natural understanding and appreciation of vintage Chicago
blues.
The set opens with Jimmy Reed's
"Don't Say That No More", a loping blues with typically downbeat vocals
and fine Chicago blues harp. Billy Flynn's "I Want You To Love Me
(Trust Me)", Little Walter's "Tell Me Mama" and Smith's own "If You
Don't Believe I'm Leaving" stay in the Reed mould, with Bob Corritore,
Smith and James Cotton, respectively, adding sympathetic high-register
harp.
With the number of ex-Muddy alumni
present, it was inevitable that his influence would permeate this set -
and it does. "I Don't Trust You Man" is pure Muddy - menacing vocals,
rolling piano and Cotton's hot harp ensuring that this blues sounds as
if it was plucked from Muddy's extensive catalogue of blues. "Lowdown
Blues" with its moaning harp (Corritore) and vocals, and tantalizing
guitar (Flynn) - as does the lowdown "Eye To Eye" where Smith peppers
his moaning harp with vocal interjections. Bob Margolin's trademark
slide meshes seamlessly with Smith's harp on "Blues And Trouble" -
whilst "Woman's World" brings to mind "You need Love" with its
pulsating bass and guitar riff, Smith adding fine warbling harp.
Surprisingly, the only Muddy cover on this set, "Read Way Back", finds
Smith mining a frantic West Coast groove.
If you love those vintage Chicago
blues sounds, then Willie Smith has delivered a set that has no option
to be anything other than a priority purchase. (www.hightone.com)
Rating 9
-Mick Rainsford
CBS Radio News (2006) |
|
"Kristofferson
is not the only the old dog with a new album. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith
has 'Way Back'. Smith is a longtime drummer for the Muddy Waters Band -
and that's him on harp - on Bo Diddley's 1955 classic "Diddy Wah Diddy”.
On the new disc he's joined by a superior supporting cast including
James Cotton and Bob Margolin. They put a drink in your hand and sawdust
under feet. It's Chicago gritty and jukejoint authentic."
-Bill
Vitka
|
Plan 9 Music
(May 2006) |
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This bluesy
batch caught me a little by surprise. Sure, I expected lots of great old
school Chicago blues stuff with classic arrangements and spot on
playing. But I somehow missed the fact that not only is Smith a solid
blues drummer and former longtime Muddy Waters sideman but he's a hell
of a harp player and singer as well.
“WAY BACK"
certainly set me straight on that as Smith wails his way through a tough
set playing harp on seven songs and the drums on two while carrying all
the vocals. The set features original tunes as well as songs by Waters,
Little Walter, Jimmy Reed and Sonny Boy Williamson and seasoned players
such as Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, Bob Margolin and Calvin "Fuzz"
Jones are on hand to kick the raggedy thing in gear. But this is Smith's
showcase and a fine one at that...
The guy has
tone and groove for days. This is a must for blues lovers and, if you're
like me and ignorant about Smith's well-rounded talents, it will come as
a pleasant eye opener.
-Ames
Arnold |
Spin Factor (Nashville City Paper)
(May 9, 2006) |
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He's best
known as the greatest drummer in modern blues history, but before
assuming that role in the Muddy Waters band, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith was
a fierce and gifted harmonica player whose slithering, wailing sound was
featured on Bo Diddley's 1955 classic "Diddy Wah Diddy."
Smith
finally returns to his first love on Way Back, delivering a mix of long
bursts, shattering refrains and animated choruses. He also sings with
warmth and fire on his originals ("I Don?t Trust You Man," "Lowdown
Blues" and "Eye To Eye") and such classics as Little Walter Jacobs'
"Tell Me Mama" and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don?t Start Me Talkin".
Fortified
by the contributions of an ensemble mixing established greats with
emerging newcomers (including his son, Kenny "Beady Eyes" Smith), Way
Back jointly celebrates Willie "Big Eyes" Smith's vintage and
contemporary blues excellence.
-Ron Wynn
Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange (2006) |
|
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith is best know as the
great blues drummer in the legendary Muddy Waters Band, here he steps
forward as a most accomplished harmonica master. He started out as a
harmonica player, but soon was sitting in on drums with Muddy's band and
soon was invited to join as the drummer, and this is where he sat for
many years. Bob Corritore who produced this disc in Tempe, AZ, wanted to
hear Willie step forward. On this disc "Big Eyes" wrote six of the
eleven songs and does all the lead singing, and plays harp on all but
two of the cuts, on which he plays drums, and Corritore fills in on the
harp. His music is true to that traditional Chicago sound; with all
those years of playing with the cream of the Chicago masters he has that
"Chicago Shuffle" just pumping in his veins.
On this disc they have assembled an exemplary
cast of Chicago players; Pinetop Perkins on piano, James Cotton on
harmonica, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones on bass, and Bob Margolin on guitar to
name but a few of those who stepped up the plate. Not only have these
players come to play, they are those long time pros who know what to do,
and when to play and when to sit back. This is one of those rare discs,
with so many heavy hitters, that though it could get cluttered they know
whose disc it is and leave the space for the leader and then step in
when called. This is one of those solid Chicago Blues Shuffle disc, grab
it.
-Bob Gottlieb
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Blogcritics.org (2006) |
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There's
a lot more to Willie "Big Eyes"
Smith than his best-known role as the drummer in
Muddy Waters' band. His
new CD finds the singer,
composer, drummer and harmonica player in fine form at age 70.
Taking front and center on a mix of covers and originals, Smith leads a
variety of top cats through a delightful eleven-song set of old-school
Chicago blues. With
Pinetop Perkins, that
nonagenarian national treasure, on piano, and guest appearances by other
notables including fellow Muddy Waters alums
James Cotton and
Bob Margolin, these songs
incline mostly towards the joyful side of the blues, which is part of
the reason I've hardly stopped listening to it since I got it.
Highlights include the Muddy Waters tune "Read Way Back"; Sonny Boy
Williamson's classic "Don't Start Me Talkin'"; and Smith's own wryly
funny "I Don't Trust You Man" and Howlin' Wolf-style one-chorder
"Woman's World." The beautiful original "Blues and Trouble," a slow
number played with only Margolin's resonator guitar and Smith's harp
backing up the vocal, is the heart of the CD: "Blues and trouble bother
me everywhere I go / Blues and trouble bother me everywhere I go / I'm
so stuck in the bottom and can't see the light no more." But Smith
doesn't stay down in the dumps for long, picking up the sticks to bang
out the backbeat behind guest guitarist
Billy Flynn's composition "I
Want You To Love Me."
Smith plays drums himself on only two tracks; his son
Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith more
than ably handles skins duty on the rest. In spite of the variety of
musicians helping out, the whole CD has the feel of a family affair. For
authentic traditional Chicago blues played by some of the best in the
business, look no further.
-Jon Sobel |
BluesWax
(May 4, 2006) |
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When you have a resume that includes "drummer for Muddy Waters",
you better know how to play the Blues. Mucho members of the great Muddy
Waters Band have gone on to successful solo careers as bandleaders
themselves from James Cotton and Jimmy Rogers to Otis Spann and Pinetop
Perkins, but Smith really hasn't made a definitive record under his own
name. Well, Smith's Hightone Records debut may be just that. A solid set
of good ole' harmonica Blues featuring some longtime friends and
co-workers. He even does a snappy version of Muddy's "Read Way Back".
Smith is primarily a harpist on this release and only plays the
skins on two tracks. His solos are economical and tight in the school of
Little Walter Jacobs and Jimmy Reed. Way Back kicks off with Reed's
"Don't Say That No More", which also features the magic piano fingers of
Pinetop Perkins. In fact, the great one appears on every track sans two.
Speaking of guests, James Cotton helps push track two, "I Don't Trust
You Man", to the top of the stack.
This kind of playing is what turns routine Blues songs into
special Blues cuts. Bob Margolin plays some fine guit-fiddle (as Albert
King used to say) on a couple tracks as well, but this is Smith's show.
His locomotive blowin' on the title track is a real treat as is Kenny
"Beady Eyes" Smith (Willie's son) on the drums. The apple doesn't fall
far from the tree! He and bassists Bob Stroger and Calvin "Fuzz" Jones
are an indomitable rhythm section throughout the proceedings. Smith
channels Jerry "Boogie" McCain on his self-penned "Lowdown Blues", but
his best new cut is "Woman's World" that trumps James Brown's former
declaration on global dominance by one of the sexes.
What really tops it off is the great studio sound, clear as
crystal, that captures the full sonic grit coming from the Blues experts
making the noise.
-Dylann
DeAnna |
Baltimore Blues Society's BLUESRAG
(June 2006) |
|
The
first thing that strikes you about Willie "Big Eyes" Smith's Way Back
is that the famed drummer is hosting one helluva harmonica album.
Wherever a gap has to be plugged or a fill line needs addressing,
there's a wide-mouthed harp swooping through, or laying in, with a tone
so fat and bold as to leave no doubt as to who's the meanest bull in the
pasture. Then, as you spy the cover art, and interrogate the session's
personnel more attentively, the second thing strikes you-- this time
like a 2X4 across the brow: Willie is actually the gale force behind
those roaring reeds. So no longer are history buffs the only ones wise
to his alter-ego.
Way
Back provides vivid answer to the blues trivia question of "What
instrument did Smith first play in the 1950's, before locking down the
drum stool for the Muddy Waters Band from 1961 to 1980?" In fact, Johnny
Shines, "Big Boy" Spires, and, most historically, Bo Diddley (see 1955's
"Diddy Wah Diddy") all benefited from Smith's blowing in those days.
Now, at age 70, that role is convincingly encored. And the likewise
old-schooled support of folks like Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin, guest
James Cotton, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones (all fellow MWB alums), and son Kenny
"Beedy Eyes" Smith (the newest version of ocular-distinguished drummers)
always do him right. That means doing the altruistic ensemble thing of
feeding a communal groove, of which Smith gladly partakes. So Jimmy
Reed's "Don't Say That No More" pumps lazy-boy attitude, while Waters'
"Read Way Back" races the beat. His harp wah-wah's like a baby through
"Blues And Trouble," as Margolin 'muddy's' up the slide. And, of course,
they know that proper Chicago protocol dictates lodging complaints ("If
You Don't Believe I'm Leaving," on which Cotton gets in his licks) and
demands ("I Want You To Love Me") deep within a shuffle's pocket. Now if
only Smith could also channel back Stormy's Inn, Smitty's Corner, and
other extinct joints where he once prowled.
-Dennis Rozanski |
No Depression
(August/September 2006) |
|
"Way
Back" is a fitting album title for Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, whose career
covers more than half a century, playing harmonica behind Bo Diddley and
drumming for Muddy Waters. Smith makes a smooth transition from sideman
to frontman on "Way Back”, writing six of the 11 songs and demonstrating
a spirited vocal style as lead singer. He plays harmonica on seven
tracks and drums on two others. "If You Don't Believe I'm Leaving" and
"Eye to Eye," two original compositions, find him full of vigor as he
handles the classic blues themes of loss and regret. He sounds out a
warning on Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talking" and pays
tribute to harmonica wizard Little Walter on "Tell Me Mama”. The album
has the feel of a Chicago blues reunion as Smith is joined by several
alumni of Muddy's bands, including James Cotton (harmonica), Pinetop
Perkins (piano) and Bob Margolin. At 70, Smith shows that he and the
blues still roll on.
-Tom Wilk
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WAY BACK:
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, HighTone Records, May
2006. Production and sound quality are excellent. This album is best
surprise I've had in a long time. Smith is primarily noted as the drummer on
Muddy Water's Grammy and W.C. Handy Award winning albums. But on this CD, he
establishes himself as a moving vocalist, a classic harmonica wailer and an
A-1 songwriter. The project has 11 tracks of traditional Chicago shuffle and
jump blues, all winners. Six are Smith's keen, old school originals. Blues
luminaries James Cotton (harmonica,) Pinetop Perkins (piano) and Bob
Margolin (guitar,) all Smith's former Waters band-mates, join him. This CD
grabbed my attention on the opening cut, Jimmy Reed's "Don't Say That No
More”. Smith's vocal presentation and the distinctive Reed groove are spot
on. His tough harmonica solo is a gutsier version of Reed's bleeding style.
On his original, "I Don't Trust You Man”, Smith delivers the whole Muddy
Waters package, a neat trick. Cotton and Perkins contribute vintage solos.
Smith's renditions of "Read Way Back”, (Waters) and "Tell Me Mama" (Little
Walter Jacobs) feature Smith's Cotton-style harmonica hurricane and sturdy
vocals. My favorite cut is Smith's "Woman's World”. It's a pure Howlin' Wolf
groove with a Muddy Waters' presentation; and Smith has the chops and feel
to do right. Smith's "Blues & Trouble" and "Eye To Eye" is timeless,
slow-tempo, harmonica/guitar blues at its very best. This CD is a must for
lovers of the genre, and earns the highest recommendation to anyone that
would like to taste the hypnotic power of authentic, classic blues. Careful
though, it's addictive.
-Jim Shortt
With too many
pop-aimed "all-star" discs available, this union of journeyman
players--featuring former Muddy Waters drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith—just
doing their thing is refreshing. Especially since their thing is old-school
ensemble-style Chicago blues, played with ironclad taste, feel, and
authenticity. What's new is that Smith cedes the drum seat to his son Kenny
for most of these songs and compliments his weathered, Arkansas-born country
voice with his own capable harmonica playing. James Cotton ups the harp ante
on two cuts, and fellow Waters vets bassist Calvin Jones, pianist Pinetop
Perkins (who's 92), and guitarist Bob Margolin join in. Smith's own "Blues
and Trouble," a spare, haunted duet with Margolin, is especially moving,
right from their twined harmonica and slide-guitar introduction. Even on the
band numbers there's a respect for space and sonic detail that's the work of
masters delivering performances to support and complement each other.
Somewhere in heaven, Muddy is smiling down at these men he mentored.
Ted Drozdowski
Chicago Reader
(May 12-18, 2006) |
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WILLIE "BIG
EYES" SMITH Willie "Big Eyes" Smith is best known as Muddy Waters's
longtime drummer, but he began his career in the 50s as a harmonica
player, appearing on classic singles like Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy”.
In recent years he's returned to his original instrument, and his latest
disc, Way Back (Hightone), shows he's lost none of his prowess. Smith's
raucous tone, dramatic swoops, and wide-ranging colorations recall
Little Walter Jacobs, but he builds on Jacobs's innovations instead of
merely imitating them. Six of the album's eleven tracks are Smith
originals; on the mostly acoustic "Blues and Trouble" he and guitarist
Bob Margolin invoke the eerie, seething intensity of Waters's early
Chess recordings, and the rollicking minor-key "Woman's World" evokes
both Howlin' Wolf and Diddley with its single-chord drone and
streetwise, cynical lyrics. Smith's take on Sonny Boy Williamson's
"Don't Start Me Talkin'" proves he's a gifted interpreter as well: his
raw timbre recalls Williamson's fabled belligerence, but the harmonic
and melodic conceits are all his own. Retro blues projects like this too
often wind up sounding fusty and archival, but Smith and his cohorts
revitalize the old themes. The band for this show includes guitarist
Little Frank Krakowski, bassist Bob Stroger, and Smith's son, drummer
Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith, all of whom play on the record. 9:30 PM, Buddy
Guy's Legends, 754 S. Wabash, 312-427-0333, $10.
-David
Whiteis
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Montreal Gazette (May 18, 2006)
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At the age
of 70, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Muddy Waters's long time drummer, is in
fine form, singing lead, blowing some fine blues harp, and occasionally
drumming on this cooking set of Chicago-style blues. Among the
highlights are terrific versions of Waters's Read Way Back and Sonny Boy
Williamson's Don't Start Me Talkin'. There is joy at the essence of
these old blues tunes and Smith and company, including venerable pianist
Pinetop Perkins, know just where to find it. Along with such standards
on this disc are six of Smith's own songs, the masterwork of which is
Blues and Trouble, a slow, very passionate song played as a duet with
former Waters guitarist Bob Margolin.
-Mike
Regenstreif |
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Blues Wax's Blues Bytes (June 1, 2006)
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Blues Bytes
BluesWax
Sittin' In With
Willie
An interview from
the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise
By Adam Harris
Willie "Big Eyes"
Smith
In 1961 Muddy
Waters enlisted a 21-year-old drummer, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, who
would essentially define the shuffle feel of Muddy's Chicago electric Blues.
What some don't realize is that before stepping behind the skins, Smith was a
harmonica player, blowing for the likes of Arthur "Big Boy" Spires and
Johnny Shines. It's Smith you hear doing the wailing on Bo Diddley's
Blues standard "Diddy Wah Diddy."
That was 1955. Now,
some 50 years later, Smith has picked up the Green Bullet microphone and stepped
out as the bandleader of an elite team of Chicago Blues players for Way Back,
which was released May 9 on Hightone Records.
At the ripe-young
age of 70, Willie is still having the time of his life. "Big Eyes" Smith is part
of one of the world's most decorated Blues bands, the Chicago Blues Legends
group (featuring Bob Margolin, Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton,
and Hubert Sumlin) and on this particular week, he's got one of the
greatest gigs any Bluesman could ever want, a weeklong stint on the Legendary
Rhythm & Blues Cruise. For musicians on the Blues Cruise, "Bluesin' on the High
Seas" means boogying until you can't boogie no more.
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith:
You know, I'm enjoyin' this so much, I was up late! I was out 'til six this
morning. It was me and Buckwheat [Zydeco] and Zaccy [Zac
Harmon] and we was just havin' a helluva good time. Then after we left
there we went to the piano bar and I left there at six o'clock this morning.
[laughter]
Adam Harris for BluesWax: So you still want to immerse
yourself in music?
WS: Not too late tonight! [laughter] I'm gonna get some dessert and I
think I'm gonna settle in a little early this time. It's just about havin' a
good time, that's what it's always been about.
BW: So tell me about the new album, you're playing harp on this
album?
WS: As you well know I was a harmonica player first and I decided that
it would just be fun to step out front and lead the band again.
BW: So you got to pick out the tunes?
WS: Yeah, yeah, I got to pick out the tunes and there's a few of my
tunes on there and some that I've always loved and I got to take the lead on
them, and kinda pick out the arrangements and it was just good fun, you know? I
got a bunch of great players on there, you know, Mr. Pinetop [Perkins] is on
there, Bob Margolin, [James] Cotton, I had such a great bunch of guys on there,
having a big time.
It's not about me
bein' the leader or none of that, it never was about none of that. It was just
the love of the music. I just love to play, that's all I can tell you about
that.
BW: Were there any times when playin' the Blues was too hard? Did
you ever lose the passion or has it always been, "I'm just gonna play music"?
WS: I have quit. The only reason I quit was because I had a family and
that was a time when the music wasn't even cuttin' the muster. I was playin'
with Muddy at the time, this was in the early '60s-- I quit from 1963 until '65
or '66, and I didn't play for like three years.
BW: What were you doing during that time?
WS: I was driving a taxicab in Chicago. I was makin' enough money to
make ends meet. I did that for about three years.
BW: Did you ever think, in the beginning
that you'd be able to make money out of the music you love?
WS: Never thought about it. It wasn't about the money. If it had been
about the money, I'd have quit two years after I started. [laughter] When I
started I used to rehearse just two or three of us, like Clifton James,
he used to play with Bo Diddley. Clifton James and I, we had a guitar player and
we'd get up and rehearse for 12 or 14 hours a day, every day, it was an everyday
thing. It wasn't about the money because the first job we got was with this girl
who was an exotic dancer that lived just across the street from us. After we
started playing and got good, we'd have a crowd of people around us. And she
danced at this place, so she said that the boss would like to have us in there.
She called him on
the telephone and we were playin' and he heard us over the telephone and said,
"Yeah, tell em' to come on in." We was only makin' like six dollars a night
[laughter]. The shake dancers, that's what they called 'em back then, they
didn't have to dance when they had a Blues band in there.
BW: Tell me about going out with Muddy. What was the reception
like? Was it different than what you'd been doing at the time?
WS: Yeah, it was different, but at the time I was with a famous
person. You felt good cuz you was workin' with this person and we was all like
one big happy family.
BW: So was he a strict leader? Did you have to play by the rules?
WS: In a nutshell, he was just a person. But in another nutshell he
was more or less like a dad to me. I was just 22 years old when I started.
BW: I'm a pretty young individual; I just turned
24 this week ...
WS: Aw, you ain't nothin' but a baby. [laughter] I got grandkids older
than you.
BW: That's right, nothing but a baby. I come from a different,
younger generation. How do you speak to my generation? You know, to a lot of the
people my age Hendrix is the Blues, and Clapton is the Blues. How would you
direct someone like that who's trying to seek out the Blues?
WS: I'll put it this way, you got to pay your dues. But your dues is
not as hard today as the dues was for people like Muddy Waters and me. I call
myself a Johnny Come Lately, cause I came up on the end. It would be much easier
now because it consist of business. Back then it was business, but then the
musicians was doing it for the music, not the money. It was the soul of the
music that they was doing it for. Sure a little money looked good, but it just
got to be a business, just a business thing. It ain't how good you are now, it's
who you know. That's the music industry today; it's really dog-eat-dog, you
know.
I ain't gonna eat
no dog, but I got to work just as hard to keep the dog from eatin' me!
[laughter]
BW: The dogs are out to eat ya.
WS:
That's right. You better believe it. It boils down to the same
thing. It's what you're in it for. It's going to separate the men from the boys,
that's the phrase I use. It's just that simple. If you's gettin' in it for the
money, you can bet on one thing, you ain't gonna be there long. You gonna be in
and out.
BW: So if you were to recommend a Blues record to a young listener,
what would you say is a good record to start on?
WS: It's a matter of choice. It's what really catches you first. No
use in me tryin' to make a figure at how many Blues players there is, and
they're all good in their own way, they're all very good.
BW: So just build on that first taste?
WS: That's right. You know if someone hears me play with the band,
the first thing that hits ya, "He was influenced by Muddy Waters," you know that
right away. So who was the next guy that caught his ear at the time? It might be
someone you're not familiar with, but it's good music. There's so many good
players out there and sometimes they made a record and they didn't get the
recognition that some got. And no matter what it is, or how good it is, there
will always be just a few that gets through the hole.
BW: I was having this conversation today. I'd like to think that if
the music is good enough it would get heard, one way or the other, but it's just
not like that. There's stuff that makes it out that doesn't really need to be
heard and there's plenty of good stuff that never gets heard.
WS: That's right. It always has and I guess it always will be, 'cause
everybody couldn't fit on the top.
BW: No. It's lonely up there.
WS: [laughter] So that's why you thank God for what you got and accept
it. And do the best you can. I feel just as good- I don't care how good the next
person is, I feel just as good knowing that I did, musically, the best that I
could do, and I'm happy with that.
BW: Did you have any experience with Little
Milton, the man to whom this Blues cruise has been dedicated?
WS: Milton and I communicated, just before he passed. I knew he was
supposed to be on this cruise. We did a festival somewhere in the last couple
weeks, I think we were in New York on the same bill. We were talkin' and jivin',
about the cruise and then I guess a week after that he had his stroke. I never
did play with him, we just communicated.
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