Saturday, August 29, 2009

Jimmy Reed - Ham & Eggs

Just got back from listening to a local blues band and loved the fact that they did a song by Jimmy Reed. Here's a little excerpt from the Leroy 'Hog' Cooper on Sax about Jimmy.

"I could tell you a story about that record date with Jimmy Reed. The drummer and I used to work together.

"We go up to the studio and uh-oh, Jimmy’s late. Everybody in the studio was ready to go. After awhile we heard something coming down the hallway, bumping into the walls.

"My buddy said, 'That’s Jimmy,' and then ta-da – Jimmy walked in. He was high as a kite.

"He came in there and said, 'I’m ready.'

"Man, what kind of recording is he going to do when he’s high like that? The drummer’s name was Al.

"Jimmy said, “Al, what did you have for breakfast this morning?”

"Al said, 'Ham and eggs.'

"Oh, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum da bum, Jimmy was playing and started singing, 'Ham and eggs, baby, bah bah do do.'

"Al said, 'Jimmy, that’s good stuff. What’s the next one?'

“Jimmy asked, 'Um, what kind of car you drive?' He did an LP just off of the top of his head on whatever subject we came up with.

"I said this is pure genius. And I mean we would tell stories and he would do bum bum… and we finished the thing in about three hours’ time and I’m still standing there in amazement."

copyright Susan Cross, August 2009

2 comments:

Jai Joshi said...

Musicians have the most extraordinary experiences. I'm constantly amazed when I read your blog.

Jai

Susan Cross said...

Every time I work on the manuscript I can't believe some of the things I'm reading/writing/transcribing. Yesterday there was a lot of new stuff about Ray Charles. That info won't be posted here; it will have to wait for the book!