The Blues: A Photographic Tribute / Ray Jeanotte

I fell in love with the blues hearing Jimmy Reed singing “Bright Lights, Big City.” At that time, rock and roll was changing; losing its gritty edge. Eddie Cochran said it well with “Summertime Blues,” a rockabilly classic. I grew up in the northeast of the US. There was a strong doo-wop and R&B scene, but we were deprived of the great rockabilly records. We had Bill Dogget’s “Honky Tonk Part 1” which topped the R&B charts in 1956. Billy Butler’s guitar licks and Clifford Scott’s sax solo made it a masterpiece: Cool jazz cats inventing rock and roll. Doors were finally opening for black artists. Still, the record companies tried to feed us white artists like Pat Boone singing Little Richard, but no one could cover Little Richard. He made us dance! Finally, I found my way to The Apollo Theater in Harlem, New york. This was my first look at live bluesmen and I couldn’t have found any better than BB King with T-Bone Walker.

The 1960s brought popularity to the blues. What had been called “race music” was now for everyone, via The Rolling Stones and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, with Eric Clapton on guitar. We had some great players on this side of the pond, including Mike Bloomfield, John Hammond and Johnny Winter. Jimi Hendrix was still a few years off. Blues shows at venues like the Fillmore East and West were becoming more common. I attended a blues show at a club in greenwich village called the Café Au go go and I heard blues so powerful it stunned me: Son House, Skip James, The Muddy Waters’ Blues Band and Paul Butterfield. I bought Delta Blues LPs by Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Memphis Minnie and anyone else I could find. Around that time I got a job at young & Rubicam Advertising as a photographic assistant to Joe Eisenberg. Joe was a wonderful mentor and gave my life a new direction. He encouraged me in my own photography. I am honored to have taken photos of these great blues artists. Many have passed on, but their music still lives in our hearts.