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VOODOO IN AMERICA
TORRENT SUMMARY
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Voodoo is a traditional West African religion whose roots lie deep in Abomey, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey – today the Republic of Benin, where around 25% of the population still practises voodoo – and whose language has the word Vodun, meaning «mystery». Voodoo arrived in the Americas with slaves; mingled, transformed and implanted from Brazil to the Caribbean, from Louisiana to Canada, it can be considered a remarkable synthesis of an intractable Afro-Creole identity.
Voodoo has been superficially understood by Westerners since the 18th century, subjected to insult and reduced to mere superstition, a sort of primitive abomination. It has been seen as a kind of fairground witchcraft, vulgarized and exploited by an infinite number of racist books and films portraying bloodthirsty zombies, crooked black sorcerers casting spells, and other morbid stereotypes, from ghost trains to exotic horror-Z-movies whose stars range from Dracula to Dr. Frankenstein... And it’s true that these diabolised clichés were widely picked up by many Africans, Caribbeans and Afro-Americans also. To that disparaged, twisted culture you have to add a list of songs, and one that you might find in the list is Lord Intruder’s good-natured, humorous version of the calypso Zombie Jamboree played here by the influential Kingston Trio (also the only white group on this album). With their 1958 hit «Tom Dooley» – and with the exception of the famous folk album «Calypso» made two years earlier by Jamaican New Yorker Harry Belafonte1 – the Kingston Trio was almost singlehandedly started the folk music trend among a mass American audience; the comedy-hit Zombie Jamboree2 was an excellent reflection of the mindset which prevailed during the period. That state of mind wasn’t ill-intentioned, but voodoo should not be confused with simplistic clichés: in many respects, it was the essence of the Afro-American soul whose artistry dazzled the 20th century.
Vodun in Africa
Originally voodoo was practised in secret, with many variants from one ethnic group to another, and there were even differences according to the tribe, dialect or village where it was practised. Many Bantus in The Congo and Angola have similar rituals which mingled with them in the Americas and, although distinct from rituals among Ashantis for example, they share a religion which involves worship of ancestors and belief in animism (with living souls attributed to inanimate objects and natural phenomena). Dancing and music are common to these rituals as vectors of communication with spirits and deities. The ancestral link is essential: the deceased are worshipped as divinities, and even though invisible, their spirits (called loa in Haiti) are omnipresent in rituals where animals are sacrificed, and where music and dancing provokes trances... with the souls of participants possessed by divinities which take control of their bodies during rituals.
These religions take different names – Orisha among the Yorubas for example (Nigerian musician Fela Kuti was a Yoruba) – and voodoo cosmology has a number of spirits, deities and elements which control the world, and they are ranked according to their powers. In Haiti, Bondieu is the Creole equivalent, an androgynous divine creator which in some traditions had seven children, each controlling an aspect of the world such as animals, land, sea etc. J. T. Smith’s Seven Sisters Blues relates to this, where the narrator visits seven identical sisters having different healing powers: «Seven times the […] seven sisters would visit me all in my sleep / and they said I won’t have no more trouble / and said I’d live twelve days in a week.»
In voodoo all creation is divine, and therefore each thing holds divine power: talismans and other fetishist objects (called gris-gris or mojo in Louisiana), take many forms. Pieces of desiccated animals (like the Black Cat Bone sung here by Lightnin’ Hopkins), statuettes and other, ordinary substances like grass, herbs, roots and pebbles, all wrapped in a little package, are sold to protect bodily health or else enhance the spirituality of the faithful. There are even talismans said to be capable of casting spells over enemies on demand, of changing the course of love, even haunting others and bringing their downfall.
Voodoo and Creole culture
Millions of Africans deported to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries took their religions with them only to find that, like all African cultural elements, they were strictly forbidden during years of slavery. Yet they remained more or less present (depending on the context) in new forms: the Creole culture was a new one in that the sum of its parts was different from its original components. Candomble in Brazil was principally inherited from the Yoruba deity Orisha, whilst macumba was related to Bantu traditions in Central Africa. In the years following the abolition of slavery, an important Revivalist movement (Revival Zion) developed in the USA, Jamaica and the Caribbean which aimed to «relive» ancestral African religions, most often in a Creole, partly Christian form. The «Christian» facade also allowed the faithful to partly avoid trouble with colonial authorities (who invariably assimilated animism to sorcery), while enabling them to attract more of the faithful who’d been raised in a Christian Creole culture, where the white model enjoyed great prestige despite its cruel domination. For most Africans, Europeans and Caribbeans, anything to do with voodoo remained Satanic, and it was a sin to approach such things.
In English-speaking Jamaica, there was already ano-ther Afro-Caribbean form of religious worship called kumina (marked by Bantu culture). Obeah remained banned: selling talismans and spells was considered as fraud, and the dreaded obeah, along with kumina, almost totally rejected Christian influences. In Pentecostal, Methodist, Baptist, Apostolic churches etc., many spirituals and gospel songs came from American church repertoires – where, as in many Revivalist ceremonies, trances3 and «conversations» with spirits took place (speaking in tongues, or glossolalia). Afro-American rejection of African and Afro-Caribbean religions was tied to colonial Creole culture, which discredited and banned them as soon as slaves arrived in the Americas, in order to glorify their own religions coming from Europe. Considered simple spells for the credulous, or just as sorcery – like Jamaican obeah or quimbois in Martinique – the real spiritual dimension of these forms of worship was in this way almost erased from official history. And it’s true that most of the density of the voodoo religion from Benin and Haiti was simplified in The United States and turned to derision with the humour of groups like The Clovers here, a rhythm & blues vocal group for whom Leiber & Stoller (two Whites) wrote Love Potion Number 9, a parody which could just as well have a Rom gipsy fortune-teller as its heroine. Louis Jordan’s piece Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man tells how the biter was bit (a sorcerer victim of his own sorcery), and the idea was picked up by Lightnin’ Slim for his Hoodoo Blues. Blind Blake’s Spirit Rum recorded in The Bahamas plays on the double-meaning of the word «spirit» (rum was used to purify in obeah rites), with a rum-boozing ghost4 in the lyrics: «Mama, spirit drinking rum / not the spirit that’s in the rum / Mommy, the spirit I’m running from.»
Blind Blake and the Royal Victorian Calypso Orchestra, Spirit Rum, c.1957
There were those, of course, who were more frightened than amused by spirit-powers –Memphis Minnie in Hoodoo Lady, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins in She Put the Whamee on Me – but only Muddy Waters boasted about it (with a smile) in Hoochie Coochie Man. Lil Johnson seems quite serious in her intent to sprinkle goofer dust (very unlucky!) on the door of a friend trying to steal her man from her (Goofer Dust Swing) and as for Terry Timmons, she seems to take pride in attracting the evil eye and using voodoo if anyone pokes fun at her: «My mother studied witchcraft, my daddy studied voodoo, too. So if I catch you ‘round daddy, no telling what I’d do to you... I’ll counter-root your whiskey and goofy dust your stew... Anyone can tell you I’m a girl with an evil eye.»
Terry Timmons, Evil Eyed Woman, 1953
There is a paradox: animism remained firmly anchored in the Americas. Bo Diddley was strictly raised as a Baptist but his work has substantial references to talismans if you can decipher them; his biography5 doesn’t mention US hoodoo practise even once, but many of his most famous compositions deal with talismans, including Bo Diddley, I’m a Man and Who Do You Love. When The Doors did Who Do You Love – hoodoo you love, obviously – were they really thinking about hoodoo cosmology and its snakes and ghosts? «I use a cobra snake for a necktie, got a brand new house on the roadside made out of rattlesnake hide; I got a brand new chimney made on top, made out of human skulls...»
Bo Diddley, Who Do You Love, 1956
Bo paraded his young virility in explaining he used to take someone with him wherever he went, i.e. his «cousin» Little John the conquer root, the name given to the gris-gris most common to 20th century Afro-Americans. It guaranteed fidelity and enhanced sexual prowess, and was actually just a dried root – ipomoea Jalapa – in which an African prince had placed his spirit and powers. Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man also refers to that particularly popular mojo (resembling a dark-coloured testicle) which Bo put to good use in his eponymous song: «Mojo come to my house, a black cat bone, take my baby all the way from home. Look at that doodle, where’s he been, up your house, and gone again.»
Bo Diddley, Bo Diddley, 1955
Jazz
From the very beginning of the 19th century, Afro-American musicians used to gather in central New Orleans, although such manifestations were unthinkable else-where in The United States. Clarinetist Sidney Bechet recalls how his own grandfather was a master drummer there:
«Improvisation. It was primitive and it was crude, but down at the bottom of it–inside it, where it starts and gets into itself–down there it had the same thing there is at the bottom of ragtime. It was already born and making in the music they played in Congo Square. Another thing about this Congo Square–sometimes it was used for a selling-block. The masters would come there to buy and sell their slaves.» Sidney Bechet, ‘Treat it Gentle’6, 1960
Congo Square was filled with drums – the bamboo sticks used by drummers gave the name bamboulas to these jams and gatherings – but period engravings show scenes with other percussion instruments plus flutes, tin whistles and violins alongside vocalists and African stringed-instruments. The musicians were often from The Congo (Bantus were the last to arrive in the Americas), and there were also Haitians and Jamaicans. No recordings survive to prove it7, but the crowds obviously didn’t miss the opportunity to invoke the spirits to the rhythmic pounding of ancestral rhythms, while they danced and passed secret (oral) messages to one another in the voodoo tradition.
A whole century of bamboulas provided fertile soil for jazz to develop, and in the chanting vocal improvisations of those who were «possessed» lie the roots of jazz improvisation, in the same way as marching bands at funerals – solemn behind the coffin, dancing and full of life after the actual burial – represented exchanges with the deceased. CD1 here opens with one of the first jazz musicians of any importance, Jelly Roll Morton, whose Grandpa’s Spells (1926) provides an indispensable introduction to the voodoo issue. The Afro/Creole legacy was soon inscribed permanently in various forms of jazz, and jazz-diva Billie Holiday would even summarize her own deep blues with a hoodoo reference: «Day in, day out, the same old hoodoo follows me about, the same old pounding in my heart whenever I think of you.»
Billie Holiday, Day In, Day Out, 1957
Thirty-five years after Jelly Roll’s piece, people could admire the road taken by jazz with the assumed (proclaimed) Africanness of Art Blakey, Wayne Shorter and Lee Morgan playing The Witch Doctor, and John Coltrane’s Dahomey Dance with Eric Dolphy, which close CD2. Their hard bop with a gospel/funky blues tinge takes the listener to the peak of improvisation where musical spirits create ties in the secret tongue of the soul.
Hoodoo in the south
New Orleans was America’s voodoo capital, with Hoo-Doo Blues and Lightnin’ Slim, whose sound was typical of the kind of swamp-blues produced by Jay Miller; You Got Your Mojo Working (an efficient mojo) was the answer to Muddy Waters’ Got Your Mojo Working (an inefficient mojo) released a few months earlier. There were also titles from nearby Tennessee: The Hoodoo Man at Sun Studios and It’s Your Voodoo Working by Charles Sheffield. As for the legendary Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson8, recorded in Texas like Lightnin’ Hopkins’ splendid Black Cat Bone, it signified the unnatural union between the voodoo martyr and the Christian despot, and between black religion and that of the white oppressor. Even when he falls to his knees before the Lord, the founder of modern blues – and slide-guitar virtuoso – is in fact addressing a syncretic voodoo divinity. To the initiate, the crossroads was where one’s fate was sealed, and where one signed a pact with the devil (the God of the crossroads was Legba, one of the mightiest gods in the voodoo tradition9.)
«[Robert Johnson] told me he knew so much because he sold himself to the Devil. I asked him how. He said, ‘If you want to learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where the road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little ‘fore 12 that night so you know you’ll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself… A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar and he’ll tune it. And then he’ll play a piece and hand it back to you. That’s the way I learned to play anything I want.’»
Clarence «Gatemouth» Brown,
‘Dirty Work at the Crossroads’, 1953
Hoodoo in the NORTH
Voodoo spread to the icy cities of the north especially during the exodus accompanying the economic crisis of the Thirties: Detroit, Saint-Louis, New York, Washington D.C. and Chicago were among the most common destinations for migrants moving out of the south. Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Memphis Minnie, Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Slim, John Lee «Sonny Boy» Williamson, J. B. Lenoir and Bo Diddley were all from the Mississippi Delta, and almost all of them transformed and recorded Delta blues in Chicago, which became the new blues capital thanks to records released by Bluebird, Veejay and Chess. Many titles in this anthology were recorded there. Voodoo was widespread in the Delta, and the migrants injected their mojo stories into the new sounds of electric blues and rock. The Chicago label Chess launched rock giant Chuck Berry – he was from Saint-Louis – and one of his first hits mentioned hoodoo as a possible solution to make his woman return to him: «I done call up the gypsy woman on the telephone, I’m gonna send a worldwide hoodoo, that’ll be the very thing that’ll suit you…» Chuck Berry, Thirty Days, 1955
Muddy Waters’ discography abounds in references to hoodoo, voodoo and gypsy women – like the compositions of his future admirer Jimi Hendrix, who wrote the definitive «Voodoo Chile» – and Muddy’s most emblematic piece representing America’s voodoo legacy is Hoochie Coochie Man, named for those with the skills needed to make a mojo that really works, unlike the one he sings about in Got my Mojo Working: «The gypsy woman told my mother before I was born, You got a boy child coming, he gon’ be a son-of-a-gun, he gon’ make pretty womens jump and shout... Well you know I’m the hoochie coochie man, everybody knows I’m here; I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too, I got a John the conquer root...»
Muddy Waters, Hoochie Coochie Man, 1947
In Evil, a variant of Hoochie Coochie Man, Muddy Waters lists the wild animals he can vanquish thanks to an evil eye, and another candidate for the title of the most emblematic American voodoo piece is the famous I Put a Spell on You by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, which was recorded – a stroke of genius – using a waltz rhythm. In the same period, Screamin’ Jay, who swore he’d beaten James Brown in person in a contest to see who could scream the loudest, also recorded the little-known masterpiece Alligator Wine, which you can listen to here. The recipe is quite straightforward: «Take the blood out of an alligator, take the left eye out of a fish. Take the skin off of a frog and mix it all up in a dish. Add a cup of green swamp water and then count from one to nine. Spit over your left shoulder, you got alligator wine. Alligator wine, your porcupine is going to make you mine.»
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Alligator Wine, 1958
Thanks to Francis Blum, Stéphane Colin, Patrick Eudeline, Jean-Paul Levet, Kermit Osserman, Gilles Pétard, Gilles Riberolles, Gilbert Shelton and Fabrice Uriac.
Notes
1. Listen to Harry Belafonte, Calypso-Mento-Folk 1954-1957 (FA5234) in this same collection.
2. An excellent Jamaican version from 1957 by Lord Foodoos appears on the album Jamaica - Trance, Possession, Folk 1939-1961 to be released by Frémeaux & Associés in 2013. A version by Vincent Martin, recorded in The Bahamas in 1957, appears on Bahamas - Goombay 1951-1959 (FA5302) in this collection.
3. Listen to Jamaica - Trance, Possession, Folk 1939-1961 (for release by Frémeaux & Associés in 2013).
4. Other titles by Blind Blake and his Royal Victorian Hotel Calypso Orchestra are available on the album Bahamas Goombay 1951-1959 (FA5302) and the Calypso volume of the boxed-set Anthologie des musiques de danse du monde, vol. 2 (FA5342).
5. George White, Bo Diddley, Living Legend, Castle Communications, 1995.
6. Sidney Bechet’s autobiography, Treat it Gentle, Da Capo Press, reprinted 2002.
7. Listen to Jamaica - Trance, Possession, Folk 1939-1961 FA5384 (for release by Frémeaux & Associés in 2013), whose rare analog recordings are probably the closest you can come to the sounds heard in Congo Square on a Sunday in 1900.
8. See Searching for Robert Johnson by Peter Guralnick (Plume, 1998).
9. Jean-Paul Levet, Talkin’ That Talk, le langage du blues et du jazz (Hatier, 1992).
10. You can hear her «Sweetie Joe» in the Calypso volume of the boxed-set Anthologie des musiques de danse du monde, vol. 2 (FA5342).
11. Earlier versions of Rookoombey by Lord Prince Thomas and The Fabulous Mc Clevertys can be heard on Virgin Islands - Calypso (to be released by Frémeaux et Associés in 2013).
Disc 1 - 1926 - 1958
1. Grandpa’s Spells - Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers
(Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe aka Jelly Roll Morton) George Mitchell-ct; Edward Ory as Kid Ory-tb; Oscar Simeon-cl;
Ferdinand Joseph La Menthe as Jelly Roll Morton-p; Johnny St. Cyr-bjo; John Lindsay-b; Andrew Hilaire-d. Chicago, September 15, 1926.
2. Seven Sisters Blues (Part II) - J.T. «Funny Paper» Smith
(J.T. Smith) J.T. Smith aka Funny paper-g, v. Chicago, July 10, 1931.
3. Hoodoo Lady - Memphis Minnie
(Minnie McCoy, née Lizzie Douglas) Minnie McCoy as Memphis Minnie-g, v. Chicago, February 18, 1936.
4. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson
(Robert Leroy Johnson ) Robert Johnson-g, v. San Antonio, Texas, November 27, 1936.
5. Goofer Dust Swing - Lil Johnson
(Lil Johnson ) Lil Johnson-v; «Mr. Sheik»-tpt; Black Bob-p; unknown-b. Chicago, March 3, 1937.
6. I’ve Been Tricked - Casey Bill Weldon & his Orchestra
(William Weldon) Casey Bill Weldon-g, v; unknow-g, p. Chicago, March 24, 1937.
7. Somebody Done Hoodooed the Hoodoo Man - Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five
(Louis Jordan) Louis Jordan-as, v; Courtney Williams-tp; Kenneth Hollon-ts; Clarence Johnson-p, v; Charlie Drayton-b; Walter Martin-d. New York, March 13, 1940.
8. Voodoo Woman - Jay McShann & his Orchestra
(Demetrius, Moore) Jimmy Witherspoon-v; Jay McShann-p; Mitchell Webb aka Tiny-g; Percy Gabriel-b; Jesse Price-d;
Los Angeles, November 13, 1946.
9. Root Doctor Blues - Doctor Clayton
(Peter Joe Clayton) Dr. Clayton-v; Blind John Davis-p; Willie James Lacey-g; Ransom Knowling-b. Chicago, August 7, 1946.
10. Hoodoo Hoodoo - John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson
(John Lee Williamson) John Lee Williamson aka Sonny Boy Williamson-hca, g; Blind John Davis-p; Willlie James Lacey-g; Ransom Knowling-b. Chicago, August 6, 1946.
11. Gypsy Woman - Muddy Waters
(McKinley Morganfield) McKinley Morganfield as Muddy Waters-g, v; Sunnyland Slim-p; Big Crawford-b. Chicago, 1947.
12. Louisiana Blues - Muddy Waters
(McKinley Morganfield) McKinley Morganfield as Muddy Waters-g, v; James Cotton-hca; Big Crawford-b. Chicago, October 23, 1950.
13. Black Cat Bone - Lightnin’ Hopkins
(Sam Hopkins ) Sam Hopkins aka Lightnin’ Hopkins-g, v. Houston, Texas, 1950 or 1951.
14. Memphis Al (The Hoodoo Man) - Albert «Joiner» Williams
(Albert Williams) Albert ‘Joiner’ Williams-v, p; Joe Willie Wilkins-g; Dickie Houston-d; James Walker-perc. Sun Studio,
Memphis, Tennessee, 1953.
15. Marie Laveau - Oscar «Papa» Célestin
(Robert L. Gurley) Oscar Célestin aka Oscar «Papa» Célestin-v, tp; Edward Pierson aka Red-tb; Adolphe Alexander-as; Joseph Thomas-cl; Albert French-bjo; Jeannette Kimball-p; Sidney Brown-b; Louis Barbarin-d. New Orleans, Louisiana, April 24, 1954.
16. Evil - Howlin’ Wolf
(Willie Dixon) Chester Burnett aka Howlin’ Wolf-v, hca; Hubert Sumlin-g; Jody Williams-g; Otis Spann-p; Willie Dixon-b;
Earl Philips-d. Chicago, May 25, 1954.
17. I’m a Man - Bo Diddley
(Ellas McDaniel) Ellas McDaniel as Bo Diddley-g,v; William Arnold aka Billy Boy Arnold-hca; Otis Spann-p; Willie Dixon-b; Clifton James-d; Jerome Green-maracas. Universal Recording, Chicago, March 2, 1955.
18. She Put the Whamee on Me - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
(Screamin’ Jay Hawkins aka Jalacy Hawkins) Screamin’ Jay Hawkins-v; Sam Taylor aka The Man-ts; Al Sears aka Big Al Sears-ts; MacHouston Baker aka Mickey Baker-g; Al Lucas-b; Panama Francis-d; unknown piano. New York City, January 1955.
19. Song of the Jumbies - Josephine Premice
(Josephine Premice) Josephine Premice-v; Barney Kessel-g; Ben Tucker-b; flute-unknown. Los Angeles, March 21 or 22, 1957.
20. Zombie Jamboree - The Kingston Trio
(Winston O’Conner aka Lord Intruder)
Dave Guard-v, g; Bob Shane-v, g; Nick Reynolds congas; probably Joe Gannon-b. Recorded at the «Hungry i» restaurant,
San Francisco, summer of 1958, with overdubs. Produced by Voyle Gilmore.
Disc 2 - 1952-1961
1. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
(Ellas McDaniel) Ellas McDaniel as Bo Diddley-g,v; William Arnold aka Billy Boy Arnold-hca; Otis Spann-p; Willie Dixon-b; Clifton James-d; Jerome Green-maracas. Universal Recording, Chicago, March 2, 1955.
2. Alligator Wine - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
(Jalacy Hawkins) probably Kenny Burrell-g, or Everett Barksdale or Danny Perri; Ernie Hayes-p; Lloyd Trotman-b; Panama Francis-d; unknown saxes, but probably including Sam Taylor aka The Man-ts. New York City, 1957 (probably May 6).
3. Evil Eyed Woman - Terry Timmons
(Chase) Terry Timmons-v; Howard Biggs-director; Nax Gusasak-t; Henderson Chambers, Theodore Kelly, George Matthews-tb; Eddie Barefield, George Berg, Artie Drellinger-saxes; René Hall-g; Bill Doggett-p; Jimmy Crawford-d. Chicago, November 26, 1952.
4. Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
(Willie Dixon) McKinley Morganfield as Muddy Waters-g, v; Marion Walter Jacobs as Little Walter-hca; Jimmy Rogers-g; Otis Spann-p; Willie Dixon-b; Elgin Evans-d. Chicago, January 7, 1954.
5. Thirty Days - Chuck Berry
(Charles Edward Berry aka Chuck Berry) Chuck Berry-g, v; Johnny Johnson-p; Willie Dixon-b; Jasper Thomas-d; Jerome Green-maracas. Chicago, May 1955.
6. I Put a Spell on You - Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
(Jalacy Hawkins) With the Leroy Kirkland Orchestra: Sam Taylor aka The Man-ts; Heywood Henry-bs; Ernie Hayes-p; Jimmy Shirley-g; Lloyd Trotman-b; Panama Francis-d. New York City, September 12, 1956.
7. Who Do You Love - Bo Diddley
(Ellas McDaniel) Bo Diddley-g, v; Jody Williams-g; Clifton James-d; Jerome Green-maracas. Chess Studio, Chicago, May 5, 1956.
8. Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters
(McKinley Morganfield) McKinley Morganfield as Muddy Waters-g, v; James Cotton-hca; Otis Spann-p; Auburn Hare aka Pat-g; Andrew Stephens or Willie Dixon-b; Francis Clay-d. Chicago, December 1, 1956.
9. Evil - Muddy Waters
(McKinley Morganfield) McKinley Morganfield as Muddy Waters-g, v; James Cotton-hca; Otis Spann-p; Auburn Hare aka Pat-g; Andrew Stephens or Willie Dixon-b; Francis Clay-d. Chicago, May or June 1957.
10. Spirit Rum - Blind Blake & the Royal Victorian Hotel Calypso Orchestra
(Colin Kelly-Blake Higgs) Blind Blake, banjo, vocals; Dudley Butler, guitar; Jack Roker and Chatfield Ward, guitar; George Wilson, bass; Alfred «Tojo» Anderson, maracas; Bertie Lord, drums; Lou Adams, trumpet. Nassau, Bahamas, circa 1957.
11. Day In, Day Out - Billie Holiday
(Mercer, Bloom) Harry Edison-tp; Ben Webster-ts; Jimmy Rowles-p; Barney Kessel-g; Red Mitchell-b; Alvin Stoller-d; Billie Holiday-v. Los Angeles, January 7, 1957.
12. Chicken Gumbo - Josephine Premice
(Merrick, Willoughby) Josephine Premice-v; Barney Kessel-g; Ben Tucker-b; background vocals, flute, unknown-congas. Los Angeles, March 21 or 22, 1957.
13. You Got Your Mojo Working - Eddie Bo
(Dolores Johnson, B. Allen) Edwin Bocage as Eddie Bo-p, v; Robert Parker, James Rivers-saxes; Ike Williams-tp; Edgar Blanchard-g; Chuck Badie-b; John Boudreaux-d. New Orleans, 1959.
14. It’s your Voodoo Working - Charles Sheffield
(Charles Sheffield) Charles Sheffield aka Mad Dog-v; ts, g, b, d, background vocals-unknown. Produced by Jay D. Miller. Crowley Studio, Nashville, Tennessee, 1961.
15. Voodoo Boogie - J.B. Lenoir
J.B. Lenoir, voc, g; Alex Atkins-as; Ernest Cotton-ts; Leonard Caston-org; Joe Montgomery-p; Robert Lockwood Jr.-g; Willie Dixon, b-Al Galvin, d. Chicago, 1958.
16. Love Potion Number 9 - The Clovers
(Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) The Clovers: Billy Mitchell-lead v; Harold Winley-bass; John Bailey aka Buddy-tenor; Matthew McQuater-tenor; Harold Lucas aka Hal-baritone; Bill Harris-g; unknown-p, b, d. Atlantic Studios, New York City, 1959.
17. Rookoombey - Josephine Premice
(A. Irving, C. Irving) Josephine Premice-v; Barney Kessel-g; Ben Tucker-b; background vocals, flute, unknown-congas. Los Angeles, March 21 or 22, 1957.
18. Hoo-Doo Blues - Lightnin’ Slim
(Otis Hicks aka Lightnin’ Slim) Otis Hicks aka Lightnin’ Slim-g, v; James Moore aka Slim Harpo-hca. Recorded in Crowley, Louisiana, 1960. Produced by Joseph Denton «Jay» Miller.
19. The Witch Doctor - Art Blakey
(Lee Morgan) Wayne Shorter-ts; Lee Morgan, tp; Bobby Timmons-p; Jymie Merritt-b; Art Blakey-d. March 14, 1961
20. Dahomey Dance - John Coltrane
(John Coltrane) John Coltrane-ts; Eric Dolphy (as George Lane)-as; Freddie Hubbard-tp; McCoy Tyner-p; Reggie Workman-b; Art Davis-b; Elvin Jones-d. Recorded at A&R Studios, New York City, May 25, 1961. Supervised by Nesuhi Ertegun.
With roots deep in western Africa, voodoo spread to North America in the 19th century amongst the slaves and free black men living in the Creole plantations on the outskirts of New Orleans. Their great priestess was Marie Laveau, whose mojo skills and love-potions made her the emblem of a religion which became a “counter-culture”. As a reaction to the strict disciplines of American Protestantism, racism and segregation, voodoo – whether seen as a fantasy doorway to Africa or some sweet, erotic heresy – became an outlet for Afro-American musicians in search of their roots and identity. With detailed notes from Bruno Blum, these magnificent titles – blues, jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, even calypso – express all of hoodoo’s sentiments: spirituality, power, virility, pride, sometimes fear, derision and humour.
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FILE LIST
Filename
Size
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/1. Grandpa's Spells - Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Club.mp3
2.9 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/10. Hoodoo Hoodoo - Sonny Boy Williamson.mp3
2.6 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/11. Gypsy Woman - Muddy Waters.mp3
2.2 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/12. Louisiana Blues - Muddy Waters.mp3
2.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/13. Black Cat Bone - Lightin' Hopkins.mp3
2.8 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/14. Memphis Al The Hoodoo Man - Albert Williams.mp3
3.1 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/15. Marie Laveau - Oscar Celestin.mp3
7.9 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/16. Evil - Howlin' Wolf.mp3
3.9 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/17. I'm A Man - Bo Diddley.mp3
3.8 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/18. She Put The Whamme On Me - Screamin' Jay Hawkins.mp3
2.9 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/19. Song Of The Jumbies - Josephine Premice.mp3
3.3 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/2. Seven Sisters Blues - J-T. Smith.mp3
2.6 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/20. Zombie Jamboree - The Kingston Trio.mp3
3.9 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/3. Hoodoo Lady - Minnie Memphis.mp3
2.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/4. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson.mp3
2.5 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/5. Goofer Dust Swing - Lil Johnson.mp3
2.8 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/6. I've Been Tricked - Casey Bill Weldon & His Orchestra.mp3
2.5 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/7. Somebody Done Hoodooed The Hoodoo Man - Louis Jordan & The Tympany Five.mp3
2.5 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/8. Voodoo Woman - Jay Mcshann & His Orchestra.mp3
2.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 1/9. Root Doctor Blues - Doctor Clayton.mp3
2.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/1. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley.mp3
3.4 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/10. Spirit Rum - Blind Blake & The Royal Victorian Hotel Calypso Orchestra.mp3
2 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/11. Day In Day Out - Billie Holiday.mp3
8.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/12. Chicken Gumbo - Josephine Premice.mp3
1.6 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/13. You Got Your Mojo Working - Eddie Bo.mp3
4.1 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/14. It's Your Voodoo Working - Charles Sheffield.mp3
1.8 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/15. Voodoo Boogie - J-B. Lenoir.mp3
1.8 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/16. Love Potion Number 9 - The Clovers.mp3
2.6 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/17. Rookoombey - Josephine Premice.mp3
2.2 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/18. Hoo Doo Blues - Lightin' Slim.mp3
3.1 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/19. The Witch Doctor - Art Blakey.mp3
7.6 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/2. Alligator Wine - Screamin' Jay Hawkins.mp3
3 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/20. Dahomey Dance - John Coltrane.mp3
15.2 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/3. Evil Eyed Woman - Terry Timmons.mp3
2.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/4. Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters.mp3
2.7 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/5. Thirty Days - Chuck Berry.mp3
3.3 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/6. I Put A Spell On You - Screamin' Jay Hawkins.mp3
2.4 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/7. Who Do You Love - Bo Diddley.mp3
3.4 MB
VOODOO IN AMERICA 2/8. Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters.mp3
