HENRY GRAY AND BOB CORRITORE

The Henry Gray/Bob Corritore Sessions Vol. 1 – Blues Won’t Let Me Take My Rest

Delta Groove

By Bill Dahl

          At 90 years of age and feisty as ever, Henry Gray is the last of his kind.

        The boogie and blues piano specialist spent the 1950s in the gin joints of Chicago, backing Howlin’ Wolf and Morris Pejoe and doing studio dates with Jimmy Rogers, Bo Diddley, Billy Boy Arnold, and Jimmy Reed. Although his ‘50s discography as a leader largely consists of a couple of titles from a 1953 Chess session that sat unissued at the time, the Kenner, Louisiana native was utterly invaluable as a sideman, his ivories pounding rivaling that of Otis Spann and Little Johnny Jones for local preeminence.

          Henry’s happily made up for lost time in recent years, recording albums as a leader for Blind Pig, HighTone, and other labels both stateside and abroad. This 14-song compilation further enhances Gray’s still-expanding legacy. Spearheaded by Phoenix harpist Bob Corritore, whose full-bodied playing is featured prominently throughout, the set was recorded between 1996 and earlier this year with a vast array of sidemen, all of whom speak the same fluent traditional blues language that Gray so effortlessly does. Even if the set wasn’t cut here, there’s a strong Chicago flavor to the proceedings.

          Opening with the raucous houserocker “Let’s Get High” that he cut with Pejoe in December of ‘54 for United Records, Henry displays a spry vocal delivery as he storms through a pair of originals (the title blues and “I’m Gonna Miss You”) as well as the party-time “They Raided The Joint” and a horn-leavened reprise of Fats Domino’s “I’m In Love Again.” Gray’s wide-ranging repertoire encompasses B.B. King’s “She Don’t Move Me No More,” Lowell Fulson’s “Trouble Blues,” and Reed’s “Honey Don’t Let Me Go,” benefitting from solid backing from the rotating cast of carefully chosen sidemen. Henry’s easy-going patter with Chicago’s Tail Dragger is a delight on the rollicking “Boogie Woogie Ball,” guitarist Chris James and bassist Patrick Rynn matching the ageless piano man in the energy department.

          Thanks to his ownership of the Rhythm Room, Phoenix’s top blues club, Corritore has brought some true blues heavyweights to his town over the years. Three of them, all sadly gone now, appear on this set while casting Gray in the sideman role that he filled for so long in Chicago. Robert Lockwood, Jr. conjures up a sterling tribute to his stepfather, Robert Johnson, on “Ramblin’ On My Mind,” while leather-lunged shouter Nappy Brown brings a ton of gravitas to his reading of “Worried Life Blues” (its originator Big Maceo Merriweather was one of Henry’s early mentors). Chicago guitarist John Brim ably reprises his ‘55 Chess classic “That Ain’t Right” for Corritore and crew. Rhythm Room regular Dave Riley, no slouch on guitar himself, turns in a nice rendition of Frank Frost’s “Ride With Your Daddy Tonight.”

          Fans of real-deal traditional Chicago-style blues and uncompromising two-fisted piano will delight in this set. Here’s hoping Henry returns to his old stomping grounds and gifts us with some of these selections in a live setting soon.

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