Albert Luandrew (September 5, 1906 – March 17, 1995),[1] known as Sunnyland Slim, was an American blues pianist born in the Mississippi Delta and moved to Chicago, helping to make that city a center of postwar blues.[2]
Sunnyland Slim
| |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Albert Luandrew |
| Born | (1906-09-05)September 5, 1906 Near Vance, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | March 17, 1995(1995-03-17) (aged 88) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | Blues |
| Occupation(s) |
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| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Years active | 1920s–1990s |
| Labels |
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Chicago broadcaster and writer Studs Terkel said Sunnyland Slim was "a living piece of our folk history, gallantly and eloquently carrying on in the old tradition".[3]
Sunnyland Slim was born on a farm in Quitman County, Mississippi, near the unincorporated settlement of Vance.[1][3] He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1925, where he performed with many of the popular blues musicians of the day. His stage name came from the song "Sunnyland Train", about a railroad line between Memphis and St. Louis, Missouri.[3] In 1942 he moved to Chicago, in the great migration of southern workers to the industrial north.[4]
At that time the electric blues was taking shape in Chicago, and through the years Sunnyland Slim played with such musicians as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf,[5] Robert Lockwood Jr., and Little Walter.[3] His piano style is characterised by heavy basses or vamping chords with the left hand and tremolos with the right. His voice was loud, and he sang in a declamatory style.[6]
Sunnyland Slim's first recording was as a singer with Armand "Jump" Jackson's band for Specialty Records in September 1946. His first recordings as a leader were for Hy-Tone Records and Aristocrat Records in late 1947.[7] He continued performing until his death, in 1995.
He released one record for RCA Victor, "Illinois Central" backed with "Sweet Lucy Blues" (Victor 20–2733), under the name Dr. Clayton's Buddy.
In the late 1960s, Slim became friends with members of the band Canned Heat and played piano on the track "Turpentine Moan" on their album Boogie with Canned Heat. In turn, members of the band—lead guitarist Henry Vestine, slide guitarist Alan Wilson and bassist Larry Taylor—contributed to Sunnyland Slim's Liberty Records album Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On (1969), which also featured Mick Taylor.
He was a recipient of a 1988 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[8]
He died in March 1995 in Chicago, after complications from renal failure, at the age of 88.[9]
NB. Sunnyland Slim recorded on many different record labels over his lengthy career. Some of these titles were issued, and re-issued, at various dates and on other labels.
| Year | Title | Collaboration (and notes) | Record label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | House Rent Party | Delmark | |
| 1960 | Chicago Blues Session | Select-O-Hits | |
| 1961 | Slim's Shout | Bluesville | |
| 1969 | Midnight Jump | Blue Horizon | |
| 1969 | Slim's Got His Thing Goin' On | World Pacific | |
| 1970 | Pearl Harbour Blues | RCA Records | |
| 1971 | Depression Blues | Festival Records | |
| 1972 | Sad and Lonesome | Jewel | |
| 1973 | Plays Ragtime Blues | BluesWay Records | |
| 1974 | She Got That Jive | Airway Records | |
| 1975 | Sunnyland Slim & Little Brother Montgomery | Little Brother Montgomery | 77 Records |
| 1979 | Patience Like Job | Airway Records | |
| 1981 | Old Friends | David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Kansas City Red, Big Walter Horton, Floyd Jones |
Earwig Records |
| 1986 | Chicago Jump | (Sunnyland Slim Blues Band) | Evidence Music |
| 1989 | Be Careful How You Vote | Earwig Records | |
| 1991 | Live in Europe | Airway Records | |
| 1994 | Blues Anytime! | Hubert Sumlin and Willie Dixon | Evidence Music |
| 1994 | Decoration Day | Evidence Music | |
| 1994 | Live at the D.C. Blues Society | (recorded in 1987) | Mapleshade Records |
| 1995 | Sunnyland Train | (recorded in 1983) | Evidence Music |
| 1997 | Bad and Lonesome | Jewel Records | |
| 1998 | She Got a Thing Goin' On | (recorded 1971 – 1983) | Earwig Records / Blind Pig Records |
| 1999 | Smile on My Face | (recorded 1977) | Delmark Records |
| 2006 | Blues Legends Live | John Dee Holeman | Mapleshade Records |
| 2010 | ABC of the Blues Vol. 42 | Johnny Shines | Documents |
| 2012 | Legendary Bop Rhythm & Blues Classics | Essential Media Group | |
| 2012 | The Devil Is a Busy Man | Essential Media Group |
With Howlin' Wolf