Lowell Fulson, his career spanned too many styles and too many decades for any collection to be truly definitive; however, The Complete Chess Masters is an excellent compilation of his work during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Most of the material here wasn’t commercially successful, which is a shame; there’s some great music on this two-disc set, including previously unreleased takes of “Lonely Hours” and “Check Yourself.” There’s his hit “Reconsider Baby,” of course, but there’s also “Please Don’t Go,” “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” and “Love Grows Cold.”
Fulson’s vocals and guitar work are the highlights, naturally, but his backing band’s got a fine West Coast sound too. -Genevieve Williams
Fulson was born on a Choctaw Indian reservation near Tulsa; his grandfather was a Choctaw. He played music at an early age, first gospels and country before he discovered his love for the blues.
When he was 18, Fulson replaced blues guitarist Chester Burnett (better known as Howlin ’Wolf) in the Texas Alexander band. During his service in the United States Navy from 1943, he formed his first band in Guam. After the war, Fulson moved to California, where he formed a band in which young Ray Charles also played for some time.
Here Fulson recorded his first single Crying Blues in June 1946 in San Francisco. In the same month, two parts of the River Blues were created in Oakland as the Fulson Trio with Eldridge McCarty (piano) and Big Dad (Bob Johnson) (bass). In October 1948 he had his first hit with the Three O’Clock Blues, which reached number three on the Rhythm & Blues chart. A first cover version of the blues classic x Everyday I Have the Blues was recorded by Lowell Fulson on July 18, 1949 with the line-up of Lloyd Glenn (piano), Billy Hadnott (bass) and Bob Harvey (drums) # 3) and was ranked 10th among the best-selling rhythm and blues records by the music magazine Billboard. [1] This was followed by other hits such as Blues Shadows (August 1950; his only number one hit). This success motivated Fulson to found the Lowell Fulson Orchestra, a seven-piece band in which Ray Charles played piano at times. One of these tracks with Ray Charles on piano was The Snow Is Falling, recorded in November 1951. In December 1953, Fulson moved to Aladdin Records, [2] where he only stayed until 1954. In September 1954 he went to Checker Records, where he recorded the classic Reconsider Baby on September 27, 1954. Many of these songs were written by B.B. King, Elvis Presley and Otis Redding covered, some of which achieved greater commercial success with it.
In 1993, Fulson won five W. C. Handy Awards. His 1995 album Them Update Blues was nominated for a Grammy. In 1993 he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Lowell Fulson died in 1999 of kidney failure as a result of his diabetes. In 2010 his album Hung Down Head was also inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. His song Reconsider Baby is listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 titles that formed rock ’n’ roll.
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