Page 10-Saturday; June-, 1982-The Michigan Doily -
Quarter century of blues keeps A1k
(Continued from Page 10)
providinga consistent backdrop. Allison gritted his teeth and demanded, blues than anything else," he ex-
In the third and longest set Allison "Why do rou treat me this way?" Then plained. But in thanking them he also
brought out all of his skills. As in every off they went into "Hold On," which in- expressed his desire for a little
set, the band opened with a rocking in- cluded some very delicate improvised reciprocity. After all, he said, "I am the
strumental to get the audience up, then guitar soloing; right back into the slow Peal 'blues brother'. I live the blues."
slipped into a sweet slow blues, as blues of "Sweet Home Chicago." He talked about his own way of
Another blues tune inCludin,,c-ltnsMie " 'Tflim
psychedelic guitar, and a cooking jam
led to an emotional rendition of "Dock
of the Bay." Never one to disappoint,
Allison then played "Happy Birthday"
for a mysterious audience member. "I
don't know if it's a boy or a girl," he
said, "but whatever it is ... "
Finally, in his tribute to Hendrix, he
brought together various styles that he
had displayed during the night,
throwing in a couple of new ones for
good measure.
Piecing together snatches of Hendrix
tunes like "Red House" with his own
tunes and improvisations, Allison had
the crowd jumping. He brought it all to
a sizzling climax with his own inter-
pretation of Hendrix-style guitar, in-
cluding an imitation of a conversation
and a feedback enhanced version of the
Star Spangled Banner a la Jimi.
After the show Allison acknowledged
the importance of people like Hendrix as
well as the Rolling Stones and Elvis
Presley in getting the blues to a broader
audience. "Jimi Hendrix was more
presentingthe bLues e. Am dc- ut
ferent from the average Chicago blues
player," said Allison. "The average one
will play top-notch soul first, then his
blues standards; and he'll write a tune
here or there. People make him play
the standards."
Allison likes to have more control
over what he plays while still appealing
to the crowd. "I don't want to prostitute
my blues," he said. So he mixes stan-
dards with lesser-known pieces, as well
as his own compositions.
He also values spontaniety - "I
make a lot of things up on stage" - as
well as his ability 'to get people in-
terested in songs they don't know.
Of course, things don't always work
out perfectly. "It's like going fishing,"
he said. If the fishing isn't perfect, "I
can kill it or put it back." There cer-
tainly didn't seem to be too many bad
fish on Thursday.
Allison showed an incredible en-
thusiasm on stage all night, especially.
for a man who has been in the business
for a quarter of a century.
Co-Authors
Allison
... a virtuoso going unnoticed
The Real Puzzle
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on young
He established a rapport with the
audience from the start, exemplified by
his little birthday song. He showed the
kind of humor and enjoyment of his
music that a bluesman has to have to
keep from going crazy, constantly
smiling at his band and his audience
and cracking little jokes here and there.
And the amazing thing was that it
was all sincere - when I talked to him
afterwards, I was talking to the same
man the audience saw on stage. This
bonafide enthusiasm was reflected in
his performance, making it more
believable than any other I have seen in
Ann Arbor this year.
How does he keep smiling through
years of disappointment? "People
come out to see me to have a good
time," he said. "If I act bad then how
can I expect them to enjoy them-
selves?"
The audience keeps him going, too. "I
live Ann Arbor, Detroit, and this whole
area," he said. "I've been coming here
for years. I'm so glad people remember
me."
But apparently people don't remem-
ber him enough to make Luther Allison
a big name. He has sizable followings in
various places in the United States in-
cluding Ann Arbor, New York (where
he says they love his Hendrix tribute)
and hs band's base town of Madison,
Wisconsin. Allison's been close, but has
always been turned back - he almost
played Carnegie Hall but his
management pulled out when ticket
sales faltered.
Yet, he says, "I'm not bitter." He
feels he deserves more exposure, but
recognizes the hopelessness of
American media that so many outstan-
ding but unsuccessful artists face.
"I need more exposure on radio,
television, or in top-notch magazines,"
he said, seeing no reason why he can't
be covered by a Rolling Stone or Guitar
Player, for instance. In Europe, where
he's toured often and now bases his
management, he does get press
coverage and airplay, and consequen-
tly he's more popular.
Lacking the media coverage, he's
relying on word-of-mouth publicity
now. "I think I can sell more records.
For lots of young people it's a shock and
surprise to them when they see me. I
have to open the eyes of people who
haven't seen me, who haven't believed
in me," he said, adding that he is urged
on because "I believe in myself."
For the time being, lacking financial
resources, Luther and company work
with what they've got. They haven't
poured huge amounts of money into
their stage equipment-if the keyboar-
ds were hard to hear at times, it's
because it wasn't worth shipping
Michelle's best equipment overseas.
"That's the good part about the blues,"
said Luther. "You can have a good time
with just a little bit.
He'll be taking the- show back to'
Europe for what he considers a pivotal
tour soon. There he can recover
Michell's keyboards, possibly pick up a
sax player, and get his band, his head,
and his material together. He's looking
to cut a new record (Time, a French
release featuring all original material,
but slightly overproduced, was most
recent), and then come back to the U.S.
Allison hopes to be back in Ann Arbor
sometime in September.
And maybe, just maybe . .. "I feel
I've got a better shot now than I've ever
had," Allison said with a glimmer of
hope in his voice. "I know I've been
bound and gagged for too long. I believe
it's gonna happen."
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